marsstar14

"Officials from the department would be monitoring food stalls throughout Bangkok and its suburbs everyday"

What has this anything to do with the department of INTERNATIONAL TRADE??

You need a visit to the opticians.

It says Department of Internal Trade which means "In Country".

Exactly. Some people just cannot seem to read properly.

Why do they not say Chinese and Taiwanese busted instead of leaving most of us to think it was a whitee busted

What part of: " Chinese ‘call center’ gang"

and "Police have arrested a gang of 49 Chinese and Taiwanese nationals"

and ... "Among the arrested, 15 were Chinese and 34 were Taiwanese."

do you not understand?

Time to sharpen up your reading skills.

Read the reply directly after your so called costic remark and see you were wrong for the heading I replied too was not saying Chinese call center at the time got it or do you need to sharpen your eye sight

Then you should have wrote: "Why did the Thai Visa newsletter not say it was a Chinese gang that got busted." Also, the correct spelling is 'caustic' and not costic. Sigh.

Yes, they should have a major crackdown on these law-breaking motorcycle taxis as well as other motorbike drivers who ride on pavement areas. Footpaths are meant for pedestrians to walk only, not vehicles! Tough luck if there is too much traffic on the road. Learn to abide by the law instead of causing trouble to others just for your own convenience to get from point A to point B quickly.

What a load of nonsense.

Get the petrol retailers to start cutting prices and maybe some real changes can happen. Crude prices are down a lot recently but the pumps not

True, but would the vendors agree to lower their food prices if the fuel pump prices are reduced?

Apart from that, the park is also teeming with wild creatures such as elephants, gaurs, red bulls, carabao daeng and tigers.

TEEM :be full of or swarming with."every garden is teeming with wildlife"

synonyms: be full of, be filled with, be alive with, be brimming with, abound in, be swarming with, be aswarm with;

Perhaps a slight exaggeration.One might say the Serengeti is teeming with wildebeest and zebra at certain times of the year.

The only things in Thailand that teem are the occasional rainstorm and Bangkok's notorious traffic.

I fear much of the wildlife has been poached, stolen or is in deep hiding well away from humans.

Go back and read post #9 that you made on this forum topic: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/753257-met-dept-forecasts-heavy-rains-in-thailands-north-and-isaan/

Weren't you the one who told other members here to not find fault on news articles? Yet you're doing it yourself directly on this thread. You're such a hypocrite.

Note to confused persons - rare coins have a perceived value much higher than the face value to coin collectors (as prominently mentioned in the OP). How they know that 2016 coins will be rare is beyond me.

BTW do Thai coins use the western calender date? Sorry, back in fiscal servitude, with no Thai coins to examine.

Thai coins actually use a Buddhist calendar date, which is 543 years ahead of the Western calendar date. So year 2016 is actually year 2559 in the Buddhist Era.

Regarding your comment on how they know the coins in 2016 will be rare, I think you might have been confused as I am in how the article was worded. Personally, I don't think the OP meant to say that there will be counterfeit 2 baht coins in two years ahead but they are actually saying that there are certain 2 baht coins in 2014 that are actually dated in 2016.

Have a look at the actual Thai coins here though. The one on the left is a silver-colored 2 baht coin produced in BE 2549 (year 2006) and the one on the right is a gold-colored one produced in BE 2551 (year 2008). The counterfeit coin the OP is describing would be similar to the one on the left with it's year changed to BE 2559 (year 2016).

Obviously passenger safety is a high priority but this announcement only serves to create dis-information and the frankly stupid notion that a paper lantern which ways a few hundred grams could bring down a passenger airliner weighing several hundred tons.

Just remember that passenger engines are tested in the following ways before being certified safe for use;

1) have over 4.5 tons of water are sprayed into the engine in 1 minute

2) 3/4 of a ton a hail is sprayed into an engine in 1 minute

3) the infamous frozen chicken gun - A frozen chicken is fired into a engine

4) designed to withstand the worst of a lightening strike (if that is at all possible)

All these test need to be passed repeatedly over a test period which averages at least 2 years (probably more) before the engines are used.

As a previous poster mentioned birds are more dangerous than paper lanterns to aircraft.

Except that these "paper" floating lanterns are lit with candles, which makes them highly flammable objects to airplanes. Also, we're not talking about a single paper lantern here because hundreds of them are released into the sky as part of the Loy Krathong festival celebrations.

In this case I'd have said a picture could have painted a 1000 words or maybe 2000

How about this? This was the actual crab that was found by the local guy Kasit (the one on the left) in Phuket.

Not the correct picture. The Gazette rant he story two weeks ago with photo, but for some strange reason TV has decided not to run PG stories anymore. A huge mistake imo.

http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Giant-crab-nips-Krabi-villagers-emotions/36037#ad-image-0

Nomad Joe, the picture that you have is actually pulled from another similar story to the one in the OP except that the crab was found in Krabi province and not Phuket. Please note that the date of the Phuket Gazette article is September 29, 2014 and the weight of the crab is listed as 2.3 kg, not 2.8 kg like the OP. Therefore, my picture is actually correct.

Will these idiot reporters ever stop making headlines that beg for pictures and then not have a picture.

Easy enough to find on the internet, but come on guys...wise up.

Can't help but laugh when I see comments from idiots like yourself. Obviously, you've never worked in an actual news company before, have you? These articles are actually translated by somebody from Thai to English and it gets edited by someone else before it gets posted online. The translator is not responsible for finding the pictures. He/she does not have the time to do so when there are four or five articles to write in a couple of hours.

The whole fare charging system is at fault on this one, and has been for decades. You get on a song taew, or a normal bus, and it doesn't matter if you travel 1km or 5 km, the fare is the same (normally between 10 or 15 baht). If that was fixed, inline with taxi fares at a relative rate, these guys would have no complaints. (The same applies to vans too!) You can travel 20km in a van for 100B, or 120km also for 100B......... It makes no sense whatsoever.

The whole charge system needs revamping, to reflect exactly how far you are travelling - it ain't rocket science.

Actually the orange-colored air-conditioned buses charge the fares according to the distance ranging from 11-23 baht, whereas the new yellow-colored buses usually have a flat fare of around 10-12 baht.

Regarding your proposal to raise the baht bus fare and other transportation vehicles per distance traveled, I don't think it would be a good idea. Public transportation vehicles are supposed to be affordable to people at all income levels, including the blue-collar workers and the poor as well. Mind you, the average Thai doesn't make that much money compared to a Westerner... Once you raise the fare, the number of commuters traveling on these vehicles will reduce and cause the bus operators to lose even more revenue.

In the article, it also doesn't state that the baht buses were losing money because the fares were too cheap but it was that there were an excess number of motorcycle taxis being released into the street, drawing away their customers.

Translucent clear jellyfish usually means no sting

Colour usually means pain. And I reckon the more colour the more pain. Have vinegar or another alkaline or better substance ready if you are touched by the tentacles.

We used to get clear and colourful one back home on the East Coast of Oz. I was stung numerous times as a kid and teenager and the stings including those from the "sailing" bluebottles are painful and can produce nasty welts but unless you are allergic to them I think the Box jellyfish is the only seriously dangerous one.

Below is a newslink on information on jellyfish found around Phuket

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NgRBd_p0Ec

Well, there's a saying that beauty can be a bane. Colorful animals of any kind are often attractive in the eyes of many predators and as a result, they need to develop some form of defense mechanism.

Box jellyfish have actually been called the world's most venomous creature. No wonder why several people die each year from their stings. Thanks for the video link btw. Lots of useful information on how to treat jellyfish stings.

Pictures from the scene:

or just escaped from someone's (il)legal crocodile farm ?

aren't all crocodiles born in thailand siamese

do they get nationality, loooooooooooooool

Frankly, I appreciate your humor but I would suggest you to do some reading on about these Siamese crocs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_crocodile

Contrary to your belief, the farm-raised crocodiles that you see in tourist attractions across Thailand are actually of a different breed. The ones in the Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm can reach up to 6 meters. Siamese crocs are actually rather small, only up to 2 meters in length on average.

On a side note, these are the actual crocs that were discovered. Pictures are taken from the Post Today website.

what is hazing?

Hazing is a form of abuse commonly found in universities where senior students force their freshmen colleagues to perform humiliating or dangerous tasks in order to "welcome" them into the university. It is done so that the new students (freshmen) can earn their place to be accepted among the crowd and to make them "know where they stand" in the social ladder. The Thais call this sort of practice Rub Nong Mai.

Personally, I don't condone any kind of practices like this. It should be banned throughout all schools and the ones who are responsible for the hazing should be punished by law.

FYI, this is how bad it looks.

Spot on comment!!

Channel 3 I deleted (in all my TVs) from the list of channels. I did so after I viewed a couple of times the dismal level of its programming.

I was informed years ago that the channel is run and owned by Army.

I'm afraid you're truly mistaken. Channel 3 is owned by BEC-Tero Public Entertainment Co. Ltd, which is an entertainment conglomerate formed in 1995 by the Maleenont Family. Channel 5 is actually the TV station that is owned by the Royal Thai Army.

Yes, some, but not all, companies I have worked for provided a canteen where the food was sold to employees at cost price, and very good it was too. At college the food was also sold at cost price. In both instances, the catering was in house. Unless I have read the OP incorrectly, the catering at this university is contracted out to a for profit company. Sorry students, you are not going to get food at cost price in such a scenario. The caterer has to make a profit. If you do not like that, lobby the university to provide in house catering or go and eat on the street where the vendors are struggling to cover costs at 30 or even 35 Baht for a bowl of noodle soup with all the foliage, sprouting beans, chillie, paste and drinking water Thais like to expect with it and take but do not always consume.

Well done! You have read the OP correctly.

12%??????

What the hell kind of a social loan is that? Soft loan? That's like a sledgehammer.

Really?! A secured loan from a bank with an annual interest rate of 12 percent carries only a monthly interest rate of 1 percent. For a 100,000 baht loan, that's only 1,000 baht per month, which is nothing compared to what the loan sharks would be charging these poor farmers.

Near Phom Pong BTS please, unpassable at times because of the food hunters stopping in the only half meter wide path between vendors on either side.

Read somewhere that under this new law, the vendors are allowed to occupy only side of the footpath instead of blocking both sides. That's a good move I guess since it would allow pedestrians to walk much easier.

What never-never land does the author of this story live in when he writes: "They were also assisted by soldiers who helped pack up their belongings in order to relocate their shops and stalls elsewhere." Does he actually think the vendors have such places to move to, and will then continue with life the way it was before? Or does he just not think?

Rhetorical question. No answer needed.

Of course, the usual trolls infesting the TVF that have nothing to do but nitpick on the news source. Obviously, you're the type of guy who feels good finding faults in others without looking at your own imperfections.

Personally, I don't see anything wrong with the sentence. It seems like a direct translation from another Thai news article that is simply informing that the soldiers are helping the vendors move their belongings such as tents and chairs, so that they can set up their stands elsewhere other than the beach area.

Maybe you're the one not thinking, Herbal Ed. The vendors aren't allowed to occupy the beach areas any longer but it doesn't mean the Army has prohibited them from selling their products at a different location. Get a life.

Price for a "som tam" is between 30 and 50 Baht for food stalls anywhere around Pattaya and somwhere in the vicinitiy. If you go anywhere close to a restaurant n those regions it is very much more. But how complicated can it be? Get mortar, a boink boink vessel and start bock bock away, talk about primitive coocking lol any idiot can mortar away a spicy salad. let us start talking about the cuisine of southern France for example, are there any "bock bock" and spicy salad there?

 

LOL. Your comments made me laugh hard! Good one. Preparing Som Tam isn't much of a complicated process but it can still be tricky in getting the right kind of flavor...  Nonetheless, I agree that it should not be priced too expensively like the beach restaurant that is stated in the OP.

The article is not clear. Do they mean that the police are going after restaurants that simply list prices that the police are deeming to be too high, which seems pretty non-sensical, or are they talking about going after restaurants that demand customers pay sudden temporary increases in the prices of listed menu items that occur between the time items are ordered and the creation of a bill, which would be what the police should do?

 

I've gotten this one a few times in the last decade: "Sorry, sir, menu not updated yet, wine is 650 baht for glass not 300. Menu don't say the price today." Another classic ast seafood restaurants is: "No, sir, menu price is for food only. There is a cooking charge also. It is on the sign in front of restaurant about charge for pay to the cook and for gas for cooking."

IMO, they're going after the restaurants that don't charge their customers according to the prices listed on their menu items, which you correctly described in your example.

My second guess is that there are also several restaurants in Thailand that don't list the prices of their menu items at all. In this case, it would give the chance for the restaurant to charge whatever prices they please and take advantage of the unknowing customer.

Of course, it would be wise for the customer to ask for the food prices before ordering them. However, in Thai society it's all about saving face. Asking for food prices in front of your friends would seem awkward because the Thais would think you're unwillingly to pay.