lannarebirth

Maybe it's only the peasants with good internet service that eat bugs:

http://www.thaitastes.com/product_info.php?products_id=9

but I doubt it. Those bamboo worms live in about as pristine an environment as any living creature could. I can't think of any other food that clean. Aroi !

the gold buying, bug eating, house building for mum caper only really applies if you are involved in relationships with the peasants of thailand.

my wife hates gold (says it makes you look like a poor person), would never dream of eating insects (or food from a roadside stall) and her parents already have a fantastic house.

you people should really try mixing in a better class of thai instead of giving all your money to the dregs.

Hmmm, my Thai girlfriend has a college education and speaks english and french very well, her sister living in Spain has a college education and speaks english and spanish very well, her other sister living in Germany has a college education and speaks english and German very well. Her brother living in Singapore has a college education and speaks english and chinese very well. Her mother has a college education and speaks english very well. And you know what? They all love eating bugs. I have to admit those worms that live in the bamboo are pretty tasty.

Does anyone out there know whether the following claims in this report are correct:

that Margaret Crane does not yet have a lawyer?

that she has not been told how long she could expect to stay in jail before the trial?

i hope the above information re the Crane children may be of some help to specialk and hawaiianeyes in their searches and concern for the Dubie children.

She does indeed have a lawyer, I just got off the phone with him.

My girlfriend had mentioned earlier today that her attorney had taken on the defense of the Canadian lady Jeanna. I mentioned to her that people that had known both Gina and the deceased were posting here on Thai Visa and perhaps he may want to speak with them, and/or they might wish to communicate with Jeanna. She called him and he was busy, and he called back just now and she was out. I asked him if he was indeed the accused persons attorney and he said yes he was. I asked him if he'd like to encourage those people with relevant background facts posting here to contact him and he said yes.

So, specialk and hawaiianeyes if you care to help you may PM me and I can put you in touch with the attorney. You may also want to consider an attorney for yourselves to look out for the interests of the deceased persons heirs. IMO I'd be very surprised if the Thai attorney he'd retained is doing same.

Printed bank notes are bits of paper: don't fall for them 100%. CHF is probably the best to have a 50% holding in.

Gold and Platinum are preferential 'safe havens'.

I believe the U.S. $ is due for a major correction within the next 18 months. I reckon GBP=2.10 and CHF=parity is probable. However if H.R. Clinton comes to the throne in November 2008, things might change.

I would avoid J.YEN because of N.Korea/Tokyo Earthquake panic selling.

EURO: I am undecided; but favour it much more than U.S. $

I think buying a share in a nickel mine might make good sense.

You've restated what by now is the "coventional wisdom" very well. Here's a guy I subscribe to and like to read. I think he makes a rational analysis.

Dear subscribers,

This is update #160, the Thursday, July 13, 2006 morning update.

One often hears in the financial media that "stocks rose (or fell) today because of rising (or falling) oil prices"--regardless of how intelligent such a statement might be. But one almost never hears "the price of oil rose (or fell) today because of rising (or falling) stock prices"!

To me, this is a particularly telling observation. It is one of the great myths of the financial media that commodity prices just "happen to" rise or fall, due to mysterious forces beyond our comprehension, whie the stock market supposedly behaves logically. In other words, events such as earthquakes and commodity price changes are lumped together as unpredictable forces of nature, while the stock market is allegedly always "responding to" the combination of these various unpredictable events.

In other words, according to this popular myth, corporate earnings can be accurately forecast, as long as one gets enough analysts to predict such earnings. However, commodity price fluctuations just somehow happen. Commodity price changes are assumed to be the cause, rather than the effect.

In the real world, the stock market probably has several times more influence on commodity prices, than the other way around. This is true for several reasons, one of them that the stock market is historically one of the most reliable leading indicators of the economy.

If equities are declining, it likely means that economic growth is slowing, which will be bearish for commodities. If equities are rising, it probably indicates that the worldwide economy is expanding, which will lead to increased demand and therefore higher prices for commodities.

Declining equities are also a warning that overall financial market liquidity is decreasing. Central bankers worldwide have certainly contributed to decreasing liquidity, especially in recent months, by raising interest rates and draining monetary reserves.

Since January 11, 2006, worldwide equities have made a consistent, bearish pattern of lower highs, which has led in recent weeks to new one-year and two-year lows for many important equity indices including QQQQ and SMH. Commodity prices, on the other hand, are generally higher than they were on January 11, in some cases considerably higher. Therefore, it is my belief that commodities have a significant amount of catching up to do on the downside.

This belief is confirmed by the charts of virtually all commodity producers and the indices of these commodity producers. Precious metals share indices such as HUI, XAU, and GDM (the basis for GDX) are forming very bearish head-and-shoulder tops that span the entire 2006 calendar year. Oil shares such as OSX are making a consistent pattern of lower highs. Even with base metals at or close to new highs--nickel has risen for eleven consecutive trading days, and is higher again so far this morning--the shares of base metals producers have also been making a pattern of lower highs.

Additional quantitative evidence of this behavior can be seen in the fact that the spread between the price of gold, which can be measured as GLD times 10, and HUI, the Amex Index of Unhedged Gold Mining Shares, has been rising sharply in recent weeks, and is now just above 304. It had been 266 less than a month ago.

Since the share prices historically are a reliable leading indicator of the commodities themselves, this means that it is increasingly likely that there will be a sharp, "sudden" drop in the prices of both metals and energies over the next few months. The steepest declines will probably occur for base metals such as copper, zinc, and nickel. More popularly traded commodities such as gold and crude oil are likely to fall much more than the vast majority of participants are currently anticipating.

Corroborating evidence can also be seen in the extended bullish bottoming pattern of long-dated U.S. Treasuries and the U.S. dollar. Treasuries have been wildly unpopular in recent months, with most people who don't own them thinking that interest rates are still rising--even though the long bond and TLT bottomed way back on May 12, more than two months ago.

The U.S. dollar is so universally assumed to be in a downtrend, that even the average person in the street takes for granted that it will lose value every year. However, the greenback gained substantially in 2005, and after a retracement earlier this year, is making a bullish pattern of higher lows which will likely lead to significantly higher prices over the next several months. The euro, as measured last week, had the most bearish traders' commitments in its relatively brief history, with the Canadian and Australian dollar commitments also close to bearish extremes.

There's no question that the U.S. dollar has been in a general downtrend for half a century, and this is likely to continue on a long-term basis for the next half century or more. There's also no question that U.S. equities have been in a long-term bull market for more than two centuries, and as long as the U.S. continues to exist, this bull market will last for another millennium or two (or three).

However, for various periods of months or years, there will be sharp countertrends in opposition to these long-term trends. The fact that everyone thinks that the U.S. dollar is falling makes it that much easier for it to rise. As a rule, the financial markets behave in the way which benefits the fewest possible number of its participants.

Something to look for very soon will be a "shocking" collapse in equity prices worldwide. Most investors are barely aware that many equity indices are at one- or two-year lows. They may occasionally hear a report on the Dow, which seems to hover right around eleven thousand, but have no idea what is happening in the real world until they actually receive their own

brokerage statements. Virtually all key equity support levels have now been broken to the downside, and the fact that this has happened so quietly, with barely a peep from the media, makes it that much more potentially devastating. When everyone talks about some kind of disaster possibly occurring, it is much less likely to actually happen.

This summer is likely to have some huge down days for equities, which will finally grab the average investor's attention and will finally cause VXO to make an upside breakout, which it has not done since 2002.

The financial media will be saying this: "With the economy apparently so strong, no one could possibly have predicted that such a sudden collapse in the stock market would happen."

Oh, yeah? Well, I'm predicting it. So there. Take that, CNBC!

Take care.

--Steve

I think you should tell him, and at the same time tell him about that poor bastard and bargirl down in Pattaya. He needs to be some distance away to receive this kind of information, and get his emotions in check. I'd be worried what might happen if he stumbled upon the true facts while here. He could lose alot more than money.

Land ownership on Samui and Pha Ngan islands is to be scrutinised following complaints of encroachment onto forest reserve land and other illegal ownership.

Surat Thani Governor Wichit Wichaisan said yesterday he had assigned his deputy Thawatchai Therdphaothati to take charge of the issue and have officials thoroughly check all Samui land-ownership deals, especially sites near mountains and hillsides.

Caretaker Natural Resources and Environment Minister Yongyuth Tiyapairat, meanwhile, said those involved in the alleged land encroachment on Samui had played golf with national politicians and that many local officials were too afraid to take action.

Yongyuth said a foreign-owned company's ad to sell land in the Khao Dang area led to suspicions the land might have been obtained illegally.

Local authorities, however, were unable to solve Samui land issues because whenever they probed ownership they faced obstruction by influential groups, he said.

Yongyuth said he and other senior officials would go tomorrow to Samui and sleep in tents on land whose ownership status was unclear to check first hand whether the ownership was legal.

He said he ordered an investigation last August and even had the Forestry Department director-general transfer an official, but this did not seem to have much impact.

He said he would ensure that if any of his ministerial officials were involved they would be fired.

"I'll solve this problem. And my actions aren't motivated by any political agenda," he said.

Surat Thani land officer Piatoon Lertkrai said the office had begun checking owners of land title deeds - especially foreigners - in May and would soon complete the process. If any land was found to have been obtained illegally, it would be seized.

The Nation's own checks on Samui land title deeds found that many Bangkok businessmen had recently obtained ownership and some land was held by foreigners for tourism-related businesses.

As many as 325 business registrations - 292 by companies owned by foreign investors and 33 by Thai investors - were done for estate development, resorts and land trading on Samui and Pha Ngan.

On Samui alone, there are 259 foreign-owned companies and 21 owned by Thai investors.

Meanwhile, Samui Island district chief Decha Kangsanan yesterday morning led nearly 500 people wearing yellow shirts with the symbol of the 60th anniversary of His Majesty the King's accession to the throne on a protest walk against land encroachers.

The only thing I miss is baseball.

If the US$ were to crash, would this cause the Canadian $ to crash ? How closely related are they?

tt The short answer is " no one knows". For the past 4-5 years the looney has traded pretty much inversely to the $USD, climbing 45% off it's lows, while the $USD sank almost 35% off it's highs.

I would not be surprised to see the looney retrace another 5% -10% down here, before it trys to move higher, if it can.

The $USD may indeed slide against Gold in future years (not now I don't think), but if there is one currency to be gotten out of "now" IMO it is the Euro. IMO it's the most worthless currency on earth. A very poor replacement for the Deutsche Mark.

okay,here goes the real truth and nothing but the truth. I swear on my life. I've been logging on to this site often for the past few days and didn't know if I would ever respond, but now feel I should. My name is Kari, I was the common law wife of the deceased, George Patrick Dubie. We lived on the island of Kauai, HI. I have three children by George. a son 28 born April 12 1978, a daughter 26, born Feb 22 1980 and another son 24, born May 8 1982. Most of the time I called George, Keoki, but around 1979 he insisted I start calling him Shon. George was born March 17 1950. He did indeed claim to be of God and that he could do miracles, he liked to call them "changes of realities" We had many members of our group that was know as the "Signifigance". He brain washed many. My daughter was the one that was abducted. That time was almost unbearable and the only thing that kept me somewhat sane were my two sons. 6 1/2 years George kept her from me. Why? because I had wanted out of the cult, he pysically and mentally tortured me and many others. I tryed to run a few times, always to be found, locked up and punished and not let out until he thought I would obey him again. He's a very evil man. but, even I didn't want him dead! Now there is no chance that my children and their many 1/2 brothers and sisters and his many victims can ever have real justice. I would have rather had him rot in jail. I, at least had the satisfaction of being the one who had him put in jail for a year on Oahu. Another very special lady helped me do this. She has 4 children by him. The one in jail I hear has at least 5 with him. I know of an older daughter before my son and none of are sure how many more there are.

these abused and abanded children are the innocent victims of George Patrick Dubie!!!! Did you all notice........He didn't rise on the third day after his death...What's with that KEOKI

specialk,

Thank you very much for sharing this story. It could not have been easy. Best to you .

Not sure where to start, except to say never believe what you read in the papers or on internet websites without really digging out facts yourself. I have done some direct digging

I will try to stick to some simple facts here and will try to get more facts later. And I only now place this here because the shooter’s claims are being spread far and wide and other nonsense is being portrayed here as supposed fact and I thought it was time for a healthy dose of skepticism, if nothing else, since Daniel cannot defend himself at this point.

I have known the victim for 4 years and have known his Thai significant-other nearly as long (as Thaimeup said, not a gold-digger) (among other things she worked for orphaned children even before she met Daniel) and I know dozens of others who knew him well and worked with him. Neither I nor any others I have spoken with have heard him claim to be Jesus or any other such nonsense. So forget about finding cult followers here or elsewhere. Not sure about his ancient past but would not tend to believe a 20+ yr old report by someone wanting a piece of his millions, that has not been substantiated since then.

Daniel was independently wealthy and owned properties all over the world. He was an independent journalist who had done some work for CNN - I have seen some of his interviews personally. He was a minor film producer and did a documentary for the UN which I have seen. He has worked on numerous projects in conjunction with the UN, especially assisting children. He was a philanthropist and humanitarian, supporting many good causes. I could go on for another hour but suspect an official biography will soon appear anyway.

If there were any chance that the shooter's story were true, I would say to give her sympathy, if it is outright fabrication then I would say perhaps reserve most of your sympathy for others who have been affected by her action. I have strong reason to believe it is utter fabrication and that she has had quite some time to plan what to say if caught.

She is claiming that he attacked her and she got the gun from him and shot him (as already pointed out this is not likely as he worked out daily and was quite strong). Then instead of dropping the gun in revulsion and panic and running back into the restaurant to ask for help or simply collapsing after the adrenal rush was over she gets in her car and drives many kilometers to a spot on the river where she tosses the gun into the river. It is also unusual that her car was parked on the street across from the restaurant and not in the spacious and more secure parking lot right next to the restaurant where there was plenty of open parking that evening according to someone who was there. If Daniel attacked her it was thoughtful of him to have done it next to her car. On the other hand if she had coolly planned it, what better place for a quick getaway. Unfortunately for her someone had enough mental alertness to jump in his car and follow her.

Next we come to her story of Daniel's abuses against her and the children. As someone pointed out recently on another TV thread there is no better way to permanently damage someone’s reputation than to accuse them of rape; throw child into the formula as well as woman beating and man have you ever created yourself a monster.

Let’s look at some other interesting information. Jeanna has been arrested twice that I have heard of for child neglect. And according to some who have spent time with the children she herself has a history of mental instability and the children have reported being both mentally and physically abused by Jeanna but I can find no one who has ever heard them say anything against Daniel. I have also heard that Jeanna has tried to use this same story at least once before against someone else either in USA or Canada.

Recently one of Daniel’s daughters from a previous marriage volunteered to care for the kids when Jeanna suddenly decided to take a one-year sabbatical from caring for them. Daniel has financially supported Jeanna and her children for decades despite the fact that they have never been married or supposedly never even been in a serious relationship.

I’m tired and I have not even told half of what I have dug up. I am not saying 100% sure that I think this was premeditated murder, but I am saying that I would lean much more that way than believe her story.

Two other points. I just realized that her two stories don’t fit together, though either one would tend to generate strong emotional support for her. One story makes you feel she had reason to go after him with a gun. But she is claiming he came after her and it was self-defense.

One person I spoke with who knew Daniel said that several months ago Jeanna approached him using a false name and a false story of her association with Daniel in order to gain his confidence. Then proceeded to try to find out where Daniel was and when he would be back in Thailand. The main point is that he said that she lied perfectly and he had no sense that she was anything but what she claimed. Maybe she was not yet planning a murder, but why the false name and false story if it were an innocent enquiry?

I would be very cautious, without some hard indication of her innocence, about contributing to some fund to get her out on bail because she has portrayed herself as the victim here. From there it would not be hard to flee the country. If someone else has information to support her claims let's hear it.

There are still plenty of unanswered questions. If she did plan this for some time then why? I have heard one theory as to why, but will not post that here as it is not clear or solid enough yet. If she had gotten away with it, it seems that she would have killed the goose that laid the golden egg. Was "30 pieces of silver" involved somehow as well? And whose silver? And again why?

Wow! You must be in marketing. After that introduction promising only facts, imagine my disappointment to hear none. Only more gossip, conjecture, innuendo, and bullshit.

the yen carry trade,america's historic debtload,iran oil bourse in euros,russia oil for rubles,central

banks switching reserves out of dollars,america's real estate and stock market bubbles,etc.

one night this fall while america is sleeping,the rest of the world will be doing business and some central bank/country will dump their dollars causing others to which starts a panic stampede to get out of dollars before the next guy.last ones out will lose and since money is now electronically moved in seconds with a push of a button,america will wake up one morning this october or november and find out that trillions of dollars have come home to roost in an economy with trillions in debt making a dollar worth a penny and a loaf of bread cost $100.dollars will be become like latin american money used to be and america will have thousands of percent inflation like latin america used to have.the us gov will naturally close down us banks and seal safety deposit boxes in the national interest,there will be rioting and looting which will have the cities turned into warzones,

paris hilton and jessica simpson will be fashionably starving in their pradas,americans will be fleeing across the border into mexico,and america will disintegrate into self-governing territories and regions.

convert your assets into gold and swiss francs and euros now and preserve your wealth or even profit from the collapse.

that is all.

1995 was a 4.5 yr, 9 yr and 18 yr cycle bottom for the $USD Index. The end of 04/beginning of 05 was the start of a new 4.5 yr and 9 yr cycle. this second 9 yr cycle occurs as the 18 yr is trending down. we just bottomed off the 1 st nominal 18 month cycle low after that new 4.5 and 9 yr cycle bottom. This recent 18 month cycle low had a higher low than the previous and projects higher highs (than the last 18 month cycle)over the next several months. Longer trends tend to dominate but seldom near the beginning of new short term trends.

Anyone that knows anything about currencies knows it doesn't mean a ###### thing what currency oil is traded in. As you said yourself "money is now electronically moved in seconds with a push of a button", and I might add with next to zero slippage where large numbers are concerned.

None of the above has anything to do with how the $USD may trade against the THB, as they have delinked and further irregularities have appeared since China has named the Baht to it's Index basket (though only a small %).

THanks to everyone for the interesting info here.

Any guidelines about the height of water tank and/or distance of water tank from the faucets?

Building a 2 person house with 2 small bathroom and thinking to build a 9-12m tower but ideally would like the tower about 100 meters away from the faucets? Any commments/advise from experience about a set-up like this?

THanks.

You might consider using a somewhat larger diameter pipe running between you tank and the house. The greater the distance the more fricyional forces on the water flow by the pipewall.

Did you hear the loud bangs again this morning? Both yesterday and today the Special Forces Batallion here in T. Don Kaew (between C.M. and Mae Rim) were conducting an artillery exhibition for visiting bigshots. It's right across the street from where I live. I shot bolt upright from a sound sleep thinking maybe my car had exploded. Very loud and concussive.

Yes, the Chanotte with the 10 year sale restriction is indeed a legitimate title. There are ways to assume ownership that are well understood by Thain authorities. Basically you get "given" the land now, with name transfer to take place at time of restrictions end. You can register this "bequeathal" with the local land department and it's as good as any other chanotte. I would say the only problem with this title is if you in turn want to retransfer within the 8 year period. It's probably possible but will start to make a cloudy chain of ownership. Any lawyer ought to be able to arrange this for you. I have a few chanotte pieces of land and one has the 10 year restriction. Regardless of what others here have said it is not a scam. But DO get a lawyer and DO register any transfer. Good Luck.

one thing I was trying to find and wasn't even able to explain (in other words - be understood) - flax seed oil. in Siam Paragon, Villa Market - anywhere - they just blink and have no idea what I'm talking about (I mean of course some of their stuff who speaks sufficiant Engl.) till one of customers (Thai, who probably been in the West and knew what is this oil) has explained to me that I won't be able to find it in Thailand, coz they simply don't know what it is.

but I saw some backeries selling multi-grain or whatever other sort of bread with falx seeds - which means it is used here in Thailand.

so, anyone has any idea where to get it? I've got some clue that in Central Ladprao there is some shop (forgot on which floor) apperently selling all food supplements, nutritients etc, which sometimes has this flax seed oil. but so far I couldn't find it - any advices ?

Almost evry health food store (that also has a cooler) sells flax seed oil.

One of my favorites is the "Inn Come Hotel " in Chiang Rai. It's either bas engrish or an artfully crafted triple entendre.

I've met a great many friendly Thai cops, but I've yet to meet any that are worth a shit at being a cop.

I contacted the local Canadian consular official, and they were very guarded with information. Once I assured them that I wasn't looking for "gory details", but only wanted assurance that the children were being well cared for. They said yes they were being cared for, but I left my name and number all the same should they need any further assistance. The lady official would not comment as to whether or not Canadian family were on the way or here, and I suppose that's as it should be. I would have felt better knowing though.

Re-enactment (she has apparently confessed):

Source: Thairath

http://www.thairath.co.th/offline.php?sect...s&content=11484

I know that lady. She told me her name was Jeanna (sp) and was an independent film producer. My girlfriend and I helped her and her family during the floods here last year. She's raising 5-6 children here alone. She struck me as a very nice person, though a bit of a "new age" flake in a harmless and sweet sort of way. She seemed constantly stressed having to take care of her large family, alone, in a foreign environment. I'm going to go check on her kids. They are all very nice and show signs of a nurturing upbringing. Very sad news.

I went to Mae Sai for a new visa last Saturday, the 1st of July. I've been asked to show

money 3 out of the last 4 times I've been there. I look perfectly normal, short hair, glasses,

a little nerdish even, no particular reason to choose me. Recently they seem to be getting

harsher. On Saturday two people were refused visas while I was there.

One, a youngish chap, was refused because he didn't have 5 blank pages left in

his passport, and another, a man of about 60 or 70 years, was refused because he

couldn't show enough money. The older man, when he asked why they wanted to see money,

was told that he had too many visa stamps in his passport and that they were required to ask

in cases like this. I saw his passport briefly and it did look like he'd been here a long time.

When he couldn't show any money they gave him the opportunity to go to an ATM machine but he

said he didn't have an ATM card. He claimed that he didn't know he needed to show money but the

officer pointed out that there were notices all over the check-point and that anybody

who'd been there as many times as he had couldn't possibly have missed them.

At this point he made a big mistake, he started to argue with the official

instead of apologising profusely to the big man. Last I saw of him he was being taken away by the

immigration officer. I don't know what happened to the other chap. I now have about 20 visa

stamps in my passport and, while I don't believe there's anything like an "official" quota, immigration

started asking me to show money around the time I received the 14th or 15th stamp. I always

carry enough money with me when I go on a visa run, it's not an awful lot and the consequences of

not being able to show it when asked range from the inconvenient to the catastrophic.

Goodness me, you've just witnessed more in one day that most people do in twenty years of border crossings.

I would assume that you are doing this trip every thirty days seeing that "immigration

started asking me to show money around the time I received the 14th or 15th stamp" Last year the Thai immigration were refusing to exit 30 day visa runners with more than six exit stamps on their passports. There is a thread on here somewhere.

This one I find rather difficult to follow, as I've seen immigration squeezing stamps into nearly full passports.

"a youngish chap, was refused because he didn't have 5 blank pages left in

his passport"

The signs stating that you have to "show means" of 10,000 baht for 30 day entries and 20,000 baht for 90 day entries were removed as of last week, and replaced with signs stating that the "overstay" charges had been increased to 500 baht.

I find all this rather incongruent

iiI went on the visa run to ae sai today. The X-Ray machine seemed not to be activated. It seemed Thais were getting a little more scrutiny upon returning to Thailand than usual. As for me, no hassles. Have never once been asked to show funds, and never even knew about the 5 page deal. I've only got 1 1/2 pages left and no one said anything.

Basically situation normal. Road up there starting to get a little better too.

From what I understand, the underpasses on Highway 11 are being built by a different company (companies?) than those built and already completed on the middle ring road. They supposedly ran out of money because of increased material costs so work on Highway 11 stopped for a long while. I find that story a little hard to believe exactly as told since the heavy use of concrete and such hadn't even really begun yet when the worked stopped. More likely that the original allocated budget ran out after it was funneled into different bank accounts...

Speaking with Thai friends about the various underpasses, they say, easier, less expensive, lower profile and less important ones are completed first. This takes an inordinate chunk of the allocated budget for the project. In that way, the underpasses that MUST BE completed and are basically a scar on the landscape adding to massive congestion are in a much better position to get a new allocation of government funds for completion.

Hello

I have friends who plan to come and live in Thailand. Their budget for 2 is 1000 euros per month.

Do you think it is enough to live here ??..

According to me, more is needed...even if they don't know exactly where they want to settle and if it is easier to live for example in I-San with this amount.

Your comments are welcome

Have a nice day...

I would say for most Europeans they'd find that an inadequate sum for living in a manner they are accustomed to. I would urge your friends to begin thinking in Baht, rather than Euros. The euro is nearer the high end of it's 10 year historical exchange rate against the Baht. 6-7 years ago a Euro bought something like 35 baht vs. the 49 or so it is now. I would probably use a 10 year average when computing my likely available budget (maybe 43-44 Baht/Euro). That would give your friends even less to spend.

So, unless they are rather frugal I'd say it would be a difficult transition at this time IMO.

If I want to purchase a few shares in any Thai Public Company Limited (PCL);

1. Can my local Bangkok Bank branch fix this purchase?

2. Can a foreigner own shares in a Thai PCL?

3. What documents do I need?

4. How much is the tax?

5. [Option]: Can I trade may shares online?

This may provide a starting point for your research. I do not know anything about any of the brokerages listed. As with all other things here in Thailand, I'm sure there are many bad ones and some good ones.

http://www.settrade.com/S09_MemberPage.jsp?txtBrokerId=IPO

Here's a handy SET related link I keep:

http://www.geoinvestor.com/countries/thailand/financial.htm

I'm rather surprised by this poll. While about 1/3 of Americans are so delusional they think whatever America does is always right, there is another 1/3 so full of self loathing that thinks America is responsible for every ill, everywhere. I would have thought countries with more homogenous poulations might top that list.