nostrel

maybe they should move the entire operation back to DM then we can all have a ching-chong in peace and quiet !

maybe they could move the latrines from DM to the new airport in lieu of a Move back to DM .

Thai AirAsia wants to revert ops to old airport

From Zaidi Isham Ismail

[email protected]

November 2 2006

BANGKOK: Thai AirAsia Co Ltd, an associate carrier of budget airline AirAsia Bhd, wants to move back to the old Don Muang Airport, barely a month after it shifted to the new Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Suvarnabhumi Airport opened on September 28.

Thai AirAsia chief executive officer Tassapon Bijleveld said the new airport is too congested and three times more expensive to operate than Don Muang Airport.

He said the airline has written to the Thai airport authorities and feedback has been positive.

"We expect to receive a reply within the next two weeks," Tassapon told 10 visiting journalists here yesterday.

He said the new airport cannot handle seven million budget travellers ferried by Thai AirAsia, Nok Air and One-Two-Go.

"It is better to let us go back to the old airport than build a new low-cost carrier (LCC) terminal, which requires huge investment," he said, adding that Suvarnabhumi Airport should emulate Malaysia and Singapore, which separates the operations of the LCCs from full service carriers.

Don Muang Airport has three terminals while Suvarnabhumi has only one very large terminal that handles all international and domestic flights.

Thai AirAsia is 49 per cent owned by Malaysia's AirAsia. It has been operating at Don Muang Airport since February 2003.

http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BT/T...49.txt/Article/

wasnt River Heaven a rehashed repo'd ? that turned out ok ,but second time around for some

maybe shallow Hal ?

when the guy was dining with his attractive female neighbour and he asked her why it had not happened before.

she replies " i always thought you were a dickwad "

apparently her opinion had changed after seeing his plumper walking away from his room .

it does not appear that it will be easilly possible to use a hooky copy of Vista ,so will buyers go legit ?

snide copies will cripple a PC after a while .

if you were a poor young thai gal with no prospects wouldnt you scam some poor old lonely fart for his life savings ? its so easy compared with slaving away all week for a few 1000 bahts .

i think some of the gals are just attractive stooges to encourage blokes to send off the money for the addresses and mail .If it develops into a cash haul then thats a bonus for them .

no doubt some have thai blokes pulling their strings for a bumper payout.

as said the flips have a strong TWANG when they speak ,its unmistakeable. plus the flip card game scammers have been arrested in BKK and patters in the past .

maybe there is a school for scammers in the PI ?

Fingerprint the expats! FCO plans phase two biometric passport

Cross-Channel loophole to close by 2010

By John Lettice → More by this author

Published Tuesday 31st October 2006 11:53 GMT

Plans to add fingerprints to UK overseas passports are under way, despite the cost and complexity involved in gathering biometrics from UK citizens across the globe, a parliamentary answer revealed last week. Passports issued by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office are already "biometric", but only in the somewhat minimalist sense required by ICAO - the addition of fingerprints, however, would pull overseas UK residents into the National Identity Register net, closing off a prized but little-known escape route.

According to an answer obtained from FCO Minister Geoff Hoon by Liberal spokesman Vince Cable, the FCO "Secondary Biometrics" project commenced this month, and is due for completion by October 2010. It has not yet, Hoon revealed, been either scoped or fully costed.

The FCO's passport issuing function is generally carried out via local embassies and consulates to cater for UK citizens resident outside of the UK. The biometric passports currently issued by these simply use a digitised version of an ordinary passport photo (which, if you get lawyerly, is technically a 'biometric' anyway), so relatively low-cost and civilised transactions can be carried out by post. Citizens obtaining their ID via this route also, possibly, have some protection from the full impact of the Database State, because those not resident in the UK (by the definition of the ID Cards Act, in the country for three months or more) are specifically excluded from the NIR. But only "possibly" because data on individuals gathered via overseas applications will still make its way into the system.

Fingerprints, however, will require attendance in person somewhere. Where? The UK is already involved in rolling out a biometric visa system, currently prioritising countries seen as a higher risk of illegal immigration. The programme is not however particularly advanced, and these countries are not the same as the ones with the highest concentrations of UK expats. The thinking (perhaps an overly flattering word) currently seems to be to outsource application processing to external organisations wherever feasible, but as we've yet to hear reports of major catastrophe, fraud and incompetence, presumably this isn't happening much yet.

The EU biometric passport, resident permit and visa plans parallel those of the UK, and given that the EU as a whole intends to add fingerprints to passports, the EU as a whole should also in the fullness of time have a non-resident biometric collection issue to address. And there are also plans for a global EU visa issuing network so, if the UK could stomach it and the other countries would let it (the UK is not a Schengen signatory, remember), the FCO could possibly hitch a lift on that. But neither of these is a foregone conclusion - the question of whether, or to what extent, the EU should have embassies, a foreign policy and a foreign service gets sucked into the equation.

So the FCO's scoping of the secondary biometric project has some tricky questions to answer, and the opposition might do well to ask how it's going every now and again. It'll have to move some in order to be in place by 2010.

Vince Cable's question, however, was directed at general FCO IT costings rather than being aimed specifically at biometrics. You'll note from the answer that, with the exception of Prism, the long-running FCO ERP cockup (which despite Hoon's current claim of £81.9 million was supposed to cost £53 million in 2002), most of the projects were started too recently to have shown major delays and overruns. Note however the relatively paltry cost of the current "biometric" FCO passport programme, and the bracing £121.7 million to be spent on biometric visas between May 2005 and December 2007. This, which already shows a 20 per cent overrun, is clearly the most intensive piece of IT spending on the FCO's budget. ®

*******************

from theregister.co.uk

Letter in todays Bangkok Post

************************

Treated badly by condo developer

I bought a condominium at Belle Park Residence on Naratiwas Road, a

brand new condo, over a year ago now and I have found it to be the most

stressful, painstaking thing I have ever done. Not only did the

developer of Belle Park promise me and other customers that certain

amenities/facilities would be included in the finished project (a

garden on upper levels of the building, for instance), it failed to

even acknowledge that these promises were made.

I have not met a co-owner who hasn't had problems with either cracks in

walls, flooding of balconies, toilets releasing terrible smells, cracks

in the ceiling. As if this wasn't enough to deal with, the developer of

Belle Park continues to fail to address these problems 15 months since

it was completed.

There is one other co-owner that I know of who has voiced his

complaints time and time again in the sales office. Belle Park's

reaction is to call the police, who just stand idly by watching with

amusement as the argument persists. To add insult to injury, a Belle

Park representative starts taking photographs of the situation as to

keep a record for a possible lawsuit for causing a scene in the sales

room and damaging Belle Park's good name.

I stress that anyone who is to buy a condominium should always

investigate the developer before they buy, ask around and then make

your decision to buy. This is critical, really!

I have been complaining to Belle Park for a year about various problems

and I still don't know who to address my letters to!

I also urge the Bangkok Post to contact the co-owners committee of

Belle Park, because I think you would have an interesting story there

as the co-owners are up in arms, and they have no one to turn to. This

is not just a farang having a moan, this concerns hundreds of people

who feel they have been treated terribly by an unscrupulous,

unorganised company.

SIMON GREEN

if it was so good it would have won an award ,but unfortunately it hasnt .maybe there is some reason

some of these guys will take you to their homes, introduce you to their gorgeous twin sisters, and then leave you and the two girls alone for an hour or so to do lots of naughty things.

I've heard.

they use that excuse as the hook to get you to the house .then you get a beer in front of you and the cards come out . 'oh my brother works as a casino as a croupier and he will arrange for you to win all the time then we will share the winnings 50-50.'

just a few games to warm up first . then you lose and they lean on you to cough up the dosh.

they wait by ATM machines to ensure you have a big wedge on you before inviting you back .

they are all over town , i was accosted by a fip women at MBK with a similar tale ,but she was the hook,very attractive with large exposed jugs.

why do they pick their nose so much ?and what happens to all the nasal debris ?

German abandons Thai triplets

(2006-10-30 11:15:34)

When Melisa Matchapato discovered she was pregnant, she was overjoyed. Then K Melisa’s joy tripled when she learned that she was expecting not one, but two boys and a girl.

But shortly after the birth of the triplets, that joy quickly turned to dismay. The German father of the triplets – who Melisa, 38, has named Pimpika, Petcharat and Pattapong – had left the island and could not be contacted.

But Wachira Phuket Hospital refused to register the three babies on the thirty baht health scheme without the father’s details.

Local NGO, Thaitanics, had been assisting K Melisa in the run up to the birth. The group was told by the hospital that although K Melisa’s pre-natal treatment was covered by the 30-baht health scheme; the care for the babies – one of whom required intensive care treatment – was not.

And, as the Thaitanics house was K Melisa’s registered address, Thaitanics would have to pay.

Threatened with potential bankruptcy, Thaitanics contacted their favourite newspaper. Phuket Post contacted Wachira Hospital to find out exactly why the hospital had taken this approach.

We were happy to learn from hospital director, Jessada Chungpaibulpatana, that the administration at the hospital had changed its decision.

“The triplets are now under the state hospital because their mother is Thai and it is not going to be any problem. If there is any case like this, they can just talk directly with the hospital director,” K Jessada told the Post, going on to say that if there is any case of patients having neither money or health card, the hospital would be pleased to help and offer treatment for them.

Meanwhile, the Phuket Red Cross has also offered help to the triplets.

“The triplets now do not have enough clothes or milk,” K Melisa explained on one of her daily trips to the hospital to feed and care for her three babies. “It would be great if there is any organisation that could help us during this time. I’m trying to get a loan from my relatives to get the things I need for the babies.”

The triplets are now in the nursery room at Wachira Hospital and will be able to leave and stay home with their mother by the end of October.

If you can help K Melisa, Pimpika, Petcharat and Pattapong, please contact Phuket Post on 076 376 339 or email [email protected]

********************************************

http://phuket-post.com/article.php?id=537

4 here , but maybe they are worried about carpetbaggers in the future .Nationwide could offer free shares and a big payout

could be complex job digging up the floor and laying very long lengths of waste pipes and water supplies to the new latrines . Unless they plan to run them at high level.

all seems a waste of time as India and China will be ramping up their pollution ,US will do nothing.

as for the Thais they will go on polluting as usual . B&Q are said to be selling wind turbine generators and solar panels .

patters sounds just as bad >>

from pattayamail.com

Two neighboring houses burgled on same night

Boonlua Chatree

Burglars broke into two houses at The Village on Pattaya Third Road during the night of October 9 and got away with cash and property worth more than 200,000 baht.

Pattaya police station received a call from Ms Sommai Jomsri, 32, to say that a thief had broken into her home, and they also received a report that a neighbor’s house only three doors away had just been robbed.

Sommai’s home was a two-story townhouse, and the police and accompanying forensic officers established that the intruder had climbed in via the second floor. Sommai’s husband, 41-year-old Australian citizen John Visser, said that over 80,000 baht had been taken from a drawer in the headboard of the bed, and a backpack containing a quantity of dollars and baht totaling about 100,000 baht had also been taken. The thief had also taken a notebook computer.

Sommai said that at about 6:30 p.m. she had gone with her husband, who just four days previously had returned from Iraq, to take care of their Oh and Na beer bar business located on Soi Diana. They returned with Sommai’s sister at about 1:30 a.m. to find that the house had been ransacked. The couple shared the house with relatives who were asleep on the ground floor at the time and had heard nothing.

The thief, or thieves, had also broken into the home of another foreigner living nearby but had found only 1,300 baht in cash and a mobile phone.

Police are working on the theory that the burglar lives nearby. Sommai’s sister said she saw a youth on the roof of the house next door to theirs earlier that evening, and it is likely he was casing the neighboring properties. Although police and security guards from The Village searched the neighborhood, no arrests have yet been made.

theres a post on another forum that says taxis dropping off are nowlimited to the outer departures road and making it more difficult to hail a leaving taxi . is this the case ? leavers now have to haul their baggage across more traffic lanes ! inner lane only for private drop offs .

quote>>

"I drove out to Suvarnabhumi yesterday to pick up my sister in law and

her partner arriving on QF2 from London.

From Huay Khwaang to the airport was a leisurely 25 mins drive at 2pm.

I decided to drive to the car park buildings by way of the departures

level road, as I approached the terminal building the first thing I

noticed was that they have set up temporary metal barriers with guards

present on two of the left hand 4 lanes where the approach road divides

into 2 seperate roads, taxis are not allowed to enter the left hand

side road now and are waved away with their departing passengers to the

outer road, passengers get out of the cab there and then make their way

with their bags across the 4 lane inner road to get in to the terminal

building, only a minor irritation, but in my opinion it is designed to

further thwart passengers from getting a taxi into town from the

departure level,

My SIL came out of arrival gate C exactly 75 minutes after their flight

landed. The first Qantas QF2 crew had emerged from the arrivals door 1

hour after the flight landed, Arrivals door C only has one channel for

passengers to pass through and it was pandemonium as several flights

had landed within a few minutes of each other and a crush developed as

people tried to get through the waiting crowd milling around the

channel into the arrivals hall. People were shouting out "excuse us

please" "can you move in front please" but there was just not enough

room to disperse the number of passengers away from the arrivals area

channel quickly enough. Congestion was further compounded by people

stopping to look around for some indication of where the public taxis

are hidden, they looked in vain, there are *no* signs.

The arrivals hall is IMO a disaster area, poorly designed, and first

time incoming passengers are being manipulated and controlled by the

cynical limo people. A complete redesign is urgently needed.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/sandycruden/...scd&.src=ph

"

when you see the age ranges in job adverts in the papers they are so tight that its a wonder that anybody finds a job. but then we know that nepotism rules so jobs for the boys is the way

I see that Guiness are trying a red colour for some reason ,look out for it in Bangers.

http://www.drinks-business-review.com/arti...33-F9DC3DB4CC71

Thai drivers are so illdisciplined and anarchic they will drive in the bike lanes so negating any bikers use , and probly squashing them flat as a pancake. I mean they drive on the pavement with impunity so bike lanes will have no chance .Unless there is a raised kurb to keep them out. mind you motorbike taxis will be able to get around faster .

its gotta be

"dont pi55 down my back and tell me its raining" from Josey Wales ..

what was all that about i wonder ?

3 airports have impressed me.

Changi

London City

& my alltime favourite.... Koh Samui.

Ok, what do you find so impressive about Koh Samui airport?

it must be the coconut trees ,they dont have them in Neasden

from sky news >>

***************

Beware A Place In The Sun

Updated: 15:46, Tuesday October 24, 2006

Thousands of Britons who retire to a 'paradise' abroad are being warned of ending up living alone in poverty and poor health.

The Foreign Office says too many emigrants fail to prepare adequately for their new life.

Many go to Spain - where some have to be dealt with by Bruce McIntyre, the British Consul in Malaga.

"Sadly, we spend much of our time with elderly British nationals who moved out here 10 or 15 years ago and now cannot manage alone," Mr McIntyre told Sky News.

"Sometimes a partner has died and the other is too old or infirm to go out and buy food.

"Sometimes people have made bad property investments or have not budgeted their pensions sufficiently and are living in extreme poverty."

Mr McIntyre is urging British retirees to realise that few European countries have welfare provisions like the UK.

"There are often no old people's homes, no district nursing, community care or meals on wheels.

"We provide help where we can but there are just a few steps you can take to ensure that it doesn't come to this."

The Foreign Office has produced a guide called Going To Live Abroad as part of a Know Before You Go campaign.

Those planning to retire abroad are urged to research their destination, including local laws and customs, and to learn some of the local language.

They should also work out their retirement income, allowing for inflation and exchange rate fluctuations.

theres a few card game scammers hanging around too.

'i have brother who works at casino and he can arrange for you to win games, then we share winnings 50-50' .

these guys hang around near the ATM machines so they are sure you have a big wedge on you.