The old bag reads post bag again.

Sat with my morning coffee(s) and half a pack of cigarettes ( great diet) as usual i trolled the Bangkok post on line and found this little beauty about Don ( however you would like to spell it ) Airport

It was with some bemusement that I read that the name of the old Don Muang airport, which has been unofficially used for 93 years, has been re-spelled Mueang (Bangkok Post, March 24).
The decision by airport director Pinit Saraithong was made after conferring with the Royal Institute and the Chulalongkorn University arts faculty. Their considered opinion was that Mueang was correct.
Regrettably there is a problem _ "uea" is an illegal vowel combination in English. To Westerners, the pronunciation of this configuration will cause consternation.
That is the reason why Muang has been used, and adopted nationally in Thailand, in place-names. Such a significant name change should have been tested with native English speakers, people proficient in English grammar and structure, then the error would have been found quickly.
In addition, the name change will be extremely costly to implement _ the traditional Muang spelling has been used for years by cartographers, governments, satellite navigation systems, commercial and online flight resources, plus numerous tourist guides. The name exists in hundreds of thousands of official references.
The dilemma now is who changes _ the airport or the rest of the world. In either case, the cost will be high.
There is a famous saying in English: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It is regrettable that, despite his best efforts and intentions, Mr Pinit did not heed this advice.

So with my usual speed and wit (ha ha) i penned the following in response.

With regard to Peter Pendleton postbag 26th March and the use of the illegal vowel combination "uea in" Don Mueang the new name for the old Don Muang Airport. It may be an illegal vowel use in English but if that is the translation then so it should be. Personally i would pronounce it "Moouang"
I do agree that it appears a waste of time and for some going to be costly changing it after all these years but would pose the question what should now be done with "ng" in translation, as i have tried for 3 years for the correct pronunciation without much success, generally when i am trying to talk about the snakes in my garden (ngoo), and think that combination should be illegal in any language and is certainly very difficult for foreigners, but we are in Thailand after all, and i think it is great they go to the expense and trouble to translate these things for us, imagine how difficult life would be without it.
Gareth Chiang Mai

I then read further to find some rather sad news. Not sure how missed this news but i did. (too much Singha beer probably)
A lady wrote about the closing of the Suan Lum Night Bazaar's in Bangkok.
I appreciate that Thailand is wanting to move forward as a country but does it have to happen at the expense of tradition and beauty and big air conditioned malls. The Thai's seem to have the same theories on Malls as they do when your shopping, if they see you have bought and item say a mango wood vase from one shop they think you want another, and another , and another, try selling us something different!
I like the lady in Bangkok will miss it not to mention the stall holders that will not be able to afford the rents in an expensive Mall, come on Thailand support your small local businesses, you will miss them when they are gone and there will be a lot of unemployed people and you don't have a social security system to support them.