richard_smith237

100% Agree with all of that... Although I found the protest somewhat vexing... as on the surface it was 'supposed' to be a protest against the encroachment of public land (beach) by private land owners and companies... But, it appears that there were xenophobic anti-foreigner vibes... Whether thats how it really was at the protest, or if thats just the 'flavour' the media applied to invite greater attention is not known unless we could personally experience the 'event' as its difficult to believe the veracity of reporting, there is simply too much interest in creating controversy than there is selling fact.

Drugs Obviously not marijuana.... Of course, it could be a birth defect.... .... P!$$ed off since birth at having Australian nationality.... understandable degree of self-loathing really. (for those of thin skin fat trigger finger persuasion - this is just jest - its not a Brit, so I'm taking the opportunity to take the mature and moral high ground and retaliate !!!... for the record, I think Aussies are great where would we be without Australia - we wouldn't have TimTams or Vegemite !!!)...

Did you watch any of the video at all ?? Did you see the Aussie motorcyclist driving erratically, then suddenly braking and swerving in-front of the woman leaving her nowhere to go but to hit him ???.... it almost as if he was so angry he wanted to make her crash into him ? His riding is erratic and dangerous. The only question I have is what happened before start of the video we see... what happened in the lead up ? Did she cut him off ? nudge him (drive into him accidentally) then ignore him etc ??? Something made this Aussie very angry, I'm not condoning his actions, but we only see the 'later stages of the video' and he's clearly furious.... She either did something to make him that furious, or he's a completely unhinged nutcase. Why have we not seen the video from 'earlier' on / the lead up ???? Not condoning the violent thugs actions at all - but I'd like to see some balance here and see what happened earlier on.

Indeed... and this is the result of a reactive and apathetic police force, rather than a proactive police force. They [Police] do nothing about these issues when reported... why ?... no one was hurt, so no laws were broken (or thats the mentality). Its only when this guy (and / or those like him) actually attack, maim, kill someone that they will then react... We may even get lucky with an announcement that there will be a 'crack down on carrying around lethal weapons in our vehicles'.... Of course to anyone with a brain we're seeing tools such as this guy (in your Photo) resorting to their threats with Machete's all the time... But a 'crack down' is only worth announcing in response to some 'netizen outrage'... so something needs to happen first. I wonder what would happen if one of these violent tools took to threatening a foreigner, so he protects himself by driving over the aggressive tool... ??.... (perhaps this is one for the Brits to get involved with next as we've fallen out of favor with the 'farang bashing' recently) !!!... There are 'traffic situations' where I can see the other guy getting so irate that I wonder when they're going to start threatening me... Sometimes its unavoidable and we're 'locked in' a traffic sitation... they get irate and drive erratically because they taken offence at something... What if we can't move, family in car and they come at us with a Machete.... we can't get out of there ? Keyboard warrior me in tells me... just drive over the £u$%er !!!

How does it reflect badly on you? Have you been prone to similar antics? I think he perhaps means 'it reflects badly on (us) all those foreigners who look like pikey-quim-jippo begpackers'....

Give it time.... ... Some Bald, tatooed, Camo-combat shorts wearing chav will be along shortly with his fake moncler t-shirt and gold chain having head-butted a ladyboy who tried to charge him too much for a five-knuckle-shuffle... ... Then we'll all know what Dolf looks like !!

Not sure, with the price of flights at the minute, the Brits might be hitting Benidorm. There is something to be said for the usual chavy-bogan di<k heads from all nations being priced out of travelling here due to the recently elevated flight costs.... BUT... those who are causing all the trouble seem to be 'resident foreigners' who have taken it upon themselves to start acting like locals with a short fuse....

Indeed... But I still think we can squeeze another 20 or 30 separate threads out of this story. Soon we'll be finding out about more background... how much deeper this guys issues go, possibly illegal activities overseas and money being washed here etc.... although, with the attention this has been getting I suspect had there been any illegal overseas activity, warrants for arrest or criminal record etc it would already be widely known... ... So we'll just have to settle for the next story in the icosology being something such as 'how he once didn't tip a street vendor'.... or 'didn't say hello to the postman'..... (which is not to imply this guy is anything other than vermin, but it is to imply that this story is getting wrung out in the social media and this forum for all its worth).

It'll be an unpopular opinion but here goes... Soi dogs are vermin - they are a pest on the local community. - IF a dog is owned by someone, it needs to have a collar and the owner is legally and financially responsible and accountable for the actions of their dog (that includes covering damages should their dog cause someone to fall off their motorcycle etc). - IF that collared dog is found outside of an enclosed area (i.e. outside of someones home on the street), then that owner should be fined. - IF a dog does not have a collar, then it has no owner, no one legally and financially responsible and accountable, it should therefor be removed... Where to ? (this is the unpopular part - either destroyed, or spayed and then sheltered for the rest of its days)... ... The issue of course with all Soi dogs is that they are left free to continue to procreate, so the only thing those feeding them are doing is perpetuating the issue leading to greater numbers of future generations of animal suffering & begging for scraps of food on the street, fighting mange and disease... True dog lovers would deal with the issue and prevent future generations of animal suffering.

I recall being on a project in northern Thailand and we were put up in a local farm house, quite a pleasant old teak building, but not very sound-proof.... Roosters started kicking off at about 2am.... which threw any stereotype of roosters crowing at dawn out of the window. I kept joking with the owners that I'm going to have Chicken-BBQ the following evening (and pointed to one of the offending roosters)... They got the messages and moved the roosters a little further away which I appreciated... all fairly light hearted stuff, but I was there for a few months and this would have worn thin very quickly...

I quite agree, its a horrific thing to do.... But some people are so oblivious of their surroundings and how their actions impact others that others are simply forced to take some form of action. In this example we have a fool who thought it ok to keep 19 dogs and clearly they are a major issue for the neighbours if someone was pushed to take such action. IF these dogs were in a secure location, how do the poisoned food get to them ? - someone thew it over the fence ? The conclusion most people have draw already makes sense: This guy was clearly an absolute nuisance and ignorant to the burden his animals placed on others. I very much doubt he fed them himself, rather he let them scrounge round the neighbourhood. My suspicion is that these were more like Soi dogs and the 'so called owner' is now making a claim in the hopes of sweeping up a little compensation. Did any of the dogs have a collar ??.... If any of those dogs had caused a motorcycle accident, or bitten a child would the same guy claiming to be the owner still be accountable, or would he claim differently that these dogs were not his and just soi dogs in such a situation where it may cost him ? One of my neighbours cats kept 'spraying up our car' and also 'scratching the seat of my motorcycle'.... I had this on video... We out the video in the neigborhoood chat group - the owner said it was his cat and he'd offer to pay for any damages and that he'd do better to try and keep the cat in (obvousouly a difficult thing to do), but clearly the owner is responsible and trying to do his part. I put out anti-cat spray, but it didn't really work... I just have to cover the bike (which I do anyway) and put a double cover on the seat... But, if it were 20 cats spraying and shi££ing everywhere, I'd be forced to take action and call in pest control to have these animals removed - there's no other solution. In a previous area I lived in (not a moo-ban) but an area of Bangkok (Wattana) which had a lot of extremely expensive houses in the area. There were no stray dogs at all in the area, which is very strange for Bangkok... but it led to nice quiet nights with no dogs barking all night long !!!... My suspicion; someone paid off the local BiB or local Win-Moto guys to keep the area 'dog free' and any soi-dogs / strays were taken care off / removed and relocated or killed and disposed of (I've no idea) - but, IMO, its not a bad solution to prevent things from getting out of hand.

Dropping a case, vertically on to one of its corners, would be a problem with the @rsehole baggage handlers, wouldn't it, not with the case, surely? Well no.. not really... It would be the 'fault of the @rsehole baggagle handlers, throwing luggage... But it would be your own problem with a damaged or split open case with missing items. I've had two items damaged by Airlines - A pushchair snapped in half and a roller case with the corner wheel smashed off it... on both examples the compensation claim was rejected by the Airline (Eithad) and the Ombudsman couldn't help as their claim on my behalf was rejected - only option was to file a legal claim with a lawyer which was going to cost more than the replacement items. IMO - the most secure case - the clamshell case (not with a Zip) but with 3 clasps - the ones the Airlines (some of them) issue to the flight crews for long haul flights... the issue for regular punters is that those clamshell clasp cases are heavier than the usual cases and a lot of EU carriers are already limiting baggage weight to a max 23 kgs from some airports. I have Tumi (Alpha 3) check XL check in Luggage... Also North Face Luggage (170 Litre Rolling Thunder 36") and both take a battering with regular travel... I have to get new bag every 3-4 years or so. I'm getting to the stage where I'd just prefer a wooden crate on wheels and be done with it.

No... but at least the ambiguity of your initial comment has been clarified. So, you have paid for a Business Class Seat on a flight which offered the Q-Suites Business Class Cabin... You were charged £62 extra each leg (4 legs per flight with flights operating via Doha)... so you were charged a total of £248 to select your seats..... Apologies for being pedantic - I'm a frequent flyer with Gold Tier membership with Qatar Airways (Silver with Emirates)... neither Airline has ever charged me for seat selection in Business Class (last flight less than 1 month ago)... Now that the confusion / ambiguity has been removed - I'm guessing the ticketed class of your Business Class seating was the heavily discounted promo-fair such as Business lite... (of which there are very few seats available - securing these low fare business seats is like winning the lottery !!). I do agree without - After you have paid for seat selection and they change air-craft, they should offer a refund unless the air-craft seating is exactly the same (i.e. Seat 10A for seat 10A front row bulk head / window seat etc).... I get free seat selection but find Qatar Airways terrible for changing the plane without notice, then when checking a few days before the flight I see that the air-craft type (i.e. A350 to B787 etc) and see that my exit-row, comfort+ seat has been lost and I'm now middle seat at the back of the plane... With ANY Qatar Airways flight - I'd recommend always double checking your seat selection, because this airline is terrible for customer notifications. Last year - Qatar Airways also changed my onward flight time (same number just changed the time by 7 hours) - meaning I had a 9 hour layover instead of a 2 hour layover.... Luckily I noticed 3 days in advance and was able to book a 'sleep-pod' (airport hotel was full) otherwise I'd have been shattered with nowhere to catch some ZZZ's at 2am...

Agreed... it could be quite the 'Nationalistic card' to play come election time.... ... I'll be the one to clean up Thailand from all these 'bad farang'.... Agreed - its straight out of a a politicians playbook and has been used for centuries, although I believe the media are simply regurgitating and focusing on all this news because its 'flavour of the month'... It'll all be forgotten about just as soon as another big story explodes.. i.e. someone doing something horrific to someone society would usually respect (in a position of respect).... i.e. 15 year old in Porsche cuts university lecturer in half speeding through a pedestrian crossing... or... as Songkran is approaching... some 'Songkran road deaths' announcements may take over... with officials wanting their 5 mins of fame... .. Expect something like... - Officials announce to cut Songkran deaths in half to only 60 per day (then cue all the comments thats this isn't half at all !!) - Authorities ban people riding in the back of pickups - Authorities announce crack-down on drink driving - Authorities announce crack-down on no helmets Or something similar, but this foreigner stuff will go quite after the media realise their tune is getting old.

I think you have highlighted some of the more prolific bigoted posters with your points 1-2-3... these issues prevent the 'usual suspects' from ever having a mutually respectful relationship with anyone, let alone with those of a foreign host nation. Most posters are not guilty of the above listed issues that prevent the development of mutually respectful friendships and relationships. I see most of my friends as having 'integrated' - and by that I mean involved in mutually respectful friendships with Thai's and plenty of other nationalities within their area and community such that they 'fit in' just as anyone else in the area does... ... These friends can have intelligent conversations with their wives because they didn't pick them up in a bar, they met through friends of a similar socio-economic-educational status ... These friend don't accuse all Thai's as being stupid, corrupt idiots... because thats not the way they see 'all Thai's... equally so, they are observant enough to see the corruption etc and are able to discuss such issues with Thai's within the society they have 'integrated'. ... These friends don't have a superiority complex over Thai people because they are frequently mixing and socialising with Thai friends of a similar socio-economic-educational status such that these 'feelings of superiority' never surface as they may with others mixing with those below their '*station' (*station: for want of a better word / & it is a horrible snobby word to use and point to make, nevertheless its valid - if you are hanging around with labourers, motorcycle taxi guys, bar-girls and free-lancers etc - then its hardly any surprise that someone may feel they have a better knowledge of the world etc and through that develop feelings of superiority - but it has more to do with who people are integrating with than any degree of superiority).

It seems your upstanding of the word 'integration' means 'complete and total assimilation into a society' such that we cannot be identified as being separate from it... Thus: From your perspective - Integration for any non-Thai is an impossibility. However, from the perspective of simply living normally within the Thai community and society, then integration from that aspect is readily achievable and I would suggest quite the norm for many non-Thai's living here in Thailand.

Not really, if she has no idea what triggered his reaction then either she’s an oblivious & poor driver (as you imply), or, there was nothing & the Aussie has extremely thin skin. Perhaps she was driving as everyone does here & the Aussie expected an ‘Australian standard of driving’ & took objection to her not giving way or not giving enough space etc. It does appear as though there was an earlier trigger point, though with all the can footage I’m wondering why earlier buildup footage is not available? Does it tell a different story & show why the Aussie got so annoyed… ??? (maybe that’s why it’s missing ???) still no excuse for the Aussie’s violent behavior, but perhaps an explanation of the trigger.

Wrong - Lots of Business Class & Eco Class flights over recent years (many years actually)…. The menus are not the same at all, there may occasionally be an overlap, with the similar ‘chicken dish’ etc of at Christmas with both classes serving a festive ‘turkey’ option etc - but the food most certainly not ‘just the same food on a different plate’…. & starters etc are also very different… Some overlap - but it’s not the same menu.

This is absolutely not true - it is a completely different menu. 100% agree…. This ‘same food different plates’ myth is like those barstool myths we so frequently read on this forum.

Qatar airways doesn’t have Q Class. It has Eco, Business & First Class. Within that is has ticketing tiers (codes) Q is an economy code. Were you in a Business class Q suite seat ??? If so, Qatar airways doesn't charge for Business Class seat selection. Thats why you comment seems to strange for me.

Honestly not surprised- I imagine such offerings are inedible in most restaurants !!! QR Eco food is on par with Emirates & other top tier airlines. With your discussion of Eco meals I’m still confused if your £62 booked seat was for an eco or business class seat.

Very odd - I do not know of any airline that charges extra over the cost of the Business Class ticket alone to select a seat…. (I fly QR a lot - Gold Tier). This is why I asked if it was a business or eco seat you were tickets for - it still appears as though you are talking about Economy Class seating.

Not quite - the ‘fines’ get posted to the address the vehicle is registered at.

The other thread in on this forum… It’s a new issue now where any negative issue involving foreigners is attracting so much media attention the same issue / story is being posted in numerous concurrently running threads.

I wouldn’t worry about it, it’s still your Driving License & registered under: - your own Individual Driving License number - your passport number - Full Name - Photo The address part is hardly relevant.