jaywalker

Whether the million or so bangkokians should return yet I'm not sure. Water is hard to get and so are things like eggs. Makes me laugh when I see 100,000 bottles of water per day being distributed - that's a spoonful each. Same with 3 million eggs - a quarter of an egg for everyone then finished.

And imposing price controls exactly the kind of way to deny free enterprising traders to supply the situation.

Might I assume you wanted to write "BLACK MARKET PROFITERS" but because you are a good heart man you choosed a less blunt wording??????????????/ Or are you supporting those vile creatures who take advantage of the misery of others???????????

Waah! I hate Capitalism and free markets.

Government has all the answers.

Go join the hippies and occupy Wall Street.

The military will mobilize 1000 vehicles? What exactly are they mobilizing? The generals' fleet of mercedes? Seriously, the army doesn't have that many trucks. Just what are the small "jeeps", tanks and APCs going to do? Has anyone looked at the motor pool inventory for the Thai army? This suggests tome that resources are being diverted from other flood crisis zones to Bangkok. Understandable, but the news source gives the impression that somehow new vehicles have been sourced. There are a limited number of heavy trucks available for army use, unless the army is taking over private fleets of vehicles?

The Army has around 1500 US made HMMWV's (HUMVEE's). I used to be a field rep for the company that manufactures them so I know.

They also have a huge fleet of Mercedes 2.5 ton trucks (that'd be a lorry for our British friends).

Both models can operate in up to 1.5 meters of water. The HMMWV's need a snorkel kit for this, but they have many that are outfitted with this equipment already.

"here is a great video of flooding in BKK circa 1942. click "

Great video Dude!

I love the pith helmets.... Don't know why but they always looked cool in the movies.

Looks like far more people had sampans than cars back then. Far more klongs for then to navigate in & probably 1/10th the population & pollution of today.

Thanks for the Way-Back ride!

It is surprising people just don't recycle the plastic bottles they use and fill them up at the Iso water machines. I have yet to buy one bottle of water in this crisis we keep 60L worth of storage 6LX10 plus another 15 in 1.5L bottles. I keep the 6L's filled constantly cost me 4 Baht(4 x 1.5L). To all those people raising their prices what do you expect? They have a lot more to lose. Its cruel but they pull this kind of stuff on us everyday. The flip side of this is the huge number of people helping. I have been helping at the stadium in Bang Kapi and it is amazing how many people are bringing in 10,000's of baht worth of food,water,medicine. Businesses are incurring a lot of extra costs I am sure those brick walls don't come cheap and they serve no other purpose other than flood protection. They are a preventative expense and hence no financial gain only financial asset protection.

Hope you have a work permit to volunteer to help.

7-11's, Tesco, Makro, Big C running low on many things in Pattaya....At least my house is dry so can't complain too much.

We have the RO water dispensers to get drinking water here & Lake Mabprachan is FULL.

Sukhumvit is PACKED with BKK car tags. Can't blame the folks for getting out of a city that is sinking. The floods are having a bit of a further reaching affect than those just under water.....Can't find eggs & such at the moment. Traffic was almost like Songkran traffic here yesterday.

Bloody hell!

Thanks for sharing those videos Mate!

I've been silently HOWLING with laughter over them for DAYS now.

You either get it, or you don't.

I can't quit laughing!

A 4 digit number is actually a concession from the government. Any telecom company can help you fill out the paperwork, but it is not the operator that is providing you with the number. It comes from the telecommunications ministry.

There is a fee associated with the concession. It used to be around 100k per month for the privilege of a 4 digit concession, but I haven't investigated one in a long time.

I would suggest you apply through TOT, as in the final analysis they are the ones who will need to activate the number. You will get the best service at the source.

Thanks Greg,

I think you hit the nail on the head. I asked my Thai business partner to look into it. He says it must be approved by the National Telecommunications Commission, which sounds like what you just said.

Thanks again for the help guys.

Jay

Contact TOT: http://www.tot.co.th/index.php?option=com_linkcontent&categoryid=125&Itemid=115〈=en

Hey George,

Thanks for the link. My original question is due to some business research I'm doing. Do you know of any other companies that provide this service?

I looked at the CAT site but don't see where they are offering this. I don't "think" AIS or DTAC or True offer it.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Thanks again,

Jay

Does anybody know which company provides the 4 digit phone numbers to McDonalds, Pizza Company, Pizza Hut etc?

Thanks,

Jay

They always do it differently here in Pattaya.

If anybody has a clue, please reply.

The "P" in Thailand stands for Planning.

Hey Mod's,

Sorry if I posted this in the wrong place but your website looks like a zoo website from 1999.

Rather difficult to find an appropriate category.

Anyhow, has anybody heard anything more on WHEN/WHAT/HOW/WHO/WHERE will be offering 3G mobile services????

Thanks,

Jay

PS..........Those flashing banner ads I see off to the right are annoying at best.

Was in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. They have FREE 4G on their rail service into the city.

Bloody Neanderthals here.

Almost missed my flight today. Took around 70 minutes to get thru passport control.

Yep it sucked standing in line for 70 minutes.

I had to run to the gate.

Shitty airport is all I can say.........rather ridiculous.

Have been to 45 countries, so voice of experience talking here.

Why they they don't share International flights w/ good old Don Muang is a mystery....though not really.

Don Muang...........been in and out a gazillion times.............Never, ever one complaint...........SuvarnaBOOM or howerever they pronounce it is a NIGHTNARE.

Corruption, corruption, corruption. It's the only reason Svarnabumi was built & the only reason Don Muang is out of the picture.

Incompetents and corruption........been here a long time,

Thailand's airports are the hub of incompetence and crony-ism.

Was in Timbuktu Nonthaburi today. I zigged when I should have zagged.

Had made a wrong turn and was desparate for ye'olde U-turn bridge.

Sure as hell I clipped a solid white line and there was a Kamikaze cop (he has death wish...he jumps out in front of traffic).

He was amped because I almost ran him over. I was amped as well.

I knew exactly what my traffic transgression was. Did not mean to break the rules but did not want to let that U-turn bridge I was shooting for fade into my rear view.

He was wearing a dust mask, so I could not read his features at all.

He slapped the front fender and YELLED at me to PULL OVER.

Dark tinted windows I have.

He gave a military salute when I rolled them down.

I rolled down the window and gave him a High Wai and said so sorry (in Thai).

He wrote me a ticket..........INCREDIBLY ENOUGH he gave me my International license back.

I asked how much......He said you go pay at Police Station.

This cop was bouncing off the walls/cars what have you. He was YELLING at me.

A high wai and a few words in Thai. He was butter in my wai paws. He was super nice.

I gave him my International License.

He wrote down my first and middle names on the ticket and told me to pay it within 7 days, and let me go with all documents intact.

It's cool that the cop wasn't a brain-washed idiot cop like in the West...........

No idea.....I think the high wai and my basic Thai apology probably helped.

Have been fined by the police hundreds of times over 10+ years. Mark this one down.

Feb 24th 2011. After 12 years I finally meet an honest cop.

Jay

I must admit I don't often agree with you sorrow lot's of condecending notions on how this country should be run. But on traffic and the culture of driving here I fully agree: If the laws are lacking, it is the Governments duty to implement them, and now! And then wait and hope to survive another generation or three for them being enforced. Where are the emoticons in uniform, by the way? - A necessity in most threads these days

If you as a foreigner feel the laws are lacking you are certainly free to go to another country. I for one don't think the Thais need falang telling them how to run their own country

It's not about farangs or thais, it's about ignorant, irresponsible individuals killing innocent people. Suggest you widen your horizon and get over the "you falang don't tell me thai what I have to do". If you think it doesn't matter when your own citizens get killed (I suppose you are Thai here), then that's fine, but personally I think your attitude is deplorable.

On the subject of "Me Thai, you falang. I do what I want to do......."

Took my life in my hands last week on a moto-taxi from Bali Hai Pier (Pattaya) to Soi Khaotalo on a Saturday evening at 6:00PM.

Usually I tell them "Cha-cha"and they slow down. I had no sooner said cha-cha than his phone rings & he starts digging in his pocket, so I told him to stop. I wanted off. "Phone motorbike mai dee" He starts screaming "F&*k you! F*&k you! I do what I want!"

Fair enough, but not with me on the back.

We'd gone maybe 300 meters when this happened. I was mellow as could be and offered him 30% of his fare, even though we'd only gone 10% of the way.

He kept up his profanities. I gave him his 20 baht and politely said "Well, F&*k you too". He started trying to kick me.

I guess it's all customer service and Safety First over here.

Yeah, yeah he was one bad apple in an otherwise decent barrel, but that's all it takes to kill you.

Have been on hundreds of mot-taxi's

I had nothing against this dog till he bit me.

A soi dog bit me the other day.....I should say he nipped me as he didn't break the skin.

I immediately got aggressive towards the dog & he backed down.

Now get this. I was at the communal swimming pool & it was the pool owner's dog. How stupid is that?

Trying to run a business & you have a dog that bites your customers.

That dog deserves to die..........Sorry, but it's the truth.

I did NOTHING to that dog, and he bit me.

I told the lady and she just walks me around the dog. The dog respects her & she just takes a broom & yells at the mutt.

If I were her, I would catch that dog asleep and bash his brains in.

She is NOT getting any more business from me as long as she has that dog.

I have a friend that bought a Chinese iPhone.

He had it for 3 days, carrying it in his pocket. The cover broke & it quit working.

3,000 baht for 3 days worth of junk.

Pretty sure that'll be his last counterfeit purchase.

Gotta LOVE these "crackdowns" though.

Nobody seems to be asking the question of how all the garbage got smuggled into LOS in the first place.

Idiots.

BKKPost today.......Kamphaeng Phet.....3 dead cops because they arrested a drunk guy for drunk driving & didn't search him for weapons.

He pulled out a pistol and shot them all.....Of course he waited till they were all in the police car going 80kph on the way to the police station so the police car wrecked & broke his leg = he didn't get away.

Idiots.........

The first time I ever came to Pattaya I saw a couple kids trying to use a plastic bag as a mask (to see underwater) on the beach, so this doesn't surprise me.

Bloody hilarious to see one come up for air....DOH! Can't breathe with a plastic bag on ye olde noggin.

"because you have to understand Thaivisa is a commercial operation, first of all.

and the more CLICKS, the higher the revenue from advertisers.

so they have to "create" some kind of "breaking news" frequently, even it is just of the "What a tragedy ! Khun Somchais pet-poodle suffering from Diarrhea"

Woof! I had the mother of all diarrhea stories yesterday.

It was headline worthy. I about DIED (or so it seemed).

Its not about liking or not liking Americans, its about politics & politicians ! American foreign politics don't have a great reputation, which they do not want to change. I have family in the states & love the country, but u sure do have a great bunch of uneducated and brainwashed people over there, which makes it so easy for your politicians to pretty much do what they want & they seem to screw up this planet more & more. In the end its all of us paying the bill!

Bad luck Russia. Obviously America's bribes were bigger than yours.

OK, smart-ass, let's see your proof that the US bribed/coerced anyone to hand over Bout. Or are you just another one of the "Bash the US Because It's Fashionable and I Want To Be With the Cool Crowd of Ultra-Politically Correct/Nanny State Types"???

Yep..there is an over abundance of these idiots on the forums. Everybody is always right except America. Everybody holds the moral high ground except Americans.

In the minds of these nanny state morons, even Russian (the Mafia state) and the Chinese with their wonderful system of governance and sterling human right records should be supported but never America. Back the FARC, the Taliban, N. Korea., Mugabe...anybody but America....Idiots...

(PS I'm not American, but I have spend a lot of time in the US and appreciate all the good stuff that is also American, so have never found it necessary to join the whining anti US bandwagon)...

I'm American and I couldn't agree more. That's why I don't live there.

She's hot for a 65 year-old.

I found myself in the Mo-Chit bus station a couple weeks ago.

The restrooms there are at least 3 times the size of the Suvarnaboom shitters. <deleted>?

I'm happy to see that Thailand finally understand that smoking should be banned from airports and other public areas.

I just arrived from Hong Kong and they have a big problem there , its allowed to smoke almost everywhere, of course at the airport they have smoking rooms wherever you look .

I tried to enjoy a cup of coffee at Starbucks downtown Hong Kong but the place was filled with cigarette smoke.

Ummm. since when did Starbucks become a public place?

Airports, & government buildings are run by governments = public place.

Starbucks is run by a private company. Why should the government dictate what a private company can or cannot do on their own private property?

Just because you happen to agree with " some" government policies, then why think they are all proper and good?

I'll tell you why they allow smoking at the Starbucks you mentioned.

It;s because it makes sense to the OWNER of the PRIVATE PROPERTY. He sees that banning smoking in HIS PLACE will hurt business.

If he were losing business due to smoking, he would ban smoking.

Go read Orwell's 1984.

See http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100021.txt