Thais irked as Kuwaiti bikers living the fast life descend on Pattaya for ‘good food and cheap hotels’
- Students from Kuwait are flocking to Pattaya, attracted by lower temperatures, their higher spending power, and the chance to create online content
- But many are racing motorbikes and mopeds without a licence, speeding and causing accidents – dividing locals who nonetheless need their cash
“They go round and round like this until 3am or 4am,” says Ammy, a masseuse who has a free ringside seat to the motorised mayhem jump-started by Kuwaiti students visiting the country’s most popular resort city.
“They are not bad people, they are not drunk – I don’t think they are smoking cannabis,” Ammy adds, giving one name only. “But they are babies. They must be high on their mother’s milk.”
As she speaks, another convoy of bikes, each with three passengers wedged in, tears by her massage shop: Kuwaiti boy racers who are splitting opinions – a nuisance to some, a key off-season revenue stream to others – across Pattaya, a city which has long welcomed the world but appears a little unsure about how to handle its affable yet boisterous new guests on bikes.
Their pencil moustaches, and even thinner arms and legs, attest the youth and inexperience of this new summer cohort.
