piersbeckett

Regarding the winning entry; I'm no expert but as a former professional and published photographer, I find little of artistic merit in this apparent study of misdirected frugality.

I arrived in Thailand for the first time on April 10th, yesterday...but 33 years ago. No guidebook , nothing. Bloody incredible, i still remember thise crazy first few weeks to this day.

I've been told it really was magical in Thailand then from the travelers standpoint and down in Phuket it was paradise - I'm sure I'm not the only one that would like to hear about those first few weeks.

From my experiences of both staying in Cha-am and meeting Norwegians many of whom holiday there and some of whom retire there, I would say that this is a most unusual and uncharacteristic occurrence and further that there is only one lesson to be learned from this tragic incident and that is; 'a borrower nor a lender be'.

Wow this is why you need to stay out of bars. People get crazy when they drink. Wonder where he got the gun?

Good point, seems a bit odd for middle aged Norwegians to be packing heat.

Maybe with so many Thais blasting people right and left, ( one of the highest

gun homicide rates in the world) , maybe farangs are starting to pack now

to defend themselves. But sure looks like it went wrong here.

Good post. However, I think I need a dictionary on this forum. "packing heat". Perhaps I'm just getting old.!!

Haha the term packing heat is a pretty old expression for America. For a while the

gang bangers were using the term gat for a gun, I have no idea what the latest

term is...

What happened to 'packing a piece' meaning carrying a firearm & 'drawing the heat' meaning attracting the police'?

I don't know about anyone else but I for one am delighted by this news.

Only yesterday I was wondering how much sex Filipino women were having after giving birth and now I know.

Me too but unlike yourself it's been playing on my mind for quite some time; thing is, now that it's out of the way, I just don't know what to wonder about next.

talking is fine but its the actions we need before we can say well done. Lets see these corrupt owners have all their assets seized, compensation in the millions taken from it and then thrown in jail, until then it is simply spin

You are just forgetting, that without the original holders of this land illegally selling the land, no crime would ever have been committed.

The present owners actually paid money (peanuts) for the land, they didn't steal it!!

So the guys who should be headed for jail here, are those who sold the Kings land.

And now they are going to repeat it all over again, giving land to landless farmers(!!) and in 10 years time it will all belong to big landlords again. Only this time they will be wearing yellow shirts!!

For sure it is no coincidence that the crackdowns are only taking place in the North and North East, while Mr Suthep & Co are left alone!!

cant help yourself can you, I suggest you try reading the op again as it says north and south but that would take away all your ammo hey, you really are getting pathetic these days with your innuendo and red garbage plus now you are no longer able to understand basic english, maybe I should feel sorry for you. You do realize that they have been saying for a while now that all the land given out will still belong to the govt & will not be able to be sold dont you or did you forget that too in your rush to run down those yellows or actually its anyone that isnt a red going by what you say.

And Chachoengsao is not in the North or the North East - I've lived there, it's in Nowheresville but that's another story.

One time my dad and I were talking about the amount of welfare Australian people and the government gave to the Abos. Not just dole money but money to buy farms, money that wasn't always paid back. Gifts of land to tribal councils that exclude white people from that land. Schemes to give them jobs, often with skill training that they treated with indifference. Dad's arguement was you have to try these things to show them the way forward, to show the there is more to be gained form a good paying job as opposed to doing nothing and claiming the dole.

My argument was that anyone that doesn't have to pay to get something, or work to establish their business/farm, will not have the same sense of values as someone who has to put their name, reputation and future on the line.

That logic can be applied here in LOS. Families will be given the land but they won't place the same value on it a buyer would. They will do what they always did in the past and it wont work. Agriculture in LOS is changing. Anyone with a small farm is going to be toast in a few years. The big farms have economy of scale. A farmer with 1000 rai can make more money per rai and with less workers than a farmer with a 10 rai farm. Your 10 rai farmer may survive if he changes his crops and farming practices.....but will they?

In a previous post the comment was made that in 10 years time the fat cats will again own the land....and that's probably right!

A bit rich.

Yes, it's funny that - almost as if the Abo's didn't want you there in the first place, perhaps you should not have encroached on their land unless they were willing to negotiate but then I suppose they should be grateful that you've stopped hunting them and are giving them some of their own land back.

I don't see your logic; you didn't pay for the land you occupied in Australia yet you've made plenty of money out of it.

You second Australians are the fat cats.

It's simply spin!

Yes, bit of a contradiction in terms there - got a laugh out of me, anyway.

I think what the OP is trying to say is that opinions are best when 'informed', guesses when 'educated' and facts when 'substantiated'.

My point is that a negative aspect of publishing the amount of posts a member has made may well encourage arguments rather than discussions and 'childish sniping' a-plenty; in the race by some for the greatest number of posts.

Two reasons; firstly because of the instant gratification social media technology encourages with the subsequent effect of the shortening of attention spans and secondly the widening of the 'generation gap' which had narrowed prior to the introduction of this curse.

Happiness is a state of mind, normally, when i happen to be there, i start to worry... As everything is temporary, it can only get worse.

Being able to choose, i prefer a state of moderate pessimism

Well, 'that's you' & me too - 'all things must pass' - have a nice day - Piers

Definitley a bit(mu)ch

I would suģgest using Pattaya Auction House, friendly and very helpful auctionèr, Henry.

They have an auction every Wednesday, they can aŕange transport as well.

www.pattayaauctionhouse.com

Before anyone comments, I have no connection, other than as a very satisfied customer!

And there's Thai Visa - Classifieds (Miscellaneous) of course!

It wouldn't be April the first by any chance, would it? - brilliant post!

I just dont get why there is a hardcore group of Americans on this board, apparently living in the US for the vast majority of the year, whose sole purpose seems to be to tell us how much better off they are in the US ? Not a single mention of tornadoes, floods or blizzards - its just all bliss out there on the endless prairie. Fine - enjoy it - but why are you even members of this board ? Is there a 'Born in the USA' board somewhere where you can share this love for your homeland ?

Hot summers followed by 'cold and snowy' Winters just aren't my idea of a good time - with the exception of the snow, that sounds a lot like Melbourne and you can keep that. If I had the money, Maui would probably be my choice but from memory Hawaii is a very expensive place to live. There's also the occasional hurricane to contend with

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Salt_Lake_City

MrWorldwide!!!

And even more galling and bewildering is that these state side civic boosters always seem to hail from some of the absolute suckiest and backwater inland regions imaginable, i.e., Salt Lake City, Spokane, Boise, Tucson, etc.

Leaving Thailand to go back to North America for good - that was the topic wasn't it? We all know that it's really great there and that nowhere else really exists so not surprising that most wish to return - they always have seemed kind of 'out of place' here to me - will they be sorely missed? - I think not.

I am here 2 years now and I have decided I will not renew my retirement visa next year.

I miss:

beautiful national parks in the US

beautiful coastlines that are not full of litter

forests that actually have abundant wildlife

fresh seafood in the Pacific Northwest

sea kayaking in the PNW being able to buy a real sea kayak, custom fitted to me

the best tasting beer in the world

the best mountain biking in the world and being able to buy a mountain bike in my size

being able to own land and a home in my name

having an intelligent conversation

being about to go listen to live music, going to a concert of someone famous

being able to call 911 and having a well trained paramedic arrive

reliable postal delivery of something important and expensive

I have great health care from my government pension so that is not an issue.

I understand the people that will stay here until the end are many are from UK.

There are some very beautiful places in the US/Canada.

I will take back my thai cooking skills and my defensive motorcycling skills are much better.

nothing here in LOS blew me away... it is not at all paradise to me. I enjoyed the chaos to some extent and loved going to the food markets. I enjoyed motorcycling some of the mountains up north and visiting the hill tribe people and the small villages along the off beaten roads. Cool people there.

BUT, I am cheating myself out a great retirement life living here. I also think it is unsafe and unhealthy living here.

I have many great memories and wonderful adventures awaiting me in the states and I can afford a good life there. This was a stop off to sort out my life after turning 50, retiring and getting a divorce... it has played out for me, time to go enjoy life and have fun.

I will most likely go to Bali for 2 months during the winter if I return to SEA, but more than likely my trips will be South America or Eastern Europe.

You missed the fun and your too young to get much out of it now - I think you're making the right decision - good luck

Thomas Paine

Jeremy clarkson

Yes......another tvwat ...... There's so many of them from England.....makes it hard to make a choice ! ???

Go on - you can do it!

No but I think you might need to 'see someone'.

Ode to lamented pluralism

A positive spin under the darkening clouds

A clean looking front for all to see

Not a hint of the unrest beneath

The shrouds

The global threat to all that's free

The caged birds

Amazing irony!

Human Rights against

The revelatory way

Can you believe it?

Today!

The Enlightenment so far away

More than the ineluctable use of force

More an absolute divorce!

Madness reigns

Similitude denied

Until all the mad dogs are fried!

Looks like you've got your answers on where to get Lambrusco/Sangria but as you rightly point out, your taste in sweet wine does lack a certain refinement.

Absolutely nothing unrefined about sweet wines though either 'dessert' or 'drinking'.

It's all French; for 'dessert' it has to be Sauternes or Barsac and for 'drinking', the Alsatian Reislings - Gewurztraminer is superb.

Yep, I'll go with Soutpeel 'cause he's still working, gets ferried to work in a chopper & liked my recent post on common perceptions of Thailand.

The thing is some of us are here out of habit now but if they (the unenlightened) came here they would see that the place is full of concrete, over-head cables, fluerescent lighting and awash with pragmatism, animism, parochialism, simperism(?), nepotism and graftism(?) and that all that doesn't matter or at any rate didn't because it is/was so cheap, hot and easy here.

Is the UK full of violent skin-heads with punk haircuts and chains?

That is what I have heard.

I heard it's full of Teddy Boys with D.A.'s & bicycle chains.

Man up the real deal is Marmite! Vegemite weak crap from Australia! And I don't miss it because friends bring me Red Cross parcels with it in along with other delights.

I don't miss the cold.

The rain

The grey cloths

Rates

I do miss having my ticket out of there. That a feeling I missed!

Absolutely; Vegemite was 'invented' some twenty years after Marmite - the big question is, why!