MartinBKK

Sounds like something out of a hollywood movie - don't believe a word of it tbh.

Neverdie has it right. She is running a private enterprise and if you can't speak enough Thai to avoid the rip off then tough luck.

Ripoffs happen the world over and having a little of the local language helps a great deal in these situations.

I also think that Neverdie got it right. If a Tourist is to lazy to learn the lingo before he comes to Thailand, all locals have the right to ripp them off. I mean thats just a little inconvinience for them and Thailand has no troubles to attract Tourists.

Mind boggling comment - are we supposed to learn the language before we go on holiday for 2 weeks to all countries? Ive been studying Thai for years and i won't be putting this time and effort into learning a language i might have use of for 2 weeks. You are missing the point entirely. These farangs wont care much about an extra 60 baht but when they find out later about this little scam, they feel ripped off and will take their next holiday elsewhere where they feel their hard earn $$$$ are more appreciated. I have a ton of friends who wont return to various places because of similar experiences.

"Thailand has no trouble attracting tourists" - In case you aren't aware a lot of hotels in this country are now experiencing the lowest occupancy rates in their history - with crippling unemployment.

<!--quoteo(post=3657325:date=2010-06-01 01:24:52:name=mrclough)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mrclough @ 2010-06-01 01:24:52) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=3657325"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I would suggest Pratties behind rimping on the highway. Good food, very clean and not expensive by any means. No alcohol served as far as I know but I'm sure we all can manage at least one meal without beer lol. Breakfast is very good as is the Lasagne!

U.N. Has always been good as well in my opinion and not really that expensive considering the quality.

If all else fails and you can't be bothered to travel ... 1112 always delivers the goods <img src="http://static.thaivisa.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="tongue.gif" /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I refuse to eat in a place called, Pratties.

Guess you will be missing out on some good food then :-)

Having used both, Premier is far superior for international surfing.

Would you call that boy looking over the tyres a human shield.I suggest you print something factual.My thioughts would have been,he is showing the boy to the soldiers to show that he is there.

NOW

If someone had said the boy should not be there i would have agreed but dont spout crap on here

That's what a human shield is - "don't shoot at us behind standing behind the red barricades because we have brought our children here."

No - it's not.

Please be mindful that there is nothing to be gained by saying negative stuff towards a dead man. You are better to say nothing at all than something spiteful.

Condolences to his family. Condolences to all those who have died so unnecessarily & for reasons that could of been sorted out by other means.

Sad times for Thailand.

One more wise post from ND....

I absolutely agree with you.

+1

I keep a spread of 3 currencies - EURO , GBP and USD. All of these have problems at the moment but being naturally risk averse i feel like this is the best strategy for me. In the long term i expect the Pound to outperform the EURO and the USD.

2 years ago the USD was finished according to posters on this forum and other so called "experts" on Bloomberg/CNBC etc. Now it looks as though the USD is entering a bull run and short term, looks the best bet. Fact is nobody can predict where currencies will be even a year from now let alone in 5 or 10 years time.

Although i have lived in Thailand for 5 years and plan to live here for the forseeable future i would never keep much Baht as i anticipate years of instability from here. This is just my opinion , i could absolutely be wrong and if the Baht does move against me and Thailand becomes too expensive, i would look for another place to live. If you have a wife, children and cannot get away from Thailand then having no Baht at all is probably not a good idea, regardless of what you think the future holds.

Cheers

Red protesters get jailed for 6 months, not even 24 hours after being arrested.

And what about the yellows? 2 years after, still nothing.

The yellows also violated a state of emergency, my friends. What do they get? Oh right, one of their leaders gets the job as Foreign Minister. What a joke.

If you're not happy here or if the government doesn't keep you informed to your satisfaction....leave.

Keep from us forever your precious opinions and sneering rebukes...life is too short, even in blogs, to have it wasted by having to read your vitriol (even by accident!)

He states a fact sir - if you have a problem with other peoples opinions may i suggest you don't waste your time reading internet forums.

Am utterly appalled at the reds. They had such sympathy a month and a half ago, now they are just a bunch of criminals working for their master Thaksin to the detriment of the entire nation. Disgusting.

OK. However, I can't understand any civilized person having any sympathy for them at all after Pattaya Asean and Black Songkran.

So, you can't understand half of the population. That is not surprising. I've met Red-supporters, rich and poor and middle class, actually I've known many for years. They are good people who, frightening to some, support greater democracy and less military intervention in Thai politics. I've met a few Yellows too and some are also good people. The most rabid yellows seem to be the farangs who are unnecessarily afraid of being lifted off their pedestal.

Half the population ???????????

You are living in a fantasy world you ....... little red .......

It's actually quite a few more than half, as you will see at the next election.

understood! the question is why does he give them legal status, a kind of? This is bowing down to terrorists and criminals, whether they're a party or a group, same same.

Because he is being diplomatic. He's offering solutions without more people having to die. The reds don't care about more people dying. They just want to be in power.

They will be in power - after the next election

[quote name=angry when I read ignorant comments like this.

Oldgit - you have absolutely no idea, do you? Were you around when Thaksin was in power? Were you paying attention? Thaksin was more of an authoritarian than Abhisit will ever be. Do you honestly think Thailand was ruled democratically when the red hero was in power? Did you completely miss the intimidation of the press and the opposition, the manipulation of the courts, the use of goverment powers for private profit, the extra-judicial killings? Have you ever read Thaksin's words about democracy while he was ruling the roost? Not exactly a hero of democracy back then and hardly one now ... more like a hero of hypocrisy. I am hardly a right wing authoritarian, but I despise the red shirt leaders who are nothing but a bunch of thugs and wouldn't know democracy if they were choking on it. They are in it for themselves - period! The rural poor have legitimate beefs, but it is sad that their cause has fallen prey to the likes of Thaksin and all the other scumbag red leadership.

By the way, dude ... the current parliament consists of people who were elected in the last election in which the red shirt party (Pheua Thai) won more seats than any other party but not a majority, so a democrat-led coalition was formed when the Pheua Thai lost the support of the minority parties. That's how a parliamentary democracy works - look it up! But no! You and the reds would have the PM dissolve a constitutionally elected government just because a bunch of demagogues have convinced a bunch of gullible people to roam around the city blocking roads, defacing public property, launching grenades, and performing barbaric blood rituals. You call that democracy - seriously?

I submit that it is you, oldgit, that don't have a clue about democracy, not those of us who are attempting to call attention to the hypocrisy of the UDD leaders.

I also get angry when people try to suppress other opinions to theirs. Nobody has a clue apart from you? The fact remains Dude - if we had a FAIR election tomorrow we all know it would be a sweeping landslide for the reds. Call elections now and avoid further bloodshed - if anything happens to red leaders we will have full blown civil war here. Abhisit should do the right thing now.

+1 for PRATIES at Rimping. Very good food, nice coffee and not expensive.

I would really recommend this place - i have no financial interest in it at all i just enjoy going there and want the place to stay open!!!!

I have Maxnet 3mb premier (Sansai) and its like a ROCK - works all the time and never goes off!!!

And i use it for about 16 hrs a day too - guess some ppl are luckier than others :-)

I support the red shirts

I have maxnet premier 2mbs and i have been pretty pleased with it in the last 12 months. I also have TOT 3mb for 590 baht and i have seen an improvement in that service too recently.

Maybe things are looking up :-).

Because the change was not brought back to me i personally would have made a point of leaving nothing in this case. If the change had been brought i would have been happy to leave it plus perhaps another 10 baht on a bill of 190.

Cheers

The guy should have paid 150 baht and been on his way. Don't protest over a buck and a half. One thing I've learned in foreign countries is to pick your battles. Are the tuk tuk drivers in Phuket rude? Yes. Are they thugs? Yes. Is there another way to get around in Phuket if you don't have a car or motorbike? No. So negotiate the fare and pay what you agreed to. Case closed.

You don't have a clue what this is about do you? It's not about a 50 baht fare dispute, it's about:

1. How the tuk-tuk drivers resort to extreme violence at the drop of a hat.

2. How ridiculously overpriced the tuk-tuks are.

+1 - these constant incidents put me off visiting certain areas of Thailand

Isnt it about time we had meters in tuk tuks? Im a long time resident here and i am sick to death of trying to be ripped off by tuk tuks. In fact, it actually puts me off going to places with lack of alternatives (such as Koh Chang).

Just yesterday i was talking to some elderly friends who have come from BKK. Whilst there they were forced out of a tuk tuk at a gas station because they refused to go all around BKK to the jewelry stores and insisted on going directly to their hotel. This was a couple in their 70s.

I hope the government puts a stop to this once and for all.

How much did Sunbelt charge?

I think the title says it all.

Looking for some decent legal advice regarding purchasing property with my wife in CM. Would be grateful if someone could recommend a good local lawyer.

Thanks.

I have premier and pretty much use the internet 16 hrs a day. I have been very impressed with my connection in the last 3 months i have had no cut outs and the speeds have been pretty good. Before this i tried indy for a week and it was terrible. I would definitely go for the Premier package. I am lucky that i live right next to the DSLAM though.

I also have TOT diamondcyber - the less said about TOT the better really.

What a load of 'Twaddle' , which back streets did you wander off to ? I have lived here 4 years now and I noticed a lot of changes for the good , it only has the same smells I noticed in Thailand and the old piles of garbage on the streets has greatly diminished . One thing is for sure , the people are much more polite and helpfull plus they speak far better English than Thai , more to the point , they understand it far better . The charm of Thai disappeared a long time ago , that is why I left , that and the constant scamming . The river-side is undergoing a great improvement , that is for sure , this is still a poor country , if you cannot appreciate that I feel sorry for you .

When you fly in to PP there is no hastle at the airport , nor are there a host of punters awaiting the chance to rip you off , quite the opposite , you are made to feel welcome .

Well i have to agree with the OP its not a load of "twaddle". I was not impressed at all with my first visit to PP 3 months ago. When i arrived at the airport there were plenty of ppl trying to rip me off for my taxi to town. Luckily i had a friend go 2 weeks before so i knew what the correct prices were. Some people were quite friendly but generally i found the service in restaurants and shops to be below the standard found in Thailand (and Thailand is not good as we all know). The people did speak much better english though i would agree with that. After 2 days i was desperate to return to Thailand. On the other hand i have heard many people speak positively about PP so i guess it suits some but not others.

Cheers

I have both TOT Diamond Cyber and Maxnet Premier 2mb. There is no comparison as to which is better - it is Maxnet Premier.

Ive had Maxnet for around 3 months, had good speeds and not a single disconnection. I do live very close to the DSLAM though which helps. On the other hand TOT disconnects constantly and is much slower. Before i switched to premier i tried indy and i can assure you Premier is much better.

Sky News still reporting "No Deaths"

If i was in a bar in Thailand and approached by someone in civilian clothes claiming to be police i also would likely ignore them and walk away. I have visited these tourists spots and there is always someone pestering you for something claiming to be someone they are not. Would you get out your ID and give information to a Thai man in a farang bar? If you were a woman would you follow him outside whilst he claims to take you to the police station? Would you really? No, you wouldn't and rightly so.

I think it would be quite sensible to walk away as it seems the lady did in this case. How this has been turned into "resisting arrest" im not quite sure. From all reports the lady at NO time became violent, but she did get angry and perhaps said some things in the heat of the moment (after consuming alcohol). This was a middle aged mother having a good night out - it's quite embarassing imho.