avalonmick

What will this do for condo prices?

Just change the ad to read, "Single Level home with Multi-level Basement for Sale"

And indoor swimming pools.

Is there a realistic way to correct this subsidence? And why is there a subsidence in the first place?

It's a swamp and always has been. There's no way to stop it - the ground is sinking AND ocean levels are rising. The average altitude of greater BKK is less than five metres above sea level.

An ocean rise of 50-100cm will wipe out most of samut prakarn and the southern part of BKK.

Nissan will become very attractive real estate.

Or water views

What will this do for condo prices?

Depends if you fancy a basement or street view.

Someone got to him...

Both times - today and in 2008

Hey, everyone else is in for their piece of pie, so let the farmers get some of the action too:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/626674-most-thais-approve-of-bribery-poll/

Most Thais 'approve' of bribery: poll
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Abac Poll yesterday released results of a survey showing that an overwhelming majority of people approve of bribery and had bribed officials themselves.

The survey was conducted on 1,561 respondents aged over 10 in Bangkok from March 12-16 (with an error margin of 7 per cent).

Of the total, 87 per cent approved of lying for survival and had lied at some point over the past 12 months; 87.5 per cent believed pampering state procuring committees with special treats was normal; 87 per cent said they had jumped queues to buy goods and services; and 80 per cent said they had bribed officials in return for convenience and self-intere

You guys may be missing the point. The problem in Thailand is the lack of rule by law, allowing corruption to flourish.

I'll be banned from Thaivisa if I mention my theory about why there is no rule of law here.

Patience old boy. The clock is ticking. Change will come.

yes, I'm afraid that we may be heading for interesting times.

I'm now a firm believer that the Mayans were right: for many 2013 will mark the end of life as they have known it, and the will not be good.

have houses and rice land, driven 100,000+km mostly in rural areas. corruption of government officials is minimal and small time. its whenyou getto central government and big business interests that large scale malfeasance kicks in, and thats what is holding the country back.

I've been fined by cops on country highways and if he pocketed the baht then so be it.

But being asked fora "fee" to get a visa faster or for a donation to a political party so the permits get issued or a kickback if you win the contract is a different level and has far reaching ramifications.

Sorry but I just don't believe the numbers quoted:

- Thai students - 450 - believable.

- Singapore students - 550 - not believable because teachers actually teach 99%

of all classes in English in singapore, students totally immersed in English from

day 1 at Kindergarten. The averageTOEFL score for Singapore students must be

a lot higher than 550 / the gap cannot be just 100, impossible.

Totally agree with your comment. This doesn't add up.

Well apart from the fact that TOEFL is scored out of 100 this report certainly confirms the skeptics worst fears:

AsianScientist (Apr. 28, 2011) – A report by the Educational Testing Services (ETS)summarizing the performance of examinees who took the TOEFL test between the period of Jan-Dec 2010 has the Netherlands topping the list with an average score of 100, followed by Denmark with 99 and Singapore with 98, tied with Austria.

Amongst 163 countries, India ranked 19th, followed by the Philippines at 35th. South Korea ranked 80th and North Korea ranked 96th. Next was China at 105th, Thailand at 116th and Japan at 135th. The lowest scorers in Asia came from Cambodia.

http://www.asianscientist.com/academia/toefl-singapore-worldwide-english-proficiency-top-asia/

Who paid what to whom to make this happen?

the only practical long term solution is to move the city. anything else is doomed to fail with massive loss of life and property.t

then the issue becomes one of compensation for loss of land in places like Samut Prakarn and other southern areas, or allocation of substitute land in the NE/NW.

What's the bet there's no compensation for hiuseholders

"5) to reclaim land and practically cover up the Gulf of Thailand area"

umm i dont think that's very practical.

just MHO

Atleast 2 separate issues

Storm Surge.

excessive rainfall.

They each require a different solution.

The dude,has one tough job.

He has to educate the population, then find a solution.

Good luck on both.

No wonder he sounds pissed.

this pubertal boy is so naive he blames for poor for turning to prostitution and giving thailand a bad name.

what about the promotors of the industry - the businessmen and politicians who run the shows, and the police who get kickbacks to turn a blind eye to all this illegal activity?

Would it survive on this scale if thailand is not so corrupt?

In Amsterdam its legal. the country openly trades on it.

The world laughs at thailand because its illegal, in a buddhist country, yet everyone in the top levels of the country benefits from it in one way or another so it flourishes.

that's the joke.

Not the fact that poor women are exploited by their fellow countrymen so those same countrymen won't actually have to do productive work.

Embarrasing?

Who's embarrased? The sellers? Not apparently. The buyers? Not apparently.

Maybe it is those who are in denial, and do absolutely nothing to change the reality of the state of Thailand who are embarrased.

Exactly. Don't whinge about moving exchange rates and then do nothing to minimise the risk.

You've had it easy for half a decade while Europe and the US slowly imploded giving you, on average, continuing gains in value.

Now its going the other way you'll have to think and actually manage your money.

If you hold most of your savings in pounds but spend in another currency, there are ways of protecting yourself from devaluation of the pound by holding GBP-denominated funds that in turn hold assets in other currencies like government bonds. Very easy to manage from a computer terminal anywhere in the world just using any of the UK asset management/ discount broker/ stockbroker firms.

On this matter...Thailand made the right choice. Why should the country get less when they are the dominant tourist city? Come on people...which farang would travel half the world to this region and not enter Thailand but only Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam??? Do you think Chinese tourist cannot afford to pay visa fees to enter Thailand? Please...those Chinese nationals who can afford to travel ain't the average Joes! More over...nobody enters China without a visa and it's fees. So what's the big issue about Chinese tourist paying visa?

Me.Vietnam has all the benefits of thailand and far fewer hazards and drawbacks.

I arrived in Newcastle - NEWCASTLE, not Heathrow or Gatwick and waited a sodding hour to get through Immigration there.

Do you look like your avatar?

Yes, that would explain the haste to get him out of one country and the delays getting in to another.

Got your rabies certificate, old boy?

Well, he's just saying what a lot of Thai people are thinking (and doing) ...

Spot on..

Sent from my GT-N7000B using Thaivisa Connect App

Yes, the guy's obviously got some serious disease that's affecting his brain: he forgot to mention that the reverse switch means more pain and suffering for the farangs, viz: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/580258-women-from-ghana-and-thailand-most-unfaithful-study/

Better not report this... otherwise you will get in trouble for making Thailand look bad and causing it to have less tourists...

Can we have a list that shows where Australians lost the most money (without dying)? I'll be Thailand tops that list too.

This article is simply more subterfuge and avoidance of democracy. Poverty has never been a problem for democracy look at India..

The problem is that there is no democracy in Thailand because no freedom of speech.

As soon as there is freedom of speech there will be democracy and it will work just fine.

Watch this interview and learn from two of the standout intellectual revolutionaries of the past century: http://assange.rt.com/

That is, if the Thai censors let this link through first, then let you access the website and see the interview.

This article is simply more subterfuge and avoidance of democracy. Poverty has never been a problem for democracy look at India..

The problem is that there is no democracy in Thailand because no freedom of speech.

As soon as there is freedom of speech there will be democracy and it will work just fine.

It's the elites who have most to gain from restricted speech, filtered internet content and non-democratic rule. They will continue to foster debate about whether Thailand is 'ready' for democracy because that allows continued constraints on all sorts of freedoms.

It would seem Papua New Guineans - who've had democratic self rule for less than 40 years - have a better grasp of what democracy is and does and how to use it than Thais do.

typical thaivisa.. immediately assuming there are 'real killers' and that every arrest is some sort of conspiracy, and that the 2 arrested were tortured into confessing.. even though there hasn't been anything to suggest this is happening.. they always find these guys so fast because they have surveillance cameras everywhere and they put 100 cops on every hi-profile case, especially one that involves the killing of a foreign tourist..

and even more especially on one that has 300,000 baht up for grabs.

How can we not be cynical about these reports? You find a policeman who has not taken a bribe or a fine and pocketed it and then maybe we can begin to have some trust in the system.

Look at the bigger picture guys.

The mafia need the tourists just as much as the businesses do.

So all he's got to do is to pay them enough to lay low for a few months so it looks like they've gone away - problem "solved" in the traditional Thai way.

"....the words from the Land of the Free, where freedom of expression is held sacred"

That's about as true as calling this woman a "contestant"

Sorry, but do we know that the lady was killed, I cannot see it in the report.

you are correct it only says she was gunned down not the outcome, I have lived in thailand for only two weeks and am shocked at the number and variety of attacks on people, shootings, stabbings, muggings you name it have read about it.

The Thai News is pretty good at printing crimes for all to read unlike the West where many crimes you never hear about...

Yes, what the thai media doesn't report on is all the corruption and other white collar crimes that are really messing the country up.

Come on, this is fun.

Business as usual it seems with two polarised groups throwing cream pies at each other; always gets a laugh, especially from other countries who can't believe the puerility of it.

Only gets serious when someone brings out the boys with the guns ...

I actually agree with her. The high inflation numbers are indeed a misconception. The price of perfumes, tablet pc's from China (lol), expensive watches, airfares to the Maldives, visits to Angkor Wat, tickets for the Manchester derby, Burberry items have indeed never been cheaper for Thais. Also the fact that a lot of food items have doubled in price, or 30% up, is just not true. You just get 2 pound instead of 1 kilogram, beer and water is served and sold in smaller bottles (as if we didn't notice!), and even a nice portion of noodle soup is not what it used to be, I mean where is the red pork?

perfectly true: imported goods are cheap because the bhat is being held artificially high by the BoT.

FX traders are already betting on a bhat fall soon. It can't last.