yankeechief

Haha, what comes around goes around. Lets watch the them crumble as they should. Them and all the high and mighty farangs (I have lived here for 20 years and its a great place".) No I understand it you have gone native and forgot what reality is. And EIU say Cambodia is unstable??????

Excellent…. good on ya. These guys are all over the world. I love winding them up. I’m normally a nice guy, but for them…………

I ones I’ve encountered are usually ex military expats. They act as if they’re living in the colonial past and look down their noses at anyone or everyone.

They deserve everything they get.

I'm not only ex-military but retired military (from the US Navy) and i take issue with that stereotypical statement. I've always treated foreign nationals with respect and dignity. Don't lump ex-military expats into one group, it shows ignorance and narrow-mindedness

Regards

I concur, as a retired USN veteran and a someone who has been in Southeast Asia since 1986 (Both military and civilian), I find that peopel taht make that assumption are the ones who have left their home country for the first time and are now experts in expat lifestyles in asia. Ignorrance and narrow-mindedness is an understatement.

Regards,

ABHCS (AW) USN, Ret

Setting up a base of operations in Bangkok? I wouldn't give them the satisfaction or the revenue. Phnom Penh Cambodia, easier foriegn invetsment laws (no need for any local partnership, minimum $1K capital investment and easier visa renewal prcoesses, cheaper cost of living and good expat support network).

Just never ceases just how "Amazing Thailand" really is!

Thats life in Southest Asia, get over it! All the righteous people who write about how terrible these things are the same ones who are here exploiting these people in these countries in some other form or fashion. Yes its a shame somebody had to die but lets not get carried away with, do think that in some of these places they would have cared if it were a truck load of farangs? Of course they would..... becasue of they would have missed out on the money we would have spent. Thats reality!

she is lying through her sweet young lips. this was a set up to rob the rich guy between her and the dead frogman. who in the heil swims up to a yacht and is invited on to have a tour and drinks while the skipper is doodling his young innocent beauty. while the wifes away...skipper played. he got set up by two morons who couldnt pull it off. when her partner was hurt and jumped overboard she changed teams in mid stream so to speak. this was probably a boat jacking to sail off into the sunset....but the skipper was too fast and too strong.

also this b.s. about this man found dead maybe being the skinny little SCB bank robber is another joke. he was the bank mangers thai cousin. totally an inside job. can anyone here solve a crime?

Now that is the most reasonable theory I have heard yet. Knowing how the women in this part of the world are so effective in turning realitively intelligent men into braindead zombies, who will do anything to keep the little lady happy.

This is the most cowardly way of creating civil unrest and senseless violence: bombing!

I wish their families of these bombers one day be killed the same way by someone they really do not know. Nothing else will make them understand the crazyness of their acts. How stupid, how cowardly... and what do they reach???

Cowardly? Yes, but effective.

I would love to make a professional related comment about the current security state in Thailand. But the last time I commented I was warned that it was taking a shot a Thailand and the culture and blah, blah blah. So as a Southeast Asia Security specialist with over 21 years exp in the region, everyone enjoy and I hope I don't get another warning from the guys that run this site fo saying something that may ruffle anyones feathers. Thailand is safe, it is great!

Mmmm Pizza!

Now we are talking here.

My favorite food.

No kidding, but I have had pizza in about 45 different countries.

I eat pizza 3 times a week.

I can eat pizza on christmas eve.

In my opinion the best pizzas I have had was in Scandinavia and USA.

I can only talk about the pizzas with several toppings as do not like the Italian style one-man-pizza which is too thin and hardly any toppings on.

As for American food in general, I think the food there is great. Normally big portions and a huge variety.

Best food I had there was in San Diego.

Best Pizza in USA was in Boston.

Best pizza ever tasted was a night club in the SAS Hotel in Tromsoe, Norway.

I will definitely try the places you guys have recommended here in BKK.

Thnx a lot

Sailor

*

I can tell you where I think I had the lousiest pizza in Asia - in the Philippines!

I like Pizza (Boston style,) the pizzas in the P.I. were all too sweet (much like most of their bread too!)

Pizza Company is much, much, much better than anything I ever got in the Philippines!

Well, I actually had the worst in China (not including Hong Kong).

But I never tried it in Shanghai.

And yes, the pizza in PH must be made in an American (or other Western) place if I want to try it again.

Sailor

Worst pizza, would have to be in Russia! Second worst would be in Cambodia. Best St Louis Missouri, USA or Melbourne Australia.

And ? What's the point ? Does it mean because the first pizzeria in USA was opened in 1905 that they are the world's best ?

American food allways reminds me a kind of... crap as far as can go back in my memory.

Just another person who wishes they were a yank!

Lets face it, murder is murder. The way its handled by the authorities does not matter. Its Thailand, and as long as you are a "white boy" or a farang who cares? They could care less as long as we are dumb eneough to keep pumping money into this third world dump, they will keep on taking our money. I know that all those "I have lived here for a 100 years, blah, blah, blah farangs" can't beleieve what happens here and bury thier heads deeper into the sand evrytime something ugly happens in the "Amazing Thailand". Live with it, they are corrupt and as ruthless as anywhere else, civilised people? I don't think so.

Tourists? Go figure, somebody is collecting a bad debt and they used a local shooter.

Just the CYA that they are renowned for so when somebody takes the fall, which will never happen. They will know which way to point fingers.

Its time for the Thai military to take off the gloves and stop being so politically correct in dealing with these people. Thats why the USA is getting worn down in Iraq. No body fights a war with commitment, except the rebels or insurgents or whatever name you want them to have.

i gotta believe that malaysia is secretly funding and training these groups, it is to their advantage.

It goes deeper than Malaysia, and I said that over a year ago on one of these forums right here. I caught hel_l for even thinking that something like that or a coup was in the air to occur in serene Thailand. The place where I heard "I have been living here for blah, blah, blah and that would never happen here". Well we have had a coup, the immigration laws changed, foriegn investment has changed and terrorism has come to Bangkok. Its time for those people to who have protected this country to move over for us who are living in the real Thailand not this LOS BS I see and here so much of.

I said this before about this subject when the bombings first happened. It is a great way for the newly placed government (military) to further enhance their power and clamp down on civil liberties in Thailand......very much like what has happened in my country, America.

If this was JL, they would have (1) claimed responsibility, and (2) taken many more lives in these bombings.

Coup d e'tat, military, control, power, royalty, disengage in democratic institutions, limit freedoms..........

Hit the nail on the head with this observation. Foriegn intel sources have stated they don't have a clue prior to yesterdays news of arrests. Or do they?

From The Nation's weblog:

Defence Minister Boonrawd Somtas said it himself that based on evidence and plausible assumption, he suspected men in uniform were involved in the New Year bomb attacks.

On January 8, General Prem Tinsulanonda, president of the Privy Council, met with 84 senior cavalry officers and key battalion commanders and urged them to act as an anchor for public morale and safeguard the country in light of the unstable situation triggered by political turbulence.

Army chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin outflanked then premier Thaksin Shinawatra by uprooting all of battalion commanders seen as Thaksin's cronies. Sonthi's move undermined the clout of Thaksin's allies from Pre-Cadet Class 10 and paved way for his grip on power. Maj General S, a Thaksin's Pre-Cadet Class 10 fellow graduate and staunch ally, had personal and professional interest to steer officers from Pre-Cadet Class 22-to-24 to rise through the military ranks. The general and his proteges are now assigned to desk job.

In the July's reshuffle, Sonthi chose to fill key battalion positions with graduates from Pre-Cadet Class 25-to-26. And he removed the majority of Pre-Cadet Class 10 officers to inactive positions after the coup. Even though there is no one pointing an accusing finger against former battalion commanders, it is not a mere coincidence that Prem should have an unscheduled meeting with incumbent commanders.

I suspect the masterminds behind the bombing will never be unmasked because it is a long-established tradition that graduates from the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy will not annihilate one another.

Suspected masterminds in all past bombings linked to the military continue to elude the law to this day.

Could not be closer to the truth. There is a major struggle currently between the military and the police. But nobody will ever discuss that openly.

The question should have been, how many people have died already? this is a nasty problem, it all comes down to ignorance. It is all about making money and keeping silent.

Of its about making money and keeping silent. And for god's sake lets not ruffle anyone's feathers here in the LOS's. Let's all just keep acting like lambs to the slaughter and say "No Problem"

They had to open the new airport, the old one can't handle the mass exodus of farangs that got caught up in the new visa regs!

OK I do not work, I am a US citizen, and I arrived witouth a visa, just got a stamp at the aiport when I arrived and have made visa runs every 3o days. I am due to renew on the 19th of September. So I will get on the bus and cross the border, will I be allowed back in?

I am a US citizen and have never got a VOA when I arrived 1 year ago. I do not work, I am retired over fifty and have gone to the Camodian border every 30 days to extend my stay. I must go next week. will they allow me back in?

TOO HARD! I say we leave Bangkok, just like Sherman left Atlanta or the British left Washington. Burn't to the ground!

What about the retired US military who do not meet the monetary requirement for a retirement visa and have 12 months of back to back visas? Will they say sorry you have too many stamps at the end of the month you must leave and oh by the way, you will lose your deposit on your apartment.

How much is your military pension? If it is under 800K per annum, I suppose your only option is go back to the US and save the money to make up the difference for the Thai bank account. Then you can come to Thailand. Just checking to make sure you understand the financial requirements ... if you have a pension, you might not be far off qualifying.

I was ok until the baht went below 40 to the dollar. AS far as going back to the USA...go back to what? I have no living family any longer and sold everything off before I left. The Philippines is looking good.

Yeah I am in the same boat! I have not been working & I do not qualify for a retirement visa (only because of the exchange rate). I came here as a holding area, while I was waiting for a job OUTSIDE of Thailand. I have been doing this visa run thing for a year.

What about the retired US military who do not meet the monetary requirement for a retirement visa and have 12 months of back to back visas? Will they say sorry you have too many stamps at the end of the month you must leave and oh by the way, you will lose your deposit on your apartment.