| |
|
|
The Gazette
is delighted to receive mail from readers. Please write
to us at 367/2 Yaowarat Rd, Amphur Muang, Phuket 83000,
fax to 076-213971 or send an e-mail us at editor@phuketgazette.net
with your views for publication in our next issue.
We reserve the right to edit all letters. Pseudonyms are
acceptable only if your full name and address are supplied.
|
|
| Stiff
measures may be our saving grace |
The two recent armed robberies
committed by Westerners in the past few weeks are a sign that
Thailand really is becoming the new Costa Del Crime.
The last thing this country needs is an influx of criminally minded
immigrants from the West. The military-installed government should
take advantage of its monopoly on power to bring in measures to
make the country less attractive to undesirables.
For a start it could crack down on the vice that is so openly
and offensively paraded on streets in all the country’s major
tourist destinations and is a big draw for criminal types.
Another easy measure would be stiffening requirements for visas.
Last year’s welcome step of limiting people staying on visa-on-arrivals
to 90 days in any six months should be toughened to allow only
one or two 30-day stays a year without a visa applied for from
a Thai embassy. This would be more than enough for the average
tourist.
Anyone applying to stay in Thailand longer would have to be put
through a thorough grilling about their background and why they
want to live in the Kingdom, much as Thais wanting to go to the
US or UK would have to endure.
I’m new to Phuket, but after
a two-year stint in Bangkok, I’ve got to ask: where are all the
parties?
Maybe I’ve been looking in the wrong places, but for an island
with half a million inhabitants, I expected more from the nightlife.
Please, somebody, steer me in the direction of some drum ’n’ bass,
nu skool breaks, electroclash – heck, I’d even settle for an NME-invented
genre like new rave.
You islanders don’t really settle for pop hits, mainstream hip
hop, eurodance and commercial house do you? Maybe it’s up to me
to make my own scene. I promoted events in Bangkok (at Club Astra,
Club Culture, Caf? De Moc, Jazzit, and so on) and I’m starting
to think that the only way for me to hear the music I want would
be to try to do the same thing here.
But is it an impossible task? Am I alone in my appreciation of
electronic music? I enjoy hip hop and watching good scratch DJs,
I can get down with indie, and I have no problem with trip hop,
but what I’m after are some intelligent, crisp beats – not the
mindless 200bpm sort you hear in some Thai clubs.
Help a kid out here. Where are all the 20-something clubbers hanging
out?
Out
of the curious
Phuket City |
I agree with John from Rawai,
who wrote in wondering why there is so much complaining going
on in the Gazette Letters to the Editors section.
Phuket is a great place to live and I hope it never becomes like
“back home” anywhere.
I love seeing motorbikes with four people on them and my personal
record is counting eight people in a samlor.
I also love puppies in motorbike baskets and the ice cream guy
in my neighborhood, the one who wears a big lion’s head mask when
he is on his route.
Every day I see something that brings a big smile to my face –
let’s keep it that way. Go Phuket! I love ya!
After being beached on Patong
for nearly two weeks, Sultan skipper Michael Wilson finally
learns how far spouting off gets you in Thailand – stuck.
Although exhausted from his solo journey storm-chasing all the
way from Sri Lanka, you’d would have thought that he’d notice
how many other boats were moored in the bay.
How spooky does it have to be to pull into Patong Bay, offshore
from so much development, only to notice that you’re alone in
dropping anchor?
Anyway, I’m glad to hear he finally learned how nice Thai people
can be and I only hope that he was sincere in expressing his
gratitude.
Mr Wilson: welcome to Thailand.
Praise should go to the
OrBorWhatever that painted reflective stripes on the road
between Baan Manik and Cherng Talay.
This has to be one of the darkest stretches of road on the
island and as an older guy my night vision just isn’t what
it used to be.
Since the lights are never turned on, the new reflectors help
a lot in knowing where the edge of the road is. I really appreciate
the help.
|
Cautious driver
Cherng Talay
|
Letters conveying views and suggestions are published
here. Those seeking comment from government officials and/or
business owners are published in Issues
& Answers.
|
|
|
