tominbkk

The only evidence shown to us was a photo of the Russian standing next to the boy in a normal no sexual pose which most of us have done over the years with many Thai people young and old.

If that is the picture they were showing all over the news, the 'boy' looked between 22-25 years old. Don't know about you, but I consider a 25 year old a man.

About 3 years ago I went to renew my work permit. The man handling my application told me that the following year I would be more inconvenienced as I would need a police check from my home country. I politely asked him why and he told me that I was male and working with children and could be a Paedophile. I get where he was coming from but then asked him if the Thai teachers in my school had to do the same thing. His reply was that Thai men aren't Paedophiles - it was accompanied by that certain look that says - "it's obvious - Duuh!".

A couple years a go there was a special club of Thai male teachers in an elementary school right outside Bangkok that were routinely raping boys 8-10 years old. Parents found out because of blood in the boys' underwear. After it was happening for awhile, a few parents complained. At first the principal tried to play it down as not a big deal, calling the complaining parents 'troublemakers', but then the parents went to the police and press and they reassigned the teachers to other schools.

It is also fairly common knowledge that boys going to the monkhood during holiday should expect to have to service the adult monks. Very sick, indeed.

For many years the police station on the pier in Pattaya protected and made money off a bar, right next door to the station, which had young boys and girls as young as 6 years old for sale, who would be dressed in underwear for the customers to ogle.

Boy and girl brothels with very young kids are common in Thailand, but are kept to strictly Thai only. A huge boy brothel was busted in Nonthaburi a few years back with dozens of boys as young as 8 and up. A registry of the customers was kept. Plenty of politicians, military and biz biggies were on the list.

Man after my own heart, bonobo. I actually carry a valve stem remover for just such an occasion. No nead for vandalism and they can't claim insurance. But, having 4 flat tires sure causes an inconvenience. I usually leave a note on their windshield as well... just to let them know WHY I did it.

Careful you don't take the air out of the wrong person's tires, you could end up with someone taking the air out of you! Take your chances if you dare....

Besides, the whistling system is entirely wrong, at least for farangs, since it should be the other way round, that is to say as long as the whistle remains silent (after the initial starting blow) then one could continue reversing the vehicle more easily, and should the whistle starts blowing, then one knows one has to stop, unfortunately, this not going to happen.

That's what I always have thought.

Also, I just ignore them, as they seem to be directing me into walls or other cars sometimes. I have two friends here that have hit other cars because of the attendants' miscalculations. However, I smile and am nice with them as they will keep an eye out for thieves, and if they push a car away for me they get a twenty.

My philosophy here is to do as the Romans do, and maybe try and show a little bit extra gratefulness to the Thai people for inviting me and welcoming me to live in their country. If that means I give a big smile back or a tip that means nothing to me financial-wise but can buy them a nice snack or lunch, then I am happy to do so. This practice has made my near 20 year stay in Thailand great.

Some of the posters here seem very sour about living in this great country/culture and maybe for their own good should go back to the orderliness of the West.

Luckily my school is just getting ready to make an amazon order so I will have them throw in a camera kit, keyboard dock, and a couple styluses.  I'll let you know how they work when I get them.

BTW only Apple haters use the term "Apple fanboys", and since it's totally pointless to have a discussion with them I am not going to comment on that. Oh wait, maybe I just have

I never got that term as well. Always sounds like a pathetic sour grapes reaction to me.

Anyone seen these items for sale anywhere here? I looked all over my local IT place but nothing, even went to the Apple store and asked if they had them and they shot me some very dirty looks while shaking their heads no, haha. Angry I guess because by the time the iPad gets to their official shops the market will already be saturated, I suppose.

If I have a bunch of my own books on my com, I can put them on a Kindle myself (after whatever conversion I need to make with Calibre)? Or do they force you to only download from Amazon?

I'm curious, is there some kind of onboard keyboard that pops up, like on the Ipad?

Looks like a sad place, but any place that offers people for sale sexually is sad...interesting how the homophobes come out with tar and feathers so quickly, however.

They all look over 18 to me....

I just got a question: if the kid was yours, were all of you still supporting the paedophile farang and blaming Thai justice? LOL

And if he is innocent? If he was your kid, and someone was picked up under suspicion of being the perpetrator, would you not care whether or not he did it? Would his imprisonment without a trial or real investigation be OK with you?

Strange world you live in.

yep, free sound recorder is the best tool for what you want to do. Easy, reliable and free!

My village fines people for leaving their dogs outside or letting them poop wherever. Works well! Most people in my hood now actually walk their dogs with leashes and carry pooper scoopers. We actually have quite a few fines in place, keeps those who think they can do whatever the frag they want under control.

I was in Hanoi last week and 3G is almost everywhere...I got a pre-paid sim and it was blazingly fast. Good stuff, maybe Thailand needs to learn from Vietnam.

I had some problems with my notebook a few months back; I brought it to a shop for repairs. I waited while they removed the screen panel and told me it would take an hour; an hour later, it was still on the table. I waited at the shop and finally they got it done 30 minutes later

I guess I would bring it for repairs to a shop that looks neat the next time :-)

One problem with service in Thailand, you need to stand and watch the people complete your service, if you go away they will disregard what you need done and take care of other people who come in and watch what they are doing. Then when you come back and nothing has been done, you need to stand there and watch them work. Something I've learned here in Thailand, if you want something done quickly, do not leave the side of the person doing the fixing.

The iPad works great as an ereader....but also there are plenty of easy game apps designed for the elderly that help to boost memory and thinking skills. Take a look!

Babies and their bottles. Cigs and booze users, time to grow up and take your mother out of your mouth.

I hate that fuc_king splash screen as well. Nobody wants to see it, Especially when they just want to get to their home page and get to work. Then you have nonstop everything you amending and get away from it.

This whole thing must go quite a few layers deeper than any of us really know. He may be innocent, but his choice of friends and helpers was not the wisest. Still, I thought kudos on him that he was coming back to defend himself, and then he is deported. For all we know, he may have been part of the decision making process itself to deport himself......

Funny, I have been having many problems with my True internet the last couple months, lots of dropouts, and have had the repair guys over here many times. Finally, I was rummaging through a box of old electronics and found a few splitter boxes, and figured to install them. Oila, things were fine. Don't know why the True guys never noticed that I didn't have splitters......

I think it is a very touching ad. They banned it because, gasp, it might make people think a little and be less polarized. Can't have that! PM me for youtube search tips.

Hmmmmm.....death sentence?

Great News.....give me an update in two years!

<br />A Huawei mifi device is available in Pantip Plaza on the first floor (near the restaurant) from Total Aircard and yes you can put your sim into it. You can also check out the total aircard web site.<br />

Thanks abcd....that sounds more what I am looking for...I would rather be able to control the mifi sim card myself, and not be tied down to a subscription. I would assume that an edge or 3G sim would work in the Huawei?