Humphrey Bear

This looks like more than the usual bad treatment of domestic staff by Saudi (and other) families.

During my several tours in Saudi I encountered many cases of abuse. I reckon I personally helped around 200 filipina domestics to gain the shelter of their consular compounds and eventually get repatriated.

But when one considers the many thousands of domestic workers in Saudi, the abuse is of only a small proportion.

The problems lie with the agencies that send people to domestic situations without proper investigation of the conditions and without regular follow-up visits. Also for many domestic workers it is difficult to get out and meet their compatriots and compare conditions. In Hong Kong on a Sunday one could see thousands of filipinas meeting in Statue Square, the place sounds worse than a starling colony at dusk.

But in Saudi many girls have their passports taken away, mobile phones confiscated, are expected to work seven days a week, dawn to dusk and later. Maybe not hard work, but it is constant work. Physical abuse is quickly applied when a newly arrived girl fails to understand what her employer wants her to do (hand-wash instead of using the washing m/c; ironing garments in a certain way; cooking in a certain way; making beds in the morning, again in the afternoon; so on). This leads to unhappiness and resentment, but the girl faces a financial penalty as it is early in her tour, so she says nothing, but will not be content in her position. I also encountered several cases of sexual abuse, but this is not common unless there are teenage children in the household. Then they think they can do anything, as they are the employer family.

One must further remember that slavery was not against the law in Saudi until the 1960s and I still encountered slaves in families in the late 1970s. Probably there are still slaves in some of the remoter districts. It is hard for these people to distinguish between a slave and a domestic worker - the only difference in their eyes is that they have to pay an agent for the domestic worker every month, while they had to pay an agent a far larger sum (once) for a slave.

As I said at the start, the agencies supplying the domestic workers should do more follow-ups, should ensure that communications for the worker are secure and private and that there is a 'get-out' clause in all contracts. A black-list of abusive employers wouldn't be a bad thing either.

From 95 to 240 cu.m. per second is an increase of 145 cu.m./sec.

The X-sect area of the new pipes is 19-20 sq.m. each, maybe more if they are larger than 5m diameter. Four of them - total of around 75 sq.m., or 50 sq.m. at 2/3rds full.

Thus flow rate is <3 metres/sec.

This sounds like a gravity system to me, with the pumps stuck at the far end to pump the water out of the system, not to move the water along the pipes. The velocity is a touch high, I would calculate on somewhere around 2.4 m/sec myself.

So what will be needed at the far end of these new tunnels is a series of pumps with a high head pressure to lift the water out of the system and into a retaining structure.

A 1.8m diameter pipe has a cross-sectional area of 2.55 sq.m.

A 5.0m diameter pipe has a cross-sectional area of 19.6 sq.m.

So 7.7 times the capacity, when full.

How much research have these people done?

Drains can help in keeping the area free from flooding.

The idea of some 'very large pipes', though, seems a touch wild to me. A drainage system would help - small collectors delivering to larger transporters, then to the 'giant' pipes, from where the water could be pumped. Or alternatively the giant pipes could be attached to the final point of the current system(s) and water pumped away from the existing system(s) to a disposal area - e.g. the sea or river.

But you will need very large pumps to clear this amount of water per second.

My concern would be when the pipes are empty. BKK is built on a high water table area, the pipes will probably be laid in a wet part of the ground - a few metres of cover, so they will want to float when empty.

Also, how much water will they handle, compared to the amount that falls over their catchment area over the same period? Has the maths been done? Correctly? To me it seems to be far to little for the high volume that may occur at peak times. And we don't want the water stored in the streets until there is the capacity to drain it.

Worst and most outdated airport in the world. 50+ years behind the times. Railway may be new but the airport is outdated. Build a modern one where the planes dock at the airport and not 3 kms from it. Bulldoze the old outdated bangkok airport then build something modern inline with the train.

I wonder how many people know that the airport was built to a 35 year old design (design commissioned 35 years earlier but airport not built) with no attempt to incorporate all the modern technology and perhaps even more important to incorporate all the numerous highly valuable lessons learned in that 35 year gap about airport design.

And very little work to do proper planning of supporting services, e.g. ground transport.

Why was it built so quickly with no design adjustments? One guess!

First response to Moetown Blues

Are you talking about Don Muang or Suvarnabhumi International Airport? Su'boom was built in the early years of this century and is not at all like Don Muang - which was fine when I first visited Thailand in the mid 1970s.

Response to Scorecard

Please get your facts straight.

Although the principle of having a new airport was decided in the late 70s, the location was not decided until the 90s and the architect selected for the design (Murphy Hahn) was not selected until after the site was secured. The basis of many of the features in the airport are taken from Munich's new airport, where the NBIA dignitaries and decision makers were introduced to the typical new airport of the 21st century.

The roof of the airside 'tunnels', which was my contribution to the structure, was completely innovative and has been improved upon since (we offered to re-line the entire roof at one time, as we were dissatisfied with the final result, but Thaksin wouldn't allow any delay). The second terminal will look better than the current one, but will have the same basic features. It is mainly state of the art installations, but sometimes these were prototypes and not fully tested.

The roof of the Terminal Building, with it's supertrusses, is claimed as a triumph of Thai engineering. Unfortunately the supertrusses were designed and built in Singapore and shipped up to Thailand as completed items. I have several Philippino steel engineers as friends, who were on the project.

Maidens water.

Want a good pint ?

Abbot Ale.

What part of East Anglia are you from?

I'm a Cambridge man, myself.

I never understand why people undo their seatbelts as soon as the light goes out. The flight crews always do try to warn you in advance, but in my many, many flights I have experienced a lot of turbulence that was not announced....always alarming when your food is in front of you! Then the same people take their belts off the moment the rear wheels hit the tarmac. Strange, where are they going?

The people you are talking about are probably the same as those who stick the car seat-belts behind them when driving.

Surprising on a VN flight, though. The Vietnamese are quite good at doing what they're told under such circumstances. On the road virtually all people on motorbikes, drivers and passengers, wear safety helmets (well, helmets) for even the shortest of journeys - unlike Thailand where maybe 50% do not wear helmets.

With regard to the sarcastic comments about the quality of English in the Scandasia web-site - it seems quite OK to me. It is the Thai Visa OP who is lacking in English skills. (And several of the subsequent posters, who are maybe not native English speakers either)(Relates to the other thread regarding TEFL in Thailand)

The Thai Visa OP is taken from Scandasia, so how can the OP be written poorly and the article on Scandasia not?

The Scandasia article :

Swedish Kim Faces the Death Penalty in Thailand

13.10.2010 | news Newsdesk

The Swedish daily Expressen published on Sunday 10 October an interview with Kim Roger Eriksson, 29, who was earlier this year arrested and charged with setting up a laboratory to produce the illegal drug "Ya E". Among other things he told the newspaper's Foreign Correspondent Michael Topffer that he is aware that he risks to get the death penalty for possession and production of more than 53 grams of methamphetamine.

During the entire interview the Swede is referred to as Kim Sirawan, which is his Thai wife's last name that he took when they married. When the Swede was arrested in mid-July. 2010, his full name was Kim Roger Eriksson, and scandasia.com prefer to stick to that name.

Kim Eriksson, who originally is from the north western part of Sweden, explains about the condition in Klong Prem prison in Bangkok, where fights and drugs is a part of a violent environment.

He came to Thailand a couple of years ago and has been active in the Swedish real estate sector in the country, he says.

Kim Roger Eriksson claims he is innocent, According to him he hasn’t done what he is accused of. The laboratory, which the police found, he says, was not attempted to produce.

"I would not produce anything, just learn how it works. The knowledge I would just re-sell," he claims.

He puts the blame for the whole mess on another Swedish man, a chemist whom he hired to teach him how a laboratory would work.

Kim Roger Eriksson suspects that the man also worked as an informer for the police. He disappeared shortly before the raid, which according Kim was led by the U.S. drug police DEA.

Please compare with the OP's writing.

And from Sundsvalls Tidning

Convicted of aggravated drug crimes in Sweden

SUNDSVALL (ST)

29-year-old living life of luxury in Thailand and was said to be a member of the royal family.

But even as a very young Njurunda Boy will he have begun his criminal career.

The man's luxury villa in Rayong district in Thailand. The neighbors thought he was a member of the Swedish royal family and also successful in the real estate industry.

Over a hundred policemen were involved in the arrest of Swede suspected of having produced and sold quantities of drugs.

29-year-old, who grew up in Njurunda, began committing crimes before he could be of criminal responsibility. As a teenager, he was eminent in his sport, but stopped allegedly because of doping problems.

As recently as February this year the Svea Court of Appeal sentenced the man to three years and three months in prison for serious gun crime, serious drug crimes and drug offenses. The time, 2006, police did a raid on a location in Stockholm and found a room in a basement where 29-year-old made doping substances. Were also found drugs, tear gas sprays, telescopic batons, syringes and needles. The raid also found a submachine gun in a storage room next to the doping lab. Also in the man's home, he lived in Stockholm, was found doping products.

The district court recognized the 29-year-old crimes.

A few years ago the man was also registered in Thailand and drug sales which should have been going on for a long time. A tourist has told of how 29-year-old several years ago asked him to bring a suitcase with unknown contents back to Sweden.

Neighbors in Thailand believed that the man was doing real estate deals. The information they got from his wife that the 29-year-old was part of the Swedish royal family also meant that no one responded that he had so much money. Neither the local police saw no reason to suspect that the man was involved in illegal acts.

Malin Elfving

I simply wanted to point out that we are certainly putting a very high standard to Thais learning English when even the UN needs to hire countless interpreters because world leaders are all not well versed enough in English to make it the "universal" language at the UN, let alone the world. I'm sure there may be other areas too but the only place I know for sure globally that English would be considered the "universal" language is by pilots .... and that may just be international pilots.

In the UN many delegates speak in their own language because the TV is being broadcast back to their own countries and they want their populace to see and understand what they are doing at the UN.

Muammar Gaddafi seldom speaks English, but when he does it is easily understandable. King Abdullah and Prince Sultan in Saudi Arabia speak better English than I. Abbhasit was educated at Eton and Oxford, having been born a Geordie.

In Sweden kids from an early age have lessons in English - not lessons on English, but lessons in English - mathematics, physics and so on.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

Very unlikely to be sentenced to death. More likely to get a 30 year sentence, if he co-operates, pleads guilty and shows some remorse. Then he will be eligible for repatriation after 7-10 years and the Swedes will ignore the terms of the repatriation of prisoners treaty and release him after a couple of months. He has a chance to return to the Swedish welfare state in middle age (if the Swedish neo-Nazi party has not taken over and eliminated it by then) and will be much better off than a Thai or other Asian convicted of the same offence.

I would think planning a business to teach others to make laboratories to produce illicit substances should be regarded as a more serious offence than just setting up one lab for oneself owing to the multiplier effect. His explanation defies any type of logic.

You must be Swedish(though I doubt it because your very knowledge of guns and their regulations) or have very good knowledge of Sweden. Thats the route this case will take. Only one thing, remember that he got sentenced to 3,5 years in Swedish court this February for running a lab producing steroids. If he get transfered within 10 years he still have those 3,5 years.

For me this whole thing is a nonsense.

Reading the Swedish newspaper clipping, it appears he was sentenced in 2006 for having a laboratory in his apartment (does this sound familiar?) producing illicit steroids. His appeal has just been heard (February 2010) and the appeal court gave him 3 1/2 years. Don't know what the original sentence was.

I would suspect that he skipped bail while out on appeal, fled to Thailand (very original) and set up business again in SE Thailand.

But the DEA probably knew of him, as they also track all convicted drug offenders, regardless of nationality. It has just taken them and the Thai police time to get round to him. Maybe his insurance ran out.

With regard to the sarcastic comments about the quality of English in the Scandasia web-site - it seems quite OK to me. It is the Thai Visa OP who is lacking in English skills. (And several of the subsequent posters, who are maybe not native English speakers either)(Relates to the other thread regarding TEFL in Thailand)

Having lived in Thailand for more than a decade, I now live in Vietnam.

When working outside Saigon, I had dozens (literally) of country kids of primary school age coming up to me with "What's your name? / Where you from? / How old are you?" and so on. Phrases they learnt in school around seven or eight years old, maybe younger. (Difficult to judge, as they are small in stature)

The older kids, up to about 12 years, can hold simple conversations. Above that I don't see many of them, as they are busy studying or playing on computers. But going around the markets and so on, I can usually make myself understood.

In Saigon, where I live, I see few kids. But those I do see are polite and understand English. Waitresses in restaurants, cafes, people in shops and markets all understand English, will converse and will crack jokes with you. They are far and away more advanced in English than the Thais and far away more thinking about future business and how to improve themselves.

It's a much better environment than both rural and city Thailand - except that there are not the girlie-bars. Much stricter moral code.

All-in-all, I still have to travel back to Thailand sometimes, but will never live there again on a long-term basis. The language difficulties, the thought processes, the culture are far too alien for me to understand them easily.

Listen up! The explosives specialists are talking and coming even up with "urea"....

Urea is a fertilizer and absolutely harmless; it is as explosive and as flammable as your table salt...

Ammoniumnitrate is also a fertilizer but it also has certain explosive properties. However what people always forget is that you can't just detonate Ammoniumnitrate by accident unless you have a fire under many tens or hundreds of tons of compressed AN.

Sorry, but having been a quarry-master and used ANFO when other explosives are unavailable, I can assure you that it explodes very well. Timothy McVey would confirm this if he could.

Urea is also recognised as a component of explosives, esp. when in a prilled form (small granules). To make ANFO is tricky, one must add the small amount of diesel necessary at a controlled rate with very careful stirring. It will heat up, which is controlled by the slowness of adding the other components. It's flash point is low, but then it usually just ignites and burns, it does not explode. As you said, an igniter (blasting cap or similar) will trigger the explosion, and if the mix is confined in several directions, then the force in an unconfined direction is very impressive.

It is not something to play with, unless you are well trained. (I had NitroNobel training many years ago)

Suvarnabhumi Airport was built on swamp land. It was 'firmed up' by a vacuum consolidation process that draws water out of the swamp, thereby allowing the soil particles to draw closer together. By superimposing another couple of metres of fill during this process the ground consolidates further, until it is compact enough that the water cannot get back in (in the same volume), thus in effect stopping off a water-collection area. However, I cannot see that this would affect Bangkok, as there are many more suitable catchments closer to the city.

Drawing up artesian water can cause subsidence. It is much the same process as outlined above, without the surcharge.

Going to Ha Noi for advice about controlling flooding is not clever. Every year there, in the centre of town, I see people wheeling their motorbikes through waist-deep water. Some try to ride, but for some strange reason the electrics don't work well, and the holes in the roads cannot be seen.

Another Thai 'engineering' discussion with no substance, no research and no understanding of the subject. No wonder I went bankrupt when I employed Thai engineers. Doing much better with Vietnamese. May not be up to Western standards, but they are very willing to listen and learn.

Police Major-General Rangsiman Brahminkun is saying the impact and damage from the bombing explosion was the equivalent to 50 kilos of ammonium nitrate or urea, but they are still investigating the substance used.

50 kg of ammonium nitrate.....that is a lot.

And if you're mixing it with aluminium powder and diesel you need to take care.

Maybe a little carelessness has cost a couple of lives but saved dozens.

If the company is in legal bankruptcy, they will receive their payments through wage guarantees .. in a year or so!

Not what they expected but better then nothing!

But for this type of labour the workers usually pay a fee to the 'broker' to get the job - used to be US $ 1,500.00 per person per job. For that they are shipped out to the job (airfares were much cheaper in the eighties/nineties and often paid by the employer) and housed/paid wages by the employer.

Many haave to go to a loan shark to get the initial fee, or the family club together to get it. Either way, waiting for due process in the Swedish Bankruptcy Court will not help these people. They need money to pay off the extortionate loans, to buy food, whatever.

The exploitation of third world nationals, usually by their own compatriates, is disgraceful.

I have employed such people on construction sites for the past thirty-five years, sometimes local labour, but in the Middle East usually imported labour. Some get sent straight back, as they are useless, but most make the grade and earn (for them) good money. And most stay on for many years, moving from project to project, as do I. But whereas I earn maybe 25% over the pay I would earn back in UK, and in most places do not pay income tax, these guys earn 4 or 5 times what they would get in their native land, sometimes when they are on a high-overtime project it can be ten times. So they have strong incentive to work abroad, and also to stay out until they have enough to buy their dream, whatever it may be.

Edit : I have just seen the post covering what these guys did spend to get to Sweden. Prices have certainly gone up since my day!

Probably went to pick lingonberries in the forests of Sweden. It's a very popular thingy in Sweden, but mostly grow wild in small patches and not easy to fulfill a quota. Good luck to the Thai government for recognising that these people need and deserve help.

This military backed government is obviously not capable of running this country without suppressing the basic human rights.

How does the State of Emergency affect your Human Rights? I have not noticed any difference in my day-to-day life since the decree was put in place, the only difference i have seen is a few extra soldiers hanging around... and considering the regular bomb reports, that actually makes me feel a little safer.

It infringes on the rights of those who wish to block streets, throw grenades, burn down shops and take over the government.

(Also the gentleman who is living in Montenegro on the multi-billion baht fortune made while serving the people in a democratic government)

This story has been ongoing for over a year now...it is sad, mainly because as reported, the workers often pay [borrow] up to B 200,000 to "job brokers" up in Issan to even get these supposed "jobs" to begin with. Wouldn't suprise me if the Swedish fella was in cahoots with these Thai brokers all along and that they split up the "fees" for these "jobs."

Surprising that these labour abuses are allowed to go basically unchecked in that socialist workers' paradise of Sweden, however.

This appears to be one man, with a Finnish name, although he could be a Swede.

I have worked for major Swedish contractors. At one time we tried to set up our own recruiting agency in Thailand as the Thai agencies were ripping off the workers they sent to us.

But impossible - Thai law would not allow it.

So we had to keep paying the scummy Thai agents and find ways round the conditions imposed so that the families of our workers received a fair portion of what these guys earned.

It cost us money at the start, but I had Thai workers following me from job-to-job for a dozen years or more, because they knew they would get fair treatment and their families would see more money. That is the basic Swedish approach to employees, fair and reasonable.

This guy deserves whatever's coming to him.

This morning the Australian news media were announcing that the UK had issued travel advisories regarding France and Germany.

It takes two to tango.

If a government contract is n offer there will be many bidders. The one who pays the highest bribe will probably get the contract - unless there is a close relative of a senior government official on the bidding list. Nepotism outweighs most bribes.

But even in Western countries trade associations control the bidding for many large contracts, just as corrupt. Where there is money to be made, there is corruption.

Cannock Chase is not Cannock.

The town used to be a real dump.

RAF Cannock was an induction camp for new intakes (a boot camp) and all the old boots used to congregate outside the gates every evening.

I served there, went back in the 1990's for a construction job and the place was more dowdy and run down than I remembered it from the late 50's.

Cannock Chase is not Cannock.

The town used to be a real dump.

RAF Cannock was an induction camp for new intakes (a boot camp) and all the old boots used to congregate outside the gates every evening.

I served there, went back in the 1990's for a construction job and the place was more dowdy and run down than I remembered it from the late 50's.

The man should be prosecuted for child abuse.

Have any of you been to Cannock?

The child would be better off in Burma or Laos, let alone an Isaan village, where he can live a good life.

Cannock! Bah!!

I approve of (almost) anything that allows Thailand to be energy independent! The political consequences of being dependent on Burma for Natural Gas are obvious and very damaging.

But I do wonder what the life span of such a dam on the Mekong would be. The river carries large quantities of silt and there must be a serious risk of the reservoir silting up in pretty short order.

Chris

It is normal design practice with large hydro-dams to have silt-release spill-ways that open from the bottom of the dam, the pressure/force of the water pulling the conglomerated silt into the downstream stilling ponds before running in the old river bed.

A hydro-dam does not stop a river from running. It blocks the flow for a time, during it's initial phase, but then retains a fairly constant volume of water (hopefully - depends on droughts and so on) while releasing as much as is in-coming.

These environmental people only think halfway through the problem. As engineers, we go all the way to the logical solutions.

My number one complaint would be it's too hot in there.

As would all glasshouses in the tropics...

There were long discussions on the climate control during both design stage and construction stage.

The fritting on the windows has been increased; the heat insulation in the tensile membrane sections of the roof was improved; the air-con equipment was tested and retested several times.

The building is performing as designed, as required by the original NBIA specifications. For me it is fine, I never feel uncomfortable there. But then I never sleep with air-conditioning, even in places like Saudi, Iran, Libya. I appreciate a little cooling but I realise that I am in SE Asia and not at the South Pole.