HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Reduce baht bus prices

Reclaim the roads campaign

Thank You

The end is nigh...

To smoke or not to smoke that is the question

Looking for lost brother

Work on changing behavior

Reduce baht bus prices

Hi Pattaya Mail,

I read your newspaper every Friday. I read your article about bike rental being cleaned up. Before they do that they should clean up the baht bus prices, as prices are too high for Farang. (If prices come down) then people will not have to rent motorbikes. This will reduce traffic. You might want to tell the Pattaya government that.

Gang of 7

Reclaim the roads campaign

Sir,

I have been reading your recent articles concerning the proposals to reclaim Pattaya’s roads and sidewalks from street vendors and motorcycle rental businesses.

I just wanted to mention that they are not the only culprits. Many restaurants seem to think they own the strip of road directly in front of their businesses, and on more than one occasion I have parked my motorcycle outside one, only to have a security guard appear and tell me to move it. Telling them I am entitled to park on a public highway falls on deaf ears, and if I were to be so bold as to ignore them and walk off, I am sure I would return to find my motorbike missing ... moved to god knows where. More often than not, these restaurants also put down traffic cones on these strips of road, claiming the space is reserved for their patrons.

Come on local government and police ... why are you not also going after these guys?

Regards

Beach Gecko

Thank You

Editor;

To the ladies of Pattaya; I want to say thank you to all the ladies that made my holiday such a joy and the very best of luck to all in Pattaya. I have never met so many people with good hearts as all of you, I will never forget. From the bottom of my heart thank you all.

Alan Porter

The end is nigh...

Editor;

Having just returned from my sixth visit to the land of smiles I have made a decision to call it a day. My smile has about turned like many of the farangs and is now a frown. The authorities have finally persuaded me to take my capital elsewhere. By creating their nonsensical rules and regulations aimed at probably of all of your readers and preventing us from enjoying a pleasurable holiday.

The persistence of early closure of bars, voicing of corruption in the hierarchy coupled with the new possibility of terrorist activity, it’s too much!

The streets are becoming quieter, my friends are beginning to stay away from Thailand too, the word on street is “we tourists are not wanted!” soon it will be too late and the oil well will have dried up!

All I wanted was to have beer after most kids’ bedtime in a bar where there is music playing and I can shoot the breeze or play pool with the lads! Is that too much to ask?

If I wanted to have my holiday curfewed or monitored I would stay at YMCA hostels and be in bed by 12 p.m. with my hot chocolate!

I will not be back in April. Start to change for the better and keep your clientele, they may start to return.

Kind Regards

Trevor Campbell

To smoke or not to smoke that is the question

Editor;

This week saw the introduction of the latest crackdown in Thailand and one that may not be welcomed by about 30% of us visitors as well as the local population. It is of course the start of the smoking ban in public places and restaurants, etc. Although there appears to be some confusion on where you can still smoke it seems certain that doing so in an air-conditioned restaurant might get you into trouble leading to a 2000 baht fine for the offender and 20,000 baht for the establishment.

We enjoy an after dinner cigarette but try to be considerate in our smoking habits. The big problem here as I see it, is that unlike other Western countries who have handled the problem on a voluntary basis Thailand restaurateurs have not made enough effort to control the situation. If only they had all set aside smoking and non-smoking areas perhaps this ban would never have been needed. So the government now does it for us in introducing an all over ban. Or has it? For some strange reason the ban does not extend to non-air-conditioned restaurants and I would have thought that having fans spreading the smoke is even worse than the air being cleaned a little in the air-con filters before finding its way back. Our western constitutions, however, do not find hot restaurants too appealing.

I for one care little about the ban in public places and taxis but telling me that I cannot have a smoke after dinner is another matter. We are fortunate enough to be able to enjoy the fine restaurants that Pattaya now boasts with places like Brunos and Casa Pascal’s being on our weekly list of places to eat. We also eat often at Shenanigans (there’s a point: is that a bar or a restaurant as bars seem exempt from the ban), also many equally good smaller establishments.

Dinner out is one of the highlights of our week and we will sometimes spend two or more hours chatting over a bottle of our favourite wine making the meal last late into the evening. Perhaps also a brandy and a chat with the owner when he has finished working. The smoking bans, however, will without doubt change other smokers and our eating habits, which is bound to affect the baht in the owner’s pocket. So what will change for us then?

Firstly we will still eat out but definitely not as often as we used to. The major change is going to be in the length of time that we spend over a meal and what we actually order. As we all know there can often be a wait between the starter and the main course so the decision will have to be made as to whether we skip the starter, the suite or perhaps both of them and just go straight for the main course. Wine with dinner? I think not as rushing a good bottle would be a waste.

So our dinner bill at Brunos for example will be reduced from around 3500 baht to about 1200 baht and lets assume that the average number of smokers is 30% and that the average number of diners a night is about 80. That means that the restaurant might be down around 27000 baht a night. A bit extreme perhaps? I think not as although everyone does not spend the same as us; some spend much more and some will not be eating out anywhere near as often. Sorry Bruno, Freddy, Pascal and others but I cannot see how this ban will not hurt.

Far better I think for the government to tackle the many other causes of death in this country, like drivers who have no training along with the maniacs who regularly kill themselves and others on their motorbikes. Another small point is who will be making up the tax collecting losses?

We are law abiding and will therefore always respect the law but many European smokers will not even fly “long haul” since the smoking ban took effect on airlines. How many smokers will be persuaded to choose a destination other than Thailand when they learn that the dining table is another smoke free zone. At least some I suspect, perhaps even our Japanese and oriental cousins who live much closer but smoke far more.

Well I am now off to my favourite little open air bar on Beach Road where a few of us sit some evenings with a couple of beers and a ciggy to watch the sunset through a blue haze of diesel fumes from the traffic jammed baht busses and coaches. Perhaps that might be the next ban. Perhaps not.

B&A Bream

Looking for lost brother

Dear Sir /Madam - Pattaya Mail;

I have been trying to locate my brother for a number of years but without much success.

I did have a bit of a breakthrough when I was able to contact a pub in Pattaya (Pig & Whistle), they were able to confirm that the last address we have was in Pattaya (Rompothong Court-26/121 Moo 10-Soi VC-Banglamung-Pattaya-Chonburi-Thailand). But when they made inquiries no one could remember my brother being there.

Having then contacted the British Embassy they were able to confirm that he last entered Thailand on the 30th of July 1999 and that it appears that he is still there.

I would be grateful if you could help me find my brother by putting an appeal out in your paper?

My brother’s full name is Christopher Richard Neil Boulton, D.O.B 24th November 1972, Born in Scarborough General Hospital, North Yorkshire, England. Our mother’s name is Mavis and our father’s Trevor, both have re-married and live in York, North Yorkshire, England. My name (brother) is Trevor Mark Andrew Boulton, married to Dawn with four children and live in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England.

The last contact we had from him was a postcard in 1996, this gave the address as above.

My mother did tell me that he was working as a courier for an airline between the UK and Thailand, but I have not been able to get any information to confirm this.

I have attached a photo of my brother that he sent to us, on the back it says “My Birthday Party 24th November 1995”. This is actually the most up to date photo we have of him.

Hope that you can help?

Kind Regards,

Trevor M.A. Boulton

Work on changing behavior

Dear Sirs,

The walkway along Wong Amat Beach has not yet been fully completed and already there is one boat operator blocking the path in a blatant expression of egoism. Older people can’t pass through anymore, unobstructed to enjoy an otherwise splendid evening walk to the restaurants along it, as boats and other equipment are stored on the pavement. Oil is pouring out too.

This boat operator is just one of thousands of examples of how the lack of change in behavior of a minority of business operators and residents will wreck the good that this administration is doing for all. And it is doing a lot of good as long as we are willing to see the long-term benefits and put up with a short period of inconvenience. This is asking too much perhaps: shopkeepers have notoriously short timeframes. But changing human behavior is a slow, time consuming business. But that is what is needed for lasting improvement of the resort’s image and business.

Perhaps we need a set of municipal regulations and wardens or beach guards appointed by the city to assist the police in coping with the workload. They will pay their way by levying fines. This is the language that most people understand. How could the problem of hasslers along Beach Road, which infuriate (and if you understand Thai, also insult) legitimate strollers, who do not wish to interact with them, on a daily basis, be solved if they are left alone 6 days a week? Can the operators of beach chairs be made responsible to clean their stretch of beach and walkway if there is no control?

Let’s be realistic about human behavior: let us work on the software of development that needs to go hand in hand with the hardware being put in place now. Just asking for cooperation is not going to overcome people’s addiction to the path of least resistance.

We cannot expect that the mayor turns around overnight a sore that has festered for more than a decade. Thumbs up for the administration!

E.T.

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