HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Being refused admission to hospital is most disturbing

Makings for a great sporting event

Paranoia vs. Duty

Millions of liters of water washing away

Where are the PAWS?

Can I stay up late, please?

Lou likes the 100 freelancers

How long will it last?

Safety belt law in Pattaya?

Looking for secondhand bookshops

Being refused admission to hospital is most disturbing

Editor;

The story about the foreigner dying in a police cell was bad enough but the most disturbing aspect was the fact that he had been refused admission to a hospital because the papers weren’t in order. It may have been officialdom gone mad but I suspect it was really only a convenient excuse as the hospital doubted it would receive payment. The Mail recently carried a cartoon on this very subject but of course it’s more serious in real life and things like this are something the tourist authorities don’t want in the public domain. The “Land of Smiles” yes, but only if you have the money.

Colin Murray

Bangkok

Makings for a great sporting event

Editor;

We have the makings for a great sporting event in Pattaya. It could run on the same order as the Indianapolis 500. Baht taxis, tour buses and motorbikes already race around the traffic circle between North Road and South Pattaya Road (and everywhere else in Pattaya) so why not put up grandstands, pit stops and first around to observe such an event. To make thing even more exciting we could have people running in front of the vehicles as they run in front of the bulls in Pamplona. (They already have pedestrians running across roads dodging traffic.)

All this aside, something must be done to solve Pattaya’s traffic problems. Locals and tourists alike are fed up with what is taking place on the roads. The traffic in other cities is bad, but other cities have traffic signals and law enforcement. If the police started using traffic citations it would make the TAT happy and the police could really live high on the hog.

And so, may I suggest that citations be issued for the following offenses:

1. Exceeding the speed limit. What is the speed limit anyway?

2. Double parking for any purpose.

3. Baht taxis stopping in the middle of the street. What happened to the pick up and discharge zones that were to be established?

4. Motorbikes traveling the wrong way on one-way streets.

5. Cars and trucks blocking the sidewalks at street intersections.

Ray Standiford

Paranoia vs. Duty

Dear Editor;

I refer to the article recently on the bomb investigations carried out by the police in and around Pattaya. Paranoia is a mental abnormality where individuals have unreasonable ideas about persecution and danger from various sources that does not exist. The individuals reporting these incidents were not paranoid, the threat exists.

I would point out investigating any bomb possibility is the duty of the police in Pattaya (an international resort), no matter what it is. It would be negligent not to investigate fully any incident that could lead to a bombing or any other terrorist incident. It is also the duty of residents and tourists to report it.

Journalists also have a duty to encourage people to report anything that may be a threat.

There are more possibilities for a disaster in Pattaya than the bars staying open late.

Peter

UK

Millions of liters of water washing away

Editor;

Can anyone solve the mystery of the endless running water along Soi Siam Country Club, near the rail crossing? Millions of liters of water wash constantly for about 600 meters, destroying the road and undoubtedly causing misery for the local residents. If we bear in mind the water shortages within the Pattaya/Chonburi areas it seems amazing that this water has been allowed to simply wash away for what must be at least two years now. Someone has even suggested that this water is draining away from Mabrachan lake which would perhaps explain its low water levels.

Regards,

Concerned Resident

Where are the PAWS?

Editor,

On one occasion, an adult told me a story about his soi... Once upon a time there use to live plenty of stray dogs and cats that used to create an unrest situation in his soi while later on it became a natural occurrence in the neighborhood. Till few months pass by, nearly a hundred construction workers moved in and built up little cottages on an empty not so little piece of land preparing themselves to build a condo. Not even a month after that, this hectic neighborhood got quieter, which is abnormal, and a few days later none of the stray dogs and cats could be seen chasing each other in the soi.

Later on it was discovered that the favorite cuisine for these constructors are the sweet and soft cats’ meat, followed by the dogs, the black ones are believed to be giving more energy. So they can be blamed for the downfall of the stray Cats and Dogs Empire in this lovely soi.

At the same time they brought with them the ability to create the real peace and harmony in the soi. But the question arises, is it the appropriate way to manage the birth control of the strays dogs and cats in our city, or if it is a good thing then the city should encourage these workers to move around and temporary settled themselves in the soi where the problems of stray dogs and cats are inevitable.

Little Johnny

Can I stay up late, please?

Editor;

I am coming to Pattaya in January and just thought I would send a letter to say I love the place, but can the authorities let me party beyond 02.30 in the morning?

Yours,

Alan Kidd Fae

Bonnie Scotland

Lou likes the 100 freelancers

Editor;

It is a joke. Your report about 100 ladies removed from the beachfront in order to improve the image of Thailand and Pattaya in particular could only make me laugh. The sad ladies on the beachfront, very shy very quiet, contrast with the tens of thousands of ladies working in the beer bars who are very noisy and sometimes aggressive in attempting to pull male tourists in of the street.

Why do the few tourists and residents who complain not ask for these to be closed? Of course Pattaya without the beer bars and gogos would not be Pattaya. Pattaya would just become like any other tropical resort where tourists lie on the beach, getting brown and preparing themselves for skin cancer in later life!

Now the beachfront is left to the old falang - not an attractive sight. Lets have the girls back - brave little ladies who are prepared to go with huge fat falangs just to provide a little money for their poor families in Isaan and at the same time bring the country more pounds, euros and dollars.

A. L. Garfield

How long will it last?

Dear Sir,

It certainly looks splendid now, but how long will it last? I am referring to the new Dolphin fountain cum traffic Bermuda Triangle in North Pattaya. I remember the great fuss made when the previous roundabout centrepiece donated by the Rotary Club (who should, I think, spend their money on more worthwhile causes) was completed. Within a year its clock had ceased to function and it began to look very tatty. I am willing to bet B.1,000 (to be donated to charity) that, two years from now, the fountain will not be spurting or else it will be a seriously deranged display of water.

I have a ridiculous idea that the tourist high season is just about to begin. In which case why on earth are so many of Pattaya’s pedestrian sidewalks still no more than mini tank testing tracks? Has our beloved, caring mayor failed to notice the defective pathways during his numerous visits to Beach Road and Second Road? Or perhaps he is too busy authorising ridiculous projects such as the virtual closure of Jomtien Beach for one day at the end of each month? (I see that sanity has prevailed and this crazy and unnecessary idea has now been put into abeyance.) And what harm, pray tell me, did the electric golf cart do on the walkway between the police post and Pattaya Park? Did it kill many walkers, pollute the atmosphere with its silence and lack of fumes? It certainly did less harm than the motorbikes and other vehicles which still use that allegedly traffic-free pathway.

I could go on and on and on, but will end with two simple questions. Do the people at City Hall who make all these idiotic decisions get paid? If so, why?

On a related topic, I have just returned from a short visit to Sri Lanka where I was astounded to see that traffic, despite the poor road conditions and overcrowding, obeys the rule that you must drive on the correct side of the road and in the correct direction. It meant that crossing a road was much less of a threat to life than it is here in Pattaya. And for some reason they do not find it necessary to drill out the silencers in their vehicles. The general lack of superfluous noise in Sri Lanka was delightful to experience!

Yours faithfully,

Oliver Minto

Safety belt law in Pattaya?

Sir,

I was driving around town with a farang friend of mine few days ago. When we passed a junction and he saw a policeman, he suddenly put on the seat belt, and I asked him, what are you doing? He said that a policeman is standing there and that policeman might catch him for not putting on the seat belt. “In Pattaya?” I exclaimed. “Yes in Pattaya,” he replied.

I then said to him that I was driving in Pattaya for the past 15 years and never heard such a story. He then carried on with his story that last time he was here and rented a car, and was driving around town, suddenly a policeman came to him while he was stopped in front of the red light and wanted to fine him for not putting on the seatbelt. After a long dispute with the police, that poor farang friend of mine had to pay the fine of 400 baht. Even though he was trying to point to other drivers, local as well as farang, that none of them were putting on the seat belt.

“Are you sure it was in Pattaya?” I repeated the question. “Definitely,” he replied. So till this moment, I’m not really sure myself whether this law had been enforced or was it already been using since 2 years ago like my friend said, or was it a bad luck for my friend.

Another concerned Farang in the ‘Fun City’

Editor’s note: There is a seatbelt law in Thailand, and since Pattaya is part of Thailand, ergo there is a seatbelt law in Pattaya. Buckle up – if not for your own safety, then to keep from paying fines.

Looking for secondhand bookshops

Sir,

Could I please ask for information from English speaking readers as to location of second-hand English Book Shops in Pattaya? Can anyone please help me?

Thanking you,

John Japheth

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