Tokay

I was a Captain for a Thai airline. The standards for training were very low. The maintenance of the aircraft was very very bad. The "technicians" signed off defects as having been fixed when they weren't. Co-pilots were promoted to Captain because they were Thai even though they were inexperienced and not up to the job. The company also regularly underpaid the staff with total disregard to their contracts

They didn't even arrange work permits. Needless to say I soon left along with most other expats. The airline is now staffed by the guys who can't work anywhere else as nobody will employ them.

It is of no surprise to me that other countries are starting see the light about Thai aviation.

That's reassuring.

So thailand is not that special or different.

Maybe, but they seem to have managed to convince the Japanese to allow the flights according to this report.

Japan is temporarily allowing them to fly in. It's not a done deal. I think it's more of the Japanese seeing if the Thais can walk the walk, or if they only talk the talk.

I would suggest anyone who has been able to save millions of US dollars while only making $43,000 per year, and claims he is not a businessman, should be on that list. Perhaps at the very top.

Of course, you would have to search high and low to find someone who fits that profile. I personally wouldn't know where to start.

>>When he was alive, he rarely left the house for fear of leaving his belongings unguarded, she said. In dead, he might become the guardian spirit.<< Quote

Sounds like a total waste of life. You collect "stuff" and then spend all of your time hording and protecting it. He was probably "Buddhist" as well.

Oh well, his life to waste. I hope his wife spends it well.

Comparing this with the wealth the Vatican and other churches possess in Europe and America, it's not such a big deal.

Also comparing the life style and habits of the clergy in other religions again there is no much difference here.

Yes, it is a big deal. This is supposedly Buddhism. Christianity isn't built upon the same principles.

To have such attachments and do what the Thais do, has nothing to do with what the Buddha taught. Monks (Bhikkhus) are only supposed to have the necessities, and iPhones, TVs, drugs, smokes, booze, designer items, jets, and so on, do not fall into that category. To me, Thai temples look like more of a place for ex-cons to get free meals and a roof over their head, or places to hide, while big business goes on around them and the cash and gold pile up.

Wonder how much it is going to cost France to replace the entire plane.

I keep trying to think of something to say about this but find myself speechless and livid that something like that could go on for so long much less happen at all.

Tywais, as you know I live in the sticks in Issan and my wife is a nurse.

I hear stories like that every day from her.

At the beginning I was appalled and disgusted.

After so many years I've become immune and only pray that things will change one day and some decency will come upon these vermin.

A female friend of mine here is also a nurse. She told me a story not too long ago about a little boy who came into the ER with a mangled coat hanger stuck in his bleeding rectum. Turns out, the father would get drunk and shove random things up the boys butt to punish the boy. She said the kid was a mental cripple after years of abuse. Yet, it didn't even make a blip on the news. Makes you wonder how much is really happening around us at any given time.

Any chance of giving them any better pensions than the 500Baht a month?

Or this is unthinkable in Thailand?

A few decades into the future. How about forcing those in their 20s and 30s to start saving for old age rather than expecting the next young generation to pay taxes to support them?

Don't be stupid. How do you expect everyone to have iPhones and other shiny, useless objects if they are trying to save money for the future?

Time for the general and his comrades to call it quits and leave the stage.

You mean, get out of the center ring.

Joc , for once in your life stop being negative and spilling your nonsense.

This is Pattani where Buddhists are killed every day.

Doesn't matter low ranking or not ......he is a Buddhist monk.

I understand your feelings against him but please show some sense, as I don't think you lack of it, but you are just trying to be clever.

One is not a Buddhist monk simply because one shaved his head and wears an orange robe. It takes a little more than that.

I am really pity if Khon Thais are still not able to foreseen the implications of that article and the Junta. History worldwide tell us that when military size the political power, the outcomes is ALWAYS WORSE for the entire population and ALWAYS profitable for the elite and godfathers

Speaking of Godfathers, did everyone see The Godfather of Chonburi just got a Royal pardon and is now a free man? I'm and about 1800 others, along with some other big guys.

You can't make this stuff up. Looks like they are getting the band back together again.

It's no wonder these guys hated Thailand so much. It was way, way, way outside of their comfort zones.

Predominantly white, heavily Republican, religiously Christian fundamentalist and Mormon, right wing, home base for many white supremacist groups, culturally monochromatic with minuscule Asian, let alone Thai populations. Does that not fairly describe much of Utah, Idaho, eastern Washington and Montana? Thailand must of seemed like Mars to someone coming from this environment.

But what about the Thai wives, people? What must it be like being a Thai woman living with a full-time Thai-basher? We at TVF can just put these [deleted] on "ignore", but I fear that their spouses don't have this luxury. It's these poor Thai women who unwittingly got lured into taking a one-way trip to North America's cultural hinterland and who are now trapped in a snow-bound Ted Kaczynski-style cabin, forced to listen to their unshaven rheumy-eyed, hung over hubbies remind them on an hourly basis how much their birthplace Thailand sucks who I feel sorry for. Almost makes me want to start up a repatriation fund, or phone the Dept of Health and Human Services.

Personally, I'm glad these guys went home. Thailand doesn't need their negativity. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that one day soon they'll realize that TVF doesn't need this negativity either.

And those guys give two squirts about what you think.

Everyone has their own life to live. To each his own where he chooses to do so and for the reasons he/she sees fit.

Your dislike for negativity is ironic as you are in fact making a negative post.

Cheaper isn't always better. In fact, it usually isn't.

Yes, in most places you will pay more to live if it is a first world nation, but you will probably get what you pay for there, where in Thailand, it is the opposite. Some things are cheaper here, but to have western comforts, it's generally more expensive these days, and pretty much everything you buy is overpriced and of low quality, including the home or condo you live in.

Lets see where all of us stand after the big event and the place goes belly up. Love Thailand or hate it, there is no denying its future looks very, very grim. It isn't going to end well no matter how rose tinted your glasses are at the moment.

Well, thumbs down would get you the thumbs-screw.

Everyone supports _______________ when they face imprisonment for not doing so.

I respect his bluntness (not his policy). However, under no certain terms should they allow that man anywhere near a microphone or journalists.

Every time he opens his mouth he comes off as a loose cannon who is about to order drone strikes on random people for no other reason than he can. Thankfully, Thailand does not have that capability. If they did, there would be drones crashing to the ground almost daily, which would be on par with their buses, mini vans, bikes, cars, trucks, and trains.

Can we get a list of THAI medicine that isn't actually Chinese medicine, that actually is proven to work?

I've seen clinics sell an elixir (2000b per bottle) that cures everything from AIDS to Cancer, so I don't have much faith in "Thai medicine."

I can't think of a better way to spend my holiday, on the streets of Udon, in the heat of the day, cleaning up after people who don't actually care if their city / country is dirt or not.

Everyone has to have a hobby I suppose. He probably has OCD and can't help himself.

The raise should be for select jobs, such as hard labor. And give them 500b if it's back breaking labor. But any job where you can play with your phone or sleep, 300b is more than enough. You get what you deserve.

Having said that, it will never, ever be enough for them. Make it 3200b per day and they will still want more because no one knows how to manage money.

'wrong buttons in wrong holes'

That's what she said.

Probably the same type of guy who sooner or later will jump from the roof of the factory he slaves at. Some factories have built nets and fences to stop the jumpers from killing themselves. Yes, it is that big of a problem.