HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Problem postal worker moved to Bangkok?

A letter of thanks

Bad start for some at Scout Jamboree

A most pleasant surprise

Put off by half-eaten food and empty boxes

Tired of thieves

Amazing Noise

Caught tourist police on a bad day

Problem postal worker moved to Bangkok?

Editor;

I have lots of sympathy with Fevzi Dintas from Turkey regarding mail in Thailand. Mr. Dintas’s problem seems to be in Bangkok. I remember this column has had many recorded events over the years. When my wife lived in Bangkok for a (short while) we had few problems with mail. However, whilst she was in Pattaya, waiting for her visa I could not send anything thicker than one sheet of paper or it never arrived. All thick letters and those containing photographs never arrived. So I soon stopped sending them.

It was pretty obvious where the culprit worked, but we could get nothing done. We lost nothing of real value, only photos, so we rarely used the post and relied on the phone.

Perhaps the individual concerned has moved from Banglamung to BKK!

PA UK

A letter of thanks

Editor;

I wish to thank all our generous sponsors, advertisers, publisher, and staff of our monthly newsletter, Pattaya Mail, the press, all the management and the F and B departments and staff of all the hotels and restaurant venues of Pattaya, hosting our monthly luncheons and coffee mornings, and to each P.I.L.C. committee member and member, and guests, for your very invaluable support, which helped us during our fundraising events, to assist the local charity communities, as without your help it would have never been possible, and for all your great generosity and support, and interest. I am indeed very grateful and appreciative. Thank you all very much.

I wish you all very happy holiday seasons and a very happy and healthy New Year 2003

Laurence Fatus

President

Pattaya International Ladies Club

Bad start for some at Scout Jamboree

Editor;

Not having their camps, about 2 groups of Indonesian scout girls & boys got neglected until after midnight at 1st day of the World Jamboree 2003 Thailand. They had walked around the camp area, looking for camps with 1 or 2 adult leaders, for more than 4 hours long, wearing their scout uniform which they had worn since they were in Indonesia, without dinner, hot water, carrying big suitcases & backpacks. One Girl Scout got sick and was sent to the medical camp. The only food given by the medical camp was just for the sick girl. They finally took rest in a warehouse, separated from the other contingent.

Why don’t the kids get enough facilities in the world jamboree 2003?

Unhappy Campers

A most pleasant surprise

Editor;

I went to my favourite restaurant in Pattaya and received a most pleasant surprise. The old smoking area is now reserved for those immune to loud noise. The area is now a soundproof room (check one up for intelligent renovation) where kids can frolic and scream, tour groups can do their thing, and the uninitiated into civilized behaviour can enjoy rock and roll to their hearts content. (For a change at this time of year all we hear is loud speakers belting out “Jingle Bells” over and over again. This will continue for an entire month.)

A noise room? All wishful thinking of course, but where do bars and restaurants get the idea that people want to shout over the top of loud, obnoxious music, or parents get the idea that people should tolerate obnoxious, screaming children. (Parents make no attempt to corral these children or keep them quiet.)

All this din is enough to give one a heart attack, or a nervous tick, or a spastic colon. It certainly gives one an abnormal disposition. Repeated calls for silence or volume reduction fall on deaf ears. All this noise is as bad or worse than second hand smoke. This noise should have been thrown out with the smoker. The idea of a sound proof room is not too far fetched. I say put the music lover and the crying babies in a room by themselves and turn up the volume. No escape hatch provided.

Ray Standiford

Put off by half-eaten food and empty boxes

Editor;

I am originally from Scotland, but my wife and I have lived in Bangkok for almost 22 years. We love visiting Pattaya and when we are there we try to find something different or new to us.

This week we discovered a shopping mall called Serene Plaza, located on Beach Road. The store was a real find. At the front of the store, they stocked everything that any tourist would ever need. In the central part of the store there was a treasure of Eastern/oriental pieces.

Everything on sale was at very affordable prices and I have to say that the staff were without a doubt the most polite and helpful I have found anywhere in Thailand.

I will have no hesitation in recommending Serene Plaza to all of my many friends.

There was one drawback that I have to mention. I noticed lying around the Serene Plaza store, plates with half eaten food and this was a bit off-putting. I also noticed that at the rear of the store there were a lot of empty boxes just piled high.

If these two minor faults are corrected, the Serene Plaza will be near the top of my list of places to visit in Pattaya, if you are looking for a bargain and good service.

Very kind regards,

Struan Robertson

Tired of thieves

Editor;

The man staying next to me at the hotel had his travel bag stolen from the room yesterday. How? Someone apparently had a copy of the room key. Since I’ve never seen this in print and tourists are getting robbed in ever increasing numbers, can we provide a list of suggestions for travelers?

1) If you keep items in the safe box get a receipt. If something goes missing it’s your word against the Thai clerks and the police won’t believe you.

2) If you have a Thai person stay with you have them leave their identity card at the front desk or make a photocopy of it. Establish place of work and local address.

3) Credit card fraud is rampant; do not use your card outside of the bank. Thieves are currently using accomplices in hotels, restaurants, and jewelry shops to clone the information on your card, used later fraudulently.

4) Flashing large amounts of money is a mistake, you will at some moment have your guard down, perhaps not feeling well, maybe trying to enjoy yourself at the local bar, someone will remember you have that wad of cash on you.

5) In the event of a problem don’t count on the Thai police to help you, they may not. The general sentiment towards foreigners is unfortunately rather negative. The odd drunken buffoon, with no cash on him, arguing about his 1000 baht bar bill at 2 a.m. doesn’t help our cause.

6) Keep all your receipts. I recently had to pay twice for the same two days at a hotel. Arriving late at night and fatigued I hastily paid for two days not insisting on a receipt, the night clerk pocketed the money never registering it on the books.

Tired of Thieves

Amazing Noise

To the Editor:

I have been coming to Pattaya as a regular visitor for over 10 years. In that time, I have seen the crowds and related development grow significantly. What I have not seen is any real government efforts to control the congestion and pollution that comes with crowds. The Tourist Board seems to welcome as many tourists as want to come, but the Thais who run the beaches seem to do almost nothing to prevent or control the permanent damage to the environment that more and more tourists bring. It is an open invitation to a coming disaster for tourism here.

There is now unmistakable evidence that the horribly congested and polluted stretch of beach along Beach Road, which every experienced tourist avoids like the plague, is now spreading south all along the Jomtien beachfront. The beach chairs are packed in like sardines, and the space between concessions has been virtually eliminated. The place looks as much like a pleasant tropical beach as the stands for a soccer game in downtown Bangkok. Are the concessions required to place all those chairs, half of which were empty this season?

Equally destructive has been the proliferation of the noisemakers, which used to be generated principally by the endless congestion of that road by illegal but unregulated parking and rental businesses along the beach. These polluters are still there, but they have also moved to the water, where an unlimited number of jet skis and powerboats now pollute the water with petrol, and make you feel like you are living at the edge of some jet airport. The noise is constant and totally destroys any semblance of being on a peaceful beach. I have been told that a tourist from China was actually killed by one of these reckless jet ski drivers in a beach accident 2 years ago.

They finally did put up a barrier to the jet skis coming too close to the beach, but they are still free to generate all the noise they like well within sound of the beach.

What tourist in their right mind would fly 12 hours for a holiday to Pattaya/Jomtien, if they know that what awaits them are beaches so crowded with chairs that you can’t see the sand, or so noisy with jet skis and powerboats that you can’t read a book or nap for 60 seconds without being assaulted by the sounds of some power engine? If you don’t believe me, check out the area of Dongtan Beach next to Pattaya Park and count the number of powerboats and jet ski’s being hawked along the beach there.

What no one seems to know is why the government has made no apparent effort to control this mess. It certainly is far worse this season than ever before. Everyone seems to have gone into the business of plopping their jet ski into the water, start the engine, tout for customers, while we all watch the rest of the beach and tourism get destroyed in the process. Wake up, Pattaya! There are a lot of beautiful quiet beaches around the world that don’t tolerate such conditions and will be happy to say so in tourist promotions about the “Amazing Noise” in Thailand.

J. F. Scalone

Caught tourist police on a bad day

Dear Editor,

Every week I read in your paper about guests visiting Pattaya having valuables stolen from the hotel. A word of warning for those who have not already learned painful lessons. The hotel is not safe. Your room, despite what hotel staff may tell you is not secure. Hotel safe boxes are sometimes not safe. Thai friends sometimes help themselves to your credit cards, passports, jewelry and anything else they can possibly sell.

If you stop to think about it Pattaya is a perfect place for thieves, the foreigner, victim, potential problem will eventually leave. Every visitor to this country brings money in some medium, cash, travelers checks, ATM card, other items may be pawned. The Thai police, as noble and well-mannered as they are under most circumstances are overworked and sometimes unable or unwilling to assist the foreigner before their own countrymen. I have heard many good stories about the Thai police, I’m sure all true. The one time I visited the local station bringing the Thai thief with me, much to my shock I was loudly yelled at in Thai that I was lying, I did not have the valuables in question and was trying to personally injure the Thai person.

Well, where do you go from here? After about 30 minutes of interrogation it was determined that I was indeed telling the truth but then all interest was lost. I specifically asked the tourist police officer was he not there to assist tourists and his answer was no. So you see, police enforcement is selective. I’m sure I caught them on a bad day, in all fairness they probably have to deal with all sorts of nonsense, my simple point is they are not obligated to help you and thieves may steal with impunity.

Signed,

Lessons Learned

Letters published in the Mailbag of Pattaya Mail
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