laobali

The double pricing and showing no price on markets will soon be over, then Thailand is full of shoppingmalls from Central with only big shops left.

The not obeying trafficrules and being selfish on the roads will also stop one day when Thailand gets real policemen. Nobody likes to be hurt in an accident. I see more rich Thai biking now, that is a good sign.

Thailand is just still an undeveloped 3rd world country on many fronts, there is enough money these days so it is just a matter of time before civilisation kicks in.

I have been hearing about Thailand is undeveloped country since I was born. I mean can you or anyone explain what is considered developed country?

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Thailand is a developing country, not 'undeveloped'; there's a difference. It's behind some other developing countries and ahead of others - inside and outside Asia. There is no completely developed country and probably never will be. You really need to visit a so-called developed country to see the difference immediately. The UK, Western Europe/Scandinavia, the US & Canada, Australia & New Zealand I would say are the most developed countries where the infrastructure covers most of the country and not just big cities as in less-developed areas. Civil services and utilities basically work as they should.

There's much more, but I'm sure others can contribute.

It seems people complain quite often the things they dislike in Thailand including sin sot, loud music, double pricing, driving, poor customer services, and so on. My question is simple, are you fitting into Thailand or do you want Thailand to fit into you?

For some it wouldn't matter if they are in Thailand, Disneyland, or farangland, they will always complain, they are not happy unless they are whinging.

And what better place to do it than at ThaiVisa!

Actually the list is not very accurate.

They forgot to count those Thai politicians and military big wigs with cash stashed in offshore accounts and under their beds.

You'd be surprised what you can find under their beds.

Or who they're in bed with (figuratively).

disgusting

Not clever or corrupt enough, but still envious?

The stupidest thing you have done is post here after suffering for 4 days. I'm one of those who occasionally gets the squirts, takes an imodium and waits a day before everything's right again. The added aches and pains and keeping foods and liquids down would make me think that this time it might be more serious than food poisoning. A clinic is not a sensible option. They usually just guess at the problem and sell medicine. Make the effort and go to a proper hospital today.

Another point I was trying to make and see if anyone had any insights into it. Why with Lao being such a poor country, do the people seem to have a more worldy view on things..( I am not talking about poor farmer Lao') but for instance the Rich "educated" Lao I know are much more familiar with many things international while the rich "educated" not so much

In Lao (at least Vientiane where most of the rich/educated are) the only rich who are also 'educated and worldly' were/are being sent overseas for their education/training. They are a pretty small percentage of the whole population. Not so different in that respect from Thailand and its elite.

Money was not an issue for me...I became tired of the daily routine...drinking...chasing women...fighting traffic...getting ripped off...being seen as a walking ATM machine...the language barrier...the corruption at every level...being portrayed in the media as moronic villains...immigration...banking...Thai politics...did I miss anything?

Not much, except that I think it applies to much of the sub-region, not just Thailand.

^ Goes for a born-again single retiree too.

It sounds like the job netted the crooks/police/spotter/tuktuk driver a net of 9800.

Or maybe the police laughed because they're surprised that the lad endangered his personal safety with such ease.

Or they didn't understand a word he said (Danish) and were smiling to be friendly and not lose face.

He would almost certainly have spoken in good English, but that would have made no difference.

In the Thai press, they report this family holds important positions in the Democrat Party in Pak Kred (Nonthaburi). This is where the arrested "lawyer's" registered address is.

Here is his graduation photo on a Thammasat website.

Which one is he?

Don't want to accidentally hire him, as he probably isn't in jail and won't be convicted.

No. 27 (The guy that looks like a thug).

27 was my first guess with 17 next.

“He also told the staff that the money was from a politician who wanted to exchange money quietly. So, the money exchange staff felt that there had to be something wrong."

Yes, but what?

Love this story.

It's not the same a Buddhist country where it is safe, Muslim majority in Indonesia for population 200 Miilions people and some church are been burn down and 1997 Indonesia Chinese have been killed and rape during Asia economy crisis, even it offer free for 100 years visa I don't even bother it.

What percentage of Thais do you think are actually practising Buddhists? Thailand has a poor record for violence due to personal/business disputes, robbery, jealousy etc. Agree Thailand is generally safe for foreigners but you do have to have your wits about you, can't wander around with your 'eyes closed'. 24 UK female nationals alone required Embassy support due to reported sexual assaults in 2012.

Indo government has one of the best records of any country in the world for countering and supressing Islamic extremism. Remember the massacre of the PKI Communists in the mid 1960s? One of the worst areas for the killings was in Hindu, Bali. Time Magazine hailed the suppression of the PKI as 'the Wests best news for years in Asia".

What is a practicing Buddhist?

One who hasn't mastered it yet!

What is going on with spate of suicides of late? I know clinical depression is a killer though it seems to be on a daily basis. So sad for the codger and his family. If you're feeling down anybody, let someone know. In fact all your friends or even on TV. Their is a severe lack of help in Thailand for the I'll. Please reach out you will be surprised how many out here care.

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As bad as it seems here to some.

What's waiting back home for a 64 year old guy? Bingo?

I don't know about you but I have family,( Children, grand kids and 5 great grand kids) a home back in Canada plus enjoy fishing, skiing, camping, skidooing 4wheeling etc. Last year when I was a little bored, I undertook a trip up into the NWT and Whitehorse etc. 3 years earlier, I took a drive to the East Coast, Canada along with the USA has much to offer, all you have to do is go out and enjoy it. There are so many thing to do and enjoy I'm over 64 and and still looking for new places to visit and things to see. My bucket list still has a few items in it and hopefully will never empty. There is still Africa and South America to visit and explore.So don't let a number like (64) stop you. Enjoy life, it's yours.

Have you never feel like useless? That your view are outdated? That nobody cares about you?

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Yes, but that's the time to move on to a new life, not cop out. There is still greener grass out there - somewhere. Unless you're absolutely destitute (which he doesn't seem to have been, but again, who knows?). His choice as I see it.

Just waiting to hear all the accusations that his Thai gf drained his bank ac, stole everything from him and kicked him out of the new house he bought her

Might even be true. Who knows and does it matter?

^ Codger: Inappropriate here, even for an Oz. Patronising to say the least. Derives from 'coffin dodger'.

As bad as it seems here to some.

What's waiting back home for a 64 year old guy? Bingo?

Plenty if you only look for it. A previous poster felt sad for "the old codger" A 'codger' at 64? Definition: (derogatory or affectionate) an amusingly eccentric, grumpy or old-fashioned old man. Doesn't seem to apply in this case at all.

I see life as divided into thirds - up to 30, up to 60 and whatever's left which is quite possibly 90 or more. I recently began my final third and I'm optimistic it will be the best one, because I want it to be. There have been times when I have felt otherwise, but right now my 'tank' has been refilled to a third full and it's enough!

Whatever happened in that man's life has no bearing or reason for comment on anyone not involved in it. He may have decided to do this on the spur of the moment, or had it planned beforehand. Who (among us commenting here) will ever know? Plenty of people, men, women and even children all over the world are driven to taking their own lives for a multitude of reasons (all intensely personal). Clinical depression is brought on by personal dissatisfaction with one's life. It seems to be on the increase in more 'developed' countries, as for that matter is clinical obesity (caused mainly by overeating unhealthy food), and I think the one is related to the other.

I somehow doubt there will be effective solutions (prescribed drugs may help) because the real answer lies within oneself: discipline, particularly self-discipline. It's not taught in schools and several generations of parents spoiling their children by giving in to their every whim seem to be aware of it. Taking the easy way out. There are good parents everywhere of course and I am generalising, so don't take offence if you are the exception.

I'm not going to wish the trite (some think obligatory) RIP to people, few if any of us here know, who have just died. It's a bit pathetic.

What exactly do you mean by "rich"? perhaps you could give us some numbers for context.

Also, perhaps I am being a bit dim, but doesn't online selling involve holding stock of some sort? where does this fit into your master plan?

Finally, why are you incapable of setting up your own website?

Just curious.

Better stick to plumbing. No perhaps about it.

It is very plain to me that the tour bus driver either gunned down the motorcyclist from the rear or that he sideswiped him. Too many times here in Pattaya I've had tour buses go right at me either from the front or the rear. Not to mention a friend who is now brain damaged due to a tour bus colliding with his motorbike as he was taking his son to the Siricha Tiger Zoo.

The huge proliferation of tour buses, is due mostly to what I call "The Fearless Leader Kick Back to Beijing Syndrome". First off here in Pattaya I've noticed that nearly all passengers in the tour buses prowling around at night in search of restaurants, shopping and entertainment spots are Chinese. Each of these tour buses has a guide. Whenever possible he is going to direct the bus and his passengers to favored designations whose owners kick back commissions to him for whatever his passengers buy. He in turn sends the kickbacks to his bosses in China. I even had a Thai beer bar owner tell me that one night a Chinese man ventured into her bar. She asked him if he wanted a beer, and he said he had to wait until the tour guide came. When the fearless leader came in with the rest of his Chinese Army he asked the bar owner for a special price for his minions---120 baht a beer. The bar owner was selling beer for 80 baht so the tour guide was going to spit the overcharge with her.

This of course is being done all over Asia. Back in 1983 I got pretty close to our young Hong Kong tour guide who accompanied us to Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok. He'd take us to all these little cultural outings many of which we actually in the tour brochure. For example there was glass blowing and a Jade handicrafts factory, and naturally there was a small showroom where the tourists could all buy glass and jade items at inflated prices. But Larry didn't get to keep all the kickbacks for himself. His boss back in Hong Kong got to rake it all in to help him pay for his two Rolls Royces he had at his large home on Victoria Peak.

Needless to say with the huge explosion of Chinese tourists we can expect a lot more deaths to be dealt out by these irresponsible tour bus drivers not to mention the huge traffic congestion that is only going to get worse as the number of Chinese tourists continues to explode. Right now there's about an equal number of Russian tourists as there are Chinese. The difference is you won't see many Russians on these tour buses that have become a scourge to Thailand's cities.

"Needless to say" (but you did anyway).

So what's the solution? Ban tour buses, tour guides or tourists altogether - particularly Chinese ones? Or motorbikes?

Go with the charcoal plan to your friends. If they still won't give you money, I bet at least one will offer you a lighter.

This video has been making the rounds this week, kinda pinpoints truck drivers attitudes towards safe driving.

Must admit I enjoyed the ending; size does count! Guess I've spent too much time on Thai roads to be shocked. The video team certainly had a good laugh. Maybe that says it all.

Someone fell asleep at the wheel again ...

How many of these accidents have to happen before they learn ?

Who's even counting?

I hope she beats you senseless just for being such a pussy

If you did a bit of research you'd see they both have the same type of 'fur'.

"... nor hell a fury like [another] woman scorned" - especially a Thai tom!

I think the PP option is best. As others have said, she can't know anything beyond the international departures gate.

Best of luck to the OP.

Be more competitive.

Lower your prices.

Offer better service.

Then people will start using your services again.

..and re-launch the BKK-ATH route..

Couldn't they get a foothold into Manchester ??---Emirates and Etihad Turkish etc all doing well, WHY should they go there ?? they have the edge--NON STOP.

You really think there's enough traffic to fill a direct flight between MAN and BKK - even without the Gulf operators?

Why not start with a hamster and work your way up?

ummmm.. a thought occurred to me( no, I'm not thai).....if people stopped renting these jetskis wouldn't the problem stop completely?...too simplistic perhaps

Great thinking. If people stopped driving there would be no road accidents either.

As others have posted your Australian passport when departing Australia is not stamped and also on arrival, however if you want a stamp or think you need one you will be given one on request. I have entered many countries including Thailand for years without departure stamp in my Australian passport.

UK won't stamp even if you ask for it.

At least Thais arnt dumb enough to write in to the media with RIP everytime someone is killed whether they know them or not.

Exactly. What would the OP's reaction have been if she had sent a similar message to him commiserating the death(s) of some unknown farang somewhere? And then questionning or judging his reaction as if he represented all farang.

Why? They have been living with the Chinese for hundreds of years.

Suddenly, they remembered to get angry with the tourists?

Even the Chines Thais complain about the Chinese tourists! I watched a Chinese family's kid squat and take a dump on the pavement by the moat road! A group of Chinese rented motor bikes and there wasn't enough helmets to go around for the pillion passengers so they just started taking helmets from other bike parked near by! It's true to say they're not very popular in CM I'm afraid

This is not just when travelling. When I visited the Forbidden City in Beijing there was a mother who pulled down her son's pants to let him take a dump in the middle of the crowds. She did have the courtesy to place a paper plate under him though, so she's got that going for her, which is nice...

She was obviously from a good family.... When you see the Chinese tourists it does make you wonder if that one child law is still in place as they do seem to have a few nippers about them

If it was only a paper plate (not china ) she was only low class. By the way, I wonder what she did with the plate of poop.