hobz

Lovely to hear that they have been working hard to combat pirated goods. I will give them my phone number so that they can call me so that I can tell them where I buy my pirated DVDs for over a year Now. It takes a computer expert to tell that they are pirated. So I understand that the police didn't spot them for years.

I would seriously consider executing all the current traffic police officers. Their incompetence and laziness has costs Thailand tens of thousands of lives every year. They might deserve the death penalt.

Debaucherous revelers = foreigners

Revelers = Thais

Well done Thailand. Well done AHTD, Police and Thailand’s military government. Everyday more good news - may this continue.

You call it good news and well done when they catch a single perp,, when they catch hundreds or thousands of these scum, what words will you use then? Never mind, it's never going to happen.

Been there 4 times. Never had to shown flight or money.

My understanding is that work permit requirements differ depending on the type of work. In some cases (computer programmer) you need to be considered an expert, expert means uni degree + 2 years exp or no uni but 5 years exp, not sure about your field but 10 years experience will cover you I think

Here we go again, the number one cause of accidents in _thailand_ is insane driving, caused by non-existing law enforcement.

defamation laws exists for a reason.

I went out 1am tonight, thought I would find some place to enjoy Mexico - Brazil. But to my suprise Chiang Mai was a ghost town. Nothing open But some thai restaurants.

I always complained about laws not being enforced and corrupt police taking bribes to allow people to bend the law. Be careful what you wish for...

(I wasn't aware of the secret entrance to spicy, So can't confirm if it was closed, it sure seemed close from the usual entry..)

The 1 million Baht registered capital does not need to exist. I think you deposit 100 baht for each 100000 baht registered capital. So in total 1000 baht for 1 million.

Note that your work permit will specify the type of work you do. And as a web developer you need to be considered an expert in your field. That means university degree + 2 years experience (documented). Or 5 years experience.

many in Thailand just dont realize that Bar girl/boy/tran prostitution in Thailand IS human trafficing

Quite correct . . . but how many are there within prostitution "by choice" . . . ? Is that still trafficking? (I'm talking about "adults" here not "children")

The so-called "choice" you talk about ( consoling yourself are you? ) would for 99.9% of them, be at the bottom of the list of options, had their been alternatives. So many were of them were children, young women, burdened with the obligation to support their parents. They were pushed into getting money by any means.

The masters of slavery are consumers, all over the world and including you, who crave the latest in everything from electronics to fashion, at the lowest price. The customers of the arrested cafe owner, who use his girls, are as guilty as he is. Paid for sex in Thailand , have you?

I like the posts, and its a good comment about choice. The trafficking must refer to "underage".

The great pity is that so many see themselves without a choice and in some cases, especially for a young girl, there may be no perceived choice. Sent by the family. This guy should have known better than to employ underage girls and or his subscription to the gendarmerie got behind.

Trafficking is not about underage, it's about forcing / coercing people from other places to come work as a prostitute, often with false promises about working as massage or waitress. Traffickers often takes passports and make up debt that the trafficked needs to pay off (by being a prostitute) before getting her passport back. Common that adults (young females) being trafficked from eastern europe into western europe.. Probably common in other parts of the world too.

many in Thailand just dont realize that Bar girl/boy/tran prostitution in Thailand IS human trafficing

Quite correct . . . but how many are there within prostitution "by choice" . . . ? Is that still trafficking? (I'm talking about "adults" here not "children")

Depends on the definition of trafficking. Do you need to come from another country to be considered trafficked? Or is it enough that the same kind of tactics are used?

For example, a girl from Isaan could be tricked into working in Pattaya, they might tell her she will work in massage. And pay for her room and trip there, they might also pay for clothes etc or some made up charges?. When she arrives she is told the bad news that she needs to pay off the debt by working as a prostitute. Being a scared little girl she feels forced.. I would consider her trafficked,, even though she never left thailand. Correct me if i'm wrong.

Ofcourse, it's more horrible when they take someones passport etc...

*edit* Another situation might be when the girls parents, again from Isaan owes money to loansharks, and they take the daughter as payment.. The daughter is having a hard time to refuse, because thai girls rarely if ever rebel against their parents.

Think about this when you pay for prostitutes, you don't know what kind of evil bastards you are supporting.

ps. I've done well above my fair share of bargirls, and I am deeply ashamed..

Is it true that many foreign school teachers / english teachers are without work permit and correct visa?

If true, why?

I think many foreign internet freelancers are without work permit / correct visa. Because it's very hard to get. I think most of them would gladly pay alot of money to get a proper work permit and pay relatively low taxes in Thailand compared to their home countries There's "umbrella companies" that can hire freelancers and take a cut of their money in exchange for work permit / visa and a legal way of freelance in Thailand. But not all freelancers can be hired this way,, there's requirements such as being considered an "expert" in the field, to obtain a work permit as say a programmer,, as the thais still think of each work permit as taking a job that a Thai could do...

I dream that thai government will give out work permits for freelancers on the condition that the freelancers proves that all the money is coming from abroad. In other words, prove that it is beneficial to thailand.. Including paying for own health insurance and ofcourse paying tax. And probably spending all the surplus in Thailand. Win win

*edit* To add some pragmatism, If thailand DOES NOT have the same dream as i outlined above. Then one of two things will happen.

1. the freelancers will continue to cheat the system and stay on tourist visa / edu visa.. NOT PAYING TAX IN THAILAND.

2. the freelancers will be forced to leave Thailand.. NOT PAYING _ANYTHING_ IN THAILAND.

Both above cases are worse off for thailand compared to my dream scenario, unless i'm missing something ofcourse.

ps. The current situation where freelancers stay on TR / EDU visa. They might not pay tax in Thailand, But in most cases they spend _all_ their earnings in Thailand, Injecting the Thai economy.

*second edit* What would be the downside of my "dream" above?

This should drive the conspiracists from under the rock...

Yes, because some people obviously conspired to do someting.

See the definition of conspiracy http://www.thefreedictionary.com/conspiracy

1. An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act.

Are you claiming that the bomb explosion was an accident? I think it was people conspiring to do something illegal As for theories about who or why, i'd have to disappoint you. I don't know

BR Robert

I had conspiracists like this in mind:

Ii suspect you are barking up the wrong tree. The size of the explosion was obviously designed to attract attention, but to whom or to what? At a guess I would say it was what the Nation describes as the "insurgents in the restive South" pushing their cause higher up the junta's agenda.

I see Got your point

This should drive the conspiracists from under the rock...

Yes, because some people obviously conspired to do someting.

See the definition of conspiracy http://www.thefreedictionary.com/conspiracy

1. An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act.

Are you claiming that the bomb explosion was an accident? I think it was people conspiring to do something illegal As for theories about who or why, i'd have to disappoint you. I don't know

BR Robert

A farang girl dropped 2-3 thousand baht in chiang mai airport, i picked it up and yelled after her and gave it back before she entered the department lounge

War on drugs does not work. Its just expensive. The people busted will be replaced. The drugs will be replaced. Demand for drugs stay the same.

Harm reduction is where it's at.

I don't get it, why is gambling high priority, there's no bigger issues to tackle?

Chiang Mai next please

What about going to the gym and being my own personal trainer. Surely a Thai could have been my personal trainer So I'm taking a job from a thai

I've often had bad experience with tuk tuk drivers in Thailand, But how can it be a crime to charge a high price unless you are deceiving someone?

Who sets the price?? Whats next? Charging clubs that sell beer for 150baht? Or bargirls that charge more than 1000 for Long time?

How can it be illegal to set the price of your services? Nobody is being forced to buy...?

About safety-nazis etc. Thailand had traffic regulations, problem is that they being enforced extremely poorly. If they were enforced and followed less people would die. Thousands of innocent kids die every year on the roads here.

Tens of thousands human lives end because Somchai decides to drive like a psychopath. Sometimes I actually think about going back to Sweden. And yes, you would miss me slot

if Afghani people comes to Sweden and has ideas on how to improve something in Sweden, most Swedes listen. Just look at food in Stockholm Sweden, it's coming from every corner of the earth. Because we suck at food, So we take ideas and concepts fron others; )

Wish they would drive in traffic too, not just stations.

most people behave when they see police waiting. And then they start driving like psychopathic maniacs as soon as they clear the checkpoint.

Outside Central Kad Suan Kaew in Chiang Mai there are two pedestrian crossings without lights.

The law says to "slow down and drive with caution and stop for pedestrians that wish to cross the road" ..

I did this yesterday, the psycho asian driver behind me started honking his horn and then overtook me in an insane fashion right over the pedestrian crossings ..

Note: I was in the right lane, not because I drive super fast, but because the left lane was blocked with illegally parked song taews (they have the right to stop for loading and unloading passangers, but they stop to wait for passengers)

* Guy behind me should have driven with caution because there's pedestrian crossings - instead he made a crazy overtake

* It's illegal to overtake another vehicle within 30 meters from a pedestrian crossing - He overtook

* It's illegal to overtake on the left hand side - He overtook on the left hand side

Same crossing some months back, people are waiting to cross over, I stop to allow them to cross over,, they hesitate to cross while a motorbike behind me is hitting the brakes in panic and another motorbike behind him crashes into him. The pedestrians were too scared to cross.

Lessons learned.. Following the rules angers people and causes accidents. And the pedestrians wont cross anyway, because they don't trust people to stop and follow the rules.

Also driving carefully angers people behind you and they might "retaliate" by doing insane stunts ...

I wish they had some screening for psychopaths in the new tests..

Hope that the army will continue to address corruption within police and government.

This indicates that they plan to impose the curfew a very very Long time. :(