Crash999

The parents of the victims have seen the reports yet haven't come out in support of the defendants.

It is worth mentioning that, apart from beer bars, a number of other small businesses were in the Sukhumvit Square area. When the rented army mob demolished everything (except the spirit house) one Sunday morning, hundreds of mostly very poor Thai workers (sometimes their families' only source of support) were rendered unemployed. Small business owners with their entire life savings invested became immediately destitute. Chuwit's remorse may be genuine, but his crime was disgusting.

It's also worth mentioning that the people with shops there had been given an eviction notice more than 6 months prior with December being the hard deadline to move out or be forcibly removed. Many (including my hairdresser) moved their shops elsewhere but others chose to ignore the eviction notice and keep their bars and shops open anyway.

I had to mess around with FDA crap as I received a care package from my family for my wife and I. My sister had included one tube of cheap lipstick and because it's a cosmetic item I was advised that it was causing an issue. But the resolution was to fill out some sort of FDA declaration form, which after duly submitting and paying assorted fees I received my package.

Sending things via courier is hit and miss. Sometimes things sail straight through. Sometimes they're hit with insane duty valuations. I think it's down to the random checking by customs and also the personal relationships between the courier clearance agent and customs.

Take a funny video and post it up on Facebook and other social media groups. If you get enough local support then you may attract media attention and embarrass the local police into doing something. Might want to do it anonymously though!

Just a note to say that this is still happening. It's not every link- maybe 1/3 of them. Seems an extra space is being inserted into some of the URLs, sometimes at the front sometimes towards the middle.

For example: http://newsletter.thaivisa.com/l/wzOxQ%20lgIh2aHdu4dIRgDIg/f7GbXz1iQ15cO763TjxoFsvw/6y763bmEec7lnLIMK4cPfhJA

The story sounds very fishy. Loan sharks will not loan without collateral- that is how they make their money. They charge high interest rates and when payment isn't made they seize the land.

Call her bluff. Say that you have very powerful friends who you spoke to and they will make the problem go away. Just need to know the name of the loan shark.

Then watch the story suddenly change.

Curious what happened with MTM? They are known as an aftermarkets source of Audi performance parts so they should be quite familiar with basic servicing.

You could try Yongtrakit. Might be a bit more expensive but the owner is a big Audi fan and has a collection of R8s, TTs, etc.

Looks like she has now made it to the police station.

pic from Sanook.com

People who are drunk don't usually have such good posture. People can be inattentive for reasons other than intoxication. She looks distraught, not drunk. She was steady on her feet in the video, also. This is a tragedy for all concerned.

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Steady on her feet? Watch the part where she starts yelling at the cop before leaving the scene. She almost falls over.

Casinos take money from the poor and uneducated. It's the right decision.

I'm a marketing manager according to my WP - apparently it's easier to get approval for certain positions.

This is a surprisingly progressive idea- kudos to the people who made it happen!

Yeah nominee shareholders are a grey area but it's also a very common structure.

And the situation wasn't that the law changed and he lost the properties but that someone forged his signature on a sale. That is clearly illegal yet the only person in jail is his ex wife even though others were in on it.

The old system was better- set a minimum wage by province. It took into account the lower cost of living upcountry and also provided some incentive for factories to spend money in more remote provinces rather than cluster around central Thailand and the ports.

Not clear what is being proposed here. If they keep 300 as a base and also have a different rate by province it suggests that Bangkok and elsewhere could increase significantly. Given Thailand already has one of the highest minimum wages in SE Asia it'll only serve to punish those people who follow the law, and disuade foreign investment.

At a time when Vietnam is pulling in huge investment and probably more after TPP the government ought to think carefully before finalizing their decision.

After all these years, Thaksin still doesn't seem to get it.

The military elite are not sharing power with anyone, much less a self-made wealthy commoner.

The guy is definitely smart and had ambition. But as for self-made, he used his family's money to establish a large number of business and most failed or broke even. Wasn't until he founded AIS and was able to get a monopoly contract to supply the military that his personal fortune grew. He founded the company in 1986 and got his exclusive contract in 1986. No points for guessing how he got it.

How on earth can a foreigner own land in this country?

Aside from some exceptional situations you can't. Guy owned a property company and the company owned the land. So foreigners can control land but not directly own land.

Such companies can't be majority foreign owned so you need Thai shareholders. Either you get someone you trust a lot or more commonly lawyers will provide 'nominee' shareholders which are basically people paid to use their signature. The minority foreign shareholder is given preferential voting rights so in theory no decisions can be made without the foreigner's agreement.

This is the structure the government threatens to crack down on every few years, then there is a huge uproar and it quietly goes away again

"Yeah it is ,you count peoples votes and whoever gets the most wins, A very difficult concept to take in, democracy isn't removing the winner because you don't like the result"

I don't think anyone is arguing that the military junta is democratic at all.

But there's such thing as tyranny of the majority. And when elected Thaksin used his popular mandate to do whatever the hell he wanted.

That is exactly why checks and balances are normally built into governmental systems to prevent one person from accumulating that much power.

Been following this case closely. Story keeps changing. The ex wife was brought in as a maid then Colin had relations with her and the son was born. He after decided he preferred freedom and the relationship was to come to an end. Unfortunately he had added her to his properties and she was also collecting his rent from the various properties. Needless to say she lost the plot and allegedly with a katoey friend threw the two kids down a well when the father was off somewhere for a couple days. Properties were sold without Colin knowing (forged signature- of course very illegal) and she did a runner upcountry. At some point she took the son with her which he characterized as kidnapping as she wanted money to give the son back. Finally he found her and pursued a court case that left her in jail. Whole saga is on Drummond's website in various interviews over the years.

Now the story is she was just an innocent victim of a gang of crooks. No doubt some people conspired with her but she doesn't appear to be innocent at all.

100-150k per meter for newer/new units from a good developer. The new buildings from Noble etc all feature tiny rooms.

Older buildings cheaper and have larger rooms but save some budget for renovation.

Suggest you look a bit outside the CBD areas to have a nice view looking back towards the city. Hipflat has a map where you can cruise around and check out building values.

Thanks so much guys for your answers. Sorry it took me so long to respond!

Wpcoe, the last time I had them cleaned was 6 months ago but in the past it hasn't made any noticeable difference. It is really necessary to refill the refridgerent on such units? I read somewhere that aircon units were closed systems like a fridge so unless something is leaking/faulty there should be no need to fill them up.

IMHO, thanks for the terminology and links. I'll check to see what is currently installed and focus on ones using r410a. Does it make sense that it may be necessary to replace with a more powerful unit? What I'm worried about is there could be something inherently wrong with the design of the unit or ducting in the unit causing the issue, so replacing them doesn't do anything. Given the demand for aircon in Thailand it seems there's a business opportunity for someone to do this sort of analysis for customers.

I would have more sympathy if the product was particularly original but it's just a bakery product. And the small Thai company copied the concept from the Japanese original, making it cheaper using local ingredients. The large retailer has made it much cheaper than that.

I'm not sure of the correct aircon terminology but I own a condo that has three aircon units, one for the living room and one for each bedroom. The units themselves are in the ceiling on the balcony and vent into each room via vents that look like this:

Ever since I bought the unit I noticed that the living room which is a large space cools much more effectively than either of the bedroom units. They make a lot of noise but at night only ever get cool around 2-3am after running full bore for several hours. Turning the fan up only seems to make more noise but doesn't speed the cooling up noticeably.

As it has been that way since the unit was new I was thinking that the two bedroom aircon units are maybe insufficient for the size of the space and the heat it receives in the afternoon. But this is Thailand, and it's hot, so I thought maybe this is the best one can get.

But over the weekend I visited my parents-in-law and stayed in their guest room, which had a small split-type aircon unit on the wall. I was bracing for a warm night but the tiny thing was pumping out gloriously cold air and I had to turn the thing down.

So this has made me think I should replace the aircon units I have in my condo.

Given this is a built-in thing and not the split type you see everywhere, where do you guys suggest I should start for looking at replacements? When I've visited department stores I only recall seeing the split types, though may very well have missed other available types!

Thanks in advance for any help!

There are some reviews in the Aussie car mags which you could check out.

I also was looking at BMW/Benz recently. In the beginning I was leaning towards BMW as I had a 3-series about a decade or so ago and liked it, despite a few issues. Wound up going Benz. Biggest factor in the end was depreciation- if you look at the values of various models several years out it seems BMW takes a bigger hit, even factoring in the additional warranty period. Benz also has an optional 5-year warranty for extra and I found the Benz dealer to be more professional than BMW but that's likely down to individual dealerships more than the brand itself. I think Benz as a brand has more prestige in Thailand, which may explain some of the better residual values but it wasn't a factor in my decision.

As for the GPS did you mean maps for other countries? My Benz came with maps pre-loaded for Thailand and a couple of regional countries.

It's not so much the Baht getting stronger as the Euro getting weaker. Prices for export contracts are typically negotiated in USD even for export to Europe and at around 32.5 to the dollar it's a better position for exports than 29 back in 2013.

had though that this issue was solved now that the junta has removed the cib chiefs gang. perhaps others moving into the vacated space. or a relocation of operations

You do realize that Indonesia is not a province of Thailand?

A ton of bunker oil is worth more than $600. That makes it a haul of over US$1.2 million.

Would cost a bit go launder that but still a pretty big incentive for pirates.