HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

England wants to help

Baht bus debate continues...

Locked exits at Pattaya’s cinemas

Help provided shows who really cares

Auction signs

Time to clean house?

Looking for an old friend

Beach Road to remain a ‘hell highway’?

England wants to help

Editor;
Hi, I live in England and I have been visiting Thailand for many years. I always come to Pattaya, as I have many friends there. I just wanted to say that we care here in England for your Thai and foreign visitors that have been killed or lost. We are doing all we can and have raised many millions of pounds, from ordinary people getting together to collect money, and they will continue to help all the time you need it. We have cried for these people, although that doesn’t help, but it shows we care. So to the Thai people I say; may your Buddha go with you, God bless you all. I wish I could do more, as I feel useless. I’ve donated money but I’d rather help in some way, somehow. I’m sure many people also feel this urge. Meantime I’ll say my prayers for the lost and dead. Hope you print this letter to let people know they are not and will never be forgotten.
From,
Trevor I. Lyward
England

Baht bus debate continues...

Dear Editor,
May I throw ten baht into the baht bus debate? I am sympathetic with the views of my good friend Trevor Hopkins who takes a sensitive common sense approach on the global scale. We are, after all, part of a global village, as the recent horrors have underlined. However, were we to live in a village wherein one shop cheated customers of a particular race or cultural background, or indeed required that the local magnate paid more than the local crofter, I can see the kind of problem underlined by ‘Ptyrider’. I think the reality is somewhere in the middle or in the morphing. Cheating is a human condition. Pragmatism is the answer.

If the ride is a ten baht ride, keep a few ten baht coins handy. Hand one over and walk away with a smile and a cheerful phrase in Thai like: “Kap Khun Krap”. If you judge it worth twenty baht, give it. There is no sin in generosity. We once hired a baht bus all day to drive to far sights and sites for 800 baht for six people, the driver arrived smack on agreed time, waited wherever we asked and drove with care. We paid at the end without a prompt from the driver. I have never had a bad moment on a baht bus. Though there do seem to be an awful lot of them about.
Michael Round
London

Locked exits at Pattaya’s cinemas

Editor;
I notice that although your paper is quite informative, you seldom point out obvious things that should be corrected with popular tourist spots that you are informed of from your readers. I live in Pattaya most of the year since I am on temporary disability from the police department and am a movie fan. I remember the first time I went to the movies at Big C. I was shocked at the poor management and the dangerous situations that the poor management causes. A/c that is always too cold, sound that is lost during the movie at almost every feature, screens that are not lined up properly or the wrong aspect ratio, which normally takes them 10 minutes to discover and the fact that they do not let people in until the last possible moment and turn off the lights while people are trying to find their seats.

When the movie is over, frequently lights are not switched on, causing everybody to exit in the dark. However, the most dangerous of them all which I brought to the attention of the manager a few weeks ago is the exits are locked during the film. Last month I had to go to the toilet during the movie and was shocked finding the doors were clasped at the top. All three exits! All it took was for me to pull down the slide lock; however, in a fire, with people rushing the doors, I am sure it would be the cause of many deaths. The manager assured me she would handle this one month ago; however, when I went to see “National Treasure” last week, I found 2 out of the three doors were still locked.

I am a police officer in my home country and unfortunately have no police powers here. Lucky for SF cinemas since I would surely arrest the managers and owners for such a violation and for lying to a police officer about doing it.

I feel the Pattaya Mail should have some kind of responsibility to report this situation and try to get it corrected properly, not just the lip service I got from the manager, before a real tragedy hits and many people are hurt. It’s just a matter of time before these slackers cause a tragedy which could have been prevented by just following the regulations of the city.
Paul Shapiro

Help provided shows who really cares

Dear Editor
Omar Luther King writes ‘God is in full control of the situation caused by the tsunami’. This surely is blind faith taken to the extreme. It’s a pity the control was not exercised just before the event.

We may all have ‘reasons to believe’ but this recent natural disaster was caused by nature. If God has control then it should not have happened. It was not a miracle that some people escaped. Any miracle would have prevented the disaster.

People of many religions believe that God created the world and we are the result of ‘intelligent design’. This particular design flaw has killed probably over 200,000 people; a large proportion children. If God could prevent these He should. If He could not then what’s the point? If a block of flats, provided for the use of people, falls down due to a fault of design, it is considered to criminal negligence. People had no responsibility in this. They just suffer.

I have heard some try to justify this event by saying ‘God was testing us’. This horrific presumption suggests that the 100,000 or so dead children were just collateral damage.

We can do without this sort of thing. Life was difficult enough for many of those who suffered. One day it may be possible for individuals to overcome the effects of cognitive dissonance and recognise events for what they are.

We are on our own. The help and assistance provided by people all over the world shows who really cares.
Peter Ash
UK

Auction signs

Editor;
Now that the much touted and hopefully successful auction of Jomtien Villas is over, I hope the owners of this estate do not forget to take down all their billboards and signs plastered all over Pattaya, promoting this auction.
Thank you,
Ib Ottesen

Time to clean house?

Editor;
When you expect company you clean the house and do numerous things to make them feel welcome and safe. That’s what Pattaya should be doing at the start of this tourist season. Pattaya is now a blazing metropolis getting louder and more boisterous every day. In some respects it is a sordid mess. To attract a better clientele it should clean up its act.

Concerned with existing conditions I propose a walk thru the S. Pattaya area with city big wigs. These people don’t seem to know what is taking place on their watch (perhaps they have their priorities screwed up.) They need to get out of their offices and limousines and take tours of some of the worst areas of the city. The group should be composed of the mayor, the police chief, the traffic director (to escort tour members across dangerous streets), members of the city council, the tourism director, and a photographer. A person should also be selected to record all observations, questions, explanations, and excuses.

What better place for this group to meet than the parking lot of Wat Chaiyamongkhol (even temples have their problems). From the temple the group will proceed across busy Pattaya Tai to Hollywood Blvd. And thence to Soi 17. (Bring body armor. You will need it for the walk down 17 to 2nd Road). Now up 2nd Road to Soi Post Office. (What a mess.) A walk along Beach Rd. and back to the temple should be exciting and educational. It would be even more exciting and educational to observe the reaction of the group to what they observe and say for the record.

Why is it that some inadequacies important to the tourist never receive much attention? Beer and mini buses and boom boxes don’t fit the bill. Pattaya could be a real tourist Mecca with very little expenditure of time and money. Pattaya needs to be made safer, quieter, and more civilized. I like it but that doesn’t meat it can’t be made better.
Patient

Looking for an old friend

Dear Sir:
I hope you will take the time and trouble to help me locate my friend Suthep Iemsakul.

I knew Suthep 40+ years ago when we were both students. I lost touch with him in the late 70’s. I believe Suthep is a restaurateur of some distinction. At one time he was a co-owner of The Coral Reef restaurant and Outrigger Bar. I would certainly appreciate anything you may be able to do to help me re-establish contact with him.
Sincerely,
James Healy
[email protected]
Sanford, NC

Beach Road to remain a ‘hell highway’?

Dear Editor
I read with regret about the proposed ‘ocean highway’ to be build connecting Beach Road with Pattaya 3 Road.

With regret, because this would mean that Beach Road would remain a through road, a ‘hell highway’, and an ‘assault course’ for the thousands working to reach the beach everyday of the year, for the foreseeable future.

Pattaya’s obviously best natural feature being its frontage, I visualised that as the city progressed (sadly in some respects), Beach Road would be pedestrianised, becoming a people friendly area with the appropriate facilities together with a general landscaping that would complement the existing walkway and beautiful hotel gardens.

To ‘eliminate’ the car, is the general concept in most resorts, the pedestrians safety and comfort being first concern. I also visualized that most of the sois between Beach and Second Road would be pedestrianised, leaving access for hotels and delivery. Second Road would become two-way its whole length, with several pedestrian bridges. This road, Third Road and Sukhumvit would be plentiful once drivers are educated that way, and the ‘purposeless’ drivers deprived of just one route along which to terrorise those not wanting to scramble about on wheels simply because they have them?

There you are! I don’t know how much an ocean highway ‘veering’ off Beach Road (hints of Monaco here?) would cost? But in just one letter, I’ve probably saved the taxpayer millions of baht, and finished up with a more beautiful and more visit-able Pattaya for less money?

But what did I say in my last letter about English language newspapers being seen in city hall?
Yours
Dorian Farmer
Twin Palm Resort

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