Wrong Turn

strap in, for those who did not sell on the bounces, get ready to bend over.............

all markets will be affected........the stupid deserve to be separared form their money

U.S. Stock Futures Tumble on Concern Lehman to File Bankruptcy

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home

I agree bingobongo,

I suppose in the end the taxpayer will be forced to pay for another bailout.

profits are privatized; losses are socialized.

During this time of political crisis in Thailand, many groups are bandying the word "democracy." Samak is a defender of democracy, the PAD is an alliance for democracy, and various groups (and newspapers) state that Thailand's democracy has been superseded by the current political troubles. Unfortunately, no one seems to know what "democracy" means. Ancient democracy was a governmental system through which everyone voted on everything. Modern democracy is characterized as a government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system (and we all know how much Thai politicians pay for their votes. Nothing is free in Thai elections). It is also a state of society characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges (where drivers of a Mercedes Benz cannot mow over people and be let off without even a slap on the wrist). By the definition of both ancient and modern democracy, Thailand does not have democracy. If I was to nitpick on what form of government Thailand has, and base this judgment on Thailand's performance of "democracy" over the past 75 years, I would call it a "timocracy" (a form of government in which ambition for power and glory motivates the rulers; a form of government in which political power is in direct proportion to property ownership).

Great post.

I also think that the western concept of "democracy" is not beneficial to all societies, depending on how the votes are structured (e.g. one-vote per one-person, which is part of the cause of the polarization.)

I prefer representative democracy but there are negatives to it.

I think people cheat for different reasons. But there are reasons why people cheat.

I have been living with my wife's family for months now in our house. I am able to tolerate the frustrating language problem for the most part, but I can't help but wonder what the heck they are saying amongst themselves. In a previous lengthly relationship with a Thai woman, I later found out she would openly be criticizing and bad-mouthing me, while I was sitting there politely smiling like a stupid fool. I have picked up some of the language but not much yet, so I don't have a clue about what's being said.

1. Start studying Thai language. Study formally.

Any similar experiences?

No. I wold never be in this situation.

Pattaya police investigators raided a big house in Jomtien and arrested an Englishman and his Thai wife for producing and distributing illicit drugs. Police discovered raw materials and almost 6,000 illicit drug tablets, ready for distribution. They seized evidence worth about 1,000 million baht.

Somebody tipped off the cops. I wonder how he got grassed up?

What would you buy?

On what would you stock up?

I wouldn't buy anything.

I wouldn't stock up on anything.

I cam to Thailand with a small bag, and I'll leave Thailand with a small bag.

Why do Thais know so little about the geography of China and India, if these countries exerted a strong influence on Thai culture? What percentage of Thai people know a lot about the geography of other countries?

A lot of Thais I've known didn't know a lot about geography. Perhaps it isn't taught much in schools and perhaps many Thais are not interested in geography.

Many koreans and other nationalities I've worked with had little knowledge nor interest in geography.

Also, in the United States.

The UK has a strong cultural and historical influence on the US, but can many Americans point to Yorkshire or Bournemouth on a map? Plymouth, even?

I've always been interested in maps, cities, nations, rivers, moutains, border, and maps and Atlases. Many people however, are not.

crank

This time I am on a multientry non-immigrant visa....

We would say that you are correct in that if you have avisa then a return ticket is not compulsory, and that when you check in the Air Asia staff should check for a visa and then they will check you in....

If you have a multi-entry non-b, you don't need an onward ticket.

It saves the airlines a potential cost of not having to pay for your return flight if you were not allowed in the country. Cost saving measure.

It about 30km to town, and a taxi was VND 60,000 (USD 4.00) last year but I expect prizes to have gone up quite bit since. I never took the bus (actually never even saw one) so can't help with that.

Thanks hanno, probably my friend was conned he paid more than USD20 recently....

I know you're an expat and have experience (probably like your friend) but,

there are 2 ways to pay too much for a taxi from the airport:

1. negotiate a fee instead of using the meter, and

2. taking a cab that has a rigged meter. Many cabs in Vietnam have rigged meters, which are rigged to click too fast. There have been article in the newspaper about this and at times, uncover cops try to find them, and bust them.

Foreign arrivals drop sharply due to political turmoil

BANGKOK: -- Current political turmoil has already affected tourism both in the short- and medium-term, with the number of international arrivals having fallen by 70 per cent, according to the Thai Tourism Services Association.

Wow, that's a steep drop. A good time to get some good deals in LOS, me thinks.

Question is, how long will it last? How long is "medium-term?"

....being asked to pay an exorbitant fee for a wine glass would have gotten my dander up also .....

Gouging. Money going into someone's pockets. And is a new wine glass purchased? Or is one of the spare glasses in the storage room used?

Having real trouble eating a diet to sustain fat-loss and weight-gain here. In the UK it was easy. Brocolli and chicken breast were pretty cheap, easy too cook. Here: stuff like that is expensive, cooking at home frowned on, and almost all the carbs are white and processed. Anyone got good ideas on workign around this?

petepete,

Can you post your daily diet. Just in general? Then, people can see exactly what your eating and get an idea of what your marcros are:

Protein/Carbs/Fat or, p/c/f

How many calories in general are you taking in, per day?

If I ran a company based on lies and decept I wouldn't be in business for very long. I don't want to steal your money.

Are you a Nigerian, by any chance?

Nigerian or not, the people that do this are salesmen/women and cheap ones at that.

I have been contacted.

It's cheap marketing, and it's cheap salemenship - financial planning, it is not.

I agree with what lanny has said, above. In my 22 years with the IRS as a tax auditor-revenue agent-manager-etc., I never heard of any taxpayer having to travel more than 100 miles for an audit. I had an employee who was formerly stationed in Central America doing audits, and I got the impression they are way understaffed to be auditing expatriates. We did some correspondence audits to follow up on filed 1099 forms, but little more.

But if they want to audit Jim Rogers, they might fly to China. I knew a revenue agent who flew to Australia for an audit of the world's largest ranching company.

It would be worth the money involved.

I think as "normal" expats, retirees, and teachers, we won't be audited. At least I've never known anyone to have been audited.

Happy Birthday!

Welcome!!

Interesting topic!!!!!

I for one dont think it is a racist issue.

Farangs are percieved to have money........so they become targets.

Yes,

Farangs (Western) are easy to identify - look different.

Also, many tourists are "soft." They don't want to fight or hassle on a holiday - they're here for a good time.

And remember, Korean and Japanese tourists are percieved as being "rich" too, although some of the them may be more savvy.

Stayed at Sima Thani, Khorat a few nights ago.

Stupid how things happen:

Slippery bath tub, non-removable shower head.

Gf decides to shampoo her hair on her knees in the bath tub using a drinking glass from the bathroom amenities.

Sure she broke the glass hitting it with the water tap.

We check out, I forgot to mention the broken glass, ask where to find the breakfast restaurant.

15 minutes later an upset employee finds us with an invoice: 100 baht to pay for the broken glass.

OK, what the heck, I could have argued a few things wrong with the hotel, I pay, but why does a hotel bother to alarm some people, find the customer to hassle him to have a 10 baht glass refunded and bill the 10 bath item for 100 baht?

Does this happen in LOS only?

As a business consultant I took 100 planes/year and spent 100 nights/year in hotels during 30 years.

Never broke anything, this is a first.

I know hotel guests steal lots of things: ash trays, towels, hair dryers etc and these must be a problem to hotels profit margings, but chasing a customer for a broken glass? Sounds poor customer practice to me.

Did you note that the shower head problem made it necessary for your partner to use a wine glass to wash her hair?

Anyway, sounds like bad accomodation if true, and bad customer service, and also bad communication. The latter is on you.

Not that they would have cared....

Don't let them use this board, or ThaiVisa to make any Expat a victim of their scams and unregulated marketting.

Agreed. These people are not even salesman. They are disingenous, and this is putting it nicely.

Hello All,

My long time girlfriend has a 13 year old son who lives with her mother and aunt in Bangkok. Now, he has effectively quit school and he is starting to drift away from home and family, not coming home for long periods and refusing to go to school, etc.

My question is if anyone knows of any program, special school, counselling, military-type school, etc that can help with this kid? He is on a bad path now, and his family has no idea how to motivate the kid to stay in school and put some effort into his own future. The family itself is weak, and doesn't have the structure or ability to turn the kid around.

Any advice at all on how to handle this sad situation is greatly appreciated... this boy is only 13 years old and he is blindly throwing his own life away by completely withdrawing from school and family so he can spend time with his equally young and misguided 'friends.' It's a sad and scary situation that no one around this kid has any idea how to fix.

Thanks in advance for any advice!!!

T.

I'm not trying to pry, but what is the reason or reasons?

Personal and/or family issues? Rebellion?

Finding what the cause or causes are is just as important as potential remedies.

Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky

rusts

despicable post. The OP should be banned. No wonder we're being increasingly intolerated in Thailand.

What an unreasonable response. You are normally a thoughtful type. He asks a legitimate question of the legal position. Leave the moral soul-searching to him.

I have to agree with you...... If the girl in question was "64 DAYS" older then no-one

would give a toss. Personally I wouldn't want a relationship with someone that age,

but it's not all 1-Way-Traffic - the girl likes him aswell.......!

If true, a thread like this is bound to get certain types of responses.

If you have to post this question, the answer is probably "too young"

Some red flags being raised.