Features

Loaded up left lanes

Editor;
Re: DASTA launches 15 million baht study for Pattaya transport master plan (PM Friday, 04 April 2014) - Why not tackle the issue of loaded up left lanes? If all the lanes were clear through the city then traffic would move easier. I am jot saying this is the final answer but you don’t have to be Einstein or a traffic flow guru to see that.
Another must do is prevent tourist buses from driving where they like - many of the sois cannot handle long axle buses.
Also limit baht buses to be available depending on demand.
Too must to ask probably.
Asian Ron

Bad music

Editor;
Re: Sattahip woman brutalized for bad karaoke (PM Friday, 04 April 2014) - Like most, I’m really not a fan of bad music or music at deafening loud levels. This leads me to believe Thais have really thick skin with their talent and dream of stardom. Many times I, along with others, have emptied a bar leaving no customers, yet the singer and management seem not to notice the loss of business is directly connected.
Just last night at a bar that we frequent the manager told us they were extending Happy Hour to 9:00pm as opposed to the usual 8:00pm. We were the only 2 customers left. The karaoke singer showed up at 8:00, put in a CD, cranked up the sound and departed. So did we.
Of course I don’t condom what happened to this lady. Maybe if more customers voted with their feet someone will eventually get the idea. Most consider bar music to a background to conversation between friends, and not in competition with a machine. There are many venues with ear splitting bad music for those that love it. I’m glad Pattaya provides that for you.
Yes I’m and old fart, 65, but I was here when they didn’t make stadium size sound systems for bars. I’ve been here since 1980.
Dill Pickles

Been called out

Editor;
I had hoped the debate was over, but John Neilson has called me out in his missive of Apr. 4th; “”No right to force smoke on others”.
Firstly, I never said that second hand cigarette smoke was not harmful. What I said was that the danger is miniscule compared to that of automobile and industrial smoke. The people who are attacking me seem to continue to want to miss that little detail.
As for forcing you to endure our smoke, exactly where is this happening? The government has banned smoking in all public buildings, theaters, transportation and depots, including smoking rooms, which were inflicting smoke on no one. It has banned smoking in parks, if you can figure that one out, and it has banned smoking in restaurants and bars. So exactly where is it that you are being assaulted by smokers?
This debate started because a gentleman said that bars were not adhering to the no smoking law? The reason they are not adhering to the laws is because the government has no right to tell private business how to run their business. They have hurt restaurants and bars with legislation forced by people such as yourself. Business should succeed or fail based on their own judgement, not yours or the government’s.
A few years ago I was in Siam Paragon and not wanting to “force” my smoke on anyone, went outside to have a cigarette. As I sat on the stairs puffing away, I noticed that people would get startled at seeing me smoking and walk well wide of where I was sitting. I thought that was kind of strange because not fifty feet away was Sukhumvit Road jammed with cars and trucks for miles and miles and pouring smoke into the atmosphere. If you took every cigarette smoker in the world and put them in front of the shopping center, they still couldn’t match the amount of poison being released into the atmosphere by the traffic, yet people were afraid of me.
This is the brand of logic coming from the anti-smoking advocates and this is why the governments of the world were able to tax us into oblivion. If smokers are guilty of forcing anything on anyone, then let’s cite the millions who drive automobiles in this country also and let’s place a pollution tax on gasoline also. I’m certain that the government would love that idea. But this is the sort of thing that happens when people start telling others how to live rather than just avoiding them if they are annoyed by their habits.
John Arnone
Yasothon

If I ever have a baby …

Editor;
Re: Re: anti-smoking letters of your last issue (PM Friday, 28 March 2014) - I take your thoughtfully presented point. If I ever have a baby I will invite you over to blow second hand smoke in its face because all the science is not in on the dangers of second hand smoke.
Dana

Pattaya turnoffs

Editor;
Re: Traffic, dogs among tourist gripes about Pattaya (PM Friday, 28 March 2014) - Pattaya is a great city for sure. The only turnoffs for me are:
1) The smell from the drains, the most diabolical smell from a drain I have ever experienced anywhere.
2) The footpaths, which are often uneven, sometimes broken up, too narrow or just vanish.
3) Vehicle users not stopping for pedestrians at designated crossings; it’s a case of look out or be hit when you cross at them.
Paul

Bad van drivers

Editor;
Re: Danish man killed, wife injured in Sukhumvit motorbike crash (PM Friday, 04 April 2014) - I live in Thailand and I know how the drivers of these vans drive. They are killers on the road. Very aggressive drivers.
Moon

Death Notice

We are sad to report that long time Pattaya friend, PGA Pro Richard Livingston passed away on the morning of April 6. He’d been in the hospital in Trat for the past nine months in a coma after taking a fall in his apartment. He never recovered from the coma. Plans are to hold the funeral at Wat Chaimongkol, but due to a conflict with the Songkran holidays, a date and time has yet to be settled upon. For up to date details, call 094 567 5726.

Loaded up left lanes

Bad music

Been called out

If I ever have a baby …

Pattaya turnoffs

Bad van drivers

Death Notice