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The Avenue Pattaya ~ Disabled Access

Long Live the King

Get your facts right before casting shame

US Embassy consular visit to Pattaya

Mercy Center Christmas fundraising appeal

The Avenue Pattaya ~ Disabled Access

Editor;
I live in Pattaya more or less full time and live close to the recently opened “The Avenue Pattaya” shopping complex, which looks on first sight like an attractive addition to Second Road. But is it a triumph of design over function?
I am disabled and can only get around on an electric mobility scooter. So I was really disappointed to see that the ground floor of “The Avenue” gave little or no consideration to the disabled, with boulders, loose pebbles, raised wooden decking and high steps blocking the access to nearly all of the cafes and restaurants. It is all the more surprising since many of those facing Second Road, McDonalds, Starbucks, etc., are international companies who anywhere in Europe and the US would be required by law and building regulations to provide disabled access.
Already there are signs positioned all around the ground floor, “Caution Watch Your Step” warning parents to take care with their children. And, someone has constructed a makeshift ramp at the rear entrance, probably for delivering goods, etc., so it is not just the disabled that are inconvenienced. I have seen women struggling with pushchairs and saw a delivery man spill his load while attempting to cross a loose pebbled strip. The circular sunken central area surrounded by large boulders seems to be an “accident waiting to happen” for both the able bodied and disabled alike, anyone slipping on one of the boulders could easily break a leg or worse.
Ironically, there are four disabled parking bays in the outside car park, which seem to be fairly well policed by the parking attendants to ensure that they are available.
One of the reasons I like living in Pattaya is that in general I can get around fairly well on my scooter and access a wide variety of amenities in a small local area. Over the past few years Pattaya has made progress in accommodating the disabled. Most pavements have drops at road junctions and the promenade on Beach Road is much improved now that the various building works have been completed. The hospitals have good access and most of the supermarkets and shopping complexes have ramps for disabled access. Carrefour is especially good with a purpose built outdoor ramp from the pavement and flat escalators internally which are ideal for wheelchairs and scooters.
It is not difficult or expensive to build ramps or smooth gradients and certainly no more expensive than the varied levels and surface types used in The Avenue Pattaya. Surely we can have both attractive design as well as function. It only requires a little planning, forethought and consultation at the design concept stage.
Mr. B
Pattaya

Long Live the King

Editor;
As a part-time resident of the Kingdom for the last 15 years, I wish to express my best wishes and deepest appreciation for the wise and devoted leadership of His Majesty the King on His 80th birthday.
Each year my affection and appreciation for his leadership and example for the people of Thailand has grown. He has been like a shining lighthouse on a hill, guiding the ship of state through treacherous and often dangerous waters. At times, his advice has prevented potential disasters, and at times his silence has allowed the government to correct situations of which they were able.
His Majesty has lead by example, and the Kingdom has prospered immensely by his leadership in so many areas. His Majesty’s untiring devotion to the people of Thailand has improved the quality and well-being of their lives.
He has been as healer of the sick, a father of the orphans, a benefactor to the poor, and a stabilizing force to what was sometimes a shaky government. Through his leadership, he has seen the vast improvement of the educational system. He has led in developing areas plagued by drought, and personally visited rural areas with problems of poverty that only his wisdom could solve. He has brought decades of stability to this great nation. And he has demonstrated humility, compassion, and a leadership that has eased periods of great distress.
I remember that on one occasion that His Majesty remarked that he missed the counsel of his late mother. But I am confident that a greater counsel, that of the Almighty, has afforded His Majesty the wisdom that led myself and countless others to concluded that he is the greatest Monarch of modern times.
So on this auspicious occasion, along with my Thai-born son, my Thai wife, and all the other loyal citizens of this great nation, we give a thunderous voice to the age-old words, ‘Long Live the King.’
Dr. Johannes Maas, International President
Worldwide Faith Missions
Past Advisor to the United States White House

Get your facts right before casting shame

Editor,
Given the implications that some people may draw from a letter heading in your paper linking my name to a ‘Bum’, will you please print my reply forthwith? I have requests to a couple of your Mail Bag contributors.
1st: Will you, ‘Bobbi Dooley’, stop expecting everyone to be restricted to your limitations however tragically they came to you. If you’d read my letter properly, you would have seen that I said there was nothing wrong with being a goody-goody. It was Mr Humphries’ ill-mannered slurs and self-righteous berating of someone (Pattaya Bum) who had a different way I took issue with, and it seems to be similar boorish behavior that you and your husband incline to. Didn’t a few weeks ago you support a letter-writer who turned out to publicly boast about having a gun in the same house as a child? Didn’t you also say that you and your husband would never return to Pattaya? Why, then, are you concerned with what the locals do? Your ‘perpetual mourning’ does not give you the right to be perpetually rude by telling people in their homeland what to do and not do. If your husband gets so irate about the views of others who are nothing to do with him, and is unable to express his views in a civilized manner, it might be that he self-caused his health problems. ‘Chill out’ is an Americanism. Perhaps he and you should learn to do it.
2nd: If you, Mr Bum, daren’t use your real name to state your views, will you use a more dignified pseudonym if you are going to write sense, or write nonsense that is appropriate for anonymity.
To be clear on the point of seat-belts, no one argued about the wisdom of using them. What I understood from Mr B’s letter and agreed with, was that the Thai people (and I guess those from most places) do not want every aspect of their lives to be governed by over-zealously enforced legislation. In the UK you can’t get a home burglary investigated or even deal with the perpetrators appropriately if you catch them yourself, but eating while driving can land you in court. I believe Mr B mentioned driving extra carefully with kids on board Mrs Dooley, so get your facts right before casting shame at people. Otherwise it might come back to you with truths you don’t want to hear.
Tony Crossley

US Embassy consular visit to Pattaya

Dear Pattaya Area American Citizens,
The Consular Section of the American Embassy in Bangkok is pleased to inform you of the upcoming Embassy consular visit to Pattaya. Please mark your calendars!
Consular staff will be available to provide consular services at the following date and location:
Friday, December 14, 8:00 am to 12:00 pm in Pattaya at the Dusit Thani Resort. Please look for signs in the hotel lobby for the location of the outreach.
The following consular services will be available during our outreach visits:
* Passport renewal applications ($67 or 2546 baht for adult passports, and $82 or 3116 baht for a child’s passport)
* Notarial Services and Certified Copies ($30.00 or 1140 baht)
* Absentee ballot application and voting abroad information
* Social security, VA or other federal benefits question will be limited, but we will try to provide forms and answers
(Please bring exact change!)
NOTE: Unfortunately, we are no longer able to complete processing of extra visa pages during our outreach trips, although we are working on a solution that will allow us to do this. We can accept passport applications, but the passports will have to be brought back to the Embassy for final processing the next day. The passports will then have to be picked up in person (or by a friend upon presentation of a letter of authorization signed by the applicant) at the Embassy. We regret any inconvenience caused by this change in procedure, and we are working on finding a secure solution to mail passports back to applicants from outreaches. You can now have your passport mailed back to you if you apply at the embassy.
Additionally, Consular Reports of Birth cannot be processed during consular outreach trips.
If you have any questions, please e-mail: [email protected] or call the American Citizen Services Unit at: 02-205-4049.
We look forward to seeing you in Pattaya.
Sincerely,
American Citizen Services

Mercy Center Christmas fundraising appeal

Help us to make sure
there is room at the inn
Fred and Dianne Doell, International Directors of the Mercy Center
We are all familiar with the Christmas Nativity Story about the birth of Jesus. In Bethlehem, over 2000 years ago, Joseph and the pregnant Mary were told “No room at the inn,” but thanks to the kindness of strangers, Mary was able to give birth in the shelter of a warm and dry stable manger.
During this Christmas season, we at the Mercy Center are asking strangers and friends alike to kindly help us raise funds so that we may buy the facility currently housing the numerous social and educational projects the Center undertakes for Pattaya’s poorest and most destitute residents - the children of the city’s slum areas.
Just as the innkeeper provided shelter for the baby Jesus and the three kings brought him priceless gifts, please help us to provide shelter and the priceless gift of caring to the forgotten children of Pattaya. In addition to our other slum projects, we currently house over 25 children and we have room for many more if we can buy the property. We need your support.
Please visit our website at www.mercypattaya. com to find out how you can make a contribution so that we don’t have to say “No room at the inn” to the children of Pattaya. You can also call the Mercy Center at 0819 454 307.
Thank you and Happy Christmas.

Letters published in the Mailbag of Pattaya Mail
are also published here.