Ulic

The pendulum swings back and forth. While the new broom Suthep sweeps clean at first as everyone can see the failures

of the rice pledging scheme and the self serving reconciliation legislation that will end over 25,000 corruption cases and pave

the way for Thaksin to return Suthep's personality and agenda comes out with each of his speeches and demands.

He is a fascist who wants to put an end to democracy in Thailand and put himself in charge. End of story.

What protests? I live in Bangkok and you wouldnt even know there was any trouble. You only notice it if you live in the government district around the palace and monument intersection.

Who are they going to replace Yingluck with ? A decent moral PM for once. No chance in the world. The next gov will be just as bad as the former.

Nothing changes in Thailand.

Of course you are correct. You have a fascist with a party name that includes democratic in its name who is equally as corrupt as Thaksin

but just not as successful at raiding the public purse (YET). His proposal is to do away with democracy and put him in charge. If not the head

of a new council the puppet master. (ie. Thaksin ). The people deserve better, but as log as 70% of Thais believe that corruption is OK as long

as it benefits them, things will never change.

Please excuse my ignorance but are these tortoises sold as pets or some delicacy, or ancient Chinese cure

for something.

Great info from everyone- Thanks

As things improve in the US and the FED tapers the USD will strengthen compared to all currencies except the Yen. USD goes to 34 baht.

The unsettled Thai government and the rice pledging scheme will do nothing to improve the Thai baht.

As things continue to improve in Europe the Euro and Pound will strengthen another 5%.

Australian and Canadian dollar will tread water in relation to the baht maybe improve by a baht

Just the musings of a deluded TV reader.

Personally I see both sides being equally corrupt. The biggest difference being the Thaksin group do a better job of

paying off the farmers to put/keep them in power. I don't think anything will change quickly while 70% of Thais believe

corruption is OK as long as it benefits them. In the mean time ex-pats can enjoy the benefits an unsettled government

has on the baht exchange rate.

Put it on your calendar, no liquor sales or drinking in bars February 2nd.

My guess is an extra big skim, when you have a handy excuse, you use it or loose it. When things settle down

and numbers rebound you will loose the opportunity.

Lots of demands going around, Y.S. you resign so we can set up a peoples council, police you arrest S.T. and throw him in jail.

Farmers demand to be paid for there rice, Yellow shirts demand the rice pledging scam be ended. On and on, like children

in the schoolyard. Tourists will soon grow tired of the unrest. Those who have already booked will come but those who have yet

to book may choose another destination.

Peoples Democratic Reform Committee want to reform democracy into a non democracy ie Fascist State.

I have long ago come to understand that third world countries that put democratic in there names

are not democratic. ie. Democratic Republic of North Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo.

But he sure is looking smug in that photo.

As long as it IS OPTIONAL, I don't care what they do. If they try and force us to pay some bs fee then there will be trouble....

Is that trouble with a capital T...... What are you going to do leave, go somewhere else. Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, up to you.

Not sure who removed the hard drives and other equipment but all the staff will have their hand up

for a new computer.

Po Po decides which laws get enforced or not, and against which individuals. Nothing new here. .........move along, no new story.

Very decent of the captain and boat owner. Hopefully she will be identified, and family contacted.

If he did not know what he hit, his eyes were wide shut. So I would guess that while it is company policy to get

enough sleep he probably did not. One thing more anyone who has driven vans long distance knows nothing makes

a driver more sleepy than everyone else in the van is sleeping. It really is contagious.

Seems like double the people at the Jomtien night market from the numbers 2 months ago.

Far far more words in the English language but Thai is tonal with many words sounding the same. The same is true of Vietnamese,

Indonesian, among others. But relatively few words. So if you are a musician type with a good ear Thai is relatively easy.

If not it is difficult, if you are tone deaf, impossible to learn. That is my take anyway.

My guess is the 40k has been squeezed out of the suspects by Po Po. Now the money is gone the pair could

be arrested. LOL

While I am sure the article is correct, with unemployment below 1% and millions of Cambodians, Burmese, Laotians

working in the country, I am sure any Thai who wants a job can find one.

Over-served, making the mistake of thinking the bus driver saw him and would stop/slow down.

You have to make eye contact with the driver to make sure you are seen. Better to cross in front

of cars, or baht busses. Drivers are crap, pedestrians are stupid.

I wish the guy a speedy and full recovery.

Both sides are equally corrupt, but the Thaksin regime cuts the farmers in for a slice so to ensure there election.

He is the right guy for the job if you want to show both sides are led by crooks who are morally and ethically bankrupt like the country will be in 15-20 years unless the country gets some new leadership.

You guys make me laugh. Just finished a skype call to a buddy who is filming a ski cross event in Nakiska Alberta, Canada.

Told me it was -35. At between -35 and -40 when you take a cup of water and throw it into the air it freezes instantly

into a cloud of ice crystals.Looks like a puff of smoke. I am sure you can find a demonstration on youtube.

I don't believe this story for a second. A 13 year old, olive oil, at least it should be palm oil. Seven years ago,

no treatment. I just don't believe that part of the story. The young man is dead, that is tragic. I just don't believe

the reason or time frame.

Donuang is only one of the possible arrival points. Start adding in other airpots and border crossings and you could find the numbers far greater.

Once again you're seeing politicians manipulate the poorer masses as a means of hobbling the middle classes and small business, which will only make things worse for the poor, while allowing the rich to seize more assets.

Welcome to Amusing Thailand

Take away the number who are arriving from domestic points on their way to domestic points and the number of visa seeking renewing crossings and your figures would go way down.

Probably not true. The numbers quoted last year compared to this year, takes into account both domestic and foreign tourists.

So the numbers being being down 3.4 % is accurate if you believe the TAT. People have to understand there are both domestic

and foreign tourists. For example the #1 tourist destination country is France with 83 million arrivals staying at least one day.

Many more people are in transit to Spain, Italy, Germany, etc. However only 30% of Frances tourist revenue come from the

83 million foreign tourists, 70 % comes from domestic tourists. As for Thailand with a 3.4 % decline in numbers is that because

of the effort to restrict zero baht tourists from China? Who is more likely to cancel/postpone a trip a foreign long distance traveller

who planned and booked his vacation months before the unrest or domestic tourist who have not yet booked and can more easily

push dates back to a more settled time. Anecdotal evidence from a couple of bars were it is empty one minute and packed 20 minutes

later as patrons mill about checking out what is on offer from bar to bar is not a credible source of information to prove or disprove

the numbers. That is my opinion anyway.