dhream

I like the sea, but was never much of a beach lover. Nepal sounds like a creative alternative. As an expat, going the full tourist here just grates. You KNOW you're getting shorn with the rest of the sheeple who fly in with a 'wow' exchange rate and no clue.

Do you wait out the smog in Kathmandu? That might be nice.
I wonder how many expats "vacation" in other spots until the smoke clears. Phuket comes to mind immediately.
What about it?

Yes, this year I decided to get out of Thailand for the month of April,intending to escape songkran and the heat. Unfortunately,I will likely be returning to worst air-quality than when I left at the end of March. In past years we (family) have gone to the South which is o.k ,if you can find a quiet spot.

Personally,Im just a bit fed-up and need a change of scenery and air. Nepal is a fine alternative,very lovely place once outside katmandu,finally can do some brisk hiking and get my cardio-pumping. Considering this for the Fam. next year. Nepal seems family friendly and nowhere near as intense as India.

Thai-Air fly direct to Katmandu via BKK.

i was in muang boran city in bangkok two days ago and there was beautiful blue sky

when i landed at chiang mai yesteday the smoke smog was as

bad as it was when i went to manila two weeks ago

dave2

Did you go to Manila as a springboard to a final beach location? Because going to MNL to escape the CNX haze is like going to Afghanistan to escape the war in Syria.

Nice comparative pics.

The Suan Dok incinerator has been belching smoke for years, and this area is fairly congested. More often than not the hospital seems to use the incinerator during pre-dawn hours, perhaps to escape detection. It is black putrid smoke.

You in conspiracy mode?

It's almost a hobby on here with some.

I'm as clueless as any farang here, but I'd guess they burn in the wee hours because they are doing their best to allow the toxins to 'blow away' before most people are up and about.

The farmers burn at night too. It helps them see and control rogue flames better, and they do so in the misguided belief that the night sky is somehow more 'open' to releasing the smoke into the upper atmosphere.

Just because 1st world values are practically non-existent as meaningfully enforced policy, does not mean that many educated Thais are not totally fed up and frustrated by the 'mai bpen rai' deal they have to accept.

Demonstration on April 24th at the 3 Kings Monument.

Finally

As if this is some kind of panacea or tipping point!

Make it to one participate.

Expats opinions/protests count for nothing. This is a thai issue for Thais to sort out.

If the US goes after them, as in the FIFA scandal, they can obfusticate all they want. Cronyism only goes so far outside the borders.

If they can't actually be arrested, their roaming globally to party will be severely curtailed and the offshore assets will be seized.

There's not many other places they can go without risking being scammed in turn, including repatriating the loot.

I'm enjoying this immensely.

PM warns drunk drivers and topless dancers

BANGKOK: -- The effort to reduce road mishaps and encourage all Thais to celebrate the Songkran festival properly, Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday reiterated a tough measure to deal with drunk drivers, and to make on the spot arrest topless dancers on streets.

He said authorities must impound their vehicles immediately if drivers are drunk, and passengers must also cooperate by rejecting the rides on their vehicles.

He said “drivers must not drink while driving. Everyone wants to go home quickly but they could be killed travelling on their vehicles.”

He urged passengers to warn these drunk drivers and the police must stop drunk drivers.

As to the inappropriate dancing on the streets by teenagers showing their breasts, the prime minister said these topless dancers, be they real women or transvestites, they be arrested and fined.

“I order soldiers and the police to arrest all these dancers on the trucks.”

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/158452

-- Thai PBS 2016-04-06

In that case, lets have topless drivers and drunk dancers. Problem solved

I can't see any problem with what he is doing,, he is just trying to stop people from waking up the next day to find one of their kids /parents have been killed,

and topless dancers on the back of trucks can definitely distract a driver.. and drunk driving, well everyone with any brain at all, does not want that..

good on him..

Looks like you read the whole article.

Despite the fact the headline is misleading, you could also possibly forgive his lack of *understanding* of Western values based on the type of westerners Thailand is frequented by.

Looks like you two drank the whole jug of Kool Aid.

When are your "I :love: Tanks R Us" T shirts going on sale?

Learning the hard way about what is read, too many words, not enough words, misinterpreted, misunderstanding of reason behind words, there are good reasons for this statement.

Outside influences have both helped and destroyed Thailand [in certain areas] over the last fifteen years, and most certainly, person pride and attitudes of many Thai has got worse.

Provocative/sexual dancing seen by many, such as the f me/f you hip thrusts and backside shake, should be kept behind closed doors, as young children gtry to follow their peers not realising where these actions are from, or may lead too.

Look outside 'your' own desired world and try thinking about those people with a desire for a happy, progressive and high valued society.

"happy, progressive and high valued society?"

I've always wanted to learn ass ventriloquism, will you teach us? I'm prepared to pay.

As much fun as an ice bucket challenge.

Imagine a western leader saying "Don't let Thai culture come in too much" they'd be all over it.

Didn't some middle class BKK rent a crowd protest outside the US Embassy for something far milder the US Ambassador said?

The 'western' values he refers to were pretty much perfected by Thai entrepreneurs marketing to the west, everything from 1960's GI go go's to the current Full Moon bacchanalia, so I don't see the problem.

And it looks like I won't be seeing wet nom noms either best just get a case of beer, and stay home Netflix binging. They've sucked the fun right out of everything good here, and replaced it with nothing of benefit, the roads are still death traps. The law is still abused, nobody here as a 'guest' has even basic rights that our countries afford to Thais who migrate, and their crackdowns are ineffectual and baffling, covering up beer ads? What the... SERIOUSLY?

All she needed was the Air Hostess outfit for a sexy 'girls in uniform' trifecta.

Nevermind, she's getting a prison uniform next, that'll be sexy as fk.

police...

... were busy fighting the last battle in the War on Pot, and making sure all Thai women had shorts on under their skirt. After that, they went for a little moonshine, and a lie down in the afternoon, then went home for the night.

personally having seen the signs, these people should be immediately kicked out stamped not to return, they then might just realise how ride, ignorant in insensitive they are to the locals.

Let's hang them at Thapae Gate, and leave the bodies to rot as an example!

And how do you feel about wet little nom noms at Songkhran?

Womens prison for the little slappers?

You're even less fun than 'Tanks R us' and their merry marchin men.

What they did caused offence, but deportation? Get real.

It's as simple as "if they can throw water, they will", drought be damned. Live for today, tomorrow never comes.

If/when the water does run out, at least everyone will have good Songkran memories to remember as fields go thirsty and the cost of living rises.

Great I can sleep well tonight knowing that.

Every year the same old stuff and this is so boring. THIS IS THAILAND and their NEW YEAR and to kill Songkran is to kill Thai spirit or whats left.

Now in Oz where I am from DROUGHT is something we know. Here ist is no more than the next rain season and whilst that may BE DROUGHT is still enough to get by. Yeah sure and given some things will and must change by Songkran is Thai just as Christmas is Europe!

Actually 'ole bean' 15 years ago the Songkran we see today is nothing like the spirit of the Thais and more like the important craziness from foreign influence. There were no high powered water guns and ice buckets, If you said you didn't want to be splashed you were not. Now it is just an excuse for both foreign and Thais to behave like idiotic children, taking the very symbolic gesture of sprinkling water on people to heights of drenching and putting people in danger. Throwing a bucket of water in front of a motorcyclist is not clever and hardly a good thing to promote as fun.

I'm all for the more 'fun' side. But I will agree that sadly, Thai and Farang idiots with ice buckets and high pressure soakers have turned it into a load of <deleted>. I would not want my kids out there, if i had any. There are just too many f'n morons and it HAS got out of hand. Their response, ban nom noms and on-street go go dancing. Idiotic.

You look at the 'traditional' Songkran 'sprinkling' and compare that to the modern mayhem, which is fun, don't get me wrong, but what happened to 'traditional' values?

Oh I see, wasting giga-liters is fine, just don't do an 'untraditional' wet T shirt, and you'll not go to lady prison.

Got it, Sir!

Thanks for returning happiness to us damp street urchins.

Meanwhile, Millions of Litres of strong Alcohol has been produced today, Alcohol is a major factor in violence and crime that affects millions of people all over the globe.

I feel much safer now.

http://www.salon.com/2015/07/08/7_facts_that_prove_alcohol_is_way_more_dangerous_than_marijuana/

Alcohol is legal, pot is illegal.

Wow, you're a creative thinker!

When the deep state say 'jump' do you scream "HOW HIGH SIR!" or just bend over and dispense with the foreplay?

Ex cop here (honorable discharge -3 forces and LEAP supporter)

This drug war is utter utter insanity.

A waste of resources, taxes, treasure, and a gift to Global Crime Inc.

Wake up!

Everyone and their soi dog (but not the 'powers that be here) has figured out dope is a non-issue.

Addiction is totally misunderstood (drugs have no 'hooks', people and their personalities, and their desires create the 'hook')

Legalize, tax, control.

The sky will not fall. Google Portugal, Czech Republic and drug decriminalisation, even their half assed measures have been an success beyond belief.

Everything, including ya ice, is safer than booze when controlled, and used responsibly. the science is IRREFUTABLE.

There will ALWAYS be alkies and addictive personalities, so what? If the drugs are legal, they'll stay stoned at home, or in some drug cafe.

If they get out of hand, they get busted, like any drunk. What is it about this you people are not getting?

THINK for once in your misbegotten 'believe everything you read' lives.

End of Rant.

Pathetic brainless and dangerous,needs to be behind bars.thais don't make good thieves,there's just lots of them.

Yo, rug muncher, lets presume he's not smart enough to drop a false ID, given that, he is not Thai, he is 'hill tribe' and BTW your 'nickname' means 'lesbian', not that I have a problem with lesbians, just jokey blokes who think they are one.

there is brave and there is stupid. Let me be uncharacteristically diplomatic, and say that risking your life for a tiny portion of an unrelated, wealthy (probably insured) merchants gold, is not brave...

Pattaya is fast becoming a hub for muggings.

People being mugged everyday in Bangkok, just that the English press there have bigger fish to report about

Only ever felt unsafe once in years of bottom-dwelling in BKK and that was when I was talked into going down an alley in Klong Toey after midnight by a beguiling spinner (she was after a fix, and I was advanced enough to know better, but little head, and all that) nothing happened.

BKK is safer than chiang Mai, believe it or not. Pattaya is just a war zone, without an actual war...

This is how THIS website describes THIS part of the forum: "Pattaya, the seaside playground on Thailand's east coast. Sun baked beaches and the wild nightlife make Pattaya a wonderland by night and day,"

On which alternative reality planet is this 'wonderland?' or are they referring to the 70s true story mass murder movie 'Wonderland' that implicated porn legend John Holmes?

The Thai Penal Code ....under petty offences .....

'Section 388 Whoever, doing any shameful act in public by indecently exposing oneself's person, or by committing the other indecent act, shall be fined not more than five hundred Baht."

..... so it is an offence under Thai Law whatever we might think about it.

The above extended to include males who drive whilst not wearing a shirt, really.

Consensual public sex is fine by me, I've done it in Singapore, twice, and the thing is, you do it in a place where it's impossible to get caught even if you are seen. (AHA! figure it out!) but shirtless chavs, ockers, and other kee nok farang behaviour should have a mandatory sentence of how to dress and act like your parents were human, and not f'n orang utans. Be sexy but stay classy!

The Thai Penal Code ....under petty offences .....

'Section 388 Whoever, doing any shameful act in public by indecently exposing oneself's person, or by committing the other indecent act, shall be fined not more than five hundred Baht."

..... so it is an offence under Thai Law whatever we might think about it.

h

Appreciate that.........but it's ok to stand by the side of the motorway and have a pee in full view of women & children.....hypocracy comes to mind.

And 'stupidity' is hard on it's heels. My acronym for this place is LOSS not LOS, guess I don't need to explain that too mutt.

Oh my God...What a crime......Who care's ......if it is urgent...? They did not hurt anybody I suppose

Well they offended the modesty of all the beach road freelancers and freeloaders, and now their dirty farang genitals will be deep fried and fed to the crocodiles or something... TiT is not a rude word here but is should be, some laws are a collective load of nom noms.

Pattaya locals would not know 'shock' if it was up them sideways in a Songtheaw.

More BS non news, in a place where you don't need to make it up!

Yep, better off going home before it even gets close to this type of situation......

depending where you live in the UK!..................could be worse than pattaya,long NHS queues,no indigenous people,only immigrants etc etc.

'No indigenous people, only immigrants...' I bet you an ice cold imported beer, the Thais say exactly the same thing when they moan about, pattaya, assorted 'Koh's' Chiang Mai and BKKK (third 'K;' added cos I like clever 'word pictures' in other words, parts of BKK are so white, the KKK... ahh nevermind).

It was possible it was another cry for help as he did it in a public place. People who are serious about dying generally do it in private.

Assisted suicide patients are serious about dying.

Just my opinion.... Very sad subject.....

The Police and medical teams have a very hard and emotional job. Next time anyone criticizes the Police, think about the stresses they have to endure and live with, please.

Ex cop here, EMS and LEO have it hard anywhere.

The coppers here deserve every bit of flak they get.