Dap

A one way ticket Tokyo to Bkk for tomorrow on Thais web site is 46,950 baht.

It's always about the money!!!!

About the only things the man has not been accused of 'so far' the drought, cold spell, smog, etc. What he has accomplished according to the those who have/will have wasted 3 days of what could have valuable graft time, would indicate a influence never seen in the history of this country.

... maybe smog

Send PAD, TPN, UDD, DAAD et al

bills for their removals from state property and public ways.

And if they don't pay, put a lein on the ring leaders assets

and block bank access till the bills are paid, in full with

interest for the delays incurred.

Whoa!!! Good one mate. Sorry to say TIT!! But I like your style ... it's rational.

But to me to have a right or a claim is not the same as having it. If someone ever owed you some money, you know what I mean.

Well said!

What's the problem with dual citizenship anyway!!

Why can't that be commonly accepted by people in Thailand?

We're in 2011, people move abroad more than before and children are born everyday with 2 parents from 2 different nationality.

These children will be raise with 2 different cultures and will learn to love them both.

Why then ask to choose between your father and your mother??

Open up your mind people!

Thank you MrGreg. Finally a word of reason.

This notion of nations and national boundaries and nationality is an invention of the 19th century and some people thinks is holy like religion. So many wars have been fought and so much blood has been spilled over this Franco/Prussian "hurra patriotism". Time to move on and open your mind. Nationalities are just administrative papers to give government agencies something to do. Millions of people would loose their job otherwise.

This nationality issue is about as intelligent as the Prae Vihar dispute. Aren't there more pressing problems in this country?

"and some people thinks is holy like religion" Well said! If the parents are Catholic then the baby is splashed with some "holy" water, the baby is then and forever "Catholic", and subject to "its" "rules and regulations"? Whatever happened to sound reasoning by an adult who wishes to be otherwise? Sorry if this may be interpreted as "off-topic", the question lingers.

Do Thai people want to see a dark-skinned 100% Thai person as their leader? The purer the better? Yet on television we see so many light-skinned mixed-race actors.

and most Thais' consider them "Superstars", emulating them every way possible ... go figure

And Khun Sanan continues to jockey for position.

Can't they even try to be a little more subtle???

Interesting charge, working without a work permit. But one that brings a maximum jail term of 5 years and/or a fine of 100,000 baht with it.

These callcenters are all over Thailand. I know two of them in Phuket. One of the biggest has comercial adds all over the internet in Chiang Mai. They are looking for girls only (:

Why not report them to the local cops ... just a slight suggestion.

I applaud this project that helps to alleviate the mental and physical anguish suffered by so many. Thanks to the hearts and pockets of so few.

I know this might be a bit much to expect from The Nation... but...

From the article, it's clear this police Lt. General has "resigned", or apparently asked to be relieved, from his job as heading the PAD investigation...

It's not at all clear, one way or the other, whether he was also resigning as an assistant national police chief. The article didn't say that... so I'm assuming he's not, but the article is silent on that point. It would have been nice for the author to have clarified that issue, since the article talks about him resigning....

Then, it strikes me as very strange, almost unbelievable, that an assistant national police chief in charge of a big-time investigation would end up in any way spending his own money to investigate the case.

Police in Thailand, by all accounts, don't spend their own money.... they make their own money. You'd certainly think that level of job carries with it sufficient authority to obtain the resources and support needed.

And if he was not getting that support, it seemingly would have had to be someone(s) even higher up in the police executive ranks (how many higher are there than asst. national police chief) who's getting in the way or denying this Lt. General the resources required for the investigation...

Interesting question ... who indeed would stand to gain from any disruption of justice in this particular arena? One can only wonder.

... (yawn) ... hard to get too excited ... "________________ in Thailand, a Huge Source of Graft!" ... you fill in the blank ... any proper noun will do ... mmmm ... well ... most all nouns will do.

... or adjectives

In view of the current concern about foodstuffs from Thailand that are exported to Europe I fear that the statement is but a knee jerk reaction by an ill informed politician,

Less of the political hot air and we might well achieve a cleaner air supply here in Thailand..

Look out !!!

There goes a low flying pig !!

Thailand is already the hub of knee jerk reactions by ill informed politicians.

Perhaps with all these flying pigs in Thailand they will find a use for the aircraft carrier after all.

Well, you've certainly been around long enough to appreciate the humour of the aircraft carrier and I'm guessing the recent re-request for submarines has not passed you by. "Organic Food Hub" sits well into the genre

Seems like you are all assuming this woman is guilty, even without knowing the evidence. If you think Thai justice is bad, then you lot are even worse. You would have people locked up just because they are poor. All the evidence you need is that she is poor and her husband was rich. You lot are shocking. This woman may have arranged the murder of her husband, but it could also be her boyfriend who did it without her knowledge. You lot are too quick to jump to conclusions.

If you don't like it here and keep saying how bad it is, then please go home. Stop whinging and complaining all the time. If many Thais don't like you, it's got nothing to do with you being farang, but has everything to do with your appalling attitude. Even I don't like most of you.

Stick around for a while mate, it gets better

I hope not...cuz all who can escape it will come to spoil CM

Too Late

An alledged alcoholic with a history of violent assault is found dead.

It seems that the lack of a prosecution was due to corrupt Police accepting a bribe. May be a prosectuion would have helped turn his life around. Put the brakes on him. Put him 'in the system' and help to curb his wanton behaviour. But the Thai way doesn't work that way. Money is god. Money is taken and the welfare of an ill man is ignored.

Then fast forward to the alcoholic buying a venomous snake and taking it home. Needn't have happened then. But it did.

Any error whether sober or drunk with any one of Thailand's most venomous snakes would lead to death. Then there are the not so venomous snakes which could still kill you depending on the circumstances.

So what were the circumstances? It seems he was alone when bitten, unable to call for help and most likely unable to help himself.

The discussions on cobra bites are well meant. However, any cobra will kill you. One, quite easily, the other depending on how much venom it venomates - injects into you. Again consider the circumstances; a calm, rational individual with knowledge would react to remove the snake quickly. That would be without causing more venom to be pumped in [wrongly grasping the head] or by dragging the fangs [ the upper ones inject the venom] through the skin.

An alcoholic has knowledge of BARS but not coBRAS. Possibly panicked by the bite and received a considerable amount of venom causing death reatively quickly.

A Thai boy in Phuket was bitten by his pet Krait and hospitalised for 12 days. Speedy response, hospital treatment and a small bodied person. Our European Alkie, larger bodied but unhealthy condition, no treatment, dead and found after 3 days.

One comment on the reporting; scandalous, unsubstantiated supposition. How any one can conclude this was anything other than a poor decision in pet choice, I don't know. If he'd bought a dangrous breed of dog and it had ripped his throat out, would the rumour mill circulate he was planning a mass murder revenge on the cleaning staff?

According to that logic we're all rapists as we carry the equipment. Is that true? If that is the case then every male death should be reported as 'Rapist found dead in room.'

And in these times of PC and equality let's not forget the ladies. As every woman has an organ of reproduction, which she is capable of reanting out, ergo: is Pattaya not full of whores? That's Newspaper logic for you.

What I find tragic about this story is the wasted life; a permanent unhappy alcoholic haze that ended in mis-adventure. Lonely, isolated, anti-social and perhaps oddly behaved. Perhaps then pyschologically unbalanced. If he did behave oddly, they say he was socially rejected, an outcast, the sort of person you'd be wise to avoid, then it added to his isolation.

But that condition seems to be quite common amongst many Pattaya ex-pats. Certainly alone. The male ex-pat dominates the profile of residents. They come here alone. You don't get groups of retirees in the same street all waking up one day and agreeing to move to Thailand. Do you?

Friendless also. Mixing with strangers in bars hardly has the social cohesion that bowling club memership brings, or work affiliations once held back home. Also, if an alcoholic as stated, then how in control of his faculties was he? The incident of violence at his home certainly raises the question of a loss of self control. Often associated with drunkeness. He wouldn't have bribed his way out of it back in Norway. No way.

How many tee total persons do you know in Pattaya? How many people can not control the amount they drink? Subtract the the total from 10 and the answer you have would be ........ 10.

How many middle aged or late middle aged men still need to get drunk? If the answer isn't all of them go back and do the question again until you get it right.

Should drunkeness be some thing left behind with maturity and responsibility? The answer is 'yes'. If you got that one wrong try again in five years time.

These are questions you can measure yourself against. Whether or not you live a life that is in control or breaking out of control, and with what level of regularity. Because this explains why he ended up as a bar stool Alki in Pattaya. An insatiable sot who pours the Changs down his neck throughout the day; day after day. By Thursday he gets something to eat and washes it down with another Chang.

All the time ignoring the swelling liver he calls a beer gut, the yellow eyes he calls tiredness,the peeing in the night he explains as forgetting to go, the atrophying muscles he puts down to aging, the bleading gums due to a hard toothbrush, the yellowish whitened tongue he believes is the Thai food additives, the dry skin he thinks is the sun and the browny red blotches on the skin he blames on the mossies.

So there is the life. Paradise becomes a place of boredom, full of disappointment and lack of things to do. There are no libraries, museums, exhibitions, concerts, operas, theatre, talks. Please don't defend Pattaya as having a cultural menu. It has a greasy road side cafe menu; a prison diet of cultural activity. It does not feed the European appetite. Neither accept or defend that a hundred bars is what you want. People are capable of sensitivity, creativity and perception. Don't argue that the meaning if life is found in the bottom of a bottle. It never was and it never will be.

You can spend only so long walking the beach, which is a squalid experience. No walks, no talks, no culture, banal local TV, and then there's UBC / HBO. Newspapers that have no news. Radio ga-ga. Surrounded by a language you can't speak. In a relationship where you can't communicate above a simplistic predictable level of 'what would you like to eat / where shall we go today?' No shared culture or understanding of personality. A myriad of foreign languages, foreign restaurants, foreign businesses that merely compound the sense of isolation. A Police force to be avoided. Your own command of your own language being reduced to some pigeon English - verb free patois that leaves you frustrated and unable to say exactly what you mean. Any time you step away from this life you falter unable to ask for anything as it's not in her or your vocabulary. And that's if you have apartner, as it's worse if you don't. Unable to trust anyone as they have a hidden threratening, dangerous agenda of their own.

An agenda that leaves you penniless, cheated, beaten and broken. How many of you have that sad story to tell. And again, the most bitter, hardened, cynical bar stool bum has the chequered past of 'falling' for the bar girl who ripped him off. Don't fear the relationship as they do. The bitterness eats into them and spews out with every word; unable to move on and trust again.

I can well understand the deep emptiness that was experienced daily. The pointlessness of an existence. A life that was clearly on the downhill ride long before age, old age, had raised its head. A life that was slaved in drink and salved in drink.

A sad, pathetic and tragic end.

A misadventure in Pattaya.

WOW!!! A very insightful response.

<snip>

Noppadon, who previously served as foreign minister,

suggested that Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya not overreact about Thaksin's testimony,

and instead help him obtain a US entry visa so that he could deliver the truth to the commission.

I often wonder about Noppadon's lucidity, and times like this you wonder about his stupidity.

Does he really understand who his boss is?

Quite possibly... he is only cognizant of his paycheck

When I married my wife 3 years ago, after knowing her for a year, I was 59, but most people who tried to guess my age, both Thai and Westerners, thought I was around 40-45. I'm 172cm and 68kg, which is the same weight I've been since I was 18. My wife was 49 at the time, but looked better than most women in their mid to late 20's and 30's. She's 148cm and 42kg, which is 2kg heavier than she was when we married. She has a fitness routine she does every morning for an hour to keep her weight down and figure looking GOOD!

However, shortly after we were married one of her friends came over and told me: "You know, in Thailand you can have more than one wife if you want." I laughed and told her 1 was enough. My first marriage lasted 28 years before my wife died of cancer, and never once did I stray. I hope this marriage lasts just as long, and while there is more than ample opportunity for me to do so, I have no desires to act on them when my beautiful, sexy, and very willing wife fulfills my every wish whenever I want, as much as I want.

Call me "weird" or whatever you want, but I'm in that group that believes that in you're in a committed relationship, then you put everything into it. IF, for some reason, it fails, THEN you end it and go searching. But you don't go out for hamburger when you have T-Bone, with all the trimmings, at home.

YOU are a CLASSIC and I applaud you. I also was in a 20 year relationship with my wife (who died) and NEVER thought about needing or requiring anyone but her. I am now in another relationship that I consider "Top-Notch" and I have no need to consider anyone else when I have a partner that fulfills my every desire. "Je Doff Mon Chapeau Mon Ami"

Not all "people" are like that, some are some are not. I have loaned money to Thais and got it back and and loaned it to others and not got it back. I think it is to do with there upbringing. It does seem to be a bigger problem here though, and I do not think it is just us that get screwed, Thais screw each other as well so its not a personal thing. I reckon it all boils down to the fact that they do not think of tomorrow as we do. Spend now because Tomorrow may not come!!!!

anyway, if my sister in law had done that to me, she wouldnt be getting anything else off me. Dont let her get away with it either, put pressure on your wife to sort it out.

It is my considered opinion ... If I loan money, I never expect it back. That way I am never disappointed. And, if I get it back, I am well satisfied. I don't loan unless I can afford to lose that amount

Depends on the guys appeal I suppose.... if a lady doent want to go it could be any price! But when i was there we had taken many a lady out for B500 and the rest was free ... of course we dined and danced all night! Before retiring .... we had girls that stayed with us fordays on end... because we ll just had a good time....!!!!! They were not from not from any small soi, try Bed Club, Novotel, Colloseum, German Pub... just a to name a few... and yes there are girls in BKK with a bar fine nor a price tag... if you know where to look... habe you tried the factories in the outskirts of Bangkok a lot of good girls there as well... marriage material... BKK is not just small soi's.

LMAO, ok "sexy" man

I hope you are aware there is no bar fine in Bed club or Novotel, so how did you manage to pay the bar fine and who took the payment?

As for getting it free from Novotel, you must be a really really really sexy men. Did you get any "freebies" from Nana disco also?

These clubs are not the "bar fine" category...

Bar fines...try patpong, two streets up the japanese bars, nana, Anywhere in Pattaya or Phuket, etc...

We would only frequest these "joints" when a new mate arrived in town as they wanted to see what it was all about, starting with Kangaroo Bar blow jobs...

When you stay in Thailand for a while the novelty wears off....

.... and no you dont ned to be a sexy man.... these ladies know who has been there for a while....you just need some personality ... not just a big wallet to flash around...

Oh ok, thanks for clarification.

I thought there had to be something wrong with me that i could not get it for free from the prostitutes, so its the lack of personality.

Will try to provide them with a boyfriend experience next time, may be they will pay me.

If you have been in Thailand as long as you sound, geehz....... there are a lot of office girls that just want friends and a good time, not boyfriend experience, just friends...... but you wont find them in Patpong or nana...

Oh yeah... office girls actually pay for dinners and drinks too!.....

I have been in Thailand for quite some time (17 years) and you seem to be speaking of a different Thailand that I know of

If it's not the Yanks, ... or the Aussies ... or the Brits, then it's the French.

Doesn't leave many left

One general flame deleted also quoted replies and some posts edited.

Why do I always miss the good stuff

I live about 5 minutes from Safari World and the wife has been after me to go with the kids and now that i've seen this there is no way in hel_l that I will take them. I would rather spend that money and donate it to an Elephant rescue center if there is one.

Try googling the Lampang Elephant hospital and conservation center.

Entrapment?

Hahahahaha ... I must submit "Entrapment" for response of the month!!!