LETTERS
HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Boats to Koh Larn ignoring safety ropes

Response to motorcycle madness

Traffic woes

What a sad situation

Destroying Pattaya’s nightlife

A quick and easy solution

Double pricing in UK

Boats to Koh Larn ignoring safety ropes

Dear Sirs,
I am writing once again on the subject of Koh Larn, one of my favourite destinations for many years. Having sorted out the swimming areas with lovely new rope and buoys, etc., now they need to police the boats.

I was there on 18th February and to my amazement one of the big speed boats just drove across the rope and straight into the swimming area, ignoring swimmers.
I attach a photo proving this.
Like having drinking and driving laws which are designed to save peoples lives, there is no point in having the swimming areas when they are ignored.
I noticed last week that [a large hotel’s] boat also did exactly the same thing, and brought their tender straight over the ropes into the swimming area. Is the management of the [hotel] aware of this being standard practice? It was not a one off!
So, again I ask, can sanity return and the boat area stay as the boat area and the swimming area keep swimmers safe?
I hope this reaches the right authorities. It would be a shame if there had to be yet another death before action was taken. Pattaya needs favourable publicity not obituaries!
Thanks,
David Mead


Response to motorcycle madness

Dear Editor;
I am writing this in response to a letter from Carlos Fasteneda (Vol. XIV No. 5) regarding “a criminal menace loose on the streets of Pattaya”.
There is no shortage of names he has for the riders of motorcycles in general, “criminals”, “madmen” and “menace” he manages to put in the first sentences of his letter.
Of course I am not making excuses for the behavior of those men he writes about, but to say that every biker is a criminal menace that should be stopped and get his bike confiscated is just plain stupid.
If that is the way to do things, then the best solution for eliminating the accidents on the roads of Thailand is to ban all motor traffic, or we could also put a law in effect that whenever a car is involved in a traffic violation then the driver of that car will get his car confiscated and if he breaks the law again then of course he should be thrown out of Thailand (lose the privilege of living in Thailand) even if he is a Thai citizen.
Of course this is not the first time that bikers have been called criminals; it seams to me that it is enough to own a bike to get those names attached to us, but usually it comes from ignorant people who have no idea what they are talking about.
Best wishes,
Thordur G. Sigfridsson


Traffic woes

Sir:
I have lived in Pattaya for the last 19 years. During this time I have been witness to many changes to this wonderful tourist destination.
One of these changes is the lack of response by the city fathers to address the growing traffic problems.
After being gone for 3 months in my new job I returned to Pattaya to close my house and move my personal belongings to my new home outside of Thailand. The new traffic restriction devices (traffic lights) on Sukhumvit Road are simply unacceptable. They are not timed properly and lead to congestion that would rival anything in any city of 15 million.
More traffic lights is not the answer to your problem. Making all persons in Pattaya obey the traffic laws would be a great start, though. With everything from motorcycles going the wrong way on every street in Pattaya, including Sukhumvit, to people double and triple parking everywhere except the intersections, the traffic is now unbearable.
And please, no more feasibility studies. They are a waste of taxpayers’ money if you don’t get experts to compile the data.
My family was going to spend all of my month off in Pattaya, but now, after all my complaining, they want to go to the River Kwai. I want to go to Mission Hills in China. At least there are reasons for the traffic in China. In Pattaya there is no good reason for the traffic problems.
Dr. Doom


What a sad situation

Editor;
What a sad situation: a small beautiful forested area on Soi Wat Boon Jomtien has now become an unofficial rubbish tip. The rubbish is now smouldering, and I can see it one day setting alight the small forest around it. Please mayor take notice, you could have a forest fire soon, threatening property.
This is not a Thai thing, everywhere in the world lazy uncaring folk dump their rubbish, with no-regard of the consequence.
If this continues, the old blue planet will become the dirty old smelly planet. Should keep the aliens from visiting us.
Matt Anderson


Destroying Pattaya’s nightlife

Editor,
It is apparent to all that Pattaya is booming. There is a great deal of new construction taking place and this indicates heavy inward investment. Pattaya’s reputation as an international holiday and entertainment centre is being rapidly enhanced and this is greatly to the benefit of local people and the Thai economy in general.
It is, of course, the ‘nightlife scene’ that underpins Pattaya’s attractiveness to foreign tourists. During the past year there has been heavy investment, both on and off Walking Street, in new bars and entertainment venues as well as in the refurbishment of existing establishments. All this is now under serious threat as a result of seemingly arbitrary police action.
Recently (Friday 10th February – Saturday 11th February) plain clothes police raided Walking Street bars from quite early in the evening and, at 1 a.m., they enforced the closure of all bars. This follows the enforcement of 2 a.m. closure three weeks ago (previously, it was 3 a.m.).
It is clear that Walking Street will find it difficult to continue to operate as a leading international entertainment centre if this kind of harassment continues and early closure is enforced. However, it is national government policy to enforce 12 midnight bar closure. This may well be the next step the police will take in Walking Street. If so, this will be the death knell for Pattaya as a major international tourist destination.
One assumes that the police are acting on instructions from national government level – while still exercising a fair amount of discretion on the ground. In the recent past Walking Street has been given concessions on closure times which have not applied elsewhere. These concessions are now being progressively withdrawn. The likely consequences for the local economy seem to be obvious enough. Expats will move on to Cambodia and other places and the international tourist influx will inevitably tumble.
The Thai tourist industry can survive the tsunami, SARS, bird flu and other natural calamities – but it will not prevail against the massive own goal that is being visited on it by politicians at the present time.
Expat Resident
South Pattaya


A quick and easy solution

Editor;
It seems to me that the easiest solution to manage the never-ending issue with the Pattaya/Jomtien baht bus pricing debate is to simply require them to install a coin drop. This would be the only way to ensure the drivers don’t try to “adjust” their rates depending on their customer’s apparent wealth or citizenship. Just as Bangkok required the meters installed in the taxis there, the Pattaya municipal authority should seek a similar solution. It removes the baht-bus consortium’s ability to argue, it removes the baht-bus driver’s ability to scam, and it protects all patrons of the baht-bus transports despite any color, race, or religious difference from what is in fact a form of racial extortion.
I agree with the charging of higher prices to tourists for entry into national parks, or other government serviced or owned venues. But I disagree with the overcharging of foreigners as policy of private businesses such as baht-buses, etc. I am a foreign resident, I work for a company incorporated in the Kingdom of Thailand, and I am paid on a Thai pay scale. I’m here because I like Thailand and Thai people. Why should I be required to pay more than any other Thai?
I would also like to see the Pattaya and Chonburi governments begin developing or rather supporting the re-invention of Pattaya as a business location. There are no true office buildings or enterprises in Pattaya.
The entire local economy is based around support of tourism. That’s putting all the eggs in one basket. There needs to be something capable of supporting the economy if tourism dries up the way the reservoirs are.
I would also like to see the traffic police move out to some of the greater Pattaya area and begin penalizing the 9 to 14 year old boys who think the roads are their personal race-track. They aren’t allowed to have licenses at that age, and they aren’t wearing helmets as they go racing past the policeman standing on the side of the road. Why isn’t someone doing something about these young children who are recklessly endangering their lives and those of the other people on the roads? Impound those motorbikes and make the parents pay substantial penalties to get them back. Without a substantial penalty there is no deterrent to continued abuse.
Until the Pattaya government can resolve these issues, and show the ability to complete their various civic improvement projects with any sense of urgency and quality (such as the Beach Road project to place all overhead power lines underground - note the wires are still up there), and complete one before starting on another half-effort grandiose idea, no one will ever take Pattaya seriously as other than a night time entertainment spot.
Best regards,
Resident Taxpayer


Double pricing in UK

Sir;
Well I never, where in Scotland does Colin Jamieson buy his bottles of beer? THB70 is a little over £1, so I need to move north fast!
Seriously, I have lived abroad, and every tourist area I have been to has had places where they have tried to overcharge me. They take advantage of a tourist’s unfamiliarity with the local currency and charge way over what the published prices are. In many tourist areas of the UK they have inflated prices for tourists, yet charge a different rate for locals. At least in Thailand everyone knows farangs are charged more.
This doesn’t make it right, but at least it is honest.
Yours faithfully,
R. Thompson


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