HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Two surprises in one day

Why the difficulty with visa runs?

Men want the security of owning their own home

China better for visa runs?

Re Foreign ownership

Guilty of bullying ways?

Thanks for heads up on pickpockets

Two surprises in one day

Dear Editor,
I feel that I should let the people of Pattaya know that there are many good things that happen here in Pattaya.
Last evening I was riding on the back of my boyfriend’s motor bike. When I arrived at his house, I found I had lost my handbag. At first I thought it had been stolen while we had stopped at the traffic lights, or I had left it at my house.
I used my boyfriend’s phone to call my mother, but when she had looked all over the house, I really started to panic. I had 2100 baht, an expensive phone, a camera, and my ID card, my driving license, and many other documents.
So I decided to go straight to the police station in Soi 9 Beach Road. The policeman was very nice to me and told me he would get in touch with me if it turned up.
Well I thought that was the last I would see of my handbag.
But within about 15 mins, I had a phone call from my aunty in Bangkok, on my boyfriend’s phone, asking me to phone a policeman in Pattaya.
I phoned him, and to my surprise he had my handbag, and was only about 200 meters away from where we were parked. He told me a motorbike taxi had handed it to him, the policeman then asked me what was inside, and to my amazement all my things were inside.
I have to tell you it was such a shock, but the other thing I thought was unbelievable was when the policeman asked me was I Miaow that went to Sakaw School 25 years ago, I said yes, how did you know, to which he said his name was Rungson and he was in my class. We had not seen each other for about 25 years. So there was another shock.
I would just like to say that there are many good and kind people in Pattaya, and we should always look on the bright side of life.
Yours,
Miaow

Why the difficulty with visa runs?

Editor;
Why are the Thai immigration authorities making it so difficult for visa runs to Laos and Cambodia? I read recently that the 30 day visa has been altered, virtually without notice, to a mere 15 days for people entering Thailand from these two countries.
Because of the recent political problems and the sieges at Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports, many thousands of tourists have decided that Thailand is no longer a place to visit and have decided to take their holidays elsewhere. In spite of this the Thai immigration authorities do not do anything constructive to promote tourism to Thailand. (The surly and unsmiling frontline immigration officers at Suvarnabhumi airport would put any first time visitor off picking up their bags off the carousel!) It seems such a shame that instead of welcoming much needed revenue to this country they are virtually putting people off visiting here.
There is no other country in the world like Thailand. The people, I find, are the friendliest I have ever met in my well travelled life. They are hardworking, adaptable to any situation, helpful, happy and strong. The country is beautiful, though the cities are certainly busy and overcrowded.
The countryside and outlying areas of this country have such untouched beauty and it is a pity that not many tourists think of visiting the people and areas outside cities like Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket.
It is truly a heaven on earth for me and many of my colleagues so much so that we never go anywhere else.
Doug

Men want the security of owning their own home

Dear Editor,
For Mickeyfinn to say what Thais can do abroad should have no bearing on what farangs can do in Thailand is a joke. Is this the same person who stated that he and his wife were no longer going to visit Thailand twice a year?
I’m married to a Thai lady and our house is in my wife’s name. I’ve never been divorced and taken to the cleaners by my wife but many of the men who come to Thailand have, so of course they’re not stupid enough to believe life’s a bed of roses and nothing’s going to go wrong. They don’t want to lose the little money they have left (after the divorce) and they would like a house for them and their wife and future children, but they want the security of owning it.
Yes, there are people who you don’t want to let buy (developers) and there needs to be a guarantee in place that you can only have one family home, and when you sell it, it must stay a family home, or you must sell it to a Thai and not a developer of any nationality. Now what other reason will Mickeyfinn have for writing in?
Wayne Hobson
Natheekarn and Southampton

China better for visa runs?

Editor;
In last week’s paper (19th Dec) a Chinese doctor arrives at the airport, takes 3 taxi rides and only has 180 baht left in his pocket? I’ve just done a visa run to Singapore, had the runaround of ‘Eva Braun’ at the embassy and had to show $1000 in cash. So if anybody’s doing visa runs maybe it’s China. You obviously don’t have to show diddlysquat.
Steven Cochrane

Re Foreign ownership

Editor;
Sometimes I think you cheeky chappies at Mailbag print certain letters just to get the juices flowing to encourage responses. This is surely the case with input from a guy who signs off with the pseudonym of Mickeyfin who likes to comment on matters Thai/Pattaya but spends the majority of his time in palm fringed Burnley and I have a suspicion that there lies the rub.
He feels that it is totally wrong for a foreigner to own a house in Thailand as to do this turns them into money grabbing fanatics who just want “to make a killing” and don’t give a toss for the country or the people. His response to a perfectly reasonable letter from Freddie Clark a long time resident of Thailand who is retired with his family here was to brand him a “bully” simply because he would like to own his home and the land it stands on.
Fin then goes on to explain his own idyllic life living in Burnley whilst owning a house in Thailand owned by his wife but standing on land “owned by a Thai person”. What on earth does that mean, his wife owns the structure and some third party owns the land? Sounds a little shaky to me.
As far as the idea of foreigners coming here and setting up property companies, making pots of money and then skipping to the Bahamas or somewhere similar to repeat the exercise is concerned, I feel this is simply not the case and this perception is flawed. Firstly the majority of developers are Thais and I suppose Fin finds their effort to “make a killing” perfectly acceptable because of that simple fact.
The foreign developers that I have come into contact with are in it for the long haul. They are living here, are married, have families and are thoroughly integrated into Pattaya life and simply want the best for our city. They, in the main are sensitive to design and quality and have been very involved in creating new and exciting developments of good design and construction. Examples of this are Nova condos, Tara Court, Nirvana Place and others to numerous to list.
Right now there are no killings to be made and nothing is selling including foreign ownership condos and the floodgate theory is proven to be hogwash.
Then Fin prattles on about Bangkokians being able to afford houses above Pattaya residents as in Pattaya the Thai residents are “farm type people”. I’m not surprised he uses a pseudonym. The glaring truth here is that he has, by financial or working circumstances, to live in sunny Burnley as he cannot afford to live in Thailand year round. Although he has financed a house for his wife, family and some other bod he is a little green about people who live here permanently. Hence these rather blunt and unfair attacks on those who can and simply want ownership of there property.
Richy

Guilty of bullying ways?

Editor,
So having replied to the letter from Mickeyfin, I am, in his words, guilty of “bullying ways”. Presumably Mickeyfin doesn’t believe in the right to reply, at least not to his letters. If Mickeyfin considers a reply to his letter as “bullying”, just think of the terror I could induce in him if I had something dangerous, say, a balloon on a stick.
As for his noble statement, “If something happens to my wife, I will make sure the house goes to her family,” umm, you don’t have a choice in the matter, the house isn’t in your name. In 1999 the Thai government agreed to allow foreign ownership of up to 1 rai of land as part of the IMF bailout. “The government also amends the Alien Business Law to support the foreign investment and amends foreign ownership procedures including the Land Code and Condominium Act to allow individual foreign investors to own land up to 1 rai for residential purpose and to allow Thai citizens married to foreigners to own land.” (Ministry of Finance, Fifth Letter of Intent, August 1998). Unfortunately, somewhere along the line that got changed into only foreigners who invested 1 million baht could own land and then only in Bangkok or Pattaya.
Nahkit

Thanks for heads up on pickpockets

Editor;
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Pattaya Mail in a previous addition for making me aware of pickpockets in the Soi Buakao area. Me and my family were coming back from Tuk Com; we jumped on a baht bus and went past the market going through to LK Metro where three katoeys jumped on. The baht bus was full as it was market day. One squeezed in next to me and one next to my wife and four year old daughter and one next to a Danish man.
Thanks to your article I spotted it - they all carried large empty bags which hid their arms from prying eyes. I then warned my wife and the Danish man to be careful and kept my eyes firmly on the katoey next to the Danish man as his arm was slowly making his way to his pocket. At this point they knew they were being watched too carefully and all got off. The baht bus driver then found a place to pull over and asked if everyone was ok and check your pockets. Can you please post this in your Mailbag as a reminder? And thanks again Pattaya Mail.
Yours,
Mark Fenton from Stoke England

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