Ulic

This guy will not last long in jail. I imagine the prison justice will be swift and final.

Well was it a Police Station or an abandoned building? Headline could have read PDRC take over Rubber Planters

protest Headquarters. etc... etc...

"despite a lower number of foreign travellers entering the country, Thais still travel in the country."

This brings money into the country? Hotel reservations are down from the normal 100% in high season to 60%? Don't they realize that many foreign tourists arrive by land? 10% drop in air travel but 60% drop in hotel bookings?

I would go with the hotel booking numbers. Air travel numbers can be anything from a one night business trip to a visa run. That's a far cry from a "quality tourist."

Oh, and the headline blames it on protests. I can see where that hurts, but how about the dozens of countries who warn about rip offs and personal danger?

Funny,I have the exact opposite view on the accuracy of the numbers of tourists. Tracking numbers from 8 airports in the country of

passenger and tourists entering the country and using the airports is relatively simple. Tracking occupancy rates of thousands of hotels

who don't like to report there numbers so they can minimize there tax burden is much more difficult. If you are doing a survey, if you

call hotels in a demonstration area they will be greatly affected by the protests, further away from protests much less. Occupancy rates

can be down in places like Phuket over the years ( which many are complaining about) not because of the political unrest but the

huge number of rooms being added to the availability.(Tourists numbers up, occupancy rates down) Also I have a differing view on

visa runs. I think 80-90 % of tourists entering the country by land are visa runners. I know of no tourists who enter the country by land

from Europe, Russia, China, Australia, North America, South America, although I am sure it happens on a very very limited business.

I don't care…I am only asking why they care so much. Sure, I'm happy here but next time I'll just use a short time hotel…its not worth the aggravation to try and save 350 baht.

Your life is far more interesting than theirs. Some people have golf, satellite TV, scuba diving, play pool, visit

a few Go Go/beer bars, a little afternoon delight, to entertain themselves. Others have gossip. That is my take.

(One more thing to occupy yourself, writing on TV.)

Sounds like he got a 71/2 year sentence on the first case and because he plead guilty he got 1/2 off and

served 3 years 8 months. A not totally a nothing sentence. I have read the Thai jails are so rough that

the sentence ages you double the time. Now that Chinese girl (about 21) who was kidnapped (held all day)

and sexually assaulted by a taxi driver in Phuket just a short time ago. He barely got a slap on the wrist.

I think a 500 baht fine and a short taxi licence suspension.

Usually it's the mailman getting lazy. When the have had enough the just start dumping stuff and taking the afternoon off.

As I understand it her? Thai Id will say Mister but there are now about 5-6 options on how people like to refer

to themselves. I just read an article on this and while quite interesting it was also confusing. Long gone is the

Mr, Mrs, Mizz. I can't remember them all but there are a lot. I personally like "your Lordship" adds bit of

something to an otherwise simple, plain guy.

Sounds like Suthep has his judicial ducks all lined up.

Sounds like Chitpas needs a proper lesson on democracy.

I have to say it sounds kind of like a stock annalist. A strong buy means buy, a hold means sell and a sell means, dump that shit now.

In this case Thongthong saying the military supporting the election and Suthep saying the military took no side and are neutral after

he has always implied the military supports him. I have to go with Thongthong's interpretation of the outcome.

As I understand it there is house riptide during the monsoon season. This should be marked and an extra

guard tower positioned there. This is were most of the people drown from what I have been told.

Australians and people who live on a swim-able coastline know how to handle rip tides. Most others

do not. Also many people overestimate there swimming ability. Especially those who have done the majority

of there swimming in a pool.

Glad they are shooting for zero, just wonder how many outages they have now that the loss

is 4 billion a year?

One really good smack on the head with a stick if they are overly aggressive usually does the trick.

Nothing mean, just establishing dominance in the pack.

Anyone think alcohol was involved.

Of course they did. Steering Thailand away from democracy to a Fascist state is a laugher of an idea.

Get rid of the corruption in both parties, for that matter in all of Thailand's politics. It will take decades

as corruption is found in all governments around the world. On a scale of 1-10 Thailand is a 9 (just an opinion)

Work to get it to a 1-2. Of course you could institutionalize corruption like the USA and bring in the

special interest lobby groups but at least it would be an improvement.

The guy probably was speeding, probably had a few beverages, but may not have been driving like

an idiot. We don't know. He may have been cut of by another bike or car. He may have swerved

to avoid a pedestrian who was not paying attention while crossing the street. What I do know

is he paid the ultimate price for his youthful exuberance while on holiday. A little compassion

is more appropriate than many of the comments here. He had a mother and he will be missed

by some. RIP

This case has been going on for some time. Should have stayed in RSA if he did did not

want to be extradited. Now he will get his many days in court.

If the thieves had not been caught and the money found I would have thought this story

highly implausible. But as the crooks have been caught with the cash I am left shaking

my head at some peoples naiveté.

Splashing your picture in the news and on line is one way of minimizing the reports to police. Look at all the

poor Indian, tourists who fall for the ladyboy massage drug spiked drink back at your hotel and robbed stories.

Most people would decline to make a report knowing how it is handled. Very embarrassing back home.

I had a friend who had his scooter stolen, went to the police to report it. They tried to get him not

to report the theft. Told him nothing would happen and it would not be recovered. He had them make the report

anyway. No insurance claim just wanted it done on the off chance it was recovered.

The fewer crimes reported the lower the crime rate.

Suthep needs the military to intervene so when there is international blow back he will say it had nothing to

do with him but he will now take the control as there is a political vacuum and only he can provide the

piece and stability.

Unfortunately prosecuting them to the fullest extent of the law may be a 1,500 baht fine and a

stern warning not to do it again.

Easy to say when you have the juice to avoid your own guilty verdict.

The Mouth from the South continues to issue demands. It will be interesting to see if he has the juice to

back up his demands. One other thing not sure why he limited his prediction that the next protest rally may reach

10 million. It may reach 40-50 million. He shouldn't be so limiting.

A lot of contra indicating information. The tourism ministry and the airport authority reports arrivals down only

slightly or a slight increase but lower than the forecast numbers. Far from the hotel association estimated

numbers of being down hundreds of thousands of tourists. As for anecdotal stories from Phuket of occupancy

rates dropping over the years, that has to be balanced against the thousands of rooms that have been built

over this period and added to the rental pool. Of course certain hotels in the areas of protests will have been greatly

affected. Other hotels will benefit from this. People who have booked and planned the vacation a long time ago are

unlikely to change there plans. Maybe Chinese, Malaysian, Korean, tourists are more protest averse. Also local

tourists who do not book long in advance, and can more easily delay travel. Always a big political spin as well, with

one side blaming the other but still wanting to look good. All I know is the night market were I most often go for meals

is twice as busy as 2 months ago and it is harder to find parking for my scooter when I head into Pattaya from

Jomtien. Again just anecdotal evidence. The most reliable/accurate numbers should come from the Airport and

Tourist Authority, but can they be believed? Who knows?

There has to be a better way to deal with the drug problem world wide. I feel sorry for them all. Drug addicts,

drug sellers, the population that have to pay for all the drug enforcement. The corruption that is associated

with the drug industry.The lives of the families. This volunteer wanna be tourist cop is hardly a big fish. Can't

imagine he made more than enough to pay for his own probable habit and a little extra fun money per month.

Now he is going to spend quite some time in the monkey house. I feel sorry for his family. Tough on them

knowing they have a family member in the Bangkok Hilton. "Just say no" is the easy answer. I don't take

illegal drugs, but I don't judge others that do either. No winners here except for the "Mister Bigs"