bikerider21

Strange how people keep pushing democracy like it's a magic word.

Paying for votes is definitely not democracy.

When 90% of Americans are in favour of something but it's blocked by people who get paid by big business, that's definitely not democracy.

But people still use the word as it seems to cover up a multitude of sins.

Effective law enforcement and penalties would make drivers fearful so
they will stop ignoring laws. Some European countries succeeded in
reducing their road tolls after they forced drivers to slow down and
policed traffic laws more strictly, she added.

Wow! Wonder if she has just finished a degree course or she just found out what job she was being paid for all this time.

1000B for not wearing a helmet and 5000B for second offence will see everyone wearing helmets and so on for drunken and reckless driving.

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I couldn't find it....

I get frustrated by the apparent custom in Bangkok of sticking your head in a taxi, telling the driver where you want to go, then getting his assent or "permission" before getting in.

In my bull-in-a-china-shop style, I would not do this if traveling alone. I would just get in & insist on being taken to my destination. But 99% of the time, I'm with my wife & I cannot break her of this habit. The end result, of course, is that maybe 40% of the time, the driver doesn't care to go where we're going, and he'll drive up the road a bit & pick up somebody else.

I keep explaining to my wife that a driver, on duty, has to take you where you want... failure to do so is a reportable offense. But in her non-confrontational style, this makes no impact on her. She'll say "the driver is at the end of his shift" or "he's headed home" and our destination is out of his way. My retort, of course, that as long as his red sign is on, that means he's on duty and is obligated to honor his fare.

My issue perhaps is not so much with the driver as with my wife. After trial-and-error over the years, I'm not going to push her into a confrontation with a fellow Thai; this is abhorrent to her, I've done it to her in the past & always regret it. Then she reads stories about taxi drivers shooting their passenger & she's pretty sure we'll be the next victim. I have no fears on that line whatsoever, but it's no help in dealing with female logic.

I don't think this is always a matter of the driver wanting to go a longer distance for more fare; our rides will be upward of 100 baht which I consider to be an average intra-city taxi ride. And it's not a matter of using the meter or not; they always do & this isn't an issue. I think the driver's concern might be traffic congestion, or the likelihood of getting another fare after dropping us off (normally at a mall, or at our home in an Onnut moo baan.)

Has anyone found a diplomatic way of bridging this gap between driver & the Thai wife/gf?

I feel sorry for all the guys who have to pay for their wifes/GF. I would only consider marriage with a girl 10X richer than me and if this means spending my life on my own so be it

I feel sorry for all the guys who have to pay for their wifes/GF. I would only consider marriage with a girl 10X richer than me and if this means spending my life on my own so be it

I see. constant lane changing with no indicators, overshooting red lights by several seconds (I count) pulling out into fast traffic every day and each time I say the same thing "where are the police?)

I could stand at a red light with a video camera and within half an hour would have enough evidence to prosecute most of the drivers photographed. If I took this to the police would they do anything? Maybe put me in jail.

What's the use in spending money for more channels when with their miniture antenna, the programs crash every time it gets a bit cloudy? Luckily I have cable and fixed and variable receivers which do not loose the signal when it rains. It's still very annoying when you're in the middle of a program though. Still, you can watch it again a day later and sometimes the day after that (if its not raining, that is)

Big strong Vikings in horned helmets. He'll probably wish he was back in a Thai prison.

It might be a drastic measure but these days we need drastic measures. To stop populism which is basically 100 Baht to all illiterates to place their X in the preferred box the votes should be given to people who at least have a basic understanding of what they are voting for and why they are voting.

OK, voting is already too complicated for some people and it ponders the question if these people should be voting in the first place.

Why not use a simple form with 10 basic but poignant multichoice questions with a pass rate of 7 out of 10. If the people cannot even read or tick the correct boxes, then they shouldn't be allowed to vote. The same questionnaire should be tried on all politicians who must score 10 out of 10.

This can also be tried in other countries e.g. in the US the first question could be "Can you name a country beginning with U". This would stop many people voting who only vote for the prettiest face or "Prolife".

Does anyone have anything positive to add instead of opinionated crap?

A hot head like that should not be allowed to carry a gun!

Why become police men/women if you can't use your authority now and again to get back at crooked car dealers?

In my opinion, no one should carry a gun. They didn't in my day, that's for sure.

If they don't get what they want with supposedly honest people, god help the criminals...

Someone, please go and dust off any law anywhere, that forbids people from inciting civil war.

There has to be something somewhere, or did they forget to write that one?????

Think it's called Treason...

Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a lesser superior was petty treason. A person who commits treason is known in law as a traitor.

Statements,counter statements, petty squabbles... It would be good if people would keep unqualified opinions to themselves and only comment if they have something constructive to say. That way, the Thai Visa site might do what it was originally intended for, to inform people.

What about the 10 people instead of 6? In my hotel, we've had people booking a room for 2 people then on the CCTV, we see the remaining family members sneaking into the room. The guest is then asked to book more rooms or leave which usually finishes with the people leaving because the scam didn't work. The tuk tuk driver should have counted the people before he started off (which I'm sure he did) and informed of the price change at the start, not at the end but taxi drivers are the same the world over, "greedy" and in most cases the passenger pays up. The Egyptian should have paid the 300B and waked away. He's from Egypt for heavens sake. He should be well aware of taxi scams. Not sure you would get this amount of publicity (bad for tourism and all that) in Cairo.

This is what the US has to deal with thanks to its record of aggression and asserting itself on smaller countries. This mission was most likely in good faith and would have been beneficial to the causes of science and environmentalism, but the world is simply wary and distrustful of the US, Thailand included. I'm American, but the truth is obvious even to me.

I agree but I am not sure that the intent of the mission was to benefit science. The photo on the front page of the BKK Post showed the supposed weather plane. They used to be called U2s during the Cold War and their purpose was far from being weather data collection

Thought they were our ally!

Has no one thought of the tourists? Friends of mine have stopped coming to Thailand in favour of Cambodia and Vietnam. They got tired of being kicked out at only 2 in the morning and having to drink alcohol from tea cups.

The whole reason for Pattaya's existence is tourism (sex). I haven't been down for a while though so it may have changed.

.........Wait.........something is wrong here!...........This is far too logical a decision for Thailand!

Hardly logical - it just pisses international travellers off, as they now have to travel across BKK to get a domestic flight!?

It may well benefit 'in-country' travel, but doesn't help anyone else.

And as mentioned above, it is probably a tactic to move Air-Asia away from Suvarnabhumi to help Thai Airways get a larger chunk of profits from people who don't have time to travel across town to catch a connecting flight.

Jokers...

In KL, AA have their own terminal on the fringes. Seems to work great. People can still choose. Not me though. I hate AA.

There's a lot of garbage being written on this subject, GMM have the rights. End of story.

It's normal practise in the West for major players such as Sky TV to bid for the rights and retain them.

It's called business.

FIFA and UEFA, along with F1 and the IOC are the sharpest operators in the World of TV rights. True have come up against the real big boys and lost.

Sounds like a quote from the Godfather.

When Thailand stops operating like greedy American companies and starts to apply Thai compassion, all the better.

I refuse to buy a box from GMM but in the same time I realize that I with action I loose my matches but that is my problem and not a GMM mistake. True proved to be a company who is only in it for the money ( which is also allowed ) Time to look for another provider and with me I hope many will do the same. Suggestions on alternatives are welcome

I refuse to buy a box from GMM but in the same time I realize that I with action I loose my matches but that is my problem and not a GMM mistake. True proved to be a company who is only in it for the money ( which is also allowed ) Time to look for another provider and with me I hope many will do the same. Suggestions on alternatives are welcome

Done it already. Switched over my hotel completely to cable.

Can you also please inform your readers that they must never post their passport from Thailand to any other country for any reason

It seems this guy isn't aware that we have to send passports to Hong Kong. A bit like the dumb shop assistant in a hardware store where you ask if they sell screws and he just looks around with a bewildered look.

Certainly, people who don't know their job shouldn't be allowed to send false information to the media. It only causes confusion.

Then, we pay all that money for WHAT? Better I keep the words to myself.

You don't send your passport! You send a copy of the info page + the application form

I sent two because they were being renewed

Saving the land for future generations of Thai people? What about saving the land in England for future generations of English people?

What are English people? Seems that they are Indian, Pakistani, Caribbean, African, you name it. So who are Thai people? Is Thaksin Thai people? Just a thought.

Can you also please inform your readers that they must never post their passport from Thailand to any other country for any reason

It seems this guy isn't aware that we have to send passports to Hong Kong. A bit like the dumb shop assistant in a hardware store where you ask if they sell screws and he just looks around with a bewildered look.

Certainly, people who don't know their job shouldn't be allowed to send false information to the media. It only causes confusion.

Then, we pay all that money for WHAT? Better I keep the words to myself.

Eleven years ago when my daughter was born in Bangkok, I went to the British Embassy and asked for British Nationality (which I assumed would be automatic). They point blank refused after asking the question "was I married to the mother?" They were very rude as usual, making me feel like I'd got a prostitute pregnant. I wasn't married to the mother at that time because I didn't have a death certificate from my first wife who died in Cyprus. The British Embassy gave me some forms and told me to go away. Reading the forms, I noticed a clause in small print which said it was possible to obtain British Nationality at the discretion of the home office but if they said no, you wouldn't get your money back. I called the British Embassy and asked about the clause and asked why they didn't bother explaining this to me while I was there. They just said it was new. Anyway, I did apply to the home office and did get a British Nationality for my daughter and then got her a British passport. No thanks to the British Embassy, I might add.

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.

how can you feel sorry for somebody who has been a sexual pest interfering with under age children_children need protected.....

---------------------therfor my question to yourself.........what if he sexually interfeared with your children?