Things I hate about living in Pattaya & Thailand

I love more things about living in Pattaya and Thailand than there are things I hate. This is why I always travel to Thailand in the first place.

But in this article, let’s have some fun and talk about some of the things I dislike and hate about Thailand, in particular, Pattaya. It is not intended to insult anyone. It’s just for fun.

If you have anything you dislike about Pattaya and Thailand, leave a comment below.

My top 11 things I hate about living in Pattaya and Thailand

1. Aggressive mamasan

   When you go to a GoGo bar there might be at least one mamasan, other time there is none. But when there is a mamasan, sometimes they can be outright aggressive and pushy. Asking you to buy them drinks, or buy ping-pong balls, tell you to ring the bell and buy more lady drinks. They make the atmosphere more uncomfortable at least for me.

   I don’t go in a GoGo bar or a beer bar to interact with an old mamasan, or anyone really. Unless I’m out with my buddies, but most of the time I want to perv around or take a girl back to my room for some fun.

   These aggressive mamasans are just annoying to me. When I go to a place, and someone annoyed me, that’s it, I never return, maybe after three years.

2. Staff always asking to buy them drinks

   There were multiple times I brought a staff a drink. She’ll sit next to me for a minute and leave without finishing her drink. Then come back 10 minutes later to finish her drink and ask for another.

   This is why I no longer buy anyone a drink unless it is with an attractive girl I want to bar fine — no point for me to be throwing away 150 or 250 baht for some annoying person.

   My first two reasons why I hate Pattaya and Thailand are about working girls in the entertainment areas of Thailand. The rest will focus on general living and traveling in Thailand. Nothing about bar girls.

3. Browsing a store without interference

   I don’t know how many times I went shopping around a store in Thailand, practically electronic stores without having someone coming up asking if I need help. To the point that I don’t want to touch anything. I rarely stand around reading at the labels or really take my time checking out the prices unlike back home because I don’t want someone continually coming up to me.

4. No garbage bins

   It can be hard to find a garbage bin in Thailand. Unless you’re in front of 7 eleven but that’s pretty much it. Inside Thailand’s many shopping malls, they usually have garbage bins next to the escalators, in washrooms and nowhere else. I find it annoying walking around, looking for a place to throw things away.

5. Sidewalks or lack of it

   On most major roads in Thailand there will be sidewalks, but it is unlikely in smaller streets. When there are no sidewalks, it is hard to walk and sometimes dangerous, especially when there are many vehicles.

6. Electrical wires and phone lines

   Most of the wires you see on the lower part of the polls are not always electrical wires, and they are mainly telephone or internet lines. But the look of the wires dangling can be a bit scary at times, especially when I first came to Thailand.

   It’s pretty normal to be seeing them like this, but I still try to avoid the wires as much as I can. I try not to walk directly under them, but sometimes it’s very hard not to do. I would definitely avoid going anywhere near those low hanging wires or stand near a transformer when it rain.

7. Lack of western food

   This is not the case if you live in big cities like Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, and even cities like Udon Thani.

   As long as there is a big shopping mall around, you can expect to find western produce and other western fast food chains such as KFC and McDonald. But if you live outside in small to midsize cities or towns (about under 50,000 people). These places usually do not have many western restaurants, and you will need to travel inside a bigger city to find your western goodies.

8. Expensive imported goods

   Beer, cheese, Florida orange juice, anything made from your home country. You can expect to pay more than what you paid back where you came from. For example, an imported beer can be 2x or 3x more expensive as compare to your home town.

9. ATM & foreign exchange fees

   If you use an ATM in Thailand to withdraw money using your bank card from home, the Thai ATM charges 200 baht per withdraw, maybe more now since I haven’t used it more than a year.

   On top of that, you get a crappy exchange rate, and then you get charged by your bank at home for using a foreign ATM. Meaning you get charge 3x to get your money.

   It is expensive if you are living in Thailand and using the Thai ATM with your bank card from home. However, if you are traveling for a week or two and using the Thai ATM a few times, it’s very convenient to use the ATM in Thailand if you need the Thai currency instantly.

   However, to avoid the ATM fees and avoid getting charged 3x, I use something called Transferwise. It helped me avoid the 200 baht ATM fee, get the real exchange rate, and avoid the foreign exchange fee. I pay only 1% – 1.5%, and that’s it. So for transferring $1,000 dollars into Thailand, I pay only $15 dollars and get the real exchange rate.

   See this link to get your first transfer free.

10. Non-meter Taxi & Tuk-Tuks

    I think if you been traveling or living in Thailand long enough. It is not hard to avoid these annoying non-meter taxis and tuk-tuk drivers. But if you are a newbie, particularly in a touristy area, you might be taken for a ride.

11. Traffic jams and driving culture

    It’s not uncommon to see motorbikes or scooters going on sidewalks if you’re in Bangkok. Although the police are trying to crack down on this, but you can still see people do it all the time.

    Then you have big traffic jams in places like central Bangkok and Chiang Mai. If you’re in those traffic jams, expect long delays.

    In Bangkok rush hours, it is not common for Thais to take 2-4 hours to go and come back from work. Longer if there is rain because when it rains in Bangkok, there will be floods. Making Bangkok #1 for the most congested traffic in the world, according to Forbs.

    Pattaya as of writting this article is not as bad as Bangkok or Chiang Mai, but during rush hours it is very busy.

What do you think about my list? If I left something out, leave a comment below.