Seneque

What is this point reduction thing on the driving licence ? ... Never heard of this before or i missed it ...

How many points to start with do we have on the licence ...

Strike at the airport (baggage handler) ...

I can see here that they are learning from 'french' professional strikers ! ... where strikes are a way of life ...

However here it seems they have a good reason to do it.

I do think the Thai police are as the article says but leaders of the US financial industry are starting to seem even more corrupt to me with their flagrant abuse of the bailout funds. Both situations make our respective countries develop slower than they should and limits opportunities for the average citizen.

I could not agree more ... and it is rather disturbing to see all that happen shamelessly.

Why is PM Abhisit is always remembering us about what Thaksin can do and not do, where to go and not to go ... does he have nothing better to spend his time with, like say ... restore confidence in this country ...?

Seems to me a bit like, hey i can go to Japan, not you ... (school yard stuff ...)

The problem is : there is no clarity in the state of finances in Thailand.

One day "we will not be affected by the economic meltdown", another day "the government is running out of funds", at the central bank they say "a strong baht is good enough for the economy", exporters claim " the ever stronger baht is killing us" ...

Borrowing 270 billions baht to boost what ?

Everyone has his own reasons, and it is business as usual with no planning, no anticipation, basically no clear cut policy.

With such inconsistencies, for those who wish the devaluation of the baht ... they might have good new sooner rather than later.

Most things are about handouts around here ...

Khun Abhisit is distributing handouts of 2000bt (probably the best 'disguised' vote-buying scheme ever) to people with an income of lower than 15000bt (where the money is coming from remains to be seen)

Mr Taksin fans (the reds) are willing to help him with a handout of cash (whatever amount they come with, he already has zillions more !)

If all the money wasted in Thailand had been genuinely invested in a proper education of the masses, what a fantastic country this could have become. There is still hope, but to live on hope nowadays is far from enough.

Don't help Mr. T, help educate your kids.

I saw those red shirt people at the chiangmai airport entrance around 4pm ... not very many of them (50 at most) and they looked pathetic (just like the yellow do look as well)... my 16 yo daughter mentionned the word 'freeky'!! ... hopefully the movement is dying down (even though some groupuscule might hang around for a while). Time now to look forward !

Among the Thai premier's entourage is Army chief Gen. Anupong Paochinda.....

Therefore i tend to agree with yr comment ... Gen. Anupong is the real leader in Thailand now ...

Restoring the tourism industry is the same as restoring the economy ... it's all about confidence !

Meanwhile wishfull thinking and window dressing is certainly not enough ... It requires skill, innovation, competence ... i dont see any of those in the new government (elect?!)

Happy New Year everyone. Any idea why all the CalTex stations are systematically shuttering up? Just happens to be my favorite gas.

I have worked in the oil and petroleum product transportation business most of my adult life and can tell you that the gas you buy at one service station is essentially identical to the gasoline at another, especially among the bigger companies. CalTex is the name Chevron-Texaco uses outside of North America, Esso is ExxonMobil, Shell uses the same marketing name worldwide, PTT is a wholly owned Thai company I believe and I think BP uses the same name everywhere as well. All these companies and others are constantly selling oil and refined products amongst themselves. If, for example, PTT experiences a refinery shut down they will buy product from Esso in exchange for the promise that if Esso's plant is shut down in the future PTT will in turn sell them product, nearly all the major oil companies have these kinds of agreements amongst themselves. 89 octane gasoline at one station is the same as 89 octane gas at another. There are only a few oil refineries in Thailand mostly in the Sri Racha area (I know Thai Oil and Esso have facilities there) and they sell their refined products including gasoline to the distributors that supply most all the stations in the country, so the gas at the CalTel stations could very easiliy have come from the same refinery as the Shell or Esso stations across the street. Service at the different stations may vary of course, but the gasoline is usually the same.

Except of course when you buy from people who smuggle refined oil... remember MP petroleum (owned i believe by the guy who hides himself in a casino in cambodia)

Personally I tend to see the loan sharking as more of a problem within poor communities in urban areas than in village communities

Or probably also to small businesses with no available liquidity and if in quick need of it to satisfy a manufacturing order will have no time to have the loan approved by the bank ....

To go back to the topic i recall that Mr. Taksin launched a program to rehabilitate land called something like : 'turn capital into assets' and this was very succefull. I guess the democrats are trying to do a little of the same.

One way to avoid land grabing would probably be to make sure the title deed owner (a farmer i presume) not being able to transfer and/or sell the land for 10 years ... or even 20 years ... but still being able to use the land as collateral ... This would probably hamper the greed from well to do families to use nominees as they won't be able to transfer the land for a long time ...

Land distribution (re-allocation) is a basically sound policy.

About the "white temple" (Wat Rong Khun) - it truly is a remarkable place. As the photo of the reaching hands suggests, it has some amazing art - as well as the overall effect effect of all that white and silver mirror mosaic pieces. The wall paintings inside are astonishing - including very imaginative and stunningly modern representations of 9-11 etc. I was fortunate enough to be there over a year ago when the artists were still at work on them.

I've wondered where the money comes from to pay for all this - and who was boldly imaginative enough to commission the design and art. In any event, it has become a major attraction and (from what I hear since) always seem to be busy with visitors. A "must see".

It's not a real temple (in the true sense of the word)

Built by some guy with money burning a hole in his pockets. (probably provides some return from donations received)

That said, it is quite a nice place to visit.

The whole area is owned by a very famous thai painter called 'Chalermchai Kositpipat' ... he sells his paintings (like hot cakes) around thailand and overseas too. He gets some money from donations also and is commissioned to do some jobs around thailand (the new -weird- clock in chiangrai for ex.) and the huge project to build (i think) an underwater temple in the lake of Phayao ...

Perhaps a little perspective is in order. Remember, most of us decided to move to Thailand because of the overwhelming hospitality of the Thai people aided by the fact that it was relatively inexpensive to live here off of funds brought in at the stable longtime exchange rate of 25 baht/dollar. Recently the baht has had a massive depreciation to approx. 35 baht/dollar. As you would expect, most of the farang living here in Thailand are living a vastly more comfortable lifestyle that they were previous. Some of this, of course, is due to Thailand's rapid advancement. But the depreciation of the baht that has occured over the recent decades certainly helps.

agree but the surged in prices really outweight (by far) this depreciation ... and makes thailand not as cheap as it was.

The baht will flow with the dollar and as the dollar (US) is overbought and stored in treasuries which the government will not be able to finance any much longer, the dollar despite some spikes and the 'obama hope factor' is destined to collapse and will take the baht with it.

As opposite, the AUD (australian) and GBP (pound) will regain some of their shine as these currency are drastically oversold due to the huge develerage that took place in the last months of 2008.

Afaik, blankets and stuff gets handed out most every year up north?

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In our village in Buri Ram blankets get handed out to the elderly every year, and then thrown aside when the weather warms up.

Is it unkind to wonder why people prefer not to store them for the next inevitable cold spell? Or do these emergency supplies maybe have some resale value?

You r right ... could the blankets be returned to the proper authorities for safe keeping and then be cleaned up and distributed again for next winter (as it seems people r more careless taking good care of donations)... is it not time to try saving a little !

Lived in the north for the last 20 years ... it is cold every year (this year is not the coldest) ... nothern people should be prepared for winter, right ...

I wouldn´t try it in a million years. "THAI INVESTMENT 1,75%", why bother when you can get better interest elsewhere?

can you please PM me some places with better interests paid per month?

thank you

Better than 21%/year ... PM me too !!!?

Unfortunately crossing a railtrack here is always at your own risk as there is no barriers or lights to warn off coming trains ... the SRT has not invested in anything for ages and it is sad that these young kids were victims of another careless government agency.

What a load of rot. More nanny state'ism at its worst. They don't put barriers up at major road intersections, it's up to each driver to slow down and make sure the way is clear before proceeding, so why don't drivers do it when crossing a railway track? Scared they'll waste a minute of their life by slowing down enough to check for trains? In any case, you'll find that whenever a main road crosses a railway track in Thailand it is usually far more protected than in any western country, with a man on the spot making sure the barriers and lights are working. This instance could have been on an unprotected minor road crossing - all the more reason to slow down and check, or they were racing under the barrier as it was closing to try and beat the train - a common cause of train car collisions over here. These kids were victims of another careless driver.

I don't think trains would be warned off by flashing lights anyway, what are they going to do, turn around and go back?

why are so angry ... everyone may have an opinion and if you don't approve of it you can state yr point of view without injuriating (nanny yrself by the way, nah)... and again sorry for the 'trains would be warned off' ... it should have been the cars ...

TAT can then rest on laurels they didn't do much to earn ...

Unfortunately crossing a railtrack here is always at your own risk as there is no barriers or lights to warn off coming trains ... the SRT has not invested in anything for ages and it is sad that these young kids were victims of another careless government agency.

The sources said Thai officials are reviewing material received from Tokyo prosecutors and will decide whether the case constitutes bribery under Thai law.

If you pay 500 Baht to Thai traffic police for not writing a speeding ticket, it is call a win-win. It is NOT a bribe. Not in Thailand anyway.

Speeding tickets are in my world (mainly chiangmai-bkk highway 1) 200bt including a receipt and valid (sic) for a full day ! ... why would i pay 500bt for not having a speeding ticket receipt ? ... strange.

Used to work in construction and obviously bribery is fierce the world over ... interesting to see that bribery in thailand is spelled or viewed differently, but this should not come as news as it is a fact of life.

Funny how things go ... 2 swedish kids snatch a couple of t-shirt (and that is most probably the end of the world coming up !...) and TV's people are now at each other throats ...

Would be interesting to know more about those t-shirts ... what made them so appealing to steal ?!

At first you find it amusing, then you want to change things, then you are frustrated because nothing changes, then you absolutely do not want to change anything, then you find it amusing ... but of course it takes a long time to realise it !

To me thailand is a first world country as it is the country i have been living for a quarter century !

Hi-So thai girls do not celebrate Christmas ... very simple

And the last 500 mil is with Madoff .... !

Even so, tourism will indeed continue to be the engine that drives what's left of the Thai economy - which doesn't say a whole lot of good things for other business sectors within Thailand.

But it was said in other reports that tourism represents only 3 to 5 per cent of the gross domestic product ... how can this percentage become the main driving force of the economy is open to speculation ...

Help exporters : ... drive the baht down and you become competitive (China devalued its currency several times these last months ...