CRUNCHER

Several posts have referred to the failure of consulate staff to arrest Thaksin.

Firstly, consulates have no legal authority or independence. By diplomatic protocols thay are given a high degree of practical freedom, but this is not the same as legal freedom. This is an over simplification, but it will do here.

But, secondly, even if they did detain him, how would they get him onto a plane back to Thailand? Outside the consulate they would be governed by the laws of the country they are in; in this case China (Hong Kong). The staff would themselves be guilty of unlawful detention if they tried.

Hong Kong authorities would have no power of arrest unless there was an international arrest warrant in force. I might be wrong, but as far as I am aware there is not.

It might be more appropriate to ask why they afforded him consular services. I must confess I do not know the legal position in this respect, but there may be some legal issues here.

I just mention this to point out that passion is getting in the way of practical and legal realities. Thaksin deserves to go to jail, but we need to keep emotions on the planet.

I agree. Birmingham is always great.

Check out this thread

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/British-Emba...ta-t189296.html

It was supposed to open in July. Renovation was being done by Siam Best Enterprises, the same firm that could not build Ocean 1.

Wonder why the delay.

I am a buyer at Grand Peaks Sri Racha. Today I received an invitation (by email) to a meeting at Twin Peaks Residence in Bangkok on November 8. It was sent by Siam Zokei and it sounds like it is to present information on the Grand Peaks project. I will not be attending because I am in the U.S. right now.

There appears to be some conflicts going on as I also received (same day) an email from Twin Peaks Residence sayng that they did not get any request to have a meeting there and that they have no facilities for a meeting. They say the meeting is not happening there.

I was trying to obtain more information about the problems with the project. Evidently others are asking questions too which resulted in the scheduled meeting.

Right now I have no further information. Hopefully, others will see this discussion and provide details. Cruncher, are you in Bangkok? Do you know if your friend got these same emails? Thanks for starting this discussion.

Sorry Sailfish. I am not in Bangkok. My friend is a casual aquaintance who called me because he thought, wrongly, that I knew Sri Racha. After I got what information I could, by luck and the internet, I could not get hold of him again. I know he is not in Thailand at the moment. Sorry I can't help.

I usually pay 10 baht (same as Thais) as far as South Road and 20 baht beyond. Never had a problem. Lets face it, it is not a huge sum for a journey like that.

Nowhere in Pattaya shold be more than 10 baht,but sometimes willingly paying a little (repeat little) over the odds removes the chance of confontation and actually puts you in control.

Depends where you drink, but what is 10 extra baht as a percentage of a Chang or a Singha?

To the OP, 20 baht is a fair price to both parties.

Does anyone know of any Wi-Fi hotspots along Jomtien beach road that could be accessed from the beach? I don't mind taking the kids to the beach, but I can only take so much of it myself; I would like to be able to do some browsing while putting down a few brews.

Ron's Internet Cafe has a number of hotspots in the area, you will have to check with your own computer what reception is like at any particular place. You can get cards from Ron's, about half way up Soi 5 and also the internet cafe just inside Soi 5 from Beach Road. Have not used them for a couple of years so I do not know what the cost is now. Used to reasonable though. Main problem I found was that sometimes speeds were a bit slow. Might be worth it to keep your sanity while the kids are swimming.

Thanks Jingjingna. Anything you can fid out without going to too much trouble would be appreciated. I can't contact my friend at the moment, but fortunately I don’t think he is into them for too much.

I can say what I have found out so far because there may be others who are interested. Siam-Zokei has several developments in Thailand.

Siam-Zokei was founded several years ago and was 49% owned by a Japanese and his wife and 51% by Thais.. About 3 years ago the Saha Group, one of Thailand’s biggest companies, took over all the 51% Thai. There was some fanfare over this.

There has apparently been a dispute between the Japanese and Saha and the Japanese have basically been kicked out. Not sure what the dispute was about.

Saha, who are not much into property development, intend to find another partner and finish the development. It appears the development will be redesigned and those who have bought will be given a choice of taking a new condo or a refund.

Saying is one thing; doing is another. Saha are reported to be concerned about their reputation as there has already been some bad press in Bangkok newspapers. Quite a lot of the buyers are Thai. Perhaps there is some hope for investors

A friend of mine, not in Thaialnd at the moment, is buying in Grand Peaks. He has heard that construction has stopped and has asked me to see what I can find out.

Anyone know what is happening?

Of course OP might well be breaking the laws of the country he goes to. If this becomes a common practice (going to a third country and breaking their laws to get a Thailand visa) then the Thai Government will come under pressure to act. This could well result intightening of procedure at consulates such as Hull, Birmingham etc.

Of lesser concern to me is that OP might end up in the slammer in that thirs country. Serve him right.

Any good and cheap hostels near by Hong Kong consulate? Im going Macau to gamble but need to get new visa (one entry turist) too. I need to show my passport when I go to Hong Kong from Macau, right? I want to spend only one day and night in HK and go right back to Macau when I get my visa to Thailand. So it takes only one day to get visa, right?

I don't know if you will get any quick replies to your question about hostels/hotels. A lot of hotel/travel reservation websites offer the option to search near an address. Might try that using address for consulate that has been posted.

Next day is what info from website says.

Can't answer your other question about entry to HongKong. Might try an internet search for that one.

If you do not have Hong Kong or Macau ID card you will need your passport.

There are no good and cheap hotels in Hong Kong; it is an expensive place. If you are coming from Macau try the travel agents at the at the ferry terminal; they sometimes have good deals - but still not cheap. If not it the internet for you.

Doing this sort of thing discredits the system. It is an abuse. The next thing is the Thai Government will tighten things up to stop people abusing the system. For example people who who want visas from Hulll or where ever will have to apply in person.

This will be another example of the irresponsible few spoiling things for the majority who play by the rules. Please do not do it.

This same thread is running on both Real Estate and Pattaya Forums

I think your right Kerryd. The background didn't look like View Telay. Got my horrible,, nasty cynical suspicious mind working overtime. Should have known no newspaper in Thailand would use old pictures for a current story. Silly me

Not much to the story yet:

A building of five-star hotel in Pattaya which is under construction collapse on Thursday morning, injuring many workers.

//Thanasap Noisa-ard

Is this View Telay?

Seems I saw this picture afew months ago - an LK project I think. Might be wrong

ICAC came into being as a result of a huge public outcry over a particular incident. It had a large budget and draconian powers. However, its success has been largely due to education and widespread public support, including a desire to rid Hong Kong of corruption. Until this exists in Thailand setting up something similar here would be of little use.

There is still corruption in Hong Kong, mostly in business and low level politics. But nothing like the pre ICAC days and, apart from odd one offs, not amonst Government servants. One thing that helped was paying civil servants a good wage and provinding good conditions of service.

I would like to see something done about corruption in Thailand, but the first thing that is required is a major change of culture and attitude of the public at large.

So Sir Winston Churchill was an american .

We learn something everyday ...

If you want to give us a lecture in politic, at least try to get your quotation right

I stand corrected. And it's "politics" ...

My fault. I made a mistake attributing the quote to an American.

Having said that, Churchill was half American through his mother - and that includes some Native American blood. His wife, Clementine, was I believe, American. Churchill himself became an Honourary citizen of USA in 1963.

Back to democracy. Is any country truly democratic? As just one example, in 2000 "the worlds most powerful man' was elected with less than 50% of the popular vote. When you also take into account those who did not vote, Bush became president without the support of over 50% of the population. Another example - most British Governments in the 20th Century came to ower with less that 50% of the popular vote. Typically 20-30% of people do not bother to vote. This means that Britain was governed by governments who did not have the mandate of the majority of it's citizens.

Throw into that the fact that many voters have little idea who or what they are voting for, except perhaps those that try to bribe them with promises of tax cuts, cheaper medical treatment and schooling etc and you really have have to wonder what democracy means and who judges when it's aims have been met.

Thailand might not have the best domocracy, but at least voters have a choice. How they exercise their rights is up to them. When street gangs like PAD try to take away their choice of the people there should be grave cause for concern. I do not like Samak, but if he is kicked out it should be done through peaceful and lawful means.

What is the famous quote? I am sure one of our American friends will correct me, but it goes something like this:-

“Democracy is a very bad form of government, but all the others are so much worse”

Elections in Thailand produce bad governments, but others (military coups, thugs demonstrating on the streets etc) will produce worse governments.

Not quite as racist as it may seem. If you are a farang with a tax card you can get in for the Thai price. Some times a driving licence will do.

Basically it is 20 baht for tax payers and 200 baht for non taxpayers. As tax payers money is used for the upkeep of the parks it is not so unfair as it seems.

The more I read the more I doubt the story is actually true. How do you go through to you 20's without knowing that a girl gets wet when aroused? Or has a period? This seems like a troll to me.

Finally someone has caught on. ...and for my next post - "whoes that clip clopping over my bridge?"

Apologies for slightly deviating from the topic, but i have a question regarding the UK state pension, and having already received some great advice from GuestHouse, wondered if i might trouble for some more...

I've just received my pension forecast which tells me that i have 10 years of qualifying contributions, and with the new law, this means i require just 20 more to get a full pension.

Now i had previously been preparing myself to pay voluntary contributions for the last ten years i have missed living in Thailand, but it has dawned on me that perhaps this might not be necessary. I'm in my 30s now. Would it not be ok to wait until i'm about 45 years old, and then start to make voluntary contributions on a year by year basis, this way giving me the extra 20 years required for the full pension. Or does there come a point when you have not been contributing so long that it's not possible to pick up where you left off?

Is there any argument to get the 30 full years on contributions paid as quickly as possible?

I think this largely depends on your personal circumstances and your future plans. Rates of contributions increase every year, but then only in line with inflation.

If it were me I would want to get fullyqualified as soon as possible, because I feel I would be less likely to be affected if the Government decides to move the goalposts again.

This existing law its both stupid, and unenforceable. And so hypocritical-

That's not the point (although it seems in this case it was enforced). If it is illegal and you get caught don't winge. If you can't do the time; don't do the crime.

Try reading this one

http://www.ukmedix.com/viagra/viagra-kamagra.cfm

Rudi 2008 - Suggest you sign your contracts and send them in. Phase one is quite well sold, but still some left I believe. There will be 4 phases in all. Good location - convenient for town and Sukumvit. This wil be a first class development and a good investment for the future. (I have nothing to do with the developer or property sales at all, but I have bought one unit.)

As stated, this case is now before the European Court of Human Rights. For a number of varying reasons it has dragged on for ages and is not expected to be determined before the autumn at the earliest.

The case is being broughts by members of the Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners. For anyone who wants to monitor progress they can bookmark their website which is as follows:-

http://www.britishpensions.com/media.html

So that means that Someone can build a 14 meter high structure actually in the water. Anyway you look at it, VT7 is TOO close to the water.

Is someone builds a 14 metre structure on land it is 14 metres above the road surface. But what if someone builds a 14 metre structure in the sea? Is that 14 metres above the sea bed or 14 metres above the sea surface? If the latter does the building have to rise and fall with the tide?

Can there have seriously have been any attempt to legislate for buildings in the sea if this sort of thing is not covered?