Should A Woman Be Allowed to hold the office of President of the USA?

[thaibeachlovers]

While one might be a "bah humbug" about the fireworks etc, bearing in mind that the entire public tourist area of Pattaya is disintegrating and broken, badly needing billions spending on it, the fireworks were spectacular, better than any I saw in London!

I'm sure that most Thais thought it was fantastic; free music shows, lots of food and booze.

However, I thought it was potentially another Cambodian bridge disaster. With so many people crammed into such a small space at Bali Hi, it would have been a terrorist's dream scenario. Even a small bomb could have sparked a panic that would have killed hundreds in the ensuing crush. I tried to get back to Walking Street, but there was no crowd control by the police, and it was jammed solid at the bottleneck entrance, so I pushed my way to the road leading to the elevated road, which was the only way out. The police were there, but only a few, and all they cared about was allowing cars to get out. Why were they even allowed in???? The Pattaya police obviously know nothing about crowd control. I did see some later, sitting in a bar ( in uniform ), drinking.

This morning, looking at the preparations for NY's Time Square celebrations, I could only envy the difference. Barriers to control crowd movement, no bags allowed, and bomb dogs checking people for explosives. In Pattaya, it would seem that the Bali lesson has not been learned.

It was an enjoyable experience for most, given that nothing bad happened, but we do not live in secure times, and next time might not be so lucky.

[Thaifan2]

[Exsexyman]

To be honest, i cant believe that anybody who has any experience of Pattaya on new years eve would go anywhere near bali hai pier. An absolute nightmare. Plenty of places to go and watch the fireworks, anywhere along beach road gives a good viewing, albiet very crowded. But Bali Hai pier is just a disaster waiting to happen. No crowd control whatsoever, if anything went wrong it would be every man for himself. Doesnt bear thinking about. The recent Cambodian disaster springs to mind, could easily imagine the same scenario at Bali Hai. I made the mistake of going there on new years eve in 2003, never again. Was really scary when everyone was trying to leave at the end. A bottleneck with everybody trying to get out. Tempers fraying and near panic, children screaming etc. Seems nothing has been learned, perhaps it will take a disaster to do something about it. When you consider the amount of public money and planning that must go into the organization of this event surely it is not beyond the wit of the powers that be to ensure basic safety measures are incorporated into the budget. But it appears not. But hey, at least we have flashing light pedestrian crossings all over pattaya complete with life sized pictures of our esteemed mayor at a cost of only 100 million baht. Some of them even work too! Incidently, i have noticed recently that life sized pictures of the mayor are now being offered for sale by the motor cycle vendors along with various pop stars, footballers etc. Any takers? Im sure Mr Colov has one on his bedroom wall.

[FarangBuddha]

I was there (at the beach...not Bali Hai) and had a good time. I had friends visiting so we went out to eat at Tequilla Reef (very good Tex-Mex buffet) and then on to see the show, which I have not been to in several years. My impressions...generally positive...with a few complaints. What struck me first was the lack of traffic and the ease of getting down to the beach area from the Farside. I had visions of nitemarish traffic and no parking anywhere but to my surprise, it was a breeze...maybe 15 minutes from NPW down Central and into the Tops market parking lot at 2nd Road. I guess everyone had been coming during the week or the day so little traffic on the roads. I was also struck the Tequilla Reef was not that crowded...yes, there were people there but it was like any normal nite. On New Year's eve, I would have thought it would be standing room only...especially at a well known place near the beach. I noticed this in the bars in the area too...people there but definitely not SRO crowds.

The fireworks show was impressive and my Thai visitors were very impressed. What I was wondering leading up to the show was if the authorities would kill the arc-lights that line the beach for the show as they light up the beach area like daytime and the fireworks would look much better in the dark. Unfortunately, they didn't...but it was a good show nonetheless. My only complaint being that it was too short...about 5 minutes of actual fireworks from midnight to 00:05 a.m. Of course, there were some set-off for the 15-20 minutes leading up to midnight and a few stranglers after (and lots going off around the bar areas of town for the next few hours) but the main Bali Hai and show along the beach was only 5 minutes. My understanding is that there had been mini-shows of fireworks every nite during the week from Christmas to New Years by the city. In my opinion, they should eliminate the mini-shows and save all the budget and fireworks for New Years eve...therefore, having a show for 15-20 minutes. They should also expand the official show to all along the beach or maybe south-central-and north areas to spread the show out and not just at Bali Hai.

We were standing in an area where lots of farangs were buying and setting aloft those floating lanterns and I can see where these too (like the crowds at Bali Hai pier area) are a disaster waiting to happen. Many of them were floating back onto the crowd and had to be swatted back towards an upward trajectory. It would be easy to imaging one landing on the head of an unawares person and causing severe burns or one getting tangled-up in the overhead wires and causing who knows what damage and fire. The other complaint I would have was why was not Beach Road made pedestrian only for the nite. It would have made getting to spots on the beach or to or from Bali Hai pier much easier and safer.

I was impressed with the police's traffic control getting away from the area after the show. They made Central Road one-way only from Beach Road all the way up to Sukhumvit...and having those four lanes of traffic made getting back to the Farside a breeze.

[Pria]

I totally agree.

They should have brought the TSA out from the US and groped everyone heading down to Bali Hai, had snipers on the rooftops and blackhawks overhead with massive search lights and teams of special forces dudes ready to repel down into the throng.

A fleet of ambulances should have been on standby on the elevated road and every bar girl and freelancer in Walking Street equipped with bandages, gas masks and transfusion kits.

Sounds like one or two TV members managed to get themselves off their sofa for their annual out-and-about sojourn and I can understand how the site of all those people having fun caused your hearts to accelerate to such a frantic level.

It's alright boys, it's all over. No back to your Homeland Security news feeds and crime reports in Pattaya Daily No News and Pattaya 4 One.

Exactly how any cops do you think it would take to control a million Thais and drunken foreigners if something went bang?

And IMO the fireworks were cr@p. Five minutes and it was over - just like many of the drunken desperadoes who hang around Pattaya's bars thinking they still have the stamina and attractiveness to "treat" two girls at once to a night they'll forget as soon as the baht is spent.

Pattaya's fireworks should've stopped off at the pharmacy on the way to the display and picked up a few packs of Viagra

[FarangBuddha]

I totally agree.

They should have brought the TSA out from the US and groped everyone heading down to Bali Hai, had snipers on the rooftops and blackhawks overhead with massive search lights and teams of special forces dudes ready to repel down into the throng.

A fleet of ambulances should have been on standby on the elevated road and every bar girl and freelancer in Walking Street equipped with bandages, gas masks and transfusion kits.

Sounds like one or two TV members managed to get themselves off their sofa for their annual out-and-about sojourn and I can understand how the site of all those people having fun caused your hearts to accelerate to such a frantic level.

It's alright boys, it's all over. No back to your Homeland Security news feeds and crime reports in Pattaya Daily No News and Pattaya 4 One.

Exactly how any cops do you think it would take to control a million Thais and drunken foreigners if something went bang?

And IMO the fireworks were cr@p. Five minutes and it was over - just like many of the drunken desperadoes who hang around Pattaya's bars thinking they still have the stamina and attractiveness to "treat" two girls at once to a night they'll forget as soon as the baht is spent.

Pattaya's fireworks should've stopped off at the pharmacy on the way to the display and picked up a few packs of Viagra

And a Happy New Years to you too

[BB1950]

There was a coconut tree that caught on fire near the pier from some fireworks that were launched near the stage. I was concerned that it might start a panic and stampede. But it seems very few people even noticed the fire. After a few minutes the fire was self-extinguished.

[thaibeachlovers]

I totally agree.

They should have brought the TSA out from the US and groped everyone heading down to Bali Hai, had snipers on the rooftops and blackhawks overhead with massive search lights and teams of special forces dudes ready to repel down into the throng.

A fleet of ambulances should have been on standby on the elevated road and every bar girl and freelancer in Walking Street equipped with bandages, gas masks and transfusion kits.

Sounds like one or two TV members managed to get themselves off their sofa for their annual out-and-about sojourn and I can understand how the site of all those people having fun caused your hearts to accelerate to such a frantic level.

It's alright boys, it's all over. No back to your Homeland Security news feeds and crime reports in Pattaya Daily No News and Pattaya 4 One.

Exactly how any cops do you think it would take to control a million Thais and drunken foreigners if something went bang?

And IMO the fireworks were cr@p. Five minutes and it was over - just like many of the drunken desperadoes who hang around Pattaya's bars thinking they still have the stamina and attractiveness to "treat" two girls at once to a night they'll forget as soon as the baht is spent.

Pattaya's fireworks should've stopped off at the pharmacy on the way to the display and picked up a few packs of Viagra

Hmmmmm, so what would your response be had there been a panic, with subsequent deaths and many injuries?

A million people- dream on. A few thousand at most. To control the crowd, you set up barriers to allow people to move past each other, and stop more people entering an area than is safe. Might help to have enough police around to control the crowd too. There were none at Bali Hai, except on the road leading to the elevated road.

Even better, have the festivities in an area that is not bottlenecked, as Bali Hai is.

Why do you think New York had crowd control measures at Time Square, if they don't work, or do you think that none of the revellers were drunk???

A pub in South Africa had multiple deaths and injuries following a panic, so it does happen, but according to you, even basic crowd control measures are unnecessary!!!

Why do you think that a small town in Thailand should have better fireworks than London had, the whole time I lived there? I'm glad they didn't spend more on it, given the need for public area repairs all over Pattaya.