We can't fine people 100K or send them to jail for smoking on the beach, admits Pattaya official

[moonseeker]

No wonder there are fewer and fewer Westerners coming, with all the bs. going on daily and this being in the press allover the world. Destroyed environment, poor service and attitudes and high prices do the rest. Many friends did not show this year and several resided ones have moved away. 

Anyways, plenty Chinese and Indians filling the void. MS>

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

Why the hell not??

 

It would just take a few examples of foreign tourists fined and sent to Thai jail for a bit, not a year just a  weeks or so then the obligatory wais /deportations and the problem would be solved. I don't like smokers' filth and odor and don't want them coming to Thailand if they can't keep to designated areas.

[thesetat2013]

6 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

Well, it should be possible to collect the police ticket copies or receipts each cops turn in.  In most countries the tickets/citations in each book has to be accounted for.  There can't be missing tickets.  This helps in the accounting, protecting against fake tickets being issued, etc. 

haha... surely you are joking.. reciepts? tickets? 

[Dogmatix]

Thesakit “police” have no peers of arrest. So offenders can just refuse to pay and walk away, unless they call s real policeman to assist them. So their fines are effectively optional.

[transam]

11 minutes ago, ChiangMaiLightning2143 said:

Why the hell not??

 

It would just take a few examples of foreign tourists fined and sent to Thai jail for a bit, not a year just a  weeks or so then the obligatory wais /deportations and the problem would be solved. I don't like smokers' filth and odor and don't want them coming to Thailand if they can't keep to designated areas.

That's a bit OTT...So folk busted for no crash hat on a bike, taking drugs has cured the problem..?

In LOS you cannot smoke in a bar but it is OK outside, well a beach is very much outside and would of thought smoking would not be much of a problem to others if smokers are responsibly for taking care of their trash. Empty beer can makes a good ash tray that can be put in a bin..

[NextStationBangkok]

1/2 day jail on the beach itself without smoke would be fine. One can manage to buy Somtam and BBQ Chicken to survive.

 

If they are taken to proper jail, one would be happy for free accommodation in jail if they have Alkazar show inside.

[CanterbrigianBangkoker]

People will always smoke! It's a relaxing and enjoyable pass-time for many. Many of those who visit Thailand and bring in shed-loads of their hard-earned with them smoke and won't stop because it has become more difficult to enjoy a fag on Thai beaches. Not to even mention the locals or their habits. 

 

Whether or not it's deemed dirty or irresponsible is totally irrelevant, people will still engage in it, like they will drinking or unhealthy food. There are literally dozens of other habits that are equally as detrimental, but just haven't been vilified to the same degree as smoking...yet. Bans in outdoor areas (with perhaps hospital zones as an exception) are a stupid idea IMO. 

It's overkill and is totally ineffectual anyway. ESPECIALLY when you stop and think about it for a moment - that in any city of any size (and a great deal of rural areas where they are burning rubber/plastic/farm waste and crops) the air you're respiring is no different to cigarette smoke in its unhealthy nature, with prolonged exposure anyway, so being precious about this subject is just too absurd for words. The amount of times I have witnessed hi-so type Thais (and the occasional twatty foreigner) who tut, wrinkle their faces up and wave their hands at the lightest wisp of cigarette smoke crossing their paths, all the while 25 diesel guzzling behemoths - the knackered old WWII Mercedes buses, and god knows how many cars and motorcycles whiz by enveloping said pleb in a cloud of acrid exhaust fumes! It makes no sense, it's laughable, but people are brainwashed and believe what they're told to.

 

What SHOULD rightfully be enforced is the collection of waste! It's that simple! If the problem is that severe then it should become mandatory to have people (staff) check for cigarette butts and other refuse created over the course of however long a tourist OR LOCAL spends on any given beach - and ensure that it is binned. I ALWAYS collect any food / other waste and would keep my butts collected in a receptacle, ready for binning on my way out. Easy enough. Enough of this draconian bullshit that is totally ineffectual, clearly a huge waste of time, an impingement on people's civil liberties and furthermore is ripping the laissez-faire attitude out of Thailand and transforming it into another overly officious, nannying Western bureaucracy. The lack of all that was the WHOLE APPEAL of SE Asia in the first place you numpties! 

[Classic Ray]

Time to recognise that tourism is a big money earner for Thailand, that many of those tourists smoke (especially Chinese and Russian) and it is worth having clean beaches where they can enjoy themselves and spend money.

 

All the laws in the world won't solve the problem, especially in Thailand where they are never enforced and routinely ignored.

 

Spend some of the money they bring and buy some tractor attachments like those pictured and run them up and down the beach every day. Job done.

[transam]

9 minutes ago, Classic Ray said:

Time to recognise that tourism is a big money earner for Thailand, that many of those tourists smoke (especially Chinese and Russian) and it is worth having clean beaches where they can enjoy themselves and spend money.

 

All the laws in the world won't solve the problem, especially in Thailand where they are never enforced and routinely ignored.

 

Spend some of the money they bring and buy some tractor attachments like those pictured and run them up and down the beach every day. Job done.

You would get some members here complaining about diesel fumes from it...?

[Classic Ray]

2 minutes ago, transam said:

You would get some members here complaining about diesel fumes from it...?

Well maybe we could repurpose some of those annoying vendors trying to sell you jewellery or rent you jetskis all the time and get them to pull them up and down the beach. Or I am sure some local convicts could be persuaded to carry out the same task for an opportunity to walk up and down the beach. Chain gangs rule!

[jmacken306]

But when asked to come up with statistics for how many small fines have been issued he was just as evasive.

 

That's because when they collect a smaller fine it's just lining the pockets of the person who collected it.

When I grew up in the USA, littering of any kind got you a $100 fine (now $200+), Issue a ticket telling you, you have a period of time to pay your ticket or else. You pay the ticket at a police station. A ticket is a receipt that you will pay it or face time in jail, if you are a traveler they can flag your passport to pop up when you try to leave. It is a recording that the funds are not pocketed by officials at the beach or the office. Come on everything is digitally recorded now days to stop this pocket lining and the cops carry mobile phone with capabilities. I see them taking pictures of places they visit everyday! take a picture of the person and record their passport number, They are suppose to be carrying it with them more reason to......

[Yann55]

18 hours ago, mok199 said:

pattaya has no beach anylonger...it is a boat launch/ jet ski rental ,where they mix the fuel ,fuel the boats,repair boats ,herd the budget tourists and pose for selfies....

 

Actually, Pattaya does have one very nice beach, and it's called Dongtan Beach (in Jomtien). However, right now, the local authorities are busy destroying the features that made it wonderful and unique.

 

Around the world, tourist beaches usually have a road running along, the two simples motives for that being :

 

1/ The land along the beach is normally public property, and

2/ It's usually flat, which makes it easier to build a road.

 

These two factors mean that a road along the beach is the cheapest and easiest solution, since we live in a world where vehicles have become wildly important, to the point where they are often given priority over people (a visiting Martian watching the earth from a safe 30000 feet above ground would likely assume that they are earth's inhabitants).

 

For that reason, a beach without a road full of noisy, ugly, dangerous and polluting vehicles running along is a rarity, a wonder, and should therefore be preserved at all costs, especially if and when a large number of beautiful old trees grow on it (here mostly Badamiers - chebulic myrobalan - and Filaos - casuarina equisetifolia).

 

In the early 2000s a paved path was built along the back of the beach, as well as narrow paved alleys that meandered between the trees. It was perfect, a walker's and cyclist's dream, and it was mostly free of motor vehicles because at the end of the path, a few steep steps made it impossible for cars and motorbikes to go any further. To make the message even clearer to the usual polluters, the entrance to the path (on the South end of Dongtan Beach) was closed with a barrier from 9:00am to 5:00pm.

 

This being Thailand, the rules were bent, some vehicles did get through, the steps at the North end were vandalized by motorcyclists determined to pass no matter what... but, on the whole, it worked, and it was fantastic.

 

And then, ta daaaa .... in 2017, enter the usual : opportunity, greed, stupidity, corruption, short-sighted policies, nepotism... before you can say Somchai's your uncle, the bulldozers arrive, the chainsaw massacre is in full swing, and concrete reigns. The paved path will soon be a two-lane ROAD, and more than half of the trees will be history.

 

I have lived in this country for many years, and there are lots of things I love about it. But there is a dark side, and this Dongtan Beach Disaster is definitely on that side. Including the fact that most of the locals seem to have only two reactions in the face of this environmental murder :

 

1/ Apathy : yes it's horrible, but there's nothing we can do about it, big money and big power are at stake here, and we're just small fry.

 

2/ Sympathy : it looks nice, doesn't it ? Where I come from (Esarn, usually), roads are a blessing, so yes, I love roads, and I don't like walking anyway.

 

Honestly, cigarettes are the least of Dongtan Beach's problems at the moment.

 

 

 

 

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

48 minutes ago, transam said:

That's a bit OTT...So folk busted for no crash hat on a bike, taking drugs has cured the problem..?

In LOS you cannot smoke in a bar but it is OK outside, well a beach is very much outside and would of thought smoking would not be much of a problem to others if smokers are responsibly for taking care of their trash. Empty beer can makes a good ash tray that can be put in a bin..

Whether or not smokers take care of  trash in a Beer can or a proper bin is not the whole of it. "Smokers" and their stinking wafting crap RUINS the beach experience for others and is banned. Smoking outside "on the beach" is not allowed Pattaya promised 100,000 Bhat fine and one year Jail. So, follow through with it!

 

If Pattaya officials don't want to enforce just as pointless as the whole of "Thai law" seems to be. Make a big noise, put up signs, do nothing, nothing changes. The little boy who cried wolf comes to mind.

[bristolgeoff]

the farangs will be the target,the thais will be the ones who will probadly get away with it

[kamahele]

Honolulu is also banning smoking on beaches. When smoking was banned in bars and restaurants there was an uproar from business owners that the Japanese tourists would stop coming. It turns out that if the Japanese can refrain from smoking on the long flight to Hawaii, they have no problem refraining from smoking in bars, restaurants or at beaches. Makes for a much cleaner destination. I think if the local authorities can enforce the new laws in a friendly manner, tourists will appreciate and respect the new laws (for the most part).

[Destiny1990]

They waisted a lot of time and money into this for completely nothing..

 

[AUSSIE BOB]

I just don’t get it. Smoking on the beach where it is well ventilated as apposed to persons smoking at a restaurant where others are trying to eat. It just does not make for common sense.

[stud858]

11 minutes ago, AUSSIE BOB said:

I just don’t get it. Smoking on the beach where it is well ventilated as apposed to persons smoking at a restaurant where others are trying to eat. It just does not make for common sense.

The smoke was not the problem but the butts left behind 

[Lupatria]

19 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Now I know why the beaches are littered.

Smoking tourists.

Only tourists of course and cigarette butts only.

Xenophobic or just a hypocritical joke?

 

Don't compare with beaches left behind by Thai tourists please.

That would be Thai bashing!

 

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

"Honolulu is also banning smoking on beaches. When smoking was banned in bars and restaurants there was an uproar from business owners that the Japanese tourists would stop coming. It turns out that if the Japanese can refrain from smoking on the long flight to Hawaii, they have no problem refraining from smoking in bars, restaurants or at beaches. Makes for a much cleaner destination. I think if the local authorities can enforce the new laws in a friendly manner, tourists will appreciate and respect the new laws (for the most part)."

 

Smoking has been banned on Oahu beaches since 2014 no drop in Asian tourists, to the contrary increasing.Hawaii is now half-overrun with Koreans, who are more let's say "outgoing",  not like typical polite Japanese.

You can't smoke just anywhere in a Japanese city now outside  a smoking area or a warden comes and gives you a fine. It is not 100, 000 baht. Let me do a quick google search last time I was there I saw some signs. They have  

air-conditioned smoking cabins paid for by the Tobacco industry too.

 

Here you go Osaki, ¥1000 yen. https://osaka-info.jp/en/page/osaka-faq

 

 

[1337markus]

19 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Now I know why the beaches are littered.

Smoking tourists.

Only tourists of course and cigarette butts only.

Xenophobic or just a hypocritical joke?

 

Don't compare with beaches left behind by Thai tourists please.

That would be Thai bashing!

 

Totally agree with you, no concrete proof it is just tourists that are littering the beach. They may want to consider how do Chinese and Russian tourists read these signs?????

[tryasimight]

13 hours ago, Henrik Andersen said:

sorry Mr. Here in jomtien it is Thai people there sit on beach drinking and smoking and just leave their garbish and cigarette butts in the sand if you don't believe me I can send you meny pics and movies about this 

don't blame the tourist 

P. S. And ofcores driving drunk home 

remember clean up for your self before blaming us tourists 

 

The Thai people might be tourists. You don't have to be foreign to be a tourist. 

[DavCurtis]

 

20 hours ago, webfact said:

The reaction of the Thai public now is:

 

"What happened?"

Welcome to Thailand Thai people, all talk no action. 

This is a 3rd world country, these people are not paid enough to stress themselves trying to get the offenders. 

At the end of the day we’re all just gonna have to be more responsible and use the trash to dump our cigarette butts, if we really do enjoy seeing the beaches clean. 

[Media1]

2000 on the spot fine is sufficient 

[tryasimight]

1 hour ago, CanterbrigianBangkoker said:

People will always smoke! It's a relaxing and enjoyable pass-time for many. Many of those who visit Thailand and bring in shed-loads of their hard-earned with them smoke and won't stop because it has become more difficult to enjoy a fag on Thai beaches. Not to even mention the locals or their habits. 

 

Whether or not it's deemed dirty or irresponsible is totally irrelevant, people will still engage in it, like they will drinking or unhealthy food. There are literally dozens of other habits that are equally as detrimental, but just haven't been vilified to the same degree as smoking...yet. Bans in outdoor areas (with perhaps hospital zones as an exception) are a stupid idea IMO. 

It's overkill and is totally ineffectual anyway. ESPECIALLY when you stop and think about it for a moment - that in any city of any size (and a great deal of rural areas where they are burning rubber/plastic/farm waste and crops) the air you're respiring is no different to cigarette smoke in its unhealthy nature, with prolonged exposure anyway, so being precious about this subject is just too absurd for words. The amount of times I have witnessed hi-so type Thais (and the occasional twatty foreigner) who tut, wrinkle their faces up and wave their hands at the lightest wisp of cigarette smoke crossing their paths, all the while 25 diesel guzzling behemoths - the knackered old WWII Mercedes buses, and god knows how many cars and motorcycles whiz by enveloping said pleb in a cloud of acrid exhaust fumes! It makes no sense, it's laughable, but people are brainwashed and believe what they're told to.

 

What SHOULD rightfully be enforced is the collection of waste! It's that simple! If the problem is that severe then it should become mandatory to have people (staff) check for cigarette butts and other refuse created over the course of however long a tourist OR LOCAL spends on any given beach - and ensure that it is binned. I ALWAYS collect any food / other waste and would keep my butts collected in a receptacle, ready for binning on my way out. Easy enough. Enough of this draconian bullshit that is totally ineffectual, clearly a huge waste of time, an impingement on people's civil liberties and furthermore is ripping the laissez-faire attitude out of Thailand and transforming it into another overly officious, nannying Western bureaucracy. The lack of all that was the WHOLE APPEAL of SE Asia in the first place you numpties! 

A guy sat down next me in big dogs on soi 4. The biggest, fattest walking heart attack diabetic of a man I have ever seen. I moved an ashtray closer to me and he asked in holier than thou attitude "you're not going to smoke are you? ""yes I am" and I did.  The irony about him worrying about a bit of second hand smoke was incredible. 

[manarak]

seriously, on the list of nuisances at the beach, cigarette butts rank pretty low!

[CanterbrigianBangkoker]

6 minutes ago, tryasimight said:

A guy sat down next me in big dogs on soi 4. The biggest, fattest walking heart attack diabetic of a man I have ever seen. I moved an ashtray closer to me and he asked in holier than thou attitude "you're not going to smoke are you? ""yes I am" and I did.  The irony about him worrying about a bit of second hand smoke was incredible. 

Indeed, beggars belief. Especially when taking into account (as I touched upon previously) your location in soi Nana, in a semi-outdoor bar situated in the heart of a bustling metropolis replete with millions of vehicles churning out fumes plus all the other industrial pollutants encircling him at any given moment. Not to mention his own condition. What strange creatures some of us humans are.

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

Yes, who insist foisting cigarette smoke on all and sundry is their God given right.

I will never understand these strange creatures.

[transam]

4 minutes ago, ChiangMaiLightning2143 said:

Yes, who insist foisting cigarette smoke on all and sundry is their God given right.

I will never understand these strange creatures.

Bet you don't fart or drive a diesel.....?

[CanterbrigianBangkoker]

12 minutes ago, ChiangMaiLightning2143 said:

Yes, who insist foisting cigarette smoke on all and sundry is their God given right.

I will never understand these strange creatures.

Insist on foisting what now!? C'mon, your being precious about this, which as I stated above is an utter absurdity given the parameters of the situation. If I or any other evil evil smoker were to climb into your house and blow smoke in your face you'd have grounds for some grievance, but please - if you are going to a bar ( in particular one that is half outdoors) or taking a sojourn into outdoor public areas in general, you should both expect some cigarette smoke given the locations, and, as I pointed out, recognise that you're in the middle of a conurbation inhaling pollutants that cumulatively would far outweigh cigarette smoke in terms of their detriment to your health. The wider world is not set up to cater to your needs alone. Live and let live.