khaowong1

the good news for them is they can probably get their money back on the amulets...

Ha Ha Ha.. No, you don't buy amulets, you rent them.. and I doubt whether there's a money back guarantee. If the man wearing them happens to mention the monks name he got them blessed from, the poor monk will have to move to somewhere else.

Of all the Hardrock Cafes I've been to around the world, the Bangkok branch really is one of the worst... Terrible cover bands, mediocre food and surprisingly poor service...

I agree with this completely. Lousy bands, poor service, and they really screw up a hamburger. How hard is it to make a decent hamburger? You have to use something besides a dead water buffalo, but jeez. The Hamburger gets a really bad name in Thailand. The only thing I really liked about the Bangkok Hard Rock, was I used to live just down the street about two blocks, and BEFORE I became a monk, I used to meet lots of university girls in there. Please notice I said BEFORE. I haven't been in there in almost 4 years now but I'm betting it hasn't changed.

This is a fairly normal Thai thing. Usually the Thai's put on white clothing and stay at the temple for 2 or 3 days over Wan Phra day, the full moon. I've had them stay for a week, but it's usually the week leading up to a big Buddhist holy day.

Was just thinking if this was America she would be assinated - for all its problems and faults Thailand does some things just right.

Why in the world would you say something like that? That's asinine..

All it takes is money spread around to the right people and anything goes in Thailand. This is the country that complains yearly about short skirts and the country who complained about the girls taking off their tops, but porn in the movie theatre and on tv, good to go.

I wonder if anyone has actually picked up a 'phone and tried to call the 10 digit secret code numbers

Are you kidding, they would be way too easy..

I can hear it now. " Hello, Somchai's noodle stand, how can I help you?"

Well - it's going to be interesting if the Dems get more votes. I expect a turnaround on PTs stance if they do.

Of course... that go's without saying.

Good idea. Looking forward to his next project. "Infidel for a day."

How about "Ladyboy for a day"...

This would be one "Crackdown" that would be fun to watch..

Like I really want to live in Mumbai or Karachi..

It's totally crazy that the average Thai earns about 8000 baht a month, but they expect farangs to have pension incomes of 65,000 baht a month to live there.

And for the suckers that already got married. What should we do?

Depends on where you live. If you live out in the sticks, get aquainted with your local temple and the monks there. It's not only good for you, it will go a long way to making you acceptable to the local population. After you get to know your temple, the abbot and the other monks, if you don't mind losing some hair, you might even ordain for a week. You would be surprised what it will do for your image. Not to mention your soul.

229 to be precise.

I've only come across lists of 227. What are the additional two? Sorry to stray off topic

Yes, your right, 227. I didn't have on my glasses and hit the wrong button.

I would say he didn't need it and wanted to show you a kindness.

Monks often give things away when they have surplus, some things they are not allowed to store so must give it away if they can't use it, in Thailand they often have a surplus.

Yes, that's the most likely reason. Same thing happened to me last week at Wat Lan Boon in Bangkok.

It's a Thai tradition to give a stranger water when you visit their homes, and since the wat is the monk's home, it can be seen, more or less, as an extension of that custom.

This is exactly right. thanks Sabaijai .. It is a Thai tradition.

I love Ajahn Brahm's talks... I listen to his youtube video's quite frequently. I also have two of his books. I wish I could make this personal appearance, but can't. If you want someone to tell you about Buddhism in a whole different way, don't miss his talk.

Don't you just love Thai politics and elections. The biggest thing to remember here, is that we farangs have no say so in their politics, and our say so, that we so eagerly give out, is not wanted. They have no clue how politics and elections are run anywhere else in the world, so they think what they do is normal. When you try to explain to them that what they are doing is not normal, they lose face. After all, I believe that the first political election was held in Thailand in 1933. That's only 78 years ago. Look how long England has been having elections.. Even the U.S., look who we picked for a President. You would think we were smarter than that.

I like all those cops in back with scowls on their faces.. whats with the lady covering her face? I had a hard time trying to keep up with all the storys.

Oh yeah, bicycle lanes on main roads.. good luck if your the one riding the bicycle. You'll be joining the environment.

I'm surprised he got caught. He must have made someone angry.

Not being a economic major, I had to do a little reading about raising interest rates to curb inflation. Here's what I just read.

The theory is that a rise in interest rates, and the corresponding limitation in money supply, will "damp down" excess demand and "take the pressure out of market". The intention is to reduce households' and firms' willingness to buy goods and services through making credit more expensive, ie; curbing inflation.

There is something fundamentally unsatisfactory about this process and the theory behind it. In the current inflationary situation in the US and the UK, price increases were initiated by external factors such as petroleum supply and the failure of banks in USA. Therefore, inflation in UK is not caused by excess demand but by increased input costs. Therefore, monetary policy alone cannot be expected to control the economy. In fact, a rise in interest rates adds to inflation through raising the costs of manufacture, housing, transport and vehicles and so on.

I'm sure there is some disagreement about using interest rates to curb inflation. Like I said, I'm no expert.

I thought Sanan always wears pink? He has a blue shirt on in this interview..

One wonders on what Aek bases his insight views of the middle Class and the Elite. And how does he define "middle class" or "elite"?

Idle blabber with anecdotal knowledge.

I disagree, I think he is spot on, the culture of inherited privilege in very much a function of Thai society. Stemming from its feudal past (which is barely 100 years ago) the elite or wealthy could basically do what they liked as they had all the power.

The peasant class had no rights at all. Even today, one only has to watch the interaction between the wealthy elite and poor country people to see how things have changed very little.

Rich people in Thailand think they can do what they like, can buy off policemen and politicians, get special treatment in the government bureaucratic system by paying bribes (and expecting it) and generally behaving as if they deserve these privileges.

It is their culture, this is the way things have always been and a short history of Western values will not change things here any time soon.

And what about the "middle class"? A generation or two ago, these people would have been defined as peasants.

It's all just stereo-types.

The "elite" and "middle-class" includes just the rich and better off in Bangkok, ignoring all the well off people in the other big cities and country areas.

From my experience, the middle class is difficult to define because that would include self made business people who have benefited from the growth in the economy over the past thirty years, but the largest sector has been the explosion in government paid workers, most of whom are university "graduates". These most definitely consider themselves as middle class even though most are struggling on their salaries. But the attitude of this group I would describe as elitist, the university system here seems to give them a sense of superiority over their more uneducated compatriots.

I have had to deal with the large government departments for many years now and I find that many of the bureaucrats are arrogant about their status, resent having to perform to any outside (i.e. farung) performance indicators, spend most of their time in their pecking order office politics (sucking up to the big boss and giving their underlings a hard time) and generally doing as little as possible.

One thing is for sure, they have a superiority complex about where they stand in the Thai class system and look down on the country folk who didn't have the benefit of higher education.

Yes, I'm seeing this more and more as the younger, college educated govt workers take over in the different govt departments around Thailand.

One wonders on what Aek bases his insight views of the middle Class and the Elite. And how does he define "middle class" or "elite"?

Idle blabber with anecdotal knowledge.

I disagree, I think he is spot on, the culture of inherited privilege in very much a function of Thai society. Stemming from its feudal past (which is barely 100 years ago) the elite or wealthy could basically do what they liked as they had all the power.

The peasant class had no rights at all. Even today, one only has to watch the interaction between the wealthy elite and poor country people to see how things have changed very little.

Rich people in Thailand think they can do what they like, can buy off policemen and politicians, get special treatment in the government bureaucratic system by paying bribes (and expecting it) and generally behaving as if they deserve these privileges.

It is their culture, this is the way things have always been and a short history of Western values will not change things here any time soon.

A very true reply. and like you say, nothing is going to change here any time soon. About the only hope Thailand has is if the young college educated kids, especially the ones educated outside the country start the change. It's going to be a long time before you see any major change.

Natthawut and his group don't want equal rights and demoracy, they want to rule the country..

It appears that if the Thai govt. can't really fix the problem or don't want to because of future benefits to be received, they instead have another CRACKDOWN.