Mot Dang

That picture, with a semi-automatic weapon, in the tourist zone of CM is sure to make TAT happy! LOL I wonder how many trips are being cancelled as I write this??

And that is exactly what this administration wants. I have been watching this situation develop for years now. Who cares if more and more falang leave Thailand, or not come at all. Falang are too much trouble ! The more of us leave the more Chinese can move in, thay are more compliant to orders, even though they walk all over Thai culture and values..

Mai pen rai! I did notice that Don Mueang has some pretty serious bumps in their runway(s). It's probably from the flooding, but it must beat the shit out of the landing gear and tires.

Maybe they will admit they need outside help, and just get it fixed!

Thai administrations asking for outside help ? Neeeever !

Admission of fault, admission of ineptitude, admission of simply not knowing, is completely contrary to the core beliefs of "Thainess". Loss of face and all that.

The only country the administration MAY go for help/advice nowdays, is mainland China.

They will never fix the capacity problem unless they build an new run-way AND an adjoining terminal to the current one.

In the last years before International flights moved from the "Don" out to Swampy, a large % of passengers for THAI flights (other nations airlines were mostly uneffected because they penalized the airport if it happened) were bused to and from the planes. Complaints were rife. Several weeks before moving to Swampy, TAT declared no buses will be required at the new airport. Within 2 years it started again, and now look at it. A damn mess. Either the airport design team had it all wrong, or TAT handed out a PR (read BS) exercise worthy of their current form.

Sure Thailand is now a very dangerous destination, and we can all list out the reasons why this is, but strewth tourists (from all countries), do some bloody stupid things. I think the Chinese have now taken the cake for drownings, why ? They just can't swim, and go snorkeling, swimming in unknown waters, paragliding etc. Complete muppets.

Thailand has a completely different set of street rules to any other country, these can only be learnt after spending time here, if not all tourists have to watch their backs 24/7, don't expect the tourist industry, the police or any level of the administration to do that.

Jumping off a 3rd floor balcony ? That's quite survivable, depending how she lands. And then what ? Guaranteed, a life as a paraplegic with possible brain damage, and worse off than she ever would have been.

Never but never is there any reason to kill yourself over lost love, as one of the Thai Kings said, "there is plenty of fish in the sea and rice in the fields", or something like that.

No one can comment on WHY they broke up, rumors, misunderstandings, lies and innuendo always rule the day in matters of the heart

I never heard it being called The Moon River, I have always called it the Mun.

However:

The Mun River (Thai: แม่น้ำมูล, rtgs: Maenam Mun, IPA: [mɛ̂ːnáːm muːn]), sometimes spelled Moon River, is a tributary of the Mekong River.

See guys, no need for the constant hand-wringing on TVF that you are are badly done by, either by your Thai wife or gf, Thai husbands get the dirty end of the stick as well. Mind you I don't prescribe to his means of revenge. Despite her callous behavior she did not deserve her end, and I hope he gets his just rewards.

Stupid story, but why does it have to be said that he is an aristocrat, a silver-tail. Does it make him more believable ? What part does this play in the story, other than to feed the ever-present fascination of Thais with the elite and wealthy. After-all just look at the soapies, not exactly the norm in Thai society.

Tons of TV members have newly developed sinus and other respiratory problems, or had pre-existing ones worsened, as a result of air polllution here.

Of the locations you mention I would only suggest considering Hua Hin/Cha Am. Bangkok or CM are going to be bad, and that certainly includes BangNa which has terrible traffic congestion.

I get sinus problems in Bangkok during the dry season, and also up at home in Buriram same time of year, probably due to air-born dust. But the problem disappears when I'm in my condo in Pattaya. I strongly believe that its because of the sea breeze. I use Beconase for it, plus good old Poy-Sian. When really bad I have to use Clarentyne. I have noticed a lot more Thais than usual are getting sinus issues.

There are also some good girls around

Quite a lot in fact ?

I married one 34 years ago in May. Never looked back. And her family (now my family), not a bum among them. I have done a lot for the family over the years (not all in a monetary sense), that all (in particular the kids) treat me with respect, as I do them.

This is far from being a negative question, but I am curious, how did his gf help ? Apart from the head-line there is no further mention of her. If she did, great !

I really do despise the negative comments towards Thais and Thailand. It's getting worse. TVF really does attract some slum-falang, most who don't live in Thailand, and the only thing they know about Thailand is what they have learnt from years sitting in front of their PC reading TVF.

I am just thinking... My wife forgot to leave the genuine Swiss Army Knife in her handbag at home before boarding the plane and had to "donate" it to the Airport Security at Chiang Mai. $#!+

Two years ago my wife had a Swiss Army Knife (not a real one), as big as her little finger, and they took that. The blade was about 1" long. It was just a sales gimmick she was given. Can you imagine bashing on the pilots door, holding that up, plus the house and car keys jangling away, and saying "get me to Syria now".

The stuff should be donated to charity

I second that.

Donating it, [or even selling it at very reduced prices] is still better than throwing it away.

Bit shameful that the airport staff makes some money on this, but it explains why they are so strict about it.

Maybe use a marker to mark the bottle "FREE!" before you give it to them next time, haha. Don't forget to carry a magic marker to the airport, but still forget to not bring bottles bigger than 100ml...

Organizing the donation to charity of these cosmetics would require extra work above the call of duty, a bit of brain power no less, by these uniformed overseers. Na, won't happen. Getting a kick-back is so much more satisfying.

Thailand ? You gotta love them.

A 66 year old grandfather from the UK has a girlfriend in Pattaya does he? I feel sorry for his daughter back in England but not him. I bet his daughter and sister were concerned about -grand dad- travelling to Pattaya of all places. They never learn.

TV, never fails to amaze. So you have no compassion for a 66 year old, in a life threatening condition, with insufficient insurance because he traveled to Pattaya to see his GF. What a narrow minded seriously bigoted individual you are. Now go plant some rice and get back on that high horse that awaits.

This guy has never written anything that I have seen, positive about Thais or Thailand, or those expats who come to Thailand to settle down. And I doubt very much that he lives in Thailand, or possibly ever been here. His monikur is definitely misleading as well. He just comes on to pester people.

It looks like the farang is taking money out to give the smiling Thai official.

Probably marriage licence fee....300 b

He better get used to it because the bins will be coming in thick and fast from hereon in.

With 1,124 postings under your belt I can only assume that most of your postings were as repugnantly racist as that above. After all this forum is for those that have a positive interest, even love for Thais and Thailand, not a venomous negativity.

Just what is your interest in Thailand ?

I am a little confused with this story

was he assaulted (had an attack) or are they saying he had some sort of medical situation

He would have been better going to the airport and getting on a plane before going near any Thai hospital 13hrs he'd have been in London, now he is in the hands of ................the money drainers

Because of his recent injuries, may be no airline will let him board a plane. Who knows whether he will take a fit on board. Because so many falang, and other tourists, are returning home injured now, the airlines are a wake-up to this. They don't what the responsibility if they can avoid it.

Try ordering a wheel chair to board a plane, and you go through an interrogation on what's wrong with you, how far you can walk unaided and how many steps you can climb. With so many passengers being bused out to their planes now (they said this would never happen out at Swampy, it became the norm at the Don) I suppose this is important as well.

LIFE Sentence.

You must be KIDDING me.

Australia has some of the SOFTEST PENALTIES in the WORLD.

I think this one will be different. Value of 1 billion Australian dollars, that's mind boggling. There was just so much of it. I hope the bastards get life. You are right Australia does have soft penalties, bloody do-gooders, social workers and tree-huggers run the courts.

When is the fat boy with the dreadful hair cut going to realize that just one smallish nuclear confrontation will turn his dreadful little country into a car-park. He is just as ignorant as Castro was in regards to the effect of a nuclear war, immediately after and in the future. The USSR pushed Castro into the Cuban missile crisis, who is pushing the fat boy, other than his paranoid mind ?

Even if North Korea is occupied by saner minds after a confrontation, it will take generations to "re-educate" the populace as to how crazy their Dear Leader (and his ancestors), really were.

One does not hear much as to what China is actually discussing with North Korea, to avert a nuclear confrontation, but I am sure China is getting very nervous about this lunatics saber rattling. If I was a rice farmer close to the border I would be moving further inland.

Up to him.

Yes exactly, no one's business other than his what he does with his money, whether your speaking hypothetical, rhetorically of not. . There are far too many smirking comments on TV criticizing Thailand or Thais, gets so boring after a while. Go home if your not happy in Thailand, or if you have no direct connection with Thailand, find another forum for your venom spitting. The interesting informative information and discussions just gets pushed aside by innate comments. He's happy she's happy, and these smart-a commentators are sitting in the same chair, with the same mates that he was 20 years ago. Goes home drunk to a lonely room or a nagging falang wife.

Mad dog ! No empathy, no humanity, even for his own people. A tell tale sign of a dictator.

Lao Kao ? It will eventually kill you, no sweat.

In my village in the Buriram pan-handle, every man from 45 to 65 is dead. No BS ! You would never see so many widows in a village anywhere in the world. And once a month that all don their white mae chee cloths and off to the temple they go. No other social contact since hubbie died. Sad. All because of this poison. No liquor curfews here, corner shops sell it 12 hours a day. If people can't afford a bottle, they buy a shot glass full. No point going to the cops, because these Mum and Dad shops are well protected, the cops are the local cops. Someones son, cousin or nephew.

This is the primary number one killer in rural Thailand, forget about road accidents and the like. Once, 20 to 30 years ago, the use of Lao Kao was controlled by the then social graces of Thai culture. Not anymore. "Thainess took over".

Lao Kao (and the wealthy families that own the distillers) are just waiting for the next generation of young men to come along, pockets-a-jingling.

The stuff out of the distilleries isn't near as bad as the backwoods moonshine that sells for 50 baht/750ml. Distilleries can control the percentage of "poisonols" (alcohols other than pure ethanol) in their product. Ethanol is poisonous, too, but the other *.ols are even worse.

I think another big killer in rural Thailand is the chemicals pushed on farmers for their crops. Many deaths from cancer in my rural village.

I think that basically you are right. The substances that you are talking about that come from the fermentation process and then come over the still, are what we call "high and low boilers" . The most volatile. Apart from the ethanol you get chemical compounds called aldehydes and ketones. And in a higher proportion methanol.

The cleaner the fermentation (ie the exclusion of wild yeasts and molds and fungi), and the right length and cooling of the still will give you less of the above impurities. But they are still there, company distilled and labelled Lao Kao is still crap.

And of course the moonshine from the villages can be deadly. This is usually from the methanol content. I have a graduate diploma in Analytical Chemistry, and before I retired I asked a collegue to run some labelled Lao Kao through a GLC, and got some beautiful peaks.

Drink Lao Kow and everyday you are lowering your IQ, and doing damage to your liver.

I agree with you totally on the second point. I have seen quite a number of men over the years develop the shakes from exposure to these chemicals. They stir the chemicals into buckets using their bare hands for Christ sake. It is not so many years ago that Thailand stopped using DDT. The families don't like to talk about it.

One point, I refuse all my wife's advances to eat grass hoppers and such. I suspected very few would not be laced with your favorite chemical cocktail.

Lao Kao ? It will eventually kill you, no sweat.

In my village in the Buriram pan-handle, every man from 45 to 65 is dead. No BS ! You would never see so many widows in a village anywhere in the world. And once a month that all don their white mae chee cloths and off to the temple they go. No other social contact since hubbie died. Sad. All because of this poison. No liquor curfews here, corner shops sell it 12 hours a day. If people can't afford a bottle, they buy a shot glass full. No point going to the cops, because these Mum and Dad shops are well protected, the cops are the local cops. Someones son, cousin or nephew.

This is the primary number one killer in rural Thailand, forget about road accidents and the like. Once, 20 to 30 years ago, the use of Lao Kao was controlled by the then social graces of Thai culture. Not anymore. "Thainess took over".

Lao Kao (and the wealthy families that own the distillers) are just waiting for the next generation of young men to come along, pockets-a-jingling.

^^^ It's possible they didn't realize the bill was getting that large. BTW how do two gals drink 5,000 baht worth of drinks?

Easy peasy ! In walking street, top shelf spirits maybe, doubles ? Maybe a couple a lady drinks for a bar-girl bothering them, after all we don't know their orientation (which I say in good faith). If they are visibly drunk, accidents can be made with the bin. It's easy to under-estimate a bin if your p*ssed and having a good time. Hell, I have two drinking partners (female) who I see once or twice a month down in soi 13/1, who with my blessing, can on occasions put away 10,000 baht between the two of them. Good drinking partners and a load of fun. And they are 45kg wringing wet, not two big falang.

The designated stay-behind should not have tried to leave, even if it was just to stick her head out the door. But what is curious is that a physical fight ensured. someone must have got abusive ??? I think I know where I would put my money on that.

There was an interesting question posted yesterday in TVF, where there was hundreds of follow-up postings during the day. The gist of it was, where falang women welcome in bars ? A majority said no. I added a comment that in the 1980's (I have suffered in the Kingdom for just over 3 decades now), in bars in Patpong and Soi Cowboy, bar managers discouraged falang women to stay. The patrons and bar-girls just did not want them in there. But please no postings about this topic, there was enough said on it yesterday, go look it up.

Just one other point, if I have a big afternoon with mates and don't want my bin to get out of hand, I will pay it and start a new bin. No surprises at end of day.

Wonder how TAT will spin this one?

Mainland Chinese don't play Bridge, so mai pen rai. They also don't swim.

And Charlie don't surf.