seminomadic

The whole system makes it extremely challenging for an individual or the society to stay competitive.

Yes, the preposterous number of hours they spend studying in school & with tutors does next to nothing to develop their genuine abilities and thus their confidence. Their habits as students are not good. It's sad that I have to tell 20-year-old students to take their notebooks out and write down what I've already written on the board (in Thai, no less). Most of them are zombie-students, come to think of it, stultified into a stupor by an extremely poor education system.

Their teachers may have even less confidence in what they're doing, and this get subliminally transferred to the students... and so it's cheat, cheat, cheat, get the right answer, who has the answers, i didn't do the HW who has the answers, someone said they could hack Ajarn Terdsak's email so we can get the answers, did he 'succeed'?.... we have SIX other classes we're taking this semester, we need every shortcut we can get. Rap nong, we have to coddle the incoming freshmen because they need help adjusting to university life even tho they still live at home... they're 17 going on 11. But this is how we socially adjust! and we must do this even though our studies could use some actual attention (oh but that's right Pii Kamlaa gave me the answers to the whole book so mai pen rai I can do it)

Who has time for emotional assessment of one's self, for reflection?

Some kids are brilliant and disciplined and grow like flowers in all this sh!t. I implore them to further their education in the West. Like it or not, it's a ticket to a higher EQ/more fulfilling life

The Chinese Overlords will put the kaibosh on it.

Survey's surely not taking into account the extremely poor infrastructure (crowded, unmaintained sidewalks or lack thereof, bizarro-world traffic to start with) surrounding said hotels in both BKK and Hanoi

.

God save the queen

The fascist regime

They made you a moron

Potential H-bomb

God save the queen

She ain't no human being

There is no future

In England's dreaming

Don't be told what you want

Don't be told what you need

There's no future, no future,

No future for you

God save the queen

We mean it man

We love our queen

God saves

God save the queen

'Cause tourists are money

And our figurehead

Is not what she seems

Oh God save history

God save your mad parade

Oh Lord God have mercy

All crimes are paid

When there's no future

How can there be sin

We're the flowers in the dustbin

We're the poison in your human machine

We're the future, your future

God save the queen

We mean it man

We love our queen

God saves

God save the queen

We mean it man

And there is no future

In England's dreaming

No future, no future,

No future for you

No future, no future,

No future for me

Good lyrics, like poetry, stand the test of time, y'know?

An extension of my thinking from my previous post's line of thought, I'm compelled to quote a contemporary English artist vis-a-vis this matter:

"NOOOOOOOO FYOOOO-CHAH

NOOOOOOOO FYOOOO-CHAH

NOOOOOOOO FYOOOO-CHAH FOR YOUUUUUUUUU....."

It's funny. I was watching a program last night on the D-Day landings with a load of old timers talking about the horrific stuff they went through. Then another one on Prince Philip where someone said "if you want to understand a man, think about what was happening in his world in his early 20's".

Aside from my usual comment about lack of positive male role models for Thai males (what have they got, korean wannabee boy bands, and corrupt officials with the morals of a pitt bull terrier in a bad mood) they also lack a history where the country has endured horrific events (self caused or not) and come through the other side through strength of Character. The whole country is like a teenage girl stamping her feet screaming to her daddy that she wants things her way or not at all. Immature, myopic, and believe that just because thescum of the world come here to shag their hookers that they are the premier country in Asia.

People on here keep posting that pic from Singapore with the pool on top of the sands building and asking where in Bangkok it is. Answer? something like that will never be in Bangkok because the extortion money would preclude it in planning, the builders and architects would never be paid; the contracts would be given to local mates then who would make a mess of it so even if it did get erected it would fall apart in a minute whilst all along the line all the HiSo fools make bundles of money.

Dreamers; the lot of them. Living in their shacks with their extended families not realising that the access to corrupt money they so dearly aspire to is the very reason their life for ever and generations after them will be in that same shack earning bread line money.

Quoted because it was so off-the-chain-awesome it bears repeating.

When a relatively large percentage of your GDP comes from tourism and your people rely on cheating foreigners to the extent they do, the young female metaphor couldn't be more appropriate.... a dumb dizzy broad who just smiles real nice but does basic arithmetic with her fingers and toes. Thailand's already lost. I'm here for travel and fun and don't kid myself that this is a country with a bright future.

Ok so you've made it clear you can't refute what Evil Dr said, that your agenda on here is being anti-American, and when confronted in a discussion on something you can't intelligently respond to, you then argue semantics to try to save face.

I am not Anti-American at all....some of my best friends are from the US and are good people...

I just call BS when I read BS thats all, the American friends I have are not narrow minded simplist folk who are of the belief all things American = Good and righteous and everyone/everywhere else = bad.

Its very intesting to note that some of our colonial cousins have no problems making comments about the British Empire raping and pillaging, but if simliar type comments are made about the Land "O" Free, persons making these comments are branded Anti-American and their immediate "execution" is called for...

This is very stange to me, as I was always under the impression the one of the founding "princples" of the US is freedom of speech, This appears to be the case as long as someone else or another country is being criticised, but if "Freedom of speech" is used against the US then all of sudden certain people dont like Freedom of speech anymore and want the comments suppressed...where I come from this is know as hypocrisy

I have absolutely not problem people slagging off the British Empire, British people etc, but if you want to hand it out..you better be prepared to take some back and dont start hiding behind calling people Anti-American, just because you cant debate factual points with any degree of intelligence

As regards any agenda...I have no agenda at all, someone comments, I respond to said comment...I am sorry I cant fuel you paranoid delusions, that someone who disagree's with your perfect vision of the US has to be Anti-American.

I'd like to know which post shows that I cop to a perfect vision of the US, anything remotely resembling paranoid delusions, or call for your execution.

Good of you to confirm via this quite frankly insane post that you're not here for actual debate, but for ranting melodramatically on points not related to what you've been called on (that US and Vietnamese relations are or are not tightening) twice already.

Is there such a thing as (relatively) 'easy time' here in Thailand for white collar crimes?

After she took a photo of the taxi numer plate (the one on the inside of the door) the taxi driver jumped out of the car and chased her up the road shouting and waving his fist at her.

Isn't there any central body supervising/controlling taxis and taxi drivers?

I've been very fortunate until now and haven't had any problems with any of them, but assaulting someone for taking a photo is taking it a bit too far.

From the Thai POV, responsibility for your actions is anathema here. I'm not defending him, I'm just explaining his thinking (if I may use the word so liberally). Integrity is a foreign concept for most. If it's not a reputable hospital, multinational franchise or corporation you're dealing with, good luck getting an employee's name who's not done their job. Even if you do, the outcome is going to be their boss favoring not rocking the boat with staff above anything some baksida has to say.

Always vote with your feet in SE Asia. It's the best way, and if a taxi driver pulls some stunt like this, whatever you do, don't give them anything.

The PRC is bullying everyone in the region. The Vietnamese have a much longer history with the Chinese than with the Americans.

From what I have read, the Vietnamese HATE the Chinese.

.....yes and the Vietnamese are partial to the US as I understand it ?....lets not talk about bully boy tactics shall we....what was the quote "your either with us or against us".....in reference to one the US's oldest allies....the French...

the Vietnamese are not currently partnering with the US?

Which US business school did you go to ?....."partnering"... .....the US has never "partnered" with anyone.....while they are winning something..its the US this, the US that...minute they start loosing its "coalition forces" and our allies...

Ok so you've made it clear you can't refute what Evil Dr said, that your agenda on here is being anti-American, and when confronted in a discussion on something you can't intelligently respond to, you then argue semantics to try to save face.

Ostracise these people, if they walk into your bar then walk out, they spend their days picking the pockets of pensioners and others.

Right! Get those foreign interlopers out! the ladies in the bar should have first dibs.

(rimshot, crash)

The PRC is bullying everyone in the region. The Vietnamese have a much longer history with the Chinese than with the Americans.

From what I have read, the Vietnamese HATE the Chinese.

.....yes and the Vietnamese are partial to the US as I understand it ?....lets not talk about bully boy tactics shall we....what was the quote "your either with us or against us".....in reference to one the US's oldest allies....the French...

How is this a rebuttal in any way to Evil Dr's post? Are you saying the Vietnamese are not currently partnering with the US?

Doing the Mekong fires the imagination a little more than Tha Ton - BKK.

Start at Chiang Khong and wind on down to the delta in Vietnam.

The Kingdom is on auto-pilot. Corruption, protectionism, and nationalism have completely obscured the public's realization of the fact (presented today on the BBC, in the context of discussion of the WEF) that Thailand is fundamentally noncompetitive. Twenty-five years ago, Thailand would have continued to attract the majority of investment in Southeast Asia, as it was the West's only ally against communism and it was not a despotic country. Today, there is still much about Thailand to fawn over, but that is changing very fast. Indonesia's population nearly guarantees a massive increase in the country's regional significance. The future of ASEAN will be decided by Myanmar, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Malaysia. Thailand will slowly and very gradually fall into an isolated status that guarantees future political and social strife, as Bangkok will make progress while the rest of Thailand looks more like Laos. The proposals to create high-speed rail links to Chiang Mai are fairly comical, considering that few outside Bangkok could contemplate ticket-prices for such infrastructure; they are a rough microcosm of the larger problems of general ignorance and over-extended pride in Thailand. The Yingluck administration and Thaksin's sublime arrogance guarantee further ripples in a system that has extraordinary future "challenges" (deaths) to overcome.

Quoted because it needs to be said again. Excellent post!

Nice headline. Might as well read "Thai Man Jilted by Taiwanese Broad; Gets Jail"

Because an individual made a comment that he probably felt obliged to make (as politicians and government employess in any country might do), that means the entire government and all the citizens of Thailand have "checked out of reality??"

Have you ever listened to the laughable bilge pumped out by European, American or Australian officials on a daily basis? No one takes it seriously. It's what politicians do. Listen to Cameron explain his distance from all the Murdoch-exposed corruption in his government or the British police deal with all the corruption they're charged with. No one even assumes they're saying anything remotely connected to reality.

Not a credible comparison. Your UK version of the lying official cites somebody who knows they're lying and they're doing it because they have been backed into a corner.

The Thai official(s) who piped up would have been smarter to keep their mouth(s) shut. Nobody was backing them into a corner, it was an innocuous statement made into a big deal by some dope(s) out of misguided righteous indignation when it was unnecessary to do so and accomplished the opposite - the officials making Thailand look even worse by trumpeting hypocrisy.

Note to Thai officials: In the future, ignore perceived slights and they disappear a lot more quickly.

Total headline fail.

why does Thailand have to be so hard assed about it

Laziness which comes from the aforementioned 'not getting up off their asses' to clean the stuff up because God-knows-what-percent of the population works in the black/gray market.... Overwrought indignation's always easier.

It's like a husband who's a serial cheater & everyone knows it, but he gets real pissy when his wife calls him out on his cheating.

He does it and it's public knowledge... but somehow he's above her being able to point it out to him or anyone else.

Why the immediate knee-jerk mention of Shinawatra. Bkk and CM are Thailand's two biggest cities...perfectly logical to connect those two cities, like NY to Boston, or London to Brum or Paris to Lyon etc

RIGHT. Because, as with NY/BOS or LON/PAR, there is parity in terms of manifold industries being shared between those cities, since Chiang Mai offers the world tourism, of course, and..... and they've got....

wait a sec, I'll think of it. What else is it they do up there? I know there's something else they're known for besides tourism...

oh yeah... CERAMICS!!

I can hear the conversations precipitating the sales of thousands of high-speed ticket purchases now....

BANGKOKIAN WIFE: You know what? I think we need a new vase in that corner.

BANGKOKIAN HUSBAND: So I guess that means you want to go to JJ then.

BANGKOKIAN WIFE: Too hot there.

BANGKOKIAN HUSBAND: Ok...... IKEA or a mall then?

BANGKOKIAN WIFE: Nah nah nah. I'm thinking of something unique, something that doesn't say 'we bought this in Bangkok'. Something made in a place where you can't get anything like it anywhere else....where the export of their crafts to other provinces is forbidden. I'm thinking CHIANG MAI.

BANGKOKIAN HUSBAND: Wait, you want to go all the way up to Chiang Mai for some house furnishings?

BANGKOKIAN WIFE: Yep. And I want to get there <deleted> TODAY.

And as for that backpacker market, a high-speed train can't come soon enough. Overnight trains with sleeper berths are so passé.

To answer the OP's questions and not get bogged down in prognostication, I'd recommend www.kitco.com where you can buy bullion coins. The lowest denomination I see right now in gold is 1/20th an oz- the coins are currently around $106 for Canadian Gold Maple 1/20th ounce coins. Still not the most practical unless you're buying groceries in bulk but I'll attest to Kitco's professionalism in delivering its product.

Hope this helps.

and Kitco delivers the coins without any problems to Thailand? assuming that the OP lives in Thailand.

They ship internationally with a higher base shipping fee than that required in US/CAN. They use FedEx for int'l shipments. You'll want the insurance on top of that

3) So, the change will most certainly HAVE TO come from the Thai middle class. They have a choice to make. Certainly, there are not many of them, but their numbers are growing, and that could be marvelous thing for Thailand. Thus far, it seems rather apparent that the middle class (and by this I mean reasonably educated, probably at least some English speaking, more liberal and modern but perhaps not ultra wealthy Thais) lacks the courage and/or ability and/or desire to change things here -- and that is, of course, their choice if it is so.

There certainly is precedent in other parts of the world where the middle class was the engine of change, but I'll offer a prediction that it won't be the case in Thailand. The observations pointing to this are the fact that 2/3 of Thais are already in debt as noted on an article on ThaiVisa just the other day. I don't know if those 2/3 are primarily underclass or the nascent middle class, but my guess ties in the other observation that Thailand is a ferociously consumerist society. Many people point to America and it's malls for leading the global consumerist push but I've never seen people run with the ball the way the Thais do. it's called a 'developing' country yet the lust for goods and brand names is off the chain.

I believe the rampant consumerism and debt will serve as yokes that prevent the middle class from being a big factor here.

In the US, many are in debt now too, but there were a few generations, when there were a LOT fewer middle class families in such deep debt. Doesn't look like Thailand's incipient middle class is gonna get the same grace period.

Great post tho, enjoyed it.

To answer the OP's questions and not get bogged down in prognostication, I'd recommend www.kitco.com where you can buy bullion coins. The lowest denomination I see right now in gold is 1/20th an oz- the coins are currently around $106 for Canadian Gold Maple 1/20th ounce coins. Still not the most practical unless you're buying groceries in bulk but I'll attest to Kitco's professionalism in delivering its product.

Hope this helps.

They are "cracking down" again. This was news at least five years ago in this same newspaper. The newspaper is always writing about various "crackdowns" on this and that. But never following up to put pressure on the sources of the problem and doing the right thing.

That's because Thailand aims to become the region's crackdown hub.

I have seen too many guys get fleeced out of there life savings to feel sorry for these girls anymore, this one paid for it with her life.

DK

That is because as Rainmon poster said: "But what this girl was doing is common place in Thailand and they think nothing of it because Farang are stupid, same same dog..."

Yes , many farangs are just plain stupid. They think with their small head, not the big head, that should have a brain.

That's a very strong and ignorant comment, saying that many farangs are stupid.

It's not that they're stupid, it's just that so many people from Isaan have the integrity of a chimpanzee and when uninitiated foreigners in Thailand give these people the benefit of the doubt, they get taken advantage of in ways they'd never thought imaginable, because they just never thought any people anywhere in the world were capable of such constant, hurtful and selfish mendacity.

Can you say................ PEACE HUB??!!??