HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Disloyalty to your readers

Re: Putting the war making machine out of business

Budget tourism is a sign of a failing economy

Noisy tourism North Pattaya

Scandinavian double pricing

Visa applications

Disloyalty to your readers

Dear Sir,
After you kindly published my letter “False Advertising” a few weeks ago I thought that I’d be able to get off my soapbox for the rest of the year and concentrate on real life back here in blighty.
Unfortunately though, the content of your letters page last week (June 9th) has left me infuriated with your letters selection process, and indeed apparent disloyalty to your paying customers.
For a long time now the Pattaya Mail has upheld a professional image by only printing the most important matters pertinent to expats striving for a successful and happy life in Thailand, i.e. the ‘5 Baht Bus’ scam, the ‘Watch out don’t wear your expensive jewellery’ warnings, the ‘My bargirl ain’t like all the rest’ love story from Joe Bloggs living in Nakonnowhere, and of course the ‘I’ve been accosted eight times this week by Ladyboys’ horror story.
Lo and behold though, what do I see you publishing now? Absolute trivia is what you seem to have resorted to that’s what! Examples of this utterly pointless drivel from last week include, warnings about organised theft in Bangkok, a sane and sensible warning cry from local professional estate agents, trivial info on how the expat can avoid being ripped of for over a million baht, a plea for clear and concise information regarding visas to UK, and, to top it all, you had the cheek to publish a letter pleading for the cessation of mindless murder of millions of innocent adults and children!
Come on Pattaya Mail, stop dealing with nonsense and get back to the real issues: the cost of a trip up 2nd Road, how to wear a Chang vest and a gold necklace in safety, how to leave your wallet in full view of poor people without having it nicked, how love (and a few quid) can overcome the fifty year age gap and how to get off with loads of ladyboys without being rumbled!
Real issues for real people please PM!
Thanks,
Ian, London

Re: Putting the war making machine out of business

Dear Sir,
A military organization does internationally basically what a police force does domestically - I think they are both necessary and have the utmost respect for both. I don’t know where Mr. Urbina obtained his information regarding US troops withdrawals in Japan, Germany and Korea, but a basic web search of news reports indicates that the US started a 10 year overseas troop withdrawal plan 2 years ago, and the only entities trying to stop, or slow down, the withdrawals are the host country governments, and some of their citizens - not the US.
AJ Ferron
Pattaya

Budget tourism is a sign of a failing economy

Editor;
Sujintana Hemtasilpa’s column in the 12 June Business Section of the Bangkok Post was excellent, but only scratched the surface of Thailand’s junket tourist problem. A number of years ago a friend of mine worked in China. When one of the “well paid” officials he worked with in China visited Pattaya on his “all expense paid” vacation package, I learned that the daily out-of-pocket spending money this tourist had amounted to about 50 baht per day. I give my daughter 100 baht a day for school.
The impact that this type of tourism has had on Thailand is devastating. It has destroyed Pattaya’s tourism, but the locals haven’t figured this out yet. They replaced the $300 plus a day, western party animals, with tourist from Third World countries. Thai leaders had no understanding of the infrastructure required to support this costly form of tourism. While there has been a boom in low quality hotels and even lower quality resort attractions, the infrastructure is now in shambles. Imagine; water shortages in a tropical paradise. Roads; full of potholes and many drainage covers on local streets have collapsed. Traffic congestion and power outages are on the increase and the phone system works less than 50% of the time. Many once profitable Thai businesses are in trouble and shady deals by local developers and management associations are becoming a sign of the times.
In the long run, junket tourism costs a location money. You can cook the books like they did at Enron, but eventually the normal market forces will catch up with you. This is not to say that some people don’t make money, quite the contrary. The people at the top make out like bandits – because they are bandits. They make huge profits on the shear volume of tourists, but the local businesses and taxpayers get stuck with the infrastructure bills. This includes the exponential increase in crime and poverty experienced in Thailand’s junket tourist areas. This is the same activity that brought about the ’97 meltdown. So, the big question is: when are Thai’s going to understand Basis Economics 101?
Thailand needs small business investors. It needs people that will come to Thailand with modest, but long-term investment plans. People who will employ and train Thais to world class standards. To do this, Thais must allow these small investors to “buy houses” and raise their family here. Until Thais understand the need for slow steady growth and stop trying to win the lottery, their economy will be that of feast and famine, with the emphasis being on famine for the vast majority of Thais.
The Anti-Federalist

Noisy tourism North Pattaya

Editor;
TAT may as well give up trying to create an image of Pattaya as a “family resort”. Despite many bar complexes along 2nd Road being almost deserted, I note that a new 20 beer bar complex is being built along Soi 3 Beach Road which is going to ruin this quiet soi with its hotels adjacent to this new noise maker. Are all the beach sois up for grabs now?
The current administration 2 years ago proposed to reduce the number of entertainment businesses along the Beach Road area and encourage more development up to 3rd Road. I wonder why those plans have been shelved.
Pattaya is sadly going down market; the plot between Sois 5 and 6 says it all - deserted and derelict buildings along with a parade of shacks make up a prime tourist area - you can bet that ugly scene is not shown on any TAT literature and yet the rumour is that it too is going to finish up as yet another entertainment complex. North Pattaya the quiet end of the city? Walking Street is a doddle compared to the racket of bars now.
Mike Silson

Scandinavian double pricing

Editor;
I read more or less every week in Mailbag about farangs who complain about over pricing in Thailand. I can tell you the following: In my home country in Scandinavia I read in a local newspaper at least 15 years ago that, quote: “We want to inform our readers that the following happens when Japanese people arrive in town on cruise-vessels. When they visit the local market they are charged 20,- per apple (in local prices). The local people are charged around 2,- per apple,” unquote. According to inflation, etc., maybe the Japanese today pay 60,- per apple and the locals 6,-.
My home city was also the first city to start charging a “toll” for using the inner Ringway and I can remember many delegations from the Eastern and Western world came to my home city to see what’s going on. Afterwards, most of the countries in the world have done the same. Also in Thailand. But who started this overpricing? Look to your own country before you judge Thailand.
Best regards
David

Visa applications

Editor;
Colin Manvell asks for tips on how to successfully apply for a UK Visa. He could just as well ask how to buy a winning lottery. (In the UK) It is not necessarily assumed that because you are a foreigner, any road accident will be your fault, and the fact that you are Thai will not mean you cannot buy a piece of land if you want to. This means that there are millions in the world who would like to live there, and the visa system is designed to stop as many visitors as possible from going, should they be likely to become a drag on the state finances.
That said, it is impossible to prove that your girlfriend is a bona fide visitor, and the question that the embassy has to answer is, “What is the balance of probabilities?”
For example, you may have 100,000 pounds in the bank when you apply. Nothing can stop you putting all this money on Iran to win the World Cup, and as result being destitute the day after. A return air ticket? Means nothing - it can be thrown away, changed, or returned for credit in certain circumstances. Perhaps now you can understand how difficult it is for both sides.
The shortest term for which a visa is issued is six months. This means that whatever you put down as the length of time she wishes to stay, once she has the visa she is legally entitled to change her mind and stay for six months. Thus the financial proof required is rather greater than one would think. So it is back to the balance of probabilities. Does the applicant have a bank account with evidence of a regular income in the form of salary which would make it likely that she is settled in Thailand? If so, the probability of success is far greater than if she works in a bar, and may be on her way to a more lucrative position in the UK - better 50 pounds than 500 baht! I have seen applicants at the embassy in skin tight leather outfits which plainly advertise what they are, and their chances of success are in consequence extremely limited.
If you have an income sufficient to keep her, proof is required in the form of bank statements, over the course of at least 6 months. There are the simple minded who think that borrowing a few pounds and paying it in to their bank the day before they apply will prove they are financially solvent. This trick will fool no one.
If you are the owner / occupier of the house you live in, that will improve your chances over those who merely rent. Of course, one may well argue that these requirements are draconian in the face of an organisation that has probably half a million illegal immigrants, including many criminals, running around its territory. One can only repeat that two Wongs do not make a white.
I wish Mr. Manvell luck, and having personally greeted my current wife at Heathrow 6 weeks after I had first met her working in a Bangkok hotel, I can assure you that if you have the necessary proof available, and fulfil all the requirements, you will have no problem at all.
Pat-ex

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