HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Re welfare disaster waiting to happen

Electric company woes

Prostitution is illegal in Thailand

In Memory of You

Re welfare disaster waiting to happen

Dear Editor,
As for ‘very concerned’ of Bristol England, I think he or she is talking out of his or her fundament. Most of the ‘coffin dodgers’, greylings and snowbirds (mainly men) that come here have never had it so good. A lot of them come here with a large amount of cash or assets in terms of the local currency, and can easily afford medical insurance or health packages.
They can take advantage of the low cost of living here (compared to the west) and the seemingly endless supply of young Thai ladies looking for ‘sugar daddies’ or even ‘daddies’ old enough to be their great grandaddies; I think I’m one of the few here living in ‘isolated solitude’. Anyone who wants to know what it feels like can check out my blog: errolfinn (user name) at www.blogger.com, it’s not for the faint-hearted.
I think the disaster already happening here is the increased presence of the property speculators and developers, doing what they’ve done everywhere else that they’ve infected. Pretty soon, Thai people won’t be able to afford decent housing because these vultures will have picked the market clean and moved on to another unsuspecting location, leaving in their wake a huge vacuum between the haves and the have-nots. I think property developers and speculators, plus the super rich, are as much of a global threat as any terrorist organisation; they leave ordinary people (like me) feeling bitter and discontented with our lot in life.
Personally, I’m glad to be here in Jomtien, taking advantage of the health-giving hot sun and affordable living (affordable for now anyway).
Mr Tom Johnson

Electric company woes

Editor;
Just a note to let people know how the electric companies here operate. I am an ex-pat living in Thailand now for 7 years and the last 1.5 years here in Pattaya. I have a good job and always pay my bills on time. But the electric company now has told me (for the last 7 months) that something is wrong with my meter, so instead of getting a bill in the mail every month, I get a note saying to go to the company and pay NOW. So I do and also complain every time but the response is always the same. “We will send a tech to look at your meter.” Well it’s been over 7 months now and no tech.
I have my father staying with me and I take care of him because he is 81. I do have a great housekeeper to look after him 24/7 also. He suffers from emphysema, bronchitis, asthma and COPD with Bronchiectasis and uses inhalers, etc. We also have a nebulizer for him when all other medications fail and it turns into an emergency situation. This is run by electricity and normally does the trick but if the machine does not work then it is a very ruff trip to the hospital and usually turns into a 2 or 3 night stay.
Well one day last month I get a call from the housekeeper saying that the power was cut and we had no fans, air-con, etc. Well that sucks for her and my dad because it’s very hot. Anyway, I told her to call the electric company and ask them if they knew anything. They did not.
15 minutes later I get another call saying that my father was having a breathing attack and needed the nebulizer but there was no power. Well here comes another 35,000THB in the hospital and worries for me as I had to leave work in Rayong and drive home.
Dad was already in the hospital so he was ok but when I looked at out electric meter I saw that yes the power certainly was cut, literally. They had cut the 2 main wires leading into my meter. Well the only people foolish enough to do that would be the Electric Company. I had a local Thai guy wire it back up for me until the next day when I had to stay home from work and deal with the power company only to be told that I had not paid my last bill. I told them that I never received a bill so how could I pay? They told me that it probably got lost in the mail. Well this certainly helps my father critical condition doesn’t it? When I told them they said I should have taken him to the neighbor’s house and hooked the machine up there. Wow, rocket scientists.
I do know how the Thai systems work so there was no use arguing. I just told them to tell me how much the bill was and I would pay it and be gone. Remember the part where they think my meter is not working correct and they can only guess? Well they guessed 1700THB. I paid the bill anyhow and told them that a local Thai had hooked it back up for me and that he was an electrician. Well that was fine except for they charged me another 100b to send a tech out to make sure he did a good job.
Question? Do you think that when the tech came out to see if the man had put enough electrical tape on it that he also checked my meter to see what was wrong? What do you people think? Yes, you’re correct.
Anyway, just a warning to anyone who relies on the electricity for their life support equipment that maybe you should run down to the power company 2 or 3 times per week just to see if everything is ok before your loved ones die via “local technology”.
I’m definitely not one of the complaining farangs that want Thailand to be as perfect as my own country or I would just go back to my own country, but this one angered me. My dad could have easily died.
Tim Rooney

Prostitution is illegal in Thailand

Editor;
I have read some letters in my time in Pattaya Mail, the barking dog syndrome was the last one. But Matt’s letter about Uzbek ladies or Russian ladies being able to ply their trade in Pattaya?
For your information Matt, prostitution is illegal in Thailand, be it Thai or your Russian ladies. There is no doubt about it the Russian (Uzbekistan) working girls have brought more trouble to Pattaya in the recent years. These are your colourful and beautiful working girls, look at the police records for the amount of police arrests they have. The police have a hard enough job as it is without another problem such as this.
I can’t believe you say it brings attractiveness to the resort, and colour? I’m dumb struck. If you want your Russian ladies and Uzbekistan girls, go there. Pattaya has plenty of colour for me, and 1000’s of others.
Your letter also implies that most Russian ladies are plying their trade. How damn insulting. 99.9% come here for a family holiday, not to see their own nation’s ladies plying the trade.
I know, lets have a free for all, forget the visas, let em all in, Eskimos, (save on the air con at least), Spanish, Turkish, Arab ladies, with the full garb of course.
Your side issue of not many Thai men or Chinese men befriend Thai ladies, what do you think they come here for? Beach towels, cheap T shirts & noodle soup? If they stopped Russian working girls coming would the Thai men or anyone stop coming to Pattaya? I think not.
Pattaya is open, and long will it be, as long as we don’t start getting foreign prostitutes in the land of smiles.
Matt, do us all a favour and head to Russia, and see how open and friendly it is there, and how the gangsters of Russia would re-act to Thai girls plying their trade. I’m sure they would be delighted.
I have a funny feeling that this letter of yours is going to be bombarded with replies, so you may not even read mine, as there will be far better educated people out there who can say what I want but more refined.
Talk about red rag to a bull.
Dumb Struck

In Memory of You

This poem is written especially for our dear friend Malinee Suwanseni in her moment of despair over the loss of her precious son, Mark. May this poem, in some way, let her know how much Pattaya mourns with her over her loss.
In Memory of You
I hold you in my dreams at night
I call you in the dawn
And yet I have to tell myself
That you are really gone
That you are gone beyond recall
Forever and a day
And there is nothing I can do
And nothing I can say
You were a wonderful son, to me
So gentle, sweet, and kind
It seemed that I was always in
Your heart and in your mind
No, there is nothing I cay say
Except a loving prayer
That God will bless you, precious Mark
And keep you in His care
And in my silent sorrow there
Is nothing I can do
Except to live a better life
In memory of you.
                                    B. Phillip Webb Jr.

Letters published in the Mailbag of Pattaya Mail
are also published here.