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Disturbed by unlicensed premises in Bangkok

New traffic light system

Thailand Post reinvents itself?

Teach those brats

Baywatch

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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