Thunglom

If you don't like people tooting their horn, don't stand in the road. Why do you "immediately think of your home state"? -

Again not surprised you think that.

I might ask you the same thing - where do you get the idea you know anything about my "beliefs" on prostitution? I'm discussing corruption in Thailand and pointing out you seem to have no understanding of it whatsoever. So your lack of understanding of my posts I find equally unsurprising.

So far your comments don't actually make sense - you've managed here to string together words most people know but you've managed to strip them of all meaning. How can you evangelise with your head in the sand? Do you actually know what right and left wing are?

my funny what?

I assume you are either trying to justify your own social behaviour or prostitution. Prostitution is illegal in Thailand so the very existence of a soapy massage is the result of corrupt interpretation of the law.

Comparing "corruption" in Thailand with expat's home countries just indicates how little expats actually understand corruption in Thailand. Like veins in a Stilton it permeates every aspect of society. It isn't just business, it isn't even necessarily money driven. It is considered by 60% of the population a necessity as it oils the wheels of government. From the highest positions to the vey lowest it is an accepted part of life. it is graft, nepotism and corruption, dictated by Sakdina and kreng Jai - a system pretty much unique to Thailand and to compare it with the corruption of the West is to misunderstand the very nature of all corruption in Thailand

That is a pretty poor appraisal even though intended as a joke - the reality is even if you get caught it doesn't make much difference.

it's a question of messenger and message. he certainly is in a position to talk with authority on the subject. But you choose not to believe him?

No - there is room for any more elephants...Asian elephants are endangered, there population in Thailand was in tens of thousands....in the early 20th century there were thought to be around 300,000 wild elephants in the forests of Thailand. The problem is with Thailand's (and their neighbours') attitude to wildlife. They don't understand the need for functioning eco-systems and believe they can encroach on undeveloped land and use it for whatever they want. There is very little effort made to restrict development and this just increases conflict between man and beast. PS - there is a concern that for economic reasons people may be releasing some captive elephants into the wild - this is NOT a good idea, they don't have the same fear of humans and don't necessarily integrate with wild elephants, they are more likely to go to human inhabited areas in search of easy food. whatever the case, there are systems in action around the world for cohabitation with wild elephants - in Thailand? Hardly heard of!

I thought Suthep was serving a 6 year prison sentence for leading PDRC rallies that paralysed Bangkok and led to turbulence in 2013 and 2014.

I've owned 2 lifted pickups and the only problem parking I ever had was in some car parks it was too high to enter especially with the roof rack in place

Owning a car is a lot cheaper than in most expats home countries. Running costs, repairs fuel labour costs etc are all pleasantly low. Rust is almost unheard of.... Buying secondhand - The numbers of second-hand cars on th market has increased exponentially in the last decade as Thailand has changed from an "equipment" market to repeat sales..... Second-hand vehicles are surprisingly expensive here - the price is dictated by their "investment" return potential and that would keep the prices high. The old "tent" system has almost died out....there are plenty of second-hand car dealers now who will give you written guarantees etc - mind you Thai customer service and rights are on the whole, pretty dismal. Many of the official dealerships now run second-hand car businesses as well. As for reliability it rather depends on what kind of vehicle you buy. But based on past history Toyota always get a premium price as they are universally held to be the most reliable in Thailand - there probably is an element of truth in that. I would say by your ideal driving position, you might be best off looking at pickup trucks. They have been built in Thailand for decades and are pretty universally reliable and easily repairable. Any car NOT built in Thailand is to be avoided - they came in with duties that doubled or tripled their original price and the spares, service and garage infrastructure is not as good as Thai built cars. If you buy a 1 old car with reasonable mileage, it will safe you over 100,000 baht or more and will still be under makers warranty.. Avoid high mileage if you can and watch out for crashed rebuilds - they are a bit too common as Thai law doesn't really enforce any laws on that. Full insurance about 10 to 20 thousand a year. Check out the rates of road tax and compulsory insurance on each vehicle - 2 door pick ups USED to be 800 baht against several thousand for a 4 door. As vehicles age the rate of tax is reduced.....

Classic un-informed response. This attitude shows you don't understand the basic principles of road safety but rather than learn about it you resort to assumptions and stereotypes

My Nissans lights were adjustable up and down and i just lowered them most times I went to Laos. One y=time I tried to get a garage to adjust them - he wasn't keen. In the end I din't do a lot of night driving at night and no-one flashed at me with my lights focussed down when I did.

Any country that doesn't have a comrehensive and holistic road safety system will see this sort of behaviour -

Yes - there is in reality no police road safety division. They don't know how to measure, calibrate and analyse a crash scene. They don't know how to operate technology or implement the law. But there is also no court system to deal with offenders. This has for the first time just beed acknowledged and this is partly why the 30 month's grace period has been operated. However this is nowhere near long enough and there are going to be some big scandals regarding the implementation of these laws. People will be attempting to pay the "old" tea-money, the officers will try to implement "fines" on the new scale, people will then step up their efforts to avoid these heavier fines. Te wealthy are likely to be more successful than the low income road users - as ever this will reflect of motorcyclists who in reality are already the most vulnerable on the countries roads

No - the change from liberalism to reactionary is claimed to be biological. It's been observed over the years - One of the Gustavs of Sweden is quote as saying "anyone under 25 who isn't a socialist hasn't got a heart, anyone over 25 who isn't a conservative has get a head.

This sort of thing isn't restricted to any one party - it is uniformly distributed throughout Thai politics. They seem to be in trouble for doing what everyone else is likely to be doing.

WOW! Never thought of that - try an contact Prof Hawkins - I think he's in heaven.

That view is probably more down to your own biology than anything else.

Eh?

Royals in Britain, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Spain, and Monaco are all related to each other. British Georgian Kings all spoke German -

Thailand is spending a lot of time and legislation promoting the production and use of electric cars. They have battery electronics and other component plants already

they need to build RHD cars. Thailand is a great place to do this - home market, virtually no government interference, pollution etc not a problem. What I find surprising is that the West has no similar plans