richard_smith237

Don´t think so! No! If there were none before and they show pictures of them being there, it would have included info in the article. It was dusk... and the hole was slap bang in the middle of the road, no warning, no barriers, no consideration from authorities for the safety of anyone. It was already fortunate that the car did not drive into the hole (it had inadvertently 'straddled' the hole') the motorcyclists not so lucky. Below - photos from the Dash-cam (rear) footage from the car the motorcyclists were following at the time of the incident.

I was in an unfamiliar area of Pattaya driving to a friends house... Pitch black (no street lighting), very quiet roads, raining.... I noticed the reflections from the rain against the lights up ahead was a little strange with darker 'non-reflective' patches... it was enough to make me stop the car and check. I got out and nearly fell down a drain hole... It was then that I realised I was a few 100m into a road that had all its square drain covers removed. With extreme luck we'd managed not to drive into one of the open drains, we navigate out of the road very cautiously without further issue. My guess is that others may not have been so lucky. --------- Another time, driving in the day time East from Phitstanulok on highway 12... they were doing a lot of road works... They were extending / widening the road to a dual carriage way... stage by stage... At the end of each 'stage' there was a 1m drop (perhaps 1.5 to 2m in parts) where the 'extended' road abruptly stopped, as the next stage of extension had not started. Every morning in the news there were reports of cars that had 'gone off the road'..... I saw that there were 'branches' marking the end of the road, but no lighting. Its not a road that I'd drive at night, and for good reason. Cars had been driving along what appeared to be a perfectly normal road which suddenly ended to 'footing level foundation'... extremely dangerous, extremely careless.... I wonder if anyone was ever compensated for the negligence shown by the authorities for this being allowed to occur over and over and over again.... Each morning, it was the same news story. It seems that no one thought put out cones or lights... Or more correctly it was abundantly clear that no one cared, no one cared at all. At least with this story social media appears more powerful than local media news channels and authorities were nudged into action to put barriers up - I wonder how many of them are now lit ? I am also certainly that within very close proximity to that very are the incident with the Bulgarian tourists occurred is exactly the very same situation waiting to happen.

Thats what I'm 'hoping'.... for the sake of avoiding longer term paranoia that xenophobic behavior is being nurtured with a lot of this 'crack down on foreigners' behavior and announcements. I would have much preferred to read a more balanced headline... for example: .... "147 riders caught for breaking traffic rules in Patong, 15 of them foreign" Such a headline, or an article containing such information would highlight that this is not a xenophobic crackdown targeting foreigners and that that the policing is in fact carried out without prejudice.

Indeed... This 'Hub'..... will it be before the 'crack down' (on foreigners) is over... Immigration told to 'screen foreigners'.... Then wants 'more free minded' characters to come here and attend a festival that is simply intolerable without substances that would place anyone caught at risk of a jail term and anyone dealing at risk of facing the death penalty. Thailand already has Wonderfruit (Festival) that attracts about 25,000 people, but doesn't have a huge international draw. Tomorrowland on the other hand is an internationally acclaimed festival, Thailand is an ideal place for it. But first, Thailand needs to drop the 'Anti-Farang' rhetoric or the Police are going to have a field day and spoil the event for an awful lot of people which could result in a public own-goal.

you never know! bob. Quite right... I don't want to know what gym you pretend to go to.

Stalking was one main reason.... Yep... But at least we could see who it was stalking us and just ignore them for being the complete and total c0ckwombles they are.... There was one particular poster who posted a negative emoji on most of my comments.... it was personal and as such he is the only person I have on my ignore lost.... Even after the the emoji's became anonymous it was obvious who was trolling... ... Now there are two who behave in the same manner (both their handles begin with the letter P)... Both are idiots, the content of their comments very rarely of any value.... easily forgotten and ignored for the utter to$$ers they are.

This is the very thin end of what is a potentially very serious issue. The corruption in Thailand is something we're all well area of. Building codes not followed, inspectors signing off on buildings etc (for a fee of course)... etc... Tall buildings at some point will become 'unsafe' to live in - but people own them, so they wont want to give that up and move out. But, buildings will need to be demolished for structural and safety reasons. So what happens, then ?....... I can see a situation where a building is too old, unsafe, but people don't want to move out of something they own... incoming developers wont want to pay the tenants the per-meter rate for their unit so no one buys them out. At some point its possible tall condo is going to collapse - the scale of the catastrophe will be overwhelming.

Yup... and ayholes with a personality deficiency have utilised the anonymity to repeatedly troll and cowardly post negative emoji's against posters they dislike instead of 'putting their name to a comment'....

Doesn't she go to your gym ?

Isn't this one of the 'victorias secret model types' Bob just dribbled over in the gym ?

In younger years I'd be approached by females, but I'd not have much interest in them (i.e. below my 'spec'), I'd get napkins with written messages and a number handed to me by a waiter etc (I used to enjoy the fun of it - ego tickling).... At the same time I found it easy to 'accidentally' talk to a female in a natural environment.... I remember dating a Korean woman after I'd asked a very simple genuine and innocent question about a food item we were both looking at... the conversation naturally progressed. Meeting Thai females (of standard) is different, it usually takes an 'introduction' and if it doesn't... they are likely of a demographic I wasn't interested in meeting anyway. In my 30's meeting respectable (financially independent women - of any nation) was very easy... now in my late 40's, its obvious that the 'same eyes' don't follow me or even seem notice me - I've become invisible.... This has made it abundantly clear that women (particularly Thai women) don't really like older men when they have a choice - those who think otherwise have pulled the wool over their own eyes. As far as going up to and approaching random women in a mall... I remember my Wife asking me about this: She'd flown into Thailand alone (I can't remember where from), and while waiting for baggage an older American guy approached her and offered her a stick of gum.... ... I've no idea what his thoughts were.... but when my Wife got home she asked me 'do foreigners think every Thai girl is a hooker' ?? I asked if she was dressed like one... *(big mistake) - Wife has always dressed well, but conservatively and respectfully and even to the uninitiated first timer its immediately obvious that she's not one of 'those type' (i.e. hooker or occupational farang hunter).... She wasn't impressed at someone 'approaching her' in a manner which she thought was obviously trying to pick her up... I had to tell her to lighten up, its a compliment, not every guy thinks every Thai female a hooker, and maybe he was simply asking if she wanted some gum - although I do suspect very much so that he was looking for an 'opener'... (I reckon the wife can be a bit of a biyach in those situations - it just so happened I was lucky with timing when we were introduced !!)... The girl in the video strikes me as someone more 'open' to meeting foreigners... and the guy seems polite enough although slightly creepy and invasive IMO... but, the reality of life is that if a guy is going to meet a female, they'll have to make some effort and risk making mistakes. There is nothing wrong with approaching a lady, but read the signals and respond appropriately.

Absolutely agree... It's much the same with all the LBGQwhatever stuff too.... For the most part, I just see normal people around me.... I get that there are those who try and play one of the 'cards' but they generally get put in their place very quickly and told to shut up, no one cares. The outspoken (over nothing) often dilute the genuine issues, but, as far as everyday regular life goes, I do not know of or meet 'feminists'... I meet plenty of women who expect to be treated respectfully with a mutual level of equality and respect, but that does not make them feminists, it just makes them human beings. I don't think 'all that feminism thing is some sort of giant social engineering attempt'... its just something we see a lot of in the media for no other reason that the media has long since learned what triggers attention, outrage, objection and ultimately 'clicks' which is a metric that can be used to drum up ad revenue and thus profits... ... Thus: What you see in the media is primary a media construct which feeds on and piggybacks on the narcissists and attention seekers.

You should start apologising to trees, they work extremely hard to produce oxygen so you can breathe...

The one telling people not to act their shoe size ?

Yeah... Get a life... but reply to the threads where you think people 'don't have a life'... Yet here you... erm... Try that getting a life malarkey perhaps ? Indeed... lets grow up.... Shall we start by not using phrases we used in primary school ??? You're in the Pub Forum... Learn how to navigate. Why wait a week ???... Probably ???.... so probably not ?......

Agreed on all comments... Any rental agency renting out to those without licenses should be penalsied - after all, that is the LAW isn't it ???? And... What about the list of Thai's arrested for 'rule breaking'... In Bangkok on my Soi I counted 19 riders before before I saw on with a helmet..... The major concern here is the directive to target foreigners.... its wholly wrong... we are simply seeing racism in practice. While I agree with targeting those who are breaking regulations, the directive has to be target all wrong doers, whatever the nationality anything else is simply prejudice and its not even dressed up as anything else. What I see now is pure and simple xenophobic behavior on an official level.

The obvious juxtaposition here cannot be understated.....

The irony there Bob... given your socio-phonetics... You are in fact one of the 'cavemen' you so wish to avoid !!!!

A box of Thai deserts (Khanom)… inexpensive, sends the right message.

Next BS (Bob Smith) thread… ”I got kicked out of the gym for being an impolite knob”

There's no issues getting motorcycle kit from Lazada... not all sellers are crooked. In the past I've had numerous parts from there (replacement footpegs / radiator guard / Sump guard, adjustable brake and clutch levers, handle bar raisers)... ... Only a couple of times on Lazada I've received dodgy stuff (fake or the wrong item) or encountered a complete rip off (ordered a 4000 baht saddle and received a 20 baht phone case !!) - Returns were easy... and with the scam item, Lazada refunded the money without issue. I think it would be fine to service a 9 year old 56k kms Forza at your nearest 'garage' / bike workshop.. Its a matter of finding somewhere you can trust.

Yup... We just had a right old song and dance trying to get Air-mile Seats with TG. 3 of us... BUT... some flights did not have 3 seats available... so we've had to mess about with what we can get at what times etc.. We ended up outbound with 2 Air-miles Seats... And a regular Ticket paid for with Miles+Cash... and then a return with 3 Air-miles seats. It was a lot of messing about... as the availability shown on the TG Website is not quite the same as that shown with the call centre. 1 hour on the phone for something which takes 10mins with Emirates !! So.. we could only get the Air-miles seats over the phone... And I could only get the 1 way regular ticket with Cash+Miles online.... Just an awful lot of faffing around... in total with taxes etc it was still 30,000 baht for 3 return tickets BKK to Japan. It just doesn't need to be this awkward - its as if the airlines want to present the 'facade' that its all giving and shares with other airlines etc, but they really don't want to so have no interest in making the process seamless.

Same... When I fly Buisness Class (which seems to be more rarely these days)... I used fly at 2am (already knackered and not hungry).. I'd just drop a sleeping tablet and ask the Flight Attendant to wake me up as late as possible with a coffee... ....as soon as the seatbelt sign is off, I'm horizontal and asleep a few mins later... No need for food etc... I just want to lie flat, sleep and have the flight pass as quickly as possible - IMO that the best way to fly.

Thats kind of the point... getting gummies with a consistent strength so we know to take half or a whole and it has the desired effect, rather than taking one then having to take another 30 mins later etc..... I received a PM recently recommending a shop called High-Med (next to Maru Condo sales office on Ekammai). https://www.facebook.com/highmed.th I've had a look but the online presence as far as gummies is concerned is not very high - but apparently there is quite a selection of edibles there.