How mutch spending money would you need for a six month stay in pattaya staying in half decent room, seen nice rooms online from £100to £150 a month. November to march /april. Know everyone's different prob be out at least 4 nights a week. A mate who stayed a few weeks reckons 3 grand would cover you easily for 6 months but im not so shure. Any advice also any good mess boards or sites about pattaya, thailand. seen a few found on yahoo any other sites i should be looking at.
cheers

check out this website: http://www.pattayapages.com/

There is a forum that can probably answer your question. I think you have to register to post something, but it is quick and painless.

Well, 3 grand would be plenty to cover me for a 6 month stay in Pattaya. Depends on your lifestyle of course. I'm out every night I'm away but as I'm not much of a A Go Go fan my budget stretches further among the beer bars and regular bars. However, I'm not sure I could stick Pattaya for 6 months straight unless I had some sort of job or vocation there. Like most folk that take a sabatical n LOS I tend to flit around the region and pop back to Pattaya every so often.

Thanks to both of you will check out that site.

Go to page 9 of this site under the other cities- world section and look for a post I made titled Thailand Nightlife Links- Master List.

Some of the links under the Bangkok section also have Pattaya info.

There is no way I could survive on 125 euros a week in Pattaya. Although, I like go-go'-s more than beer bars and I would end up eating out more than eating in my room.

Do not forget expenses like Visa extensions and depart tax. You may have to leave the country at least once for visa extensions, make sure to research how long you can get extensions before you are required to leave the country for at least three days.

Make sure to have some emergency cash in case you require some medical attention during your stay.

The bus is the cheapest way to get from BKK to Pattaya and back.

I could come a little closer to surviving in Angeles City, Philippines on that type of budget for six months but I am not sure I would want to spend six months straight in Angeles.

Speaking of the Philippines, El Burro- when do you head out on holiday ? Please let us know how you enjoy your visit to the Phils.

Sorry- I now see you were talking pounds, not euros, hope you find some of the links useful.

http://www.annajet.co.uk/

Guest house that looks ok.. Apparently have a few 3 holers working there too...

Crossing the border for visa extensions is no big deal provided you have plenty of time. Overland travel is very cheap as are the guest houses you can use. I used the visa expiry as an opportunity to visit Burma and also timed my visits into Cambodia to suit the visa.

Are there any hassles going to Burma? Seems like a strange situation there...

Unfortunately the Burmese folk suffer from an oppressive military regime. It is difficult to travel overland betwwen areas, locals have to carry special papers to visit next town. I travelled to the area to the north which borders Thailand and had visa which restricted me to a the confines of a certain township. However I was curious about exploring the scene and hired a motorbike taxi to travel outside the township boundary. A small bribe at the military checkpoint secured my passage to an agricultural area where there were a few brothel shacks scattered around the countryside. That was a very interesting excursion, facilities were somewhat primitive but babes are an absolute delight. I recall at one point I had to wash myself by a tank outside in the yard while mamasan and all the girls came out to see what the peculiar white fella looked like naked.

At the time I was there some minor skirmishes arose at the border between Myanmar rebels and Thai army. I was staying at Thai border town of Mae Sai at a cheap guest house perched on river which forms the border. Day after I left the rebels bombed the hotel on Burmese side directly across the river from our place. later I met up with comapanions who were still in the guest house....they weren't affected other than some disturbance in the night however a few Thai toiurists on Burmese side were killed.

I can't personally vouch for the current situation however a good friend of mine will be in Yangon shortly so I suppose no significant problems for travelling there.

I just came back to the UK after living in Pattaya for 3 years,I think if you have not been there before,or even asia for that matter you would be pushing it,yes you can get a room for about B7000 a month for that period of time,but your going to have to put down a deposit of about the same,and electic and water is extra,add about B1000 if you use aircon for these.Plus you might have to buy your linen.

My quick calculations means you would be living on about B6000 a week(£90)its do-able,but leaves no room for emergenies or luxuries,and you need to know your way around

You could eat at the super markets food halls cheaply,drink at the happy hours and go easy on the woman(dont fall in love)lol.

www.pattayamail.com for rooms,check the classified

www.thai-visa.com go to the forum,very helpful

PM me if your serious about it.

Americans and people from most Europeans travel without visas; Thailand has a visa waiver scheme for favoured countries where you just turn up at the frontier and get a thirty day stay granted - fine for holidays, but not so good for longer stays. When people talk about the "visa run," they mean leaving the country and re-entering on another thirty day visa waiver - no visa involved!

A lot of people stay long term doing this, but there can be problems - if you get caught overstaying your thirty days (and Immigration have been targetting bus tours to border crossings recently!), it can mean a hefty bribe (if you're lucky) or a fine and a stay in the Bangkok Hilton until they deport you (if you're not). There have also been some reports of people having problems re-entering the country with multiple back-to-back visa waivers in their passports . . .

Better check with the Thai embassy, cause its some time since i looked into this, but I believe you can get a tourist visa which is good for two entries into the country, sixty days each time, with each stay extendable by 30 days at the local Immigration office: 2 x ( 60 + 30 ) days, which is near as dammit six months, with no hassle or expense for monthly visa runs.

But, "up to you."

Chok Di

I just went to the site you mentioned and read the "My View" of Pattaya Pete. If what he writes is accurate, it's incredible stuff.

Reading the reports of Thailand I've always been curious as to what makes such a contrasting environment (from Western culture) tick- and work. Do those who've been to Thailand agree with what Pattaya Pete writes?


It not only demonstrates many under-appreciated differences in different cultures- but how happiness itself can be an extremely subjective thing. The fact that most of them seem to not want to venture away from Thailand expresses a contentment and happiness with their lives there that is hard to argue with (a reminder of how globalization isn't for everyone).

In any event, the posts on this thread are reminicent of an Indiana Jones adventure. (El Burro) bribes, avoiding bombings, negotiating checkpoints within an oppressive military regime, motorbike taxis (with an Asian sidekick perhaps?), dead tourists in Burma, taking a shower by the tank as the women look at the white man. Talk about adventures in mongering- Amazing stuff.

I know I gotta get myself to see Bangkok/Pattaya one day soon... but not so sure I'm up to the potential culture shock of it all quite yet.

(ignore)

Hey Admiral, et al...

Yeah - I've been tracking Bangkok, Pattya and Koh Sumui for a little while. Another interesting site that covers the area is http://www.barladies.com , more specifically targeting the mongering aspect.

And aside from that it looks incredible and cool, a whole-nuther-world experience. Add in the mongering and I can see why you'd stay awhile. ;)

If you're looking for trips from here you can try http://www.333travel.nl - Looks cheap enough!

Thanks again guys for all the advice, reckon 6 months is a bit long for a newbie in pattaya. Reckon i'll try 3 or 4 months with an open ticket incase i dont like it cany see that though lol.

I'm not sure I could handle 6 months in Thailand. I would need to be earning a lot and be living in luxury otherwise I couldn't stand it for more than a few weeks..