jackinthebox

If this article is about private-run Baht-Buses (Songteauws, ie. Pick-Ups with passenger-seats on the plattform) then it is NOT about the big (Bangkok-)state-run buses.

As for the Baht-Buses in KhonKaen, Sukhothai, HatYai, Pattaya or the Bangkok-outskirts, it is a decent and cheap means of travel (5-15 Baht, the fare IS according to distance, see the scheme/sticker on the back-window of the cab). I don't think that they loose customers to Motorsaai-Taxis, simpy because you would pay for the same distance 50-80Baht and therefore quite expensive for average thais (houswifes, students, factory-workers...).

>In return, it has caused baht buses to lose 70 percent of their customers and their income to decrease by 700-800 baht per day.

That would mean they previously had an income of 1100-1400 Baht per day, wich is far above the thai wages of 250-400 Baht per day. I think you could reach that only by scamming tourists (the well-known always honking, aggressive and ennoying Songteaws in KohChang, KohSamui who would charge 500 Baht/person for a 7km ride - 10 times higher than a bangkok-Taxi!!

>Nearly 2,000 hotels in Bangkok and its outskirts are running without licences or are understood to be illegal. Only 469 hotels in the areas have a licence.

Rubbish...

If they only could say this....:

Anyway 90% of helmets on sale in Thailand are just useless when riding a motorbike. They look more as bicycle helmets

Even if they wore bicycle helmets, it would be a giant step in the right direction.

For sure a 90.- EUR bicycle (or ski-)helmet would protect you much better than 250 Baht TESCOMotorsaai-Helmet

I really wonder wether they discuss these criminal incidents. How is the first period on monday morning at the Pathumwan Institute of Technology after a weekend like this? "Good morning boys and girls, please open up your books page 64 and continue work on excercise Nr. 3b."...?

Do Western countries (I haven't been back for a long time) now use social media like LINE and FB to make and offer such announcements? Is this something unique to Asia, or even Thailand kondio? Genuine Q.

As for germany: nearly every political party, local administration, city-hall, Ländergovernement, federal police, local police etc. now has a facebook page and also communicates via Twitter. But the LINE-App and -service are completely on the backside of the moon, no one knows them (only WhatsApp is popular). When I show the stickers and "Moon, Cony and James-Cartoons" from LINE to friends, most say is very childlike and "typcal asian"...

Why don't they just ban these bl...y TucTucs. After all, they are no use, always aggressive, all drivers touts. In Bangkok mostly found in tourist-areas, wich means they are there to cheat and to ripp-off. In some provinces TucTucs are a "normal" means of transport, but even upcountry it's difficult to find a decent driver - ripp-off samey to Bangkok. Better try to call the local taxi-cooperative, they'll send you a brandnew airconditioned Corolla and driver hopefully use the meter.

Did they get lost on their map, or what else is the reason for announcing the amount of investment in Malay Ringgit?

Did you get lost reading the report? It was published by a The Malaysian Insider.

At first read I thought ist was "Reichsmark"....

Those killings sound more like middle-east than SEA! Netanjahu, take over!

The number of shops selling ivory products in Bangkok also rose from 61 to 105 between January and December last year9*+/0

If you can count them, wHY the <deleted> can't you just close these shops down?

What do you think - would it be (technically) possible to rig a motorcycle with an official (i.e. calibrated and plumbed) meter?

BTW this is what german police uses for test if you have (illegaly) engine-tuned your scooter - should work on the front-wheel for speedometer too...

>....and confiscated five kilograms of ketamine valued at 15 million baht.

That would be a "street-price" of 3000 Baht per gram? Is it really sold that expensive?

>A Bt4-billion module of the Bt350-billion water management project - a data centre for weather forecasting and disaster warnings - is high likely to be given first priority

4 Billion Baht for a data center? Could they not "buy" (license) the information from international meteorological satellite-operators? As for Disaster-warning - shouldn't be a big issue in times of 4G-GSM.

>here is still some confusion as to whether the country has sufficient oil and gas sources to reduce the need for huge imports or to consume at cheap prices

Nope. Not enough gas (in the long term) and even less oil.

Build more guide boards! They could safe lots of lifes. Not for Motorcyclists, but for Bus, Van- and PickUp-Passengers....

It's a shame! A city full of brandnew Toyotas, Mazdas and Isuzus, on top, hundreds of thousands of BMWs, Benz, Minis and Lexus, all worth millions and millions of baht. But a public mass transport system that consists (apart from MRT and BTS) of 30 or 40 year old dangerous, uncomfortable, lousy, energy-wasting and air-polluting buses. The look of the vehicles, the rotten bus stops, the confusing line-denotation, the missing maps and the nonexistent time-tables says it all. Thailand has gone a wrong way for many years in focusing on individual transportation, and abandonding public bus transport.

BTW in the 60ties Thais used to cycle a lot and there was a tramway in Bangkok - all gone....

Sihanoukville IS dangerous. I went there for a short VISA-run in august last year. I was robbed in full daylight (1pm) on the big road from traffic-roundabout to the beach - I was riding a rented bicycle, guys snatched my bag. Had bruises and injuries all over my body. When you lie on the road bleeding like a pig and see the guys drive away with your brandnew camera you really feel like a piece of shit. I am sure they had knives, and if I had shown any resistance they would have beaten me or even cut my throat. Police is a farce of course. Anyone who tells me he sees "no bad guys" here: I am sure if there are 3 young men on a motorbike they are mostely bandits (because that is how bag-snachting works, you can't perform it alone and hardly by 2 - it must be the man in the middle who graps the bag and the third who keeps him from falling).

Oh - and of course, to all who say "Use your brain", "Don*t behave reckless" or "Would you wander around alone or drunk in your hometown?" I can answer: Yes, I wander around alone, even shitfaced in BKK, in Pattaya and in Frankfurt, somtimes at 2am, and it has never been a problem in any city. You can get out your camera and take pictures everywhere in SEA. In my opinion where chance of being robbed in europe or in Thailand is 1:100, in Sihanoukville it is 100:1.

Read this just in time ! Was going to bike there this week..Any alternatives..Laos, Vietnam Perhaps

In general: the more Western Tourists, the more robbery. I don't know Vietnam, as for Laos, I felt more safe - but it's landlocked, so if you want to see nice beaches you'd have to go where the tourists are (i.e. Vietnam or Myanmar). But in general - better leave all your valuables in a hotel safe. Don't carry ANY bag. By the way: Maybe elswhere in Cambodia it's not as dangerous as Sihanoukville (see the Original Post), so if you drive around in Battambang or SieamReap it's less problem. If you consider cycling at the beach I would suggest KohKong, close to thai boarder (great landscape) or maybe Kep. Oh, and your bike may shouldn't be worth more than 1000.-$.

There will always be homicide. Everywhere in the world people kill- because of anger, because of rage, because of greed, because of morbid jealousy, because of revenge. They will always do. You can not prevent that completely. But a society shouldn't kill. A state shouldn't take revenge. A judiciary system shouldn't be driven by and designed by hate or revenge or anger, but by resocialisation, prevention and satisfaction. Cambodia (!) has abolished death penalty many years ago!

Sihanoukville IS dangerous. I went there for a short VISA-run in august last year. I was robbed in full daylight (1pm) on the big road from traffic-roundabout to the beach - I was riding a rented bicycle, guys snatched my bag. Had bruises and injuries all over my body. When you lie on the road bleeding like a pig and see the guys drive away with your brandnew camera you really feel like a piece of shit. I am sure they had knives, and if I had shown any resistance they would have beaten me or even cut my throat. Police is a farce of course. Anyone who tells me he sees "no bad guys" here: I am sure if there are 3 young men on a motorbike they are mostely bandits (because that is how bag-snachting works, you can't perform it alone and hardly by 2 - it must be the man in the middle who graps the bag and the third who keeps him from falling).

Oh - and of course, to all who say "Use your brain", "Don*t behave reckless" or "Would you wander around alone or drunk in your hometown?" I can answer: Yes, I wander around alone, even shitfaced in BKK, in Pattaya and in Frankfurt, somtimes at 2am, and it has never been a problem in any city. You can get out your camera and take pictures everywhere in SEA. In my opinion where chance of being robbed in europe or in Thailand is 1:100, in Sihanoukville it is 100:1.

840 000, 190 000, 440 000...this rise in figures is frightening. Like someone opened a gate. How many Thais consume YaBa on a regular basis? Must be millions...

Thailand should really buy some of these - and using them on both sides. Works somewhat well in germany...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Wawe-10000-halbe-dusche.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Polizei_Wasserwerfer.jpg

http://www.fr-online.de/image/view/3190936,1336477,highRes,maxh,480,maxw,480,Wasserwerfer+im+Einsatz+%2528media_773262%2529.jpg

You could blame the italians too. Alitalia for example did the same after an ATR 72-crash in Rome earlier this year.

Alitalia is not a member of Star-Alliance, but of the second big group "Sky-Team". So who knows?!

Sorry, found only a german link so far...

http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article113352332/Alitalia-uebermalt-eigenes-Absturz-Flugzeug.html

>....as well as learn about the direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) motors.

Isn't that something you learn in Matajom 4 or Matajom 5?!

>Vans: To avoid frequent stops at gas stations, many passenger vans have
added extra gas cylinders. When fully loaded with passengers and gas,
these vans can weigh about 3,500 kilograms, which is 1.75 times more
than the allowed weight limit of 2,000 kilograms. The extra weight makes
the vans highly unstable and unsafe, which increases the chance of an
accident.

There must be a mistake. The Toyota Commuter has already 15 seats (driver + 14 Passengers), so the allowed weight limit for this car can not be of 2,000 kilograms. The tare mass seems to be about 2000kg, so the gross vehicle weight is 3500 kilograms.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HF2-kpOwj_A/TvP1oIKWqVI/AAAAAAAAA-I/gNX7q-BAtVw/s1600/kursi1.jpg
http://nangfa-resort.com/media/1880248fbe4252d3ffff8120ac14422f.jpg

Nevertheless they often drive too fast....