flyingdoc

What on earth next?!!

I agree !

As Thailand works towards entering fully into ASEAN, corruption MUST be tackled. It has to start at the top.

If people , particularly the younger generation, see political corruption all around them, and they are the establishment, and those who should set an example, how can one expect people to react?

Phimai is a grossly underrated 'Jewel' in the Crown of Thai Tourism, being the smaller counterpart to Angkor Wat

over the border in Cambodia,,, yet is 100 years older than its neighbour. It must be protected at all costs !

Where love is not involved, someone sensibly wrote on TVF a little while ago, that the set up involves a contract. He is right. The Thai girl knows what she wants, and the farang too, so why get surprised if it goes wrong if the rules are not followed?

Yes, it is !

Why not start a Samui Forum as well?

I just wish that Thailand would revise its policy of visas generally towards tourists, and not just in relation to China!

Considering that the country is so dependent on tourism, it always amazes me how rigid and stubborn the authorities are towards tourists and visa requirements. Even in India, one can obtain 3 months at a time!

If Thai intransigence was altered, visitor numbers would increase exponentially.

Oil pollution always sounds the death knell to any tourist beaches in its path.

We waited with fearful apprehension at the way the oil slick was progressing near Koh Samet and beaches around Rayong. It can take years to recover.

Try wearing trousers with zips sewn into your pockets!

It works a treat in most cases!.

Just go to soi 15 !

!

You can get a good straightforward foot massage there

In researching this topic for my forthcoming book, 'Teardrops in Siam', it is not quite such a clear cut issue as it might seem !

I have talked to girls from Isaan, who have looked me in the eye and asked why I should consider their trade immoral, when they are in fact now able to look after their families back home who would otherwise be struggling on $2 per day, and in doing good for them, they should be earning merits at the Temple !

The main objection amongst Thais that I have encountered, is when they see a 'farang' who is not only far older than the Thai girl he is going out with, but is grossly unattractive and would never be able to find a girlfriend back home in his own country, but can effectively 'buy' the company of one here!

As one of your correspondents said, it is comparatively easy to judge the class of Thai girl who is going out with a 'farang', and know straight away whether she is a bar girl or ex-bar girl. Those who are not, can be counted amongst some of the most conservative women you can find anywhere!. Some genuinely seek out 'farangs' as they are fed up with the 'butterfly' mentality of some Thai men !

Knowing the risk and severe disruption that can be caused every year at this time, coupled with the misery to all families within its path, I fail to understand how successive governments fail to tackle the problem so regularly? Is it only corruption, or are they too proud to call in experts from countries such as Holland, where they really do know what they are doing?

I never realised that buying a Lottery ticket in Thailand was quite so precarious !

Altering a ticket and claiming the jackpot prize, seems beyond comprehension, but I suppose some people will try anything?!!

Prizes should be more akin to those in the U.K. and sold more openly, then there would be something worth winning !

Power lines are always a hazard when flying low level.

However, it does seem somewhat bizarre to be caught out by them when inspecting them in broad daylight, but then it takes some good flying to bring the helicopter down in an emergency landing in safety.

Wonder if the machine can be recovered and ever work again?

Could we possibly have some coherent facts, before passing judgment?

Is it a steel beam sticking out across the highway, or is it a steel girder which is part of a bridge?

The Thai approach sounds eminently more sensible and realistic than in the U.K, where tenants can often play footloose and free with contracts and liabilities in many ways, and now in the case of socially funded tenants, money is being paid direct to the tenant rather than the landlord, so may never reach its proper destination!

Seems to me eminently sensible to have the same Bank dealing with funds both in the U.K and in LOS !

That way not only can the origin be proved, but any Thai regulations can be explained or checked on in the U.K., before transmitting funds.

Surely the question would not arise, unless we had a work permit?!!

It is amazing just how class conscious Thais are. I thought it was confined mainly to the U.K, but it certainly isn't.

In one case, I met a Thai shop owner who sported a lovely pedigree Chihuahua. I was amazed to find another shop owner just 2 shops away, who also had a similar dog. I aske them how they got on with each other, and was amazed to learn that not only did they not know each other, but the better class one clearly had no intention of getting to know the other either! Just one tiny example, but a significant pointer. Thais who are considered wealthy in Thailand, would not be so classified in the U.K or USA, yet those really wealthy ones just acquire more properties and vehicles quietly without much song and dance, and educate their children in Europe or the U.S, and clearly they are competing on an open market, and certainly would be Upper Middle Class at least, by any standards!

As a single individual, perhaps Thailand does not need any of us !

However, I would like to think that some of us have made a slight difference to the country, and contributed in some small way

as a 'farang' to the economy and tourist industry. I work in Anti-aging Medicine (AAM), and if there is any way a better quality of life can be broadcast, then it can only be for the better, particularly in a country where there is not a National Health Service. Longevity is not important per se, but pushing back the age at which dependency and / or debilitation sets in, is important everywhere, especially in Thailand.

Why not wait until the official Air Accident Reports for all these recent accidents, before jumping to conclusions?

These are prepared without emotion or bias, and are based on factual findings.

Whilst on the subject of things aeronautical, can anyone enlighten me to the latest news from Kan AIr's recent building of an Airport half way up a mountainside on Koh Phangan? It was meant to be opening up for business this year?!!

It is far more important to get unroadworthy cars, trucks and buses off the road, than declaring an age limit.

Why not introduce an actual realistic MOT Test, as in the U.K, after 3 years old, then any vehicles which fail, may not be used on the roads any longer?

My last so-called MOT was a farce, testing only the windscreen washers, then 2 days later I collect my Road Fund licence, and attach it to my windscreen ! Useless! I may have a conscience about my vehicle, and keep it properly, but many others don't !

Cam we at least be given some basic facts?

What food?

Where did it come from?

Who were supplying it?

My sympathy goes out to those affected.

I fly very often from London to BKK, including EVA.

It is not remotely worth taking that chance.

There are invariably long queues at Immigration, particularly at that time of day, then you have got to wait for your luggage, then get up from Level 2 to Level 4 and check in. Almost an impossibility! Remember the flight times given in the schedule are the times to landing, NOT the time you arrive at the pier and can start getting off the aircraft. Don't take the risk. No way !

I thought this particular scam was exhausted 50 years ago, but it seems that there is a never ending market for this sort of duplicity.

The problem is not with this sort of ludicrous scam, but the more sophisticated ones that emanate from West Africa. In Nigeria in some so called Colleges, Fraud is actually taught as a subject, with illustrations and templates for converting real life accidents into ones tailored for that student's individual requirements. References to the actual plane, car or truck crash are given, and they are real. Rarely are all the victim's actual names given, so new ones are slotted in to suit. The accident was genuine with good Press coverage, but the parties are not. Most of these are now caught under Section 419 Fraud, but little is done about it locally. The unwitting victim in the West could even find himself prosecuted for abetting a scam!

I feel greatly for you. I was married to a U/K based Psychiatrist for many years, but now specialize in Anti-aging Medicine (AAM), based largely on the Chicago A4M model. However, quality of life does come within our remit, and if money is not plentiful, I could get some recommendations from the Medical staff at Thammasat University in BKK, and they would be very sympathetic to your plight and financial circumstances. It may be that involving Beta Glucan in weaning off dependancy drugs, could play a valuable part in this.

Contact me if I can help?