englishinsiam

I just read the BBC News article of the 'Thai woman' living in N. Ireland and I don't for one minute think it was written by a Thai Woman.

How many Thai women from poor bckgrounds have been to Beirut, America midwest and South Africa.

Thats a middle classed white man writing that.

The BBC is too obsessed with being PC lately with their positive discrimination rubbish.

For those of you not from UK or America - Positive discrimination is racism against the indigenous Caucasions in favour of Nationalised Blacks, Asians and immigrants.

Dual Pricing happens in Spain at Tourist parks, Zoos etc but it's only a discount of about 30% for Spanish residents. I used to get it as I had Spanish Residencia I think it's because they assume you pay tax in Spain so have earned a discount.

My wife and I went to a Park in Pattaya for her 40 Baht for me 400 Baht we turned around she was disgusted by the difference too and we didn't pay. I did tell the guys it was racist to have such a marked difference. And one of the guys agreed and apologised to which I was pretty surprised.

However once I started showing my Thai Driving licence I started getting in for Thai prices to places. Even the National Park on Koh Samet.

Regarding the original event in Pattaya how would the Thai's act if an Eastern Russian, Indian or Pakistani won the race? Afterall they are part of Asia too.

Good news Leafmold congrats.

It's a great feeling when it's passed

There it is quite a funny Video

Reminds me I need to visit Champagne again

I expect it was more the people trafficking for the sex industry they were concerned about.

At least in the Bars in Thailand the girls are free to come and go.

Those trafficked to the west have their passports taken and are imprisoned to pay back the traffickers. And are forced to sleep with 20-30 men a day.

Very different scenarios.

wowwww you really are a magician if you earn £500 a month and can go to thailand lol, no really affirmation of freedom to marry is nothing to do with what you earn or anything, it is just a paper from the embassy to say you are divorced or single thus allowing you to marry in thailand?

I agree John he must be either that or rich parents.

Proof of money is never needed to marry in Thailand, but you try keeping your Teelak happy on £500 a month and you'll be in the divorce courts before you know it.

Join the club Sid

All you can do is wear cool loose fitting clothes and drink loads of water.

Still I'd rather be sweaty than cold in England.

The Puppet master should be outed. Everyone knows Yingluck is a Patsy for Thaksin. The EC knoews it the PTP know it the Democrats know it and so do the ordinary people.

His involvement should have been investigated before the campaigning and I'm sure the World bank and interpol on that basis could have got his worldwide assets frozen as they are being used to 'buy' an election and violence.

What a great invention of his to create mayhem on the streets... The 'black shirts' during last years trouble, it will come to light how much extra money he was paying those guys to murder their own people.

It's a shame the toad doesn't do us all a favour and have a heart attack.

If PTP got in without his (thai peoples) money, and influence then fine thats a fair and honest election but to allow an instigator of terror and corruption to call the shots is not what politics in the 21st Century is all about.

Sadly if the EC come to the right decision and call a no election on that basis then he will just pay more Thais to kill other Thai's. He doesn't care about the Thai people they are his Pawns and puppets.

If he came to Thailand he'd never end up in the Bangkok Hilton he'd just be placed under house arrest otherwise again he'd pay people to kill and maim other Thai's.

He should be up for Corporate murder and Terrorism charges not just fraud.

This soap opera they call Thai politics is just his latest game to scam more money.

If they put their petty differences aside and worked together they'd all be reaping the benefits of 3G and possibly be looking to implement 4G as the rest of the world is.

what makes me laugh is when they are on helmet, line or licence duty they only adhere to the one they are given orders for.

Thai Police act like Buffallo

When going to walking st I park by the bank on second road by Muslim.

20 baht and the boys keep an eye on your bike.

The only time i was fined was before I got my Thai licence.

In fact I was pulled up at the bottom of my road reently because the BIB knew I had a Thai licence and he was struggling to explain what an American he pulled needed. And wanted to show him my licence.

I don't understand the Thais that have no licences, it's so easy to get even for us 'farang' why bother risking the fines?

And of course drive without a licence and your insurance is automatically null and void.

Most PT followers to me seem to have the same attitude of your grass roots Labour supporter in Britain.

I'll vote Labour because my dad voted Labour, nothing to do with policies.

I'm glad the democrates are respecting the vote so far. But why all the talk from Thaksin??? Isn't he on the run as a criminal? Maybe he should have further charges like vote rigging/buying added to his long list.

Once the Thai poor realise they will stay poor under Yingluck maybe just maybe the Democrats will get another go at putting right the Shinawatras robbieries.

Good luck post back here once you know

It's quite simple really, only play at places that have licences for playing tracks. As that allows all purchased music to be played at that venue

Get a work permit so you can play

Keep receipts of all music bought online and have the original CD's to hand and you'll be okay.

Most of the BIB going around are rogue they were in Hua Hin 3 years ago and were coppers but were acting out of their juristiction and orders.

They made a mistake and went to a club connected with the gov't and they got lambasted.

We all know their orders came from above anyway and they had to be seen to reprimand them.

A well fit and averagely skilled Muay Thai boxer could take a western boxer anytime. Can't speculate much regarding muay thai against BJJ, KM or Sambo, there are a lot of Xes in the equation, but in general I agree with englishinsiam's statement.

Now, to get back on topic, it all depends on that the op is expecting to get from training

The OP is joining us at Wing Tsun our Sifu teaches no messing straight to the point attacks/responses to percieved/ongoing attacks.

I have trained with many Western Boxers and many Muay Thai and in my experience Western Boxing has a closer guard and they get in lower than Muay Thai which is more of a stand tall and slug it out style.

I'm more wary of a Boxer than a Thai Boxer not to say I'd underestimate either.

I agree any type of Boxing is great exercise they are fit blokes and if you get into a slug fest with either you will inevitably lose. Best thing is not to trade punches and kicks with them by fighting smarter.

Nice one Space 1999 thats great news. The waiting times have really jumped loads in the last month.

Look like anyone wanting to apply needs to do so earlier than planned.

The me me me brigade has started already.

Thats why we will never get Democracy in Thailand.....

The main problem with Muay Thai is the open guard leading to an open defence.

It's great to keep fit and strengthen your limbs and obviously if your physically fit then you stand a better chance in defending yourself than if you are unfit. But I'd put my money on a Western boxing, BJJ, KM or WT guy over an average Muay Thai guy any day of the week.

However if you let a Muay Thai guy kick your lower legs then you will most certainly know it, they can do some very powerful low kicks.

There's no superior art just superior martial artists.

Maybe not but there are inferior Martial Arts, I've seen the rubbish some people are sprouting and the practitioners wont stand a chance in the real world.

These two questions are for the Aikido experts:

I am asking because of the many choices Aikido offers (too many, IMHO). The choices are, of course, great if you want to become an expert. But what I am talking about here is not professional competition; rather, I am talking about defeating the typical bar-stool idiot who has no martial arts training. I think Aikido is valuable because it allows you to position yourself properly and overcome an opponent (even one much larger than yourself) without "killing him." I think, from what I have seen on the internet, KM is valuable in close-up street fighting with your back against the wall ( when you have failed to position yourself properly). If I can digress, I was thinking Aikido would be something the great Mohammed Ali would be drawn to ("dance like a butterfly and sting like a bee"); KM would

This is what we try to avoid in Wing Tsun the Arsenal of 150 set movements. We only really have 4 set movements and they are based on responses to an attack.

When I was training in Karate and Tae Kwon Do we had Kata's and Forms with maybe 80-120 movements and as many differentapplications for those Katas/Forms.

When your up against it try and remember more than 10 but all the time your remembering your reaction times are increasing when you have the same responses to an attack it's easier to get them into your muscle memory. Hence Bruce Lee's famous quote 'less is more'.

I find this thread interesting, partly because I like and practice martial arts and partly because of the frequent references to street/bar fights.

I wonder how many violent confrontations the average person here has experienced in their years visiting Thailand and elsewhere.

I have had two I think, in 12 years of visiting plus a couple more before that. None of these have led to anything too serious, but I do remember in my pre-martial arts days being unsure of what to do in those situations. The only encounter after having started martial arts about 10 years ago was far easier, I remembered a basic technique, didn't panic, didn't get hurt, handled my attacker without hurting him and all ended well.

But now that I am out of the danger years (20s and 30s) I just don't seem to get into confrontational situations, that is the best form of self-defence. So when I do jujitsu/judo etc, it hasn't been with self-defence in mind for years, its just fun and good for fitness.

When I was younger I was a hothead nothing I'm proud of and I was frequently in fights, but as I've got older I'm 40 now I realised I couldn't keep going that way and I suppose you can say grew up.

The only time I have hit someone in Pattaya was a few months ago on Second Road an idiot on a Motorbike was riding the wrong way and struck my bike. Luckily I stayed on and chased him some Motorcycle Taxi guys saw it and managed to stop him.

Obviously being a 20 something indestructible Thai lad he didn't have a helmet on. I calmly got off my bike and chainpunched him to the floor maybe 8-10 to the nose in little over a second. His face was a mess but he deserved it he could have killed us both quite easily.

The MC Taxi guys just pat me on the back and told me he was a Dek Durr (Bad boy) and deserved it.

I went on my way and saw no more of him.

Other than that I am a peacemaker I have stopped a few Farang from kicking off with others. But when it's Thai on Thai I keep well away and thats the only real advice I can give on that. Thais fight to survive Brits fight to win there is a big difference.

watch the Baht slide now :-) In the short term it'll be good for people like me who get paid in £ Sterling.

100% scam one of my friends was conned like this before I knew her.

She lost over 30,000 Baht.

I did some digging and it was a NIGERIAN - So no lefties shouting racism the guy was Nigerian... Like 99% of these scammers are.

I've been pracitising Aikido since the early 90's as a transition from my ju jitsu and judo days, ive only had to use Aiki twice in real situations and i can only speak from experience but i have to say its served me very well.

of course anyone could come unstuck it all depends who gets the first one in and if its a good one .

We can all be felled by an unseen sucker punch.

I always say though make it a good un or I'm coming to get ya

Why don't you just apply for a Non Immigrant 'O' Visa ?

It can be issued by any Thai Consulate outside Thailand. You need to be out of Thailand at the time too, Maybe on a trip to Holland.

You get 12 months from date of issue to use it. Everytime you enter the Kingdom you get a 90 day stamp. Then cross any border and get another 90 day stamp. It costs just over 100 Euros it's £100 in England.

You can get upto 15 months from this Visa if you make one of your border runs just before it expires.