ROMANOBA

I follow those rules in Chiangmai:

1- the condo must be as central as possible

2-Avoid Nimmhain area because of noise

3-Avoid new condos ( overpriced), avoid too old and bad maintained condo.

I would look in the Changklan road area, where 3 condo meet those criteria:

-Changklan resident

-Gala Tong

-Riverside

All those condo are not expensive,central, not too old, with reasonable maintainance.

FVurthermore price have been quite the same in

If they want ' quality tourism' they must offer quality tourism destination and services - which they lack completely, with the exception of medical and SPA tourism, catering to a minority.

Quality tourist do not go to places where nobody speaks english.

'eradicate other vices?...'.Which ' vices'?...

And if they succeed in doing so, what else will they have to offer to tourists???!....

7 Eleven?Malls?Traffic jam everywhere?...

HOW can FREEDOM of expression violate other people's rights? How can words. violate a right?

Furthermore, freedom of expression can never violate a law, it's always a law which can violate freedom of expression. Laws are to guarantee freedom, or am I wrong?Furthermore freedom and censorship are mutually exclusive concepts. You CANNOT have both.

OR you have freedom OR you have censorship.

A TOURIST must confirm his address?Another idiotic visa rule.It's like they want to CHASE TOURISTS AWAY.However, there must be a stupidity-law-of-attraction, the more they make their visa rules inconsistent,illogical,redundant, humiliating how more tourists seem to come here.

The point is: IF they would strictly enforce ALL their visa rules, nobody would come to Thailand any more.

It's just that they enforce some of them randomly, with no benefit whatsoevere to them or to us.

I define stupidity. the art of complicating life without any clear benefit or advantage...

The real numbers are much higher than that, everybody who is an insider in thai society knows that.

Most of those 1,2 million drug addicted are addicted BECAUSE drugs are illegal AND expensive.

Liberalise drugs, price will drop dramatically and so will the number of drug addicted.

May be the ones who try to solve the problem ARE the problem... ( too many interests involved?...).

2% of the Thai population are drug addicts. speaks volumes

As usual everything is' double' in Thailand.If a business is under a Thai nominee, well, it's NOT under a foreigner nominee, so it belongs to a thai citizen,period, so what's the problem??!

If a foreigner want to take the huge RISK of putting a business under a thai nominee, well, it s HIS risk, and it STILL is not his business.

Otherwise why not close all the hundred of thousand of companies set up by foreigners just in order to buy a house?

As usual, it's selective interpretation of existing laws which causes trouble in Thailand.

Suspicious activities does he mean well run.

Suspicious activities does he mean well run.

Expensive compared to which country? Compared with North America,Europe and Australia Thailand is bloody cheap.Maybe that some destinations in the region like Laos or Cambogia are cheaper, but have very little to offer compared to Thailand...Philippines?Horrible food and expensive hotels,Africa?Most countries there are much more expensive than Thailand.Rip offs?Yes, but we are talking about very isolated cases and concerning unimportant matters.People come to Thailand because it's still BLOODY CHEAP compared to their own country and because the safety here is amazingly high.Yesterday I went to the dentist for a complete check up and clanaing: 9 euro.

i ate a delicious fried rice on the street: 50 euro cent.i bought a nice jeans: 4 euro.And I am now lodging in a comfortable airco room with refrigerator and en suite bathroom for 12 euro.Yes, Thailand it's bloody expensive indeed...

Thailand is not the 'cheap' holiday destination that it used to be, it's more of a rip off destination now.

Agree 100%.

Thailand is now very expensive. Many people do not want an expensive holiday

Many people will not come to Thailand now because too expensive and too many rip offs

Expensive compared to which country?

Thailand is not the 'cheap' holiday destination that it used to be, it's more of a rip off destination now.

Agree 100%.

Thailand is now very expensive. Many people do not want an expensive holiday

Many people will not come to Thailand now because too expensive and too many rip offs

...Mickey Mouse currency?....I wish I had changed all my euro and USD a few years ago to buy this ' Mickey Mouse' currency!!....

And their still floating the Mickey Mouse currency we know as the baht. :jap:

CORRECT. Formally and legally it's none of thai authorities business if you entered Cambogia or not, but obviously there is some kind of agreement about this issue, otherwise Cambogia would lose millions os USD in revenues.It's obviousd that fromt the VERY MOMENT you stamp out your paspoort out of Thailand, thai laws and tules do not apply any more.But I tried one time, and NO WAY.Logic does not apply to this kind of things...

Nope can't, you must enter Cambodia and exit again, before re-entering Thailand

This mix of pills can easily kill somebody with hearth problems.HALF of this dosage would already be risky, not for a healthy man, but surely in many cases.

Is it impolite to ask where these women kept those phallic shaped bottles ?

On a more serious note, this concoction of drugs, prescription or not, could have had extremely serious consequences for the men they were given to. I would hope the sentence given, would reflect that, but somehow I don't think it will.

I agree, the money or valuables take second place to the dangers these drugs could have caused to the recipients.

Although safe under prescription from a doctor, they would be prescribed only after the doctor had questioned the patients about allergies and many other things eg. prostate problems.

To think that thay were dished out by drug-illiterate bar-girls for gain is frightening.

A mixture of benzodiazapines and sedating anntihistamines, my God.

Where did they find out about these drugs? Where did they get them from. There is something cynically knowledgeable about this.

A bit of pinching happens if you're stupid, but nobody deserves to be put into a lfe-threatening situation for having a few drinks and falling prey to their lure.

They deserve severe punishment and it may well serve as a message to others doing it.

Freebies do not exist in Thailand, period.Sometimes a girl place a ' bet' in the form of a freebie, hoping to catch someone longterm.But its still an investment, not a freebie.

To OP:

I assume she is a bargirl.

Freebies do happen.

Sometimes the barladies want to feel free and affirm their freedom by spending the night with someone they like and be able to relax and forget a little about their work and not feel like a prostitute.

If you are nice to them, handsome enough (average western looks will mostly do), if they enjoyed the time spent together and enjoyed the sex and if the chemistry was good, AND IF SHE GOT ENOUGH MONEY FOR THE MONTH ALREADY (maybe because she is sponsored), chances are she will be a freebie.

I would say it happens about 1 time out of ten, frequency obviously varies from one guy to another.

A hidden agenda is possible if she presses you about your home mobile phone and your email address...

Prepare for tales of sick grandmothers and dead buffaloes.

I met here in Thailand 5 english teachers ( thai teachers); 2 did not speak english AT ALL, one could say onlky superbasic phrases with a terrible accent, and 2 spoke english like my son of 3 does; I could understand them, with some effort, and using a 100 word vocabulary spectrum.And you want to TEST the skills of thai teachers?....

No offense, but your questions are pretty naieve.Face and appearance are EVERYTHING in this country, also inside the educational system.To ask ANY qeustion about the skills of a teacher is a kind of ' lese majeste'' crime in this country.If you want your child to have a normal education, just avoid ANY thai school, the only choice are the superexpensive international schools teaching in english, but eveb there do not expect the same quality in teacher you would expect in Europe or USA.

I

I wouldn't change a thing. I also wouldn't expect a response.

No offense, but your questions are pretty naieve.Face and appearance are EVERYTHING in this country, also inside the educational system.To ask ANY qeustion about the skills of a teacher is a kind of ' lese majeste'' crime in this country.If you want your child to have a normal education, just avoid ANY thai school, the only choice are the superexpensive international schools teaching in english, but eveb there do not expect the same quality in teacher you would expect in Europe or USA.

I

I wouldn't change a thing. I also wouldn't expect a response.

Do not expect any lenancy. Immigration officers are nervous and unsecure if having to face the SLIGHTEST unpredictable factor.In fact they are often oblivious of the rules they have to apply, so forget about the exceptions ...They are trained to work without thinking, and furthermore their english skill are generally speaking superbasic, let's say kindergarten level compare to Europe .So KEEP THING SIMPLE, just pay your fine when you leave the country and just hope they do not catch you before then...

Even after the airport closures of 2008 they were still charging overstay at the airport once it was open so doubtful any lenancy will be shown for a few drops of rain...surely there must be a way to get to the airport and fly out and back

Thai people mercilessly exploit each other when caught in need, but we - foreigners- should' donate' for the flood victims???....

Sounds like high season at any hotel.

Wait a minute; thai government REFUSE help from the US navy and we, foreigners, should donate?Is this total insanity????.....

Right now at the Ramkhamhaeng Stadium there are around 1000+ people relocated from Don Muang/Thamasat area. There are so many cases of infections etc that people are being transported to hospitals hourly by volunteer rescue workers but the rescue workers say its not working out since some government hospitals are becoming "difficult" about accepting patients since there is no government policy on this right now.

The workers are already tired and are having to pay for the transport costs themselves. Consequently the amount of volunteers is diminishing daily (This was also reported from Don Muang).

Also some hospitals have said they would send staff and vehicles to help but they have not turned up as yet. (Director of the Sports Stadium told me this).

Under the SOE, the Red Cross would take over and could better manage the situation as they have done in the past. It's a pity they can't bypass the SOE rule and let the Red Cross do the good job they normally do in coordinating all government and NGO services.

As mentioned in the article, I think the true emergency of these floods will be post floods. After only one day in the water I had skin rashes. People are spending hours daily in the water traveling or helping. In many areas after dark mosquitoes are in there billions, I stayed in the water to avoid getting bitten only my face was uncovered and I spent the whole time swatting them just to be able to breathe without inhaling some, and then in the back of my mind were thoughts of snakes (and to a lesser extent crocodiles) in the waters around me.

Terrible conditions for people. I can't imagine people in Ayutthya have been living in these conditions for a month now. My heart really goes out to them.

Send money or supplies not your empty heart. My very very very very very very HI SO pure Chinese wife and I have given nearly one million but that is nothing compared to her very very very very very very very rich rich pure Chinese family. So please give

When I see Thai people donating to Western countries when they have disasters I'll follow their lead. I get a little tired of be told how terrible I am all the time and then I'm expected to shell out money to a country that frankly does nothing for me unless I pay for it.

AGREE.If help is not in the form of MONEY they do not care.It's not about helping people. nobody cares a s. in the thai government.On top of that add their proverbial pride, based on absolutely nothing.I feel quite ashamed by all those foreigners giving money to ' relieve' the pain of the flood in a country where ten thousands of superich thai not caring a s. about other thai people ride around in 7 million bath Mercedes Benz.It's not bona fide stupidity, it'sARROGANT stupidity.

If this isn't absolute proof of their bona fide stupidity, nothing is. It's as if they want people to die.

The problem, as often here in Thailand, is the planned solution to the problem.Make all drugs free and they will experience a dramatic drop in drug users.Make drugs available at 7-eleven, and tax them, like for alcohol or cigarettes.For many young people the ' excitement' of illegality will be gone, and for the others, they will HAVE to go on using drugs, whatever policy the government will implement.

Where are they going to put 10,000 drug dealers? I guess a few can be sent back to Nigeria. Why these rediculous time lines

This is not a question of ignorance.Ask a farmer in Congo who was Hitler and what ' nazist' means and it will know at least 2 or 3 basic facts about that.I always noticed the total DISCONNECTION of thai with everything which is not thai.This goes beyond ignorance, it's being totally absentminded.It's like the image of Che Guevara on the backside of thai trucks or on thai T-Shirts.They just do not even know who is Che Guevara.Here everything is fashion, history simply does not exist.Children do not live in history, which means in consciousness and in time, but in a kind of ' absolute present' where the meaning of past has no place.

I see that every day. Swastikas on their t-shirts, Third Reich helmets and even swastikas tattooed on their arms or hands. When I ask them whether they know what it represents, they answer "fashion!"

They are not aware, not the children nor the parents. How can they be made aware? Very difficult IMO. It does need to be included in their curriculums, at school, but so do many other things.

They write BEFORE, they mean NOT LATER THAN.Do not forget 99 percent of officials at Immigration do not speak english ( aside from a few super basic words), so they do not even read the word' BEFORE'.What counts is the NUMBER written on the visa, if it's 30 and you come in/out on 30 it's fine to them. If you try to follow the letter of the immigration instructions written in english you will find hundreds of contradictions,incongruities, and plane english mistakes.Tjis is why tons of questions arise around matters which should be simple and easy....Actually it's humiliating for us, foreigners, to have to TRY to understand what they mean...It's NOT only a questiion of language, if you go to Cambogia or Laos rules are simple and simply understandable, and their english is not better than here in Thailand....

before

380 usd for 1 hour of breast slapping????

I pay much less in Pattaya!

would that also work on my...................................ouch!

Once I went to a school in Roi Et, I met an english teacher and... he did not speak ONE WORD of english.A few other teachers I met spoke english at a level my daughter of 6 years would be ashamed of. So if this applies to other subjects the explanation of the low standard of thai student is really really SIMPLE.

iT'S NOT THEIR FAULT, it's the fault of the sub-sub standard of the ones who are supposed to teach them, period.

My colleagues and I have also made similar observations over the past 10 years. Some friends who work in universities here also agree that the standard of student performance has dropped noticeably over the last decade of us teaching here. PISA measures mostly application of math/science skills to solving problems. This is the main reason why they have perfomed so poorly on this exam. Once the MoE changes its policies to de-emphasise rote learning and puts more emphasis on application, analysis and synthesis skills, then their scores might improve. The kinds of tasks are rarely addressed in regular classrooms in Thailand.