womble

There's a difference between paying for an upgrade and paying the highest departure tax in the region when Thailand actually has far lower running costs than any of the other major airports in the region.

The costs to use the new airport to both the airlines and to tourists will be the highest in the region, this is in a country that is cheaper than Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan.

I find it hard to believe this airport will become a hub with such high fees.

It may help to establish Thailand as the leading maintainence destination due to the low costs for labour, why can't they provide the airport at more competitive rates, surely it will achieve a larger profit in the long run if it can lure airlines away from other airports.

surely they should be looking at special reduced rates at first instead of huge increases?

does that not make sense?

I do believe that should he run for Secretary General he stands a very good chance of getting the position. Surrakiart doesn't have a hope in hel_l.

Supachai would be a great choice for PM, he would be well accepted by the international community.

It's true that many nightspots are owned by foreigners, but many more are owned by powerful Thai's. Think of areas such as Ratchada and RCA, also the people that own the land in these areas. Longer opening hours means more business, more cash = more rent.

a brave new country and all some people are bothered about is how long the bars are going to be open for.

Well it's not all i'm bothered about, as this whole thing had a lot more to it than simply a social order campaign.

Thailand nightspots are owned by some very powerful people, also the alcohol industry involves alot of very powerful familys. It's an open secret in Bangkok that the social order campaign was actually a way of reducing the incomes and ultimately power of military members who own nightspots and the powerful families in the Alcohol industry.

Everything Thaksin ever did was about to things. Increasing his power, and reducing the power of others (potential future threats).

A lot of people thought it was to do with stopping their childeren going to clubs. No, it was all about reducing peoples power. No money = no power, a lot of the top military people get a very large percentage of their money from entertainment venues.

Leftcross, you seem to think this is only about whether we can go to a bar late or not, maybe you should open your eyes a bit more and see the full picture.

We did.

Also if you care to look around the site, particulary the news section you will notice that many of use are involved in discussion on many topics relating to the coup.

What makes you assume we have nothing else on our minds other than openign hours?

Maybe next time you'll think before posting something that really is of no benefit whatsoever to the thread.

Or at least think a little and write something that is more constructive and adds to the forum, rather than trying to belittle members who are having a sensible discussion.

The coup is over, Thailand need to get back on it's feet, that starts with getting rid of many of Thaksin policies.

We need to discuss this. This is the relevant time.

Sorry for my rant, but these kind of comments really get to me, just like the "if you don't like it go home", these comments are of no use to us, they add nothing to the discussion, I believe often they are from people who are eigher too lazy to discuss something properly, or with intelligence too low to offer anything better.

It was on the nation website under the breaking news section today.

I gave credit to the site at the bottom of my post.

I think it's great news, but seems strange that they announce this so early, I would have thought there would be other things on their mind.

I guess each ministry is busy with it's own agenda.

Maybe the interior ministry is deciding to get rid of all the stupid strict laws brought in by the Thaksin government.

Maybe we will see petrol stations open all night?

Nightclubs open later?

A generally more relaxed and fun place than it was during Thaksin's tenure?

Do u reckon he paid full price or do you think he was given it for a special price if he did a press conference?

I wonder if they just gave him a free condo to endorse it. Or if he wanted to buy one and they offered a discount if he did a little advertising for them and go on the record that he was buying one.

Things like this are always good for the island, people always follow the stars, dunno why, but they do.

I think this is a sign of things to come, the persecution of entertainment areas and the alcohol industry looks to be over.

I think Thailand is going to be a fun place again.

This bodes well for tourism.

Bans on selling alcohol on Royal family members' B-days lifted

Interior Ministry revokes its order which bans selling of alcohol on the birthdays of Their Majesties the King and Queen and other royal family members.

Sura-art Tongniramon, deputy permanent secretary for interior said that the ministry, has received several complaints from business operators of alcoholic drinks as well as owners of entertainment places that they suffered from the old order.

The ministry decided to revoke the order after being informed by the Royal Household Bureau that it does not have policy to prohibit the sales of the alcoholic drinks on the birthdays of Their Majesties the King and the Queen and those of the royal family members.

The ministry then informed the decision to all governors.

nation

From now on I will be spelling it Suvarnabhum as I believe Suvarnabhumi to be incorrect.

You see this kind of thing that REALLY annoys me and is the ROOT CAUSE of the huge array of different spellings for so many things in los.

If the king and country have decided to call it this way in romanic spelling, then who are you or any of us, /incl. mr Joe Planet/ to change the name?

Why can`t YOU just stick with the spelling that our host naiton has given it, and not try to make up the rules as you go along?

I guess you are right, you know I never really thought of it, but yeah, I suppose me changing the spelling will also confuse people.

Other words are a bit different as if you take a random word out of a Thai/English dictionary, there will be no set way to spell it, not like Suvarnabhumi, which I guess has a set spelling as the transliteration of Rama II must be used.

I suppose by changing the spelling it could be lesse majesty?

I will not change the spelling, I guess I was being a little pig headed, however I do believe it would be better to spell words that read how they sound. I was saying the word wrongly for ages, until I heard how the Thais were saying it.

....gotta admit that she aint bad looking......

What??

in the same way that condolezza rice is fit?

You Perv!

The thing is there is a thai word bhumi, but with suwanaphum it is dropped. The ee sound is not present. That's why i'm confused with the spelling.

More than likely the King chose the Thai name, and someone else decided how to spell it in English. I just think whoever chose that spelling made a poor choice which will cause confusion.

There are many different ways to spell Thai words in English, but if the end result is nothing like the Thai sound, then surely it isn't of much use. If there are ways to spell it that have an end result closer in sound to the correct Thai spelling surely that would be better.

The best way for a foreigner to get a gun is to get the Girlfriend to register it in her name.

I was broken into a while back and I asked the head of police what I could do to protect myself, he told me to get a gun. When I said that wasn't possible as i'm a foreigner he said that if it was in my girlfriends name and I shot someone who was breaking in it wouldn't be a problem.

I'm pretty sure you couldn't carry it around though as a Thai could, but if you needed protection at home it would be ok.

We never got the gun because I hate guns and would be more scared having one in the house than I would of the robbers.

We moved house and got a dog.

You can't turn a dog on it's owner.

Why is the new airport spelt differnetly in English to how it sounds in Thai?

Suvarnabhumi sounds nothing like the correct Thai word, the Thai word sounds more like Suvarnabhum, so my question is this.

Is one persons choice of spelling in English going to be responsible for thousands of Foreigners not being able to say the name of the airport properly?

Why couldn't they have used a spelling that reads and sounds more like the Thai word when spoken?

From now on I will be spelling it Suvarnabhum as I believe Suvarnabhumi to be incorrect.

A report on Channel News Asia this morning showed the fleeing coward hounded by journalists in London while trying on his best faked smiles. How long until he punches or casts black magic spells on them?

Excellant news, Thaksin will find out just how bad the British press are. He hates the press, and yet he has chosen the country with the worlds most intrusive tabloid press to hide out in.

If only there was some sex scandal, then the sun would be all over it.

If the criminal court starts extradition proceedings it will take years to get him back through the British courts.

No doubt costing the British Tax payer millions

As long as the Thai courts don't rush this and make sure they everything fairly and transparently then unless Britain offers him asylum, he will be deported.

I personally do not think Britain would give him asylum.

He is not going to be killed or persectuted, he is going to be taken to court to answer allegations of corruption. It is not a witch hunt, it is about seeking Justice for the Thai people he has robbed.

Giving Thaskin Asylum would set a very bad precedent for Britain and open a political can of worms, something I think they will avoid at all costs providing they are satisfied he will be treated fairly and not harmed.

Well, I guess it's highly possible you will see bargain hunters.

The thing is people who own here know how Thailand works and will not drop their prices as they know this coup shouldn't effect the markets too much. It will effect Bangkok more, I doubt it'll have any impact on Samui or Phuket though.

I expect what we're seeing is people looking for bargains, i'm sure there are some people who think the baht may weaken (i don't think it will significantly), they may be thinking of buying if the baht weakens enough, so are on the lookout for properties where maybe they think they can find owners who are worried about the politics and so maybe pick something up cheap.

Actually, strange as it may seem, my friends real estate agency in samui has been quite busy this past week. Also had someone come to view the house that I rent the day after the coup, and the couple were not bothered in the slightest of the events in Bangkok.

Having said that, any interest in property is in spite of the coup and i'd definatley expect demand to drop in the short term.

That article is ridiculous, to suggest the coup has led to increased demand, yeah right.

But I think to anyone who knows Thailand well, and was already sure they wanted to buy here, it won't have much effect, they will still be looking to buy.

The new National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) will have as its main task the mandate to accelerate investigating unusually wealthy politicians, and to begin to address an accumulated backlog of over 10,000 previous cases.

Anybody want to wager this backlog started to accumulate about five or six years ago?

I cannot wait to see how many of these questionable characters out on indefinite bail for numerous offences due to wealth and position are re investigated and brought back before the newly formed

departments of the NCCC and the CDRM.

Some very serious offenders among them.

The infamous Chonburi godfather and his family come to mind and happened to have a member in the what now appears to be, defuncted TRT ????????

I was tempted to leave the de and the n out of the last bit but it,s not polite.

( an old favourite mis carriage of justice of mine.)

Also all those government officials conveniently given in active postings to stop speculations on corruption and many other scandals from being exposed.

Kudos again for the good work now being carried out to rectify the last 5 years of abuse and plundering of the nations coffers by the TRT.

At last there is a way forward out of the chaos Toxin created and maybe some real justice given out along with holidays in the plush B.Hilton to serve out their time among the petty criminals the

previous administration put there.

marshbags

I very much doubt anyone will go to prison. At least no one as high up as cabinet level will.

I hope they do, but really can't see it happening.

For big carp and catfish you need very strong rods, GT popper fishing rods are ideal. Reel should be 6500 Baitrunner with 40lb mono. If you use braid you will need a shock leader.

Using UK carp rods and 3500 baitrunners is not a good idea. It's very bad for the fish, you will have to fight the fish much longer, consequently larger fish will often die from exhaustion.

If you really wanna have fun, go into the jungle fishing for giant snakeheads with frog lures.

This is the best fishing in Thailand.

Also you might recall a shooting a while ago at the same venue where a police officer was killed by a local known to have shot and killed many people. Each time he has got out of prison a few months later only to shoot someone again.

Well, a couple of months ago he was shot dead by police, so he won't be a menace anymore. This one guy was responsible for three or four high profile cases that invloved foreigners being shot, and numerous cases of Thai's being shot. That's a large percentage of the cases that we have talked about on here, committed by one man!

And secondly - the money from the Shin Corp sale: was never in Thailand as Thai Baht: it was paid for by Tamesek Holdings (check spelling) and processed as USD by Jardine Fleming in Hong Kong - just like the ShinCorp shares were owned by a BVI entity.

AS to where it actually is - good question, but a Hong Kong or British Virgin Islands trust account seems quite possible (knowing how JF works with client funds).

Tim

Maybe there is money in many places, but for sure a large amount did come into the country as the baht strengthened hugely during the sale which was a result of very large amounts of foriegn currency coming into the country.

any news as to whether the police finally have stubbed out their cigarettes , put down their whiskies , finished scratching their <deleted> and re arranging their genitals and got around to arresting and charging this delinquent yet ?

or is that too much to ask.

He was caught shortly after.

Anyone know the story behind the shooting out the front of a popular Samui night club last night?

I am still waiting for an answer to this question.

What "popular night club"? A youth was refused entry (how bizarre; how old was he, 9?) and came back with a gun? Where was the foreigner shot? Does anyone actually know what happened? This is all vague hearsay.

And, in an SBK-esque sense, foreigners (outsiders) wouldn't get hurt in Thailand if they didn't come here in the first place.

There's lots of youth gangs here, anyone under 20 should not have been in the place, it's quite normal to refuse entry to 17 or 18 year old kids. It's not common practise that they come back and shoot someone though.

The club in question is the late night one on the soi behind starbucks. The bullet was meant for the security guard but it hit the farang in the arm.

This is not hearsay, this is what happened, some of us just prefer not to make public the names of those unfortunate enough to be mixed up in this.

Thai's get shot in every town regulary, anyone who's spent time here will know that. There's nothing special about what goes on in Samui, except for the fact that there are foreigners here.

It's a common business practise here to use guns to solve problems, due to the fact foreigners do business here it's inevitable that whatever effects Thai's in business will also to a certain extent effect farangs. I'd say many farangs get away with not being shot when a Thai in the same position would have been.

Also when guns are fired in public places innocent bystanders are often hit, obviously this makes the news. People are getting hit in crossfire every week in karaoke's all over the country, Samui is not unique in having people hit by stray bullets.

Actually there are less shootings in Samui than most provincial Thai towns, the numbers of foreigners here and higher police precence makes it riskier. But because foreigners are witnessing it or being caught up in it that maked it higher profile to those who read english language news papers.

Pick up Thai Rath and there are always pics and storys of people getting shot, they are not all in samui. And there's never been a report on Samui being worse than anywhere else in the thai language press as far as I know.

yeah, but u shouldn't mention names on here.

He He,

on cue!

The murder itself could happen anywhere, it's one of those unfortunate things that cannot be prevented, sick people exist all around the world.

Fact: Nowhere are there more serial killers than in the US

Ofcouse a police force that tries to cover up, and business owners that try to hide the truth are inexcuseable.

It was right of the samui express to print such a strong article. The busines owners should realise that in the long term an honest approach is the best one. Maybe then problems will start to be addressed.

Samui is not without it's problems, but then the same can be said for the rest of Thailand. Remember the backpacker killed in Chiang Mai? The couple in Kanchanaburi? The farang in the karaoke in Pattaya?

And what does that article have to do with this shooting tax?

You're obviously trolling, I do believe 'Paradise lost' is your favorite samui article is it not?

How much cash did u lose in Samui again?

You know you really should have consulted with proper lawyers...............

I don't think Samui is any worse than anywhere else, there are shootings everyday all over Thailand.

If you only read this forum though you may believe that as there seem so many people who come to post to highlight the bad points of Samui.

Pattaya, Phuket, Kanchanaburi, chiang Mai, people are shot in these towns regulary, and because tourists are there in high numbers it inevitably finds it's way into the news, particulary when farang are caught in the crossfire or when they are targets themselves. Anyone who knows Thailand properly knows full well Nakon Sri Tammaratt and Surrathani have far more shooting than what happens in Samui.

So yeah there are shootings in Samui, too many, but it's certainly not the shooting capital of the country. I doubt it's even the shooting capital of tourist towns, I think Pattaya quite possibly holds that title, but that would be due to the larger population.

You also have to remember that samui has a small population which is almost village like. Everyone knows what goes on, word spreads quickly, this means more cases come out into the open.

No doubt the usual suspects will jump on this and use it as further evidence for their crusade against samui.

I'm surprised it's taking them so long???