sambum

"They further suggested that their sources indicated that the primary motive for the incident was NOT robbery."

So he went there to murder a toddler and some bystanders, and decided to steal some gold as an afterthought?

Confused? ???? I am!

22 hours ago, Surelynot said:

Doomed already. Political instability, ridiculously strong currency, poor safety record, rubbish everywhere, no gun control, corruption is rife, running out of water, poor infrastructure, little concept of customer care, Chinese zero dollar tours and the back up to falling Chinese tourism? Indian. Well I guess they've tried the cowboys they may as well give the Indian's a go.

You forgot about making it more difficult for the average expat (who is actually a long term tourist before somebody says the post is about tourists!) who spends on average half a million baht every year but is being forced out by Immigration's alternative legislation to "Proof of Income" letters.

4 hours ago, NanLaew said:

1.  But... this is about a Thai restaurant in Thailand, not how delightfully parochial and backwaterish the locals can be.

 

2.  The old, outdated anglophile opinion that English is the common language and it's use is somehow universally empirical in the modern age of global tourism. An age with all these foreign language translation app-enabled smartphones and foreign-language wiki's, googles and the like.

 

3.  And finally, holding to the popular misconception that Thai's are just inherently too lazy to learn English and that this perceived 'failing' will be the death of the nation.

 

That's a perfect 3 and 0 there. I bet you're really impressed with yourself, eh?

"The old, outdated anglophile opinion that English is the common language and it's use is somehow universally empirical in the modern age of global tourism."

Clever words to show your command of the English language, no doubt, but obviously "Asean" doesn't think so! Obviously you didn't see it first time it was posted, so here it is again! :-

"Asean’s working language numbers just one – English. This is striking when contrasted with that other successful regional organisation, the EU, which recognises 24 official and working languages.It is crucial, however, to note that, at Asean’s formation, English was adopted as the only de facto working and official language. Key founding figures speak of it emerging auto­matically as the common language."

43 minutes ago, Alex2554 said:

Don't overestimate your value for Thai economy

Here in Isaan nobody speaks English, how do they survive )

 

Not many restaurants in Esan/Isaan, and mostly they struggle to survive, their children working in factories (or worse) in B/K or Chonburi etc. sending money home to support them!

5 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Perhaps he has picked up your accent, the UK has a large number of them. Cockney, Welsh, Yorkshire, Cornwall, cut-glass - the list goes on and on. You would be unaware of it, but it might sound weird to the teachers. Hence their rating.

I once had a Latin teacher from the north of England. Took the class 3 months to work out what on earth he was saying.

There used to be a comedy programme on BBC Scotland called "Rab C. Nesbitt" Rumour has it that when they broadcast it in the South of England they had to use subtitles!

P.S. There is "Esan" Thai and "Bangkok" Thai!

2 hours ago, lazeeboy said:

Deport him .....are you people for real he's an OAP maybe he ha dementia deport really 

And maybe people high on drugs that savagely attack and rob people need "help"?

"You say, "Yes", I say, "No"
You say, "Stop" but I say, "Go, go, go"
Oh no You say, "Goodbye", and I say, "Hello, hello, hello"

(Courtesy of Lennon/McCartney)

No further comment!

No words necessary!

2 hours ago, Moonlover said:

The question behind the question is: 'Who says it is not safe to drink'?

 

Lonely Planet guides? The bottled water industry? Personally I believe in many cases the public is being conned when it comes to tap water safety. I'll agree that in more rural areas the water might not be so safe, but cities and towns. should OK. I happily drank the tap water in Udon Thani with any qualms.

 

Why do you suppose that 2.8 billion liters of bottled water are sold every year in the UK? Tap water is safe enough to drink there but still many people are being conned.

 

 

Where I live(d) in the UK (NW England) the tap water tasted awful, so I had to put a dash of orange juice (or tea or coffee!) in it to disguise the taste - or, as you say, buy bottled water at extortionate prices. 

I have just received an email from Gov.UK, where a recent update regarding sea water entering the fresh water supply, included the following information:-

"Thailand’s Metropolitan Waterworks Authority advise that there is no risk to public health from drinking tap water" 

Really? Then why do thousands, nay, millions of people in Thailand buy bottled water?

2 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

Why would Chinese come to Thailand for Chinese New Year?

 

Isn't that like going to Canada to celebrate 4th of July? ????

Or Christians coming to Thailand for Christmas?

A guide under the map explaining what the different colour pins stood for might have been a good idea!

2 hours ago, featography said:

How Odd. They are doing what they are paid to do, enforce the law. 

Very odd! "The Law" as far as Immigration is concerned is as each Immigration Office(r) interprets it, and in many cases it can become a bit of a lottery in how it is "enforced"!

For instance, does every Immigration Office ask for a Google Map with grid locations of your house, AND  a hand drawn map of where you live with every application for an extension of stay, along with a copy of your Lease, copy of Landlord/Landlady's ID, his/her "house book" etc etc.

If every Immigration Office asked for this, then I could understand it (not ask WHY, but understand it!), but for Buddha's sake, why do the same rules and regs not apply to every Immigration Office throughout the land? Presumably,  the requirements are set out according to the "Laws of the Land", (Police Orders?) so why does every office(r) interpret them differently? I do know of certain situations (first hand) where different requirements have been asked for by different I.O.s within the same office (Please, no comments regarding brown envelopes!)

So perhaps "enforcing the law" should be explained in more detail to the "front line troops"? 

7 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

No, you are right, they owned up that they were wrong and didn't blame others.

But they were still in the wrong, and I don't see where blaming others comes into it!

30 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

People who are in the wrong always find their crime not important enough to be looked at. Always deflect to other crimes.

"People who are in the wrong always find their crime not important enough to be looked at"

Really? Are you just saying that because it "sounds good"? I wonder if, for instance the perpetrators of The Great Train Robbery thought that their crime was not important enough to be investigated?

36 minutes ago, bbbbooboo said:

Hmmm.... maybe this is how Thai immigration demonstrate that they are doing their job. One might wonder what else do they think is their job. Only in Thailand I suggest?

"Immigration Act B.E. 2522" covers a lot more than just overstays, but that is mostly what we hear about!

5 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

You seem to have a pretty pedantic view that posters only discuss priorities. (Does not usually happen on TV!)

In the past, the Imm dept has not prioritorised overstays.

Many criminals, drug dealers, murderers, paedophiles, Nigerian millionaires etc came to Thailand and stayed. It was a good place to hide. Because many of them are on 'watch' lists, they have not renewed their visas. They are overstays.

'OMG - think what would happen if we checked for overstays' said Mr Plod. Let us make this a priority.

Yes - 'minor' criminals will be found out. (They are still criminals.) Funds are being raised as fines are being collected. (A priority for this government) and by making overstays a priority, they are also catching some really bad lads (and lasses).

Ask yourself this question. If someone is an overstay for years, where do they get the money to live? Long overstays start with just one day at a time.

I concur - good points!

However, as I did give the post the headline "Priorities" that is exactly what I expect to be discussed at some point, and as per one of my previous posts, the Immigration Act B.E. 2522 gives a pretty concise list of what other duties Immigration are responsible for, which we rarely hear anything about.

5 hours ago, Dumbastheycome said:

What priorities  should  the Thai Immigration service  have?

Already answered!

22 hours ago, cheapcanuck said:

That is what immigration does in any country.  Why should Thailand be any different? 

"PRIORITIES"!!!

I'm not saying that saying that the rules shouldn't be followed - all I am saying is that the current "witch hunt" is completely out of proportion to the amount of time and effort that seems to be spent on more serious crimes.

5 hours ago, Lacessit said:

AFAIK every country has laws relating to the visas they issue to foreigners. I am wondering why some posters on this thread think Thailand should be a special case in terms of the laws they make, or their enforcement.

It's not rocket science. Obey the laws, no problem. If you don't like them, there are other places to go to.

Not "Go home?"

43 minutes ago, khunPer said:

And you surely love foreigners in your home country telling the original population, how they shall run the country.

 

You and I, and many others, are guests with no democratic rights – and I believe you know that well – and you and I, and many others, are only "liked" here as long as we behave. But when we politely behave like guests are expected to behave, we can have a good time in Land-of-Smiles; just like we expect guests, i.e. foreigners, in our home countries to behave, and respect our native culture, and our present rules.

 

Yes, I'm a proud member of the huge global club "If you cannot behave as guest, stay home"...????

Where did I say anything in my post about "misbehaving"? Unless of course to voice an opinion is misbehaving!

However, I do "behave", (Have lived here for more than 15 years, and NEVER had any "trouble")  and I do respect the culture - my wife is a practising Buddhist, and I respect her for it - more so than the tin box shaking "beggars" posing as monks!

However, in my democratic "home" country we have the right of free speech, and that gives people the right to voice an opinion, but you do not have to agree with it. (My only complaint about that is when people of a certain faith come to my country to live, call me an infidel, and as such, it is their duty to kill me! But that is a different topic altogether.)

P.S. "Present rules" ? Is that last week's rules or this week's?