Orac

She may be able to visit switzerland on a UK visa as they accept the UK visa in some cases.

Before anyone mentions it I do know Switzerland is not in the EU, just giving the OP a suggestion on somewhere that can be visited without too much hassle.

well-known Red Shirt guard Noi Banjong, also known as "DJ Daeng Kotchasarn"

police quickly inspected the scene but they were unable to identify the victim until two days later, Mr Suthep said.

surely a bit of a contradiction here

I notice a couple of months back when McDonalds in Central Beach opened how petite and pretty most of the staff were (obviously in a very non predatory sort of way).

Having passed there earlier today it appears there has been some significant change and I can't help but see this as a warning sign.

Thanks guys - exactly the info i was looking for.

Note however that, in addition to the deaths being "likely caused by soldiers" deployed, the reports say...

acting on duty

What does this actually mean? Self defence? Or in uniform?

It could also mean under orders which has significant implications however we need to wait for these reports to be published in full. Surely, since they are complete and subject to so much controversy, the sooner they are officially released the better.

I have to drive up from Pattaya to Nong Khai in a couple of days, a trip I am very familiar with and usually takes me about 10 hours, however, my wife has asked me if we can go via Surin to drop someone off this time.

Though the Pattaya to Surin bit is fairly straight forward and looks like i just need to get on route 24 the bit from Surin to Nong Khai seems to take me all over the place.

Anyone got any experience of the route from Surin to Nong Khai via Roi-Et and Kalasin or would I be better just tracking back across to route 2???

"English abbreviations such as NBA (National Basketball Association)"

Can't see how they can blame the English for this one.

Hasn't France been trying to do this for years??

Seems that these local operators do not even seem able to operate a mafia properly??

The strong no votes, as opposed to null vote, for interest in a christian or religion forum is probably a good indication that there is a need for one provided there are also a number of yes votes from those who would actually use it as well. Being an Atheist it would indicate posts to me that i do not much want to read much as I might avoid posts in the ladies or gay forums as i might find some of the views difficult to understand though I am sure, like most, I can't help looking!

Clearly moderation is important much as chauvanistic or homophobic posts would not be tolerated in their particular forums.

I see from his profile that he has posted today so is around somewhere.

After seeing some of the responses to the problems he was having which were totally lacking in any compassion and seemed to revel in other peoples misfortune I am quite surprised he is still here.

"Lt General Udomchai Thammasarot, commandergeneral of the Fourth Army Area, said Saturday's attack was in retaliation for heightened security measures and the arrests of many insurgents.

Many of them were shot dead during operations when they refused to be arrested, he said."

This statement seems particularly harsh, especially that there were 'many' of them. Maybe it is down to the translation.

To me it doesn't matter whether this guy is Billy Joe-bob Nobody or the secretary of state. What does matter is that someone can state this on national television and get away with it.

In lots of civilized countries this would have finished his career or whatever he represented, and he would never be heard of again.

And it may well cause Beckel to lose his career.

Just as an aside though...Does freedom of speech not extend to Bob Beckel, regardless of how wrong the words might have been?

Possibly so but it does seem a bit ironic to use a freedom of speech defence after calling for someones assasination after something they have said.

Pretty hard to claim innocence when you are cooking cleaning getting supplies and building barricades for armed Terrorists.

So any individual who cooked, cleaned or got supplies (building barricades is more borderline) at that rally consciously knew they were directly helping individuals who had guns and were prepared to shoot at the army? I find that hard to believe and surely this can only be speculation on your part - correct me if I'm wrong and you have proof.

We all know there were also efforts made by red shirts with loudhailers at Pan Fa telling the crowd not to engage in violence. I'm not making any sweeping statements, just trying to balance the rather one-sided view you're portraying.

The red shirts with loud hailers were probably govt infiltrators. Does that balance out the string of idiots with microphones and a sound system big enough for a Rolling Stones concert screaming a litany of hate and violence a la "Bring a bottle of petrol..........."

So you are now suggesting that the govt had infiltrated the Red Shirts and were using loud hailers to coordinate their actions - I am really confused now.

So am I to understand that the police targetted prostitutes on beach road and walking street at 1am this morning and all they managed to find were 11 ladyboys???

I am now beginning to understand why the thai chinese and upper strata thais simply detest the lower life forms. I always though that Thais were very clean people but I guess I now know.My other thai neighbours simply treated them with total disgusts and will not even acknowledge them anymore and even call them names.

I am British I don't drink my GF is from Isaan, well educated up at 5am cleaning cooking everything is spotless.

If I leave a shirt on the bed or a pair of jeans hanging in the toilet I turn my back and they are in the wash bin, don't tar everyone with the same brush. I asked her to shout over the road to the man that sells water her answer it's not nice to raise your voice, while in England I gave her some chewing gum I chewed it for 30mins then threw it out of the car window (naughty I know) she kept it in her mouth for three hours?. I asked the reason why and she replied that she wouldn't like to clean it up so why should somebody else. The list of things that she does that are respectful are endless.

I feel sorry for your situation but I feel even more sorry for your narrow minded attitude.

What about the cooking - got every window open in our house open now and the smell is still overpowering

It is important for you to understand your girlfriends wishes as to where she wants to give birth as well. My situation a couple of years ago was we were in a position where we could get the best birth money can buy in the UK but chose for my wife to return to her rural village 45 mins from Nong Khai.

The reasoning for this was it would far less stressful for her than having the baby in the UK where she was struggling to understand what was happenning and she would also have felt out of her depth at a private big city/BKK hospital.

She had our daughter at the local government hospital which had all the facilities needed and handled an emergency c-section at the last minute. Since this was a well worn path that the whole family/village was used to it was far less stressfull for her and the VIP Room for 5 days after cost very little - all in it was about 2k baht for the delivery and 1200 baht a night for the room.

For our next child I will have no hesitation going the same route since, provided the medical facilities are adequate, the most important thing to me is to keep my with comfortable and relaxed as possible. The cost is a secondary issue to this along with my own needs though not being able to speak Thai at the time and being reliant on my wife for translation did make it far more stressful to me as there was nobody to explain to me what was going on!

Sounds as much of this must be lies. The statement she cannot own a house in her own name is.

She can not purchase land unless her husband appears in person at the ampur to sign the form that says the funds used to purchase the land were sin suan tua of herself. Her only other option is to have her parents purchase the land and give it to her as a gift, but in that case she must pay cash. Mortgages are out.

So, no, it is not a lie. She does have a serious problem if she wants to buy a house. Namely, she can't without her husband's cooperation.

That doesn't mean there aren't other myopic perspectives peppered throughout the story, but it is correct that she is essentially prohibited from purchasing a house until the divorce is complete.

Unfortunately her issue seems to with the UK authorities for her not being able to get a divorce for some reason rather than the Thai authorities who have such a ridiculous rule which discriminates against a thai women married to a foreigner.

Maybe he should take an atlas with him

I used to have similar problems with my wife except maybe the other way round. Where i would see an opportunity to cross she would not, whether this is down to her being more risk averse or me being more of an idiot I am not sure. It also lead to one or two instances where we were pulling in different directions though nowhere near as close to danger as you got. The simple answer to this is we no longer hold hands crossing roads (obviously one of us takes our daughters hand but that is different). We are both quite capable of crossing a road just in our own way using our own judgement.

I was in Benidorm a few months ago on a stag do and it was not exactly impressive - actual watched the same stripper in a bar that my mate I was with saw 20 years ago there.

The property market in Spain is hardly impressive:

"“By changing the rules on provisions, the (Spanish) central bank has really put a shotgun to their heads,” said Fernando Rodriguez y Rodriguez de Acuna, founder of Madrid-based property adviser RR de Acuna & Asociados.

“The banks will have to cut their price expectations more aggressively to reduce their stock of homes.”

Property values will fall 20 percent over the next five years, De Acuna estimates, with most of the declines coming next year.

Since the Spanish market’s peak in April 2007, home prices have dropped 22.5 percent, according to a survey by property website Fotocasa.es and IESE Business School.

About 280 000 people in Spain will lose their homes this year, according to Spanish consumer protection association Adicae."

Quoted from an article in the Independent Online yesterday.

This is a true story, only the details have been changed to protect the brain dead and the stupid.

An ozzie acquaintance of mine was staying in Pattaya for a few days. While there he pulled a girl from a bar. She agreed to go back with him to his hotel to do the deed for 1000 baht.

After the sick, wicked and immoral act was over, (amen) the ozzie took out a 1000 baht note and offered it to the girl. The girl stood there and responded by insisting that the ozzie give her 10000 baht. He of course refused and then the girl refused to leave the room until he coughed up. After some ado, the girl said she is phoning the police and proceeded to talk to someone on her cell phone. The ozzie just ignored her, but it took him 3 hours to persuade the hooker to leave him in peace. He only gave the original agreed 1000 baht.

This was an experience my friend would never forget and vowed never to return to Pattaya again. Good advice I think.

Nice story but as you have already stated you have changed the details so it is by definition made up.

Wrong forum me thinks - but, yes, you do drive on the left in Thailand.

Not sure why you would find this hard to believe as there are only really 2 options.

Has anyone actually seen this film who can comment on it.

It speaks volumes here that ppl are able to have such strong views one way or the other without having seen the film itself.

The Pantawee is pretty central with a decent selection of rooms though no river view. My parents stayed there a few months ago and were very happy with it. Also has bike hire.

Pantawee.com