sambum

Yap yap yap...is what I hear reading this. Same same.

So what do you want the cops to do--------- come out and shout at these young boys and endanger their own lives standing in the line of fire.Leave it for 24hrs and do a local house search---much safer

It would be nice if the cops helped protect the innocent bystanders. This was not out in the boondocks, it was in the center of the city.

About 5 years ago, not more than 100 meters from where this happened, we were in the middle of something similar. Picture a 4 lane road where the pickup trucks filled with people are not moving since everyone is water playing. A bottle was thrown, severely cutting one of the young lads. Out comes a gun and everyone scrambles for cover. Understand that the people playing water include many little kids. There were many hundreds of people in that section of road.

IMHO, the cops should try to prevent this from happening, and if something does happen, they should try to protect the innocents.

@1 rule for Songkran: no water containers - large or small - should be allowed on any pick up truck for water throwing in Thailand! No water throwing from any vehicles should be allowed. This little measure would eliminate already a lot of accidents. Why doesn't our present military government think of such a rule?

Perhaps another rule should be no water throwing at people on motor bikes? This is a very dangerous practice - especially when the water contains washing up liquid or some other eye irritant - a recipe for an accident to happen.

Walking around in Thailand with no shirt on is illegal, It always has been

Well, blow me down with a feather! Does that mean that the police have been neglecting their duties for ever?

Are the cops pointing in the direction the bullets went?

Yes, thought we'd lost it for a while, but the old "pointing finger" is back! The chief photographer must have been on holiday for a few weeks!

Regarding another point, the cops here are underpaid (in a civilised country, the cost of their uniforms, motor bikes, guns etc would all be paid for out of taxation - surely here the brown envelopes could do the job?) And if only 2 cops are on duty at a given time, then they should be provided with more heavy duty armaments (after adequate training, of course!) - maybe a couple of machine guns and stun grenades? Could make a good line for a film don't you think i.e. "Call that a gun? THIS is a gun" - and a short sharp burst over their heads would probably be enough to disperse the cowardly "Men in Black"!

Confiscate their selfie hardware. They can pick it up on departure day.

No - sell it, give the proceeds to some charity, and make departure day today. They were told "don't do it", there are signs saying "don't do it", but they carry on regardless - total disregard of Thai culture, and lack of respect for anybody. Their "hardware" is well named!

This is a major step in the right direction. Now if Thailand's finest would turn their attention to the open-sandal problem, the country would be well on the road to a thorough reversion to Buddhist standards.

In short, there are too many middle-aged farangs wandering around the provinces in open-toed sandals - with many of them displaying naked big toes for all to see!

The correct attire, as every sartorially-educated foreigner knows full well, is a pair of business socks - black or dark grey, it matters not - worn between the foot and the footwear, to cover the offending protuberances.

A modest fine of, say, 25,000 Baht in the first instance would soon stamp out this gross offence to Thai sensibilities.

Hear, hear! And what about the sleeveless vest with the large protuberances at the front? I feel that these items of attire should only be allowed to be worn by pregnant females, and any male found wearing one in public (especially during the day when there are numerous police available to monitor the situation) should be given an on the spot fine of 25,000 baht, or 3 months attitude adjustment training.

And next...........? Oh, yes shorts that are too long - health hazard? Too many pockets to hide illegal substances?

and if it where you what then ????? i doubt this was a squabble over damaged cars, seems cut and dried who was to blame with the accident, i suspect drugs in the murderer, you dont just pull a gun in a RTA

Savages with guns=death. Thankfully innocent bystanders were not killed during this squabble over damaged cars, pathetic.

"and if it where you what then ?????"

Huh?

Savages with guns=death. Thankfully innocent bystanders were not killed during this squabble over damaged cars, pathetic.

Reading the post properly "implies" that there was possibly more to it than just damaged cars! i.e.

"Harrison said the former defensive end had dined just hours before the Saturday night crash with a police officer who had once been sued by Hayes, whose father was shot and killed by police in 2005."

Curious to know who these Iran people are.

Influential people demand the attention of three police colonels and five police stations?

My thoughts entirely! When I first saw the headline I thought "Yawn - another day, another tourist robbed/beaten up/harassed " etc etc etc. After all, it's not exactly an out of the ordinary happening in Pattaya, is it? And most of the time it is not even reported as it's not considered newsworthy. But "three police colonels and five police stations?" Someone of some importance methinks!

"As the world’s business leader in quality food"

You what?

​McDonald's?

Quality food?

Don't think so.

Totally agree! They may be the world's leader in a particular type of food, (reconsituted c**p!), but QUALITY?

How are they allowed to get away with such outrageous statements, and blatant lies?

Ah, back to the pointing fingers again! Maybe because of an apparent lack of a sizable police presence - unless they're all behind the camera, of course, which would also be a surprise in itself!

The only people that legal action should be taken against are the people responsible for the site security. A bunch of incompetents

So when somebody robs your house its your fault because your security was not good enough, including accidently leaving your front door unlocked. And the cops should arrest you.

TH

Surely if you accidently (accidentally?) left your front door open and somebody robbed your house, it WOULD be your fault, and I am sure that the Insurance Company would also see it that way!

RIP.

He looks like a nice person in his photo. I was hoping he was going to be OK.

So if he didn't look like a nice person ...........?

To be fair, there is a genuine issue of drivers sending the cars back to a garage at the end of their rental period (usually 12 or 24 hours). If it is close to that time, they don't want to be too far away as they get fined for returning the vehicle late.

Also there is the issue of not understanding tourists. I saw one tourist yelling 'regent hotel' at a driver who was refusing them. When I got the address of the hotel and told the driver, he was willing to take them.

Taxis are pretty good here on the whole. They don't make much money. They're cheaper than Tuk Tuks!

Albeit sometimes I ask 10+ cabs to take me to Thonburi, before one will accept the fare.

I do agree, most poeple don't know that many drivers rent their Taxi, if they return it late they will be fined. Not only that, they need to fill their car up before returning. During changing shift times, gas stations are normally packed with taxis filling their car up to return the car to the owners. Sometimes waiting at gas stations can take as long as 30-40min for some areas of the city.

Perhaps taxis should have a better system, a display board on the top saying the routes they are servicing during their shift ending time. I think fares should be more expensive during rush hour time too, so people will be encourage to use public transport to get to non-traffic areas. Its also fair for taxis since they are stuck on the road. Kind of a win win for both.

Most taxi drivers are decent, its the 1 out of 5 that spoils the whole experience.

Its not an issue at all. Turn off the meter and no one will try to hail your taxi. If you are on the way back to the other side of town to return the taxi and see someone looking forba taxi, you are still free to pull over and say I am going towards xyz, are you going the same way?

Its not rocket science. There are other things to do, people just need to engage their brains a little and have a bit of intergrity.

Besides, this is the reason for denial in only very few cases. By far most are bc the drivers don't like the route or don't want to look for fares at the destination.

turning off your light then pulling over to ask if a passenger is going xyz direction is really not that much better as the taxi driver is still doing the choosing instead of the passenger.

I think the reason for denial 2-3 hours approaching to their shift times is always linked to them being able to return it on time.

As for other hours, it always has to do with traffic, like you say it can be for reasons due to the route or hard to find passengers in other destinations.

I live outside of Bangkok and my family takes the taxi on average 2-3 times per week, most taxis do prefer to go to my house during rush hour traffic even though it takes 1.5 hours than being stuck in Bangkok, Taxi can make around 300-400 baht in 1.5 hour instead of being stuck in the middle of city even though my area is deserted.

But like you said, there are a lot of variations...my experience can be very different from other folks who live in other parts of the city.

The only thing that can solve the problem is law enforcement and heavy fines...

And also you would have to teach the Thai taxi drivers to speak the universal language of English ("say I am going towards xyz, are you going the same way?") in order to be understood. And to be honest, half the time the tourist type passenger will not have a clue about how to get to his destination anyway!

For those who have not been here so long, some background. Originally every taxi negotiated the fare, then the authorities decided that traffic congestion would be reduced if meters were introduced thus alleviating the time spent negotiating the fare. This led to taxis displaying "taxi meter" to differentiate from those that did not get have a meter. Of course this being Thailand greed surfaced again and that is where we are now.

So if a taxi has a "Taxi Meter" sign on the top, and an illuminated sign in the window, is it not a condition of their licence that they should actually USE the meter?

We used to have phone books with all that information in it.....

Can't remember seeing a phone book with a Passport Number, Nationality or Work Details in it!

Very confusing headline, but I suppose it did the trick as I had to check it out!

Hope they catch the perp, and all others who use endangered species, or wild animals as an illegal way of making a living.

A few weeks ago, a woman (Chinese tourist, I think) got bitten by a boa constrictor while she was attempting to kiss it. First impressions "Som num na" (?), secondly, what happened to the "owner" of the snake?

Didn't that place get shut down?

Hopefully!

Very confusing headline, but I suppose it did the trick as I had to check it out!

Hope they catch the perp, and all others who use endangered species, or wild animals as an illegal way of making a living.

A few weeks ago, a woman (Chinese tourist, I think) got bitten by a boa constrictor while she was attempting to kiss it. First impressions "Som num na" (?), secondly, what happened to the "owner" of the snake?

Here's an idea.....why don't we all take a picture posing with the body. That should assist in the investigation.

Disgusting morons.

The Thais aren't offended by it, dead bodies are all part of life and death; it's quite common for families to have pics of a dead relative lying in a coffin before cremation. I think your rude comment about the rescue workers is a sign of someone not being able to assimilate into the culture; enjoy your holiday, hope you're happier with your next destination.

Regards, LJ.

No need for "rescue" workers - more like "salvage" workers as the bodies had been dead for 5 days. (And that is not meant to be an insult to anyone!) I think that the obsession is with Thai officials taking advantage of every opportunity to have their picture taken, and I agree with the poster.

Every arrest, for whatever crime, seems to be accompanied by a multitude of RTP standing behind the culprit, but recently there seems to be less "finger pointing". Maybe someone has realised how ridiculous it looks!

And when you done with Bkk, go and do Pattaya, whereby drivers are known to be ultra fare gougers

demanding outrageous fare for short trips, and are quite happy to stand there for hours waiting for

" the right fare " to come along....

And "do" Samui at the same time!

Yes but I'm sure Elephants kill people in the US and UK too.

Possibly, but I must admit I've never heard of it in the UK!

Love all these Elephant experts trying to explain what happened... Why not just chalk it up to "Sheet Happens". Maybe the elephant was just having a bad day or maybe someone had just tossed him a banana with a hot pepper stuffed inside. An infinite number of unknown reasons could have set it off.

I'm trying my hardest to understand what an elephant has got to do with armed police and passports!

Compound bows are banned from competitions. They're used for hunting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archery

WRONG! If you are going to solely rely on Wikipedia you would be wrong. Not being an archer or bow hunting enthusiast or an expert on competition rules I do know that compound bows at this time are not allowed in Olympic events. But, there are other archery competitions in the USA, Europe and other countries that do allow compound bows to be used. Now if you had Googled "compound bows in competition" instead of Wikipedia "archery" you would have known the real facts.

"WRONG!", "could be wrong" "Not being an expert on competition rules" you then tell us where compound bows are NOT allowed to be used, then where they ARE allowed to be used, and your final sentence just comes across as downright smug.

"Robbing Hoods"? Nice play on words, but as for the rest of the headline, I thought another Mediaeval war had started! Also nice photo op for the BIB to show off what a wonderful selection of attire we have for this season! Oh, and the absence of the pointing finger is to be applauded - we can assume that the guilty ones and the booty are all directly behind/on the desk.

You can never get a taxi in Sukhmvit easily. You need to try several before the driver condescends to take you. I usually if I am going out of the city get the BTS as far as possible then get a taxi. Never have any problem then. Taxi's down Sukhumvit obviously get too much money if they can say no to a fare

Same as I personally experienced numerous times since late '90's.

Can be many valid reasons for refusing a fare. Shift change is a big one. Getting stuck in hours of traffic for a Bt xx fare.

And, very honestly, why shouldn't a person be free to decide when, where and how they work?

In answer to your question, wouldn't it be nice to tell your boss that you weren't going to work the hours that you were employed to do in the first place, that you weren't going to work in the place that you were employed to work in, and you were going to work the way you wanted to?

Don't forget your coat on the way out!

That's a pretty convenient spin on what I wrote. Do you not understand the concept of a 2 shift or 3 shift taxi operation?

re. " .. the hours that you were employed to do.."

In many cases the drivers are employed to work a shift. If the work significantly longer than their shift, they actually take compensation away from the next driver.

re. ".. you were going to work the way you wanted to .."

In some case the driver is a sole owner/operator .. i.e. own boss.

re: ".. In answer to your question .. " "Don't forget your coat on the way out!"

Since you made this personal .. I tried to find a coat but all mine have been lost, misplaced or tossed out after almost 20 years here, so despite your rude "invitation", I think I'll stay a bit longer.

"Don't forget your coat on the way out!" was a statement - not a question, and certainly not a "rude invitation"!

A statement that certainly would be made not just to you (so I wasn't being personal), but to anyone who treated their employer with the contempt that you are describing i.e. "why shouldn't a person be free to decide when, where and how they work?" If they are indeed self employed, I agree to a certain extent but when you say "a person" I presume you mean "anybody" and that includes employers and employees as well.

I do not know too much about the concept of 2 shift or 3 shift taxi working, but I do have some experience of shift working, and if I had tried to "cherry pick" which shifts I was going to work, I know what my boss's reaction would have been - hence the reference to the coat! And aren't all "Meter Taxis" equipped with an illuminated sign in the windscreen which tells you that they are available? End of shift - knock it off - simples!

However, self employed or not, aren't all taxi drivers supposed to have a licence, and is one of the conditions of that licence that they are not to refuse passengers unless they have a valid reason for doing so?

I can understand why Keith Richards got a bit upset a few years back when the group was introduced as "Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones" and this headline shows why - it is belittling the other members of the group.

It is like saying "Paul McCartney and The Beatles", or "Roger Daltrey and The Who".

Donald Trump and the Fascist Five doing the monster mash. It wuz a political graveyard smash.

November 8th 2016.

USA and now finally at last Cuba -- two countries with their best years ahead of 'em. Mic and the Stones sort of highlight the bright package.

Now we know the Who of it.

Sorry but I have no idea what you are talking about! - it's a bit like a Bing translation! Total nonsense!