JingerBen

Work, masturbate.

Masturbate???? I thought that was only for frustrated people.

You misunderstood him.

He meant work for Master Bates.

I like it!

Sure you do!

Too bad she didn't go all the way... beaver, split-beaver, and then the Grand Finale, a live show.

Traffic police checkpoints in Chiang Mai... Google maps.

This is a useful resource to help you avoid traffic congestion and the possibility of being waylaid by these highwaymen.

The colonel said this lawyer will be considered an undesirable person for the country, he said.

Since when is it the decision of an army to consider someone an undesirable person?

Be careful... you might be next.

Quiet frankly the whole shebang is Vague, we started out with a protest against the Amnesty Bill ending up with a caretaker government, elections in Feb, a boycotting democrat party, Rice farmers protesting , Suthep protesting (Still), people being shot and Thaskin Shinawatra dinning at the Hilton in Dubai, no wounder the Army is vague , trying to fathom the next move is like winning lotto ,now that's much easier.

Vague?

Thaksin Shinawatra is still in power and that is what is driving the protests.

What is vague about that?

It's crystal-clear and everything else is just smoke 'n mirrors.

'In power' we are on the verge of a 'power' eradicating a whole political party...again!....you guys are so dim!

Is it a political party, or is it organized criminality that is being eradicated?

Quiet frankly the whole shebang is Vague, we started out with a protest against the Amnesty Bill ending up with a caretaker government, elections in Feb, a boycotting democrat party, Rice farmers protesting , Suthep protesting (Still), people being shot and Thaskin Shinawatra dinning at the Hilton in Dubai, no wounder the Army is vague , trying to fathom the next move is like winning lotto ,now that's much easier.

Vague?

Thaksin Shinawatra is still in power and that is what is driving the protests.

What is vague about that?

It's crystal-clear and everything else is just smoke 'n mirrors.

According to the 1812 Overture played at the end of the video, it appears these idiots are trying to equate their protest with the battle of Waterloo. The fact is that most of them would not have heard of the Battle of Waterloo.

The way forward to seek a solution to this political crisis is a compromise. The winner takes all attitudes will not gain any resolves to this problem. This has to be dealt with in a civilised manner, at the discussion levels and chewed over at the negotiating table, not by rule of mob protests and threats.

Diplomacy has to be used as a tool for negotiating alliances, treaties, and agreements. And while the yellow shirts continue to push their cause using threats and mob handed tactics in order to make their case, than they will never archive International approval or gain the respect and be recognised as a credible party by the majority of Thai people.

The Shinawatra Clan are organized crime.

The only offers they'll make are the ones you can't refuse.

Stay completely out of those places unless you have ten big Swedish friends with you.

I'd like to see ten of those tiny shit punks try that on me in the US.

Even ten big Swedes wouldn't have been enough.

He was up against the entertainment mafia in cahoots with the cops.

Push them too far and you'll end up a "suicide".

He's downstairs buying food now.

And we'll get an update tomorrow on how he passed it.

In all fairness to JingleBells and Fifty-two, let me say that yes, there is a possibility that we could be violating some rule with our club's music playing, and there is a possibility that we could have difficulties. Who really knows? We've been shown no proof of it. There is a possibility that we could get hit by lightning when we walk in the rain. There has been proof of that. There is a possibility that the plane I fly on could crash. There has been proof of that. There is the possibility that I could get trampled by an elephant. There has been proof of that. I've even seen that one happen to a nasty mahout in Mae Rim myself. There are myriad dangers everywhere in this world...

...but I refuse to live my life hiding under a rock trying to avoid them. That is NOT how I choose to live. I will not stay indoors just because it's raining. I will not refuse to fly just because there have been plane crashes in the past. I will not stop interacting with elephants because someone was once trampled. And I will not stop playing music with friends because (you say) there is a possibility of difficulties.

There is no such thing as 'security' in anything other than one's self. In 1957 a very wise woman said;

"Security is mostly a superstition. Security does

not exist in nature, nor do the children of men

as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no

safer in the long run than outright exposure.

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."

It was Helen Keller who said that. If a blind and deaf woman can live her life like that, there is no reason I can't. You may wish to live your life differently. That is your choice to make. But to me, life is for living. Not something to hide from. We all make our own choices.

I hereby declare you the winner.

Your diarrhoea of words has won the debate... but what has it done to poor Diddl? I think it has spooked her into gettin' outta Dodge.

Are you still here Diddl? Sorry that we ran your topic off the rails!

You can come back anytime now.

Your post was concise and to the point; in stark contrast to FolkGuitar, a notorious gasbag, whose free-associative rambling can so easily be mistaken for intellect.

Please sir... just one citation to back up what you say. Attack me all you'd like, but provide proof of your allegations about police activities while you're at it..

I realize that you don't like my posts. I can live with that. But do you think you might provide just a little bit of fact that can shore up your comments? I won't ask for a lot of facts. One or two would be helpful... It would show us that at the very least, you aren't a raving paranoid.

We already know about the group that was arrested. Those with expired visas were charged with visa violations and expelled from the Kingdom. Everyone else was released. NO ONE was charged with working illegally in Thailand.

Neither the 'real' police nor the 'real' Immigration officers have ever arrested nor deported people jamming together for fun. Never. And certainly not members of a hobby group playing together.

Just one citation backing up what you say will be all it will take to get me to apologize to you.

Chiang Mai is not a frightful place in which to live, even for guitar players.

Your pettifogging insistence on "citations" obscures the main point of this discussion; and that is the existence of a well-connected entertainment mafia in Chiang Mai.

The second point is how they deal with people who encroach on their turf.

Do you want me to solve the hundreds of suspicious deaths of foreigners here in the past 30+ years? You don't have to be a "raving paranoid" to wonder what happened to them, and what percentage met their fate because they didn't have sense enough to keep a low profile while pursuing their work or pleasure. Take care, Dorothy, this ain't Kansas.

It may well be that in the not too distant future - as Thailand becomes more and more like Kansas - friends can jam together in public places, and that foreign musicians with the proper permits will be able to play anywhere. But those days are yet to come. The old dinosaurs aren't completely extinct, and to think that they are is willful ignorance.

There are many falangs playing regular gigs at restaurants and bars. Get out and have a look around. Things did go quiet a few years ago when there were those couple of raids but there has been nothing since.

Your post was concise and to the point;

You say that there are many farangs playing gigs around town. OK, I'll take your word for it and won't ask who they are and where they are playing. Publicity might be bad for their health.

You seem to be familiar with the current scene; but your assumption that the last draconian crackdown was a one-off occurrence, an anomaly, betrays a limited perspective.

Police activity has always gone in cycles here. Strict enforcement, followed by periods of relative leniency. Another crackdown will come. You can bet the ranch on it.

These cycles are interspersed with the occasional gangland-style killing. If you were here in the late '70s you will remember the Kanchana Cafe on Tha Phae, and JoJo their American [if I recall correctly] guitarman who was found floating in that open sewer that used to be the Kampang Din moat. His wrIsts were handcuffed behind his back, but his death was ruled a suicide. The lesson wasn't lost on the owners, who never hired another farang musician. It was Thais only until the place closed down a few years later.

This incident and subsequent "suicides" convinced me that underestimating the authorities and the various organized crime groups here could have deadly consequences.

Farangs playing music in public venues can be a risky business.

Thai performers don't like competition from foreigners, and will do what is necessary to eliminate it.

The unholy trinity of the entertainment industry, organized crime, and police, are best left unprovoked here in Chiang Mai.

If the urge to play becomes irrepressible, then appear like a flash mob, as though it were spontaneous. Don't perform at the same place regularly, or you will be asking for trouble. It doesn't matter if you are facing the audience, or facing the wall; sooner or later you will be facing the music.

'Sigh...' Perhaps YOU would like to provide a citation for the comment that 'Immigration police routinely arrest and deport foreign musicians in CM for working without work permits.' It seems that FiftyTwo was unable to do so.

Or even YOUR comment that 'Farangs playing music in public venues can be a risky business.'

We are well aware of what went on when the police arrested the musicians who were;

Performing on stage

Bragging on the Internet about making lots of money playing in Thailand

Bragging locally about making lots of money playing in bars in Chiang Mai

and doing it all with expired visas, to say nothing of work permits.

We KNOW that the people who were deported were deported for not having valid visas. They were NOT deported for working without permits.

And there has been an active folk music group playing in that same place on the same day every week for the past fifteen years...

Get a grip, man! The sky is NOT falling!

While it's possible that the immigration police may stop by, we all have valid visas... We are not 'working,' we are not 'performing,' we are not even 'volunteering.' We are a club that meets to share our hobby with other club members. No Thai law against that. Not even a little one.

Unless you'd care to share the citation that says otherwise?

Everything I said stands. You haven't convincingly refuted anything.

Just because your visas are in order doesn't mean dick.

If you play a regular gig anywhere in the city you're going to get lessons from Thais that you won't forget anytime soon.

I know what you were thinking. You were hoping to spend some time with some cute Thai girls ooying and ahing over your adorable child while you starred at their cleavage and when that did not happen you got pissed off and mutilated your child's hair at home and then took yet another long shower.

Cleavage,,,,,,,,Thailand.......your kidding right?

Cleavage,,,,,,,,Thailand.......you're kidding right?

Is that what you meant?

If you've never seen tits in Thailand, you haven't been looking in the right places.

I jam with friends, and never in bars or clubs. Never amplified, never paid, don't even get free sodas. We're just a small group of friends playing together.

I was convinced I had seen you jamming in CU corner.

Probably the Garden too.

Sorry, must have confused you with someone else.

I've never played music in CU Corner. In fact, I have NEVER even been inside CU Corner.

Yes... I guess you have confused me with someone else.

I have been in the Garden Guest House. I've sat at a table at the side of the restaurant area with friends and played music. We are a club meeting there to play together. Never played amplified on their stage, nor been employed by them to play. These days we play for a couple of hours in the afternoons. We don't play for an audience; we play for ourselves. Most of us aren't even facing the other tables. We aren't even volunteering. Just club members sharing music.

But you didn't provide a citation for your comment that 'Immigration police routinely arrest and deport foreign musicians in CM for working without work permits.' Do you have one?

Farangs playing music in public venues can be a risky business.

Thai performers don't like competition from foreigners, and will do what is necessary to eliminate it.

The unholy trinity of the entertainment industry, organized crime, and police, are best left unprovoked here in Chiang Mai.

If the urge to play becomes irrepressible, then appear like a flash mob, as though it were spontaneous. Don't perform at the same place regularly, or you will be asking for trouble. It doesn't matter if you are facing the audience, or facing the wall; sooner or later you will be facing the music.

Diddl, welcome to the new Chiang Mai.

But chere, you've come a little late. You should have been here when... no, forget it.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Here in Thailand it's pronounced 'elf an' safety'.

Don't be put off by the righteous satang counters here, reality is that she would not have lost anything, any cashier always has a little coins buffer because people leave small coins behind all the time. In the US you see it as "give a penny take a penny", In thailand you don't but is there anyway.

Nobody in Thailand makes a fuss for 15 satangs, she wanted to give you a bad time and surely had resentment toward foreigners.

Are you serious? Now the race card.

This is too funny.

That she had "...resentment toward foreigners" before this happened is not certain.

That she has it now, almost surely is.

Like Barretta said; "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."

I got stopped the other day. The cop checked my license (Thai,) my tax sticker (valid,) my insurance papers (under my seat,) my passport copy (with me,) smiled, pointed at my helmet and said 'Thank you, Mister' and sent me on my way. I smiled back and rode off. A full minute or two out of my day, nothing more. Cops doing their job.

Good for you!

I'll bet you were the teacher's pet in school.

Nah... the teachers don't have pets. They have students who follow the rules and students who break the rules. Just like society.

Usually the students who break the rules call the other students names. I wonder why that is?

Most people follow the rules. A few think the rules don't apply to them. I wonder why that is?

When those people get caught breaking the rules, they tend to get very indignant. I wonder why that is?

I think you're going to fit in well here in Thai Visa. But I don't wonder why that is...

Teachers do have pets... and when they grow up they usually become the people who willingly drink the Kool-Aid.

Like Barretta said; "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."

I got stopped the other day. The cop checked my license (Thai,) my tax sticker (valid,) my insurance papers (under my seat,) my passport copy (with me,) smiled, pointed at my helmet and said 'Thank you, Mister' and sent me on my way. I smiled back and rode off. A full minute or two out of my day, nothing more. Cops doing their job.

Good for you!

I'll bet you were the teacher's pet in school.

Shakespeare walks into a bar. The barman shouts" Get out you're Bard"

I have loads of these and will post them unless you send me money

How much?

Australians aren't so much low-class as they are middleclass.

Middleclass mediocrity pervades the society and characterizes the people.

Nothing wrong with being in the middle.

I guess not, if that's where you want to be.

Australians aren't so much low-class as they are middleclass.

Middleclass mediocrity pervades the society and characterizes the people.