HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Giving respectable kathoeys a bad name

Never-ending themes

Dining out observations

Do the arithmetic

Fine inequities

UBC & rainfade

Giving respectable kathoeys a bad name

Dear Pattaya Mail:

I was savouring a cocktail in a busy bar last night when I overheard a group of men saying some jolly unpleasant things about ladyboys (kathoeys). Their story was a familiar one; they had been approached on the Beach Road by ‘freelancers’ and, being tough heterosexual males, they had taken offence at their offer of ‘services’.

I am one of many tourists who holiday in Pattaya, specifically for the entertainment and the kindness and warmth kathoeys offer. There is no shame for me to hold my head up high whilst I stroll arm in arm with a beautiful lady (of the third category). Their attention to detail, their sense of humour, their radiance, their sense of fun and broad-minded personality is second to none (in my humble opinion).

Now, surely the time has come for police patrols to rid the Beach Road pedestrian sidewalk of inferior, troublesome kathoeys. They are giving the ‘real’ and respectable kathoeys a bad name.

Victor Rosenberg

Never-ending themes

Sir,

There seems to be a list of never-ending themes written about in the Mailbag, i.e., the conditions of things in Soi Country Club (and the market alongside the railroad line), the eternal water shortage in most parts of Pattaya, double-pricing of anything foreign looking, the mafia methods of the so called taxis, infernal noisemakers that cannot be stopped, etc.

Khai Khem has written about most of them (has he become the most hated man at city hall?).

Only the speakers for city hall stayed silent. No info, no explanation, no offer to make certain things better for all, no reasons, no excuses. Nothing but silence!

Why doesn’t a city hall speaker sometimes make a comment on some often-mentioned themes? Is it lack of time, or lack of interest, or both?

Someone at city hall has to be able to read this newspaper here. I am sure somebody does.

Yours sincerely

Fred de Groot

Groningen NL

Dining out observations

Dear Sirs;

I am one of the 15000 weekly readers on line and manage to visit Pattaya about 3 times a year. I enjoy all features of the newspaper; however, my one criticism is that the Dining Out section has never constructively criticised a restaurant. This may be a very noble act; however, it does question the credibility of the weekly report(s). I am not suggesting that people want to read negative reports, however, I am beginning to think that that section is becoming benign and perhaps should just be ignored, which is a great shame as I for one really do think it important for a newspaper to cover and report good and not so good restaurants. The same can be said about the Dining Out booklet that was published last year.

Just a thought

Raymond O’Reilly

Miss Terry Diner replies: Thank you for your letter Mr. O’Reilly and please accept my comments as ‘reasons’, not ‘excuses’. There would be little point in publishing a review of what you describe as “not so good restaurants” - this would not stimulate the readers to try them out, and would not stimulate the restaurants to improve - with less customers it is more likely the restaurants would fail. I do not believe it is the function of any reviewer to break anyone’s rice bowl. The Dining Out Team does come across restaurants that fail to reach the standard we expect, and quite simply, we do not write about them at all, but call the owner, restaurateur or manager and explain just why the review will not be published, thereby giving them the opportunity to improve. There may be a perfectly legitimate reason that the restaurant fared poorly that night - the chef could have been ill as an example. We leave with the suggestion that when they feel they have corrected their problems we would be happy to return and review.

We have been asked why we do not do reviews incognito, and this is again a simple matter. The average diner does not sit at the table, notebook in hand, copying down the menu, getting up and photographing the dining area and standing on the chair to photograph the food.

Finally, it should be remembered that the review takes into account the venue, the cost and the standard of the food. Not every restaurant is five star, and the review will often comment on the food compared to the price that is asked. 50 baht roadside restaurant meals (a genre which has been reviewed) are obviously not appraised with the same yardstick as the 500 baht top establishments. This is made clear in the reviews.

Miss Terry Diner and Madame.

Do the arithmetic

Editor;

In response to Freddie Clark, who has lived here for all of 23 years and makes the statement that there are a lot more Thais driving around in fancy imported cars than foreigners ... ummmm, that wouldn’t be because there are a lot more Thais here by any chance, would it Freddie?

Maurice

Fine inequities

Dear Editor,

Your report of “Police raid South Pattaya go-go bar” where in you say that police were shocked to find 47 girls naked, I would not have been shocked because this goes on all the time and has been for many years. The dancers, many of whom may have only been in Pattaya for months, weeks or maybe only days, cannot be expected to know the law and indeed it may have been a condition of their jobs that they dance naked. However, the manager must know the law and should take steps to see it is upheld.

So the girls get fined a total of 24,700 baht and the management fined 1000 baht. If the management was fined 24,700 baht and the girls fined 20 each baht, there might be some encouragement for the management to obey the law. After all, 600 baht to the ladies is an awful lot of money.

Lou of Loudon U.K.

UBC & rainfade

Editor.

There is an interesting article in UBC’s June monthly magazine, describing “rainfade”. I came to Pattaya a year past April, loved your country & the people so much I bought a condo have decided to stay until you throw me out.

Rainfade is a new word in my vocabulary, I come from Scotland where we have a lot of rain & snow, and had satellite Sky TV the last 10 years. Never once lost the signal to rainfade, and have been through some horrendous storms, which can last all day, and maybe the next. In the winter we can have snow for days, thick cloud cover. During heavy snow we can have some spots on the screen, again never lost the signal. If we had, we would expect a reduction in our monthly fee.

So I am really perplexed why it only happens here and not in the Northern Hemisphere. I am writing this as my signal has been lost due to your rainfade I expect, for half-hour, and is not automatically restored yet.

Perplexed,

Matt Anderson

Letters published in the Mailbag of Pattaya Mail
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