MangoKorat

Eat and collect 'donations'.

Odd attitude. It may seem futile but accepting it is madness.

I'd bet my last baht that 99.9% of the tourists arriving have never heard of Loy Krathong never mind 'participating in the festival'.

So you boost tourism by providing a 'unique celebration' aimed at people who have already bought their ticket and are arriving in Thailand????????????

One further thing I would say is that the Thai courts don't like fighting or he said she said arguments. Don't get involved. Keep it simple, state your case and provide your evidence clearly and concisely. Your lawyer, if he/she is worth her salt will tell you how you need to proceed and will, I have no doubt, ask for witness statements. Your ex on the other hand, is very likely to turn up at court with her videos and family - all prepared to state you are an axe murderer. They most likely will not be aware of how evidence must be presented. She will also almost certainly turn up at court without a lawyer - her friends/family will no doubt have told her she has default custody so she doesn't need to go to that expense. However, never underestimate the power of a woman crying her eyes out in court - get your evidence in order. You can strengthen your position by getting statements from your son's school etc. stating how well he does at school and that his general behaviour is that of a well balanced kid. If you don't take this matter to court, you are going to have this problem for years to come. There is no other legal way.

Firstly I would tread very carefully here and immediately employ the services of a Thai lawyer to put an end to this matter. I take it that you have collected evidence over the years that this has been going on? I don't have any experience of this in Thailand but I do have evidence of a mother using our son as a weapon against me and denying me access when I was behaving perfectly well (UK ex wife and child). In the end I decided to use the law to put a stop to the matter and that's what I think you should do here. I do have experience in the matter of custody in Thailand - just as you say you also do. My ex Thai wife, with my help, got her son back from his paternal grandparents but we had to use the courts to do so. Our lawyer explained that in Thailand the default position is, as I'm sure you know, that the mother has custody but that regular access must be given to the father in most cases. The only thing that changes that position is if the father can prove that the mother is unfit to have custody. That's why I say tread very carefully. My ex (Thai) wife's ex husband didn't challenge the court's decision but the grandparent's did and tried to blacken my ex's character. However, they offered no evidence and so the boy was returned to his mother. At first the grandparents refused to hand him over so another court hearing was arranged and the grandparents were ordered to attend with the boy. Your son's mother may well be unfit to take care of him but you need evidence to prove that. You say that there is a back story to this and your ex's erratic behaviour and irregular visits lead me to think I can guess what some of it involves. It sounds as though you may well have plenty of evidence against her but it must be provable, not just your opinion or hearsay. The Thai courts are pretty good when it comes to what's best for children and will usually come down on the side of good. In both my case with my son and my wife's with her son, we used the law. Not the police, the law. From your description of the events to date, this matter must be dealt with permanently and that can only be done through the law.

I couldn't name them now, I saw a few when I was deciding which to buy and I've seen a few since in Thailand. They ranged from being more akin to an open face helmet with a partial solid visor to just plain badly fitting and sometimes flimsy fronts. I don't think you can go to far wrong if you buy one of the proprietory brands. As the saying goes 'if you have a 10 bob head, buy a 10 bob helmet'. As for rain gear, I have a simple rain suit that folds into a 'bum bag' style. There are times when you get caught out on a run and sheltering under a bridge anymore than 10 minutes just doesn't fit your schedule.

Anyone listened to the video that follows the OP - about Thai defamation laws? This guy tries to defend the laws by using that old thing your mother used to say 'if you have nothing good to say then don't say anything at all'. Interestingly he refers quite clearly to hotel reviews as examples. Why shouldn't people be able to write bad reviews if what they say is true? Can't work this guy out at all. All I would say to him if I had the chance is that its nothing to do with cultural differences. Most Thai's I know also don't agree with the defamation laws and would love to be able post honest hotel reviews, be they good or bad. PS. I'm not looking for replies as its sort of off topic, I just thought some of you might find his next video interesting.

Yes, I once changed the age search criteria in my Tinder profile to 35-50. I changed it back to 18-35 within 10 minutes.

Mesh/kevlar jacket when its super hot and no chance of rain/Bell modular helmet. Normal armoured leather jacket with a back protector at all other times. All I would say on modular helmets is check their integrity - you can essily see that many of them are very likely to split open upon impact. Having the ability to flip them up at junctions/lights can be a godsend and cool you far more than simply flipping up a visor (which you can also do on a modular). I did once try leather bike trousers but ditched that idea after just one ride - just jeans now, impossible to stay cool otherwise.

A couple of years ago my home (Thai) was broken into. No fingerprints were taken The intruders left blood behind - no sample taken CCTV photos were given to the police Many stolen items were not on the police report No interest shown when I went to the station to ask about progress So, its not surprising that your wife doesn't know what they do. I have visited the officer in charge of 'investigating' the break in at my home 3 times, each time he has been sitting at his desk eating. I didn't bother making an appointment to see him, I knew he would be in - not out catching criminals. The officer 'looking after' my case was given a very clear photo of the intruder, a person who local people were sure they knew but couldn't quite place. I formed the opinion (you'd understand if I showed you the photo) that this guy was a career criminal and would be known to the police - I doubt the photo was ever compared to their records. When I gave the photo of the intruder to the officer concerned he said "good, we will catch him now" - I haven't heard anything. The above is a minor issue when it comes to people being killed in Road Traffic Accidents but it does illustrate the apparent lack of interest in actually doing anything at all. You are far more likely to see a Thai policeman in a restaurant than 'out on the beat'. I'm sure you've heard this before but on several occasions, during conversations with Thai people, I've been told that the police actually pay to get their jobs. It would appear then that far from being the people who uphold the law, they actually start their careers by breaking it and that the whole thing is about how much money they can make rather than enforcing the law. Fast forward to a week or so before Songkran next year.......statements will start coming out of the governmemt about measures being put in place to stop the carnage that always happens on Thai roads at that time. The week after the carnage has happened, new rules will be announced aimed at stopping it happening again. Very few new rules will actually become law and those that are will be ignored by both Thai drivers and the police - just as the existing ones are. And on it goes, day after day, year after year, we will still be here reading these news stories. Wouldn't it be nice to see the Thai police out doing what they need to do to prevent so many accidents, rather than only seeing them attending the scene of an accident?

In Pak Chong we have what is known locally as the Taxi Mafia. We also have a huge problem with public transport - there is very little. Many tourists stay in Pak Chong with the intention of visiting Khao Yai national park - then they find there is no way for them to get there. You would think the lack of transport would provide an ideal opportunity for someone to start a taxi business and it should. However, many have tried but they have been 'closed down' by the local Taxi Mafia. Unlike Phuket where the mafia bring about 'extortionate pricing', ours stop the business altogther. Its really hard to understand what they are trying to protect - apart from a couple of cars that come and go, motorbikes that often aren't there, they have no business to protect. I knew a tuk tuk owner that use to operate locally - then a while back his prices started to rise and rise until they got to a crazy level. When I asked him what was going on, how could he justify his prices he simply said 'I have a boss now'. I think I know who his 'boss' was. So we still have no taxi service, no buses to take tourists to Khao Yai and there is nothing for any 'mafia' to protect, nobody dares to start up - Amazing Thailand.

No, not nothing..............government ministers will make announcements that this or that will be done to improve road safety, then nothing will change. No big are changes are really necessary, one fairly minor change, minor in description but major if applied, is all that's needed to cut these tragedy's very quickly. That change is for the police to start actually get out of their stations and start enforcing the law. Thailand is no longer 'third world', it has a set of laws, the people to enforce those laws and the courts to administer punishments for those caught breaking them. The system falls at the first hurdle though because it seems, that other than pull pick-up trucks over at checkpoints, looking for god knows what and 'fining' scooter riders 50 baht for not wearing helmets, the police do little else. I honestly have no idea what the Thai police do when it comes to any crime - apart from writing out that all important 'Police Report'. Whereas I make sure that my licence, insurance an tax is up to date - because in my home country I know I will suffer large penalties if I don't, Thai people know that there is very little chance of them getting caught if they don't take care of the same items. Even when they are caught, a small 'fine' that, shall we just say, doesn't go where it should do, is all that's needed to get out of their situation. They bring out the new points based penalty system for driving licences (most Thai's have never heard of it) and introduce it to a population that knows very well that you don't need a licence to drive in Thailand. The going rate for 'leaving your licence at home' is 200 baht and there is no requirement to present your licence at the police station later. The whole thing is just a bloody joke but its a joke where all too often, the punchline proves to be fatal.

Poor reporting seems to have become the norm on many or the reports we see here. Reports also quite often use English words that I, a native English speaker have never heard of - clearly using dictionary referencing. However, using photos of an aircraft with an engine layout that is configured completely differently and shows a totally wrecked engine is just plain wrong. In this case it seems like the journalist just searched for a photo of a blown aircaft engine and said "that'll do".

Sorry, I should have been clearer - I do have roaming turned on but there is no mobile signal where I live in the UK. When Dtac Call was working, I got an SMS immediately, using the Wifi function it is very slow. Both systems use Wifi but Dtac Call worked through an Application.

Well, whilst there may be some question regarding the photo used, that engine would appear to have suffered slightly more than a few 'sparks flying'.

Wait a moment - the captain needed to be advised of the blown engine by a passenger??? no warning on his dashboard then or was he busy on Tik Tok?

Off topic

Nope, I actually had more and couldn't click them off. I have an adblocker now, they were driving me nuts.

I always said the same but since Dtac ended their Dtac Call service,I've been forced to install the Kbank app on my phone. I'm mostly in the UK and when I do a transaction with my normal Kasikorn online banking , I need to be able to receive a one time password (OTP) on my phone to my Thai SIM. Even with my Thai SIM on wifi calling it can sometimes take an hour to receive the OTP the transaction times out after a few minutes. The app works fine. One thing I don't like about the Kasikorn app is that my account balance is available without having to enter my PIN on the app.

I know AN said the site might be slow after the recent problems but I'm having several issues with this site since it came back online. The main one is that sometimes, usually after I've posted, I can click away as many times as I want on any other topic, notification or anything else and nothing happens. The only way I can get it to work is to close the site and re-open it, post again and the problem's back again. Another issue is when I've just posted, it takes an extraodinarily long time for the post to appear and I can move on. Thought I'd post this here rather than contact 'support' in case anyone else is having the same trouble.

Personally I'm not a fan and would never have one but I don't see why age should come into it.

Yes he has. that's exactly why he was sent down. He forged his partner's signature to transfer the partner's shares to his wife - fraud. He has appealed the sentence and is awaiting the outcome of that appeal.

Maybe when the RTP has finished helping Interpol, they could make a start in enforcing the law amongst the Thai population?? That is, if they have time

Who's going to be receiving the money from this 'private party' - I take it your condo isn't one where the owners are the management company? The freeholder probably owns the roof and 'lets' condo owners use it at other times. Was 24/7 access to the roof written in the sales blurb when you bought your condo? Was that then passed on with your title? You'd need to check the freehold ownership documents but you can be sure they are only available in Thai. Disappointing as it is, it will probably cost you a small fortune to find out the legal details and take action. However, if you have it witten anywhere that you have 24/7 access to the roof, that's a different matter.