jing jing

On 01/24/2017 at 10:28 PM, bizwhiz said:

He's facebook  paint's at least 2 pictures...

*The wolf of wall street was this guy's hero and someone he wanted to be like, he mentioned how 2017 was going to be huge taking things to another level. Got that right!! Hit could be linked to he's dodge business partners or rivals                  HOWEVER      

*The other line of enquiry for police to follow up hopefully is the fact he recently got married in December. I notice the wife has a couple kids to Thai father. Should absolutely be investigated and not just blamed on a gang hit in the media from the get-go to appear like it is no big deal/loss.  How he got money and who organised the hit may not be linked. The fact he could of been involved in shady underground biz would be a massive carrot dangling in front of the new wife to potentially organise a crime knowing could easily point the finger to a different direction & comfortably get away with it. 

How he is linked to a 'boiler room' pretty much from the moment the crime took place is suspicious.  

Because of info leaked so early on Police involvement  also a possibility with the rewards flowing down to ceasing/collecting from some assets or other locals who is connected to police.   

# If he owed money there's warnings first to try and force the money out of fear(if know people that kill for cash will certainly know people to threaten family or do a knee capping) you would not want to order the bloke dead straight off the bat then def won't see it returned. By this man being dead there has to be significant financial advantage to someone via he's assets or biz dealings. Who gains from hes death most probably ordered the hit. 

#Tipping being in the day he left home and not some night hangout spot. Timing of it is interesting(no kids with him,or wife)...New wife gets the tick being number 1 suspect on the timing.

 

If family want proper closure there best chance is to have a Private investigator look into it if can afford it. Otherwise this one will not be solved and will be just put under the " oh well reports say was up to no good, probably got what he deserved basket"

 

Investigate the wife first then go from there!  

 

 

Bingo.  Follow the money.

9 minutes ago, HampiK said:

 

When i read, that this visa is made for some region (not for all) it sounds for me as additional visa.. but I think soon we have the exact wordings and how it will behave.

 

it could be a replacement, but i don't think so. But till we know it everything is only speculation....

Again, using logic, how and why would they attempt to restrict the visa holder to residence in certain provinces?

 

After reading so many english translations of press releases here, why would anyone take such a literal, strict, word for word interpretation of this one?

4 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

 

Into insults, are you? Ignore list express. 

Just pointing out the drama is not justified, sorry you've taken offense. 

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

You do not KNOW that.

I realize that using logic becomes somewhat awkward after living in the LOS longterm, but let's just try for a moment shall we?

 

Even given the usual level of incompetence and xenophobia from the powers that be, in what universe does it make any sense whatsoever to interpolate that ALL other types of visas MUST be replaced by a ten year visa for foreigners over 50, in an attempt to encourage "medical tourism"?   It simply defies logic.

 

No, I don't KNOW it, but I SUSPECT that the sky isn't falling anytime soon.  But feel free to panic - as always, it's up to you.

 

 

3 hours ago, Falcon said:

Americas got a new president who actually says what he thinks. I personally think he will be good for the country. Meanwhile, Thailand has got a military p.m. Who has the better deal,  the US  or Thailand?

 

Is that meant to be a trick question?  As I recall some were hopeful the general would be good for his country.  Others had issues with him right off the bat.  In Donald's case the jury is definitely still out.

9 hours ago, greenchair said:

 

Not the ole, I have evidence to support my comment but I'm not going to tell you game. 

Why raise it, if you can't talk about it. I don't know why people keep going on about Laura opinion as if it is a significant factor towards their innocence. The courts found them guilty by a great deal of evidences. Unless you have something to show, the only thing the Witheridge family ever said about those 2 is " the evidence against them is compelling and overwhelming ". " they both have a lot to answer for " or something to that effect. 

Is there going to be anything new in the appeal? ??highly unlikely. Therefore I can't see them winning. They might get the death sentence overturned. It's a pity hannah doesn't have that option. That poor girl. it must have been absolutely horrific for her. So bright and full of life. 

 

At one time, as I recall, you were an ardent proponent of the B2's innocence.  Now you are convinced of their guilt.  Can you please share with us what incriminating evidence was presented  which you found so convincing, so indisputable, that you changed your mind and now have no doubt they are guilty of this crime?

43 minutes ago, transam said:

Are you saying Thai folk do not want to learn, a can't be bothered thing which will not change....?

Not quite so simple.  I don't think they will change their natural inclination to feel comfortable doing things in ways we consider dangerous.  Maybe over time, road design and construction will improve, but I wouldn't hold my breath.  Thai culture has its strong points, but public works, engineering, and infrastructure aren't among them.

 

 

To the OP:  excellent post; the most comprehensive and accurate treatise on driving in Thailand yet.  I concur on all points, though I doubt many other TVF contributors will ever see it our way.  Cultural bias runs too deep for most Westerners to accept and embrace such seemingly chaotic system of unwritten rules.

 

In another time and place I was a racing driver, spending hundreds of hours and thousands of laps on the racetrack, competing for wins.  I understand what it means to drive at the absolute limit of control, relying on reflexes and finely tuned instincts to avoid disaster on each and every lap.  Fear is the absolute enemy of speed.

 

I will offer an additional point to consider, for those who wish to better understand why Thais drive as they do, without making value judgements as to good or bad:  Thai society does not have the same aversion to risk, perception of danger, or obsession with personal safety as do many more developed countries.  They do not rely on governmental institutions to enforce safety standards, but rather are happy to survive by their own wits - or not - in a more purely Darwinistic way.

 

Just think of Thai people in flipflops and shorts operating heavy construction equipment, workers perched atop tall, spindly bamboo ladders, Songkran revelers soaking wet, dancing in the back of a moving pickup truck, songtaews loaded with schoolchildren dangling off the rear step, families on motorbikes with babies standing up, schoolgirls on scooters with an umbrella in one hand and texting with the other...these are not unskilled people performing those daredevil feats, defying fate.

 

I submit that for Thai people life is a little spicier, more challenging, requires more physical dexterity and self confidence, and survival involves a whole different skill set than does life in the West.  It shouldn't be surprising that their approach to life in general also holds true on the roadways, and we should certainly not expect them to conform to our Western cultural norms.

 

As the old cliche goes, "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

I have driven the very same road many times and can tell you it is a very stressful experience, with many moments of sheer terror on every trip.  Once I saw a motorbike pulverized by a pickup going at least 120, right in front if me.  I had slowed down, realizing he was about to make a wobbly u-turn into oncoming traffic at a blind corner.  The debris from the impact must have flown 50 feet in the air.  I drove on with still 400 km left to go.

 

Imagine a potholed, two lane highway twisting through the countryside, many blind corners, occasional cow and buffalo crossings, kids swerving in from side roads on motorbikes, ancient trucks chugging along with uncovered loads, and every pickup and minivan driver trying to maintain a 120 kph average speed.  The risky passing maneuvers one will witness, and sometimes need to employ, are terrifying to anyone accustomed only to Western driving standards.  Suffice to say safety is not uppermost in many folks' minds.

 

Despite the righteous outrage, things are unlikely to change anytime soon, so please be careful out there.

5 hours ago, baboon said:

The kind of spineless subhuman who doesn't want to end up on the wrong side of Article 44 or 112 and bears in mind the unusual amount of deaths in custody ? 

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

Truly farcical, but hey, have you seen the emperor's lovely new clothes?

Preschool is really more daycare than anything else - a boon for working parents unable to afford a full time nanny.  Rather than academics, the focus at that age should be on activities designed to foster good social behavior.  Most kids just aren't ready for academics before age 6 or 7.

 

My 2 children were born in Bangkok.  They both did anuban 1-3 plus prathom 1 and 2 at private schools here in the Kingdom, all of it in the Thai curriculum.   When they were 7 and 8 years old we moved to California, and they began 2nd and 3rd grade in a well regarded local public school district.

 

I wasn't too surprised that after their early math classes in Thai, where they were exposed to multiplication and division problems with large numbers way before their American counterparts, they are now both at the top of their classes in math.  If there is any subject where memorization and repetition lead to proficiency, it's math, and that is where the Asian/Thai model has its advantages.

 

Where the Thai system really fails in comparison to the West is in placing a high priority on the development of critical thinking skills.  To succeed in the latest American school curriculum, kids are required to explain their reasoning, i.e., HOW they got their answer.  This quickly separates the thinkers from the copiers.  The Thai system, in contrast, stresses rote memorization, which is very time consuming but produces none of the creative thinking ability that gets you into Harvard, MIT, or even UCLA for that matter.  Career opportunities in the international arena will be virtually nonexistent as a result.

 

In reality, all those extra classes and tutoring sessions Thai parents put their kids into are more important for a) building face and avoiding the responsibility of helping their own kids with homework than for actually advancing the kids' education.

 

 

 

 

Okay, Mr. Seagall is, without question, a brilliant thespian and a great humanitarian.  I'm sure his condolences were utterly sincere and had no ulterior motives.

 

There - is that better?

Whenever a person suggests, let alone demands, that people trust him, chances are they shouldn't.

On 10/22/2016 at 8:02 AM, sharecropper said:

What happened to the similar tale of the woman held and raped in Jomtien after being arrested? These stories, which would be headline-hoggers for months in other countries, slide off the front page faster than you can say "unaccountability" here.

In most countries this would be shocking news and one might be inclined to doubt the victim's story.  Here it hardly raises an eyebrow and folks figure it's just business as usual.  If she's making it up, the woman is putting herself in grave danger for no good reason, and if they did what they're accused of her prospects are even more dire.  Hard to be optimistic about this one.

On 10/12/2016 at 7:28 AM, alfalfa19 said:

the tourist probably did not smile or wai in the correct fashion, thus he deserved his beating by a group of law abiding guys. 

Try reading the original story.  Sorting through the conflicting accounts one gets the impression this is just another example of what happens if you get snotslinging drunk and belligerent with the locals.  Even if you're tough enough to get past one of them, which the average drunken tourist certainly isn't, one of their buddies will catch you in the face with a straight right, a rock, a bottle, a board, or whatever's lying around, then you're on the ground and everyone gets a turn kicking you in the head.

 

The good news is if you don't get falling down drunk, don't make threats you can't back up, don't think just because you're bigger you can beat someone, don't expect locals to fight by the Marquis of Queensbury's rules, and generally behave yourself, you'll never have a problem here. 

 

Thais are generally quite tolerant of drunken obnoxious foreigners, up to a point, and rarely give a beating to anyone who doesn't have it coming.  Some expats tend to view these incidents with a certain, shall we say, lack of objectivity, for what reason I really can't quite understand. 

 

I've lived in Bangkok, upcountry, and now in the vicinity of Pattaya for a total of nearly 15 years altogether.  I've explored this country from the Laotian border to the Burmese border, the Cambodian border to the Malaysian border, partaking of the nightlife scene in a low key fashion all the while, and have never been assaulted or even threatened by a Thai person. 

 

Actually there was one single incident I had upcountry years ago, during the wee hours in an underground dance club, where a girl told her boyfriend I had said or done something she didn't like - which I probably did in a moment of stupidity.  He was a young hardass gangster type with a posse and started to get very aggressive, no doubt preparing to do me serious bodily harm, when a few bystanders stepped in on my behalf and calmed him down.  My buddy and I were the only 2 westerners in a place crowded with about 100 Thais.  I was looking at a guaranteed trip to the hospital or worse, if not for a couple of random Thai dudes I'd never met stepping up to save my skin.

 

I guess it's easy for folks just to make a sweeping generalization and assume all Thai dudes are cowards or punks with no code of ethics, but the truth, as always, is a bit more complicated.

 

Sorry for the rant - just my perspective on the usual "another foreigner assaulted by a thai gang" commentary.

Thaksin is currently worth 1.65 Billion USD. He has done a great deal of business in Singapore and the Scentrics deal with the government looks likely to make Thaksin even more richer. No wonder Yingluck was out at the weekend, smiling and getting her face in the headlines.

What I don't understand is why with all that money does Thaksin get involved in politics. He could be living in luxury in Thailand if he just let his obsession go.

http://www.forbes.com/profile/thaksin-shinawatra/

All politics aside, here is the crux of the issue. As with other charismatic figures throughout the annals of history, Thaksin has that fatal flaw which transforms him from being a driving force for his country's greater good into a force of great evil. His own megalomania prevents him from realizing his true potential.

Unbelievable, the no helmet brigade are on this one too. He was struck by another jetski at speed. Even with a helmet on getting struck in the face will likely be fatal.

I can only imagine the horror and grief the unfortunate boy's father must be feeling. How tragic.

Moonshine, Jomtien beach soi 4, had a rib special once a week - on Tuesdays IIRC. Never tried em, not sure if it's still happening.

Sounds like a 'code red' - see the movie called "A Few Good Men"

c'mon guys, cut this rich hi-so drunken turd some slack, he only killed one policeman, not like the under age female turd who killed 9, and not spend one day in jail, he's a <deleted> amateur.

Imagine how quickly this story would've disappeared had the victim been a mae baan or mae somtam.

In my opinion he's right. I travel in Taxis in Bangkok all the time and they are 99% good guys. One guy even came and jump started my car for me when I absent mindedly left the lights on. He did that for only 100 baht and wouldn't take a baht more.

The only place that I have found dodgy is in Nana after the BTS closes at night. The guys lined up there waiting wont turn on the meter for you and want to charge double or more. But if you just flag down a passing one he'll take you on the meter.

I've had a Taxi driver from the airport once try to tell me no meter also and just told him to stop while I get out and get another cab. He turned it on and said mai pen rai.

Keep calm and know the law. No meter no fare. Simple as that.

All true, but unfortunately most tourists are not so clued up and therefore the odds favor the scam artists.

Not to excuse them, but the logic at work in the minds of the scammers is that ordinary fares are too low to adequately reflect fair market pricing. Dealing with many of the drunk foreign clientele in the Nana/Cowboy areas deserves a premium in any reasonable person's world, especially when these drivers know what punters are dropping for ten minutes of fun with a farmer's daughter.

Even Uber has surge pricing :-)

With respect to Pattaya's image, the WS area in particular, I don't believe that it's ever been considered a place for prudish or easily offended types to spend their time. The image is more of a free spirited party town where consenting adults can come to play without being harassed, where the locals are legendary for their tolerance of foreigners' outrageous - and frequently offensive - behavior.

The tout rightfully recognized that giving rude foreigners their comeuppance, however well deserved, is not the sort of hospitality Pattaya is known for, and in that respect his actions were damaging to its image.

Perhaps some of you were confusing Pattaya with someplace else?

I'm going with common sense, my 12 years of residence in various regions of Thailand, and the fact that despite dozens of late nights on the grind out on WS, I've never been remotely threatened - let alone assaulted for absolutely no reason - by Thai people. This Russian chap provoked the attack, no doubt in my mind.

A smile and polite "no thanks" will never earn you a beat down in the Kingdom, but make no mistake, if you think you can insult a Thai and walk away like nothing happened, you're in for a rude awakening -- instant karma gonna get ya.

No smile and not a word spoken will not cop you a beating from Walking Street touts. Saying nothing is better than saying something because saying anything can be misunderstood.

Why would you want to smile at street touts anyway? I hardly ever smile, so I'm not going to waste one on a street tout. Mouth shut, poker face and walk on by does the trick every time.

Spitting at a Thai will do the trick if you're after a beating. To come to think of it, spitting at anyone of any nationality will probably end up with the same result.

Whatever works for you. No need to smile if you don't feel like it. In my view touts are just street hustlers, salesmen actually, and I don't begrudge a man for trying to earn a living. A smile doesn't cost me anything and the effect is usually positive here in the Kingdom, if you'll kindly forgive me for indulging.

Sure, if you're a smiley kind of person, then smile away. In reality though, these sex-show touts are promoting high pressure, extremely unpleasant, rip-off establishments which people should definitely stay away from. No one comes away from those places smiling, even the smiley types.

Not so much that I'm the smiley type, but rather I've come to understand by living and socialising here what the significance of different smiles in different situations can be. There may be good reason to smile at someone even if you're not feeling particularly amused.

Some folks - such as the Bolshevik referred to in the OP - insist on clinging to the cultural habits of their homeland when interacting with Thai locals, which doesn't always work out so well for them.

As a long term resident I subscribe to the philosophy of "when in Rome" but I do understand others may not be so willing or able to adapt to the local customs.

I'm going with common sense, my 12 years of residence in various regions of Thailand, and the fact that despite dozens of late nights on the grind out on WS, I've never been remotely threatened - let alone assaulted for absolutely no reason - by Thai people. This Russian chap provoked the attack, no doubt in my mind.

A smile and polite "no thanks" will never earn you a beat down in the Kingdom, but make no mistake, if you think you can insult a Thai and walk away like nothing happened, you're in for a rude awakening -- instant karma gonna get ya.

No smile and not a word spoken will not cop you a beating from Walking Street touts. Saying nothing is better than saying something because saying anything can be misunderstood.

Why would you want to smile at street touts anyway? I hardly ever smile, so I'm not going to waste one on a street tout. Mouth shut, poker face and walk on by does the trick every time.

Spitting at a Thai will do the trick if you're after a beating. To come to think of it, spitting at anyone of any nationality will probably end up with the same result.

Whatever works for you. No need to smile if you don't feel like it. In my view touts are just street hustlers, salesmen actually, and I don't begrudge a man for trying to earn a living. A smile doesn't cost me anything and the effect is usually positive here in the Kingdom, if you'll kindly forgive me for indulging.