BanTamo

RIP

No, Random, your comment, seeing as its derived from fact, is way more valid than the OP's 'differing opinion' which is essentially crap. An no, you won't see that Brit twit Abhisit or his HiSo ilk raising a little finger to assist the mostly Isaan contract labor still stuck in Qaddafi's hell. Nor, unfortunately, will we ever see any of the contemptible thai government officials, current or deposed by coup, brought to justice in Den Hague. Not gonna happen.

Probably just needed an accounting on the porn videos she had shoplifted from kingpower duty free on her way to immigration...

baan, sweet baan!

very good work sir. we must go make survey soon

"What happened exactly?? You were in a cell with gangsters and then one of them........... next thing you are in Newark? Armed Marines? You got me sucked into your story here mate please fill in the blanks for us"

OK agord. It went like this. I was living in a 'luen thai' (traditional thai wooden house) in Banglamung Moo 9 (its still there, still owned by the ex, too, though she doesn't stay there anymore for some reason), not (yet) in the cop shop, with a bunch of real Thai gangsters and assorted bargirls. I was going through something of a 'midlife crisis,' was reasonably well financed and had been completely off my head for well three years by then. I did eventually spend a long holiday (King's Birthday) weekend in the Banglamung lockup, then a week or so in the Pattaya cop shop, and finally, after a conviction for overstay (that's all I got done for, surprisingly a night in the Immigration holding cell as well, but I scraped up some more cash and a plane ticket 'to country of origin' (as required) and landed at EWR in December, 2001, not long after 9/11 (so that's why there were armed Marines patrolling the airport). Sure did freak me out in my then paranoid state.

It took years to get my head straight (somewhat after that and I certainly could NOT do it in Pattaya. Not for want of (pretend) trying.

As awful as those cells down the end of the beach are, and they are pretty bad, and I made the acquaintence of some (I particularly recall a middle-aged German) who had been there quite awhile, trying to get plane tickets sorted, and they are flush with more drugs than I could imagine, nevertheless, in my case, its those cells what kept me from a worse fate.

Congrats, Richard (and Tracy) for getting yourself turned around in the nick of time. Now get yer butt back to yer Mum's and stay there until you've no more reason to. Pattaya will still be there if you want to make another go of it then!

Cheers

Went down that same road in 2000/2001. Was living in Moo 9 in the infamous 'luen thai' without electricity, together with plenty of gangsters. Thinking meself untouchable and one of them (this after a dozen years in the country, I might have known better, and at one time I did) I ended up bounced out of the country, disembarking in a cold rage at Newark International with no luggage and only beach clothes on in the middle of December, to find it activly patrolled by armed marines.

Got myself back to the LOS but quick and spent the next several years upcountry...putting things back into perspective...it was a wild and bloody dangerous ride and I'm lucky to have survived it.

Good luck to you Richard! It's a long road back...

But surely the OP's (not to say ANY highway drivers in Thailand's) knowledge of the 'Land Traffic Act of 1979' will provide significant comfort to all affected?

Heaven forfend one display any emotion in this thread!

Bravo Nisa.

I'll try, lannarebirth (and by the way, your thoughtful post came whilst I was laboring over my own or I would have thanked you as well) but its not really my area of expertise. I'd much prefer to hear Chris Baker's take. But its a fair request.

The forces unleashed on Thai society in the last decade are dramatic and polarizing. From my humble, benighted perspective, we're witness to a very risky stage in the evolution of this ancient Kingdom. It seems to me that things could easily go badly wrong. Or not. The blood-lust for the badly-behaved, privileged few is hardly surprising, nor without merit. But it is still a passion and therefore problematic in a Buddhist culture. Which, for all its failings, Thailand still is. And I, for one, hope it remains.

If this thing gets out of control, or is used by one or another of the 'black hands' currently manipulating the political situation, it could be incendiary. And there's more than enough tragedy in it without that happening.

I don't mean to take anything away from the dignity of what we see unfolding; quite the contrary. But alas I sense the potential. Hopefully I'm just paranoid.

Rexalex, shunima, Nisa - your calm and balanced postings, the civility of your disagreements, are so appreciated. So much of what I've read in this thread is just sad. Twenty-two years and a fair number of miles into my life in Thailand, with Thais, and still I have often to cringe at the utter ineptitude of so many, both Thai and non-Thai, both hi and loso, who have every preparation to do (and say) so much better than they have here. As a foreigner who's had the privilege of receiving a master degree from Chulalongkorn, and the very personal royal blessings that come with that, and also of living and working for several years among the subsistence rice farmers of the Emerald Triangle, I have some experience of both worlds. Thai civil society is at such a delicate stage of development right now, and this tragedy has the potential to become something of far greater proportions, and to result in grave damage to the place many of us love deeply. It seems to me to merit a higher level of discourse and I'm grateful for your contributions.

i very much appreciate the careful moderation of this particular thread.

Too right, Lenny! With the traffic the way its become its no longer 'mere minutes' to a good many of them.

oh no, we come to pattaya for the shops and the haute cuisine...

yes, indeed, the parallels are strong and shameful. but the article is onto something ... its way more complicated and embedded in thai culture ... and the redshirt protests of earlier this year only scratched the surface ... a painful subject, especially for this farang who spent several years in the rice fields of ubon

once stayed in a hotel which had the house rules printed on cards in the rooms as follows: "All hotel guests must have a minimum of two (2) overnight guests per night."

not wishing any trouble with the management i did my best to comply...

RIP Khun Tawatchai...

Sounds like a great party. Too bad...

might want to plug the gaping 'hole' in the drug fence at khao phra wiharn ...

Pattaya, the amusement park where the rides are human...

Business will be 'soft' at the bars for a few days...

On drugs?!? The horror!

Several years back there were quite a few wallies flying up to vientien and back to work thai-owned boiler rooms...aussies, brits, yanks, canadians...didn't matter. everything at the operation, including the phone lines, was thai. none of the wallies had a clue what it was they were doing for a living, and they reeled in quite a few suckers from all over the planet. funny thing is their investors probably fared no worse than most pension funds have done over the last two years...

So if the wife's on a 'Nor Sor Saam' rather than a 'Chanault' seems not to matter. Hmmmmmmm

Post-whore? Sounds like an English translation of 'mia farang'!