law ling

Would have cost a lot to process the 46 boat victims (July last year) - maybe some didn't pay.

Suspect a lot of workers also responsible (Cambo, Burmo, Lao, etc).

Numbers would also include their own "stateless" residents.

4 hours ago, baboon said:

Good work by the police and public. But really? Terrorism? Come on, that is surely overstating the case somewhat.

I don't think it's "overstating".

People have different understandings of the words "terrorism" "appeasement" "political correctness" etc.

This story is front page, world wide. Sadly similar stories are somewhat a daily or weekly occurance in the southern parts of here.

Well, if the PM "insists" then that's the end of the matter.

After basic training there' a second ballot or allocation to determine who will:

1. Serve as servants to officers, their families, aged parents, chicken farms and other business interests.
2. Be quietly let go home, on the proviso they leave their ATM card and PIN with the general.
3. Remain in barracks marking time, but at risk of sadistic brutalization by mid-level officers, even unto death in some reported cases.
4. Tour of duty down south.

There is just too much money in their budget -  available for skimming at every level - too much wealth at stake: so be warned anyone who tries to change the system.

Thanks Ubonjoe. That's a relief.

Have non-imm OA, issued March this year, first entered April this year, second entry July, so currently stamped in till July 2020.

A death back home requires me to go to Australia for a few weeks.

As I understand it:
1. When I return to Thailand, in say Dec this year, I'll need to show insurance (which I don't want to get) - so I would only be stamped in for 30 days?

This seems one possible solution:
2. Is it a certainity that I can get, and if I do get, a re-entry permit, I can re-enter and be stamped in (as per the original OA visa) for 12 months?

Just wondering:
3. Can the embassy in Australia "cancel" the OA visa and issue a METV? which would get me in for up to 6-8 months (free of insurance) (which would at least suit my short to medium-term plans)?

Many thanks in advance.

Thanks so much OP for throwing some light on this technique. I'd only ever seen it in one of my teachers - although maybe they all do it this way, but mentally, rather than physically with the fingers.

But the technique only seems practical for native speakers who inherently know the word well enough to pick it out from amongst four imposters, but not for beginners who don't know the word well enough in the first place.

"They are innocent people until found guilty and convicted."

Not quite: They are presumed innocent people until ...

By all means keep working on making more efficient use of resources and reducing pollution, but to me it's completely vulgar and inept to assume we can do much, if anything, to control the enormous complexity of the planet - with its volcanoes, earthquakes, molten core, weather systems, etc: we couldn't even find a plane downed in the Indian Ocean, yet the alarmists would have us believe we could control all the oceans and their temperatures, if we just "do more for climate change" - breathtaking ignorance. Am I wrong? - well, the alarmists have been wrong so far: easy to search media from the 1980's with predictions of seas rising, crops failing and snow disappearing, etc, "within 20 years" - none of which has occured.

The one time I did that crossing on my own: public transport was difficult and time consuming (not the OP's concern) and a lot of corrupt extra charges on the Cambo side (which should concern the OP). Well done that some report being able to resist the Cambo-side corruption - but I'm timid by nature and buckled under the pressure of being barked at by uniformed Cambo IO officers. Used the mini-van services after that.

My recent visit to Jomtien to TM30 report: bottom line - not needed for in-Thailand travel.

1. Presented my completed form and papers to the IO (after a 20 min wait) telling her that last night I'd come back from Bangkok after two nights there, had tried to report online but wasn't sure it went through. (It hadn't.)

2. IO says: you can't report online, it's only for hotels and businesses. I said I registered as possessor. Silence ... she changed tack:

3. IO says: you can't report, you don't have a lease. I said I just pay money each month, I am already registeted online. Silence ... she changed tack:

4. IO says: you don't have to report for travel inside Thailand. I said I told my old Thai landlady I would do it to save her the trouble - she got fined last time. Silence ... she changed tack:

5. IO says: well if the Thai person wants it ... She then entered something on her computer entering my app password and TM6 number.

Overall, a strange experience, but I left it at that, although I was minded to press her to stamp and give me the bottom slip of the TM30 form - to show that I had complied with the law, notwithstanding her view that the law was not (presently) being enforced (by her).
 

Could have been foul play - the female being completely fed up with the useless, free-loading, impotent male. It's happened before:

Possible cause of death evident in the photo: inappropriate birthday treats at last year's party.

Not sure ... would like to see the old mascot before making a final decision.

Some excellent posts here.

A brave (or naive) PM to go jumping into this can of worms, risking upsetting the (well-entrenched) apple cart - remember PM: you can't close the box once it's opened - so why tamper with it like this.

There's not just an initial purchase cost - will also need service centers, mechanic training, spare parts, etc. multiplied by the number of places these things will be stationed.

Haha. "Ordering an analysis" is just to give the impression that he "cares" and that he is "doing something" - mere lip-service.

Won't come cheap though - will need a handsome budget for all the meetings, travel, catering, consultant's reports, etc. 

Anyway, would be interesting to see the resultant analysis, if it's ever produced and made public.

Seems an expensive yet only partial solution, whilst we're told elsewhere today: "Four million Bangkokians going without universal healthcare."

Up to the Thais as to how they spend their money - I wasn't asked - but I'd have thought available funds would be better applied to the care of people, and the monkeys be transported and freed in a far away forest.

As mentioned earlier:

"I don't know." - R)phom F)mai H)roo H)khrap,

seems to get the message accross.

However,  a cultural note: Thais are content to say they don't know something, even when they do know - and this can grate on a westerner's sensibilities: because we are taught to speak with honesty, and would prefer to say something more honest yet circumspect along the lines of, "I'm not quite sure."


My first teacher of Thai taught me that:

"snake snake fish fish" - M)ngu M)ngu M)plaa M)plaa,

was a multi-use idiom which, in this situation, could mean: "I know more, but that's all I'm saying for now."

I admit that neither of the above approaches includes the OP's "not my business" element.

Just follow the money.
1. Airlines pay a fee per passenger. Fewer IO's means greater profit.
2. IO's may resist airport postings - better pickings (bribes/overcharging/agent's kickbacks/etc.) when working at the office - and it just gets better and better: fines for late TM30....

For me it's irritating that native speakers can't/won't slow down their speech when requested.

Like all languages, rapid speech jumbles all the words into one long utterance, mixes in idioms, colloquial expressions and dialect variations, and, on enquiry, may actually be Lao rather than Thai.

Good luck to the OP and well done to those posters who persevered.