sambum

Just now, observer90210 said:

Not to worry....

 

...with all the semi-nude shirtless farangs who will be caught smoking on the beach, the 100'000 THB fines enforced, there will be enough money to send out the garbage pile, by air-mail to China for recycling or disposal.

The same thing will probably happen to it as the last time money was provided to solve the problem.

5 hours ago, wealthychef said:

 

If you've already said it, then why repeat it now in all caps?  

I'm surprised that someone with such a great sense of humor would not find my amazing joke funny.  

You wish for an incinerator and an efficient Thai government.  I wish I get a pony for my birthday.  I wonder which wish is more likely to come true?  

Why tell me to deal with it when I don't need to - the caps were to emphasise the point as it obviously went over your head? Amazing joke? Yeah - right - haha!

I wish for an incinerator that works, an efficient Thai government = "The Impossible Dream", and a pony for your birthday might be achieved with the correct Lottery numbers - have a word with the monk that just won 18 million baht- he might be able to help!!!

9 hours ago, wealthychef said:

You can't smoke on the damn beach.  Deal with it.  LOL

I don't need to deal with it - as I've already said - I DON"T SMOKE!  

And I wish someone would "deal with" bigger problems than cigarette butts on the beach - like getting an incinerator to work rather then covering over more than 250,000 tons of stinking garbage with nets!

And I don't know what "LOL" has got to do with it - I don't find it funny at all. 

25 minutes ago, jackh said:

What about vaping???

As at 16 August 2017:-

"Advice for tourists on the Foreign Office website states: “You can’t bring vaporisers (like e-cigarettes and e-baraku) or refills into Thailand.

“These items are likely to be confiscated and you could be fined or sent to prison for up to 10 years if convicted."

It seems a bit crazy that you can get punished so severely for partaking of a substance that is supposedly far less harmful than the nicotine in tobacco. Equally, just as crazy that these latest proposals can land you with a 100,000 baht fine, or/and jail time for smoking a cigarette on the beach! And don't even think about "feeding the fishes!" Off topic, but from 21 Feb 2017:-

"Tourist in Thailand faces up to a year in prison for 'feeding BREADCRUMBS to fish in a forbidden part of the sea'

Russian tourist Olga Smirnova was feeding the fish on Thailand's Phuket Island

 The maximum punishment for the violation of the island's strict environmental laws is a year in prison, a 100,000 Thai Baht (£2,300) fine - or both"

7 minutes ago, tropo said:

 

 

2 minutes ago, thaianon said:

In Singapore, a smoker was fined $15,000 for throwing cigarette butts out of his flat window. I personally don't have a problem with people smoking on the beach. I do have a problem with people throwing cigarette butts on the beach. They're not easy to clean up (i.e. the sand eventually starts looking like an open-air ashtray).

Thanks for your post, but it doesn't answer my question! 

7 minutes ago, jeab1980 said:

Simple solution make an area of beach smoking only. As for the pubs it was the supermarkets that drove them out of buisness im afraid. Agreed the smoking ban didnt help but the pubs in my ex neck of the woods still allow smoking never been fined or raided.

I now when in patts only use bars were smoking is not allowed at all.  And yes there are many.

Sorry, but in my "ex neck of the woods", smoking in ANY of the pubs is a big "no - no", so obviously in different areas of the country, the law is interpreted differently!

And apart from the landlords that I quoted above, many of the landlords that I spoke to a few years ago were adamant that the smoking ban had affected their sales directly, and many pubs in my "ex neck of the woods" had to close because of it. Obviously, in your area it is still allowed, so maybe not so many closures?

And a serious question for you, and other members on ThaiVisa. Does anybody know of any other country that imposes a fine of almost a local's year's salary for smoking on a public beach? Or any other country that has a fine of any description for smoking on  a public beach?   

27 minutes ago, jeab1980 said:

Great i bloody hate it when im relaxing and some toe rag plonks himself down near me and starts bloody smoking to a non smoker its bloody horrible. And dont bother saying just move why the **** should I.

As an ex smoker, I don't particularly like it, but it is in the open air, and I completely agree with not smoking in areas like restaurants, schools, hospitals etc, but (and I have one or two ex landlords to back me up on this) I blame the demise of the typical British pub on the smoking ban. IMHO, they should have made allowances for pubs to have "smoking rooms" instead of the blanket ban that was imposed to force people to smoke on the street. That, on top of the high rents charged by breweries which in turn leads to higher prices for drink, drove many people to the supermarket and drinking at their friends' houses.

43 minutes ago, Kieran00001 said:

 

 Last year there were 32 million visitors to Thailand, up 10% on the previous year, while the UK saw 37 million visitors last year, up 7% on the previous year.  Your comment makes no sense when Thai tourism is increasing at a greater rate than the UK's.

Official TAT figures?  

23 minutes ago, JAG said:

Heavens above - I'm sure that nothing was further from their minds!

 

Maybe submarines, and more armaments?

1 hour ago, tore stenberg said:

One thing is smoke !!!!

What does thailand do with garbage.
No thing, they throw garbage in the woods, they do not have a cargo deck, they burn the garbage in their own garden or empty it in the neighbor's garbage bin.
And the car that was going to drain rubbish three times a week comes once a week.
There is a market outside our house, when this is done, it is littered by this in the street outside, or someone puts it in our garbage bin, because the comuna has not put up g...arbage bags so they can put it there.
Has not Thailand signed the Paris agreement?
I saw the news that everyone should have a trash can, but it was difficult to get people to pay for garbage disposal. This should not be a problem if they put the garbage bill together with the bill of water as they do elsewhere in the world.

A lot of people here get their water supply from underground wells, so no bills for water, but for those that do have Government water, your suggestion makes sense. And also landlords, hoteliers, restaurant owners etc could incorporate a few baht into their bills/rents for the garbage removal.

Unfortunately, this is a country where sense and suggestion do not go hand in hand, because (a) usually the suggestion comes from a dumb farang, who as every good Thai knows - knows nothing, and (b) the amount collected by the landlords, hoteliers and restaurant owners would more often than not, end up in somebody's back pocket. I personally know of one restaurant where all the tips go into a box behind the bar, and one would assume, shared out amongst all the staff on a weekly/monthly basis. Wrong - the owner pockets it. and says he uses/needs it to pay their wages, in the same way as he needs the dubious "compulsory service charge", which in effect is what a "garbage fee" would become.  

6 minutes ago, wealthychef said:

Non sequitor beyond belief.  Your argument seems to be, "I want to smoke on the beach, and why aren't you talking about plastic bags instead?"  Cigarette butts are indeed a danger to sea life.  Just because they don't have the bag thing handled yet (but they are working on it to their credit) doesn't mean this is "stupidity beyond belief" to address another valid concern.  

 "Just because they don't have the bag thing handled yet (but they are working on it" By taking away the wheelie bins?

5 hours ago, smedly said:

oh dear, how about a general clamp down on all types of littering, if I smoke anywhere I use an ashtray or a bin and that includes on a beach, if I have litter it goes in a bin, I am all for cleaning up and stopping people littering but stopping people smoking on a beach adds absolutely nothing to this, how many April 1st's are there in Thailand, they seem to have one every week.

 

This is stupidity beyond belief

No, when they take away the public wheelie rubbish bins because people aren't paying their garbage tax is stupidity beyond belief!

23 minutes ago, Monomial said:

It actually doesn't require analysis at the quantum level at all.

 

Simple classical field theory, known in great detail since the days of Maxwell, explains the phenomenon perfectly on a macroscopic scale.

 

Of course, if you are interested in the world at a subatomic level like an electron would be, quantum mechanics is inescapable.

 

Been thinking about that for a while? 

5 hours ago, StevieAus said:

I thought the original post was related to the behavior of Australians visiting Thailand and excessive drinking?

But just for the record I decided many years ago that I would make provision for my own future in retirement and don’t get one cent from the Australian government.

If you go back to Page 1 and read the original article, nothing is mentioned about drink!

3 hours ago, helloagain said:

Please so how much was she rewarded or how much was a life worth in thailand.

I think that you meant to say "awarded", but in this instance, I think "rewarded" is an equally suitable word to use! 

Well done Carly! It's just a pity that it had to take 9 YEARS to achieve justice. As a previous poster said, it must have cost an awful lot of money (in air fares alone to attend the 10 court appearances) I hope that is reflected in the settlement amount, and that there are no more delaying tactics for it to be paid, and shame on the Thai police for "refusing to negotiate" even though they admitted guilt.

2 hours ago, jimster said:

This is a very interesting perspective. It applies to all facets of Thai society. What many not so enlightened westerners don't realize is that Thai society of today does not reflect the norms of the past. Much of what is taken as "normal" in Thai society is actually quite recent and mostly a product of the west. I didn't realize that as recently as the 60s many Thai villagers, women included were still walking around essentially naked. For some reason I thought this would have disappeared 80-100 years ago except maybe in hill tribe villages but as you say, it's much more recent than that.

 

A little off topic but still to the point of your reply - it was the American medical association - or more specifically the Rockefeller foundation, with its Asian headquarters established here in Bangkok since 1964 that applied pressure on the Thai government using the UN/WHO as its vehicle to impose a nationwide policy of medicalized childbirth from the late 1970s onwards. While in the 1960s nearly all Thais gave birth at home using a traditional midwife, by the end of the 1970s all urban residents and eventually nearly all rural residents have been giving birth in the hospital (today it's probably about 99%). Compare this to the USA, where already in the 1960s 99% of births were in the hospital, it's actually in more recent times that this has dropped slightly to around 97-98% though this figure includes hospital affliated birth centers which basically don't exist in Thailand. In Holland depending on the source 25-50+% of births take place in the home usually with a trained and registered midwife or occasionally doctor. Not that Thais can't have birth outside of a hospital setting, but the indoctrination is so strong that even poorly educated rural folk will head to the local hospital at the first sign of labor during birth because they have been told, through TV, school and their friends and family that childbirth is inherently dangerous (although they can't explain why, it's about obey, don't think). They are also told to "submit" themselves to the authority of a doctor (and never ask any questions) and this applies also whenever they get sick - get the sniffles and go to the hospital. Nowadays of course, every case of the sniffles is misdiagnosed as the "flu", anyone that goes to a hospital in this state is given tons of medication and probably a flu shot as well. Very few ever question the necessity of these things.

 

So in short, when enough pressure is applied on the government, they generally impose the most radical version of whatever and this is imposed on the Thai populace. There is also rarely any opposition to these sorts of things - at least not that I have seen much of anyway. For example, even in light of the controversial proposal to ban passengers from sitting at the back of pickup trucks earlier this year, many Thais were saying on social media, as long as it's imposed gradually it should be OK - "the government cares about our safety" they would say instead of thinking that actually, it's not the presence of a few passengers at the back of pickups that is a problem - it's the way the driver drives. This statist attitude concerns me, because over time such an attitude will eventually lead to a completely controlled nanny state society. One of the main holdouts at the moment is actually what happens on the roads - all that is needed to get people to comply is strict enforcement of road rules and draconian penalties for disobeying - similar to Australia for instance. I don't agree with such a plan though I think that in 10-15 years time, it may become reality in Thailand. After all these years it's only since last year that speed cameras, speed limit signs and fixed cameras at intersections, including at red lights have been installed and by next year there could be cameras everywhere, so I've been reading. This has been happening so quickly it's taken me by surprise, but I believe it is the beginning of a seismic shift.

A lengthy but interesting post - I particularly empathised with the section about the doctors and hospitals:-

"Nowadays of course, every case of the sniffles is misdiagnosed as the "flu", anyone that goes to a hospital in this state is given tons of medication and probably a flu shot as well. Very few ever question the necessity of these things."

The hospitals and doctors here (except Govt Hospitals) are in the business of making money, and it's a standing bet among my farang friends how many different types of pills they are going to get when they visit the doctor/hospital, and how much they would have paid over the counter at a pharmacy.

I personally was visiting a sick friend in hospital, and while I was there, decided to get a "sprained ankles" checked out by a doctor. He asked me to basically waggle my feet up and down, and side to side, and said - without an examination - "OK, I think nothing broken - just bad sprain". No advice re treatment but he gave me a small tube of some Ibuleve substitute gel, (I refused the "painkillers - paracetamol) and I was charged 1450 baht!

.

4 hours ago, idman said:

Shorts, singlets, flip flops are all find and dandy at a beach. However, unless you are dining beachside put on a t-shirt at least and wear decent looking shorts. Too many twatpackers and lesser educated tourists insist on dining in nice restaurants while looking like they came right off the strand. Sorry you ja..ckoffs but seeing your hairy armpits, yes ladies you are included, while I am trying to enjoy a nice meal is not acceptable. To add more insult these bozos, both sexes, who have taken it upon themselves to treat their body like it's the Sistine Chapel, aka multiple hideous looking tats. just have to display them wherever they go. Otherwise what was the purpose of shelling out all that money??? Nothing ruins a nice evening out in a good restaurant faster than having to sit near or even see these types come in wearing singlets and shorts to display their stupidity. Don't even get me started on the fad of wearing a cap backwards.

I didn't know Wayne Rooney had taken up a new profession - maybe it's just a sideline!

3 hours ago, juice777 said:

"She wants justice for her son." 

 

1000THB hospital fees are they being serious.The kids should be expelled and face criminal charges. And the parents or school sued

 

 

 

"And the parents or school sued"   BOTH!

1 minute ago, Rc2702 said:

Nah that's BS you speak like a kid you said a few things only youngsters say. You're a spotty digital nomad. What YT channels you into? 

Like I said, "to put it in the modern vernacular, you are totally so wrong" but to put it in proper English, "you are totally wrong"! From  "English Language and Usage" :-

"The rationale can be found in its evolution. In informal use, words ending in ing started appearing with the final g dropped: goin'. This has extended to many words with a penultimate n, so andbecame an'." 

You should have gone to school more often! There should be a full stop after "kid"! And by the way, I'm an old kid - the wrong side of 70, so "You into" implies that YOU are the kid, not me!

Anyway, enough of this off topic nonsense, arsy - it's time for my cocoa - good night!

1 minute ago, Rc2702 said:

Nah bumboy do1 that's urban dic not Collins. 

 

Seriously though using that underlines the likely hood you are under 35.

 

 

 

 

Seriously though, arsy - you are totally so wrong (To put it in the modern vernacular)

7 minutes ago, Rc2702 said:

Bum man, it's saying.

 

 

Arsy - It's sayin' when you put an apostrophe after the n!  As in " livin' the dream"!

1 hour ago, swissie said:

 

Yes, even by using punctuation (comma's), long sentences is a "no-no". Violating the KISS-Rule (Keep It Simple and Stupid).
HeHe.
Cheers.

The way I heard it, the KISS rule is "Keep It Simple, Stupid" 

And by the way, the plural of "comma" is "commas", not "comma's"! Just sayin'!

9 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

Fist it was 50 Aussies murdered overseas, then later in the article it was 49 Aussies murdered, the Consular state of play stated, but the article fails to clarify if it was in Thailand or an accumulation of other countries, I would suggest the latter.

 

Poor reporting in my opinion.

Nowhere does it say "50", just "almost 50" and "nearly 50", but I agree that it fails to clarify the number in Thailand, merely:-

NEARLY 50 Australians were murdered overseas last year according to a new report which again named Thailand as the most dangerous holiday destination.

Yes, poor reporting.

8 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

Obviously a sad old prim 'n proper (and prejudiced) Brit.

I'm not the one doing offensive and dis respectful stuff in public as in the poster to whom I replied.

Manners cost nothing and he appears to not have any.

I've lived here permanently for 14 years and counting. I do not have to prove ANYTHING to YOU. Nor am I interested in what YOU have done for the Thai nation.

Doubt i'll be chucked out because I aint done nothing wrong, i'm legal, most people (Thai) know me in my vicinity, I speak the lingo fluently and get along with most folks (Thai) fine. Also have plenty of Thai friends from all walks of life. Felangs - not so much. Strange that, innit?

GFY.

Wrong! "A prim 'n proper Brit" would know how to spell "riddance"!