Darkside... Ease of getting around?

[drilldr]

What's the best or recommended way to navigate that area? I want to take motorbike but nervous about traffic and crossing Sukhumvit. I'd be coming from Beach rd and Soi 5. Long ways but it seems that having some wheels would help you explore more and quickly. Or is it better to take taxi there. Get dropped off and use motorbike taxis for hire? Just thinking....

 

 

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[Jarrod2518]

For the DS you need to have some mode of transport. I would suggest that you take Khao Talo and head up the hill to the Booze Lounge about 1,6Km from Railway Road on the left. Start there and then head uphill past the big stone elephants on the righ  and just past the junction take an immediate left - a few bars there, Kik and Al Pacha, then head down the hill past the Gym and there are a few bars there, Nice Girl, Birdcage, etc. There is a DS ap that is extremely useful, recommend that you look at that. There must be close to 150 bars on the DS. But be careful on the way back for the BIB.

[drilldr]

For the DS you need to have some mode of transport. I would suggest that you take Khao Talo and head up the hill to the Booze Lounge about 1,6Km from Railway Road on the left. Start there and then head uphill past the big stone elephants on the righ  and just past the junction take an immediate left - a few bars there, Kik and Al Pacha, then head down the hill past the Gym and there are a few bars there, Nice Girl, Birdcage, etc. There is a DS ap that is extremely useful, recommend that you look at that. There must be close to 150 bars on the DS. But be careful on the way back for the BIB.

Thanks for your reply! Sorry for dumb but can you share link for app?
I downloaded map.

The way the Thais drive sometimes scares me...


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[whistlerone]

at the risk of sounding totally naive, what is the darkside and what am i likely to encounter there ? 

[Harve]

11 hours ago, drilldr said:

 

What's the best or recommended way to navigate that area? I want to take motorbike but nervous about traffic and crossing Sukhumvit. I'd be coming from Beach rd and Soi 5. Long ways but it seems that having some wheels would help you explore more and quickly. Or is it better to take taxi there. Get dropped off and use motorbike taxis for hire? Just thinking....

 

 

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If you going to be drinking a lot organise a taxi for the day, if you only want to go check out & drink lightly take the bike. No use going over that way till about 2 o'clock IMO

[rhodie]

4 hours ago, whistlerone said:

at the risk of sounding totally naive, what is the darkside and what am i likely to encounter there ? 

An area East of the railway line. Only called the darkside because it never used to have street lights. So not what it sounds like. More suburbia and the bars are spread out. You need transport to tour. 

[Jarrod2518]

The Darkside is different things for different people, basically is a number of things:-

1. it serves as a dormitory for many Thai workers in the Pattaya hospitality, retailing and service industries;
2. it serves as a residential option for a large number of ex-pats who wish to manage their relationship to Pattaya on their terms;
3. as it has a large range of cheaper accommodation options  serves as a ide away for some ex-pats who are on a limited budget;
4. it is an escape from the frenetic side of Pattaya;
5. if you have a family - it is a better option for rearing children.

I find that there are sufficient entertainment options in the DS that meet my needs and keep me happy, most of the time.

[jimboh]

I don't want to sound like one of those anti drink drive dicks on here but there are police checkpoints most nights, so I you fancy a few beers around darkside, have some transport organized.

[Wolf Cat]

The DS is not really the place for a noob to try and find his way around without a wingman or experienced standby taxi or rented motorbike.  I can't tell you know many times farangs or farang filled taxis have stopped me on the side of the road asking for directions. Bars are far apart and most are hit-or-miss on a hourly basis.  Best bet would be to catch a moto sai taxi to Khao Talo, in the late afternoon, start at the Booze Lounge and there's a handful of bars within walking distance up or down the hill. (but the good ones are farther apart/driving distance).

[watson69]

Are there moto sai taxis around late on on Khao Talo. I rarely normally wander around Khao noi/NPW and can walk home from there but wouldn't want to get stranded further away.

[mrman348]

On 24/07/2017 at 6:08 PM, Wolf Cat said:

The DS is not really the place for a noob to try and find his way around without a wingman or experienced standby taxi or rented motorbike.  I can't tell you know many times farangs or farang filled taxis have stopped me on the side of the road asking for directions. Bars are far apart and most are hit-or-miss on a hourly basis.  Best bet would be to catch a moto sai taxi to Khao Talo, in the late afternoon, start at the Booze Lounge and there's a handful of bars within walking distance up or down the hill. (but the good ones are farther apart/driving distance).

Never tried the Darkside yet, but sounds interesting for next trip.  

What is the quality of the bars like there?  I am sure they are not like Walking Street, but how do they compare to Sol 6 etc?

Are they able to get away with more things in the bars becuase less police presence etc?

[Wolf Cat]

8 hours ago, mrman348 said:

Never tried the Darkside yet, but sounds interesting for next trip.  

What is the quality of the bars like there?  I am sure they are not like Walking Street, but how do they compare to Sol 6 etc?

Are they able to get away with more things in the bars becuase less police presence etc?

The DS is not really the place for a noob to try and find his way around without a wingman

 Bars are far apart and most are hit-or-miss on a hourly basis

[Douchebag]

Walk the whole Soi Khao Talo or Soi 53, they are easy to explore just by walking. Done it myself a few times.

[jerry]

Most motorbike taxis haven't got a clue if you ask them to bring you to a certain bar . I usually go to the bars in the afternoon 2pm till 8pm . Have never seen police during these hours but often after 9pm police is out on Nurn Plab wan and any of the railway crossings back into Pattaya . 

For someone who isn't familiar with the area , take your bike and go exploring in the afternoon but take your time as not all the bars are easy to find and spread out in a wide area . Better find yourself a wingman who knows the area otherwise you will probably spend more time driving around than having fun . Soi Siam Country is completely fucked up and almost impossible to drive at the moment . 

[SirL]

The best way to navigate the dark side is surely to use one of those mapping apps on your phone that has a moving blob showing your current position, and you'd add some pins dropped on the locations of the bars you were thinking of visiting.  On Android I recommend the app Here WeGo which works great for offline maps.  You download a big data file of the map of the whole of eg Thailand once over your home internet, and then you'll always have good offline maps showing exactly where you and your target bar are.  I think Here is much better than Google Maps because Here works offline, downloading the map just once.

[jerry]

17 hours ago, SirL said:

 I think Here is much better than Google Maps because Here works offline, downloading the map just once.

Here works much better than Google maps indeed . 

[Moonpig]

I thought about a Baht Bus for driving around the DS, anyone with any idea for price say 8 hrs 14.00 - 20.00 hrs. 

[Wolf Cat]

2 hours ago, Moonpig said:

I thought about a Baht Bus for driving around the DS, anyone with any idea for price say 8 hrs 14.00 - 20.00 hrs. 

I've heard guys hiring a baht bus and paying 1000 baht, but most bright side baht bus taxi drivers have no idea where the DS bars are. even a lot of the DS moto taxis won't know where to go if you just say the name of a certain bar.