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

[transam]

5 minutes ago, PEE TEE said:

It was the guy who is complaining about smells

 

Oh, the guy that doesn't have any....?

[micmichd]

43 minutes ago, transam said:

So a smelly person is OK because you think he is smelly because he has been to work...Are you for real, there are smelly folk out there because they are smelly 24/7...?

Thais usually shower after work.

[Mad mick]

i have no problem no smoking or smoking on beach as long as you dont blow ur smoke all over me or in my face be respectful ,tv adds education not to do if you do this is the fine  2000 or 3000 baht on spot , dispose of correctly same with beer or bottle tops or other <deleted> people throw everywhere,  put into bag take over to the bins,  plenty around or go to where you buy from if 7/11 any will do family mart drop off no big deal just do it , fines do work in aussie most parts of the world these days , once again education tv adds 

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

1 hour ago, transam said:

So a smelly person is OK because you think he is smelly because he has been to work...Are you for real, there are smelly folk out there because they are smelly 24/7...?

Well I wouldn't take a vacation to Africer or the Middle East

If you knew anything about the Thai you would fid they are quite fastidious about being clean, most showering several times day. Many of them in suits and tight business skirts prancing around BKK, never seem to break a sweat. Always very impressed. Unlike the Chang vest crowd, appearing to be overwrought and stressed by the heat of SE Asia, even while in a shopping mall.

 

And it is not if a person who Smells is OK, they smell. So do smokers. I don't encounter many people who smell bad in Thailand who are not sweaty foreigners. I'm not totally unreasonable. I have resigned to accept public smoking will not be banned in my lifetime. Every pub in Chiang Mai has a smoking area round back by the toilets. Or a conglomeration of ashtrays at away from entrances to buildings. To be reasonable, have some accommodation, is not too much to ask

 

It is too much to ask that we be assaulted by cigarette smoke on public beaches, or parks. A practice banned in every normal country and also Pattaya (but won't be enforced). 

[oldies1]

4 hours ago, ChiangMaiLightning2143 said:

 

 "It has become more difficult to enjoy a fag on Thai beaches"

 

 Not in Dongtan beach so I've been told ?

[Media1]

33 minutes ago, PEE TEE said:

so maybe they should all stay in their own country ??? 

My country has a vast majority of mixed immigrants. Thailand is well behind global standards it's the reason it behind lol.

[Chris Lawrence]

Silly Billy's

 

[Media1]

22 hours ago, Ralf61 said:

No smoking on the beach.

Khao San like a boring small-town suburb.

Sinking tour boats.

Walking Street like an army camp.

 

Well, I can do with less tourists and a weaker THB...

The baht is a result of corrupt bankers

[balo]

I would think the big warning signs with 100k fines are not read by the Chinese , and they are the people smoking on the beaches !  In China they live 20 years behind the rest of the world , they don't know about the dangers of smoking. 

 

[Benmart]

Everythere I walk or drive, I see what appears to be Thais, tossing trash, cigarette butts and garbage all over. The buses parked along side the various roads are big offenders, as are taxi drivers at their stands. Foreigners are a minority in this country, and are easily to blame by all sorts of temporary civic leaders.

[transam]

5 minutes ago, Benmart said:

Everythere I walk or drive, I see what appears to be Thais, tossing trash, cigarette butts and garbage all over. The buses parked along side the various roads are big offenders, as are taxi drivers at their stands. Foreigners are a minority in this country, and are easily to blame by all sorts of temporary civic leaders.

My house is on the edge of a lake, local folk would set up a picnic outside on the bank, did their thing and buggered off....Guess who cleared up all the plastic bag crap...Well it was not them...

[CanterbrigianBangkoker]

Well, although I'm half jesting here mate, I think it's a slippery slope, as I mentioned before. I do feel (and I'm not alone) that there is a prevalence of over-restriction on things that there never used to be, and who has it benefited besides busy-bodies and pen pushing bureaucrats and the like, who's employment depends on such banality? In Pattaya for example, in Dongtan beach which I have visited many times over the years, you are now not allowed to smoke on the loungers and the beach that adjuncts the shoreline directly in front of them, but you can smoke as little as 5 metres behind the loungers, where the beach is more shaded, but similarly busy. Arbitrary, as a word, doesn't do it justice. That is typical of Thailand though of course. Why piss about with any of it is my question? If it's outdoors then my point stands, it should be fair play to do as you like. The only aspect I can understand more is the smell produced being offensive to some of the more faint-hearted amongst us. I get that much more than the 'oh no you're corrupting my body with your 2nd hand smoke' which is a totally redundant argument, specifically when the context is an urban area. What you suggested above would suit all concerned I guess - a smoking area and non smoking area of popular beaches, if needs be. Then all are happy and no one's freedoms are being impinged upon , everyone can have a nice time ? . But an outright ban, one that is so arbitrary in its restrictions etc. as noted above or isn't even enforced, seems like a total waste of time and money, plus it only damages Thailand's economy as tourists will decamp for more relaxed pastures. The ONLY argument to be made here that is of any relevance or salience is the litter issue, which I would totally agree with tightening up on. Ciggy butts are just a small part of that whole situation, however.

[helloagain]

3 hours ago, helloagain said:

As they only fine a thai 500 baht for beating up a foriener how the hell can they fine 100000 just for smoking....IDIOTS ABSOLUTLY <deleted> IDOTS. Cos Thailand has a junta you would think thai baht would go down

 

[Redline]

The 220,000 RTP- what do they do, where do they go?  The only time is see them, they are taking selfies.

I’m sure everyone thought the beach fines were a joke.  How could a Thai pay that amount?  There are bigger issues to worry about in Thailand 

[ebonykap]

6 hours 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..

I agree.

However, impossible task No. 1: find a bin!

[Monkeyrobot]

Maybe he does not know because no receipt is given .

[Rimmer]

Personal attack and replies removed also off topic post

[hioctane]

You want to clean the beach? Simple.. and it doesn't deal with cigarette butts. Remove all the boats that leak fuel into the water. Ban food vendors which attract rats.

Sent from my SM-N9200 using Tapatalk

[ttrd]

On ‎8‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 10:21 AM, 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....

….and a hub for the Hotels waste water - a place were you can take a spicy swim in small protected slots - the russians seems to be the only ones who love it as it may feel like home in good old Tsjernobyl…. 

[apophyss]

Yes, cannot fine people for this,

but can do it more thai motobike drivers :

- dont stop at red light

- no driving licence

- no insurance

- no hemlet

 

 

What the priority in this strange country ?

[hioctane]

….and a hub for the Hotels waste water - a place were you can take a spicy swim in small protected slots - the russians seems to be the only ones who love it as it may feel like home in good old Tsjernobyl…. 

Yep.. Seriously, cigarette butts is the pollution problem?

Sent from my SM-N9200 using Tapatalk

[maprao]

I do not smoke

This put me off going....

Open for all sorts of problems......

The beach and chairs were very empty when I was last there. ?

[Jonmarleesco]

On 8/9/2018 at 2:18 PM, webfact said:

he doesn't know.

Par for Thai authorities course. 

[Jonmarleesco]

On 8/9/2018 at 2:18 PM, webfact said:

The thesakit (local authority responsible for such matters) can in reality only fine people up to 2,000 baht for littering

Which, unless I'm missing something, is an impact on the environment.

[RedQualia]

Of course the campaign against smoking on the beaches got a lot of attention, and people generally thought that maybe the government was actually doing something. I guess. But as annoying as they may be, cigarette butts are a relatively small problem.

 

A much bigger problem is all the plastic. Plastic bags, plastic bottles, plastic everything. Walk along any beach in Thailand and have a look at all the plastic bags and bottles floating in the surf, half buried in the sand, and etc. Even better: go scuba diving in the islands around Pattaya and have a look at all the plastic out there, over and under the water.

 

Asia is one of the greatest contributors of plastic to the world's oceans, and Thailand is right up there with the other Asian countries. All those plastic bottles and bags and etc dumped into klongs and rivers in the north appears to make its way to the Chao Phraya, and then into the ocean.

 

Compared to the plastics, cigarette butts are absolutely nothing. If Thailand really wants to do something about its pollution problems, tackling the problem of plastic refuse would be a great place to start. Dog and pony shows about the evils of smokers on the beach accomplish little or nothing.

[joecoolfrog]

17 hours 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.

I look forward to you telling all the locals how disgusting they are !

[micmichd]

12 hours ago, apophyss said:

Yes, cannot fine people for this,

but can do it more thai motobike drivers :

- dont stop at red light

- no driving licence

- no insurance

- no hemlet

 

 

What the priority in this strange country ?

You can't solve one problem by pointing at another one. 

Cigarette butts *are* a  problem. I stepped on them several times and burnt my feed. Our dog died probably from eating them.

Yes, the motorbike traffic is a problem, too. But police are already after it, at least in Pattaya.

[KneeDeep]

I think some are getting confused about the role of municipal officers. 

A traffic warden or equivalent has no power to detain you, but they can hand out tickets. If you don't pay the fine, the city can try to take action against you for not paying the fine.

But what are they going to do if you just walk away. It's not as if you have a licence plate stuck to your forehead.

I actually know the man. What is he to do, get a RTP officer to walk around with every municipal officer?

 

 

[blix99]

On 8/10/2018 at 9:19 AM, Yann55 said:

 

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.

 

 

 

 

They are now well into the "modernizing" of the north end of  Dongtan Beach road. Frankly, I find the southern end fairly attractive and pleasant mix of beach, trees, vendors, restaurants, etc. The north end looks to be a re-do on a smaller scale. It may be reassuring to remember that the renovation is an access road not a through-road at all since it ends around Pratamnak soi 5 so there will be no large trucks, tour buses, or major traffic causing distress. But the new project will provide for better access for city services, bicyclists, runners and others who will benefit from the renovation. Pluses and minuses...
 

Curious to know if you (or anyone) knows if those casuarina trees are native to the beach area or were brought in as part of  the early development?

[khundon]

On 8/9/2018 at 9:08 AM, Justgrazing said:

A Thai official being evasive .! There must surely be some mistake there .. 

I suspect that the amounts of “fines” issued and the amount of “fines” recorded, will be two completely differing numbers. ?