nikkoid66

Totally agree, I do Skype Lessons with Wallen for 1 year and I am sure that all students in the class would have answered this question very easily.

After 6 years, I am sure I will be able to completely speak Thai fluently for most common every day tasks.

This guy really abused to the system. Most regular legit students from legit schools should not affected by this crackdown.

Personnally I would have answered: tea pom gin yae pla, 555, visa stamped, done.

Walen is not affected by this or? Do those Skype students need to attend the classrooms now too?

The issue seems to be that the guy was with the guy not being able to speak Thai at a very basic level. Pla yay geen pla lek. So super easy. If you learn online you do actually attend a class, and many students do not learn online because they need visa, this is one of the way we teach. If there is a problem with this kind of visa it will be because people like this.

The moral of the story is learn some Thai, at least at a basic level. It needs to be evident that you go to school and learn. He did not ask him to translate passages from Shakespeare into Thai, did he?

Walen is not affected by this or? Do those Skype students need to attend the classrooms now too?

I am Skype Studen with Wallen, I did the Book 1, 2 times. I could have answer to that emigration official right away.

"The big fish eat the little fish?"

Pla Yae gin Pla leg.

I have done 1 year of Thai at Wallen, just done that from memory.

To the ones who say that after 6 years in Thailand you do not know the word fish, it is crazy. I didn't learn this word at School, you go to a restaurant, you need to know, gai (chicken) moo (porc), and pla (fish). Seriously, if someone is living in France for 6 years and do not know simple words like these, he deserved to be kicked out immediately.

If tourist are aware of the scams, the Jetsky business will have less clients and they will make less money.

If they make less money, they will not represent enough interest for the police and the officials involved and will become more of a problem.

I bet the same who are supporting these scams will one day turn against them and they will be put in jail by the exact same cops that were supporting them before.

The money is the spine of the corruption, less money, less support from the corrupted officials.

Great documentation Nikkoid, please post this soon on the Mayor's Facebook page.

Done already

Good info nikkoid the more posters that contribute evidence like photo's and reports of these scams the better, one day these thieves will be stopped.

It is actually very easy to catch. They have total impunity, just walk on Beach road and like me, you will see the scam openly taking place. That's a very shocking reality

But we are just visitors, we are not Thai. The Thai must realize how embarrassing it is and how bad it is to the Thailand reputation and tourism, so that they do something against it one day.

Good post my friend but pointless, nothing will be done too many people taking a cut, you might as well pray that the tuk tuks in phuket will lower their prices it aint going to happen, so sad.

Everyone can comment and like the post on Itthiphol Kunplome (Pattaya's mayor) Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/#!/PattayaFuture

The more we talk about it, the more embarrassing it is and one day, maybe they will stop the scammers.

Here is the deal. I heard about this Jetsky scam for a while and I heard that it was taking place at Royal Garden on Pattaya beach road. So I decided to walk there and check if it was real or not.

What did happen stunt me. In front of me, the scam was taking place, in front of thousands of tourist in one of the hottest place in Pattaya.

I had my iPhone and I took pictures of the scam. Not even trying to hide myself, as there were so many people around that no one even noticed me.

I saw the Chief Scammer one meter away from me and I sustained his eyes while he was bringing the customers to the ATM. He has a long moustache and is very dark tanned. Quite fat and he is really looking terrible as a person. His 'man' is a 1.80 meter Thai man walking and supervising, quite intimidating.

Here is what I witnessed.

One kid was showing that the Jetski was damaged and the customer were feeling very sorry and were apologizing. The chief was showing 10 fingers repetitively (10k or 100k baths). I could not heard the conversation but the customers refused. After what seems to be a negotiation, the chief agreed about 3 fingers. I suppose 30k baths or 3000 baths? I cannot be sure. However the 3 customers didn't had the money at this time.

They walk close to beach road, in front of Royal Garden Mall, and they call someone. All the customers were wearing a hat, so it is easy to differentiate them from the Thai scammers.

While waiting for their friends who will bring them an ATM card, they are surrounded by the 2 Scammers. The chief is particularly excited and menacing while the big one is waiting a little behind, overlooking.

2 more men wearing hats arrived on the other side of the road, and everyone managed to cross the beach road and walk to the green K bank ATM. The original 3 scammers are asked to wait down stair with the manacing scammer, while the chief go to the ATM with the new friends.

After that, the 2 scammers walk away with the money...

I hope these people, very easy to find and to caught in the act as you can see, will end up in jail.

Everyone can comment and like the post on Itthiphol Kunplome (Pattaya's mayor) Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/#!/PattayaFuture

I heard that most fish from the markets are dipped in Formalin to preserve their aspect longer.

Does anyone knows where to buy real fresh fish, not preserved or dipped in any chemical?

Naklua market?

The main problem for Pattaya is that most of the people don't come from here and therefore don't have any pride in the place. I think I remember correctly that at a previous national election, only 30,000 people were entitled to vote out of the probably a million or so who live here. The rest come down from Essarn to make as much money as possible and send it back home.

I agree, Pattaya is a come/bank/go place. I talk with my Thai friends and they agree that they get sick all the time here. But because it is temporary, they do not complain, they know they will be back home soon, hopefully the pockets full of money.

Hard Rock celebrates anniversary with beach cleanup

Story and pictures HERE

At least a good news! Thanks Hard Rock coffee! Just a word about the Hard Rock Coffee brand, it is owned by Native American Indians (Seminoles) who are known to be very pro-active about environment issues back home in Florida.

ow it

If the Government would go the way of Malaysia, that would be a start. There you get charged for every Plastic Bag in the 7/11 (I guess other places will do the same). Till now it looks like Thais do not give a flying fxxx about the rubbish floating around. As mentioned before, they still come to enjoy the Beaches here in Pattaya.

This is Penang, Malaysia, Georgetown to be more precise. Once called the "Pearl of Asia". Now it more a black pearl to be accurate.

The problem is not the individual bags, but more the way the waste is managed in these cities. It is costly to manage the waste like we do in Europe and USA. Here in Georgetown, the sewage is directly in front of the expensive hotels. Nobody swim in these water, but it smell.

What people do not realize is the connection between their health and these environmental issues.

Anyone noticed that when it rains, they get sick? Lot of friend have got this same issue, it rains and the next day they have throat, stomach pain... Let explain that. Actually the pollution evaporates, and you breath it. In Pattaya as soon as you have heavy rain, it smells like sewer. It is bad, that means the bacteria are in the air and you breath them, they go in your body and you get sick. Rain in Pattaya is toxic.

Yesterday, at the Pullman Beach Club (Wongamat) having drinks at sunset. Everyone was commenting about the rubbish that was floating about in the sea and being washed onto the shore. It is SAD sight. Plastics, pipes, bags, bottles...some people who ventured into water ended up running out in a hurry due to EXCESSIVE rubbish, literally large pieces hitting swimmers.

There is no point saying 'if you don't like it, leave" because it affects all of us living here, even if we are not beach goers; nobody wants to live close to sea that is in danger of becoming a festering, putrid, eyesore. There is also no point saying that "Pattaya is not known for its clean beaches" because that is not entirely true as can be seen from the many many people who do go to the beach on weekends and high season.

There is a chap named KOTO who does try to do something by education and spreading awareness of the issue....he may be hitting a brickwall but at least he tries. Hopefully more people like him organise and act. Or else, the Pattaya authorities need to be publicly embarrassed with pics/photos, forums like thaivisa and by spreading the word on the internet. Then perhaps the voters will act accordingly when the consequences of the degraded sea hits the hip pocket.

Totally agree about everything you said. I got a message from these people : http://www.facebook....#!/Thedivetribe they have some very disturbing pictures of Pattaya's underwater...They apparently work with a big University in BK and make water analysis. The results as you can imagine are not good.

On Pratumnak Hill, there is a Sewer. It is well indicated on the road and you can smell it. They throw the shit into the water at this place but not directly to the beach, thru an underwater tube so that the thing has more chance to dissolve before going back on the beach. The funny things is that just hundred meters away are some of the most costly condo...any one can drive there and see for themselves, there is a big warning sign. Apparently you have swimt a little bit too close to that place or the currents were going in your direction that day.

I must say that your story is really horrific, I cannot imagine how disgusting it would be to be in that situation!

Hi folks

I have been swimming on the Pratumnak end of the beach daily for the last 7 years. The water quality has been getting worse and worse, not even mentioning the dangerous pieces of deliberately broken glass (under water) and the seasonal stingers.

A situation/story that I have heard several times from friends and I have always laughed off, "swimming in shit", became reality last week.

I did my daily laps about 150 yards off the beach, where usually there water starts to clear up somewhat. I was gagging, finding myself all of a sudden in the middle of larger and smaller pieces of shit turds in a quite large area. I succeeded to dive and get away towards the beach and immediately leave the water and now believe this story.

I doubt I will ever go to swim again in these waters.

A visit to several islands incl. Koh Chang and some smaller islands towards Cambodia in the area a few weeks back, were equally shocking. Corals almost totally destroyed, even remote beaches full of rubbish of any kind. Disgusting! What a shame. Lots of disappointed tourists, who never will come back, too. There is no way Thailand will improve the image to receive better quality tourists.

So rather then taking those pics what did you do today to help clean up what you say is discusting? Did you help pick up any garbage or anything?'Thai's work in the day so I don't think they will. Pattaya is not known for it's clean beaches. Could always move to Na Jomtien if you don't like it? Any time they try to instal bigger drain systems they need to rip up the roads etc then you would be here complaing about the terrible road condition or would you accept that?

People awareness is what will change things. Spain and Italy got thru this and they had to step so that the tourist won't flew away... same can happen here.

Jomtien is worse than Pattaya, sometime Pattaya can have acceptable water close to Naklua, but Jomtien is always really dirty.

You need to drive down to Ban Saray to see some better water. Even Koh Larn is dirty now, coral Island does not have anymore corals...they are all grey and dead.

I agree that US is not perfect, but at least there is a concern when something happen like this.

It is not business as usual.

They don't say "if you are not happy, leave the country"

Oceans have no frontiers. If you put shit in one place will spread all over the place.

But I guess mongers who come in Pattaya are only concern about their girlfriend's ass cleanness.

btw if you compared the result of a day of rain in Thailand with this, it is a bit not exactly the same.

Hi,

If this is "Heavy Pollution", how do you call that? (from USA)

But I agree that Pattaya urgently need of a big decent wastewater treatment station

and that Thailand need to educate Thai people about this kind of environment concern...

Just 5 days after "Ocean Day" some rain in the Golf of Pattaya brings the tourists back to reality. Spectacular and awful pollution.

You want to buy a condo in Pattaya, premium view on the Golf? Check these pictures and think about the resell value when people will realize at large how bad, and dangerous the water is in Pattaya.

I cannot recall in my life having seen such a shame water close to where people are living. Maybe in some garbage place in India? But not in a major touristic city like Pattaya.

The pollution seems to come from Bali Hai pier, or from hundred of boats who cleaned up their engine this morning in a massive noisy way...

In this election time, how the authorities cannot be concerned about these kind of events? In Europe or US, it would do the news opening and people would debate about what kind of pollution, industrial, from the sewers, boats? The beach would be closed for insanity.

But here it seems that giving trophy in front of photographs, and talking for nothing is the way to solve issues like these.

Kids were playing on the beach this morning and nothing seems to shake the Thai people around. It is business as usual.

How many people will get sick? This pollution will evaporate, come in the air, go in the food, stink on the beach for weeks, or months.

I have been living in different places. And in France, Italy, UK, Switzerland, Bahamas, Barbados, Martinique, in the USA or even in south American's Islands, you will never see something like this. Miami, a 8 Million people city has sparkling water.

Why do you want leave Pattaya, what's bothers you here?

I am at Soi 1, on Beach Road, very quiet, not too many vendors, in hi-raise building, air is ok when you are at 20th floor. Nice view, no noise, close to major entertainment...

Seriously, you will not find anything close to Pattaya in term of food & entertainment choice in the world...

Bad luck for the honest people living in LoS and just having an income of less than 65k a month.....thats an rediculous amount....compared to a THAI citizen....guess just

Abhisit makes that much money a month (over the table)

I know several Thais who are making +50k / month doing guide, selling travel tickets, or just doing accounting in an office.

Did you notice all these trucks and big cars?

There is a middle class in Thailand and it is growing very fast.

Now in the USA, thinks are so bad, that most people I know there are not making this money monthly... Soon, Thai will go in vacation in Miami and the poor Americans will beg for money from the so called 3rd world countries...

I just received this email from Air Asia, that makes no sense to me!

Dear Nicolas,

We will be discontinuing the Vegetarian Fried Rice from 1st June 2011 onwards.

Vegetarian Fried Rice will be replaced with Vegetarian Fried Rice (with Mock Drumsticks)

for all AirAsia QZ flights.

However, if you would like to have other meals instead, kindly proceed to Manage My Booking to make your changes online or contact our Call Centre.

Additional fees will not be incurred unless the price of the newly selected meal is higher than the price of the original meal.

Wishing you a pleasant flight!

Best Regards,

Catering & In-Flight Management AirAsia Berhad

How can anyone come in Thailand with drug? Must be crazy or fool to take these kind of risks!

FIFA corrupted? What a news.

Everywhere there is a lot of money, there is corruption. And there is a lot of money at FIFA.

Plus the football player are not reputed to be very smart.

If you have a cocktail of stupid corrupted rich arrogant people. What do you expect?

bug, duplicate post: admin please remove!

The cheapest ticket here in Pattaya is 120 B for a regular movie and 240 for a 3D movie.

Maybe is it cheap for us Farang. But for Thai who make an average of 8000 B/month, it is very expensive.

A familly would pay 1000 B to see a 3D movie? Too much for them. Cinema should be accessible for all.

Carrefour "traiteur" products are the best. Great quiches and croissants, fish is fresh.

Big C is like Tesco, big superstore of old products full of conservative and s.hit. In Pattaya the s.hit smell is horrible in Biv C north Pattaya.

Tesco? I puchased Gillette rasors there, they were not cutting, problably cheap Chinese copy, I never got this problem anywhere else.

One thing: buy fresh products at local markets. 20 baths 1 kb of fresh mango.