Roj

Being allowed to break down doors to enter has nothing to do with training. It has more to do with being sued.

Y

I'll assume that was a question ...

The fire fighters here don't have the same legal protections as those in other countries. I'm sure if they had the right to break down the doors, they would have done it without waiting for permission.

No, it wasn`t a question. I was starting to endorse what you said when I accidentally hit the enter button. See the edited version where I added to the letter Y. Coming from the UK I know only too well how litigation (and over the top health and safety rules back home) has taken over the work place. Ignore these rules and your employer will dispense with your services. The professional Bangkok firemen do a good job

Regards Roj

So, Bangkok`s not so bad after all and it also has well trained, professional firefighters with good equipment.

Do "well trained professional firefighters" stand around waiting to enter a burning office building, letting the fire spread to additional floors according to the news reports above, because they don't have permission from the building owner to enter / break down the locked doors???

Back in my home, I've seen fire trucks responding to brush fires push aside (ram) illegally parked cars blocking their response route. Back in my home, fire crews also have master keys or access methods for getting past locked gates/doors etc.

Separately, there are two different issues at play here...or in any comparable situation.

1. is the firefighting work / training / equipment of the fire department/fire crews.

2. is the building/fire codes standards and enforcement as related to fire/life safety.

The above case seems to raise some questions about No. 1... But there's no question that as regard to No. 2, Thailand and BKK have a horrible record/history.

Being allowed to break down doors to enter has nothing to do with training. It has more to do with being sued.

Thanks, too right it does. Once again, Bangkok firefighters are well trained and disciplined. The last thing you need at a fire is a charge by an untrained, undisciplined rabble. This is Bangkok, not the outback. You may need these guys one day and you`ll then see they ARE professional.

Nisa, #237

Again we are at the same crossroads. It was a concert (free)

There was some singing as there is at all these events. The previous time at bonanza in Khoa Yai, it was in fact a concert.

This time it was a political gathering for purposes stated before.

I was there, you weren't.

End of story

Are you for real? It was advertised as a concert, was a concert and was reported as a concert. In fact, it was advertised as a free concert. There wasn't just singing, there were professional bands providing performances with speakers in between. No different than other political, fund raising or benefit type concerts from The Concert for Bangladesh to Live Aid.

How in the world can anybody take you serious when you are being so disingenuous?

Now ... End of story

Wrong about all of that, and misleading.

I not only attended, but also was informed weeks in advance of this gatherings planning and purposes.

It had everything to do with Political objectives, and nothing to do with concerts.

Trying to re-focus this as being merely a concert, is a put-down of this political gathering and its' people. Trying to deprive them, again, of political awareness and space. Why the Opposition persists in this contemptuousness is beyond me. It doesn't get them anywhere, other than on the political sidelines.

A foreigner attending political rallies and trying to involve himself in the internal politics of a highly nationalistic Asian country - you will never be accepted as one of them and it`s extremely naive of you if you believe otherwise. It WILL end badly for you I fear, if you publicly involve yourself, and I say this with concern for your wellbeing.

The reasons there are so many above ground electricity cables are that overhead installation causes less disruption than digging up the road and they are more cost effective. Compromises that need to be taken in to account in fast developing countries with over congested cities. Even if Thailand has more relaxed building standards than more `developed` countries Bangkok doesn`t seem to have an inordinate amount of serious fires, I read some of the local papers and there is occasional reference to a residential or business fire. My former station in London covered an area of little more than 1 square mile, attended around 3500 calls a year of which one third were to adjacent stations `grounds. Of those calls on our own `ground about 25 a year would be fires requiring 4 or more fire engines. Quite often we`d arrive at a fire in a tower block to find that the dry rising mains had been vandalised and was unuseable necessitating hose to be hauled up the outside of the building. Quite often the lifts were also out of order which meant having to run up the stairwell carrying lines (ropes) and fire extinguishers and with a compressed air cylinder on our back. Turntable ladders had a maximum height of 100ft and hydraulic platfoms less so were good for up to 8 floors if they could find room to deploy them. All this in a leading city in the `developed` world. So, Bangkok`s not so bad after all and it also has well trained, professional firefighters with good equipment.

At the risk of being disembowled by TV's hang-em-high brigade, I have to say I feel some sympathy for this old chap. A former RAF pilot, I daresay that he gave greater service to his Country than I have, or, I venture, many of those who are now howling for his death for what was in reality a very minor criminal act undertaken in full consent of his "victim". Now, at the age of 79 he faces ruin and humiliation. We would all do well to remeber the old saying "There, but for the grace of God go I....."

To me, what is far more sickening is the cynical action of the German TV crew paying a 13 year old boy to go out and entrap some old codger just so they could make some salacious movie to titilate the morons back home.

Minor criminal act? Sex acts with a child, consenting or not, are regarded as abhorrent by normal people, and WE won`t be going there but for the grace of God, thank you and speak for yourself. No customer no product. Your woodwork awaits you.

At last....let this be a clear signal to paedophiles. Scum of the earth. And no parole!!

<Comments advocating underage sex removed.>

Let me make sure I understand your position. You are arguing that in a situation where a mother sells her 13 year old daughter to a 45 year old man for sex, that it is a bona fide private transaction and that nobody was offended or harmed.

Frankly, you should be ashamed of yourself.

I have to say that I have been amazed at some of the posts by long-standing members of Thaivisa on this thread and the other about the 70-odd year old Brit over the last few days, posts which have just about - very cleverly - skirted oh-so-closely to blaming the victim, calling child prostitution a victimless crime and doing everything they can to avoid judging the paedophiles themselves.

There has always been a prurient curiousity in these kind of threads. I''m starting to wonder about the motives why on behalf of some members.

You have to remember that paedophiles are very devious because it goes with the territory. Blaming the child and refusing to accept that paedophile activity is not normal is a pointer to involvement. There should be sympathy for one party only and that is the child victim. Unfortunately, paedophiles don`t see children as a human being with rights of respect and care but more a piece of meat to be fondled and raped. They read articles like the OP and sympathise with the arrested perpetrator because they think that could be them one day.

Thanks for the input everyone, some interesting options

Could I have some opinions on the following.

I get to Thailand - open a new Thai bank account - deposit into this account 1 million baht direct from my debit card.

I suggest this because on previous visits, when making transactions(ie withdrawing 10,000 baht from ATM), Im charged approxiemently £3 transaction fee and usually recieve a competitve exchange rate.

Enlightenment required please.

Lee

Lee, before leaving the UK set up your HIFX account on their website (very simple to do). On arrival in Thailand open a SAVINGS account at a Thai bank depositing a nominal amount (I bank with Siam Commercial and you will have no problem opening an account with them) but decline any offers to sell you various insurances, you will also receive a debit card for ATM use. Once you have opened your account you can transfer your money using HIFX (it is very easy and there is an online tutorial to make it even easier). Transfer the money online to HIFX using your UK debit card and you will pay no fee to your UK bank, I can`t speak for other Thai banks but Siam commercial will not charge you a receiving fee either. You will receive an exchange rate close to the bank interchange rate (banks buying and selling to each other at preferential exchange rates). If you don`t use an intermediary like HIFX you will receive a much poorer exchange rate and on £20000 the money you lose would have bought you a new Honda Wave or similar runabout. HIFX are currency traders so they don`t need to charge a fee on large amounts like yours, they make their money trading bulk amounts of which yours will make up a tiny percentage. I have used them many times for large transactions and they are safe. They will keep you updated with your transaction details and if you so wish you can also speak to them on the phone. They will also record that your money originated from your UK bank. The larger the transaction the better the rate. You can even watch live exchange rates on their website and at the press of a button transact . You can also instruct them to transact once the baht reaches a specified amount.

Regards Roj

You must be kidding. This is LOS, Land of Sound. There are no place that do not have loud music and you are worried about dog barking

And that loud music quite often includes Drum `n` Bass 24/7 in residential areas because although many Thais hate the noise they won`t front up the perpetrators like people in the West would.

I use HIFX to transfer large amounts from the UK to Thailand. They are a large, well respected currency buyer and the transfer is as safe if not safer than using your own bank. Transfer over £3000 and you will not pay a fee. You can use your debit card to transfer up to £70000 and you won`t have to pay your own bank a CHAPS fee if you use this method. You will also get a much better exchange rate than your bank will offer - typically 2 baht per pound more which with a transfer of £20000 and no bank fee will see you well over £800 better off. If you go to the HIFX website it is simplicity itself to register for an account and start transacting.

"He CONFESSED to the police and the media followed through the reported accusations so no one here owes him a farking thing...

I am with you most of the way but have you noticed that it is the same tourist police volunteer who recently got a South African man to sign a confession to passing counterfeit $ bills. A confession written in Thai and the Chalong volunteer cant read Thai? In Phuket they have what the police call a 'Safe House' but it is safe only for the police... Story has too many holes and the fact that the BKK police once again had to do what could and should have been done by the Chalong police adds to the mystery!

You talking about the tourist cop in the pic a few pages back....leading him out unhandcuffed ??

I know him well.

Gary (Tourist Police volunteer) is from New Zealand and speak, read and write Thai perfectly.

Can dive pretty good also...and lose weight.

He told me he would never become a TVP....cos the thai cops would think he was a wanke_r same they thought of all the other TVP.....

.

Pretty much my thoughts on someone who chooses to be a pretend policeman in a foreign country and runs around in a uniform sporting all the accoutrements of a real cop.

"He CONFESSED to the police and the media followed through the reported accusations so no one here owes him a farking thing...

I am with you most of the way but have you noticed that it is the same tourist police volunteer who recently got a South African man to sign a confession to passing counterfeit $ bills. A confession written in Thai and the Chalong volunteer cant read Thai? In Phuket they have what the police call a 'Safe House' but it is safe only for the police... Story has too many holes and the fact that the BKK police once again had to do what could and should have been done by the Chalong police adds to the mystery!

You talking about the tourist cop in the pic a few pages back....leading him out unhandcuffed ??

I know him well.

Gary (Tourist Police volunteer) is from New Zealand and speak, read and write Thai perfectly.

Yes he does indeed speak indeed not just Thai but Isaan and Lao fluently but he can not read Thai!

If you can speak Thai, Isaan and Lao are virtually identical and take no learning. For all intents and purposes it is all one language with some different words. My wife is from Ubon originally and if we go to visit her old mother there or go to Laos, speaking Isaan/Lao is easier than going to Newcastle and trying to understand the Geordies there (no offence intended to my northern countrymen).

This is the last thing that Thailand needs. If Pheu Thai dictatorises the Constitution then it will be all on if PAD get traction. If will be only a matter of time before the Army has to step in to keep either both mobs apart or use the opportunity to deal a harder and swifter blow to those who which to pillage and plunder Thailand at a level not yet seen and with politicial impunity.

I hope PAD go away or don't get going. I think the Army has to play a waiting game for the opportune time to deal to Populism, and clean the whole lot once and for all.

I juts hope the army don't get involved. They have no place in politics. It's up to the people, for better or worse to rid the country of the politicians of all colours and affiliations who constantly and continiously drag it down. If the people are unwilling to take a stand against them, then neither should the army. In fact i'd encourage the army to be as corrupt as the politicians, if only to prevoke a response from the electorate.

If politics leads to civil disorder then it is the responsibility of the army to restore order. That should be the only reason for the army to engage.

He wasn`t an Alfred Hitchcock buff by any chance was he?

This is becoming positively Pythonesque.

iannarebirth, #143^

"Is it your assertion that one cannot be politically nuetral and at the same time find the actions of the Red Shirts and Thaksin contemptible?"

Yes, it is. That is my assertion.

Finding the actions of the Red Shirt Democracy Movement contemptable is not nuetral, to say the least.

Same as me finding the actions of the coupists contemptible is also not nuetral.

It is eminently easier to defend those who stood up to a coup and were vindicated by a subsequent election, than to justify the coupists and everything they did, until they were rightfully turfed the moment they exposed themselves to an election.

Some people come here for the ladies, some for the young men and some for the good weather. But you`re here for the politics. That`s got to be a first.

As another poster said - these offenders are the reason many at home attach a stigma to any man who chooses to live in Thailand. My brother, now retired, was a DCI in the Met and during his career brought a number of these child molesters to book. He said paedophiles don`t see their behaviour as abnormal and will usually blame the child victim. It is an undeniable fact that many western paedophiles come to Thailand because it is easy for them to carry out their abusing here and it is often facilated, as in the OP case, by the mother. Reading some comments that appear on TV when these cases come to light *Inflammatory remark edited out*. On a similar recent thread a poster, and he obviously wasn`t alone in his sentiments, said he felt sorry for the offender (a 65 year old man) because he couldn`t help himself and that some men prefer a younger partner. Well, a child is not a partner but an innocent who needs protecting from predators so that they can enjoy their childhood just as the vast majority of us were able to. I sincerely hope the police make a real effort to rid Thailand of this curse. The poster who lumped homosexuality and lesbianism in with phaedofilia - the gay people I know have relationships with consenting adults and find paedophiles as abhorrent as do straight people, but then abusers are always looking for endorsement for their vile activity.

Chalerm - the John Prescott of Thai politics. Gaffe prone and with his snout, head and shoulders in the trough.

I asked my girlfriend if she new about the history of Germany and England, she said you won two world wars and one world cup, i said good girl.

And lost much of the uk empire. I don't think the brits won ww1 & 2, they were merely holding their own until the yanks joined in. Stupid yanks, should let Europe fight their own civil wars.

The British and Commonwealth offensive of 1918 consisting of British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand forces managed to break through the formidable Hindenburg line and led to the Germans seeking terms for an Armistice. Hollywood obviously has it`s own slant. In WW2 the Americans bore the brunt of the war against the Japanese but In Europe they were one of a number of allies with the Soviet Union defeating the majority of the German field army. At sea the Germans were defeated by the British and Canadian navies.

A referendum right now would be democratic and fair....... but not in Thailand at the moment. How do you think the type of person who attended that concert yesterday are going to vote? They will vote the way they are told to vote. Its pseudo-democracy, that employs effective brain washing techniques. All to bring about the return of a virtual dictator!

I agree with some of the posts above, i find it a little bit worrying that we are hearing absolutely nothing from the rival colours. At least if they held a small rally and spewed some rhetoric they would be sticking to form. The silence is a little bit ominous!

They will vote the way they are told paid to vote.

Pretty weak reasons for refusal.

What type of ECO doesn't know how to spell "absence" and "evidence"? (If the OP hasn't mis-spelt? )

Contact the ECM and point out you included a photocopy of your passport with Thai visa stamp and add a short covering letter.

I don't know what some posters are on about when they say you have to "prove" how the funds were accrued...it's none of the ECO's business.

RAZZ

There are some ECOs who seem to be on a power trip. A few years ago and after successfully applying for a family visit visa yearly for many years to accompany me to the UK, my wife who is CEO of a group of companies and not exactly short of a few bob, was refused on the grounds that she was a flight risk because she went to the UK so often and the ECO considered because of this she was likely to overstay. We had always visited family, stayed with them and returned to Thailand within 4 weeks. She appealed against the decision, had it overturned and received a sincere letter of apology from the judge heading the appeal panel. His report was extremely scathing of the ECO and stopped just short of describing his reasoning as racist. This same ECO has since refused other perfectly respectable wives and had his decisions overturned on appeal.

Speaking from personal experience, I hit a stationary vehicle through a lapse of concentration. Fortunately, at the time I was an 8 year old riding nothing more powerful than a bicycle but the impact still caused injury to me. With regard to the wearing of crash helmets - if the requirement isn`t rigidly enforced many just won`t bother. Back in the 70s my life was saved by a crash helmet when I had a serious accident on the A23. A compulsory, thorough rider/driver education scheme is far overdue here.

Yep, the environment needs to be respected but your work will be cut out trying to change an entrenched mindset which sees people winding down their car window as they drive along the road and casually throwing a bag of litter into an adjacent rice field, spitting phlegm in the street or mindlessly cutting down trees on the flood plain in order to erect another block of concrete. The only thing a lot of people respect is the king, so hopefully they`ll take on board what he has said.