Pattaya beats Miami
Re: "Pattaya is no Miami", (PostBag, Oct 12).
I am an American who lives in Pattaya with my wife and child and over the last 14 years have developed a fairly good grasp of the pros and cons of life on the Eastern Seaboard. I must take exception with the writer who argued that Pattaya negatively compares to Miami, Fla. He may have forgotten that Miami was built on drug money in the '80s and '90s and that Florida is still one of the key drug bases in the world. According to the UN, the USA imports more illegal cocaine than any other nation and has the 3rd highest cocaine use per capita in the world.
Present-day Pattaya's Walking Street is now swarmed with Chinese tourist groups hoping to see an actual go-go club and is now a section of town more accurately rated "R" than "X". An Urban Institute study showed Miami to have a large sex trade and, since it is underground, Miami prostitution is a nasty, dangerous business. Just because they hide the sex trade in Miami, doesn't mean it isn't flourishing. Finally, I can honestly say that I don't fear going anywhere in Pattaya after the sun sets, but the FBI says that "The city violent crime rate for Miami in 2016 was higher than the national violent crime rate average by 123.51%." No, Pattaya is no Miami -- thank goodness.
Re: "Spare the rod", (PostBag, Oct 13).
"General" Golani shows his utter contempt for Thais when he says the government should discipline them as though they are children.
He denies the Yingluck government was democratically elected. I challenge him to show me one report by any international observers who would claim the Democrats were robbed of that election. Even more outrageous is his claim that the government has helped the poor. Google: "Inequality exposed, Bangkok Post" and you'll see that the gap between the haves and the have-nots has increased dramatically since the junta came to power.
Re: "It's not smooth as silk", (PostBag, Oct 12).
'Still disgusted' thought that I missed his message but I think he rather missed mine. I did not set out to disagree with his finding fault with his experience with Thai Airways, but rather that complaining of having to use the same phone system as thousands of Gold card holders sounded elitist.
He makes a different and valid point in his response, that TG is a nationalised and therefore loss-making airline funded by taxpayers. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to change and the gravy train will keep on rolling. A public company would have to justify to shareholders the burden of thousands of people "entitled" to free or heavily discounted travel. That would be like turkeys voting for Christmas.
Re: "Cabinet OKs new perks for tourism", (Business, Oct 12).
Hey, how about thinking up a few perks for us expats who have lived here for many years?
We deserve a few perks too, not only the harassment and problems caused by the Immigration Bureau who view us as misfits, liars, addicts, paedophiles, cheats and more.
Many Thais are worse and contribute less or nothing to society. Most of us follow former President JFK's advice: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." I'm sure this country can lighten up a bit.