When will the US navy be in town?

[PattayaPete 527]

What you need to know about the US Navy in Pattaya.

 

First:

No one knows when they will be here, including the sailors themselves.  Any one who tells you differently is WRONG.  The way the navy works is to keep everyone confused about where they are and where they will be.  

 

They run to a plan BUT it gets changed all the time and without notice.  Of the hundreds of rumours I've heard that they are coming on such and such a date 99.99% have proved to be wrong.  You'd be better off flipping a coin rather than listening to rumors.

 

Secondly

When they are here it makes little difference except around the Walking Street area.  If a carrier group arrives there will be about 6,000 sailors.  At any one time no more than half are allowed on shore so that means 3,000 in town.  There are 3,000 bars in Pattaya so that's one extra person per bar.  So who cares.  

 

In reality though they tend to hang around Walking Street and Soi Pattayaland 2.  You'd be lucky to see one sailor in Soi 8 or North Pattaya.  

 

Thirdly

Cobra Gold is an annual joint military exercise between Thai and American forces.  It starts late April and usually runs through most of May.  During the exercise no more than 200 guys get leave on any one day.  The impact on Pattaya is ZERO.  Usually for the last three days in late May a larger number will be given leave.  Maybe a thousand or so.  Impact on Pattaya - negligible.

 

Remember, Pattaya has a huge over capacity of bars and ladies.  Nevertheless when rumours of the navy's iminent arrival surface, thousands of girls trek down from Bangkok.  That means the ratio of men to women probably improves even if the navy does turn up.  If they don't which is the more common scenario, the ratio goes through the roof.