onzestan

Why are you trying to convert me to your point of view when obviously I'm not trying to convert you?

We are like on the one side an Arsenal supporter and on the other a Chelsey supporter.

Muslims in Krabi and Muslims in Pattani are very different. Muslims in Pattani are ethnic Malay, and speak a completely different language, and have their own distinct culture besides a shared religion.

Given the numbers of dead, Muslims are the victims.

Given the long history of Western, especially US involvement in places such as Afghanisthan, Iran, Saudi, etc. which have more than contributed to the present mess - things are a lot more murky than you are willing to accept.

Why i would try to "convert" you is a completely misplaced question. I am trying to have an intelligent discussion, and not just irrelevant posts of personal opinion based on emotional feelings, expressions of outrage, or empty statements of allegiance.

Basically in a culture of discussion people do learn from each other, present facts, buid up intelligent argumentation, etc.

And no, from your position it may look like a football game, but in real life, and from my position, not sitting on the fence, it is an issue where hundreds of thousands of people die and get maimed.

I"m trying very hard to stay polite here.

Obviously you are an anti-american more than you are a pro-muslim, and ONE MORE TIME I do NOT want to discuss this any further with someone who's not listening to what I'm saying

I did NOT compare the war between the two sides to a football game. I was using this methaphor to show that our opinions of the same actions are completely different and irreconcilable.

In the hope that you understand were I'm coming from, I don't care if the muslims from Pattani have a different language than those of Krabi they're muslims aren't they?

By the numbers of dead do you include the guy's that blow themselves up i.o. to kill innocent people.

Do you include the numbers of muslims killed in Iraq by other muslims from a different branch of faith?

Do you include the guys that hijacked the planes on 9/11?

Do you include the women that are stoned to death by muslims?

Obviously I'm getting to excited here.

Moderators can you close this topic please before I get banned

onzestan

Hi there Guys,

I don't know if you've noticed that all problems seem to have been solved.

Are there no more :

Aggressive Taxi touts?

Limousine scams?

Thefts at kept luggage?

Near disasters on escalators?

Cracks?

Defective boarding bridges?

Space infringements by King Power?

Unfriendly immigration officers?

Insufficient toilets?

Comedies of error?

Is the terminal no longer sinking?

etc.etc.etc.

Come on guys let's revive this topic. It used to be so much fun.

Cheers

onzestan

p.s. please note that I spelled the name of the airport correctly.

It just looks like to me that you are not really interested in discussion but only in presenting your views while ignoring anything that could possibly change your points of view.

Please do not accuse me of something that you're obviously doing yourself.

I don't question your points of view and I'm not blind to what's happening on both sides, but what I do know is that the muslim world is brilliant in their tactics of being the victims.

Let me ask you one question, and plse do not take offence because there is non intended.

Why are you trying to convert me to your point of view when obviously I'm not trying to convert you?

We are like on the one side an Arsenal supporter and on the other a Chelsey supporter.

They view every action on the field from a completely different angle and who's right?

Anyway I do not wish to continue this discussion anymore, partly also because this is not the place for it.

Oh one more thing, my favorite place in Thailand is Krabi, I have been there upteen times and I have never had any problems with the muslims there, in fact some of the most gracious people I have met there were muslims, and I do respect other peoples believes as long as they respect mine.

Good luck again and peace upon you

cheers

onzestan

Dear Colpyat,

I rest my case.

Sorry I can't agree with you, and that's OK to each his own.

Cheers and goodluck

Many Iraqi women and kids killed in Iraq this week.

However, they're not American.

Killed by whom??? Americans, Brits or maybe insurgents (brother muslims)

Not that it matters who did it.

onzestan

My personal guesstimate is that the majority of the Thai Muslims (80% of the local population) does not support the insurgents due to the atrocities and the general insecurity and fear they cause. But they would clearly support independence.

The culture of the majority Muslim population is very different from other parts of Thailand, they are relatively strict Muslims without being fanatic, and take pride in their distinctive culture and history.

Dear Colpyat,

I understand where your coming from. Sure the majority of the muslims down south are peace-loving,

and I agree that any kind of violence is wrong for whatever reason.

Let me quote to you something from an essay that I received in my inbox a couple of weeks ago :

" Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.

Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because one day they will awake and find that the fanatics own them and the end of their peace-loving world will have begun. "

I think that this is very relevant to what is happening in the world today. At this point it is irrelevant who started it all, it's relevant to stop it, because I don't want to be ruled by the sharia and if the silent and peaceful majority of the muslimworld does not do something about it we are heading to a world that many of us will not like at all.

I will not live to see it because of my age and fragile health, but that doesn't stop me from trying to do something about it. And if you think that's wrong, I don't blame you for thinking that, but please allow me to have a different opinion.

No malice intended

onzestan

More "heroes" fighting valiantly against unarmed schools?

How do the expect to found an independent nation built on the actions of cowards?

On the contrary. They are the most peaceloving believers in the world.

And they are willing to kill, rape, bomb, execute, destroy and pillage to prove it.

onzestan

One thing that does strike me is that Thai people are certainly not as sentimental as we are in the west, do we westerners confuse this with being "nice"

MM

I think that's not really true. I think we westerners have difficulties in recognizing the true feelings of Thai people, because they hide so many things behind their smiles.

I also think that the OP is a bit influenced by the fact that he loves his wife, and in doing so accepts his wife's story without questioning it, and this is normal and I'm not condemning it, I'm sometimes guilty of it myself.

But sometimes it's wise not to believe everything first hand.

Furthermore it is something from the past, and our memories can play tricks with us(mine do). so better not put to much importance on it. It should be enough that you care for each other now regardless of what happened in the past, it's the future thats important.

Good luck to you both and let the past be the past.

onzestan

remember John Denver :

" Sunshine on this forum makes me happy "

onzestan

You really like that airline don't you?

Love at first sight

Oh what a delight

At a quarter to nine

He stood there in line

To board her for his first flight

onzestan

try following website.

http://www.siam-info.de/english/poisonous_animals.html

cheers

onzestan

Sonkran death toll rises to 169 after 3 days

Road accidents in the first three days of the seven dangerous Sonkran holidays saw 169 people killed and 2,296 others injured, Deputy Public Health Minister Morakot Kornkasem said Saturday.

Morakot told a press conference that 2,032 accidents occurred from Wednesday to Friday.

On Friday alone, 965 accidents occurred, killing 71 people and injuring 1,062 others.

Nakhon Phanom and Khon Kaen were the provinces with highest death toll with six persons killed in each province, Morakot said.

Most or 45.6 per cent of the accidents were caused by drunk driving, he said.

The Nation

Tragic, and it isn't finished yet.

onzestan

Very informative.

You forgot to mention not drinking anything with bubles in it.

Makes you f.rt more and there's mostardgas in it.

Cheers

onzestan

Anyone know of a girl friendly hotel in the Silom area? I usually stay at the Majestic Grande in the Sukhumvit area, but their prices have steeply risen lately and my gf is a bit unsettled with the usual well-known Sukhumvit gf hotels.

Try "UNICO GRANDE SATHORN" it is very near to the Chong Nongsi BTS station.

Was recommended by friends of mine.

Do not take the UNICO GRANDE SILOM it's in dire need of renovation.

cheers and have fun

onzestan

Befriend the local police.

Spread the rumour that you will shoot the balls of anyone that enters your house.

Any dog you get make sure it doesn't accept food from strangers.

Have a camera with a strong flash handy.

Other than that I wouldn't make my house look like a fortress, if thieves want to get in they will, no matter what safety precautions you take, and it would be a constant reminder for you and your family that you're not safe there, which can be a real damper on your wellbeing.

Planting thorny bushes (bougainville grows very rapidly)inside the perimeter as another member suggested is also a very good idea. Worked for a friend of mine.

Goodluck to you and your family

onzestan

Due to unnecessary wear and tear?

One should read the manual before

cheers

onzestan

The best deal I ever got was when I booked a room at the Chin House service apartments in Sala Deang. I booked for a one bedroom efficiency. When I got there I was told all the efficiency rooms were full but they would upgrade me to a one bedroom apartment style unit free of charge for my 2 weeks....

I think that has to be the best deal I have ever received in Thailand

My wife.

cheers

onzestan

Yeah i thought i got a great deal with my wife too but now i would like a refund on the purchase price if possible

I bet the warranty period was expired

OK that feels better

You must have a very large chest, to have had all that on it.

Welcome to the club, my opinion, it depends on the people you meet, not the places.

Cheers

onzestan

The best deal I ever got was when I booked a room at the Chin House service apartments in Sala Deang. I booked for a one bedroom efficiency. When I got there I was told all the efficiency rooms were full but they would upgrade me to a one bedroom apartment style unit free of charge for my 2 weeks....

I think that has to be the best deal I have ever received in Thailand

My wife.

cheers

onzestan

Onzestan,

An odd request... usually those of my friends who are comfortably multilingual keep trying to expand their knowledge, not make requests for others to box themselves in to what they already understand... in any case, I think you will find people happy to explain to you what they mean, especially if you mention that you are not a native speaker- but the board cannot change its language for the sake of non-natives.

Dear Ijustwannateach,

If this is what you “wanna” teach, I don’t want to learn it.

You start of with insulting me by saying that I’m not trying to expand my knowledge.

I have spent years in evening school studying foreign languages while others

of my age group were doing more fun things. I learned to appreciate that the use of these languages broadened my horizon enormously, and this is a good thing.

Languages do evolve and I try to keep up to date with these changes, and believe me it’s not always that easy.

If you choose to believe that the widespread use of textish enriches the language you were born into, then go ahead, I believe however that English deserves better.

I respect that most British are proud of their heritage, and so they should, but many seem to forget that their language is part of that heritage, and if you don’t believe me then you should pay more attention to many of the posts and the language they use on this forum.

Please also note that I do not use the terms “native” and “non-native” speaker because I find them derogatory in connection with language use.

And finally I did not ask you to change the language of the forum, only to show some respect to non-English speakers, and also to a lot of older English speaking persons that do not use SMS or chat-room language in their daily life

Finally I hope that not all the super moderators on ThaiVisa are so easily offended by constructive criticism as you seem to be.

Remember respect has to be given before receiving.

Respectfully,

Onzestan

p.s. I do not resent emoticons because I believe them to be universal.

I'm still drunk off whiskey from last night, down a few beers, whack on some tunes and be out again soon. Too long in Bangkok and still enjoy a good songkran and for all the old expats who are denying the holiday you are miserable old bastards, Happy New Year.

I'm not denying it, I'm avoiding it.

Children are entitled to have fun.

cheers

onzestan

Onzestan, if you speak all those languages, surely you will not object to learning a handful of abbreviations required to follow a web forum. People are usually quite happy to answer if you ask a question...

Cdnvic's list covers the most important ones. The rest you can ask about - or google for.

Apart from vanilla searches, Google has plenty of other nifty functions.

Type define:search term and you will be taken straight to a definition for the search term.

Dear Weary,

Thank you for your reply and also thank you to others, Cdnvic amongst them, for providing the links.

I'm not saying that I'm not able to learn a few abbreviations, but it takes a lot out of the fun reading topics and posts having to resort to linking to another page in order to understand them.

Why is it so difficult to type the full words in, it is not as if we are on a time limit like on a handy phone for example.

English is a beautiful language why not use it properly?

cheers

onzestan

Then there's IMNSHO - in my not so humble opinion. I use that sometimes.

To both the writers and the readers, it's best to limit abbreviations. B4U say (as a Van Halen song or album said it) OI812 - Oh, I ate one, too! - it only takes a few more keystrokes.

Even we native speakers don't know national slang - Australians (Ozzies, from the land of Oz) say "mate" when a North American says "coworker" or "friend" because "mate" is very personal, as in bedmate. The British (Brits, Pommies, Limies) say boot meaning the trunk of the car, when boot is something you do to a computer, or it's those shoes cowboys wear We Americans (Yanks, but please not "Septics") who come from the old confederate states don't like to be called Yankees, and we sometimes express the second person plural as y'all.

Especially in Thailand, where final consonants get dropped, the British amongst and whilst are better replaced by their North American equivalents among and while. But now I'm being pedantic (a word seldom used in North America).

I'm semi-fluent in Spanish, but I read verrrrrrry slowly.

As for the time of day or night, there are too many varieties, and PM after an obvious time means after noon - and afternoon (one big word) means roughly 12:01 p.m. to about 6:01 p.m. And nobody agrees if noon is 12 am or 12 pm (I say it's neither).

English is difficult. Good luck.

I use when I write about the masked Zapatista rebels.

Thank you for that

And to others who would like to make me look like a fool, please note that I'm fluent in Dutch, English, German, French and can make myself understood in Thai, Italian and Spanish in a polite way.

I once apologized beforehand to a German customer of mine, for any mistake I might make speaking German, and he said that I should never apologize for showing someone the courtesy of speaking to him/her in their own language.

BTW this 3 letters mean something completely different in my language i.e. "Belasting Toegevoegde Waarde" which means VAT in English.

I strongly believe that a common language is something that should bring us closer together and not something that divides us. If this is not the intention of this forum then by all means tell me.

Once again no malice intended.

onzestan

Ladies and Gentleman,

I would like to beg you for a little bit of consideration for us non native english speakers.

Could you please ask the members to please not use so many abbreviations in their posts.

I for one still do not understand what LOL means. I do understand what IMO means, but i am puzzled as

to why a person would use IMHO. Does that mean that this person also has dishonnest opinions?

Also I thought that a TROLL was some kind of scandinavian ugly midget with a big nose and feet (I don't know if they have other big things also because I have never seen them undressed), but clearly there must be another meaning to it when used in this forum.

As Miss November Rain asked in another topic, what is a pm.

Is it the Prime Minister, is it Post Mortem, is it Pickled Moron I don't know, for sure. I only know that if it is a time indication it should be written as p.m.

Also in the same topic, one poster mentions that he apologizes beforehand for any spelling mistakes and this apology is at the bottom of the page. Shouldn't that be at the top?

This is all very confusing for a person who is trying to understand the language of Shakespeare for all it's richness.

No malice intended.

Yours truly,

onzestan

Proves to me that taking an aggressive stand for what you truly believe in works.

Well done Thailand, I hope others follow.

Onzestan