pedro01

Chris Hansen called, he wants you on his next show ????

No - it's smart. When you get stopped by the police here, you need to put on your friendliest face and be nice to them. I was in Thong Lor police station after being in a 3-way accident with an Ikea van, a motorbike and my car. The Ikea insurance company sent a lawyer and our job was to assign blame. Anyway - I got the coffee's in for the cops, we all had a laugh and a joke during the proceedings and the Ikea driver was found at fault, their insurance company kept going on about my wheel being over the line, which it was - but had I been 6 inches to the left, the van and bike (and rider) would have still hit me. So to shut them up, the police gave me a 300 baht fine for being over the line and told the insurance lawyer that this settled the over the line issue. I was very happy with that and I have no doubt that if I'd been an <deleted> with the cops, it would have turned out differently. You gotta play the game here.

Taksin bridge was not named after Thaksin Shinawatra, it was named after King Taksin. Just to be pedantic...

You aren't doing it right then. I've can't even remember which year I came to Thailand ????

Last time I was out at that time, a friend and I got pulled over in our taxi at a checkpoint. First thing they did was put hands in our pockets, checking for drugs. Nobody asked for ID, which is just as well as I don't carry my passport around with me here. It was all friendly, I asked if they caught many people that way and they told me that yes, every night they caught people with drugs there. My experience is that they shake you down when you've done something wrong - like failed a breathalyzer (which I haven't) test. Once you are on the wrong side of the law, the negotiations start. It's the same when they bust you for a wheel over the line at a junction, it's petty but they have their excuse to start the negotiation process. I've not experienced or know people that got shaken down when they did nothing wrong. It seems to generally be the way here I'd put it at 50/50 that the girl in question was on the wrong side of the law, somehow. 27k fine is pretty steep and would be in line with being drunk at the wheel, having narcotics etc. it's not that I don't believe her, just that normally, you get shaken down for a crime of some sort.

"He said that Willy's family had put him under pressure to marry a woman and abandon a gay lifestyle." lifestyle? lol - I've never heard it called that before. That's some family - won't accept him for who he is. Thinks that forcing him into a straight marriage would be anything but pain and failure. I can see why he prefers the company of simple trash collectors who DO accept him for who he is. Crazy world.

I am confused about the bridge from Koh lanta to Koh lanta noi, there's a photo of it in the OP and it looks in good condition. Are they building a second?

The lesson to be taken away from all this, of course is "don't get caught" - it simply spoils the boondoggle for all the others.

I was in O'Shea's in Bangkok the other day and the head shop 20 meters away was pumping out fumes and I have to say - I would prefer to not be sniffing weed smoke while I'm eating. It's on par with cigar smoke - it seems to get everywhere. Not that I have anything against weed or the smell in general - just when I am eating, it's overpowering. So I can see how people would be upset. In the end - there needs to be a place to smoke the stuff. That's going to go against the smoking laws here but there's no point selling masses of the stuff if people have nowhere to smoke it in such a way it doesn't get in non-smokers way.

That happened to me on Asok. The car behind was leaning on the horn while the pedestrians were crossin, so I got out the car to have a word and he'd simply not seen the crossing sign. Many wais and apologies later, we were both back on our way. One of the issues not yet raised here is the amount of people that stand by crossings and then fail to cross the road when you stop for them. I have put this down to a number of possible factors... - They weren't expecting anyone to stop and so had stopped paying attention themselves - They want to cross the road at some future point in time, which is not right now - They just thought it a good place to stop and have a gossip It's a bit like letting someone in at a junction. Some people just need a written invitation - again I put it down to the fact someone actually stopped to let them out. Nothing worse that stopping for pedestrians who then just completely ignore you.

I do it all the time in mine.

Love the list of dont's. It's sort of blindingly obvious not to give them food, drinks and your car keys. They should have led with the list of do's - they are far better.

I don't know if it's a myth or there really are killers there. But I'll hedge my bets and not pay the place a visit. There's plenty of other locations in Thailand, after all.

One thing against Alec here is his initial claims that the gun went off in his hand. That he didn't pull the trigger. If it turns out he did (and experts seem to indicate the gun couldn't just go off without a trigger pull) pull the trigger and it's provable, then that lie won't help him. As for whether he should be punished or not. I'm on the fence but I don't think it would harm to go up before a jury and hammer it all out.

I am amazed there's much to poach in Chonburi.

Well - that sorts out his epitaph. We can only be thankful it wasn't a few hours later, I guess.

He hasn't lost $165bn - it's not a real number. Put it like this - let's say you have a 100 million shares in a company. The last price trade was $20. That gives you a "wealth" of $2,000,000,000. But it's smoke and mirrors because if you attempted to unload the 100 million shares, you'd hit the price hard and never achieve that selling price of $20 on the whole 100 million shares. The $2,000,000,000 is merely the nominal value - and should not be confused with the amount of money you'd be able to realize selling the shares. So it's all bunk anyway. He's definitely had an impact on his net worth but these things are always inflated because of the impact a big seller would have on prices.

hurrah for open borders

Cool looking ride - I wonder what the range is

I was with him up till "set a fire in my cell", which has to account for at least 1 beating.

It isnt illegal. Hotels have smoking and nonsmoking rooms.

Cliff notes anyone?

Same here - I NEVER ask for a price, I always ask for the meter.

Yeah but the open border policy can't possibly be about cut lawns, it's infuriating.

I think these people coming across the border have already been exploited by traffickers. If there was no entry allowed for them, then they wouldn't be trafficked on the way to the border. Many don't make it, many women are raped. Then when they do get in, what life is there as an undocumented immigrant? They are open to more exploitation. You can solve this 2 ways: - Just open the border and let them in legally, give them the paperwork and a path to citizenship - Close the border so that the exploitation doesn't go on The US Govt has been ignoring this issue, dropping a busload in front of the VPs error is political theater - it won't solve the issue - but it keeps it in the news. Neither party is offering any solution. Republicans want a wall, Democrats appear to want a free flow of immigrants. Either way - it needs fixing.