pete_r

Some more thoughts on the crisis here:

http://fistfulofeuros.net/afoe/economics-a...-crisis-coming/

Samsung NC10 has my vote - but I couldn't find it in Thailand. Otherwise, the Acer Aspire One, Asus EEE or Benq Joybook are ok, but the battery life is much shorter.

All the brands have released new models with larger screens since January, 10" instead of 8.9". When you buy, check that you are getting a 10" model, it's a bit more comfortable.

Yeah, great! Specially for those who must access online banking web sites which will only work with IE! There are many!

Indeed a brilliant idea - why not let the user decide during installation YES or NO to IE?

Possible solution to open these websites with firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419

Boy: Big white polar bear.

Girl: What???

Boy: Breaks the ice, doesn't it?

i bought a laptop in bkk, and would like to claim vat at suvarnabhumi.

i dun intend to bring the box with me. just the laptop only.

will this create any unnecessary issues for vat refund?

thanks.

The box was not needed when I did the vat refund procedure for a netbook in March '09.

An interesting read, thanks for the link.

Samuian & Hanno > Thanks for the useful information.

Bino > I used to do this kind of recycling, and the Mrs even more... Until the pots leaking in the luggage made us kick the habit. I still take the occasional soap though.

Dave > That rings a bell about stories of revenges after a break-up I came across on the net (possibly on this forum). The dye trick used on the former girlfriend was quite high on the list.

Thanks for chipping in. I'll sleep nice and tight tonight.

Just back from traveling and I'm getting curious about the little pieces of soap, bottles of shampoo etc. provided by hotels and which are left half used after a stay of a night or two: Are they just thrown away, or is there some sort of recycling going on? Or is the hotel staff allowed to collect and use them?

I don't expect much recycling to happen in more developed countries like the US, but in South East Asia who knows?

but i voted for his porxy party as thats what the majority wanted

That simply isn't true. His party only got roughly 35% of the vote last election, it is NOT what the majority want. The majority, roughly 60%, voted for anti Thaksin parties, which now make up the current government.

Thaksists keep saying how they have a majority support when it simply is no where near the truth, not in the last elections, and especially not now.

With this logic roughly 75% voted against the Democrats, so why do we have Abhisit as PM now?

"Especially not now" - Could we have an election soon, just to make sure?

"End of the walk", then "Rawang [something in Thai]" (rawang means "beware").

I see two problems inherent to a benevolent dictatorship:

1) The dictator himself may be enlightened, but he will need a group of people to support him, some of whom even with the best intentions at the beginning, will eventually take advantage of their position to abuse power.

2) As the level of education of the population improves (which should be the aim of any good enlightened dictator, shouldn't it), more and more people will want a greater say in the running of the country, leading to calls to end the dictatorship and establish full democracy.

So at best, benevolent dictatorship can be a temporary system to prepare a transition to full democracy, if the ruling group can keep corruption under control and if they are prepared to let go of their power when the time is ripe. That's two big "ifs", and it may be simpler to try democracy directly.

Edit to add: Case in point, Thailand. But let's say no more...

There is something not clear in the sequence of events from 11 to 14 April. Several posts so far mention that the rioting in Bangkok was not acceptable, so that the army had to intervene. However, the pictures I saw on television news ("normal" channels, not the D-station nor ASTV) show the following:

Saturday 11/04: ASEAN meeting canceled. Scuffles between the reds and the blue in Pattaya. The army deployed around the hotel of the summit are pushed around but not fighting.

Sunday 12/04: Reds block Bangkok streets (Din Daeng / Victory monument in particular). Some army deployed in Bangkok, but no fighting. Pictures of two APCs (armored personnel carriers) being taken by the reds; soldiers and police talking with the protesters. No rioting, no tyres burning, no buses burning.

Monday 13/04: Crackdown by the army begins early morning at the Din Daeng triangle. According to the Nation article in the OP, "troops were in almost complete control of the Din Daeng intersection after 6am", with 77 protesters injured. First pictures of the day are of the gas truck being pushed in front of the Din Daeng flats. Pictures of buses and tyres burning appear later during that day (monday).

Tuesday 14/04: Reds announce end of protests.

Getting to the point: The blocking of the roads in Bangkok was a nuisance, but can't be described as rioting until monday 13/04, after the beginning of the army crackdown in Din Daeng in the early morning. So that the rioting was a consequence, not a cause, of the crackdown.

Anyone cares to confirm or contradict?

I concur with the advice of not feeding the baby for a few hours before the flight (or only water if necessary), so he/she will eat during take-off. Aside from the ears hurting, ours got bored during taxiing (long wait on the runway), and angry as we couldn't walk to calm him down. On the return flight, we made sure he was hungry enough to pay attention only to his milk bottle, that made life easier for everyone. The same advice is valid for landing.

For hot water, it's ok to take a full thermos, just take it out of your hand-luggage before the x-rays.

Not sure if you deliberately are posting the wrong things to try to build a straw-man argument...but anyway, iirc no rubber bullets has been said to be used, only blank and live ammo.

We see zero (ZERO) dead people in those images. We see 2(?) wounded people.

This is proof of a slaughter?

I dont think anyone in this forum is dumb enough to start a straw-man argument, we're all educated people after all. Change my "rubber bullet" to "blank ammo" then, my mistake on that.

If you reread my post, never did I said anyone died, nor was it a slaughter, I'm more interested of the pictures of the casualties that night, as those are the first set of pictures I've seen.

Unlike the dispersion on the yellow, these pictures are somewhat harder to find, I wonder why.

And here lies the problem: The official media are not showing the violence of the last few days, trying to minimize it or even negate it. Why?

Red cross armband on the soldier only means he is the groups medic, he is still allowed to carry firearms. Soldiers always do.

Not during the PAD protests last year, they didn't.

A quote from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7998243.stm

Its (the army) decision to suppress these protesters, when it did nothing about the equally damaging actions of the yellow-shirted People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) last year, makes a mockery of its claim to be a neutral force.

There doesn't seem to be much pictures from the crackdown up here yet, so here goes (shamelessly nicked from a Thai language website).

"No live bullets used" & "Shooting in the air" (for once it's not a sticker on that taxi door!)

"Red cross arm band, gun in the hand"

Another red cross with gun, and shootings in the air.

Strangely, when the red shirts roam the streets, you get all of the above..... which should tell a lot, but then there's people who still don't understand the difference between a molotow cocktail and a hand clapper.

Handclapper? Does that thing below looks like a handclapper? The mantra that the PAD was/is non-violent is propaganda.

Vibavadee Soi 3 incident on 25 November 2008.

It looks like it would work, but indeed better to clarify directly with the French embassy to avoid any surprise on arrival in France.

About this:

Note that children and parents of EU Nationals still require visas to travel to France.

In 99% of the cases (rough estimate of course), the parents and children of a EU national would also be EU nationals, and wouldn't need a visa to travel to France and other countries of the EU.

Other info from the pictures, the prices are per kilo as JetsetBkk said.

On the signs "โล ละ" is an abbreviation for "กิโล ละ" = "kilo la" = per kilo.

If you sell the cassava to a starch factory, don't chop or dry it. Just bring the whole roots to the factory (clean with as little sand and soil as possible usually gets you a better price).

For anything else, chip and dry.

My search but didn't bring much results, so here's my question: Has anyone had a go at growing Stevia in Thailand?

The plant can be used to make a natural sweetener.

Wikipedia has a general introduction here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia

Living in Bangkok with 45-60 minutes commuting morning and evening (and that's relatively short I hear), I had a smile of envy reading about the difficult traffic conditions in Singapore (bold added).

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin.../416964/1/.html

SINGAPORE: Residents in northeast residential estates can now drive to the city faster, with the opening of a S$33.9m road link.

[...]

"Last time when this road wasn't open, I have to bypass to Hougang Ave 7 and that's a two-lane traffic road. In the morning peak hours, (there) is heavy congestion over there. To reach KPE from my place, I probably need 10 minutes. Now, with this direct road link, I think 3 minutes I'll reach KPE."

My first thought would be to have the letter translated in English by a licensed agency in Bangkok (check first with the Immigration office if they can accept that).

I dont' think anyone is considering flatly abolishing the LM laws. The letter to the PM talks only about reforms to make these laws less easy to abuse, a move that might be in the right direction, according to HRH birthday speech in 2005.

"At What Age Are Thai Girls Considered Adults And Independent?"

In the context given by the OP, I'd say, when she marries. It also helps if she supports her parents (i.e. wield some financial power in the family).

Families vary though, I know some 20-something who live their lives independently, and some 40-something who will never marry because of the excessive control from their parents.