Mark Wolfe

Forgive me for being cynical, but something is rotten in Denmark....

I know you are only asking for investment advice, but the whole idea of your "girlfriend" acquiring 2 mil for investing in god-knows-what business sounds odd to the point of being specious.

On the other hand, this post might be a gag; if you really wanted to know how to invest that money in a business, you'd want to know a whole host of things before this: What skills does the woman have? Location? Business model? Cost analysis? Surveys of consumers in the area? It goes on....

"My girlfriend has this money to invest..." sounds like, "I have this friend who has this rash..."

But be that all as it may, listen up -- starting a business on Samui is a very, very, very risky affair. Basically, if you want to do better than break even, think very hard about proceeding.

You can live a long time here on 2 mi formulating a strategy .....

The local cop tag-along shows are becoming pretty pedestrian; videos of those faraway places have that exotic appeal of "The Orient," which as everyone knows is full of intrigue, innuendo, back-stabbing, pay-offs and...well, we all get it.

I want to see the Bravo eight-part series called, "Big Trouble in Essex." (Episode One: Ruby's cat is up the tree and won't come down!)

Isn't a rake like under 200 baht? I bought one and it's good exercise (and really therapeutic for contemplating your navel) and no one complains of the noise and unlike the electricity bill, I work for peanuts (really).

Edit: I have to say though, some dogs love to play with the leafblower. It can be real a real "blast" for the two of them.

I think the Samui- Bkk flights are actually reduced for low season & they use the "full" in lieu of cancelled.They also block all . so you go & book there & pay for full fare , the only one they can get you biggrin.gif

Look at my pdf file again. Your assessment would mean that all the flights were canceled or blocked or something. I don't understand, "They block all," but however you cut it, according to the Web site, everything would be unavailable -- full fare or otherwise.

More to the point, big discrepancy between the numbers of people coming and leaving.

So about half an hour ago, my girlfriend and I are riding on the ring road through Lamai. Doing about 45km/h.

No one could come out to proffer anything on the ring road itself -- traffic is through all 'way 'round, so I assume you mean you were off the ring road and on the beach road through Lamai. If this is correct, you were driving far too fast. You need to stop and smell the roses.

Listen, if you encounter one or the duo of these guys, just goof with them. Seriously, this is your chance to be in your own reality series episode. Act cautiously interested at first, but pay attention. After a bit, seem really interested. Ask stupidly obvious questions and after the chum bait gets better, agree to do whatever they want (but have no intention of doing so). Oh, and act really naive, they eat that <deleted> up like honey. Comments like, "Really?" and "Wow!" will give them woodies and it will be them who's swallowing the hook, line and sinker....Remember, you can say anything as long as your wallet remains firmly against your back cheeks....

:0

In EU i think 5 (five) aspirin will cost 5euro....so.....

That sounds excessive:

It costs 10 euros — about $15 — for a package of 50 aspirins at the local drugstore in Bonn, Germany!

-- Where Aspirins Cost $15, NYT

Now you know how to pack for that trip home....

Surely you can't be serious that trying to throttle a deaf mute shouting "do not resist us! do not resist us" is really excellent work.

People are getting carried away now. There was nothing out of the ordinary about that incident, as far as the part you are referring to. It wasn't like Howard was using the secret "Two-finger Chinese Touch of Death" technique on the fellow. Instead of just smacking some drunk upside the head because he was miffed at some little <deleted>, he actually was using force with restraint to calm someone. No biggie there. It's a complete non-issue.

coxhoedave:

As for the drunken couple who had the motorcycle accident, imagine doing that in the west. He'd be done for drink driving and she would be done for drunk and abusive behavior. The Thai police officer showed a huge (too much) amount of patience with this pair of idiots.

No, and I thought this was odd myself. It wasn't patience, it was avoidance. In the West, one might hear, "God, think of the paperwork!" but the arrest would be made nonetheless. This case, however, appears in my humble opinion to show the police officer thinking, "God, these guys are going to resist being forced to go to the hospital or the station house and the whole thing will be huge pain in the ass. Breathalize them? Charge them with drunk and disorderly conduct? Driving under the influence? Accident report? And one of them might get sick on me...She doesn't seem like she's going to die, so let's just walk away and not do anything."

Actually, I thought, "If you are going to have an accident here, better to be shitfaced drunk since your chances of being let go are much better than if you are sober, cooperative and coherent." Not the thinking the Thai police might want to instill in tourists.

"If you get in a motorbike accident and you are sober, you'll get into trouble, but if you are drunk as a lord, they might just let you go."

Edit: Oh, and the scenes with the deaf mutes? I saw nothing out of the ordinary besides bringing them back to face off. That was an odd judgment call.

What is Myracid? It doesn't turn up on Google.

Sorry, I was using an analogy, and as Wiki so nicely put it: "Analogies are sometimes used to persuade those that cannot detect (the) flawed or non-existent arguments."

Perhaps I should have been clearer. I should say that different places charge differently for similar or the same items. Food (containing beneficial chemicals much like certain components in drugs -- aspirin was mentioned and is a familiar example) costs vary according to the place of purchase. Drug costs vary from pharmacy to pharmacy, and from hospital to hospital.

Also, I have never been forced to buy medicines at the hospital pharmacies (either here or in Taiwan). It is not bundled into the total fee unless they are administered as part of treatment on site at the hospital. To be clear, when you are prescribed medicines that you will be taking after leaving the hospital, you can opt to take the prescription outside and have it filled anywhere you want. If the medicines are particularly unusual, you can always come back to the hospital and purchase just those you cannot find outside. This is not speculation on my part; I have done this here.

I think people have the incorrect impression that when you are given a prescription in a hospital, you must have it filled there. This isn't the case.

I have a T-bone steak in the freezer I bought at Tesco for 93.50 baht.

The same steak might cost 250 baht at one of the many restaurants in Lamai.

At The Cliff, the same steak might cost 800 baht.

Why would anyone think that medicines sold in a hospital would be the same cost as at the local pharmacy?

I happened to be looking at the Bangkok Airways Web site and noticed this:

Oct. 5, 6 and 7 flights from Bangkok to Samui are basically all open.

The same dates from Samui to Bangkok are all full.

If I didn't know better, I'd think that people know something that I don't. Is there some Nostradamus thing going on? Are we going to sink into the Gulf of Thailand?

Here is Oct. 6:

Doc3.pdf

I think this last installment of the Bravo series tried to cover too many different things. None of the stories had any real depth. The guy pushing the pills make me think, "Yeah, you got poor legal representation (in front and behind the judge's table) but ho-hum...drug dealer...whatever."

The segment on motorbike accidents was poorly constructed; it just didn't seem to give me a "Thai flavor" of how things are here. The Bangkok Airways crash was condensed into something like a lame news report.

What is becoming clear is that people under the influence of alcohol can be, for lack of a better term, temporarily insane.

By the way, I was thinking about the Samui volunteer police, or whatever their official title might be, and remembered a thread or two here pointing out that they are generally not reachable by phone and, if memory serves, their kiosk on Chaweng Lake has been abandoned for some time. I wonder if they still have a presence here on Samui beyond titular.

And for Howard: What is it you think we posters are jealous of? Can't be the money. Conventional wisdom would say, "You're all jealous of the power I wield," but maybe there is some other aspect (men in uniform are handsome?). Please clarify.

It's amateurish to take a story and make a more or less crackpot theory the lead headline on the front page. My assertion comes from my experience of copy editing and doing the layout for the front page on two newspapers in Taiwan.

Anyway, the article is just a regurgitation of the basics, with emphasis on the preposterous.

...holidaymakers getting in trouble mostly with drink and drugs, and some sex.

I love that last part. Nice use of the comma too...you could have inserted an "uh" in there...

Don't know if this has been mentioned before but -

Good luck on your marriage next month, Howard!!!

Wow, Patsycat! When I go into politics I want you as my spin doctor. Excellent post.

Britmaveric:

Where did anyone search a food cart? Are you even watching the same show?

A russian tourist reported to them that a thai vendor was selling drugs from a food cart. Howard went along with his thai counterpart.

Then Howard went to INVESTIGATE and INSPECT, which according to the central rules is forbidden.

5. Volunteers should not be involved in activities such as arrests, interrogations, investigations or inspections

This idea that each locale has its own rules is suspect in the extreme. IF it is true, then the whole endeavor is pretty willy-nilly

You are confused.

Anyone living in Thailand is allowed to go and look at something.

And INSPECTION is something else, and is not in regards to looking, but determining something for example in regards to the road safety level of an vehicle.

Or are you saying that the TPV have less rights than normal citizens?

Edit: This episode they are trying to cover too much ground. It's too Headline News-ish. I'm interested in what the finale will be in Episode 8.

Some posts here are really ridiculous.

We can argue the definition of investigate until the cows come home, but the rules also mention interrogations and investigations. Can you or I (as "anyone") order someone to follow us to a folding table and chairs to have a chat about them being allegedly drunk and disorderly? Can we? I can't.

Ah, but you think inspection means that little slip of paper you found in your new pants pocket -- "Inspected by 47."

I think you forget the honorific....as in....

"You can't just barge in here like that, Inspector Beetroot! Just what is it you think you're doing?"

"Inspecting, as the name implies..."

Inspector Beetroot looked up and took a step back, surveying the high ceiling. Not much way of hanging a rope from this room...unless.

"Open all the closets and pantries," the inspector said, leveling a stare at Roosenvelt Von Pelt, the yellow press's darling boy.

Von Pelt didn't move more than the pupils of his eyes. This is where it could get ugly, he thought. This is where it all goes south. But he turned and gave the sign for the dick, hovering like a bird ready to spring, to open everything.

"Inspect all you want," he said, "but you'll only find grief in the end, trust me."

Von Pelt looked over his shoulder, bumped a glass-framed picture of Von Pelt's mother off a table and said, "Oops." The next thing was the grin....

What about that sort of inspection?

JetsetBkk:

And what do you think policemen in the UK or US did before they became policemen?

Graduate from the police academy, perhaps?

Someone's never met a rural Sheriff in the US.

I believe cdnvic and I were referring to actual police officers, not security guards or rural sheriffs, but then you knew that.

By the way, was Paul H. charged with assaulting a ladyboy and being in possession of an illegal weapon?

JetsetBkk:

And what do you think policemen in the UK or US did before they became policemen?

Graduate from the police academy, perhaps?

Hm1973

We are in no way accountable to anyone on chat forums or within the expat community, only to the Tourist Police who allow us to do what we do.

That's a frightening thought. We are only accountable to the "law enforcement" in Thailand and not any segment of the public? Yikes!

Regarding training, we are constantly being trained and retrained, not because the Police want this but because I, as the Group Leader of the Pattaya Branch want the group to know as much as possible and to be prepared for any eventuality.

This does not include basic Thai language training, it appears.

Britmaveric:

Where did anyone search a food cart? Are you even watching the same show?

A russian tourist reported to them that a thai vendor was selling drugs from a food cart. Howard went along with his thai counterpart.

Then Howard went to INVESTIGATE and INSPECT, which according to the central rules is forbidden.

5. Volunteers should not be involved in activities such as arrests, interrogations, investigations or inspections

This idea that each locale has its own rules is suspect in the extreme. IF it is true, then the whole endeavor is pretty willy-nilly

No, it's not a green tree racer, but thanks for getting close. It's a red tailed racer. Here is a pic and it is an exact match to what I saw:

Red tailed racer

The Red-tailed Racer inhabits primary and mature secondary forest. It is mainly arboreal and is a renowned raider of birds nests: as a consequence it is often mobbed by birds when searching amongst trees for active nests. It also feeds on bats, rodents and lizards.

The body is thick-set, and the head wider than the body. The snout is long. Its scales are generally smooth, but sometimes may be vaguely keeled. The tongue is blue. Dorsally it is a striking green colour, which is paler ventrally. The top of the head is darker green, and there is a vague dark stripe running through the eye. The tail is orange-red. Other less common colour forms occur, including variants which are blue-green, grey, orange or yellow-coloured throughout.

The Red-tailed Racer is wide ranging, and occurs from Burma and adjacent island groups through Thailand and Indochina to Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Sumatra, Borneo, Java and Lombok.

Family : COLUBRIDAE

Species : Gonyosoma oxycephalum

Maximum Size : 2.4 metres

Red tailed racer...

AKA: Red-tailed Green Ratsnake

Wiki entry click here

They are non-poisonous, but of course they do bite....

Mark Wolfe:

From the online application form for the Thai Royal Tourist Police: ( application online)

4. Volunteers understand that being a volunteer is to assist the work of a police officer and not act on behalf of a police officer

5. Volunteers should not be involved in activities such as arrests, interrogations, investigations or inspections

I'd like one of the Pattaya volunteers to look at numbers 4 and 5 above and reconcile their activities with them. It would be hard to say that each location has its own rules when the central application so clearly states what is acceptable.

I'm sorry, did no one read this?

Mr. Howard posted after this so either he ignored it or chose not to reply. Mr Howard, did you or did you not, in the segments shown on TV, interrogate, investigate and inspect on your "beat" along Walking Street? OK, that's a loaded question -- of course you did. So how do you make your "illegal" or otherwise "outside of the rules" behavior jibe with the stated rules? The fact is, you can't. All you can do is confess your sins and put the best spin on it you can so the jury of pubic opinion will not abhor you for too long.

Samuian, what is, "Van Cab"?

You mean if it saves YOUR one life.

We are all motivated by self interest. If you die because you didn't have a helmet on your noodle, tough shit; if I die that way, well, it's the shits....

From the online application form for the Thai Royal Tourist Police: ( application online)

4. Volunteers understand that being a volunteer is to assist the work of a police officer and not act on behalf of a police officer

5. Volunteers should not be involved in activities such as arrests, interrogations, investigations or inspections

Others can tweeze the particulars out of what has been shown on the Bravo series, but it seems crystal clear to me that what the volunteers are doing in Walking Street in Pattaya is beyond their purview. In fact, the actions of those on Walking Street are blatantly against the Thai Royal Tourist Police rules.

As far as the date of the inception of the program, KhunAussie52 is looking at a local site. The actual program, according to the official main site says:

In 1976, the private sector with Tourism Authority of Thailand, or Tourism Promotion Agency at that time, asked the Police Department for help in providing extra protection and security for the tourists. As a response to this special request the Police Department established a center to help facilitating and providing security for the tourists under the Crime Suppression Division with 60 personnel to receive any petitions or complaints, patrolling and providing security around crowded and tourist areas within Bangkok Metropolis.... At the same time, the Police Department submitted a proposal to establish a Tourist Police Division as a permanent agency in being responsible for facilitating and providing security. The cabinet members gave its approval in principle on 24 November 1976 but the government could not provide any financial support. In 1990 Thai government announced it to be the year of tourism and ordered the Police Department and the Ministry of Interior to be responsible in facilitating and providing security to the tourists and to be carried out expeditiously and continuously. Therefore, the Police Department and Tourism Authority of Thailand together helped improving the center to become Tourist Assistance Center. This center provided services in receiving complaints on crimes and being taken advantages of from the tourists and expanded its responsibility to other regions that are tourist spots and favored among foreign tourists such as Chiagmai, Pattaya, Phuket and Hatyai.

-- From main site, History section

I'd like one of the Pattaya volunteers to look at numbers 4 and 5 above and reconcile their activities with them. It would be hard to say that each location has its own rules when the central application so clearly states what is acceptable.

So many posters on this forum can sit back and laugh, but I have seen good friends and extended family members cheated. Often they are the most vulnerable in society.

They who? Good friends and family?

Sorry, but this scam does not sound sophisticated in the slightest. If these guys were taken for say, US$10,000 I'd think, "That was stupid, but at least you didn't lose your shirt." But they put in THEIR LIFE SAVINGS! Who moves all their liquidity in the first place without some very, very serious due diligence?

Nothing can make a person wear a helmet unless the law is strictly enforced.

Taiwan passed a mandatory helmet law in 1997. I had been living there for 12 years, helmet-free. After the law was passed, people started wearing them and police started issuing citations. Very quickly, if you were driving without a helmet, you stuck out like a sore thumb. People will wear helmets if they KNOW for sure that they will likely get fined for not wearing one. That's why I included the, "It's the law" part. I would guess that many people coming here don't realize that the helmet law isn't enforced on Samui, to speak of, so they might think that if they don't wear one, they will have to pay a fine -- something no one wants to do.

As for the optional wear or not concept, I can see this, but also can see the downside in the human cost. If you get hurt seriously or die from an accident that could have been prevented or lessened by wearing a helmet, you impact friends and relatives as well as yourself. If you have no friends, no family and your relatives are all dead or have written you off, maybe the risk of bashing your head in is acceptable.

Tell me of your life and I will attempt to get one like yours, Rooo.

I was being factitious, not trolling. I could have just said that I think the snake rescue dealie is silly (which is my opinion, not a troll). But I do have the right to be creative with my posts, do I not?