Orac

Tyoical Russian response. They know exactly the dynamics of a no-fly zone and with their one vote on the security councile could have vetoed this action. Considering their lack of reget when journalists have died trying to report the truth in Russia, I would rather be a journalist in Benghazi. btw, are they trusting the libyan state tv as their source for this response?

Regret was also the response given by China and India. I am not sure what else they could have said - they could hardly condone the military action as they didn't vote for it in the UN security council. Equally they could not really condemn it since they did not veto the action.

Assuming you are coming from Bangkok, fly in to U Tapao and charter a helicopter from U Tapao to the hotel assuming they have a helipad on the roof. Book a room at the hotel and don't go out, use room service.

Just wondering what company would schedule an event at that time?

Chess???

"The 11th BCC Thailand Open 2011 will be held from 11 to 17 April at the outstanding Dusit Thani Pattaya."

A similar bus accident in Thailand would bring out all the Thai haters at TV.

unfortunately a similar bus accident in Thailand would just be classed as 'normal'.

Until the Thai legal system takes the matter more seriously with proper enforcement and punishment then all these foreign agencies can do is scratch the surface. The reason that so many child sex offenders come to SE Asia is there is very little risk of them being caught - just the odd token arrest with erratic punishment depending on the finances of the offender in a lot of cases.

I passed a bar last week that was widely reported as being raided by RTP in conjunction with the "greymen" last year and 3 x 15 yr old girls found working there. I am not sure what happenned to the western 'owners' of the place but the place was certainly up and running again with some very young looking girls outside. According to another forum business there has gone through the roof since they got the free advertising as well!

"The actions of the first force, the global economy, are quite easy to foresee. One does not need a crystal ball - or sophisticated economic model, for that matter - to have a clear picture of what lies ahead."

Nice to know that someone knows what is going to happen here!

I clicked on 'like' on the main page and it will now let me comment.

Looks like there are quite a few updates and pictures added by the mayor following a trip to the beach this morning - he does seem to be making an effort.

Itthiphol Kunplome well i can tell you that they did get a bit of a shock as normally when we go out there is a large group and you can see us coming, but i just turned up in my civics clothes and asked them why are you making me so many problems and what makes you think you can behave in this way, its not Thai and its not good, i know your game and your cards are marked...

51 minutes ago · LikeUnlike · 3 people

Anyone who is intersted the mayor has an open discussion on facebook about the jet ski scam .

http://www.facebook.com/PattayaFuture

I can't find the discussion, and I am not allowed to write on his wall.

didn't see the above posts either...

am I looking at the right place?

As a solution to the jet ski problem, I imagine the city hall has the powers to make it compulsory for operators to acquire a licence to operate the jet skis on the beach?

Right place - there is a post by Chip Douglass titled "Pattaya Jet Ski Operator to Tourist:

You don’t take pictures or you get hurt” - they are in the 47 comments on it posted yesterday

My wife quickly took to western food when she lived in UK but did make me take her a Thai food shop in Sheffield every 3-4 weeks for supplies.

At least the mayor seems to be taking the issue seriously now and joining in a dialogue on it:

Itthiphol Kunplome

Guys, we are working on a solution for the jet ski issue. We could make a big press release but without consistent follow up action and a plan it would be short term solution not long term. K, Stephen i am not regretting opening the page, f...eedback is good, even if its pointing out things that in the past people would prefer not to discuss. I am happy to join the debate and help as long as the discussion is constructive, some comments maybe a bit personalized and not constructive but that's what a public page is..i don't see how the comments like this are useful to the debate but what can we do...

Itthiphol Kunplome K, Andrew, ok yes undercover vdos may work, but there could be a number of issues. The people involved maybe scared off for a day or too but would come back or repeat this scam somewhere else. Additionally even if we caught this particular group pulling the scam it does not stop another group doing the same thing, so we need a more concrete system in place for controlling them.

23 hours ago

I got mine in Pattaya a couple of months ago and forgot to take my UK DL - only had IDP with me. I was going to go back and fetch it but the lady there said that the IDP on its own was fine as the details on it were taken from my UK DL.

A good start might be taking a bulldozer through places like Pattaya. Round up all the bargirls on the streets. Quality tourists don't flock to Thailand for ladyboys and the sex industry.

In these straightened times, that'd be a huge mistake though it makes sense as a long-term target. Fact is: 'Upmarket' Western tourists aren't travelling much at the mo; Sextourists always travel. It's not an ideal situation or long-term fix, I know. But tourist money is tourist money, and Thailand (like everywhere else) is desperate for said money right now.

The first thing to do might be to define what a quality tourist is. I would assume that one of the key factors is how much is spent and, according to a poll on another site catering specifically for pattaya more than 50% of members are spending more than 5k baht a day and this figure rises to over 75% if you look at spends of over 4k baht a day.

I am not sure how this would compare to how much other types of tourist are spending and in other areas but it this income is not something that can be ignored.

It amazes me how many of these peds are gay. Way over 50 %. Sick twisted human filth.

What bulls**t. If ,for example 1% of people are peodophiles. that makes 1% of gays and 1% of straights peodophiles. Since there are about 15 times the amount of straights in the world it makes straight peodophiles the majority. Get your facts right.

i suggest you work on getting your maths right instead of making up 'facts'

Since I'm allowed to speak only generally, I will say this. Schemes that are too good to be true are usually scams, and media outlets that promote such schemes are morally bankrupt and will never get my custom. I will even think twice about patronizing any other advertisers on such channels. Shame on them.

No speedminton for you then Jimmy I take it

I was quite beleivable until this line:

"In addition, Thai Airways ranked 4th place for ‘Best International Flight’ in this year’s awards."

Maybe the attribution is wrong and it is really a notthenation piece?

Does this mean that, in effect, both Koh Chang and Koh Samet are now alcohol free????

The year 2008 saw a dramatic increase in the extent of HAMAS rocket fire and mortar attacks on Israel, with a total of 3,278 rockets and mortar shells landingin Israeli territory (1,750 rockets and 1,528 mortar shells).

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/hamas-qassam.htm

interesting that you have gone back to 2008 for your figures rather than the 2010 figures that are available:

According to the Israel Security Agency's annual report, Palestinians carried out 150 rocket launches and 215 mortar launches at Israel during the year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel,_2010

"According to the Haaretz newspaper, the resolution had nearly 120 co-sponsors, exclusively Arab and other non-aligned nations."

What exactly is a non-aligned nation? Apparently the list of co-sponsors included the likes of UK, Russia and China, the ambassadors of which were among those who rose to speak in favor of the failed resolution after the vote.

I've dated some very good looking women in my time, some might even be described as beautiful. The better I got to know some them the less attractive they appeared.

Dated what some might call "plain Janes" who became more attractive by the day as I got to know them.

There's a lesson there somewhere.......

probably that you are better off using your own yardstick to measure the quality of a potential partner rather than worry about how others see them.

don't know about water levels but it was pretty wet on Tuesday!

I know of Soi Bongkot in Pattaya which goes between pattaya tai and 3rd road - not sure of another in Jomtien

http://www.pattaya-at-night.com/infos/maps/index.html

edit: map link added

not cheap by any means but went to Zico's Brazilian on the beach road last night

lots of cocktails, lots of meat and fish on skewers, good salad bar, samba dancers, good sound system, nice atmosphere

it was pretty good but the service was a bit slow

nevertheless i did leave absolutely stuffed, so no need for any food today

we enjoyed it but its not as good as the one on Samui

Have to agree here but I haven't been for a few months. If you catch the promotions right there can be quite a saving - i think they have an all you can eat for 500 baht after 9pm on wednesdays at the moment (not including drinks).

Ahhh, come to the dark side.

Hmmm - do tell.

I only know The Castle and Secret Motions and they are both on the lightside????

Could be that the USA keeps a closer eye on its citizens abroad than other countries????

This sounds like hysteria to me, especially the underground transplants part.

There was a 8 year old boy that went missing from my wifes village 3 years ago and the commonly held belief was that he had been taken by a group from Laos who were selling on the body parts to China - according to my wife it is common knowledge that this goes on in the area. Personally I find it very hard to swallow especially since they seem to find some way of blaming Laotians for a lot of problems in the area.

I would be interested if the OP could back up any of his claims here - particularly that there is a huge increase in these occurences. Though it is obviously very serious that such things happen it is not something new.

So they don't want to "cause traffic congestion or trouble the public" but they do want a war with Cambodia.