Woody1

Massic Travel, 2nd Rd opposite Royal Garden Plaza.

Ask to speak to Ali.

Mods, please shut this crap down.

Barry Kenyon, a former British Honorary Consul who received the MBE for his services to Britain, was among the 30 people and said he was held for 12 hours.

I actually hope this story is reported abroad in newspapers and on the television. Thailand needs to be shamed and scoffed for this silly use of law enforcement. Especially when scores of murders, assaults, and rapes go unsolved due a lack of effort and interest.

Honestly, do you actually think it would make any difference? It would just focus attention on people spreading videos. The concept of being shamed OUTSIDE THAILAND, I don't think that registers. What does register? THE CASH REGISTER.

Don't play for money!!!

Hitting a lot of international media now.

news.sky.com

aljazeera

abc.net.au

dailymail

I'm starting to see the funny side of all this now.

Western tourists here are at an all time low, Thailand is / has been in the worlds focus regarding unexplained deaths, rumors of cover ups, dubious suicides (many), mass corruption, etc.

Now, anyone with a brain would pay attention to the old saying, "when in a hole stop digging". Oh no, not hear, they ask for a bigger shovel!!

That's a cheeky shot of her right butt cheek on the link.

It would be too much to hope that it wasn't the same little monkey that bit the Russian boy a few weeks back - he (the monkey) was supposed to be captured and relocated.

Anyone else find it funny that for ONCE the police raided a card room and the organizers did NOT escape capture?

Pretty much says all that needs to be said.

I am one of the bridgpplayers who was detained.

The charges of gambling have been dropped. There was no money involved.

There were no prizes.

The event is known as a "club duplicate pairs" and is played in small clubs all over the world.I will write more when I get home from the police station.

When you get home from the police station? Incredible that you even had to go there.

Are there small casinos in villages all over Thailand? some staying open all night, Why is this allowed to continue? I have heard stories of Thai women who are married to wealthy farangs losing millions and having to sell their land and home to pay the debts unbeknown to the poor guy. Maybe its all just local gossip.

Get those scum bag Farangs.

Throw them in Jail, give them very heavy fines, deport them , and black list them for 99 years.

The Pattaya Pantomime, just gets more funny every week.

Wonder who the pleasant person was who grassed on them and why ? must have been a right story that one

The bust of the century.

You have every right to be sarcastic, and yes, the whole episode is both hilarious and pathetic, but let's have a thought of deep sympathy for the 74 year-old guy who actually got arrested. Being arrested in this country is not something I would ever want to go through, whatever the reasons.

As for the guy who ratted out on them, let's just say that, once you've spent a few years in this country, you learn that grassing up is nothing short of a national sport, and it's a sad, disconcerting discovery.

Why are so many Thais prone to do that ?

There must be more than one factor but I'd say that the main one stems from a very rigid pyramidal society where each degree has very little room for independance and must kowtow to those on the degrees above. Humiliation is constant, and must be covered up with a smile, even though it is a very painful experience for all Asians, known as 'losing face'.

The resulting accumulated frustration is unfathomable. Ratting out people is one of the meanest forms of revenge. Many, if not most Thais, suffer from both a superiority and inferiority complex with regard to white people (whereas most white people have only the former with regard to non-whites). Every single white business owner I have met in Thailand was grassed out at least once by one or several Thais (staff, neighbors, family, 'friends'), and they have a field day because doing business in this country 100% by the book is near impossible, so there is always one or more points where you just have to 'make do'. These 'loopholes' ought to be called 'wells of corruption', and the combination of grassing out and corruption is a highly stinky one.

Welcome to Thailand, brave entrepreneurs !

Now amplify this X 100 when a Thai is given a uniform, whistle, a TITLE, a few daft medals that were never earned, and a bit of braiding, and you have all the ingredients for a little Hitler!!!

Also, virtually all (or most) motorbike taxi ranks will have one or more guy's working there with radios connected to police frequencies, and they love nothing more than grassing someone up! It's like a national pastime, where they think they have gained face.

Pathetic!!

I really don't know where to start with this one!!

After coming here for the past 15 years (living here for 14 of them) I have seen so many ridiculous and stupid things, and in the early days used to find some scenarios intriguing.

This one though has truly taken the biscuit!!!!

The real problem though isn't the old folk playing an innocent game of bridge, nor is it the number of officials and resources used in this, "raid" (although the second point is clearly overkill).

The problems here are;

1) there was a tip off regarding foreign criminal activity which had to be followed up (no matter how ludicrous) or loss of face appears.

2) there was a good chance of extracting money from the OAP's for committing the heinous crime.

3) someone in authority has authorized the, "raid" and in Thai culture nobody is allowed to question that decision.

4) the authorizing person got an idea in his / her head, and absolutely no thought went into it before or after authorizing the, "raid".

If you pay attention to anything in Thailand, from any form of construction, public services, management, etc, etc, etc, you will notice that the above four problems occur on a daily, hourly, and minutely basis in one way or another.

What this particular case has managed to do is grab the attention of the the nation (and hopefully much further afield) and highlight the gross stupidity that is taking place here on a regular basis.

I am not advocating overstay or even asking they not be picked up when found. I am stating and will hold to it- that this is a civil situation and not criminal unlike a robbery, rape, or murder or anything that violates another person. Whether they pay taxes or not is a civil matter and I doubt they would owe any since they are low income. The majority of people on overstay simply do not have the money to get legal. Based on this, there is no reason for any police force anywhere to spend its valuable resources tracking these people down. They pose no threat to life or liberty. The police should be focused-on real crimes and real criminals not wasting time on those who are unfortunate. You , who are so eager to see these unfortunate people jailed and then expelled might want to show some sympathy to your fellow human being. If an Embassy really wanted to help their citizens, they would reach out and offer a solution rather than sit back and wait until their citizens are either dead or jailed.

Overstaying IS a crime. You can whine & moan & weep all you want about what you think are "serious" crimes and what you think are not, but that and 22baht will get you to the next BTS station. Your defense of overstayers (yes, man up; you're defending them) based on the more important things YOU THINK the police have to do amounts to even less. The crime really is the increased scrutiny and inconvenience brought on foreigners who are in the country legally BY those who are NOT. So, if you could spare a few brain cells to do so, you'd undersrand that this overstaying is NOT a "victimless crime"; those who've accepted the responsibility to be here legally are ALL victimized by it.

Totally agree. Now those of us who abide by the laws have to spend more time and get into more paperwork hassles with Immigration largely because of visa cheats. It gets worse every year.

Do tell us how "visa cheats" makes it more and more difficult for you to obtain your visa ??

I have seen and felt the changes over many years but especially over the past 5-10 years. This last year alone, they have made requirements for providing lease agreements or ownership documents on the place you live plus now requiring a visit from immigration officials to your home to photograph officials, with the applicant, in the home (humiliating and time consuming). They interview building management to make sure you are not lying to them (in the case of marriage visas and probably retirement); they want up to the day bank statements (bank book) because they believe people are cheating by borrowing money for the requisite time to show funds in the bank. In the case of student visas, cheats are faking that they are studying in real schools just to get one year visas so now applicants are tested by Immigration officials, schools visited etc.
The cheaters create an environment of mistrust leading to an attitude that ALL foreigners are lying cheats and this means more paperwork, more delays, more hassles, more rules.

There's also a curry night (supplied by Country Favorites) taking place at the Venue tomorrow evening.

I have a so-called "retirement visa" (extension of stay on a Non-Immigrant O) I simply don't understand the Thai hysteria at overstayers. They spend TONS more money than Thais. Laws are only followed here in the case of non-Thai persons who lack money.

I'd be a little curious to know how people here on overstays find the means to spend "tons" of money, even compared to a Thai, when they can't even afford to straighten out their visa status.

Well my reg girl at Nataree insists on me visiting her every day, after those 90 mins of fun and the rest of the afternoon tinkering with my online business I simply haven't the time to do visa runs. I do pump 100k/mo into the Ratchada economy however.

Oh the memories...I too had a regular Naratee girl when I was living up in Bangkok 15 years ago (to think, she must be middle-age by now)...she was out of this world; and so that you can keep her in the latest model iPhone and your Mr. Happy happy, I would only suggest that you do try to find the time to legalize your visa situation.

Yes there was:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/868649-thai-motorcycle-taxi-fare-to-be-standardized-nationwide/

First 2km 25Baht

Additional 5baht per km for trips 2-5km

Additional 10Baht per km for trips 5-10km

Trips over 15km negotiable to max 150Baht

Good luck with getting a ride at these fares

It's exactly the same as it always has been and always will be!

The prices I have mentioned are realistic ones, but I do understand where the above poster is coming from.

Was their not a crack down under the the present government where they had their prices fixed and had to display them?

just another 5 minute wonder???

They were required to be registered motorbike taxis. You'll notice the ones that have bothered doing that, they have an ID badge on the back of their jackets.

I think 100 baht is unreasonable for 2.5km.

Central Pattaya to Jomtien is approx 100 Baht.

Central Pattaya to Nernpleubwan / khao Noi is 120 Baht.

Central Pattaya to Mapbrachan Lake approx 200 Baht.

Very short distances expect to pay 30-40 Baht.

Whilst some may say it's 'sour grapes' that I failed but I when I approach a set of traffic lights I am not confronted with multi colours like this in front of me. I am quite capable of distinguishing traffic light colours. I did 'go to pieces' after getting the first one wrong though and they did say come back tomorrow.

I believe in other places they use the Ishihara System, maybe I should move ?

I'm colour blind and had difficulty with the test, but if you can't pass this one I don't know how you'd pass the Ishihara. Tell me if I'm wrong, but are the red and yellow dots around the same size but the green dots are a lot smaller?

I'm sorry you failed this test, as it has very little to do with your competence as a driver.

For information, last time I was renewing my license there, I was 2nd in the group to do it, the instructor/tester waived me through after about 10 seconds when he was struggling to keep up with my answers (my eyesight is perfect BTW).

Next up was a Thai lady, she could barely see the board let alone make out the colours. She failed so the tester asked her to move forward (for a better look), this happened 3 or 4 times until she was virtually within touching distance of the board.................he then passed her! Ridiculous!!

Overstay is a victim-less civil crime. There is no criminal intent. In the US there are millions of overstays or people who entered without documentation. the police do not go around asking them to show documents or even look for them. If they are stopped for anything else- then their status maybe checked. In Thailand, you can be walking down the street and the police will at time stop someone and ask for their Passport and Visa without any probable cause. It happens too often and irritates people to no end. They have the right to stop a person in Thailand supposedly, but it says to normal tourists we really do not trust you. There are criminals hiding here, but most have a valid passport and a legit visa. None of them will be caught in this latest exercise. The only people that will be caught are like one of the poster says- people with low incomes and not bothering anyone.If they really want to catch criminals- they need to check the Interpol list at Immigration or better yet work out agreements with various countries to tie their Embassy into the local criminal database and run a check prior to Visa issuance. Stopping people at random and looking for overstays is merely busy work to show the powers to be that the police are doing something.

It is not a victimless crime...

In many cases it is theft of services and tax invasion by often people who are avoiding the authorities in their own country and making money in Thailand without paying tax.

The victims are those who pay tax, they have to pay more to subsidise the free loaders...

Now, do you see how ridiculous your comments are?

Is it possible to call the UK from a Thai prison ?

I believe the broadband internet connection is good though!

Every bar girl will help you!

london, new york, new orleans, reykjavic, las vegas, barcelona, sydney, rio - for starters.

Pattaya is fun as said before but take away the girls and good weather and has little. No great music venues, clubs or bars. It is what it is.

I don't understand, you ask if Pattaya is to be your best base......but then you say you've already decided on it??

Where did you catch this?