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Letter to Pattaya City
Council
Dear Sirs,
I would like to bring to your attention a dangerous
state of affairs happening on Soi 8. On many occasions I have witnessed
idiotic farangs using Soi 8 like a racetrack and hurtling along the soi at
speeds around 50 mph on high-powered motorcycles.
Soi 8 is a narrow soi catering to a large number of
mainly pedestrians whose very lives are put at risk every night by these
morons. Imagine the scene if one of these motorcycles were to go out of
control on a busy night!
Please, would it be possible, if not to make this busy
soi pedestrian during the evenings, then at least to install efficient
speed bumps at regular intervals in an attempt to stop these idiots before
lives are lost.
Also, I read that all sois between the Beach Road and
Second Road are now one way. Does this also apply to Soi 8 and if so,
which way is the traffic meant to flow? It is very difficult to tell!
Yours sincerely,
A very concerned resident
Language issues
with the Pattaya Mail
Mr. Editor;
I have recently discovered your website, and I enjoy
reading all your articles, news, columns, features and letters of ongoing
problems and joys in the fair city of Pattaya, which I used to visit quite a
lot in the late eighties and early nineties.
Last Christmas we again visited your town, and we will be
back again this Christmas and hopefully in the years to come. We saw a lot
of improvements around town, compared to what it looked like some ten to
fifteen years ago. My “new” wife, who also has been with me on vacation
to Phuket, prefers Pattaya, and we enjoyed our last stay there very much.
We come from Norway, and therefore we do not speak
English as our mother tongue, and I suppose a lot of your other readers
don’t either.
I therefore have to use a dictionary to find the meaning
or translation of a word or phrase if I do not understand it. My
English/Norwegian - Norwegian/English dictionary is printed in 1999 and
contains 102,000 reference words.
In the preface of the dictionary the author says, amongst
other things: “Not least, I consider it important to point out when a word
or phrase is on its way out, and to suggest substitutes. For this reason,
the dictionary provides a large number of labels indicating style and good
up-to-date alternatives. If a term is described as “meget stivt” (very
formal) or “stivt” (formal), alternatives are given whenever possible.
These are in italics within brackets and preceded by an equation sign.”
I suppose 80 - 90 % of the words or phrases I have to
look up are described as “formal” or “very formal”, and in almost
every article I have to look up some words, and some words I simply cannot
find. Of course one does understand quite a lot through the context, but I
like to know the exact meaning of a word, and sometimes the word does not
have the meaning I firstly thought.
A native English speaking person may have no problem, but
as I mentioned previously, many of your readers are not native English or
American. As a very skilled and clever spokesman of the “falang”
community of the Eastern Seaboard, both residents and ordinary interested
tourists, may I humbly suggest that you change some of the most
old-fashioned words and phrases?
We are looking forward to read the paper issues of your
paper when we arrive on our vacation early December.
Best regards from
Knut Elvsaas
Mail can make it to
Pattaya
Hi,
Whenever I have something important to send to anyone in
Pattaya from the United States, I always use Global Express by the US Post
Office. To date, everything I have ever sent has arrived at my friends’
condo in Pattaya, including credit cards.
John Howard
Things aren't
always what they seem
Dear Sir,
I am a Swedish retiree, living in Pattaya since several
years. Mostly, I am satisfied about living in this great city. Only
occasionally are there some things which disturb me.
I am now going to tell you a story from a popular
shopping plaza in South Pattaya. As far as I know, nobody has ever taken up
this scam before in any article or letter, perhaps unknowing that it is a
scam in the first place!
At the front of the plaza, some deaf guys are hanging
around. They are pestering unknowing tourists, saluting them like a soldier
and trying to shake their hands. They are also showing some kind of a fake
ID-card, representing scouts, welfare or whatever. Mostly, the tourists are
not interested, since they don’t want to indulge themselves in these
people. But, since these guys seem to be nice, sort of, many tourists
actually stop and ask what the guy wants. He immediately starts to shake his
head, making a gesture over his mouth, implying that he cannot talk, and in
the same moment he takes up a small book. Inside it is stated that he is
taking up a collection for welfare reasons, this is translated into many
languages. There are also tourists’ signatures, stating what they have
donated in the past, for these “welfare reasons”. When the unknowing
tourist has given a donation, he will receive a handshake and a great smile
from these guys. And sometimes even a pin! Thumbs up and good luck to you,
sucker, they might think!
I have studied these guys for several years now, and they
have always been around the plaza. I have even talked to the police, but
they say that they can’t do anything; the guys have to carry a lot of cash
if they are to be arrested. Otherwise, the police cannot do anything! Can
you believe this? In my opinion, it only needs just a few officers to spy on
these guys for a while, and they will have their proof! I mean, they are
doing this business openly, for everybody to look at!
Sometimes I even see one of these deaf guys talking to
the regular traffic police officer who is to chase the taxis away parking
illegally outside the plaza (another problem!), seemingly to be in good mood
both of them.
I am wondering if the owner of the plaza knows what is
going on outside his plaza. And do the authorities know about this scam,
which has been going on for so many years, with the same deaf guys involved?
Are they being protected by someone? Somebody even told me that they have
been arrested. I don’t know if this is true, but in this case they have
got off the hook, and now it is business as usual.
Sign me,
Observer
2 a.m. closing bad
for the economy
Editor;
Let’s take a hard look at a policy that closes
entertainment venues (especially in tourist destinations such as Pattaya and
Phuket) at 2 a.m. For this policy to stand up to scrutiny, it has to be
reasonably related to the protection of the health and welfare of Thai society.
But this is not the only component. To validate this policy, one must also judge
what effect it will have on the Thai economy - both present and future.
Issue 1: Will closing entertainment venues at 2 a.m. help
control or ultimately eliminate the proliferation of illegal drugs or their use
in Thailand by Thai Nationals and/or tourists?
Response: Simply look to the United States or Europe for the
answer. It is all too obvious that drug use and abuse is not controlled or
stopped by laws. This is a social/cultural problem, especially among the young.
The purchase and use of drugs is not limited to entertainment venues nor is it
somehow restricted or stopped by an arbitrary closing time. What? People don’t
purchase or use drugs before 2 a.m.? Will people stop this prohibited activity
after 2 a.m.? The absurdities of these premises are all too apparent.
Politicians know this. They’re not stupid. But they have to be seen by their
constituencies as doing “something” - even if that “something” is
useless and without credibility.
Issue 2: Even assuming, for argument purposes, that the 2
a.m. closing time has some efficacy relative to the health and welfare of Thai
nationals, should it also be enforced against tourists?
Response: Social welfare laws should relate to and be
implemented for a country’s citizens. I dare say that most Western tourists
don’t need Thai politicians telling them when to stop enjoying themselves on
their vacation.
Simple solution: During the 1980’s in the Philippines,
Filipino nationals could not enter a casino. They were barred (unless
accompanied by a person holding a foreign passport) and only tourists could
enter. Here’s a perfect example of regulations for the health, safety and
welfare targeting the correct people (it’s citizens), and exempting those
(foreigners) who have no reason to be regulated. Therefore, to protect Thai
nationals, Mr. Purachai can do something similar to the 2-tier pricing schemes
we find in Thailand. Just close all the entertainment venues to Thais after 2
a.m. and allow tourists to enjoy their vacations. But obviously this
“tongue-in-cheek” suggestion, though practical, would never be considered.
So what is the real issue that makes closing at 2 a.m. a bad
policy? The economy. Face it; Thailand needs tourism and the millions of jobs
related to it. And tourists don’t have jobs or school to go to tomorrow like
the Thais. They are here to have fun! Tourists from Europe and other countries
don’t want to be told when to stop having fun on their vacation. So they will
go where they are welcome.
Just what do you think will happen if this current approach
to the early closing of entertainment venues continues? First, places will go
out of business. Why? Because most entertainment venues start late (because
customers don’t usually like to go to a nightclub while it is still early in
the evening) and need until 5 or 6 in the morning to make the day’s overhead
and hopefully make some profit. These may be “fun” places, but they are
businesses. They have to pay rent, electric, water, VAT, taxes, liquor bills
and, most important, salaries of Thai employees before the owner puts one Satang
in his pocket.
Next - the business is closed - the employees are jobless.
Get another job in another entertainment venue? Don’t think so, since most are
on their last legs. Since there is no social welfare program in Thailand, the
government won’t help. The government won’t retrain them, and even if there
were a training program, there would be no jobs anyway. This economy has been in
a slump for years and isn’t going to get any better for a long, long time, if
at all.
What about the money these entertainment employees send home
to parents, brothers, sisters, etc.? Now everyone is going to suffer along with
his or her jobless daughter or son.
Charles Parker
San Francisco, California
Updated every Friday
Copyright 2001 Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
370/7-8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, Chonburi 20260, Thailand
Tel. 66-38 411 240-1, 413 240-1, Fax: 66-38 427 596
Updated by
Chinnaporn Sungwanlek, assisted by Boonsiri Suansuk.
E-Mail: mailback@pattayamail.com
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