wedders

On 7/12/2021 at 10:53 AM, macgver said:

To Samaritan and ASEAN Now, if you need any assistance on supporting counselling service to the expats, don't hesitate to drop a private message to me. 

 

I am a pastor, also a missionary and doing a lot of counselling with the people, as well finding solution to help them. 

What I appreciated back in the 80s when I did a ten year stint as a Samaritan helper and branch director, was the emphasis on listening (rather than counselling), and the importance of never so much as hinting at personal beliefs, or lack of, in the exchange. Glad to see this principle still enshrined in its current ‘nature of services’ policy summary - “Volunteers will not impose their own convictions, or influence callers, in regards to politics, philosophy, or religion.”

3 hours ago, jimn said:

MODS please correct this article

 

This is totally incorrect information. Restaurants can open in Pattaya for eat inside the restaurant. Only alcohol has to be consumed off premises.

Was wading through the comments to find someone who had noticed that classic blunder. 
Pattaya restaurants are allowed to open as of yesterday for eat in except in malls where it remains delivery/takeout only. Restaurants are allowed to sell alcohol, but only for consumption “at home”. The curfew still applies so most close 9-9.30pm

So many factors involved in all this...

- increased awareness for a start, the air pollution has been a problem for many years but as it gradually affects the capital more and more, people are starting to take notice.

- intensive farming methods and pressure on tenant farmers to increase yield mean more crops from the same land, and the quick easy and cheap way of clearing stubble and undergrowth is by burning. Back in the day buffalo and cattle leisurely did the job. Not any more.

- new crops - maize/corn amongst others, mean the burning season lasts pretty much as long as the dry season these days. Something, somewhere, will always be burning. Sometimes from as early as November, and through to the end of April. That’s 5 months of the year.

- sugar cane, not just burning the stubble after harvest. But leaves are stripped pre-harvest and burnt as well. And the biomass from sugar cane burns fiercer and emits more particulates too.

- slash and burn, clearance of forest for more plantations, another factor.

- factories processing crops like palm oil, often boilers and the incineration process is inefficient, poorly regulated, giving off far more particulate concentration in the emissions than is possible with modern equipment.

- every village in Thailand you see trails of smoke from unsorted trash burning. Heavy metals, styrene, arsenic, you name it, going up in smoke. And the garbage dumps are no better. Smokeless incinerators? No chance.

- Climate change is causing some issues too. And thermal inversions trapping pollution under a blanket of warmer air at altitude, a major factor in the recent Bangkok problem. Convection usually sends the pollution into the upper atmosphere - out of sight, out of mind. Static high pressure systems, barely any air movement, and the problem is far worse down on the ground. We are seeing this more and more. And it’s a vicious circle - once the pollution is trapped at ground level, it reflects heat upwards, preventing even further the convection process.

- And all the time, economic growth means expansion, more vehicles, more power needed, more crops, with inadequate enforcement of emissions regulations in developing nations.

- On top of this, pollution knows no boundaries. Transborder haze has played a big part. Smoke from the burns in northern Cambodia, Isaan, travels 100s of kms if the weather conditions are right, polluting towns and cities right across SE Asia.

- Power generation with coal. Even waste-burning power stations exist. Burning poor quality plastics we Westerners actually pay Thailand to take off our hands, shipping it here for disposal.

- The construction industry, another big source of particulate pollution.

i could go on lol...

There’s a Facebook page about this if anyone is interested ... worth a browse. Pollution Watch Thailand

Pleasant view from Big Buddha early this morning..

and despite the way the media portrays it - it’s not just Bangkok and CM

On 1/29/2019 at 7:19 AM, canopy said:

Sadly all you describe is completely normal this part of the year. When the rains stop the burnt pollution accumulates in the atmosphere, simple as that. No one cares about this pollution or is interested in doing anything about it. I am not kidding you, even the pollution control department people figure if the air in the countryside is as good as bangkok then that's good enough for them. No one wants pristine, clean air all year round like the countryside used to be when it was organically farmed before the chemical farming & burning generation displaced that. There are plenty of great alternatives to get clean air again, but again there just isn't anyone who cares one bit. You'll see topics pop up from shocked expats who were caught off guard with the smoke situation asking about where to find a good air purifier. That's about it.

 

Yes but areas less affected previously are seeing serious increases in PM2.5 counts. Now the Eastern Seaboard is as badly hit as Bangkok - 185 this morning around town - it represents a serious threat to tourism.

But as people rightly say, the authorities have been burying their heads in the sand for years. I moved from Chiang Mai to the coast years ago. Maybe Krabi next...

14 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Well the sensitivity about naming and shaming is rather obvious in this case. Although I would like the name, the situation wouldn't stop me from eating there if I already like it or trying it if I think they might have good food. It would however influence me to take extra care if commenting on the place. 

Well as admin of Thailand Wine And Dine I deliberately went (anonymously) the next day with the intention of doing an honest review, good, bad or indifferent. As it turned out it was pretty good. Review was worded accordingly.

Chatting to the owner after the meal, it was clear that things had got out of hand, as I put it before 'a storm in a soup bowl', one that will hopefully soon blow over if it hasn't already.

5 hours ago, jacko45k said:

How was the food?

Really good, fair value too. Owner friendly, long chat. 

Storm in a soup bowl.

On 27/03/2018 at 1:29 PM, Pattaya28 said:

So only "positive" reviews are allowed ? 

If this is the case, then this leaves the entire group of 40,000 worthless.

 

To be clear, as the vast majority of the 40,000 members of the BC live in the Indian sub-continent or similar and have as much chance of eating in a decent Pattaya restaurant as I have of visiting Timbuktu, most of them are pretty worthless anyway ?

5 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Honestly, these FB groups sound overly SNOBBY and "faux exclusive" for my tastes and I'm sure the feeling would be mutual and I wouldn't be welcome there (not applying either).

 

But as someone very interested in the food scene here, I still want to know the name of the darn restaurant!

 

So here it goes, who do you have to blow torch a fancy dessert for to get the freakin' name! 

Jingthing if you can survive TV, you can survive any FB group going! ?

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

So it was the same restaurant but not about the comment about the owner that came later? 

I know you're not into FB but groups work almost the same as threads on TV. A member publishes a new topic under which other members are free to post what they wish, depending on how strict the moderation policy is. 

I can only comment on the review proper in the original post by the diner himself. All manner of comments may have followed from any other member on the BC virtually uncontrolled as usual on that group, that's a separate issue. On TWD we do our utmost to delete personal attacks and regular offenders are banned.

54 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Hi there,

 

A member kindly provided me a CLUE about what the offending review might have been. I'm not sure so take this with a groan of salt.

 

Anyway, based on my reading of what MIGHT be the offending review, I can better understand why the owner would be pissed off. I'm not condoning or approving any lawsuits over reviews of course, but the thing that struck me as crossing a line was getting into posting unfavorable impressions about the personality/character of the owner in a personal way.

 

That is something I would hope people would avoid in restaurant reviews. It's one thing saying the service was really slow but to get personal and insulting about a specific person whose identity is easily known is another. I would certainly avoid doing that online and it's something that I would consider a post that should be removed and reported if it happens on this forum (which, BTW, it has).

 

Just my two cents and quite possibly barking up the wrong tree because I don't have confirmation that what I'm commenting on was the thing. 

 

Cheers 

This is how misrepresentations and misunderstandings arise (while acknowledging you accept you might be barking up the wrong tree) ?

As admin on Thailand Wine And Dine where the same review was posted, with copies of all reviews kept including those subsequently deleted, I have to point out that ABSOLUTELY NO MENTION OF THE OWNER OF THE RESTAURANT WAS MADE IN THE REVIEW. I cannot emphasise this enough. Which bearing in mind the fact that the owner wasn't in the restaurant at the time and the poster hadn't met him before makes complete sense. 

I cannot speak to comments below the main post on the BC, where ranting and raving mostly goes uncensored unlike on TWD. But knowing the OP personally I can confirm that this is simply not his style.

3 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

Ah hah! If you want to know the truth, get a Dark Side sniffer dog on it.

I now know (totally by conincidence on where I got invited tonight), the restaurant involved and trust me, the issue is not with their food cos it is exceptionally good.

And, yes, I have been there before, so this was not a one off, or miraculous improvement.

I actually earlier in this thread suggested the food might be crap and they should work on it. Ooops!

When you see the CCTV of it all absolutely nothing seems amiss. Then a mysterious post appears that differs somewhat in its description of everything.

The restaurateur involved freely admits he was OTT in suggesting legal action, though it is also suggested the poster concerned runs a very similar genre of business, so possibly all was not as above board as we have been led to believe.

No, I am not naming it. It does seem from video evidence though that there are two sides to every story. It is now up to you what to believe.

Interesting, as I said I was there earlier too. But as a friend of the poster concerned can I make it clear he doesn't run a restaurant or anything along those lines. Indeed he doesn't work here at all.

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

However, in my experience, most complaints are legit and good restaurants will offer to fix things if it's possible. Most Pattaya restaurants are not so good that way though. 

My experience - as a restaurateur before in Patts and knowing many owners in town - is different. I know few owners who don't bite their tongues and make a polite offer of some kind, right or wrong

5 minutes ago, sandrabbit said:

ok good, it was just a coincidence then that he had mentioned that there were still 2 recent posts about it and they mentioned pizzas.

It was me and I meant in recent months

21 minutes ago, tropo said:

And good advice too. No one is duty bound to make reports on forums about restaurants they have visited. I've eaten at many lousy restaurants over the years. It's part of the adventure. 

True but we set up Thailand Wine And Dine - a flame-free, hatchet job free zone inhabited only by people who actually live in or have visited Thailand unlike the other group  - with the sole purpose of helping good quality, not necessarily easy to find restaurants and diners who don't want to waste their time eating poor to average food around town. Constructive criticism is fine. Our group is trusted as free of bias.

37 minutes ago, sandrabbit said:

After reading the Thailand wine'n'dine facebook comments page I get the impression that post 105 is not too far off the mark as the moderator Peter Garwood mentions there are two other recent reports on the place and is wondering if the owner of the restaurant would like them deleted.

Lol no pizzas sold at the restaurant in question. Don't think I'm giving away much there ?

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

I still want to know the name if you don't mind. 

If it comes out it comes out but I would rather those involved had the chance to sort it first. Sorry. 

14 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Again, clearly there are some people on this thread that know the name of this restaurant. I really want to know the name. PLEASE PM me with the name. I'm not on FB. 

As I said above there's a chance the whole thing will be quickly resolved, here's hoping common sense rapidly prevails. After a chat with both parties I have a good idea how this situation probably arose, and it would be very sad if the situation degenerated further in the circumstances.

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Great!

Could you or someone else PM me the name of this restaurant. I won't publicize it. I just want to avoid reviewing them! Intimidation works!

I think like most of these situations, it has been blown out of all proportion. I enjoyed my meal, and enjoyed a lengthy chat with the owner. Hopefully by tomorrow the whole thing will have been sorted amicably.

In the meantime please feel free to enjoy reviews on Thailand Wine And Dine where there is far more sensible discussion about this topic, and reviews on this amongst other restaurants that don't involve hyperbole, conspiracy theories, wild guesses and crazy assumptions.

Interestingly I'm eating in the very same restaurant right now....

Bus pollution Pattaya

On the subject of buses, filmed this a couple of hours earlier... 

16 hours ago, Mr Joe Bangles said:

Glad you captured the moment - scary for anyone having a quiet coffee, and fortunate no one was parking up to join you. These buses have reached epidemic levels here - but it will be money that wins the day !!!

The cafe had closed at 8, and the owners were actually just about to head out on one of the bikes for a quiet evening meal when this happened.

Yes Pattaya is a complete disaster zone these days between pollution and lack of garbage collection...

9 hours ago, Just Weird said:

Well it's good to know that your spelling is ok even if every other thing about your "caption" is inaccurate and wrong.  And I do mean every single thing that you said.

Is that so. I possibly underestimated the number of buses in town daily (“hundred and hundreds”), “poorly maintained and polluting” may have been an understatement, and describing the drivers as “morons”.... well, apologies, I was just trying to be polite.

Someone asked me to upload the video file directly. This is from CoworkingCo&Caffe’s cctv.

8BBFB4DC-3AF3-4A6E-BD5A-FCA3855B6BF6.mp4