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Tourist safety

Editor;
I offered to pay for a holiday to Thailand for my daughter, her husband and my two granddaughters to stay at Koh Chang for a week or so, then a few days in Pattaya. To my surprise she declined the offer saying, “I do not want to bring my girls, who are aged eleven and thirteen, to that environment dad.” I then got a lecture from her about Pattaya’s down side, like jet ski scams, gold snatching, boat crashes and tourists beaten up.
I tried changing her mind, saying I could show her the Thailand that she had never seen. I think Koh Chang is a magical place and Pattaya now has a lot more attractions to see. My daughter came here many years ago before she was married but I could not get her to change her mind. I had to go to plan B: going to England instead, taking my Thai partner with me, spending money that I would have been spent here.
I love Thailand and its people but wish people in high positions would act on problems as they arise. With today’s technology nothing can be hidden. My daughter got Pattaya’s bad bits from the internet, not me. I can see where tourist safety can be improved and so can many Thais.
Thailand is a wonderful country and I dislike people who say otherwise and will always encourage people to visit.
Ex Pat Barrie


Holding my breath

Dear Ed;
There are lots of challenges in Thailand for westerners. Mine is unique. I stayed at a hotel on Soi 8 in Pattaya and was met with a new problem. I use a CPAP machine for sleeping to keep my airways open and assure a good rest. Well, the good folks did not have an electrical outlet at this fine hotel. Nope, they disabled them so that guests could not ‘steal’ their electric!
After complaining to management, they told me they thought I was dying or had just left hospital after an operation. After lifting my shirt and showing no telltale operations and giving them my phone so they could talk Thai to my neighbor - yes, I live here - they told me I would have to buy an electric extension cord to bring electric from the bathroom where there was an outlet. I protested and they brought a maintenance man to ‘operate’ on a disabled outlet near the bed.
Why, in this modern age, is this hotel the only place in the world with no electric? Don’t people in Thailand know what a CPAP breathing machine is? Disgusted.
Jerry Schlotter
 


Something needs to be done

Editor;
Re: Jomtien Soi 9 dogs (PM Mailbag Friday, 13 September 2013) - Something needs to be done urgently about these stray dogs. There are simply far too many of them and they are becoming a serious danger and a health hazard.
I am a teacher on a very meagre salary and a motorbike is the only transport I can afford. I was very nearly killed last week when 2 stray dogs raced out into Jomtien Second Road, the first, straight in front of a pickup truck which swerved across my path to avoid it; the second, straight in front of my motorbike front tyre as I had to swerve to avoid the pickup truck. With no time to brake I hit the dog on its side and as a result summersaulted over the handlebars. The first dog got hit side on, by the pick-up truck, which then nearly ran over me after I’d landed in the road.
This is the second time I have hit one of these strays in 6 months while on my motorbike. The Thais in the pickup were more interested in saving the brainless dogs than tending to a human being in agony. The whole incident has cost me nearly 50,000 baht in hospital bills and written off motorbike, which I can’t afford.
Come on Thai police, do something useful - get rid of all these stray dogs which are nothing but oversized vermin. These stray dogs are nothing but a menace to everyone.
Paul


Acid test

Editor;
Re: 24-hour tourist police units launched (PM Wednesday, 11 September 2013) - The ‘acid test’ of success will be the crime rate. If the crime rate remains unchanged or rises, this initiative will be deemed a failure. Farang/tourists have a right to be skeptical and unbelieving given Thailand’s police and judicial system. Since both these institutions have failed the people of Thailand, why will a new department be any different?
Marc Hawkes
 


Re Jomtien Soi 9 dogs

Editor;
Dear Pattaya Paul - First of all I would like to say I understand your concerns completely as I share them myself. The problem with the dogs is an ongoing problem which we are trying our best to resolve. Pattaya City Hall has a hotline to report stray dog problems but they have been ignoring us even after several phone and direct inquiries from me and other business owners on and nearby Jomtien Soi 9.
Not only do we get no help from Pattaya City Hall, the dogs are getting well fed from passersby food vendors, garbage collectors and nearby residents bringing food for the dogs as the good practicing Buddhists they are.
Thank you very much for your advice regarding spaying the dogs. It’s just a matter of catching them first.
With kind regards,
Allan Ottesen


Government projects can help and hurt

Editor;
Re: Thai economist urges gov’t to closely control Bt2 trillion spending (PM Saturday, 21 September 2013) - While government projects undoubtedly create some jobs, they can also create misery that is not seen until too late, and the causes of that misery is rarely recognized. For example, the high speed rail project means that the same 2 trillion baht cannot be used for other purposes that might well create more wealth, more jobs, more and better useful products, and generally will be more beneficial to more people if used in the private sector.
Politicians world-wide know full well that the results of their spending can be measured, but not the results of using the same 2 trillion baht if used in the private sector. Therefore, there is no way to compare the results gained for the money spent by the government versus the same money if spent by the private sector.
The government that undertakes mega projects is rarely the government that will be around when the real cost of those projects can be measured, especially since inflation and the ripple effects of government spending is rarely mentioned in determining the real cost to an economy. The impact of lost jobs in other areas of the economy is rarely considered, the most obvious is in the aviation sector, but the impacts on jobs can be in many areas.
From a little research it appears that most high speed rail transport in the world must be subsidized by governments at one level or another to remain in operation. Is anyone asking how many jobs and how much wealth the private sector could create with 2 trillion baht...without creating inflation?
Just about all government spending is inflationary, a tax on the wage earner, and if we look back a few decades we can see that it is pretty hard, if even possible, to still get a bowl of noodles for 3 baht today. Six baht now sounds inexpensive, but that is still 100% inflation; and inflation, rather than jumping up like the devil, sneaks up and bites slowly, yet still painfully. When inflation hits us, things begin to cost more, and that means that more money is needed to survive. The result is another call for action, like inflation causing, job killing rise in the minimum wage, which benefits no one but those already on the minimum wage, and the politicians that get votes from minimum wage earners and people less knowledgeable about economic effects.
There is little doubt that a mega-project will make contributions to the economy, but will those contributions have a positive or negative effect? If one considers inflation as a negative effect, then the answer is clear.
Howard Mirkin


HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]

Tourist safety

Holding my breath

Something needs to be done

Acid test

Re Jomtien Soi 9 dogs

Government projects can help and hurt

Letters published in the Mailbag
of Pattaya Mail are also published here.

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 given to those signed.

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