Falling from balconies seems to be a sport in Pattaya

The Thailand news can be kind of funny on the English-language websites because they tend to focus on stories that involve foreigners in Bangkok, Phuket, and Pattaya. The stories are normally about minor squabbles and drunken behavior even though the news stations in question are normally very careful to make the situation seems a professional as possible and don't just call the people involved a bunch of drunk cunts, which is what almost all of them are.

I have a sort of hatred for Pattaya because it gives a bad name to Thailand and always attracts the wrong sort of tourists and this is something that Pattaya residents will complain about, but it is their own practices that keep it this way. That entire city is one huge wild west and it encourages lewd drunken behavior that centers around "dirty old men" coming to Thailand to sleep with young Thai women (or men, whatever you want.)

There is some sort of regularity in the news though and that is that the people visiting there seem to experience a great deal of difficulty with the balconies of their hotel rooms.

Yet another person has fallen and injured himself after what the news described very politely as "sitting on the balcony and smoking." The fact that this innocent trip to the balcony to smoke happened at 3:15 in the morning is just a coincidence I am sure.

src

They did make a point in the article to mention that marijuana was found inside the room because the media is likely being ordered by the government to make weed seems as bad as possible right now since Thailand seems to be working overtime to re-ban weed so that the liquor companies can go back to making more money.

I have only been to Pattaya a handful of times and on most of those times it was against my will. I had to accompany a friend down there for this reason or that and the thing that I felt most when I was there was a sort of disgust. I'm not judging people for buying young ladies for some sexy time, I get that this is a global thing and as long as both parties are entering into it willingly, I think it is fine. What I do have a problem with is that the entire city of Pattaya just has a sort of scummy layer to it and all of it seems to be geared towards getting drunk all day and night and then rounding up a girl from one of the hundreds of bars that cater to that sort of thing.

I recall on one of the days I was there I woke up early to do something with my bank and at 9am or so the streets were basically abandoned and there was garbage everywhere. The city just seems to have a sort of border-to-border hangover and if a city could be hungover, it would look like Pattaya does in the morning.

People falling from balconies happens regularly in Pattaya and as a person that has been around balconies most of his life, I don't understand what is so difficult about not falling over the railing.

src

That balcony is nearly up to your shoulders? How do you even fall over that?

Get ready! There is about to be a big push in that horrible city to force everyone to have higher balcony railings for the sake of safety!

Almost all of the problems of Pattaya could be solved by having some sort of "closing time" enforced on bars but they will never do that. It makes too much money for the people that own the places there. It's much easier to just complain about it and blame all the problems on foreigners.