apalink_thailand

Where they robbed? Or is it someone with an apparent hate of foreigners!!

Sounds like a sicko. Probably attacks on Thais as well but its not being reported.

Multiple times they have pulled my taxi over, making me get out for a "body check" wasting my time and hoping they will find something illegal to then be able to extort money.

Many of them are "low lives". I think 99.9% of Thai people feel the same.

I wouldn't let them stick their hands in my pockets for fear they will drop a pill in there and frame me. I have been frisked like this once or twice and asked them to show me their hands before they put them in my pockets. I don't trust them further than I can throw them.

If the highway police are the ones in the yellow and purple cars then I'd agree, they have never asked me for a bribe in the 10+ years that I have been motoring all over Thailand.

Every time I have been asked for a bribe it's been the regular brown uniform police and not the Highways police who rarely stop cars and motorcyles anyway.

Same here actually. Except for the fat coppers hanging around at the tollbooths exacting imaginary fines on farangs. One trick is to keep a second wallet in the car with only 100 baht in it. Show this and tell them that is ALL you have unless there is an ATM nearby.

It happens in many under-developed countries where police need to supplement their income.

Would you rather pay a 'spot fine' or go to the hassle of a trip to the police station to pay a much larger fine?

Some posters need to get off their collective high-horses. We who pay the spot-fines exacerbate the problem but the solution may be found in paying police a decent wage. I say 'may' bacause corruption is so endemic in Thai society that increased salaries may not fix the problem.

Best to always keep a few 100 baht notes in front of the car.:jap:

Actually in some ways, I do agree with this statement but to get stopped for a non-existent offence is just wrong. Instead of this stupid 300 baht a day minimum wage scheme, why not pay the cops a decent wage and punish all corrupt ones with immediate dismissal (not just a move to inactive post). The solution though, must start at the top and therein lies the problem.

She didn't want the new boyfriend to know she was 9 months preggy?

Inflation increases, productivity remains unchanged, country competitiveness weakened against China,jobs lost, business's close. Good plan?

I have a pair of steel toed boots. Where is the queue for repeatedly kicking this bastard in the <deleted>?

This is what happens when there is a shortage of good ganja at a reggae concert.

It would be great if a warning was issued to stay out of Phuket. Too bad for the honest people working there. But it might send a signal to do something. Because nothing is ever done.

Big warning from all European countries together and given some media coverage might do a lot more then all this talk. Sure it will hurt some businesses but in the end it is better for them and the tourist alike.

Unfortunately those dreams will never come true.

Maybe Discovery Channel can send Diego Buñuel and his team from the show "Don't Tell My Mother" (I am in Phuket).

"If the renegade drivers could not be controlled, European embassies might be forced to issue a travel advisory warning tourists not to use tuk-tuks in Phuket, Ambassador Johannes Peterlik said."

PLEASE DO IT !!!! Now we are talking. Local authorities will do nothing about the problem, that is 100% sure.

As a matter of principle, I avoid as much as possible to do any business with foreigners in Thailand. What ever the negative story about Thais posted in this forum, I know a worst story involving foreigners.

Most foreigners who do business in Thailand do it illegally, which means they are involved witha lot of not-so-nice people and they have developed over the years a crook mentality. It the same for the Thais involved with these people. You do business with them at your own risks.

What kind of foreigners do you associate with exactly? This is an outrageously inaccurate and unfair statement.

I wonder why reactions like this are allowed here.Death sentence for all drug carriers?It will only make the price of drugs higher, which will be very convenient to the big dealers, who never ' carry' drugs, but from time to time let some of their ' carriers' to be caught in order divert the public opinion from the REAL problem, which is in my eyes the unnecessary criminalization of drugs.As the CHIEF of police in Rotterdam ( Netherlands) once said: make all drugs free and you are out of the problem.And the problem is, too often, the ones who try to solve the problem ( often the same who are involved in drug trafficking in one way or another...)

When is death sentence going to be implemented for drug carriers regardless of the amount carried in? We need enough clowns like them to make up the statistics so that these group of losers will think twice about dealing with drugs. Wait, death sentence should be implemented worldwide for drug carriers instead.

You don't even have to make drugs free, just make them legal. Prohibition in the US created the Mafia. Prohibition of drugs creates crime and desperate people. As someone posted drug addicts will do anything to get them. The enormous cost due to illegal status causes addicts to commit criminal acts to purchase something that if legal would cost a few baht. Drug addicts should be treated with rehabilitation, not execution. Many people self-medicate with illegal substances and need the help of those who are compassionate enough to understand their pain.

Make them legal are you kidding. My son is already hooked on yabba if you make this shit legal I wont be able to control him with threats of getting arrested. I would be saying goodby to a basically good kid and people like you would be taking responsibility?

Agree. I have a friend who has the same problem with his son. Yaa-baa has made their lives a living hell with him stealing everything he can get his hands on just so he can get another fix. They have almost nothing of value left in the house and the only TV left is now bolted into a steel cage on the wall. Addictive drugs must be banned, simple as that.

"Ice" is VERY scary stuff and the government needs to act NOW to start educating kids and the public on its dangers. This is not Ya-Baa, its extremely dangerous and highly addictive. It is also very easy to conceal due to the small amount of crystal needed for a hit which means people are more willing to risk moving it. It seems to me that more and more news of drug busts involving this stuff is hitting the news. I hope the government can quickly initiate a campaign of education (and eradication) to stop this trade.

What will be the knock on effect of raising the min. wage to 300? I mean, if small shops or restaurants now have to pay their staff more money then it is a sure bet that they will raise the price of their products/services hence possibly negating the effect of a salary increase. I am not an economist but aside from the effects on the manufacturing sector, there will surely be an knock-on effect on the local retail sector. The vast majority of businesses in Thailand are small family businesses and serve the local communities.

For those of us in the manufacturing sector, I can only hope that the government will come to its senses and if it raises salaries (which is fine) then it must help us to recoup the costs in some other way. Tax credits or perhaps a reduction in import duties on material needed for production. Yes, in theory we can reclaim duties on exports but what about products we manufacture and sell locally? Import duties are a major cash-flow hit for many companies. What about offering some sort of reasonable trade financing schemes? Otherwise, we have to raise prices and likely be uncompetitive in the export markets. Business lost = jobs lost.

In the log run, a simple "popularist" raise in salaries without some other scheme to support and sustain the raises is a recipe for disaster.

Get these guys on the jetski operators and while they're at it, how about making the Pattaya taxis USE their meters?

I am not being rude but I will assume that you are new here. Unless something has changed very recently, Pattaya does not ave metered taxis. The Pattaya meter taxis are not from Pattaya, they are from Bangkok and are there to be used for a ride back up to Bangkok only, not for buzzing around Pattaya. I believe they charge 800 baht for the ride to BKK city center (may have gone up now, I haven't used them in a few years).

Cheers.

According to my calculations, I get the following:

Distance from Kata to Karon Beach (center to center): 2.6km (on googlemaps)

The Tuk-Tuk website claims that a Tuk-Tuk does 10-15 km/L. (http://www.thailandtuktuk.net/thailand-tuktuk-engine.htm)

Price of 1 L of LPG: 11 baht a litre (http://pttweb2.pttplc.com/webngv/en/kw_df.aspx)

Cost of LPG/km: 0.733 Bht/km or 1.91 Baht for a 2.6km trip

Therefore:

The drivers are make 197.4 baht per 1-way trip. Lets assume that they are making 10 trips like this per day. They are making 2,000 Baht/day which is just over 8 times the minimum daily rate. That is a HUGE profit margin.

Please tell me, how is it possible that at rates like this, these guys aren't stinking rich? Oh wait, they have to give a huge chunk away to the bosses. Who are these bosses? How much of that 2,000 baht a day goes up the chain? This is the big question. After making this calculation, I am less inclined now to blame the drivers if in fact their are shadow bosses.

And now to read between the lines:

"We are okay if hotel guests buy package tours and the tour agents provide the transportation by picking up the guests at the hotels, but sometimes a hotel guest will ask our drivers in front of the hotel how much it would cost to go to a certain tourist destination.

(Which means: the tourist doesnt like the hefty price) The guest is then undecided and goes back into the hotel (after he saw the tire iron on the front seat).

"Later, that guest asks a hotel employee to help him and the employee calls a tour agent to get a vehicle to pick him up. We do not like this type of incident.

(Which means: we would much rather that the hotel staff play along *wink wink* and help us to rip off the stupid tourist)

"Why don’t the hotel staff contact our drivers parked right in front of their hotel?" he asked.

(an offer you can't refuse)

"We don’t want hotel staff to call the tour companies. The staff get a commission for making a phone call and our drivers do not have a monthly salary like they do. We are asking for cooperation from hotel staff to stop that," he added.

Yes, please help us poor tuk-tuk drivers to rip off tourists. Isn't that the whole purpose of letting them come to Thailand?

Curious. What do Thai people pay for the same 800m ride?

Note to Mastermind: get out your ATM card.

So let me get this straight. We are not allowed to drink in police stations any more? They really are taking away the fun. At least we can still empty our suitcases on the floor of the police department and storm out.

The effects of too many testosterone and steroid injections. LOL, what a buffoon.

You probably know this already but the Lenovo is the old IBM notebook. They are VERY durable and are really meant for the power or business user (in my opinion) and I recommend them highly. The Acer is rubbish. The hardware seems to be of very low quality (CD Rom's die as well as the USB ports) and I know this because it is a common problem on 2 of the Acer notebooks here in my office plus my former Acer notebook. I will be buying a Lenovo very soon for myself and for the office.

I guess they missed their monthly BIB payment. Oops.

The English language site for DTAC offers no explanation on how to get the 3G working but interestingly, if you use Google Chrome and visit the Thai language site and allow it to translate into English you get this:

"Current customers with unlimited Internet package. (Unlimitted).

will be upgraded to a shabby room dtac 3G speeds of up to 42 Mbps."

3G AND a shabby room !! How cool is that !!

Having a tube from the bag to a dive tank doesn't sound like suicide or murder to me. What's the oxygen mix in those tanks?

I am speculating that it was probably nitrous oxide. Suicide by NO2 is considered to be the "nicest" way to take yourself out of the game and the tank and bag over head is the method. You get high, you fall asleep, you die. RIP to the victim.