billd766

The article is obviously written by a moron. BEing the biggest rice exporter and making money out of it by a farmer are different things In Africa you'll find the biggest Cacao producers in the world the big chocolate makers are the ones making the money not the farmers. With coffee precisely it is the same, the Satarbucks' and Sara Lee's are making the money not by the farmer doing the real work. You cannot explain such a thing to a city chap who sees Ferrari's in a Bangkok shopping mall and to a Nation editor who thinks that milk is produced in factory.

Do you live in the countryside?

I live in a farming area in Khampaeng Phet and there are a lot of the first stage middle men around.

The main crops around here are man saparang (tapioca), sugar cane and some rice.

Wherever the farmer goes to sell his crop the price variation is no more than a couple of hundred baht per ton and if you can get more 5 km away then good for you as the cost of transport to there is your problem.

Oh we will also knock off 5% from the gate price as the crop has a high water content.

We will guarantee you a good price for next years crop "provided" that you buy your fertilizer and seeds from me and we will lend you the money too.

Of course the price of fertilizer is high because of the high oil prices and next year it will be higher because of the 300 baht a day we have to pay our workers.

If you take our offer and the price is higher next year we will pay you this years agreed price that we both agreed to in writing.

Of course you don't have to sell to me but I don't think many other people will buy it from you elsewhere.

What is needed in Thailand is a proper co-operative owned and run by farmers for the benefit of farmers and that won't happen in my lifetime as there is too much money involved.

I use screw top plastic jars from the local market to keep my yeast in but I find that around 1/2 way through the packet it has died.

Now I normally have at least 1 spare pack for when it does which is usually between 6 to 8 weeks.

My mate put me on to a product called KS 505 which is a bread improver. I bought the last / only one in my local Makro for 125 baht.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_improver

My suggestion would be that you do the transfer in the province where the bike is registered (and presumably where the seller lives as well). Then if there are any problems they can be fixed on the spot so to speak.

Then after all the paperwork is cleared take the bike back to your province and re-register it in your name locally. That is easy and not too expensive either and only you need to be there.

It will take a couple of hours for the bike to be inspected and a new number plate made.

So, he's a goat herder from Isan or he's a coconut seller from Bangkok....................................?

He was a goat herder, who came to Bangkok and apparently sold coconuts.

I heard from a "friend" that was actually a coconut herder who went to Bangkok to sell goats...

Or was it......

he will be back and do no time in prison , any Democratic leader ousted in a Coup should have that right. All western countries have the democracy so why not Thailand. i for one along with millions of Thais will be happy he has his passport back and does return home. the nation is so biased, must have Murdoch's influence in there some where.

In fact he wasn't even legally the caretaker prime Minister.

He had called an election and couldn't get enough votes and MPs to form a government, dallied too long and ran out of time to organise another election.

He went to the King and formally resigned as Prime Minister and took a short break in April 2006 and was replaced by Surakiart Sathirathai (I think was his name)

but took back the PM ship again.

When he was in New York and the coup occurred he was still legally not the PM of Thailand as he had not returned to the King to be confirmed as the caretaker PM.

Thaksin also said and often quoted "Democracy is not my aim".

He was charged and went to trial under a law that was existing during his term of government and convicted under a government of the PPP run by his brother in law.

Google it, it is not difficult.

Are you saying therefore that any legally convicted criminal who skipped bail and ran from the country should be forgiven and ANY OTHER charges against him should be dropped.

I for one farang and also many millions of Thai's will be sad that he has his passport back and will be returning to Thailand in the near future?

If anyone thinks this bunch in power cares the least bit what the Thai public thinks I have some swamp land in South Thailand for sale

Sold

I will pay you billions in Monopoly money and build an airport on the swamp.

After all it has been done already in Thailand.

I am also ex military (Royal Air Force).

I do the laundry for my wife, son and me. No Problem, just bung it in the automatic washing machine and hang it up to dry when it's ready.

I only iron my sons school clothes as out here in the sticks I don't need freshly ironed clothes every day.

I make my own breakfast, fresh sliced melon and a banana plus toast, generally make my own lunch but my wife cooks dinner because we generally eat at different times.

I also make my own bread and bacon and next year I want to more of ghat stuff.

My wife goes to the market 3 times a week but I generally go once a month to BigC and Makro for the bulk items.

I try to maintain the outside of the house and land while she does the inside.

It has been something we have been doing for years an our son is being slowly trained the same way. That way to look after he will be able to look after himself should anything happen to us or if he works away in the future.

I looked after myself in while working offshore and have no doubt I will be doing it until I am unable to do so any more.

I think this is perfectly normal behavior and I find it a little strange that men still expect to be looked after and coddled in the 21st century.

My company first sent me here in 1993 for 3 months then once again in 1994 until 1997.

The company also sent me to other places until I quit them in 1999 and went contracting and came back again in 2001 and sort of moved over here then and have lived here ever since except for off shore work. I finally retired in 2009.

I met my current Thai wife on my first trip, divorced my UK wife after the second trip.

Remarried between the second and 3rd trips and our son was born 7 years ago.

We live out in a small village and yes I do at least try to talk to Thais but at my age 67, partial deafness and a lot of tone deafness speaking Thai is not that easy.

Having lived and worked in some 38 countries in my life Thailand is my choice of home.

The Minister has asked for 1.6 billion baht to buy 470,000 tablets which comes to 3,404 baht per tablet presumably including software.

From that price comes the legal profits to the supplier, the software company, and the transportation costs. Either there will not be any fat left to eat or the tablets will be worthless.

Is 3 phase available and what size is the electricity meter?

15 amp, 30 amp or bigger?

I have just voted (I am from the UK) along with 12 other people.

I am old but if I remember from school 11 votes were actually cast so presumably the other 2 were null and void.

How odd.

Next door to the aforementioned school is a Family Mart. They don't sell alcohol, I'm presuming because of its proximity to the school. Next door to the Family Mart is a 7/11 and - yep, you guessed it - they sell alcohol....

But like all 7/11 only at certain times. In my village I tried to buy a bottle of whiskey at the wrong time of day, about 3 pm I think and they nicely and politely refused to sell it to me and I am in there 3 or 4 times a week.

I got one at the whiskey and beer shop across the road but not what I wanted.

Am sure it will hit 75 but cannot see 85 at the moment......

Wishful thinking to go that high...

I'm sure you know as little about it as the OP.

Jesus-it was tongue in cheek........

The last time (sad to say) the baht was at 75 to the GBP was in April 2005.

Bring back (some of) the good old days says I.

Am sure it will hit 75 but cannot see 85 at the moment......

Wishful thinking to go that high...

I'm sure you know as little about it as the OP.

Jesus-it was tongue in cheek........

The last time (sad to say) the baht was at 75 to the GBP was in April 2005.

Bring back (some of) the good old days says I.

Up her in Central in my village the people are mostly Buddhist, some Christians in the Muser village and a family of Muslims.

We all live (sort of) happily together and there are no signs of Xmas visible yet and the really great news is that Ginger Ben has yet to make an appearance in the village.

Last year he never came and hopefully he never will unlike in the big malls in BKK.

i called the 1330# today that sheryl suggested

to be eligible for free medical in Thailand there are 2 conditions

1 you must be Thai

2 you must have a a 13 digit id number issued by the gov.

so i would say to all the farangs that are getting free medical to keep your mouth shut and enjoy the mistake that somebody made that is enabling you to receive a benefit that you that is not allowed

ps i started this discussion so ride the wave as long as you can because the yellow book does not give you this entitlement

Ref points 1 and 2: I don't know if it has changed recently because I haven't checked this year but... There was NO rule that you needed to be Thai and NO rule that you needed a 13 digit id number (when I checked and enrolled approx 18 months ago). The stupidity of it all was that there was NO rule limiting who could enroll and get the free health care in question. That has been the problem all the time, the rules enabled foreigners to get totally free health care the same as Thais did and that was not what was intended

Yes, of course they will say that but what is the rule today? NOT what 1330 says, they say what Chulalongkorn Hospital also said too, until my HR department kindly printed out a page from www.nhso.go.th. Funnily enough, the admin department at Chula Hospital in BKK just went on processing my request when I handed that and other papers (copy of PP etc) over. I have never used the privilege, it may be (or have been) free but sorry, waiting times are simply too long

Now, I admit that I don't know if the rules have changed now, I must also admit that I think that it is incorrect that foreigners who don't contribute (ie, pay tax) should get free health care

I have just looked up the NHSO website and I couldn't get any sense from it.

Could you please let me know where this page is so that I can read it.

Thanks a lot.

Haven't got it myself any longer, I have asked HR again and will post when they reply

OK thanks.

I have read this thread and others about the same subject previously.

Nowhere have I seen any information about the most vital part of the project.

How the h-ell are you going to integrate 11,000,000 pads into the networks.

Will they use TAT, TOT, TT&T< AIS,DTAC, True or whoever.

Is the infrastructure already in place in every city, town, village and moo ban yet?

Are all the extra links available to feed back to the servers whoever they belong to because as sure as sh1t on a shovel without that nothing will work.

Who will pay the bill for the internet connection?

Imagine what will happen when 11,000,000 pads all get switched on at the same time?

Total madness and it will affect everybody in the country with an internet connection.

It will be a case of OK switch on your pads now and they all do it together and the internet in Thailand will just fall over.

i called the 1330# today that sheryl suggested

to be eligible for free medical in Thailand there are 2 conditions

1 you must be Thai

2 you must have a a 13 digit id number issued by the gov.

so i would say to all the farangs that are getting free medical to keep your mouth shut and enjoy the mistake that somebody made that is enabling you to receive a benefit that you that is not allowed

ps i started this discussion so ride the wave as long as you can because the yellow book does not give you this entitlement

Ref points 1 and 2: I don't know if it has changed recently because I haven't checked this year but... There was NO rule that you needed to be Thai and NO rule that you needed a 13 digit id number (when I checked and enrolled approx 18 months ago). The stupidity of it all was that there was NO rule limiting who could enroll and get the free health care in question. That has been the problem all the time, the rules enabled foreigners to get totally free health care the same as Thais did and that was not what was intended

Yes, of course they will say that but what is the rule today? NOT what 1330 says, they say what Chulalongkorn Hospital also said too, until my HR department kindly printed out a page from www.nhso.go.th. Funnily enough, the admin department at Chula Hospital in BKK just went on processing my request when I handed that and other papers (copy of PP etc) over. I have never used the privilege, it may be (or have been) free but sorry, waiting times are simply too long

Now, I admit that I don't know if the rules have changed now, I must also admit that I think that it is incorrect that foreigners who don't contribute (ie, pay tax) should get free health care

I have just looked up the NHSO website and I couldn't get any sense from it.

Could you please let me know where this page is so that I can read it.

Thanks a lot.

My yellow book was handed to me free of charge.

Yes they are free of charge, but you have to get your passport translated and authenticated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok. This is a requirement to obtaining the 'Yellow book''. That's the expensive part. If not done by the book, I've know of 2,000 Baht being passed under the table. Unfortunately they wouldn't go down that route where I live.

The guy in the Amphur where I live didn't ask for "under the table", didn't seem to know what it was all about and I suspect he didn't want to know or care if I got a yellow book or not. Not issuing it was much less work for him.

Saying that my wife and I have had no problems in dealing with other people in the Amphur.

Now then, how about that quote from your provided link thread of Nostitz corroborating what PaulBax said, many armed with guns and automatic weapons by PAD at Parliament.

I noticed you completely avoided that part in my post... again.

So, after 30 or so of teeth-pulling posts, we can finally surmise that PaulBax is the only witness to the many armed with guns and automatic weapons by PAD at Parliament.

Thank you, gentleman, for the clarification.

.

Here is the script I recalled ........make of it what you will........ Nick...... .from the thread Simon provided.

"Some parts of the PAD were as heavily armed back then in 2008 as some parts of the Red Shirts were. For example, only one Uzi of the about 12 Uzi's and 3 M16's the PAD stole from a Special Branch Police Station in Government was retrieved by security forces in a string operation, the remaining weapons are still at large.

The PAD barricades around Government House were mined with explosives as were the Red Shirt barricades"

So the PAD barricades were mined with explosives.

Land mines, anti personnel mines, hand grenades, firecrackers or what?

Do you have any proof such as photos or videos or is it just a case of I know a man who knows a man who knows....

Because without proof what you have said is merely an unsubstantiated rumour and as such it totally worthless.

By the way is there any proof that the PAD stole the weapons from a Special Branch Police Station or were they really Red Shirts disguised as fake PAD Yellow Shirts?

I assume that you have a paper copy as well as the bank statement confirming the transfer.

If you have a paper copy of the transfer, scan it into your computer and print several copies and if the bank ask for it, show them the original and give them a copy. Do NOT give them the original just in case they "lose" it.

If so , them there is at least proof that it was at the bank in Thailand at the date and time on the transfer slip.

You could try either ringing the bank and hope you get an English speaker, go to the bank on line, check your account for the transfer, check the USA bank online and if nothing shows go to the Thai bank helpline and see what they can do.

I have 2 friends in Nakhon Sawan province who have a gold card.

I live in Khampaeng Phet province which is next door and went with my wife, son, yellow tabien ban book to the local hospital who didn't really know the answer and they sent us to the main hospital in Khampaeng Phet where my wife was met with a flat and rather loud NO.

I don't know the answer either way but I would like to get one though.

Billd, it all boils down to the fact 'they don't know'. Rather than make a mistake and issue it, they say 'no'. Same as when I first went, 5 years ago, to get my 'yellow book'. They had never issued one to a farang, and didn't know the procedure. Eventually a farang persisted and they issue one. The floodgates were open. The same applies to the medical card. Until that first one is issued then you're on a uphill battle. Find out where they are issuing the medical cards and ask your hospital if they can phone them to verify them being issued. If it is against the rules to issue a farang one then why does it take 3-4 weeks, from asking, for it to it being issued ?

I had the same problem with my yellow tabien ban and the guy in the Amphur had me running up and down to Bangkok asking for what he wanted only to change his mind when I got it and wants something else.

Eventually I wore him down and he gave in and everything was ready, my wife was with me, the book was on the table and he then wanted an original of a letter all about the information on my passport from the embassy at which point I stopped him and asked him for 10,000 baht for all the expense that I had inccurred.

When he recovered from the shock and started to bluster I pointed out to him that I kept my passport, he got a copy of that as he got a copy of everything else and that I wanted to talk to his boss.

At this point my wife was cringing in the corner as I told him that if I didn't talk to his boss he could stivk the yellow book where the sun doesn't shine. Whether he understood more English than he let on or not I have no idea but he got on the phone and then it was all smiles and no problems etc.

I signed for my book, waied and did all the polite things and then left. In the car on the way home my wife was giving me a serious ear bashing about not polite and all that. I pointed out to her that he had caused me so many problems by saying exactly what he wanted and that if he had got it right the first time I would probably given him a bottle of Chivas or something.

On the gold card thing my mate in Nakhon Sawan sent me a photocopy of his so I will try again in the New Year.

Had to put socks on the last couple of days

On what?

You never heard of willy warmers?

http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk/knitted-willy-warmer.html

Had to put socks on the last couple of days

On what?

You never heard of willy warmers?

Up here out in the countryside we have mains water and electricity.

We pay 2 baht per cubic meter (unit) for water and I think between 3 and 4 baht per unit of electricity.

At 30 baht per unit of electricity you would be cheaper to buy a big diesel generator and generate your own and I am sure that somebody in the Amphur or Tessaban will deliver water in tanker loads for much cheaper than he charges.