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" We don't want the rats to walk around finding food " -- don't be silly, they've got boats now.... And, just where did all these rats suddenly appear from ? Of course, they weren't there before, were they ?

Rats eating trash will not increase disease threat in Bangkok. What did the writer think the rats ate before? Caviar perhaps?

THe real issue, as another correspondent pointed out, is water borne disease (cholera being the really serious one). Leptospirosis could be an issue if the same water stays around for a long time, allowing it to be infected by rats but also other animals (including dogs and many other animals that also carry leptospirosis).

Hunger will also become an issue as donation fatigue, supply chains and means of payment wither away. With hunger, thirst and a degredation of the means of boiling water and cooking food thoroughly, disease naturally rises. One is more likely to drink suspect water, east suspect food and not boil water (because fuel has run out) in crisis situations, such as massive flooding.

In very serious crises, rats can become a resource - it kept many a family alive during conflict situations throughout the world as long as they had the means to cook the meat.

What is really needed is a concerted effort to deal with the crisis and prevent it from becoming a catastrophy. Organizing food supply and clean water solutions, transport for those who need it and prompt medical care. What we don't need is more scarce resources going on rat hunts. Yes you will see more rats in exposed areas during floods because their usual hiding places are not available to them because they are submerged. But many of them succumb to the floods, as the photo under the misleading headline suggests (a photo of drowned rats!)

Check the names. They'e from an ethnic group that form a disproportionately high percentage of crime statistics in Australia.

I presume by "ethnic group" you mean that the two individuals are Arab. For your information, the Arab civilization far predates so-called Western civilization. They preserved the ancient texts from the Roman and Ancient Greek worlds that helped the Europeans out of the "Dark Ages" and into the Renaissance from which much of European and subsequently Western civilization and scientific ideas took root.

Before the Arabs invented the number system that we now use, calculation was almost impossible for larger numbers (try using Roman Numerals to calculate!).

The Arabs also had great philosphers and medics.

And what did Western civilizations do for them? Tried to enslave them, created borders which managed to both divide tribes and divide them up too. And now we have people like you referring to them as "an ethnic group?"

By the way, I am not Arab, in case you think this is some sort of nationalistic rant

Let me get this straight. If you have to pay a very high amount of money in your home country for a particular service, often involving a high degree of comfort, safety and insurance and where the service provider is sober, not high on drugs, highly trained and unlikely to get his friends to beat the living daylights out of you if you have a legitimate grievance over the fare, then you should be prepared to pay at least the same amount of money for an uncomfortable, unsafe, uninsured service where the service provider is likely to be on something and guaranteed to beat the living daylights out of you if you have a legitimate grievance over the fare.

That means that if you are from a country where a service is more expensive, you should pay the same as that in another country where the service is much cheaper?

You are right about not pushing the tuk tuk driver but I would be surprised at anyone unprovoked pushing a tuk tuk driver, especially someone with a Thai wife/girlfriend who would understand that this would be kinda suicidal. There is likely to be much more to the story than we have been told. We get told that the foreigner was drunk but we hear nothing about the aggressive state of mind possibly brought on by taking too much jaba on the part of the tuk tuk driver.

I has an experience recently in Bangkok with a taxi driver who, having accepted me into his taxi from a covered bus stop in the rain, wanted to charge me 300baht to go from Central store to Soi 4 - the correct fare should be 50, maybe 60 in really bad traffic. Even though I was polite throughout the conversation, he stuck to his guns and wanted to throw me out of his cab in the rain and refused to start the meter. He also used some choice language in Thai. - he was clearly trying to get me angry when he realized that I understood some words.

He could have stayed in the car for a few blocks and taken his fare of 60 baht but instead stopped his car in a driveway and harangued me, trying to get me to pay the 300 baht. Eventually, he just sat there refusing to move. So I proceed to pretend to drift off asleep, having nothing else on that afternoon. The pantomime kept going as he pretended that the car was broken down - he raised the hood as he was probably afraid that the cops would stop by to see what was wrong. He then started to call up reinforcements - or at least he was making it appear that he was doing so. I pretended to be unmoved and kept the waiting game up for another 10 minutes on the basis that his reinforcements would take forever to arrive given the weather and traffic. By this stage he was clearly close to tears, having painted himself into a corner.

I exited his cab, thanked him for allowing me to sleep in his cab but requesting that he provide a pillow next time. I stopped another cab within a couple of meters and got to my destination for 40 baht, giving the driver a 20 baht tip for his good service.

200 baht equals approximately 4 and a half Euros. A German paying anything less than ten euros for such a trip in Germany would be lucky indeed. While this is not Germany, the foreigners come here expecting everything for cheap and to push people around, just like that German just pushed the tuk-tuk driver to the ground because there was an argument. We don't have the whole story, because as was noted, the German couple were drunk, it is possible they are putting themselves in a much better light than they have behaved, and the Tuk-tuk driver cannot be located because 200 baht is not an incredibly high price to pay for a taxi ride in the rain in the middle of the night.

"The vaccine is made by Sanofi Pasteur and has gone through studies on laboratory animals and humans in the Philippines, Mexico, Vietnam, Peru and the United States. Studies were previously conducted on children aged two years and up, teenagers and adults. It was found to be safe and able to create antibodies for the four serotypes."

If the vaccine works, that's good news.

But, if I were the parent of one of those children "aged two years and up", I would think twice (and even more often than that) before agreeing. That's me, the selfish one. I guess I ought to be blamed for thinking like that, because if the test proves fatal, I can always make a new child. Right? - Right. I, the selfish one who would protect his child from such dangerous tests, wonders what goes on in the minds of parents who provide their children for use as guinea pigs in such studies.

There must be a reason, it just escapes my imgination right now. Please help.

Certain forms of dengue turn haemoragic if they infect the host more than once. Given the prevalence of dengue in the named countries, a parent of a child who has already contracted dengue at least once would logically consider the vaccine. The risk of mortality or morbidity on contracting dengue another time in the case of a child would greatly outweigh any attendant risks of taking the vaccine.

In addition, much already would be known about how the vaccine and how it behaves inside the body before it would be administered to a child in the first place.

Despite many wrongly reported instances in the media (including the 3 in 1 scandal that was wrongly reported), vaccines have caused very little trouble to their hosts. Your child would not thank you for holding back on the vaccine if they were to get a subsequent infection that caused serious damage or death.

As someone who uses alcohol gel and hand washing as part of his job, I have to disagree with you. Alcohol gel should have something like lanolin that helps to protect the skin. There is no point in using alcohol wash as such and I do not know anyone who uses such stuff for long as even 70% alcohol will merely dry and crack the skin and without the gel, there would be nothing to keep it on the skin for long due to the very low boiling point of alcohol.

As e. coli can be spread by hands, it is imperative that people wash their hands and use alcohol gel during such outbreaks. You cannot merely rely on food preparation methods, such as cooking and food preservation methods such as freezing or cooling. We still eat a lot of food raw and it is perfectly possible for humans to transfer e.coli via their hands to others without food being a vector.

While I agree that there is a certain amount of rubbish written about probiotics on the web and elsewhere, your contention that the flora of the GI tract is not bolstered by probiotic suplements but by a varied diet of vegetables, including milk is plainly wrong! Unless you are getting unpasturized milk which I very much doubt, the white stuff is otherwise inert when it comes to bacteria. If we subject to heat everything that we eat (which you seem to propose in your first paragraph), the vegetables and fruit diet will be one that will also be otherwise inert. So where will someone get bacteria from if their gut flora needs bolstering?

The real fact of the matter is that many folks have compromised gut flora due to many reasons - even mild doses of antibiotics can lead to difficulties. Compromised gut flora is such a big problem that one clinic in the UK is actually offering fecal transplant therapy. Although the latter is only to be resorted to when other methods have been exhausted, those other methods involve the use of pribiotic supplements.

Your hypothesis on the spread of an illness which manifests itself with GI disturbances is not correct. The most important vector during an outbreak of e.coli related disease is human. Humans spread the beastie with their hands. Typical handwashing is not effective and alcohol lotions are not effective in the long run. Successful hand washing requires a vigorous wash as per the public health guidelines; 20 seconds with special attention paid to the backs of the hands, wrists, between the fingers and under the fingernails. Alcohol based hand washes used over time dry out the skin and rob it of the essential oils that act as a natural barrier to bacteria and virus attachment. Garlic, chili, sugar added not foods do not prevent the spread of foodborne disease. Heat is what kills off the bacteria, Heat also modifies the chemcial compounds found in "raw" products such as garlic or chili. This is why the magical health properties of garlic are only effective if consumed raw. Who wants to go around eating raw garlic?

Probiotics are now a popular cure-all touted by folks that haven't the slightest clue as to how the human digestive system works, but read something on the internet pushed by a guy calling himself a doctor, but was really a chirpractor. There is no need for bacteria supplements for those that are healthy and have a balanced diet, Unless someone has undergone intensive antiobiotic treatment or chemotherapy, the flora of the GI tract will take care of itself. Every human's gut flora is unique and develops to meet the needs of the host. It is not bolstered by supplements. rather, a varied diet rich in vegetables, legumes and fruits with a dash of dairy will help maintain the balance.

I am not in the business of starting flame wars or other such nonsense but you really are far off the mark when it comes to new strains of E Coli or other bacteria.

Yes, people who have been exposed to more common bacteria are more likely to gain resistance to those common bacteria but we are talking about a new version that could be an even bigger killer in SE Asia.

Just because you grow up on a farm in Europe where you will be exposed to much more varieties of bacteria or have been eating street food in Asia all your life does not mean you have any resistance to this new strain.

In fact, the chances are that because SE Asian populations are much more likely to have paracites and to have weakened basic health due to bad diet (especially through ingesting chemicals in Thailand), a new strain could have much higher mortality rates here in SE Asia. If you add the lower standards of food hygiene and other factors related to the food supply chain, this could magnify the mortality rates even more.

This is a joke, Thailand just likes to think it is playing with the big boys. Since when has Thailand imported salad vegetables from Europe?

Europeans live in ultra sanitary conditions, have lost their natural resistance to normal bacteria. Thais grow up in a bacteria rich environment, only westerners get Delhi Belly.

It never ceases to amaze me that a city like Chiang Mai where there are so many illegal workers from Burma and where so many Thais are doing illegal things that the one thing the immigration dept (and the police) have to do is to try and catch someone singing or playing an instrument with the requisite work permit.

It is the same old story - the letter of the laws in Thailand are very stringent but are only applied when foreigners are involved or the "perpetrators" not have connections. The only way out for such people is to pay up as in corruption. Viz the unevenly applied tax laws, laws on food preparation and many other forms of legislation used for trapping foreigner business owners.

I interpret the overzealous immigration official as saying - if you don't have a work permit and you happen to sign of play an instrument in public, you need to pay up. Immigration will ensure that visiting musicians will not have the time to be able to process the paperwork so as to have the paperwork done in time for their visit.

It does not matter if Chiang Mai suffers as a cultural centre. Just the same as it does not matter if Thailand suffered during the infamous airport scams.

A 5 inch cut to the head and broken glass everywhere and no sign of an attack

The mind boggles !

Obviously it was either a heart attack or a road traffic accident. After all, he could have run into a car or fallen off his motorbike and then run into the apartment before he realized what had happened. Thats when he had the heart attack.

Isn't it wonderful how simple police work is in the land of smiles!

would have thought the MANDATORY insurance that all rental items in Thailand require would have covered this

Did anyone "Police" ask for the Jet Ski policy and operators licence (which is a mariners licence in Thailand)....guess not

A jet ski does not cost 300,000 baht ($30,000 US!)

Nor would the repairs cost 270,000 baht

Enough said.

The tourist probably paid the right amount for the repairs. The insurance is probably fictious, just another way of getting tourists to pay extra.

I thought it was freaking hilarious. Good one.

I think that some of the people who profess this to be in bad taste are just upset that they turned out to be more gullible than others. And as they can't be mad at themselves, now, can they, so they push that anger on the forum.

It was rather eye-opening, though, to read some of the frankly racist drivel being posted by some posters.

A good April Fools Day prank has to be somewhat believable but only in retrospect is proven to be ridiculous. This one fit the bill.

My hat's off to the folks at ThaiVisa for such a great prank!

(As far as the link goes, I've gotta love the gorilla with iPads story!)

I am as much into April Fool jokes as the next guy and did have a small grin at this one. But I have to disagree that in retrospect it looks ridiculous. After all, they have already proposed this rule in Cambodia and Thailand is known to like to impose extra rules on foreigners. And in good Thai tradition, it would have been a rule that could be circumscribed but getting married abroad. And it would have put some women (and possibly some men), those who like to call themselves feminists, in the same boat as the current unelected and unrepresentative government. The trouble with this joke (and many jokes like it that concern Thailoand) is that it is just possibly true! And that is why even in retrospect no such joke looks rediculout.

I find much to disagree with in this article.

Thailand's economy is a lot more robust than people think. Why has the Thai currency been consistently strengthening over the past few years? Especially when these years were ones of political turmoil, conflict in the south, closed airports, riots etc etc. Add in the feature that Thailand has some strict laws about foreign direct investment and it really makes you wonder.

What we have to learn is that Thailand's economy does not rely on the primary sectors of tourism or agriculture alone. The key to value added in Thailand is manufacturing. Again, this is not the sort of manufacturing usually found in Vietnam but involves instead high value-added manufacturing of sophisticated components.

Place into the mix that Thailand has low wages and salaries, especially in the case of highly skilled personnel. Yes, neighboring countries have low paid professionals but they do not have the skill-set of the Thais.

The writer of the article appears to think that Thai exports are solely dependent on demand in Western countries, which the writer claims will slow down due to structural factors. In fact, the writer confuses The Global Economy for Western Economies. But Thailand exports all over the world, including to its neighbors. As its neighbors grow, so will Thailand's exports to those economies grow. Growth in Asia is frequently underestimated by many commentators - where will the growth in aviation come in the future? In Asia. Where will the growth of automobile and white goods come in the future? In Asia. The fact that this growth is starting from a very low level should not bother us - it is still growth

Everyone will face high commodity prices in the future - that is a given. It will affect all countries who do not have their own resources equally through inflation. Thailand has some oil but this will not be enough to radically insulate Thailand. Since most of its competitors will also face the same problems with respect to high commodity prices, this will be a level playing field.

The fact about food production is that we are always at the mercy of Mother Nature. While Thailand can take measures to mitigate the effect of climate change, there is very little that Thailand can do to reduce final prices in agriculture through productivity in the face of rising commodity prices, especially oil. Increased output or value added through productivity invariably requires the use of oil - the fact remains that leaving aside the temporary use of Burmese labor in farms and agribusinesses, getting more food out of the same piece of ground requires increased mechanization and that invariably requires oil.

I am not sure that Thailand will be knocked off its exporting perch by the arrival of the AEC. Competition to sell exports is already tough - Thailand currently competes with the Chinese in the export markets. Why the AEC would create a harsher business climate does not follow through. The writer would have to spell this out for us.

The brain-drain argument does not make sense. Thai professionals tend not to want to work abroad, preferring to keep in with their family and other networks at home. Study abroad? Yes. But Thai middle class professions get lonely abroad when they are separated from their networks and circle of friends. Only the non-professionals end up in countries such as in the Middle East. There is much more brain-drain from Western countries and that does not seem to affect those economies.

The fourth issue which the writer describes as "lowering competitiveness" goes some way to describing where Thailand is going. Yes, Thailand does not invest in infrastructure enough. However, its infrastructure is not terrible. WHile Vietnam, China and India are investing far higher amounts in highways and the like, it must be remembered that Thailand's infrastructure is far ahead of Vietnam and India. Yes, Bangkok should have a fully integrated public transport system with prices within the reach of the majority - the current rail system is too small, too expensive and not integrated enough. But this does not have a huge effect on the GNP of Thailand.

Thailand likes to take a slower road to development. There is too much rigidity in its class system - look at how some Vietnamese people can go from rags to riches in a generation whereas the class system only seems to be upset in Thailand by foreigners marrying Thais and thereby allowing a local girl to build a house larger than that of the local doctor. But this class rigidity has an economic effect - if you become a doctor because your dad is a doctor and can therefore gets you access to medical education and a job, that means that those with the best aptitudes do not necessarily get the highest positions. Nepotism and cronyism are two significant features that tend to lower economic growth. And to this extent, the writer has some purchase in his argument.

But the fact that Thailand likes to take the slower road to development does not mean that Thailand will be swamped by other countries in Asia. Yes, Vietnam will eventually reach a higher GNP than Thailand - I said eventually and we must remember that by then Vietnam will probably have twice the population of Thailand. But even when that happens, this will not mean that Thailand will be uncompetitive or will be swamped by the larger population of Vietnam. In fact, it will probably benefit from the rising of the neighboring economies. If anything, that is something that Thailand should try to break through - the SE Asian curse whereby each SE Asian country knows much more about the USA than about its immediate neighbors.

Thailand will not be unaffected by the global and regional storms ahead. But we must remember that those storms do not have only Thailand's name on them. All countries will have to weather those storms. What is remarkable about Thailand is its ability to weather the storms - remember the Asian crisis, SARS, Bird Flu. Not to mention all the coup, Bangkok riots, closed airports, insurgency in the South, political problems etc. There is clearly much more to the Thai economy than meets the eye.

Incidentally, I am not Thai. Nor am I a complete fan of Thailand. I too have a lot of difficulties with Thailand in many respects, including aspects of its immigration policy, the fact that it has not signed up for UNHCR conventions, corruption especially among the police, the way it treats foreign direct investment, to name just a few. But lets not fool ourselves - the Thai economy is a lot more robust than its critics like to think it is.

you do the crime . you do the time.

Got to agree with that.

Really? In Thailand? I read about rich connected Thais getting out on bail on a murder charge and disappearing. What about the young woman in BKK that caused the van crash killing many? What ever happened to her? Is she in jail?

There has been another report saying she may not have actually caused the accident. You are right though about the numerous well connected getting away scot free such as the Mercedes bus stop killer & the many who seem to have plenty of time to flee to another country often because the police make it widely known they are going to make an arrest rather than announcing it after they have done it.

While ones hears all sorts of stories about hi-so people getting off all sorts of serious crimes, there do appear to be two categories of crimes when that is just not possible - serious drug crimes or murcers where there is a lot of publicity. The teenager who caused the van accident may get off because it was not murder (even though it was reckless homicide).

Of course there is also the difference between hi-so and untouchable - as an untouchable you can get away with just about anything, including murder.

I hear everything that you are saying about not taking elephant treks, not being near elephants etc but doesn't this miss the real point, which is that MALE ELEPHANTS ARE DANGEROUS BECAUSE THEY SUFFER FROM "MOST." This condition, also known as Musth, involves huge amounts of testosterone entering the males blood.

Adult males should be kept away from humans or at least to have a vet with a tranquilizer gun on site to watch for signs of Must. This is what they did at the recent elephant festival in Sayabury in Laos.

It is nothing short of idiocy to have an adult male involved in trekking.

B)Hun Sen dosent know real war even if it hit him in the head.

Actually he was almost fatally wounded and lost an eye in war. This does not mean that I have much time for his policies but lets get the facts straight. Lets get the facts straight - All Cambodians of his age group living in Cambodia were involved in war.

The funny thing is that in the rural parts of Thailand I have seen many very old ladies who never cover their breasts. Most 60 year old plus women seem not to suffer from modesty when bathing publicly and bare breasted.

I can only surmise that covering the breasts is a fairly recent development in Thai culture.

Or maybe it's because not too many are interested in ogling a 60+ year old

Actually you may have raised an interesting point here. In the countryside villages some 4 or 5 decades ago, topless was the norm especially in the Isan area - ditto in Laos. Outside influences, such as the French in Laos and the Chinese in Thailand made toplessness in public for women unacceptable. Oddly enough, with the exception of FKK in Germany which probably did not get off the ground until the early 20th century, European and Western culture would have forbidden any topless behaviour by women prior to the second half of the 20th century.

On a more philosophical point, unlike pornography in its many forms, women's breasts are not hidden because they might corrupt or damage children - after all, breast feeding of young children is completely natural. Instead, women are asked to cover up because the sight of bare breasts in public might excite men!

Of course context is key to what is allowed and where. In Germany, there is nothing wrong in stripping off and jumping into a lake, river or the sea with people of the opposite sex even though you are not otherwise intimate with them. However, stripping off in someone's living room in Germany might be considered unusual or even shocking.

Actually disrrhoea frequently arises due to infections that do not involve the ingestion of infected or bad food or water. Influenza in some of its forms can lead to diarrhoea.

I don't think that the writer was equating a fall in temperature of one or two degrees in Bangkok with the deaths up north. Hypothermia may not afflict those, seemingly like yourself, who are in the best of health and able to play games in very cold weather. Apart for the fact that you were acclimitized, you did not fall into the high risk categories, namely newborns and very young children, the elderly and those with a condition that makes them suseptible to hypothermia. It would be instructive to learn that you fell into one or more of these categories at least for some period of your life.

I understand if the parents allow the kids to drive, but if the kids drive without their parents knowledge, that is crossing the line. Many of you have kids and teenagers and all of us were teenagers at one point. For the most of us our parents did not condone the things we did, and if we were caught by them we would have been punished.

So if parents are held accountable for our actions, being caught by the authorities is a better deal, you get a walk while mom and dad get jail time.

I agree that there could be a problem with children using the car without their parent's permission. So, here is the solution: the car is immediately taken from the family until legal remedies are completed. The parents and child are taken into court. There is an automatic time in a boot-camp (and education) for the kid (minimum 6 months) where you are only known by your first name. The parents, if they are rich enough, will have to pay for boot camp. There will be a fine imposed on the parents based on their combined wealth to a max of 1 million baht and the parents will have to pay any damages.

If the child absconds or the parents don't pay, there will be a permanent stop on all government issued permits and paperwork (passports, drivers licences, building permits) for any errant parent or child. That should stop Daddy leaving his keys around for junior to find and should get Junior to realize that if he gets caught driving Daddy's car, he will be separated from all his luxury for at least 6 months! (Thats a lifetime when you are only 15!)

But now it is time to wake up from the daydream. The reality is that NOTHING will ever happen in Thailand to anyone who is from the Teflon class - the Teflon class are those families and their members who will never have to pay for damages relating to accidents, who will never go to prison or even be charged for any wrong-doing and who probably will never have to pay a fine. At least one cannot say that Thailand is not consistent in the way it hands out justice!

Thailand has never systematically policed intellectual property - apart from very few arrests for show, it is not only very easy to find fake goods, it is virtually impossible to avoid fake goods especially in Bangkok. The main reason for this is because until now fake goods only hurt mainly foreign manufacturers. If Thai incomes and jobs are not affected by an activity, and profits can be made, then why bother enforcing the law.<div><br></div><div>Now that Thailand is starting to suffer from serious infringement of intellectual property rights, perhaps we will see some enforcement of IP rights in Thailand for a change.</div>

It is sad but how often it happens throughout Thailand that it doesn't get reported?<BR><BR>I think most of you miss the point except for the part that eight people lost their life! Why shouldn't they speed? Why shouldn't they drink and drive? Do some research on how Thai's get their driver license! As a Thai, what is a flashing red light? what is a flashing yellow light? What is a soiid white line? What is a solid yellow line? Ever see a four way stop at a intersection? What is the speed limit? Should you tailgate? Should you slow down when it rains? The driver is at fault but if you want to blame someone start at the top and that is the government of Thailand transportation Department. Why follow the rules if there is no enforcement?<BR><BR>The system killed these people and will kill again? I read something like out of 1,000 deaths 800 comes from motorbikes? Thai's can't drive! bottom line, take can smile and go straight but anything else they don't have a clue? Now that is Thai bashing!

For me there is only one really big surprise in these cases of tragic death through crazy driving, and that is, how come there are not many many more??

This report is probably based on the press release of the Thai conservation group in question. There is still no evidence that the 4 dams mentioned have "already created a crisis." There would appear to be a serious factual error (although the writing is itself less than cristal clear here) when there appears to be a claim that the site will be near the town of Louang Prabang and that millions will be affected.

First, the nearest point to Louang Prabang where the river joins Sayabouri province is in fact at least one hour drive from Louang Prabang where there a confluence of two rivers. Second, Sayabouri is a very under-populated province and unlikely to be affected by the dam. Third, the river travels for a very long distance within very underpopulated Laos before joining more highly populated Thailand.

Might the real reason for the opposition be the fact that the part of Sayabouri on the western side of the Mekong was a disputed territory and that some years ago Thailand fought a low-level war with Laos for this territory and did not get it?

Maybe we should get the guys who rebuilt CentralWorld to finish off the athlete village and sports facilities for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi!

I wonder how does one report a guest? Go to immigration and fill out a form? Is it available online? Can one just call it in? If a farang reports a guest will they give him/her any problem? Any info guys?

As I understand it, every guest house or hotel must register their guests and fill out certain info, including passport number etc. This is routinely collected by the police or provided to them by the GH owners. This is not about those situations where someone does something wrong in the GH or even in Thailand. All that the police want to do is to track down folks who have done something wrong in another country and for whom an international warrant is provided. By making GHs report all guests registered, this makes it easier to track down folks wanted in other countries.

In the past, such wanted persons "disappeared" simply by staying in GHs where they knew that no one was registering them because the GH did not want to pay tax. If they wanted to stay under the radar, the stayed out of trouble. Some even went so far as to befriend some police officers. All of this is now becoming either more difficult, almost impossible. Now the police are saying that GHs must register and that it is not the job of the police to provide info to the tax authorities.

Thinking that the guy is innocent just cause he came back to thailand is a bit too much. I'm not a cops fan, but i seriously doubt that an innocent man is pedo-charged for nothing. I guess most of us think the same here (thai legal system aside...)

Many people have been "pedo-charged" and the charges were not proven in the end. Especially in Thailand, there are people who are charged with lots of things that they did not do so that some cops or law enforcement can make money out of them. From the cop who runs up to you, a non-smoker, with a cigarette butt in his hand and tells you to pay a big fine because you have put your cigarette out on the street to the cops who stop you on your motorbike and make up some infringement that you did not do to get their donation to the security guards in league with the cops who framed many foreigners for "stealing" from duty free shops to the cops who tried to fit up the foreigner in one city over a girl he met in a brothel who turned out to be either barely underage (rumour has it that he committed suicide in prison - but that might have been because he was prepared to call the policemens bluff, sweat it out for a few months in remand jail and tell the court exactly what happened!).

Getting someone on pedophilia means that they can get more money. Especially if the accused has a high profile. Suddenly it backfires and now we have this. It would be a comedy if it were not so weirdly nasty.

Maybe the idea is that if his visa is taken from him, he must be deported (and pay an exit fine for not having a visa). And if he is deported, it means that he cannot stand trial. Maybe there is more to this than meets the eye or maybe I have been living in these parts too long!!!!

or the charge they make you pay for changing small change into notes, and the fee i was once charged for paying in 3000 baht in small change into my account, apparently to pay for the time and energy taken to count the money that was already counted and bagged ready for the teller to put it on their money scales.<br><br><br>International fee is beyond Bank of Thailand jurisdiction.<br>Anyway, you people can afford it.<br><br><br>Actually the 150baht International fee is the fee that is charged by Thai banks only and is directly under the jurisdiction of the Bank of Thailand.<br><br>When you factor in the fee charged by the bank or the credit card company and the very bad exchange rates, the cost of an ATM transaction can be almost $10. Some of us people who are non-resident and who are getting on in years would prefer not to carry around large amounts of cash but to just take out a limited amount of cash every day or two. In other words, we cannot afford to lose the large sum. As

non-residents, we cannot open bank accounts in Thailand (or at least not

easily). On top of that, the Thai baht has been consistently strong

against the dollar and other currencies. <br><br>I know quite a few people who will not be coming to Thailand this year or who will be curtailing their visit because their income has fallen - they now have to budget and will be asking themselves about all those extra costs, such as bank and currency exchange costs<br><br>Some people who are running businesses are doing so on very small margins and the extra bank charges are raising their costs. Many Thai people do not use bank accounts because of the costs involved and this has a real effect on development and business opportunities.<br><br><br><br>