jasperblubber2005

man did this make my day, wish i could have caught this from the beginning, a week doesn't go by here in the states when a black athlete doesn't put down a white player or coach, some where in time blacks have this gotten this idea that putting down people of other races is ok, its to bad when some one from another race returns the favor its always called racism.

we must always remember that only blacks have a right to use the term racism, for those of use who aren't black, well, we just need to find another term.

when ever theres an article in sports about an athlete going to jail, 99% of the time, they are what color?, when you read of snoop dogg and his posse in a london airport causing a distubance because his friends broke some whiskey bottles in the duty free shop and then some of his cheap friends who flew economy tried to get into the vip lounge, are you surprised, not me.

its my hope that burrows spends the whole two years in jail, i'm sure he thought the garbage he pulls in london would work in thailand, i have had my issues in thailand but one thing i never forget is that i am a GUEST IN ANOTHER COUNTRY, if i don't like thailand i don't have to come back, for those of you who defend this person, its just pathetic

can't remember seeing this question, if its been asked, my apoligies, i am thinking of shipping my car or suv to thailand, anyone got and idea as to what it will cost, i'm sure customs will want to put some kind of cost on this, thanks in advance

jasper

i think everyone has a different concept of what it would be like to live in thailand, i had been coming to thailand for eight years for holiday and could hardly wait to retire so i could make the big move to the land of smiles, the last two years of holidays i spent in thailand was used to find out all the things that i needed to know before i got to thailand.

i thought i did my homework quite well but when i moved to thailand last sept (06) reality set in, after two weeks i realized that i had made a major mistake, i tried to find out what it was that i didn't see the first eight years i came here, i tried my best to try and adjust but i realized that what i seen day to day was not something i could get use to and i would be miserable if i tried to make a permanent home there.

i come from a safety back ground and i realize i am in a third world but seeing motorcycle fatalities like the ones in thailand are unacceptable, its obvious that life is cheap in thailand and the government, whether it be the previous regime or the people in office now have no repect for life or they would do something about the rate of people who die every day here as a result of bad drivers.

the scam artist, especially in cities like pattaya are a joke, if your white then you have money, if we take your money no problem you have more, the majority of thai's are fantastic people but that small percentage of dead beats who refuse to work and make there living ripping people off make my stomach turn

this isn't to say that i don't experience a scam once in a while here in the states but its no where as often as in thailand, the utility companies there are also a problem, on time service is not in there vocabulary, whether it be the phone company, the cable tv people, or the internet service.

i am now looking for some where in europe to call home, i realize that i won't get away cheap over there but at the same time i won't see the motorcycle fatalities that i see in thailand, i know the internet service has got to be better than what i experienced in thailand.

for those of you making it in thailand, congradulations, i had hope for eight years that thailand was going to be home but in the end it would not be, we all different and sometimes the only way that you can find out if a place would make a good home is to live there, i tried it and got my answer

best wishes for those of you living in the land of smiles

jasper

ps

i reason i don't usually write is because of the nit pickers that you find on sites like this, so if you found an i that i didn't dot or a "t" i didn't cross, please go to another thread because your comment is neither wanted or expected

I KNOW ITS BEEN ASKED BEFORE BUT CAN SOMEONE GIVE US SOME HELP ON AND E-MAIL FOR PP VILLA OR FOR THE MILITARY CAMP HOTEL, ALSO I UNDERSTAND THAT THE FRESH INN HAS SOME DECENT ROOMS, CAN ANYONE VERIFY

THANKS

JASPER

<_<

while renting a house on soi 4 north pattaya, the sign on my gate said "no praking", what made this funny was, three feet away on the same property was a sign saying "no parking", hard to mess it up but they did

jasper

so with all this information, what is the exchange rate the banks are giving for the typical tourist walking down the street?

jasper

while PP and PCN were busy reporting on card games netting b100 and motobike fatalities of no concern to 99.9% of avg foreigner -

an algae bloom occurred in ao pattaya the likes i have never seen. the bay was pea soup green and quite thick with the poison for as far out as the eye could see (at least 150m).

i guess niles was too busy looking at himself in the mirror while talking into a mike and no one could tear howard away from wine and dine to do some real reporting.

i have not been down today but people have been out of the water for DAYS.

saw a family walk down to beach, had all the gear, kids happy... then they just saw the water...gasp! ack!

the water is actually a great metaphor for all of thailand. TAT promises land of smiles, beautiful beaches - and what do you get really??? pattaya.

your right this is news worthy but as you said niles had more important things to do, niles is actually one of the funniest people i have ever met, problem is he doesn't realize it but i have had a couple of discussions with him, i don't know what planet he came from but he one of a kind

jasper

had the same thing happen to me about four months ago, facing the terminal in bangkok i went to the ticket window to the left of the station, i felt something was wrong when i found out the ticket was cheaper than my pattaya to bangkok ticket but knew asking questions was a waste of time.

after two hours of driving down streets that i have never seen before i realized that i had made one bad mistake, after a total of close to five hours i was dropped off on sukhimvit, and i had to walk to central with luggage.

on my next trip i was with my thai friend and they showed me the right window to go to, all you can do is chalk this up to experience, one of the issues i found to be so frustrating living in thailand is that many of your bad experiences will have to be learned first hand unless you read about it in a forum such as this one

jasper

the saddest part of this story will be that it will happen again and again and again, it just doesn't sink in, very sad

jasper

i'll drink to that

jasper

good luck tlock, i asked the same question last year when i was living in pattaya, nobody had a clue what i was talking about, all my shirts got stretched pretty bad but now that i'm back in the states all my shirts are back to there normal size, i wish you luck , if you do find a coin-op dryer in that town you may want to let the other members know i'm sure there are more than you and i who would have like to find a dryer in pattaya

jasper

some good info on this thread, i am planning a trip to the philippines in a couple of months and wanted to see if i could adjust, there are some very negatives about the philippines (poverty,crime,etc, etc) but those same issues are in thailand.

i know people who have made the switch (thailand to philippines) and are very happy with the move, of coarse we all have different taste, the one big plus for the philippines is the amount of english spoken there

about four years ago i spent two days in manila and have to say i was taken back by the amount of security that surrounded me, i went to dunkin donuts, security guard with gun waiting at the door to see me in, went to the shopping center, male security guard pat me down then i was allowed to enter, almost every fast food restuarant had security guards with guns, some people might feel secure with a scene like this but my question was why so many security guards with guns, could it be that there is no safe places in this country.

if anybody has found a safe place to retire in the philippines, i sure would like to hear from them

jasper

this is priceless, i have watched this four times already

jasper

can we have a phone number and address, thanks

jasper

looking over the previous threads can't find any info on budget apts or condo's (12,000-15-000) any place near the beach close to the hilton, can anyone make a recommendation. looking for six months stay, thanks

jasper

contact Amm at siam-property, she may be able to help,<email removed>

but if you just turn up, there are rooms to let in the streets surrounding the Hilton.

Also without the appropriate visa, you will have to do a visa run after 30 days.

thanks much appreciated

have friends wanting to go to phuket and was asked what the baht exchange rate was, couldn't tell them as its still climbing downward, anyone want to speculate as to when the baht will level out, i never thought i would see 35, but i remember some on this site thought that it couldn't go any lower but it has

jasper

looking over the previous threads can't find any info on budget apts or condo's (12,000-15-000) any place near the beach close to the hilton, can anyone make a recommendation. looking for six months stay, thanks

jasper

pumper

i first response is probably the best, i wish i would have gone to hua hin instead of pattaya last year, i think i would still be in thailand had i done that, hua hin has good streets, nice beach and some very good dining, its a whole different world there.

your still going to see a lot of tourist but the jewely and bag snatching is nothing like pattaya.

jasper

in answer to the last question, while i was there the cooperative has what looks like a receipt book which a member of the cooperative fills out, which was done while i was there, the information about the fine, the reason for the fine and so forth are on the receipt, unless i am wrong, and i don't think i am, the driver has a certain period to pay the fine.

i have no reason to believe the cooperative put on a show for my behalf, as a matter of fact i would have thought it very suspitious if the driver did pay the fine in front of me, even in my country uncle sam will give you time to pay of any fines.

jasper

as a follow up, i callied the numbers that were given to me but no one spoke english at two numbers and no one answered the third, decide to follow-up on the tourist police and go to the police station on soi 9, they said they don't get involved in disputes concerning fares and that i should call the cooperative, i told that i did that but no one speaks english according to the lady who answered the phone at the cooperative.

the police man started to laugh realizing the problem i was facing he then said he would send two (yes two) policemen to help with the language issue, the cooperative is near soi 16 in nacklau if anyone needs to file a complaint, when i got there the police were already there, we went in and the police described my problem to three of the eight people working the office, as it turned out three of the people spoke decent english and i was able to communicate with them with no problems, i told the police they could leave as they had more pressing issues.

the driver in question was called in and it took him 40 minutes to get back to the cooperative, once there, he was sat down in a chair and for the next five minutes each of the cooperative people asked him question after question, the poor guy wasn't really a jerk he actually seemed to be an alright guy but it was his wife who ripped off my buddy and me for 20 baht and i wasn't going to let the big mouth get away from it.

afer the questioning they went to this board that showed the fines that drivers pay for thing like not having your their picture posted (200 baht) and over charging farangs (200-500), the cooperative told me that since he was new at the job and it was really his wife that created the stir he would only get the 200 baht fine, i said fine everyone at the cooperative shook my hand and the manager told me not to hesitate to notify him should a similar incident happen again.

when all was done and said i felt sorry for the driver he was a real qiute type guy who had the misfortune to be married to a greedy big mouth women, the complaint system is not good here most tourist would never give up three hour of there vacation to settle a 20 baht dispute but there was a princepal here and having time on my hand i decided to go for it, any way hope this information is helpful to some of you, thanks again jingthing

jasper

thanks jingthing

jasper

read each of the comments trying to find a department or phone number to complain or file a complaint with but no luck, seems to be more than a few readers here anyone got an idea as to who, and i will use this term loosly, in city government here handles this type of problem.

talked to a pattaya tourist police volinteer last night and was told to report to city hall, total waste of time, never gave me a department or any help that i could use, the last time i went to city hall couldn't even find someone who could speak english, finally seen what looked like someone who gave a hoot and i filed a complaint about bar noise, got no reply no response, like i said a total waste of time.

keep reading here and there that pattaya wants to know about over charging by baht taxi drivers but need a pnone number od a dept within the city, can anyone help here, thanks in advance

jasper

there is plenty of news on crime, whether it be here in pattaya or else where but i never seem to read anything about the length of jail time that the criminals will get, is there some law about preventing that kind of news from being released or is that the media doesn;t think that this is important, i guess i have gotten so use to the media back home which follows up on crimes and prints their jail time, anybody have an answer ?

jasper

just curious, what is it with balloons at a bar, doe's this mean some sort of celebration and free food or doe's this guy just like balloons. knew a guy in the states who made a habit of going to partys not knowing a soul there, he always ate well, i thought the guy was hilarious

jasper

you may want to consider some of the folks who put the new airport together, just a thought

jasper