virtualtraveller

Poor old Thailand, it seems to suffer a schizophrenia that swings between appeasing those who lend it support and those who have money. In other words; doing the right thing or doing the wrong thing.

In the Bout arrest, Thailand would have given the US considerable co-operation and themselves have been involved in planning an elaborate sting. Why then are they now going to let him go? The CIA would have made dam_n sure the Thai courts would nail Bout, beforehand.The CIA SE Asia division maintain a large presence in Thailand (along with the DEA) and the US govt no doubt pay the Thai govt and military a large amount (in cash, equipment or favours), and Thailand enjoys its benefits being the favoured US partner in the region. Can you imagine the fallout if Bout walks free after all this. Aside from this week's letter from Congress, I'm sure quite but firm overtures have been made directly to the prime minister.

So, why is Thailand doing this? It's not difficult for the courts to rule that FARC is indeed a terrorist organisation and to extradite Bout. Surely Russia's influence isn't that strong on Thailand. Personally, I think it's because money talks and bullshit walks. As is common, they've created a lucrative position, Bout has lots of money to spend, I'm sure it's all been taken care of. Certain people are probably a lot richer and THai-US relations will be somewhat poorer.

What's more, Thailand, once again sends out a strong signal to the world that this is an ideal place to hang out if you're an international arms dealer making deals, a pedophile, drug runner, money launderer, fugitive, mafia type...

Mai pen rai, it can all be fixed by running another expensive ad on CNN.

Jim Shortz pretty much sums it all up, I live not far from Grace school - epicentre of Missionary activity in Chiang Mai, I'm sure they're all decent god-fearing people who try to do no wrong but you can't help being cynical, most of them are American, and very American, straight out of the heartland, continuing life here as if they were in Kansas all wherever, while other American expats here have blended into the international community quite well.

Basically life's good in Chiang Mai, you get to live in neighbourhood full of American missionaries, get to shop for Reeces Pieces and other things you miss from home, at Rim Ping Supermarket, eat good hearty calorie-laden food at Dukes (tasty food btw) every Sunday at 300 baht a meal, drive your SUV around, and generally feel good about yourself because you get to report back to the sponsoring church back home that you've converted 50 heathen Buddhist souls since your last summer visit back home. What a satisfying life eh? Many of the families I've met have about 5 offspring, I bet you struggle to properly raise that many good Christian kids back home, even with the Grace of God.

I won't decry them building churches in all the Akha villages if they are also building schools and generally advancing their prosperity. They do act rather zealously about their turf however, the running joke is that when one missionary meets another they cagely ask 'so, who are you with?'

Bless their souls.

The budget will pass, everyone needs the money, isn't that what politics is all about in Thailand, especially with an election looming. Even Chalerm said the other day that he wants to see the budget dispersed. What happens if it doesn't pass, and the govt collapses, then how long do we wait for the budget dispersal?

It does seem a bit disingenuous that ministers cannot vote, since this shaves 20 votes off the majority, which was the problem with Thai politics all along - a slim majority in Parliament that kept derailing any continuity.

And this in a country where the main opposition leader is on trial for 'sodomy' - which in fact is the 'Muslim' word for gay sex. What a joke!

This is just a readers' poll, and readers of Travel & Leisure routinely plum for odd choices, for instance last year's winner was Udaipur (where? you may ask!). Looking at the four main criteria, it's understandable;

Bangkok is good value for money, you can step out of the airport into a taxi direct to your air conditioned 4 star hotel, then get whisked off to the tourist sites, where your hired guide for the day steers you past the scammers, wears a cute Thai smile, then you sit down to an incredible lunch of Thai food (all included in the $50 tour price of course), before being dropped off at a spa for the afternoon. Then (if you're male) you get taken to a private karaoke bar by your tuk tuk driver where you get spoilt by ladies and get to bring one home for another $50, without ever having stepped on to the disgusting pavement at Nana.

Now, tell me how many of T&L's average readers could afford that sort of treatment in New York City or Paris, or Prague...

Isn't this constituency one of those with a high number of Isarn immigrants living in Bangkok? Besides, you can never discount the 'vote buying' factor. it is disturbing the 81,000 people still voted for a candidate who was part of the red leadership that encouraged the burning of Bangkok, but this is a Thailand election remember. Rumours were out of lots of money being disbursed, it would have been a brilliant psychological blow if PT had won this one, especially with the candidate behind bars and unable to campaign.

Don't forget, unmentioned here but part of the same rule, is that any person having a foreigner as a guest in their house needs to inform the authorities within 24 hours. So, when your rellies come by you should give immigration a call otherwise risk a 10,000 baht fine. Another one of those lesser applied rules that some dodgy guy in uniform can use to extort money from the uninformed.

He's proved too many times that he's a man not to be trusted, and he has too many allies here, so that if you opened the door and gave him an inch he'll end up pushing the whole thing open. It's not just about him, but a huge gravy train behind him who want to see him back so that he can buy their loyalties with lots of cash.

Even if you did a deal with him, he's one of those typical Thai wheeler-dealers who believe you can wriggle your way around an agreement by finding legal loopholes and proxy representation to continue as you always have, ignoring the spirit of the agreement. I believe in England it's called 'honour' or 'gentlemens' agreement' two things I wouldn't associate with Thaksin.

This coming from a man who called Thailand's judiciary a 'Joke' just 6 months ago. This time the joke is on him.

Do I suspect a hint of whining tone in his plea?

Not nice when this sort of thing happens but it's not the first or even 100th an estranged partner has done a runner with the kid. If the poor chap had not been so naive and married so frivolously his marriage might not have broken down and he wouldn't be in such a position. If he knows his wife properly he should know how to track her down in Bangkok via family, and would know Thailand well enough that you pay people in uniform to get the kid back, or at least reconcile with the girl and arrange shared custody.

I feel sorry for him, but like others who've lived here awhile, I'm not surprised.

Unless Noppadom is the Puea Thai shadow foreign minister then he has no business going to the US to explain things. As I understand it, he's not even an elected member of the opposition, in fact the Peua Thai still haven't strung together an official shadow govt. I'm quite sure the CIA stationed here have briefed their govt about the terrorism potential of some Red elements, the best response Noppadom is likely to get is the ear of a list of 'lobbyists' that Thaksin has provided him. It's all such a joke really, sometimes Thaksin and his lawyers really take us for fools, they display a surprising naivety.

If you could see a picture of me you'd realise that I'm not the kind of guy who needs to go to Thailand and buy a wife (I'm 40 and very fit, regular looking sort of chap), all the same I came to Thailand and ended up buying a wife. I came here because I fancied a laid back life and like the rest of us, liked it and stayed and met a girl who (surprise surprise) happened to be a local, fell in love and we got married. I had to pay 100,000 baht sin sot which was cheap considering she came with her own house and car and earns 50k a month (outside of Bangkok). She's my age, attractive and a professional who is embarrassed to be considered just my 'wife'. When we travel abroad we get 'looks' and whenever someone asks, where/how did you meet your wife I tell them this tongue-in-cheek story...

"Went to Thailand, made an appointment with mail order bride company, sat down in their lobby with the catalogue, as I was browsing through I noticed another person had sat down opposite and was also going through a catalogue, we both looked up at the same time, eyes met and it was love at first sight..."

I feel sorry for single geezers who sit in pubs with nothing to talk about other than the assumption that the bloke with the Asian girl had to go shopping for a wife. They're obviously the type who've never travelled, never been to Asia, never met nice Thai people, never stepped out of their little Caucasian comfort zone. So I just ignore them, I got over the stares at cross-ethnic couples ages ago.

Yes, Capo hits the nail on the head, same as my experience and I laughed out loud when the bank manager had the temerity to say I needed to deposit 200k to get a 100k o/d limit (so they charge me double digit interest on the o/d and give me single digit interest on the dep - how dumb do they think I am).

I did the same as lucky larry, just got one through my Thai wife, seeing as the banks are so keen to dish out cards to anyone with an income of over 15k, while I'm earning 10 times that, lived here 8 year, have property and still they treat me like a blacklist liability.

Go try the foreign banks in Bangkok, let them earn lots of interest off you.

Haven't seen the documentary but there are three critical points that no reporter has mentioned here;

1. Thailand averted a situation where the govt was forced out by a mob

2. The king didn't get involved

3. There was no coup

All three of those means Thailand democracy survived a pretty important test, for which we will be thankful for in the future.

Hi All,

Where can we find the football broadcast in pubs around Thailand with English language commentary? Add to this list to help us all out in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Samui, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai and other places.

For starters I heard the Irish Pub in Chiang Mai has BBC English commentary feed from the internet, a couple of seconds out of synch but better than nothing.

Follow any election in the US and you'd get the impression it's one of the most staunchly Christian countries in the world. How many homicide cases are reported daily there?

Immigration at Heathrow, you've gotta be joking! If you're not an EU citizen the queue early mornings when long hauls arrive is horrendous, with that low ceiling and cramped area, out dated airport design and all.

Still 24 minutes is still a long wait indeed, though anything shorter than 15 minutes is probably irrelevant since that's how long it takes for your baggage to arrive anyhow.

I still don't understand why they REMOVED THE RE ENTRY PERMIT DESK, I got caught short with this about a month after it was discontinued in Feb 2009, no announcement, no signs at local immigration etc for this pretty crucial decision. It meant I lost my Non Imm visa upon returning, had to start the whole dam_n paper chase again, visa run and all, lots of time wasted for me and them, and probably hundreds of others in my position too. At the time I tried explaining to the imm officer but he just shrugged and told me to miss my flight and go to the Bangkok Imm office the next morning. No one at Chiang Mai Immigration office could answer me when I asked why no notifications were given. Morons!

The Police must be missing the targets the Pol Capt Thaksin gave them for income generation. And it's likely he's told them not to go after all those 'ashtrays you see inside restaurants' because it's bad for tourism.

TIT.

You've got it all wrong, arguing among yourselves, look beyond Thaksin, there was a huge gravy train surrounding him when in power and these people constitute the core of his undying support. They are now all in inactive posts and their fast track careers on hold. They want back in power, with their man at the helm with a free hand to continue writing the blank cheques that bought their loyalty. These people will never get the same lucrative deal from another party, so they will relentlessly pursue the goal of power change. They are not interested in reconciliation, as far as they are concerned this is a dictatorship and it's bad for them and for Thailand and if necessary they will try again and again to overthrow this system without having to make any major concessions. They believe the tide of grassroots groundswell is with them and they will eventually triumph and the majority of the country will cheer them and the other 49% should shut up and accept the democratic choice. After the May 2010 crisis they are not in the mood to talk peace with this govt, certainly while a SoE remains.

They came to Rajaprasong expecting to overthrow the govt, believing that the PAD had managed to do the same, and they got beaten, now they hold the cards in the hand for co-operating on reconciliation and you can bet Thaksin is going to tell them to dig their heels in until they have wrung major concessions for him personally. So, perhaps, the only way forward is indeed a pardon, it happens often to resolve deadlock, even at the expense of law and order, and as long as the coup leaders have amnesty then Thaksin has a valid demand (note how the reds have never once demanded justice for the coup makers).

Unfortunately, we all know that you just can't trust Thaksin, so many times in the past he has proved to be a snake, agreeing then going back on his word. Even as the coup was happening he was negotiating on the phone with the army for a sage passage out of Thailand for his family, pretending to concede, but was actually buying time to try and persuade some senior officers to abandon their support for the coup. He's in a state of denial that he did anything wrong and is deeply slighted and determined to exact revenge. Even if he did agree to a GNU and win his freedom on condition of 'retirement' you can bet he will ignore the spirit of the agreement and somehow explore ways around the deal, just like he did with law and tax, putting a gloss of legality on it while trying to force his foot back in the door. Remember, he not only has lost billions, but has spent billions more on this terror campaign and will want a friendly govt that helps him recover it through monopolies or whatever.

So, I'm not sure were we go from here, other than a low level war at political level, a war of attrition that drags on for a decade with power see-sawing back and forth, the economy suffering and Thaksin eventually losing the energy to continue. The institution's best bet is to sniff out divisions in PT and offer the mods a lot of money to go off and form a new party that appeases the reds and helps them forget Thaksin gradually.

I'm not sure I agree, I find local prices on budget airlines to be competitive with the rest of the region and largely consistent with travel abroad. They have gone up somewhat recently but comparing them with budget flights internationally isn't fair, you might find a good deal to Singapore but on the whole it's not cheaper.

Sounds like another complaining tour operator looking to pin the blame on the govt or someone else to cover their own inadequate marketing.

Lately I've also found that all airlines have made a effort to display the true price of the ticket early in the booking process online, and alot in advertising.

Thai politics as usual, a 25 year old without any significant political experience but from a very wealthy family is suddenly the wildcard threatening to trump several seasoned politicians as 'Suthep's' choice. This is why our country is in such a mess, because political parties are hijacked like this, and those who were sidelined get disgruntled and run to the opposition. Pity the Democrats have to function like this to get by, there must be a lot of beer money at stake. All the same, she's quite a looker, and I admire her ethics in previously resigning and taking responsibility over those beer calendars. Maybe when she's paid her dues and grown up a bit she might be capable of being a law maker.

Problem is, there was some big expectations in Thailand for the media to expose the 'truth' but the two protagonists/sides have come to believe two entirely different versions of the truth, so disappointment was bound to happen. I'm of the opinion that from the start the protesters tactic was to force the Gobt to spill the Red's blood and quit in shame, hence the self drawing and spilling stunt at Govt House in March. The local media saw through it all, while the prime time international news thrives on bloody scenes. The media are just doing their jobs according to their audience's expectations, telling the news/truth in one way or another. What is important is for the public at large to pay attention to the various opposing analysis of this complex situation to realise that neither side is entirely blameless. Unfortunately, with censorship and a largely uneducated electorate it's not going to happen.

It's so easy for Thaksin and his fans to brush this off as 'politically motivated'. Truth is, it IS politically motivated because you have an exiled criminal former Prime Minister evading justice while simultaneously stirring up a revolution and financing it from abroad. There is plenty of evidence to suggest Thaksin has played a major part in financing, encouraging and directing the recent protests and that certain terrorist elements are linked to him, if not directly, through 'prior knowledge'.

Now, if this case was in the US, or compared to how Bin Laden was behind the terror attacks of 9/11 even though he was sitting in a cave somewhere, then yes, Thaksin should be equally judged as being suspected of encouraging for terrorist activities. Certainly the CIA would be going after him in every corner of the world, invading countries who harbour him and getting away with it (oh, and incidentally not be referred to as a failed state or laughing stock of the world).

It's a pity there is the background of the coup for it gives Thaksin and excuse to rubbish the Thai legal system and claim that every verdict against him is politically motivated. But the truth of the matter is that the cases so far have been thorough, transparent and lengthy (5 hours to read a verdict!), and so far no major international observers or organisations have come out and said the verdicts were questionable.

Everyone sees this warrant for his arrest as a desperate attempt by the govt to get Thaksin but actually they are following the correct procedure to investigate and arrest people involved in terrorist activities that have caused a very serious threat to the nation's security recently. Furthermore, Thaksin is not guilty yet of terrorism, he stands accused on some substantial evidence and if he is confident that he's innocent and had no involvement whatsoever in the terror acts, then why not come to Thailand and fight the charges and clear his name.

I feel sorry for Thaksin, he's become so good at believing his lies and is in such a state of denial that he firmly believes hiring these goons will achieve a positive result for him, I can just imagine the money it's costing and how it could be put to better use.

I usually take mine to a small counter/shop on third floor of airport plaza just as you walk into the mobile phone section (above Northern Village), it's on the left hand side. In the past they've told me that sometimes I have to wait a few days while they get the latest software version from Bangkok, but usually not 2 months.