HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Operators disregard the law on tourist boats

Early morning assault on Memorial angel

UK visa information

Always keep them guessing

Lady man city

ADSL where are you?

Operators disregard the law on tourist boats

Dear Sir,
Re: Life jackets to be enforced on tourist boats
The year before the tsunami in Phuket I embarked on a trip to Phi Phi Island with my two year old son and friends. As he was two years old at the time, the day being blustery, I requested a life jacket.
I was told that the life jackets for children were stored in a different part of the boat that there was no need for such a precaution. I expressed my desire to have one again but was refused.
If all passengers are requested to wear jackets then I am sure that they would. After all, air passengers have to wear a belt on take off and landing - it is insidious of the vessel operators to suggest that as some passengers refuse that the regulations cannot be enforced - this is nonsense.
Start fining the operators for non compliance and then we will see the regulations enforced.
Yours,
Chris Haran

Early morning assault on Memorial angel

Editor;
As yet more evidence of the general rise in crime in Pattaya, it was with shock that I have learned of the mugging of my wife on her way to work at Pattaya Memorial Hospital this morning (Jan 6).
At 7.10am, my wife Jo was waiting to cross Pattaya Klang, when a motorcycle rider came along at speed and ripped her handbag from her possession. Although not physically harmed, she has been left deeply traumatised.
This is surely a new low, to steal from a nurse, in distinctive uniform, and at such an early hour. His gain of my wife’s wages may go towards a good night of ya ba and chang, good for him! But she had to work 12 hours every day for a month to supply it for him! Not to mention the inconvenience of losing her phone and vital documentation/cards etc.
The boys in brown were helpful and sympathetic, but as we all know, the chances of an arrest are virtually nil. It’s just one of the mounting toll of such callous events, all too frequent in today’s Pattaya.
And the fallout? Endless paperwork and phone calls to rearrange ID cards, bank cards, phone sims, journeys to Korat for said cards etc, and of course, a new hidden fear which will now follow my wife to work every morning and night.
Pattaya ... Fun City?
Scott Bryden

UK visa information

Dear Sir,
As previously reported in the Pattaya Mail, UK visa applications are now handled by VFS (Thailand) Ltd. Their address is: UK Visa Application Centre, Second Floor, Regent House, Kwaeng Lumpini, Bangkok 10330, a short walk from the sky train station at Ratchadamri. They can also be reached by e-mail at [email protected] and I am sure they will be pleased to supply any information Kenster may require.
Yours faithfully,
Robert Patnicroft

Always keep them guessing

Editor;
Who is responsible for blocking u-turns? Picture yourself driving your pickup down Sukhumvit on a typical Wednesday night at 10 p.m. You are in the right lane doing a comfortable 70kph and your normal u-turn is coming up. You slow down by easing off the gas, shift from 5th into 4th, then 3rd, move into the rightmost part of the lane and get ready to enter the u-turn. The Buddha responsible for traffic has given you a clear shot and you make your turn, put your foot on the gas and you’re on your way. Of course you noticed the u-turn that you never use had been closed; ostensibly by the police for reasons unknown, but not your u-turn, your u-turn is as it always, not blocked.
Now picture yourself driving the same car on Thursday night but as you approach your u-turn and get ready to turn the wheel, you suddenly realize that it is blocked. The guy behind you and the lady behind him, and a few motorcycles have all had the same idea and being Thai, they aren’t exactly to the rightmost portion of the road but they did slow down. Confusion travels from car to car as each driver realizes something is not quite right.
I’ll ask the question again, who decides which u-turns to block on any particular night? Is it the boys in brown? Is it His Honor the Mayor of Pattaya? Is it Colonel Mustard or Mrs. Peacock? I haven’t a clue and neither does anyone else. There is nothing like adding some more uncertainty to the chaos which is driving in Pattaya. Tonight is Thursday and thanks to a closed off u-turn, there are dead people littered along Sukhumvit near the Thepprasit Tesco. It would seem a vehicle running at high speed plowed into several cars that had slowed to make the turn at the blocked u-turn. That’s right, in order to make us safer, Pattaya’s finest have killed a few of us along the way. What a comfort to know that they are looking out for our welfare. What’s the Thai word for “oops”?
The following night you would have never known that so many people had expired … the u-turn was not blocked and all remnants of the previous night’s carnage had been fastidiously cleaned and hauled away by the Sawang Boriboon Volunteers.
I have no doubt that one night I will have to drive to Sattahip in order to find an open u-turn. I’ll stay in the left lane with the motorbikes and only choose to make my u-turn in the absence of dead bodies strewn along the highway.
Stephane Crotty, M.D.

Lady man city

Editor;
The tourist police volunteers have dutifully been keeping the she-males off the beach and they have simply all moved down to Walking Street. At 1-2 a.m. there are more lady-men than actual girls perched all along the length of Walking Street, approaching every unaccompanied foreigner who exits a bar or passes by hoping they will eventually find one naive enough or drunk enough so they can trick/deceive. Is this really the “quality” tourist environment Pattaya is trying to evolve into? Sadly, this is yet another problem which is already almost beyond control.
Please sign me,
Nostalgic for the old days when girls were actually girls

ADSL where are you?

Editor;
Over the past few years I have visited the offices of the various internet providers/telephone companies hoping to secure a high speed internet service. However, I have always been told that the area in which I live (Mabprachan) is too far from the system and thus not available. To my amazement I recently discovered that in the neighboring housing estate (i.e. 100 meters away) that several houses were enjoying ADSL internet services provided through TOT, a sister company to TT&T.
I duly marched myself down to the TT&T office at Carrefour to investigate if finally I could also obtain ADSL. In the TT&T office were four ladies in their early twenties who spoke reasonable English, but I was met with a total lack of service, politeness or any consideration whatsoever. Even before I could explain myself clearly I was met with an abrupt “No service”, then once I had explained that neighboring properties had ADSL, I was told that the system was full.
Upon asking further explanation, i.e. is there no service or is the system full, the girl in annoyed manner again said there is no service. Somewhat confused I asked if they ever knew when the service would be available, they ignored me. I again asked if they knew if the service would ever be available and one of them snapped “No Service”.
I then as calmly as I could asked for the contact details of TT&T head office so that I could try and solve the mystery of the ADSL availability. They declined to provide it and said I should look at the TT&T web site. Reluctantly one of the girls provided this, which amazingly read www.icare.co.th or www.ttt.co.th (not sure who in TT&T cares), I was then duly dismissed by the girls who simply ignored me.
Does anyone know if ADSL is available within the Mabprachan area, or have any suggestions how we can secure a high speed internet service? It really would be greatly appreciated.
Frustrated in Mabprachan

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