Lannig

I'm amused by all these posts mentioning they'd do justice by themselves using some firearm or suggesting to use a rented hitman.

No, you wouldn't do this and probably nobody can because you can bet that he is very well protected by police 24x7 in his hospital room and will be even more when he gets out, until he is released on bail and allowed to flee abroad under good protection as well.

I think it's due to the material used to fill them, coconut fibre if I'm not misled.

This was in Bang Saray not Pattaya.

Well, Bang Saray looks more and more like a small Pattaya every time I go there (roughly once a year).

It used to be a nice place, almost completely farangless 10 years ago.

facebook is blocked in china

...or whatever local copy of Facebook they have: QQ, Renren...

Been told by a friend that the old Morchit is a place you really want to avoid for boarding a taxi. Apparently there's a local gang operating there. They even have a desk with BIB sitting all day long to watch them. FWIW.

Did she eat them?

Gosh... how can they seriously predict rain one month 1/2 in advance?

Weather forecasts over 5 days in advance are already considered as black magic.

This will certainly need a facts check.

Wow... I used to work in Lad Lum Kaeow, didn't realize it was so wild.

I'm sure these two Chinese ladies have already told their sad story on their Facebook pages. Excellent advertising for tourism in Thailand, will certainly bring much more Chinese tourists. Catch this, TAT.

It's a scam for sure, I have received it although I would never touch anything Apple does with a pole, let alone own such a thing

(yes, it's gratuitous Apple-bashing... a feeble attempt at humour too, kindly ignore it if that offends you and you're willing to flame back)

I'd say very minimum risk. Encryption is not any weaker than with a site using a real certificate. The only thing is that you can't be sure that you are connected to an actual immigration.go.th web site because the domain name present in the encryption certificate sent by the site has not been authenticated by an authority that your browser trusts.

So in theory yes, it could be a web site posing for extranet.immigration.go.th at the other end, not the actual one.

Now considering that the most sensitive information you send is your passport number, I wouldn't consider this more risky than writing it on an arrival card anyone could take a glance at.

Summary: in my humble opinion, no risk but this looks terribly unprofessional.

Oh well... maybe it's just broken (I'd say that wouldn't surprise me, but that would be construed as Thai-bashing so I won't ), maybe you could try with IE indeed. Can't try it because I'm not willing to input my real data in there.

As sunnyjim5 wrote, VOA can be obtained at the airport, I'm not quite sure what this online registration brings you and whether it's worth the efforts.

No other ideas, sorry.

Worked in Chrome for me.

What happens after you click on the "Proceed to ..." link?

@sunnyjim5: not Thai-bashing. People-who-are-irresponsible-enough-to-bring-up-a-governement-web-site-without-proper-certificates bashing.

And the name you gave for the link to be clicked was incorrect too. It's "Proceed to <name of the web site> (unsafe)"

You can safely continue to the website by clicking "advanced" or continue to site" .

I just tried and the site opens.

That error page appears because the Thais signed their own security certificate

Just what I wrote above

Click on "Avanced" and then on the "Proceed to..." link.

The Thai Government is so cheap (or negligent) that these people don't even care about using real, paid for certificates for their web sites. They use certificates obtained from some in-house authority, not recognized by browsers. Hence the alert from Chrome.

This kind of things happen a lot of amateur, home-made web sites using encryption because real certificates are a bit of a hassle to get and cost (some) money.

From a government web site, it's just ridiculous.

This is Thailand.

Just look some news about french citizens crime in Thailand and you will see the facts.....

It's sure that is not a Jean-Michel or a Frederic who are problematic in France and Thailand.

And these figures are available for us to look where? Interested.

Well...let's be honest.

mr chow makes some valid points.

And naboo: your rebuttal is mostly baloney.

That said, I totally agree with Denim; it's best to just quietly walk away, and don't look back.

Agreed 100%. I did the same 10 years ago, went back west. Some of his points have truth in them, although they are exposed way too bluntly for my taste, without finesse (to say the least).

My experience of living and working in Thailand was a nice one overall, but the drawbacks have gradually taken over the advantages.

I walked away, quietly.

I still like and enjoy the country as a regular visitor.

I may even consider coming back for my retirement.

I think that he forgot to list a serious issue, though, that may become critical: the worrying future ahead, with a real risk of seeing this country fall into complete chaos due to the deeper and deeper political divide. It still holds together today only because of a reason that will probably vanish in the near future...

As a French citizen I know exactly how misbehaved, brainless, provocative, aggressive, obnoxious and even violent these young guys coming from the popular suburbs, many of them of migrant origins, can be.

They seem to be a significant part of my fellow citizens visiting Thailand now. I've seen them in action in Pattaya on occasions and I'm ashamed.

Seems like 2 arabs to me....anyway its also a cultural thing....the french way of talking is completely the opposite of the way things go in asia.

They are very direct, to the point of being rude...they fail to see that being right doesnt always mean they will get their way.

And here are we in generalizations probably leading to a round of French-bashing like in the thread about this guy who has vanished.

No, not all French people are like this and I've seen just as many Brits, Kiwis, Germans or others in Thailand with loud mouths and offensive behavior.

It's all a matter of education, really.

Yes, I am sometimes ashamed of my compatriots in Thailand. I think we all have been of the citizens of our own countries sometimes.

I have worked in a Thai IT/Telecoms company for 3 years, as the only foreigner. At first they had rejected my application despite my profile matching the position nicely because most of the potential coworkers absolutely didn't want "another farang". Guess why? they had 3 American engineers sent from a US company for a while before and these folks had been absolutely obnoxious to them. I managed to convince them that not all farangs were the same and got the position.

A couple of years later, a new position was opened for an international before-sale engineer whom they decided had to be a westerner. The CEO had me in his office and told me "help us find another Frenchman for this job, you people seem to fit well".

I'm no better than anyone else but generalizations are plain wrong.

As a French citizen I know exactly how misbehaved, brainless, provocative, aggressive, obnoxious and even violent these young guys coming from the popular suburbs, many of them of migrant origins, can be.

They seem to be a significant part of my fellow citizens visiting Thailand now. I've seen them in action in Pattaya on occasions and I'm ashamed.

BUT... and that's a big BUT, anything they've done or said cannot justify being stabbed on the street like this. Yes, that's a risk here. Thais tend to use their knives or guns as a last resort during a heated arguments. I've been threatened once with a machete over such a heated argument with someone who had parked behind my car, blocking it.

They probably didn't know this and whatever they've risked doing or saying does not excuse anything. Yes, some low-life Thais don't value the life or a anyone else, even less a farang. That's a sad fact and such drama will bring extreme damage to the image of Thailand.

I'm surprised it's so cheap. Nice being in Thailand. In the west I'm pretty sure that fixing it wouldn't have been cost-effective...

What is with Western Union?

It seems the only people who use it are criminals.

Shutting it down would put a huge financial dent in international terrorism, drug dealing, human trafficking and God knows what else?

Maybe, but it would also cause a famine in Africa and probably in many other of the poorest part of this world.

For a huge number of migrant workers, it's the only way to send money back home (paying outrageous fees but that's another story)

Mobile phones often have better RF antennas than 3G/4G dongles. I'm not surprised by what you observed and I suggest that it might not only be a 3G vs. 4G issue. I sometimes have to take my professional SIM out of the company-provided 3G dongle to put it in my phone and share the connection when in areas of poor reception.

Of course I understand that buying a phone just for that purpose would not be cost-effective.

Just my two satangs.

Oh my oh my... this kind of PR stunt really just adds to the ridicule.

"Saving face" actually means losing in such a comedy.

Why don't they just keep silent and let this thing fall off the media radar? this guy will never ever be busted anyway, so they might as well keep some decency.

Generally agree, although I'd say it differently: they do what they are told to do, nothing more.

Unlike a western cop, they won't catch someone running a red light unless explicitly told "today you are going to stand at that intersection and catch people running the red light". Same goes for helmets e.g. the cop whose job is to regulate the traffic in front of a hight school won't blink an eye when seeing most of the students leave on their bikes without helmets.

That's not his job today. He might be pulling them over along some nearby road the next day if told to do so because that day is "crackdown on helmet-less bike drivers day".

Actually I remember discussing with a cop from my neighborhood while having a drink in front of his house and that's precisely what he told me, adding "I'm not paid enough to do more".

There has been a very sharp increase in the number of police and/or army roadblocks on the main roads since the onset of the military regime.

I've seen more of them along my frequent drive from/to Bangkok to/from Kamphaeng Phet than ever before.

I think that most of this checks are completely unrelated to a crackdown on overstaying foreigners. Weren't related before the whole thing started obviously, but still aren't.

Most of the time I'm waved on or just asked a few simple questions (where are you going), no documents checked or just my driving licence.

It's just what authoritarian regimes usually do...

".... crack down on drink driving during the Songkran festival..."

Why only during Songkran?

Because:

- that's the time of the year when people drink the most heavily

- it'd get too tiresome for poor overworked policemen to do this all year long

- it would deprive politicians from the pride of making such an announcement every year

Works for me at this time from France FWIW. Browser is Chrome.

If it doesn't from Thailand, I'd suspect some inter-ISP routing issue more than blacklisting.