HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Beware of pickpockets

‘City Unveils Pattaya monorail plan’ (chuckle, chuckle)

Car hire troubles

Gold chain thefts

Liberal error

It was both sides’ fault

OPEC & Thaksin

Beware of pickpockets

Editor;
Well, it has finally happened to me after living here for many years and always being careful and diligent. I was pick-pocketed on a baht taxi to the tune of 6400 baht, in broad daylight. 5 ladies provided the loss. The one next to me was covering her lap with a large blanket and her talented little fingers got into my pocket in a flash. I kept patting my pocket to check on the cash, but all it took was a couple seconds during a distraction. Big rain and a bump on Thappraya Road to get the job done. I am glad I left my credit cards, etc at home.
So, always keep cash in a snapped shut pocket and don’t carry ‘butt-lump’ wallets around with you. With all these backpacks and fat wallets on farangs, looking more like women with big purses these days, it is just an advertisement for ‘come and get it’ to the low life types that are lurking.
All my bills were new and folded and easy to pick. The funny thing is that she actually put a crumpled 20 baht bill in my pocket to allow me to pay the taxi. What a ‘jai dii’ person. I hope it will be ‘tum dii, dai dii, tum chua, dai chua’ this time around.
Hyde Parke
Pattaya

‘City Unveils Pattaya monorail plan’ (chuckle, chuckle)

Editor;
I now fully understand the meaning of the saying ‘Fun City’, because I couldn’t stop laughing when I read the headline ‘City Unveils Pattaya monorail plan’. This is the latest laugh-athon that the non voting community has to put-up-with.
I thought that a beach replete with golden sands - although to call it that in Pattaya is stretching the imagination - was meant to attract tourists, who would then meander along the promenade, stopping at restaurants and bars, browse through the various shops choosing gifts to take back to their loved ones back home.
Has the city elders taken into account the effect a monorail would have on these businesses? Have they considered the restricted sightlines their ‘ambition plan’ would cause, or perhaps they have a plan to compensate these businesses that have paid top-dollar for this prime location.
How do they come up with these ideas, do they have a voting procedure - oh I’ve just remembered how that works in Pattaya…
But why do we need a monorail or a tram for that matter, Beach Road can easily be maneuvered along by using the baht buses.
They provide easy access along Beach Road, let’s face it they are cheap, plenty of them (over 700 at last count) and you can jump on or off wherever you want regardless of disruption to other motorists and a flagrant disregard for traffic regulations. Oh but I forgot (again) … a headline in the Pattaya Mail issue 29 states, ‘ Police to get tough with baht bus drivers’. Mmm… has anybody seen this being implemented? Next time you are at the chaotic Dolphin roundabout take a look at the baht buses stopped illegally on the red lines - often double parked. Wow they are really lucky the police haven’t spotted them yet!
And now the latest brainwave a clamp down on Soi 6! Yes it seems that this is giving a negative affect for Pattaya… What? We all know what Soi 6 is, what it offers and for many of you, how much it costs.
Perhaps the city elders need a history lesson:
Q: What was Pattaya 40 years ago?
A: A stopping off point for soldiers on R&R and with this came the girls: - it’s called supply and demand.
This is the very foundations of Pattaya; restricting these types of venues would be like banning gambling in Las Vegas!
It seems to be that the only clear vision by the city elders is to come up with grand schemes that will make some people very rich and do very little to enhance the city. In the meantime, with dwindling tourist rates and a crumbling global economy, shouldn’t they be doing all they can to satisfy and safeguard the tourists they do have? And if they want to rid Pattaya of its bad-boy image and turn it into a resort, then they should concentrate on making sure every footpath is buggy/wheelchair friendly (try getting into the all new-singing and dancing - Avenue for a coffee or a burger in a wheelchair), western style public toilets, and no pornography openly on sale on Beach Road - that’s another blind eye that the authorities have managed.
As an expat, I can never vote, and it’s just as well because we tend to vote for people who will make a change - for the good - and vote for someone who will follow up his words with action.
I dearly hope that some official in Bangkok can get an idea of what is going on here - do you remember we had a circus in town a couple of years back? Did they leave a few clowns?
Personally I don’t want Pattaya to become some faceless resort, if you wander around Walking Street after 2am you can still find a snake and even the odd elephant - this is the charm of Pattaya and indeed Thailand and many tourists and expats love it.
Anyway, my point is, don’t believe everything you read. These headlines are merely there to make sure that the city in all its capacity is being seen to be doing something.
In the meantime I like many of you; I can’t wait to read through tears of laughter what the authorities will come up with next.
Alec Smart

Car hire troubles

Editor;
Roy Harris complains that he could not rent a car with his Thai license in Australia, USA or elsewhere. It is widely known that international law says that you need an International Driving License. This is true if your name is Roy Harris too. And if you drive without it than it might be your problem in the case of an accident - so be happy that they did not give you a car. So what is this complaint about? That not everyone ignores the law?
Peter Stubenkastl

Gold chain thefts

Dear Editor;
Many Falangs and some Thais are still ignorant enough to wear gold chains in order to “show off” how wealthy they are. The more they “show off”, the higher the crime rate becomes due to thefts. Here’s an idea to put an end to this problem. Anyone who wants to demonstrate their wealth can make a photocopy of their bankbook as well as their annual tax form. They can wear this info in a clear plastic waterproof envelope pinned to the front of their shirt. In order to address those that are illiterate, a recording can be made in Thai, English, and other languages spoken in Pattaya. This recording can be played on a portable radio as the big shot travels the streets of Pattaya. Gold chain theft will be eliminated, and pompous boors will be quite pleased with themselves. A win-win situation.
Regards,
Bill Turner
California

Liberal error

Dear Editor;
Richard Franklin replying to John from Yasothon is good at parroting Democrat talking points about the causes of the sub prime mortgage meltdown in the USA. Unfortunately for him and the Democrats he has it backwards.
His paragraph should read as follows with corrections in Italics:
“The US housing crash was caused by Bill Clinton taking restraints off the loan market and unscrupulous, uncontrolled Democrat congressmen such as Barney Frank & Chris Dodd pushing banks into signing up anybody to mortgages that they had no hope of sustaining.”
And on that vein, it wasn’t capitalism and greed that destroyed the US economy. It started with the community re-investment act of 1975 and the Democrats forcing banks to make bad loans, loans that under normal market principles would never have been given out. Obama supported these policies and even helped to train members of ACORN to go out and vigilantly pursue banks to force them to continue to make subprime loans.
I am disappointed in the lack of understanding that Americans have of this issue. But, then again, no one in the mainstream media is rushing to explain this because it might hurt Obama and the Democrats. Funny, the Democrats and the policies that Obama supported created the current economic disaster, and now they are reaping the political gains from it.
Respectfully,
Ray Lepard
Pattaya

It was both sides’ fault

Editor;
Re to Richard Franklin: “The US housing crash was caused by George W taking restraints off the loan market and unscrupulous, uncontrolled brokers signing up anybody to mortgages that they had no hope of sustaining.”
You really need to educate yourself a little more about this before you speak. It has been well documented that Barack Obama and Barney Frank were the greatest recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac largess; not to mention a couple of other well-known Democrats starting from the first term of the Clinton presidency.
It is everyone’s fault in both parties, and IMHO they should all be prosecuted.
Regards,
Doug

OPEC & Thaksin

Editor:
Quote, “Some OPEC countries are worried they can’t survive at the low price of oil.” Is this a joke? What about the rest of the world? How do we survive at $140 a barrel? All the global markets are like spoilt children, irresponsible. When they do not get what they want, they cry, so you give in to them and they are happy again, until the next crisis.
Also, people of the world stop praying for God to help you, get your government to stop lining its pockets, and feed its people. If not the Army should warn them, ‘do something, or we will’.
The best example is Magbee & Thaksin, rise up against them. Thaksin is sitting in my country, UK. He will not be extradited because he has big money. Shame on the Labour Government.
As a retiree from Thailand, does he have to go through what I do in Thailand, with little help from the embassy?
Does he have to go through the immigration process every 3 months?
Does he have to have copies of his bank account to show he has enough in the bank to support him, even though he has bought a multi-million pound house?
Does he have to show a proof of his address?
Does he have to have numerous copies of the pages of his passports?
Does he need a letter from Thai embassy, to prove his wealth?
Matt Jomtien

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