OneMoreFarang

I think some of those riders look cool and they seem to be in their element. And others want to play the tough guy and maybe fail. And I guess it depends a lot where those guys are. I guess members of a Pattaya Harley club (I have no idea if there is one) are probably very different to such members somewhere else.

That reminds me of this video which I saw a couple of days ago:

With no shots fired and lots of happy people.

For the record: I would never ride them in the middle of Bangkok because they are so big. This is a big disadvantage in Bangkok traffic. And about my dislike when others ride them: Obviously not all riders from one specific bike (category) are all the same. But in my personal experience if I ride with "normal" speed on a Bangkok road, which is not full of traffic, then from time to time someone passes me on the left or right if there is just enough space to get through. And most of those riders are on Forzas, X-Max or whatever those other supersize scooters are called. I don't know why it is especially that group of bikes, it just is.

Available in many colors.

Good that you "explained" that before. That is your personal opinion. Not more, not less. The last two coups wouldn't have happened if Thaksin would have worked for Thais and Thailand and not mostly for himself. But I guess for you that is ok, because the masses voted for him, and they are stupid enough to vote for him again.

I agree we shouldn't lose sleep over it. But how do you feel when you know the same trip in Bangkok would cost maybe 200B? It's like going to an ordinary coffee shop and they ask 500B for an espresso. It is and feels like a rip-off and, at least for me, that clouds the experience.

As far as I know Thai people can enter Thai politics, establish political parties, get votes, etc. But I understand it must be frustrating for honest people to do that if they know that the typical Thai voter will vote again for the same clan they always voted for. TiT

Did you read my post? Did you understand it? PT is controlled by Thaksin. Thaksin is a wanted criminal and he is not in Thailand. His involvement in Thai politics is illegal. And if he does more of the same and if his daughter becomes PM and follows the orders or her father then nobody should be surprised if history repeats itself. Thaksin could still be PM and loved by almost everybody if he wouldn't have been so greedy.

Personally I think if you notice that taxis charge 2 or 10 times as much as they do i.e. in Bangkok then you realize that is a big rip-off. I don't mind if people earn money. But overcharging way too much is just annoying. For most people that starts with the taxi from the airport.

The 2nd trip was a business trip. I made enough money with that to accept Phuket for two days.

How is someone able to recognise that a taxi driver is ‘pretending he knows’ ? My comment was about taxi driver who pretend they don't know a hotel. Because then they can suggest to you another hotel where they get commission. That happened to me a long time ago when I told the taxi to go to a hotel which I selected in a Lonely Planet book. After I settled in a few days later I looked for that hotel. It was where the travel guide described it. And about the wrong way: Yes, sometimes drivers go deliberately to the opposite direction. But I also remember when I returned from Silom to Sukhumvit and the driver took Rama 4 road - very different from my way to Silom. At the end I found out that is the usual way to go back to Sukhumvit.

Are you rich and famous? In the USA they seem to have enough of those cases, this is just one of them: Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler accused of sexual assault of a teen in the 1970s | CNN

Thanks for all your info. From the look of it my contractor installed hot rolled steel and painted it. I didn't measure it, I think it's about 2mm thick. In my case all of this won't be visible once all is installed.

I visited Phuket the first time almost 30 years ago. It was a rip-off. I was there again maybe 10 years ago, it was a bigger rip-off. And as far as I know nothing changed. This obviously only works because the authorities are part of the problem. Nobody who could solve the problems wants to solve the problems. What I think is most surprising how many people visit that island - and not just once. Are you not fed up with all the rip-offs? Do you enjoy if when you realize everybody only wants your money? And not with reasonable prices, everything is way too expensive.

There is one thing which he does since he started with politics, and probably earlier. He is lying all the time. I remember the "honest mistake", then he told people he will solve Bangkok's traffic problems withing weeks, and later he promised everybody at least 100 times that he will quit politics. All this would obviously be no problem if not so many people would still believe all his lies. It seems Thai voters want promises and more promises. Everything will be perfect, double income, and people still believe him and vote for him. Unbelievable, except TiT.

When I was young, we all wanted this one:

That reminds me of this: 20,000 RPM in a school zone and more.

Tell the driver the name of the hotel. If he doesn't know that hotel, or pretends he doesn't know it, then tell him the street and soi. Taxis were able to find hotels long time before mobile phones were invented.

If you think the 2nd Thermae was or is too dark and too crowded, then forget about the original. It was often so crowded that you needed two hands to paddle through the crowd. I think I remember it was also pretty dark, and that was probably good like that.

Let's assume that you are a good guy, and you want to avoid that you have to go to war. From long time living in Thailand I think it is unlikely that anything will happen suddenly. And often it takes years before anything happens at all, and maybe it is postponed for a year or two or longer. And even it if becomes law does not mean that everybody will enforce that law right away. I think in your case you should think about other possible options what you can do. To which countries could you go? Which visa, if any, could you get, etc. Think about that before you have to suddenly make a decision. And read the news every day to stay up to date. Good luck!

And maybe there are days or years between step 3 and 4. Let's not forget that there are many laws and rules in Thailand which are most of the time ignored. And then, maybe suddenly, they are enforced for a few individuals or lots of people, and then, mostly, everything returns back to "normal".

You could read the news. I won't write them again for you.

I guess best is you ask Bob. ????

That's not the only choice. People have the choice to vote for other politicians and parties. Honest and competent people could enter the race and get votes.