HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Illegal motorcycle?

It’s not always genetics

Do you believe in miracles?

KFC isn’t all bad

Why I will stay away

Pattaya noise pollution - Why I won’t be coming back

Thai Proverbs for Farangs

Illegal motorcycle?

Editor,
Just a few lines to tell my story. I was stopped by the police on a perfectly legal “or so I thought” Yamaha Nuvo. The officers were doing random stops. I was waved to one side, one officer switched off the engine, took my keys, asked to see my passport. I produced my five year Thai motorcycle driving license, all Ok so far.
He then asked me if I had “pink paper” to which I replied no. He seemed happy with my answer and he said, “You no have pink paper, not good”.
He then put the Nuvo on the centre stand, started the engine & revved the engine full throttle. I thought the bike was going to explode.
The end result was a 400 baht on the spot fine (no receipt); 200 baht was for “motorcy too much loud”; 200 baht for “no pink paper”.
Can any of the readers enlighten me as to what is a “pink paper”? The motorcycle belongs to a friend of mine. The bike is all legal, green book, etc and the exhaust is standard.
I am a regular visitor to Thailand/Pattaya, but the shine is wearing off.
John

It’s not always genetics

Dear Editor;
In his May 22 column Dr Corness blames genetics for such problems as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. But let’s put things in perspective. Suppose my parents ate five cheeseburgers every night and smoked three packs of cigarettes a day and then got heart attacks. If I do the same thing and get a heart attack is that because I inherited my parents’ genes or inherited their lifestyle?
Doctors such as Dean Ornish have reversed heart disease in their patients without using medication by putting them on low-fat vegetarian diets. Now even if those patients were genetically prone to heart disease Ornish proved they can still protect themselves from it.
Or take cancer. Sir Richard Peto, one of the world’s most respected epidemiologists who has been published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, believes only 2 or 3 percent of cancer is strictly due to genetics. Peto was a leading force behind “The China Study” which showed how so much cancer could be avoided by simply going on a low-fat plant based diet. Proper diet and abstinence from smoking could prevent most cancer.
The symptoms of Type 2 diabetes have often been reversed to the point where the patient no longer needed medication by putting him on a low-fat plant based diet.
The medical establishment wants us to think we are helpless victims of our genes and that way doctors and the drug companies whose interest they represent can make tons of money “taking care of us”. For they know that if we learn how to take care of ourselves they will go out of business.
Eric Bahrt
Dr. Iain Corness replies: My article was written with the express purpose of getting people to look at their family history to gain an insight into their own medical future.
Eric believes in nurture as opposed to nature and puts forward an argument that if his parents ate five cheeseburgers every night and smoked three packs of cigarettes a day and then got heart attacks, if he did the same thing and got a heart attack is that because he inherited his parents’ genes or inherited their lifestyle? The answer is simply both!
He quotes Dr Dean Ornish reversing heart disease in patients without using medication by putting them on low-fat vegetarian diets. Now even if those patients were genetically prone to heart disease Ornish proved they can still protect themselves from it. I have no beef (sorry Eric) with that. We have been reversing coronary artery disease by diet (plus medication in most instances because the fall in cholesterol levels is quicker) for over 30 years.
As far as “The medical establishment wants us to think we are helpless victims of our genes and that way doctors and the drug companies whose interest they represent can make tons of money ‘taking care of us’. For they know that if we learn how to take care of ourselves they will go out of business,” I think you are being a little too sweeping, and in fact being more than a little unfair. Preventive medicine and annual checks are such as to help you to learn to take care of yourself. That is what I was promoting when I wrote that a poor family history “could be considered as life saving, if it pushes you towards looking at you own cardiac health and overcoming an apparently disastrous medical history.” I don’t really think that will put me out of a job!
Keep up the good work of looking after yourself, but always remember that no matter what, the death rate is always the same - one per person.
Dr. Iain

Do you believe in miracles?

Editor;
Today for the first time in 4+ years of being here I witnessed a miracle! I saw the police actually stopping a pick-up truck for going through a red light. Wow! That’s a start; maybe in another 4 years I’ll be lucky enough to see this event again.
Patrick

KFC isn’t all bad

Editor;
It was nice to see the annual KFC run take place recently, earning a few dollars for charity. How could anyone say KFC are cruel when they do so much good for the world?
Mickyfin

Why I will stay away

Editor;
I would like to tell you why I am staying away from Pattaya for the future. I accept that my case is a bit extreme, but much of it applies to others as well.
I arrived at Bangkok Airport on 31 March. My partner of three and half years failed to meet me as arranged. Upon arriving by taxi in Pattaya I found he had sold our business and ran off with the money, never to be seen again. I then decided, “what the hell - enjoy your holiday” so I hit the beach. For the next 10 days daily thunderstorms drove me back to my condo sometimes after just an hour on the beach. Then came the ASEAN Summit and the closure of Thappraya Road past my condo and no baht buses. That restricted me to walking distance outings for 3 days and nights. Then the red shirts arrived and the state of emergency declared. That brought back memories or the previous year when I was stranded in Bangkok for 4 days by the yellow shirts. After that came the crass stupidity that Songkran would be 18/19 April instead of 12/13. That subjected me and many other tourists to 7 days of hell getting drenched, often with ice cold water, every time we ventured out. And this treatment was mostly administered by stupid farangs encouraged by equally stupid bar girls and no action by the authorities to curb their thoughtless enthusiasm. And then to cap it all after Songkran the temperature and humidity rose to abominable levels for my last week. So after 20 years I have said farewell Pattaya and farewell Thailand.
I realise that the powers that be cannot control the weather or my personal relationships, but there are things they can address. My next holiday will be in the Philippines.
Nigel Grey
London UK

Pattaya noise pollution - Why I won’t be coming back

Editor;
I have just returned from my last trip to Pattaya, possibly my last trip to Thailand. Now I love Pattaya, I like the food, the massage the shops and I love to party but I also like to sleep. I always book somewhere a little off the main drag as I know just how noisy the centre can be.
But courtesy of a little loud place near where I was staying, I had the worst trip I have ever had. The place I stayed backed on to this spot, and you would not even take a second glance at it during the day, but around midnight it starts up. Now I am not a prude, I am a live and let live kind of guy, but the base from the sound system kept pounding from around midnight till 6, 7, or even 8 a.m. The whole soi is built of concrete and the base resonates through half the block, blighting about half a dozen different hotels. The sound comes through the walls, earplugs have no effect; it is unbearable. If I had had any spare money I would have moved but I had paid upfront.
The owner says he has repeatedly called the police and the mayor’s office but they do nothing. I spoke to other people staying in the area, they were easy to spot because they all had that same sleep deprived look, and they were all equally unimpressed.
As far as I am concerned you can disrupt as many ASEAN summits as you like and I will still come back to Thailand, but I am not going to spend my hard earned money on a vacation where I can’t get any sleep.
I don’t know who owns the bar in question or who he is paying off, but if he wants to run a club like that then move it to Walking Street, don’t locate it in a quiet soi off Soi Yensabai. The police are perfectly capable of closing the den of iniquity that is Sunni Plaza at 1 a.m. so why can’t they apply the same standards to the nearby club?
Matt Cardinal

Thai Proverbs for Farangs

By Thai-lish
Are you one of those who are interested in Thai culture, mentality, and language but find it hard to understand and get to the hearts of the people?
Learn these Thai proverbs and you’ll have a deeper understanding of Thais and even impress a few.
Thai proverbs are centuries old, and are widely used among the Thai people in order to explain the situations and matters so that the others can have a clear picture about what they are saying.
Some of the proverbs have words that usually rhyme the end of the first clause with the beginning or the middle of the second clause.
It is an artistic and fun way and to communicate. Try it.
Adage 3
ปั้นน้ำเป็นตัว (bpán-nám-bpen-tua)
Bpán = to form or to mould
Nám = water
Bpen = to become
Tua = body or shape
Meaning: “to form water into shape”
Simply means to lie or make up stories. Many politicians do that, and when you think they eventually will run out of water, it rains, and when the rain stops, Songkran starts.
Now some can also bpán-nám-bpen-kwai, meaning to mould water into buffalo. You will know this when they are always asking for money to send home to cure their sick buffalos.
Sawat dee.

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