HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Drought on the way

Thank you for the fond memories

A reply from the “colorful mansion”

Drinking tourists help, but aren’t major contributor to Thai GDP

Splash some water into my tank during Songkran

Cruel to be kind

A big thank you

Misinformed about Mexico

A better way to get to Big C

Drought on the way

Dear Sirs,
Pattaya is definitely heading towards a terrible year! Forget early closing, drive by shootings, muggings and a rapidly rising cost of living. Just look at the reservoirs. Mabprachan has plummeted about 1.5 meters in the past month or so and we are only in March.

Water rationing, dry taps and the usual farce of buying water from trucks with unknown sources is just around the corner. Discerning readers will be aware of record low levels in all the major rivers and severe droughts in the North/East sectors of Thailand. We can only assume worse is to come.

With the crazy building boom stretching limited resources beyond control and more and more houses popping up around these precious water sources how can the problem ever be solved? City hall made a big show of proposed actions to preserve water earlier in the year; let’s hope those words turn into reality or the ever disappearing tourists will become a figment of the past.

Concerned Resident

Thank you for the fond memories

Dear Editor
I have visited Thailand on an annual basis for several years, not as a tourist but to visit my family; the title amazing Thailand is justifiably deserved.

So many wonderful architectural sights to be seen, the temple, the Buddha the beautiful seaway to be discovered on my last visit we journeyed into the hills a gentle breeze blew, carrying the scent of the flowers.

The sense of peace and tranquility enveloped me, and tears ran freely down my face, the memory will stay with me amongst others forever.

My daughter-in-law is a Thai national, a wonderful person, one I regard as my daughter. Through her I have made many Thai friends.

Their kindness and generosity is without parallel. I feel honored and grateful to know them.

This also applies to the people I have met, just two small but significant examples are the person who hire out desk chairs who see me safely across the busy road.

The Thai woman, who when she saw me trying to work on the hot pavement barefoot because my sandal had broken took her own sandals off and gave them to me.

This typifies the true sprit of the Thais, such concern is not a part of my culture in London.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my wonderful family for the caring and love I receive, and to say thank you to my Thai friends and acquaintances just for being what you are.

The best of people.
Yours Faithfully,
Gwyneth Crawley
(77 years young)
London/Jomtien

A reply from the “colorful mansion”

Editor;
The management and staff state that the letter from Miss Som Ayres (“Baht first, safety last” Mailbag, Vol. XII, No. 4, Jan. 23, 2004) is not entirely factual. There were 3 rooms rented out on December 24, 2003 with the above tourist. On January 6, after regular room cleaning, housekeeping staff noticed that that there appeared to be an argument in process but paid no attention and continued wit her duties. Upon entering the room later, housekeeping personnel discovered the sliding window was broken and informed the management of the damage.

Afterwards management approached the visitors to pay for the damages caused by them and requested 1,500 baht to pay for a new window; the tourist bargained and paid 1,000 baht. The management accepted the payment wanting to resolve the matter without excess fuss before the guests checked out.

After the letter was printed in the newspaper, claiming that we refused to let the guest leave the property until the debt was settled, which was incorrect, the letter effectively damaged the mansion’s reputation and we want to explain our side of the story, that we in no way extorted money from our guests but simply requested the relevant person to pay for the damages caused.
Chainarong Hattakijudom, manager

Drinking tourists help, but aren’t major contributor to Thai GDP

Editor;
I should reply to Duncan’s riposte to my earlier email re early closing. 30 years in the travel business on cruise liners and airlines taught me many things, one of which is that every tourist who goes anywhere is convinced that by so doing, he is keeping P and O afloat, British Airways flying, and in this case Thailand from drifting away towards the South Pole.

I do not have the relevant statistics but I am prepared to believe that the sort of drinking all night tourism may make some contribution towards the Thai GDP. However, the economy is poised to expand by over 5% next year and I would suggest that this is due to increased commercial activity and not because more jumbo loads of farangs are arriving to consume even more bottles of Singha or Carlsberg.

France last year saw its tourist traffic drop from 77 million recorded visits in 2002 to 75 million in 2003. Nowhere in France is there anything of the nature of Patphong, or Pattaya. This would tend to suggest, would it not, that drinking until 2.a.m. is not a necessary concomitant to attracting tourists? To compare the number of tourists going to France with those coming to Thailand is like in soccer terms, comparing Manchester United to, well, Liverpool.

If you wish to know what attracted me to Thailand, it was the pretty ladies, one of whom I married, having met her in hotel reception, and not with a glass of beer in my hand.

Finally, it is the job of those who lead, to assess, not what happens, because that is obvious, but what might happen if an alternative path were to be followed. I would suggest that the reason for early closing may be down to one of three factors: 1) the local govt. are against it on religious grounds; 2) they need the extra hours to repair the roads and spray the drains with sweet smelling perfume; 3) they have decided that they would have a more appealing image to family tourism if the type of tourism they do have were curtailed. In other words, lose a few, but gain many. This is not a proposition from Wittgenstein, and on consideration, most people will come to conclusion no.3; however, much they may disagree with, or disapprove of it.

Midnight in Thailand is in fact 2.a.m. in Vladivostok - all you need Comrade, is a little imagination.

Dosvedanya
Derek

Splash some water into my tank during Songkran

Editor;
Once again we hear that vast areas of the country are experiencing a serious water shortage. No doubt in a few weeks this annual headache will once again be evident here.

I therefore assume that the authorities will put a ban on the wanton waste of water resources during Pattaya’s (almost) week long Songkran celebration.

I’m no killjoy, but last year my water supply was cut off several times with no warning, including the Songkran period. It wasn’t particularly amusing to venture out and witness the waste of hundreds of thousand of liters of water only to return home, soaked to the skin, to the sight of empty taps.

Excuse my arrogance, but may I request the locals use a little common sense and ‘dampen’ their celebrations this year and preserve a precious resource.

Failing that, as a desperate alternative, may I openly invite all Songkran revellers round to my house where I will gladly submit to a good soaking as long as they put an equal amount of water into my storage tank.
Whitey

Cruel to be kind

To all Pattaya Tourists and Residents,
I was appalled to read the article “Women of the second category arrested for using 3-year old girl in begging scam” in Pattaya Mail Friday March 12 2004, where police arrested a kateoy that was using a 3 year old girl to beg for money at Pattaya beer bars.

The article said “During the day she (the grandmother) would walk around South Pattaya market begging for money with the granddaughter and at night Wanchai (the kateoy) would beg from the beer bars (finishing at 5 a.m.)” When did this child get time to sleep let alone time to play?

First of all, I don’t understand why the police were so lenient on the grandmother and sent her to the Home for the Aged and not to jail. After all she was responsible for the child. The article gave the reason that “she was too old and too poor to care for the child”. But the article stated that they were collecting 700-1000 baht a night. This combined with the additional money the grandmother was collecting during the day, she must have been earning somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 baht a month. This is more than a lot of qualified engineers earn in Thailand.

But who’s really to blame? Khun Wanchai? Definitely. The grandmother? I think so, but some may disagree. But in the end the greatest blame has to go to the tourists and residents who feel sorry for them and give them money. The simple fact remains: if they don’t get any money they wouldn’t be there.

I for one prefer to be cruel to be kind, and never give donations to child beggars as I think they should be home in bed or at school not out on the streets begging. Giving them donations only reinforces the fact that this is an easy way to make money. So why should they go to school and study if they can earn as much as an engineer begging on the streets of Pattaya?

Once they grow up people won’t feel so sorry for them and the donations will dry up. With no education what’s the next step, theft and crime? (No thank you, we have enough of that already.)

If you want to do something useful with your money and truly help the kids, make a donation to an education scholarship fund, or directly to a local children’s charity organisation. After all, education is the only true way to break free from the poverty cycle.

Ashley Walsh

A big thank you

To whom it may concern,
Two customers in my girlfriend’s bar had just come back from 3 days in Malaysia, and the lady had left her handbag in the taxi after arriving back in Pattaya. After contacting the local police, the highway police and Bangkok police, as well as the airport, we were happy to have the bag returned and all contents intact. So a big thank you to the following people: Wan, Don, the police and the taxi driver who returned the handbag within about 12 hours.

Thank you all,
Gary Mcminn

Misinformed about Mexico

Editor;
Pattaya Beach Bum wrote “in places like Mexico, (other countries)... foreigners may own land, foreigners may own 100% of their businesses...” Well, he was wrong, very wrong. An entire housing development in Baja was seized and the foreign (American) owners were thrown out and a few who had businesses also lost them as well as their homes. I can’t claim to know of the other countries he listed, but he was very wrong about Mexico!

Ken (KiCjr) Clayton
Redondo Beach, CA USA

A better way to get to Big C

Sir,
I do not question Bill McKain’s qualifications, but no one in his right mind would follow his route to Big C. I go there from Naklua once or twice a week and turn left into North Pattaya Road and then turn right into the road which runs behind Big C. Simple really.
Yours faithfully
Peter Mitchell

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