ZigZagMan

It's easy to get things done when you don't have to worry about checks and balances, elections, or laws. It's also worth noting that they've only tackled problems in the civilian sector, not in the military. Perhaps the Thai military is so corruption free and well-run there's no room for improvement.

PTP didn't worry about checks and balances or laws, though the cost of their populist policies needed to get them elected were ruinous. So why didn't they get things done?

Perhaps their priorities were more about their criminal leader than the country. After all, he got his passport back (illegally), reportedly a large amount of his money was returned, and more time was spent on his amnesty than any other project.

"So why didn't they get things done?"

Obviously because they had to abide by some checks, balances and laws. Otherwise Thaksin would have been pardoned, the Senate would have been made fully elected, Suthep would have been arrested as soon as he overstepped the bounds of peaceful legal protest, and many other things. The PTP couldn't rule by decree, backed-up with the threat of military force against any opposition. The NCPO can and does.

Actually by "getting things done' I would think about 'for the country and all Thais', not just for Thaksin.

That's one reason why Gen. Prayuth may actually be tops as he and his NCPO are seen to clean up the mess left by politicians in general and Thaksin's Yingluck's Pheu Thai government in particular.

The mess left by Yingluck?

According to Suthep, they were plotting to get rid of her before her first day on the job.

I think that they are crazy if they increase the prices on food and beer etc. the only thing they will achieve is very little income. If they reduce the prices, at least they will get some money for their troubles. As the saying goes "Half of something is better than half of nothing"

As the old Thai saying goes.

"Man it's slow, if I reduce my prices I would have to get off my lazy ass and do something that resembles work, so I better raise my prices."

Must be frightening for the poor staff when this hulk lumbers in and starts breaking furniture and chowing down with both hands.

O NO! IT"S THE DEKNOI AGAIN!

.

i think people are happy to give Prayuth as PM because when he came out many issues were resolved and he bring peace to us.

So that i agree with this poll to give Prayuth as PM

You have rather low expectation and easy to please. Solving the low hanging fruits like airport, motor taxi mafias etc are not reasons we should hand the premiership to Prayuth. The KPI must first be a people charter followed by reconciliation of the people division, corruption and the economy. Those are the expectation for reason enough to stage a coup and reason enough to have him in the highest government position. At this moment, nothing of the KPI have been achieved and are still very much in the dark.

Always go for the low hanging fruit first, I wonder why PTP and the forces in their control never even managed to do that.

And the drug war murders that Thaksin is regularly accused of. Why not look into that?

Very suspicious the Democrats didn't bother investigating.

The Taco House on Soi Bukow (that used the same dreadful recipes as the failed Sunrise Tacos) went belly up I see.

Imagine that.

I was in one of my favorite restaurants when an old customer and husband of a waitress, had a heart attack and died.

The next day I went and asked the other waitress' how the widow was holding up?

All of them began dancing, jumping around shouting, "She's rich! She's rich! She's rich!

Can people actually survive 15 years in a Thai jail?

Somebody put the screws to this woman.

I'm always skeptical when Thai police UPHOLD the law.

Somethings wrong.

This reminds me of an occasion at a buffet in Ayutthaya. There were three grossly obese Americans sitting at the next table - two of them so large they could only walk with quad canes. They spent the whole time grumbling about how dreadful Thai food was - too spicy - whilst repeatedly refilling their plates, piling them high. Utter gluttony. And they accompanied all this with diet Coke!

Did you check their passports to verify the nationality? Just curious how you came to this conclusion.

No need for passports. Could tell from their accents. From somewhere in the south.

Southern US accent. Pretty easy to spot.

Even easier is identifying someone from <deleted> England.

The word "Junta" scares off allot of people. Imagine that.

Your average family will strike military dictatorships off the vacation list.

Going to be a rough year for tourism.

The naivety of some TV members I find quite astounding

Clueless.

They wake up, read The Nation, then embarrass themselves on Thai Visa.

There is no free press.

Read the stuff the Junta doesn't want you to read.

Your, however, free to talk with people. Have you notice a widespread dissatisfaction with the performance of Prayuth among Thais?

Free to talk? Not really.

I asked a friend her opinion.

"He is good but you can't say the other thing."

Some people think it's a contest to see if they can beat the house.

Too bad, since the chefs have to dumb it down to compensate for the hogs.

a Mr Creosote in the making

...but I've always been prompted by my close Thais, to not eat like a farang.

A farang fills plate to overfilling and gorges in bursts ( I am visualising Homer Simpson's tactics here)

A Thai puts a bit on their plate, and comes back again, again, again, and... again, and again...

Do it the Thai way, and your eating experience won't be questioned

Another Thai way is to order the cheapest dish that includes unlimited salad bar and take the main home untouched after 20 trips to said salad bar.

Sent from my LG-P970 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I was in the Bangkok, Pan Pan Italian restaurant and saw how abusive some can be at a buffet.

They have a nice 'anti-pasta bar' with lunch. You can order a small or large plate. (the small appetizer plate gets one trip to the anti-pasta bar)

I noticed a sign 'no sharing' and we watched a Thai lady pile it up high on the small plate, then added more, then added more then added more and even more after that.

It's was astonishing how much food could be piled so high, I thought she was going to get the entire buffet on a small plate.

Then she sat down and fed the entire family.

I agree about American swagger. But, most Americans have a finely honed sense of service, when it comes to maintaining their customer base. Especially with the smaller businesses. We simply understand what one customer can translate into over the course of a lifetime. It is just too important. I have had discussions with Thais along the line of "I have been here 50 times over the past three years. You realize if you do this I will never come back again. Does this mean anything to you? And we were talking about a very small amount of money, or the size of a portion, or something absolutely meaningless to them. And you know what the response has almost always been? Do not some back. It does not matter to me. That would be the reaction of a hurt child. False pride. Not what an adult business owner should say.

Spidermike

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

They would lose face in front of the other staff if they gave the Farang a fair deal.

It's not the money. It's a game, played by by smiling racists.

I had a minor dispute with a restaurant manager over a pittance. It was just 20Bt. and I thought I was doing them a favor by pointing out a discrepancy.

Didn't want to budge so I never returned. By by.

This is a place I regularly eat and known by the staff.. probably spent 1,500 a month there + a nice tip.

I walk past daily and I wonder if they notice or care?

Outside my Bangkok office, I use the same tuk tuk driver to take me to the BTS.

When I left my phone on the seat one day he only wanted 1,000Bt to return it.

Thai style empathy.

7 or 8 refills, eh?

Maybe this post should be added to the antisocial behavior thread?

The naivety of some TV members I find quite astounding

Clueless.

They wake up, read The Nation, then embarrass themselves on Thai Visa.

There is no free press.

Read the stuff the Junta doesn't want you to read.

If choosing the next Miss Thailand was done by one of these polls he'd probably win that as well.

And Abasit would take the Miss Tiffany crown.

It's so quiet in Pattaya:

The annoying, zombie looking guy that aggressively begs for donations by rubbing his belly, mumbling "hungry", is actually hungry.

Believe it or not there are some rich connected types in jail. Their problem is they pissed off someone with more money and higher connections.

Who in the illegal wildlife trade did the farang husband piss off?

I read the below statement in the articles comment section:

"She is the wife of a spanish veterinarian and activist of animal rights.

He fights against animal abuse and illegal black market where these animals (snakes, owls, even jaguars ) are sold and kept in captivity.

His wife has been convicted of drug dealing because Thailand is a very corrupted country and black market makes big money out of it.

He reported this issue worldwide, this is what he is getting in return CORRUPTION, just flthy CORRUPTION"

So the Thai black market mafia set her up?

I have a friend that sells stuff like this to the government.

The company adds 20% to the legitimate price for corruption...but that's not enough since the other bidder is offering 25%-30%,

So she goes back to the boss and explains that there needs to be 35% added for corruption..but realizes the bid will be too high to win the contract.

"Don't worry" the boss explains, "we fixed the contract so only our stuff meets specifications"....

The highest bidder wins and the taxpayer gets inferior stuff at the highest price possible.