monkeycountry

Just read in a local Finnish paper that the Thai berry pickers have decided to go ahead with picking berries, but on the condition that the Finnish government buy their berries - at 40% above market price :-)

I don't know the details of this case, but have a feeling that the lack of Thainess outside Thailand has the potential to cause problems for especially poor and/or uneducated Thais when travelling abroad :-)

How about a road block and some demands. Would love to see how Finland tackles that :-)

This must be another example of this countries unique. Thainess! Will they ever learn?

What does this have to do with Thainess? These sort of vicious murders don't happen elsewhere?

Will they ever learn what? How to be a good (and clearly superior) white man like yourself?

What is it with these people who interpret every news story to fit their narrow vision of this country? Save it for your bar stool, pal. Most of the people on these forums are sick of this condescending racist rubbish.

I believe he is referring to the bailing of murder suspects -

not suspects, he was already convicted and sentenced. There is a big difference.

Hate to prolong the morbidity of this topic, but there was a news story today out of China about a 6 year old boy having his eyes gouged out, apparently to get the corneas for a transplant. He survived, but is blind for life. It left me weak and cold. But I don't see anyone blaming all Chinese as heartless villains. RIP Krabi mother and son. My heart also goes out to the husband/father and the hell he must be going through right now.

The good news is that when the chinese authorities catch and convict that guy, he will not be out on bail.

This must be another example of this countries unique. Thainess! Will they ever learn?

What does this have to do with Thainess? These sort of vicious murders don't happen elsewhere?

Will they ever learn what? How to be a good (and clearly superior) white man like yourself?

What is it with these people who interpret every news story to fit their narrow vision of this country? Save it for your bar stool, pal. Most of the people on these forums are sick of this condescending racist rubbish.

Murder happens everywhere, the Thainess part is that here a convicted murderer can get bail. That is indeed very unique to Thailand.

The thing to learn is that letting convicted murderers with nothing to lose out on bail will most likely lead to something bad - such as a mum and child getting killed.

hope that cleared the confusion for you :-)

The only sick part about this story is that people who have already been convicted and sentenced for murder can get bail. Somehow, as with most other things, I doubt Thais even understand the concept (of bail).

For decades the police decided not to do anything about criminal activities on Phuket (partly because they are involved), leading criminals to believe they can do whatever they want. This "policy" now comes back and bites them in their behind.

Did someone say "poor mans Fox 'News' "? This reads as a light fluff peice. So, the PM travels to other countries, is that bad? Not really. To claim or imply that she is not performing her duties because she is abroad is rediculous. There is also a clear attack on the PM because she is a woman. The closest to worthwhile journalism is the question as to why rice is subsidised, but not rubber? Fair question. Why not stick to those? I could name a dozen issues the PM and the Reds can be grilled over, unfortunately, for the opposition, most of these also apply to them.

These questions reg. rice/rubber etc. are indeed being asked, but ms. Yingluck is never around to answer, which makes the current question reg. her travel habits relevant.

And yes, if there are major problems in your country/company and the CEO decides to spend his/her time securing irrelevant deals in irrelevant countries such as Montenegro, then yes, that is very bad - and had it been a private company the CEO would have been fired.

On a side note, ask yourself how often people from Montenegro travel to Thailand or vice versa, or how much business potential, if any, there is between the 2 countries? The answer to both questions is appx. zero, so could it be the real reason for her trip is that her brother is a national of Montenegro?

If you are into thai shares you can open a trading account with most thai banks, such as Bangkok Bank, Siam Commercial Bank etc. If there is a minimum amount necessary it will be very small, nowhere near 500k. There is no tax on the potential profits (capital gains tax), except a 10% tax on dividends.

Trading fees are generally quite low, like 0.1-0.2%.

You can trade online of course, but I do not know if they have virtual accounts, where you do not use real money.

Make sure to apply at the head office, as many branches have no clue how to open an account for you.

Good luck :-)

In most countries it would take a lot less for a high ranking official to lose his/her job, not to mention being charged with a crime such as abuse of power/office, but I assume threats from officials are perfectly ok in Thailand

The government still have not explained why rice farmers get 40% above market price, but rubber farmers have to settle for much less???

Why is he so concerned with the democrats? Tony Blair and that actress (Lindsay Lohan?) are coming to save the day soon

Mario

Thanks for the "heads up"

Easily avoided by renewing a passport nearing its expiry date in good time.

Yes, unfortunate though for those of us who applied for a visa extension 5 days ago. Of course, announcing such changes well in advance would be completely unreasonable, as would informing the applicant in person the day he/she applies.

Just to be clear, I was complaining about the poor "service" at immigration, not Mario. Thanks for the info Mario

Funny how MPs from the north/northeast are allowed to support rice farmers when they demonstrate, but MPs from the south cannot support the farmers from the south :-)

Anyway, the problem is exactly the same as that for the rice farmers, so why should the rubber farmers settle for anything less than the rice farmers?

The rice farmers get appx. 40% above market price, so obviously the rubber farmers should get 40% above market price too.

...and now I know why I see people wearing sunglasses in go-go's.

OR massage parlours. ........................

Sooner or later they'll start banning sunglasses in go-go's... and they'll be looking very closely at prescription glasses.

As they should. It is rude towards the girls, and rude towards the other customers. Nobody wants to be filmed, especially not without their knowledge and in a compromising situation such as being naked on a stage. Hopefully the gogos will teach troublemakers a lesson one way or another and spread the word.

Yes, just like in Phuket, the taxis pay under the table to local politicians to get and to keep a license. The local politicians in turn make sure that they can continue scamming the locals and the tourists, without any authorities doing anything about it. Once in a while things get out of hand and then the taxi drivers and their bosses, the local politicians have a proforma meeting to assure the public that they are taking their complaints seriously. Afterall the local politicians need to get reelected a election time.

The taxi drivers know eachother well and are excellent at sticking together whenever there is trouble, so there is nothing that prevents them from ganging up and exposing or complaining about the local politicians they are paying. However, they have no interest in doing that, as the current arrangement ensures the drivers still make a lot more money than drivers in Bangkok who are generally forced to follow the rules.

Depending on the details of the contract, a civil lawsuit can be filed and perhaps also a criminal suit for fraud. In either case your friend will have to contact a Thai lawyer. It is not a case for any embassy and probably not the police either.

If your friend wants revenge, filing a lawsuit might work, but if he just wants his money back, then he should forget about it, as legal fees will likely cost more than he stands to win. Further, lawsuits in Thailand takes many years, and even if he does eventually win, the Russian could be broke, or have left the country meanwhile.

"providing each embassy a security safe"...

Where do they keep our passport when they keep them overnight?

It doesn't really matter.

At my local immigration office, the processed passports are kept in a small basket for people to pick up. There is probably 50-100 passports at any given time, and foreigners just go and look through them all until they find their own, take it and leave. There is no supervision, noone you have to tell or show that you just took your own passport, nothing to sign, and no camera, so one could easily take someone elses passport or take a whole bunch of passports. I do not think anyone does, as I have never heard of there being any trouble, I am just saying that one easily could, so no need to break in in the middle of the night if you want to steal passports.

'Vorayuth allegedly fled the scene' - possibly one of the stupidest things I ever heard. Either HE DID or HE DIDN'T flee....

True, but which one is it?