billd766

How about the fact they cooperated with the Japanese during WW2? I am sure that if the US did not step in to stop France(Cambodian land grab) and Britain(Invasion of Singapore) from exacting revenge for their duplicity during WW2 Thailand would not be what it is today. It was a choice of survival because Japan was not exactly know for being kind to countries they conquered but it is a dark chapter in Thai history that has been glossed over many many times. Kind of ironic how they love the Japanese so much but seem to not show the same level of friendliness to other nationals.

You say cooperated?

"On December 8, 1941 in the immediate aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces invaded Thailand's territory. Only hours after the invasion, the then prime minister Field Marshal Phibunsongkhram, ordered the cessation of resistance against the Japanese.

On December 21, 1941, a military alliance with Japan was signed and Sang Phathanothai read over the radio Thailand's declaration of war on the United Kingdom and the United States." (from Wikipedia and other sources)

I have a friend who is a Thai teacher (he is 26 years old) and he was in disbelief when I mentioned this not long ago.

What he learned in high school and the university in Bangkok was that Phibunsongkhram was a general in the Thai army. Nothing more.

He was surprised to know about the declaration of war to the UK and USA.

When I asked him about the origin of Kanchanaburi, he only knew it as a tourist attraction with a temple dedicated to tigers. Not a word is the texts he read about the Death Railway to Burma or the bridge over the river Kwai built by the prisoners (mostly USA and British soldiers) half of whom died from disease, abuse or malnutrition.

He went home and to the library after our conversations and could not find concrete reference in Thai texts relevant to those facts. Therefore, what I pointed out to him could not be true.

Thais are given to rewriting history or deleting what is not convenient for them to remember. Saving face is first and foremost.

Funny thing, this Thai friend is going to Japan to study there for 4 years.

Actually for every POW there were 3 slave labourers who had a far worse time than the POWs who at least had each other and the discipline and some limited medical assets.

For every POW who died 5 slave labourers died also.

This from Wikipedia

The Burma Railway, also known as the Death Railway, the Thailand–Burma Railway and similar names, is a 415 kilometres (258 mi) railway between Bangkok, Thailand, and Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar), built by the Empire of Japan during World War II, to support its forces in the Burma campaign.

Forced labour was used in its construction. About 180,000 Asian labourers and 60,000 Allied prisoners of war (POWs) worked on the railway. Of these, around 90,000 Asian labourers (mainly romusha) and 16,000 Allied POWs died as a direct result of the project. The dead POWs included 6,318 British personnel, 2,815 Australians, 2,490 Dutch, about 356 Americans and a smaller number of Canadians and New Zealanders.[1]

I believe one opened at Phitsanulok this year, how far away is that?

http://thailand-busi...our-new-outlets

That's closer, now down to about 200 km each way.

Even closer Bill they have them in Makro's K.P.Phet that's only 60k away from you. If you look they have fan powered one's as well and their bigger. But the grill is still crap.

Thanks Fredob

I will be up doing a bulk shop in a couple of weeks and I will see what they have got.

I bought a leg of lamb a couple of years ago and never got around to buying a cooker to go with it.

Thats what you get for sending your kid to a sub-par (probably) Thai school.

The Int. schools have web portals, weekly newsletters, and 7 year olds are certainly not allowed to leave the school grounds with out their parents or approved guardian (who must present a valid ID at the gate). If a child was not picked up, the school should have kept her in the office until a parent was contacted.

Send your kid to a proper school or stop complaining.

What about if the parents can't afford to send their kids to a proper (probably) Farang school? Can they continue to complain?

Should I uproot my family and move 400 km to Bangkok or Chiang Mai where there is a farang school?

I believe one opened at Phitsanulok this year, how far away is that?

http://thailand-business-news.com/news/featured/10944-robinson-department-store-to-expand-with-four-new-outlets

That's closer, now down to about 200 km each way.

Is this a mountable model or one of the free standing ones? I have been looking for an over as well. I even roughed out an opening in our outside kitchen for one, but haven't gotten one yet. Will it bake a turkey? If it can do that, it can do anything else I would throw its way. ett

It is free standing and can bake a baby turkey, go look and you will see.

Can you advise me, PM or open, of the brand and which place to buy.

I live out in the sticks but not toooo far.

Thanks

It's in the OP - the brand is 'House Worth" (Chinese make) bought at Robinsons.

Sorry I missed that bit, (I am getting old and need new glasses).

For me to go to Robinsons would be about an 800 km round trip as I live in the central region not far from Khampaeng Phet.

It would cost me over 2,500 baht for the diesel plus an overnight stay. With my luck this month I would probably get told, mai mee, we sell last one this morning and no idea of the next delivery or price.

Just a thought.

I have 2 UK passports, both legally obtained, one for Muslim and the other for non-Muslim countries.

The Muslim one has expired and my Thai visa is in the other one.

Though I live in Thailand could I post the expired one to a trusted friend in the UK and get her to send it to the passport office for renewal and then return the new one to me?

Yes.

Thank you for that information.

Is this a mountable model or one of the free standing ones? I have been looking for an over as well. I even roughed out an opening in our outside kitchen for one, but haven't gotten one yet. Will it bake a turkey? If it can do that, it can do anything else I would throw its way. ett

It is free standing and can bake a baby turkey, go look and you will see.

Can you advise me, PM or open, of the brand and which place to buy.

I live out in the sticks but not toooo far.

Thanks

Just a thought.

I have 2 UK passports, both legally obtained, one for Muslim and the other for non-Muslim countries.

The Muslim one has expired and my Thai visa is in the other one.

Though I live in Thailand could I post the expired one to a trusted friend in the UK and get her to send it to the passport office for renewal and then return the new one to me?

You think riding a motorbike with an umbrella up is normal.

You mean it isn't?

Some pictures of my bike .Got the panniers yesterday .Cost B4,500 .They are supported on a chrome frame .The screen was B450 .I have been busy renovating my house ,but hope to start getting some mileage on the bike soon .

Your bike looks very smart.

I was seriously close to buying one when I found a Yamaha Virago 535 with a green book and supposedly one owner.

I feel I need the extra power to lug the extra weight of me around.

I dropped my Yamaha Virago a couple of months ago on the twisty uphill bit of the 106 off the route 1 to Li and Chiang Mai.

I was raining on and off and it is mostly 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear up there.

I went around a very tight left hand bend in 1st, cranked over a bit then as I went round I whanged the throttle open too far and the back end tried to overtake the front even as I turned hard right too late.

I was only doing about 10 to 15 kph and I just lost it.

Fortunately I had a jacket on but I ended up sliding uphill backwards resting comfortable on my backpack. I stopped with the handlebar and clutch lever through my waterproof trousers and 2 big bruises, 1 on my thigh and the other above my wedding tackle.

I was very lucky that nothing was coming close after me up the hill and a couple of Thais coming down stopped to help me.

I was very lucky and drove on up to CM with more caution than before.

There are many bold bikers and quite a few old bikers but very few old bold bikers. I am 67 and count myself lucky that day.

I was embarrassed, bruised but my ego took a big battering.

I thought I was better than that.

I relearned that lesson the hard way.

Yet you are still riding on the same tires that are so old you can't even make out the manufacture date, right?

I hear you've since replaced the front but have kept the rear. That makes no sense at all...

Glad you escaped undamaged but please get yourself some proper tires!

Front tyre replaced a while ago but with the rain we have had up here I have only clocked about 200km in a month.

The rear is still OK but I think I need new glasses to read balack on black.

But I thought you said (on this forum or another) that you crashed because the rear the lost traction, not the front?

I did and the rear tried to overtake the front.

I was leaning over to the left going around a sharp left hand bend with the handlebars turned left.

I opened the throttle too far and started to go into the kerb, so I turned the bars to the right to straighten up, but too late as I was still leaning to the left as the bike was not upright and it just pushed me down onto the road before I could do anything else.

Game over and luckily my body was far enough away from the bike for my leg not to be trapped under the bike and I stopped with my left foot down near the gear lever and the handlebar through my waterproof trousers. I then hit the engine kill switch to stop the motor running and I suppose the rear wheel from turning.

I sat up and lifted the handlebar off my trousers and was able to scoot backwards to get free of the bike and stand up. It is a heavy old bike but as I had overtaken a truck and trailer several moments before. being on the wrong side gives you a little more strength with the thought of being crunched.

Anyway I had a couple of colourful bruises and a very flattened ego but fortunately no damage to my bike.

And there you have it.

Stupidity and press-on-itis can lead you into trouble.

I dropped my Yamaha Virago a couple of months ago on the twisty uphill bit of the 106 off the route 1 to Li and Chiang Mai.

I was raining on and off and it is mostly 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear up there.

I went around a very tight left hand bend in 1st, cranked over a bit then as I went round I whanged the throttle open too far and the back end tried to overtake the front even as I turned hard right too late.

I was only doing about 10 to 15 kph and I just lost it.

Fortunately I had a jacket on but I ended up sliding uphill backwards resting comfortable on my backpack. I stopped with the handlebar and clutch lever through my waterproof trousers and 2 big bruises, 1 on my thigh and the other above my wedding tackle.

I was very lucky that nothing was coming close after me up the hill and a couple of Thais coming down stopped to help me.

I was very lucky and drove on up to CM with more caution than before.

There are many bold bikers and quite a few old bikers but very few old bold bikers. I am 67 and count myself lucky that day.

I was embarrassed, bruised but my ego took a big battering.

I thought I was better than that.

I relearned that lesson the hard way.

Yet you are still riding on the same tires that are so old you can't even make out the manufacture date, right?

I hear you've since replaced the front but have kept the rear. That makes no sense at all...

Glad you escaped undamaged but please get yourself some proper tires!

Front tyre replaced a while ago but with the rain we have had up here I have only clocked about 200km in a month.

The rear is still OK but I think I need new glasses to read balack on black.

I dropped my Yamaha Virago a couple of months ago on the twisty uphill bit of the 106 off the route 1 to Li and Chiang Mai.

I was raining on and off and it is mostly 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear up there.

I went around a very tight left hand bend in 1st, cranked over a bit then as I went round I whanged the throttle open too far and the back end tried to overtake the front even as I turned hard right too late.

I was only doing about 10 to 15 kph and I just lost it.

Fortunately I had a jacket on but I ended up sliding uphill backwards resting comfortable on my backpack. I stopped with the handlebar and clutch lever through my waterproof trousers and 2 big bruises, 1 on my thigh and the other above my wedding tackle.

I was very lucky that nothing was coming close after me up the hill and a couple of Thais coming down stopped to help me.

I was very lucky and drove on up to CM with more caution than before.

There are many bold bikers and quite a few old bikers but very few old bold bikers. I am 67 and count myself lucky that day.

I was embarrassed, bruised but my ego took a big battering.

I thought I was better than that.

I relearned that lesson the hard way.

I live up country and out in the sticks and my electricity bill is a fraction under 4 baht per unit and I pay 2 baht per unit (1 cubic metre) for water.

I don't know about Chiang Rai but in Chiang Mai there is the Apparel shop and you can find that on this link

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=103123673807285494411.0004624feb401af10e332&ll=18.781887,98.99835&spn=0.004088,0.005493&z=18&iwloc=00046b80ca45a7fbdb4f8

Alternatively make a post in the Chiang Rai Forum.

We had a flash flood in the main village of Klong Lan on Monday.

It is the first time in the 8 years that I have been that this has happened.

The local klong of a couple of metres wide and 50cm deep and is about 200 metres from the village over flowed and became about 300 metres wide and the flood water was up to the doors on my 4WD pickup truck.

It took me 20 minutes or so to drive 400 metres to get through it. The alternative was about 90 km around the outside.

Yesterday there was a visit from either the governor of Khampaeng Phet or somebody from the central government.

Whatever there were about 10 Fortuners, 15 minibuses and a load of pickup trucks with assorted local and imported police and security guys in blue uniforms having a looksee and poke and prod and probably a free lunch at somebodies expense.

If they actually do something useful then good for them. If not, then no change there.

We had a flash flood in the main village of Klong Lan on Monday.

It is the first time in the 8 years that I have been that this has happened.

The local klong of a couple of metres wide and 50cm deep and is about 200 metres from the village over flowed and became about 300 metres wide and the flood water was up to the doors on my 4WD pickup truck.

It took me 20 minutes or so to drive 400 metres to get through it. The alternative was about 90 km around the outside.

Has he got nothing better to do?

I recently did a tour of Vietnam with a pal of mine and we stayed in 10-20$ rooms right down the coast. My favourite was the 10$(cheapest!) in Hue.

Smokie,

there is a big difference in cost between going with a pal to Viet Nam or going with your wife to celebrate for the 12th time her 49th birthday

it also seems obvious that your hotel in Hue did not provide the services as specified hereafter:

Rate includes

==========

� Accommodation in Presidential Suite

� In room check in & check out

� Choice of Buffet Breakfast for two in Le Soie Restaurant or A La Carte breakfast

in room

� Choice of Exclusive dinner with a bottle of champagne in Bellisimo Restaurant or in room service

� Complimentary Packing/Unpacking service

� Personal butler available 24HRS a day for the duration of your stay

� Complimentary laundry & pressing of garments

� Amazing bouquet of Flowers and Hotel Gift

� VIP ticket to enjoy the show of water puppet including transportation for two

� Complimentary House Cocktails upon arrival

� Relax the body, sooth the soul, and lift the spirit at the best day spa in Hanoi with:

30 minutes Rose Bathing for two

60 minutes personalised massage for two (Choice of Aromatherapy

or Traditional Vietnamese Body massage or Foot massage)

60 minutes natural facial massage for two

Spa manicure or pedicure for two

� Round trip airport transportation

� Check In/Out at the time of your leisure

� Free internet access in room and wifi throughout the hotel

� Complimentary use of GYM, Jacuzzi & Steam, Sauna

� Complimentary usage of Business Center service including computer, incoming fax.

� In-room tea / coffee making facilities

Good for you Naam.

I hope that both you and your wife thoroughly enjoyed your stay.

When was Aung San Suu Kyi elected to lead her country?

If you didn't notice, the junta submitted the country to elections in 2007.

I did notice but did you notice the last free election back in 1990 that the Burmese Junta never acknowledged the results.

From Wikipedia

In the 1990 general election, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won 59% of the national votes and 81% (392 of 485) of the seats in Parliament.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] She had, however, already been detained under house arrest before the elections. She remained under house arrest in Burma for almost 15 of the 21 years from 20 July 1989 until her release on 13 November 2010.[9].

So I guess the answer to your question was in 1990.

The information is easily available from many places on Google.

I just chose the first of about 7,660,000 hits about Aung San Suu Kyi and it only took me a minute or so.

You missed the part where *she* wasn't actually elected, so *she* couldn't be PM and lead her country.

Once you use Google, it is usually a good idea to read more than the first thing you come across, although in this case the information *was* in the wiki article you referenced.

It is true that she was not elected.

She was under house arrest by the military junta who lost the election but refused to accept the result and just kept on ruling as they still do today.

There were many restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi and her party and I read in the news lately there are still some 2,500 "political" prisoners in the country even now.

Total power is never given up freely especially if it was stolen in the first place and the thieves have all the guns and money.

Imagine killing of monks and other innocent and unarmed people holding a peaceful protest asking for free and fair elections. What kind of country would do that without any warnings at all?

If the junta was so honest and respectable why are they subjected to so many sanctions from the rest of the world?

There are countries which are friendly towards them and help to support them. I can think of North Korea for one.

I am 125 km north west of Nakhon Sawan and since Khampaeng Phet opened its BigC mall I rarely get down there any more.

That is only 65 km in the opposite direction.

I am 125 km north west of Nakhon Sawan and since Khampaeng Phet opened its BigC mall I rarely get down there any more.

I signed it but I had to make the screen font size bigger and change the security word a couple of times to read it.

What would happen if they were playing bridge and the scores were written down?

Is that considered gambling?

Serving or not serving, it is absurd and despicable to suggest a moral equivalency of Thaksin and Aug San Syu Kii.

Absolutely.

Both were democratically elected and both were denied their democratic right to lead their country by a military coup

Aug San Syu Kii. has spent the past 20 years under house arrest (15 out of 20 to be more precise) with absolutely no result.

In 5 years, from his exile, Thaksin was able to defeat the junta and restore a democratically elected government in Thailand.

And honestly Yingluck looks much better that Aug San Syu Kii.

Thailand 2 - 0 Burma

When was Aung San Suu Kyi elected to lead her country?

If you didn't notice, the junta submitted the country to elections in 2007.

I did notice but did you notice the last free election back in 1990 that the Burmese Junta never acknowledged the results.

From Wikipedia

In the 1990 general election, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won 59% of the national votes and 81% (392 of 485) of the seats in Parliament.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] She had, however, already been detained under house arrest before the elections. She remained under house arrest in Burma for almost 15 of the 21 years from 20 July 1989 until her release on 13 November 2010.[9].

So I guess the answer to your question was in 1990.

The information is easily available from many places on Google.

I just chose the first of about 7,660,000 hits about Aung San Suu Kyi and it only took me a minute or so.