OldSalty

I am more extreme.

I have about 45 employees in Bangkok. During every interview, I
casually ask if they smoke cigarettes. If the answer is yes, then that's
pretty much the end of the interview.

I won't tolerate a smoker taking 5 or 6 breaks during the day of
10-15 minutes each, while the rest of the staff work. It's not fair and
people notice. Not to mention the smell the smokers bring back into the
office.

Is that extreme? Yes. Does it make my office more productive and smell free? Absolutely.

yuou are absolutelt full of BS and I would nor work in your company anyhow and than God I don't have to

Oh nooo, not another anti-smoking debate, one is already running

If the smokers are in fact funding their own smoking rooms, and the
rooms are effective (reportedly not the case here), then I have no
problem with it whatsoever.

Yes I am willing to pay maybe 30 baht for that privilege, but than I would like to have a bar like smoking room, with chairs, tables, go-go girls etc and you will se a lot of non-smoking nazis in there!!!

the public should build smoking rooms in airports because
_________________________ (try to use just reason, and an argument in
the underlined space, and not bring up things like bbq smoke and car
exhaust).

Because there are already "smoking rooms" in airports for rich people, VIPs, High ranking government officials, diplomats and high ranking airline officials, so why not for the public?????

And to Neilly 267 : I hope you have a working permit, because by giving the stickers to the taxi drivers, you took work away from government officials!!!!

D-Lock this is now getting really funny, have you ever been in an elevator with 10 Koreans after they had their morning Kim-Chi with lots of garlic? I think you would prefer to have smokers around or do you want to ban also garlic?

Thai at Heart, you are right and that is were the problem is, it is greed and and intolerance by non smokers.

I am a smoker, so why don't we just charge the smokers a small fee for using the smoking room and use that money for better ventilation, a security guard to keep the room clean and the door closed, better facilities like tables and chairs, an automat for purchasing soft drinks and beer, so that no attendant has to be in the room, free use of a lighter, because some airports collect them, before you board a flight and many more things, I could think about. I would pay that small fee, but I am sure the money would be spent somewhere else.

I follow this topic and what a lot of bs comments I had to read. I am a well travelled person and once on my way home to Europe from Australia I had an 8 hour stopover in Mumbai (a non-smoking airport). You had security everywhere and they followed you even into the toilet. After one hour I found a place where I could smoke, the "FIRST CLASS PASSENGER LOUNGE". So because I was not travelling First Class, I was not allowed in, until I gave the security guard a bit of money (tip) and than I was allowed in. So the same will happen in most countries of SE Asia, if you make the airports non-smoking, money talks and that is reality and not the wishful thinking that some of the OPs have and express.

Here we go again, the anti smoking lobby has a field day. Please leave us smokers alone, as we leave the non smokers alone or start banning cars, heavy industry, booze and other things that not healthy for the general public. We have an ex-chancelor in Germany who is now 94, healthy and still a heavy smoker. He does not give TV interviews, if he is not allowed to smoke, so there is one law for the public and one for a few of us. I guess, when he went to China and Singapore lately, he was also allowed to smoke. So why not have an airline for smokers, no it is not allowed by law, so all you non-smokers are hiding behind your government and their rules. Lighten up and be more relaxed and be more tolerant, like you want everyone else to be.

huh, that's a joke.

Like you leave us alone.

Unfortunately non smokers have no choice when you lot are around being ignorant of all around you.

No it's not a joke and I know a lot of places even in Pattaya, where smoking is not tollerated and banned, so just look around and you will find, like I look around and find places where smoking is allowed. You are just a very intollerant person and that is what evrybody can see from your comments. Why should we ban smoking in open bars and other outdoor places. You lot just want to push your so called health concerns on other humans, by hiding behind government rules and laws. That's what you call a nani state.

Here we go again, the anti smoking lobby has a field day. Please leave us smokers alone, as we leave the non smokers alone or start banning cars, heavy industry, booze and other things that not healthy for the general public. We have an ex-chancelor in Germany who is now 94, healthy and still a heavy smoker. He does not give TV interviews, if he is not allowed to smoke, so there is one law for the public and one for a few of us. I guess, when he went to China and Singapore lately, he was also allowed to smoke. So why not have an airline for smokers, no it is not allowed by law, so all you non-smokers are hiding behind your government and their rules. Lighten up and be more relaxed and be more tolerant, like you want everyone else to be.

I do not understand why a simple question of "Leaving LOS for Phillipines" is turning into a political debate. It is all soooo simple, buy your own island in the Phillipines, which is possible, built a house on it with cabins for your guests, surround it all with a high wall and razor wire, put landmines on your beach, get your own private army to protect you, fly the American flag, so that the US Marines will rescue you when you have problems, like they "rescue" everybody else in the world, and live happily ever after.

Find a nice Phillipina and move with her to Thailand, like many of us do and you have the best out of both worlds.

In Thailand :

1. the food is better

2. the banking system is by far better

3. the infrastructure and the roads are better

4. You have much more ATM's

5. The busses are better

In the Phillipines

1. The girls are better, because they speak more languages and are far more adoptable to other cultures

2. The banks are better protected by machine guns

3. The system is more corrupted

4. The prices are a bit cheaper, but the value for money is less

5. They have more islands, so it is easier to disappear

Just watch out if you fly to Australia, because even a pocket knife in your checked baggage you have to declare as a weapon on the custom form. I once had that problem at Darwin airport and a two hour delay before I was allowed to leave the airport.

Just to update. My wife went today to the car dealer to get the red plates. Hopefully she'll be happy when she comes home after work.

She borrowed 3,000 from me; is that what it costs ( doesn't matter if it's less, as she will repay me for sure, so not a "scam" as some might think )?

3000 is OK but that is only a deposit, you should get the 3000 back from the dealer after 3 month, when you get the white plates.

What a bunch of loosers, but it is one way to get rid of your competition I guess. One wanted a license the other one was providing the service, so they are both scamers in my eyes.

It isn't on true visions but it will be on thai tv ch7...

Thanks for that and the fighting will start at 8am

what time will it be on? (Thai time)

It will be on at 8am Thai Time, that's when the boxing starts in Las Vegas, but I guess that the Paquioa fight will start later

Does any BM know if the fight tomorrow morning will be shown on True TV or in any Pattaya bar on TV. I have a lot of friends from the Philippines and they are all asking me. Thanks for any reply.

This is not the story of a scorned lover I never had a sexual relationship with this lady, she was just a family friend, it is just a warning to any suspected lover of this lady.

I have been living in Pattaya now for the last 6 years and I am still enjoying it in a lot of ways. I like the climate and many of the local people. I like the entertainment and the openness of this place. I have been all over the world and I think that generally speaking Thailand is a safe place, but there is a catch to it.

A good friend of mine, a Canadian was married and lived together with a Thai Lady for 4 years and took her all over the world. They bought a house on the East Side and than the relationship went bust. Mainly because she was a gambling addict and she would steal from him and betray him, just to get money to satisfy her habit. So finally they got divorced, but because she was a friend of our family too, going regularly in and out of my hose, and being a good friend of my wife and daughter. They are both from the Philippines by the way and they also like Thailand very much. So after my friends divorce she was high and dry and she borrowed money from me, 50000.00 Baht. Because we knew her very well and had some trust in her, I accepted and gave her the funds, but asking her to pay me back the small amount of 500.00 to 1000.00 Baht every month. I thought that this would be quiet reasonable and that she could afford that as a WG in Pattaya and as she told me the funds were meant to be for her daughters education in Chiang Mai. So far since January this year I have received 1000.00 Baht back and a lot of different excuses, why she can not pay any money back. So now, what I am trying to ask you is, if this so called "LOOSING FACE" only counts between Thai people and their own Thai family and Thai friends or also towards Falangs like me, because she "Lost Face" now, that is for sure and she lost a good friendship too, but Thais obviously don't care about that, so why should we care about Thais? I am looking forward to your reply and maybe some advise,

an old style Gentleman or a "Fool in Paradise".

R.I.P. Sorry, but there are no balconies on the 56th floor, because that is the viewing platform, which is normally closed at darkness. I don't know, who is making up all these stories, either he hit on the viewing platform and waited till the platform was empty or he jumped from the balcony on a different floor. I can see the tower and the hotel from my condo.

I think I like most of the replies and it shows that a lot of the falangs living hear, can see the funny side in this story, even if is probably a bad situation, if your house is now surrounded by water. As far as I know, everybody should avoid flood water and not only drunken people. It is about time that the Thai Government does something about the flood situation. There are many experts in Europe, especially in The Netherlands, a country that has many areas below sealevel and you don't hear about flooding over there, and I am not from The Netherland or looking for a job. So they must do something right and the Thai Government should contact them and ask for their advise, but maybe that means they are loosing face, and that would be terrible, to ask somebody, when you don't have an answer to a problem. We all know Thailand and the Thais and still, we all love it here, why would we stay here otherwise.

Problem has now been solved, it took only two weeks. BPI has no international transfer connection by internet to Australia, they only have a telegraphic connection to NAB (National Australia Bank), which is their corresponding bank. So SWIFT and anything normal in today's world does not work in the Philippines. Once they have transferred the funds to NAB, they transfer it to your bank in Australia, which was CBA (Commonwealth Bank) in my case, but your have to give BPI a national routing number for Australia, which was AU+branch number and your account number. What made it so difficult, was the unprofessional attitude from BPI, but now the nightmare is over.

I have been there in the 70th as a merchant mariner and it was the same mess it is now, the only different was that it was less populated, but nothing else has changed and nothing else will change in the future. The corruption was the same, the violance was the same and the poverty was the same. What do you expect from a country that got for years screwed by the Spanish, than by the Americans, than by the Japanese, than by the Americans again and now finally by their own people. I live in Thailand with a Philippina and that is the best out of both worlds. I have been to the Philippines a couple of times lately but I do not think that I will go back. Stay away from that country as far as possible, the same as many Pinoys do already.

Hi guys,

I have a small problem and maybe somebody can give me a good advise. I am living with my Philippina wife in Pattaya, Thailand but we still have a PHP account with BPI in Olongapo. Now we opened an AUD account for her in Australia with CBA, which was easy done by Internet without travelling to Australia. We are getting a good interest rate there abt 5.5%. Now we are trying to transfer abt. 400.000.00 PHP to Australia, but BPI is giving us a hard time. You have to fill out forms and forms and forms, which you can not even download through the Net, you have to pick them up at the branch, but we are not going back to the Philippines. I am thinking about closing her account with BPI and opening up another account with another bank in the Philippines. Is there any bank you would recommend in the Philippines that offers reliable and good internet banking service and where she can open an account from Thailand, maybe HSBC, like it is possible in Australia or Europe? Every reply will be appreciated.

SOME sex workers don't want to be rescued. I'm sure there are tens of thousands out there that are being exploited / extorted / forced and would love to be rescued.

Perhaps there is a small % who would like to be 'rescued' - yet perhaps there are a greater % of indentured maids, clearing 20 baht a day, forced to work 24/7 for rich Chinese -Thai families who would also like to be 'rescued.' Sex workers, with few exceptions, can walk away if they choose. The #1 reason for sex worker harassment is Christian aid groups motivated by their western puritanical superiority complexes. I had a Christian group wanting to rent my large house. They were planning to do 'improvements' to it - which would have turned it in to a fortress to keep 'rescued sex workers' from having visitors and/or breaking out. I said 'no' to the house rental proposal.

I am totally on your side and I wish to support your decission. Who are these bible bashers and NGO's representative that protect anybody. They are there for there own interest and many of the money they get from sponsors and charity givers is spent on administration, salaries, extreme high transport costs and bribes to officials. So clean up your own backyard before you go into somebody elses backyard.