Ulic

The Baan San in Patong. All the carts there every night. Don't be late many of the carts have sold

all there product by 8pm and are closing up and leaving.

I have used MSE and Spybot the last 3 years and have had no problems that I am aware off.

But as they say I don't know what I don't know.

Whoever is driving the car has to pay, does not matter who is at fault. If no cars are involved

whoever has the money has to pay. That is what I have been told by Thais. Sounds almost reasonable.

As far as driving skills are concerned youth have the mindset of invincibility and they either learn

from there mistakes/accidents or Darwin moves in to play and the stupid/crazy drivers get culled from the herd.

The only problem is many poor van/truck drivers are somewhat protected in the cab and take out a lot

of scooter riders with no repercussions. On the whole I think there is to much emphasis on fate here so they

can pass around corners and over hills, also no need to slow down with poor road conditions, like torrential

rain and sharp corners and steep hills. What will be will be.

As far as I am concerned the red flags are a warning and an indicator that the conditions are inappropriate for people who cannot swim.

I have spent six months in the off season April through October the past three years.At my favourite beach Kata Noi the red flags were up 100% of the

time. I probably went to the beach 100 times each year and not once were they not being used. Now that is not to say that I went swimming

every time. There were 5-6 times each year that I thought it was too rough for me but the rest of the time I was in the water 3-4 times a

day with absolutely no issues. I spent many summers on the beaches of the Outer Banks in North Carolina and know my limits.

As youngsters we use to look for and jump into the rips to take us out to the sand bars we wanted to body surf on. This was much easier

than fighting our way through the break. The problem here is people don't swim well or at all and have no experience in the ocean.(Or they are drunk)

I do think marking the rips is a great idea. They are incredibly dangerous if an inexperienced swimmer panics and fights against them.

Instructions on what to do if you are caught in a rip current should be posted at the entrance to all beaches in multiple languages.

A flier in multiple languages should be given to all guests as they check into there hotels or possibly at airport immigration.

Part of that pamphlet should include the tourist giving him/her self an honest self assessment of there swimming abilities. Also each beach

should have a clearly marked out area indicating it is under lifeguard over site. Weaker swimmers should be encouraged to check in with

the life guard and ask them to keep an extra eye on them. Also more life guards should me hired on a multi year contract so there is not the

year after year lack of coverage as contracts end and the new one has not been awarded yet so there is no money to pay the staff.

Phuket is a seaside/beach destination and fining/arresting vacationers for going into the water because someone has arbitrarily decided

to put up a red flag as it is unsafe is wrong in my opinion. The swimmer has to make the call and bear the ultimate responsibility.

I just got one four days ago at Soi 5 immigration so I could buy a scooter. I am here on a triple entry tourist visa.

I brought my condo lease (one year) with the appropriate head shot photos and photo copies of my passport first

page and visa page and condo lease. The process took 90 min.and I was charged 300 baht. Not sure if a one month

condo lease will suffice (I think it will). They did not look closely they just wanted something with an address.

Photo copy and photo service is available next door at an inflated price. They will ask what it is for, bike purchase,

bank account, drivers licence. I should have got several at the same time. Best of luck

Just remember 10 year old children lie a lot. They bully other kids, they can tell parents what they want to hear.

It is never the child's fault in the eyes of the parents. Talking with both sides to get to the bottom of the story

seems reasonable. Not listening to one side and flying of the handle. Maybe the child and the teachers should

both be suspended and the child taken from the parents and sent to foster care for bad parenting. Who knows.

Lets not jump to conclusions based on what a 10 year old has told his father.

So if I am a tourist I cant bring a beach chair food or drink to the beach because the sand belongs to a vendor

and he wants his cut. As for the red flags, they are put up in April and taken down in December. That way

it is easy to blame someone else. Don't get me wrong sometimes the flags should be up often not. The real

problem is these people often can't swim. There are far to few life guards. As is is a beach and water

destination I would recommend marking a smaller area with flags that would be closely monitored and for everyone

swimming outside this area that are week swimmers it is Darwinism at work.

Just remember 10 year old children lie a lot. They bully other kids, they can tell parents what they want to hear.

It is never the child's fault in the eyes of the parents. Talking with both sides to get to the bottom of the story

seems reasonable. Not listening to one side and flying of the handle. Maybe the child and the teachers should

both be suspended and the child taken from the parents and sent to foster care for bad parenting. Who knows.

Lets not jump to conclusions based on what a 10 year old has told his father.

Over-served or overloaded. Two big problems on the roads of Thailand

Women's secret weapon, tears.

Seems to me the 260 B Baht is the loss figure that makes the most sense. That is the loss so far.

How much bigger it gets and how it will be spun is the real mystery.

I will give you an answer in May........May when?.......... May the day never come.

From the first time I read about an F1 race in Thailand I was doubtfully.

Seems like a scheme to skim money from the government trough. The only

shred of credibility is because of Red Bulls involvement. No chance in Phuket.

I have not set up voice mail or checked it in years. I guess I am a little anti social. I only like<br />to talk on the phone with family and a few close friends. In general I prefer e-mail and text.<br />So I do like the keyboard on my Blackberry. The norm now seams to be that if people can't get a<br />hold of you almost instantly they get upset. I explain that my cell phone is for my conveniencence not theirs.<br />As my parents are getting older I do have to be contactable around the world but you are giving up<br />a great deal of privacy in the modern world.

The obvious thing to do is lower the import tax rate for luxury cars to 50-60 % so it is not

worth cheating. Still lots of money for the government and put your police resources to

better use.

As they were drunk, vacationing in Thailand, and spoke English it is highly unlikely they were

extreme fundamentalists. So while I think you were safe, you also took the wisest course of action.

Tragedy but not a surprise. Everyone posting knows the drivers hear cut corners all the time

and never drive according to conditions. It is always sunny and dry in there world so

pedal to the metal all the time.

RIP

Not there fault,..... they were over-served.

I have never had a problem with Thai postal service. Send it registered, no problem.

Don't see what the problem is. Adopt the same standards as Europe and slap a 200% duty to make up for

US agricultural subsidies. No problem

Amazing Thailand. I would ask who they knew and how much did they pay but they took the jail time at 200 baht a day

rather than pay a 7,500 baht fine so it seems they did not.

Just because the guy is a crook does not make him wrong. Japan is effectively bankrupt but the yen was strengthening before the most

recent dip. The yen flows to the baht to take advantage of the interest rate difference thus strengthening the baht. Crazy rice

subsidy scheme that is not on the books as a loss until the rice is sold so no losses yet. The banks have old apartment buildings

that have to be torn down from the 97 crisis. They to have not been written down/off on the banks books. Reminds me of World Com

before there bankruptcy. They kept 15 year old vehicles on the books as assets valued at there purchase price. I don't know when the

shit is going to his the fan but it is. Buy lowering the interest rate Thailand would save money on interest payments, reduce the value

of the baht to help the export business. Thailand does not have an unemployment problem. I am no economist but I see any unemployment

figure expressed as a number not a percent because it is so low. Not sure what is going to happen but it will be interesting.

Winners and losers. Those with the big bucks will make off like bandits and everyone else will struggle. Many on this board have forgotten

more than I will ever know about history/economics/business in Thailand. I will follow what happens over the next six months to six years with interest.

Must be Chinese New Year gifts. Not a problem . LOL

The only problem is the red flags go up April 15 th and come down December 15 th.

I have come to the conclusion that it is so when someone drowns they can say it was

red flagged and the tourist were not supposed to be swimming. Not our fault.

I will be saving money my next visit to LOS. I have been paying 100 baht a person in Phuket for years.