Phuketboy

Why don't they simply stop all travellers from the infected countries such as West Africa from entering the country.

Well there are enough puppets here to hold it. Most of which dance on the strings of the politicians.

Thanapat Tantisaewaekul, the 19-year-old businessman

What's his business? Being someone rich's son?

Property development.

Think you missed it… where would a 19 year old get the money for property development? Maybe from daddy? Hence rich person's son, just saying :-)

The bicycle lanes would be built with a budget of the Department of Physical Education; however, the best location of bicycle lanes will be discussed with local residents and provincial chambers of commerce before the construction starts.

That's rich.

Clear the sidewalks first!

That's hilarious. No point putting lanes in, Thai's don't know what they are. 90% of the time they are on the wrong side of the road, cutting corners etc. Putting bicycle lanes in will just mean another line on the road which nobody understands.

I'm hearing some awful stories on here with only a handful of happy people. Thinking of building a home/country get away in the GF's home town. As a qualified builder, would one be able to build their own home if they were living in Thailand on a non-B with work permit? I understand that construction is a Thai only job however this wouldn't be my job as i wouldn't be getting paid, I would be building my own home which is not for sale or for making money. The reason I ask is that stories of a basic house taking 6 years to 2 years to build and riddled with problem and sub-standard quality and finish is a worry. If I couldn't build myself I would make sure I was on site every day to ensure things were happening. A decent western style house should only take 3 months max if you know what you are doing.

I will head to market village tomorrow at opening time to reserve one, unfortunately I'll be out of the country (in Laos) from the 28th October to the 5th November. I wonder if they could just keep me one? Otherwise I guess they'll be sold out for weeks.

Was hoping to get one on the 31st, but I remember last year that the shops in Hua Hin didn't have any on the launch day anyway it was a few days later.

I would have thought apple thailand would have had a pre order form on their website .

Bit to much to ask I suppose .

I am currently in Laos and will be going back to Bangkok on the 25th. Do the authorised stores accept reservations? Where can I go to reserve one? My samsung note 2 is giving up on me pretty soon just after 2 years. I've been waiting to go back to iphone again.

why wait, simply get one sent in from another country. I've had my iPhone 6, white and silver, 64gig for 2 weeks now, no problems at all. Cost was 28500 baht in total.

Finally the poms are showing some backbone

Show me where Backbone won and Thailand loss?

Part of the problem is that the Thais have dug themselves into a deep hole and suddenly reversing course is all but unthinkable as too much has been said and too much possibly covered up, ' arranged ' etc. The loss of face would be massive.

Yesterday the National Police Chief again insisted the investigation had been transparent and that the era of fitting people up was over and wouldn't happen under his command.

These and other strong words from the top HAVE To be seen through now.

The era of fitting people up is over and won't happen under his command? That is why it's still happening everyday and I only read a story yesterday regarding a Brit who was framed and spent 12 mths in jail in Pattaya cause he didn't want to pay the police 500 baht to do a statement after he was mugged. I tried to post but mods took it down.

I honestly wonder how anybody could possibly survive on $400AUD per week. The joint is horrendously expensive. I've lived & travelled to various parts of the world, so I'm hardly neive, but I can now see first hand how expensive the place has become.

The price of food in the supermarket amazes me.

I can see the locally made cars are cheap (prices haven't changed much) but it's easy to see the cars are being built to a price point and quality is poor. Soon that option will be completely gone as all vehicle manufacturers are winding up business there.

The price of imports is going to rise soon, as the dollar drops.

The price if internet is a complete joke, I laughed at how expensive it was, thought they were joking.....and the good money doesn't mean speed, the internet speeds are low. Outside the cities he phone signal constantly drops and the local country roads are pathetic.

The lucky country it once was, not anymore. Fat cats like Clive (all 3 tonnes of him) & other jokers keep getting richer and pay minimal taxes while the working class are taxed to within an inch of their lives.

Then Rees the millions of welfare bludgers, that line the streets, stinking the place up and moaning about how they got locked up for this and that and so forth......these must be some if the dead heads on $400 per week. The reality is, they also get cheap housing, free health care, bus rides, this and that, what a joke, there's no shortage of them crime ing the place up and stealing from the working class while they are out trying to earn enough money to pay their ever expanding tax bills.

Income tax,

GST

Capital gains tax,

Medicare levy

Medicare levy surcharge

Fire levy

Local council rates

Departure taxes

Excise taxes

fringe benefits tax

inheritance tax

superannuation tax

fuel levy (3x3) (3x3 was suppose to be 3 cents for 3 years and was brought in some 25-30 years ago.

Carbon tax (no defunct) & soon to be replaced.

Payroll taxes

disability levies

The real victims are the working class, the ones that earn between 50k and 150k, there the ones that earn reasonable money and probably end up with less than$400 after all the <deleted> taxes are paid.

Australia is a joke, corrupt pollies and fat cats..... nothing changes, just the names of the taxes. What a shitehole.

Totally agree and think you just summed it all up very nicely. This is the reason so many people are getting the hell out while they can. I have no desire to ever to return. It's a beautiful country to visit, but is now so expensive to live there and so many rules and regulations. I guess if you like living like a robot (little worker ants I call them) travelling back and forth to work 6 days a week just to make ends meet then it's ok.

well lets see if the Junta will allow it.

Would be interesting if they allowed the Brits to investigate and they then asked if they could DNA test 'you know who. '

Now that would be interesting.

Never going to happen.

If past cases are anything to go by the Burmese will get off on corruption of evidence thus saving face with Burma and the real killers will remain at large.

It would be easy for the Brits to check the DNA of the accused with that which was found in the victim. The Junta can't stop it. The brits have the bodies back in the UK and the lawyers have access to the accused. Even if the Junta stops the lawyers from having access to the accused they can get DNA from the family. All they need is a hair from a hairbrush or anything that the accused has used.

So instead of accepting bribes from the public to get off offences, they are now accepting a 10,000 bribe from the government to do what they are suppose to be doing. A bribe is a bribe no matter who it is from. If they accept this they are still accepting a bribe. Why can't they just do the job which they sign up for and which they are suppose to do and get paid for?

It really exposes the level of their mentality.. Thinking that everyone is on the same level of intelligence as they are.. It's quite disturbing.

But not surprising. Problem is, you can't fix stupid. Exposure to pesticides, culture, genetic? I'm baffled.

Oh well, it's a pretty insignificant country really. Mai phen rai...

From 2011:

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Abhisit-aghast-at-lack-of-knowledge-30154049.html

Stupid doesn't even start to describe the RTP. Maybe retarded is a better word. You are right you can't fix it because their pea sized brains (if they have any at all) doesn't seem to function.

So the police are now planing to execute these guys? With the world watching and amnesty groups involved, if this plays out they will make an absolute laughing stock of the corrupt RTP. The Burmese need to have their own representatives keep an eye on them to protect them from any more mis-treatment. Suicide? I think not, murdered well that is a likely possibility.

I think the consular team especially if they bring in their own investigative lawyers that are not Thai, will dig deeper than any Thai lawyer would. I have heard and on one occasion seen that the Thai lawyers are more mediators than actual lawyers. They tend to mediate rather than fight and defend the person they are representing. That is not how a lawyer should work. These two victims of the RTP should be allowed outside council as well as both a Thai and foreign translator. I would not be trusting anyone Thai at the present time in this case.

The police posted on social media that anyone circulating alternative theories against the police's official story would be prosecuted

What a joke. Are they going to prosecute everyone in Thailand and most likely 90% of the world. hahahahaha another stupid statement from the police.

Maybe I missed the bit about racial profiling?

The reality is they were in the realm of the mafias. Mafias don't like people to create a scene and draw attention to their racket. Either intentionally or unintentionally. In Thailand no police or ambulance or any local is ever going to go against a mafia.

Are people this naive that they never heard stuff like this happens ?

And that is exactly why the so called mafias in Thailand (nothing more than uneducated street gangs really) are so influent. Maybe if people grew some balls and stood up to these F%^king W$%ankers maybe just maybe people could go about their lives in peace. The problem is nobody stands up to them so they think they have this power. They have nothing against a community if the community stand their ground. I have seen a few stances of one on one intimidation and they back down very quickly when they have so support from their friends. When they are groups like little dogs it's a different story.

Framed and used as scapegoats for sure. They should be DNA by an independent agency outside of Thailand. This would mean someone would have to come here and personally take the samples away to be tested. The entire thing is BS and we know the scum family and that little shit of son did it. I wouldn't be surprised if the police weren't involved as well. Absolute BS.

Please, can a real journalist look into a few basic questions and publish in a major newspaper?

1. Is it true that the victim's phone was handed over to police by her friend the day after the murder? Is this is same phone the police claim was found behind the room belonging to the suspects?

2. Since the suspects worked at the very same bar that the victims were at that night, and since they didn't flee, how is it possible that the initial blanket DNA tests did not find a match?!?

3. Is it true that relatives of prominent families on the island were exempted from giving DNA? If so, why? What law requires poor people to give DNA, but excuses rich people.

I know there are many, many more unanswered questions, but these stand out for me.

I would happily donate to a legal fund for defense for these guys. Perhaps an NGO can set that up here?

certainly looks like her phone

We should bombard the TAT with emails explaining to them how stupid they look to the rest of the world. Maybe make some recommendations such as finding new TAT employees, some with an education, travel experience and world knowledge.

I thought it was Tour De France simply because of that, it is a cycling even touring France. Will they have to change the name to Tour De Thailand if held here?

The price is normally 800baht from the airport all the way to Nanai Rd Patong (near Don's BBQ), not just to Tesco. If they did that entire trip, I wonder what the difference would be. I would say it wouldn't be much if anything at all.

A couple of friends of mine who have hotels have said their bookings for this high season are actually better than the bookings they had last high season.

5 or so years ago, I would get room bookings as early as June for my Phuket hotels, for the Christmas break. Customers booked early to ensure that they could get a room.

Over the past few years, peak season advanced bookings have tailed off, although the number of guests staying during the peak season has remained the same - people just leave it to the last minute to book, (I assume either because they think the hotels will not be booked out, or they wait until the last minute in case there is another coup/ghastly murder/ flood/ ebola etc etc in Thailand).

Not only that, there are so many hotels and rooms available now that people don't need to book early. This is the problem with continual building, and it's basic supply and demand. The other issue is that you can have more tourists here but there may still be hotels which are a long way off being at full capacity. This doesn't mean there is a decline in tourist numbers, it means the tourists are spreading out across the available accommodation.

This guy seriously needs to be sacked and replaced because he is clearly out of his depth. What educated person would come up with such ridiculous ideas and concepts. Yes there is a problem, so why not have law enforcement do their jobs or maybe a law in place that protects a persons safety. One might suggest automatic 10 years in jail for any Thai causing harm to anyone else especially that of tourists. One could suggest that it could work both ways. Law enforcement need to work harder to get people like this off the streets and out of society.

There are some really thick people in this forum. You are all suggesting that a foreigner is a western person. The DNA collected from Hannah was that of Asian decent. The police know they are looking for an Asian person, however there are many countries in Asia outside of Thailand and therefore the people coming from those places outside of Thailand are foreigners. The person could be Chinese, Burmese, Japanese, Malaysian etc etc. These people are all foreigners as they are not Thai. Is it really that hard to understand or are people that stupid, to believe as soon as the word foreigner is mentioned, they instantly think it must be a white westerner. Unbelievable