Editor;

This is just a note to thank you for the excellent job your paper is doing in bringing news to us farangs who love and miss Pattaya very much.

Aloha,

Dear Sir,

I would like to commend the Pattaya Mail for exposing the likes of alleged pedophile Thompson in the June 8th Issue. It’s too bad the police did not nab the Thai pimp. One thing that your publication should do though is follow up on what happens to the convicted criminals. I believe that a lot of people have the feeling that people with money simply pay their way out of their crimes and leave the country.

Any further information would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Editor;

In keeping with PM Thaksin’s recommendations to stimulate the economy by encouraging tourism, I humbly request that the 90 day visa be discontinued in order to encourage permanent retirement. Can you imagine small retirement communities of retired foreigners that create support businesses and jobs for The Thai people? Notice Mexico and Costa Rica and a long list of countries that have wonderful relationships with the foreigners.

Your humble servant,

Dear Editor,

Derek Adams (letter to editor regarding stray dogs) should be HIGHLY commended for the most positive letter I have seen in Pattaya Mail in a long time. Instead of just complaining - he came up with a positive solution and ended the problem. If only there were more people like him in this world and less whiners. Anyone can point out a problem - but few offer positive, workable solutions. Here’s to Derek Adams! Well done. Some of the simplest solutions are right before our eyes.

Carlsbad, California

Dear Sirs,

I would like to inform you about a problem at Laem Chabang Golf Course. I was playing a slow round because of so many groups in front of me. A Thai man from the group behind me started screaming obscenities at me. I called for him to come and talk to me. I was very nice, but it ended up with this Thai man hitting me and kicking my clubs. This is, needless to say against every aspect of the gentleman’s game of golf.

I brought this to the attention of the course management and after one hour of talking they decided to talk with this man. I ended up just leaving the course, it was pointless to try and do anything else. Management did nothing. The accounts of me, my partner and two caddies were not good enough.

I call for all farangs to boycott Laem Chabang Golf Course for a few months. Maybe this will teach the management there that an international golf club (as they bill themselves) should treat all people equally, and if someone performs outside of the proper manners of golf, it will not be tolerated regardless of where they come from.

This behavior was totally against all the things Thai people are about. I was amazed that this man wanted to make a fight with me. I would have fought him, but he, of course, had a few friends with him and I was alone. The thing that bothers me the most is that the management at the course did nothing to address this very serious problem.

Respectfully,

Editor;

Winebibber - Good short version of the Immigration rules on the one year retiree visa extension in your column. One point, though, you do not have to have baht 800k in the bank, it can be a lesser amount, IF your monthly income is baht 65k minimum, which times 12 amounts to the same thing.

I’ve been on the retiree visa now for four years, gonna apply for the non-immigrant residence permit this year, in December. I’m worried that they’ll change the rules one day and make it more difficult to stay here.

But, still, it is rather easier to stay here legally than in the U.S. Try to do it legally in the U.S. for 10 years without a green card, very difficult.

Dear Editor,

We would like to add our hearty agreement to a letter sent in by Phil Pybus (Pattaya Mail 8 June edition). Why does everyone seem hell - bent on changing all the unique things in Pattaya? As regular readers of your newspaper, we are dismayed to read the authorities plans to “improve” the resort. Don’t people realise that Pattaya is Asia’s largest resort due to some of the things they plan to get rid of, such as Walking Street, bars being able to open late and the frequency and low price of the baht buses? We have been travelling to Pattaya since 1994 and yes, things have changed, but to demolish some of the things that bring in the tourists seems like an act of sabotage rather than improvement.

As for Songkran, it must be one of the truly great times to be had anywhere in the world! If some people can’t take a bit of water during the height of the hot season then that is their problem. I understand some people have businesses to run, but I can’t recall any company going bust due to the boss having wet clothes during one week of the year! To say that some people are under virtual house arrest is an absolute joke.

If the city government really want to improve Pattaya, it could start by cleaning up the beaches, kicking out the international criminals and paedophiles hiding in the resort, and let the rest of us have a late night beer and enjoy this excellent resort, as there isn’t much else like it.