Mur

I regard myself as very liberal but I do worry about the muslim faith. I dont believe they believe in democracy only in the word of God and for many that comes from a version of the koran that saudi arabia has been flooding the world with for years and it is my understanding that this version is not quite as benign as the original and possibly allows for or even promotes discrimination and worse against non muslims. I believe that rightly or wrongly muslims will/must stick together against all others when the times get hard/violent and the ideal result for them obviously would be a world governed by muslim beliefs. Given that the numbers are increasing far more than any other group it is only a matter of time before there are enough to elect muslim candidates (in western democracys) When that time comes I'll be wanting to be elsewhere tho in the country I live in at the ends of the earth that should be a very long time away. Not so for the tolerant UK and other European countries I would guess

yep you just aint match fit now

re the dual passport thing ( I have NZ and Irish,no probs) My wife was renewing her thai PP here in NZ in Dec and I spoke to the thai embassy boss in person and asked if it was illegal for thais to hold 2 passports, cos I've heard so many opinions. He gave me a knowing kind of look and said "it is not illegal, but we dont encourage it"

was at songkran celebration at the thai temple in christchurch NZ recently. Not a huge crowd with a couple of small stages set up and the speakers at both were on 11. I play loud music thru headphones all the time but had to move away from the line of the PA speakers while a young thai lady was MC'ing a beauty comp as the volume was painful. Was just like being back in Thailand

read in the NZ christchurch press (overpriced rag mind you) that the fake detectors James McCormick sold were novelty golf ball finders he paid 13 english pounds for and sold for as much as 27,000 pounds. The man is obviously the salesman of the century

Somehow I doubt that any foreigner would be allowed to join the Thai national scheme at 30b/month, and I really don't see anything wrong with that. In the same way, I would expect a visitor to my country to have some form of insurance or be able to pay for their own medical costs if they have an issue while travelling there.

I have long term travel insurance which I renew every year. Costs about NZD500 for a year and has all the necessary cover I need for both living in Thailand and travelling overseas.

I'd consider it very unwise for anybody living as an expat or travelling anywhere in the world not to have appropriate insurances in place. As to Insurances in your domestic country, well they're all different so everybody has to make their own call based on their circumstances and government policy.

I think it actually is a good idea for any government to require travel/medical insurances before entry is allowed into the country - not just Thailand. It sure would solve a lot of hard-up stories from travellers here that get injured or sick and didn't have the wisdom to think that maybe a foreign government doesn't have the same obligations to look after me as my own government.

As a kiwi who lived in BK on and off for a few years with no insurance I paid cash at various hospitals for mostly minor stuff luckily. Probably wouldnt risk it again tho if we come back I'd be 60's and would have trouble getting cover I guess. I must say the we are very generous in NZ in that all tourists are covered by our accident compensation scheme for any injury accident. Yes it is ridiculous isnt it

never happened to me. have'nt had a beer for 19 years. Wots it like ??????

obviously an April fools story this one. The best clue being that "trucks and buses will be exempt because they have professional drivers" If not I will be even more nervous on the roads particularly when I am not the driver

I work in a boilerhouse. A coal fired one

I remember in NZ many years ago and adult male being killed by one of these on his own out on a farm. It just ripped him to bits. In the 70's in NZ there were heaps of dumb nice dogs around like afgan hounds and Irish Setters (I had one) plus lots of others harmless breeds plus dobermans. Now there are heavyset pitbull types and Staffies everywhere and yes sadly most of the owners look like there dogs

I'll never forget a friend in BK telling me years ago that you only need to know 3 phrases. Mai ow, mai kaojai and mai mee tang

myself, as a recovering alcoholic sober for 19 years the fact that you're wondering about your consumption is significant I think. And yes its not really about how much you drink, but what it does to you. A good test for you might be to just not drink at all for a period and see if you are as happy/at ease etc without it or whether you are "hanging out"

I remember a definition I always liked which was, If you have a consistant problem in any area of your life because of alcohol, ie health / mental health,work, finances, relationships, police, then you need to look very hard at your drinking. I often think it easier to decide if someone is a SOCIAL drinker or not than whether an alky or not. To me a social drinker is a person that can have 1 or 2, or not, or who can walk away and leave a glass half finished (I never would) and who doesnt have to have a drink every day or watch the clock for an acceptable time to have a drink. Most importantly alcoholism is a disease of denial, therefore most people have to lose a great deal before they can accept the fact, if they do at all.

Is he actually on the run? Is anyone actually actively looking for him in Sweden? I think the headline is a bit misleading .. Sounds like he was handed his passport by the police, released and simply booked and caught a flight home... now he's in Sweden unless someone fights for extradition I sincerely doubt anyone is actively seeking him in Sweden as he's not been charged with anything there.

The jurisdiction of the Thai police ends in Thailand, so an active arrest warrant in Thailand when the Thai police know full well he's in Sweden is useless. If this isn't a blatant case of police/ court corruption in Thailand I don't know what is. Since when were murderers granted leave to travel home to spend Xmas with their family?

sounds like your right, he'll get off scott free. what about Interpol? do they have any authority in a situation like this?

Now its probably down to the NZ government, who will have to squeal like a stuck pig for any justice.

as a kiwi I'm just glad the victim is not a member of my family as I cant imagine for a moment our govt doing much at all when it comes to helping an individual. Now if it was a big foreign company, warners bros for eg or another govt wanting something, nothing would be too much

apparently alcohol can make people do things they wouldnt normally do ie wear those black socks with white shoes

I have been in Thailand for several years now and have been bitten by a mosquito maybe 2-3 times. I am one of those people who does not get bitten, so to me this is not so much of a worry directly, but of course it could end up turning into a huge disaster which would still affect my life and people I care about. We are due for a major culling anyway, the influenza virus mutates often and roughly every 90 or so years it mutates to cause a deadly epidemic. The last time this happened was the Spanish Flu, so whatever will be will be...

I might be wrong but my understanding is that some people have absolutely no reaction to mossie bites,unlike me. So it doesnt necessarily mean that people that think they dont get bitten are safe from any mossie borne disease any more than folks like me that itch

"The internet means there is nowhere and no one in the world you can't reach easily and cheaply"

unless they live in Thailand

or new zealand

How about some credit to the police for trying to do something about the crime. Everyone complains about the police doing nothing then they try to do something and everyone complains. You all are really a bunch of little whiny jack offs

just arrived have ya

the pic reminds me of the old song "never smile at a crocodile"

wont be long before you hear the sound of the band at the wedding procession. Yours. Enjoy. That music is fantastic

I had a double endoscopy( both ends) at the very highly regarded Samitivej in sukhumvit in 2007. They estimated mid 30k if I remember rightly but the end cost was more like mid 40's which was a bit of a shock but was told they took off 9 polyps which cost x ammount each. Everything about it went smoothly other than it costing a lot more than I expected.

Only thing is I had the same procedure done here in NZ last month and price aside the odd thing is there were no polyps found and I would have expected for sure that more would have grown in all that time. Which leads me to think that maybe there were none found at Samitevej either. Easy to tack that cost onto the bill with no chance of any comebacks ? Cant be sure but food for thought is'nt it.

Very sad I say. Tis a fine line for some people

in 2002 when I was living in suk soi 22 and walking down the street in the early evening down towards Rama 4 a guy sitting on a bike grabbed me by the arm and said police, stop. As I wrenched my arm away I saw he had a gun strapped to his side but wasnt wearing any police insignia that I could see, so this kiwi sped up a bit then legged it down an alley before that slow dude could get started and get around a couple of parked cars to chase me. My passport at the time was either at The Wall bar in silom or on its way to/from Malaysia, so I wasnt giving that **** any chance to extort me

as Henry Chinaski said when asked "do you hate the cops" he replied "no, but I feel better when they're not around"

Who's Henry Chinaski and I bet he wasn't being mugged at the time.

as Henry Chinaski said when asked "do you hate the cops" he replied "no, but I feel better when they're not around"

And Invercargill came 2nd