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Disturbed by unlicensed premises in Bangkok
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New traffic light system
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Thailand Post reinvents itself?
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Teach those brats
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Baywatch
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Disturbed by unlicensed
premises in Bangkok
Editor;
As a holidaymaker to Thailand (Bangkok) I was perturbed at being literally
ejected from my choice of nightspot at precisely 1 a.m. (I believe Pattaya is
the same).
However, much to my surprise, I stumbled upon an array of
new nightclubs literally on the pavement, complete with tables, chairs, disco
lights (even candles!), music, fans and even my favourite mai tai cocktail, all
being openly sold throughout the night under the gaze of Bangkok’s finest. Of
course, no nightclub would be complete without a selection of hostesses, to
which I might add, were in abundance making life difficult for those trying to
use the pavement for what I presume it was intended!
Are these premises licensed? Are they not covered by various
health and safety regulations? Who authorizes such presumably illegal
activities? Is this the face that one needs to present to attract the quality
tourist? What affect do these clandestine operations have on legitimate
businesses which in my eyes are already suffering considerable financial
hardship? How does this affect law and order?
I realise it is none of my business but at the same time I
think there are issues here that need to be addressed. Probably not a repeat
tourist.
Mrs. S. King
Sherbourne, Dorset
New traffic light system
Dear Editor;
I would like to give credit where credit is due and the Pattaya
government’s new traffic light system on Soi Nernplubwan & Pattaya
Klang is going to make the road a safer place. The only thing they forgot
about was the crazy drivers who can’t read a sign in Thai or English that
says stop at red light here. They still drive over the white line into the
centre of the road making 3 or 4 lanes of traffic waiting to turn right into
Pattaya Klang.
Then on the highway turning right into Soi Nernplubwan
there are new lanes with markings telling them that the far right hand lane
is for turning right into Soi Nernplubwan with another sign saying stop at
red light here, but they don’t stop, they use the lane for going straight
on to cheat the good drivers who use the correct lane.
When the lights change we have 2 or 3 lanes of traffic
trying to cross the highway into a very small soi. It’s madness, and when
the lights change on the highway they can’t get passed all the cheating
traffic still trying to get down Soi Nernplubwan. The traffic police don’t
care and I have even seen one of them doing the same as all the rest
cheating.
The other problem with the new traffic lights is at night
about 1 a.m. on Soi Nernplubwan turning right down the highway the traffic
light system only works on green for a very short time. It nearly killed me
as by the time I get across the highway they have changed on the highway to
green and we all know how fast traffic comes to the traffic lights. So
please can they set the green light to work a bit longer on Soi Nernplubwan
late at night? If not, someone is going to get killed.
Well, the only way to fix this problem is if the Pattaya
government can get the traffic police to stop and fine all the people who
cheat, say 1000 baht. Maybe they will drive to the rule of law next time and
make it safe for everyone else.
Yours,
Alan
Thailand Post reinvents itself?
Editor;
Regarding the article – Thailand Post reinvents itself – Pattaya Mail
September 30th 2005. I read it and did not know whether to be amused or
angry – was it a joke?
As I had not a bank account in UK the only way I could
receive my old age pension was by sterling cheque sent only by the postal
service.
The cheque for April 2005 never reached me neither did
the Cheque for May or June.
A replacement was sent for the April cheque on the 20th
June but was never received. A replacement for the May cheque was issued on
the 27th June. This arrived at Banglamung according to the date stamp on the
envelope on the 2nd of July but was not delivered to me at South Pattaya
till the 9th of July. Even though I am nearly 70 I could walk from South
Pattaya to the Banglamung Post office and back in one day.
There was a similar experience relating to an injury
claim when three letters containing a claim form went missing and I lost the
claim because the forms were not returned on time. In England they said it
was not their responsibility because they had posted them but the
responsibility of the Thai postal authority and I should claim from them.
I was informed by a member of the postal staff that
because the cheque and claim forms were in brown envelopes they were treated
as “Junk Mail”.
My wife was also told at Banglamung that if we paid for a
postal box near Big C our mail would be guaranteed delivery.
I have since had to make alternative but questionable
arrangements for the delivery of my pension at a cost of 1,575 baht per
month.
I would like to know what happens when I die with this so
called postal service, can they guarantee that my Thai wife will get her
pension cheque from UK every month on time? Or will I be cursing them all
from the very hot place that I shall be residing in and waiting for them to
join me?
Yours sincerely,
Basil H J Hughes
Teach those brats
Dear Sir:
Whenever I read the latest issue of your esteemed newspaper it seems that
cases of motorcycle thefts, ride-by robberies, armed assault, etc.,
committed mostly by teenagers, are constantly on the increase. And I must
assume that this is probably only the tip of the iceberg as many cases go
unnoticed or unreported because the victims are too ashamed to contact the
authorities or the cases are not high-key enough to make it into the news.
Most shocking is that more than a few adolescents
committed their crimes for such mundane reasons as “wanting to have a good
time out on the town with the boys.” Some of the caught culprits even
confessed to a long line of “habitually committed” crimes. Have these
brats never been taught by their parents that one has to earn money with a
respectable, honest job before one can blow it on the nightlife?
Instead those social menaces find it much more worthwhile
to relief fellow citizens of their valuables. Something really has to be
done to teach those misfits a lesson they’ll never forget. I recall the
case of American teenager, Michael Fay, who was convicted of having
deliberately spray-painted a number of parked cars in Singapore a few years
ago. The court sentenced him to four strokes on his bare buttocks with a
rattan cane. Fay never spray-painted cars again. The memory of the
excruciating pain he experienced during his punishment and the several weeks
it took afterwards until he could properly sit again have probably put him
off for life from engaging in this sort of “fun”.
Thomas Schmid
Bangkok
Baywatch
Sent in
by reader Barry Moshinsky: Water Dept. supervisor looks on as a truck drives
into the hole they had just dug.
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