Toknarok

As well as washing hands etc. one should avoid using the same face cloths, towels, pillows etc as someone who is infected. Can rapidly spread to a whole family as I have experienced.

As Buriram Province is the only province adjoining a neighbouring country that doesn't have an Immigration post, I presume you are referring to the crossing near Ban Kruad. At present people can only use this crossing 3 days a week to get to the market on the Cambodian side.

I believe that on the Cambodian side construction of a casino has already been started with the concrete foundations already laid. This post will be a boon for southern Buriram residents and also for some Khorat residents who presently have to go to Chom Choem or Aranyapratet if the have to leave the Country.

Any idea what the post is to be called?

About 12 years ago I came to Thailand on one of my two annual visits and tried to find a friend of mine. Went to his house with my wife, we were told he was in hospital. We found him tucked away in the corner of a ward in Buriram hospital He was so glad to see us he was in tears, literally. The poor old sod had been there for almost 10 weeks. All his belongings had been stolen or gone missing, no one had visited him in that time. He could not walk, had to be washed and cleaned up in his bed, much to the nurses annoyance, He was over 70 years of age.

I got him transferred to my local hospital to be able to look after him better. It was obvious that this bloke needed better medical treatment than he was getting in a Govt. hospital. I could not afford to have him repatriated so I appealed to the Australian Embassy for assistance.

The embassy staff were great. They contacted his bank in Oz to ascertain if he had any funds, information that the bank would not give me because of privacy regulations. They contacted the Oz Returned Servicemen s Org and confirmed that he was a WWII veteran (navy). They organised a transfer to Bangkok to a private hospital where he was stabilised so that he could fly back home to Australia.

When the vice consul visited my friend in hospital to confirm his details, see his passport etc. he told me that at any one time they were dealing with about 60 Australian citizens who had got themselves into some sort of difficulties in Thailand.

Yes I agree that the amounts charged are exorbitant, however the last time I visited the Australian consulate in Bangkok, the lovely Thai lady behind the desk waived the fee for my affidavit, saying that I could have it for free as I had come a long way and I am wheelchair confined.

Nope, no complaints about the Australian Embassy or their staff.

After the publication of 'those' photos and the accompanying article the Mail was blocked and has been for weeks. However over the last week or so it has been possible on occasions to open the link and read it. Sometimes it is possible to open an article in the paper and read it, other times the article itself is blocked. Has anyone any idea what's going on?

I knew people would give this response but that wasn't actually the point I was making. I didn't ask for any sympathy for him, nor he from you. My point is that there seems to be a tendency among people to say how great things are under the army now, compared to under previous governments. When I hear about things like this I see no difference whatsoever. That was the point I was trying to make, not whether he deserved it or not.

Quite so bermondaburi. where I live I have seen absolutely no difference in the activities of the authorities. It remains to be seen whether this will change. As for the attitude of the locals towards the happenings being done by the present 'powers that be', some mutterings can be heard, watch this space is the expression I believe.

In live in Southern Buriram. For the past 8-10 years or so there has been a building boom in this part of the world, and it doesn't seem like stopping. Houses, flats (no high rise condos here), and shops, particularly those shops with the roller door at the front, often with living quarters upstairs. Hundreds have been built everywhere.

Trouble is most of them seem to be empty. For those of you that know Buriram there is a long line of the roller door type shops as you go south towards Prackonchai. There are about 100 of these shops, last week I counted and it would appear that only 18 of the 100 were occupied. A couple of Kms further south another 35 have just been constructed, none of which are occupied.

Same sort of thing in my local town Ban Kruad. Dozens of these shops standing idle. A farang in my village build 4 of these shops about 6 years ago and none of them have ever been occupied.

What's going on here? Do these people who have constructed these buildings (and it,s not only shops but houses too) know something that I don,t? Is there going to be a boom here in Buriram that all properties will be sold/let and vast mounts of money will be made? Or is it that someone started to build and everybody thought ';what a good idea' and rushed out to borrow or spent his money to do likewise.?

Is similar building going on in other parts of Isaan, is this a bubble that will eventually burst with lots of people getting burnt? Are these buildings being erected by Bangkokians as a refuge from when their city sinks into the sea? Your thoughts pse.