Pattaya-Revealed.com - Thailand Travel Tipz for newbiez....add yer own....

1) Don't ever make eye contact or shake hands with an indian tailor, unless you actually want to buy a suit. The same caution could be applied with hawkers selling 'general tat', be firm but polite (with hawkers) with a no thank you ('mai ow krap' in thai) but don't get angry with any of these people or you may get more trouble then you bargained for.

2) Hotel Safety. One thing I always do is check my escape route in event of a fire, can you climb down something from your hotel balcony? Is the fire exit near your room? Is there a swimming pool right under your balcony that's within reasonable jumping distance? The same should be applied when entering discos or agogo's, or any enclosed buildings, how will you get out? Are you staying closer to the door rather than right at the back? The open air beer bars might be hot without air con but they do have the advantage of being a little safer in fire situations!

3) Try not to walk beach road late at night or anywhere that is quiet, dark with something lurking in the shadows, if you must walk back to the room, keep to well lit routes with other people about where possible, it's probably a little safer to walk up 2nd road than beach road in the wee small hours.

4) When flagging down a songtaew, (baht bus) try to pick those that have passengers on already and avoid traveling alone if possible, I read only today that a tourist and expat alike both had experiences of drivers attempting to take them somewhere quiet for what could possibly be a kidnap/robbery scenario, both drivers ignored the bell rings and sped up, ran through red lights. In these hard times due to lack of tourists, it's not surprising.
When leaving Walking st at night, there are usually songtaews parked up on the corner of 2nd road, right next to south road (pattaya klang) that fill the songtaew with as many passengers they can fit in before driving up 2nd road, might be better getting one of those.

5) Pickpockets are common the world over, but there are certain gangs of thai mothers with oh so cute looking children that will sit very close to you on a songtaew, while your attention is distracted, the cute children on your other side may be going through your pockets/belongings. Stay vigilant at all times.

6) Don't put all your eggs in one basket, as stated earlier, only take enough money 'roughly' that you need for the night, I'd also suggest you don't keep it in 1 area either, spread it out in different pockets if possible. A guy I know that used to visit New York, often told me he always carried a decoy wallet with a small amount of money in case of robbery, which is good advice IMO. On the eggs in 1 basket theme, try to take a combination of cash, credit card and travelers cheques. Then you have another means to fall back on if 1 source is lost/stolen.

7) Although you are required to carry your passport with you at all times, nobody ever does, make a copy in one of the many shops that provide a copying service if you are worried about getting stopped by police, but NEVER carry your real one which should be tucked up in the hotel safe. If you lose that, you are going to have a lot of bother sorting it out at the embassy. It's also wise to have a copy of the passport for that very reason, so if you lose the real one, you have a copy to show the embassy so they can identify you quicker.

8) Prices for the girls, this is always a subject of hot debate on forums, in a way there is such a thing as a 'going rate' so to speak and most beer bar girls will be happy with 1000 baht for L/t and bartering with these girls is usually not required, or even price not discussed. However, if you choose to pick a 'stunner' in the Agogo bars and she won't budge/seems unhappy about dropping her asking price, (and they may well tell you what they expect to be paid) then you may find yourself in for a terrible performance, if you ain't happy with the price she's asking for then it's probably better to move on as there are plenty of available women who WILL be happy with what could be considered a 'normal Agogo rate for l/t) Like 1.500 baht or 2.000 baht for the night.

9) Beer bars are generally much cheaper to drink in that Agogo's and drink prices also usually vary on the location factor. If you are planning to visit all the top venues in what is the most expensive area, (Walking St) then I find it more cost effective to drink a few cheaply priced drinks from supermarkets that I've stocked up in the hotel refrigerator before going out. This will save spending so much on getting drunk at those higher prices.

10) It's usually a good idea to collect phone numbers from girls who you had a good time with, good performers, good attitude and so on. You can also save on barfines on occasion by texting/calling them and asking when they are 'off duty'. It's also wise to buy a really cheap 2nd hand phone from the many stores + sim card and only give out that number to the girls, that way, you will avoid getting hassled/bombarded with calls or texts on you 'real' phone number.

That's about all I can think of for now.