marcusd

Why not plow under crops with a plow?

Plows are expensive, as is petrol. Most hill farmers have very few modern hand tools let alone any modern mechanical ones. And if you drive around the areas in the mountains where farmers burn, you'll soon realize that most areas are not easily accessible to mechanized equipment.

I hope you are not making excuses for the burn offs? They grow crops all year round so why only burn at the same time each year? They are bloody stupid that's why

You can read it as an excuse or simple as the reasonable fact that it is, up to you. As for the year round part: crops only grow when there is water available, the dry season doesn't meet that criteria, it's therefore a good time for unproductive land to be made ready for production once again.

BTW have you ever been into the mountains/hills in the north to see these things for yourself.

Yes many times and I also have flown over all the areas. There are ways to stop this simple. Government to plow the fields FREE and make sure they supply EVERYTHING including LOCAL labour and more than 5 people to do it!. provide some FREE fertilizer - and do it on a roster so each farmer area KNOWS when it is their tune and to get this money by charging a few baht BED TAX on all hotels and Condo apartment blocks that are rented out.

AND MAKE THE VILLAGE HEADS )I CANT SPELL POO YA BAAN!) tell everyone on those damned speakers throughout the season! And anyone caught with FIRE on their property to face stiff monetary penalties and or including SEIZURE of their land!!

it would stop in a week!

then there would be all year round tourism with people being able to see the lovely spring and summer flowers instead of smoke!

He does not look FARRANG to me - more asiatic. I thought Farrang means WESTERNER

Why not plow under crops with a plow?

Plows are expensive, as is petrol. Most hill farmers have very few modern hand tools let alone any modern mechanical ones. And if you drive around the areas in the mountains where farmers burn, you'll soon realize that most areas are not easily accessible to mechanized equipment.

I hope you are not making excuses for the burn offs? They grow crops all year round so why only burn at the same time each year? They are bloody stupid that's why

same CRAP just another year. I hope their tourism COLLAPSES just like peoples lungs in this rotten pollution

"Spring cleaning in Bangkok"

This should read.....

"The Westernizing of Bangkok is Almost Complete"

A lot of TV complainers will be pleased with this!

Actually, there is a long way to go before this happens - WESTERNIZING that is. A lot of the stupidity has to vanish first.

But I do get your point

"The move is widely seen as an attempt to cripple the political machine of Yingluck's brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in the 2006 coup, and to prevent his allies from returning to power."

The move is widely seen as seeking justice with the former PM Yingluck's self-financing scheme having lost 700 billion Baht and she frequently stating the scheme reached it's goal, she to be in charge.

In the civilized Western world it's seen as a political agenda. In the civilized world the junta is seen as illegitimate and illegal and lacking standing to prosecute anyone.

I have seen no proof that Yingluck stole the rice money herself. I have seen allegations of negligence.

This is a political cleansing to rid Thailand of the Shinawatra influence.

If criminal charges are to be brought they should have proof as to who the thieves were. Buying rice for above market price isn't illegal. Stealing that rice, cooking the books and so on is illegal. Who did that? Are they saying that YS did?

Actually whilst I agree with you on many points this is not correct in SUBSTANCE ONLY. Morals it is correct but the fact is, if you are an EXECUTIVE in any position in any company or busines sin the worls and you see something not right or you fail to look at what is going on as they say "under your watch" then at LAW you are guilty.

She wa sthe HEAD of Government and failed to take measures to halt the losses which even the bannks rejected.

So under law in any country - sh eis guilty by just being the head of government and NOT taking actions to halt losses or corruption which had been highlighted to her

If a company she would have the book thrown at her and be in SERIOUS trouble.

I feel they will scapegoat her take a few shin billions and let it all go and simmer underneath and the billions will again accumulate for the Shin clans

I D I O T or drugs?

The average Thai being about 1.60m. 'tall', the legspace will be enough for them on the cramped Boeings' configurations they chose for, so who cares a dime at THAI, or did you imagine it was of any concern in the fantastic plan that the average 'Caucasian' is getting close to 1.80m., and that the shoulderwidth might be a tad different? Nah, we are proud Thais, we know better, we don't need the Farangs... Do these airheads atthe top of THAI really want to fly only Thais? They're doing their best at it anyways... Their excess of attitude will make the airline lose more... altitude, more and once more... Speaking of the quality of 'Thai management', the more so with all the police, airforce and army top-brass, plus all the political creatures, having a golden armchair in that board, oh my!

1 Million percent agree. I have 16 people I this week tried to book through THAI head office on a Group Tour to Vietnam. Cnx -Bkk-Han -Bkk-Cnx.

Did they want to know? Ring these agents please - 2 of the numbers DISCONNECTED and the 3rd hanged up not interested. Then I stopped in a few agents and got a price HIGHER than I could have booked online DIRECT.

So I went to another website and booked Bangkok Air who were great on the phone and Qatar and the price total? HALF of what the on line price was for thai and that was THAI DISCOUNTED fares.

They are going down as Airlines are very tight

Bangkok Suvarnabhumi-Frankfurt: Three class 376-seat Boeing 747-400 to replace three class 267-seat A340-600 equipment on six of 13 weekly frequencies, resulting in 654 additional one-way seats each week;

Bangkok Suvarnabhumi-Zurich: Two class 364-seat 777-300 to replace three class 267-seat A340-600 equipment on seven weekly frequencies, resulting in 679 additional one-way seats each week.

Now this is a JOKE. These planes already fly one third full and two thirds EMPTY .

They want to destroy this airline!

Maybe they make experimental rules and regulations now sometimes, but I can see a clear line in it. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Thailand's not only got a problem with Farangs in this country, Thailand's also got an image problem in Farang mass media, at least in the "Yellow Press"

Pattaya's top for that, there's still that image in Europe that Pattaya's the biggest brothel in the world. No use to deny it, this myth is still there. And many young women from the Issan suffer from that. If they want to visit their boyfriends in a country like Germany, they get hustled by German bureaucrats with so much hidden suspicion that some of them yell at the counter of German embassy "I am NOT a prostitute!"

Then you have these Farangs in Thailand that treat Thai women like sex monkeys. And when back home, they tell everyone that ALL massage and bar girls in Pattsya are in fact prostitutes who rip off the poor innocent Farangs.

It would be a good idea to refuse passports from Farangs that live on welfare and perhaps never worked in their lives.

I do not know the full extent of your banter, but what you are saying certainly has been my observation... about Pattaya and a lot of Thais to Farrangs, Thais SELL themselves to us. I am gay and believe me, the girls in most places are and have been very forceful with offers of sex. So what you say that Europeans view them as such? The cap fits in this case and it goes back a thousand years. Google it. The Chinese Junks used to call in for comfort...

When living in Thailand and watching tourists get suckered day in and day out, you say nothing as it is none of your business. Now this fussy person moans about dirty toilets, aired panties and chairs on the beach. Look forward to the day when the surrounding nations become more competitive . Coups, the constant whining, the rip offs just show how petty some are in the Kingdom.

Been to Vietnam or Cambodia lately? More friendly to foreigners now.. THAILAND you have lost it. The zenith of your tourism has passed and now Thaialnd will start to go down and mainly because the shortage of money has aided the seeking of new and better valued holiday destinations

I like how she now has a security detail and a Private Jet....

Oh here we go again. I am waiting for Mango Bob to get onto this one.

Same story different day - same old drum beating

I saw her plane come to Chiang Mai the other day

It flies over my house. Pilot getting in some training I think

I just cannot resist people... "China and Thailand agreed on Friday to boost military ties over the next five years, from increasing intelligence sharing to fighting transnational crime, as the ruling junta seeks to counterbalance the country's alliance with Washington."

They actually mean starting to TRY to learn. Intelligence is something that is very lacking here

What marketing campaigns, promotions, incentives or logic makes them "forecast" 9% growth?

If I went to my Investors and forecast 9% growth, I better have a damn good reason why...and if I fail to deliver that 9% growth as forecast, I better make sure my resume is up to date.

Failures in the real world.

This is a land where positive attitude abounds. Smiles a plenty and money flows like honey from a beehive.

In Chiang Mai there is a company selling condos albeit miles out of the city, for 2.5million to 3.5million.

they too are optimistic as they promise 8% return (16,000 baht a month on a 60 mtr condo) and they will buy it back in 5 years at 50% gain.

So yes, this is the country of optimism so why not a growth at the airports?

Dream on people that's what we need to bring happiness to the people!

In my business we use Symantec CLOUD and also HITMAN PRO which is great for malware and thugguish hard to get at viruses. It is cheap and very effective. Also we use Malaware bytes free edition once per month.

Pay a little, relax a lot

Why is anyone surprised that Thai rice farmers are doing this?

It's standard Thai behaviour - "this is how we have always done it" and applies to any situation.

It is not just THAI rice farmers. What do they do instead as they know of nothing else?

And we are all the same. LOOK at your computer... Have a close look now... DOWNLOAD THIS UPDATE... and we do. Do we ask? No . Never! We are all the same.

There is a reason why they are called RICE Farmers. Care to guess what that reason is? Another question is "What will they do if the did not plant rice?"

The knowledge of the world market is at their reach, through the 3G mobiles in the hands of their children and grandchildren. If only they put down their glasses of Thai whiskey long enough...

Not true. Lets look at other Western World markets as I just replied to one other quote. And were you a leader in your great nation? These people have no hope.

Growing or not is a business decision. And if a bad decision is made, farmers should be allowed to suffer the consequences, as does those in any other business.

Yeah. And let's be done with socialism once for all. Everyone get a gun and if they can't aim right, be allowed to suffer the consequences.

This is a comment made obviously with no knowledge of business of growing - AGRICULTURE - overseas. Europe (France for one) the UK, USA all subsidise their FARMERS. this is not new. In fact USA farmers, beef and grain are so heavily subsidised the rest of the world cannot compete.

Do you really think USA oranges are that good or Thompson seedless grapes? And do you think FRENCH BEEF is the best? Or UK beef for that matter.

Thai rice farmers are a lot less well off and they have no education, no help and no hope.

I have dropped down to Silver level now - I am flying budget airlines everywhere all over Asia and only use Thai for long haul to the UK and Melbourne (where strangely enough the budget long hauliers are not particularly well priced) - I dont care about the lounge use - the food and drink is pretty awful in Thai lounges, so prefer to spend on a real coffee and food in the main shopping areas of Suvarnabumi - I will miss the generous excess baggage, but can buy the same allowance and still be quids in on Air Asia or Jetstar.

I booked a ticket to Melbourne last July and had an Award for upgrade or 50% off freebie I wanted to use - flying date January - could i get any upgrade or freebie granted? No - not one seat came up in 6 months - that is just appalling - and now that they have dropped me to Silver i expect i have lost the Award completely.

another thing that happens only in Thai, and that is about one hour after take off the Entertainment system shuts down and you have to reselect you movie - happens almost every time for the last couple of years at least. - why?

They are very stingy with the wine as well - usually not serving it until well after the meal has been served and then locking it away as quickly as possible - I am not a heavy drinker on flights but i do like at least two glasses 'with' my meal, not after it!.

Food can be okay, but often not -so it is hit and miss - but the big drop in service that i have noticed is in Business class - I used to fly it regularly when i was a salaried sales rep - but now work for myself and only use business when i use airmiles (they rarely ever upgrade for free - even when they have space up front) - the food is really basic - not a patch on SQ and other airlines, which can be luxury - in Thai Business the meals are boring and basic to say the least () the cheese platter a slice of bland something, a plastic wrapped Cracker Barrel and a Baby Bell - plastic wrapped crackers and three or four sour pip filled grapes - a very sad decline in standards - it did not used to be like that.

Someone on this thread mentioned the incomprehensible English - quite true - i dont know where they learned it but their reading and pronunciation is simply appalling

Happier to fly Budget any day now and i will not be using them for long haul now that i have been dropped to Silver - bye bye Thai!!!

Anyone else recognized my experience?

agree 199%

You can remove the leader, disband the party, "talk" to the hierarchy but you will never remove the sentiment of the 15 million Thai's that voted for the principles that they stood for.

How many of that 15 million really had a clue of the principles PTP stood for? Do you think PTP have any principles other than get rich quick by whatever means?

How many voted for them because that's who they were instructed/intimated/coerced/bribed to vote for?

The same can be said for all parties here mind. And that's something that ain't going to change without serious reform, real reform.

nonsense reply not based on facts even my 12 year old Thai niece has a better grasp than you do

they were instructed/intimated/coerced/bribed to vote for

when, where? I know many, many Thais who voted PTP and not a hint of what you suggest and you are insulting 15 million Thais

Well I DISAGREE because I live in Chiang Mai and I can tell you I have personally spoken to about 50 people who TOLD ME FLAT OUT they were given upwards to 1500 baht to vote RED SHIRTS IN. My staff were amongst them and feel betrayed now. But I am not sure how they will feel in the future under the Military rule because whenever people promise too much people expect more.