zydeco

Taxis have already been adjusting their meters and getting higher fares. Will this hurt me? Not at all. Will it hurt the average Thai seeking a taxi? Absolutely. In order to make taxi drivers happy, I'm betting that a much larger group of people have just been steamed up.

Didn't Brazil do the same thing in the 1950s with the introduction of African honeybees? And that resulted in killer bees that now plague North and South America.

And, of course, the inevitable "fled the scene." As much as I love this country, THIS is something that must change. If somebody flees the scene, the system should be coming down on them like ugly on an ape.

So, at least thirteen posters here who don't realize that a serious RT accident in Thailand may easily result in the quickly adjudged guilty (by the fast gathering crowd) driver being kicked, beaten or worse. Anyone who were to follow the story would find the driver turned himself in at a police station, 24 hours later, betcha!

Nonsensical excuse mongering that helps promote lawlessness. And, of course, this helps explain how when they cause an accident, the police also flee the scene, as they did awhile back when escorting a large oversized truck down Borom, which knocked off a pedestrian overpass that landed on a truck and killed a person. Right?

If you want or think you can change Thai culture overnight, go for it, I was merely describing what happens currently and why. If you think you want and can change Thai culture, go for it, you will get support.

But sitting back and sharpshooting individual comments when you don't understand the environment you're in, if indeed you are even in it, lacks any appreciation for what happens in Thailand and why.

BTW are you a Thai Apologist or a Thai Basher, it's difficult to understand these days.

As it happens, I live in Thailand and do not care for the indiscriminate bashing that goes on. As for changing Thai culture, that is not my goal at all. The introduction of the automobile and highway system, however, was not a product of Thai culture but an importation of Western technology and culture on a land that primarily relied upon waterways for transport. And I certainly do think it makes sense to introduce measures that make people accountable for their actions on the road, especially if it reduces the carnage already at catastrophic levels in this country. Thai people throughout this country are concerned, too. Just look at the reverberations still existent from the hiso girl who caused a Thammasart van to go off the overpass and kill six or seven people just four years ago.

And, of course, the inevitable "fled the scene." As much as I love this country, THIS is something that must change. If somebody flees the scene, the system should be coming down on them like ugly on an ape.

So, at least thirteen posters here who don't realize that a serious RT accident in Thailand may easily result in the quickly adjudged guilty (by the fast gathering crowd) driver being kicked, beaten or worse. Anyone who were to follow the story would find the driver turned himself in at a police station, 24 hours later, betcha!

Nonsensical excuse mongering that helps promote lawlessness. And, of course, this helps explain how when they cause an accident, the police also flee the scene, as they did awhile back when escorting a large oversized truck down Borom, which knocked off a pedestrian overpass that landed on a truck and killed a person. Right?

What counts in the real world are results -- papers/books published, patents issued, international recognition ,and Thailand U's have none of these. Coming in 49 th in a race of 50 participants would get me a spanking !

Yes, absolutely. The poor ex student at MUIC, above, puts forth a good case. Many of these departments, especially at MUIC, are hiring people without PhDs--hiring them only because they speak English. And so it does appear to be a glorified middle school. That a full time faculty member would only hold a B.A. from an even lower ranked Thai university and be qualified to teach in a field outside his/her undergraduate degree is pitiful. There is no excuse for not hiring a full staff of PhDs to teach at universities--unless you're trying to go cheap and just make money. In my contact with MUIC students, btw, I find them to be fairly polished English speakers, most with a creative bent, and eager--until their long term exposure to MUIC. And that is the problem: Thai universities killing off creativity and curiosity, so they can chase down things such as uniformity (literally), obedience, and conformity.

Just leave this culprit in a locked room filled with his victims. Justice enough.

Wow, there are a lot of cynics on this thread. To think that the people who live on Koh Tao want anything less than justice for the killers of these two people is mind-blowing. Keep in mind, we LIVE here and can't stand the thought that there are people living amongst who are capable of such an atrocity. We want these people caught for the families of the victims, for our own safety, and to a much lesser degree because we have built lives and businesses here and we will undoubtedly suffer from the negative attention.

All of the speculation and the actual reporting of this story in the media has been terribly insensitive and counter-productive. The owner of the resort was one of the first on the scene because he owns a business adjacent to it. Reports that he hasn't submitted a DNA test are false. He was one of the first to be tested.

Talk of a mafia-run island is also incorrect. Some of our local business people have more influence than others because they have more land, money, family interests, etc. These are the people that get elected into government on Koh Tao as well as in many other places in the world. We don't have any history of tourist murders on the island. Drugs are not as prevalent here as they are in many other places in Thailand, and all of the Full Moon party references apply to Koh Phangan, not Koh Tao.

Sean McAnna has not been here working as a barman for 18 months here. In fact, he only recently arrived. He spent some time here in the past and wasn't able to maintain employment anywhere for long on the island. He has been all over the place with his views of what happened. His first post since the tragedy occurred (since removed) was of how sad he was and that he was supposed to meet David Miller on the night of the murders, but he fell asleep in his bungalow. Now he somehow seems to have witnessed the killings and can ID the killers. And if he did witness the murders, why is he only just now speaking up? We have had literally hundreds of mainland police combing this island for a week. If he felt uncomfortable speaking about it because he feared for what would happen to him if he did, why not leave the island and contact the British Embassy who could then keep him safe while he spoke with police in Bangkok or even at home in the UK? Instead, he drunkenly walked into AC Bar at night, alone and made accusations against the owner. And why would he post such garbage on Facebook instead of speaking to the authorities? These are just a few of the reasons that we question his mental state. He seems to be quite illogical in his actions and more than a little bit disturbed. Hopefully, he gets the help he needs and the authorities will get back to searching for the killers...

I'm sure many other people would feel the same as the bar owner if they had been accused of these heinous crimes by a person without any proof.

All the people on here who feel he has been brave and found the culprits are clutching at straws in the same manner as Sean. Regardless of how well connected, influential or powerful he or his family are I'm sure the police would have charged him by now as the country's reputation needs a boost.

Do you really think the present government would allow the police to let someone else take the blame and see the case collapse in court in front of the world's media? I think not as the fall guys would have been charged by now. You can bet the military's breathing down the necks of the police to make sure this awful crime gets solved properly.

Your last paragraph might be due some extrapolation. Behind much of this hysteria, I believe, is a well armed propaganda attack against the government. Just a few months back many of these same posters now tearing into the police were only too happy to defend police ineptitude at producing arrests for bombings, assassinations, and drive-bys. But that was under a different government, with whom the police at the time were closely identified. Now that corruption is being rooted out, notably within the police, investigative molehills will become mountains. Crimes going without an arrest in the space of 24 hours will be called cover-ups. That is the agenda at work here.

I'm a sceptic too. I might be unfair to the young man but how can he work as a 'barman' for 18 months on the island?. Work permit? Sounds fishy to me.

Many western barmen on Koh Tao and other islands don't have permits, what does that have to do with his credibility as a murder witness?

If true, such a person would be a self-admitted criminal, guilty of violating immigration and labor laws. Maybe tax laws, too.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/thailand/11113386/British-backpacker-describes-terror-after-Thai-mafia-death-threat.html

You be the judge.

Goof lord, the conspiracy theorists are really scraping the bottom of the barrel on this one, whatever happened to real journalism.

He looks like an extra from Hangover 2. A complete and utter goof. Making a mockery of it all.

I bet you dont look much either...

<deleted> does what someone looks like have to do with anything ? stuck up much ?

Yea, when you mumble along through an interview sounding more incoherent than Cheech and Chong, it does tend to influence judgments about your credibility.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/thailand/11113386/British-backpacker-describes-terror-after-Thai-mafia-death-threat.html

You be the judge.

Goof lord, the conspiracy theorists are really scraping the bottom of the barrel on this one, whatever happened to real journalism.

He looks like an extra from Hangover 2. A complete and utter goof. Making a mockery of it all.

Why is this particular case getting so much attention? Taxi driver kills a passenger with a samurai sword, and the headline disappears. What happened with that case? A gang murders a man outside a karaoke bar and the story disappears. How did the court treat those murderers? Two young women poisoned in the hotel rooms and poof! But for some reason we have multiple, multiple threads running in TV on this case, the involvement of high level officials, and embassies.

"Taxi driver kills a passenger with a samurai sword, and the headline disappears. What happened with that case?"

Found guilty and jailed.

Really? That seems rather quick. Could you share with us how you know??

I missed the story, too. Was there a TV follow up? I would like details. How long was the sentence?

Why is this particular case getting so much attention? Taxi driver kills a passenger with a samurai sword, and the headline disappears. What happened with that case? A gang murders a man outside a karaoke bar and the story disappears. How did the court treat those murderers? Two young women poisoned in the hotel rooms and the international interest poof! But for some reason we have multiple, multiple threads running in TV on this case, the involvement of high level officials, and embassies.

As they say in journalism this story has ' legs '.

Tourists brutally murdered, irresponsible comments from officialdom all the way up to the PM which have been ringing around the world.

LoS only seen as caring about tourist money not the victims. Police officers posting scene of crime pictures on social media and on and on.

This sort of headline doesn't go away easily no matter how much the Thais may want it to and by their own actions they have fueled controversy and therefore continued interest. The international media doesn't give as easily as their local counterparts.

Except . . . think about it . . . a taxi driver kills his passenger with a samurai sword and most of it is on CCTV. That is something anybody who has ever used a taxi can directly relate to--especially, here. And the story goes down the memory hole. Two girls gassed in their hotel room and we hear nothing. Don't know about anybody else, but I've been on pins and needles about Thai hotels ever since. Yet this story has 13 separate threads running on the first page of TV Thai news. I'm not sure the coup got that many.

Thread number 13 on page 1 alone that is directly related to this story. Is anything else happening in Thailand, or is there some agenda at work here? Repetitive information, constantly pushed up to the top of the page.

Just one penalty for everything, death. Easy to apply and easy for everyone to understand. You murder a few hundred people in a terrorist attack: death. You step off the pavement and walk on the grass: death.

Africans attack and kill 8 med workers and journalists, claiming ebola is invented by white people to kill africans. http://www.latimes.com/world/africa/la-fg-attack-ebola-guinea-outreach-20140918-story.html

Sounds like US Government regulation for what a sandwich should be.

I have been taking the very same metered trip to work every day for the past five years. It's only a short distance. But when I started, almost every taxi would get me there for 51-53 baht. Nowadays, the charge is 59 occassionally but more often 61. Taxi drivers are getting their fee increases, one way or another. by tinkering with the meter, I suspect.

Rajata, a professor and a medical doctor, has been at the helm of MU for several years, and has just taken on his new job as health minister.

The music dean at MUIC has a number of accomplishments unparalleled in any Thai university. He is a major figure in the arts in Thailand. The rector is a bureaucrat who could have isolated himself on his job and may suspect that he will not get a second term as rector at the end of the year. The ministry job is plan "B" and perhaps he is trying to slip into politics as an alternative.

Texas is the Lone Star state. So Lone Star is Texas BBQ. But I don't know which Texas BBQ.

Within Texas, though, there are 4 separate sub-styles: East Texas (marinated in a sweet, tomato-based sauce), Central Texas (rubbed with spices and cooked over indirect heat from pecan or oak wood), West Texas (cooked over direct heat from mesquite wood giving it a somewhat bitter taste) and South Texas (features thick, molasses-like sauces that keep the meat very moist).

Then there's "barbacoa", which is different still (traditionally prepared in a hole in the ground which is covered with leaves and uses goat or mutton).

I voted "no," but then I saw this post. You know your stuff. I would love some mesquite bbq. Where are you going to find the mesquite trees? Also I like your sides, greens and cornbread. I haven't found mustard or collard greens anywhere in this country. And only sporadically have I found cornbread, especially yellow cornbread and not the sweet spongy stuff. So, yea, I might be interested in this after all.

From an earlier post, which I now cannot find, about chicken fried steak. I finally found a pretty good chicken fried steak and creamed potatoes served at The Madrid. More than pretty good, actually. Really good.