StreetCowboy

This enjoyable thread is now going 'off the rails'..

I'm sure I have heard that...

SC

Edit: To be honest, I thought you all did a good job not getting bogged down in the details of NZ rugby league

Foreigner = Isn't that bar girl over there really ugly, I mean really horrible.

I'm not going with that one, I've seen some real pigs in knickers working in bars.

Unfortunately drinking a bottle of whisky has a habit of beautifying them.

Not being much of a drinking man, I can agree with you. There are thousands of bar girls who should be working in factories instead. There's not one in 5 that are even worth looking at, and even those aren't something you want to be seen with in daylight. Maybe I'm just too fussy, but if I am paying the freight then I get to choose the merchandise. I can't recall going home with a fat one yet.

I dread to speculate on what I might not remember...

I think Melvinmelvin misunderstands that this is the general forum, and not the Academy of International Law. If hew ould like the answer to UK policy then there are enough people here to answer, but we don't pretend to be able to answer for every country.

It would be handy now for Melvinmelvin ( so good he named himself twice ) to declare his nationality and his governments attitude to dual nationality. That would be an education for us all.

By the way SC, I don't understand the concept of your nationality lapsing? I think you ( or your parents ) would have needed to have intervened in some way to have lost that nationality.

From reading the information that i had available - perhaps the back of a cornflake packet, I forget... I think I had to specifically elect to maintain my nationality by a certain age, which, as it happened, I narrowly failed so to do. THough in retrospect, some decades later, my recollection is dim, hazy and inconsistent. To be honest, maintaining one passport is expensive and troublesome enough...

SC

I'm just telling you what it says on my passport "British nationals who are also the nationals of another country cannot be protected by HM Representatives against the authorities of that country."

SC is correct. Dual nationality undermines your protection by UK authorities. For example, if the dual country had National Service, then the UK government could not prevent you being called up.

That is one of the down sides of Dual nationality.

Maybe the two of you should try to draw a line between UK and the rest of the world.

I don't doubt that there is such language in UK passports. However, that doesn't make

the statement true for other countries than the UK.

SC presented this as a general truth earlier on, which it is not.

In my view that language in UK passports (if its there) is more to be considered as a general

disclaimer that allows UK authorities to be selective re assisting dual passport holders.

both "theblether" and "SC" are 100% correct in what they are saying and the "rule" also applies in other countries as well.

The example given Re national service, personally is very relevant as being a dual national, I had to do national service in the "other country" even though I held a British PP along with the "other countries PP"...further, at the time even persons who held PR and were eliable for national service by virtue of the age were required to do national service, even though they were not citizens, so holding a British PP did you no favours and certainly did not excuse you

But Melvinmelvin's point was that the British government was perhaps unique in its lack of support of its nationals in helping its nationals evade their responsibilities and obligations in thier other home country. Its not a point I am interested in arguing, since for me it is academic, and people of other nationalities would do well to check for themselves in their own case. I think it would be reckless to assume that your original home country would protect you against your adopted home government, and unlike others on this forum, I do not believe that the British government is outstanding in its pernicious neglect of its nationals overseas. I would imagine that this sort of issue falls under fairly well established international custom and practice, if not under explicit regulation by convention.

As I understand, the nationality of my birth has since lapsed, and I doubt the country of my birth even has any record of me, bar some handwritten notes in some remote local ledgers somewhere, so it is not an issue of great concern to me.

SC

^{Security guard at BTS}: i wouldnt use the metal detector on someones head if a situation arose !

Was his head metal? Did it clang like Oor Wullie's bucket?

Only that security guard knows for sure...

Don't get paranoid........but I'm watching you too

what is it with these idiots?????

Don't sit so close to the screen.

Anf keep that coffee cup away from the keyboard...

Yes, but what team do you support in the Thai league?

Is that rugby league? I'm trying to find a club for the 8-year old. 147cms and 59.5kgs. Big girl

Good job! I was trying to bring the thread round to rugby league, but thought "softly, softly, catch the monkey..."

Yes, but what team do you support in the Thai league?

Yeah he was walking away from the guy...in the direction he had been clearly told he couldn't go.

So it was ok to hit him with a metal detector ?

What do you suggest he hit him with?

I'd have hit him with a sharp one-liner or a snide remark; something that he could have carried with him to the grave

(We're all wags on the internet, but sadly not so quick with the ready repartee in real life...)

SC

Edit: Maybe he'd have been better to hit him with a quick ' 2,3,4' and accompanied him to the station.

Well i think that we should all stop talking about Helium, Hydrogen etc., immediately!!!. Because if the army read this , they just might try to get their super duper "no lift off" observation balloon going by trying a few experiments with the information that we are leaking..............this could be dangerous.

"... that we are leaking"

I think you'll find that's methane. Still lighter than air, cheap to produce, and much more entertaining when you set it alight.

Probably about half the bouyancy of hydrogen or helium, though...

Anyway, I imagine they'll be a bit cautious, to avoid any further bother.

SC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9gX26AdFLo

Turns out you can only post two at a time...

SC

Maybe a brief musical interlude will help everyone cheer up

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/389070-if-youre-listening-to-music-now-whats-playing-4/page__view__findpost__p__5153658

SC

I notice this happening regularly at Tesco, almost every time I go through the check-out there is a discrepancy in advertised price to till price.

Only a few baht here and there nothing outrageous but for me its the principal.

...

Your day-to-day spend should come out of the interest, not the principal, or sooner or later it'll be all gone.

What I resent is the whisky; its expensive enough in the supermarket, and then you pay for it in the morning as well...

SC

"i wont say who the 2 retailers are tyhrough fear of reprisal"

And pray tell what reprisal's do you fear ? considering you are using a monikor on forum and I am pretty sure the Tesco,Big C/,7/11 secret survellienace & intelligance department dont track down every person who makes negative comment's with a view to sending in a hit squad

In addtion to your calculator type brain, my I humbly suggest you seek some medical advice on your apparant paranoia.....

You just want to get him under the electrodes, don't you....

Do you work for Tesco?

SC

Just to give an example of dual pricing I just incountered on the weekend. My Gf needed a wardrode closet. So we went to a furniture store near my house. There was 2 outside the store so we pointed at one and ask how much the clerk said 3000 baht it seemed a bit high for the quality so ask about the other one. 3200 for it. So we decided to go and look elsewhere. When we were leaving the Gf pointed to signs above the items we were looking at. They were both on sale for 1790 baht.

And you left without bashing him down to 1400?? Not his fault you didn't see the sign and maybe he made a mistake pitching the usual price. Somehow i don't think any thai would pitch a larger price when it has a price written on it in plain view??

I get the very slightest bit irritated when I go into shops like Central, and they won't stick by the price they post on the price tag. Usually there's some spurious discount to be applied - so how is one supposed to comparative-shop? If I was a miserly skinflint, I think that might really get to me, sooner or later.

SC

Has anyone confirmed the "No Balloons on the BTS" rule yet....?

If not, could someone take a snap and whack it up here?

While they're at it, could they also post a full list of childhood toys which are banned from the BTS as I was planning on buying a space-hopper to ease the pain of travelling down the busy pavements in Lower Sukhumwit and don't fancy a clout nor to incur Newly Minted "Thai"'s displeasure.

I hope someone posts the video of you spacehoppering up the escalator to the fare gate. Threre's far too little innovation in transport here. Do you think that,in all seriousness and current topic aside, a pogo stick might cope better with the crowds and traffic in Bangkok - particularly on escalators and staircases?

SC

and so we go full circle to one of the best topics ever seen on Thaivisa

http://www.thaivisa....0on%20escalator

I would suggest that our newer members have a read at that, and maybe they will pick up on some of the humour of this forum.

Bendix is a master of it.

There's nothing funny about escalator safety. Some of the most horrendous accidents you are likely to encounter involving moving stairways happen on escalators... it was while idly browsing that very topic that I came to develop a new respect for the American courts, and the problems faced by American judges when confronted with the incompetence of second-rate lawyers (my point beng that the judge can only comment on what is placed before him, and if a lawyer fails to offer up a common-sense argument, the judge cannot infer it).

My apologies for the digression, but the main thread of conversation seems to be spinning in ever-tighter spirals - on which topic does anyone else miss sycamore seeds?

SC

OP sent me a PM, but I would like to put it here for others to comment on. He wanted to know how long it takes from central Bangkok to Hua Hin.

I think that to a certain degree depends on the time of day. Obviously around rush hour will be a bit longer. I haven't done this trip in a long time. And I believe a new road has been built?

Can others help here?

Best/easiest way to Hua Hin is the minibus from Victory Monument. 2.5 - 3 hrs, depending on time of day and traffic. There are two companies, right next to Century mall (one adjacent, and one 100m north along Paholythin (the main road under the Skytrain). About B200/pax. Will stop at Cha Am, but it's a bit of a hike to the beach from Petchkasem Rd. Plenty of tuk-tuks at the station, though, and also at Hua Hin.

Train takes longer (depending on where you board), but is a lot more relaxing.

Continuing south from Hua Hin, the train is perfect - stops at a number of nice beach locations, like Ban Krut. Short ride, well worth the trip.

I LOVE Ban Krut!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is actually not a bad trip to go buy train and the train gets in right in downtown. Cost is about 150 baht (2nd class) and takes about 4 hours but it is an enjoyable trip. You can also save about 40-minutes if you catch the train in Bang Sue via the subway instead of Hua Lampong.

Are they still running the 40 baht trains? Its well worth paying the extra to avoid those...

SC

Has anyone confirmed the "No Balloons on the BTS" rule yet....?

If not, could someone take a snap and whack it up here?

While they're at it, could they also post a full list of childhood toys which are banned from the BTS as I was planning on buying a space-hopper to ease the pain of travelling down the busy pavements in Lower Sukhumwit and don't fancy a clout nor to incur Newly Minted "Thai"'s displeasure.

I hope someone posts the video of you spacehoppering up the escalator to the fare gate. Threre's far too little innovation in transport here. Do you think that,in all seriousness and current topic aside, a pogo stick might cope better with the crowds and traffic in Bangkok - particularly on escalators and staircases?

SC

on a sidenote... most participants in this thread have no idea what corruption is. reason: the ridiculous 100 or 200 Baht a traffic cop might ask are chewed ad nauseam over and over again. i wish the anti corruption warriors have the opportunity to spend a few years in "black" Africa as a CEO or project manager and learn first hand what real corruption looks and feels like.

You mean like watching three members of the panel you are on which is being tasked with letting a government project being marched out during the assessment meeting by their boss and then coming back with EXACTLY the same assessment score in favour of the weakest and most expensive bidder?

Or how about watching the guy at a multi-billion dollar listed firm - who you've never been able to figure out what he does - all of a sudden call up a broker to wire millions of dollars for no apparent reason?

Like being asked to lose an extra 15% in your budget for a government contract?

is it corrupt to visit a government hospital at 16.00pm to see a doctor ?

from 9am to 16.00 its very overcrowded with thai people on the 30 thb medicail care scheme

after 16.00 i the afternoon there are much less people and the waiting time is shorter BECAUSE

THE DOCTORS ARE ON OVERTIME ,SO IT COSTS MORE BUT THE WAITING TIME IS LESS

are these doctors corrupt ? are people who have more money corrupt for not going at 9am and waiting

all day ?

people say ,paying extra money to expeditite ANY service is supporting corruption and making people suffer

who cant afford the faster service (stepping on the poor ,was a phrase someone used )

it quickly gets blurry when you start to compare corruption and convenience ,paying a bit more to have your

documents priortised in 10 minutes rather than 2-3 days etc

It is corrupt when a salaried employee pockets payments contrary to his terms of employment in order to provide preferential treatment.

It is not corrupt for a government department to offer a two-tier system, in order to allow the public to make a choice in their valuation of their time.

It would be corrupt of the bank clerk to say "give us a fiver, and I'll do your telegraphic transfer first"

It would not be corrupt for the bank to say "Its ten pounds for a same-day transfer, or five pounds for processing tomorrow"

I don't really see what is so difficult to understand about that.

SC

Sad story for the little girl, to see her father hit for some silly balloons, and one might argue that the guard overreacted, but..

Far too often i have seen large sized foreigners treating Thais with contempt, just because they have fat wallets and larger bodies, and confuse kindness with weakness.

My point is, would the Irish guy acted in the same way in US or in Europe ?

The answer is yes.

Only difference is that in Farangland there are laws that have been placed by the do gooders for the protection of aggressors. If in New York or London they would have probably held up the whole railway system so as to pacify the aggressor and arrested the security guard for dare challenging him.

It really does come as quite a shock to some Westerners when they receive a taste of real justice, the short, sharp, shock treatment and forced to tow the line.

I quite like how, in the UK, guys from Group 4 can't give me a kicking over a bit of lip after they start pushing me around as i go about my business with my balloons.

Apparently unlike most on this forum, I am adept at back-pedalling, and I've never even had a kicking off the bouncers in the places that werre open till 4 when I was a student, but I know that if you can't back down quickly enough, it can easily happen... I expect a greater degree of restraint and gentlemanly conduct from others, whether they wear jackboots or bow ties, or not, in the afternoon than in the small hours of the morning in the back streets.

SC

I suppose, contrary to my pot a few lines earlier, some businesses encourage their staff to take 'back-handers' from the customers; elsewhere, we call these "tips", though in some businesses, there are systems put in place to ensure that all staff benefit, and I believe, in these cases, the direct handing of money to the staff to circumvent this equitable sharing is discouraged.

However, I think such behaviour is not the norm in professional or bureaucratic organisations, in Thailand or anywhere else.

SC

The line between tip and facilitation fee can be very blurred. What is the difference between my wife paying a couple of grand to avoid waiting for three days for her land registration to processed and passing a maitre dee a twenty to get a good table in a packed restaurant?

Both are corrupt.

The maitre d may have the authority so that he could make that decision in any case; the bureaucratic peon does not. IN any case, the maitre d should be allocating tables for the benefit of his employer - either to encourage good customers to come back, or to maximise turnover, according to the policy of the restaurant. Not lining his own pockets by allowing any flash-harry to bribe his way into an exclusive restaurant.

Similarly, if the government wishes to offer a two-tier system (for example, to allow a quick turn-around on passport issue) then the fee for that service should accrue to the state, either so that they can reduce the burden to the taxpayer or reduce their fees for those that can afford to wait, not lining the pockets of selected officials so that they can buy imported cars.

SC

If the Lands Department can process

I suppose, contrary to my post a few lines earlier, some businesses encourage their staff to take 'back-handers' from the customers; elsewhere, we call these "tips", though in some businesses, there are systems put in place to ensure that all staff benefit, and I believe, in these cases, the direct handing of money to the staff to circumvent this equitable sharing is discouraged.

However, I think such behaviour is not the norm in professional or bureaucratic organisations, in Thailand or anywhere else.

SC

EDIT: Typo corrected

You can't stop corruption in any country, you can only lessen it.

You can stop a lot of it. You can make it the exception, rather than the norm.

You can reduce it to the extent that it does not need to feature as a line item in project budgets.

SC