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
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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
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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
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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
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