jdinasia

The return ticket purchased FROM BKK ...... SHOULD be cheaper

No sweat ... if you are doing 15 months that means that you have a non-imm Visa .... book one way ... then book a return ticket from BKK when you are heading back to the UK in 15 months

Don't fret Jamman.....

You're not going mad, you cannot express any opinion on these boards that so much as hints at an attack on "thai " culture, without people jumping on their own silly little soapboxes and shouting as loud as possible, that there must be something wrong with you for even thinking such a thing.. I cannot for the life of me work put why though. Usually only ignorant and uneducated people think and behave like that, and I know for a fact there are some very clever people on these forums, so go figure!!

I think it is a very interesting question the OP has brought up, and that's all it was... a question.

I am sorry ... what was the "question"?

Taking a piece of writing ABOUT writing ... and trying to make it about "Face" is plain silliness .....

It was misquoted through ommission (thankfully ... it was a dry paragraph to begin with)

Forbidden thought in Thailand? I don't know ANY forbidden thought ... there are some forbidden (taboo) topics of discussions .. either across age boundaries or other boundaries ... in polite company. These boundaries are set aside often.

But oi .... the madness that ensues

"Even a single taboo can have an all-round crippling effect upon the mind, because there is always the danger that any thought which is freely followed up may lead to the forbidden thought... If (the writer) is to switch his allegiance at exactly the right moment, he must either tell lies about his subjective feelings, or else suppress them altogether. In either case he has destroyed his dynamo... the prose writer cannot narrow the range of his thoughts without killing his inventiveness... Unless spontaneity enters at some point or another, literary creation is impossible, and language itself becomes something totally different from what it is now, we may learn to separate literary creation from intellectual honesty. At present we know only that the imagination, like certain wild animals, will not breed in captivity" - George Orwell.

Ask a SE Asian to tell you a fictional story - to on the spot invent a tale. All that I have asked can not. Ok, maybe that skill is too complicated. Ask one to narrate any interesting instance of their life. Most not only will not, they CAN not. There are simply too many mental blocks - there is too much dangerous territory - will they reveal something about themselves? Must they take some sort of stand, betray an opinion? They will panick at the thought of free flowing yet structured thought, freeze, and claim that they "have no stories to tell". A Thai has no story - no history - no personal identity that can be shared. Because of the blocks to thinking imposed by face.

Sometimes someone is capable of narrating some personal events, but I've never heard a story told that included commentary. It will be a strict chronological telling of events that happened. Nothing will be mentioned of the meanings of events, their import to the person, their feelings about them, how they were affected or changed by them, how they see the world now because of the events. Strict narrative with no editorial. Meaningless, or at least, the meanings in the story must remain unconscious and unspoken, like meanings in a passing dream. Vaguely felt but not fully known, ephemeral, and relating to no real thing. The Thai remains semi-conscious, not articulating his history to himself, not making mental maps of meaning, not gathering and garnering potions of wisdom from his events. He just wades from moment to moment, semi literate, semi conscious. May pen rai. "You think too mutch", he will say, when you catch him in inconsistencies. He prefers his mental blocks and illogical catch22 paradoxes and blind spots to too much thinking or other painful clarities.

Start with a guy with a narrowly misquoted out of context piece of Drivel .... and then watch his jump ACROSS topics to make the drivel stick to an unassociated topic .....

You might be rising some good questions that may help the westerners in their race after their own tail.

MBAs, great universities but still - bankrupt 80% of airlines, bankrupt world's biggest car manufacturers.

Contrary to your post, the people portraid as inferior (SE Asians) are prosperring. Best airlines, best cars, growth everywhere.

Have you thought the other way - SE Asians asking you and expecting answers to their liking? You might be choking and hessitating to answer.

Singapore is also SE Asia. They can teach the world a thing or two.

Japan is Asia too. China even more, due to it's economic growth.

That might make obsolete any of your worries. Or, if you insist, may form western sections equivalent to today's islamist bitter fractions.

Then Mix in a guy that can't read the topic and just call it a silly fabrication ..... ... and watch the chaos that ensues!

wheee ! Fun!

so ... who hit the #?

I replied to the thread ... when I jack it tends to be about Religion

Amazing Thailand .... it was sold here! .... but it won't be on Tues night through Wed

hmmmm careful consideration etc etc etc

but the PAD rallies sure changed the election results where they were held ....

but the last statement was the most telling .....

"under the rules of Democracy ..." Peaceful assembly and keeping your hand in IS part of democracy

I really do advise against deliberately using insulting/foul language towards ANY religion in the LOS ... it is illegal

Is it? Are you sure? Do you really think it is enforcable or are you just that stupid and green - or just so far up your own rectum that you think anyone gives a ######. Any fundimentalists have no place in any civillised society and deserve all the abuse they get when trying to impose and force their views on others.

Griffins ... the ^^ above^^ is a sample of what throwing insults looks like

Yes "The Philosopher" it is against the law here and it is enforceable ... it is most often enforced against people speaking out against Buddhism ... climbing on statues etc ... but has been enforced against people doing the same to other major religions here in Thailand. Strangely, your whole rant there is very "fundamentalist" in nature ... and well .... Atheism makes as much sense as Theism to me both claim to know the unknowable

looks like it should help alot with keeping the bigget trucks out of BKK proper ... good news!

is he there?

It is well worth it .... a singular expreience!

Frankly the pricing is HIGH for Thailand ... but for a night or 2 ... well worth doing

did the float and second pump before and put it on a timer AND a switch for late at night

Would be nice if the next one was NOT in lower Suk ... (or Cowboy or Patpong!)

huh? It's a fair comment ... if the Business men that represent them dive the same types of cars .... then they aren't very representative are they? .... either that or people's cars aren't the issues ... but nice picking that out of the post ... and leaving all the rest for a week

But even a better question .... since the PAD rallies were not covered well by the broadcast media ... (no coverage of the arriving "businessmen" ... and the print media that did cover it didn't show people climbing out of cars .... exactly how would the PAD folks be seen to be climbing out of cars in Isaan? Maybe they all have Satellite TV? nooooo

But I am amazed you can claim "life" coverage above particularly when the point in question was BMW's

Over here in Canada, as you like to always state, we watch Thai TV on the Internet. We get 5, 9, 11, Nation and ITV. Maybe you should watch on your computer, have your TV fixed or pay your UBC bill. Nation and ITV covered the Expensive Car incident and we managed to catch it even way over here or maybe you were protesting during the broadcasts.

lol

Gotcha ..... I'll look up the "Expensive Car Incident" ... might have to look in Canadian press .... but again ... didn't see it ... watch the news LIVE here ... not that early on there was very much coverage at all! and strangely I understand it without having someone explain it to me.

I am sure you made "The Expensive Car Incident" a major event online when you saw it ... but I haven't found any mention of it ....

I did however remember an article about a plane being purchased and a PM driving HIS BMW way too fast to be legal not too long ago

Yet again I get painted as a protestor .... if going to a rally or two makes me one then you better talk to ColPyat he was chatting with the leaders ... I just went for a quick looksee

oi

You cannot be comparing the late 1800's in Germany to 2006 in Thailand can you?

lol

Ummm I believe she is mistaken butthat's cool! I did watch the news and didn't see them ... The Cameras at the Rallies were showing the crowds and the stage almost all the time! (in the rare instance that I wasn't having to watch from satellite)

The coverage might have showed Thaksin and his gang showing up at JJ in BMW;s though

if you want low end (cheap) with an interesting crowd ... you might want to look at Big John's (bigjohnsworld.com) Thong Lor Soi 9 .... haven't stayed there but it is owned by an Aussie guy .... great sunday roast!

If this were the 1st of April!

Sorry ... I will leave those outrageous claims out of it in the future ....

But I am amazed you can claim "life" coverage above particularly when the point in question was BMW's

I spent a couple of weeks in Siem Reap and PP late last year ..... had an absolutely great time!

The cities were fine ... LOTS of fun ... well worth the trip! And now there are ATM's in Cambodia!

look at airasia.com

ummm no ... they were "not covered well" is an accurate statement

there was almost 0 live coverage .... and none that I saw of of "lines of businessmen getting out of" expensive cars ...

I don't have UBC out of principle, and therefore watch Thai news on the official channels. I have seen lots of life coverage, especially on channel 7, which had over long periods a small screen inserted which has shown the demonstrations. Every hourly news there were reports on the demonstrations.

But what can i say, i have proven to you already several times that incidents you have not seen as reported did actually happen, and were reported.

LOL

several times?

... once .... missed a short blurb ...

but as for "life"<sic> coveage there was almost o for the longest time .... radio shows cancelled ... coverage cancelled .... finally in the last 2 weeks there was SOME coverage on TV ...

and that likee you pointed out was often screen in screen that showed next to noghting ... and certainly not lines of BMW's etc ... those were only visible from Canada. "Every hourly news" ... there were mentions of the Rallies ... not real coverage. Kinda like daying "The Olympics are happening" and not even showing highlights

but no one can keep up with Batman and Superman and ... and .... and ....

oi!