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Are you high?

First you state that it's very important that one uses the official taxi and when my post states that I did you say 'neither did they'?

sorry i misundersotod your poor use of english - and no i am not high but i assume your american

....who went to accredited university...and you went to.....?

The old tirades against rescue foundations and their volonteers ...

Nobody says that all is in order, and that there is not much to be improved upon, but these foundations are the only functioning rescue system in Thailand. The irony here especially is, that while you rant against them, these volunteers have been busy last night in Phuket getting injured and dead passengers out of the airplane catastrophe.

These volunteers do not get paid, often have to buy their own equipment themselves, and often risk their lives trying to help.

..........................and taking pictures of the dead, charred bodies to sell them to newspapers...yep, real angels of mercy they is....

......

Not sure why you're reading what I'm writing as negative. I'm trying to find out if Thais want me, or farangs in general, in Thailand. If so great, sounds like a wonderful country. If not, I'll look elsewhere. Regards.

Was I coming down on you? I thought I was being quite helpful answering your questions, really from one of the “inside” sources.

Perhaps you didn’t like the answers?

I can see that the great thai educational system has prepared you to deal with anybody not thai. You have rice, you have nightlife...that is it....

If you are not very wealthy, the chance you will be kicked out of Thailand in the future is great. The visa rules are mostly about ever increasing financial requirements. Like someone else said, if you are anywhere near marginal at the time of retirement, you almost certainly will be priced out. Thailand is not as cheap as people think, not by a longshot, especially for weak Bush dollar Americans.

Chiang Mai is nice. During a period of some months every year, the air pollution is some of the worst in the world. Visibly horrible with people wearing masks. The lung disease rates (cancer, asthma, etc) are also some of the highest in the world. If you don't have any lung problems now, you will if you move there.

Yes, you keep your currency and I will keep my U.S. dollar...get back to me next year and we will discuss the issue again. What does Bush have to do with the currency, you spaz?!

Laughing at other people's/animals' misfortunes is yet another example of the lack of moral principles here. I am sure that this is due to reliance on making merit instead of Buddhist teachings. In particular the need to respect ALL life.

You obviously haven't a clue about Thai's or their way of life.

YOU have formed your own concept of how one should behave in this situation.

1/ Thais laugh at the action , not at the person.

2/ They mean absolutely no harm whatsoever (unlike some vindictive Westerners).

3/ They would be the first to offer assistance to the person in question.

Most Westerners could really learn a thing or two from these character traits.

They are living the Dhamma..

Life's to short, lighten up a little.

Dharma and Gregg? And no I won't.

Soldiers need protection, period.

Thailand doesn't produce armoured pickups and US Bradleys are far more expensive, I suspect.

Consitution draft not translated in Malay dialect - nothing unusual, it's not an official language yet.

My friend , look at what is happening to the US forces in Iraq , the Iraqi resistence are blowing up the Abrahams tanks and destroying them , with road side bombs , so dont expect a light armoured vehicule to provide any kind of protection to road side bombs .

The only solution to the south crisis is through dialogue , because whenever you have a resistance force , the harder you hit them the more harder they will hit you back .

Only two U.S. tanks have been complete lost in Iraq, get your facts straight. Dialogue has never, in the histroy of mankind worked with extemists. Yes, many of our tanks have been hit but they are usally back in service. The M1A1 Abrhams is designed to take for IEDs as its original concept was to fight on the plains of Germany against the Soviet Union which was expected to rely heavily on landmines if war erupted. Just because you want to star "Hug a Terrorist Day" don't use faulty facts to make yourself look stupid. Ask Spain how everything has been in Spain since they have left Iraq. Considering U.S. vehicles are hit on a daily basis, how many times a day do you hear of a U.S. vehicle is lost? And now, the military wouldn't keep that a secret because the media would not let them. I will support you if you want to go talk to the muzzies down south and I will even hold your wallet for you...

More than $1 mil each for those 8-wheeled APCs?

That's almost as much as older Bradley costs.

The Thais got ripped off - by probably 30-40%.

Right, the original BTR concept as an amphibious assault vehicle (much like the Marines main IFV) and is not suited for urban warfare or sustained combat. Its job is to drop off the troops and get the heck out of there. I'm thinking somebody in the Thai military made a nice little commision on this one...

Although education and health are indeed primary issues, the unfortunate aspect of the southern troubles is that teachers, civil servants and health care providers are being murdered on a weekly basis. For those that believe that the government should send medicine or books first, tell it to all the teachers and health care workers that demanded protection. You can't provide health care or teach if those people are killed. Almost all foreign health care workers working on major projects have been pulled from the south and research & treatment projects have been cancelled. Peace is nice, but keeping people safe and alive is also important.

My objection to the Ukrainian purchase is that the design is out of date by about 5-10 years. Flat bottom vehicles offer minimal protection against IEDs. (That's why the Bradleys are just as useless). Everyone knows that a V shaped vehicle is best suited to theaters of war where IEDs are used. When the Canadians started getting blown up en masse in Afghanistan despite their LAVs and Coyotes, they dragged their German Leopard tanks out of mothballs and begged and borrowed South African built Nyalas from the Dutch (i believe). The US had the same experience in Iraq where the much touted Stryker with its flat bottom was a rolling coffin. It's why General Dynamics was given rush orders to build its rolling V designs. There are only a handful of manufacturers of battlefield proven IED resistant vehicles with 2 in the USA, 1 in Canada, 1 in Israel and of course the South Africans.

Pennywise, pound foolish decision.

I can guarantee that there will be an attrition rate of at least 10-25% once the vehicles are put in use. When the vehicles are lost, the military will be hesitant to use them for fear of further losses and the purchase will have been useless.

Have you ever seen a Bradely take and IED hit? I have and there aren't too many other vehicles that I would rather be in. The Bradley is effective against most IEDs but is not cost effective in mass transportation mode. Yes, the higher up the vehicle the better but with introduction of shapped-charges that is starting to become effective. As for the Stryker, only one has been fully to IED strike and the insurgents have given it a nickname of "Silent Death" because it is a fairly quiet vehicle and scares the Hummus out of them. There was not a rush order, if you mean the Buffalos, it was there when I was last there about a 1.5 years ago in its testing stage. It is a great improvement for IEDs but not as effective against shapped-charges that aimed at the side of the vehicles. The Bradley and the Stryker with the cage (chicken-wire) attachment to force shaped charges (and of course RPGs, mosly 7s), to explode before striking the armor. If the shaped-charge can't strike the side directly of those two vehicles than it is most likely not going to penetrate. The Bradley is the premier IFV out there (they had to learn from its early and disastrous testing period) and the with the addition of several more Stryker Brigades that vehicle is also proving its worth. You won't find a major operation in Iraq that isn't being led by the Strykers. That is in to stark contrast with the main Marin IFV (the Duck) which IS a rolling coffin.

So how many frozen chickens = $118m ??

And how many Plavix tablets for 118 millions USD ?

More seriously... It's the sword/shield principle. Insurgents in the south will use bigger devices...

It is too thined-skinned and too low to the ground to be of any use against land-mines, it is just supposed to transport troops and not get in a fight because if it does....

When I was an artillery officer durring the invasion part of the war we used to BTRs as "Piece of Shat in the Open", in reference to a call for fire on an enemy tartget such as " 3 T-72s in the open, six rounds of....,", well you get the point. They are a real waste of a military vehicle but when all the other side has is pointy sticks and a cocounut...

In Singapore there was a branch about 50 metres from our construction site.

The client insisted that we had meetings there a couple of mornings each week. She was very pissed when I used to turn up with a Starbucks coffee and refuse the breakfast. But I just do not like that food. Crazy Dave's - on the other hand

I understand that all meat for McDonalds is produced in the US. Probably therefore full of growth hormones. But how does this work out in the EU, where American beef is/was banned precisely because of these same hormones?

American beef isn't banned in Europe you cheesehead! WE are not the country that grinding up bones, sinew and brain for thier ground beef to produce, you guessed it, madcows diseas and then feed it to the cows. The U.S. has the highest system of checks and balances for its meat inspection, maybe second only to Japan. You keep drinking your overpriced starbucks and i'll take another Big Mac.

As an American, I offer my most sincere apologies for the massive success of McDonalds.

It is not McDonalds that I blame you Yanks for, just that clown...

No Not Ronald, the other one, the one you re-elected...

You have to turn everthing into Bush-bashing...you're pathetic...okay, you hate him, you hate us but guess what? We really don't care. You keep being weak and acting more like Frenchman than real men and see where it gets ya'!

Yes it's returned but for the USA this time.

You mean the fact that the national deficit has been cut in half?....or that the stock market keeps breaking records (on domestic trading by the way)?...or that unemployment is at its lowest point in over 20 years?...or that hiring for white collar jobs (college graduates, change of current employment) is the highest it has been in a decade?...or that service trade industry jobs is also at its highest point since the 80's?

There are over 80,000 illegal immirants that are in the same category as this scumbag. They commit a crime and are in the jail system or were released and NOT kicked out of the country. Not only are they illegal immigrants but they are illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes and not forced to leave the country! Just by entering the country illegally they have shown that they do not respect American law and have a prevalence to commit a crime. These are people who commit a crime before they even enter the country, the willingness to enter illegally. My wife waited many months, did a lot of paperwork and we paid a lot of money so she could get her visa. But we did it and it wasn't that bad of an effort. They need to take this thai piece of bird poo and either A) put him in the general prison population where he will last about a day before he ends up bent over a metal bed (they don't like child killers in U.S. prisons) or send him back to Thailand and let Thai authorities deal with him (and show that they can dish out justice).

the Thais I know would say.... "jaw khong aw pay leaw.." ....meaning that the owner has taken it...(whatever has been stolen)...

a good buddhist would think that when something is stolen.... we probably have stolen from them in a past life.... so just forgive them.... and do not get angry or want revenge... so as to break the chain and not create any karma to be repeated over and over again.

and when your wife said 'you don't know what pain is...' it's true.... compared to childbirth ...we men hardly know suffering as women do

You only forgive when somebody regrets, here, that is lacking. As far as karma goes, I would shove that as far as I could up the culprit's poopy shute.

When I still lived in the USA.I believed that these eastern religions and their monks had mysterious knowledge.After living here,I realize it was due to being exposed to vast quantities of TV.

And,no soundman being ripped off is not OK.If this man would of found the culprit,and would have indeed, smacked him upside the head with his size 13's.He would then have been mobbed, by everyone in the temple,and would be communicating to us from the hospital with his laptop,which would probably get ripped off when he goes to sleep.Forgetting about it,and trying to enjoy himself, is the only way to go.

I have been in two physicalities with groups of thai men and usually I just got cheered on by the thai crowds or they all just back off.

Seriously, though, it shows the extremes that exist in this country. Where I come from, even the most hardened criminal usually won't mess with the sanctity of a church.

That may be usually true. However, if you're from the U.S., a few years ago in Texas a gunman entered a church killed a bunch of people.

......but did he steal their shoes?

It would have been nice if you could have cought the person stealing them so you could have smacked em in the head with the shoes he wanted so badly.

I wear a 13 as well, and it is a night mare finding our size in BKK ( usually a 47). Fortunetly nobody robbed my shoes yet.

The best I could find was a size 45 sandal...for 940 baht. I wasn't in the mood to argue considering the condition of my feet. Somthing about walking around in bangkok with small flippity-flops and half of my feet dragging against the clean bangkok ground...

I can remember having to leave my new Timberland boots outside one and looking at all the shitty sandals there and thinking - nah

I put them in the exes bag and she carried them ;-)

Spot on. I remember taking off my Rockports to put down next to a ragged heap of left-foot-only flipflops and got the same "spider-sense" tingling of impending loss...

My spidey-sense must have been turned off, damnit.

I'm pretty sure that either;

a) a dog took them (very common)

someone moved them

a) no doggies in the immediate area.

my wife and several thai people looked around the area and found nothing.

I can remember having to leave my new Timberland boots outside one and looking at all the shitty sandals there and thinking - nah

I put them in the exes bag and she carried them ;-)

That is what I told my wife, the shoes go in with me next time, in a bag.

Seriously, though, it shows the extremes that exist in this country. Where I come from, even the most hardened criminal usually won't mess with the sanctity of the church

stealing lead of church roofs? even the f***ing priests are at with the choir boys

Yeah, but they don't steal your shoes!!! Anyways, I'm episcopalian, I think.

I have a vision of some water buffalo walking the fields in size 13 sandles.

Ok, I feel your pain. You were pilfered and of all places, the temple. There should be very few thais in need of that size.

Perhaps you can revisit the temple and see if they are returned perhaps by a mistaken temple visitor.

They were a size 13 (wide) shoes, not sandals. I don't see somebody mistaking them for their own. If it was a buffalo that took 'em, I'd eat the buffalo.

You are taking a negative view on what happened.

Try to look at it from the point of view,that you just helped out some poor soul.This will benefit you.Any bad karma you may have will benefit from this.Anyways your a rich"farang" and you can buy another pair.

Either way forget about it,and try to enjoy your life.

If I ever got a hold of that "poor soul" than he would be just that, a soul. Man, I had to put cream on my feet from the heat blisters. And, I ain't a rich Farang! It was a temple for Jupiter's sake!

We went to a temple in Bangkok so my wife could say thank you forhelp in getting her visa yesterday. When we came back outside the temple my shoes were gone! Somebody had stolen them...at a temple! So I had to walk around for an hour on hot marble and concrete searching for my shoes!!!! <deleted>!!!!!!! I though the temple was sacred ground?!?!?!?!? I have nice little blisters on my feet to show for the effort. I was steaming, if I caught the guy I probably would have sacrificed him there on the temple steps!!! There is something just SOOOOO wrong about that. You don't take a man's shoes!! I wear a size 13 wide and it is pretty hard to find my size in the states. I finally just went to siam paragon to get some sandals.

The flip side was that many Thai people at the temple, some vendors and temple caretakers offered me their sandals but most of them did not fit. Finally somebody gave me a free pair, just before my feed got a real good burn going. They seemed ashamed of the incident but I am wondering why the gare guard didn't notice a thai person carrying mammoth expensive looking shoes pass him. I wanted to thump him, too but the Thai person that all they do is just stand there anyways. From now on, my shoes or expensive sandals now come with me in the temple even I have to put them in a bag. My wife did force me to let her put lotion on my impending blistering "it puts the lotion on its skin or it gets the hose again", which I said that it hurts and she said "you don't know the meaning of pain!"

Seriously, though, it shows the extremes that exist in this country. Where I come from, even the most hardened criminal usually won't mess with the sanctity of a church. It just makes those poor souls who were offering me their sandals doubt their changing Thailand. Those were really expensive shoes, too, dagnabbit, great for working out, great arch support....######.