Former Walking Street go-go dancer declares ‘Open Pattaya by year-end or I go home’

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Nong Anna, a former go-go dancer, says she will give Pattaya until year-end to reopen before she gives up and goes home.

A former go-go dancer will give Pattaya until year-end to reopen. If not, she’s going home.

Nearly all of her friends and coworkers at a Walking Street bar have gone back to the Northeast. But “Nong Anna” remains, living off support from her British overseas sponsor. The longer Pattaya remains closed, the greater the chance her “boyfriend” stops sending money.



So Anna is laying plans to sell Isan food back in Udon Thani if foreign tourists don’t return by December.

The prospects look dim. Pattaya saw 221 new coronavirus cases on Friday, with Chonburi reporting 1,348 total and ten deaths. Thailand, meanwhile, crossed the 1 million mark for Covid-19 cases.


Pattaya officials said they’ve received 30,000 of 100,000 doses of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine they ordered and are giving 2,000 baht to every Pattaya-registered household, but Anna doesn’t qualify for either, as Pattaya is simply where she worked, not lived permanently.

Thousands of bargirls and night people were unemployed when pubs and bars were closed for months at a time during the pandemic lockdowns.



Many bar girls rely on donated food to survive.



Even the Russian bars have closed.

Walking Street has become one of the more celebrated failures during the constant stream of coronavirus lockdowns.



Meanwhile, Mayor Sonthaya Kunplome said the city has received 30,000 of the 100,000 Chinese Sinopharm vaccine doses they ordered, and is giving 2,000 baht to every Pattaya-registered household.