remiss

Good. Apart from KLMs small seats and aeroflot SAS long-haul ranks on the bottom of my list.

And does not include Norway. The Chinese sure now how to hold a grudge..

What did the Norskis do to the Chinese?

The Nobel peace prize committee gave the prize to some chinese dissident... And the chinese thinks the norwegian government did..

And does not include Norway. The Chinese sure now how to hold a grudge..

"The three bid winners have already requested from the watchdog a combined 20 million mobile-phone numbers with the 091 prefix for providing the 3G service during the first year."

Say what now? I need a new number? And why would they even need a new number block for that? So people can show of? And I already have hsdpa .. will that disappear? I don't get this stuff.. so many questions..

I like the normal amount of people in Bangkok -- but when it gets crowded I freak out.

Is it gonna be crowded during christmas? Been to Bangkok for new years, but never christmas and the former was more than enough people for me. How is the 24-26. gonna be (or has been)?

This is also something to be aware of when paying by card in stores or hotels etc. Make sure they charge you in THB.

Tragic

.

Golden Tulip Mandison suites.. Fair price, central, big rooms, nice hotel, nice pool..

No they shouldn't, but that would be up to them I suppose. Anyway, your travel insurance might be of help..

I was told the same thing last night. Upon which I said 'koon mai dee', then we sat there saying that too each other a few times until I gave up... Forgot to ask why, but they probably like to keep things witin the group or to themselves. If you are used to being able to keeping secrets or saying what you want infront of someone, losing the way to do it is kinda annoying (been there myself).

A lot of condos/apartments seem to be popping up in amphur (Khunhan, 40-50 minutes from Sisaket) -- does anyone know where they sell them? At the banks or ...?

As far as I know there aren't any real estate agents around here (I could be wrong of course)

According to the defence minister it's apparently two terrorists that have entered Thailand and they know who they are and they are likely to be arrested soon..

Edit: Was defence minister, not the polic or police.. :/

Please read what I wrote. I said NOT YOU because I don't know you at all. So I am not calling you a bigot or anything.

I'm very accepting of other cultures. I've been living in several different ones on different continents for the past 17 years. I think other cultures are interesting and pretty cool. As far as Muslims in Europe, I don't think they should stay out of Europe - unless they have no interest in assimilating. If they hate Western culture and want to live in an Islamic society so badly, why not just go back home? Honestly, I like European culture. I like that France is French, Holland is Dutch, England is English and so on. Does that make me a bigot? Why should their cultures be wiped out or diluted by people who screwed up their own countries in the first place?

That is good to hear. I read your first post several times and like I said it was somewhat unclear what your stance was. I never called you a bigot and you brought the word up. I agree with what you say except the assimilation, I don't need everybody to think, act, have the same religion and believe the same thing even if they are in France. However what you say does also expand to what I mentioned earlier about expecting all immigrants to learn the language of the country they live in -- plenty of people living in Thailand that understand no more than sabai dee mai etc. or giving their expression of their annoyance of the culture and the country they live in (ref. other posts on this forum).

I think it's exactly what you and me are discussing right now that will become the discussion in Norway now. On the main points most of us agree and don't think that some people don't belong here or there and there. ABB thought we should not have any muslims here at all, Al-Qaida I'm not sure what is thinking, at any rate their thoughts are clouded by hatred and misconception.

The big question is of course what to do. We don't need either extreme right wing terrorists or extreme muslim terrorists. And of course very few people are. It doesn't matter about religion, maybe a small subset of human population is always going to be terrorists or full of hate, that is a scary thought. But what do we do? I see no other option than being including and accepting of other people, their religions and culture. LIke one of the police chiefs have said, we don't want a society full of restrictions, those who live without risk don't live at all.

Different cultures do different things. I am pretty sure not all of you have become buddhists, speak thai and do everything the thai way (for those of you that live in thailand). The same way as in my opinion people should be able to do and believe what they want as long as it's within the legal framework in the country and that they integrate and interact with the rest of the community.

Some western expats probably fail miserably themselves at the same thing they complain about "happening to the west". I for one welcome a smaller world where one can have ones opinions, religious believes and whatever sexual preference no matter what country one might be in.

I can't speak for the others but I don't live in Thailand full-time. When I am there, the main language used is English (on Koh Samui, most Thais speak it well enough for that's what their customers speak). I don't force my language, religion (if I had one) or culture on the local population or anyone else. When in Thailand I am not taking money from Thais or their government either. So my situation isn't the type of multiculturalism that set this ABB nutjob off. He might never have done what he did if the immigrants and their supporters in the Labour Party with whom he took exception to weren't (in his mind) trying to wipe out Norwegian/European culture.

I don't think I shall say much more except that all of us needs to show more acceptance and understanding of other people.

It is amazingly ironic that many people who preach this rarely practice it in their own lives. Not saying you specifically don't because I don't know you at all. I could give examples but that would be taking this way off topic.Suffice to say that if you disagree with some self-proclaimed progressive people then you must be an evil bigot or racist. NOT a very tolerant view to hold of someone who simply doesn't see the world your way.

I'm not quite sure I understand what you are saying. Are you calling me and evil bigot and/or racist? If so I strongly take offense to that. And if you do I think you should explain yourself.

My point is that what he and some other right wing extremists want is for other people to get out or integrate completely. That doesn't quite form well with the "I'm in thailand and not going to learn thai" theory (not saying that you have those opinions, but it is what I understand from your somewhat unclear post, please correct me).

And as far as I have heard ABBs hatred has had nothing to do with money, but islam and muslims.

Please try to clarify what you are saying, I'm not sure if you are agreeing with me that we should accept other cultures or that you mean muslims should stay out of europe.. If it's the latter I am actually quite appalled.

..

What I think will happen in Norway after this, will be the exact opposite to what ABB wants.

They will be a crackdown on any ideas or political activity that even remotely resembles what ABB advocated.

+1

I hope and believe as you say that this will result in the opposite of what he would want. We need to be even more including and accepting of multi-culture and democratic.

Multi-culturalism is more exclusive than inclusive. It's not about the "melting pot" that was once America where people came from all over to join together into one language/culture/society. It is more about each group having enclaves of their own cultures/customs even laws.

Also, being more democratic (as in people voting) would probably result in a lot of immigrants/refugees getting kicked out of many countries.

Exactly, enclaves which become no go zones for others. Look up what's happening in Tower Hamlets where groups of Islamist thugs put up stickers telling gays to keep out and even raided a pub where gay people congregated assaulting those inside.

Different cultures do different things. I am pretty sure not all of you have become buddhists, speak thai and do everything the thai way (for those of you that live in thailand). The same way as in my opinion people should be able to do and believe what they want as long as it's within the legal framework in the country and that they integrate and interact with the rest of the community.

Some western expats probably fail miserably themselves at the same thing they complain about "happening to the west". I for one welcome a smaller world where one can have ones opinions, religious believes and whatever sexual preference no matter what country one might be in.

Regarding assaulting gay people; a gay couple was attacked by I think it was a muslim in Oslo a couple of years ago, and they moved the gay pride parade to start in that area instead. Which has worked out great by the way...

I don't think I shall say much more except that all of us needs to show more acceptance and understanding of other people.

I get a little bit scared when I hear somebody hating an entire people. There certainly is some hatred going both ways, but I have no idea how much it is. You must also remember that both thai and khmer travel to each others countries and some have been living close to the border areas (on the other side) their entire lives. I know several people in thailand that only speak khmer.

You wives attitude doesn't sound healthy though...

I read today that he was on MI5's watch list for buying a large amount of chemical online from a Polish supplier.

By all accounts, he is quite intelligent.

Actually, according to the PST (Police security service) he had bought chemicals for a whopping 14GBP. Approximately 60 norwegians had bought chemicals from said Polish website.

Correcting myself here; according to his manifesto he has ordered 150kg of aluminum powder from that website.Also seems like some polish people may have been involved (though not the person with the website) -- supposedly somebody had posted in polish that there would be an explosion in Oslo on the 22. before it happened.

..

What I think will happen in Norway after this, will be the exact opposite to what ABB wants.

They will be a crackdown on any ideas or political activity that even remotely resembles what ABB advocated.

+1

I hope and believe as you say that this will result in the opposite of what he would want. We need to be even more including and accepting of multi-culture and democratic.

I read today that he was on MI5's watch list for buying a large amount of chemical online from a Polish supplier.

By all accounts, he is quite intelligent.

Actually, according to the PST (Police security service) he had bought chemicals for a whopping 14GBP. Approximately 60 norwegians had bought chemicals from said Polish website.

Btw, according to some recent interview he enjoyed killing ants as a kid and that he never had any girlfriends.

http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/oslobomben/artikkel.php?artid=10080816

If you want to hold hands:

http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/oslobomben/lenke.php

Well, I dunno, but apparently italian government corruption costs €60bn pr year... Anyway regarding TH, to quote Nathaniel Branden "The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance." -- so guess we're just waiting on the next step?

Although I must admit I sometimes wish I could pay to get things to go faster in Norway...

150 000 people have gathered in the streets of Oslo today in memory of the victims of the twin attacks. Must say it is quite moving seeing the speeches & all the people

Number of killed has been adjusted to 68 at Utøya and 8 in Oslo.

The police also asserts that they arrived at the scene at Utøya as soon as possible.

Number of dead people may be adjusted at a later time since they are still searching..

For the last days I've just been staring at the TV and hardly being able to formulate any words or believe what I'm seeing..

Fortunately I was working from home on friday due to heavy rain, but usually I would have been in the VG-building hit by the blast or walking home from work through the area hit by the bomb around that time. My apartment building about a 20 minute walk from the bomb area was swaying from side to side and we could hear a big blast.. There are some constructions nearby so first thought it was some sort of accident there, but got a report shortly thereafter saying it was an explosion in the government area. Was just stunned.. No one from work was hurt fortunately.

And then hearing about the insane shootings at Utøya. I'm at loss of words. 7 people killed in the bomb blast and 85 people killed in the shootings so far and last I heard 4-5 people are still missing.

I am assuming you are living with somebody here, but bring them and their house registration book (the list of people living in that place, your name doesn't have to be on it) or what it's called just in case. I had to go back the next day with it... :/ (k-bank)

Looks like a cute hotel! Never stayed there before so can't give much useful info. Just wanted to say that unless I'm staying somewhere for less than 5 days I usually never book more than a couple nights to check the hotel out