Para

I need to go to Rayong City/Municipal and wanted to take the bus for a change

I know I can get the slow bus from Pattaya Klang/Suk but wanted a private bus/mini van.

Any ideas where they run from?

Para

In Bangkok perhaps the most convenient temple for what you are seeking is Wat Mahathat. There is an international meditation section there where English is spoken, and you are welcome to stay there as long as you like.

Wat Sanghatan on the outskirts of Bangkok has at least one English-speaking month as well. The semi-rural, semi-urban setting is conducive to beginning practice.

Ven Dhammanando at Wat Benjamabophit is a British monk with over 20 years experience in the Thai monkhood and high accomplishments in both Pali and meditation studies. He would be worth talking to about possibilities at Wat Ben.

Phra Neil at Wat Paknam in Bkk is a Scottish month who is one of the most senior western-born monks in Thailand. There are a few other western monks at Wat Paknam as well. The last time I checked, foreigners were welcome to stay there and study Buddhism.

Good luck.

Thank you sabaijai I will try and contact the people you mention now.

Regards

Para

The person you need to talk to, if he is available has the forum name of fabienfred on Thaivisa. He should be on the member's list.

He is a native Brit I believe and is a ordained Buddhist monk.

PM him with your question and, if he is available, he should give you the information you're looking for.

Just be aware that because of his commitmants as a monk, he can not always answer or doesn't have access to the internet at times.

So be patient. I'm sure he will answer you if he can do it.

Thanks for the pointer I will PM him now.

Para

If location becomes unimportant then there is a Budhist temple in a forest (I would call it a large wood) outside Ubon Ratchatani that is renowned for its English/foreign section and has an esteemed abbot - sorry I'm not spiritual myself so know no more than that. The couple of occasions I have visited there casually I have been struck by the friendliness of monks who approached us, Thai and English-speakers.

edit: founf it now in my guide book. Wat Pa Nanachat Bung Wai. Actually the guy I was thinking of is dead but hos teachings live on - it was 'founded by a famous monk and mediation master Ajhan Cha'. Lonely Planet has contact details.

Thank you SantiSuk I will look it up.

Regards

Para

I have looked through recent threads and consulted other sources but as of yet am unable to find an suitable Temple in Bangkok when I can live and learn more about Buddhism

I have been in Thailand for many years now so this is far from a fad and I am fully aware of what I am letting myself in for. I have 12 months possible more to devote to my learning's so being a Monk for a Month isn't really what I am after.

For personal reasons Temples around Lard Yao/Jatujak would be better but I accept its the learning not the location that's important.

If anyone has any information that will allow my dream to become a reality I would greatly appreciate it.

Either PM me or keep this thread going.

Regards

Para

For the purpose of making speed? Nice crowd you hang out with!

You know what they say about assumption Dick don't you? Just because I KNEW someone who was buying volume psudo doesn't mean they were doing anything illegal with it...........

OK fair play - but what could you do with 10,000 tablets of Rhinofed (legally) ? I think the fact that you included the phrase "no questions asked" implied some level of dodgy-dealing

Send them to a 3rd world country to combat the amount of counterfeit drugs sold to them by legit companies whose only concern is making a better bottom line? How do I know it was an old acquaintance.

There are other ways of making Ice that does not involve the use of psudo.. Also for the record I used ephedrine for many years legally when bodybuilding as a thermogenic.

But will accept my reply did leave me open to attack of knowing 'dodgy people' but I live in Pattaya and all the dodge ones here seem to failed at trying high diving from hotel rooms in their speedo's. What I want to know is why are they always in Speedo's!

Peace.....

For the purpose of making speed? Nice crowd you hang out with!

You know what they say about assumption Dick don't you? Just because I KNEW someone who was buying volume psudo doesn't mean they were doing anything illegal with it...........

Nope can't make it here, pseudoephidrine is regulated by the Thai government. A specific portion is allocated per drugstore.

You'd have to synthesize and extract from other drugs, leaving less profit and corrupting purity.

I used to know someone who would regularly buy 10,000 tablets of Rhinofed from a chemist in Pattaya no questions asked. Admittedly thats going back a few years but hey this is LoS if you have the cash anything is available......

One wonders how effective giving little fish away allows the big shipment to get through.

Sorry IMO its too big a 'little fish' for them to take a BT10M loss then the real package must be what BT100M to cover the lose? Now the other guy on the other flight who got caught on the swallow now thats a perfect patsy for a larger shipment to get through.

I still don't understand why these cartels are not flying in the chemists to make the sh_t here the ingredients are easily available and that's without going black market, paying the mules and taking a hit to get the real parcel through.

Whatever I bet the next 1kg+ seizure is in less than a week. Keeps the BiB happy with the skimmed seizure which is resold. I mean who would stand up in court charged with 500g's and tell the judge they really had 1kg but the police took half? Pure Thai style something for nothing with no come backs!

Sorry the whole Thai 3G fiasco is now IMO totally boring but must be a constant source of laughter to the rest of the world. Too long has been wasted making brown envelope payments and kickbacks while the rest of the world moves on......

Do you really think the rest of the world even knows??? IMO It's only a source of laughter for farangs and it definitely is boring, Just like the rest of Thai politics.

Do they know or like us do they actually care either way I agree with you......

Sorry the whole Thai 3G fiasco is now IMO totally boring but must be a constant source of laughter to the rest of the world. Too long has been wasted making brown envelope payments and kickbacks while the rest of the world moves on......

And still they come like lambs to the slaughter.

Are these people so illiterate they don't at least check out the news of the country they are trafficking to?

Well they are looking at 8 years IF there is a treaty between Thailand and Iran if not life in the Big Tiger......

Another seizure from a mule bouncing out of Doha seems like Thailand isn't the only country that has flagged the flights from there.

I cant believe they would choose a country that enforces the death penalty to come through it take incredible balls of no brain I am going with the latter.

How many foreigners now is it that have been caught at Swampy or en-route to Swampy with Meth from the middle east and yet still they come. I can understand local mules who don't know the penalties or arrest rate but a Thai and a Sweede?

RIP I am sorry to say. The Thai for sure the Swedish man might get lucky with life but give the before mentioned Bali 9 the precedent has been set and Indonesia isn't afraid to give these kind of sentences out. That said given the choice of life in their prisons or a quick death I think I would book my ticket for the next life.

It reminds me of a similar case when a young British guy was electrocuted in the rain by a loose power cable in Theppisit. Totally unacceptable.

Another young life wasted in a country that seems to have such little regard for safety but is so dependent on tourism.

Condolences to the family.......

Para

What I don't understand is there have been so many airport busts recently almost all from the middle east why these cartels/gangs don't fly the cook over to Thailand and get them to make it here. Its only needs a basic chemistry understanding and whilst its is incredibly flammable at a couple of stages of the process decent ventilation solves that.

One of the main ingredients required to make Ice is pseudo ephedrine which I think is more easily available in some ME countries such as Iran & Syria.

In Thailand pure pseudo ephedrine is not that easy to get so you are basically restricted to extract it from cough medicine. That's ok if you want to produce small quantities but if you're into cooking kilos of the stuff you'll need a whole network of people who get you the cough tablets because each tablet contains only a couple of mg of pseudo ephedrine.

Much easier to make it in a place where the raw ingredients are more easy available.

Totally agree Eph is pretty much banned in most countries unlike a few years ago when I used to buy it as a supplement for working out. It is incredible easy to buy pseudo here I knew of a chemist that would sell 10,000 tablets at a time without question repeats as often as needed. You dont have to find too many similar chemists and you have the precursor to make kg's of the stuff.

I remember a few years back a container ship was en-route to North Korea and was stopped and searched they found tons of Eph on board. The governments answer was it was being used to make cold medicine. There was enough Eph on there to take care of everyone in the country for 5 years. Me thinks it was being used for something else......

What I don't understand is there have been so many airport busts recently almost all from the middle east why these cartels/gangs don't fly the cook over to Thailand and get them to make it here. Its only needs a basic chemistry understanding and whilst its is incredibly flammable at a couple of stages of the process decent ventilation solves that.

As for the suggestion of doing it in a flat they would not last 5 minutes due to the smell. A remote up country house is all that's needed with no worries/costs of mule'ing it in.

Had to laugh they have already tested the ICE to be 100% which would take a lab to do but are going to test the mule which would take a trip to the toilet!

Sure Google the before/after pictures of meth users but then take another look its always the same people. Bit like when Daniella Westbrook's nose fell apart there was only ever 1, very badly Photoshopped picture of it. The word is propaganda.

As for making you look like c_ap take a walk around Insomnia or JP's at 6am and have a look at the girls still dancing away with pure white teeth and clean skin.......

ICE is bad but yabba is a lot worse.

Ice is pure crystal meth Yabba is a mix of starch caffine and crystal meth .Yabba ice is 90% purity upwards of crystal meth. Yabba tablets contain 14-22% crystal meth in 1 tablet. You be the judge which is worse ! both as bad as one another This information is from a very reliable source

tracker1 there is a hell of a lot more in yabba that just caffeine and meth I read a lab report on what really makes up yabba and it was bad. Also the ratio of meth to caffeine varies on the type of yabba anything from 90% meth/10% caffeine down to 20%meth/80% caffeine. That said I agree they both very addictive and dangerous drugs.

There is no such thing as yabba ice as yabba is actually 2 words ya meaning drug and ba meaning crazy. It was actually called ya-maa or horse drug as it enablesd people to work longer and harder and was up till 1975 legally available in shops. Thaksin changed the name to crazy drug during his 'war on drugs'

IMO the relatively sudden rise in ICE seizures/users is because of the way its ingested. I know they are both smoked but yabba is easy to associate with heroin and chasing the dragon off tin foil where as ICE usage is slightly more cleaner which has caused it to cross over to the BKK HiSo circle hence the increased demand.

What I don't understand is there have been so many airport busts recently almost all from the middle east why these cartels/gangs don't fly the cook over to Thailand and get them to make it here. Its only needs a basic chemistry understanding and whilst its is incredibly flammable at a couple of stages of the process decent ventilation solves that.

As for the suggestion of doing it in a flat they would not last 5 minutes due to the smell. A remote up country house is all that's needed with no worries/costs of mule'ing it in.

Had to laugh they have already tested the ICE to be 100% which would take a lab to do but are going to test the mule which would take a trip to the toilet!

Sure Google the before/after pictures of meth users but then take another look its always the same people. Bit like when Daniella Westbrook's nose fell apart there was only ever 1, very badly Photoshopped picture of it. The word is propaganda.

As for making you look like c_ap take a walk around Insomnia or JP's at 6am and have a look at the girls still dancing away with pure white teeth and clean skin.......

ICE is bad but yabba is a lot worse.

As rwhoov said this whole subject is past being a joke. I would assume its easier to state the countries that don't have 3G than the ones that do.

IMO DTAC would of won by going to 4G and leaving CAT holding a redundant 3G baby but if DTAC are forced to piggyback CAT infrastructure then there is no way it will ever happen.

I just can't believe as of August 2011 Thailand is still fighting over the 3G network. I hate to think what the rest of the world thinks the shame. Guess they, like us are wondering why its taking to long for the backhanders to be paid out.

Legalisation; education and rehabilitation would be best drugs policy.

But she does sound a lot more reasonable than her homicidal brother atleast.

Legalization for "soft" drugs yes, ( ganja, E, mushrooms) but meth is a killer and leads to violence and insanity. That shoud be the real focus and for the most part believe it is.

daoyai you might want to do a quick Google on E its and amphetamine derivative i.e. same family and class as meth/ice/crank call it what you want. You also state meth is a killer what do you have to back this up? Whilst we are on it how about the damage alcohol and cigarets do? I am sure you will find out the latter 2 'legal' drugs kill and cause more destruction that illegal drugs.

Problem is how do you control a commodity that is largely brought into the Kingdom by the army and distributed by the police? Too many Thai pockets are lined by the selling of controlled substances for it to stop. All this new war on drugs will do is push the prices up as it did when big brother called it on which earns the real big fishes more money but causes petty crime by the users to increase to pay for the hiked prices. How is that a war on drugs is it simply pushes the non Thai dealers off the streets and increases other crimes?

Rehab and education is the only way to wean people off drugs problem again is the rehab 'hospital' in the Klong Prem campus, Bombat is nothing more than a normal prison offering zero counseling or reeducation. Hospital? Don't make me laugh.

Just my 2 cents worth.....

but what if you have 3 babies,one sick need operation,but no money for the operation....

then a friend offers a quick money job....

and all friends couldn't borow money ...

Would you do it or not??

Respect and peace.

Its a shame that rather than ask the question 'Why?' this board is full of moronic lemmings shouting 'hang them' as they jump off the cliff.

Anyone even considering doing a 'job' like this will at the very least understand the basics of the punishment involved if caught but they still do it. It means, to me anyway that the situation they are in is worse than the one they could be in if caught.

I remember reading of a young mother in Pattaya caught nicking baby milk and food from a 7-11. The police were called and she was arrested. Not quite the same league but possibly a similar style crime.

Meth/ICE can be made anywhere even in your kitchen so why the massive influx of of from other countries? Army funding may well be a reason but I wonder how much is to do with the Thai Army/Police distribution system. The price of ICE costs nothing to make but I have heard the quality on the streets in Thailand is very poor maybe that's another factor.

Also your BKK HiSo have never really been into yabba because of the way its taken, chasing it off tin foil sorry that is for smack heads. ICE on the other hand is cleaner and less stigmatized so possibly a new market that needs supplying?

There is an obvious drug problem/culture here but show me a country where there isn't? Take a look at the UK with its coke/crack problems they are IMO a lot worse than the yabba/ice problems here.

Bottom line is only the mule knows why they are doing it and only they live with the consequence when arrested.

LMFAO! Only in LoS will the Mental Health Dept. raise this!

You've been planked!

He had 20kg's of K?

Thats a serious amount of Ketamine and he was going to Krabi with it?

LB's love Ketamine I am surprised he wasn't staying in BKK unless he thought taking an internal down country would make passing customs easier?

Either way he's got a 20 stretch coming........

I doubt this man will spend very long in jail. Here he will fine tune his ' skill's' make plenty of contact's and be returned to society a far more able criminal.

He 's facing 15 years to life so how you doubt he will not spend long time in jail?

You think 15 to life? Sorry this guy will get life. Even if it was simple possession he would be looking at 20.

The amnesty in place around the world means he will do 4 years in Thailand if his sentence is less than life and 8 years if he gets life. Deported where he is 'expected' to serve half his sentence less time served.

I agree with an earlier posted this is the first time i can remember an actual trial being reported I wonder why this one?

So I guess a 10-15 year prison sentence is quite likely.

Are you joking 10-15 years? Mate these guys will get life period.

I know people in prison that 10 years for a handful of ecstasy.

Anyone with anything to do with drugs in Thailand needs to step back and think. The penalties are severe....

I use this company/route twice a week and have been for the past 2 years. On the whole the drivers are pretty good but have had a couple of trips where I was concerned.

Generally the video playing has stopped but occasionally you are tortured with one.

I was going to go to BKK on Friday but something made me defer the trip I wonder what destination/time this bus was running to as I have a feeling looking at the sun shadows (or lack of) it would of been around the time of my normal trip.

I wish the wounded a speedy recovery, the dead they rest in peace, the person who caused the crash a stay in one of the longer Naraka's (Buddhist Hell's) and myself very lucky.......