HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Arrest the arms dealers

Paying extra for Cambodia visa day tour

Law and order deteriorating in Pattaya

Moaning Minnies

Inmates taking over the lunatic asylum yet again?

No double pricing in U.K.

Where is the promised water?

No water in Soi Nernplabwan

Arrest the arms dealers

Editor;
I used to be a resident of Pattaya and still visit every few months so my interest in Pattaya is still strong.
I also read the Pattaya Mail weekly and I have noticed an alarming increase in the number of articles appearing regarding young hoodlums with guns. Has anyone stopped to consider where these guns are coming from? It seems someone is dealing guns in Pattaya on a massive scale.
If the Pattaya police department wishes to accomplish something significant, I suggest they put a few detectives on this subject and get to the root of the problems, rather than hacking away at the branches.
I have seen a number of busts of young hoods committing robbery but have yet to see an article of anyone caught dealing firearms.
Food for thought.
John Arnone
Yasothon

Paying extra for Cambodia visa day tour

Dear Editor,
May I, through your newspaper, advise your readers to carefully compare the price travel agents charge for this day trip (Cambodia visa day tour). On Sunday, 12 February, I was one of 27 farangs travelling on 3 mini-buses from the same company to extend our Visas. 26 of us paid their various travel agents 2000 baht for the tour. I, foolishly, booked with a different travel agent in South Pattaya, and was charged 2500 baht.
I agree with the lady at this particular travel agent that it was entirely my own fault as I should have compared prices before booking - all the nearby agents were charging 2000 baht. The lesson - farangs - double-check before throwing your valuable holiday money away!
Sincerely,
(Dr) J. Japheth

Law and order deteriorating in Pattaya

Editor;
I will be returning to Pattaya in four weeks time and am becoming increasingly concerned by the apparent deterioration in the law and order situation in the city. I have been a regular visitor to the city over the last 17 years and the current situation is the worst that I have witnessed in that time.
Only this morning I received a phone call from a friend who is currently in Pattaya to say that he was robbed last night as he slept. The burglars must have been as close as 2 meters from him and his partner as they carried out the robbery.
My friend’s partner phoned Pattaya Police in the morning to report the burglary but it seems that the police are not interested. As it is now evening in Pattaya a day has been lost, during with they could have collected forensic evidence which would have enabled conviction if the perpetrators were to be apprehended.
If this is the attitude of the police then a rethink of their role is overdue if Pattaya is to present an image of a safe destination for tourists who are vital to the economy. The responsibility for the rethink must start with those in command, and if they are unable to provide satisfactory answers and actions quickly they should be dismissed quickly, making way for individuals who will restore a safe environment for tourists, and keep that safe environment in place over the longer term.
Your paper reports felonies every week, ranging from burglaries, muggings and murders. This, surely, is indicative of the worsening situation. Clearly the current prevailing attitude is that “farangs” are fair game, an attitude which is steadily destroying Pattaya.
Only when the mayor, who clearly has good intentions, and the forces of law and order get to grips with the felons will Pattaya justify any claim to be a destination worth visiting.
Doug Smillie
Scotland

Moaning Minnies

Editor;
I would like to advise Scott Bensen (3rd Feb issue) that my heart bleeds neither for Thais or farang, particularly the ire-wrought moaning Minnies among latter who cannot present a case without resort to bloated sarcasm. Comparing imaginary over-charging for use of essential services and infrastructure to an optional attraction that many farang are happy to pay to see is surely over-the-top, and the sort of confrontational posturing and derision of different perspective that was, appropriately, referred to by Tony Crossley in the 27th Jan. issue.
Mr Bensen should get together with Howard Bloom (3rd Feb), who tells us that an open-air vehicle (baht bus) “smells bad”. Because he has had problems with what is the most convenient and social transport I have come across on my travels, it not surprising given the attitude he displayed in prior letters, we should all put ourselves out?
Fact is, just as not every farang is pompous and/or fractious, not every baht bus driver is a “lowlife thug”.
T. Tighe

Inmates taking over the lunatic asylum yet again?

Editor;
I read with dismay Don Ross’s article in Thursday’s Bangkok Post Horizons about the Public Health Department’s draft regulations that would force hotels to operate stricter opening hours.
How on earth are these half baked ideas dreamed up by inmates of the lunatic asylum ever given any credibility?
I read long ago that one must remember that in Thailand drafting a law, passing a law, enforcing the law and submitting to the law are all vastly different things that have absolutely no relationship to one another. Hallelujah!
I would hope the Tourist Authority along with the Hotelier’s Association (I presume there is one) will band together and point out how detrimental the proposed regulations would be both to the tourist industry and the hotel trade.
I believe restaurants have to observe the same daft regulations supermarkets have to abide by, perhaps the Restaurant Association could band together with the two aforementioned authorities and together they might have some persuasive powers to change the raving loonies minds.
Best wishes to them if they do just that.
Richard Walton

No double pricing in U.K.

Sirs,
Reference the letter by Scott Benson & double pricing: I do not know the fellow’s nationality but from a U.K. point of view, would he have this practice applied to the Thais who visit the U.K.? After all, these Thais are there for only three reasons: Study, marriage/tourist, business. As they have managed to fulfil the U.K. entry requirements with regard to having enough income to support themselves, do we then make them pay to access public libraries, museums, galleries and anything that is determined as having free entrance?
Surely that is only fair as it is the people who work and who pay taxes who subsidise these institutions. If a Thai citizen is a victim of an accident or is injured in any way whilst in the U.K. then that person will not be treated until such time as funds are made available for their treatment?
Here in Scotland we have many areas which are determined as areas of outstanding natural beauty and everyone on the planet is welcome to walk over them, up them, down them, swim in them, etc. Should we only charge Thais for the privilege? Thais pay double on bus routes ... in taxis ... in restaurants?
If foreigners are expected to pay double then they should be allowed a say in how these practises are promulgated and actioned. If you acknowledge cheating and indeed condone it, then you are as guilty as the cheat.
Whilst the U.K. is in no way perfect I am happy that we have no such double standard. I buy a bottle of beer for 70 baht - Bill Gates buys a bottle of beer - wow! It is still 70 baht.
Sincerely,
Colin Jamieson

Where is the promised water?

Editor;
The front page article in the Friday, 3 Feb. edition of the Pattaya Mail, said the authorities, or whomever, say we will have no water problems this year. New lines coming in, etc., etc. It mentions Chonburi and Laem Chabang, but does not mention Pattaya.
I live on Soi Nernplubwan, in Chockchai 4 development, and we haven’t had water for three weeks now. In fact, in over a month, we have had water two different nights, after midnight for maybe two or three hours. I have to spend 150 baht every 3 or 4 days to have water delivered to fill our tank.
It isn’t even summer yet.
Charlie Brown

No water in Soi Nernplabwan

Dear Sir,
I was reading an article in your newspaper which says that there are no water shortages or problems for the eastern part of Thailand, but please allow me to inform you that I live in a village known as Nernpub Wan Plaza on Soi Nernplabwan and for nearly a week now there has been no water supply to this village, and let me also assure you that this is a periodical event and none of us living here can understand why.
We are told a host of stories and all different every time someone calls up to find out why, like the pipe is broken (broken for a week?) or it’s normal for the area (normal?) or the water is being used to build new homes in the village (the builders Rattanakorn have their own underground supply of water for this purpose, so I have been told).
I came here about a year ago to retire and invested in property, but I am so disillusioned that the one basic hum an necessity, water, is not available. About 2 months after moving into my property in April 2005 we had no water for 8 weeks consecutively and had to buy water at 200 baht a tank every 2 days, which works out to about 3000 baht per month. This is far in excess of what I used to pay back in my own country Australia for 3 months supply. Something is amiss here and I wish I knew what it was.
I know that nowhere else in Pattaya has this problem, so I have been assured. My solicitor has also told me that she spoke to the waterworks department and has also convinced me that there is no water shortage in Pattaya. So why don’t we have water?
Yours sincerely,
Jeff Tully

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