sambum

"Swiftly, authorities administered prompt medical care and swiftly relocated him to a nearby medical facility." Really quickly then?

Hit the nail on the head! No further comment necessary!

"Up to 30 million visitors expected this year: TAT" What a surprise!!!

Like "Even more amazing Thailand"? Or "Amazing New Chapters"? What about "Amazing New Driving Test"? Or "Amazing New Hassle Free Visas"? Or "Amazing New Corruption Free *****//==?

Just lurve the way these headline posts are running side by side! "Pattaya allocates 1.9B Baht budget to Revitalise Tourism Emphasising tourism and local economy stimulation, the city of Pattaya has delineated its budget allocation for the upcoming fiscal year." "The travel industry is bracing itself for an exceptionally weak low season, with predictions of stagnant demand, escalating operational costs."

In general:- Russians are rude, ungrateful, and arrogant, and think they deserve better treatment than anyone else. Chinese never seem to be in groups of less than half a dozen, and spend nothing, cause pandemonium at help yourself buffets, leave toilets in a disgusting state and do not seem to understand the concept of queuing. Indians seem to expect "2 for the price of 1"deals on everything, and wear lots of gold in public. Africans are scammers, con artists, drug dealers, and pimps. You see, I believe all the negative posts I read on AseaNow, and also every statistic that TAT comes up with - oh and everything that Mr Prayut and Mr Anutin say! Can I go back to my cell now, please?

Yes, I note that that article is from way back in July - an awful long time in politics! A lot of information about why he was suspended, and what he was allowed to do and not do, all of which now seems "old news". I wonder why we are not being allowed to see the same level of information regarding the findings on the investigation into Prawit's "misdemeanours"?

Yes, I do wish that people were "educated" as to the different effects of marijuana and alcohol! He may however have been on "yaba" which can cause such erratic behaviour. Anyway,"Chonburi — An Australian tourist, reported by some Thai media to allegedly be under the influence of cannabis,......" You would think that "some Thai media" would know the difference, and to report it as such, they must surely have some kind of evidence to justify their claims? Or maybe one of the locals/monks said "I think he was under the influence of cannabis"?

Did he declare the shares? I was under the impression that he didn't - was that not the reason for him being barred from being an MP? But I did hear that he signed them over to his father, so didn't feel the need to declare them. All a bit academic really - the point I was making was that one politician had undeclared assets of millions of baht, which were not declared (belonging to a friend) and the other had virtually worthless shares (which apparently belonged to/were transferred to his father.) Not too different - except the value of course?

Splitting hairs a bit? Not declaring worthless shares then?

The Council on Samui removed the rubbish bins because people/business owners weren't paying a very small fee to have them collected and emptied, hence hundreds of black rubbish bags in piles around the island, which are subject to "investigation" by soi dogs and rats alike!

Basically, it sounds like they want it swept under the carpet. Of all the cases of politicians (supposedly) breaking the law by not declaring their assets, there are 2 that immediately spring to mind. One, where a politician does not declare a number of very expensive watches, claiming first of all that they are not his, merely "borrowed" from a friend (bow lox!), and secondly he can not return them to the friend as he is now dead (more bowlox) and thirdly, he had forgotten about them anyway (yet more bow lox!) Result - no action taken, and the findings and facts of the investigation kept under wraps. Two, where a politician does not declare his shares in a now virtually defunct media company therefore no financial gain. Result - barred from being able to stand as a Member of Parliament with the result and facts of the investigation made common knowledge. No prizes for guessing which 2 parties these 2 politicians represent!

"No Assassination Moves detected" "It's quite safe to come back and be arrested and fired into jail Mr T - we haven't found any plots to kill you yet - honestly!"

There are surely much more worthy projects to spend money on than "space" projects and Chinese submarines!

The main concern by onlookers/staff seems to be for the stool which is moved by one of the "hostesses" to a safe place!

"Wissanu asks Thaksin not to return on weekends or public holidays During those days, the courts, which would assign a jail for Thaksin’s detention, would not be working, which would make things difficult as we would have to find detention venue for Thaksin instead,” he said. Unbelievable! A high profile "criminal" wants to hand himself in to the authorities, but he is asked to not do it on weekends or public holidays!!! Maybe because it might increase the number of his supporters in the Big City there to give him a "hero's return welcome" which might lead to a conflict with the authorities?

"................no such monks were found, and the nearby temple school had no knowledge of the individuals or the alleged actions, as confirmed by local residents." Plenty of notice given - no doubt now moved on to "inactive posts"?

"Anutin can be PM as he has 250 senators to support him....." Absolutely disgusting that such a situation should be there in the first place - regardless of who is in power. That would be bad news for expats as Anutin has already made his feelings clear about farangs in general. How he can work with TAT who want to see as many tourists here as possible is unclear - unless they would rather have the convoys of Chinese tour buses again, which is a possibility as TAT are obsessed with numbers - it doesn't seem to matter to them how much money they spend. Surely an expat who lives here all year round and puts app 500k per annum into the economy, puts more into the system than a bus load of penny pinching "vultures" frequenting all you can eat buffets that are included in the tour price? This "news" about Anutin coupled with the recent comments made by "Big Joke" implying that the amount of money to be deposited in a Thai bank by retirees may be increased in order to deter criminals is a big joke in itself, and comments by other officials saying they want to make Thailand an attractive and safe place for people to retire to flies in the face of what Anutin and BIg Joke seem to be advocating! Yes, folks, welcome to "even more amazing" Thailand where almost 3 months after an Election, they still haven't been able to form a Government! (a·maz·ing -adjective - causing great surprise or wonder; astonishing.)

So, the answer is to be pro active! Fine any hooker that is found in the company of any Middle Eastern "gentleman", and the market forces will soon illustrate to these "gentlemen" (OK - "Arabs") that there will be no honey for them here!

Ah well - change of flight destination - another reason for delay!

I was being sarcastic! If there is the slightest chance that he will be serving 10 years in a jail cell - he won't be coming, he'll just trot out another excuse for the "delay"!

"Believe It Or Not, Thaksin Will Return In No More Than Couple Of Weeks" Believe it or not - what a very suitable turn of phrase! Samuel Beckett would be proud of that one!

Not being pedantic thought he was supposed to be landing at Don Mueang Airport - I wouldn't want the arresting party to be waiting at the wrong airport for him!

I see what you mean, and "a required document" that appears on the requirements of the Police Order 654/2564 is probably essential, but you also have regional variations on "required documents" as you probably know - that is one of the main problems, and you often wonder why it is a requirement at all - what purpose does it serve?

I agree with Imm being very pedantic, but if it is physically impossible to get the info they require, then I have found that if you explain WHY that info is unavailable (as in previous employer closed down) then they would accept the details as shown on the document from the Government/Inland Revenue/IRS. I had a situation where the IO wanted "family photographs" and although not an official requirement, she asked for a photo of the roof of the house.(!) My Thai wife explained that we couldn't get a photo of the roof of the house because there was a big tree in the way, so she accepted that and moved on to the next item. I think that for a "Marriage Visa" they can be a bit more pedantic than a "Retirement Visa", but in both cases if you have a logical explanation or suggestion to rectify the situation, then most times it will be acceptable.