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Mail Bag |
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Double pricing not only in Thailand
Editor;
Re: Tourist prices (Hillary, PM Friday, 15 February 2013) - Having lived in
Cairns Australia for several years we were subjected to double pricing. The
town was flooded with Japanese tourists, and most of the hotels were foreign
owned. Permanent residents only had to show their I.D. and received a
discount.
Here in Thailand I don’t like paying inflated prices but it’s a fact of
life. If you don’t want to pay the price then don’t go or don’t buy it. You
knew before you became an expat that you would have to cough up and now you
have a Retirement Visa why should you be excluded? (Front up every 90 days
at no charge? Shouldn’t the falang paying for a 30 day extension get a
discount? Not likely.) Take it on the chin; you are on a good thing here so
stop whining.
I once took 23 people from my village to “Phnom Rueng” and the charge was
100Bt for falang and 20Bt for locals. I had a talk with the attendant and
explained that these people were just poor farmers and although they had
lived all their lives in the district they could never spare the money to
visit. We negotiated the fee down to 1 farang and 5 Thais. I would have paid
the 560Bt but now I had extra baht to buy food. We all had a great day and I
have been paid back threefold by the kindness shown to me in Moo Ban Meung
Nua.
Aussie Bill
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Burapha Pattaya bike week is a huge success
Editor;
The 16th Burapa- Pattaya bike week culminated last night in a spectacular
day of entertainment. Without exaggeration this special event attracted a
conservative 20,000 visitors on Friday and well over 40,000 on Saturday
making it the biggest event on the Pattaya calendar and the largest event of
its kind in Asia. This year the organisers were forced to find a new venue
from the Chaiyapruek stadium because of lack of space and unavailability.
The collaboration with the Silverlake company is a marriage made to last.
Silverlake immediately related to the philosophies behind this event and the
goals being strived for and stepped up. With City Hall and the area police
still firmly on board the stage was quickly set for the event to be staged
at Silverlake.
Worries about the event being staged out of town were completely ill
founded. No-one, however, could have predicted how huge and simply
spectacular this event would be. The Silverlake venue is a stunningly
beautiful place with a cool breeze and clean air. The huge stage was set up
on a raised natural platform and at height, when lit up, appeared to be
suspended in space. The green area in front of the stage resembled
Chaiyapruek stadium making everyone feel at home.
There were literally hundreds of shops and restaurants selling and serving
everything imaginable; thousands of bikes turned up from hundreds of bike
clubs from all over the world.
This celebration of bike culture is unique in the world. The theme for the
event was “War is over” - a phrase coined by the late great John Lennon and
was featured heavily on T-shirts and patches. The event is a “peace”
festival echoing the feel of Woodstock or The Isle of Wight festivals of the
60’s, with a twist.
All bike clubs were represented and wore colours. There was no incidents of
trouble and hardly any police presence. Quite simply, trouble making in the
Pattaya biker world is considered “unfashionable” and any participant will
be derided and lose status within his own club. Frankly, bikers here are too
busy enjoying the perfect riding and freedom lifestyle, to be involved in
daft behaviour. Bikers also enjoy the camaraderie of local police,
government officials, businessmen, celebs and VIP’s who are also bikers and
share a mutual respect for one another. Perhaps that is where it goes wrong
in western society where a biker can be harassed just for being on the road
in colours and gain little respect. There is good and bad in all areas and
levels of society but it appears to me there are more criminal bankers than
bikers!
Pattaya can feel proud of itself in hosting this fantastic event. The result
of a huge amount of work by Burapa MC together with the trust and
collaboration of independent businessmen and the local authorities.
This event is ready to be presented to the world and the interest is full
on; for example, I did a number of interviews with Russian TV stations and
an American film company. The American film producer and Harry Fryed of the
Fryed Brothers band remarked that what has been created is something every
biker in the USA dreams about. Maybe in some small way by example we can
help to make that happen.
Richy
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Traffic problems
Dear Ed;
Yesterday (2/12) I was riding my motorbike down Sukhumvit Rd. at very busy
time of 3:30 pm. A loud speaker advertising truck was driving at 5mph
causing vehicles to veer into the other lanes to avoid collision with him.
Why, in heaven’s name, is a guy advertising on Sukhumvit? We all know that
these trucks are a nuisance in town and live with it, but on a high speed
highway? Come on.
Jerry S.
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HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]
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Double pricing not only in Thailand
Burapha Pattaya bike week is a huge success
Traffic problems
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Letters published in the Mailbag
of Pattaya Mail
are also published here.
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It is noticed that the letters herein in no way reflect the opinions of the editor or writers for Pattaya Mail, but are unsolicited letters from our readers, expressing their own opinions. No anonymous letters or those without genuine addresses are printed, and, whilst we do not object to the use of a nom de plume, preference will be
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