captainstabbin

I know there are a few VHS -> DVD places upstairs {4th floor?} of Panthip, which is not near you though. If they are of use to you I'll have a rummage for numbers.

Regards

I go to Pratunam daily. Could you recommend a particular shop you have used. I have 1 particularly precious VHS tape to copy and I don't want it handed to a loon!

If the Kra Canal is ever built (and it will only be built with Chinese money), Thailand will lose it's sovereignty. There may be a thin guise of autonomy but it will be a defacto Chinese prefecture providing bluewater ports and a Malacca oil security solution. Given the dearth of women to marry for the generation coming of age now, I assume they'll be coming for some of those as well.

Or alternatively, the Suez and Panama experience will prevail. Foreign investment followed by local sequestration...

An acquaintance of mine on Phuket has just told me that some friends of his in Pattaya have had their companies investigated by the government and their houses sequestrated.

Now, bearing in mind anything you hear here you must take with a very large grain of salt - does anyone know of any instance of this? Even one?

Certainly 'Investigations' are ongoing into all foreign owned businesses regarding nominees, but the time limit for reporting/action is well off, so maybe they are just under investigation and have reported their status and scaremongering as a result?

Ok thanks guys. 10K per DAY is huge. Can you recommend anywhere to go to find a car/driver?

Petchburi car rental is quite cheap and efficient. Petchburi Road, just past Soi Soonvijai, heading out of town...

Used them several times as I lived around the corner years ago.

2 years ago I hired a driver and his pick up (newish Vigo) for a few days trip up to Buriram. Negotiating a sweeping left hand bend going uphill there was a police roadblock. Now in front of us was another pick up on Pattaya plates (ours were bangkok). He may, if he had any eqqupment, have been able to assess the speed of the first vehicle but he could not have done ours. He apparently wanted Bt500 but I told our guy that it was his problem so I never found out what it really was. I get stopped for doing 130kpm and am prepared to pay Bt100 each way for the privilage of going as fast as I want.

And happily kill, injure and maim along your way. Great.

Just a footnote.

Any Visa to UK can gain entry to Eira under Anglo Irish Agreement, circa 1985. Re-entry is under same rules. She can actually travel (as you can) with any photo ID, rather than passport. Some ferry companies don't even need this, but it is advisable.

For the time being I stay cash.

LaoPo

Good-oh. I know who is buying the beers in 6-months or so.

I also know who isn't. You know who you are...

That is the same gripe that you might hear anywhere, in any country, culture or language.

But some old people are always gonna complain about "kids today..."

Yes, exactly.

The French were (are??) going crazy about all the English creeping into their language.

In America, and probably elsewhere, text-messages on the mobile phone, rap "music", movie marketing, etc are causing anxiety for the few remaining English speakers still living there.

While language is dynamic and changes with the times, there's still good reason for conservatives (not all of whom are "old people") to want to preserve the language and allow change to be practical and measured rather than dictated by school drop-outs and illiterate graffiti artists.

The computer age has meant that languages have had to change out of necessity to deal with this important all-encompassing addition to our lives. That's reasonable. Changing the language to accomodate teenagers who are having hormonal hot flashes is not.

I do appreciate those concerns (lae kaojai duai). But you would be very wrong in saying that anyone is accommodating teenagers - nor ever has. Slang words are never created with any official or unofficial permission from anybody. They just happen. What are you proposing, to prevent that? What exactly are you saying? Masses of people make their own language, even (or especially) in totalitarian societies. Latin was one language which was strictly regulated to keep out the contamination of the "vulgate" - i.e., what real people spoke. As a direct result, Latin died as a practical language, and the various forms of the vulgate became the Romance languages; that includes the French language that those people are so passionately attached to, without even recognizing that it was once considered "vulgar" by "civilized" people.

Like it or not, there's nothing you can do about the way people choose to speak. Nothing at all.

I completely agree, although like to think that I am a stickler for correct written English (spelling and typos on forums exempted ). I am embarrassed to say, however, that I had to get some 'sms speak' words translated by a 17 year old when in UK two months ago. I am 33, so I understand how bewildering the rate of change must seem in this fast-communication age to the septagenarians in charge

A group of four monks in Phitsanulok Wednesday distributed leaflets and CDs protesting against the draft constitution.

<snip>

let us see how monks actions would be prevented as illegal !

Maybe thats why the Junta were so keen to send a load of monks down to the troubled South for Lent!

Hmmm, there is latin dancing at the hotel at Chitlom station in that bar... forget its name, been there a few times. There is also latin dancing going on at Bed Club on Sukhumvit soi 11 on Wednesdays on the supper side. Mexican food: Sunrise tacos at emporium foodhall or Asok BTS station and there's Senior Picos at the Rembrandt hotel on sukhumvit soi 16 and they do a little salsa dancing there. There are lessons available all over the city.

Damian

Rembrandt is on Soi 18

I'm talking about degrees of separation, not relative cost of sex for hire, although sure, overall that will have it's implications as well. If you took an average convenient store worker here and say in London, I'd say the local here would be more likely to have had sexual contacts with high risk to STD exposure groups: say motorcycle taxi drivers, local motorcycle hoodlum types, and so forth, most of whom would also have had their own list of high risk contacts with local prostitutes and perhaps IV drug users (not to mention that having a heroin addiction here is actually rather affordable for the masses) and possible exposures.

And I'm not just talking about the lowest levels of society, either. Related to the relative "cost" of sex here (and that's both direct and indirect... whether it's directly for cash, or tuition, or phones, cars, condos, etc.) overall the average adult IMO will have had far more partners and unsafe sex exposures than in many other places in the world. That equals increased risk in my book.

How many folks here were having more sex before they arrived here? I know one's results may vary, but back in college "back home," getting laid half a dozen times a year meant you were having a good year. Here, that's about 3 weeks if you happen to want to get soapy just after golf. My point is that it's a different dynamic and standard "studies" regarding risk (let's say for any kind of STD exposure) might not really be anything close to accurate.

So, with regards to my earlier question about whether you thought everyone in Thailand was a prostitute, the answer is no, but the percentage is far greater that in Western society...

Do you have any percentage figures in mind, comparison-wise?

Please note, I am not taking issue with you, just trying to fully understand your perspective on this.

"Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthayamahadilok Phopnoppharatratchathaniburirom Udomrathcaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkatthatiyawitsanukamprasit"

full name of Bangkok city

DID YOU KNOW?

The full Thai name for the city of Bangkok is Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthayamahadilok Phopnoppharatratchathaniburirom Udomrathcaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkatthatiyawitsanukamprasit, which means "City of angels, great city, immortal jewel of Great Indra's Ayutthaya, land of the blissful nine-jeweled capital, with abundant palaces, immortal palace where Brahma's incarnation dwells, built by Vishnukarma (the god of engineering)." Most Thai find it more convenient to use the abbreviated form Krungthep. They only use the name "Bangkok" when speaking foreign languages.

hawaii.edu

thanxs

I thought that this was the first thing visitors who could use google found out about BKK

In the late seventies and early eighties (maybe) there was a TV game called "Its a knockout". It was fronted by a guy called Stuart Hall who for most of the time was in fits of laughter,,Eddie Waring (ex-rugby commentator..."up and under" fame)also hosted the show.

To cut a long story short.

Why not get both teams to carry water,in the colour of the team,in buckets across various obstacle courses involving large inflatables and scandavanian birds in wet t shirts, without dropping any water. The team that collected the most water wins.....simple innit?

Yes - they even had a special 'royal' its a knockout, featuring Fergie and some others. This could be revived for special occasions, Cup Final, Charity sheild and the like.

As an aside, Stuart Hall still does match summaries for Radio Five Live!

There is also a set-up {looks like a Thai MBE clone}, at BTS Saladeang on the walkway to the MRT.

Regards

They are good at that

No-vote raid 'illegal', says election official

Published on July 29, 2007

Police claim seizure of anti-charter posters was military order

Police have raided the Duang Prateep Foundation and confiscated 4,000 posters encouraging votes against the junta-sponsored draft charter.

The posters carried the message: "It's not illegal to vote against the draft constitution".

No one has been charged fol?lowing the seizure.

Pravit Rojanaphruk,

Jumpol Nopthip

nationmultimedia.com

So the message is - It is illegal to vote against the draft constitution

Hi

I have a small business in the UK which i have put on hold for the last 12 months, mainly because i have been here in Thailand for that time. What i want to know if anyone can tell me. Is it possible to run my business in Thailand, but keep my trade target customer area in Europe, mainly the UK. Also, as my suppliers are from the UK would this have an affect. I'm only thinking from a tax point of view.

I understand the implications of having to have Thai partners but that isn't a problem. My suppliers have been loyal to me as i have to them for about 12 years, so if anything should happen they would pull the plug.

As far as payments are concerened, they would be made via the website mostly. On occasion i would have to return to the UK to handle a project.

I specialise in high end smart home technology. AMX, Crestron, Lutron, Lexicon etc.

If you can opererate you UK business whilst based in Thailand - keep it there! There is absolutely no benefit or reason to relocate its registration to LOS. In fact it would be madness.

Wow Bronco! I assume you're American, and I can see you're a moderator. Are you prepared for the torrent of abuse, largely sarcastic, that could easily descend on you - or has the battle already been fought? Surely as a moderator you shouldn't bait us mere mortals!

Member levels too high?

Labour Court to announce verdict in former Bangkok Post reporter case Tuesday

July 22, 2007 : Last updated 05:48 pm

The Central Labour Court has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday for reading out the verdict in a civil case where a Bangkok Post reporter demanded severance pay and compensation for his dismissal over an article about runway cracks at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The judges will rule on three disputes between plaintiff Sermsuk Kasitipradit and three defendants: Post Publishing, former editor David Armstrong and the board of the newspaper's provident fund.

The disputes are over whether Sermsuk's employment contract was terminated legally, whether Post Publishing and Armstrong committed torts against Sermsuk and whether Sermsuk was entitled to severance pay of more than Bt623,000.

The Nation

The virdict was to reinstate, but does anyone know if this has actually happenend?

Sadly, I agree with croftrobin. As i write this, i've just poured a glass of JW Black bought from a Laos border checkpoint. It had all the duty free stamps on it (ostensibly it was Singapore). I've just opened the bottle. It's crap. Obviously a fake. Tastes more like 100 Pipers or some such crap

Funnily enough, my Scotch drinking expert buddy rates 100 Pipers above JW Black.

100 Pipers is the export label made by the Chivas distillery.

Not much in it when your at the low end of the market for blended whiskies anyway (JW Red, black, 100 Pipers, Famous Grouse, Bells etc, etc).

I often drink 100 Pipers at the local thai restraunt I frequent if they have sold out of my favorite, Benmore (an extra B30 per bottle). You actually have to watch out for the fake Pipers, which is more prevalent than you would think in Thailand

captainstabbin, further south in Key West, you'd have gotten beat up by asking them to knock you up some fags....

I actually was in Key West, but you see, in UK to 'knock up' can be used for the verb 'make', so unlikely with regards to fags

Technically we are supposed to inform immigration every time we move for over 24 hours. A copy of the form is available here; <a href="http://www.pattaya-immigration.org/download%20forms/tm28.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.pattaya-immigration.org/download%20forms/tm28.pdf</a>.

How many foreigners reading this thread report to immigration any time you stay in another province over 24 hours? Every trip to Bangkok, every trip upcountry? Every time you go away for the weekend?

Quite - which is why I am trying to understand this, as it potentially is a head-spinner.

Or more likely another source of tea money, if the BIB can't find anything else wrong!

And we know what happened when they tried that one last time

I missed that but surely its Chiang Rai related.

Are we back on the Chang Rai sense of humour thing again? Is such fighting part of this sanook?

The results of the 'quality tourist' drive coming home to roost perhaps...

This reminds me (as a brit) of when I moved to the US. I had been there (Florida) for a few months when my friend from the UK joined me and we decided to drive down to the Keys for a holiday. Tired after an 18-hour drive, I reported to the poolside bar after check-in and, along with ordering a beer, asked the astonished barman/bar-steward/bartender if he could:

"knock me up a club sandwich or something"

This being a perfectly acceptable turn of phrase in the mother tongue