ourmanflint

Khaosan Buddy, It's great because I made it..

Just saw this in the UK! Ibis chain have rooms for 100 baht per night, there's obviously no lack of tourists.

check here

About 70 per cent of the corals in diving areas in Phang Nga and Phuket provinces are now bleached, directorgeneral Jatuphorn Burusphat said, adding that diving would be temporarily prohibited in affected areas pending official announcement.

Went diving around Phi Phi a couple of weeks ago and saw little or no bleaching even in the shallows. This 70% figure is probably taken out of context - might be '70% of tidal flat corals' or something like that.

I went snorkelling off phi phi last week and saw plenty of bleaching. Mostly stagshorn corals at a depth of about 10-15m. I would estimate it to have been about 20% of all corals noticably affected. |If it doesn't rain soon it will only get worse.

dissolve parliament is the best way to end this protest.

What a stupid thing to say. At some point Thailand has to start behaving like a democracy and that means having elections to vote for who they want to be in government, it does not mean new government by rallying on the streets by minorities everytime they are unhappy.

Your short sightedness will only allow the cycle to play out again and again, or don't you belive in the right of ordinary people to choose to vote for a new government?

I forgot just how many loonies there are skulking around in Thailand and yet managing to post on this forum.

Let's hope it's all over by 7am Saturday as I'm coming through immigration to celebrate soggy songkran. Last year wasn't too bad, but this annual red shirt party is starting to get tedious.

All you are advocatiing is a return to the staus quo for Thailand. Do you not think the Thai people deserve better? Isn't it better to break the cycle of protest to coup to interim government to protest to coup etc...

Wait 9 months only and start a new cycle of legitimate vote for legitimate government. Your way only opens the door to diisident groups thinking they can oust a government by protesting and marching. That is not the democratic way, and it should not be the Thai way either.

Your attitude and the red shirt leaders attitude is 100% selfish and the Thai people as I said deserve better.

Take up cycling! The best way to see Bangkok, you can cycle along alot of the klongs or around the "stomach" bit can't remeber it's name right now but other side of the river from Klong Thooey, temples and lazy countryside cycle paths everywhere.

It's called snuff finger and it's the snuff innit! A very dirty and sordid habit that is kep extremely private.

I couldn't read it either, but what a load of b*llocks anyway. There is nothing in any of these stories that is really about Thai girls, it's all just about girls or women full stop. You get the same sh*t if not worse from marrying any other nationality. Thai girls can be hard nosed but that's only because they have had harder lives sometimes than us, but <deleted>, it's not because they're Thai is it?

The only silver lining to all this is that a lot of noodles will be sold this next week, I'm sure a lot of people will be glad of that. I hope it's more of a light hearted protest to show the strength and breadth of feeling and not a rampage through the streets of Bangkok.

The Serbian Kosovo province is still occupied by the USA.

China didn't overrun Tibet, Tibet was already Chinese territory for centuries.

Apples and oranges? Yes you are right, China was sending it's army to Chinese territory and USA and partners are sending their armies to other countries far away... yes it is not good to compare those 2 cases.

Yes offcourse everything I say make no sense, maybe you don't like to hear that many Tibetans don't like the Dalai Lama?

China is doing it slower, China is bad, China don't care about human rights blabla, Yes I see how much the western world is growing up with their global wars, they much care about human rights when they are bombing cities.

Yes we are talking about recent history... Tibet is China and it's was already China in the past just like Texas is know USA and already was back in time.

It is offcourse different for persons how they think about subjects, some will say Tibet must be a country, Texas must be a country or must be Mexico and so I can put more examples... but the fact is both are a part of a country in this recent history.

Well you are not the 1 who can tell if someone won a point or not, you have your own visions just like I have.

If Tibet was already Chinese for centuries why was it called Tibet and not China? Maybe it was because even back then the lovely chinese farmers would don their military shirts and would enter Tibet en masse and kill whoever did not subordinate themselves to the current emperor. The only thing you can really say is that China has for a long time been the rulers of Tibetan peoples and land, Tibetan peoples though seem to think that Tibet is theirs for some reason the Chinese cannot quite fathom.

The Tibetan Plateau extends well into what is now China and strangely the folks there all speak Tibetan but are happily coerced to learn Mandarin by their friendly chinese farmer neighbours and CP members alike. It is strange that although both Mongolia and Tibet were annexed by the Qin emperors, and both tried to relieve themselves of their chinese overlords at the end of the Qing dynasty, they are not spoken of in the same breath, as Mongolia is now fully independent of China. If only someone like Russia would have stepped in to help Tibet in reclaiming it's own sovereignty and stop the friendly Chinese government from invading, we wouldn't be having to try and educate you now. But instead you have drank from the cup of the superbly flawed Chinese education system, were even Confucius himself was seen as a dangerous radical and whose teachings were with held for fear of opening the minds of the downtrodden.

I am sure you are right though, that there are scores if not hundreds of Tibetans who will swear they hate the Dalai Lama when interviewed about their loyalties by the friendly Chinese farmers and the friendly Chinese military.

This crisis cannot be averted by any means that are palatable to the British public. By palatable, I mean deep, DEEP cuts in public spending, big, BIG hikes in taxation and a serious drop in living standards for the electorate.

..snip

What about a 1% rise in interest rates? Problem solved, tons of propped up homeowners go to the wall, normality returns, whatever that is.

Sad story, I almost had tears.. but then I realised I don't see how not drinking or not wanting to dive into the bargirl scene would in any way affect someone who has other interests, and the confidence in himself not to give a rats ar%e about anyone else.

Thai girls can be seem extremely harsh to someone looking for love, because they often are not, they just want to have a good time and earn some dough anyway they can. Money is everything to the girls you will most likely meet in the places your friends go, nothing wrong with that, but it's not like going out and meeting girls in the US or Europe.

Most bargirls even thought they might seem like they are selling a lie and living a lie are more than likely very decent people if you give them half a chance, maybe you should force yourself to learn more about them without judgement.

I feel for you I do, but it seems you're the one creating these artificial barriers to having a good time yourself.

Ask your wives if she ever made a promise to a monk in return for good fortune? Beef seems to be the thing most choose to give up... only a fool would give up pork or chicken.

Does anyone know if the Chinese part of the Kunming-Bangkok superhighway is completed yet? I guess this is part of that.

This is one of the sorts of stories that makes you want to say "f*(k Thailand I'm never going back there gain" . But of course I will, but there are lots that won't and lots of potential tourists that won't either.

I didn't think Thailands image abroad could get much worse, but it seems there is more scope yet to damage the worlds view of happy Thailand.

Sorry.. I think it must have been all my fault, came back from LOS in May to tell everyone I knew how expensive everything was, beers more expensive than London, rip offs at every corner and even the banks joining in on the scam the farang 24/7 scheme.

But still all you hear is that Thailand is a poor country and very cheap when you are there, there is a growing gaping void between reality in Thailand, and it seems you have to leave it to see it.

Thailand is not poor, nor is it cheap, in fact it's probably the most expensive long haul destination from Europe outside of Japan you could find.

The end is nigh!!!

No problem

Bt12500 per day and I'm all yours!

re: THB pegged to CNY

CNY is pegged to the USD, with a 0.5% daily trading 'band' allowance I believe. So a THBCNY peg, is essentially a USDTHB peg, with a 0.5% band allowance per day. Not far off their current managing MO.

If thats true it just goes to show how the whole Thai economy and baht strength is a load of fantasy played out by the kids in mens bodies running the BOT.

A complete joke that I hope backfires on all involved.

My girlfriend is "forcing" me to go to Chiang Mai for Songkran, because she thinks it will be amazing. Then we have to do it all again in her hometown 2 days later. Seems it's not just the tourists who get excited about Songkran, the Thais do too.... must be the heat!

Just over ten years ago, the Thai economy suffered a huge crash. I think they have learned valuable lessons from that disaster. The worst problem Thailand has are its incredibly corrupt politicians. That is just a way of life here and will no be cured for many years if ever.

If you are of the opinion that the British pound, the Euro or the Dollar are in better shape than the baht, I'd say that is totally wishful thinking and that you are going to be very disappointed. With the entire Western world leaning heavily towards socialism, things are just going to get worse.

I think that the economies behind the Euro , Dollar and even the Pound are far more durable than Thailands, which seems in all honesty to be me a complete fantasy. I've never understood why Thailands economy as it is, can be immune from the ridiculous property boom that has been happening over the past 7-9 years. I really think that 1997 will seem like a hiccough compared to what's around the corner.

Indeed. Sharp increase of BOT's foreign currency reserves last week... +2,44 % compared to the week before (114,08 billions USD versus 111,36). The BOT is buying USD.

Year on year, the increase is 7,6 % but... a few weeks before, we were still at +20%. So it's an up within a down trend.

Sure, on the road, we will have other "ups". Mere blips on the big recession screen. But nothing substantial...

So the BOT is buying up dollars. Is this so at some point in the very near future it will let the thai baht go into freefall and then sell all those dollars making vast amounts of money for its investors. Surely not. Surely the BOT is responsible to all the citizens of Thailand and not just its investors

NO, the BOT is SELLING dollars! and that since quite some time. before making ridiculous comments such as "the BOT is buying dollars" and "making vast amounts of money for its investors" please do your homework first

Naam

I was replying to someone else who reported that the BOT were buying up dollars, I'm far too busy to check all these facts for myself, c'mon!

Thinking about it, you're too clever and way too sarcastic to be serious

Nice to see that there at least a few of you still around. It must be getting lonely in the "this is thailand, everything is OK club" . Is it that you think there is some kind of special barrier around Thailand that repels all the nasty things that happen elsewhere, financial crisis, rising sea levels etc etc.?

How is it that some of you think any financial institution in any country is immune to the disease spreading around the globe? I know there are always optimists, but really you need to get out a bit more. To say that the problem is restricted to the USA or Europe just shows your complete ignorance of how the world in reality functions.

The longer the denial goes on the more damage will be done, Thailands economy at present seems to be a very accurate reflection of the very worst aspect of Thai culture, that of saving face. It will eventually have to give way to the reality of the rest of the world and when it goes it will go in spectacular fashion.

But keep the drums drumming... it can't happen here... it can't happen here

Indeed. Sharp increase of BOT's foreign currency reserves last week... +2,44 % compared to the week before (114,08 billions USD versus 111,36). The BOT is buying USD.

Year on year, the increase is 7,6 % but... a few weeks before, we were still at +20%. So it's an up within a down trend.

Sure, on the road, we will have other "ups". Mere blips on the big recession screen. But nothing substantial...

So the BOT is buying up dollars. Is this so at some point in the very near future it will let the thai baht go into freefall and then sell all those dollars making vast amounts of money for its investors. Surely not. Surely the BOT is responsible to all the citizens of Thailand and not just its investors