Miami Bob

I've lived in Thailand for 11 years. When renting a motorbike take several photos of the bike before you take it if you see any damage at all like scratches and be sure the Thai renter sees you doing it and discuss any damage you see with them before you leave on the bike. Burning tourists for damage is big business here especially with jet skies.

They will try to take your passport. Insist on giving them a photo copy instead. Technically only immigration has the power to take your passport. The renter might be honest but what if he loses it by accident?

"...but who also get behind the wheel of a vehicle without having the correct documentation, such as an international driving license."

Rental cars do not require international driving licenses ... does anyone know if Thai law does?

From my understanding you do require an international licence that is translated into Thai and if you are in the country for 3 months or more then you require a Thai driver licence. Australia has the same laws. I have also heard that if you are involved in a collision then the Thai insurance companies will only accept a Thai driver licence but I will stand corrected.

That's what I've been told, but, on the tollway was once told that I had to have an International licence because my Thai licence was only really for Thais. No, I didn't pay the requested 200 after my wife argued with the cop.

As we all who have lived here a long time know, it's a matter of which Thai officer/official you talk to....same at immigration, etc.

Cheek.

Then again I suppose it must be difficult for Americans and Europeans to get used to driving on the correct side of the road, I could see many of them getting into trouble, unlike we Brits who are naturally superior drivers due to our advanced testing, and knowledge of how to drive on the right.

I don't know why you guys couldn't just follow our lead. We tell you not to form your own government but nope, and look at you now, government is shut down. We tell you not to start the Euro but nope, you had to go ahead and cause a financial crisis, and now your over here annoying the Thais with your bad driving habits.

Strewth. Maybe we should restart the Empire and sort you lot out.

I assume your joking. You ARE joking aren't' you?!

I rarely travel, but needed to see a dentist yesterday. There are "regular" police check-points, and then yesterday a brand new one. Everyone had to show ID (often happens at such check-points) but then, additionally, the personal luggage was opened and searched.

Now this article makes me wonder if this was just a coincidence.

This kind of thing is that's going on all over the world now especially in the US as the police become more and more militarized preparing for global unrest. This a good excuse to get the public "used to " these kind of searches.

This is a clear message to the government (at a vulnerable time), by the powers that they are in control and quite capabile taking control at any moment. The government must conceed to their wishes. You can see by the timing, the play here. It could not come at a much more obvious time for the government. The media, the papers and a clear demonstration "threat" by ther army. Who is in control of Thailand, not the govenrment thats for sure. The government is only an elected representation of the people..... what has that got to do with control. The ARMY, controled media, those that own and run the ARMY run Thailand. Always have, always will, 8 military cou's...... who do you think controls Thailand? Who ever controls the Army and that is NOT the government.

Also, I live in Krabi and as I remember the Long Horn is a rock n rock bar not a karaoke as some posters are assuming.

Well make no mistake I don't support anything to do with Hitler or his eugenicist agenda, but yes it is very interesting the totally lopsided percentage of elites in the US federal gov that are Jewish relative to the overall population. As for who their indirect masters are [ as well as most other governments ] ....well, good place to start would be with the Rothchilds, Rockefellers , Warburgs, Dutch royals, etc. who control the big multinational corps., banks, military contractors, oil, etc , but like you said that's another thread.

I think a good place to start would be for you to spend some time reading up on where the the ideas you are posting come from..... Here's a clue.... It was from a piece of propaganda published by one of the most oppressive regimes in human history.

Yes I'm aware of their propaganda. What I was saying has to do with the reality of what's going on today, not any regimes propaganda decades ago. Actually the head of the Dutch royal family was a Nazi sympathizer and after the war was the founder of the bilderberg group if you know what that is.

Nice talking to you anyway.

Just another example of how corruption has gotten completely out of control all over the world.

"In danger of being a nation run by thieves"

Oh you mean like the United States and most of the rest of the world! It's just more obvious and at a ground level in Thailand.

Has anyone here ever seen or heard of a motorbike having an accident while getting water dumped on them from a pickup? All the ones i know of were drunks on bikes running off the road at night...

A Paramedic who has worked during the festival for a few years could probably give you a hundred examples. I for one would be happy if they would just stopped throwing ICE water on me. So for the last few years I only venture out by car and drive extra slow and careful around the merry makers.

This reminds me of what I was just explaining the other day to a new comer to Phuket. Don't ever get into it with a Thai no matter how young, big or bad you are or no matter what degree black belt you have because the next day that little Thai will come back with all his buddies probably with weapons and your toast. If the cops get involved that could make it even worse. We will never know what really happened in this case but I would say the probability is high that he did something to cause one of them to lose face that night or even months before and they eventually found him alone. I'm a retired little old man now and it's even hard for me to keep my mouth shut when the Thai punks do something out on the street, best to just bite your lip and move on.

As scary as it is seeing young Thai kids flying down the road weaving between cars, at least they really know how to ride [ control the bike] but what scares me even more is all the unskilled tourists riding two abreast half drunk on holiday weaving down the road looking like their going to fall over at any moment. I keep my distance from any tourist I see on a rental bike.

<i>Such an individual is then required to pay PIT on income that is derived from employment or property situated abroad; and that is brought into Thailand during the calendar year in which the income was received.</i>

I assume, that this is a mistake. And that overseas property, as a non moveable asset, isn't included in what is taxable in Thailand? Or is this something where it is included, but then the double tax agreements with other countries effectively "contract out" of this provision?

Either way, it's interesting that most governments either try to spend less and decrease tax, or spend more and increase tax, with the occasional government trying to spend less and increase taxes. However the current Thai government, is able to spend more and decrease taxes, they really must be running the country well to do so without going even further into debt lol.

Not that I can really complain, as it'll save me money, and at the worst will bring down the value of the THB (Which will increase the spending power of money I send from abroad).

Lowering taxes on both personal and corporate stimulates and grows the economy which in the longer run increases total tax revenues.

Perhaps a combination of booze and SRI's [serotonin re-uptake inhibitors ] a drug that they give to so many US military now to combat depression. Most of the mass shootings in the USA have involved SRI's as they can make people go off the deep end, but the media doesn't want to talk about that much, only guns. But that's another subject.

Now that I see this originally appeared in the Huffington post it all makes sense. For those of you non-Americans that don't know, the Huff post is a far left liberal/socialist, politically correct, gun grabbing, anti patriot, new world order, agenda 21 publication. Any article they print will be heavy spun toward that mind set. Keep this article in mind when you read other things in the Huff post that they claim to be fact.

At least you can walk around the area unlike many parts of America's crime rated areas

Again a clueless "useful idiot" takes to bashing the US when we are discussing Thailand and Russian mafia.

Walking in American cities is much safer than in Europe if you stay out of gang controlled ghettos, where the murders are mostly black on black.

No racism intended. Just the truth. States in America who allow concealed carry have very low crime rates. Same in Switzerland where people can defend themselves.

And the Russian mafia? The reason that they can take over any area they disire is their ruthlessness. They will murder anyone without ever thinking about it.

And they don't need the permission of their "bosses" as in the Italian of Chinese mafias.

They should also tell tourists.Not to rent motorcycles,

If they have No or Little,previous riding experience in their homeland.

Actually I think Thai drivers are relatively well behaved when you factor into the equation that there is no real traffic control by police. Think about what it would be like back in your home country if the police suddenly announced that they will no longer stop anyone for DUI, speeding, running red lights,etc.! The worse drivers I have ever seen were in Italy and Miami has some real nutcases also.

Not defending this guy's behaviour; however, its very possible that he has mental health issues...

I only use Olive oil, which is also good (but vastly too expensive for a restaurant to use).

Not if you're frying with it.

When you drink soda or most candies you get a huge amount of sugar, but it is not actual sugar cane sugar, it is CORN SYRUP.

That mean GMO, and a sugar that stick to your body.

The government should also look into the palm oil everyone is using here because it is cheap (increase drastically the risk of heart disease).

There is a cocktail in Thailand for a huge health outbreak in the short future, and when I see how many Thais are really huge everywhere, I feel that Thailand will be looking like New Orleans very soon.

When you drink soda or most candies you get a huge amount of sugar, but it is not actual sugar cane sugar, it is CORN SYRUP.

That mean GMO, and a sugar that stick to your body.

The government should also look into the palm oil everyone is using here because it is cheap (increase drastically the risk of heart disease).

There is a cocktail in Thailand for a huge health outbreak in the short future, and when I see how many Thais are really huge everywhere, I feel that Thailand will be looking like New Orleans very soon.

Actually palm oil is the safest oil to cook with [ accept for coconut oil which leaves a bad taste ] because it is 50% saturated fat which is the most stable fat molecule and sustains the least amount of damage when subjected to high heat and damaged fat molecules is one of the primary causes of damaged arteries. That's why now that NYC has banned trans fats [ another human invention] for cooking in restaurants, most all of them are now using Palm Oil. Best not to eat ANY fried foods at all if you are really serious about your health.

Don't take anything the Obama regime says at face value regarding this visit. Most of my British and Euro friends here in Thailand are still buying into all his old smooth talk going back to the 08 campaign but many Americans have caught up to the reality of what he says VS what he does and know he is every bit as much of a phony liar as Bush was only he's better at it. Romney is just as bad.

I thought Thailand was anti-communist !? Zero is bad news for any to get involved with and if any of the govt in Thailand cuddles with him, beware.

Communist? What makes him a communist? His health-care plan? Apart from that he is the leader of the most capitalistic, and one of the most imperialistic (in modern times) countries in the world. Wish you were partly correct - a little more equality wouldn't hurt the US...

Maybe it's because of his comment "if you have a business, you didn't build it" remark, implying that success and all of the dividends belong to other people. Sounds like communist talk to me.

Secondly, America is not as you would say "the most capitalistic" country in the world. What you think is capitalism is in fact corporatism - where the largest corporations monopolise industries and squeeze out competitors through laws and regulations created by lobbying congress. Remember the Apple v Samsung patent case recently?

I dare say Thailand is in fact more capitalist than America, however and possibly because of this Thailand does have weaker rule of laws.

As seldom as I comment on this forum, I couldn't help myself on this topic. My first reaction is to hope like hell that obomber gets defeated in November, just to save Thailand the agony of having to host him. However, upon reading some of the postings, I realized that even Thailand is not free of socialist desires. Fortunately, I hope, most of those desires are held by non-voting expats.

I was particularly amused to read that obomber is "out there making a difference". Yes, yes he truly is. He's making a difference for the Afghanis, the Pakistanis, the Egyptians, the Libyans, the Yemenis, and the Syrians. Soon he'll be making a difference for the Iranians. And, let us not forget how he makes a difference for his fellow (?) Americans. Unemployment approaching 15% (if you read the honest numbers), inflation pushing 10% (if you read the honest numbers), at least half of all Americans receiving some form of public assistance, indefinite detention for any American that the government deems worthy of such (read that they don't like you), and murder for any Americans that obomber deems worthy (read that they really don't like you). A spate of "executive orders" designed to destroy every remaining freedom Americans have.

I had to laugh out loud hearing what a phenomenal saviour old man joe is. About the only thing he displayed is disrespect.

No, I'm not sitting in a dimly lit crummy hole, either. And, I never called him a communist. I called him a socialist. His mentors used the word communist.

Well said, nice post. But remember those things are not just about Obama, he's just the latest puppet. The agenda of the global power structure basically remains the same no matter who wins the election. I would say Romney is the lesser of evils but don't expect any basic underlying changes just because Obama loses the election. It's continuity of government and continuity of global corporate agenda and the mega rich global families that control them . Hard to go into details in a little written forum like this. Be sure to familiarize yourself in depth with something called "agenda 21" and not just the smiley-face version fed to the dumbed down general global public. Cheers.

Miami Bob is spot on! The USA has 2% of its population owning 29% of the countries wealth!!!!!!!!! This is down from 67% when the US was in her youth. Do you think the richest of the rich didn't profit handsomely by the global financial meltdown? And now is their buying sprees of land and resources in this bargain basement depression. The elite wealthy have more power and pull then you could imagine! I notice the rich Democrats are buying away too, did they have a warning to exit the the sinking market and wage on the lending madness to break us? Now with the liberal sharing of USA's funds to non citizens and other uneducated riff-raff that are spreading like cancer in America and sucking us dry, all the Middle class workers that are the core of any nation are suffering and still being manipulated by the smooth talkers in Washington.

There is a rumor that after WW2, the rich families from all the battling nations got together to form a keep rich strategy.The Mitsuis, Rockefeller s, Oppenheimer's, Rothschild, Kennedy's, the list goes on of the big money that put an idea to start electronics building in Japan, Standard Oil of New York,(SONY). Put in $ too,.

Greedy sombitches just want the most they can get at our cost!

The history of the Rothchild banking family is especially interesting going back to the mid 1700's. How they financed both sides of European wars. How they gained controlling interest over the Bank of England during the battle of waterloo. Their two failed attempts to take over the USA banking system during the 1800's and then finally succeeding in 1910 as the London faction of the Rothchilds were the driving force behind the founding of the [private] US Federal reserve bank. The Rothchilds provided funding for John D. Rockefeller [ standard oil], the Vanderbuilts [railroads] and several other robber baron industrialists of the era who also attended that meeting in 1910 on Jekal island, Georgia to create the FED. I have personally toured the mansion where they had that infamous meeting. When Woodrow Wilson was elected president in 1912 [ in the back pocket of the wealthy FED founders ] he immediately signed the " Federal reserve act of 1913" and also created the "Internal revenue service" [iRS] to collect income taxes part of which is used to pay interest to the FED banksters who "loan" money to the US treasury. No room here to go into detail about that scam. Also, when JP Morgan died they read his will and found that 85% of what everyone thought he owned was actually owned by the Rothchilds. He was their front man in the USA. The main Rothchild bank is the "World bank of settlements" in Zurich, Switzerland. I've heard it referred to as the "central bank of central banks". I'm not trying to insinuate that the Rothchilds or any other wealthy families "rule the world" but if you study history you know that they can have extreme influence over western governments and the underlying current of the global economy, especially when they agree on a long term agenda.

Correction: it's called the "Bank for International Settlements" and it's based in Basel, not Zurich as I said above.

Once again, the keyboard warriors here on TV don't disappoint..... While you're sitting in your dimly lit crummy hole you call

an apartment calling him a communist and such, he's out there making a difference. It's easy to criticize isn't it.

Step away from the computer, put the beer down and go for a walk....

P.S. it's President Obama you ^&^*$**^((!

Well i am not American i do agree with you, he is not a communist by a long shot

Do you know who Andrew Breitbard was? He was an activist who suddenly died of a heart attack literally the night before his widely announced release of video footage of Obama hanging out with the "weatherman" when he was in collage which he said would "destroy Obama". The weather man were the radical faction of "students for a democratic society" popular in the late 60's- 70's. They were clearly guided by communist ideology and were involved with terrorist bombings of US government targets. Could be a coincidence Breitbart had a "heart attack" that night. He was 45. Obama is not what he appears to be on the surface folks. The rabbit hole goes very deep.