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On 10/19/2017 at 12:10 PM, tryasimight said:

Gee....you've seen it all.

My way is much safer....only go to bars after 11pm and hang out with bar girls....never had a problem.

Never seen a jumper, a murder or experienced theft of any kind.

Awesome! I hope your luck keeps up!
Maybe those girls are kinda like bodyguards! haha Who knows how they might attack if somebody messed with their customer

The bickering on here is really sad. The guy asked some pretty simple stuff with no attitude that I could tell whatsoever.
But as anyone who has used this forum for more than 2 days will know, ThaiVisa is full of these just weirdos! They need to get a life instead of trying to make others miserable.
The comparing of prices with different countries is pretty ridiculous. Don't people know that the economies are just a tad different? Quoting a Japanese taxi price in comparison to at Thai taxi price compared to the Thai economy is not sensible. The taxis are indefensible. Even the Thai government is nostop battling them to improve their professionalism! They have been denied the right to raise fares for years! And the stated reason has been precisely because of their discourteous behavior, poorly maintained taxis, failure to take passengers when hailed, and general misc. cheating. It's beyond me how people defend them! I have definitely never heard a Thai person defend the taxi (and tuktuk) drivers. Then again, I don't hang out with the likes of them who might be related to them....
Not that my years in BKK are particularly long, but are plenty long enough to know what's happening and it is disgusting. I am so glad to live up north now! And whenever I go to BKK, I stick with Uber as much as humanly possible! I have found the prices very competitive and the drivers and cars are not comparable at all. With Uber available, I don't know why anyone would use a taxi, unless something not well planned or in a hurry of course. Even if the prices weren't competitive, I'd gladly pay an extra 20-30% more for an Uber!
To be fair, yes, of course there are some decent guys driving taxis. I met some really good local guys and some who spoke excellent English! They themselves were disgusted with the average taxi in BKK. I felt sorry for them... But, I think they probably do well because they are quite professional and I'm sure they get their fair share of tips with happily surprised customers. But all in all, getting a decent car and driver is really a toss up, but I'd say that there are more guys that are more or less ok or even good than there are bad. I just got so sick and tired of the bad that I avoid taxis like the plague. Why take a 30% or so risk of being screwed with and having your day have a downer like that when you can take Uber and be 99% likely to have a normal to enjoyable time?

3 hours ago, theguyfromanotherforum said:

So, I was a bit curious and went to a few forums and there are quite a few foreigners complaining about Japanese taxi drivers....mostly about having no clue how to get to a certain destination.

 

Btw, is stuff like this still allowed in Japan?

 

I lived there for about 10 years and visit often since leaving. I saw very isolated instances of this kind of thing about 30 years ago in Japan, and only in areas with high concentrations of foreigners. I don't recall seeing it at all in the last 25 years. Although, I'm not omnipresent, so who knows....
At least the refusal is done very politely? hahaha
I've been refused entry more than once in Thailand within the past 10 years. But when Thai friends spoke up for me, I was allowed entry with them.
In both countries, I've only ever seen this kind of thing at night venues.

I'm not sure how BKK could have gotten such a bad rap! In the short 6-7 years I lived in BKK, I was only held up at gunpoint once, only witnessed one shooting, only saw the results of 3 stabbings and one other shooting, only saw 2 coups (those 6-7 years weren't consecutive), only saw 2 gang fights between technical school enemies, only saw 2 dead bodies floating in the khlongs, only one semi-riot (among hoodlums), only one year did I witness the city taken over by violent mobs of red-shirts and was within a block of dozens of killings during that time, saw the World Trade Center (now nice and politely renamed) and buildings at Victory Monument and Siam Center torched, witnessed buses, vans, and taxis driven by drunk or high drivers on multiple occasions, but on only one occasion did I see my friend's car totaled by one of those out of control maniacal bus drivers on a main avenue in the city, had burglars break in and steal from neighbors only one time each in the 3 different condos I lived in there, only one time did anybody jump from a very high floor in one of the condos I lived in, and only caught a pickpocket one measly time. There may have been more colorful moments, but that's all I recall at the moment.

Getting by with so few problems I attribute to nearly never going to bars or clubs, keeping off the streets past 11p.m. most of the time, keeping associations with "educated" people (businessmen, lawyers, judges, church people, devout Buddhists, academics, scientists, and the like) rather than the kind of company farang are commonly thought to keep. I enjoy life up north quite a bit better. I think the biggest problem I've had in my years here is trying to find creative ways to return kindnesses shown me on regular occasion, no violence, death, mayhem, petty crime, etc. Lanna culture seems to have had a lasting effect over the past hundred years, making the north quite different than the culture that took it over (annexed it) all those years ago. hmmm one glaring omission... driving up here is no better than BKK and maybe even worse?

On 10/13/2017 at 10:18 AM, darksidedog said:

It is up to the court to decide if the attempted murder charge is appropriate, but I do hope that Sumeth is also going to be charged. The punch he threw was pretty dirty and I do not feel it fair that he can just walk away from that without some repercussions.

Not sure if you read the article...?
" The gold shop owner who punched him is being charged with assault and has apologized for his actions."
If you were run over by a road raging idiot who also just finished bashing your car with a machete and threatening you yourself with it, I'll bet you likely would have a bit of a stronger opinion on whether or not attempted murder charges are appropriate....

3 hours ago, maximillian said:

4.000 Baht/day ?  Thais are very generous then.

 

200 Baht fine ?  Good to know policemen are not greedy.

Generous Thais? I don't think so... the night bazaar area, where he plied his trade, is packed with, apparently ignorant, tourists.
The policemen aren't greedy? hmmm well, maybe the reason he got arrested in the first place was because he didn't provide little brown envelopes often or thick enough.
Of course, you could be right though, there's always that needle in the haystack just waiting to be found 

If anyone did ever give to any of those charitable causes, often sought by groups of students or little boxes on counters in various shops, hopefully this may clue them in a bit? And even if the ones asking are legit, like the students, what are the odds that the organization they give the money to is as corrupt as this guy? Pretty good, I'd say.... Since there is virtually no penalty, what's to stop corrupt individuals from going for broke!?

2 hours ago, inThailand said:

Why don't they just ban tourists!

I think the effect will be somewhat similar....

1 hour ago, Monkeyrobot said:

I am calling Uber from now on, I am sick of this Pattaya mafia taxi mob. 

Same here in Chiangmai. I refuse to use a taxi. Never again. Same when I visit Bangkok.
So sick of these taxi idiots for so many years. I decided I was done a while back when I experienced some Uber rides. Absolutely no reason to use a scum taxi. I'd use Uber if it were more expensive!

I often see people in TV say that they think a big part of the reason this stuff happens is because of no enforcement of the law. I beg to differ. Back when I made very frequent trips to the lumber or hardware stores when building a home years ago, I don't believe the law ever entered anyone's mind (mine or the store workers'). We were concerned with safety! We didn't want anyone getting hurt! The law... well, if it did enter anyone's mind, it was VERY secondary. I believe it is more a value of life and the value of "doing to others what you'd have them do to you" that is the main difference in so many things here in Thailand.

"Staff had tied it on, but clearly not well enough"
I'd be willing to bet a high sum that they tied it on very well. But illegally sticking off the side of the damn truck! I don't believe for a moment that the pipe swung out, as they said in the article. It was like that from the get go. But in any case, the driver of a vehicle is responsible for loads on a vehicle, end of story. If she didn't bring some cloth to put under the pipe so it wouldn't scratch the paint over her cab and so had it tied off to the side... or whatever the excuse, it doesn't matter. It is clearly vehicular manslaughter. If charged with ordinary negligence = 1 year jail, if gross negligence, it can get you up to 6 years (California).
Here.... well, since life is so lowly valued, penalties are up for grabs to the highest bidder

6 hours ago, cauldlad said:

Why anyone wants to go to Immigration for a 90 day report beats me!!!

 

The online reporting system is working fine as long as you use IE which can even be found in Windows 10.

I was thinking the same thing!
I haven't been to BKK immigration for about a year. But when I did spend time going there, it wasn't hardly ever bad at all. I would usually arrive between 2:00-3:00 (so I could get back before traffic started getting bad) and I would be in and out between 10-25 minutes. Once I was in and out in 6 minutes! Yes, I timed it. I almost always did. I could have just asked the taxi to wait for me! But there are always plenty there anyway.
Even though I nearly always got in and out in that short time period, I don't see the point in going down there when it can be done from the comfort of my own comfy place.

10 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

This morning's toys out of the pram post brought to you by...

 

Nothing to do with the topic at hand? Really? The fact that motorbike riders are overwhelmingly more likely to be killed in all sorts of scenarios doesn't suggest that they are even more likely to become road kill where they cannot do the fast lane change, undertake, overtake and habitually 'shoot the ever diminishing gap" between slower and larger vehicles?

 

Most accidents OF ALL SORTS happen between 4 PM and 8 PM during the daily "end of work, grab dinner and a few beers and get home before dark first" ritual. Doesn't happen because motorbikes are forced to use dangerous intersections instead of the low-maneuverability and less margin for error of underpasses and overpasses.

 

The underpass is underwhelming BTW. Apart from the 1000 baht zinger, you won't be missing much else by avoiding it.

I have no idea whatsoever what, "This morning's toys out of the pram post brought to you by..." is supposed to mean....
Yes, correct, nothing directly to do with it. I guess you could say that the orientation of the tunnel to cardinal points could be related if you want. But if bringing up illegal driving habits of some idiot motorcycle drivers in relation to whether or not one is more likely to die in a tunnel is relevant, and therefore motorcycles banned from them, then by that logic motorcycles should be banned from everywhere.
But whether more accidents happen between 4 and 8 p.m. is again irrelevant to the location of accidents.
In relation to this topic having to do with the location, not time of day, of tunnels (and secondarily bridges, just because they create the same nonsensical law for them), it really isn't difficult.
FAR fewer accidents happen in tunnels.
FAR more accidents happen at intersections.
Banning motorcycles from taking a safer route and forcing them to a more dangerous route is unreasonable, unless of course you want to create a nice choke point for easy revenue collection, knowing that it is unlikely that there will be many hi-so types riding bikes... nice soft targets to pad the pockets.

I don't know anything about the specific tunnel mentioned in the article. If it doesn't force a motorcycle driver to pass through an intersection, that would be unusual. I'm not sure what you meant about not much being missed by avoiding it.... Normally one would like to take the tunnel to avoid an intersection, which not only often takes longer, but also happens to be where more accidents happen. Tunnels are very controlled environments and accidents there are in comparison very rare. Just think back to how many accidents you've ever seen in a tunnel in comparison to how many you've seen in areas with intersecting traffic. You don't even need hard statistics to figure it out. It's pretty obvious... At least, I thought it was. If it isn't to you, then you can rely more on the statistics, which will also show the same idea. Or maybe take a motorcycle out for a ride and you will see how much safer it is driving in a tunnel than negotiating intersections, with motorcycles maneuvering every which way, dogs, carts, pedestrians, red light runners, right of way ignorers, etc, etc... Maybe it isn't as obvious from inside your safer environs of the car? From on a bike, it is as clear as day.
 

8 minutes ago, billd766 said:

To all the carpers on this thread I ask one simple question.

 

Could YOU do any better?

 

I know that I couldn't.

My intention wasn't to criticize the dancers at all. I'm sure they had a great time. And their level of talent is pretty much beside the point of what I was talking about.
But, yeah, kudos to them, while even though they may not be pros, they enjoy themselves! That's the point of what they're out to do! I think it's great.

12 hours ago, NanLaew said:

 

Enjoy your time at the front. Here's another thing that motorbikes are leading the rest of us road users on.

 

The chart you kindly provided is nothing new, and it also has nothing to do with the topic at hand. So, I'm not sure why you quoted me with your post.... I never made any mention of the percentage of deaths on the roads at all.... I hope you aren't attempting to correlate this statistic with the topic of tunnels and bridges. That would be a sad mistake. But it would explain why people agree with stupid laws like this if that's how they read statistics.
The top reasons for accidents have nothing to do with tunnels or bridges. Accidents occur mostly at intersections or places where driveways/entrances/exits intersect with the roadway, which is exactly where motorcyclists get routed to in order to go around bridges and tunnels. It is complete nonsense.
The idea of intersecting locations being common accident zones also explains why parking lots and residential neighborhoods are also on the top of the list of where accidents happen. Nowhere will you find tunnels and bridges being remotely high on the list of where accidents happen, whether on motorcycles or in cars or on a f'n skateboard! The law is absolute and total idiocy. Why anybody with an ounce of common sense can't see that is beyond me.....

"Amazing" retro video?
I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but that was not an "amazing" video of any kind, retro or otherwise. It was was cute and fun, a production that went pretty well, but amazing is definitely a step above this production.

Sept. 6 - 10?
Today is the 9th already... nothing like being on top of things!

Prohibiting all motorcycles from tunnels and bridges is simply idiotic. It provides no safety benefits (unless considering incapable car drivers who don't know how to stay in their own lane and often nearly push motorcycles out of their lane and in tunnels and on bridges, the space for a motorcycle being pushed out of their lane is very limited) and it could easily be argued that it causes safety issues by sending motorcycles into other lanes and intersections where accidents are much more probable than tunnels or bridges. And if they say that no lane is provided for motorcycles... then with that logic, motorcycles shouldn't be allowed to drive almost anywhere since they don't have designated lanes anywhere else! It does however provide opportunity to collect more revenue and waste police officers' time stopping drivers who are not driving unsafely and ignoring all of the insane van and truck drivers and numerous cars that drive far too fast and dangerously.

53 minutes ago, wanderluster said:

dear ezzra

 

The speed limit inside the tunnel is 80 kilometers per hour and stopping inside the underpass is prohibited.

 

that is the minimum speed limit  (thailand posts minimum speed limits not maxis same rest of the world} and from the look of your motorbike i dont think you can keep up. 

 

 

It didn't seem like you were being sarcastic, so I thought I'd correct you. While Thailand does have signs that give a minimum speed limit - a sign with a blue background, that is not the norm at all. The normal speed limit sign is a maximum speed limit, in line with international norms. I'm not sure where you got the idea those are minimums.... And by the way, even a little 110cc motorcycle can do 80+kph, which is the maximum speed... so actually they don't even need to be able to meet or exceed that speed. I don't imagine it would be all that good for an engine that small to sustain that speed for extended times, but most motorcycles have bigger engines than that and it isn't a problem at all for them to maintain that speed.
 

14 hours ago, webfact said:

Police found indecent images of children on an ASUS notebook.

SO thankful for informative and relevant reporting! ASUS must have had something to do with it! Best stay away from that brand

29 minutes ago, charmonman said:

Rapists aren't men. They are dirt.

That's being generous... but then again, it may be slanderous against wholesome dirt that grows our food and provides us health... They are much worse than dirt... so sick I can't come up with appropriate words

12 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

I side with the loso against the hiso.

That is how Europe managed to leave the 19th century behind.

Nice. Class warfare... nothing like taking sides....
 

6 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Educate yourself:

Kim Jong Un Is a Survivor, Not a Madman

North Korea's behavior might seem irrational to outsiders, but the Kim regime is just taking logical actions to survive...

As a guide for understanding North Korea, this analysis is just plain wrong. As a guide for crafting policy toward Pyongyang, it may be catastrophic. 

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/04/26/kim-jong-un-is-a-survivor-not-a-madman/

You are truly funny.
I'm not sure how high that horse is that you're sitting on, but be careful when you get down from there, it seems to be a long ways down!
"Educate yourself" hmmm being that you don't know me from  Adam, that's pretty funny.
Unless you are from North Korea or have spent time there, I'm willing to bet that I may know a fair amount about it more than you do. No need for specifics, but I have spent a fair amount of time over the last few decades in direct interaction and am perhaps not as clueless as you seem to think. I never said anything alluding to Un being irrational. You assume much. Then again, if you want to play semantic games again... one would be reasonable to say that he is completely irrational in the case that it is not reasonable to need to live as he does. But if describing him as rational in the context of upholding an insane paradigm, then of course he is utterly rational and all the bigger a nutjob.
Enjoy your evening.... I actually have other things to do with my life... spent FAR too long on this fun forum tonight!

36 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

>>>>>>I have no idea what your point is in relation to the article. If you happened to notice, the article is about a particular person,<<<<<

 

I was not commenting on an article. I was commenting on people like you that take sides.

I think that is silly.

As another poster pointed out, the main difference between the Shins and other hiso is that the Shins were not discrete in their money grab.

Also the Shins used - abused - the word democracy in their quest for money, the other hiso consider that dangerous - Pandoras Box.

As for the missing family in Forbes list. We agree.

 

Glad we agree on the missing royalty. But you seem to think it is a bad thing to be so wealthy. I think it's great! All the more congrats to the royal family and anybody else for their wealth! Nothing negative implied on my behalf at all, unless of course it was ill-gotten gain and they only use it to further their own ends and don't help others, I think it's great.

I was commenting in a context that was about a single individual, or family if you include her brother. I'm not sure how that suddenly frames me as taking sides against anyone over any others. There was no context of other sides to get that idea from as far as I can tell. I'm on the side of people who do things right and well and I'm not on the side of others who do things wrong, whether they do it well or not. Hope that might clear up anything about whose side I may be on.... I still don't get it where you came up with the idea of taking sides. Is it unusual to side against bad people?? I never thought it was a silly thing. And you seem to side against wealthy people in general, which is a very extreme ideology, but if that's what you believe... ok. So, since the Shin family is one of those wealthy people, it seems as though you would also side against them, no? Then would that not also make you silly? I'm not saying you are silly... just seems that from what you said, it would put you in your own category of such.

1 minute ago, ilostmypassword said:

You got it  wrong. . The question is whether he's a major threat to the rest of the world or not. If not, who cares about his mental health? 

I don't know what the "it" is that you refer to that I have wrong, but if somebody thinks a nutcase who keeps 25 million + people in a brainwashed state, with the threat of death, treating him like a god and who also just happens to have nukes and who regularly threatens to use them, is not a major threat.... wow... not sure what planet I would prefer that person to live on! But preferably far from me!
Now, just how to deal with such an INSANE individual.... THAT is a question that is very complicated to say the least. But you crack me up with your hilarious semantic silliness about whether he is insane or not. The guy is a major nutjob! And I am thinking your "experts" are pretty nutso themselves if they don't think a guy who rules the lives of millions of people as though they are less than human and he is essentially a god, is not insane.... leave it to ridiculous experts to classify what insane is. They need a new dictionary!

12 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Well, insane with reference to whether or not he's reckless and liable to blow up the world. Why would it be relevant to discuss in this context his mental health if it wasn't about whether is like a bomb ready to go off at any minute. Who cares about his mental health otherwise? Is it that you have a sincere concern for his well-being?

hahaha I genuinely find you hilarious.
And have a feeling you need to get out a little more....
The guy is a nutcase! Who cares if it is clinical or not! I sure don't.