Features

No double entry visas in P.I.

Dear Editor,
To whom it may concern, please note the Thai Embassy in the Philippines, at this time, for reasons only known to themselves, are only providing single entry non-immigrant “B” visas with a 3 month expiration date (correct supporting docu-mentation provided).
Completely ignoring the written and paid for request for a double entry 6 month expiration date “B” visa.
Yours faithfully,
A Non-Immigrant Visa “B” Person

No more “finish”

Sir:
Having endured the non-smiling, never say thank you checkout clerks at the Mike Department Mall grocery department for so long, it is truly a pleasure to have the option of Big C and Lotus. The last time I shopped at Mike’s, I counted twenty five people waiting to check out and only two of the registers were open. For me it was academic, because, armed with my short shopping list, I had to listen to the “finish” litany and was empty handed. Corn Flakes, peanut butter, margarine, garlic cheese slices, strawberry jam, and bread rolls were all “finish”.
At Big C, all of the above are stacked to the ceiling, multiple check out registers are working and the girls smile and say thank you. At Lotus, one even said, “Thank you for shopping at Lotus. Please come back.”
The only negative aspect of shopping at Big C is having to cross Pattaya Second Road. It would be wonderful if Big C or Pattaya City Hall could install a crossing light or build a pedestrian overpass. As far as the city fathers are concerned, it is highly unlikely, because in a city that relies heavily on the tourist trade, they apparently think it is just fine, that with the exception of the traffic light at Pattaya Center Road, there is no safe place to cross Pattaya Second Road all the way from South Pattaya Road to North Pattaya Road. Only someone with a death wish would attempt to cross this speedway in one of the worthless zebra crossings. The merchants on the east side must surely suffer from this situation.
Kevin F. Cleary

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink

by Jerry Holden, Ph.D.

As half of Thailand is about to sink into “waterworld” under torrential rains and near record flood tides, one wonders; with all that water around, why is there no decent drinkable H20 coming out of all those water faucets in the kitchens and bathrooms of the kingdom?

Jerry’s daughter drinks water from the tap through an Instapure water filtration system.
First, there is usually not enough pressure on the public water network to lift the precious liquid up to second floor level unless one has an expensive auxiliary pump installed, but even when and if it flows, that brownish smelly swamp effluent seems hardly good enough to flush the toilet with.
But, realistically, that water is not really as bad as it looks and smells, and is certainly fit to bathe in and even cook. But drink?
Nobody in their right mind seems to want to imbibe the stuff and prefers to pay good money for practically the same water, albeit treated and filtered, bottled, and stored for who knows how long in poly-vinyl-chloride plastic, or even shipped in on slow boats from exotic locales like France and Vietnam. Who guarantees that the often overpriced, despite government edict, bottled water is any better than the practically free one from the tap? Several independent surveys over the last few years have found that this stuff often is just regular tap water run through an old, tired filter system overgrown with algae and microbes and then maybe exposed to fluorescent lights (they call it “UV treatment”) for a short while. It is often still laced with toxins and full of live micro-organisms. It only looks better packaged in a pretty bottle.
Who has not paid 10 baht for some 3 baht bottle of water someplace only to find it smelling and tasting of rotten eggs (sulfur), chlorine, plastic, or all of the above?
So why not make your own “bottled” water? Sophisticated filtration units are on sale in many department and building supply stores, even on TV. Only problem is, most of these rather expensive (4000 to 8000 baht) apparatus, slick and sophisticated looking like expresso machines, require complicated installation and good water pressure. They also need to be refilled with bulk water filter material regularly, a process too messy and involved for most housewives to bother with.
But lately some household filtration units from overseas have come onto the local market which make water filtration more accessible for the typical, low tech Thai house.
I tested four such devices over the last two years, all of which work along the same basic principle: mechanical filtration against particulate (dirt) and activated charcoal for chemical (taste and smell) and organic (bacteria, amoebae, virus, etc.) contamination. Now this was a totally subjective test with no claims for scientific accuracy, but al four units tested and tasted by me delivered clear looking, clean smelling and good tasting water, and have the stamp of approval of their local testing authorities, so they can’t be all bad.
The first is “Instapure” made in the USA by aerospace and medical equipment manufacturer Teledyne. Very portable, this unit has worked well regardless of tap water quality and line pressure. Filters usually only need changing every three or four months.
The second, similar but bigger “Purity’ filter unit is also made in the USA. The disadvantage of this unit, however, was that it required extra space on the kitchen table next to the sink where space is usually a premium. The water quality is just as good as the “Instapure”.
The two other devices were of completely different design. These were the American “Instapure” and German “Brita” water filtration pitchers. These are the simplest of all to use and require no installation at all. They are both just a combination of an oversized funnel with the filter cartridge built into it, and a container to catch and store the water in, all made of plastic. By design, these are best for households with very little water line pressure, for instance rural areas, or for use on camping trips or boat cruises. It takes a few minutes for the water to seep through the filtrate so this is not great for impatient, thirsty drinkers. But the end product seemed to be the best tasting.
Now be forewarned: none of the manufacturers claim that the water out of these devices will be completely free of germs and toxins. For lead (Pb) contamination which might make your kids sick and stupid (usually only a problem in older buildings with lead soldered pipes or in wells near industrial dumping sites) only a special, very expensive catalytic filter will work. And to kill all bacteria, organisms and virus’ in it, water should be boiled for twenty (20!) minutes, preferably not in aluminum pots but in stainless steel or lead free glass vessels. Gone also will be the good taste and most essential minerals. Not even heavy chlorination as done in most European and American city water works will kill all germs, but it might kill you, in the long run. All activated charcoal filters remove chlorine well, up to 98% of it.
But I’ve been drinking un-boiled water from my traveling “Instapure” filter all over Thailand, Central and North America, and Western as well as Eastern Europe. So far I’ve not gotten the dreaded digestive infection called dysentery by medical people, “tourista” by Latinos and simply “the runs” in plain old English.
Jerry Holden Ph.D. is a globe-trotting author, movie maker and health nut now based in Bangkok.

No double entry visas in P.I.

No more “finish”

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink