Dear Sirs,

Thank you for your report in the sports section about the Volvo Women’s tennis event held in Pattaya. It was good coverage of one of the main events in the tennis calendar in Thailand. It is nice to see that you are carrying on this good practice, except you have omitted to report on the other event, that being the Thailand International ITF men’s futures event, which I believe is or was been played in Pattaya as well.

It would be of interest to many tennis fans if you reported this as well, I think, as Thailand is pretty much starved of good tennis events.

So it would be nice if you could correct this oversight, which I’m sure it was, in this week’s edition, as here in England, one of the main sources of information is the Pattaya Mail as to what is going on in the Eastern Seaboard.

Many thanks for your attention to the letters that we all write to you.

England

Pattaya Mail Editor:

I am a regular reader of your wonderful online newspaper and a regular visitor to Thailand. Recently there have been articles on escaped crocodiles and renovation of Jomtien Beach and their alleged effect on tourism in Pattaya.

I submit to you that the recent turmoil over zoning entertainment, early closings and police raids are much more to blame for any decrease in tourism. I have 5 friends who have postponed indefinitely any visits to Thailand until the harassment is over.

Whatever well intended plans the PM has to cleanse and purify the country is only hurting tourism and giving police a means of pocketing more “fees” from businesses trying to stay afloat.

Ohio - USA

Dear Sir:

A couple of weeks ago, I paid a visit to Bangkok’s Panthip Plaza, where I encountered numerous shops openly selling counterfeit computer software, movie and music CDs, as well as all kinds of pirated computer games. During a stroll down Sukhumvit Road a few days later, I passed virtually dozens of stalls peddling a multitude of faked goods from Swiss watches to inferior-quality shirts bearing some well-known international logos. With my curiosity awakened, I decided to check out the Patpong night market, too, where I stumbled across brightly-lit stalls offering practically the same wares and, amazingly, even fake perfumes of renowned French brands. An excursion to Pattaya over the past weekend confronted me with exactly the same situation there. Shops on Beach Road, flying vendors on Walking Street, and so-called “Shopping Plazas” on Second Road openly selling a wide array of counterfeit products to ignorant tourists, and under the eye of the local constabulary. Settling down for a cold beer at a pub, I recalled complaints about an American scientist allegedly “stealing” the country’s treasured Jasmine rice. I started laughing out loud and uncontrollably. It was a sinister, cynical laugh. Isn’t it just tragic how it’s all right to infringe on foreign copyrights as long as it generates a local profit, but let it happen the other way round and an entire nation goes on the barricades. Without wanting to entangle myself in any religious dogma, I think there is a valid ethical saying which can be applied here: “Don’t do to others what you don’t want to have done unto yourself.”

Dear Pattaya Mail.

I would like to thank you for creating such a great web site for the paper. The pages are well designed and the site is easy to use and move around in. Through emails I have been able to send my daughter, who is 10, many of your articles and features on Thai life, tradition, culture, history and festivals such as Loi Kratong. This gives me the opportunity to teach my daughter about Thailand and show her what a truly marvellous place it really is, dispelling some of the traditional western mythologies and associations. Well done!