klubex99

Some may say eradicate corruption. Because it is a foundation of many things wrong in society, but then again many will not want that changed because they have benefited from it at one time or another.

You might not want it to become a Thai bashing thread, but the outcome is predetermined. Give it four or five posts, and see what happens.

I don't think so really.

Most people may post that they wouldn't change a thing.

I have my gripes, but if I was asked to target any particular thing, I may find it difficult.

However, Those annoying Thai soaps may well find themselves in the cross hares.

We all love Thai culture, that is the reason why so many of us are here. It's not all about economics, because many other countries have better economies to be taken advantage of for those only stretching their pensions as far as possible. Yet so many choose Thailand.

Thainess does have its infinite charms, but as I have read on here (and also posted) it also seems to have its fair share of faults.

So if you could wave a magic wand and eradicate certain aspects of the culture or way of life..... What would you target?

This is not to be turned into a Thai bashing thread, It isn't about that. It is about the fact we all have our certain little grumbles about things here, even though the positives far outweigh the negatives, but in your judgement, what are the niggly things that prevent LOS from being a veritable utopia?

What are you going to do with the appliances etc if you do gain possession of them ? not take them back to the States, sell? i would think cost effective wise leave them where they are.

He said for his house in Surin.

mate, you will probably be lucky to find anything of his at all, it will be long gone I would imagine. Between the landlord, gf and neighbours anything of value will have been removed, sorry but that is just the way it is over here. I hope I am wrong but I do not think so, condolences for your brother, hope he was able to enjoy his life here.

That may be true in the case of really horrible Thai people. But in my years here I have not really met any, I think they are a serious minority.

To be honest, I doubt anything would be removed and you will be welcomed to anything. Most Thais would see it as very disrespectful to take (steal) any property of a dead person, they would likely fear the worst from his ghost (that's how they think). Also would bring them bad merit.

There is a very good chance his estate will be intact. Well..... more chance of it being intact, than there is of it being ransacked.

You have to expect a very heavy bias towards the negative if you choose to ask for advice on TV unfortunately.

You and your family have my deepest sympathy for your loss.

Dave.

I can remember when the Thai government pledged that they would make Thailand 'the hub' of rubber production in the world. Just like they are going to be the number one 'hub' for everything in the world at one time or another. So in a way, they encouraged many farmers to convert to rubber. They even gave subsidized land for its cultivation.

They however, may have repeatedly to make Thailand the 'the hub' of rice production many times over. They never urged the rice farmers to convert to rice. Rice farmers grow rice off their own backs, and by their own choice, and yet they get all this extra consideration from the government. Even though it is driving the country towards bankruptcy.

Now with rice.... A farmer can convert away from that crop after the latest harvest and choose his own path, yet with rubber.... The farmers have had to invest 7 years work, expense and time into establishing their plantations. Its not so easy to convert. Yet, in difference to the rice farmers, the rubber farmers were ENCOURAGED to do it..... Very important in distinguishing between the two.

Yet the rubber farmers are being left high and dry while the rice farmers are cossetted and tit fed (once again).

We also have another rubber problem unfolding in palm oil. Since the government urge 'plant, plant and plant some more... The price has crashed. Only last year the government vowed to make Thailand the (you guessed it)... 'the hub' of palm oil production in the world.

Sometimes I wish this government would get on a plane at their 'vowed to be No1 airport in the world' and f***off.

I think its about time the gov did something different and rotated the relief between farmers who are struggling. The rice farmers have had their time, now move that scheme to the rubber farmers or any form of farming that is suffering the most.

That money came directly from Thaksin and if anyone believes different, you want your nuts tested.

Hi Chris, sorry your down on your luck, might be a good idea to get a new calculator! 200,000GBP =1,000,000 THB? By my reckoning it's about 10,000,000 THB Good luck, nice to hear someone who doesn't go with the corrupt flow and has a conscience.

Chris has bigger problems than being homeless. If, as he claims, he was in the finance industry and calculates 200,000 quid to be only a million baht, he's in real trouble.

I'm interested in your story too martman. Put pen to paper.

Like I said earlier.

There must be at least 10 replies have all said the same thing. I don't think anyone would make such a schollboy error in basic maths.

Chris is a financial consultant.... Every financial consultant I have ever discussed pensions with has used the same terminology. They first say the pension fund value, then they say what it is worth annually.

Now £200,000 would probably come very close to paying around £20,000 a year in pension.

So I would have thought it very obvious that Chris was saying his fund is worth 200K which is worth a million baht (A YEAR) which to me is quite accurate.

I don't think anyone was stupid to take a pension fund of £200K and unlock it all... even if they wanted to, they couldn't They can only unlock a % at the age of 55.

If Chris gets out of BKK or Patts... Then his monthly pension should serve him well for the remainder of his life. Especially as he is now used to a basic standard of living.

I like where she said she would give up her life to protect against disrespect of Buddha...

Looks like someone is jealous of Islamic radicals, and want a bit of radicalization in Buddhism.

Go to your embassy and tell them the story and you want the situation mitigated.

They will point you in the right direction, they will refer you to their commercial issues dept.

So long as your entire business arrangement was legit, you have nothing to lose...

You say this guy has been filing bogus expenses and basically false accounting all through your relationship?... He has things to worry about I would say.

Give this guy the feeling of things closing in on him. Backed up by an embassy... He won't have connections there, and he won't have any connections with any organization overseeing the case on your defense. This could also pave the way for you to reclaim tax he demanded that you pay falsely... You never know.,

Go to your embassy.... You won't get any better advice on here than that.

In the meantime... relocate, and make sure he or none of your friends know where you are operating from during this case. You may be in danger if this guy becomes cornered. Forget these friends, it seems they have sided with this guy.... So they won't be missed. You can make new friends.... we all go through life making new friends all the time.

3 years to retirement......? What is retiring from, pissing it off in Bangers?

I don't know.... I wouldn't say he is pissing it up in Bangers considering alcohol costs money and he has none.

But you seem to be an expert on the guy, can you tell everyone the story in a bit more detail.

Wife just got back from our land, it is fine but a lot of the land around it is up to 1.5M of water.

The local klongs can not be identified, they are small lakes.

On top of this we have tropical storm Wurlip bearing down.

This is going to be a 3 day affair, and its not categorize as a depression, its categorized as a storm.

Here is the tracking forecast. Hits Thailand on Monday

those two dams are still in a constant state of filling from runoff from the north and east. This is with the rain not falling directly on the dams, they rise fast with direct rainfall plus runoff. two weeks of rain can make a huge dent in that 10 billion cubic meters. It could be down to 6 billion even before the next bad rainstorm.

For example, rained here last night for 12 hours straight, that means quite a large weather system, meaning it is covering a large area of land mass... its all on its way down...

You need to realize that the water that travels down to BKK is still on the move and is still being topped up daily. Even if the rain stops falling, the runoff still works its way south for up to 3 or 4 weeks after.

Those all-important words - 'number one'

Why is this country so obsessed with its own self importance?

Have they been to any other major airports in the world?

It doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of even getting into the top 10 let alone the top spot.

They actually went down from 25 to 38 in skytrak top 100 airports for 2013.

Swampy is just a standard airport.

When are they going to get their heads out of their <deleted> and realize that Thailand is just a tourist destination brought about by its beaches and sex trade.

WELL , firstly , how this guy chose Australia and India as comparisons is daft to say the least , as australia is a modern 1st world country and the Indian rail network was built whilst colonized by the Brits , pity they decided not to colonize thailand ,...it would be a far better country than it is now , education, infrastructure , science ,law, corruption etc etc , ....a pity, .......even the french could have improved a few things ! some nice brothels though, .....well done thailand .

I agree 100%

I often think to myself.

Is Thailand justified in feeling proud that they avoided colonization, or would it be a lot more accurate to say that Thailand must be feeling bitter that they missed out on colonization?

Colonization with a few exceptions has proved to have been the backbone of success in a lot of countries that would have struggled to be anything other than third world jungles or deserts. Into self sufficient havens within their respective continents.

I strangely enough had a conversation with the wife on this matter only just last night, that if Thailand had been colonized, and with its tourism etc... It could have been the most powerful country in SEA by a mile...... She agreed, because she has an education.

Edited to add.....

I also discussed with her that it is about time Thailand allowed itself to become more flexible with the wealth of farangs it has here, and allowed then to have more of a hand in its country's development. Open things up a bit more and make things a lot more accessible such as owning companys 100%, or even scrapping the 4 Thai worker to 1 farang worker rule. Just 2 things that would help this country prosper more instead of having to beg for money knowing that it will cause problems further down the line.

Hey guys.... Thanks for the help. IPTV is my answer.

I have looked deeper into it and I can get 2 boxes which gets me all the UK freeview channels and movies, discovery channels etc.... and if I add a third box I will have all the UK sky channels too...

thaiexpat.tv has the following channels for 600B a month

BBC1 – National flagship channel from the BBC, offering unrivaled entertainment & drama.

BBC2 - National alternative entertainment and informative channel.

BBC3 - Ground breaking comedy and alternative entertainment.

BBC4 - Ground breaking comedy and alternative entertainment.

CBBC - Britians leading childrens TV channel from the BBC.

CBeebies - Britians leading childrens TV channel from the BBC.

ITV1 – The flagship channel from the ITV network, offering premium quality entertainment & drama

ITV2 – The alternative entertainment & drama channel from the ITV network

ITV4 - ITV's digital channel specialising in premium sports, classic UK dramas and cult films.

CH4 – Cutting edge comedy, drama & documentaries, from the UK’s favorite independent channel.

Film 4 – Find the very best independent and cult movies on CH4’s premium movie channel

More 4 - Intelligent documentary, new comedy, challenging drama, and quality art and lifestyle shows.

E 4 - Intelligent documentary, new comedy, challenging drama, and quality art and lifestyle shows.

Channel 5 - Intelligent documentary, new comedy, challenging drama, and quality art and lifestyle shows.

Sky News - Latest news updates

If you pay 4999 B you get the box plus 3 months subscription... very reasonable. Also has 7 day rewind feature... so you have a week to watch anything on demand.

IPTV Mate! The medium of the future.

you will need a decent 5Mbps Internet connection though

I have 30MB

Thai troops have served with the UN but did the Thai gov foot the bill... i think not. Theyre not going to tip in money The farang countries cover most of the expenses. Thais are window dressing.

The Thais just want a free lunch and trips to the Big Apple.

They dont even bother turning up to parliamentry sessions here in Bangkok. Why would the UN chamber be any different?

Absolutely 100% correct.

They are jockying for nothing more than regular shopping trips to the US, with everything paid for, first class and 5 star all the way, and a nice expense account to boot... and all paid for by the tax payer.

Not much different working minimum wage in european union or united states.And most of the money goes to retailing chains in eu and us. PARASITES???

Lol... You don't really have a clue do you?

People are not working for 300 baht a day in the west, they have nice houses, cars, vacations, pensions and many things that Thais would consider luxury items. They have much better working conditions, and enforced laws to make sure workers are treated fairly and reasonably. They have health and safety, so minimum work related injuries, they first and foremost.... they don't have children working under slave conditions for peanuts.

Secondly, the big retail chains deserve their profits. They made the investment, they organize the business and provide stable livelihoods and they keep Thailand in an export business, probably unknowing that third world kids are being exploited.

I say bring it to their attention, and they will drop you like a bad habit in a heartbeat.

During the big flood, the government purposely flooded my area to make sure the water didn't touch the nearest shopping mall, I had to put up with a metre of water and there wasn't a single drop outside that mall 1km away. It is doubly annoying as that street could have taken a good foot or two without touching the mall as it is on higher ground. If they do the same again, I shall be really p#$$ed off !!

I wonder why they opt to flood out thousands of people's home to save a handful of businesses.... could it be that the homes usually are not insured, but the businesses in the mall are?

Or could it possibly be that the owner of the mall has influence with the right people?

The wife showed me a picture of a dam bursting north of BKK. She said it hasn't been put on the news yet, but someone put a picture they took with a mobile and posted on a Thai forum..

She isn't here at the moment, but when she returns from town, I will get her to send me the link and better info.

As with the 2011 flood, please understand the difference between a dyke and a dam, before posting these stories.

I know the difference between a dam and a dyke... thanks.

It was a dam, and was a photo of the spillway that had the added boards slotted into it to increase the capacity and delay the spillways coming into effect.

The top 2 boards had ruptured and the water was gushing through.

Please don't assume that someone is stupid and naive before posting YOUR comments.

The wife not back from town yet to post the link ?

Yes... But she can't find it now.

She has probably surfed a hundred pages since that one.

There are so many expert Hydrologists here on Thai Visa I'm surprised there is any problem at all. You should start a company and contract your services out to the Thai government. After all, you are all experts on the subject and assume there are no competent local engineers. I'm sure they would love to hear your expert input in regards to this matter.

Sorry... But the same government won't allow us to work here, they can handle it on their own with Thai engineers.

They are doing a great job. We will just sit back and discuss where they are going wrong instead.

Then again. I don't think a discussion largely based on the failings of the people in charge of the country, and their false propaganda which can end up being potentially lethal to their citizens by attempting to convince them that everything is fine while a very dangerous and possibly deadly situation is bearing down on them can be construed as TV members being hydrologist experts.

Your spin on this discussion is excruciatingly banal. Do you have to twist this so you feel comfortable posting in your usual apologist way?

Let me guess..... You have been here 3 months?

BANGKOK, Sept 25 – The Irrigation Department’s release of water from upstream reservoirs at 500 cubic metres per second could jeopardise Bangkok’s flood prevention measures and drainage capability, a senior
city administration official said today.

Passing the buck.... upstream.... I was wondering when this was going to happen.

Please ... you Farang posters. Stop this silliness blaming the Thai government for floods. Every country has floods. Look at Colorado in the US; look at the yearly firestorms in California; look at New Orleans. As I recall. you can see floods in 1942 with rowboats at Victory Monument. Bangkok is built on a mud flat, a flood plain. It's mother nature, not the government.

Thank you...

Too much commonsense in that TG

Most of these posters are looking for something to moan about and to vent their hatred of the PM and all things Thaksin.

Somehow, the descriptions of situations, any situation, are more dire on TV than they are in reality.

Goes with the forum, i suppose.

I've been flooded out a few times in the last few years, before you ask.............................

And of course, the situation was worse on TV forum, than it was in your home?

When my wife's family were flooded out, I remember they considered it very dire in reality.