jobsworth

What a nightmare. Glad all seems ok now.

It is all about face.

Always remember that a foreigner is a guest in Thailand.

When there is a dispute with a Thai, always say that you are wrong.

Thai people are never wrong against a foreigner

Better to have said

"I came in here with my passport but now I don't have it,

I must have dropped it on the floor somewhere."

This is a lie but never mind.

It will convey the information and nobody loses face.

Don't accuse the Thai of losing your passport.

The only way to avoid Thailand dangerous driving habits is not to visit.

Taxi to pattaya anyone?

The last time I took a taxi to Pattaya.

1) The driver tried to extort ten times the road toll for the expressway.

2) The driver got stopped and fined 100 Baht for driving in the wrong lane.

3) The driver overshot the turning to Pattaya tai and so slowed down to do a U turn.

4) A truck coming up fast behind failed to slow down and rammed the taxi several times.

5) The driver tried to take evasive action by driving onto the oncoming lane

where he had a head on with a pick up truck.

6) My laptop and luggage survived and a passing motorcycle took me to my hotel.

No I will never again take a taxi to Pattaya.

I find this disturbing:

Police have been aware of his activities over a period of several years

If they were aware, why didn't they act sooner and potentially save lots of damaged children?

Be encouraged and not disturbed.

The so called child protection industry is now in a state of confusion.

Hillary Clinton is departing.

Just like in Afghanistan the Americans are handing over to the local forces.

The job is now being handed over to the local police by the NGO's,

who used to set people up and pocket the funding.

We should see more police action in these matters.

Watch this space.

Gently pulling on the handbrake usually wakes them up:-)

I don't recommend this but when I become desperate what I do is to

bring my right foot across to the left and gently press on the brake pedal.

This turns on the brake lights without applying the brakes.

Check you mirror to ensure that the car behind has enough room

in front of the car behind him so that he can safely brake.

This opens up the gap.

If you want to be really hostile and again I don't recommend this

then accelerate away.

This is only to be done as a last resort in a potential accident situation.

Skype anybody?

Good old Dakota also known as the DC3 isn't it?

Very reliable and widely used as a company aircraft in its day.

Nice photo.

"I'm looking at Lua Prabang because the flight's only an hour from Chiang Mai,

and the bus trip to Vientianne seems long, needless to say, and these

Thai people (although I do like them) are *&^-ing horrendous drivers."

Listen well, Siddhartha, Thai people do have a strange style of driving.

Worry more about the Lao drivers over those mountain roads

from Luang Prabang to Vang Viene and then to Vientiane.

When I did it 10 years ago I got out of the bus and started walking.

It was just so dangerous. The driver took blind corners on the mountain roads

without looking or slowing down.

They have Tuk Tuks (Song Taew) which are very slow and safe.

I just waited for the next one to pick me up.

Oh yes and 2 weeks after that the bus was attacked by Hmong people

and all the passengers and tourists were killed.

It may be safer now. It was certainly interesting.

ps "In Vientianne, I can get a two-month visa that's renewable twice for a total

of six months."

Are you sure about that? I know that it was possible.

i was punched several times in the face by a drunken foreigner

outside the kiss restaurant because i looked at him

and asked him what he was looking at.

many passing tourists stopped to enjoy the fun

but nobody offered to help me.

one year later i still have dental problems.

the police were not involved and being a foreigner to foreigner

incident probably would not have helped.

you can get away with anything in pattaya.

yes it is a very dangerous place.

if you have not had an incident you are very lucky.

it is only a matter of time.

This idiot does his shopping in a 7-11?

where do you buy milk? or don't you?

your going to go up against the well established Kr440 and the SHV online for Shianoukvile

Best of luck

where as here, on thai visa, 50% of the people that seem to post all day long, complain, Seems most of them are living upcountry where there is nothing else to do :-)

those on the Cambodia forums praise the country they have chosen to live in

I just went into those forums and compared to Thai visa, they appear extremely basic.

I would say, there is no competition and having a decent forum in those countries like Thai visa, is well overdue.

One question to Thai visa:

Will all the new forums be moderated? I hope so.

You are probably referring to khmer440.com which is an NGO web site

famous for flaming. If you are not an NGO do read the posts but do not add anything.

However innocent the evidence will be used against you.

Polluted areas like cities are free from malaria.

Something to do with diesel fumes.

Never thought that diesel fumes could be good for you.

Yes it is the sought after areas like jungle and islands where the tourist is at risk.

Local people seem to have developed an immunity

since they are exposed to mosquitoes from birth.

Something to do with their red blood cells acquiring a marker

which the white blood cells can see and destroy if infected.

A double marker is called sycle celled anemia, common in Africa,

and is also fatal.

I caught Falciparum Malaria on the island of Koh Mac about 25 years ago.

The Australian government hospital in Perth saved my life.

The main problem used to be diagnosis.

Since it is a disease of the red blood cells the symptoms can be anything.

The only reliable test is for the infected blood cells to be seen in a blood sample

and even then they hide and come out only from time to time.

Crafty little buggers aren't they?

I have an Australian friend in Koh Kong Cambodia who was recently infected and nearly died.

Koh Mac and Koh Kut, in Thailand, and Koh Kong, very near but in Cambodia, seem to be hot spots.

I am told that you can only get it once after which if you do not die

you will develop an immunity similar to local people.

The best cure was Quinine which for some reason the doctors are reluctant

to prescribe. Most Falciparum Malaria is resistant to most of the drugs you

have ever heard of. Larium is a drug of last resort but being widely available

over the counter in Pailin Cambodia, previously famous for the Khmer Rouge,

is now famous for spreading resistant strains of Falciparum Malaria.

often stay at the 27 hotel at 350 THB per night which is just next door

(good to give it a plug -

excellent hotel, clean, simple, hot water, aircon, tv and nice people)

out of curiosity once had breakfast at the Grand Mercure Park Avenue Hotel on Soi 22

it cost 500 THB and was nothing special. in fact not a very good breakfast

could have bought something much better and cheaper at the 7/11 opposite

Because I have a healthy respect for my wellbeing I have my pool lights disconnected, I just don't trust the guy who did the wiring.

RIP to the Russian guy.

pool lights are usually a 12 volt isolated system and so fairly safe i think

why i even know one guy in india who used to swim underwater and change the bulbs

while they were switched on.

Be careful though, the rescue Mafia is quite powerful, they protect hundreds of millions of dollars on income in donations and cheap labor.

You are very brave to make such a statement. It is true.

Your life could be threatened or you could be set up as a pedophile for saying this.

These people have an army of tourist volunteers in all the tourist centers like Pattaya and Phuket.

They stake out the beaches and the restaurants. It is called gang stalking.

It is unlikely that these do gooders understand what they are involved in.

There is quite a lot about microwave weapons on facebook

including a class action law suit by 700 victims of gang stalking.

Interesting that the topic has now reached this forum.

I don't know quite what to believe.

this type of thread draws all the NGO's out of the woodwork.

while there seems to be no doubt about the guilt in this case

in many other cases a foreigner can be invented to ensure

continued financing for the luxury lifestyles for those in the pedophile industry -

new cars, luxury holidays, property investment, fine dining, etc

Why are the song taews in the tourist areas so much smaller.

In Isaan they have more head room.

in Bangkok they are larger.

6 Thais can easilly sit side by side in the tourist areas

while 6 Falungs cannot.

What about the Thai stuffer in Pattaya

on the corner of Pattaya 2 and Pattaya Tai

who tries to pack 6 Russians side by side.

There are many arguments there.

Maybe the casino is in no man's land on the Cambodian border

at either Poipet, Pailin or Koh Kong.

These casinos all speak Thai and look Thai.

Download and install Debian, firefox, thunderbird, with gimp and open office etc.

It is all free, compatible and legal.

David Burlinson drove through Burma to India in 2004.

It is the Stillwell road featured in First Overland by Tim Slessor.

http://www.odysseyshow.com/jou_se_asia.html

The problem seems to be not so much entering Burma

but exiting into India where the Naxalites are at war.

Thailand is so close to India that it seems silly that it

is not possible to go by bus.

Lots of reasons why she may have had 26million in the bank. Sad that it looks like she has lost most of it. I don't suppose that the banks will compensate or accept any responsibility.

This seems quite common, Best beloved was phoned last year, and told that she owed 250k on a credit card, which had allegedly been used for shopping in various hiso shops in Bangkok. I told her to ignore them, and after a couple of calls they went away. Like to know how they got her phone number though!

My Thai mobile telephone used never to receive any spam telephone calls or spam SMS.

Then I made a deposit at the Bangkok Bank and entered my telephone number where requested,

thinking that it was so that the bank could contact me more easily if there was a problem.

Then the spam telephone calls and spam SMS started and have never stopped.

Now I write NO SPAM on all bank deposit slips but it is too late.

Local people cross the borders illegally all the time.

They can get away with it for a time.

Khmers, Viets Lao and Thai people should not do this but they do.

No passport, no visa, no id card, nothing. Fishermen, taxi girls, business people, smugglers etc.

But you and I cannot.

The borders are what the Americans describe as porous.

The advice and the action are good.

Go back where you came from and exit/entry at a legal crossing point.

Otherwise risk imprisonment. Local people just get sent back.

The rules are very simple and all we as foreigners need to do is to respect them and obey them.

It could not be simpler. We are very lucky to have found a country like Thailand.

I did this 25 years ago.

I arrived in Bangkok by air with a tourist visa for Thailand and wanted to visit Laos.

I asked for and was granted a transit visa for 7 days, now called a visa on arrival for 30 days.

When I reentered Thailand from Laos I was able to to start my unused tourist visa.

It all depends on the immigration officer on arrival.

Just ask. They can only say no.