MrOzark

I have lived in both places for years. I lived in Pattaya for a few years and in Msia with several week long visits to Penang.

Penang is like living in China. Dominated by the Chinese. So, if you like that culture, you will like it except for that fact that the Muslims in charge of the country make alcohol and a lot of other freedoms kind of expensive.

I recommend living in Thailand in a much better city than Pattaya. There are places all over Thailand you can visit that are better than living anywhere in Msia.

My humble opinion.

Saying "we're going to burn down..." "trust me" This is conspiracy to commit a crime and is illegal in itself. It doesn't matter whether he was involved or not. And since when does being 'just a football hooligan' excuse anyone of anything? I've met plenty in Pattaya. They should be on leashes.

Rogera: you make great points. I think the most important is this: How do you think they can undergo this difficult task of reuniting?

As someone now who watches the situation from abroad,why are there so many people on this site that can't remember that the people voted for Thai rak Thai party and it was so called stable for many years, what would have happened if the Military had null and voided the election in America or Britain?As I have pointed out on this site before, some people win the election and some people lose,That is what is called democracy,I voted conservative in the elections when Labour were in,but I accepted that that was the people's choice.Most people would agree that that is the way of the world now?? Why doesn't Thailand?When the next one comes is it all going to be the same again?.

Duangdao, from your name you are Thai, probably from the northeast or north, and I can understand the reasons for your post. I have relatives in the north east and think that the majority of the people there are probably the most sincere and honest people you can find in Thailand. However, you have to consider the reasons why Thaksin was overthrown in a coup because, with all his wealth and ability to buy votes, it was possible that he could have remained in power indefinitely. In retrospect, these fears may have been exaggerated for the reasons laid out below.

It may be that Thaksin was massively elected by over 60% of the vote when he lasted his first full parliamentary term. During that time, many people became totally disillusioned as explained in the next paragraph, and, at the subsequent election in 2005, despite massive vote buying, his share of the vote dropped off dramatically, so much so that the number of votes were fairly evenly split between TRT and the other parties at roughly 12, 400,000 for TRT and 12 million for the other parties. Although he had the largest number of seats and so formed the government, he still had to rely on the smaller parties to ensure that he had a comfortable working majority. In the election of 2007, Thaksin's share of the vote dropped even more to the point where his party could not muster an overall majority, relying on the smaller parties to govern. When, these smaller parties withdrew their support and joined the Democrats, Puea Thai had to relinquish power.

Thaksin was removed for several reasons, not least of which was massive kleptomania, i.e. the wholesale pilfering of the national treasury, a major threat to the continuation of the monarchy, selling Thai land off to Cambodia for lucrative contracts with that country and a massive conflict of interest in dealing with neighbouring countries e.g. Burma. Add to that the stacking of the police and armed forces with people close to him, who were equally corrupt, so much so that even the middle class who had previously supported him felt seriously threatened. There was also the shutting down of the press for publishing articles that Thaksin did not like, the sacking of officials for not bending to his corrupt orders and many other things besides. Thailand was fast becoming a banana republic in the eyes of the world. That was the reason why many, many Thais welcomed the soldiers with flowers. For them it was a great deliverance from what was becoming a parliamentary dictatorship and a fascist state. All this and just giving crumbs to the rural poor.

Whether you like it or not, Thaksin's days are over and it is very likely that if he ever returned, someone would have him killed for what he has done to this beautiful country. The red shirts days may not be over, (but Thaksin's are) but it is highly unlikely that they will be able to mount such a protest in the future again, at least not for a long time to come.

The government's first priority after restoring order and getting the economy going again is to try to reconcile both sides of the social divide. In this sense, if the government succeeds in this difficult task, it may be something that very good may out of this mess through investments in infrastructure projects and the development of the rural areas that provide jobs and a decent standard of living for the rural poor. That must be of the highest priority.

In every country, even in the west, the rural economy is usually slightly less developed than the main cities, but the income gap there is far less than it is in Thailand and part of the solution is to try to make this income gap much, much less here than it is at the present. I would urge you to try to have some hope for the future and try to overcome your negative feelings. In any case, if the so-called elite do not do this, their days are numbered. Thailand and its people are resourceful, hard-working and it is a wonderful place to live. Keep the faith.

I've had snatch and run happen to me in both Thailand and China. The Chinese laugh about it because you're a foreigner. There is absolutely no help from the police. And Thailand? When my passport was stolen along with my computer,etc, they barely cared enough to do the paperwork so I could apply for a new visa. It happens in both countries too many times to count. This was photographed because the thief was caught and made a good story. The many thousands of other instances are not accounted for publicly.

Repetition. And I don't mean 10 times. As children, we learn our native tongue

by speaking it and self-correcting EVERYDAY ALL DAY.

There are 2 key requirements:

1) Integrity. Sincerely care to pronounce the words correctly - not common

in Thailand.

2) Diligence. Consciously work at it.

The only time I haven't been able to teach proper pronunciation is

when the person gives up. And they always do so right away.

Chok Dee.

My wife's written English is nearly perfect.

But she has the problem that is so common to Thais, the habit of dropping or changing certain letters.

This all too often changes the sentance completely.

Like: R L T TH V W S...

She learned her English at Uni and before she met me did not get practice with native English speakers.

It is OK for me as I usually know what she is saying but it becomes a problem when she talks to other people that are not used to conversing with Thais.

Does anyone know of a teaching method to correct this?

Corrupt police in Thailand?

Say it aint so!

People doing nothing more than complaining?

Land of delusion.

It makes sense to stop smiling and DO something.

I wish more of the people we try to help would give us some feedback, the forum is a two way operation and his/her experience could help the next person who comes along.

Yes. I think a web site with reviews would help.

That way, people can share their experience.

There are many travel sites that do this, but a local one

would be nice.

Wow, Dubai sounds great.

Good initiative, but.....

They can't even make the IT systems at the Immigration Offices work.

Do they honestly believe that this will improve investments?

We need more 'Advanced' in those names for them to work at all

This is yet another offensive from a Thai official who need to bring himself in focus for a few days.

I doubt it will ever happen.

Probably the best system at present is the E-Gate system in Dubai (and being rolled out throughout the UAE). Eligibility is residents and a certain list of other nationalities (including UK, US and most of EU). It takes about 30 mins to register with photo and then to have a digital set of fingerprints taken. From then on all you do on arrival or departure is to touch the card to the entry pad at immigration and gate A oprns. You then put the chosen finger on the scanner and as long as the system recognises it, gate B opens and you are through - no passport stamp. If system acts up, the immigration officer at the E-Gate handles it manually - no need to join the general queue

Been doing a lot of online & in person research for much the same type of camera for the past few weeks here in CM.

From what I have gleaned from it all is that the "superzooms" that is 18x or 20x are ok all round cameras but lose out quite a lot on photo quality due to their relatively small CCD sensors and other internals especially at the longer focal length.

Walked into Photobug main shop near Thapae Gate the other day inquiring into the Olympus 570 and other similar brands/specs cameras.

Was told by the rather abrupt salesman (the type that make you feel you are wasting their precious time by wanting to buy something from their shop) that "we don't have them" and that "none of the other Photobug stores have them in stock either and never carry them".

Funny as on the way out of the store I picked up their latest brochure - which listed the Olympus 570. As well as being listed on their website. I wonder just HOW many lost sales have occurred due to the salespersons attitudes in that place.

I decided if I were to buy one of that type it would be this http://www.steves-digicams.com/2007_review...ji_s8000fd.html

- cheaper than the Olympus, Nikon & pretty much same quality photos, specs, zoom and feels better with the larger grip and ergonomics.

For only a few thousand baht more you can get one of these http://www.photoreview.com.au/reviews/adva...pix-s100fs.aspx which seems to fill the gap between an interchangeable lens DSLR and the smaller in size 18-20x zoom cameras.

The one mentioned above "only" has the max zoom at 14.3x though, with its non removable lens. But much better overall photo quality & specs in a bigger body/lens.

Decisions decisions!

I've been to Photbug a few times and both times didn't feel welcome or respected as a customer there.

When it comes to Fujifilm cameras, I bought mine at Makro in CR and it is a model S9500. I am very happy with it. And I compared the price and it was excellent. At the time, there were some reviews that had come out criticizing the CCD in some way and the focus mechanism or something. I checked out the one in the store and it was fine. So, I bought it. That was May 2006. I've used it seriously since then and have had no problems. It has a 28 to 300 zoom (35mm SLR equiv.) and that has also been enough. It was the second reason I bought the camera. The main reason I bought the camera was its feel. No matter what the specs are, I won't buy a camera if it doesn't fit my hands comfortably. I highly recommend Fuji if you don't need to have interchangeable lenses.

Thailand political (civil / army) scene is a shame ...

But can anyone ... give the name of a political leader (anywhere) they would appreciate to run (any) country ?

Politics is in the hand of financial interests only ... and that is depressing ...

I think many people know it is not the leaders that are the problem.

It is the common man's lack of involvement.

If individuals won't get involved in managing their environment,

governments will take their money and pay someone to do it

in the way that they choose.

Samak is the least of Thailand's problems.

Are you selling a business or land?

Try lannarealty or post it in thaivisa classifieds, though it gets lost there very easy.

I think the old system of advertising on thaivisa was much better. You saw at a glance if there was anything interesting in your own or another locality, but now you have to click to classifieds and click to for sale and then if anything cathches your eye you have to click again and if you want to see if they have the item in Chiang Mai you have to start the process all over again.

Hardly convenient.

Thanks for that.

I had tried Sunbelt Asia in Chiangmai who are currently trying to sell my land in Chiangmai but, they seemed unfamiliar with the values in Maesai. They were also not happy to sell a property without a chanote even though all the properties on the Thai/Burmese border in Maesai don't have chanotes. My property is right on the banks of the Sai river opposite the large casino in Tachileik.

Do the people that say 'keep sports and politics separate' realize that

this is all organized by governments? That the only thing any

gov has is their political agenda?

These aren't groups of individuals getting together and competing.

This is all gov sponsored stuff.

It's like going to a Christian church and being bothered by

them talking about God. You stand up and listen to YOUR

anthem when YOUR country wins.

The Olympics ARE politics.

duh.

Does anyone know of a good book or other source of reliable

information about Thailand's policy towards foreigners?

Having lived abroad for 10 years, the closest I can come is this:

People that come to Thailand on vacation with spouse/family

don't come back often and if they do, it is for a short time.

There are a huge number of sex/marriage tourists that like the

environment here and decide to live and die here based on

the environment and economics. Some of these have considerable money.

Most fall asleep, become pods and start to justify xenophobic

behavior and forget that Thailand is nothing like a truly developed

country.

Then there are the scumbags that come for sex, children and drugs.

Some become teachers and many live in bars.

Finally the charitable and missionaries that are mostly shielded from

true day to day life because they associate with and draw funds from

a rich western source.

I don't know that Thailand is attracting any investors. Only those that already

want to live here because they married a Thai girl and have extra money

with which to play.

It seems that Thailand can clamp down all they want on visas and laws about

ownership because it only makes the scumbags/dabblers leave and those

with enough money aren't affected. New laws seem to be encouraging actual

investment as opposed to the all-to-common 'foreigner falls in lust, foreigner

buys house and car in girls name, foreigner leaves and loses it all'.

""This should never have occurred," said Thai Hotels Association president Chanin Dhonavanik.

"What will the world think of Thailand when the world's best hotel is involved in a lawsuit like this? This is the first in Thai hotel history and will certainly damage our reputation.""

I think he over values the worth of Thailands world reputation.

You mean as 'brothel to the world'?

That's just.. well, not sabai.

Went to Mad Dog the other day and was very happy with the service and pizza.

Will try their bfast.

Bake and Bite has messed up my order a few times and been out of something

usually, but the owner/manager there seems to sincerely care about

serving good food, good service and making you happy. They got my vote.

I asked for a white sourdough bread instead of 7 grain and she said the

white sourdough doesn't seem to be popular. Go figure.

There are cultural differences and problems with supplying ingredients

from around the world. I think intention is most important thing and

when I go to Bake and Bite, I feel they are really doing their best.

Now, about the hotel where I'm staying. Al Pacino should come and take

'a flame thrower this place'. The intention here is to 'ignore the customer'.

Where's Duke's? Gotta go there tomorrow....

Yeah, and wear a plastic construction hat everywhere you go!

I don't fault Thai's specifically. I fault any coward that requires you needing to

to use an illustration involving a pack of wild animals

in order to justify their behavior.

Thai men are a bunch weak assed bastards who only know how to fight with help of their gang friends and if that doesn't work they just shoot you. One on one they are nothing. These men who commited this crime should all be executed. There is no excuse for what they did, a cold blooded murder.

I have to agree, it's never one on one here in Thailand!! But tell me where it's one on one?? i've lived in many places and i can't remember seeing one on one fights that often, usually one poor guy getting the sh@t kicked out of him by 4 or 5 others

It's certainly not one on one in Iraq or Afganistan, it's not one on one in the Gaza Strip, it wasn't one on one at Hiroshima or Nagasaki either. It's been the same throughout history... the only people complaining about the odds are the ones who are afraid of losing or who have already lost. When you've won, you can call it whatever you want... superior tactics/firepower/etc.

Yeah, I don't understand the viewpoint espoused in this thread either about "fair fights." To be honest i've rarely seen a completely fair fight in the western world. I hear about lots of gang violence where people get killed for no reason in the same fashion or people getting blown away over insults as well. This idea that everything is one on one and completely fair in the west is pretty much laughable ethnocentric crap by ancient expats reminiscing about an idealized version of whatever hick town they crawled out of.

I don't fault Thais for taking this viewpoint because that's just how it's done. You aren't fighting for honor you're fighting to win at any cost..plain and simple. It's a very predatory type of reaction but it makes a lot of sense. You don't see wolves puff out their chests and yell at deer they are trying to kill. They stalk and kill it with brutal efficiency in a pack.

I say we all go after the real enemy: The popular people's front. Splitters!!!

Somebody perhaps makes a comment about football and is chased down and beaten with rocks for it.

The joke of this is not that it happened - that is sad enough.

The real joke (laugh to keep from crying) is

1) how often things like this happen here,

2) how rarely one is held truly accountable,

3) what percentage of the population is capable of these kinds of acts

and/or sympathetic to the attackers.

Thailang they are, and Thailang they shall remain.

I trust eyewitnesses and not the news and especially not anything coming from the gov or police.

As long as Thailand makes so much money from tourism, it will be hard for the reports to be honest. As long as the culture puts more importance on 'face' than truth and honesty, the Thai population will not be honest. As long as foreign visitors spend most of their time in bars and bitching to each other or ignoring the truth, the foreign visitors will have no say about how they are treated by any corrupt regime. I'm grateful that there is a place to discuss this and learn and that more and more people are becoming more awake and aware. Thailand isn't the only place, but that is no reason to dismiss the horrendous things that go on.

I think it should be said for the record that if you joke with security people

in general about having a bomb or gun, you will probably end up

being interrogated for hours someday. I know of actual experiences.

Be careful with security people.

I'm so sorry to hear about this.

Brian was an interesting guy and always helpful.

I would prefer if you let this subject go please.

No problem, however, I didn't bring it up.

They started it!

I think it went like this.

In my home town LA:

He got beat up by cops and it was on video.

The cops all got off without being disciplined.

The black population of the city flipped out and many

portions of the city were on fire for days.

He went on TV to ask people to calm down and that was his famous line.

A short time later he was arrested for (I think) drunk driving and

soliciting a lady of the evening.

I apologize if I am slandering Rodney!

Any way to get immunity with TV staff?