apalink_thailand

Ladies and gentlemen, the life jackets are stowed under the seat, with the adult diapers.

Something tells me that the passengers on THAT flight were more busy trying to open the windows not find life vests.

I always assumed forward momentum and glide ratio would prevent a plane from falling from the sky?

Bleed air issue on one engine. Had to conduct emergency descent. This would be done at a high descent rate, which would be felt as if the plane was "plummeting". It would be a rapid descent from 29,000 + feet, down to 10,000 in minutes. So, without a cabin announcement, I would say the "pucker factor" would be at the top of the scale. Especially in light of the GermanWings crash.

Bleed air is used to pressurize the cabin so they needed to get down to an altitude where the passengers wouldn't be hypoxic.

Interesting but, OT fly old 747's. Surely one engine failure would not shut down the entire bleed air system?

I smell a political rat here. There is more to this than meets the eye.

Its time for another crackdown. Its been a while.

Chinese people are ants, this is just the beginning for Thailand.

Slightly salty indeed. I cannot see any toilets in the photos. ;-)

That's a place I will never go to. Thanks Thaivisa for posting.

Witnessed four taxis refusing fares at the base of Soi 8 this afternoon. This was for an expat hubby and his Thai family, including an old woman. Last night at the top of soi 11, not one taxi would use the meter. Oh well, called Uber and ten minutes later a nice clean car with a polite driver showed up, much to the chagrin of the seething cabbies parked up on Sukhumvit ripping people off.

If anyone ever doubted: Iran=State sponsored terrorism!!

Well done to the Thais to have got some of the bastards.

My guess is that a foreign agency did the legwork and the locals just made the arrest.

There really should be a crack down on this sort of thing.

Has he got odd socks on?

I thought the same thing = he MUST be Canadian

Not so. He would have said "Sit down, please" if he was Canadian.

Pathetic.

Give it a nickname. Does this legitimise idiot people who plant bombs?

This fool is just a mad man.

Not a fool at all. He was hired to do the job and is skilled in what he does (aka one of the so-called "men in black"). He placed the devices in a place that would not hurt anyone but make a large noise. This was clearly politically motivated and not the work of a madman or madmen.

*yawn*

Never ceases to amaze me when guys try and apply western standards to a third world country.

I work in a 3rd world country and although its like pulling teeth, we continue to push western safety standards on them. If management fully buys into a safety program, it can work anywhere. I have also witnessed Western 1st world construction companies practice some pretty horrible safety standards too.

I wonder what he will say after the next unexplained death? Should happen soon enough.

If we are to report any driver refusing passengers to the 1584 number, that's going to be a REALLY busy line ... hope they have plenty of operators.

Dialled it just now. Person who answered could only speak Thai, so for tourists, its not much use.

Again, those are not Thai police but BTS officials and the 2000 Baht fine is a legal one and posted in many places regarding littering. There have been multiple articles over the last few years referring to it as a scam when it is in actuality legal enforcement. But if targeting only the foreigner, then certainly the Governor should step in (again) to do something about it, but no fingers crossed here that will happen.

Only one little problem. The fine does not fit the crime. For example, the fine for disobeying a police officer is 1,000 baht, which to me seems worse than dropping a butt on an already dirty street. Meanwhile, tuk-tuk drivers, food vendors etc can drop whatever they want on the pavements in full view of the officers.

I suggest we all do the same, post a picture of our receipt of any taxi driver that treats us badly.

Good idea. Here's my fix for this problem:

1. Politely ask the driver at the taxi stand when you get the ticket, if he will be using his meter. Do this in front of the ticket desk not as you are walking to the taxi.

2. Take a photo of the ticket

3. Keep bags in the back seat of the taxi (if possible), not in the boot/trunk

4. Photograph his ID card. Do this before you leave. If he is a cheat. he will get pissed off and chuck you out of the taxi, and you can then go back to the counter to complain. If they shrug and smile (the most likely response) then

5. Dial 021329199 for the Airport Taxi Complaints line and make sure you are seen doing this. You may even wish to warn others in the queue of what you are doing and why.

There are SOME honest drivers there so its not fair to tarnish them all. I am sure that you will get one of those next, or if not, you will get the next trick in the book which is being taken on the "scenic route".

6. Be sure to tell them which roads to take to get to your destination. Of course, only do this if you know your way. There are many one way streets and many others that may seem like a nice direct route on Google maps, but may have horrendous traffic.

Comments?

At Checkpoints Fine them on the spot for non use of meters...

A Thai demanding a fine from another Thai in favour of a Farang tourist? Sounds nice in principle but NEVER gonna happen.

Although slightly off topic, when forced to pay a taxi who would not turn on the meter to take me home, I would tell him to wait downstairs because I didn't have enough cash on me. Then slowly walk up to my room, count out the fare in one baht coins and bring that back to him. Nice way to get rid of your coins and piss off a taxi scammer in one go.

Take the fine money out of your wallet, drop it on the sidewalk, turn and walk away. ;-)

He's a real catch.

Some of my funniest moments have been watching Chinese queuing for trains and buses in rural China

They can queue?

Indeed, you are not the only one...When I take a Taxi, I show the driver the map and tell him: "this is where we are now, and there is where we have to go by following this road" (now in Thai), an also insist to put the meter on before I geet into the car. Usually they are not pleased but still showing the amazing smile as ever.

They can read maps? That's new.