andyc2006

I'm teetotal (in smug mode). Alcohol and motorbikes don't really go well together. What bothers me is the outrageous price I have to pay for orange juice. It's twice the price in Thailand it is in the UK. And the UK doesn't even grow its own oranges!

(late addition) I'm off to France soon where I now have to carry a breathalyser in my car/motorbike even though I don't drink. And you think Thai laws are crazy?

I thought most western countries increased the sin tax when they need extra funds & if it does get some people off smoking &/or drinking then healthcare savings are also made.

I wouldn't be too smug about not drinking, or assume any great healthcare savings if people cut down on alcohol use.

Point out a single scientific study that's shown non-drinkers live longer and/or healthier than moderate drinkers. If you search, you'll find that every single study shows the opposite. Moderate drinkers live longer than both heavy drinkers and non-drinkers (and the non-drinkers don't do too much better than the heavy drinkers).

Not drinking alcohol isn't going to extend your life or cut your health care costs, unless you're going from complete abuse of alcohol to no use. As usual, there's a distinction between abuse/overuse and use. But that applies with everything, including the healthiest of foods.

Not sure where govts get off telling people not to drink.

Anyway, the fact that they're only taxing the imported alcohol and not the local stuff should demonstrate that this has nothing to do with health.

Send the teachers back to school or sack them, the tablet is a glorified mobile phone, everyone has one of those right. If you can't get your head around a user friendly tablet you shouldn't be teaching. Simple.

Yep sacking the teachers should solve the problem - its so simple. I fail to see the relationship between being able to use a computer tablet and being a good teacher or in your eyes is it -a good teacher can use a computer tablet - why?

I'll take a crack at interpreting the statement to which you're replying...

It's equivalent to saying, "if you're too stupid to learn how to tie your own shoes, you don't belong in a classroom in front of the nation's youth," or, "if you have difficulty putting your food onto a spoon, then into your mouth, chewing and then swallowing, your position should be on the fringes of society, definitely not in any core roles."

Maybe I've read the original statement incorrectly... but if not, then I have to agree with it.

So does it mean there wont be any more fast track for Biz and 1st class passenger during rush hours ? but all planes from Europe usually arrived at the same period of time from 6 to 7am .... so , you pay your ticket more than double and you have to queue like anyone else ?

You paid for a nicer seat on the plane and better food. No reason you should get preferential treatment from immigration at the airport.

In most airports, the airlines themselves pay the airport to setup special queues for 1st & biz passengers (and often for frequent flyers too), so those paying for the nicer seat have also paid for the preferential treatment at the airport.

Unsure if this is also true at BKK. And note that in many countries, they're not able to do this at the immigration checkpoints, only at the airport security points.

Glad these girls are on their way to safety, and hopefully a "normal" life/chilidhood.

Now... who's going to rescue all the pre-teen Thai girls (and boys)?

Language != nationality. Plenty of French citizens have native languages other than French.

These are preteen children... for crying out loud, don't blame them because they were born into a background of people who are currently f**** up the world (and it's not like our forefathers weren't part of the crowd f**** up the world in the not-so-distant past).

don't forget that these kids have apparently been living on the streets for 8 WEEKS - and nobody noticed???????

Somebody noticed. They're called customers. And pimps.

Anybody want to hazard a guess on the future of condom use in massage parlors, considering they were used as evidence against an M.P. owner in a high-profile case?

Anybody want to take another guess if the need for condoms will go away, or if just the condoms will go away...

when a teenager carrys a condom in his pocket, it's burning a hole there. It's like the condom is saying, "use me - use me".

When I was a teenager, it was my penis saying, "use me - use me," not the condom.

Now if I could have left that at home, you're right, I'd have been better off.

All he is saying is that from a Thai viewpoint, the events and resulting actions from July 3rd, will be momentous and important, but from the viewpoint of the human race they are minor and of little import.

The discovery of penicillin was probably a more major event

In the real grand scheme of things, humanity's perspective is no less narrow than that of the Thais.

Penicillin won't do us any more good than a decent Thai leader, once the Milky Way collides with and is consumed by Andromeda.

Only another 4 billion years or so to go -- good ol' Earth is now 1/2-way between birth and death.

NO. The accused pleaded guilty in the murder of the wife. The accused has pleaded not guilty in the death of the foreigner. In one case there has been a trial. In the other case, no trial. In murder trials there are often lengthy delays as some defense strategies will try and drag out the procedures as long as possible. The longer the delay, the less reliable the testimony as memories wane and the less likely witnesses are to show up. What part do you not understand?

The part that's difficult for me to understand is why a person accused of murder wasn't arrested and taken into custody while awaiting trial, especially given that the alleged's gun was used to commit the crime, and there was at least one witness who claims to have seen the suspect shoot the victim without any justiification.

Maybe it's me and my warped Western perspective, or maybe it's that Thailand is a banana republic 3rd-world country that refuses to police its police, even when its own forensics experts give evidence that they're a bunch of assassins.

would like to say nice things about her and defend her, but really cannot find anything nice to say.

It's not like she's the only person in Thailand who drives like an idiot, she's just one of the few who may have to face some bit of consequences for her bad driving.

But she may be the only Thai person I've ever seen issue a public apology.

So she's got that going for her.

My goodness the Police must have been very disappointed..No Tea Money; how disappointing

What are you talking about?

They reported no drugs found -- there must've been tons of tea money.

Five of them went in first undercover ahead of the Police. One was dressed as a Red Indian, another a construction worker, a third was in motorcycle leather gear, a new York City cop [bit of a give away] and a guy in beige coloured Postal worker gear [ that was a give away - since when did the post ever arrive in Thailand?] The Lady Boys thought it was operation Cobra all over again.

You'd think the ladyboys would have loved it actually -- sounds just like it was a reincarnation of the Village People. Did they break into a spontaneous rendition of "YMCA" or "In the Navy?"

If I were in that woman's position (and I wouldn't put myself in that position, nor would I date a person who had within a few years of her doing it), under my country's laws (I don't know enough about Thailand's to make this statement), I'd default immediately and accept the legal, financial and personal consequences that came with my mistake. If she did so, the banks would also get what they deserve (the bankers didn't give debt to people who couldn't pay it back -- in mass, in nearly every country on Earth -- by accident -- they even prepared for it in the US by paying to the change the personal bankruptcy laws).

When you sign on for debt, you're given a choice, that's spelled out in the contract and your jurisdiction's laws: "pay back the debt, or ..." There's no moral issue as a debtor choosing the "or ..." route, and in this woman's position, that's what I'd do. The lender has some control over the "...," they could have insisted on collateral, so they have only themselves to blame for their loss, since likely they made a loan too large for her income and included no method in the contract for recovery -- they didn't follow prudent lending standards... I hardly feel for the lender or borrower in this case.

Today we still have the same amount of debt, but it belongs to governments. Normally debt would get destroyed and turn to air. Debt is a mistake between lender and borrower, and both should suffer. But the government is socializing all these losses by transforming them into liabilities for your children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. What is the effect? The doctor has shown up and relieved the patient's symptoms -- and transformed the tumour into a metastatic tumour. We still have the same disease. We still have too much debt, too many big banks, too much state sponsorship of risk-taking. And now we have six million more Americans who are unemployed -- lot more than that if you count hidden unemployment.

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be"

What they said...

C. Pay them THB 10.00/m...she is at least attempting to service the debt.

While that seems logical, I'd check the local laws on whether it extends the window of time the companies can go after you for the debt, and how long before the bankruptcy clears from your record. If she's going to default, in most places, it's better (for the person defaulting) to do it sooner than later.

If she means anything to you, then clear the debt for her.

one would expect if he actually cares about the lady concerned then he would helping with some small monthly contribution to get the C/C companies off her back,

I guess we all have different perspectives, but the idea of paying her debt and that caring for her is tantamount to paying it, and not paying it shows he doesn't care for her... is just insane to me. 2 parties made a mistake (the lender and the borrower) -- why should he make himself the 3rd party to do so? So that the first 2 parties don't need to face the consequences of their mistake? If he cares for her he's somehow obligated to pay for her mistakes??? Maybe if she breaks any criminal laws he should sit in prison for her too...

I think the "story" isn't pornography, it's that a guy arrested for supposedly serious crimes (a foreigner with drugs and a firearm, working without permit, porn featuring unprotected sex) was not only able to bribe his way out of it, but the police then coerced the media into deleting the story.

There is a clinic just around the corner from Walking street. They do HIV testing for a lot of bars in Pattaya. I believe it is around 500 Baht. Some bars won't let the ladies work unless they are tested once a month others require testing before they go to work. Some test weekly for other STD's and monthly for HIV.

If the guy had himself and the ladies tested on the day of the shoot and kept them under watch till the results were in it may have helped. Not 100% but a lot better than nothing. I don't think he did this. Too bad 500 baht is a small part of the 10,000 they were getting paid.

Not too much better than nothing. The virus is most contagious before it's detectable... it replicates like crazy at the infection's onset, before the immune system responds at all (which is what the tests measure), and this period is responsible for more than its share of infections, since 1) it's more contagious at this point, and 2) people can't yet know they have it

Wait a second... are you saying that the easy-to-access malls in high-rent central Bangkok where most foreigners do their shopping charge higher prices than the low-rent, out-of-the-way suburban malls that are visited mostly by local Thais?

I'm not sure I believe you.

What if your daughter is coming home with her new boyfriend and he is 25 years older than her and 2 years older then you :o .

i think the subtle thing you're missing is that if the parents object to something like this, and in the 18+ years leading up to that day, they've failed to impart their values regarding this to their daughter, that it's much too late -- the daughter clearly doesn't consider this "immoral" or she either wouldn't do it, or wouldn't let her family know about it.

while some parents can do everything "right" and still end up with an awful child, i can't help but think that in this situation, they simply failed to teach their daughter (whether intentional or not) that "no amount of sin sot compensates for marrying a man old enough to have fathered your mother."

in my case, i'm 40, mother-in-law 41, and my wife is 22, so clearly none of this applies, since it's still Pi Mom for me and i'm not twice my wife's age.

I was in BKK for 2 years and had mail forwarded the entire time, twice/month.

Note that I've had a box with UPS in the States for years (even before moving to Thailand), and have always used that for my primary mailing address, and I've always had UPS forward my mail to wherever I was at the time.

So anyway, they'd forward my mail from the USA each month on the 1st and 15th, and it'd typically arrive at my BKK condo ~8th and ~22th. There was 1 time (only) -- I think August 2009, when they sent it and it was nearly 2 months later before I received that 1 mailing (the ones sent after it arrived before it).

Not much to the whole thing really... I guess shopping around for rates if you don't already have a service (but I already did).

alll my friends have told me she will go back to her old ways

and you refuse to trust your friends, so you've turned to strangers on the Internet hoping they'll tell you what you want to hear, since your friends wouldn't. you'll pay the price for that one.

she has told me dont worry my husband i love only you, you are in my heart all the time

oh, well, that's different. if she said that to you, don't worry 'bout a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright.

And you're right......Thailand is a brilliant country to live in.......assuming you don't come here with your 'western' values about how things should be.

You were correct to quote "western," and not values.

Values -- such as respecting other human beings, honesty, and equality under the eyes of the law -- aren't regional. That Thais choose not to value them doesn't make them Western.

And no, I didn't choose to live in Thailand. I chose to leave Thailand, and in retrospect, it was an excellent decision. The country drives away the decent foreigners, leaving only the ones that more closely resemble the Thais. Guess it all works out.

That really sucks. I wish they would crack down on the poor driving habits here.

random drug and alcohol test.

Enforced by whom, the same police force that enforces the existing traffic laws?

Like most things in LOS, the issue boils down to corruption, and spots tests for DUIs would only end up serving as another bribe-extraction tool for the BIB.

You can't even start to solve this Thai problem until you solve the ones regarding rule of law, justice, and corruption.

Tourists in Bangkok are being warned not to buy food for street elephants or risk a 10,000 baht (310 dollars) fine in the latest clampdown on begging by owners of the animals.

clearly the most effective way to stop the practice is to go after the tourists, given how easy it is for the mahout to conceal his elephant as he walks down bangkok's busiest tourists streets.

Activists warn that car fumes and narrow streets often leave the elephants with eye calluses and tuberculosis and make them vulnerable to leg injuries.

i hope the people activists come and save me from the city's narrow streets and pollution too. no fair that animals get all the saving.

Surely these incidents are far worse than an idiot mouthing off ?

Yes they certainly are, but they are done by home grown idiots.

No nation should have to put up with imports doing the same.

Nonsense. All idiots, foreign and domestic, should be equally free to demonstrate their idiocy.

Like in my country, where we let all the idiots (even the foreign ones) run around and say whatever they want.

Do you realize how boring places like North Dakota would become if we outlawed instances of stupidity?

Have you ever actually been to Thailand or any of these other countries? Everything you say is the opposite of my experiences and I have lived in Thailand for over 20 years as well as Vietnam for a short time and talked with many expats in Cambodia. I am really not sure if you are trolling, have had really bad luck, or - like many expats - just like complaining.

He's had the handle "samuiman" on a Thai board for 6 years. If his post was trolling and he's never been to Thailand, he certainly plans in advance.

As for my 2 cents: samuiman echo'd my sentiments. Lived in Thailand for (only) 2 years, then 6 months ago returned to my home country (don't worry, didn't let the door hit my ass on the way out), happily. Much easier for me to appreciate the US now... no matter how ridiculous something is here, I can always compare it to something in Thailand to get my spirit up a bit.

I can finally enjoy a decent wine at a decent price, my (Thai) wife received her permanent residence the day we landed (still get a chuckle reading the topic about the 2006 PR applicants -- feel for them, but can't help but laugh at the absurdity) and doesn't have to report or do visa runs, she's charged the same price as locals every where she goes, etc... the list of Thai annoyances is eternal... no point going on.

To answer the OP's query, "can thailand really do anything else...?" In my limited experience, yes they can, and yes they will. The only reason I clicked on this topic (of the 30 or 40 headlines from thaivisa.com that I get in email each week) is that it mirrored what I found myself asking all last year: "does Thailand actually have any more nails to hammer into its own coffin?" And the answer was always found in the next headline... "Yes!" I don't believe I'm alone amongst expats who first perceive it as unbelievable, then expected, then comical/absurd.

Alcohol is a very dangerouse substance, especially for young people, so clamping down on the sale of alcohol is a REALLY important issue. It will help save lives and help keep people more healthy.

In the 2000+ year recorded history of humankind, there have been quite a number of governments, religions and other entities that have agreed with you and attempted to force their opinions on their respective society. Not a one in all those thousands of years has ever succeeded. Though they've squandered vast amounts of resources in their attempts, and persecuted large numbers of harmless people.

And it's a good thing too (that they all failed -- as they always will), given that every single one of them either didn't know or ignored that your "help keep people more healthy" is extremely misleading (or put bluntly, wrong) -- that (double-blind) study after study after study shows that tea-totalers consistently die younger and live less healthy lives than moderate drinkers.

I'd opine that another good thing about you and them having failed to force your opinions on others is that whole "free will" thing.

If you think dong or not doing something makes you more healthy, go for it. Don't force it on others though. Especially because there's no such thing as authority on what's healthy. And ignoring the little that we do know puts you at the low end of the "authority spectrum."

What could they do if everybody told them to F off all at once?

Let me ponder this...

What would happen if a bunch of unarmed people told a bunch of armed people to F off all at once?

Oh, I missed variables in the equation...

What if that happened in a society which places little value on rule of law, democracy and rights, where just about anybody can bribe their way out of just about any crime, and the armed people belong to a profession whose members are never held accountable for their actions...?

What could possibly go wrong?

How can anybody take the laws of Thailand seriously

I imagine that the people who take Thailand's laws seriously are a rather lonely bunch.