contemplating

The jellyfish that are washed up on the beach are not the jellyfish in question, Box Jellyfish. As I understand it, all jellyfish sting, that is how they get their food, if they feed on zooplankton, or bigger prey, but some are relatively harmless, and others are Deadly.

I hope people will start to use the word "STING", not "bite". Jellyfish sting, bees sting, dogs and cats bite!! There is a big difference. If you were unfortunate to get bitten by a dog, would you go to the clinic and say you were stung by a dog? Jellyfish dont have teeth, so they dont bite.

And yes, I think I will add a bottle of vinegar to my beach kit.

I dont think the scamers have any plans of quitting. They have just found out that this is a gold mine, and no one will stop them. Why should they quit? Does anyone think they read Thai Visa, or any other forum? They are on a roll, and will continue as long as there are people to rent their garbage. They have never made money this easy, people are lining up to be scammed, and these guys cant believe how easy it is to get money from tourist. They can give the renter any discount they want, because they know that in one hour, they will make maybe 40 times the rental amount. Only thing we can do is try to spread the word, but I sure wouldnt be the one to put up a poster on the beach. I dont think that person would make it back home. Our Embassy's should be doing something also to help. Maybe if we all started sending messages to our own Embassy, they would react to this scam. This is not the same as getting scammed out of the price of a t-shirt. I for one, couldnt even pay this amount that they want, so for me it would have to be a case of "fight or flight". Families are having their holiday completely destroyed. Just depressing to see this going on.

Where are you from in the SF bay area? Oakland, Richmond?? Im from the north bay, and No one has bars on their windows, and very few even have an alarm system, and No one has has a wall around their house, and if they had a wall, they would not have 220v on top of the wall. That kind of security is only to keep people in, not out. As I said, if you have been in Thailand for a while, you get used to living behind walls, but for a lot of people, its not an easy way to live.

I just gave my opinion, not starting a macho contest.

Its funny, someone ask a simple question about living in Pattaya, and after a few opinions, then everyone starts bashing each other, about our different life styles and who has the best security. Im from the Dark Side, and hear of robberies all the time, of course hard to know which story is true or false, but things do happen here. If you want good protection, you Do have to have a Fortress Mentality. For some of us, its a natural thing, for others, its very hard to live that way. You do need walls, spikes, dogs, alarms, strong doors and windows, cannot trust the security, cannot trust neighbors outside the community, and seems that no one is really interested in catching the robbers, or putting heads together and doing anything to deter another robbery.

Some of us seem to get by on luck, and because of the good luck, think that they have the right answer, but its just Luck! Gated communities seem to offer a bit more protection, but then it may just be the feeling. Some gated communities even have electric topped walls, and that hasn't stopped the thieves. Dogs are poisoned so that isnt even a sure answer.

Does that sound terrible? Most people have gotten used to it, and live with it, to a certain extent, but its not for everyone. I have been in and out of Thailand for 25 years, and never felt threatened, untill the last couple of years. Things change, and Thailand has changed. There are a lot of desperate people hear now, and they are not concerned with what will happen if they get caught, Just read the post on TV, or read the news paper, and you can see, that many of these crimes are as stupid as can be, but still happens.

Think about it, before you commit yourself to living here. There are a lot of nice things in Thailand, but since the question was about security, then this is my opinion, and everyone has their own opinion and stories.

Save money by not coming to Thailand. Stay at home and watch the telly, try to get on social security, go to homeless shelters to eat your lunch, or if your really into saving, just sleep in the street.

Very sad to see peoples holiday being destroyed by they criminals. People only wanting to have some fun, and have no idea of what they are in for. Finally the police arrive, only to help the criminals. And what do you think they will tell their friends back home? F... Pattaya, F... Thailand. And the only thing the government can do, is decorate Sukhumvit with some silly art work, yeah, that will bring the tourist to Pattaya!! Good work!!

Couldnt the cute girls from 7-eleven stop the traffic? Since they are already working with the police, but of course, that is only the Participating 7-elevens. They might even make a baht or two from some nice customers.

Seems that Pattaya police are not highly regarded by their comrades in BKK. Or maybe the BKK police have already cleaned up BKK, so now they have time for Pattaya. Or................

How do you collect the vat? Leave the country, or?

Hey! But there was a pick-up stopped! Luckily he didnt get rear-ended.

What does "Gout" have to do with the working conditions? It is caused by diet, not the air you breath.

I dont think if the garbage was picked up, that it would destroy the "layed back" atmosphere of Pattaya, or for that matter, the rest of Thailand. Maybe some people enjoy the garbage that the soi dogs spread around the streets, or the piles of wet smoking garbage, outside of town. Do we really need an outbreak of cholera, before the garbage is cleaned up? There are a lot of people that bring money to Pattaya and keep the economy going, that dont really enjoy a walk in the garbage dump, and maybe that is part of the problem of lack of tourist here now. Some of us that live here dont have too many options, and not so easy to "just go back home", but the tourist DO have options, and its the tourist that keep the Pattaya economy going, not expats.

Lots of very bad experiences posted here, but I have had a good experience!! Last month, I took the Bell bus from Pattaya to the airport. I have never in 25 years in Thailand, had such a nice ride!!! The driver never speeded, never any fast moves, and even knew where the worst bumps were on the overpasses, and slowed down for them. Now I know there is at least one good driver in Thailand. Oh yeah, and only 200baht! I would defiantly recommend them.

One poster asked about people siting on top of vehicles. I have never seen anyone sitting on top of the vehicle, but on top of the load, they are there all the time. When anything happens, they all fly off like rockets. Also see pick-ups with furniture being moved and with a little kid, trying to hold up a huge cupboard, it will work as long as nothing happens, but if it does, he will fly off along with the cupboard.

Another point was made here, about the ratio of accidents here, compared to other countries. Well, if an accident happens in the west, there might be 5 people killed, but in Thailand, there might be 20 people killed. Everything is overloaded. I took my family out one time, rented two vans, but only one came, so we had 21 people on board. No body complained, they all thought it was sanuk! No end of tragic stories in Thailand.

Seems the mini vans have a license to kill, they are always driving like hel_l, of course trying to get to Nong Kai or where ever. It must go with the job, tight time table, and if a long run, just have some more red bull. But what about the baht buses that are used to carry the school children? I see them so over loaded, that they have to hit the breaks, before the front wheels touch ground. As I see it, Thai dont care anything about safety, if I mention to my TGF about vans driving fast or overloaded baht buses, she has no idea what im talking about. It just doesnt register in their heads. I guess if they really knew how to drive, then being macho could be accepted, but you can already see the 10 year olds racing on their bikes, not old enough for sex, but old enough to kill someone! Someone said that even with police, the US has so many accidents, well I can guarantee you that its far less than Thailand, just check the stats! I would even guess that all the accidents in Thailand are not always included in the stats.

Hmmmm, one of the men that were shooting at police was released! He must have had more a bit more money than they others.

Typical Thailand, make a narrow walk, then fill it with tables and chairs!

If you ask the members of TV, they will all tell you the come for the sun only, its kinda secrete!

Please explain! Doesnt seem like anyone understands what you are looking for.

What is with Thailand trying to be the "hub" of everything? How about the hub of garbage filled beaches, or hub of scams.

And probably cant believe that telling them "I dont want to be in jail" really worked!! I will have to remember that line, it may come in handy some day!

Maybe the honest people dont have enough power, and the muscle to back it up. Just dont rent jet ski's. No way we can sort the bad from the good, so unless you want to support these crooks, then stop renting. Your world wont crumble if you dont ski, at least dont ski in Thailand. There are not a lot of ways farangs can make any changes here, but one good way is with our money. Those jet ski's will be off the beach in a month if no one rents from them.

lights will never work on soi siam. The old system wasnt good, but it seemed to work, with the occasional accident.

Wow, I knew there were making money, but didnt know it was that much!! Wouldnt it just be best to skip the jet ski experience? Seems we are only supporting thieves by renting them. Maybe you wont be scammed, but the next guy will. If no one rents, they that will be the end of their free ride.

Sorry Santi, but I dont think you understood the meaning of what I said.

I wonder if all these Iranian criminals in Thailand, make it in the news in Iran, or does the government like to keep things like this quiet. Seems like a lot are in the Thai news.