007

Something scary happened to me yesterday: a person next to me used her phone to track my phone number, and then called a service number of DTAC and used my pre-paid balance to make freak calls to the number I had called last the day before. Not only didn't I realise anything 'strange', but the calls didn't even show up on my mobile phone. I just realised it once my girlfriend asked me whether I had called her several times without talking on the phone when she answered the calls. And I saw that my number was on her display even though I had not called her at all that day and it did not show up on my phone! I immediately called DTAC just to find out that my balance was drained down to 0 baht!! How is this possible? (My girlfriend later told me that many Thais know how to do it. Particularly using other people's DTAC numbers.) Is there a way to stop having one's phone credits stolen?

I have used Kasikorn without any difficulties for sending money out of the country; however from exp this can depend as much on the branch as the bank.

The only minor hiccup I (almost) had was the very helpful chap mistaking New Zealand for Switzerland - I clicked when he started to chat about the Euro conversion rate!

I don't expect you'll have similar confusion with USA.

LOL. Thanks for the info, Atmos. Will try Kasikorn; have had an account with them for a while, so hope they will do it.

As it says in the title; need to transfer a small amount (5,000 USD) from my Thai savings account to my account in the US. Which Thai bank will make the least "trouble" to transfer money out of Thailand? (I don't work, so no work permit, and the funds have been here in Thailand for ages, so the ATM slip is unreadable.

No such thing as free education in thailand no matter what the gov says, everyone I know gets hit with big fees every semester in public schools. The sooner thailand abolishes about 95 % of these so-called ep, mep, iep blah blah blah programs the better, most are nothing but cash generators for school admin to piss away. English should be made an elective subject, every program I have taught in here I am lucky if 10% of the class has any interest in learning english, most students are forced to attend and will never use english again after leaving the classroom.

Sadly, I have to agree. I know of upcountry schools, where poor kids have to shell out lots of money for field trips, uniforms, etc., which are officially free. Then again, Thai teachers need donations.

As for learning English; I've worked in all kinds of schools over the years, and agree that at least 4 out of five kids are not interested to study English, particularly at high school level. The ones who need English later at university usually brush up their language skills at that time.

Seems like another typical scheme with no thought put into it; TIT

Probably to better identify the alien kids from neighbouring countries (including hill tribe kids) who, unscrupulously, misuse Thai educational and medical facilities, while encroaching on Thai soil, breathing Thai air...

Mari Kiviniemi, Prime Minister of Finland

Laura Chinchilla, President of Costa Rica

To thaksin "reconciliation" is just the mask over the words amnesty / whitewash, and nothing more.

Not to mention, helping himself, and filling his pockets with billions of confiscated funds, won by corruption and fraud prior to the coup in 2006..

Can I have some reconciliation, please?

Whatever your political affiliations are it must be noticed that our new PM is not exactly unattractive and I'm sure many men wouldn't mind waking up next to her. So if you look at past and present female premiers what is the competition for the title of " The Sexiest Prime Minister Ever "

At first, what is your nationality? As for me, I have no right to even give my vote in local elections, despite the fact that I've been living here for the past nine years, and am financially supporting a large family in Esarn, including my girlfriend's kids from an earlier marriage. So, she is not my PM... (And neither is she my 'type', so I would hit her over the head with a baseball bat if I saw her in my bed.)

As for other female prime ministers, how about...

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, president Argentina

Yulia Tymoshenko, former prime minister Ukraine,

Tansu Ciller, former prime minister Turkey ...

Fantastic!!! Democracy is back! :jap:

There's got to be a reason that 95% of Thais pronounce it 'democrac(z)y', with the stress on the third syllable.

Or as J. M. de Maistre wrote: 'Every country has the government it deserves.' - Good night luck, Thailand! :jap:

Mobile phone robbed actually sounds more dramatic.

It wasn't simple theft, but the phone was violently taken.

The title should read, of course, 'Mobile Phone Robbed...'. Either it was my Freudian error, or the words were changed somehow...

I hope the feelings of the phone where not badly bruised, maybe buy the phone a some flowers.

Well, 'Mobile phone violently snatched by illegal lottery criminal because of outstanding debts of co-worker and false promises...' was too long and would not have fit into the topic field...

We'll try the 'police option' again today. If to no avail, we'll try to find out the residence of the person who snatched the phone violently, trying to 1) get the phone back, or 2) get whatever valuables this scumbag woman (lottery ticket seller) has in her shack in order to recover the price of the phone.

I really hate to act like I'm in the jungle, but jungle law is obviously the rule of the land here.

A Thai person, who is close to me, was robbed yesterday when the mobile phone was taken. There were arguments and 'boxing'. The police being notified said that the culprit/matter would be dealt with 'tomorrow'. (Right.) Reason for the robberey was supposedly, that a work colleague of my friend had bought (illegal) lottery tickets, telling the seller that my friend "would pay for them". However, there was never such an agreement made. My question is, what can you do when you get robbed, but the police doesn't help? Use force yourself to get the mobile back? (The robber can be found each day at the same place.)

My friend has the idea of asking the boss to 'cut the money owed from the work colleague's pay'. Well, that will work...

What 007 said is so true actually, we Thai are so bizarre. I must admit this.

Too bad some Thais just realise that only after they've been away from Thailand for a while.

I've spoken to quite a lot of Thais who have lived for an extended time abroad, and they've all told me how 'silly and strange' some Thais have become in recent years. And no, I didn't want to generalise or rave about 'the Thais'; that's why I pointed out how some Thais as happily rip off their own as they do foreigners. And they always seem to be the ones who've lost out in a corrupt society, where real education and equal chances are non-existent, and some Thais never seem to blame themselves for their shortcomings but others.

No one cares. There is no responsibilty. Furthermore, lets just consider again the response of the Thai police; they wanted to know the details of a sexual liaison. Titilation then, childish interest. Hardly what you'd expect of adults. let alone those wearing uniform.

And this is not uncommon. I witnessed myself how two British tourists, who had been robbed in Jomtien, were teased at Pattaya police station by the female police officer, who was supposed to take their report (but didn't out of laziness, that she would take them on a tour of gay bars in Soi Pattayaland.

The police, including the "Tourist Police" will not help you if you're in 'trouble' (scammed, robbed, assaulted, etc.) in Thailand, but will laugh at you and make dirty jokes. Almost all the police in Thailand are corrupt scum, who will just show up if they can get their cut.

...

And yes, welcome to the world of most foreigners living in Thailand to whom this kind of thing happens on a regular basis.

Well, welcome to THAIland, where Thais working at foreign embassies look down on their fellow Thais; where Thais working with western companies (Boots, KFC, etc.) look down, and with amusement at foreign customers, where Thais look down at and talk in a negative way/insult foreigners and fellow Thais alike, cause they (take a pick) : have a darker complexion/a different dialect/come from a foreign country/drink coffee/ eat beef/like to sunbathe/are from a different village/have a foreign spouse/work in Thailand/shop in Thailand/are too smart to get scammed/don't like bad hawker's food, etc., etc.

The problem is not the embassy, but you uneducated, angry, and greedy people in your country. You have no friends in the World; you throw candies at kids in Cambodia, you behave badly towards people in Malaysia, you behave like ''conqueror' in Laos, you illegally gamble and riot in Taiwan, fighting with Filipinos, AND you behave like thugs towards your own people!! Be polite, learn manners, stop being greedy, get good education and a good job, and a good government, stop corruption, etc., etc.!

Have you ever been scammed/insulted in Germany?? I get both almost every day. Good luck.

the number of tourist to 30 million but income will drop in half. Chinese and Indian donot spend that much money.

Spot on! 2010: 15 million tourists spending an average 4,000 baht a day, year 2020: 30 million tourists spending an average 2,000 baht a day..

Who can tell me 'in a nutshell' what the visa requirements and length of visa stay is for Thai citizens in Malaysia, Laos and Cambodia; short stay and long stay.. (e.g. business visa etc. within ASEAN for Thais)

So... we can expect computers that show up late?

Or computers which, between checking the data of two travellers, casually chat with each other for five minutes about why the canteen lunch was 'phet maak' or 'nid noi"..

Right about what, that farangs are guilty that commit crimes.

Fair enough. But I have seen, or was offered, visa stamps (not visas) by illegal means here in Thailand by government officials. For a young person, travelling to Asia for the first time this may very well seem legit.

LETS BE REAL THIS IS THAILAND,EVEN IF HE DID NOT SIGN THAT PAPER ,ALL TOURISTS OR FARANG ARE GUILTY.THIS IS HOW IT IS,IVE SEEN IT FAR TO MANY TIMES FOR TO MANY YEARS.AS I POSTED EARLIER LET HIM GO TO COURT SEND HIS FINE AND TICKET MONEY TO THE U.K. CONSULATE AND NEXT TIME WHEN HE TRAVELS SOME PLACE TELL HIM TO WISE UP AND DO THINGS CORRECTLY DOUBLE AND TRIPLE CHECK ANYTHING ANYBOBY TELLS HIM.THIS REAL BE A UNCOMFORTABLE BUT GREAT LEARNING EXSPERIENCE FOR HIM AND MAYBE WILL KEEP HIM FROM DOING SOMETHING REALLY STUPID SOME PLACE ELSE.

JOHN

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Take the Caps lock off please, your shouting can be seen but not heard!!!!!!!

And before you tell other people 'to wise up'; why don't you go back to primary school and learn how to spell "EXSPERIENCE" correctly.

How about something from France, NZ, Australia, Germany, Canada, Holland........?

Watched "Stalingrad" recently; excellent German movie. I hardly speak French, but love to watch all kinds of movies and TV series on TV5 Monde (often with English subtitles; and not only French movies, but also the odd quirky Belgian comedy). Otherwise Hollywood classics like "The Island" (this morning). Also other news/mixed international programmes, e.g. DW TV, NHK (e.g. "Tokyo Eye", "Cool Japan", "Begin Japanology"), BBC World...

I actually wondered about that, and thought someone might tell me that was their purpose. But then I don't think the straws would be needed. The other strange thing is that these offerings are not even by a shrine, but just on the garden wall, sometimes with a smoking josh stick.

Actually, my girlfriend put up a shrine complete with Buddha image, amulets AND one of those red Fanta bottles right after we moved into our apartment, supposedly for (financial) 'good luck' and fortune. Maybe that's why the jewellery shops in Thailand are all bright red, easily to be mistaken for fire hydrants...

Not being the British one, my embassy will ask you to contact family and friends first, but if you really can't get any money wired they will help you out with money for the cheapest transportation plus perhaps, one or two nights in a cheap room. Mind you that they will later insist on having the money refunded once you're back home.