Mail Bag

 

HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Tourists - or lack of them

More on credit card charges

Good morning from Belfast in Northern Ireland

Ranting about TV in Thailand

The wrong kind of international visitors

Clean the streets

You should have seen this place before

Apply for your UK pension in UK

Tourists - or lack of them

Editor;

I see once again the Thai authorities are throwing money about, trying to entice tourists back to Pattaya and Thailand in general. This once again is a complete waste of time and money while the main problem of coming to Thailand stays in place. It has nothing to do with the riots in Bangkok. It is quite simple: 45 to 50 baht to one English pound. That is the reason I have no immediate intention of fetching myself, Thai wife and children back to Thailand. Not just us, many other people with Thai wives and people in general here in UK believe that Thailand is just to expensive a place to visit at this time.

Thank you,
Philip


More on credit card charges

Editor;

Much as I would like to agree with a fellow farang I am afraid that ‘Concerned Farang’ has got his facts wrong on credit card charges.

There are many retailers in the UK that levy extra charges when paying by credit card as opposed to debit cards. During the month of August with my kids home from school I have booked ice skating and paintballing tickets online with a credit card surcharge of 3% and 5% respectively. Cinema tickets paid for by credit card attracted a surcharge of £1.50 per person, a flight to Paris with a low-cost airline and a surcharge of £7.50 per person was made, whilst some online UK retailers levy surcharges of between 5 and 10% for credit card sales. In Paris a visit to an art gallery cost 7.5% extra by paying the admission by credit card.

All of the charges are perfectly legal and in line with the merchant agreements of the major credit card companies, I can verify that as fact from my own merchant agreement with a credit card company. Also in the town I live, a major tourist area, shops will often offer a 2.5-5% discount for cash sales a practice that is also quite common in London.

So whilst it appears to be a favourite pastime to accuse Thailand of being full of scams I am sorry but this time ‘Concerned Farang’ is way off the mark in thinking that the practice does not occur in the UK and Europe.

Chris Kennedy,
Brighton, UK


Good morning from Belfast in Northern Ireland

Editor;

I have just read the article written by Eva Johnson on Kate’s Project. My name is Roisin Hall and along with my husband Andrew we created the project 4 years ago.

Eva has shown a real insight into the problems we encounter and has written about it well. Thank you.

Khun Noi, our co-ordinator has been a blessing to us in our bid to do even a little to help the poor in the slums.

One thing she mentions is the dirt and squalor that is found in the poorest of slums anywhere in the world. Mostly this is a sign that the people feel de-humanised and have no feeling of love or dignity. We try first and foremost in Kate’s Project to show love and help them develop a sense of self worth. The love and help is given unconditionally and sometimes you can see the inner person growing in confidence and little things like cleaning their surroundings and growing a few flowers give a lift to themselves and their homes. They are our family and we show this in every way we can and like all families we do our best. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but we will always be there for them and always believe in their ability to lift their life a little either themselves or through their children. That’s all we can do but at least we try.

Eva has written her story well and her feeling of frustration is felt by us all in the project. On 13th October we will be holding our annual sports day and she is welcome to attend. Everyone deserves a day of fun and a little escape from the harshness of daily life. The laughter and smiles give everyone a lift not least ourselves.

God bless you all.
Roisin Hall


Ranting about TV in Thailand

Editor;

I have been holding back for a long time to comment on True Vision and Thai TV in general, and now with Mr. Heck’s comments (Bangkok Post), it has stirred me to finally rant a bit.

I have lived in Thailand for almost 11 years and I still do not understand why the public who subscribes to UBC/True Vision has not gone ballistic over several facts. They show movies that are 15 to 20 years old over and over, with just a few good ‘oldies’ and good new ones once in awhile to keep face.

The TV guide is quite often incorrect with description and times: for example a movie called Donkey Ciote or something like that... was that a put on or don’t they know how to spell the correct title from the famous book? I am not sure, but it looks like some movies are poor quality copies. And, why do they have those logos in the corners. We know what channel it is and we know it is True Vision, and no one would ever bother to make a copy to sell; no one would buy it. Why do they interrupt us viewers to tell us what we are watching; we aren’t 2 years old! Why do they interrupt us viewers to tell us what is coming next; we know, we have their poorly written TV guide.

I also wonder about Thai TV soaps. Everything is so opulent, often very young folks with no apparent means of income, and the very sterile surroundings would make anyone fearful of sitting on any furniture, and the constant screaming at each other and facial expressions that remind me of the silent movies. It surely sets a poor example of Thai life to the young folks. So inane, I want to throw a brick at the TV.

Lastly, they censor guns, knives, and smoking, when everyone knows full well what the person is doing. If any money moguls with a penchant to give us good TV started a cable company, True Vision would be out of business in a week. Grow up True Vision.

Now I feel better.
Hyde Parke

Pattaya


The wrong kind of international visitors

Dear Editor,

All of the money that the Tourist Authority is spending to attract new visitors to Thailand is working! Every time I read the Pattaya Mail I see where international gangs of criminals have come to Thailand to commit crimes. It used to be only English, German and American criminals getting nabbed for petty infractions. Now we have Colombians and others who have decided they have found an easy mark. Perhaps the screeners at the airport and the border crossings need to check a bit more closely who they are letting come to visit.

Regards,
Bill Turner
California


Clean the streets

Sir/Madam,

While Pattaya’s authorities are to be commended for the development of Motorway 7, perhaps they would now like to turn their attention to what tourists experience when they arrive in city.

With only the odd exception, Pattaya can hardly be described as a picturesque place. Tourists arriving in Pattaya need a thick skin to endure the traffic, the pollution, the stench from the drains, the broken pavements and the insistent cat-calls of “wair-oo-kahrm” from the every bar, bar none. While Thailand is a developing country, it has to make sure it doesn’t fester; one way to do prevent that is to make Pattaya’s streets pleasing places to be, rather than just filling them with eye-candy of the bar-girl variety.

One immediate solution for removing the muck on the streets is to employ council workers to use pressure washers. These are very cheap to buy, very quick and effective to use and require practically no training whatsoever. They make a massive difference to the appearance of pavements, walls, etc.

To improve Pattaya more generally, the redundant telephone kiosks and mass of advertising hoardings should be removed. Two other problems are longer term projects, namely submerging utility cables and developing a light rail/tram/subway system.

How often do you see someone using a telephone kiosk on one of Pattaya’s streets? Hardly ever. Mobile phones have made them redundant. How much profit are they making for their companies? Practically none. So exactly who is benefitting from them? The only purposes they serve are to obstruct pedestrians and attract fly-posters. Most of these kiosks were set in concrete blocks at the depot and then placed on the pavement later, so disconnecting them, picking them up and removing them should be a breeze.

Advertising hoardings don’t just blight Pattaya’s pavements, they blight the buildings too, preventing Pattayans and visitors alike from admiring Pattaya’s streets. Advertising has become a disease so out of control it’s destroyed the look of the streets. On many of Pattaya’s streets competition to advertise is so fierce it’s often counter-productive. Wouldn’t it be a better idea to replace the current free-for-all by confining advertising to large approved boards, perhaps flat screen LCD or Jumbotron style boards every 20 metres or so?

How many of the boards currently in Pattaya advertise redundant businesses, products and services? When was the last time an audit was conducted to find this out? How about the local council impose a tax on advertising hoardings, making advertisers think twice about their actions? How about ridding Pattaya of its plague of advertising hoardings and replacing them with trees, bushes and grass? How about a tax on civic ugliness (dirty, poorly maintained buildings blighted with disproportionately large advertising-hoardings and no greenery) with tax breaks for the civic minded (clean, well maintained buildings free of advertising with plenty of foliage)?

While natives of Pattaya may be proud of their city’s development, it’s difficult for the even the most vaguely refined traveller to share that joy with quite the same enthusiasm.

Pierre Picaud


You should have seen this place before

Editor;

It used to be easy to photograph the sunset through the swaying palms on Jomtien Beach. All I had to do was set up my tripod, rake the garbage out of the way, tear down a few antismoking posters and take the shot. Now with the advent of the gaudy buoys, that’s no longer possible. No complaints, but you should have seen this place before I had to do anything at all.

Brent Noe


Apply for your UK pension in UK

Editor;

For future reference, when you apply for your UK pension do it within the United Kingdom using a UK residential address. Get the money paid into a UK account or cheque sent to a UK address. That’s what a lot of people do already quite successfully.

MB



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It is noticed that the letters herein in no way reflect the opinions of the editor or writers for Pattaya Mail, but are unsolicited letters from our readers, expressing their own opinions. No anonymous letters or those without genuine addresses are printed, and, whilst we do not object to the use of a nom de plume, preference will be given to those signed.