HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Penguin habitat a disappointing sight

Airports secure?

Leaks, but who cares!

Pinnacle responds

Take care of your belongings

What a wonderful circus

Penguin habitat a disappointing sight

Dear Editor;

I have been living in Pattaya for 4 months. Yes, everything is quite nice, the beaches, malls, and zoos. But I am not emailing about that. Recently I have been to the Rayong open zoo, everything was nice there.

Then me and my family stopped at the penguin habitat. My family really wanted to see them. We had to pay 20 baht or so, so I thought it might be special or something.

Instead of a wonderful habitat for the penguins I saw a disappointing sight. The habitat the penguins lived in was a 3.5x6 meter room. Half the room was filled with water, and had 25 penguins, so the penguins had no place to swim at all. With only limited space to swim all the penguins did was stare at the people staring back at them.

You may ask why some people care about this problem? Well we care because nobody really wants to pay to see animals being mistreated. Those animals in the small room are just like us in some ways. For example they care for the young, they may even get sick at times. They are even suffering from the global warming we caused.

As you see we humans have already did so much to the penguins, must we put them in a small room to suffer even more? Please think about this.

Love, Ellen from Canada

Airports secure?

Dear Editor,

Last weekend my partner and I traveled from Bangkok Don Muang to Macau. Amidst all the so-called security increases since the 9/11 attacks, I sadly must conclude that there still is a huge security breach at airports. That breach is the non-existent security check in the land-side of the terminal.

Airport authorities make great efforts to ensure no weapons or bombs can be taken onto airplanes, but what about the terminal itself? In Bangkok, there is no watertight security whatsoever from the moment you step into the departure hall until you reach the gate area. Although the check-in luggage is screened, one could easily walk with a bag packed with explosives through the terminal and detonate it, with potentially devastating effects. There are security guards with handheld scanners at the entrances, but they only check people randomly.

Of all the airports I traveled through, Istanbul (Turkey) is the only one where all people entering the terminal building have to go through metal detectors and all bags are x-rayed; these measures were implemented years ago out of fear for attacks by Kurdish separatists. In Thailand there is a clear danger of terrorist attacks, not only because of the many tourists here but also because of a potential spread of insurgency terror from the southern provinces. When will the authorities realize it’s a ticking time bomb?

L.S. Bergman
Pattaya

Leaks, but who cares!

Editor;

Certainly not our distributing Papa... For one month now, precious water has been leaking out of a pipe before the meter at the Hotel Le Colonial in Thappraya Road Soi 11. Although various calls were made to stop this loss, nothing has been done, and although the debit is slow, it will certainly add to the low level of the reservoir come the dry season. And when water will be scarce again, consumers will be blamed, overcharged, and quite rightfully upset. Gas prices have gone down, so the Water Administration could easily send a team of repairmen!

Water conscious citizen

Pinnacle responds

Dear Mr. Stephen Northcott;

This is in response your letter ‘Hotel New Year profiteering’ published in the Pattaya Mail Mailbag on Friday November 18.

Although we regret the unfortunate response of Mr. Beaumont and your resulting opinion of such cases, careful investigation on your part would prove that a majority of the hotels in the Chonburi area, as well as Phuket and Samui that have the necessary facilities to organise festive events will include compulsory participation in the Christmas and New Year event(s) when rooms are booked during that period.

This has been the normal and accepted practice for a number of years.

Reputable tour operators and travel agents understand this practice and have acknowledged through written contracts with establishments of their choice, to sell the rooms to their clients inclusive of these event(s) as part of the package.

Pinnacle Hotels, Resorts & Spas are proud to say that, Christmas and New Years special events at its various resort properties are extremely good value for money, so much so that guests from the various nearby hotels that do not have the facilities to organise such an events, gladly join in our festivities. Our business partners and guests trust us with the fact that we can turn these two evenings into memorable nights.

You mention in your letter about how much your company has invested in the Kingdom of Thailand, having had setbacks caused recently by the tsunami and before that by other calamities such as the bird flu and SARS, etc. May I state as an hotelier, that we have suffered as well, but as a management member of Pinnacle Hotels, Resorts & Spa I can proudly say that we have not laid off a single employee. We have supported families in need of help and have taken into our employ workers from Phuket who have lost their jobs due to the destruction of the hotel where they were employed.

We strongly object to the word scam in your letter, as you would already aware that the definition of scam is: >a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation<, while the definition of fraudulent is >dishonest methods to acquire something of value<.

We have done neither of the above mentioned, as we do clearly state in our proposals and our contracts that a stay over Christmas and New Year period requires the participation in the events taking placing during such time. We have not denied nor hidden the fact that we require our guests to participate in the events on our premises as part of the package.

As a final point, we would like to make it clear that we acknowledge the fact that every tour operator and travel agent has the freedom of choice to book their clients into any hotel of their liking and at the same time every holiday maker and traveller too can choose which travel agent to book their vacations through.

We are not shaken by your accusations, but as you have found it fitting to publish your views in the newspapers and magazines, we too will certainly follow up with our own investigations into the practices of certain tour operators.

Ingo G. Raeuber
Group Director of Operations
Pinnacle Hotels, Resorts & Spas
General Manager
Pinnacle Jomtien Resort & Spa

Take care of your belongings

Editor;

It happened again! My bag was taken by 2 persons on a motorbike Saturday at 6 p.m. My husband and I were going to a party, strolling along to get a baht bus (in the Wong Amat area), and all of a sudden only the handles were left of my handbag. Glasses, money and make-up were gone. So - warning - keep your glasses on your nose, money in your pocket, no mobile phone or credit card in any sort of handbag.

Regards,
Kristin

What a wonderful circus

Editor;

What a wonderful circus show we enjoyed last Saturday afternoon. Even Peter and his gang were there from Pattaya Mail. My little group was impressed by the high standard of the performers, well worth what we paid for the tickets. But the tent only had a couple hundred people there, mainly school children. Clearly a lot more ordinary people would have liked to have visited the circus but couldn’t scrape the money together, life, business-wise in Pattaya, not being what it was a few years ago.
From the girls at Mott Bar, Soi 7
Ed’s note:
Dear Girls at Mott Bar,
Peter and his ‘gang’ were at the circus on that particular Saturday because the Royal London Circus in cooperation with the Rotary Club of Jomtien-Pattaya and the Pattaya Mail invited 550 school children to watch the circus. An additional 1000 children had the opportunity to go to the circus last Saturday, thanks to the generosity of these three organizations. (read Pattaya Mail Vol. XIII Iss. No. 47, page 28)
Other organizations such as the Jesters have also done wonders by inviting underprivileged children to see the show of a lifetime.
The circus will relocate their big top to the Pattaya Park where the new season starts on December 15. They will perform until January 8, 2006. We are assured that the price of tickets will be adjusted, so that the local people will be able to take their family and friends to the circus.
You too can help bring joy into the hearts of more children by making the same gesture. I’m sure your friends and guests will be more than happy to contribute.

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