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4 minutes ago, jayboy said:

 

 

Stupid comment and insulting to millions of Thais who aspire to democratic values.There will sometimes be circumstances where an unelected PM is justifiable, for example as when Khun Anand Panyarachun took the reigns.A more recent example was the premiership of Khun Abhisit.What is hard to justify is the seizure of government by force of arms.In current circumstances the frustration of the military government's propaganda should be regarded as an act of patriotism.

Not so stupid. Read my response to Eric below. And not insulting to Thais because I know many who agree with this view: especially those who have spent time in Europe. You have to remove your cultural blinkers Jayboy. Democracy, such as it is, may trundle along in the West, but does that mean it's good for here? A bit more depth, rather than insults, may produce some interesting discussion.

2 minutes ago, JAG said:

Oh democracy existed. Flawed yes but it existed.

 

The trouble is the government which the people chose was not the one you wished for.

 

Therefore in your somewhat egocentric view,  democracy did not exist.

 

 

Goodness Jag if you think that I'm that stupid, prejudiced or short-sighted then what's the point of entering any discussion. Nonsense, man, NONSENSE

6 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

 

Good point when Thailand had more coups years than elected. The military made sure democracy will never exist.

Eric: Nothing to do with the military. There was no democracy here under the other rulers. Why? Because democracy can only exist within the rule of law which is sadly lacking here in Thailand. Democracy is a term that was hijacked and used by Thaksin in order to undermine the Abhisit government. But in all his actions, speeches and statements Thaksin set himself forward as a would-be dictator, no better and no worse than the military administrations we have seen. We all know, Eric, that you believe the Red Shirts under their self-exiled leader is a democratic movement, but it is simply not. How can you have a democracy in a country where, firstly the families are organised in such a hierarchical way, when the school teacher cannot be questioned, when your manager at work is right in everything he says and so on all the way up the hierarchy. It's the culture here. You'll never get democracy here until there is a fundamental change in the culture. Look at how people laugh at the rule of law: Red Bull heir, rampant corruption at every level, the woman sentenced to death but released on bail, the complete refusal of the Thais to observe basic road rules. On and on it goes: all of these run counter to a democratic society.

40 minutes ago, chainarong said:

Unelected Prime Minister , what makes you think the attacks are from inside , nobody will be listening to your diatribe, you formed the cyber security unit to stop hacking , are they on annual leave , General you haven't a clue,  Thailand if hit by a Cyber storm , yes a Cyber storm, will bring your country to a standstill , all you need is something like stuxnet aimed at key targets including industry and poof, where did Thailand go,  and you caused it all..........................................

Nothing wrong about being an unelected Prime Minister in a country where democracy has never existed.

8 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

 

An appropriate place for him is in the  National Assembly in his role as a representative of the poor and oppressed.

 

Free jatuporn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pardon? I think he's a representative of The Oppressor, thief and sociopathwho may be in self-exile somewhere. Self interest first!

On 11/27/2016 at 4:19 PM, Shawn0000 said:

 

The fields were also full of hard working Romanians and many of the Gypsies were from Bulgaria.  But all is not as it seems with the Romany, the people you see on the ground begging, robbing, prostituting themselves and all the other associated problems are more often than not Sinti gypsies who are enslaved by rich Romany families, they really need to be helped but no one wants to as they think they are the problem whereas the real problem lie in mansions throughout Europe.

Nice to hear from someone who understands this stuff. Thanks.

The Bulgarians were in the fields picking vegetables whilst the Romanian romanies were in every London Underground station conning peeps out of money ..... just like Paris which is now out of control.

Or perhaps it has all been lost in the translation?

On 11/24/2016 at 7:27 AM, AhFarangJa said:

We fill out a TM28 for ourselves.

Also, Wife and I went to H.H. Immigration yesterday to do my first one year extension. I was told they would visit in the next three or four days to take pictures of my Wife and I. Guess that is normal for first time though.

Always like this for a marriage visa.

On 11/24/2016 at 9:26 AM, Enoon said:

 

Admirable sentiments.

 

They are, however, the delusional sentiments of a Westerner with his strange foreign ideas about morality and decency.

 

There is no war against corruption, mob rule or what you consider to be immoral in Thailand.  There is no intellectual/philosophical/political ideal present that would promote such a thing.  Where it does exist it is crushed.

 

There is only a war against the corruption (profit) of one faction by other factions who seek that profit for themselves.

 

The factions compete to use the mob as they please.

 

In the case of the Army faction it is it's own mob because of size, organisation and possession of weapons and hardware which make it very much more effective intimidating other mobs.

 

That's how they have held power for over 80 years.  That's why the place is a slum in terms of social-political development.  As is the situation in many underdeveloped countries with military rulers.

 

They wrap themselves in the flag but they are the biggest thugs, the worst exploiters, the ugliest mob in the country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What an utterly twisted view of current events in Thailand!! I respect that fact that you are entitled to an opinion but it would be admirable if you were to checkthe reality of the situation before posting your opinion as fact.

Living in Tambon Nongkwai or Mae Hia is probably the solution. Not far from Kad Farang and a great choice of quiet running routes towards the Queen's Gardens, Doi Kham and so on. As for renting contact Elite properties who work in this area. This area is excellent for getting into the City, the airport, the countryside & shopping malls & markets. I have a house in a local Moo Baan. It is very quiet and safe.

When the military toured the bars in Central Chiang Mai soon after the coup, they asked the bar owners to whom and how much were they paying the various police interests. To a man (or woman) they all answered "nothing" when in reality they were paying thousands each month to 4 different police operations. Too scared to tell the truth. Same at Samet??

4 hours ago, johng said:

My thoughts go towards the  many hundreds of Thais who have suddenly been deprived of their lively hoods and now wont be able to provide for their families.

I think 'lively hoods' are worn by Hoodies. They are the type that move about a lot! However, livelihoods refer to people's jobs and so on. However, and that aside, I cannot agree with you. Where there is corruption there is less money in the peoples' pockets. Nothing here to stop people earning an honest living without being in fear of the gangsters who collect their hard-earned cash without doing any productive work themselves. It is time that this clean up continued all over the country. For example Koh Tao (and we all know what happens there) and Baan Tawaii in Chiang Mai where the sellers of wood (500 shops???) are also paying 500 a week to be allowed to stay in business. The beneficiaries may well be .......Problem is, when the army goes around and asks them who they pay and how much they refuse to answer. Such is the nature of fear. Sorry about my lively joke earlier.

By any measure Trump is not only the wrong person, to me it beggars belief that any sane person can say they support him or voted for him. Support what? An ignorant foolish buffoon? He has no skills for this job, he's a sociopath, perhaps even a psychopath. That doesn't mean I support Hilary. I don't. But everything I have seen in Trump: well, he's the kind of stupid lout that I would avoid from any involvement with. What about the mentality of people who support him? My goodness ..................really!!!!

How can I inform the UPU???????

This story is about mail being stolen within the system. My wife thinks the mail is stolen in Bangkok while it is being sorted to come to Chiang Mai. The reason she says that is because of the nature of the service here where we have met a few of the sorting workers as opposed to the continually changing staff in the mail sort centre in Bangkok. Our postman has been the same one for the whole time we have been in this house (8 years) and we know him quite well. She has spoken to him about this problem. I have explained above about 'signed for'. If it is signed for then it is rarely if ever stolen. The problem is reminding people, telling people to send signed for. I am quite angry about this because this year it really has messed me up.

Nothing wrong with how the English translation of the address is shown: Magazine subscriptions, Amazon parcels, bank statements, credit card statements, professional notifications etc all arrive unhindered. In my opinion there is some systematic stealing going on in the post office somewhere. And it's getting me down.

Does any other expat suffer from missing mail?

1. January-March 2016: Very small bicycle part (a special screw) from Northampton, UK. : This was mailed to me 3 times in a padded envelope with a hand written but correct address. Each time it did not arrive. It cost me a lot of money, it cost the sender money and I never received it.

2. July this year: My daughter sent me a hand written birthday card to the correct address which contained a photo of my Grandson at school. It never arrived.

3. July this year: My son sent me a small padded envelope which contained a medal of no commercial value, but it was of sentimental value as it was his first medal as winner of a Karting championship race when he was a small boy. It never arrived.

4. August this year: My sister sent me a cheque for a small amount of money drawn on a British bank. This was money gifted to me by my father who died this year. It never arrived. The cheque was never cashed according to the bank. They cancelled the cheque and I was paid via bank transfer. The sad thing about this is that there was my father's last letter to me in the envelope and I will never see this and I will never know what it says.

5. Early September: My friends in New Zealand sent me a special gift of a free cycling shirt. It has not yet arrived. This was a very special shirt from a cycle race in New Zealand. It was gifted to me because of the help myself and my Thai wife gave to these friends when they were on holiday in Chiang Mai.

I have had similar problems last year. However, any post that arrives looks "official" or is recorded. I have no problem with bank statements etc. The only problem is that anything sent to me that has a hand-written envelope and cannot be traced NEVER arrives. This has now been happening for 3 years.

I live in Chiang Mai in a secure gated community. There is no possibility that the mail is taken from our mailbox, as that is simply not possible.

(Incidentally: I have asked friends and family to use a recorded delivery service and when they do things arrive. The above incidents are when they forgot or in the case of No 5 because I could not tell them to do so as I did not know they were sending it.)

Completely sick behaviour. Many Thais with the slightest bit of money or a better car than you seem to behave in this way. Then they pay the police and get away with it. Meanwhile the bystanders did nothing. I'm sorry if I had been there I would have intervened. 50% of expats want to leave here. I wonder why?

On 10/10/2016 at 9:48 AM, yellowboat said:

These actuations run rampant but even VOA says her election was an honest one.  And yes she was elected by the masses, so she does have political power and it grows everyday.  The rice pledge was a really bad idea as was the coup.  The coup has done far more harm than good to the average Thai, even compared the rice scheme.   The only difference is the elected are being unfairly prosecuted, while the unelected are well beyond justice of any kind. 

 

Funny that. Most Thais I speak to have been supportive of the current government.

I came to Thailand specifically to get away from rowdy footballness in the UK. Seems there is no escape.

1 hour ago, pgrahmm said:

Those cars/super cars have a very high crash rate....People that buy them can't drive them....

They are used to driving cars not racing cars - everything is different power & handling wise....Especially under extremes.....

In the US the Vipers had almost a 70% accident rate in under a year....

 

I'm sure the new muscle cars do too....Anybody can buy them....

 

The smart people take theirs to the nearest race track & get lessons - others use trees to learn.....

He's probably the laughing stock of his club/fraternity now - unless he's the big dog/richest.......

 

Probably a good reason to ban 'em from public roads.

11 minutes ago, kannot said:

so the vios  was  too close and the vigo should  not have been in that lane anyway, sick of the buggers  that just sit there all day when the inner  lane is often empty, best at 3  am  on a deserted road, even see it then

Unbelievable!!! That's no excuse!!!

I've been getting a bit miffed with the BBB service: currently on 2.7mbps.

We're in Hang Dong and there is no fibre to our Moo Baan from AIS. Sinet has offered us a dedicated fibre connection. Any comments, recommendations or views from anyone? Thanks

James Brock has posted the complete answer to anyone who says that Thaksin is  'victim' of a coup. He was removed because of the enormous damage he was doing to this country. It was a timely removal because we have seen in many cases across the world how power corrupts and how absolute power corrupts even more. He was moving autocratically towards absolute power. Certainly not a democrat. It beggars belief that people on this forum thinks he's been hard done by. The USA continue to back him because it suits their interests in SE Asia. This has become more transparent as the present (undemocratic) regime faces towards China.