Roj

People aren't really being critical of Chiang Mai which IS an efficient little airport, more the official embellishment of the award.

Could be a rocky road ahead for the auto industry now that Malaysia has thrown its hat in the ring by offering attractive concessions to foreign car makers to entice them to manufacture their vehicles there. VW has already taken advantage of this.

Have experianced this many times in thailand,so now I sit in the car and let the wife book in first then I come in with the bags after.

Yep, like my missus says anywhere we go and a rip off is imminent due to skin colour.

"you stay in the car and don't move"

Many years ago I took a taxi in Bangkok with a Thai colleague and the driver said to my companion "should be easy for you to rip off the foreigner". The driver nearly choked when I told him in Thai that I was going to report him to the taxi authority. For a long time now my wife and I have done the same as you and your wife because of the willingness of many Thai businesses to casually try to overcharge foreigners.

You can buy large rucksacks that also have wheels like a trolley case nowadays. Mobility is the name of the game; it`s no fun to be `tied` to a travel chest. Travel by train in Thailand is a great experience, cheap and much more pleasant and safe than travelling by coach.

Email the resort and ask them for an explanation. If it`s discriminatory make it public knowledge. This wouldn`t be acceptable among western nations so there is no reason why a Thai outfit should think it`s okay.

Villages normally have their token idiot but it seems like some are full of them. I think the red faction leadership is deliberately agitating among its uneducated followers with the goal being formation of a one party state; a form of champagne communism with the leaders living a privileged lifestyle. The only bulwark against them is the army.

First it was the taxi drivers, then the tuktuks, then the jet ski mafia, now it appears to be the ladyboys. Perhaps it's only a matter of time before the staff in your hotel assault you for soiling the clean sheets.

The way Phuket`s going you`ll be lucky to get clean sheets in the first place. The TAT call it the Jewel of the Andaman Sea but to those in the know it`s more like a big brown turd floating out there.

You would have a very frugal existence. Go to Laos instead, but the whisky will kill you.

Solid sodium hypochlorite is used for adding chlorine to a pool. As it acts, sodium hypochlorite breaks down into chlorine which kills bacteria, and into sodium hydroxide. Hydrochloric acid is used to counteract the alkaline sodium hydroxide and keep the water of the the pool neutral - neither acidic or alkaline. Keeping the water neutral is important since the water will irritate the eyes if it is either acidic or alkaline.

Sodium hypochloride for pools usually comes as a granular solid in plastic 5 gallon containers. It sounds like the pool cleaner poured some hydrochloric acid into one of these sodium hypochlorite containers. The result would be a lot of heat and the release of a lot of free chlorine gas.

For those that don't know it, chlorine gas was one of the worst poison gasses used during World War II. The gas will burn the eyes, resulting in temporary or even perminant blindness. Inhaling it results in chemical burns to the lungs and burn induced phnumonia. Frequently this is what lead to death - the soldiers drowned in their own body fluids as they filled their chemically burned lungs.

Let us hope that nobody, including the pool cleaner, received a large exposure to the gas.

For those that do know it was one of the worst poison gases used during World War One. My own grandfather was injured in a chlorine gas attack at Ypres. By World War 2 there were far more potent chemical weapons available and the Germans who were the most enthusiastic about this type of weapon had large stockpiles of Sarin but never used it as they realised that they would face retaliatory attacks just as they did in World War One.

I bet neither of them support their LOCAL team. I`ve never understood people who follow a club simply because its successfuI and not because they have a real affiliation to it. I wish Thais would realise that clubs like Man U, Liverpool, etc., only want to dip their hands into their pockets.

Quick survey based on all Thaivisa posts on this topic:

89% of you still think they were suicide bombers acting on a faith-based motivation. (all the 72 virgin talk, etc.)

Instead of just guys working for the Iranian government hired to pop a couple Israeli diplomats in revenge for their scientists getting murdered.

The name of the game is assassination, not terrorism.

89% don`t think they were suicide bombers. They`re just using the 72 virgins to humourously highlight the absurdity of religiously motivated terrorists. You don`t need to be a suicide bomber to earn your 72 virgins, just enter paradise as a martyr, which could be dying for the cause in any number of ways.

Let`s hope the travellers manage to escape safely from Phuket.

A knock on effect could be to open would be Jihadists eyes to the fact that their brother Islamists are already engaged in violent conflict with an Infidel enemy in the south of Thailand. The government has said it is friendly with all nations but they fail to realise that radical Islamism is about the furtherance of the muslim religion to the exclusion of others and not about nationalism. I hope the Thai authorities have got their eye on the bigger picture rather than just worry about how they can bury bad news to protect the tourist baht because terrorists, whether they be anti Jewish and sponsored by Iran, or Al Qaeda operatives and its offshoots, don`t pay heed to borders.

Thinking twice now about my TEFL license.

Hell yes, the guy selling moo ping next to my local seven eleven works from 7 to midnight with his little cart and coal fired BBQ ... he has approximately 250 customers by evening and the minimum per head is 20 bht . cut the raw pork, plastic bags, wooden sticks coal and 100 baht to the sidewalk mafia he may be left with 1500-2000 baht a day ..... no wonder he can take 1 week breaks for holidays every 2 months.

Wow! That`s 50 customers an hour. He`ll also be working before he starts selling - cleaning his utensils and buying stock, so with that work rate he deserves his little holidays. I know the motorbike and sidecar food vendors in my own district which isn`t populated like Bangkok and they clear about 600 baht a day and the food is of good quality and variety. Not a fortune but it`s better than packing chickens or soldering PCB`s for 200 baht a day for some greedy factory boss, and they`ll never go hungry in their line of business.

Coal fired power stations can be clean if they are willing to spend money on closed filtration. But I expect they`ll opt for chimneys belching black smoke just to keep running costs at a minimum.

(...snip...)

Contrary to media reports that Morabi used two hand grenades while on the run, police sources said he used two radio bomb units, out of a stock of five. One went off in the first accidental explosion in the rented house, two were used by him and two others were found in the house.

The radio bombs went off five seconds after their grenades were activated. They had a blast radius of about 40 metres and kill radius of about 3-5 metres, the sources added.

(...snip...)

If not terrorism, what were the radio bombs intended for? Party favors?

If they`re the Iranian version of party poppers it would be a good idea to avoid the Tehran party circuit.

No doubt these bombing were not terrorist activities, they were just "normal crimes", please come to Thailand, everything is normal here.

p.s. bring a large pair of hip waders, the BS level is very high.

.

Let,s wait and se what happens.

Are from Sweden and know the Iranian, as we have" to many " of them, who make the

country (Sweden )unsafe.

The Thai people are mostly peaceful, and not involve in this things.

But don,t let them go away from Thailand, but put them in prison here.

And be avare for more of them who maybe will come !

Or Swedish government will take them " under their wing " and give them Swedish

passport and only 6 months jail.

thailandshasse

Not if the UK government can beat Sweden to it. After all, they may have once read a British tour brochure which in the UK`s eyes is as good as being a resident. No jail and perhaps £1m of taxpayers money as a soother for the trauma they`ve already endured.

Threads like this are quite useful. They demonstrate who it's necessary to cross the street to avoid.

The line between fascist and anti-fascist is non existent as both are intolerant and exhibit a form of bigotry and the rest of us are caught in their petty crossfire. Just my view anyway.

I hope the new ambassador reads this thread!

What I want him to pay attention to:

1. The present and new ambassador both stressed that their job is to promote business and that they will not intervene in Thai politics or legal matters here. This basically all but abandons the average British Mr Smith that may have family here. Issues relating to being able to have permanent residence here (I am not talking about that 200,000 baht rubbish PR scheme), work permits for Brits, spouse and parent rights for Brits with Thai spouses and dependents. These issues mean a lot to the average Brit living working or retired in Thailand.

2. The Brits abroad are citizens of the UK and also VOTERS and there is a significant number of us here to warrant ACTION based on our needs and wants. We have/are still paying UK tax and this also adds weight to our voice.

3. The immigration system regarding bringing the Thai spouse and dependents of Brits to the UK (on a permanant basis) is not reasonable, not convenient and does put unfair barriers and burdens on British families. What is he going to do to fight for us? Such immigration policies remind me of echoes of BNP chants. I hope he will ensure that we do not feel such in the future.

4. Healthcare and pension rights and services for those who are of that age (I am not, but I am sure many are).

5. Swift, effective and powerful intervention in matters where crimes have been commited against Brits in Thailand. An impotent approach does not get my respect.

6. As far as I can remember, besides Spain, Thailand has the most number of Brits abroad - it is time our voice was heard and acted upon. Not the simple diplomatic BS of thank you for the comments and forget about us!

I could go on.

Your comments are very relevant but, unfortunately, we`re like the Forgotten Army here. If HM Government can avoid their responsibilities to us in order to save a few quid they will. If the UK secedes from the EU or the EU implodes it will be interesting to see whether reciprocal finanancial arrangements with former EU countries are kept in place.

That Indian guy did it. Else he who on run away.

If this had been Pattaya then ACCORDING to the police she would have committed suicide.

RIP

Do you know you`re replying to a farang pretending to be Thai? He`s already been rumbled.

`While Thai is an elegant and beautiful language`. Even after 23 years, to my ear it isn`t and the Bangkok/Nonthaburi accent is far from that description - you only have to hear some fish wife screeching away at her kids. If ASEAN did plump for a member language it would be one that used Roman characters because the Thai alphabet takes more than a while to learn. Thais are locked inside a language which although virtually grammar free is a puzzle to most foreigners and it was only after 2 years here that I could converse fluently. Business Thais realise that Thailand isn`t the centre of the universe and that there is a need to understand the global language which is English.

Always the best thing to do is tell the truth and pay what`s due. The immigration people aren`t stupid and if you play straight they remember and are more than willing to iron out any future problems. That`s been my experience anyway. Try to score petty points against them and it may well count against you in any dealings you have with them.

I feel sorry for him, there are a lot of people who prefer younger partners, I am sure its genetic just as it is for others such as gay, straight or whatever etc... He is being tried for something he has no control over. I would like to know why there is so much hatred in peoples posts, I notice quite a lot of over reactions.

He can just say no! Children are entitled to their childhood. It would appear some stones are being overturned here.

what is it with us brits......any trouble / fighting , I'm ashamed to say, 90% chance on us up to our necks in it......

I don`t think the Irish will thank you for referring to them as Brits!

I reckon that I have more chance of being killed in a terrorist attack in US / UK / France / Germany than in Thailand. Does anyone know if there are travel advisory warnings to these countries?

Double standards - no wonder Thais hate farangs.

I`ve been here a long time and never felt any hatred toward me from Thais nor have I seen them directing hatred toward other farangs. There WILL be some Thais who hate farangs just as there are people in other countries who hate incomers. Best not to generalise about a people though.