HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Not good stew

Men, women & elephants

More whiners than lovers

Regulation needed

Not good stew

Dear Mr Editor;
Spew + spew does not = good stew.
I’m so glad I made Mr Don Ward snicker, but in missing his own self-contradictions, he was good for a belly-laugh. For someone who says he is not self-serving, didn’t he seem keen to toot his own horn again? And loudly? He needs to brush up on his English, too. I did not say he got nothing from his society, but asked if his self-professed contributions to Thai society were because he got from it what he could not from his own. The answer, given unwittingly, was a big yes. The source of his pride and joy, a wife, was something he could not find back home. Some would ask what his wooing technique was, but I’m not like that. Others might say that a Western woman would not put up with his self-superior attitude, but I’m not like that, either.
Now to an issue that I know I’m not alone in noticing. With Mr Don’s excellent education, he can surely explain how the word ‘liberal’ is bad when it means ‘broad-minded’ and ‘tolerant’. Is he narrow-minded and intolerant? Like him, many people from his society and no matter which side they are on, refer to a view that is different than their own as ‘spew’. If all sides spew, no wonder the rest of the world objects. Some might say such one-sided leaning shows that education does not equal intelligence, but I’m not like that. I like CNN and BBC, as it has presenters with nice voices rather than the rasps you hear on Fox News.
Mr Don seems to not understand that to most of the world, the policy of the current US Messiah, unlike that of the former pariah, seems to be fine except to those who hear only spew. I understand that the opposite of ‘liberal’ in American politics is ‘conservative’. Now I understand.
“A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs, but who never learned to walk forward.” - F.D. Roosevelt. Wasn’t he one of the better US presidents? I also found this by ‘Chains Of Freedom’ author Sarah Wilde: “Common decency to the rest of the developed world is ‘liberal rubbish’ to right-wing Americans.” If everyone is right-wing or left-wing, doesn’t it mean that everyone must be going around in circles?
Never would I belittle generosity, but what Mr Don has clearly not learned from his time in Thailand is modesty. This is what my English teacher told our class: “When money is your only edge, you are not very sharp.”

Pattaya Patty

Men, women & elephants

Editor,
To anything that normal people find pleasurable, Western culture applies a policy of ‘if I can’t have it, I don’t want it and nobody should’. Automatically aligned with ‘sleaze’ is an activity that ranks with eating and sleeping as an essential of life. Is it any wonder that many men grow up crude or self-righteous and with a juvenile attitude to women and sex? Many men arriving in Thailand reject the dogma of moralists, but are unable to shake old habits.
Debating relationships and culture is like making omelettes; you can’t do it with truth without breaking eggs. All people, anywhere, think they have a good relationship until things go bad, and ego generally means that the parties are the last who can give an accurate account of their own situation. Of men who have been fortunate enough to find an acceptable wife in a developing country when they couldn’t where they come from, some then feel entitled to tell how the less lucky do not understand ‘the culture’. There often appears to be a belief that if being a robot is the culture, you must respect robots.
If I say to guys in Pattaya that I find most Thai women bland, the men will usually praise ‘beautiful, elegant Thai women’, which is okay, but also deride ‘fat, ugly, Western women’. Such men do not realise they are comparing bad apples that were all available to them at home, to good oranges where women have long been taught to appeal to men and be dependant on them, and are easily rented short or long term. People will not see the truth if their pride depends on not seeing it.
All cultures have good and bad facets, and whilst we must accept the bad with the good when in a country other than our own, we do not have to believe it is right. A simple fact is that the vast majority of Thai women that Farang (Caucasians) will meet expect far more from them than they would from a Thai man. That trait is very much a cultural one, and it is nothing to have ‘good face’ about. In mitigation, Westerners have always exploited foreigners in worse ways, only in recent times addressing the fault.
Much is said about Thai women not being all the same and the same applies to us men. Some cannot go home to an empty place and/or need help with daily life - he must have a she, who may have nothing in common with him but essentials. Conversely, you have men who think women are like elephants - great to look at and ride, but not to share your private space. To yet others, a wife is a soul-mate, both sharing their thoughts and aspirations, appealing to each other irrespective of looks and united through thick and thin. Rare anywhere, I never see it in Thai women with Farang men. I have coaxed admissions out of girls that if money did not exist, Farang (per se) would have no meaning.
But no consenting situation is wrong. What is wrong, is the way that some men, just like those who wrote the Western sexless road-map for the life of all, think their situation is as good as it gets or should be, and want to dispense ‘good advice’. Well, good advice is what is given when a faint heart precludes a bad example. The truth is that Thailand lets a man play the field that he didn’t play when he should have played it, and the silly impulsiveness of young men in the West is in older Western men in Thailand.
Tony Crossley

More whiners than lovers

Editor;
Pattaya is becoming more notorious for whiners than lovers.
Peter Wilson said traffic in Pattaya is the worst of 200 cities in 45 countries and many tourists tell him they will not come back here due to congestion. I doubt there is a city where the traffic is not as bad at times, and never in my life have I heard anyone base holiday choice on traffic flow. Is PW in a traffic whiners club?
Ray Standiford chose to live near a temple and busy market, then whines about noise from both. He wants a national morning ritual halted to please him. He one week whined about blocked pavements, then another week wanted signs warning people to be observant put everywhere. Someone tell RS that vigilance is the basis of survival for all life.
Don Ward says he calls it as he sees it and is entitled to jibe at Thailand, but if anyone else calls it as they see it and right jabs back at his nation, they don’t know what goes on there. DW’s whine was a fine example of typical hypocrisy.
Bob, Pattaya, is our own empty drone. In any subject he has a conclusion and then cherry-picks internet evidence to support it. We know where he, RS and DW are from. If PW makes it 4/4, it surely makes their lot the Axis of Whine.
Jack Tighe

Regulation needed

Editor;
I refer to the of Peter Wilson in the edition of Pattaya Mail dated the 4th December last, regarding the traffic situation in Pattaya.
I agree with Mr Wilson; the traffic situation in Pattaya has a lot to be desired. What is required is regulation of the traffic in respect of parking, baht buses and driving standards.
The first issue to address is parking of motor vehicles in Pattaya. This issue particularly applies to Second Road and Beach Road in Pattaya. Second Road has four lanes marked out upon it - yet the two outer lanes or should I refer to them as lanes 1 and 4 are congested by parked cars and motorcycles. This has the effect of restricting a four lane carriageway into a two lane carriageway. The two lane carriageway is then reduced to a one lane carriageway on some occasions by delivery vehicles and other vehicles double parking alongside other already stationary vehicles, adding to the congestion problem.
Serious consideration should be given to restricting parking on these roads 24 hours a day and removing all parked vehicles off Second Road and Beach Road, except for delivery vehicles that would be restricted to a twenty minute waiting time only.
The second issue to require regulation are the baht buses. These are a great idea if you are a pedestrian. You can just hail one down at a wave of your finger. But when you are riding a motorcycle or scooter and a baht bus stops in front of you without any indication or warning it is an accident waiting to happen.
Instead, after restricting parking on these roads, baht buses should be designated a bus lane, say for example in Lane 1 of the carriageway for the sole use of baht buses. This would improve traffic flow on the roads.
The third issue is pedestrian safety regarding crossing faculties and the sois that run between Second Road and Beach Road. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to restrict four wheeled vehicles from accessing the sois from 1900hrs to 0100 hrs daily?
Other matters regarding Pedestrian Road safety are pedestrian crossing facilities in Pattaya. Although there are designated zebra crossings on Second Road and Beach Road, motorists simply ignore them and quite often drive through the crossing when a pedestrian is using them. Quite often a pedestrian is on the crossing when a motorcycle or car will drive in front of them. The zebra crossing is designed to permit the safe passage of the pedestrian to cross the carriageway safely. Pelican or automatic traffic signalled crossings need to be installed to ensure the safety of pedestrians in Pattaya.
The final issue that needs addressing are driving standards in Pattaya, which have a lot to be desired. For example, who would undertake on the inside of a heavy goods vehicle when the HGV was turning left at a junction? How there aren’t more accidents and fatalities is beyond me.
I welcome the clampdown by the Pattaya police in checking that motorists have a driving licence and insurance, but surely it requires more than that. It requires educating drivers and how to manage hazard perception.
The measures I have suggested I hope are considered by the appropriate authorities to address the traffic problems in Pattaya and encourage tourism growth in Pattaya.
Gary Bebbington

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