kmart

Credit is so easy to get here for Thais, and seemingly few of them ever read the small print.

My ex g/f had this thing about buying things on the never-never; allied to her brother's football gambling addiction was trouble right from the start. I returned home after work one night to find the "heavy mob" of local tough guy debt collectors (one of them was an off-duty cop - go figure) outside my house shouting threats through the security screens.

That was the end of that; 40k later.

I would not have a credit card given in this country.

there was a young gal tourist from Korea in Pattaya who was found murdered and dismembered and her body parts stuffed in a sewer pipe . maybe she was just unlucky .

Her Korean boyfriend was arrested and extradited for the murder. Hope this helps....

This thread is reading like an obituary. He's not out of the game yet.

Personally speaking, I quite admired him at first for trying to break the status quo and the monopoly of power of the Bkk elites. (They're usually only seen marrying into each other's fields of influence in the society pages).

But wrapping it all up in the flag just shows how much of a scoundrel he is. He eventually turned into everything he professed to despise; corrupt; power-mad; unable to listen or explain decisions even surrounded by a massive spin machine. 24 carat ######.

Only used the new place once, but my initial impression was very good. Staff were helpful and efficient, bags checked in were not a problem, and did not have one hitch on a return to Hat Yai.

Only negative encountered was the overpriced, crap food in the top floor of the main hall.

Oh well...

Anyway, getting back on track, maybe the reason Thais pack so much to take with them is that they have no idea about the world outside their own country?

Even some of the educated staff in my company have daft preconceptions and stereotypes of other countries, and yes they are mostly blinkered and xenophobic; thats why a lot of them, when they do leave LOS never come back here because of the opportunities they never knew existed in the big wide world.

I just booked a flight back to the UK for Christmas. Quite looking forward to it.

After 15 years working in Asia, there are a lot of things I do miss about the UK; temperate climate; civilised driving; walking the dog; family and friends; etc. I'm glad I never burnt my bridges back home.

Its great to get that sense of perspective back again, on why I live out here. After about a week back in the UK, I am bored already and frustrated with being stuck in the house watching tv.

Must be a delay in Pangolin imports?

Yes indeed it is very sad. As an illegal alien living along the border, they are often treated or mistreated badly by the locals and even worse by the government officials. Case in point the abuse by some government officials of the long-neck Burmese forcing them as displays for unsuspecting foreigners as human zoos.

Yep. Illegals and hilltribes are kept in legal limbo to serve the needs of illegal labour / transport of drugs; etc. Their plight mostly don't get much attention at all from a lot of Thais due to historical enmity.

Thai government officials are mostly a shower of <deleted>, always looking to exploit the disenfranchised.

Ominous. Hope they don't decide that they like this power trip too much to step away....

That the US is outside the top 50 is not surprising. Especially since 9/11. Wonder if they'd ever report another Watergate?

The media is controlled by people with an agenda who owe and lend out big political and business favors to the political actors of the day.

Thaksin intimidated the Thai press by threatening to pull advertising lifelines away from them. They capitulated eventually, but it was good to see some strong resistance too.

Did you complain after the rides, or just simply the Thai "mai pen rai" style? Were these rides the ones where one go upside down or something less dangerous?

Of course I complained. The response to my complaint was the usual thai "mai pen rai" and then they loaded up with new people. In suan siam it was the "octopus" ride, in dreamworld a rollercoaster. Neither went upside down but jumped and turned enough to throw out unrestrained riders.

All the fun of the (un)fair, eh? No way would I ever get on one of those rides here in LOS.

I only go to see the boxing Orang Utangs.

I agree about the high suicide rates especially in Pattaya. I once read some interview with a Brit Embassy rep who commented that a lot of the guys who commit suicide are here on some "last hurrah" type permanent vacation, having burnes their bridges; lost thier savings; had their heart broken; or contracted some terminal disease; etc. Sad, but understandable I 'spose....

The "Disneyland / World" thing has been around for a while. Last time I heard was going to be in Jomtien.

Could well be rumour started by developers / property people? I dunno...

Have these NGO people nothing better to do? How about bringing reps from Gillette over, to show them how to do a "razor show" safely?

Sounds like the environmental benefits of biofuel are grossly overrated, if not outright wrong anyway.

bio-phooey

One shot "specials" seem to be popular here. The technical school students make them and enjoy testing them out on each other after school. Its great that they have hobbies, obviously.

Some of the "she's nothing special"; "seen better" etc, remarks are pretty hilarious here. The girls are gorgeous of course, but like a lot of things here, are all packaging and style over substance.

Bubblegum music.

Unfortunately, "helpful" isn't my middle name this morning, as I sit here with a huge bacon sandwich. The vegetarians can go hang. As can you, for intentionally typing my name wrong.

You need to spend about 12 months back in yr native country to start to really appreciate the good things about Thailand.

There are alot of negs about Thailand but it sure beats Sydney and the violence here.

I cannot walk home (safely) after sunset........ I never had this problem anywhere in Thailand.

I regard Thailand as "Home".

Agreed. A bit of perspective gained by spending some time outside of Thailand is refreshing. The little niggles here can become overwhelming if you let them get too big. Go home for a visit with friends / family, and come back to new horizons.

Oh, dear! The Chinese are never happy about increasing the price of anything though, are they? Bless 'em!

Sounds like more fun than listening to haters. What could they say about you? I doubt you'd really want us knowing.

I doubt you have any sense of humour whatsoever. Maybe you should organize a "Sense Of Humour Workshop" for your equally irony-free pals?

Metalwork classes at school were devoted to making throwing knives and Ninja stars. I made a beautiful shuriken once, until a dog ran off with it. Ok, it was stuck in its back at the time, but....

Kids like stuff like that. Its better than him playing with Barbie Dolls, no?

Hey, the emoticon at the end of the quote is for "unsure." I didn't play with dolls, and my folks let me play with various toys. It was after ww2, and they thought it was great that we had killed all those Nazis and Japanese for Jesus and FDR. As long as we're disagreeing (and my mod cap has been taken off), I'll suggest that it might be as much about social class as it is about fairies and bullies.

I was raised to be an upper middle class manager, not a manual laborer who goes down to the pub and gets drunk and fights with Paddy, Mick, and Cedric. Our local drunk was a banker and treasurer who drove home from the fancy pub very wobbly.

Those of you who think gay men are sissies who played with dolls should stay far away from a gay leather pub; you'll get well pummelled.

It's usually the lower class that actually gets to kill the Nazis and the Japanese, the VietCong and the Iraqis. It's the upper class that sit in board rooms and Oval Offices in three-piece suits, ordering the generals to order the soldiers into battle. It was the upper middle class who wore white collars and ties, that managed the extermination camps.

I was kidding, but I don't understand your response at all.

What is wrong with Thai men?

How much bandwidth we got? (j/k)

Nothing new here. Every successive government I can remember has plundered the coffers. Banharn; Chevalit; Choonhaven; even "Mr Honest" himself; Chuan Leekpai had to stack his party with thieves; mafiosi; and "poo yai" to maintain a house majority.

They do so simply because they can. Just serve up the status quo patriotism / propoganda <deleted> to a largely uneducated population and walk away with the spoils. Piece of piss, really. I quite admire them for it, tbh.

Only way to ever change this is to overhaul the education system of the country and start teaching kids about ethics; principles; and to think for themselves. That, however, might be "un-Thai". Same as thinking ahead....

Thaksin could come back tomorrow and people would prostrate themselves on the floor to him. A lot of the locals would wai the devil himself if he climbed out of a black Mercedes.

The Nation is a typical, smug "Bangkok-centric" edifice that kids itself and its readers that they live in a uniformly-developed country, as opposed to a cosmopolitan capital city only.