maidu

license or no license - probably wouldn't make any difference.

Sorry about the death, but it's a good thing no one else was seriously injured or killed.

Interesting to see Taiwan taking a strong stance in that region. It's got territorial issues with the Japanese, and it also seems to be flexing its muscles in the S.China Sea. We could take bets to see where the next war will get sparked: S.China Sea, or N.Korea, or India/Pakistan border or Israel/Iran, or.....?

Agrihan, which saw its last permanent residents leave over the last decade,....

Does that mean those islands are vacant? Can I move there? It's a US commonwealth, and I'm American.

Good luck Seth. Just hope Jay Leno doesn't interfere, as he often does. Just ask Letterman or Conan.

I imagine James Bond island was a rather nice place to visit. I've been around Krabi province, including some of its lovely islands. However, it's doubtful I'll take a boat to JB island, unless I've got a can of mace and/or a knife. As if we don't have enough things to watch out for, when visiting Thailand, now we've got to be wary of men thrusting their genitals in faces.

This is an important issue. Thai authorities are trying to un-protect river basins. What's next, allowing Bangkokians to go in to Lumpini park with hoes and wheelbarrows, to take out the grass and uproot trees? I'm thinking of contacting Avaaz about this. It's nearly on a level with Sumatra officials allowing developers to destroy the last bit of forest where wild orangutangs range.

Thailand doesn't have any orangutangs. Indeed, 99% of its wild mammals were wiped out decades ago. But the little bit of semi-wild areas in its watersheds should be sacrosant. Instead of losing protection, the government (if it had a modicum of environmental awareness) should be bolstering its protection.

In my experience (in Isaan some years back) there are roving sawyers who own rickety old chainsaws held together with duct tape and baling wire which nevertheless get the job done. All the work takes place late at night in total secrecy. The sawyer wears nothing but shorts, flipflops, and a small lamp on a strap round his head. A sophisticated crew serves as sentries stationed at all possible access routes and carry mobile phones. Certainly one of the command level police or military officers is informed and paid. In fact the sawyers basically work for those guys.

That said, we were only working the rather large stumps that had been left behind by other operations, and none were proper rosewood, though one was a related species. Some of these stumps were up to 2-3 meters high and probably 2+ meters diameter, so the tree had made the previous team some decent money. My salvage operation was so small and labour intensive, what with cleaning the base of the stump down below ground so as not to spoil the chains every three minutes. But we were able to take some prize specimens that were well worth working.

And not only that, but it was a fascinating look into the mechanics of a very dodgy business in the Emerald Triangle.

Interesting. that's the 1st I've heard of taking down stumps that were left by previous loggers. I don't have a problem with that, It's good to leave one or two suckers - for future trees - though they'll probably get taken as soon as they're as big as a fence rail - because people are so impatient and greedy for any bit of satang. Thinking: 'better to cut this little tree and sell it for 50 baht, than to let it grow, because the next guy who comes along with a chainsaw, will cut it anyway.'

If I was in a position of authority in this 3rd world country, I would put saving forests as #1 priority. It's more important than baht fluctuations, than issuing T a passport, and is certainly more important than changing the Constitution to cushion Thaksin and his fellow Red Shirt arsonists.

The pigeons were so abundant, that they would sometimes cause a large tree branches to crack and fall, just by the weight of so many birds sitting on them. Their guano would cover the ground, inches thick. One way to catch them, was to tie a string to one bird's leg, and set it someplace - its cries would attract a flock of its mates, who would come to to its aid.

Factory fishing ships, from many countries, are decimating ocean fish stocks. They commonly run 5 Km fishing nets, up to a Km deep. Often, the fishermen also destroy everything on the ocean floor, as their heavy nets are dragged. For a person who cares about sea life, a video of a net being pulled along a sea floor is akin to watching a thick oil slick hitting a pristine beach which was full of frolicking seals and seagulls, just moments before.

Are there internal border checks around Putao? There are, around Tachilek and Keng Tung in Shan State, the two towns I'm familiar with. Am pretty sure the perimeter border checks around towns are for Burmese as well as farang, and they probably exist around many towns and cities throughout Burma. Too bad. It's a measure of the continuing paranoia/police state of a country, if authorities feel compelled to put internal border crossings around towns.

"Glutamic acid and MSG are not exactly the same. Glutamic acid is the amino acid form of the compound, chemical formula C5H9NO4, which is a natural part of proteins. Glutamic acid can also be made in the human body, since it is a non-essential amino acid. MSG is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, chemical formula C5H8NNaO4. It occurs naturally, but is also manufactured and added to foods as a flavor enhancer. ......the side effects from consuming MSG are related to dosage and rapid absorption rather than to an allergy.source "

Glutamic acid (C5H9NO4) is a bit different than MSG (C5H8NNaO4) The Na in the latter equation, is the single sodium (monosodium). Sodium is half of salt, so that's what probably gives MSG its hyper salty taste, and why its so popular as a taste enhancer. It's too bad the Thai authority in the OP couldn't be precise in his assessment, or perhaps something was lost in the translation. Most of the sauces he studied are heavily loaded with MSG. Why not just go ahead and say so? Why be coy about it?

Busted for a victimless crime.

Meanwhile, Chalerm's youngest son is prancing around, while the dad is chugging whiskey on the job. ....and another Thai, who financed and incited arson and shootings, is sipping mint juleps in Dubai.

My mom once made cat food from beans, hoping to save money. She put two closed bottles of cooked beans in a pantry shelf. That night, there was a young guy staying upstairs, who had just been let out of prison. In the middle of the night, one of the bottles exploded and knocked the wooden door off its hinge. The guy upstairs thought it was a shotgun, and jumped naked out the 2nd floor window. Never saw him again.

Too bad for him he didn't get caught hoarding Thailand's most harmful drug.

If he had a bottle or two of Johnny Walker, then there would be no drug/dope charges added on.

Thailand needs its boundaries and reams of rules, ....but does it really?

Before places like this became crammed with people, there were no country boundaries. Borders are man-made.

Ok, I know, we need to be convinced that we need such restrictions, but still, it's refreshing to think outside the box (outside the boundaries) sometimes.

Who resided here before the Thais? (answer: The Malay people)

Who resided here before the Malay people: (answer: monkeys and tigers)

Perhaps we should revert to the original owners of this territory, and ask the monkeys and tigers to set the rules.

Woops, almost forgot, monkeys and tigers have been wiped out.

......She confirmed that they would never dare do that (cup his family jewels) to a Thai man.

If they did, most likely a Thai man would giggle and jump away, much like a farang would.

Perhaps the reason that katoy don't as often do that sort of thing to a Thai man, is that farang pay more, if willing to play.

Saw a BBC doco the other day that said that wild fish stocks will be depleted by 2050. That's scarey.

In some regions, fish stocks are already seriously depleted. A comparison: In north America, up to 100 years ago, there were so many carrier pigeons that they would blacken the sky for tens of minutes as they flew over. Hunters happily shot them, thinking it impossible that they'd ever be depleted. Lo and behold, within several years, they were extinct.

Same sort of thing is happening to many types of ocean fish. If you talk to fishermen or fish dealers, they'll probably just laugh (or get angry) if you mention over-fishing. Yet it's happening now, and can only get worse, unless there's a sea change of perspective on the whole issue.

What I've found is Glutamic acid is produced in the body and is naturally present in many common foods.

MSG is quite similar, but is a salt form of Glutamic acid, and is formed via a chemical process - outside a body. Glutamic acid is probably not harmful in moderate amounts for humans. In contrast, MSG can be harmful, for a segment of the human population.

The Thai who is quoted in the OP refers twice to 'glutamic acid relative to nitrogen' which I think is code for MSG. Perhaps he didn't want to mention MSG, because there's a strong lobby of people (in China and Thailand, and beyond) who are in the business of selling the stuff. I had a letter dissing MSG which was published in a major Thai newspaper, and there was an angry response from the head of one of those MSG organizations. If Thais realize the potential dangers of MSG, especially as it might affect their kids' brains/thinking abilities and behavior, then some of those people in the MSG biz will stand to make less money.

I tried contacting a law firm listed in T.Visa classifieds for C.Rai and C.Mai. their tel# was wrong and no responses from 2 other ways. Suggest a lawyer? thanks

I've heard two stories of farang who suffered from ATM rip-offs, and their farang banks reimbursed them for their losses. One was for a Scottish bank (happened in Scotland) and the bank realized their mistake a year later and refunded money PLUS 500 pounds. the other was a rip off of a farang bank's ATM which took place at an ATM in Thailand.

Could you imagine a Thai bank showing responsibility in either of those sorts of scenarios? I couldn't fathom that either. Thai banks won't even notify an account holder if something fishy is going on with an account. Thai banks are like Thai bureaucrats - they do as little as humanly possible, because all they care about is maintaining their jobs and getting security payments when they retire. They won't do anything outside the box, or anything that they don't absolutely have to do.

Do you know the way to San Jose? ......oh sorry, off-topic.

Yes you head north to MFL in the way said. After a pleasant day there you proceed to Tachalic cross the boarder and travel onwards to the Chinese Border. With your Chinese visa in hand you cross that. After a great time eating endangered species you can catch a plane to the USA where ask again if anyone can understand you how to get to San Jose.

Oye hombre, dunde esta San Jose?

I'm guessing that the baby sharks are just a side-catch.

Stopping their sale in restaurants is not going to reduce shark deaths. They will just resort to dumping them over-board.

Just sayin' like.

Sad but very true!

When surface fish were over-fished, corporate fishing boats resorted to going deeper and getting Orange Ruffie. Now they're essentially destroyed Orange Ruddie stocks, so they'll continue to overfish wherever they can. Got to amass as much money as possible for today, because who cares about next week or next month, eh?!

Sincere thanks to all you guys (and gals?) who are putting out efforts to stem this despicable harvest.

Thais care about 'face' - particularly how it affects their tourist industry, because that's their golden goose. They won't attempt to fix these sorts of problems unless there's pressure from concerned farang, because left to their own devices, they'd just keep doing it.

Keep up the pressure. Some of us in the north (where there is only fishing in ponds and rivers) are behind you 100%.

Look, I don't care what equipment the panties contain, but I just want to be left the hell alone when I am trying to get from A to B. Would any airline or the SRT sanction such nonsense?

probably yes. Reason: Thai individuals and establishments are largely cowed by ladyboys. Thais are generally meek by nature (never complain, too shy to speak a few words of English, etc), so when they see their own (ladyboys) acting brash, they either giggle or step aside. Ladyboys are essentially men, so they have testosterone and the brash responses that go with that. They're often quick to anger, stemming from being offended, whether that offense is real or imagined. that's my main complaint about lady boys; they're so thin-skinned (easily offended) and so quick at severe retribution.

What an odd name: Hkakabo Razi, or maybe it's the transliteration is odd. It's located differently on two maps. One has it east of Putao, and another has it NW. I think NW is closer to correct. I hear it was first summited by a Japanese climber on his 2nd attempt.

There's another mountain I've thought of climbing: it's in Irian Jaya, Indonesia (am too lazy to google this morning). It's supposedly the highest peak between the Himalayas and the Andes. Supposedly, a permit is needed to trek to, and climb it, though I wrote to the Indonesian embassy, asking about that, and rec'd no response. Probably just typical of SE Asian bureaucrats. Their creed: "Do as little as possible and still get wages and retirement benefits."