Retiredandhappyhere

Are any attempts sttill being made to catch the errant monk, or can we just write it off the Government's agenda now?  I wonder if they have received any postcards from abroad, which I think they would prefer to actually making an arrest, as any embarrassing revelations would then be minimal?

“We have decided to remove the temple from the special control area list,” NCPO chief and Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha said.

He should have stopped after the first 7 words of the above statement, as follows 

We have decided to remove the temple.

On 4/11/2017 at 1:26 PM, Cuchulainn said:

That's 80% of language schools closed down then!!    

And, despite what he says about Government agencies having a strict background checking system, I guess 90% of their officials would also lose their jobs.

On 4/11/2017 at 11:43 AM, JoePai said:

Nothing serious I hope    

"Nothing serious I hope"    

Why is it that virtually every new scheme introduced or statement made by any official of the current "government" has subsequently to be clarified, and explained, due to claimed "misunderstandings".  Perhaps they need to spend more time in working on their presentation?

Thus, the hospital concerned in this incident allegedly did not fully understand the scheme.  Is that the fault of the government or the hospital?  Or was it in the hospital's interest to "misunderstand" how the scheme worked since that would result in a lot more money being extracted from patients?             

17 hours ago, michaellee said:

She's a old ugly disgusting whore from soi bukao she has no moral, empathy or honesty in her blood. 

Come on, don't be shy, say what you really think.  

"PHUKET: -- Norraphat Plodthong, the new and 48th Governor of Phuket, arrived on the island this morning (April 10), brimming with confidence of resolving all problems in the province."

Clearly a case of optimism gone mad!

On 3/26/2017 at 1:39 PM, billd766 said:

 

Where did you get that pearl of wisdom from?

 

Not true at all.

 

SOME Thais may not pay you back as SOME farangs will not pay you back

I have never been asked to lend anyone money during my 62 years I lived in England, but in my first 5 years here (before I came to my senses) I lent 7 "friends' and relatives of my Thai wife sums ranging from 4000 baht to 173000 bahts (interest-free) for reasons which sounded good at the time but I only ever received the 4000 baht loan back.

A compromise could be some really strong roll-over bars on the back of the pick-ups coupled with a wire cage over the lot.  This would not prevent all injuries and even deaths but it would stop the horrific incidents where the occupants are thrown out onto the road and in some cases crushed by the rolling pick-up or by passing traffic.

The director of UTCC effectively said:

Growth could reach 3.6% or even 4% this year if  ?  and if  ?   and  if  ?  and  if  ?   and  if  ?,     providing of course all those  "ifs" work in our favour, but don't blame me if we don't reach that level of growth because I did say "if" and all those "ifs" are outside my control.

Meanwhile, I did spread a bit of optimism and happiness, at least for a few weeks until my forecasts began to unravel.

I purchased 3 rai of land using the local system in the village and all the surrounding villages where the Amphur Office had never bothered to survey and offer Chanote titles.  The system was that the village headman checked the one-page written contract between the seller and the purchaser and confirmed that, to his knowledge and according to the yearly receipts for the very small Amphur tax paid on the property,  the seller was the rightful owner fully entitlrd to sell the property.  The implication was that once the officials from the Amphur Office could be bothered to get off their backsides and do the appropriate surveys for the whole area, then the purchaser would eventually be granted a Chanote title.  As a naive Farang, I understood from my Thai wife and my architect that all was in order, so I went ahead and built a large house costing in all a little over 8 million bahts.  Stupid farand although I was not alone as many others did exactly the same thing.

Shortly after the Junta came to (i.e. took) power, soldiers accompanied by some Amphur officials called at each property and made the "owners"  sign a letter within 14 days stating that, although for an unspecified period, they could continue to occupy the land and houses, they were forbidden to sell them. As prior to that, my Thai wife and I had lived together in the house for 7 years but had then divorced, we had signed a legal agreement that she and my young son would continue to live there until the house was sold with the proceeds to be split equally, with me paying maintenance until my son finishes school. With this subsequent development by the Junta therefore, my ex-wife has lost her expected cash but at least still lives in  the house with contents, whereas I have lost my 50%, whilst also having to pay for accommodation elsewhere. Naturally, I checked the Junta's letter with my lawyers before my ex-wife signed it and they said we had no option but to do so.

The moral of this story is that the Junta can do anything they want and not to be such a naive idiot when you first arrive in thailand, even when you think that you have asked all the right questions.

Does the fact that he was bailed for 30000 baht, presumably NOT because of an impending appeal (because he admitted guilt) mean that his sentence was in fact a 30000 baht fine plus the 5000 already paid?  Or does it simply mean that if he decides to call in at his convenience and actually serve his jail time, he will get his 30000 baht back?  The law here does not seem to make much sense!

Perhaps that last comment is the understatement of the year?

Obviously there are many honest people in Thailand, it is just that I have not met any of them yet, but then I have only lived here for 13 years.

I have "loaned" money ranging from 4000 bahts to 172000 bahts (all interest-free) to 6 different Thai friends and relatives, supposedly for various reasons like car repair, daughter's operation, starting a new business, bank debt etc etc. and have only ever received the 4000 baht loan back and that was after some effort on my part.

When I was moving some of my furmiture and effects in boxes on the back of a pick-up to my new house, one of the sealed boxes with unknown contents fell off on to the village road.  When I spotted this, I did a U-turn to collect it but meanwhile a Thai family had picked it up and taken it into their garden. They refused to hand it over until I had negotiated a reduced fee of 200 baht, which, despite the negligible amount,  annoyed me intensely.

When I opened the box at home, I discovered it contained some old baskets, which together were probably worth less than 200.

How I wished that I had known what the boxes contained earlier as I would have taken great delight in telling the Thais what they could do with the box and contents. 

I stayed at a hotel in Nakhon Sawan last year which had open (i.e. no lids) electrical junction boxes alongside their swimming pool, one of which was at head height behind a bench about one metre from the pool.  We pointed this out to the reception desk, who thanked us and said they would get it fixed.  Three months later we stayed at the same hotel but had to stop our 10 year-old son from swimming there as the junction boxes were still uncovered.

Clearly, they prefer to wat until some one gets electrocuted before spending 50 bahts on plastic covers. We politely made this point to the reception desk again, as they said the manager was not available.  They rarely are, in my experience whenever there is any sign of a complaint.

However, a few months later, we were at the same hotel again and found that the junction boxes has now been covered with plastic lids, but as they were twice the proper size, they could not be screwed down in the usual way, so they had been fixed in place with black tape which was coming unstuck in the heat and wet.  Of course if someone does die as a result, it will be put down to bad luck and the hotel will not be named in the unlikely event that it gets reported.

The whole process has been so steeped in ridiculous terminology that I would guess that the majority of the population have absolutely no idea what it is all about.   This means that the junta has achieved its objective and will of course effectively hold on to power until the next coup.

6 hours ago, fruitman said:

Also the UK looses face a lot by letting guys like him hide in their capital. 

 

Why has everybody forgotten that within 5 minutes he had another person who claimed he was the driver during the accident?

 

He should just get rid of this, go to Thailand and go see the judge..after that his name is clean and he can enjoy his money/life.

How exactly does the UK lose face when they have no legal right to hold him or bar him because the useless Thai Justice system has not even issued an arrest warrant after 5 years.  You think that if he goes to "see the judge his name will be clean"?

Obviously, you know exactly how the Thai justice stystem works for toe rags like this wealthy moron.

2 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

But, but, but Thaksin....rank, decorations, passports.

 

Has Orachorn finished her 30 minutes of "community service"? Is she driving again?

 

Has Jenhop "recovered"?

 

Thai Justice. 

 

 

Has the errant abbot been arrested yet?   What was the outcome of the Phuket land official who died in custody in very suspiciuos circumstances?    Just examples of a couple more cases which have gone quiet.

Yet more "misunderstandings".  Seems to be a common occurrence here.   Perhaps it's a medical condition?

Innocent woman and idiot car driver.  What else is there to add?

19 hours ago, djjamie said:

I don't need to show you the way. If you visit a country and break their laws you get fined and / or arrested. Traffic laws is no different. 

 

Visit Australia and break the traffic laws you have to accept it even if 90km/hr in a 60 zone is legal in your home country. 

I believe the poster was referring to the fact that many laws in Thailand are ignored and/or not enforced, particualrly traffic laws.

I can only assume that the Nation's report is designed to confuse everybody about the constitution, the charter, the road map and the ever-changing election date.  The referendum approved something which has undergone many changes since, so it was in fact meaningless.  

The terminology in the report includes the following, which of course 99% of the population fully understands, so no problem there.

Promulgation

Constitution

Charter

Road Map

National Reform Steering Committee

National Legislative Assembly

Constitution Drafting Committee

Organic Laws

Interim Charter's Article 44

New Charter's Article 265

Election Commission

Federation of Thai Capital Market Organisations

Naturally, I understand it all, including the assertion that the "strong Thai economy will help draw investment".  Seriously, what percentage of the Thai population (and ex-pats for that matter) really have any clue about what is going on, other than the fact that the election date is continually being moved and that the Junta will still effectively be in charge afterwards?

4 minutes ago, elgordo38 said:

I think the BIB are aware of your last statement and the country would come to a standstill if all the laws were strictly enforced and the economy would take a dipsh*T. They the BIB do just enough enforcement to keep the wheels creaking along. 

You mean they do just enough enforcement to keep their wheels running smoothly.

2 hours ago, pattayadgw said:

I applaud the writer of this article... hit the nail right on the head!!   Have to agree with many of the comments already made particularly about having it translated to Thai and passed onto all national newspapers for publication.  I see todays news that FINALLY they are making riding in the back of pickups ILLEGAL... NOT BEFORE TIME!!

Clearly, judging by your final sentence, you mistakenly believe that the illegality of riding in the backs of pick-ups will be enforced after Songkran has passed.  We have yet to witness all the inevitable protests from farmers, builders etc claiming (perhaps with some justification) that they cannot afford alternative transport for their workers, after which the new law may not actually be changed but it will be quietly forgotten and not enforced.

As an aside, in a 9 km night-time journey from Hua Hin towards the H.H. airport, my wife and I passed 5 motor cycles with no rear lights, one of which drove straight through a red light (which indicated 44 seconds to go prior to changing to green) plus 2 motor cycles with side cars attached which again, more dangerously, had no rear lights.  We see this on every journey and yet we have never seen or heard of anyone being stopped for this very dangerous offence.   Somehow, I feel that, as a farang, I would be held responsible if I collided with any of them in my car, as I have already had one personal experience of paying through my insurance company for an accident involving a young motorcylist who drove into the rear of my car as I was making a rright turn after signalling for 100 metres or so.

As a result, I was obliged to spend over 4 hours at the police station with my Insurer before being told to call back the next morning for a meeting to decide who was responsible for the accident.  When I arrived the next morning at the appointed time I was relieved to hear that my insurer had dealt with everything on my behalf and I was free to go after signing a piece of paper written in Thai, which I subsequently discovered was a receipt for a fine of 500 baht.  The motor cyclist had no driving licence, no insurance, no road tax  and was not wearing a helmet.  All he was able to show was his I.D. card, and although he was clearly at fault for the accident, without my knowledge, my insurance company paid for the damage to my car and for the repairs to the motor bike.  Amazing Thailand!

2 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

declaring it safe is tempting fate. they would be better off giving some advice to travelers rather than spouting these un based claims.

Do they deliberately set themselves up for a fall and loss of face with statements like that?  It is a bit like declaring that enormous measures have been taken to ensure safety on the roads during Songkran, only to find that accidents and road deaths turn out to be  higher than the previous year.

Still they do all look smart in their nice uniforms, but then you would expect that because they are hardly ever used outside their offices.

It seems that it is only at photo opportunities that the police can turn out in any numbers, although those who turned out for the errant Abbot's siege fiasco looked impressive.......providing you ignore the result.