Gaccha

Is it possible to have a thread (use this one if you like) with just news updates of whats happening with the protests etc in Thailand instead of having to trawl through various threads with political arguments filling them? I appreciate this is a ex-pat forum but there are an awful lot of people (me included, travelling to Bangkok in 2 days) who come here for vital information on whats going on and places to avoid.

I tried to post this in the relevant forum (news clippings) but wasn't allowed. Thanks for any help.

Fascinating. You problematise "political arguments" and deproblematise the discovery/definition/assertion of 'facts'. There are so many ways to help you but for now:

FRAMING THE VIOLENCE IN SOUTHERN THAILAND: THREE WAVES OF MALAY-MUSLIM SEPARATISM --SARA A. JONES M.A., June 2007, Southeast Asian Studies, Center for International Studies of Ohio University

The above paper analyses the way "the Nation" newspaper framed the acts of violence in southern Thailand, so providing you with its form of facts.

"The "Shirking Responsibility" frame serves to highlight the missteps of both the

security forces (Army and police) and Thaksin and his administration. The Nation's use

of this frame is consistent in that it is used throughout the reporting of the four events.

However, the manner in which it is used changes over time in accordance with

government actions and reactions. The Nation begins its use of the "Shirking

Responsibility" frame by blaming the Army completely for the Rajanakarin incident. As

time passes, The Nation begins to shift blame from the Army to Thaksin, as he is the ..." (p83)

I know you are not talking about Southern Thailand. My point is the Masters thesis is useful to illuminate thinking about what makes 'facts' into facts.

I found the Chula Uni bookstore yesterday, on the ground floor of the British Council bldg, Siam Sq.

Very helpful staff...... highly recommended. Open air coffee shop, 50 m away.

See my map link in my post above. There are three Chula bookshops.

AFAIK, the biggest bookstore in BKK is the new Chula University bookstore. Depending on the subject matter that you're after, the Chula shop is excellent!

Simon

Simon. That post is misleading and asking for chaos.

The new Chula bookstore (just South of the campus on the top floor of the business semi-skyscraper) by floor size might be the biggest but it certainly doesn't have the most English books in BKK.

Chula has two other book stores. One right next to Siam Square (south of Siam BTS) which has the most English books (but certainly not as many as Kinokuniya at the Emporium) and a bookstore in the centre of the campus with a small number of English books.

Kinokuniya has the biggest. Siam paragon branch is Mandarin language orientated, Central World is Japanese language orientated, Emporium branch is English orientated. All have English books.

Of course if you want academic books then Chula's big store or Thammasat's store at Tha Prachan are the way to go.

http://maps.google.co.th/maps/ms?hl=en&amp...c6c058a75cfc831

Highly recommended: changkhui.com, the ช่างคุย podcast station.

It has at least a dozen different Thai-language podcasts on a variety of topics.

Here's their page with RSS feeds for each program: http://www.changkhui.com/Thai_iTunes_and_RSS.html

Thanks Rikker, I finally looked this one up on iTunes today - pretty cool... they really do have a lot of different topics to subscribe to... I'm glad I have 16 gb iPhone LoL...

I wonder if anyone knows a program I can use to slow down the playback with good sound quality? I am using VCL media player, but the sound really sounds like crap when I slow it down, but maybe it's always going to be like that.

The posts above me about Audacity still stand. In fact, Audacity even has a function to correct the pitch when the playback speed is adjusted (which is why voices sound weird when they are slowed down without correction). The process is complicated but if you look on vidoes for Audacity to adjust playback speed you'll soon sort it out.

I am posting because I think what you are seeking is an alternative media player that controls playback speed. This for me is a no brainer: Gom player has a large number of language-learner friendly options. Just get it for free off the internet. I think it was made by the Korean government.

I know the other posters mean well but simply reeling off park names is not so useful. I am sure he has browsed a map of Bangkok and seen the green patches. So what else is there...?

Well, he hasn't said where he lives.

But here are two suggestions:

1. Run back and forth across Rama VIII bridge. This is a very popular thing among Thais. The ground is smooth, no dogs and the river breeze is refreshing.

http://maps.google.co.th/maps?q=bangkok&am...mp;t=h&z=16

2. Go to a University running track or pseudo running track and jog there:

e.g. Thammasat's Tha Prachan

http://maps.google.co.th/maps?q=bangkok&am...mp;t=h&z=17

Enjoy your run.

One more problem with air conditioning is an allergy to it. This is actually one of the most common allergies. Of course, you can't have an allergy to the air conditioner as such but to the system it creates.

The dust circulated by the A/C will often get in your eyes at night because your eyes will often only partly close. People with this allergy to the dust often wake up feeling dizzy and fatigued.

Even intensive cleaning of the air conditioner will not resolve this. People with this allergy typically sleep with the window open and a fan on and the A/C off.

ever thought some may be armed??????

Nothing to see. Nothing to see. Go home. Go home.

Don't be pathetic. He's an ex-soldier in good condition. He considered the situation and made the right call.

Were everyone to make your call-- complete surrender everytime someone goes for their wallet-- it would eliminate the risk in robbing people.

So off you toddle back to Health and Safety land.

Most robberies seem to be distraction robberies (where they would be described as thefts not robberies in English law) or fast-talk crimes, where they are a negotiated surrender of your wallet.

I have had 4 attempted robberies and all failed. Firstly, I keep my wallet in a zipped pocket so it takes them some time to find it. Secondly, I push them at the chest (not from the shoulder) away from me. This takes them by surprise as it off-balances them and is a surprise in itself. Thirdly, I never end up on my own in any moments where I have had a bit to drink.

Sounds like you are no fun at all.....nothing to see, nothing to do,.. go home ...go home

I am parodying the Foucaldian(*1) panoptican(*2) biopolitical(*3) liberal state, and in particular, a police officer, sending the spectator citizens home. The US comedian Bill Hicks often said "Go home America" in the same way to jest at the nasty nature of state control and its demands for citizens to take no risks and no actions. The state wants you to sheepishly and submissively be robbed, as it jealously guards its monopoly on violence.

I suspect you have misread me.

*1 See "Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison"

*2 See Hume's writings on the Panoptican

*3 See Foucault's "Power/Knowledge"

ever thought some may be armed??????

Nothing to see. Nothing to see. Go home. Go home.

Don't be pathetic. He's an ex-soldier in good condition. He considered the situation and made the right call.

Were everyone to make your call-- complete surrender everytime someone goes for their wallet-- it would eliminate the risk in robbing people.

So off you toddle back to Health and Safety land.

Most robberies seem to be distraction robberies (where they would be described as thefts not robberies in English law) or fast-talk crimes, where they are a negotiated surrender of your wallet.

I have had 4 attempted robberies and all failed. Firstly, I keep my wallet in a zipped pocket so it takes them some time to find it. Secondly, I push them at the chest (not from the shoulder) away from me. This takes them by surprise as it off-balances them and is a surprise in itself. Thirdly, I never end up on my own in any moments where I have had a bit to drink.

its just my personal observation that i am more likely to be in a negative mood after reading thai visa or to end up feeling angry towards Thai people. you read a story about some event or another's experience and it makes you angry or on edge when in actuality, you are not likely to experience the same event yourself.

Reflective readers of the UK's Daily Mail* are likely to make the same observation. ThaiVisa is a 'circle-jerk' of uniquely misinformed individuals reinforcing their own absurd visions of Thailand in a chronic circle of verbosity. The Daily Mail is a deliberative provocation.

nb.*this is purely hypothetical as there are no reflective readers of the Daily Mail.

A bit like watching Fox News. You are convinced the US is going to hel_l in a hand basket after a couple of hours of it on.

Same same. I really enjoy watching it-- although I would be classed as their arch enemy-- the well educated liberal elite.

It never ceases to amaze me with their intellectual sleights of hand and disingenous news generation (rather than reporting) how the presenters actually think of themselves and their audience. They must believe there audience are too foolish to be allowed to examine the world with open eyes.

Yet (Because of this) they are immensely popular. They have two or even three times the audience of the hilariously dull alternative news channels. Their nonsense is often almost immediately repeated on ThaiVisa by some shallow man propping up a bar wall on his bar stool in some place beginning with P.

I end up watching Al Jazeera and the BBC and NewsAsia.

Funnily enough, I noticed the other day that someone suggested ThaiVisa would be perfect as a thesis on the mind of the farang in Thailand. Well, um, that is what I did a few months ago when I wrote a short paper. I conceptualised this forum as a translocal forum. And worked throught the various (often contradicting) narratives.

It hasn't got a mention, yet it must be the greatest analysis in comedy format of the British people in the last 15 years: 'Monkey Dust'.

It was on BBC3 for several seasons until the creator died. It won vast numbers of awards and gained a cult following for the way it dissected in a cartoon aniamtion format the msot pressing and awkward issues of the day.

There was for example the inept paedophile sketch, the always failing Muslim bomber with the Brummy accent, the boring accountant reciting movie plots to his wife to escape his drab (i.e. British) life, the middle class post modernist lefties... and so on. Astonishing. Goes well with 'Brass Eye'.

its just my personal observation that i am more likely to be in a negative mood after reading thai visa or to end up feeling angry towards Thai people. you read a story about some event or another's experience and it makes you angry or on edge when in actuality, you are not likely to experience the same event yourself.

Reflective readers of the UK's Daily Mail* are likely to make the same observation. ThaiVisa is a 'circle-jerk' of uniquely misinformed individuals reinforcing their own absurd visions of Thailand in a chronic circle of verbosity. The Daily Mail is a deliberative provocation.

nb.*this is purely hypothetical as there are no reflective readers of the Daily Mail.

"So How long does the injection last here?"

The same as everywhere else: a flu shot provides lifetime immunity for very specific flu strains. Every year, the "flu shot" is redesigned to provide protection against the 3 flu strains that are expected to cause the majority of the flu cases. Checking the CDC website, you'll find dozens of different flu strains that have been targeted over the past decades, and strains that have not.

Yes, but to me it always feels like the same, very bad head, nose non stop running for at least a week, bad ear pain, bad chest, bad tonsils, cough, high temperature, no interest in food it always appears to be 4 -5 weeks till I get back to normal.. This is the 5th time I have had the same systems over the past 3 years

I wonder i wonder I wonder, if you are getting the flu...

When you get it, is there an initial 2- 3days where it is staggeringly unpleasant? You literally should not be able to walk no matter how hard you try. With your headache do you get photophobia and retrobulbar? And are you sure your tonsils are inflamming...?

The 4-5 weeks of fatigue sounds right as well as the sweats.

But even if it is the flu, your diabetes may have impaired your white blood cells so you may have a compromised autonomic nervous system. Do you suffer bad side effects after each flu jab you take?

I think you should look at going to a diabetes specialist and explaining your chronic flu symtoms.

Apart from a dose of paracetamol and maybe vitimin C tablets, why have you been given 5 types of tablets?

Flu is viral, no tablets are going to cure it but paracetamol will ease the symptoms.

Change your Doc.

Obviously there are antiviral drugs out there (amantadine etc) and they do limit the effect of the infection. It makes sense to give these to a patient whose immune system is compromised and so the vaccination can't work.

Other tablets may be for complicating bacterial infections.

This is not something to mess around with, falciparum malaria is fatal in 20% of cases when not immediately treated.

You need to see if any of the regions you are going to are resistant to chloroquine (this is mostly sub-saharan Africa). Check this:

"Thailand

Malaria risk exists throughout the year in rural, especially forested and hilly, areas of the whole country, mainly towards the international borders. There is no risk in cities and the main tourist resorts (e.g. Bangkok, Chiangmai, Pattaya, Phuket, Samui). P. falciparum resistant to chloroquine and sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine reported. Resistance to mefloquine and to quinine reported from areas near the borders with Cambodia and Myanmar. "

etc. (see http://www.directchemist.com/malarone_ht_58.html)

Then the treatment can be determined:

http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec14/ch186/ch18...#S14_CH186_T002

(this is the internationally famous Merck Manual online)

Malarone is the brand name for a drug that contains both atovaquone and proguanil, both mentioned in the very detailed chart in the link above. Follow the link and you won't end up dead.

There. Have a good trip.

--bump--

I can't find him.

Last time I was in The Emporium (about two months ago) I was in that cafe and think I spotted him. Have also seen people there who looked like they were looking for him, if you get my drift.

Think I'll have to have another go. I might reserve the whole cafe for a meetup.

--bump--

I can't find him.

This should do the trick. Get a criminal background check done before you leave your home country. Any arrest warrants will show up.

Criminal Record Check

Non-Thai Citizen

For non-Thai passport holders please contact the Royal Thai Police in Thailand at the address and telephone number below to receive information to process your application:

The Police Clearance Service Center

And some friendly advice Tommy don't let other TV members get under your skin. There are many who troll the threads to flame other members, especially newbies. The Mods and Admins stay on top of thing pretty well. All caps is considered bad form and can get you a warning.

I don't understand on what grounds you believe a criminal record check will show whether there is an arrest warrant. These checks offered to the public at most show the criminal record, hence the name. That is, what crimes they have been convicted of.

----

To the OP:

The arrest warrant might have been kept secret (think of the French director who some 15 years after making a documentary was arrested on arrival in Thailand for 'criminal slander' against a Thai corporation). Alternatively, the arrest warrant could have been issued via Interpol. In that unlikely second scenario you can just check on their website.

In any event, as people have pointed out, if anyone wished to make a complaint against you and still have the evidence then your liberty is in danger. I hear Manila is lovely this time of year.

The answers are all no.

Joe, that map is a bit ambiguous, is that building on Phayonyothin Rd.?

(hopeing for a "yes" )

edit! 555 Phayonyothin Rd.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&s...005525&z=18

Google is my friend. 555

This 'One stop shop' is about to get very very very very very very busy. I hope they have hired a lot more staff. For people who do not have cars, going to the new immigration office is an appalling prospect. This is an absolute no brainer. If it turns out the 90 day is moving with everything else from the old location then this is where you'll find me.

I dont think the Phahon Yothin one-stop-visa-shop is limited to people with BOI privileges. The BOI office is next door on the same floor(16th), but the visa-stop is operated jointly by Immigration and the Labour Department. Hence the name - one-stop-visa-shop. It used to be in Suthisarn, near the MRT station, but moved a few years ago. I've been getting my work permit renewed there for many years, and I don't have BOI privileges. It does re-entry, too. But doesn't do permanent residence.

If you have been getting you extensions there it means the company you work for may have BOI privledges.

There have been lots of people that have gone there and been turned away.

Ubonjoe

Stay on target, stay on target. Note the importance of my questions:

Does it charge for doing 90 days? Is it limited to particular visa classes when doing the 90 days? Does it have its own website?

Do you have the answers, my father?

There is the Board of Investment (BOI) One Stop Service Center that takes care of some business people. For non BOI people it can only be used for 90 day reporting.

Wow! There is a conveniently located Center for 90 day reporting and I've spent all this time going to a place that is a 25 min walk from the BTS??!

Does it charge for doing 90 days? Is it limited to particular visa classes when doing the 90 days? Does it have its own website?

Surely, for most Thaivisa forum people the real hassle issue is the *every 90days*. Anything else is but once a year.

Here is the pretty decent but not fantastic location for it: 'Rasa Tower 2'

You can still go to the one-stop-shop for most services, surely. It's only a short walk from the MRT Pahon Yothin train station.

Not unless you are working for a company that has Board of Investment (BOI) privledges.

Otherwise all you can do there is 90 day reports.

What are you both talking about? Is there some other facility besides the old immigration office?

Easy.

Indulge me as I set the scene: Towering majestically above Chao Praya River, the Millennium Hilton Bangkok hotel boasts sweeping city views. The free shuttle boat runs from the private pier to Saphan Taksin and River City every 20 minutes. Enjoy the infinity pool and beach deck, gym, sauna and Jacuzzi.

Enjoy Cantonese food in Yuan, international food on the terrace at Flow, or sip a cocktail and relax in the ThreeSixty Lounge at the Millennium...

Oh hang on. That is the Millennium Hilton Bangkok hotel. I meant the Bangkok Hilton. Also, sometimes called Bangkwang prison. They don't charge a penny. And if you behave, you can purchase toilet paper in the local shop. And there are rumours that there is sometimes floor space to sleep. To get a reservation, just wear talcum powder in a thin plastic lining around your waist and point it out to custom officers on arrival.

Still, if you don't fancy it the Millennium is 8,300 bahts a night. But only if you book over the internet.

Have a good trip.

Google is your friend.

Piammitr Language school has a good reputation for teaching Thai and Japanese. They also teach Mandarin, and they are cheap.

http://www.piammitrschool.com/c_chinese.html

Their teachers are all native Chinese with at least 2 years experience of teaching the language.

They are roughly 6,000 bahts for 60 hours in a class (about 4 people).

They are located just East of nana bts on soi 13 Suk.

11. Visit the slum district-- to see the true city you must find its dark core. Head directly south from the Emporium and don't stop until you hit the river. Then walk around that area in the dark. If you are not fearless, take some pepperspray.

12. Walk on the wild side-- be hunted by a ladyboy. Their unique modus operandi is to stare at you in a convenience store or other public area until you talk to them. You must make yourself young, handsome, and male to do this.

13. Walk on the wild side (-- be banshee screamed by a 'flock' of boys. A unique Thai cultural point. The young effeminate boys if someone tickles their fancy will if in a shoal, scream as you walk by. Thank them for their compliment. You must make yourself young, handsome, and male to do this.

14. Evoke 1950s England-- stand at the cinema for the Royal Anthem, an idea that Thailand took from England where it was common until the 1950s.

15. Observe an emergency. The fire on soi 14 Sukhumvit on Friday night allowed through incompetent policing an unusually close up view of a raging fire. In the cotton bud protected West, you could never get so close as to feel the flames and be sprayed with the hoses.

16. Visit a department store roof zoo-- pata zoo on top of pata department store has 3 urangutans, 1 gorilla, two lions, 13 bears and hundreds of monkeys.

17. Attend a Foreign Correspondence Club meeting-- Jesse Jackson was there the other day, were you? Why not?

18. Go to a shirt rally-- I took the opportunity to visit government house when it was rented out to the Yellow shirts. Thoroughly recommended.

19. Go to the old city of canals where all the roads are replaced by canals-- as an example, go to the Royal Barge Museum and then don't enter but instead veer in any direction

20. Go to criminal court-- go and watch a court case at the Central Criminal Court

(Bonus-- visit Arabtown, Japantown-- Arabtown is conveniently located opposite soi nana, Japantown isn't)

Delicious Izakaya finally rediscovered!!!

I had been taken twice to this place by different Japanese friends. It is taken as read among japanese that this is the best Izakaya in Bangkok. I then lost the place and my Japanese friends have left the country so I spent half an hour asking Japanese restaurant owners for its location... and here it is:

Go down soi24 off Sukhumvit for around 20 metres and it is in the Terminal Plaza on the 3rd floor. It is called Imoya.

It is cheap, totally authentic with a real feel that you are in downtown Shitamachi in Tokyo. I have not seen another farang in the premises.

I recommend the steak where you roll dice to see how many pieces of steak you get for your money.

So sit down on the tatami mats, buy some hot sake, eat fried chips with cheese and korean pizzas, and enjoy paradise.