Timwin

60,000 baht is nothing as a fine!!!! And human life not valued much here....

In USA, the fine is about 300,000 baht and then you get a wrongful death suit by victim's family....

lower fines, more odds of dying...

get happy about paying only 60,000, and then your family gets run over...

your choice..

The average Thai monthly salary is only about 15000 baht. So it is pretty steep price already.

For those complaining that some freelancers are not paying taxes. The reason is simple. You are automatically dropped out of the domestic social security and health insurance systems at some point in most western countries, usually already after 6 or 12 months if your home address is abroad.

So you are on your own, there is no welfare, only your savings. So why continue paying for non-existing services at home? You have to tax yourself for future unemployment or health issues.

Idiotic new policy, especially when there is now a lot of competition around for long-term tourists. Not helping Thai economy at all.

Can't imagine them shifting many of them.

Still though, number of genuine tourists affected, close to zero.

Number of hanger ons that cannot get a long-term visa but refuse to leave voluntarily, lots and lots.

As the Gen has said "Good foreigners in, bad foreigners out"

Oh, "genuine tourists"! Your kinds would pay gladly 5000 Baht for a "genuine tourist" certificate. Even better, make it a badge, so you could show it in go-go bars to your pals how genuine you really are!

Especially digital nomads must be really bad for the economy with their laptops in condos, spending thousands of dollars worth of money in Thailand every month. That is just so bad!

Try naltrexone (or Selincro) if you think you cannot cut down on your own. It does not make you vomit or get you sick. It takes that 6-8 months to work.

AA has been proven to have a success rate less than 10 percent. It is actually quite harmful for those who go back to drinking again and again. Each time they start drinking again after a dry period, they drink even more than before.

Today, there is no one size fits all. Some are blackout drunks, some are social drinkers drinking too much, some are periodical binge drinkers. For most cutting down to zero is just not realistic no matter what the AA guys say. Different treatments for different cases.

Selincro is NHS approved in UK for alcoholism so it has some solid science behind it.

Use medical science. You have developed an addiction in your brain over the years and you need a treatment. Not moralizing bullshit. You cannot stop on your own so take the next step.

Today there is so called Sinclair method with a generic drug called Naltrexone or Nalmefene. Both are anti-opioids. The trademark name is Selincro. Just go to any decent pharmacy and ask for it. The method was originally developed in Finland in laboratory during 70's and 80's with rats especially breeded to be alcoholic rats.

The method is pretty simple. Every day you start drinking, take a pill one hour before. The pill does not work alone while sober, it needs actually alcohol! The anti-opioid with alcohol in your brain gradually makes the drinking less and less interesting over the course of about 6 months. It basically lessens the power of the addiction "circuitry" in your brain to your behavior. You will have gradually less and less cravings and alcohol is just not that interesting after about 6-8 months.

It does not make you sick while drinking and it is not a miracle cure. It takes a bit of discpline but it is like taking any other daily medicine. It takes time but works for about 4 out of 5 alcoholics unlike AA with less than 10 percent success rate.

I don't think one could even build lasting beach structures at Pattaya beach. The amount of water coming from higher ground is so huge the flood will eat away any foundations, any obstacles and expand tiniest of cracks very rapidly. Or you have to do something like a raised broadwalk and huge pipes or small concrete canals underneath directing the flow.

So it is actually cheaper just to rebuild it every year. Concrete is cheap and Thai workforce even cheaper.

She simply panicked because of mob gathering at the scene of first accident. Newbie in Thailand, that could happen. Of course some TV members expected from her to be a "man"...

If she had pulled this stunt in America she would be dead police have Zero tolerannce for that kind of driving. So if you have to lose it then Thailand looks like the place to be.

By the way it sounds as if she was practicing to be a van driver! They ignore laws drive in wrong lanes drive way to fast!

Police in more civilized countries than USA use spike mats. USA definitely is not a country one should take example from.

It is a tough judgement call. Even if you lock your car, side windows are easily breakable to thousand pieces with any sharp objects. Those are designed that way.

The talk of "Thai mobs" forming to beat up a young woman who stays at the site of the accident is ridiculous and only to justify the disgraceful and cowardly behaviour of this American woman.

Oh really?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/723016-road-rage-bangkok-bus-driver-lynched-stabbed/

It is quite common practise from Thais to flee the scene and then surrender later to police. Just like the truck driver I told about previously. Some people here just wear those rose-colored glasses.

Hit-n-run, thinking this is OK in a "third world" country??? haha.....29-years old......why was she running from the law???

Thais do it all the time because they fear the mob. You think you are going to be somekind of Rambo instead in a similar situation? Take out your papers in orderly fashion and step out, only to be stabbed to death outside your car?

It is a tough call. If you are unlucky, the cops are also part of the mob, instead of your protection.

Its good to see they have solved the flooding problems in Pattaya

I don't think they can even solve those problems or Pattaya Beach would look like a sewage plant with big *ss pipes beneath every Soi.

To the contrary, the American style inward opening doors are idiotic. Just one kick and you are in.

Why do Immigration not just set financial requirements for an Ed visa, the same as they do for marriage and retirement ? Say for instance, proof of income from outside Thailand of 30k a month or a seasoned 350k ? That would stop the illegal workers in their tracks, that would stop the people who step off the plane with a backpack and a dream.

Why don't immigration put the retirement visa age to 65 years! 50 years old with "retirement" is a cowardly quitter. He has not done his part in job markets fully back in homeland and should be deported! How about that?

Maybe they should form a tourist fashion police unit with fancy badges and colorfull uniforms for people like Jungle Jim. So that you pathetic clowns could feel somehow "superior" to us mere "common foreigners'. I'd bet Jungle Jim would pay 1000 dollars if there were such title as Foreigner Plus in Thailand without any other benefits except the title.

Rather simplistic & ignorant view & I especially liked the part of the "Euro is not for bulls**t people with bulls**t governments.

A big part of Greece's problem was joining the Euro in the 1st place & high military expenditures with their perceived threat with Turkey and the corruption that went along with those deals encouraged mainly from Germany.

Because Greece is tied to the Euro they can't devalue their currency to make their exports more attractive & also tied the the EU's rules & regulations.

Greece has only a population of around 11 million so once the government got into debt..there is almost no way out..It is said it's going to take 2 generations to get rid of the existing debt.

The EU governments are similar to most other western countries..they are for bailing out the bankers at the expense of it's people...

The EU in my opinion is like a dysfunctional family...maybe a good idea at the time of formation...but now will probably disintegrate over time to their own independent economies & currencies.

Euro is already devaluing big time. Russia had to devalue even more, about 50 percent and it is not helping them at all. Inflation already 10 percent and their central bank interest rate is a killer, 17 percent. According to your logic Russia should be booming! It does not work like that. Russians got maybe one year left before the economy collapses unless the price of oil suddenly goes back to 100 dollars.

Greek government btw has their debts signed under English law in London and using euro as currency because nobody trust the Greek justice system. London or New York are pretty common 3rd parties in government bond deals with smaller countries, especially with crisis countries. Even if the Greeks issued their new, rapidly devaluing currency, they would be pretty soon unable to pay anything because the debts are in euros. If they defaulted, IMF black suits would be stepping in with emergency loans and de facto new government. Those boys and girls do not <deleted> around, they will get their money back. Even if it means really bad times for Greeks.

Plus the fact their new currency would bring total, high inflation chaos to Greece similar to Weimar Germany. It would worsen their problems big time. Greeks themselves would not trust their own currency at all and soon they would invest all their savings to gold, dollars, euros.

Till immigration relax and take it easy there will be a lot of problems.

Maybe you should arrange a big meeting with all private schools, create an united front and create a reasonable counterproposal for MOE. Otherwise, they just rule all over you guys, killing the business. If the first year students, the bread and butter of language schools, start getting bad experiences from this visa circus it will be bad for business.