"We love you Papa!" - farang repairing potholed road wows Thais!

[free123]

35 minutes ago, ib1b4 said:

free123 ...................there is no need to shout at members of this forum!

sorry this was not intendet capital letter came out wrong keyboard setting...

[retoohs]

11 minutes ago, Johnniey said:

Has to be more to this story.

 

Where was it, Pattaya?

 

 

it was Pattaya, good guess or do you know about this?

[johna]

I used to repair potholes outside my house, but after watching the damage done to the road by my neighbors digging trenches to lay irrigation pipes and private contractors using caterpillar tracked vehicles to cut the grass along the verge I gave up.

[elgenon]

20 hours ago, Johnniey said:

Pathetic. Another old guy unable to accept the way things are done here and the ignorance to try to do it himself.  This is a slap in the face for the local council and from a farang. What on earth is his Thai wife doing, letting do such a thing?

 

You are joking, right? Aiyaa!  When someone is called pathetic for doing a good thing, that is pathetic. How does one become that negative? So better to complain about the holes than to do some thing about them? Mai kao jai krup.

[4MyEgo]

5 hours ago, mettech said:

In the village where I reside we have the same problem and also have gravel trucks going back and forth all day dust is flying and pothole are getting deeper.

The villagers are use to that situation and are laughing when it come to discussion anyhow I was to thinking of doing the work myself but i did look at my visa and it is saying NO WORK so I navigate around pothole and forget about it.

 

Each village has a local mayor I believe, if he has any money in the kitty left, I am sure he will do something, but don't hold your breath as I have seen a few driving expensive cars.............

 

[4MyEgo]

1 hour ago, free123 said:

yes this is what I thought....thais just dont think for themselves...and its not about the people around it is the local council at fault...this is another rincident where we can see how BS their whole system /going about things really is / they need a falang to do something about their OWN <deleted>:::ED  UP ROADS AND THAN THEY APPLAUSE THEM OOOHHH JAI DEE MAK MAK:::BUT TO GO OUT THEMSELVES MAYBE TEN YEARS AGO  ??? not an option for the no brainers....must be isaan somewhere....

 

Don't single out Isaan, this could be anywhere in Thailand, did you know Isaanian's have hi IQ's

[Fookhaht]

10 hours ago, Retiredandhappyhere said:

I have done this myself too, concreting deep potholes in the village I used to live in, much to the amusement of the locals who just stood and watched and laughed at the stupid farang.

 

As I mentioned in another thread, the lovely new dual carriageway to the North of Hua Hin centre, which looked very impressive when finished a little over a year ago, is now marred by enormous repair patches, some of which are up to 100 metres long. The extension of that road leading to Cha-am is now being built with what looks like exactly the same technique, tarmac on compacted soil, so we can expect the contractors to be back again about one year or so after the road is completed.  Does no-one inspect the work or ever learn from their mistakes, or is it, as another poster suggested, just another money-earner and jobs for the boys.

My guess is that a road contractor's biggest money is not made from the original construction, but from the maintenance to fix their own shoddy work.   We just had a new road paved which lasted--get this--three weeks.  It looked like craters of the moon.  Contractor had to come back in and redo three large 100-meter sections (of course, shutting down traffic for two days).  Hope it was done on his warranty, but won't hold my breath.  

[Fookhaht]

These lines got my attention.  The chiding/scolding tone is unmistakable.  

Quote

 

"Meanwhile, Wit Worawong, director of Buriram’s Department of Rural Roads, said that he was touched to see the foreigner’s kindness. However, he asks that locals should report to the department.

"The government has enough funds to help, according to them."

 

So not a question of funds, just willpower or lack of management skills?  Talk about shining a spotlight on oneself.  

[Caveat Emptor]

I see there are posters complaining about negativity on subjects like this but to be fair some of the negativity is in fact practicality from posters who have personal experience or knowledge of officials who can have their nose put out of joint for the least little thing.

Despite this gentleman's best intentions I sincerely hope he doesn't find out just how easy to upset people here.

[Caveat Emptor]

2 hours ago, elgenon said:

 

You are joking, right? Aiyaa!  When someone is called pathetic for doing a good thing, that is pathetic. How does one become that negative? So better to complain about the holes than to do some thing about them? Mai kao jai krup.

Isn't it amazing that someone who regularly berates the foreign community for not integrating enough is now slagging someone who has done a little something to help the folks in his area and for which he may, unfortunately, get into trouble ?

[BlindMagician]

14 hours ago, kannot said:

lasts way  longer than the local "throw cold  bitumen in a dirty   hole and let vehicular traffic compress it " brigade

Lasts longer than depositing human effluent in the holes too, but I wasn't suggesting that either.

[nosatisfaction]

On 09/27/2016 at 10:17 AM, fruitman said:

Is this you Kannot?

Does he have a WP?????? 55555555555

[lloydmoser]

I must say This one is really very nice idea..

[TPI]

On 27/09/2016 at 10:34 AM, Eligius said:

Yes, knowing how idiotic and bone-headed officialdom can be here, they might charge him with working without a work permit or with damaging the reputation of Thais!

Exactly, he might have trouble getting his garbage picked up in the future. Petty bureaucrats hate having their noses rubbed in it! Good effort though, it might stir the natives to care a little?   

[TPI]

2 hours ago, Busagon said:

Tom, does your country have perfect roads everytime?

 

How many time you fix the hole in your country yourself?

 

When you go and fix your country make it perfect then come back and complaints about Thai people,

So new and already wearing the "hairshirt"!

[LUSHGOAT]

Good on you Papa if you dont do it no one will and you will surely  save a life or two

[Strange]

22 hours ago, Busagon said:

Tom, does your country have perfect roads everytime?

 

How many time you fix the hole in your country yourself?

 

When you go and fix your country make it perfect then come back and complaints about Thai people,

 

My country has very good roads because they are maintained properly, the police will pull over large illegal trucks and make them pay ALOT of money and will take their trucks from them for creating very unsafe road conditions as well as costing the tax payer a lot of money for repair. The governments are not corrupt as they are in thailand and the money that gets sent for the repair and maintenance of roads actually goes to the roads and not the bank account of the person in charge. 

 

I have never repaired any road in my country and I have never seen anyone do the same. Because people pay state tax, property tax, and federal tax, this money is send to repair the roads and many other things like Fire Protection, Emergency Service, and Police Departments that will come to you if you call them. 

 

No country is perfect, but to improve Thailand, you have to stop thinking people are complaint about Thai people, and that everything is insult Thai people. You have to look at things that are being said, and be able to see what the problem is without your feelings getting in the way of what you see. 

 

You think that we complain and insult thai people, but you misunderstand, because all the corruption, cheating, stealing, is hurting YOU, Thai people. Farang are not doing this. 

[kannot]

22 hours ago, BlindMagician said:

Lasts longer than depositing human effluent in the holes too, but I wasn't suggesting that either.

There were two choices .....1 "bugger  all" 2 concrete...............does that help you?

Edited September 29, 2016 by kannot

[Strange]

6 minutes ago, Busagon said:

33 minutes ago, Strange said:

My country has very good roads because they are maintained properly, the police will pull over large illegal trucks and make them pay ALOT of money and will take their trucks from them for creating very unsafe road conditions as well as costing the tax payer a lot of money for repair. The governments are not corrupt as they are in thailand and the money that gets sent for the repair and maintenance of roads actually goes to the roads and not the bank account of the person in charge. 

 

I have never repaired any road in my country and I have never seen anyone do the same. Because people pay state tax, property tax, and federal tax, this money is send to repair the roads and many other things like Fire Protection, Emergency Service, and Police Departments that will come to you if you call them. 

 

No country is perfect, but to improve Thailand, you have to stop thinking people are complaint about Thai people, and that everything is insult Thai people. You have to look at things that are being said, and be able to see what the problem is without your feelings getting in the way of what you see. 

 

You think that we complain and insult thai people, but you misunderstand, because all the corruption, cheating, stealing, is hurting YOU, Thai people. Farang are not doing this. 

Thankyou you reply for me.

 

I can not understand everything you say. i am learning English. But i trying. 

My Westerner friend tell me about that tax too much there. So much!!!

And the officials have a good life and use the peoples money. 

And everything expensive too much because tax so much. I understand. Even the noodles cost 300 baht for one bowl. And the oil. Corruption a lot.

I think your country have the road holes also. What country you come from?

 

Thankyou ka.

 

The United States. 

 

You misunderstand what I said. 

 

What you said is not correct. 

 

Oil in the united states is cheaper than Thailand. Corruption is bad in Thailand, and it is hurting YOU. Things are Cheaper in the United States because we do not have Import Tax like Thailand. 

 

Money from Taxation actually gets to the roads and infrastructure because the corruption is so low. 

 

I hope that you can start to understand that there is a very very large big world outside Thailand. There is a lot more going on than just "Thailand" and "Foreigner".

[BlindMagician]

27 minutes ago, kannot said:

There were two choices .....1 "bugger  all" 2 concrete...............does that help you?

It's not about helping me. It's about the ridiculous situation LoS is in. Besides, it's not an either or.

[Thaidream]

I worked for years in the auto claim business in the US. When a vehicle was damaged  as a result of hitting a pothole or other incidents like debris left in the road- the insurance company fixed the vehicle and then sent the bill directly to either the city, county or state entity responsible for maintenance of the road.  In the majority of instance the insurance company got the money back and provided  a return of any out of pocket expenses the customer had. In this way, the roads were maintained because the government entity knows the insurance company will come after them. This needs to happen ion Thailand to force the government/maintenance department to do its job.