richard_smith237

Not a wholly disagreeable point !!.... I do agree, anyone smoking in the vicinity of non-smokers and in a non-designated smoking area are hardly of commendable character.... But... escalation and inflaming a situation is not a solution....

Having lived here for over two decades I think its a fairly 'safe assumption' to suggest that the language and tone used when 'Politely asking the Brit to stop smoking' was far from pleasant and far from polite.... In fact, I would go as far and suggest that the stall owner was rather impolite, loud and rude with her request (as we sometimes see in these confrontations). I would also make the assumption that the 'sister followed suit' with said 'loud and rude behavior' which inflamed the situation more. Perhaps due to a language barrier, but I very much doubt the request was "please Sir, would you mind moving away from the stall while smoking, we have food here for customers"... ... and I 'imagine' it was more like... "YOU, YOU, Go away, move, no sa-moke, no sa-moke ... go away"... And the situation went from zero to incendiary in an instant. And of course the article polishes this to make the Thai's look extremely soft and gentle... BUT - with all of that said, the British Guy is an absolute inconsiderate, self-centred ayhole, and no one wants this behavior near them or in their country... such characters are vermin.... BUT... in the 'anatomy of this inflamed interaction' I would guess that smoking triggered the upset of the Thai stall workers who's response escalated the interaction into the ensuing row. Completely agree - though we may be accused of 'victim blaming' here - I doubt the two ladies in question were shrinking violets... and the Brit was clearly a grade A1 ayhole.

Yeah... 'cos nothing happened before that, right ???

This issue (not wearing of seatbelts) is one that astonishes me here, especially given the widely known knowledge regarding the high death stats on Thailands roads. Fortunately my Wife is well onside with this and both she and our son belt up 100% of the time. My InLaws (wifes parents) are a different matter, every time they leave our house, they never use their seatbelt, yet when I'm driving, they put the seat-belt on as soon as they get in, this stems from the first trip we ever took in my car and I simply wouldn't move until they had their seatbelts on - now the reaction is automatic. What also astonishes me is at my Sons school... All the very wealthy parents turning up with their future business owners and industry leaders etc in their Alphards with private drivers... I don't see the kids wearing seatbelts - these are well educated Thai parents, many of whom I know and were educated overseas, yet in Thailand the 'seat belt thing' simply does not register.

I suspect their comprehension of the word "Renowned" vs "Class".... ... they [authors] surely meant "World Renowned Image".... though as others have pointed out - it could have been 'tongue in cheek'.... but usually, the articles are more feet in mouth than tongue in cheek...

Very sad... But I hope they are also looking for the mother who most certainly needs various forms of assistance and support.

Indeed... Or, blame a couple of Indians (netizen outrage) for throwing a couple of bottles into the sea. Take a look at the photo's of Bang Saen beach.... it used to be notorious for the hoards of plastic litter that drifts there from all the beach restaurants & fishing boats....

Nope... YOU are the disgrace - blaming 'farangs' for the litter on Thailand's beaches.... Your 'anti-Westerner' rhetoric continues in a pathetic manner.

I don't think "Fatty Brit" is the injured party, unless the guy on the ground is just "having a kip"! He's not very sharp... His only intention with that comment was to 'trigger' other Brits with his anti-British sentiment.... (a common method of his to attempt to trigger people and enter conflict).

and yet Richard made no mention of sunglasses... He's just being a trollish idiot attempting to 'niggle, dig and trigger a conflict'.... Sometimes I just ignore his stupidity - sometimes I have a little fun with his idiocy.

A number of people I know have had their bicycles stolen from a BTS station (locked with a bike lock), its seems opportunistic thievery such as this is common place here. I thought about getting a lighter e-scooter for nipping around the local Soi's... (something like below)... BUT I figured, given the amount of 'opportunistic' thievery that goes on here, something that can be physically lifted and walked away with is probably a nice target and it could go missing easily - a conventional motorcycle / scooter is too heavy to just 'walk off with' while parked at 7-11 for 10 mins or a local hair salon etc.

Thats an interesting point... ultimately its the finance company that are punished as they are out of pocket. But, that also means the 'racers' who have defaulted and will not be able to secure financing on future motorcycles. Theoretically, I'm assuming that after defaulting on payment, the finance company can claim the return of the motorcycles - though that may be a long winded process over which time the 'resale value' of said motorcycles depreciates below a level that makes such efforts 'worth it' - thus ultimately, I suspect any such finance on these bikes may get written off as a loss. Or, can the 'racers' go to the stations and 'receive there confiscated motorcycle' after paying a fine... and they can 'race another day'.... ... i.e. how long is the confiscation for ? days, weeks etc ?

The drunk British motorcyclist is the guy on the floor (face blurred out in the photo).

Very true... When I am asking the 'experts' questions I do so leading with an apology. I explain I'm an expert in my field and understand that questioning someone else who is an expert in their field may be considered insulting, I explain that nevertheless, I've carried out in-depth research and I apologise for my 'google' knowledge, but explain that I want the discussion and have lots of questions.... ... We then go on to have an in depth discussion where the Doctor or specialist recognises that I my knowledge base is higher than their initial expectation of the average patient and a mutual respect develops. Recently I suffered quite a serious sports injury - In consultation with the Orthopaedic surgeon we discussed options... following surgery, I requested a specific 'immobilisation support'... I explained why I wanted that specific support, and showed follow up articles from medical journals.... The Surgeon agreed - this was the best option, but not available in Thailand and it would take a few weeks to get the support (VacoPed Boot). I provided the Orthopaedic surgeon with a contact of a company in Thailand that sources and supplies medical equipment. I'd already checked with the company and they had stock - the Orthopaedic surgeon was quite surprised - nevertheless, as the surgeon agreed that this was the best option we would take that path. IMO - the Orthopaedic surgeon I saw is an outstanding physician, he also has an exceptionally strong ego of someone who knows they are at the top of their game (and has fellowships at the likes of Johns Hopkins University School of medicine & Baltimore Memorial Hospital) so he had every right to tell me to shut up - but instead... listened and responded with a level of expertise, confidence and professionalism that left me with an outstanding level of respect for him.

Exactly this.... I ended up in ER with back pain (wakeboarding accident)... I went through periods of numbness in my legs, unable to reliably walk as my legs would actually give way... something wrong with my back. I saw the Dr... who suggested it was a pulled muscle.... Quite openly, I spoke to my Wife... "lets get out of here, this guy is an idiot"... ( I didn't hold back as I was in a lot of pain and wholly irritated by the lazy 'guess work' ).... Wheel-chaired out, Wife drove me straight to another hospital where the first response was to give me an X-Ray... this identified a damaged disk... further MRI identified 3 herniated disks... I learned there and then - sometimes the Doctors just don't care or worse, are perhaps unsure and defensive. The vast majority of my experience with the medical profession in Thailand has been fantastic - but there are what I would term 'lazy quacks'... and I like to identify these time wasters as quickly as possible... When I do, I don't worry about being polite... I just walk out. If they can't be bothered to be respectful of my time and my intelligence, I won't be respectful of theirs. In contrast - I've had many many excellent experiences with experts in their field who are more than happy to answer the many questions I have.

You're assuming each and every Thai has family ties which would enable the borrowing of a scooter within 5 seconds. Statistically, that's nonsense. AFAIK most of the people using tuktuks and songtaews are Thai. You think those vehicles are solely for foreigners? Happy you are amused, You've reminded me of the small minds aphorism. The argument attempting to nullify the value of 'confiscation of a vehicle' as a penalty is also flawed from a 'basic human' perspective... If someone gets their scooter confiscated, whether they have use of alternative means of transport or not, the confiscation itself is a massive inconvenience and annoyance which is the objective of such actions to stimulate preventative measures.

Does it make any difference ? Or, from the perspective of a forum article, does the recipient of the information alter the veracity ?

MalcomB maybe able to explain find an explanation for this...

Just placing this in perspective... You are worried about vape fumes while living in Bangkok ? I don't disagree with you, I also expect a decent level of consideration towards others and find such behavior anti-social... However, given the levels pollution in Bangkok, particularly the 'enclosed' area's of Sukhumvit road under the sky-train... I'd ask, do you wear a mask while walking around ?

I thought all Pattaya expats were nasty you hated them ?.... What happened, no camera ?....

I think they opened with that number... ... Followed by a few more favourites... Bohemian Quack-sody (Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody) Another One Bites the Duck (Queen - Another One Bites the Dust) Stairway to Quackers (Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven) Quack to Black (Amy Winehouse - Back to Black) Quacking on Sunshine (Katrina and the Waves - Walking on Sunshine) Quack It Off (Taylor Swift - Shake It Off) Duck It Like It’s Hot (Snoop Dogg - Drop It Like It’s Hot) Uptown Quack (Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk) Quacks Don’t Lie (Shakira - Hips Don’t Lie) Don’t Stop Believin’ in Quack (Journey - Don’t Stop Believin’) ... and my personal favourite... Duck Me Baby One More Time (Britney Spears - Hit Me Baby One More Time) I think Lisa (Black Pink) is working on a Collaboration with Ed the Duck (Daft Punk's - Da Funk) involving re-mixes of some of the above... such is the global demand ...

Mimicking daft comments as 'Death wish'.... one of the reasons I'll ever accept any such comments has being clever.... ... Putting a gun to your head and firing it is having a death-wish. Defensively riding a motorcycle around in a safe manner, not drunk, in the day time, while not raining, not speeding and wearing decent gear (at the very least a helmet) is not a death wish... Its evaluating the risks vs the convenience. Getting in a car and travelling at 120 kmh on the expressway carries its inherent risk - yet I'm sure you get in a car.... Getting a taxi being driven by someone with an extremely poor education who may be 'under the influence of some substance, booze or narcotic' instead of driving yourself carries inherent risks... Crossing a road carries an inherent risks that we must evaluate.... ... I think you get the point, but just incase you are missing it... ... 'Bad stuff' can happen at any time, and riding a motorcycle here certainly cannot be considered a 'safe endeavour'...however, we can minimise the risk such that the risk profile as it applies to ourselves is far far less than the risk profile implied by the stats which includes street racers, drunk riders, speeders, those without helmets, youngsters without experience, those who'll undertake a left turning lorry etc etc.... ... None of that implies that riding is without risk to us 'experienced western riders', but 'death wish' is a throwaway remark which lacks critical thought.... particularly when referenced to an extreme event which is ultimately a 'freak' occurrence....

Saw them in concert... they weren't all they were quacked up to be...

Because thats the car that was open. Because thats the car that was parked next to the hospital. No - thats covered in the article / & the nurse forgot to lock the car also covered in the article How does anyone walk out of busy understaffed facility such as this. What more would you expect - handcuff a patient to the bed ? Odd questions all around from you here...

What if BM2 was hanging around the Uni offering girls 500 Bhat for short time and the Uni Lecturer chased him off . I seem to recall previously that BM2 stated he had personally turned Uni girls into prostitution . Maybe he was up to that again ? And that excuses attempted murder ??? Your 'whatiffery' is not only out of order, its ridiculous and in this instance fundamentally flawed as you are making up scenarios which completely differ from the incident itself. Additionally, unless anyone is presenting an imminent threat of physical injury or risk to life there is no call whatsoever for escalation to a physical response. In your comments it seems you want to find any reason whereby it could be justified for someone to 'deliberately drive into a stationary motorcyclist at a junction'... and there isn't any.