jdinasia

in many places .... ok change that .... in the US ... "not for profit" and "non profit" are 2 different things. The good places are non-profit ... the shady places are not-for-profit.

There are of course exceptions to this ... often Symphonies etc are not-for-profit ... the goal is to spend all they get.

So ... back on topic ....adopt an elephant? Try an animal rescue center in Thailand ... any animals ... or if you really care ... save some forest here!`

If they considered that a normal part of being a student? maybe :-) just as likely is This is Thailand ... :-)

sling sling .... you are rating way up there with some of the other folks around here .... to suggest that understanding etc equals condoning is just as silly as stating The US isn't a Democracy

I understand the response ... I did not find it surprising at all ... I in no way condone it. oh .. and "we cry foul" doesn't exactly apply to me either ... I am all in favor of peaceful protest/boycotts etc to raise awareness. I only cry foul when people damage that which harms others.

Is Jamie back to his old tricks?

hmmm on 1000 baht a day you could rent a small place for 6 months and it'd be doable.

hel_l if you can live in a small place you can do BKK on 40k and do it pretty decently if you have a life that doesn't revolve around bars

wow ... could you imagine ... trying to live in a 200 baht a day bungalow on some island and live off of 350 baht a day including EVERYTHING else? visa runs ... emergencies ... a beer once a week ... food etc?

lol ... define "against the law"

I've never thought about what divorce wuold mean in Thailand .... since the chances are a house etc will be in her name...

geeze B&S ... don't bring something like sense to this discussion!

hope the rest revover speedily tooo!

sounds like a great idea .... mind posting the details of the plans here or in the travel forum?

oh and what about yanks?

Depends on where you are and what consulate etc you are going to. A letter of admission from a Uni like Webster in ChaAm or BKK taken to a consulate in the US with the appropriate fee will likely get you a 1 year multi non-imm-ed

However, should you want to continue past that year ... you better have been going full-time and passing your classes :-)

AUA requires a bunch of hours ... look on their website ... and you'll only get it for a short duration ... not worth doing through a language school ....

the exception being ... IF YOU REALLY WANT TO LEARN Thai .... and are a dedicated student! ... 20 hours of classroom a week at Chula ... as long as you are going and progressing they will help you continue in the country. It is pricier than some other options .. but you'll learn!

If you're just gonna bum around ... find a better way!

Plus - what about sympathy those who have had land along one of those proposed routes, for many years, long before any announcement was made as to the route ?

I am sorry ... I am missing something. Why would those people need sympathy? If it continues they should sell to the profiteers or at least get a lawyer to insure they get paid like the speculators ....

If on the other hand they don't want to sell ... well if it doesn't happen then no problem.

I guess I need three hands ... if they don't want to sell or don't buy into the speculation of land along those routes ... well everywhere in the world people have their land condemned for the benefit of society at large. sucks for them maybe ... but they'll get fair market value out of it.

the best place I have found for info on the rail systems etc is 2bangkok.com ... great site for lots of stuff ... mostly about the airport BTS etc

i reccomend looking at travelocity there (the USA) too ... and signing up for the price updates they do

look at the beginning of the thread ... I got it there

Pretty sure your outbound (initial) leg must be bought in the country of origin. If you are leaving from the USA you'll need to buy it there. Also when buying tickets the first leg must be used before the second leg is valid.

I could be wrong ... anyone else want to respond?

like I said ... wind-up ... sometimes TiT may not mean This is Thailand ... sometimes it may mean Troll in Training :-)

Seriously now if everyone had the same opinion how boring of a debate would that be? Either of us could be right or wrong, only time will tell.

a debate requires an answer other than "it's not an election"

Brit ... Naive? OMG ....

So ... the deliberately misinformed and underinformed (gov't censorship and self censorship by the press due to Gov't influence) and ill-informed are in the same class? As for naivety ... why would it be naive to think that people with more access to information might be in a better position to make an informed decision? How about addressing this?

Democracy in it's truest form IS about one person one vote! That however is not practiced anywhere in the world that I know of. However ..... and this is a HUGE however in this case; Patronage ... vote buying (alleged) ...influencing the courts and independant bodies that oversee and regulate abuse of power etc are NOT part of any democratic process. Thailand is not a Presidential form of democracy ... no-one voted for Thaksin. And this

Democracy is always (in current practice around the globe) practiced with a checks and balances system. In Thailaland the Parlaiment is elected. They put forward the name of the PM. The PM constitutes the Gov't<executive> and the Parlaiment the legislative and there is supposed to be an independant judiciary. One of the powers of the PM is to dissolve Parlaiment in the case of the Government and the Parlaiment not being able to function because they are at odds. And possibly this?

The current situation doesn't fit that bill at all. The PM dissolved Parlaiment the day after his son was indicted for issues around the sale of Shinco .... Strange .. this stops Parlaiment from censuring him ... stops the opposition from having time and opportunity to rally people to the cause of democracy due to the 90 day rule. Oh and the time frame thing ... how about this?

As for your hypothetical ------- If the facts were out AND Thaksin were eligible to be PM again I'd have no problem with it ... after all Thaksin wasn't all that bad for me at all! Sooo how likely do you think that if it were all known and dealt with honestly that Thaksin would be eligible?

Huh Brit? what do you think? ... oh forgot .... if it's not an election it doesn't matter!

Hope you come back to Thailand soon Brit ... maybe you'll get out and around people so you can understand it.

like I said ... wind-up ... sometimes TiT may not mean This is Thailand ... sometimes it may mean Troll in Training :-)

Brit You are great about avoiding every issue raised. I think you just do this as a wind up ..... but hope you come back to thailand soon!

Not for Brit ... he keeps it simple .... nothing matters but an election. He missed the point again ... noone voted for thaksin ....

Well gentlemen yes I believe even the ill informed have rights to choose who they want regardless of how bad the particular candidate may be. I think its naive to think those educated in BKK know any better than their country counterparts.

Democracy is about 1 person 1 vote - the person doesnt need any information about a particular candidate. (unwise to not know what you are voting for, yes) He/she could like them because they have a great smile or charming personality. Elections plain and simple are about popularity if the truth be told.

Hypothetical - what would you say if those in country were informed of everything those in BKK, still voted TRT and supported Thaksin?

Brit ... Naive? OMG ....

So ... the deliberately misinformed and underinformed (gov't censorship and self censorship by the press due to Gov't influence) and ill-informed are in the same class? As for naivety ... why would it be naive to think that people with more access to information might be in a better position to make an informed decision?

Democracy in it's truest form IS about one person one vote! That however is not practiced anywhere in the world that I know of. However ..... and this is a HUGE however in this case; Patronage ... vote buying (alleged) ...influencing the courts and independant bodies that oversee and regulate abuse of power etc are NOT part of any democratic process. Thailand is not a Presidential form of democracy ... no-one voted for Thaksin.

Democracy is always (in current practice around the globe) practiced with a checks and balances system. In Thailaland the Parlaiment is elected. They put forward the name of the PM. The PM constitutes the Gov't<executive> and the Parlaiment the legislative and there is supposed to be an independant judiciary. One of the powers of the PM is to dissolve Parlaiment in the case of the Government and the Parlaiment not being able to function because they are at odds.

The current situation doesn't fit that bill at all. The PM dissolved Parlaiment the day after his son was indicted for issues around the sale of Shinco .... Strange .. this stops Parlaiment from censuring him ... stops the opposition from having time and opportunity to rally people to the cause of democracy due to the 90 day rule.

As for your hypothetical ------- If the facts were out AND Thaksin were eligible to be PM again I'd have no problem with it ... after all Thaksin wasn't all that bad for me at all!

Hmmmm

Gay life in BKK. I doubt the gay life is why people that don't like BKK would be the issue.

Saturday night around 2am across from Nana mini mart I witness a Japanese guy visciously kicking a Ladyboy on the ground repeatedly until an angry mob started punching the guy in the face till he was on the ground when the kicking of him ensued. Cooler heads soon prevailed.

Only caught the tail end of that one, the ladyboy sure was fvcked up.. The guy who seemed to be the center of it all didnt have a scratch on him tho

Ladyboy got the worst of it? Strange - usually they all come out of the works when one of their own is being attacked?

Defender of the Realm wasn't there? <just teasing Brit>