Restaurant reviews revisited

Dear Miss Terry,
I almost cried into my breakfast gin and tonic, er black coffee, when I read (PM Friday July 5) that negative restaurant reviews would serve only to break their owners’ rice bowl. On that basis the newspapers would never print street-crime stories, lest they deter foreign tourists from coming here, nor report all those jumping incidents (usually accidents by the way) from hi-rise condos in case the Pattaya property market is hit. The underlying reason why Miss Terry - and she is not alone in the print media I fully recognise - give the impression they have never eaten a bad meal in 20 years is because they would create gastronomic enemies and even threaten advertising income. Everyone knows that. Why not be frank?
Important as Miss Terry is, she does not have a monopoly of having meals prepared for her. The internet is chock-a-block with detailed Pattaya restaurant reviews running into many, many thousands of observations by paying customers. Sometimes they can be unfair, for example malevolent critics claiming that ants are crawling all over the buffet or that the waiter forgot to button his flies after visiting the toilet. But usually they are pertinent and incisive. All I am saying is that just a little balance from Miss Terry would enhance her standing. Obviously I don’t want to see her go over the top and be chased down dark streets by infuriated restaurant owners, with carving knife in hand, because she dared to say the creme caramel tasted like cardboard. Even if it did.
Barry Kenyon

Foreigners can own condos here

Editor;
Re: Who owns my condo? (PM Hillary Friday, 05 July 2013) - Why buy a condo in a Thai company name? A farang can own a condo in his own name and own it 100%. No need to be a 49% owner in a condo you have paid 100% of the purchase price for.
Yozz

Good job highlighting Fireball

Editor;
Re: Life at 33 1/3: The forgotten classic (PM Friday, 24 May 2013) - Dear Carl, Good job, high-lighting “Fireball”, which was a decent DP-album with One Blistering Song (we all know which one, jaa?). Sorry to be nitpicking, but don’t tell me that this unsuccessful effort fell between epics like “In Rock” and “Machine Head”!? Me thinks “Fireball” came after, and marks the slow decline of “the masters of sensitive hard rock”, further made clear by the uninteresting “Burn”, circa 1974. But, thanks for your informative articles - I always return! Next thing should be a story on “Mountain”, please.
Pekka Astrom

Immature world view

Editor;
Re: Not dumb enough to listen? (PM Mailbag Friday, 05 July 2013) - The EU are not terrorists but the Badar Meinhof operated inside Germany, Scotland released a convicted terrorist to get friendly oil deals. If you don’t think it goes both ways your world view is immature.
Kevin

Good job Rony

Editor;
Re: A finger on the property pulse with Nova Group’s Rony Fineman (PM Thursday, 04 July 2013) - Rony’s a great guy and deserves all he has. He’s worked hard all his life and given us some great hotels and the famous Jamesons.
Mark Bates

Where is Dorian Farmer?

Dear Editor;
Has Dorian Farmer stopped producing subtle, but nonetheless, interesting cartoons? Your newspaper just seems to go from strength to strength. I hope sales of the newspaper keep increasing.
Kind regards, D.B.
Ed’s reply: Thank you for the kind words. Dorian is a frequent, but not continuous contributor to the pages of Pattaya Mail. When he sends his cartoons in, we usually publish them. But when he doesn’t send them in, we of course cannot.

No waiting allowed

Editor;
Response to “Pattaya Beach Road should be closed” - Jane, you are obviously new to Pattaya. Your suggestions contain only ideas that have been rejected for various reasons. They are far too simplistic while they do not really resolve the issues.
A realistic answer would be to remove ALL parked vehicles, street vendors, motorcycle taxis and motorcycle rentals from the Beach Road. Do not allow tourist buses, baht buses and taxis longer then the absolute minimum time to load and unload passengers and no waiting. No parked vehicles anywhere. No waiting allowed for ANY vehicles.
Jim Pattaya

Beach Road will never be closed

Editor;
Re: Beach Road should be closed (PM Mailbag Friday, 05 July 2013) - I agree about closing Beach Road but it will never happen in spite of the fact that Walking Street has shown what can work. Most volcanic islands in the Pacific have ring roads that are overburdened also. They will never be changed. People do not change roads.
Dana

Thank you Hillary

Editor;
Re: Who owns my condo? (PM Hillary Friday, 05 July 2013) - Thanks for highlighting my plight Hillary; I’m now back in the UK. I can’t afford to live in Thailand legally (there are underhand ways of acquiring a retirement visa) now I’ve sunk my life savings in a very dubious investment. I’ll be stuck in health damaging England for another 3 years before I can practically afford to return to Jomtien. I didn’t have enough time or money to get useful legal help while I was there till the end of June; though (one firm) seemed very promising. I hope I live long enough to ‘return in triumph’ to Thailand in 2016.
Phil Fletcher

Be careful what you tweet

Editor;
Re: Presidential snooping (PM Mailbag Friday, 28 June 2013) - My best friend asked to use my computer. When he typed in his pin no he covered the keyboard with his hand. Thinking nothing about it at the time, I now look back and think if you can not trust your best friend then who can you trust? Obama’s answer to this breach of trust is: Everyone does it. That’s what NSA, CIA & other agencies are there for. A good diplomatic answer would have been: Sorry guys I didn’t know what my boys were up to. (We all know diplomats lie.) Not since Russia put the first man into space first has the US been so humbled.
Now they have Snowden in Russia. Without a passport they have the top hand. They can hand him over to the US to face a trumped up case of treason or grant him safe passage to a country that will not stand to be bullied. There are many South American countries who would like to play payback.
What will be Sweden’s answer if Assange is ever to face the trumped up charge of rape? (Rape? he refused to use a condom.) Bradley Manning’s fate is sealed already. Into the third week of what will be a 12 week trial the judges already are showing bias and this man’s next 40 years are already history. Which ever way it goes be careful what you tweet as, “Big Brother is looking.”
Sean Murphy

Common decency never comes into it

Editor;
Re: It’s about time (PM Mailbag Friday, 28 June 2013) - Is there an ethics code renting watercraft from a beach? (I think not.) These people are only the lackeys of someone higher up. Morals and common decency never come into it. A percentage of the takings is all they want. Great idea Dana, close down the whole business. Results: less tourists, less jet skis made and sold. People losing jobs; more unemployment means more crime. Well thought out solution.
Jimmy

Restaurant reviews revisited

Foreigners can own condos here

Good job highlighting Fireball

Immature world view

Good job Rony

Where is Dorian Farmer?

No waiting allowed

Beach Road will never be closed

Thank you Hillary