plachon

Bit of nut-case. I read somewhere upon arrival, at HKG-airport, she was arrested and freed on bail, for littering!

Terrible crime, littering eh? Danger to the public this one with such a long history of criminal activity behind her.

Let's just hope she wasn't a victim of circumstance here. Don't forget Axel, the doctor who examined her reversed his testimony half way through the investigation and there were a load of other question marks hanging over it. If that ain't more fishy than a jar of pla rah, then I'm a Dutchman.

Sorry Colmx, but what does a BF owning land have to do with visa rights? Sure somebody's not stringing you along on this? Talking of which, how long is a piece of string? Does that answer your question re. land prices? Not really, cos land could be worth anything from a few thouand baht /rai to millions.

As for solicitors - shouldn't be necessary - so long as the land docs are in order. Just go down to the land dept. and pay the appropriate fees (often above and below the table) and it can be his.

I'm happy for you, dear. But no need to shout. And I could as well start a thread saying "Hip Hip Hurrah, the Darling is getting back in three weeks. And I'll shag him like there's no tomorrow!". But.. erm.. don't think so. Kind of too private.

Oh <deleted>.. there I said it! Bugger..

With good solid, down-to-earth advice like this, who needs to go to Claire Rayner?

LC, darling, sweetie, you get my vote for Thaivisa agony aunt supreme any and every day. Ever thought of making a career of it?

Remember reading a book by an old Thai hand - Harold Stephens - on making a similar long distance journey across Europe and Asia. Can't remember it's name now, but do remember that he said that it's an irony that it was easier when he did it (early 70s) than it is nowadays. places like Afghanistan and Iraq were a breeze in those days, if you could pull yourself away from the peace pipes/hookahs.

It's a (butt) cracker Axel.

my girlfriend has bought land in Udon Thani and wants to build and open a

supermarket !

Can somebody give us some advice !

Fast worker this lass..............You say you only met her last week, and now you're considering building a supermarket for her.

Of course, she loves you Ugo Loss and it's a great idea to build a Big C on her land. It's the real thing......................lurve at first slight.

Gotta hand it to 'em........ (trolls included)

The best bit about this brainstormer is........

"In the short term drivers are to be encouraged not to drive over 90 kms/hr and perform frequent engine check ups"

Hopefully not at the same time.....but not 3 days ago I saw in Matichon that Thaksin had just taken delivery of a new BMW, worth 12 M baht (birthday present from Khun Wifey), and took it out for a little spin. He left his house and drove out of town to Pinehust golf course for a spot of business and was clocked driving at 170 km/hr. When he got there he was grinning like a Cheshire cat, and kept asking the journos: "raeow mai?". Speed limits aside, nothing like leading by example, eh?

Some minister must've got caught in a traffic jam on the way back from the massage parlour and got an earful from the missus, so just came up with this bright solution. should be a big vote winner, axing the national pastime.

That's all well and good, but you are forgetting one more potential option for Thais who read the site i.e. contribute to it and rebutt the things they find inaccurate or downright offensive. That's what I would do, if I was in the situation you mention of lurking on a board that was continually denigrating my nation. What's so difficult about it? If you can read and understand what is being said, then surely you can add your two baht's worth as well?

Perhaps you're Thai haha? Then rather than encourage the board to quit any form of criticism at all (which would kill the board stone dead, I'd posit), why don't you encourage your friends to contribute and offer some Thai viewpoints. There are already quite a few regular Thai contributors on the board (who don't get their knickers in a twist, every time a poster has a moan), and it's a richer place for their input. Not being a native speaker is not an excuse either, as half the non-native speakers are at least as coherent and literate in English (often considerably more so), than the native English speakers. And you say that they 'want to practice/learn English". Does that not include writing as well?

Finally, it's a pity you characterise the people who post on this board as "enemies" of Thailand. Yes there are a load of idiots (as on any board) and I know you were lifting a saying, but it says a lot more about you and the way you think, than it does about the board members here who come from all walks of life, all nationalities and all colours of the rainbow (especially, political!!!!). So rather than stifle diversity by saying "shut up or get out", instead open up your mind and celebrate it!

Thanks all but the point of the story was

some people are so blinkered that that is all they see when they see a falang/thai couple.

Thats the bit I thought was on topic, I just took a long time getting to it!!

Having blinkers and myopia is a farang trait, every much as it is any other nationality we could mention Random. By the way, I think you did the right thing and I would've probably done the same in that situation, though might've worried about the poor dog sleeping under the balcony being flattened.

too rarely see farangs there..but (if im not mistaken) there's new Makro there now still no Mcdonalds 

Absoluty a disaster. I mean only fcking Makro no McDonald's?

Try for a Kentucky fukcs chicken...

Don't let anyone persuade you different that any city in Isaan without a McD's and Kacky Flied Chickthing is anything but a hardship posting of the first order. Pray for the poor deprived deinzens of Isaan, Axel, who know not what they're missing. however, the multi- corps are rapidly coming to their rescue, so they'll look down and despise their own home-grown gai yang and somtam from the push-cart soon enough.

Nice one mate. Looked at the second of the two links and it both confirmed my fears about the trade (including the bit about the use of dog skin for golf gloves) and grossed me out with some of the photos. the one of the St Bernards turned inside out was particularly sick. Just like other livestock, it's all about FCR's now in China, which is bad news for cuddly Beethoven's! Wonder if the wondrous CP group have broken into the dog farming market yet - they've cornered just about everything else.

QUOTE

Haven't tried Lab laab yet, but can vouch for neua maa det deiow being quite tasty

Is that sun dried dog or horse, can never tell when they are writen in english

I'll give you two clues what it was - "woof! woof!"

Horse, I've yet to try anywhere, though it's a standing joke amongst the French that the Brits eat horse meat without realising it, while they are more open about their tastes and have licensed horse butchers.

As for the legality in Thailand, I would hazard a guess that it's one of those big grey areas where there is no relevant law and so it just goes on apace. I did hear that during the APEC meeting last Oct., the number of dog trucks going to Vietnam doubled, so BKK would be kept mutt free for the duration.

Ah a relief milker on one's own farm - you've got it sorted!

to plachon:

..all I know is that from what I've heard, you can't do back to back tourist visa for more than 6 months now. once 6 months are up, you need to leave for 6 months before getting another back to back tourist visa.

my take on this is that somebody in thailand doesn't really want foreigners here anymore.

and I think it has to do in part because of all these websites where foreigners voice their opinions (most negative) about thailand.

otherwise, what could be the reason for many thais not being as friendly to foreigners as they used to be?

you're confusing several issues and coming to a pretty dodgy conclusion Haha.

If i've read your post correctly, you're saying that cos some foreigners have been abusing the original intent of a "tourist visa" and doing more than 6 back-to-back visa runs to stay in the Kingdom, and some others have been whinging and whining on Net boards like this one, then the powers-that-be have orchestrated not only a crack-down on foreigners living here, but have managed to turn the sentiment of ordinary Thai people to be less friendly to foreigners than before? Is that the gist of it? Interesting theory.................

Of course, you're assuming that the top dogs actually read the websites regularly and that they didn't previously know that farangs habitually whinge and whine as part of their genetic make-up. You're also assuming that ordinary Thais are being effectively told about these despicable border-hopping foreigners' deeds by the govt and have altered their collective attitude as a result to exclude them hencewith. Mind you for a govt. that can get such an overhwelming majority in parliament, such powers of suggestion are maybe not beyond the realms of possibility..................

Good to see yer back Random. Thought you'd got the hump over draconian banning of Bluecat and were boycotting, or sommat like that? But hols sounds much better, especially for a dairy farmer - who do you get to cover the milking while you're away? Go anywhere nice? Like the new avatar btw. Must look for a toothy plachon one of these days to paste on.

Yeah, I'd figured that rustling can't be too bad round you or it would've probably come up before. Do you brand your cows by the way, or just tag their ears? Supposing a few cows did go walkies one night, is there much of a local network of farmers who'd help look out for their neighbours' cattle, or would it be be looked on unsympathetically? Most theft, i'd imagine, would be conducted by locals and somebody would be bound to hear sooner or later who pinched them, so keeping good neighbours has got to be good long term policy. (am not sure about the wisdom of putting high walls and vicious dogs between you and your neighbours, like Pnu is suggesting)

Dog meat...................not sure on the Sakhon nakhon market price for pooch steak, but heard it fetches $2/kg in Vietnam, which explains the healthy trade in them between Thailand, thru' Laos to Vietnam. I'll try and post a picture of the transport method sometime. Gruesome sight and sound of howling fear.

Remember they're not fattening up pure breeds. The mangy mongrels, given some deworming tablets are pretty good converters of low quality protein to meat and so the economics I'd say are pretty good, if you can buy a dog of a villager for the price of a bucket. That's about 20 baht and let's say you fatten up the dog to 20 kgs from 15kgs on market waste (i.e. pig swill) and low quality rice. That's negligible costs and if the price is say, 40 Baht /kg (i.e half of Vietnam cos less demand) , you'll maybe get 5 - 8 kgs of good meat off the carcass. That's 200 - 320 baht, without considering a few baht to be made from the skin and bits. Not bad for an outlay of less than 100 baht tops, eh? Maybe you should be considering diversifying your farm!

Haven't tried Lab laab yet, but can vouch for neua maa det deiow being quite tasty.

am I only one that sees the racist content in most of these strings on this website?

what do I mean, you ask? well, I hear so many complaints or critical remarks from foreigners about things in thailand. jesus! don't these people who complain know that many local thais are reading the stuff on this website?

this "tit" thing may seem like a cool remark by many on this forum. but you know what? ..I bet a lot of thais are pissed off by the use of it. if I were thai, I would.

...no wonder the folks in this country are making it harder for the foreigners to stay in thailand.

we're all guests in this country. so, either accept the way it is here, or get out.

I'm sure the thai people know the problems that exist here and are trying their best to resolve them. and they don't need someone from another country telling them how to do it.

Although I am inclined to agree with you there is a lot of unneccesary anti-Thai sentiment on the board, which at times steps over the line of decency, I fail to see that in this particular thread (with the exception of Johnnie Walker's contribution AFTER yours).

I think you're over-reacting to claim that there is racist content in "most of the threads" in this website. That is patently not the case, and when true racism rears its ugly head it's usually knocked off pretty quickly.

Don't confuse criticism of some aspects of life here with racism; they are not the same thing. further it is designed to be farang (oooh, what a horrible racist term! ) website for use mainly, but not exclusively farangs. The board welcomes one and all, if they have something to worthwhile say, and sometimes utter tripe (so long, as it's humourous tripe).

Further, it is quite natural that foreigners will be critical and want to have a vent at times. I bet there is a similar website for Thais living in UK or USA and they have a good moan about the lousy food, weather, miserable locals, service in shops, etc, etc. Nobody's being forced to read it and if it really is objectionable, then the idea of a board is that alternate views can be debated.

As for TIT - This is Thailand - is that such a bad term to use? It pretty accurately sums up what you're saying too. i.e. some things are immutable and if you don't like 'em, lump 'em. It's a bit extreme to link this with the present apparent goal of sections of the present admin. to make "things harder" for foreigners living in LOS (you got a problem with this term too? ).

So, chill out dude, or focus your angst if you must on the real vitriolic, xenophobic posts when they appear, but don't jump to conclusions too fast.

Iraq also had elections when Sadam was in power. They were not free and fair and neither are elections in Zimbabwe. Mugabe ensures he gets voted in under conditions of widespread intimidation and election fraud.

You seem to assume that I read tabloid newspapers as my opinions differ from yours. I actually read the Times when I'm in England, but I don't see why that is important, I form my own opinions and do not allow my opinions to be dictated to me by Rupert Murdoch.

I could easily step down to your level and accuse you of being incapable of reading anything more complicated than the Mirror, but I will give you some credit and assume you read the Guardian. If I am correct then it would seem that you are only interested in articles that back up your views. Maybe you should take a look at the following link.

Guardian Zimbabwe elections article

Obviously the US government have tried their best to install an interim government which is as friendly as possible towards the coalition. It would be naive to think otherwise. The Iraqi people will have the opportunity to change this if they desire once elections are held.

I agree that the aftermath of the war in Iraq was handled badly and the current situation could have been largely avoided, but I am optomistic that the security situation will improve. I'm sure you will hope this to be the case too.

I did not realise I was making an argument to lose, simply stating my point of view. I respect that your views are different, but this basically comes down to individual morals and what one believes to be right or wrong. It is impossible to say that one point of view is more valid than the other.

Look, election fraud and intimidation occurs in at least half the world's nations, if they allow elections at all. It's not that unusual and fraud was a part of Bush's victory in Florida 4 years ago, if many pundits are to be believed. But that's not an excuse for other countries, often with no superior moral authority of their own to claim, to go around invading them because the leaders don't fit Western democratic ideals. The world would be at World War right now (and I don't mean a low level "War against Terrorism" excuse for military adventurism we see now from the US-Uk coalition), if we followed that path to self-destruction.

So as much as you and I find Mugabe and Saddam, etc. rather unpleasant pieces of work, they are/were not threatening world peace and stability (much to the embarassment of Bush and Blair in desperately trying to prove otherwise with their phantom WMDs). So what we've got left with is a war started under false presumptions and an illegal occupation by foreign troops of a sovereign nation. The Iraqi people, if left to have a truly free and fair national elections will vote to have the aggressors removed from their soil, but at the moment the mess that is Iraq is sliding towards anarchy and civil war, a DIRECT result of the mismanagment and inability of the AXIS of STUPIDITY, whom you seem to support and even desire go further in suggesting more invasions.

That you claim to read the Times does not surprise me, which editorially varies little from the Sun. Both right wing gung-ho rags, but yes, I accept that our views and newspaper tastes are diametrically opposed, and we our both entitled to have them. However, to suggest it is morally defendable to take the kind of wages bandied about on this thread from a country in Iraq's situation is to me a joke, and I would go further in suggesting that it is this myopic "To the victor the spoils" mentality that is in itself further fuelling the fires of resentment amongst the local populace in Iraq and thus prolonging the conflict that is growing daily.

Sorry, I couldn't go through the bother of reading much of that. I doubt that many others will either. What's the jist of it?

Just go and have a GMO somtam instead, mate, reading anything more than tabloid style journalism is clearly too much.

This is both old news and new news. Old news that GMO-crops are out there in Thai fields (maize, cotton and probably, rice as well) but new news that Greenpeace have upped the ante and are prepared to take direct action on this issue. Concerned consumers of real food beware, the genie is outta the bottle, and it looks like its got horns on it.

Strangely enough I thought hysterical reaction over GMOs were the preserve of the tabloids. I will continue to form my opinions on scientific issues from reading scientific journals such as New Scientist, although I'm sure Greenpeace would prefer I had my opinion formed for me by said tabloids

The New Scientist, last time I looked, was very sceptical about GMO crops veering towards anti.

But for someone who can't be bothered to read a post, and then has the gall to comment on it, then I don't suppose you get much past the glossy cover of NS. Try reading it, the whole thing, and you might just learn a thing or two about this important farming and food issue, which has relevance to all.

Yes, I would support western miltary intervention in Burma aswell as North Korea and Zimbabwe.

I'm not trying to suggest that I should be considered a hero for accepting $500K to work in Iraq, I was pointing out that as I supported the war then there is no moral reason for me not to.

I have seen no figures to back up your statement that the majority of Iraqis disagree with me. If you have a link, please post. If not then we will have to wait until Iraqi elections to see what the majority of Iraqis actually do think.

Well then Konangrit, you've lost the argument before you've started. In Zimbabwe, the leader believe it or not, is elected by the people, so in other words, what you're trying to say is you'd just like to go to war with any regime that doesn't quite fit in with the ideals of your own narrow world. Which of course, is full blooded colonialism, but what separates you from the likes of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld, is they have the sense (not a lot, granted), to at least only go around invading countries with a chance of payback through oil revenues. But even that they've failed at dismally, as the price of a barrel of oil creeps towards 50$/barrel.

Do you know what the US govt's biggest fear in Iraq now is? Probably not, as I see you're incapable of reading anything more complicated than The Sun. It is FREE and FAIR elections. That's why they're doing their utmost to delay/scupper/influence them by putting their own people in the interim govt., which most Iraqis reject. The intifada on the streets and armed upsrising occurring right now, which makes you only want to go there for 500 K + is overwhelming evidence of this. If you were a "liberator", you should be able to walk in there to work for your normal wage with minimal protection, but you know that is not the case as well as I do.

I was looking a Thai English Textbook the other day that had Leonardo diCaprio on the cover. I couldn't help but think that it was a shame that Thai teenagers were growing up knowing all about Leonardo diC but I doubt if one in five hundred could tell you who Leonardo DaVinci was!

And, in case you were wondering, at age 12 I DID know who Leonardo DaVinci was and what he did!

It's a pity they didn't decide to put a Thai movie star or democracy icon on the front, rather than some Hollywood star. By the same token, it's a pity Thai teenagers can reel off the entire Liverppol FC team verbatim, but couldn't do the same for their own national team.

Dagnabit pardner! Darn nearly broke my front teeth on that cowboy recipe. Tougher than a saddle. Gotta tenderise 'em real good first before tryin' this toothsome recipe.

And now to try the left forearm of a young woman......... Hmmmmm........ Boooootiful

I guess that depends on if you agree with your statement that it is an ilegal occupation. I believe that sovereignty has been handed back to the Iraqis and the coalition forces are there at the request of the interim Iraqi government.

The Iraqi people will have the final say over how long the coalition forces remain after they get the opportunity to vote in free and fair elections, an opportunity which was never afforded to them under the dictatorship of Sadam.

As someone who supported the overthrow of a dictator responsible for the torture and murder of thousands aswell as numerous other human rights abuses I would have no moral quandry in accepting money to help rebuild this nation.

I respect your right to oppose the war in Iraq, however I feel you have no right to impose your morality on others.

Ah, a human rights defender who would accept nothing less than 500 K (I assume dollars and not baht) per year to go and deliver freedom to the Iraqi people. My hero.

Pity the majority of the Iraqi people disagree with your heroism, or the need to to have an occupying foreign army on their soil.

Ever wonder how much the Iraqi kids on the streets are being paid to defend their oil and homeland?

I assume too you'd also support Western military intervention in Burma too then?

Sorry, I couldn't go through the bother of reading much of that. I doubt that many others will either. What's the jist of it?

Just go and have a GMO somtam instead, mate, reading anything more than tabloid style journalism is clearly too much.

This is both old news and new news. Old news that GMO-crops are out there in Thai fields (maize, cotton and probably, rice as well) but new news that Greenpeace have upped the ante and are prepared to take direct action on this issue. Concerned consumers of real food beware, the genie is outta the bottle, and it looks like its got horns on it.

The fact that it is an illegal occupation of a sovereign state and you'd be accepting blood money from the Bush/Blair coalition of the dumb seems to have passed everyone by apart from Possum and Marquess, but perhaps this bothers few when there's filthy lucre to be made. It's amazing how the justification for this war are now rarely questioned amongst many Westerners, which to me tends to suggest that the Iraqi people are going to win sooner rather than later (and a whole lot sooner than it took the Vietnamese to gain independence from the last colonial occupiers).

There is no emphasis on excellence in sport or government sponsorship of training and coaching.

There is no emphasis on excellence in anything I guess, I can't think of anything that the Thais aim to do better than the rest of the world. Or it should be maintaining corruption as an essential part of Thainess.

Now hold on just a minute................haven't you forgotten the Detroit of Asia, the World's Kitchen, No. 1 holiday destination this side of France.

Be fair, and admit that Thailand does excel at making mountains of pick-up trucks, concocting wicked tom yam goongs and giving the holiday punter what he/she wants (most of the time anyway). 12 million folk or so can't be wrong!

As for the sport, Mr Big was working on becoming the joint footie and gambling capital of Asia par excellence (with a state of the art training complex in the green hills of Chaing Mai and Robbie Fowler on hand to give tips), until some rotten spoil sports ruined his Red Dream. Be fair........the Boss was willing, but the minions were doubters.

Interestingly in this thread, there have been no arguments for the defence i.e. that everything's fine and it's just silly farang faithlessness in the strengths of the Thai economy saying that a crash is inevitable. Very different from a year ago, when the lines were split about 50/50 between believers/doubters.

Perhaps the eternal optimists have simply grown tired of hearing us natural-born cynics whinge...?

P'raps, or they're too busy squirreling away their assets in safe havens like the CICs & generals do when they know the shit is about to hit the proverbial pad lom.

And wouldn't life be boring if everyone held the same views? so come on optimists, come out of hibernation, down from your 5 M condos or answer from the Cayman Islands or wherever it is you go, and tell us we're imagining the whole thing. Even Sunbelt Asia who usually has something worthwhile to contribute, is unusually quiet on this one.??