MrY

Option 21: Buy an online train ticket on Malaysian State Railways from Hat Yai into Malaysia on www.ktmb.com.my for a minimum purchase of 200 MYR ($5). It is a legit onward ticket (unlike bus tickets that sometimes have a change of vehicle at border), and has worked for me for years.

On my last rotation in LOS I bumped into a westerner I knew in the late '90s. Had come to Thailand on a fresh passport that had already expired at the time I knew him. 1,5, or 10 year pp, I don't know. Met a girl and wanted to marry. Couldn't. Hilltribe. Moved to the village and didn't even send his passport out for a [back then] 90 day stamp "border run" for 700 baht. He ended up being a key witness in a case against his friend and turned himself in to testify. He was simply taken to a distant station with no intention to even register him until the case was over. I used take him proper food, toiletries, beer and such. All very relaxed then. He was still in when I left for work. All I heard later was that he was deported.

Now about a month ago when I asked him how long was he gone, the answer was "Never left". His new family arranged him to go free with an understanding not to try to testify. I asked if he still did his "visa runs" and he said he still "flew out" regularly. So it seems there are those out there living quietly [and illegally] out there.

For the Snitch Squad, I hope the details were sufficiently muddled, he naturally can't and doesn't live in the hilltribe village any more, I claim to have no proof of any wrongdoing by the BiB, and I only remember his given name, Alfa Zulu (no reference to Alfas or Zulus intended). I gave my number, didn't ask for his. Hopefully he will call one day. Great guy.

For "sugar soap" substitute use 1/2 cup regular white vinegar and 1/4 cup of sodium bicarbonate (both available everywhere cheap) in a gallon (about 4L) of [warm] water. Works chemically about the same, but does not have the "abrasive agents" of "sugar soap". For grease or cigarette tar removal you can add 1/2 to 1 cup of ammonia, but then you should wipe the walls with clean warm water afterwards.

White vinegar is 20% acetic acid. Sodium bicarbonate will react with acetic acid to form sodium acetate, which has no cleaning properties.

Similarly, if you add ammonia to acetic acid, it will form ammonium acetate, again with no cleaning properties.

Vinegar is acidic, so any basic compounds in residues will be attacked by it. Conversely, ammonia is alkaline, and attacks any acidic residues, or oils by saponification of the fatty acids therein. For maximum cleaning effect, the vinegar would be applied first, rinsed off with clean water, then ammonia is applied, and again rinsed off.

I'd suggest it would be simpler to head to a paint store where there are bound to be a number of single application products available.

Thanks for the correction. It's been a while (30 years), and you're right, it is done in stages. I remembered what we used to use, googled the quantities, and forgot about the method. My bad.

For "sugar soap" substitute use 1/2 cup regular white vinegar and 1/4 cup of sodium bicarbonate (both available everywhere cheap) in a gallon (about 4L) of [warm] water. Works chemically about the same, but does not have the "abrasive agents" of "sugar soap". For grease or cigarette tar removal you can add 1/2 to 1 cup of ammonia, but then you should wipe the walls with clean warm water afterwards.

Good post, yacobm8. Disregard the crap like the post below. There's a lot of people who benefit from tips and accounts on how to live cheap in Thailand. And there are always a few disbelievers that post negative because they could not do it themselves or can't manage their finances. I've managed on a tight budget in Thailand before and it's certainly possible to do, especially with some local help. Cheers.

Flew from Hong Kong over Thailand to Sri Lanka once. Didn't land in Thailand.

Buying a new car. Should have bought an already banged up second hand one.

Bought my "dream car" in Thailand and had it fixed up. Would have been cheaper to buy it back home and fly back once a month to drive it for a weekend. Still I kept it...

So someone took this image, originally from The Huffington Post, and accidentally published it along with other items said to come from the arrest ?site

Nothing is really "originally from The Huffington Post"....

(Hint: Look up 'aggregator')

Who just happened to know where to get 3KG's of explosive?

Or 6kg, if you include the second bomb

Or the expertise to make a pro-device.

Not a "pro-device" and no "expertise" needed. It seems very important for the authorities and to the public alike to keep the illusion that blowing things up is somehow a complex undertaking. It is not, as the number of bombings around the world shows.

It's entirely possible that no Thai's were involved in the explosives. Most investigations into such events these days seem to identify the explosives involved, in this case nothing definitive has been announced, except to say it may be TNT. I am not prepared to start googling bomb making stuff for obvious reasons but I am pretty sure TNT is a fairly generic term. Also as the police mentioned "a plastic tank with chemicals, box of sodium carbonate" that would seem to indicate this guy was making his own explosives.

I have to laugh at people saying it must have taken months to organise. As long as you know what you are doing regarding making a bomb, just a few weeks is surely enough. None of the parts are uncommon and the chemicals required to make some explosives are also very common items, like fertilisers. As for the rest, 5 minutes googling tourist sites would have thrown up plenty of targets; 1 or 2 visits to see the situation; Spend a couple of evenings looking at escape routes, what's so hard? I do think it is probable Thai's are involved somewhere along the line but equally it could be a handful of foreigners, some of which know Thailand well. None of it is rocket science, the hardest bit is having a bomb making expert.

It's going to be interesting to see if they can find out who he really is.

Agreed. Even then the level of "expertise" required to construct this type of crude device is very low. And whoever designed it was no expert in choosing the type of explosive (if it indeed was TNT) used in this kind of bomb. Also notice the BiB do not even have the ability to detect the type of explosive used, yet they've stated that "explosive residue" was found in the arrested mans apartment... (Maybe they found a wrapper from a block of TNT?)

If I ever have need for a small bomb (for getting rid of tree roots in our garden for example) there's no way I'm going to look through Yellow Pages and the like for a suitable supplier, or at least someone to tell how to make one - the brother in law is out of the question, he can't even light a ciggy without burning himself. No way sir..I'm coming straight to the TVF, lots of folks here will be able to help. Thanks in advance.

Information; It's not what you know, but to know how to find it.

Explosives are used everywhere for construction, mining, demolition, etc. For a person not trained to use them information on how to handle them is widely available. There is no need for 'expert' anything for someone who is willing to take a risk for his own safety to put others in danger. Even making explosives is not difficult. Once you know that ANFO (the most widely used explosive nowadays) stands for Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil (think fertilizer and diesel) you're halfway there into making it. It can literally be less than 24 hours from getting p***ed off to becoming a bomber.

If the explosive used indeed was TNT, the there is no expert 'instructor', foreign or local. At something like 7000m/s blast velocity you don't need to make it into a pipe bomb (pipe bombs are designed to overcome the shortcomings of low explosives), just tape short nails or ball bearings straight onto it "Claymore style", stick in a blasting cap (you can improvise one), add an amplifying circuit with a battery (or any high voltage source), connect it to a cell phone ringer, and Voilà! you've got a bomb [remote controlled]. Takes about an afternoon [shopping included] once you got the explosive.

Are you Irish ?

No, I can hold my drink...

(The TNT observation is courtesy of a peaceful country that nonetheless taught members of its military how to wage "total war", including how to make [what are now called] IEDs. That, and years spent in places that make Thailand look like Switzerland.)

If the explosive used indeed was TNT, the there is no expert 'instructor', foreign or local. At something like 7000m/s blast velocity you don't need to make it into a pipe bomb (pipe bombs are designed to overcome the shortcomings of low explosives), just tape short nails or ball bearings straight onto it "Claymore style", stick in a blasting cap (you can improvise one), add an amplifying circuit with a battery (or any high voltage source), connect it to a cell phone ringer, and Voilà! you've got a bomb [remote controlled]. Takes about an afternoon [shopping included] once you got the explosive.

The Greek banks reopened a month ago.

...but withdrawal limits remain, preventing a run on the banks. How much would you deposit if you knew you can only withdraw 60 Euros a day..?

I am eager to learn of the validity of the $1,000,000 bill as I have several of these that are held as a security against a substantial loan I have made to a friend in the Pattaya condo construction business.

But I know for a fact that there's no such thing as a €1,000,000 bill as I hold several €500,000 bills, again as surety against another loan to another friend dealing in the Phuket real-estate market. When I asked him about them, he told me they were the largest, legal denomination.

I even have some ฿1,000,000 notes but nobody seems too interested in them.

I was under the impression that the largest USD denomination printed was $100.

You were under the correct impression

Partially correct, it is the largest one available to the public and still being printed. $500, $1000, $5000, $10,000, and $100,000 all have been issued and some remain in collectors hands. ($100K was a "reserve note" never released.)

as long as idiot westerners call themselves ' farangs' its hard to imagine anyone showing them any form of respect. can u imagine a chinese or thai guy in the uk calling himself a yellow man,,,

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Sensitive flower Rijit.

Bet you have no problem calling yourself an expat. Expat, foreigner, immigrant, falang, What's in a name? It's just a classifier

Call it sensitive if it makes you feel better, but personally i dont think classifying someone by the colour of their skin is acceptable..

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Farang = non-Thai

Where does it say anything about the colour of the skin..?

sounds like its time to go home

You guys won't ever stop, will ya..?

Too simple.

How to avoid that this will happen again?

Simple. Take the pilots out of the equation. Then the crashes won't be pilot's fault any more...

I had a similar thing a few years ago. I had to make a choice between going back to the UK for my fathers funeral and lose my job or dont go and have a job. Since I had a family who depended on me I did what my father would have said. He would have sad "You cant do anything here and you have a family t support so dont be bloody stupid stick with the job".

I did exactly that. My brother never forgave me and we have since agreed never to contact each other. It was a choice I had to make and I stand by it to this day

This is what I learned in Thailand;

"Work comes first because family is No. 1"

As F4UCorsair said, there's plenty of heat in the wheel well for a one hour flight, it might even get a bit hot at first. He would of course have suffered from hypoxia, and must have passed out at altitude. If a stowaway does not indeed get crushed by gear retraction, then it is very likely he'd get sucked out when the gear is extended [all of a sudden]. He would definitely be dazed and confused after surviving all that.

Can you explain how he would be sucked out when the the gear is lowered?

Rapid pressure drop followed by massively turbulent airflow. Most stowaways that are still alive at gear extension get sucked out.

Man arrested with gun. And bullets (ammo?). And a pipe. In Phuket. What next..?

All these are serious crimes here in Thailand. Gun, ammo, drugs ....

Serious and common, but not exactly news to anyone.

Man arrested with gun. And bullets (ammo?). And a pipe. In Phuket. What next..?

The megalo-what plan..?

As F4UCorsair said, there's plenty of heat in the wheel well for a one hour flight, it might even get a bit hot at first. He would of course have suffered from hypoxia, and must have passed out at altitude. If a stowaway does not indeed get crushed by gear retraction, then it is very likely he'd get sucked out when the gear is extended [all of a sudden]. He would definitely be dazed and confused after surviving all that.

They found leeches in the moat? Duh, it's not even news. And why are they not called just leeches, but "leech-like"..?

...and "no official warnings have been issued". Why would they? It would have to be worldwide.