SIamYank

I live in Buriram. My suggestion would be to fly to BKK and either hire or rent a car from there. Flying just doesnt make sense because you then have at two hour drive from any of the nearest airports. Assuming you have a bit of a wait for your flight, one hour in the air, 45 minutes to get your bag and then a two hour drive...you are already spending 4-5 hours to make the flight from BKK. You can do it by car in the same time and cheaper too.

I always hire a taxi to do it for me. This way you have some flexiblity. Stop when you when you want for food, beer or a piss, sleep, read a book etc. BKK to Buriram by taxi is now usually about 3500. (negotiated down from 5000)

I blame it on violent video games.

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Really!?!?! Oh. Yes because murder was unheard of before video games...

I just assumed this type of law always existed. Makes sense to me. I've had the unpleasant situation of sharing a bus with obnoxiously drunk and annoying people before. People ride buses to get somewhere. They shouldn't have to deal with drunken idiots -- that's what bars are for.

Not to hijack the thread but this reminds me that I've never heard an explanation for the restriction on booze sales from 2 pm to 5 pm everyday. I've assumed it's to stop people from getting drunk during their work or school day. If that's the case, isn't it a bit embarrassing to have to make a law like that? Sort of like saying that one's population doesn't have enough self-control or maturity to be responsible.

So why not ban obnoxiously drunk and annoying people and leave the folks that calmly sip their booze alone. I aint bothering you! Why do you have a problem with me. My alcholism isnt your problem its mine.

try Thai Wad Saduk - Should offer every type of broom and other home accesory that you might want... but I do have do agree with previous posts... the witch broom does seem to work best in my opinion. We live half our life in the USA and half here in Thailand, and my wife always buys a witch style broom before we go back to the USA because she hates the western style brooms.

except that customs once took it considering it a weapon... go figure... but thats a rant for another forum I guess

Bringing attention to issues like this is the only way human kind will ever get to the bottom of the truth. This is certainly not a bad move and might help add more light to an issue that has festered for thousands of years, and that has not been handled well by those who say they have a claim over the situation. It matters not to me, but again, it certainly won't hurt to bring more attention to matters that are being covered up by politics and propaganda. A lot of decent folk, who simply want to live a life of well-being right where they are now at could benefit, and the ones who are trying to stop this from happening might eventually reconsider things.

"thousands of years"?

Why yes of course. History is a never ending saga of migrations and relocations and dislocations and military victories and military defeats and the waning and waxing of political powers. It is pretty rare to find an indigenous group in control of their indigenous lands. The Thais themselves are relatively recent arrivals to the land within the borders of the Thai Kingdom, having been forced out of their native land by Han pressure from the north, the Han themselves being pressured southward at the time by Mongolian tribes. You will find relatively few Celts remaining in Britannia and you won't find a single Pict left in Caledonia nor find a living Sogdian nor Hittite on the planet. And more recent genetic studies indicate that these types of historical events began when modern Homo Sapians began to compete with Neanderthals after migrating out of Africa. So yes, what is current in the Levant has been happening since the dawn of history.

Thanks for the history lesson :-).

Not so clear as to what situation was festering for thousands of years and how Thailand's move, momentous as it is, helps shedding light on the truth (whatever that is).

I agree... it seems as though Cup O Coffee's post was suggesting that The Palestinian/Israeli Conflict has been going on for "thousands" of years. This of course is absurd considering that the philosophy of Zionism was started less than 150 years ago. And it did not begin to be a political reality in Palestine until approx 100 years ago. And the creation of the Israeli state was not until 1948 (64 years ago) So yes... considerably less than "thousands" of years.

And while Johpa's history lesson is informative. Human history condensed to one paragraph on TV. Excellent work indeed.... It might also have one supposing that you could historically link a modern bar room brawl to prehistory fight of our ancestors over a cave fire.

Being an American who is opposed to Zionism, I have often gotten the idiotic argument.... " so I guess we should give America back to the Indians too!" All acts of modern barbarism could be excused by historical acts of barbarism. We could excuse Nazi Germany's attempt at ethnic cleansing too if we only cited all the other historical attempts of the same. But in Palestine we are faced with a modern problem and as members of the modern human race we can and do influence the outcomes of history through our actions.

I applaud Thailand for taking this action.... it does shed more light on the situation.

During the ban I went to two mom and pop shops in Buriram, One roadside Kai Yang place in Ubon Ratchathani, One Mekong Riverside place in Khong Chiam and another Mon Riverside place in Ubon and not once was I refused a beer. I kinda like that Thai people just carry on doing what they want despite what some hi-so face saving politicians decide the rest of society should do. Its a same that some will get singled out of the multitudes for the violation.

Equating the situation in Thailand's Muslim South with the situation in Palestine is a very far stretch. Palestinians have been displaced by a population of mostly Europeans who decided to create a country in Palestine based on 2,000+ year prophecy largely because that European population was unwanted and persecuted in Europe. It did so with the backing first of European powers and continues to do so with the backing of both European powers and of course lots of money and military support from The USA. Prior to that European population imposing itself in Palestine, Arab Jews and Arab Muslims lived (for the most part) in relative peace.

The Thai Muslims in the South of Thailand have always lived there, mostly in peace with the Thai Buddhists. There is no external ethnic group asserting its power. It is an internal problem.

There is no external interest in Southern Muslim Thailand. There is no huge oil reserve on the other side of the border that bring US and European powers in to the conflict. There is no canal linking two halves of the world that brings in external interest in. It is a Thai struggle to be dealt with by Thais, both Muslim and Buddhist.

If Jews and Muslims were left alone settle the Palestinian issue from the beginning, I suspect that there would be very few Polish, German, Russian, Ethiopian, Morocan, Egyptian, Tunisian, Bulgarian, Czeck and other Jews living in Palestine, and Arab Jews and Arab Muslims would be living in relative peace. Of course that is conjecture on my part, and turning the clock of history backward

The only possible correlation that can be drawn is that the border between Malaysia and Thailand had been determined by the loose division of European (British) controlled Malaysia and Independent Thailand. Of course the borders of the Middle East, including Palestine were also determined by the colonial division of the Ottoman Empire by European Powers (particularly France and England) following WWI.

One further point while I am spouting.... I know that America gets quite a bit of the blame for its support of Israel in recent history and I wont disagree with that point. And modern history should also put a lot of blame of The Suadis, The Iranians, The Syrians for promoting terrorism. But! A BIG BUT! This situation was started by Europeans. The Sikes Piquot Treaty, The Balfour Decleration dividing up The middle East for their own self interest are French and British doing! The Germans, of course, have tremendous blame for trying to kill the entire European Jewish population and chasing them off the continent. The Poles have a lot of blame for turning their backs on their Jewish population in their greatest time of need. The French for turning away Jewish refugees when they had no where to go. The Russians for leaving no place for Jews in Soviet Russia. The same for the rest of the Eastern Block (with exception of Czecks) So please remember these points when you start bashing America for its Israel policy.

The post does not say that a foreigner is supposed to prove that they own a house. Only that they have a legal house registration. I am pretty sure that they are referring to the to a Tambien Baan (aka. yellow book) for foreigners. This is pretty easy to get if you have family in Thailand. For me it took a signed letter from my Pu Yai Baan attesting to my relationship with my wife, two passport photos, a copy of my passport with visa and a 2 hour visit to my Amphur office with my wife and another witness. Very simple. I do not own the land or the house that the yellow book ties me to.

If you can I would suggest getting one. It allows you do to more things on your own... not just buy a gun.[quote name=whyz' timestamp='1325501967'

post='4950274]

I am not Texan, but I wish. really respect the way they handle things down there. I would be proud to be Texan, but was not blessed by birth.

Then you should go there. plane tickets are not that expensive these days.

And don't take it personally, but maniacs are always told to go somewhere else regardless to their nationality.

Failure at logic.

Since the law allows it here and you disagree with it it is clearly you that should be flying somewhere else...

Well said, again!

I hope it doesn't offend all the people that have no interest in this topic, but I would like to say something ON TOPIC:

-I don't understand how a foreigner is supposed to prove that they own a house when foreigners are not even permitted to own land. Do you just show that you own a minority of a company that owns a house?

Report on PB Valley Winery at Khao Yai: Not impressed! Although this is supposed to be the flagship Thai winery I was not happy with their wine, their restaurant or their service. My wife and I went to Khoa Yai this past weekend and had dinner at the winery's restaurant "The Hornbill" The food was not so good, I ordered a bottle of Shiraz... it wasnt good so I asked for a decanter (I got a glass pitcher) and ordered a martini hoping some time would improve the wine. My appetizer came.... still no martini.... my entree came.... still no martini... my martini came (33% crushed ice/33% vermouth/33% gin) Shiraz after 35 minutes... still not good. My bill 2,700 THB.

Hua Hin Hills was miles better than this place... they had class, style and a staff who had obviously been educated about international wine culture.

What kind of idiots; after investigation and interviews w/witnesses etc couldn't figure out they nabbed the wrong guy? 9 days they couldn't figure this out?

In the USA thousands of wrongly convicted men have been sitting behind bars for crimes they did not commit for years. Simple DNA tests can confirm or deny their guilt.... but the courts and the police drag their feat, fight the tests and keep innocent men in jail. Why? Two reasons, they dont want to lose face or pay compensation. These are the same reasons that many posters claim Thailand is a backward country.

Nine days is not a long time at all. I would bet this guy would have volunteered to do 9 days for 20,000. That is a pretty good wage in Thailand.

I am not defending Thai police as a whole... but this seems to be a pretty honorable case of them admitting their mistakes and making restitution. Well done!

I consider it a loss of face to cover your errors with silly arguments and excuses. Admitting your mistakes and compensating for your errors, now that is showing "good face" We all make errors. responding appropriately to them is a measure of character. Although rare, It is refreshing to to see this out of the Thai police force.

After all the 30+ years I have lived in Thailand I really admire these Thai ladies marrying Western men. Many of these ladies come from a humble background, usually rural. At most they have a primary school education. Yet, they seem to learn their husband's language. I have seen these ladies speaking German, English. French, Italian, yet their poor old husbands can't even string a sentence together in Thai. Even after living here for years with all the time in the world to learn Thai, especially if they are retired. I for one think these Thai ladies deserve a medal for putting up with all the crap they get from their "kii nok" husbands. I will duck from the bullets coming my way.

Many of these ladies do everything in their power to stop the husbands learning Thai, very hard for the husband to combat.

Ching Ching!?!?!? Farang Ting Tong Mak Mak! That is a totally silly statement. I have never met a Thai person that hasnt encouraged me to speak Thai. And I have never met one that isnt pleased as heck when I can and/or try. That goes for Khmer and Lao too! If you live in this country and cant speak any Thai you are the problem, not them!

And if you really do have a Thai wife who doesnt want you to speak Thai then you should never have gotten married. A marriage is about partnership and sharing. There is no cultural divide to that concept.

Burmese officials have been selling illegal land concessions inside the Burmese border to Thais for dozens of years. I am pretty sure some Thai locals didnt just sneak in to Burma unnoticed, cut down a bunch of national park, wait for the rubber trees to mature (7 years) and begin harvesting without anybody noticing until now. Obviously somebody in Burma was involved.

I would tend to agree with Animatic... somebody probably didnt get paid and the operation got shut down... and as usual it is the little guy that bears the burden.

The penalty for refusing a breath test in the part of the US where I am from is the same as a failed breath test. However I think you can refuse the breath test in favor of a blood test. Of course the blood test is more accurate and is less likely to give a false positive.

You may prefer a blood test if you just had mouth wash or if you just took a shot of booze but are not actually drunk.

Good Related Story: I was in a traffic accident in New York City. The other driver clearly caused the accident and was clearly drunk. I on the other hand was probably borderline drunk. I had had about 4beers with dinner. Of course I was concerned that the cop would test me also. So while he was giving the breath test to the other driver I asked if I could go use the rest room at the restaurant near bye. While in the restaurant I did two shots and guzzled a beer. When the cop asked me if I had been drinking, I said "no" but I did just have a couple drinks after using the bathroom to calm my nerves after the accident. He walked with me to the restaurant, asked the bartender if my story was true, the barman confirmed it and the cop sent me on my way. He knew, and I knew, that no court could prove I was drunk at the time of the accident, only 10 minutes after the accident.

I am looking for a small, light canoe for long distance paddling. If any one knows where I could find one I would appreciate a point in the right direction.

Also if anyone is interested in a long paddle with camping two nights to two weeks journeys I would be interested in finding some like minded people. I am in Isaan but would travel to just about anywhere in Tland.

Your cost seem pretty much in line with what I have experienced from a trustworthy wife and family. I am now paying about 30,000 for about 30 meters. 33% is 10 blocks high, 33% is 6 blocks high and 30% is 4 blocks high. I should also say that there is no metal work, no paint and no gates. In fact I have left the outside of the wall raw block. (dont like to look so hi so in the village). These costs are with me personally (with wife checking prices first) buying all the sand, gravel, block. re-bar and cement. I am paying labor 13,000 and materials 17,000.

Regarding labor costs. I generally pay 250 for unskilled or 300 plus for skilled or difficult jobs. But I try not to pay by day, because you have very little control over the work speed. I have one dirty job handy man that I pay 300 and the job takes him 3-4 days (with a lot of whiskey down time) I have one guy I pay 300, and he does the same work in 4 hours. (Same Same to me)

Also contrary to previous post, it does not seem like an 8 day jobto me... certainly not for one man. My guy will probably do 1/2 the work alone, and half the work with one or maybe two others that he "contracts" He deals with paying them. I dont have a problem with that. Mixing and pouring cement is a 2 or three man job. He seems to do all the re-bar work himself and gets help for the mixing and pouring.

It will probably take three weeks. Averaged to two guys a day.. that works out to about 360 per day/per man + materials. And I dont buy whiskey (maybe one at the end of the job) but I do buy sponser everyday.

Also to add to previous poster. Dont run around thinking every thai person is trying to cheat you or get in to your pocket. Most of the guys who think they are getting ripped off live in tourist areas, and they are living in a place that treats any farang as transient Most of the guys I know in isaan dont think they are being taken advantage of.. of course there are a few who are getting ripped off blind... but they are generally the ones that dont know it:) And the community appreciates farang presence. I dont hear of people getting jacked up for 100,000 baht for working. I know a teacher who works w/o a permit, a guy who works on his farm everyday, and a guy who works in his restaurant everyday. all strickly forbidden but they have no work permits and no hassle. This problem is in the tourist areas... no one gives a $hit out here. I get stopped by the police driving with no license and I just say "oh it is at home and I live in that village"... and they usually wave me on.

Confirm Richards post. I live near to Lahansai and the Saturday market get together is the only farang nightlife.

I happen to like it.

Dont know of any Welsh Mafia in these parts. Thats a pretty good one! Only mafia I've ever seen is the 200 baht boys in the tight polyester pants.

Hi Pete,

It is the Mun river (pronounced MOON) The two most important rivers in Isaan are the Mun and the Chi (aka. song si) These two river join at Ubon Ratchatani before entering the Mekong. The Mun is the second largest tributary to the Mekong (after the Tonle Sap) They are the life blood of Isaan.

I believe it is called the Mun the entire way and has its source in the hills of Southern Khorat Province above the Mun Bon Dam near Khon Buri.

Unless I'm mistaken the river that flows through Korat city is the Lam Ta Khong, and joins the Mun further downstream

Yes Pete. I stand corrected. Lam Ta Khong runs through Khorat and joins the Mun a little further down. My mistake.

I live in Southern Buriram Provence near, Lahan Sai (pop 71,000), and Nang Rong (pop 110,000) and needed an MRI. My nearest option was Bangkok Hospital in Khorat 2 hours away. These hospitals out here really could use some modern tools.

But I have to applaud the village clinic system. Our village is pretty small, but still has a free clinic(with donation box) to take care of the basic stuff, cuts, burns, sprains etc...

Hi Jim, I thought the same as you about Thai wine. Very Sceptical... but couple people recommended this place... Try Hua Hin HillsVinyard about 30 ,in west of Hua Hin. They have pretty decent wine. it is the same price as a bottle of decent import. But It aint that cheap, I think about 1000+ THB per. They also have a beautiful restaurant with excellent 5star quality food. Its a very good day out..But again... it is same as Western costs. Not sure how much it is distributed. I lived in Hua Hin for 4 months and I was there 4 times.

Any reports on the vineyards in Loei? What about Khao Yai wines.

If I ever get down that far again will give them a try or if I see a bottle around, 1000 Baht is a bit pricey thought. Chong Mek , the duty free shop has some good reds around 400 Baht [ not Thai ] All in all wine is a tipple here, this is beer country. Jim

Tesco Lotus in Ubon have a decent selection of wines from Australia, South Africa, Chile, France, Italy, and more, for plus/minus 500 baht/bottle.

Wife just informed me that Hua Hin Hills was only about 750 per bottle not 1000 as I previously reported. This is for their Monsoon Valley line. They also sell a line of more premium stuff too.

I would say they are definitely better than what I see in Tesco at the 500 price range.

Hi Pete,

It is the Mun river (pronounced MOON) The two most important rivers in Isaan are the Mun and the Chi (aka. song si) These two river join at Ubon Ratchatani before entering the Mekong. The Mun is the second largest tributary to the Mekong (after the Tonle Sap) They are the life blood of Isaan.

I believe it is called the Mun the entire way and has its source in the hills of Southern Khorat Province above the Mun Bon Dam near Khon Buri.

Wow James, why all the negativity?

P.S - Most of the wines I've bought from Laos have been off due to poor storage facilities, heat etc. Even Thai's know this.

Never had a bad bottle from a proper store in Lao, but like everything from smokes to whiskey you need to learn to see the fakes. Good fakes at times, got done on a carton of LM last week perfect in every way until you lite one up.

As to this day I have never tasted a Thai wine that I would call good, most are barely drinkable at best. Willing to try some if some one can recommend a brand or vineyard. Jim

Hi Jim, I thought the same as you about Thai wine. Very Sceptical... but couple people recommended this place... Try Hua Hin HillsVinyard about 30 ,in west of Hua Hin. They have pretty decent wine. it is the same price as a bottle of decent import. But It aint that cheap, I think about 1000+ THB per. They also have a beautiful restaurant with excellent 5star quality food. Its a very good day out..But again... it is same as Western costs. Not sure how much it is distributed. I lived in Hua Hin for 4 months and I was there 4 times.

Any reports on the vineyards in Loei? What about Khao Yai wines.

Using the witch doc was not so good for two of my friends.............

The started proper treament in hospital too late and died.

Yes but in this case the witch doctor was right and the medical doctors were wrong. I am not saying you should completely rely on traditional medical beliefs. My personal attitude would be to do anything and everything that has any chance of improving your situation.

That said I often take part in rituals that I personally have no belief in, but the important part is that my wife and family believe in them, so their comfort level is increased and it adds to the general sabai-ness of the whole situation and family. And even if there is no direct "magical" result, will be a karmic result because the network of personal relationships that are attached to me is stronger.

I hate orchard road. I travel to Singapore about every two months for business. I never stay on orchard road. It is sterile, boring, crowded and overpriced. When you are on Orchard road you feel like you are an actor in a grand commercial. Give me the flavor, the fun and the chaos of Bangkok anytime!