Falling Electric Pylon Kills True Corporation Technician in Soi Kao Talo East Pattaya

Nongprue Police and a unit of The Sawang Boriboon Rescue Foundation were called to attend a fatal accident in Soi Kao Talo, East Pattaya.

At the scene outside The Siam Royal View Estate in Soi Kao Talo they found a concrete post carrying electrical cables that had fallen across the road. Trapped underneath the post was a Technician who works for The True Corporation. He had been crushed and trapped beneath the fallen post.

Khun Suppachai aged 38, who was working with his younger brother had been sent to the location to replace and move some fibre optic internet cables. Despite having received warnings that the post was in an unstable condition Khun Suppachai put up a wooden ladder and started to climb the post. The warnings proved accurate, the post fell over with Khun Suppachai falling backwards into the road and the post crushing his head and torso.

The post was eventually lifted and Khun Suppachai's body freed from the tangle of wires. His body was transported to hospital for a full post mortem to be carried out before his body can be released to relatives for funeral rites to be performed.

Police are investigating the incident further in conjunction with the Internet Company The True Corporation at this time.

Pattaya Beach Brolly Free Beach For at Least One Day

Wednesday this week saw the first day of an experiment dreamt up by the bright sparks at Pattaya City Hall. A beach that actually looks like a beach. A 3 km expanse of golden sand, when the tide goes out totally free of any man made or man controlled structures like beach deckchairs or beach brollies.

Yes it looks pretty and makes for a good souvenir picture postcard "Wish You Were Not Here" image to send home to the folks. Pattaya City Hall in their infinite wisdom have decided to stamp their bureaucratic control on the feature that they deam to be the most important feature of any International Beach resort "The Beach"

However Pattaya Beach is not "The Beach" that drug addled Leonardo De Cappaccino and his pot smoking compadres made famous. Pattaya is not St Tropez or Copacabana. Blackpool Beach, The Illuminations on Walking Street and kiss me quick darlink short time maybe.

Tourists surveyed on this first brolly less day were generally enthusiastic. Beach vendors not so happy after all their income has just effectively been slashed by 15%

Beach vendors as well as putting out deckchairs and picnic tables and erecting umbrellas on their "Patches" of beach that they pay exorbitant money for also put out rubbish receptacles and are constantly cleaning up after their customers.

Who is going to clean up after the hordes or not so many hordes of freelancer tourists on a vendor free beach?

Others who will benefit from Umbrella free beaches will of course be local clinics and hospitals with  tourists thronging emergency rooms with severe cases of sunburn and dehydration and the long term effects of dramatic increases in skin cancer.

North Pattaya Condo Causes a Stink With Pattaya City Hall

Khun Viravat, senior Trade Officer and a deputy mayor of Pattaya led a delegation of Pattaya City Hall Officials with the city Sanitation Engineering to sniff out a long standing problem in North Pattaya. The offensive problem was not too difficult to find as an offensive smell permanently permeates the pristine sea breezes that should be wafting through the area.

Local residents of soi 16 in Naklua North Pattaya have been increasingly vocal in their complaints of the increasingly bad smells coming from the nether regions of The High Rise Laguna Heights Condo. Khun Viravat and his entourage had a chat with some of the local residents and took note of their complaints and concerns and assured them that Pattaya City Hall would speedily sort out the smelly situation.

A meeting later with Condo management highlighted the problems that were causing the pongy pollution. Pumps at the condo building were coping with extracting the excremental sewage but were not able to transfer the resultant rancid waste water into the local drainage system leading to leakages. The condo management said that they had a three phase plan to fix the problem starting with new pumps and sewage control systems.

Khun Viravat passed on the concerned local residents concerns and said that his team of Sanitation engineers would pay regular visits to the area to ensure that The condo was following up on it's promises to deal with this problem.

Pattaya Beach Vendors Left High and Dry

Khun Rankert Ekasing the Deputy Mayor of Pattaya headed for the beach this week. He wasn't there to lay out in a comfy beach deck chair shaded by a beach umbrella and cooled by a chilly bottle of Chang provided by one of the hundreds of beach vendors. Oh no Oh contraire. Khun Ekasing was not there to laze and sample the fayre.

Today was Big Cleaning Day. You have heard the phrase you can't see the wood for the trees. Well in Pattaya you can't see the beach for a forest of beach umbrellas. Not withstanding that there is not that much beach left as City Hall fights a loosing battle as it gives millions of Baht to friendly trucking companies dump tonnes of sand on to a rapidly eroding beach environment.

So Khun Ekasing was the man with a plan and flanked by City Hall Officials and military officers he was there to carry out the plan come hell or high water whichever came first. The plan to was simple. Have - No have, Have - No Have, Have - No Have. The beach was to be split up into areas with beach umbrellas and areas without beach umbrellas so that tourists could have a choice as to whether to sit under the blazing sun on their hotel towel or pay a beach vendor to provide anti skin cancer protection ice cold medicinal medicines and spicy health food supplements.

So what about the vendors in the No have zones. To be sure they are not going to be happy chappies. Still they can all go for a beer on a Wednesday whether they have or No have as Wednesdays have been designated No Have Umbrella for the whole beach. Of course they can't sit under a cool umbrella. I wonder if someone from City Hall has just bought a serious share in Seven Eleven.

Pattaya Airport U-tapao International Upbeat About Tourist Arrivals

An up-beat forecast from the up-beat manager of Pattaya airport. Pattaya airport? I hear you cry. Pattaya doesn't have an airport, I wish it did then I wouldn't have to take a sometimes 2 hour ride to Suvanaphum Bangkok airport.

Of course those in the know know of the existence of what is known as U-tapao International airport. Just a thirty minute drive, with a good tailwind down the Sukhumvit Road towards Sattahip. International Airport is not quite what I would describe it but it does have a long runway that 50 years ago saw American bombers take off to bomb the Russian and Chinese backed communist armies of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Nowadays the bombers are all but gone, I am sure the occasional one still drops by to restock on fuel rather than restock with bombs but the Russians and Chinese are still a high priority for airport administrators.

Charter flights from The former Soviet Union and the still communist run red giant China bring in hordes of commies and former commies every day. Yes the number of flights from Russia has decreased lately, says the airport manager, wiping a tear from one eye. The rouble is in the crapper but hey it's cold in Siberia at this time of year and the future is bright. The Russian's may be chilling out in local hot spots like Chernobyl But you can always depend on the Chinese. China the biggest economy in the world whose citizens are eager to travel and taste the delights of the world, as long as there is a Chinese restaurant available for the strictly controlled tour groups to partake of the local culture and cuisine.

So the manager of U-tapao International airport is right to be upbeat. He can stake his job on a regular flow of 20 to 25 charter flights a day with an average of 250 passengers per flight paying airport taxes, buying duty free souvenirs and bargain basement airport refreshments.

Of course a selected few Chinese restaurants in Pattaya, budget hotels and the Russian tourist hot spots like the seven eleven stores on beach road are rubbing their corporate hands. The rest of Pattaya businesses are just left to reminisce of those good old days of 40 years back when Tourist dollars were real dollars spent by real tourists looking for a really good time with some really sexy girls in a little known beach resort that happened to be called Pattaya.

Naklua North Pattaya Seafood Market

If you stroll down Walking Street in Pattaya on any evening and can tear your eyes away from the welcoming welcome girls who make such a welcome sight you will notice another bunch of welcomers brandishing menus and guiding you to their place of work at a nearby seafood restaurant.

The fish, crabs lobsters look great and the prices not so great. Still you are paying to dine in one of the regions prestigious if a little salubrious prime tourist traps.

Most of the seafood on display is caught locally and sold to wholesalers, restaurateurs and the general public at a sea side market in Naklua North Pattaya. Fresh off the boat and at prices that are half what you would pay in Walking Street this is the place to shop if you have a craving for crab have a hankering for Haddock or loony about lobsters.

There are a number of food stalls who, for a small charge will cook and present your recent purchases which you can enthusiastically devour at fold up tables and plastic stools or packed into Styrofoam to be taken home or consumed in a beach seafood picnic.

Years ago paid one of my regular visits to Naklua Seafood Market - I have a particular penchant for prawns. I bought a bunch of large shrimps to put on the barbi and a couple of giant sized live crabs. The first crab was very tasty and the second placed to one side for later.  The shrimp were succulent and when I turned to sacrifice the second crab - well I was to be disappointed it had done a runner and was never to be seen again.

Young Thai Lady Dies in Fall from Central Festival Shopping Mall Pattaya

Pattaya Police had only a short distance to cover from Pattaya Police Station to the second Road entrance of Central Festival Shopping Mall after a report came in that someone had jumped from the car park at the side of the Shopping Centre. At the scene they found only a blood stain on the ground as the person had already been taken by staff of the shopping mall to the nearby Pattaya Memorial Hospital.

At the hospital police ascertained the identity as Miss Nathan aged 26 from Buriram Province. It is thought that she was a shop worker at the Central Festival shopping mall.

As soon as the incident had occured a security guard was confronted with the massively injured body of Miss Nathan and had rushed to inform Mall management staff. A manager decided that it was not a nice thing for the dead body to be left in situ as it was high season and the sight of a mangled body would upset Thai and foreign customers coming and going at The Mall.

Whether she committed suicide by jumping from the 5th floor, was murdered and her body tossed over the parapet or this was an accidental death of some form we may never known as the only evidence was immediately removed.

Pattaya Walking Street Entertainment Venues Undergo Fire Safety Inspections

Just before the Christmas and New Year celebrations in Pattaya swung into full gear Khun Komsan the Governor of Chonburi Province tasked Khun Amnat, the Chief Bailiff of Banglamung District with carrying out a series of inspections of safety standards in the town's nightclubs, discos and entertainment venues.

A team of Banglamung officials, fire safety experts and building safety officials and Pattaya Police officers started their task on Walking Street in South Pattaya where the bulk of foreign and Thai tourists will be flocking to enjoy the seasons festivities. Establishments were checked to make sure that they met stringent fire safety standards with requisite fire extinguishers and that water fire suppressing sprinkler systems and fire exits were available and serviceable.

The authorities are haunted by the tragic events of the Santika nightclub disaster in 2009 when a fire swept through the venue taking the lives of 59 mainly Thai revellers.

Some irregularities were found during the visits and the venues were served with notices and instructed to make make urgent changes otherwise they could be subject to temporary closure orders which would be devastating for the business in the midst of the high season.

Whilst touring Walking Street venues the Officers also detained a number of street vendors who were selling illegal fireworks in contravention of local regulations. 

New Pattaya Beach Vendor Regulations

The Royal Thai Army are conducting manoeuvres on beaches in the Pattaya area. No they are not practising D-day style military beach landings the yare assisting Pattaya police to enforce a new set of regulations to make Pattaya a cleaner and clearer spot for tourists to comfortably cultivate their tans before they return home to snowy Siberia or frosty Finland.

Beach operators who man the numerous concessions along Pattaya and Jomtien Beaches are not happy chappies or chapessess. A complicated array of regulations has declared designated areas as public open beaches where vendors are not allowed to stick their brollies and line up their tables and deck chairs. Other areas where the operators are allowed to operate have found that hey can only open their operations for six days a week. 

To add insult to injury January 6th and 7th has been designated Pattaya Beach Cleaning Day and no yes you heard that nill, nada deck chairs or umbrellas will be allowed out of their well guarded deck chair stacks.

So a minus minus for the beach operators. A plus for the much cleaner if rapidly eroding beach and a plus plus for the tourists who will be able to bring their own mats and towels and not have to pay for a nice comfy deck chair under a nice shady beach umbrella with a nice ice cold beer in their hands.

Pattaya Countdown 2015 Counting on Huge Influx of Tourist Dollars, Baht, Yen and Roubles

From the start of the Pattaya Countdown to 2015 which will culminate with the final Count down a few seconds before midnight on the 31st of December the town of Pattaya has been a buzz of frenzied activity with hundreds of thousands of extra and much needed tourists expected to attend the Countdown activities and Countdown music concerts.

Pattaya business folks and vendors are counting on Countdown to bring in millions of Baht, Dollars, Yen and Rubles that will be eagerly be collected, counted up and handed over to counter staff at the local banks.

Top Thai bands are being counted on to provide stellar performances. Legendary Thai Rock Band Black Head along with star performers such as Big Ass and Bodyslam will draw in huge crowds of foreign and Thai tourists who hopefully have brought along huge amounts of money to spend in this quiet family orientated palm fringed resort called Pattaya

And of course even before the last fireworks dives into the blackness of The Bay Pattaya officials will be counting down to the time of the first preparedness meeting for Countdown 2016. Of that fact you can count on for sure.

Pattaya Countdown 2015 starts with Christmas Opening Ceremony

Christmas day in Pattaya is the time for tourists to make merry and stuff themselves on turkey and trimmings. Christmas evening was when The business folks in Pattaya put together their well oiled annual plan to stuff the tourists over the holiday period. It is called the Pattaya Countdown.

An elaborate ceremoney at Bali Hai Pier saw Khun Itthipol the mayor of Pattaya along with his elder Brother, Khun Wittaya, the Chairman of the Chonburi Provincial Administration declare open season on tourists which will see a seven day frenzy of merry making, music making and of course money making.

Big name Thai bands including Klear, Sweet Mullet, Blackhead, Paradox, Big Ass, Bodyslam and numerous other Thai Superstars will serenade, or rather blow out the ear drums of tourists along beach road. Traffic will grind to a halt and local bank tellers will be working overtime to count the piles of Thai Baht, Roubles, Francs, Pounds, Dollars and Dongs as the expected hundreds of thousands of tourists are expected to spend millions of Thai Baht, Roubles, Francs, Pounds, Dollars and Dongs.

The culmination of this massive frenzy will end on New Years Eve when a massive fireworks display will bring in the New Year with massive oohs and ahhs from massive crowds of farang and Thai tourists.

Phoenix Golf and Country Club Pattaya Dupes Members

A group of 30 golfers mainly farangs have filed an official complaint at The Huay Yai police station against the owners of Phoenix Golf & Country Club.

The golfers mostly elderly long term residents of Pattaya are reported to be very teed off with the new owners of the Pattaya golf course after they refused to honour their existing golf course memberships and demanded that they fork out 200,000 Baht for new lifetime memberships otherwise they will be turned away and not allowed to play there anymore.

Phoenix Golf Course members commented that they thought that this is not a fair way to do business and they are prepared to bunker down until they get justice in this matter. It is thought that around 1,000 members are affected. 300 have so far come forward to sign the complaint. The police are looking into the matter and sending officers to visit other members who have been effectively duped by the new company running the golf club.

Nongprue East Pattaya Restaurant Fire

Nongprue Police officers and multiple fire engines responded to a shop house blaze after receiving reports that a restaurant was on fire. At the scene The “Soi Siri” pork blood soup restaurant at the beginning of Soi 2, Pattanakarn road in Moo 6 of Tambon Nong Prue East Pattaya the fire fighters found smoke billowing from the building and had to break windows to gain entrance to the premises.

They quickly ascertained that the restaurant was closed for the night and there were no people trapped inside. It took the firefighters about 20 minutes to bring the fire under control. A preliminary inspection revealed that the fire probably started with a short circuit in a refrigerator in the back of the restaurant.

Later the owner of the restaurant, Khun Sirikarn aged 55, after being alerted by the owner of a nearby beauty parlour came to inspect the scene and stated that she thought that the fire had done about 100,000 Baht in damages to fixtures and fittings. Forensic Science Police will inspect the scene later to confirm the cause of the fire.

Pattaya Tourism Authority of Thailand Welcomes Media From India, Srti Lanka and Bangladesh

With a chink in the Chinese tourism market and the Russians not rushing to visit Pattaya nowadays the Tourist Authority of Thailand are looking for other markets to make up their defecit in tourist arrival totals. The target now is indigenous inhabitants from the Indian sub-continent - always a favourite with Pattaya business folks.

Khun Suladda Director of The Tourism Authority of Thailand Pattaya Office was on hand at The Royal Cruise to welcome media representatives from India, Sri Lanka and that nation of burgeoning billionaires Bangladesh.

The group were given a speech by officials from Pattaya City extolling the cultural virtues of this fair city and then treat to a tour of the attractions that only the international tourist destination of Pattaya can offer. 

A friendly welcoming atmosphere was fostered as the guests from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were provided liquid refreshments and each group of 6 media representatives were each provided with a straw each so they could share together a cooling and well earned drink.

3 Million Baht Pattaya Speedboat Goes Up In Flames

Whoops - some bright spark just managed to destroy a 3 million Baht Speedboat. No it didn't sink. No it wasn't rammed. It was set on fire by a stray spark from a welders torch.

Pattaya Police, Fire Trucks, Rescue vehicles and medics rushed to the scene - NPSK Marine Company based on the Sukhumvit Road where a 33 foot twin engined speedboat was engulfed in flames.

A friend of the boatyard's owner Khun Soranon aged 57 had agreed to take care of the boat which belonged to a friend.

Fire officials examined a building that was under construction on the enjoining plot and found evidence that may indicate that sparks had been produced in the roof of the structure and that was It seems that sparks were blown over the boatyard causing the canvas cover on the speedboat to set on fire.

He enrolled some staff to help to pull out of the yard but they were forced back by the fierce flames that had now engulfed the multi-million Baht Speedboat. It took firefighters 30 minutes to put out the blaze. There is no news at the moment if the welder who caused the fire has been fired.

Cambodian Koh Larn Island Pattaya Beach Vendor Kicks Sand For The Cameras

It seems like the new powers that be who let me point out have considerable influence over the boys in brown are starting to make inroads on the apathetic attitude to crime that seemed to be all too frequent in the past.

Recently a video purporting to show a beach vendor Mr. Peng aged 28 from Cambodia kicking sand in the face of a woman Russian tourist prompted the authorities to track down this idiot.

The incident occurred on Nuan Beach on Koh Larn Island. It turns out that the guy was a Cambodian beach tout who was miffed off that the tourist had decided to sit on her towel on the beach rather than fork out for one of his expensive deck chairs.

Mr. Peng confessed to his actions which have tarnished the reputation of the squeaky clean image of the international tourist resort of Pattaya City and was forced to do some fresh sand kicking for the delicatation of the assembled media crews.

The actual incident occurred a while ago. The tourist did not make a report to the authorities choosing instead to post a video on the Internet. As no complaint was lodged it is probable that he will not be charged with anything related to the incident. However as an illegal alien working without a work permit he could face jail time and deportation.

Pattaya Motorcycle Taxi Driver Arrested For Extortion

Pattaya Police Colonel Noppaporn along with Banglamung District Chief Khun Pongtasit and accompanied by a posse of military officers took part in the arrest of a Pattaya motorcycle driver who is thought to be running an extortion racket.

The taxi rider Khun Wanchai aged 46 had been dobbed in by another taxi rider after he complained to the police that Khun Wanchai was extorting 1,500 Baht per month for the right to work on a taxi stand.

Khun Wanchai denied any charges of intimidation and extortion even though he had been arrested on the same charges only three weeks ago. At that time he had been temporarily banned from riding his motorcycle. Khun Wanchai ignored this order and continued his activities.

He seems to be gobsmacked that his "riders" would grass him up. The police are looking in to this further to see how extensive his network of Somchai serfs is.

Turkish Man Nicked for Nicking Knickers from Big C Extra Pattaya

Turkish man nicked for nicking nickers from Big C. When asked why Big C he said he tried Middle C but they were too small.

Actually it wasn't reported what items he stole only that they were articles of women's clothing. Mr. Sam Hedayat aged 64 was apprehended when an alert security guard (yes there are some) spotted Mr. Hedayat stuffing stuff down the front of his trousers.

Of course he forgot to pay for them when going through check out. Probably because they were hidden where the sun don't shine or perhaps he was just having a senior moment.

The boys in brown were soon on the job and questioned Mr. Hedayat as to why he attempted to leave Big C with 8 pieces 3,000 Baht of women's clothing down his pants. Unfortunately their was something of a language barrier. There are not that many Turkish speaking policemen on the force so they locked him up after taking his knickers as evidence to await a suitably qualified Turkish translator. Suffice to be said that this Turkish man was not delighted.

Pattaya Sawang Boriboon Foundation Meeting For Charity Vegitarian Festival

An important meeting was held this week at the headquarters of The Sawang Boriboon Foundation. The Foundation which is most famous for it's fleet of siren screeming emergency vehicles and dedicated army of volunteer rescuers and medics also plays many roles in Pattaya society.

Dr. Wisit The President of The Sawang Boriboon Foundation, senior officials and members of the board of trustees got together to discuss the upcoming Charity Vegitarian festival which will take place between the 23rd of September an the 3rd of October.

Amongst the tasks of folks at the meetings was to finalise details of the special signs which will be provided to shop owners who will support the event and of course finalise details of the special t-shirts which will be sold to the public at 2,000 Baht in support of local charities.

A further press conference will be held at The Central Festival Pattaya Beach on the 15th of September.

Chinese Tourists and No Show Pattaya Ping Pong Show

Tourist police on Walking Street were informed of a Chinese visit to a Thai cultural event went wrong when they reported a No Go Ping Pong Show.

6 Chinese Tourists had handed over 2,000 Baht to a street tout to see sexy Thai ladies play play ping pong - you know how the Chinese love to play ping pong. However when they arrived at the bar in Soi Pattayaland they looked through a chink in the curtain. Would they get a seat, no problem the place was empty, very empty. They found a member of staff - they were informed solly no hab ping pong, sexy show? solly no hab sexy show, sexy Thai lady? solly no hab sexy ladies - all go home sleep we close already go away.

The Tourist Police were incensed - no hab show sexy said one tourist police officer who had obviously been here too long. So they set off to track down the tout who was making the town of disrepute into a town of even more disrepute.

They didn't have to go far The tout Khun Itinan aged 32 was still at it even at this late hour of the morning with his plastic card showing acts that were well .... disreputable. He admitted taking the Chinese tour group to the bar but said he had no idea it was already closed.

The Tourist police asked him to hand over the 2,000 Baht - No Hab he replied. So the same tourist police officer who has been here too long said Well I no hab no choice and took him down the police station.

As for the group of Chinese tourists I can only assume they returned back to their hotel to organise their own game of ping pong.