hughben

Do the 'confessions' mean there will be no trial?

It's is not like these country bumpkins from Burma will have a top lawyer representing them, who would have the DNA samples independently checked.

Onward flight tickets are standard with most airlines, as it covers them not having to pay for your deportation flight or if you are refused entry into Thailand.

Get hold of all the mobile/cell phone numbers that were on the island that night.

Given the killers are Asian, those that aren't registered, will probably have made some calls to people who are registered and they will be able to find out who the unregistered people were through those people.

It is too much work for them though and they will be able to have a list of numbers - two of which will belong to the real killers, so it won't happen.

PM crack down will be on expendable foot soldiers, independent no marks working the odd scam and foreign drug takers.

The mafia will carry on regardless.

In another part of Thailand the Junta allowed the jet ski mafia to return to their normal ways after they told the Junta they would have to revert to crime to make a living (a paradox). Therefore expect the same crap people got when the previous useless politicians were at the helm.

Do they have the technology to find out using cellphone coverage who was on that island that day?

I know they can do it if they know your number, but maybe they have a system that would give you information on who was on the island with their phones or at least let you know who made calls/sent messages (which I would be sure the killers did) that day or night?????

No mention of them thinking about closing the City line ARL which caters for thousands of commuters every day.

Did he get rabies shots?

Did anyone see this?

Couldn't he have got an emergency passport and done a visa run with that?

http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/passport-wrangle-landed-lindley-chef-7775738

Surely the local gangster would have done him in in the bar. They don't stop to think about ramifications when it comes to face.

Just look at the video doing the rounds of the Thais beating up a drunk farang in Pattaya.

I've always wondered how the multinationals set up in Thailand, or say the fashion houses, what with the 51% Thai/49% non Thai.

Could someone enlighten me, or is it the same group of families with the 51%?

Must admit though out of all the places ive travelled to in thailand, Koh Tao and Koh Phangan take the pick as being the most violence i have witnessed. one tourist beaten up by a bunch of thai guys on a beach ( tourist smacked a thai guy siting on a chair first) and another incident in a 7 eleven, two tourists fighting and crashing though shelves. lots of blood on the ground after that one.

heck I was only there for 3 nights! Didnt think much of returning. I prefer peace and quiet.

I don't believe you. I believe the police.

"One senior officer told the BBC he did not believe a Thai person could have committed such a crime."

"...Two of Miller's British friends [...] and several Myanmar migrant workers..." ??? So I have to understand that Thai Police don't even take under consideration possibility that this crime has been done by some Thai citizen criminal ???

Thais may well have been ruled out. This is from the day after:

"One senior officer told the BBC he did not believe a Thai person could have committed such a crime."

If it closes, I will be annoyed I have to resort to taxis again at the airport.

One positive though, is that annoying TV advertisement in English and Thai explaining how great the ARL is, will have to come off air.

And looking at that map, it is safe to say all those lines will not be completed in most of our life times.

Here is the video. Cold blooded:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2ad_1410664577

Today Suvanabumi Airport. Taxidriver tells where I go is outside Bangkok (no it not) and there is a fix charge not meter for going there.

The complain paper needs a stamp (3 Baht) and be brought to the post office....no email address.....

Taxi driver made the impression to me that he might threaten other guest. But I am male and fit, speaking some Thai, driving past a security who takes his ID card to a company with a couple of man who tried to help me with the luggage prevented such ideas. But he ranted all the driving.

That isn't quality tourism....

Ever since the rail link opened, I haven't taken a taxi to and from the airport and never will again. Shame some of them are shysters.

Publicly flog them and have them trampled to death by a herd of elephants.

Those that trade in this or exploit other animals are utter scum.

If you remove the clamp without damaging it, are you immune from a fine?

I seem to recollect that was the law in the UK (a few years back?).

As I said they are a keystone species.

It is a common mistake to see these animals as an isolated problem. so they can argue, if all the elephants in the wild die out, we still have them in zoos so that's OK just the jungles won't have elephants. Of course it's not as they aren't an isolated item, they are part of a greater whole and if the elephants go them all that they do and all that depends on them goes too....a domino effect.

PS - did you know that they now think there are 2 species of elephant in Africa?

Yeah, I read that report on the 2 species.

Regarding the 100 year thing mentioned. I saw that report and it differs from an earlier report which estimates 10-20 years before extinction in the wild.

And, elephants generally do not breed well in captivity. For every two elephants in zoos, only one calf is born. So, their numbers will slowly decrease unless that can be addressed.

By that time, the Chinese will probably be cloning them so they won't care anyway. A lot like now.

If only they cared about other animals apart from Pandas.

The Arabs and the Africans and others, contribute to that great melting pot that is lower Sukhumvit. Thailand generally is a very homogeneous country and its nice to be transported to a multi-racial area every once in a while.

The last time I took the short cut from Soi 3 to Soi 5 (2009), I walked through a bunch of Africans and was aggressively asked why a skinhead (hair is very short and I had a shirt, pants and dress shoes on) was walking though their street (I thought this dipshit thinks I am a neo nazi).

But It felt like I was outside a stadium at a football match in England back in the 1980s. It was not a nice atmosphere and I was preparing myself for something bad to happen.

Luckily, a taxi driver had an altercation with one of them seconds later, he got out of his taxi with a bat and they were shouting at each other. I walked off.

I haven't walked down there since.

Jesus, they cannot even fix the lottery pricing, how the hell do they think they can clean up the ivory trade which i expect is far more sophisticated and has many international players involved!

They should fix one problem before moving to the next. Not announce a crack down, release a few PR bulletins, and then move on as if its done and dusted. Quite clearly they have failed to fix the lottery issue, so have they given up on it? or simply brushing over it and hope people forget about it.

its not as though the shops aren't hiding in plain sight. That would be a start. In the press over here there was a report yesterday that for the first time in Africa, the population of elephants isn't being replaced. If it continues like this, elephants will be extinct in 100 years, all so people can have some bangles and chess pieces.

100 years? you think they have that much time??? Check your figures! one estimate gives the Africa elephant 6 years!!!!

The Elephant is a keystone species in many ecosystems and local extinctions of these elephants and their immediate bio-systems is imminent in many cases, it's not just the animals we lose but the whole ecosystem collapses.

+1

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140114-elephants-the-forest-gardeners

he Nature Conservancy’s lead scientist Dr M Sanjayan, Dr Valerie Kapos of the UN Environment Programme, and tropical field biologist and conservationist Dr Ian Redmond reveal the crucial role that elephants play in keeping these forests strong and resilient, and how elephants are the most important player when it comes to the diversity of tree species in the rainforest.

A recent report from Phuket were the Junta cracked down and Jet Ski operators weren't allowed to operate, said they protested to the Junta telling them they would have to turn to crime to make a living if they couldn't operate their Jet Skis. The Junta allowed them to operate again as they didn't want them turning into criminals which is a paradox.