HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Fantastic 3 week stay in Pattaya

Southern Thailand needs your help

Your great paper

Life on the front is almost unbearable

Accident waiting to happen?

Fantastic 3 week stay in Pattaya

Dear Editor;
Once again we have returned home to England after a fantastic 3 week stay in Pattaya. My wife and my 14 yr old daughter had the time of their lives. I would like to thank everyone there for giving us such a good holiday.

Everything was perfect for us. Even the few downpours of rain we had did not bother us. We have visited twice now and cannot wait for our next trip.

Please may I take this opportunity to say a few thanks to the Thai people? Especially the staff and girls from the Noi Bar on Moo 9 Soi 2 for taking such good care of my family for me. They treat my daughter fantastic and I cannot thank them enough for that. Also can I just thank the staff and musicians of the Cloud 9 Bar on 2nd Road for letting me get up and sing each night? This may not have been nice for them and their customers but I enjoyed it. Thank you and hope to see everyone again in the future.

Wishing everyone good luck.
Steve Williams and family
Middlesbrough
England

Southern Thailand needs your help

Dear Editor of Pattaya Mail;
The south of Thailand has many problems that we here as residents of Pattaya cannot imagine. We hope that there never is a spillover in to our region. This would change many aspects of the daily routine here.

One of the troubled places is in Ranong province on the Burma Thai Border area where not only the students and schools are poor, but the community they live in is in urgent need of help as well.

We at the Rotary Club of Taksin Pattaya reached out and lent a hand so-to-speak by donating the first computer, printer and large screen monitor to the local school, then we purchased much-needed sports equipment for them so they could play soccer and other games.

Our first reaction when we became aware of the situation, after looking into it, was to come up with a community project where everyone can profit, namely we would like to donate the a community hydroponics station. This station would be looked after by the student body under the watchful eye of the community leaders. This way every one, including the landless, would have a positive gain from this.

As the old saying goes: “Give a man a fish and he has enough to eat for one meal; teach him to fish and he eats every day.”

We think that by doing so, the community would be assured that their plight is not going unnoticed in the country and that even long-term expat residents are concerned with the situation and are trying to help them.

To implement this worthwhile project the Rotary Club needs 100,000 baht. We ask if any readers out their can help us by donating some funds. Any amount, regardless how large or small, is welcome. You can call the chairman of the project and community service director, Peter Thorand at 01 909 9098 or the club’s president, Marliese Fritz at 06 149 3010.

Thank you,
Rotary Club of Taksin Pattaya

Your great paper

Dear Editor,
I am so behind in responding on a few things, I am almost too embarrassed to write.

First, and foremost, congratulations on your anniversary of your paper. It is by far the best in Pattaya. The pictorial and history account on the Queen by the master, Peter Cummings was truly a work of art and he should be given a healthy raise. The poem by Phillip Webb, “To Share Is To Love” was very touching and brought back many memorable thoughts of my mother. Also, the article about the Japanese was well written by one of your staff.

You seem to have been fortunate in hiring all the pros in Thailand.

Keep up the good work and as always, I can hardly wait for the next edition of Pattaya Mail.
Henry Jerome

Life on the front is almost unbearable

Editor;
Man, I’ve just about had it with the big community improvement projects. It seems only yesterday the city gave us a new cement Beach Road. As if it weren’t bad enough for the same folks in charge to turn the new Beach Road into a Coastal Highway last year, now they’ve begun another “improvement project” by placing all power cables and telephone lines under the ground. To top it off, they are even installing new water pipes, and some other stuff that’s not even recognizable.

The project has been underway for a couple of months already, with the sidewalks all but destroyed. For the past few weeks the workers have been pounding square holes in the street surface in order to drill underneath, creating space for the power cables. In just the last few days, cement boxes the size of small cars are being placed underneath the street and the sidewalks. While in the process of digging up the sidewalk in front of our restaurant, the crew accidentally ripped out our city water pipe. Even though we were without city water for 24 hours, it’s accepted that things like this do occur. However, it doesn’t seem right to take an already overly used Beach Road and turn it into a construction zone. For the past few days, we’ve been blown away with all the noise from jackhammers, heavy road equipment, and auxiliary power units. All this, added to the gridlock traffic being forced to use the Beach Road, makes life on the front almost unbearable.

Considering the fact that the entire project may take one year, or more, doesn’t it seem only logical that the people makin’ the decisions could see the merit in giving us back the two-way 2nd Road. Any day of the week, a person can navigate the underused Back Road, while one would be hard pressed to travel the one lane left available to vehicles on Beach Road. Would it be askin’ too much to make the switch back to the way it was for over 30 years? Before that, there was no 2nd Road. Then again, there was no traffic problem! Just to think, all this in the name of progress.

One more thought. The demise of the new free white bus project is a tragedy. Just when we thought Pattaya had made a major step to becoming a modern city, the project was trashed and the 50 seater air-con buses replaced by open air pick-up trucks with benches in the back. Oh yes, did I mention they aren’t free! However, they still get the privilege of utilizing the special bus lane provided on the 2nd Road. Why doesn’t it seem rational to simply add another lane and allow all traffic to enjoy a 2-way 2nd Road? I keep forgetting, that would be just too logical.
BJ

Accident waiting to happen?

Dear Editor;
Most nights I sit and have a few quiet beers in Nirom Courts, which is on the corner of Soi Buakhao and Soi Diana Inn. I watch in amazement at the traffic chaos and the near misses, especially since Soi Lengkar has become part of the same junction.

Surely a set of traffic lights, or at the least stop signs and white lines to indicate road priority are a must, because drivers just don’t seem to know.

Please bring this to the attention of the traffic control boffins.

N.J Parry

Letters published in the Mailbag of Pattaya Mail
are also on our website.