TheSiemReaper

I'm fully in support of dual-pricing for national parks, etc. and wish that my own government did the same. I'm happy to pay an extra $2-$3. It's not racism it's simply shifting the burden of upkeeping tourist sites onto tourists. (And yes, even if you've been an expat here for 3 decades and are about to launch into an exciting lecture on how much tax you've paid - you're stil a tourist).

"I'm happy to pay an extra $2-$3"

And when it's an extra $10+ ?

And when it's not all tourists, but just foreign ones, plus foreigners who live here, but not people from say Bangkok, where everyone is rich too ?

And when it gives the country a reputation for being racist, still support it ?

Even if it were an extra $100. Locals aren't tourists - they're locals. They already pay into a system for all their lives which should be designed to benefit them as citizens. It only "gives the country a reputation for being racist' in the minds of pathetic skinflints - the kind of tourists that Thailand can now afford to live without.

Up to you, if you want to consider me as a "pathetic skinflint", but I will continue to believe that in-principle people from different countries are equal, and ought to be treated equally. For me it's mainly about human-rights, something I do feel strongly about.

You feel that "Locals aren't tourists", but I'm afraid the millions of domestic-visitors to Chiang Mai are tourists, they swarm up here in search of our cold weather every winter, and my family and I put much more into the local economy by living here than they do on a long-weekend visit.

Lastly you say that "they already pay into a system for all their lives", well I'm sorry but most of them don't pay income-tax, as you are no doubt aware. And your view that the system "should be designed to benefit them as citizens", well you ought to know that it really isn't. Thai society is a work-in-progress, like most other countries.

I don't think I've ever heard quite so much rubbish in one post before. It's a human rights issue? Sure, you're so concerned about that - yet, you're living in a country where the Rohingya, for example, are treated more than abysmally. Entry fees to parks are not in the same league. Why embarass yourself? You're cheap. That's it. That's OK too. If you don't find value in the price on the door - you're free not to go. But to try and pretend this a high moral issue? That's really sad.

I'm fully in support of dual-pricing for national parks, etc. and wish that my own government did the same. I'm happy to pay an extra $2-$3. It's not racism it's simply shifting the burden of upkeeping tourist sites onto tourists. (And yes, even if you've been an expat here for 3 decades and are about to launch into an exciting lecture on how much tax you've paid - you're stil a tourist).

"I'm happy to pay an extra $2-$3"

And when it's an extra $10+ ?

And when it's not all tourists, but just foreign ones, plus foreigners who live here, but not people from say Bangkok, where everyone is rich too ?

And when it gives the country a reputation for being racist, still support it ?

Even if it were an extra $100. Locals aren't tourists - they're locals. They already pay into a system for all their lives which should be designed to benefit them as citizens. It only "gives the country a reputation for being racist' in the minds of pathetic skinflints - the kind of tourists that Thailand can now afford to live without.

Which phone you need it for could be useful information in this post...

I'm fully in support of dual-pricing for national parks, etc. and wish that my own government did the same. I'm happy to pay an extra $2-$3. It's not racism it's simply shifting the burden of upkeeping tourist sites onto tourists. (And yes, even if you've been an expat here for 3 decades and are about to launch into an exciting lecture on how much tax you've paid - you're stil a tourist).

You do know that there are freeware versions of most of those for Windows, right? And that those without have free Windows equivalents?

Me, I'm all for Linux but its advantages aren't in Photo-Editing where Windows and Mac rain fire upon Linux.

If she has a 6 month multiple-entry visa - she's free to come and go throughout the 6 months.

In theory yes,but I know personally of a Lady who asked for 2/3 months,but then stayed the full 6 months and then got refused another visa because she didn't adhere to the requested and granted time period.

But I hope your right

There's a difference between applying for 2 weeks and staying for 6 months and taking a couple of 2 week breaks. If you max a visa... it might suggest that you're really visa running on the UK and unlike Thailand the UK is pretty strict on that. But going back again for Christmas? It won't be an issue.

If she has a 6 month multiple-entry visa - she's free to come and go throughout the 6 months.

Of course they let her in on an expired passport... she's Thai - she's a citizen, no country in the world bars its citizens from entering. Unfortunately, she cannot get the British one stamped in Thailand because she's Thai. And she will need a new Thai passport to leave...

No Myanmar visa is required but... you cannot leave Thailand on a visa-exemption and then come back in on another visa-exemption. It's fine to activate another entry on a current visa though.

I don't resent anyone on a pension. Fair play, you paid in, you get something back. I do get bored of pensioners on every single forum related to SE Asia, who clearly cannot afford to make ends meet even here, whining about how much things cost... ranting about "Asian unfairness" (e.g. a cultural system that is thousands of years old)... and either trying to convince people to believe that 19 year old girls get hot for 70 year olds or conversely painting themselves as living a life of 100% virture. The only real issue with pensioners in this part of the world is that they have too much time on their hands and internet access...

Two choices EMS from the post office (works fine but slight - not huge - risk of loss) or DHL (works fine but is incredibly expensive).

The search for semantics. It really doesn't matter how people define it - there's going to be no problem leaving the country without doing a 90 day report. Nor is it likely that you will be fined in your absence and then hunted down 20 years later.

"On October 6, Police Colonel Mongkol Sampawapon lead an investigation team of police to check pubs and bars in the 1km Campus Safety Zone. They found ..., and one bar to be playing music too loud."

Did they use a decibel meter to determine the level? And how many dBA is the cutoff for "too loud"?

It's measured by playing music at any volume and then failing to proffer the appropriate amount of cash when a policeman complains about that music.

Just to note that while many zipline operators are cowboys; Flight of the Gibbon are not. Never been anywhere with such attention to detail when it comes to safety in my life. Please don't lump all the operators together - those guys are Aussie run and fanatical about their safety record (as they should be).They also give a lot back to the communities in which they operate.

I shave every day with a Gilette and a pack of cartridges lasts me about 2 years...

It's a pox on people's liberties. There's nothing healthy about paid sex or drinking. It's simply another invasion of people's right to choose their poison. Smoking doesn't belong in schools, hospitals, shoppping centers, etc. but in bars? That's where it belongs.

Drinking belongs in bars, not breathing in somebodys elses foul smelling smoke, but try telling that to a selfish smoker.

Yawn. Yeah, tell that to all the bars that have gone out of business since smoking bans were introduced in places like the UK.

If non-smokers were bringing in enough business to make bars sustainable. Bars would go no-smoking without compulsion. But that doesn't make for an interesting story does it?

I quit smoking ages ago. But really, couldn't care less about smokers in bars.

The non-smoker is the selfish one. They don't spend enough to make bars viable - but they expect the bar to accomodate their whining uneconomic behaviour all the same.

First of all, well done to the stopping smoking, it doesn't bother you, it bothers me and a lot of other non smokers. When I'm eating my fish and chips I want tomato sauce on my fish and not the taste of nicotine. Many people have died through passive smoking, so if you don't mind inhaling other peoples smoke good for you.

Bars shouldn't serve food. Most Go-Go bars certainly don't serve food. Restaurants are where people go to eat. Bars are where they go to smoke, drink and (quite often in SE Asia) get laid.

Go eat your fish and chips in a restaurant. While you're there read the real data on passive smoking and then compare it to passive exhaust/industrial pollution's effect on your lungs. Then realize you're whining about the wrong thing. Want a healthier life? It's easy. Ban emissions from factories and then ban private vehicle use - public transport or nothing. Not much fun mind you but infinitely more useful than whining about passive smoking.

It's a pox on people's liberties. There's nothing healthy about paid sex or drinking. It's simply another invasion of people's right to choose their poison. Smoking doesn't belong in schools, hospitals, shoppping centers, etc. but in bars? That's where it belongs.

Drinking belongs in bars, not breathing in somebodys elses foul smelling smoke, but try telling that to a selfish smoker.

Yawn. Yeah, tell that to all the bars that have gone out of business since smoking bans were introduced in places like the UK.

If non-smokers were bringing in enough business to make bars sustainable. Bars would go no-smoking without compulsion. But that doesn't make for an interesting story does it?

I quit smoking ages ago. But really, couldn't care less about smokers in bars.

The non-smoker is the selfish one. They don't spend enough to make bars viable - but they expect the bar to accomodate their whining uneconomic behaviour all the same.

Life, I've celebrated Christmas with a nice dinner in a nice hotel in places as diverse as Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and China. It's the one day of the year that I reconnect with my own culture - I spend the other 364 immersed in other people's. It doesn't diminish Thailand's Buddhism to have you get together with friends and family and enjoy a bit of turkey. As for people having no money? Not everyone in Thailand is skint, nor will their foregoing dinner in a 5 star restaurant make you any less poor in return.

To the OP - I have no idea which of those places offers the best Christmas dinner but I will be keeping an eye on this thread to find out (assuming the moaning ceases and someone contributes something useful).

I like the Canon 100D/SL1 as a starter DSLR. Not too many features and buttons but it is really light and that encourages people to take it out with them. Pair it with the 24mm or 40mm Canon pancake lens and it's very unobtrusive.

I have a Canon 70D and a bunch of lenses which I use when I'm shooting on a location of some sort but it's too damned heavy to lug around everywhere.

It's a pox on people's liberties. There's nothing healthy about paid sex or drinking. It's simply another invasion of people's right to choose their poison. Smoking doesn't belong in schools, hospitals, shoppping centers, etc. but in bars? That's where it belongs.

Vietnam (particularly in Hanoi) has some (loosely) enforced curfews too. Cambodia, on the other hand, does not. Siem Reap has a small handful of late night venues, Phnom Penh has a ton of them, Sihanoukville a decent fistful, Battambang has none whatsoever.

Nothing like a little support for other expats is there? Don't like the music a dude is playing? Turn him into the cops - maybe there'll be a reward? ! (If there is - they'll award it to themselves and not to you). As if expat life wasn't troublesome enough. Sort your act out and stop acting like a git.

Last time I got pulled over at a Police Checkpoint in Thailand... I was a passenger in a taxi. Both my girlfriend and I were subject to search and the overly hopeful cop wanted me to confess that the empty cellophane (from my cigarettes - it's not nice to litter) was used to contain drugs... when the confession was not forthcoming we were finally allowed to leave. I just put it down to one of those "Asia" moments.

Well I think the OP has done a remarkable job of demonstrating why no-one with a brain would apply to work for his company. He's rude, arrogant, unprofessional, discriminatory and let's be fair about this... he's also nearly as dim as the applicant he mocks. I guess it's akin to a murderer looking down on a rapist in jail. When you're an absolute sad sack; you have to find someone to be cruel to - well done OP. Collect your "not the brightest bulb in this or any box" award at the door.

What a lousy thing to do to someone. They've already gone through the trauma of changing gender (something that is not as easy for a lot of ladyboys as the general attitude may have you believe). They've had the gumption to apply for a job in another language - something that I'd guarantee the OP can't do in Thai. Then their application is published online and mocked by an unprofessional weasle who can't even manage to keep an applicant's job application confidential. Yeah, real funny.