- HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:
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Will opt for bicycle instead of baht bus
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The magic disappearing road
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Foreign visitors being peddled expensive Thai golf
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Drummond defamation case
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Road safety, not cosmetics,
should be paramount
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Upon reflection...
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Open message to President Bush
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Pattaya postal service
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Will opt for bicycle instead of baht bus
Editor;
Please excuse my belated email regarding your issue of baht buses double
charging. I would like to weigh in on the subject and hope to offer a new
twist to the scenario that you will include in Pattaya Mail letters.
The issue I have is the drivers go wherever they damn
well please. What should be a short b5 ride down a direct route turns into
all sorts of twists and turns and one ends up not only wasting time but
spending b15 in the process.
I would strongly encourage the Pattaya government to
organize routes and system. I would also encourage them to post the prices
in the buses for foreigners and disallow the driver from peeling the
stickers off at first chance.
I have seen drivers enraged and foaming at the mouth
ready to go to blows with foreigners (how *un-Thai* no?) over money -
usually due to greed and scams. These almost always from drivers coming from
the aircon bus station.
City fathers, please address this mess and make a number
of foreigners holidays more memorable. One bad experience leaves a bad and
lasting impression forever.
I will continue to pay the local rate of b5 as a person I
cannot see any difference in carrying myself or a Thai. Most drivers only
hassle me if they have no passengers and/or I’ve traveled a *longer*
distance. That said, I am so tired of it all and it has become such a hassle
that I often, very often walk everywhere save for returning from the market
with groceries. On my return in November, will purchase a bicycle. So they
are really big losers now.
These behaviors are very un-Thai and un-Buddhist.
MTV
The magic disappearing road
To the editor;
Once upon a time there was a road, not a big road, but adequate. The road
wound its way from Siam Country Club Road, opposite the orange wall of
Wanasin Farm, to the hinterland of Banglamung.
One day a wicked prince decided to raise the level of
some of the land adjacent to the little road. He contacted his friend, the
Sandman, and then hired several lorries and drivers to bring sand to his
plot. After ten days or so, of continuous comings and goings by the lorries,
the road had disappeared.
All we need to finish the story with a happy ending, is
for the fairy princess to come and put the road back. But this is Pattaya,
and I’m not sure about fairy princesses here, so we will have to ask the
city council.
Maybe they should ask the prince and the lorry drivers if
they know where the road went?
From a Concerned Resident
Foreign visitors being peddled expensive Thai golf
Dear Editor,
After reading Pattaya Bum’s letter in your Oct 24 edition about how
Thailand can be expensive I cannot help but concur. I recently concluded my
first ever visit to Thailand and it will likely be my last. I went to
Thailand with my wife (I’m not a “monger”) because many had told me
that it was a beautiful land (which it is), inexpensive, a golfer’s
paradise and warm. I like hot weather and golf. However, like Pattaya Bum, I
found that in many instances it was not inexpensive.
Take golf for instance. I had been lead to believe that
quality and inexpensive golf were plentiful in Thailand. While I agree there
are some quality golf courses in Thailand they are not inexpensive
especially for tourists. Not only is there a big discrepancy in costs with
this two tier pricing system between “Farangs” and Thai’s but the
price itself is considerably higher than where I play in the United States
(east coast).
In the US I live not too far from both Pinehurst and
Myrtle Beach (two US east coast golf Meccas) and I can easily find a nice
golf course to play during the week for less than 35 US dollars (often in
the mid to upper 20 dollar range) with all expenses included. For between 35
to 65 US dollars I can play a high quality golf course. Nowhere in Thailand
did I find comparable prices for the same quality. Thai golf courses cost
more for tourists and when you added in the transportation costs, the cost
was considerably higher than what I can play for at home.
I found the transportation costs particularly
“interesting”. To travel to and from the local courses I was charged at
least 1200 baht (per person) which is roughly 30 US dollars and rather high
for Thailand (based on my limited experience). To travel to Pattaya from the
Bangkok airport via Thai Limousine Service was only 200 baht per person for
a ride that was obviously a longer distance even when you factored in both
ways to and from the golf course. It was obvious to me that I was being
gouged just on the transportation costs alone, not to mention the two tier
greens fees and the mandatory caddy fee and tip even when I only use a cart.
To summarize, when you add up all the expenses to play a single round of
golf in Thailand it cost me considerably more than the allegedly much more
expensive US.
I originally thought before I arrived in Thailand that
perhaps I might consider doing an annual golf trip/vacation to Thailand if
everything went well. I can guarantee you now if I ever come back to
Thailand it will not be to play golf. I found Thailand to be much more
commercial than I originally thought and sometimes downright predatory
(money wise) to foreigners. The touts (of all types) can be very aggressive
and persistent. I certainly found no golfing deals there despite
Thailand’s reputation as a golfing mecca. I can do much better at home.
Sincerely,
John Huston
Ed’s Note: Obviously Mr Huston became caught up in the
wrong crowd. Had he joined the PSC or IPGC, for instance, he would have been
able to enjoy low cost golf and transportation, whilst contributing to
charity at the same time. Plus, he would probably have made some new friends
with better insight to Pattaya, and perhaps enjoyed some of the many
friendly competitions that are held here nearly every day of the week. We
hope that you might consider this upon your return.
Drummond defamation case
Editor;
While much of last year I spent in places like Central Asia, Korea,
Australia, Papua New Guinea, Scotland and the like I am finding it very
difficult to dispute your local description of me as a journalist ‘best
known for selling crime stories about Thailand’ ... though maybe you
should have said ‘about Pattaya’.
For you published this (under the name of Boonlua Chatree
and I suspect with less than charitable intention) in a week when I made 15
television and radio broadcasts to the BBC and independent channels in the
U.K. - as well as writing for my own newspaper - about foreign related
crimes in the Pattaya area alone.
Boonlua is an excellent chap and a rich fund of
information on crime in Pattaya in whose company I spent many amusing hours
over the last month. He does actually genuinely make his living selling
crime stories about Pattaya.
Had he really written the story attributed to him I am
sure he would have been able to give your readers more insight into the
situation of my defamation case, brought by James Lumsden of ‘Boyz Boyz
Boyz’ fame.
This news was of course published extensively in the
United Kingdom nearly a month ago because British press actually attended
the case and covered it. There were also I understand some very forthright
comments published related to this story - which of course I cannot repeat
in Thailand.
While I have no intention of breaking any Thai laws and I
am informed that my sentence (a 20,000 baht fine and two months suspended
jail term) is probably the lowest a libel court could make, readers of the
‘cult of personality’ led ‘Pattaya Mail’ may now be wondering why I
have not as yet published the apology.
It is as they say not over until the ‘fat lady
sings’.
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Drummond
Correspondent ‘The Times’
Road safety, not cosmetics,
should be paramount
Dear Editor:
Last Saturday (18 Oct), I returned to Pattaya after working for some time
outside the Kingdom. The first night I’m back, there is a traffic accident
outside the gates of Eakmongol 4 which I later learned resulted in a
fatality. While there has been much effort expended on rebuilding Soi
Katalow, sections of this street are nothing less than death traps. I’m
constantly amazed living in Thailand at how much effort is put into what is
an obvious bad design, be it roads, buildings, drainage, etc.
Nearly a week has gone by and there has been zero effort
by Pattaya officials responsible for public safety to correct or even mark
the deadly area that took a life a week ago and nearly took two more last
night.
Why do Thai officials apparently show more concern for
stray dogs than human beings? Previously, I thought that it was only the
Chinese that had such low regard for human life; I guess I have made an
oversight in thinking that Pattaya officials have anything resembling
concern for the public good. Talk is cheap!
During the last week while driving around Pattaya, the
new road repair program has shown itself to be all about looks and little or
nothing of substance. Road hazards created by the road “destruction” now
abound. These are more deadly than before because the new road surfaces give
the illusion of a proper roadway lulling the unsuspecting motorist into a
false sense of security. Truly a trap in any sense of the word.
When I see this kind of total incompetence, I wonder why
anyone in his right mind would invest in Thailand. Throughout Pattaya there
are hundreds of retired engineers of world class competence. Instead of
trying to run us out of town, why don’t Thai officials tap into this pool
of knowledge? If the Thai ego could get over the fact that Thailand is still
3rd tier emerging industrial country and use the available knowledge for the
public good instead of lining the pockets of a few “businessmen”,
Pattaya just might have a chance of being a nice place to live and a great
place to visit.
You have to start with public safety. While having safe
streets is an imperative it also means things like enforcing the law equally
- including the helmet law which just possibly could have saved the life of
the poor Thai who lost his life last week.
Pattaya “Beach” Bum
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Upon reflection...
Editor;
On reflection, over many holidays in Thailand, I feel the nightclubs in
Pattaya are receiving a very raw deal, one that to my mind is getting
progressively worse.
I have witnessed forced closing at 2 a.m., forced closing
before 6 p.m., a constant round of harassment from various agencies, many of
whom are not even based in Pattaya, and all for no reason that I can see (is
money involved?).
For their part the nightspots provide the very
entertainment that is the reason most of us journey to this ‘Land of
Smiles’ - lucrative (and safe) employment and working conditions for the
local populace courtesy of the entertainment industry, foreign exchange, and
much of the street lighting besides!
Surely those in authority are able to find more
constructive if not profitable things to do?
William Spencer
Bristol, UK
Open message to President Bush
During your talks with PM Taksin would you kindly ask him
to do something about the 300 to1000% markup we Americans have to pay at
most of the attractions here in Thailand? Since Mr. Taksin took office even
the state parks charge 20 baht to Thai’s and 200 baht to foreigners. I
would like to take my child to see some of the sites and we enjoyed camping
prior to the 1000 percent increase.
K.W. Crow
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Pattaya postal service
Dear Sir,
The experiences of Mr Gwyn Parfitt I fear are not uncommon, but my main
complaint about Thai postal services is in regard to magazines. I subscribe
to a monthly magazine from England (paying extra to have it airmailed so it
will arrive in Thailand within 4-5 days. It then takes a further 5-6 weeks
to get delivered, IF it ever does get delivered. How can this atrocious
happening be called service? To whom can one complain?
A disgusted resident,
Eric
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Letters published in the Mailbag of Pattaya Mail are also on our website.
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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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