art vandelay

As always, revellers are requested to follow Songkran traditions, which include splashing only clean water - no ice or other ingredients - over each other, not getting violent with their water guns and avoiding close-fitting clothes in light colours and spaghetti-strap tops.

how about respect for other people?

"The massive Songkran festival travel will unavoidably bring highway accidents resulting in the high fatalities each year."

Surely traffic accidents can be avoided. Drive with a bit more care & attention...

requiring drivers to take a valid test of their ability to drive before granting them a license

educating all road users on safe and considerate behaviour on the roads

effective policing and prosecution of traffic law violators

just a few practical and measurable steps that could be taken for the benefit of all.

saw a thai passenger getting out of a car in a car park the other day. the parking space was parallel to the roadway and unfortunately the passenger didnt check before opening her door. there was another car passing which all but took off the her door. oops.

she can come to relax and unwind at my place any time

good start to the songkran 'festivities' - wasn't i reading yesterday that the PM has 'instructed' the provinces to work to reduce the number of fatalities this songkran?!

Society deeply polarised, veteran insurgents say

really? i hadn't noticed.

i've asked several thai's if they know what the playboy logo is... they dont.

thai's are pretty ignorant of contemporary culture from other countries. they see a band wagon and jump on.

some girls display their ignorance by having a playboy tattoo which is particularly sad and depressing

we'll see how much notice the provinces take of her 'instructions'. let me take a wild guess... they'll ignore them.

another one.

my gf's mate got one, definite improvement, makes her look less 'issan' - guess most foreigners wouldn't like that but she's not interested in foreigners. and she is happy and feels great so what's the harm?

the school holidays are my busiest time with parents wanting private lessons for their children. find one or two students and assuming you're a half decent teacher you'll be recommended to other parents.

how about the carrying of babies and small children while riding a motorbike one handed? how about the motorcycle passenger carrying a baby or small child? how about the fact that other thai's see this happening and do nothing about it!

the life and safety of children counts for very little for many thai people. sad but true.

interesting. could have done with some editing though.

since being on TV i realise just how many multiple fatality road accidents there are here, almost weekly. it's hard to believe that there is no one in this country who cares enough to do anything about it - apart from knee jerk 'ban double decker buses' reactions...

saw this bus turned into 'art' near my place...

a mate wanted me to pick up some 'duty free' perfume as i was leaving bangkok, which i did though i did warn him. the cost at suvanabumi £54.00.

had a look at at house of fraser perfume dept on return to the UK, same brand, same size bottle, not on special offer, price £34.00. as i said, i did warn him.

Not quite concrete walls. , but I love the way my Thai gf wants to big note with her friends. Two examples. First when I buy her something she posts it on Facebook to her girlfriends. She basically doubles the price I told her I paid for it.

Second , I go to HCM every month. Anyway I give her money when I leave. My formulae is 1000 baht a day. She telss her gfs that I give her "big money" when I leave.

All this is to make it appear she is being taken very good care off and is LUCKY.

I love their sweet little hearts. Its all about face as the farang say.

By the way I could give many more examples.

when i read posts like this i feel i'm living in a different country... my GF has a good job, lawyer, is not interested in competing with her friends and colleagues; is happy to have a samsung when all the others have iphones, only recently upgraded to 'fitfops' because i told her her lower quality shoes where potentially damaging her feet/legs, she goes to the gym and does yoga several times a week and doesn't ask or expect a penny from me. sure treat each other from time to time but that's it.

no need to ban alcohol. need to have effective policing and prosecution of drunk drivers and anyone behaving in a way likely to cause a road traffic accident e.g. throwing water at a moving motorcycle or vehicle. oh but sorry, songkran just wouldn't be 'sanook' if you weren't allowed to cause road traffic accidents and kill people...

the UK government, via the border agency, are coming down hard on immigration. there is a general election looming and the tories want to appear tough on immigration as it will be central strand of their campaign. expect things to get worse rather than better.

the officers were doing their job as such you have no grounds for a complaint.

bought a stamp at the post office the other day. price 13 baht, handed over a 20 baht note. the teller needed a calculator to work out how much change to give me.

you'd think a post office teller would be required to to be able to do basic mental arithmetic calculations...

love the way 7/11 stores have of reducing the number of tills open relative to the greater number of customers queuing...

just sigh and smile and sometimes sure, to preserve my sanity, just walk away

man killed in road traffic accident. ban cars.

I'm surprised the Thai media hasn't yet blamed the falangs who dropped the bomb.

But then again, that would mean reminding the Thai people that they declared war on the UK and USA.

...and that they made an attempt to grab a sizeable chunk of cambodian territory... ask any thai and they know nothing about this...