Names I’ve learned along the way

Dear Sir,

With Chinese New Year now upon us, I recollect that in my teens in Britain I began to take an interest in things Chinese, among them Chinese names. I was reprimanded by my friend, Som Say Fak, that the name of the new leader of China was not Mousey Tongue but Mao Tse Tung. I replied that many Chinese names seemed funny to me, to which he replied, “Not as funny as some of yours do to us. For instance, what about the short form of Richard, Dick; the Head family should never use it for their sons. Then Norton, a good name, if your daughter Rose wants to be a stripper. Then you have those peculiar names in the north such as Ramsbottom and Longbottom; are they spelt with or without a hyphen?”

However, to return to Chinese names, the South China Post in Hong Kong once published the following list of names, which, coupled with Western nouns as personal names, make droll reading:

Winky, Pinky and Kinky: female office staff at H.K. & China Gas

Chlorophil Yip, law student at H.K. University & daughter of a biologist

Hershey Chiu, female at Sun Life Insurance

Nausea Yip, female secretary

Fish Yu, female clerk

Venus Wong, female travel agent

Tadpole Wong, male, worked for Water Dept. & lived on Blue Pool Rd.

Motor Fan, male electrical engineers

Silicon Cheng: female at H.K. Telephone Co.

Other memorable names, Windy Wong, McDonalds staffer; Cyclops Wong, architect; Kellog Wong, receptionist; Chloroform Wong and a chap named Snake Fang.

I never did find out what the others called my friend Mr. Som.

Sincerely,
Roger Womersley
Ko Sichang

Promotion commotion

Dear Editor;

On a recent trip to a South Pattaya shopping center I purchased a TV which was appx. B7,000. I showed my member card to add the reward points and the register printed out about a meter of “cash coupons” to be used on subsequent trips. They were mostly B80 coupons. I used them on a food purchase but the cashier would only take one and gave the long ribbon of coupons back.

The next day, same thing. On my third trip, the cashier gave them all back, about B400, and said “no good” and pointed at the Thai fine print that evidently gave me only two days to use eight coupons.

I took my money and ‘coupons’ and went to customer service. Their final answer - “no good”.

On large purchases it is impossible to use the coupons. Even another large purchase will put you back where you started IF they take all the coupons (fine print-Thai). So... caveat emptor, or buyer beware; This Is Thailand.

J.S.
S. Pattaya Rd.

Traditional tramway better than proposed skytrain

Editor;

Having visit Pattaya a few times, I’ve followed the local news media a bit, and read some time ago that an elevated skytrain has been proposed as a mass transit solution for Pattaya.

However, I wonder if the best solution to enhance the Pattaya corniche wouldn’t simply be just to build a rather traditional tramway (traditional-looking trams would fit very well into the towns image) running along both Pattaya and Jomtien beaches, and ban all motor traffic, except for police and emergency vehicles. It would be a far cheaper solution than a skytrain, and even a more pleasant and useful one. Such a solution would greatly enhance Pattaya’s beachfront, which now suffers from far too much motor traffic on the Beach Road. Then there would also be space to build really good pedestrian walkways too.

That said, the present system of shuttle buses operated by modified pickups isn’t a bad one, it’s both cheap, cheerful and fair to all users.

Yours sincerely,
Mr Janne Salonen
Helsinki, Finland

Another ATM victim

Editor;

It is unfortunate to read of the recent ATM scams operating in Pattaya lately. I would like to share my experience with others as a learning.

Recently whilst on holiday in Pattaya, I had need to use an ATM. Unfortunately I chose an ATM on Beach Road near Soi 3 which was obviously a target for fraudsters. Upon having difficulty in getting the machine to release my card, an overly friendly farang of Middle Eastern heritage attempted to assist. I declined his offer and finally obtained my card.

Somehow he must have got my card id. Unfortunately over the long weekend of New Year, someone or a number of people used my card number and id and successfully obtained over 258,000 baht from my credit card account. The withdrawals were made all over Thailand: Chonburi, Phuket and Bangkok in a four day period. When the bank advised me I immediately reported it to the Pattaya Police who I must admit were less than helpful.

Upon my return to Australia I was advised that Thailand, in particular Pattaya, is regarded as the worst place in SE Asia for Card Fraud, to the point where one of my banking institutions automatically cancelled my card when they observed one Thai transaction appear on the account.

I believe that if this situation continues tourists will not only revert to only carrying travellers cheques but will also avoid places like Pattaya. As my wife is Thai we often holiday in Thailand; however, given my latest experience I won’t be back in Pattaya anytime soon.

Thanks,
Brett Funnell

Rubbish in the streets

Editor;

Has anybody noticed the bags of rubbish along Naklua Road? Every 3 meters there’s a pile of open rubbish surrounded by flies and insects. I’m sure the rats have a ball in the early hours when things finally quiet down. The pavements are filthy, is it now too much for local restaurant owners to keep the street in front of their premises clean?

One would have thought that given the year we have just had that everyone would be doing everything in their power to make tourists and visitors as at home and as welcome as possible. They aren’t getting great value for their money due to the exchange rates, the ocean is polluted, there aren’t any rubbish bins on the beaches, every second drain smells from high heaven and now the main roads have become a rubbish tip.

There are other options, cleaner options for visitors how long is it going to take for the penny to drop for business owners in Pattaya?

Zephyr

Ed’s reply: Local rubbish collection happens late at night, when lorries are less likely to affect traffic, and less likely to be seen by family tourists. Residents place their rubbish at the edge of the road before retiring for the night, and like magic it is gone when they awake the following morning. However, we can understand how someone out walking between the time the rubbish is placed for pickup, and the time it is actually picked up, might have a dim view of this practice.

Names I’ve learned along the way

Promotion commotion

Traditional tramway better than proposed skytrain

Another ATM victim

Rubbish in the streets