HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Traffic is getting worse

Noise pollution

Focus on the forest, not the trees

Promoting the beach

Raising hotel rates

Noise and more noise

Traffic is getting worse

Editor;
I have just got back from my annual months vacation in Pattaya. Every year I return the traffic gets worse.
Baht busses now queue empty all the way down Beach Road, but insist on 10 baht for the shortest of trips. Sill everyone knows this so I will talk about the other problem.
I have two children and we like to go to Jomtien Beach every day. I was horrified that it now costs me 40 baht to shower my kids in a dirty toilet cubicle with a hosepipe.
Is it not about time that some showers were built on some of the exits from the beach so the kids can clean themselves up and even I could wash the sand from my feet before putting on my shoes?
Pattaya is becoming one of the most advanced holiday destinations in the world and the new Avenue shopping complex is fantastic… However, should I have to pay 40 baht to have a shower in a toilet?
David H

Noise pollution

Dear Sir;
Noise pollution is something often mentioned in Pattaya. Well the latest venue seems to be the new fitness center, now I know why it’s called ‘Wow’ - that’s what you say when you hear the dreadful din coming from their doors. I thought it was only going to continue during their pre-opening phase but noticed that they were open a couple of days ago so thought I’d take a look. The racket blasting out almost put me off but I wanted to check out their facilities. Yes, very impressive and I’d sign up if it wasn’t for the full bore fire alarm ‘music’ they are playing. I doubt you’d be able to hear your own mp3 player it was so loud in there. Surely they aren’t going to have this nuisance noise continuing forever. You can hear it throughout ‘The Avenue’ and even in Villa Supermarket. When are these ‘clever’ marketing types going to realize that not everybody wants to live their life to a noisy musical soundtrack. Even less so when you don’t have a choice of the ‘music’ they are playing.
Waiting for old age so noise won’t bother me…

Focus on the forest, not the trees

Dear Editor:
I am still amused by the focus on my nom de plume. Many years ago, this was carefully chosen to show how people will focus on things that take their eyes off the ball. It has served well to ignite debate on many issues since it causes people to dismiss my comments and jump into the fire. Many of my letters are simply a firecracker into a room where there is pointless debate.
Us farangs will complain about the same thing, 20 different ways, without ever considering what the root cause might be. Sorry, but we tend to be shallow. I have, and probably will continue to point out the un-Thai-like behavior that is characteristic of Pattaya. For the most part, my letters to the editor that are critical of Thailand are aimed at the local administration who generally serves neither the expat nor the Thai community. Pattaya has far bigger problems than the baht bus fares, traffic, and double pricing. We expats spend too much time on the obvious without working to help the Thais do what is needed to correct the causes.
Thailand is not perfect, no country is. Pattaya (and Bangkok) are not representative of Thailand, just as Washington, D.C. is not representative of America. I wouldn’t want a foreigner judging America simply based on his visit to Washington, New York, or Los Angeles. I raise the flag when us “foreigners” do this to the Thais, especially since the Pattaya Mail went global. In the past, I have shot off letters that have crossed the line and was called to task for it. This is sometimes the nature of debate and the imperfection of man. Hopefully, I’m learning with age to use a little less gunpowder in my firecrackers. I do wish more Thais would make themselves heard in this forum; they can be quite pointed in their criticism of Pattaya when among friends and family, especially after my wife makes a trip to the market for a case of whiskey!
For the record, Thais are not very good drivers, but they, for the most part, drive within the scope of the law as enforced. I blame the “Pattaya Police and the City’s Administration” and have written at length on the subject in previous letters.
In the Belt Way, people simply don’t care, but this is not representative of the vast majority of Americans, just as the Pattaya’s crazy drivers don’t represent all of Thailand. By the way, speeding or reckless driving in this area can cost you as much as B80,000 and even with aggressive enforcement that hasn’t help change people’s abusive driving habits. Can you imagine what just a B800 fine for speeding on Sukhumvit in Pattaya would do? Not wearing your helmet here will run you about B9,000. Upcountry I may ride without a helmet for a short trip to the market, but not in Pattaya! Maybe the Pattaya Police should hit motorcyclists up for a B900 fine and supply them with a B400 helmet in return. I know guys that would end up with a half dozen helmets hanging from his motorcycle which he could then donate to his Thai neighbors who wouldn’t leave home if the fine was B900.
Pattaya Beach Bum

Promoting the beach

Sir;
In the 16-22 Nov. edition of your paper there was a front page article suggesting the city fathers (and mothers, no doubt) are talking about how important the beach is to Pattaya and environs.
I agree wholeheartedly. Living high above the beach I look out every day in awe at the expanse of marvelous water with which we have been blessed.
You might want to add that we need to educate locals and visitors alike about the need to keep the beach and water cleaner and safer. The fishermen who lurk offshore every night to fill their larders with the bounty the waters provide still drop their refuse in plastic bags overboard. The banana boaters and fast scooters are a threat to swimmers and pollute the air with the constant racket of their motors. Bottles and trash and foodstuffs are left for the stray dogs to forage.
Perhaps you might want to evaluate the situation with some care and undertake an appropriate plan of education.
Sincerely,
Don Beckerman
Jomtien

Raising hotel rates

Editor;
I just read where the Thai Hotel Association is planning on raising hotel rates in Pattaya in order to develop the “Quality end of the tourism market”.
Has anyone ever told these people that in order to attract quality, you have to offer quality? Phuket, Koh Samui, Hua Hin, or any other number of tourist towns in Thailand offer quality, so they get quality tourists. It’s actually pretty basic. And yet these people have come to the conclusion that if they raise hotel room rates, a “better class” of people will come to Pattaya and not notice the wires all over the buildings, the lack of paint on buildings, the beat up sidewalks, the touts and hookers on the streets, farangs jumping from buildings and the weekly bar fights that manage to make the paper. Never mind the purse snatchers.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I like Pattaya. It is what it is. But you can’t make a purse from a sow’s ear no matter how hard you try.
All they are going to do is drive away a percentage of the people who have saved their money for a year in order to join the frolic and fun in the travelling dog and pony show that is Pattaya.
This reminds me of the decision back in L.A. when the city decided to change the name of school janitors to “maintenance engineers”. Not much changed except for that they had fewer applicants apply because a lot of people then felt that they weren’t qualified for the position.
I guess life will go on, but I believe the Thai Hotel Association people have not yet figured out that every tourist/beach town in the world is pretty much the same, except for Pattaya. That’s why people like it. At least those that do not consider themselves as “Quality Tourists”. And I hate to be the one to tell you guys this, but there is a hell of a lot of them out there.
Follow-up: Well, it seems that I owe the Thai Hotel Association an apology. I guess I am just a dinosaur who doesn’t understand modern marketing techniques.
Yesterday I wrote a derogatory letter regarding raising the hotel rates in Pattaya and today I read that there is a rumour that McDonalds, having been so impressed with the THA’s innovative marketing ploy, is planning a major change in policy. Evidently, after having made obscene profits over the last fifty years from the dregs of society, McDonalds has decided that they too want to attract “Quality Eaters”. The rumour is that they are planning to raise the price of a Big Mac and start calling it McSteak. They say that despite the fact that it will still look like a hamburger and taste like a hamburger, the higher purchase price and euphemistic title will convince “upscale diners” that it is indeed “High Quality” dining.
I guess us old folks shouldn’t try to understand or criticize the new cutting edge marketing techniques now being used to lure upscale clientele. I would imagine that the move by the Thai Hotel Association will now prompt other corporations to make similar moves. Off the top of my head I can now see Jack in the Box raising its prices and changing its name to Jacque in the Velvet Cubicle. Who knows, maybe there is still hope for me. And lastly, having really gotten into the spirit of change, you might consider putting only two gated entrances to Pattaya, charging an entrance fee and changing the name to the Thai Riviera.
In any event, my humble apologies. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.
John Arnone
Yasothon

Noise and more noise

Editor;
Why do the authorities allow the very noisy construction work on Soi 1, reportedly a new Holiday Inn, to continue until midnight, sometimes later, 7 days a week? Nearby residents cannot sleep or even enjoy an evening on their balcony because of the constant hammering.
Don Aleman

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