Dustdevil

Chinese pushing in front of Thais,i thought Thais

were champions at that,I remember bank queues

before they started to use ropes and Q numbers,

it was like a rugby scrum with lots more players.

Regards worgeordie

You haven't seen anything until you've seen "lining up" anywhere in the Middle East. In fact, there are no lines, except at international airports OUTSIDE SAUDI ARABIA.

I worked in the Gulf Middle East for many years, half in the UAE and half in Saudi. I've driven a lot in Chiang Mai. It's a piece of cake compared to the ME. Driving in Chiang Mai is like having a Hennesy brandy in a jacuzzi compared to driving in Saudi Arabia.

Norwegian with financial issues...now that's a new one.

I was going to say! Why not just go home and live at government largesse?

Quality tourists!

He must have been frustrated at the 50-60% lower ruble. That should wean out the dregs leaving Mother Russia.

White powder.... Hmm, baking a cake?

Whatever it is, it can always be planted. And local media can rule cause of death without ever having seen the body. By the way, this was how it went down in Perugia, Italy with Amanda Knox. Nobody had a clue what they were doing and they convicted an innocent girl. Then they overturned the conviction, but convicted her again in absentia. But several top international forensics and criminologists from around the world said she was almost certainly innocent. One of the experts was legendary FBI profiler John Douglas (inspiration for Jack Crawford in "Silence of the Lambs," who together with Robert Ressler had decades ago coined the very term "serial killer.")

To top it off, in Italy if you dare suggest someone else might have done it, like Amanda's parents did to the press, that's a criminal offense! Yes--first they call it slander, and then it turns out slander is a criminal offense. In Sweden too, by the way.

So...several European countries need a First Amendment. And, just as in the States, some local jurisdictions don't know what the hell they're doing. This idiot prosecutor in Perugia was a tyrant who believed in Satanic ritual murder and decided Amanda and her boyfriend were satanic cult murderers.

The FBI's Crime Classification Manual, however, specifically states that there is essentially no such thing as satanic cult murder. Jim Jones-type, yes, occasionally, but not Satan-worship-killers per se.

In the JonBenet Ramsey case, again, the parents were essentially convicted by the press and the local cops. That's because (1) most newspaper writers are not crime experts, especially if they haven't seen the crime scene! and (2) in Boulder, Colorado there wasn't even a homicide detective on the force, because they only had about one homicide a year. So they put an incompetent robbery detective on the case, who proceeded to make all kinds of stupid suppositions and conclusions. Fortunately, John Douglas himself and other experts of national standing were consulted, and they all said the parents couldn't possibly have done it. The parents were therefore never indicted.

My conclusions here: (1) Would you expect better in Thailand? When I lived in Japan 1988-92, about 98% of all prosecutions resulted in a conviction!! REALLY? The cops are so amazing there?? I wouldn't expect much better in Thailand, but I bet they're 1000% better than the fascists in Malaysia. (2) Not on this forum but in other comments around the net, I see Europeans make fun of the US justice system, but I'd say, look at the abuse in Perugia. It doesn't represent all Italian jurisdictions, although the national cops (Carabinieri) always seem to be involved in homicides. And look at the fact that libel or slander are criminal offenses in Italy and Sweden! It is only a civil matter in the US, AND it's difficult to prove against public figures! This protects us common people from the wrath of public figures, and the rich and powerful.

What about Chiang Mai? Good dentists there and a good hospital, but I don't know about cosmetic surgery.

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Hopefully took them away for a <deleted> good hiding!

Hopefully, they will extended tour inside thai jail

I wish it had been a US airline out of an American airport. Then the couple could have enjoyed a bonus extended vacation at Club Fed. But then...why wasn't that Korean nut lady arrested at JFK?

Excuse my ignorance: If I maintain 800,000 baht in a Thai bank throughout the year, is there still a need to show a steady income of 65,000 baht per month ?

My MONTHLY income upon retirement will vary between only $1000 (US social security for life) and $5000 (in a good year for US stocks). Assuming a conservative 6% average annual return on stock investments, my monthly income should amount to at least $2250 (72,000 baht). But that can dip below 65,000 baht sometimes.

Thanks in advance.

Just showing the bank account is all that you will need. You will need to have or show ANY INCOME.

Cheers.

Thanks for that.

Do you recommend hiring Thai immigration lawyers to start out? Or is it easy enough to establish retirement by oneself?

Excuse my ignorance: If I maintain 800,000 baht in a Thai bank throughout the year, is there still a need to show a steady income of 65,000 baht per month ?

My MONTHLY income upon retirement will vary between only $1000 (US social security for life) and $5000 (in a good year for US stocks). Assuming a conservative 6% average annual return on stock investments, my monthly income should amount to at least $2250 (72,000 baht). But that can dip below 65,000 baht sometimes.

Thanks in advance.

Took me 3 years to find my Thai woman. She is not only 22 years younger than myself, she also looks 10 years younger of her age. She is the most beautiful woman I ever had for a partner on my older years, most beautiful than any women I know in that age. I am glad that she do not believe in that, that she is fairly conservative, and that she do not like to show off her attributes...if not.....Good Bye Thailand...I will have to go back to Brazil to find a comparable one.

On average Asian women are more beautiful than Spanish women I think.

No question about that. Although a lily-white American, I have been involved only with Asian women since 1984. Was married to a Chinese from 1993 to 2008. Love Thai women to pieces; yes, they're incredibly beauitful and sexy and good-natured, better than Malaysians (I hate Malaysia, with its ill-mannered, food-obsessed nitwits. "Have you taken your breakfast? Have you taken your dinner? We have a food paradise! What will we have for dinner tonight? blah blah blah"). But I have to say, in some sublime and transcendent way, mainland Chinese beauties are just absolutely unsurpassable. On a macro-Asian level, I like how Asian women don't generally plays games in their relationships with you. I mean, either they like you or they don't. If they don't, have a nice day, If they do, let's get on with it. With the exception of Japanese. I lived there for four years as well. The Japanese are beautiful but totally two-faced. Right now I have a Thai gf and I love her like crazy. Lucky me, I still look 10 years younger than I am, and she's 30 years younger than I. In the West I would be branded a predatory pervert.

Actually I'm divorced. Last night I told the New York taxi driver to show me a good time. He took me to my ex-wife's place.

My wife is ugly. One time I went into a hotel, I asked the bellhop to handle my bag - he felt up my wife.

Looks??

Man need good woman. Cook big dinner!

Different people have different needs on large-screen TVs. My perspective is strictly size and quality of the picture. I study, watch and sometimes write about movies, so when I watch them at home, a 60" is my minimum size for a cinema-type experience. (I have ties to Thailand but I'm working in Saudi Arabia, so home cinema is all the more significant in a country where movie theatres don't exist.)

So I ignore 3-D and all the other crap. Yes, I get most of my video material from the internet. But I simply download it first with my laptop and onto any USB drive, and then connect it to my Asus media player, which in turn connects to the TV via HDMI cable. So, long story short, I watch anything I want on a large TV without paying extra for "smart" nonsense.

This is personal taste, but i ignore 3-D and certainly prefer not to pay extra for it. 3-D perverts cinematography. It's great for watching talking rats stick their noses in your face. I think it will fizzle out.

I noticed Siam TV in Chiang Mai this past year has offered a couple of basic 60" models (I believe Sony and LG or Toshiba) for under 50,000 baht.