HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Re: Smokers solutions to pollutions

A check-up from the neck-up

Thailand’s new airport:the great bird cage

Reward offered

Don’t tar all builders with the same brush

Big Man

Re: Smokers solutions to pollutions

Editor;
Aloha Pattaya Mail, Mahalo again for the chance to educate the people that just don’t know. I have put this to print before and for the new readers, I think this should be looked at again. There are 4.5 trillion filter cigarettes smoked every year. Now that there is a “No Smoking” ban in most places, the people with the bad habit (and I know, I just quit smoking, 3 1/2 years ago, thank you Buddha, thank you God), many, not all, seem to not only not care about their health, they also don’t care about other people’s health, or Mother Nature. Every time they flick a filter cigarette, there is a chance of a child picking up this toxic cellulose acetate and putting it in their mouth, or wildlife eating it, which kills many, such as dolphins, turtles, birds, fish and many other unknowing creatures. Many people who smoke don’t realize that every time they flick a cigarette, there is another billion doing the same thing. When you see someone doing this, in a nice way, let them know. If you change one person, you have saved some wildlife. When I clean the beach, I tell many people and they thank me. They just didn’t know. Teaching them is helping this planet heal. Look around you; we need all the help we can get. Do something; reach out, “just do it”.
Mahalo Nui Loa (Thank You Very Much)
The Keeper of the Ocean

A check-up from the neck-up

Editor;
Hey, I just thought it might be of value for your readers to be aware of a scam being perpetrated in many places throughout Thailand and now has found its way to Pattaya. I got caught once before with this oldie but goodie, some years ago on the freeway between here and Bangkok.
I went into the petrol station in South Pattaya. I got out of the car and asked the attendant for 500 baht of fuel and handed my business card & money to him to get a receipt for tax purposes, when another older attendant came up to me and started telling me about a free tune up and top-up of oil, etc. All in reasonable English. I thought that rather strange, but I was in a bit of hurry and just replied mai bpen rai, as I couldn’t really figure out what the catch was.
I got my receipt and just as I was getting back into the car I noticed 200 baht displayed on the petrol bowser. I asked my girlfriend in the passenger’s seat which nozzle the attendant used, and then I noticed that both sides were now displaying 200 baht where I was still parked. I got out of the car and asked the attendant (in Thai) how much fuel he put in my car and he just pointed to a plastic Jerry can and said that he’d just dispensed 200b for another customer on a motorcycle. What could I say?
Of course once I got back in the car my fuel gauge showed about as much as one would expect from 2-300 baht worth of fuel, definitely not 500 baht. But I had a receipt in my hand for 500 baht and no other real evidence apart from the fuel gauge, so I just went on my way with a lesson learned.
So, caveat emptor - buyer beware. Just watch what you are being served, because it is difficult to argue once you have received the change and receipt when it comes to petrol. I now understand what the catch was with the free tune-up. It wasn’t free at all, and the tune up wasn’t being performed on the motor vehicle.
David S.

Thailand’s new airport: the great bird cage

Dear Pattaya Mail;
I just arrived at the new airport, and my impression from the aircraft window was that the outside looked quite impressive. But when entering the terminal it felt like walking thru a giant bird cage!
This was so unlike (the usual) welcome to Thailand. It was cold and unfinished. The sparkle of warm friendly people has been let down badly and it’s a disgrace of a welcome from proud people.
While the Immigration services were excellent and fast, the whole process from deplane to outside taxi was over 1 hour. The biggest wait was for bags: 50 min. Singapore prides itself on 11 minutes deplane to taxi.
The facility’s cold steel chairs reflect the finish to construction: empty of polish, empty of refinement, just empty. The lack of pride in the finish of the building reflects the architectural waste of money.
Gary

Reward offered

Editor;
I was robbed by two Thais on a motorbike at about 4 a.m. on Oct. 23. One Thai was definitely a katoey, the other may have been. They took from my bag 8,300 U.S. dollars, more than 300,000 baht. The katoey who jumped off the bike and started to touch me was tall and ugly, while the Thai who stayed on the bike was smaller. The smaller one put something to the back of my head, which I assume was a gun. The katoey who was in front of me snatched the money from my bag and then jumped on the bike and they both rode off.
I will give half of any money received to anyone who helps identify and apprehend these two thieves.
Anthony Sawyer
0892461439 (Khun Porn)

Don’t tar all builders with the same brush

Dear Sirs,
I respond to your letter in the Pattaya Mail newspaper “How I see things” by Boxer. I am not sure what it is you are trying to say or indeed complain about when you comment on farang builders.
Having resided in Thailand for several years legally and with a valid work permit I have yet to see foreign tradesmen employed laying bricks, concreting or fixing steel structures on roofs, as this is not permitted by Thai law, so your dispute must be with the owner of the company not the builders as they, like all construction workers have to be Thai not farang.
Now to my point: wouldn’t it have been better to have sorted your differences out round a table with all parties concerned and found a solution to your issues rather than publish your views in newspapers tarring all professional and qualified builders with the same brush? We the readers have not been told of your complaints in full or indeed of your identity as you choose to bark through the disguise of our canine friends, and it is obvious why you have not mentioned the company by name.
One point that you forgot to mention is that all new construction projects have to be in the first instance officially approved by the local authority. A Building permit has to be granted prior to commencement; the project will be visited and finally signed off by the very person that granted the permit. If your farang builder was so poor, then clearly you have another avenue to explore. Or maybe it is easier to tar all farang owned construction companies with the same brush!
If you have a genuine complaint and one that could not be settled amicably between both parties then may I suggest you consider an arbitrator who could perhaps make life a little easier for you rectifying the situation or agreeing to suitable compensation.
It doesn’t take a great deal of intellect to detect that I am connected to the construction industry based here in Chonburi; however, as a professional and speaking on behalf of those who share my views, your comments and generalization do nothing to provide client confidence towards the majority of professional construction companies here in Thailand.
P.T. Coghlan, M.B.I.P.D.T.
Managing Director
C.S.P. Construction Co. Ltd. Eastern Seaboard

Big Man

I’m friend of a friend of Mr. Big
and so I couldn’t care a fig
I’ll get my contracts all tied up
and with the profits fill my cup

Doors will open wide for me
And suddenly I’ll pay no fee

When I’m the boss they’ll come and plead
that they have hungry kids to feed
complaining that I always pay
in bills that only last a day

And you, for me will step aside
My future’s path to open wide

You know I am the top man now
For you, your place is serve and bow

I’m number one
It’s all my fun
And out from me there shines the sun
You’ll get its beams when I am done
You doubt that this can really be?
Just look up here and you will see
Chonburi Hotpapa

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