monkeycountry

Well, the good news is one idiot is gone for good, and a few others will be gone for a while. Gangs killing eachother is a good thing imo. Only problem is when they hit innocent bystanders.

"8 other men accompanied Mr. Oot but did not involve themselves in the altercation according to witnesses"

Bullsh*t !!!!!

I'm convinced that there hasn't been a Thai man in the history of their culture who has even fought his own battle. At least 5 or 6 on 1 is the norm here. And as if anybody is going to come forward as a witness when vicious thugs are involved. These is clearly no protection offered to possible witnesses with this joke of a Thai justice system. Cripes, they release violent murders on bail with a pittance of a bond put up.

Up until a couple of days ago, I would have agreed with you, but then I read an article on TV - see link below. I do believe that is the only time I have ever heard of a "fair" fight in LOS though.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/668493-chonburi-man-beaten-to-death-for-long-phone-call/

On 19th September the body of a transgender was found soaked in blood lying in a hotel room,...

A nice, racist article by the Pattaya Daily Snooze. What has being a transgender to do with being murdered? It's as if the reporter is trying to get a rise out of the reader. What a dirt bag!

Maybe the next time this idiot goes to a crime scene, he or she can put, "the body of a heterosexual was found soaked in blood lying in a hotel room." just to even things up.

Being transgender is now a race?

Muslims seem to be considered a race by many people, so why not transgenders.

On 19th September the body of a transgender was found soaked in blood lying in a hotel room,...

A nice, racist article by the Pattaya Daily Snooze. What has being a transgender to do with being murdered? It's as if the reporter is trying to get a rise out of the reader. What a dirt bag!

Maybe the next time this idiot goes to a crime scene, he or she can put, "the body of a heterosexual was found soaked in blood lying in a hotel room." just to even things up.

Well, since the article refers to the victim as "she", I for one appreciate that they mention "she" is a transgender, as I would have otherwise thought the victim was a woman.

sorry the guy lost his life but if you fly with crows is very likely you will be shot down with them

So you think it's ok to kill somebody because that person was talking to people you don't like or have some grudge against.

What a sad outlook on life.

That was not really what blackman said now was it?

He simply stated that if you hang out with the wrong crowd, you are likely to get into trouble. A basic rule of life most mums teach their kids.

Hopefully this tragic death will teach others to distance themselves from taxi drivers - it seems bad things happen around taxi drivers all the time, and usually the taxi drivers themselves are the ones causing the trouble.

Honestly Limbos, the least they can provide a marine toilet that can be treated & emptied afterwards.

A no 1 can become a no 2 quite quickly in this part of the world, particularly among tourists who aren't yet acclimatized!

Still no reason to blame a divemaster or dive company for, as Busybee suggested. In this part of the world, the majority of dive boats will either have a marine toilet or no toilet at all, when the boat rides are not as far away as they in general are in Thailand.

Since the tour owner knows it is going to happen, you can blame him for not having proper facilities on board.

Who says the owner knows it's going to happen, there's a very clear briefing each morning. If your fellow passengers don't /can't hold their guns, blame them, not a tour/dive operator. Maybe I missed something?

On the other hand, whilst you're at it when you're changing the whole region into having to use different toilets on their day trip boats, maybe, if you possibly can spare a minute, would it be asked too much if you can also spend some time on more pressing matters, like road safety?

These are people that profit from a business, at least try & look after the environment & their customers.

No matter how you look at it, they are contributing to pollution, no need to bury our head in the sand.

Something went wrong with the lay out of this post, hence my answer to Rooo in red;

In all my years working in the dive industry all over SE Asia, I've rarely seen toilets the way you describe them Rooo. It would be an interesting challenge to get to change this. What kind of toilets do you think all those fishing boats have? What relation fishing boats vs dive/day trip boats will there be? Not an easy task.

I agree, proper toilets are probably rare in SEA, yet they are standard on boats in the west, and probably for a reason, so it is possible. In some countries it is illegal with toilets that empty directly into the sea. It is the same with cars (and ferries) with black smoke, they are common here, yet rare in most western countries, partly because in many western countries the police would fine you for not fixing your car, while here noone cares.

Yes, I bought CPNCG when there was an IPO about a year ago. I did it through SCB (the advisor). I paid upfront, but only got around 10% of the shares I had requested, so assume it was oversubscribed. The rest of the money was of course returned to me.

A no 1 can become a no 2 quite quickly in this part of the world, particularly among tourists who aren't yet acclimatized!

Still no reason to blame a divemaster or dive company for, as Busybee suggested. In this part of the world, the majority of dive boats will either have a marine toilet or no toilet at all, when the boat rides are not as far away as they in general are in Thailand.

Since the tour owner knows it is going to happen, you can blame him for not having proper facilities on board.

Who says the owner knows it's going to happen, there's a very clear briefing each morning. If your fellow passengers don't /can't hold their guns, blame them, not a tour/dive operator. Maybe I missed something?

On the other hand, whilst you're at it when you're changing the whole region into having to use different toilets on their day trip boats, maybe, if you possibly can spare a minute, would it be asked too much if you can also spend some time on more pressing matters, like road safety?

It is a silly argument. What do you suggest people do if they are stuck on a boat and have to do #2?

Having a briefing that people are not allowed to do #2 for an extended period of time is about as silly as having a briefing telling them not to breathe. You cannot make rules to stop basic bodily functions. Do you tell them not to puke if they get seasick too? :-)

Claiming that the operator is unaware that his passengers use the toilet for #2 is ridiculous. If you put 10-20 people on a boat for half a day or a full day, then it is almost guaranteed that some of them need to use the toilet for #2.

The operator can do as most people do around here, and simply neglect his responsibilities, but he could at least admit doing so, instead of pretending to be clueless :-)

A no 1 can become a no 2 quite quickly in this part of the world, particularly among tourists who aren't yet acclimatized!

Still no reason to blame a divemaster or dive company for, as Busybee suggested. In this part of the world, the majority of dive boats will either have a marine toilet or no toilet at all, when the boat rides are not as far away as they in general are in Thailand.

Since the tour owner knows it is going to happen, you can blame him for not having proper facilities on board.

All dive boats in the Samui archipelago have marine toilets and during each boat briefing, every day, it's mentioned that only # 1 is acceptable when parked over a dive site. If one or more persons on the bat still decide to break that 'rule', it's hardly something a divemaster or dive company can be accountable for.

On the up side, a turd is biodegradable but that nasty ferry fume may actually kill you in the (very) long run.

perhaps it is time to get real toilets on the boats, the kind that stores the waste till you get back to the pier so it can be emptied at a tank or similar there?

The police have documented the telephone number of the text messages for further investigation

Real cops would have already made a visit to the owner of the phone... Wasn't one of the head honchos so proud of the fact that the BIB can track down every phone already? But maybe they call the number and ask the owner if it's convenient for him/her to come to the police station next Wednesday between Four and Five to have a friendly chat.

And how will you be able to do that if its a prepaid number? If the sim card was bought at a 711 used once and discarded you can't trace it.

True, but the message can still be matched with the phone, even if the message has been deleted on the phone, the history has been deleted and the simcard replaced. and since they have a good idea who sent the message, checking their phones might help. Odds are they are too stingy/stupid to discard the phone and therefore still have it

I find the OP's questions quite bizarre.

When I go on holiday, I research where I'm going beforehand.

If I had a young kid, I would make sure before I book that adequate hotel facilities and entertainment were available.

The beaches can be crowded with locals trying to sell you watches, pork-pie hats, T-shirts, tablecloths, breakfast dinner and supper. Hard to find clean beaches, and as for "calm" beaches? What is a "calm" beach?

You should avoid Jomtien Beach Rd at 4 a.m.

You shouldn't miss a good ladyboy show. Great entertainment.

And 1 question. Are you coming to Pattaya Airport by microlight ?

My cousin is flying to UTP on Bangkok airways.

me too, and the US navy are flying there with 4 engine jets.

I generally only go there for the market and for the large clinic.

Christmas dinner at the coins is good. As is breakfast.

go-go bars? no thanks. Give me live music or the EPL and F1 any day over go-go bars. Pole dancers are like strippers, seen one, seen them all.

unlike the EPL or the F1. EPL is a bunch of dudes kicking a ball till it runs into a net for 90 minutes and the F1 is another bunch of dudes driving around in a circle a hundred times right? :-)

At least with the strippers you can interact. Try yelling when watching EPL or F1 on tv, and see if anyone listens :-)

A friend of mine who runs boat tours once noticed an engine part was almost broken. He asked the crew to buy a replacement. Eventually the engine broke down during a tour and he asked if they had bought the replacement item? They had, and now they would use it to fix the engine.

It took a few hours, and all the customers got their money back!

I have a feeling the OP and Thais have different opinions reg. what constitutes "perfect Thai".

I have heard foreigners speak funny Thai so many times I can't remember, but it makes me smile every time. Foreigners who speak "perfect Thai" are still quite rare, but I am impressed whenever I hear it - and a bit jealous :-)

Punching him to death and he "suddenly" realized that he was dead.

This is newsworthy not least because it was a rare thing - a fight between 2 men, without weapons or gangs to back them up, fighting with fists until one of them prevailed. At least no weapons were mentioned in the report.

I agree, jokes aside I think this is the first time I have heard of an unarmed one on one fight in Thailand. Hell, if the guy had not died, this could be considered good news!

I don't think it has anything to do with defect DNA, farangs, saving face or anything else. If I was told from birth to smile everytime something upset me, eventually I would explode too. Venting anger once in a while is a natural and healthy thing imo, and might just prevent overreacting as in this case.

I heard Major Cineplex is going to use this story as the theme in their next add against using mobiles in the cinema.

Anyway, as most thais seem to fight to the death once they start fighting, I wonder if they do so on purpose, perhaps to avoid subsequent retaliation, or if they do so by accident?

Whenever a Thai official says "don't worry" it is time to run.

Have they started the boat propellers yet?

In either case, I am sure PM Yingluck is not too worried - her feet will stay dry. Is that a map of her escape route to Montenegro?

Mr. Korn seems to not understand the infrastructure project and the 2.2 billion baht loan bill at all.

2.2 trillion x 30% = 660 billion to the PTP government and their friends.

400 billion x 30% = 120 billion to the PTP government and their friends.

660 billion > 120 billion, hence the PTP MPs will obviously vote for the 660 billion - so would I!

The same goes for the bank managers who support the bill. The PTP government is going to borrow the money from these banks, which means a serious boost to the profit of these banks as well as their share price on the SET. Further the bank managers may get a raise/bonus and get promoted. There is zero downside for these bank managers, so why would they say no???

Not to mention that some of the banks have the government as their main shareholder, so even if they for some mysterious reason disagreed with the loan bill, they will probably still officially support the loan bill as their boss (the shareholders) will want them to

"He said boats were now positioned at strategic locations along the Lad Phrao Canal, as their engine propellers could be used to facilitate the flow of water into the sea."

I was hoping they had silently killed this idea to avoid further embarassment (and waste of fuel), but apparently not. I take it that Hydro and Agro Informatics Institute director Royol Chitradon is not an engineer :-D

I believe in a free market of supply and demand. It are the unions with their ridiculous demands that have killed it for everyone in the past 50 years or so.

We need a higher salary and want to work less. You have to give us this and that or we don't work anymore.

What they forget to realize is that with each demand prices of consumer goods go up, until it reaches a level that the man in the street can't afford them anymore.

Manufacturers have to leave the country to be able to produce at a price that the man in the street can afford, however since they've left that man in the street lost his job and now can't afford that product anymore even at a lower price.

It's all a vicious circle.

In Europe the Polish workers do a roaring trade as plumber, construction worker or whatever occupation because they work cheaper than the workers of the country they are traveling. They are welcomed by the Dutch, Belgian, German or whatever nationality because if they want to have a job done by their countrymen they have to pay an arm and a leg, that is if they even can find someone who want to perform the job, while the Polish do the job to the same standard at a fraction of the price.

There is only one group that complains, and that are those who don't want to do the job at the same price.

Your last statement is true, however that group consists of pretty much every native worker in those countries, a rather large group :-)

The only people who like the polish workers in those countries are the employers for obvious reasons - a very small group in comparison. Fortunately for the employers they have the EU on their side, so local governments cannot block the polish workers, unless their country leaves the EU.

remark: just to be clear. People have nothing against the polish as people. It is the low wage competition they are against.

You consider the employers a small group, you should keep in mind that every individual who needs to have a job done is an employer in this case, because these Polish tradesmen are self-employed and just drive from house to house.

What holds back the western Europeans from working at the same rate ?

As I said the Unions and the workers have killed their golden goose with their silly demands.

I've always been self employed and made good money, but I worked for it and wasn't scared of working 15 hours a day 7 days a week.

Try to find a factory worker these days who agrees to work 40 hours a week.

It is a long discussion that I do not wish to have here, but to answer a couole of your questions.

Yes, some polish workers work on their own fixing stuff for people, but the majority work for polish registered subcontractors who in turn work for local companies. This way the avoid minimum wage, in some cases taxes and other regulations.

Most polish workers keep their families in Poland where everything is much cheaper. They then just live on a minimum in the country they work in, and send the rest of the money home. For obvious reasons the locals cannot do that.

Anyway, it is a long and complicates discussion, so let us just agree to disagree.

Btw, I don't personally care about this issue, I am simply stating what most people in those countries are thinking, and that they are not exactly welcoming cheap labour, they are stuck with it.

In Australia they justify bringing immigrants by saying locals are too lazy. They don't mention the below usual minimum wage the per container pay structure ends up paying, and the ad-hoc work irregular work ("when the fruit is ripe"), living out of tents and barns-come-guesthouses, the fact that they never tried to employ locals.

You're right they should pay them double triple wages and put them in 5 star hotels..................then you can complain the berry's are too expensive

No they should pay the minimum wage at least and admit the work is shit for various reasons rather than slandering a nation of people, many of whom do tough work for low pay.

I believe in a free market of supply and demand. It are the unions with their ridiculous demands that have killed it for everyone in the past 50 years or so.

We need a higher salary and want to work less. You have to give us this and that or we don't work anymore.

What they forget to realize is that with each demand prices of consumer goods go up, until it reaches a level that the man in the street can't afford them anymore.

Manufacturers have to leave the country to be able to produce at a price that the man in the street can afford, however since they've left that man in the street lost his job and now can't afford that product anymore even at a lower price.

It's all a vicious circle.

In Europe the Polish workers do a roaring trade as plumber, construction worker or whatever occupation because they work cheaper than the workers of the country they are traveling. They are welcomed by the Dutch, Belgian, German or whatever nationality because if they want to have a job done by their countrymen they have to pay an arm and a leg, that is if they even can find someone who want to perform the job, while the Polish do the job to the same standard at a fraction of the price.

There is only one group that complains, and that are those who don't want to do the job at the same price.

Your last statement is true, however that group consists of pretty much every native worker in those countries, a rather large group :-)

The only people who like the polish workers in those countries are the employers for obvious reasons - a very small group in comparison. Fortunately for the employers they have the EU on their side, so local governments cannot block the polish workers, unless their country leaves the EU.

remark: just to be clear. People have nothing against the polish as people. It is the low wage competition they are against.

"It is impossible for the government to pledge rubber price at Bt120/kg as demanded by farmers, he said, insisting that Bt90 per kilo was an appropriate price."

I am not sure he understands the meaning of the word impossible, however we know from the rice scam that it is possible to pay 40% above market price, and on a much larger scale as there is a lot more rice than rubber, so just offer the rubber farmers and other farmers 40% above market price, and I am sure they will accept that and go home. - Unless of course it is only possible to pay 40% above market price to people who wear red shirts?