jshorts

It seems French visa councellor has no brain. He seems to be racist, he should be thrown out immediately as he is spoiling relations of French with all. My friend applied visa last year . He is a billionaire and was rejected without any good reason. He had business class tickets with bookings at the best hotels in France. People with no money from France can enter Thailand without visa and they create problems. We Asians with so much spending power are refused. We should together boycott French embassy for schengen visa.

Without understanding the particular reason for the visa denial, how can you assume that someone is racist?

so why you continue to fly Air Asia? Nothing worse than that. Nothing less flexible than this company. Close to a scam! Never ever anymore.

I rather pay 1,000 THB more and fly Bangkok Airways (with much greater flexibilty) than this stingy crooked organisation, which is only out for your money...

Why do you say this organization is crooked? Is that just your opinion or do you have proof?

Have someone help him.

Wonder how many males.

Three rehearsals of the April 9 funeral service for HRH Princess Bejaratana have been scheduled for this month.

Will alcohol be banned during the rehearsals???

I wonder why you ask this question. What difference could it possibly make to you?

If they ban alcohol for 3 days in mourning for someone very few people have ever heard of (including Thais by the way) how long will the period last when someone even more important passes away?

Patrick

I wonder why you are asking this question. What difference could it possibly make?

Looks like the year 2555 equates to 1812 in the West

They are so backwards looking they can almost see the future..

This is an unkind comment. If you don't like it here, why do you stay?

Can't believe no one commented on the crappy photo - is that supposed to represent the wild nightlife here?

I think it's a bit much to ask foreigners, especially those for whom the whole idea of royalty is anathema, to respect that instititution more than the locals do in practice. Those that put money above everything else are IMO just as unbalanced as those that think alcohol is so important, but no need to panic punters!

Perhaps some of the bigger massage and night clubs might close, but believe me, alcohol will be freely available at the smaller places that pay off the BiB, and there won't be any shortage of ladies offering their wares in the usual public places, and most of the behind-closed-doors front operations as well - coffee shops, barber shops and hair salons, smaller massage places, short-time hotels, blatant brothels, blow-job bars etc will still be operating as normal.

Just as true a face of Thailand as those (I suspect very few) genuinely mourning the loss of a princess.

If you choose to live here then you respect the laws of the country; you just have to not disrespect the institution of royalty.

Should read "half staff" not "half mast".

A well known American dictionary, Webster's, considers the words interchangeable, pointing out that half-mast (from the 1620s) is older than half-staff (which first appeared in the early 1700s.)

The Oxford Guide to Canadian English Usage rejects the argument that one of the terms should be restricted to ships. It says "half-mast and half-staff are both in common use for flags on land, and both terms are perfectly acceptable."

Show some respect people. This is Thailand for gods sake so respect the Royal family. If the tourists don't like it then tuff luck, go to Cambodia for a few days or Laos etc. or try to actually do something else rather then bar monger.

You people claim to live in this wonderful country that is ruled by a great Family yet you can't even respect when one of it's members dies and has a ceremony? King Rama 5 is and was a greatly respected King bye everyone including the present King so yes the Princess if their family also.

The article forgot to mention that they are asking that everyone dress in black on those days to show respect.

Do something positive for a change and if you do live here and see tourists that are a little discouraged try and help them by pointing them to venues that you might know of or suggest some other things for them to do. Make this a positive issue NOT a bar closer issue.

You should apply for a job at the tourist board, as to respect surely it comes down to choice rather than enforced!

I am unclear why you feel it should not be enforced.

Many aspects of societal respect are enforced by law.

All those people who had saved all year for your one week holiday in Thailand, ha ha a lot of sex tourist will have to buy a magazine and spend thier time in the hotel rooms alone. No girls, no booze and no party for you.

You forgot to mention "no guys."

The question is do they have a choice in the matter-- answer no! Do they get compensated for loss of earnings-- answer no! is there any consideration for the effect that this will have on businesses-- answer no! Has this been particularly well thought out-- answer no!

Kindly clarify why you feel this has not been "particularly well thought out."

Out of respect for the Royal Family during a Royal period it is reasonable to request that these businesses close. There are many places in the world where businesses are closed by law on official holidays.

Please clarify why you say they should decline.

A good way to look at many things in Thailand is that Thai's are present tense people. They do not think in the future and I am not saying this in a negative way. It's the truth. This is why you see many thai's on motorcycles just turn onto a street without looking etc.

Same as when tourism is slow and Hotels have very few customers the will raise the price of the rooms thinking that they have to make the money up somehow with so few customers instead of thing that they should be lowering the prices in order to attract more customers.

That's why many food stalls, markets etc. try to charge more for a farang thinking it's better to take the extra 10 baht now instead of thinking you might possibly be a future customer if they don't cheat you.

They are not trying to be mean to us as many people here think. It is their upbringing from their school days and the fact that the Thai's do not uses future tense words of have future tense in their grammar. Only when they are being taught by farangs does "tenses" come into their grammar for the furst time.

Does Thai have past tense?

Thai has both future nd past tense - botht through context and words such as 'ja' and 'leow'.

My question was really directed at the poster who said that Thai does not have tenses.

The weather, food and the ladies, what else does one need? especially us oldies.

. . . and the men.

The number one reason most expats are here is simply because it is cheap. Warm weather, pretty woman, friendly people are secondary.

Handsome men, too.

A good way to look at many things in Thailand is that Thai's are present tense people. They do not think in the future and I am not saying this in a negative way. It's the truth. This is why you see many thai's on motorcycles just turn onto a street without looking etc.

Same as when tourism is slow and Hotels have very few customers the will raise the price of the rooms thinking that they have to make the money up somehow with so few customers instead of thing that they should be lowering the prices in order to attract more customers.

That's why many food stalls, markets etc. try to charge more for a farang thinking it's better to take the extra 10 baht now instead of thinking you might possibly be a future customer if they don't cheat you.

They are not trying to be mean to us as many people here think. It is their upbringing from their school days and the fact that the Thai's do not uses future tense words of have future tense in their grammar. Only when they are being taught by farangs does "tenses" come into their grammar for the furst time.

Does Thai have past tense?

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.

The fact that it wouldn't be acceptable among western nations has nothing whatever to do with Thailand. You're in Thailand not in the west. There are many things done in many countries around the world that wouldn't be acceptable in the west. If the OP finds it unacceptable Thailand is not short of alternative hotels.

"if the OP finds it unacceptable, there are many other countries in the world the OP might find more welcoming."

Good advice, go play football, get strong, fit, and maybe then you will attract a hot girl for sex.

. . . or a hot guy.

Yea, Russian Tour company goes bankrupt and stands hundreds of tourists; Aussie Airline goes bankrupt and strands hundreds of tourists: it's a good thing that the TAT assures everyone that tourism in Thailand is going great and numbers are increasing--or one might just be a bit worried!

Didn't the Russian government stump up the money in the end to cover repatriation of tourists???

Please provide the link. I would enjoy reading about this.

Early this morning on Melbourne radio I heard that they were still selling tickets up to 8.00 pm last night.They must have known what was about to happen.

And your point is . . .

[Yes, true, but it seems that some kind of a bond or other insurance type of guarantee should have been in place in case something like this happened. The deregulation in Oz and other places (the US too decades ago) has been good, but there has to be oversight and responsibility as well. I think a lot of people assume that there is such a system in place, especially older people. Requiring a $1 million or $5 million bond, whatever the amount, would ensure that the customer was taken care of, and tickets home paid for.

I think the airline does have some kind of responsibility to their customers to at least ensure they get home.

Regarding bond: I agree.

Regarding responsibility: I am unclear what you are suggesting the cashless airline does at this point.

You normally get slugged with a online booking fee, not a 2% fee.

I am under the impression that you must pay a surcharge if you *don't* book online.

the airline never should have been launched if it was obliged to pay Australian wages to all its staff.

They also could never compete with Air Asia's service.

Apparently the owner of the company felt otherwise.

Sad news. What always gets me is it happens overnight-surely for weeks they knew cash was low and they couldn't pay the fuel bill, but probably sold tickets last night.

I really hope the other carriers will step up and offer low rates for these pax who are stranded. I really think any Govt should mandate a fair fare in these extreme times when a carrier goes bust.

You want the Government to get yet more involved in private business affairs? Should the Government get involved in all bankruptcies?

Why would any carrier want to step up and offer an unprofitable ticket to anyone?