HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Golfers Folly

Kudos to Pattaya Mail

Motorcycle pillion passengers must wear helmets too

A word of thanks

Highly dangerous riding in Pattaya

Noise really is a problem

Praise for the Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital

Lower your cholesterol with vegetables

Quite fond of classic cars

Turner Classics

Golfers Folly

Editor;

Before my trip to a local golf course on Friday, 9th January 2002, I extracted a substantial amount of money from a cash machine and foolishly stored it in my golf bag. Needless to say on my arrival back at my hotel after the round of golf the money had been removed.

Reporting the incident to the tourist police and returning to the golf club proved to be fruitless in both cases. The caddy who had taken the money had the common sense to remove the bag content ticket with his caddy number from the bag making identification impossible.

The lesson I have learnt is to heed the advice of others and take absolutely nothing of value to any golf course.

R. Christie

Aberdeen, Scotland

Kudos to Pattaya Mail

Dear Editor,

I welcome your newspaper every week and, being a specialist printer in all aspects of the trade, you do an excellent job in our local layouts, paging, etc.

I must say that our own local paper is not a patch on yours. You have a very clever staff.

I thank you for your good service and an excellent newspaper which is always so interesting and helps me keep up with local news. You deserve much credit.

Mr. C. Simmons

Devon, UK

Motorcycle pillion passengers must wear helmets too

Sir,

During the last four years I’ve been involved in two serious accidents as a paid passenger on a motorcycle taxi in Pattaya and Rayong. On both journeys I was not offered a safety helmet.

During my weekly journeys between Rayong and Pattaya I notice that the motorcycle drivers always offer a safety helmet to their passengers at all the bus stops. May I ask if this is a legal requirement in the country districts? If it is why are not the same safety precautions offered within Pattaya town?

I notice that all motorcycle taxi drivers in Pattaya wear a safety helmet, but I have never seen one offered to a paid pillion passenger. Would I be correct to assume that passenger safety is not considered important in the city? Could the Chief of Police please inform us tourist what are the legal requirements regarding this most important aspect of safety - are we second-class expendable people, or does the law protect the driver and not the paid passenger in Pattaya? I would be glad to hear the Police Chief’s official and legal reply.

Sincerely,

JJ,

A twice injured hospitalized patient

Editor’s note: It is the law; pillion passengers must wear helmets, and beginning soon the governor plans to instruct the police to enforce this part of the law.

A word of thanks

The Editor,

Just a word of thanks for giving the Pattaya Mail its own Website. My wife and I have holiday’d in Pattaya for the past 20 years, normally at this time of year for a couple of months or so. Unfortunately due to ill health, we cannot make it this year, which would have been our 21st visit. However, thanks to the Internet, we are able to catch a bit of sunshine from reading the Pattaya Mail...especially the golf reports!

Keep up the good work,

Best regards,

John & Sue Haswell

Highly dangerous riding in Pattaya

Dear Sir,

The silly season is upon us again. Anytime day and particularly night you will hear a fireblade or the like screaming to maximum revs between gears as some young stud guns it in an endeavour to impress some local beauty and his mates with his prowess in riding. This is particularly prevalent on Jomtien Beach Road. Well, I got news for you guys, the babe behind you is not pushing her butt out and clinging on to you because she is enamoured by your attractiveness or your skills with a motorcycle as you venture into the unknown, she is clinging on like grim death and scared out of her wits and you have probably notched down the pleasure of your forthcoming night by 50%. She quite simply does not like it. The Thais refer to it in a light-hearted way as “farang sing” which belies the seriousness of the situation when it all goes wrong and go wrong it does.

I have a pal with a bar on the bend near the gold statue on Jomtien who no longer goes to assist as the accidents are so regular. Most high speed (anything over 50) result in serious injuries such as severe bone fractures coupled with really nasty road rash. At 20 miles an hour you are guaranteed a ruined holiday and a huge bill and you will not leave the country till it is paid.

You also will have medical bills and girl compensation all adding up to an absolute packet. Anything over 70 then your survival chances in Pattaya are slim. Most locals know the story of the kid who was decapitated on Siam Country Club Road when he missed a bend and hit one of the concrete pylons. What people don’t know is that the girl was crippled for life with no compensation and had to go back and be a dependent on her already impoverished family. She was 17 and came to Pattaya in an endeavour to support her family.

I have personally helped remove two dead youngsters from the road at the corner by the Amari Hotel on Beach Rd. They died of head injuries there and then after somehow colliding with each other at high speed and they were best mates. That was before crash helmets, but please do not give any trust to the helmets you get with the hire, they won’t save you. I am not some old duffer who wants to spoil your fun. I am a Harley rider who wants you to enjoy your holiday.

Remember, the girls hate it and no one is the slightest bit impressed with the revving and show, but of course for you it’s a change from the vespa!

Richard Rhodes

Noise really is a problem

Editor;

I just read the letter ‘Noise Epidemic’. I don’t know whether the people in the “tight shirts” are to blame (resp. partly blame) for the noise at the mentioned market and karaoke bars in Soi Nern Plub Wan. Really, I doubt if they are the people behind the mess called a market. What I do know as a former resident in this area is that it is a bloody disgrace that a market of this sort is allowed to exist. Dirt and refuse everywhere, flies by the billions, scraggy dogs searching in the stalls for food, etc. Then there is the noise!

I don’t know how the people in a large village nearby can stand it, or the people at the market themselves for that matter. A horrible noise all day long with only very few short breaks. I was told that the noise coming from the market will die down at approx. 8 p.m., exactly then a karaoke bar or two close by will start their ‘public entertainment’ and there is no 2 o’clock closing time!

I don’t know who the owner of the market is or who owns the land on which it is. But by the look of things it is obvious that a mafia structure of some sort or other is running this show.

As to the noise a certain religious group makes, here we are helpless, and have to endure it.

Yours sincerely,

Now only a visitor to Pattaya

Praise for the Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital

Editor;

Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Claude Garbuio and I am a citizen of Australia (of Italian decent) holidaying in Pattaya for the first time.

Unfortunately, but now I can say fortunately, I was a patient of the Bangkok/Pattaya Hospital. I was diagnosed as suffer from a serious infection which resulted in pancreatic.

However, I have nothing but praise for the nurses and doctors of Ward 6, their professionalism, care and kindness were second to none, and this I will never forget.

They really do deserve this recognition as I speak from experience having spent 3 periods of illness in Australian hospitals (Melbourne and Brisbane), and the fact is I am better now than when I left Australia on the 31/12/2001.

From my heart I sincerely thank you all, my only regret is that I cannot name you all individually.

Wishing for you all the very best of health, happiness and wealth.

Yours Sincerely,

Claude Garbuio

Lower your cholesterol with vegetables

Editor,

I just read Lesley Warner’s article (PM January 18) about her battle with cholesterol. When I first went on a low-fat vegetarian diet my cholesterol dropped from 255 to 195 in 2 months. Some people, after going on such a diet, have seen their cholesterol drop as much as 100 points in just 3 weeks. (I have genetically high cholesterol which was why my progress was slower).

I do agree with Warner that exercise is important because it helps raise the numbers of HDLs (good cholesterol) which removes the “bad” cholesterol from the blood vessel walls. But if you don’t have too much “bad” cholesterol to begin with, then you don’t need that much “good” cholesterol to remove it. That is why a low-fat vegetarian diet is 99 percent of the battle.

Sincerely,

Eric Bahrt

Quite fond of classic cars

Dear Editor,

Dr Ian asks ‘who wants a 40 year old car? ...it is a dinosaur, with dinosaur technology.’ But he misses the point about classic cars: enthusiasts like his neighbour and myself know very well that new cars are technologically vastly superior to old ones in most areas. We like certain old cars because we find them aesthetically satisfying and sometimes very beautiful, historically interesting and often powerful evokers of youthful passions. A 40 year old Bentley will be outperformed easily by any cheap current runabout but the rewards of ownership cannot compare for me - I ran one for 18 years and on the small mileage I covered it even proved practical - it was utterly reliable, repairs were expensive but rare and of course I sold it for many times its purchase price.

Incidentally, what about some articles in PM on classic cars? We see very few in Pattaya but no doubt many of your readers would enjoy reading - and arguing - about them. I could even be persuaded to have a go myself!

Regards,

Brian Parkinson

Turner Classics

Editor:

Winebibber must have been bribed by UBC to knock Turner Classic Movies - every farang I know bemoans its loss. I bet UBC dropped it to save money, the rotten cheapskates. I hope it costs them more money in lost memberships than they save (by dropping the movies).

Bee

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