Veeke

Another thing that at annoy me is that there are no street lamps along a Soi in Hua Hin that leads to rather large Thai as well as expat communities. Apart from the viscous Soi dogs, it is pitch black, so not conducive to walking to a local restaurant at night.

Don't walk..

Or

Buy a flashlight..

For sure, don't run...

Some dogs will attack..

Just stand still -- with a flashlight pointing at it..

I would recommend a 10,000 volt cattle prod ....and use it on the mangy soi dogs even if they are not harassing you.....just to let them know who is the Alpha male.

Cheers

Dog menace - regardless of stray or owned - definitely deter people from taking up a morning walk or evening walk even on the public roads. How nice it would have been if people were realistic and not emotional on matters like "dogs"

Disfigurement of the face of a girl is settled for 150,000 Baht!

Talking just about treatment cost?

What about the trauma - mental agony it caused - do the owner of the dog has a daughter?

Where is safety and security for our children? or safety of property is more important?

Loving dogs is somehow more fashionable - but somewhere we are forgetting our primary goals and priorities.....

It looks like Thailand has amassed enough through tourism and now wants to discourage foreigners entering into this country - as visible in the lack of interest from the part of authorities. However there are many people naturally developed relations with Thai families and otherwise who have compulsions to continue the relations in Thailand - maybe it is hardships awaiting them.

It is very unfortunate to see the fundamentalist Muslims in Bangladesh stepping up their activities eclipsing the simplicity and innocence of more humanly average Bangladeshis. The reasons they attribute for such killings are lies. Intolerance - no matter which religion or collectivity holds it results in brutality and violation of basic tenets of humanity. In all such recent incidences in Bangladesh the victim is the chief earning member of the family and there is no system to offer financial security to the surviving children and women in the family.

There used to be a group of people in Kerala of India around 15-20 years ago who were highly skilled in killing stray dogs without inflicting any pain and Kerala used to be the only place in India where one could go around without any fear of stray dogs. However this disease of animal love (without any brain) has changed the situation in that place drastically. There has been this campaign of 'loving stray dogs' personification and identifying with the 'feelings of a stray dog' catching up in Kerala too especially among a section of middle class people and today this skill of eliminating stray dogs is extinct.

It is a good fashion to be loving and being lovable to stray dogs - the sufferers are mostly small children of the poorest families who can be safely ignored(!). For the older people who would like to take up a morning walk are increasingly intimidated by the dog menace.

It is time for the state and society to weigh the merits and demerits of this "love". Where do we find a balance of sanity and love...... why don't we love rats and other pests?

The qualification to judge "really ugly"?

I thought he is well dressed for a splash game as part of Songkran

The man looked Indian? Is that a generic term? I have seen many Thai's from the south who look "Indian" and many Burmese are of Indian descent. To say that he looked Indian is no indication to his real origins at all.

I fully agree with you... however these type of discussions bring out a lot of prejudices. I saw people using words like 'pesky' 'identify by the stench they normally...." etc. It must be very painful for the Indians who read it. Of course there is robbery, murder, cheating and so many other vices committed by Indians especially in India. But they are not the whole population. And these viles are not limited to India. We will find it anywhere in the world. People in India are not identical by any standards. They differ even by physical features. People in the north eastern provinces look like Chinese and Thais.

I know very affectionate and very good people in Thailand. But we don't judge the country when we read a news of a lady cheating her boy friend or the news of a robbery.

Two huge robberies worth 6000 Baht! Must be Indians!!!

Ms. Panita must be an influential lady. Who punishes the dogs biting young children to death. The "dog love" is more a fashion across most Asian countries recently without any sensitivity to the woes of pedestrians and children of poor settlements

Tragic indeed. It seems that quite a fair amount of old men prefer jumping from high buildings than taking some amazing pills and going on one last journey before just not waking up anymore. Jumping shouldn't be an option for anybody and the most important reason being total fear, pain and discomfort seconds before traveling to other pastures. If somebody really doesn't want to continue in this realm for whatever reason, mostly being illness, old age or depression then take the most humane way out. Remember that after you throw yourself off a building or in front of a train, bus or other fast moving object there are people who have to clean up the mess and I don't care what anyone says about this, it is always traumatizing for the ambulance personnel/cleaning staff and what about passerby's? Did any jumper ever think about somebody walking below and what would happen if suddenly a person would fall on top of them of explode on the ground close to them? What an irresponsible way to take your life. Selfish as so to speak, without talking about the family members left behind. So when you decide that you can't continue anymore for whatever reason, legit or not, and you have made your mind up to discontinue your time on this planet; do so in a responsible way! Euthanasia should always happen with guidance of professionals

RIP Mr Angus

A valid discussion point. In the absence of rightful understanding and lack of support many people would have to opt for self killing. Many of our 'morals' are unfounded and cruel. There is a need for awareness for better ways of self-killing than ignoring the need and advising "help-seeking" "counselling" etc which are not practical at certain stages in life.

Once dead - it is like 'never been alive'.

USD is down against most currencies

Maybe blame Trump, thats getting a little scary

That is not fully true... USD is weakening against Euro but strengthening against most of the Asian currencies. Thai Baht is a bit over 39 against Euro - one cannot expect USD above 35-36 at the moment

....maybe something in the food which spoils brains

You're clearly pointing at older men and younger Thai women in Thailand, you're not I would imagine pointing at older western men and young western girls, there's a big difference.

That being true:

To answer the question appropriately you would have to be a Buddhist who has lived within Thai culture and at Thai income levels, all of their life.

To answer the question as a Westerner means invoking a totally different set of values.

So, give us a model on which to base our answer, which nationality for which person?

Even if we come out of our racial, national and communal prejudices - there could be very personal situations when it comes to dating and marriage. My elder daughter married to a much older man - I was happy at that time and happier after 6 years now. Because it was her choice of good healthy man which he proved out to be. he loved her so much and even now. I may not be happy if my younger daughter follow it just to marry an older man.

While this defamation law is in force it will always be used by criminals to cover up their crimes or exact a measure of revenge on someone who writes about them.

It's a law that appears to have been designed to make people keep their mouths shut and silence journalists.

A sign of feeble democracy - weaker in taking criticism - stronger in silencing exposure

It seems that one of the pilots of the downed jet was machine gunned while floating down to earth in his parachute.

I find this an unbelievable callous, gutless and bloodthirsty act.

I think it goes with the the territory. He was trying to bomb them.

Sometimes it is difficult to understand when and why we support a terrorist killing... in this case killing the pilot and around a quarter of a century ago killing the former President of Afghanistan with all brutality by the islamic militants taking power (maybe because that process was supported by the US)

"Over-exposure to anti-biotics by children may result to diabetes, allergy or ashma" (quoted from the news) Is it not a paradox that any modern medical practitioner fill patients with antibiotics - even the kids - and when the problem of overuse arise instruct that 'visit a doctor always' and 'get medicine only through prescription'?

Any Chinese victims in the latest Muslim attack at the Raddison hotel in Mali?

Ten of the hostages at the Raddison are Chinese

CNN also agrees in the news item (maybe inadvertently) that "which has stayed on the sidelines in the fight against ISIS and has a long-held principle of noninterference in other countries' affairs."

Basically the terrorists make the life of Muslims around the world very difficult

Countries like India and Bangladesh do not have an ATM charge at all. After all the banks have many ways of benefiting from liquidity

It is high time the elders stop feeding the kids with MSG, colas and other junk food which are addictive and unhealthy

I never knew China allows this much freedom - I cannot think of hurting religious sentiments or national anthem unless I am in a mood to commit to suicide

Arrest someone and there is a plausible story - another day arrest a different person - again a different plausible story - Is there a sound intelligence agency?

Thank you kowpot for bringing this up. Being judgemental is universal - every society nurtures their own stigmas against certain others through real examples and stories - unfortunately we are all victims like this here or there..... I think instead of channelising our anger on this Thai person, we should hate branding people, being judgemental against other groups - be it racial, religious or geographical.

One more point - the people at hospitality business - whether in hotels or in transport including flights should be disqualified for such behaviour