HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

What price democracy?

Upsetting hotel experience

Better experience at local Immigration Office

Songkran fun at Orphanage

What price democracy?

Editor;
First of all I want to say that I write this as a private and personal piece and it is not reflective of any association or groups, but this is a personal view point.

At what point does the balance of offering a democratic right outweigh the economics of doing so? At what point do we restrict that democratic right away from sensitive areas and economically critical regions? Whether that is Thailand’s third largest export (earning billions in foreign exchange), which is tourism, or away from any other sensitive industry such as the country’s electrical installations, or oil and gas installations or our transport system such as ports, railways, airports and subways?

What price are we prepared to pay and for how long before we start to limit the size and duration of political demonstrations in the centre of the economic heartland of Thailand? In other capital cities they are either banned or tightly controlled with restrictions such as in the Washington, London and Paris. What price is so important that these demonstrations in Thailand could not be restricted or their size curtailed?

At what point do we as an industry, instead of spinning the PR machine on the current situation, start to say enough is enough? At what point will street politics stop holding to ransom this country’s efforts to out-pace and out-perform its competitors and neighbours? When this is all over, at what point do we start to lobby the government to move political demonstrations out of the main stream tourist areas and…when shall we start?
Andrew Wood
General Manager
Chaophya Park Hotel & Resorts

Upsetting hotel experience

Dear Sir;
I come to Thailand on a fairly regular basis and for the last few years have been staying on Soi 6, which is a very noisy environment and extremely lively, but, I enjoyed staying there, and for 600 baht a night it was reasonable value.

This last time I stayed, a few weeks ago, at first everything was fine. The room was fairly quiet and normal, but then began this most awful thundering drilling sound that filled the whole room. They were drilling out walls and concrete stairs in a building next door.

The noise was truly awful. You couldn’t hold a conversation in the room, the noise was so overpowering, it instantly put me and my partner in a terrible mood, causing rows, etc.

I approached the owner one evening whist returning to my room with my girlfriend, but he said that I was the only one complaining and he actually said a few times, ‘I don’t give a #*@&. Had I been on my own, or had the outburst had been elsewhere, then OK, I would put it down to experience. But it was directly in front of all his staff and customers that evening. It was approx. 10.30 pm, so the pub (where you had access to the room and got the key from) was full of people.

My girlfriend was extremely embarrassed to witness such an outburst. I felt awful, too, as the whole pub witnessed this extremely unprofessional episode. His parting comment, as I made my way to my room was, ‘What do you expect, this is Thailand’.

This experience has not put me off coming to Thailand. I absolutely love Pattaya, but it’s an experience I certainly didn’t expect from an English hotel owner. Needless to stay, I will not be staying there again.
Best wishes,
Brain Barwick
(Now in UK)

Better experience at local Immigration Office

Dear Editor,
I must reply to Dr. Pat Foster’s letter you published on the 16th April. I am an Englishman having lived in Pattaya for over six years and consequently have visited the local Immigration Office some 28 times for ’90 days’ and 5 times for ‘Annual Visa Renewal’. Invariably I have experienced a very helpful, courteous and friendly reception with a smile and often a short conversation. Of course, I always greet them with a smiling ‘Sa-wa-de-crap’ and have ready all the required forms and papers.

It would appear that the good doctor is a typical brash, arrogant falang who, because of having money to spend here feels everybody should ko-tow to him.
A Satisfied Farang.

Songkran fun at Orphanage

Visiting volunteers enjoy the festivities with the young children.

Youngsters at Pattaya Orphanage wish everyone a Happy Songkran.

Visiting volunteers participate in traditional Songkran rituals at the orphanage.

They might be too young to understand, but they’re
old enough to know everyone is having fun.

The youngsters perform the ancient tradition of pouring
scented water on the hands of their elders.

Dancing the ramwong during the Songkran celebrations.

Dear Friends,
To enjoy the Songkran Festival in Pattaya during April 18 and 19, the Pattaya Orphanage celebrated with a Songkran “Family Day”. The theme was to celebrate the Thai tradition by having all residents and guests wear Thai costumes. The highlight of the 18th evening was that all foreign volunteers wore Thai costumes while the children and staff enjoyed celebrating the old tradition with Thai dance and wishing the elderly and their teachers well.

The next morning, when all of Pattaya was celebrating the Songkran “Wan Lai” (water day) fun, the orphans and CPDC children at the Pattaya Orphanage joined in the fun with people in the many vehicles slowly moving past the orphanage on the main Sukhumvit Road. In spite of the heat and sun, the children tremendously enjoyed splashing. Happy Songkran!
With warmest regards,
Toy

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