Orac

Talking about now possibility of airlifting world leaders out...possibly only speculation by commentators on thailandoutlooktv.com.

I've been here for a few years and rarely see a helicopter - and just don't get it.

The cost of one helicopter would off-set the cost of a VIP caravan consisting of countless cars/motorcycles/etc. and further cost/inconvenience of motorists in and around Bangkok on a daily basis. And in this current case, the helicopters would come in handy for our stranded world leaders who have been invited for discussions this weekend.

I've heard from DStation that Abhisit went to Pattaya by helicopter yesterday and they used (or wanted to use) helicopter to move taxi at Victory Monument blocking traffic. It takes 30 minutes to move 1 taxi so they need 200 years to move all taxi having red drivers. These taxis will block tanks if Army wants to make a coup. Tank idea is outdated. It's not like 30 years ago. We are not afraid of tanks.

Not to rain on your little misguided parade, but tanks crush cars, they always have and always will, it's one of their primary features. So a line of cars is not going to stop a tank.

As for the whole disturbing the ASEAN meeting, well it makes thailand look like a fool, better to organize the next meeting in cambodia since they unlike thailand could actually organize some security.

I just wish there was a pro-democracy movement, that would certainly be welcome and needed in this country

It would not be the damage to the taxis that would be the issue but the image of tanks on the street being opposed in some way - don't forget that the last coup was a relatively peaceful affair with no real opposition. After the humiliation of the ASEAN summit, to deploy tanks on the streets would be devastating to the image of Thailand if there is anything left at the moment!

State of emergency = no crowds larger than 5 people & 30 min to totally disperse

This could have massive ramifications if people are killed in Pattaya the whole of Thailand will be on meltdown ..especially Bangkok

with Songkran just starting - this could be interesting!

Much to do about nothing compared with the riots at a G20 meeting.

In Pattaye its just a rumble of a few hooligans, there is more disruption after a European cup football.

Do you honestly believe that the participants of the ASEAN meeting are bothered with it? Its just some sideshow for them, that's all, they have seen much more worse.

This article I wrote yesterday, and nothing has changed my opinion yet.

Lets call a spade a spade.

The red shirts failed completely to organize a mass demonstration, and they did not succeeded any of their goals or targets

First they announced 1 million people, they could hardly get 100 000 and even that number came down rapidly after a few hours.

They proclaimed that they will demonstrate all over the country, also this failed.

They announced they will block the traffic in Bangkok completely by 20 000 taxis, also this failed, even that much that by standers pushed away the blocking taxis and burned red flags while the crowd was cheering GO AWAY. Did you see in YouTube how the taxis drove away to escape from the anger of the public. And I wrote PUBLIC not yellow shirts.

They announced that they will block the ASEAN meeting in Pattaya, they failed. I just saw some news covering on TV that the participants of the meeting where joking on the terrace of the hotel about the pathetic attempt of the red shirts to enter the hotel.

My wife is in Chiang Mai on a family visit, she did not see any demonstration, and not even see a red shirt. And this is in a so called stronghold of the red's.

They announced that ten thousands demonstrators from issan will come to Bangkok, where are they?

Its very clear that you didn't have the support from the Thai public nationwide, even worse they start to dislike you and showed it very clear on a few occasions.

So all red shirts fan in this forum accept your defeat with grace, lick your wounds of your shattered dreams and ego and move on. Don't blame others for your defeat, because you created your defeat by yourself.

And if you are genuine to the reforms you demanded, get rid of Thaksin and his cronies and start to work on new party with new young politicians and distance yourself from nitwits like Chalerm and Samak and do what any opposition party is doing in a democracy, oppose in the parliament and not on the streets. And use the time to the next election to reform your movement and make a decent political plan with a better future for the country you claim to love.

You learned a hard lesson so you should learn from it. And maybe this can even benefit you in the future not making the same mistakes.

So we can conclude that besides a few thousands hardcore red shirts, the public did not support you at all.

Even Thaksin, at last start to understand that his game is over, that's why he stopped his phone-ins and let his family flee the country.

THE GAME IS OVER, BECAUSE YOU PLAYED WITH THE WRONG CARDS AND LOST.

Kind regards and wish you the best

henry

Errr - not sure what channel you are watching but you seem to be a bit behind!

Watching the coverage of TPBS now, the storming of the hotel does not appear to have been done violently and neither am I seeing the hotel being 'smashed up' as has been commented. Since this part of the hotel was being used as the media centre I am sure that the same pictures are going out round the world and will make the 'violent thugs' image that some are portraying sound ridiculous. There is no sign of anyone being attacked or even threatened and what appears to be an almost party atmosphere and even some of the protesters shaking hands with some of the soldiers.

I for one will be very interested to see the governments response to this in the full media glare that the redshirts now have - too heavy a handed approach will almost certainly be condemned now by the international media.

So you favor setting intelligence requirements on who is allowed to vote?

it is actually a good idea, but, sadly, unworkable in practice.

they should have it in many countries, not only thailand !!!!

It isn't only unworkable, it is also unconstitutional, at least in the US.

What about paraplegics? They slow down the voting line and block the booth.

What about blind people? Those seeing eye dogs can be such a bother to other, more gifted, citizens.

My point is....where do you draw the line with your restricted voting privileges?

At least people should know what they vote for. A simple test to show they understand what the different parties stand for would be nice, however, as already said, sadly unworkable in practice.

If someone could explain to me simply what the different parties stand for without resorting to personalities and accusations I would greatly appreciate it.

The protests are going on right outside my apartment. No one is "weeping with fear". Most residents are interested spectators.

GO REDS!

Since you are on the spot as it were, are you able to confirm that molotov cocktails are being carried - I assume if they are inducing weeping they must be fairly obvious/blatant however I cannot understand why there are no pictures yet bearing in mind that the Nation reported them as being seen and the heavy presence of the press.

Veera said people in Pattaya attacked the red-shirted people

more tide turning?

I thought being attacked in Pattaya was mandatory anyway

Nothing is at all obvious just from uncovering one supposed plot. The situation is bound to be much more complex than that.

Especially as things heat up, that's when things become far less predictable.

Couldn't agree more - there is clearly far more going on here and the black and white pictures (or maybe red and yellow is more appropriate) that some seem to want to paint appear to be very naive at times.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingne...-a-privy-counci

Police investigating a plot to kill a privy councillor: suspected gunman in custody

Provincial Police Region 1 arrested a 35-year-old man in Samut Prakan on Saturday on suspicion of being a gunman carrying out a contract on the life of privy councillor Chanchai Likhitjittha, senior police officers said on Tuesday.

The investigation team led by Colonel Phetcharat Saengchai is trying to uncover the masterminds behind the contract, suspected to be a group of military officers who wanted to instigate trouble ahead of the April 8 rally by the red shirts.

The Nation

This is a bad development as it shows a plan for violence. Quite who was behind it will be interesting to see, but right now what side or faction is impossible to tell assuming the report is accurate.

What will be interesting on who is behind? It is obvious who is behind that. Of course Thakky, the only question is, if it can be proofed.

Not that obvious to me, perhaps you could clarify why. From previous posts the implication was that the reds were a bunch of violent thugs in which case why would Thaksin need to use military officers to instigate more violence which also implies actual support from some elements of the military.

Is this part of the previous quazi-political movement with semi-official backing or a new organization - are we going to have a new coloured shirt???

We went to the local government hospital so as to be close to my wifes family. The doctor was very keen on a natural birth but, part way into labour, there were some complications so she was given an emergency c-section. We then paid 1300 per night for four nights in the hospitals VIP suite for recovery.

Hi there,

I'm in Samui at the moment and have seen a coffeetable for 5000 THB. If using the postoffice for means of shipping, as the table is only 28 kg, it would cost me in total with purchase and shipping about 11200THB.

Now does anyone know if I then get charged import tax and or handling charges when it gets to the uk???

Or ways of getting round havin to pay

All advice is welcome!

Cheers Izzy

If the table is classed as handicrafts, should be no Duty, all you will pay is the VAT at 15% of the cost you bought the table for, this is if you were to ship it using an agent, maybe the same with the postal service, but check, anything coming into the UK over 18.56 GBP there is VAT due.

I used to ship 40 foot boxes from Chaing mai, handicrafts no duty, just VAT.

Hi there,

Thanks for that,

Yeah the table is a handcrafted coffee table so hopefully that would be ok!

Much appreciated!

Hi Izzy,

I could be wrong (but I don't think so!) but to import the table into the UK as handicrafts you would need a handicraft certificate from the appropriate authority in Thailand - I would suggest you check with a shipping agent with a partner in the UK before hand.

Cheers

Orac

I went through the same a few months back - my wife was fairly settled in the UK but, when she became pregnant she started to worry. We made the decision for her to move back to Thailand 3 months before the birth (there would have been problems with her flying after 6 months) however I did manage to make it over for the birth 2 weeks ago.

In hindsight this was clearly the right decision to have made as the support provided by the family in Thailand is unlike anything I have ever seen in the UK and it removed a great deal of stress for my wife being in familiar surroundings.

A word of warning though as I have found, and others judging from some recent post I have seen here, is that the family will take over and your role as a father may not be what you expected. Some on here have suggested you have to put your foot down with the family and show them who is boss however I am unsure this is the right approach. Since our baby was born two months ago my wife has been taken care of by the family - her mother and sister have moved in with us and sleep with my wife in either the front room or the kitchen and all her food is cooked for her. Every morning I wake up to find the whole house has been cleaned and there are various members of the family inside and sat outside the house - as far as the family is concerned nothing is too much trouble for my wife but I on the other hand feel like just an observer at times.

I am in no doubt that the current situation is in the best interests of both my wife and daughter but it is just a bit frustrating at times!

No, I would not live in these "rat trap" villages. Usually nothing but trouble, crime, noise, in-laws, nothing to do, etc, etc.

I have to agree 'a2396', but I do as my wife wont live anywhere but..... There again it isn't much different to where I lived before, just the faces changed and it's warmer. I'm sure Utopia has it's bad points ?

Actually I would disgree...surely this thread is the one big argument.....for...having your extended family...and a village full of relatives around you!!!

I would have to agree with that. As the only farang in our village it is comforting to have one brother in law living opposite and another two houses down. Plus with the number of dogs in the village it is impossible for anyone to move around at night.

With regards to the OPs original point, if I felt that the village had become unsafe for our family I would not hesitate to move somewhere safer - I would not even consider having a firearm in the house as the idea of my wife being armed terrifies me!

I would like to ask the OP if his wife is just looking for a weapon for the house or intends to carry one with her since you have indicated that the there are also major safety issues away from your home.

Immigration into the UK has always been an emotive issue and, due to the current financial climate, will almost certainly get worse. Didn't our dear leader Mr Brown recently jump on the tough on immigration bandwagon and declare british jobs for british people. As unemployment rises I wouldn't be surprised if more legal hurdles are put in place.

Now google on section 1469 Thailand Civil and Commercial Code - any contract betweem husband and wife can be later set aside. So maybe if the lease was signed before you got married ... and on it goes getting ever more involved.

Ive read that and understand it so thats not an option.

What about the foreigner buying the land or house in the wifes name and getting a lease made up to his mother, father, brother or sister, would that be allowed.

I know this all sounds a bit negative but who knows when things will go wrong, I bet theres plenty of people on here that have had there fingers burnt and wish they had thought about it more before spending several million baht in the wifes name. Nobody enters into a marriage on there wedding day thinking they will get divorced in the future but things do go wrong.

Just a thought but, since the OP has recently had a child as per another thread, could the land be put in his childs name and then leased back to him - would this get round the husband/wife problem (and probably be easier to get the wife to accept as well as it provides for their child in the longer term)

I actually have $125,000, but It looks like I will be building her a house soon (another $25,000 gone) so I really only have $100,000. But that's it, no more money for the family.

LOL! You're going to build a house for her here for $25,000 (about 900,000 THB)? Do you expect to include electricity and running water for that price?

Seriously, there is no way that you can build a decent house for that money. It would be virtual shack. Yes, you would have electricity and running water. But very little else. You'd need to put in at least 2 million THB for a nice home for a family. And you should NEVER consider building a home without PERSONALLY touring the neighborhood. You also need to be personally involved in negotiating building plans, and ensure that you have a WRITTEN CONTRACT specifying the work to be done, and the FINAL COST (or, at least, a written "Not To Exceed" cost) for all of it. Thai contractors will cheat you out of every baht they can get with sub-standard materials, shoddy work, and additional "phantom" costs. YOU MUST BE THERE to make the deal, AND to monitor the work!

As I've said before, you need to give serious consideration to your DAILY LIFE OVER TIME when making such long term decisions as the move itself; and the specific location where you'll live.

I saw photos and I was told I could build a nice 3 bedroom/1 bathroom house in her village for under 1 million baht. We already have the land. Good advice on the house building. Now I'm a little worried.

1 million baht is plenty for a 3 bedroom house in a village if you have the land already. Just be careful the family doesn't go for something bigger - I have seen a couple of houses being built recently in our village where overseas boyfriends have put up the money and their girlfriends have started houses worth twice as much on the basis they can get more money from their sponsors further down the line.

Two problems I had doing this were:

1. Make sure IP range of laptop is in the same range as that for the accesspoint.

2. I didn't have my laptop plugged into the mains and forgot that the LAN port/ethernet card my laptop deactivated when on battery power.

Medically simple, yes, but I would think that having experienced life with foreskin into middle age it would feel strange/be a potentially upsetting adjustment afterwards.

One of the reasons some parents decide in favor of circumcision of a boy infant is to avoid the possibility that it might have to be done at a later age when it would be (pyschologically) more traumatic. There are conditions which can occur at any age later on that make it medically necessary.

Unless I am misunderstanding something I don't think I am that emotionally attached to my foreskin - I can't believe I would feel any less of a man without it unless the doctor slipped of course. My main concern with be any pain involved and how long it would be 'out of action'.

Just checked with the wife and she says this is the same document we got from the Amphur by the hospital though it didn't look the same to me!

My concern was more that what the OP was stating didn't make sense and appeared to have a sexual bias as he was adamant that it ONLY applied to hetrosexuals. By doing so it automatically made me question the accuracy of the information.

Though I am happily married and therefore have no need to get circumsized I would be interested to hear if it as simple a process for a middle aged man as it appears.

I am sure you will get better answers from others who understand more Thai than me but out daughter was born two weeks ago. We were given a certificate by the hospital which we then took to the local Amphur for the hospital where we also had to provide a copy of our marriage certificate and a translated and certified copy of my passport. We were then provided with another certificate (not sure which of these two would be classed as the birth certificate) which we had to take to my wifes local Amphur so that the baby could be added to the Blue housebook.

Our baby was added to housebook without anything other than hospital (Samitivej) supplied birth certificate,

Issued passport.

Travelled overseas.

We married 4 years later to get into Japan (as Japan does not recognize unmarried couples, especially if they are of different nationality).

One board member repeats daily that you are not baby's legal father unless you were married at the time of birth and you have to go to amphur in person.

Never done that and still have to see when and how it may bite my bum.

Not sure about having to be at the Amphur in person, I was because I was driving but didn't sign anything. My wife already had copies of my passport in case I was out of Thailand at the time our baby was registered.

Also I didn't understand the two certificates - the hospital one was on plain white paper but the one issued by the Amphur was a very light brown form that was printed on to and signed by my brother in law. It could be becuase the hospital our baby was born in came under a different Amphur to where we live.

I am sure someone with a bit more knowledge on this can enlighten us!

I suppose they are talking about the male-female vaginal intercourse scenario where the female is already infected and the male is not. During this 'normal' sex act the circumcised male is statistically less likely to become infected than the uncircumcised male. The anal canal evolved as a one-way-street and is not really designed for intercourse so I suppose there is more chance of damage being done to the colon walls exposing the male to blood from the infected female (or male). I don't know if there is any difference in HIV transfer ability of bodily fluids in the female vagina compared to blood but one would think that contact with blood would present the higher risk. As the Pope says, Abstinence is the safest form of sex. or

I still don't get it. I can accept there can be an arguement that virginal sex is 'less risky' than anal sex - I am sure someone has statistics to prove this one way or the other. What I don't understand is the arguement being made that being circumcised ONLY is of benefit in virginal sex - surely it would beneficial in all cases.

I am sure you will get better answers from others who understand more Thai than me but out daughter was born two weeks ago. We were given a certificate by the hospital which we then took to the local Amphur for the hospital where we also had to provide a copy of our marriage certificate and a translated and certified copy of my passport. We were then provided with another certificate (not sure which of these two would be classed as the birth certificate) which we had to take to my wifes local Amphur so that the baby could be added to the Blue housebook.

Though there appears to be an arguement here for male circumcision I cannot understand why the 'benefits' would only apply to male-female virginal intercourse. Surely if the HIV/AIDs receptors referred to are in the foreskin, by removing it there should be a reduction in cases all round be it virginal, anal or male-male - why does where it is stuck make a difference ?