Livid in Pattaya, Part II
After ten days of dealing with the ridiculous and inconsiderate construction I wrote about last time, it was still necessary to go and speak with the builders daily and tell them that 9:00AM, 10:00AM, and 11:00AM was NOT 1:00PM. I was considering buying them all a watch but, know full well that it would not have made the slightest bit of difference. To be fair to the builders, despite their moaning and groaning, they generally stopped immediately and did not get back on the jackhammer and so forth until after the agreed time. Nevertheless, the noise had now been deafening for almost two weeks and for a minimum period of five hours each day. Some of the guests who were prepared to endure a week of this had given up the ghost and checked out early…and I could not blame them — had I been a guest I would have gone the first day it started regardless of what offers the proprietors made. At the time of this writing, the loss of income was in the region of 200,000 baht and that does not include the loss of potential income from customers who came in to look at a room and decided, not surprisingly, that our little slice of Pattaya was too noisy for them.
So there — this is what has had me blowing steam out of every orifice and once again seeking out the nearest gunsmiths. Of course, the negative effects are not solely felt by the hotel. These works have also seen a complete halt to my writing and this is the first time in two weeks I have had the energy, or desire, to go near the computer for purposes of continuing my book. I can just about cope with responding to a few emails, but anything else has been beyond me and would, I am certain, have seen me write nothing but foul and abusive language.
I have now learnt that the adjacent establishment is to become a go-go bar. Now this was never going to be up there on my list of desired businesses, but we are in Pattaya and some form of sex-for-sale establishment was always likely. Having taken a while to digest this information, I am presently of the opinion that in a straight choice between a bar and a go-go, the latter is preferential. These establishments are closely watched by the wonderful Pattaya police and they are very strict on the opening and, more pertinently, closing hours. Beer bars on the other hand are a little more lax and whilst they have to turn down the lights and switch off the music at 1:00AM they continue trading. This often results in about half a dozen young Thai girls laughing and screeching into the early hours and makes the noise from a jackhammer seem almost soothing by comparison.
Having now enjoyed several days of relative peace and quiet it is easy to forget the acute pain experienced in the two weeks previous. I still sit here at one o’clock waiting for the resumption of jackhammering but, at the present, the occasional bang of a hammer or drilling of a hole in the wall is all I have to contend with. As the real High and Peak season moves ever closer I am just left to hope that whatever works requiring incessant noise have finished. If not I will be left with a very full and very unhappy bunch of customers come December.
