HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

The grass is not greener…

Leave the girls alone

Life in fun city?

New footpath a joke

Re: visa run by Jerry Hoss

UK Visa & sponsor information please

Referring to news article on 5th Jan 2007

Areas needing attention

The grass is not greener…

Dear Sir,
For every moaner living in Pattaya, I attach a photo of my local Go-Go here in England, and even that took me 3 months to find!
Sawadee Bee Mai,
Ian A.

Leave the girls alone

Dear Sir;
I visit Pattaya every year. I am a pensioner and single. I have sat on the beach many times and had nice friendly conversations with working girls who like to talk with farangs so they can learn the English language better. I have never experienced any verbal abuse or any ill feeling from them at all. Like most Thai people I meet, they are pleasant and polite. Please believe me when I say that the working girls are ok and not like some countries I could mention where you are spat on if you say no thank you. Hey Mr. politician, Hey Mr. policeman, leave the girls alone.
Future Resident?
Ken

Life in fun city?

Dear Editor.
I have been visiting Pattaya for some 15 years and up to just a couple of years ago it really was “Fun City.” A better holiday destination would be hard to find. But over the past couple of years the Thai authorities seem to have contracted shoot themselves in the foot syndrome.
Bang # 1. Introducing Draconian licensing laws; what is that all about? Bad enough places of entertainment have to shut down early, but being unable to buy alcohol from your local supermarket between 2 and 5 on the grounds that it is to protect the youth of Thailand is mind boggling. I mean should they not be at school during this period?
Bang # 2. Introducing new visa restrictions that even they don’t seem to understand. Why bother, let’s try somewhere else for our holiday, perhaps they need the money more.
Bang # 3. Making it more difficult for non nationals to own property in Thailand. This is commercial suicide, it is not that they are short of land is it, so why? Mr Taksin owns a huge property over here (in UK). Anyone who can come to the UK legally can do the same. I wonder what type of visa he has, as I am sure he has lost his diplomatic status.
Bang # 4. When are they going to tackle the law and order problem? The problems they have now were almost not heard of 10 years ago. Every week I now read in your newspaper of stabbings, shootings and thefts from tourists. The advice given if you wake up and find a burglar in you home is not to interfere and let him get on with it. Perhaps that is good advice, because if you gave him a good hiding you would probably land up paying his medical expenses. On a good note I am happy to read the new governor of Chonburi has enlisted the military police to help the over stretched local police forces. Now that is good news, you can never have too many cops on the beat.
I have exhausted my supply of feet to shoot, but in closing I found pepper spray a fantastic deterrent for unwanted dogs. One quick spray and they are yelping totally if only temporally incapacitated, giving you plenty of time to make a hasty departure. Also, I am sure the offending dog would have learnt a valuable lesson and think twice about snarling at some innocent passer by.
Regards,
Mr Marc

New footpath a joke

Editor;
A new, broad, beachside foot path has been built at the far end of Jomtien Beach Rd. ‘’Footpath, ha ha ha’’. I was up there the other evening; it could not be walked along. On the ‘’footpath’’ were deck chairs for hire, a resort has positioned their table and chairs there and cafes had set up shop too. Who is being paid to allow this use of public property?
Col West

Re: visa run by Jerry Hoss

Editor;
I thought your reply to the letter of Jan. 5th by Dr. Jerry Hoss was first class. In his long letter about visa runs and his annoyance in doing them every 30 days, your short reply to such a long letter got right to the point.
Anyone who comes to Thailand need only to get a 1 year multiple-entry visa before leaving their home country and then they only have to go to the border every 3 months in that one year.
As for his remark that Malaysia has “the same ethnic mix as Thailand”, I like Malaysia but I am sorry he is wrong. In some ways being once part of the British Empire has made Malaysia more western and of course religion is a big divide. So come on, all you people out there who moan about the visa runs. There are many other ways to get a visa to stay here a long time. The 1 year multi-entry is only one of them.
Regards,
Michael (U.K.)

UK Visa & sponsor information please

Hi,
I’m writing to ask for as much information as possible from anyone that has married a Thai and got them a settlement visa for the U.K. I got married in October after staying with her for more than 1 year in Thailand. We would like to hear from anyone that can help us and tell us about your first hand experiences with the British Embassy in Bangkok. Please tell us what info we should provide, etc.
On the application form there is a section titled ‘Additional Information’. What should we write in that section?
I hope many of my fellow Pattaya Mail readers can help us and provide us with the information we need.
I look forward to your replies.
Send your e-mails to [email protected]
Kind Regards,
Kenster

Referring to news article on 5th Jan 2007

Dear Editor,
Referring to the news article on 5th Jan 2007, regarding the design competition for the monument: I am deeply disappointed with the budget for this project which Mayor Niran comments to be at about 50 million baht. If this amount of money is to come out from his own pocket, I will certainly have no disagreement in this issue. However, we all know that this isn’t the case!
There are so many areas that require improvement, such as the standard of education provided by government schools in Pattaya, welfare of the society, and safety of Pattaya’s residents and tourists. Why not channel this money into improving our city? Setting up a public library, sport facilities, community centers, recruiting more police officers, patrol officers or hiring foreign teachers to teach at the local schools.
Being a Thai national, I feel ashamed and very distressful upon hearing such news. I hope that the mayor can regain his senses and awake to this message.
Thank you for your attention.
A Thai citizen

Areas needing attention

Editor;
I have been a regular visitor to Thailand for the past 8 years and have travelled most of the globe in all my young years. Therefore I feel it necessary to write this letter.
It is quite clear that Pattaya/Jomtien have certain areas which need action to maintain a steady stream of tourists to this area. The following are areas they need to attend too:
The road & pavements are riddled with pot holes; poor fitting slabs; poor workmanship and this will result in more persons requiring medical attention.
The road traffic is becoming critical especially the infamous Thappraya Road from Pattaya Tai through to Jomtien police box. This will increase five fold due to the new projects in Jomtien (VTV 7 & the 91 floor VT Tower). It is clear that they are building condos/resorts/serviced apartments at a rate that was unheard of 3 years ago, and not observing the effect on the traffic and infrastructure.
Roads in some areas will benefit if they introduced bumps in the road to slow the sometimes fast moving traffic, especially Thepprasit Rd (between 7/11 & Soi after Go-Kart) & Thappraya Rd or add mini roundabouts to make the area more free flowing (the lights do not function on most occasions).
Garbage is one of my greatest issues. There is garbage literally everywhere. It is all fine and good to have beach clean ups. It is the local authorities that need to employ more street cleaners and provide more education to tourists and locals in the way to discard garbage; most plastics are not biodegradable and animals are dying with asphyxiation. They need to find a method of becoming more environmentally friendly with garbage separation, reducing waste; recycling and reusing (Singapore is a great example). Actually, I separate all my garbage at all times and many persons find it amusing that I have 6 separate containers.
Finally, on a positive note we must applaud the new chief of police as I have noticed the police are more proactive then before, and visible.
Crimson Tiger

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