raybal5

I have a couple of guns back home, don't think they have shot or killed anybody lately.

When it comes to guns in America, far too many of them are used against humans and many of them who get shot, also happen to die. So what part of Thou shalt not kill do people not understand?

And by the way, there is no commandment against homosexuality but the christians seem to like to trot that one out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr1I3mBojc0

...and if your daughter gets raped and then refuses to marry him, then stone her to death...... cos the Good Book tells us what is good and what is bad

The child was British and abused in the UK. Get the story right. He wouldn't have been extradited and tried in the UK, if it occurred in Thailand.

If the offender was an Australian citizen, he could be charged in Australia even if the offense did not occur in Australia. Once charged, he would be extradited to Australia for a court hearing even if the country he was offending in did not charge him. If they did, he could still be dealt with in Australian courts after serving a sentence in the country it occurred in.

TL;DR - if you are an Australian - DON'T do it!

I wasn't there.

Neither was I but I can read a lot of information about what happened in history. It was a significant event in the world so hey, why not get informed.

If you call a scooter a moped then do you call a bus a car? Do you call a train a bus?

Scooters are quite distinct from mopeds because as the name implies, a moped has both a motor and pedals.

Yes I am being pedantic but I can't stand ignorance.

some 'poor' - and very upset - woman at the check - out next to me at my local tesco lotus got the 'forgery' treatment today because she had tried to pay with one of them. apparently she got it out of an atm at renu nakhon! it was A BIG ISSUE!!!

they sure look very colourful and pretty...

OP article says "It will be circulated from Aug 21 onwards"

yes, i know what the article says but i also know what was past from one cashier to the next and the next and back again right in front of my eyes. i even told you where the woman said she got the thing from, so: what is your point?

The point is that given it was not supposed to be circulated until 21 August, it is little wonder the person was given the forgery treatment. DOH! How can you not understand that?

It's certainly long past time for the 20 to go the way of the 10, replaced by coins

Notes are probably cheaper to produce than coins.

They were loggers for Gods sake, not drug smugglers.

Loggers are destroying the mature trees that are vital to the ecosystems and the production of oxygen and removal of carbon from the atmosphere. If they were logging legally and properly managed that is one thing but to do so without any approvals and damaging the environment is not a matter for a slap on the wrist. Jail is probably more appropriate however death is the next best thing.

How sad that you are so addicted that a one-day abstinence will do you harm. You should see a doctor!

How sad that you feel the need to lecture. You should have a drink!

If that's a lecture then it is surely the shortest lecture in history.

But then again, if you're a drunk too I can understand your short attention span.

And what is your excuse for being a nob?

A bit overly sensitive there MZurf. Back to your beer!

How sad that you are so addicted that a one-day abstinence will do you harm. You should see a doctor!

How sad that you feel the need to lecture. You should have a drink!

If that's a lecture then it is surely the shortest lecture in history.

But then again, if you're a drunk too I can understand your short attention span.

There is a school less than 200-300m from Walking Street in Pattaya....

All the bar owners will need to chip in to buy the school and close it down.

What a complete knee jerk reaction to the carry-on-gun fiasco! I will take this as AOT admitting a certain gun went through a Thai airport to Japan. As much as I am pleased measures are being taken to prevent guns being 'sneaked' on, these extra measures have clearly been implemented without any forward planning and operational/logistical evaluation. It doesn't surprise me. What does surprise me is this sort of thing continues to happen when tourism is so important to this country. Most passengers going through this will probably never want to come back. My 80 y.o parents once got caught in a bottle neck rugby scrum for an escalator at Swampy airport - they now fly through Singapore to Chiang Mai. Shame on Thailand.

You are correct that it is a knee-jerk. Clearly they ought to have ramped up resources before doing this at DM. I have to say they at Chiang Mai they do the x-ray check on everyone entering regardless of domestic or international. Queuing up on the footpaths in the heat and the x-ray just inside the doors but they do move rather quickly.

Nowadays it's sensible to read your post, then preview it,then write something else.

And this is exactly the attitude that allowed Adolf to take his country to war.

We will be (are) seeing more blue plate, left drive cars ...so traffic is getting "interesting".

The cars are far better behaved than the Chinese on motorbikes and push bikes. I am amazed at how many of them seem to think that it's ok to ride on the wrong side of the road straight into oncoming traffic. And how many of them just wander out onto the roads on foot without looking. I mean the Thais are pretty bad at road-sense but the Chinese are far worse.

I'd be surprised if the male accomplice was really a copper as well.

They don't like to share the loot too much, or would have had the lion's share of 10K which wouldn't make it too profitable an exercise for the lasses.

Sad to see this old scam is doing the rounds again....

Seeing as he was breathalysed, arrested, charged, jailed, bailed, and appearing in court, I think it was a real policeman.

Not sure why the policeman didn't just ask for a bribe ....... seems odd.

Maybe because the guy had his wallet stolen and had no money on him perhaps?

Lucky he had insurance. Don't travel without it.

I book all our return flights on a Platinum Westpac credit card, it covers all our insurance needs and is included when you book the flight. (no extra cost)

Check your cards as most cover travel insurance as stated above. But it must be on a return flight booking from OZ.

Caution: Don't just trust the marketing blurb. Make sure you know exactly what your credit card insurance covers.

1. Does it cover everyone on the booked trip or just the primary card holder? Many just cover one person regardless of how many you booked and paid for.
2. Have you got all of the policy wording so you know exactly what you are covered for?
3. Do you have a 24/7 contact number to call in an emergency? Some things may require pre-approval.
4. Do you have a policy number to quote?
5. Do you know the limits of your cover?

Don't be a dill - make sure you know before you go.

Went for a 90 day AND re-entry permit 2 weeks ago.

Arrived 12.20 out at 1.15.....that's correct over the lunch period, one diligent immigration officer processed both applications on his lunch break. Just had to wait 15 mins to get the passport back.

Can't argue with that type of service, it shows some of the officers are willing to go the extra mile

Yesterday at CM Immigration my application was processed and accepted and paid for but I was forced to wait from 4pm until 6:15pm to get my passport back. After 4pm NOBODY got their passport back. By 5:30pm many people waiting started getting angry and asking any staff member who showed their face what was going on, why the wait. The staff finally admitted that only the manager could countersign the approvals and she had gone to a meeting. I have since found out that this is a common thing. The Manager of CM Immigration is disgustingly stupid if she thinks it is ok to make people wait for her for so long. Why is she too scared to delegate that authority when she is away at meetings? Thai ego and face have no place in the operations of the Immigration office. I hope her Bangkok bosses can wake up to what an idiot she is and terminate her or demote her. This person is giving Thailand a bad name.

I had the displeasure of attending the Chiang Mai Immigration Office today. After observing procedures from 10 am until 4 pm I noted that after being "processed" people were getting their passports handed back about every 5 to 10 minutes. I finally got my officer approval at 4pm, paid my money and got the picture taken, and was told to wait. After 30 minutes I realised that not one single person had been called to get their passport back. Waiting, waiting, waiting. At 5:00pm I and a growing number of others began to ask why we had to wait so long. Not a single passport returned. By 5:45 pm the crowd had lost its patience were asking any staff member who came close to the counter what was going on. One of the staff finally told us that the manager was the only person able to countersign officer visa approvals and they had gone to a meeting.

This is a total disgrace. The manager is a buffalo with such a huge ego that they cannot allow a second person to sign in their absence. Not only is this poor customer service, it an abuse of power and lack of planning. How dare they absent themselves from the office during service hours if they are so stupidly arrogant as to not delegate countersigning authority. The manager's abuse of power and lack of accountability causes stress for staff and customers alike. I have since learned that this is a common occurrence. When will Thai bureaucrats be told that their overly inflated egos have no place in this environment. What if they got sick or couldn't go to work? Do they expect everyone to wait for them? Disgusting

So 7 countries out of 196 recognize a third gender and some how my view is the odd one out, don't make me laugh. Exactly who's views are twisted I'm wondering........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_gender

The point I was making is that people like you have no compassion or empathy. You're probably a christian or some other religious hater. I wonder why morons like you are so interested in other peoples bedroom activities. Possibly because you are scared your own repressed sexuality might come out

.

She was stupid. Things worked out the way nature intended.

Now, if the kid had shot himself …..

What if you were standing in front of them and he shot you or a loved one ? We can play this game all day, but I find it hard to believe that things are really that bad in the Midwest that you need to carry a loaded firearm for a trip to the shops - saddened to hear otherwise.

.

I am not so naive as to believe a perfect world is possible through legislation.

Australia is not perfect but it's a lot closer to perfect than the USA. There is strong legislative gun control but of course the criminals always manage to get guns. Despite that, the last time there was a shooting in a school, or a cinema, or in a shopping mall by non-criminals was NEVER !!!!!!

They have had recent car accidents and plane accidents. I move that we ban these vehicles of death also.

Cars and planes are necessary - guns are not! Unless of course you are an American in which case you can't function without the having the ability to kill someone close to you. So much for her self-protection.

Totally stupid woman. I feel sorry for the kid.

"nut rage"

perfect expression

"nutter rage" is more like it. Self-important bitch who inconvenienced hundreds for her little hissy fit. Personally I am glad the Koreans have such a strong sense of honour and now she is gone from being able to make problems for the airline.

Agh inking just a little common sense I would say it is n up or down gear movement, ie going up a hill click the - minus and will knock it down 1 gear, wanting to pass another car quickly, put your foot down and click the minus, click the + to go up 1 gear.

"common sense" is not very common!

Interesting to see the guy on the platform merrily enjoying himself while a family man lies sliced in half nearby... Thainess?

So you're not allowed to smile within 50m of a body?

I think anyone who has empathy in such a situation would not be smiling. It's an absolute tragedy losing a husband/father like that on holiday and in such a way.

So very sad and NO I'm not smiling RIP

Does binjalin realise that Buddhists view death differently to christians? Yes Dave, it is Thainess.

Have you considered the possibility that your view of the world is not the only way to view death?

I have been to a few Thai funerals and have seen even the closest of family (to the deceased) smiling and sometimes even laughing as they remember their loved ones. Do you realise that they consider their time on earth to be a brief stopover on their journey to paradise? Would they not be justified in being happy that their loved ones are now in paradise and have escaped the pain and struggle of this world?

I think that anyone who has empathy (unlike binjalin who has shown no empathy) might consider that how others behave is totally appropriate to their culture. Not everyone in the world thinks like you. Open your mind and show some real empathy.

And even if binjalin wants to be closed-minded and think everyone should be judged by their own western christian standards, are you aware that it has been proven by psychologists and psychiatrists that laughing or smiling can be a nervous reaction to stress?