kedawi

I’m a visitor to this country - as are most of the posters I suspect, I spend almost all my work time in this country at the moment and thought it would be interesting to engage in some of the local forums...however this Pattaya forum has got to house some of the most outrageous views on race I've ever come across. If you expressed these views in my work place you'd be sacked.

In some countries you'd even be prosecuted.

the sad thing is that some of you don't seem to realise how racist your views are......judging smells and people by a set of criteria such as "I don't like curry" is laughable.

I posted a resolution to the initial question myself - everyone else seemed much more interested in slagging off my fellow countrymen and my relatives.

If someone insults me because of my "race" or color, it saddens me because I know they are fools and dangerous fools too. I really feel sorry for people who think that "Indians stink" etc.....your life is so blinkered.

"they" - you are referring to who exactly? About a billion people?

Why is it that racists always use the third person plural pronoun "They" followed by strange or different behavioral patterns that are attributed to vast groups of people whose main distinguishing characteristic is that the color of their skin is different to that of the complainant?

this was an inquiry about a hotels policy on Indian guests.

it has now unearthed a festering coven of racists only too ready to post malicious and unfounded tripe about people who look different to them.

thai Visa - you should be ashamed of allowing this kind of bigotry on your site.

There is only one "race" of people it's called the "human race"

it is the word "stink" is that makes the statement racist and ugly.

there are other ways of describing natural odours that do not have the negative connotations and implied dislike associated with the work "stink".

Again I must disagee. The word 'stink' is highly appropriate for any strong, foul smelling odour - irrespective of source.

Slightly off topic, but here's a link to a BBC-Health article on body odour.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/bodyodour2.shtml

So are you trying to say that this only applies to people you efer to as "Indians"?

BTW - Curry is a leaf used in Asian cookery around the world. THe generic tern "curry" is used to refer to food cooked all over the world including thailand - how do you equate either meaning of the word curry with "Stink"?

You're right about the dealers/info in English, it is really hard to find out the exact spec.......I doubt if they would consider LSD necessary on the 2WD.....it is useful though...even on 2wd

There have been one or two comments on this thread that I find both distasteful and disturbing. I believe that racism is the supreme symptom of ignorance and it seems to have surfaced here - and elsewhere on Thai visa - which no-one seems too bothered about......I'm sure there are plenty of people on this site who can claim Indian ancestry, and I resent the implication that I or any of my family/ancestors/friends "stink".......

i think a withdrawal and an apology and would be in order to all the "Indians" (as you seem to refer to an entire sub-continent and populations all around the world as)

however........................... in this case I've found an "explanation" on the Areca web site....

"Please note that this hotel operates exclusive contracts with other vendors to service nationals from the following countries: China, Israel, India, Russia and the Middle East. Accordingly we are unable to service nationals from these countries. We apologize for the inconvenience."

This sounds like the sort of agreement that would be illegal in most countries - restrictive practices etc - but it DOES avoid any accusations of racism.

THe latest development talked about on Koh Kood is one aimed at the high-end Arab market....an all enclosed mega-resort that could charge $15000 (or was that pounds?) per night!!!!!

what ever they charge I'm sure they'll do everthing they can to deny ordinary tourists, backpackers etc access to the beach-front....i wonder how much of this huge island that will occupy.........

I hope they kee the same stock in the shops too...at least it seemed to have some relevance to motoring/travel...unlike those grubby 7/11s

I read on another forum that Areca Lodge in Pattaya has a racist letting policy. Has anyone experienced this?

I suppose I'll have to crawl under the Fortuner in my local dealer now to look at the transfer box!

How can you get wind-up with limited slip or non-locking diffs?????

Ilike the idea of limited slip front and rear and the Fortuner set-up....why on earth isn't that also on the vigo?

My Thai failed me the other day...i was trying to get an answer to "what is All-time 4wd" as on the back of a Fortuner.

THe type of 4WD on these vehicles will be the deciding factor in which one I buy....if any.

Can anyone tell me if any of these vehicles have any of the following.....

Locking Diff front/rea

Limited Slip Diff

Permanent 4WD

power distribution system

Adjustable/leveling suspension and shocks

Freewheeling hubs

Hi/Lo Ratios

Anyione had personal experience of these in 4WD?

Ive not looked at the other threads but I looked into this about 5 years ago....and I seem to remember you could bring the vehicle in, but for less than a year.......then you get all the hassles about leavingthe counrtruy and coming back in. There has to be a certain gap before the car re-enters???

Not like Europe where you just go from one country to another on foreign plates and avoid Tax, roadworthy...the lot!

I bought a 4wd second hand pickup a while back at the same time my friend bought a new similar model. In 5 years mine dropped from 440 to 300 ...my friends dropped from 850 plus extras (100) to about 450 to 500.

Development on this Island unfortunately is a fact of life, as with Koh Samui, there are restrictions on the type of new buildings permitted, so aesthetically they will not be an eyesore.

I was there for 4 days over the new year (1 Jan07) and we stayed in White Sands area, having said that we did explore the Island and should I return I would venture further up rather than return to White Sands which I feel is spoilt by over-exuberant tourists and greedy vendors and taxi drivers.

Building regs have been relaxed on Samui.....condo blocks are now allowed (apparently)

Illegal develpment has taken placce on hilsides and encroached on Nature reservations.

any restrictions are almost completely unenforceable

If you address someone in the West, and you don't know their name, you say 'sir' or 'friend' or 'Ms' or 'Madame' You don't say: "Hey Paki, were you come from? Oh Pakistan, right!" We don't say Chink, chuckker, kite, spic, beaner, or other more derogatory words. We address the person not the ethnicity. And if the word farang does mean 'caucasian' we don't say that either.

I think using the term 'farang", is a sign of cultural insensitivity or no education or both. Saying that man or that woman would be an improvement, in terms of politeness...

If it was from purely empirical viewpoint, i'd agree, but the are 2 other stong factors here....language and culture. If we are to believe that the Thai language is at least in some part usage driven we have to look at the context, which is connected to the other factor...culture...Thai culture not Western culture and that muddies the issue for me. I certanly don't consider Thais are intentionally being rude when they use the term. I DO get slightly irked when I'm in earshot of a converstaion and someone refers to a westerner as "the Farang" as if they aren't there or they're some pet animal that they have to look after. I certainly hear it being used by my Thai colleagues who are by no means uneducated (engineers and scientists mostly).

western culture shies away from ethnically related terms as it fears it empowers racist ideas and habits....thai society is really not at that stage yet...whether through a lack of sophistication or through a different perspective is I would say pretty unproovable....but I doubt it is really the same kind of racism that fuels the Ku Klux klan or German skinheads or Russian nationalists.

Haven'yt eaten there for a longtime but "No. 43 Kanary bay buffet between 11.30. - 13.30 price approx. 270 thb are good value for money." was very, very good....used to have lunch ther whenever I could.........not your usual buffet....lots of fresh dishes arriving all the time and a sushi chef.....(and what looked like the Chief of police and his entourage)

I have never tried it. What happens?

Actually, I'd like to know English language insults for Thai people. Anyone know any?

Jeff

Well just refer to a thai person as thai: "Hey Thai - come here" Interesting reaction...

Not recomended

In an English Language context the usual insulting term is "Thais" or "the Thais" or "a Thai" as if this is some sub-division of the human race.

Yank Brit Limey Paddy etc ....all have a "them" sub-meaning as in "Us and Them" a group definition with derogatory undertones.

Last weekend, I was asked to teach an intensive course to 4th year, university Sociolgy Students.

I taught them about describing one's ethnicity but first asked them to fill in a group questionaire as to what was polite to say in Thailand.

I found the results interesting but actually thought as much:-

1 - Black - polite

2 - Kaek(Indian) - impolite

3 - Jaek (Chinese) - impolite

4 - Farang - impolite

PLease don't embarass yourselves by calling yourself a farang.

So a straw pole of an undefined group of "4th year sociology students" is enough to define the language usage of a word that is used 1000s of times every day for decades?

what kind of a teacher ARE you?

I see the all resident pundits in socio-political science obviously with a specialty in S/E Asian studies have crawled out from under the carpet and weighed in with their 2 satang worth.

The insightful and discerning observations are truly mind wobbling, as are the helpful hints on what should be done. I for one, am certainly glad you're foreigners and have less than ZERO say in what actually happens in this country. Of course the witty dissertations and verbose language is a tedious read at times, as is plodding through endless posts of drivel by both the hawks and the doves.

Don't get your panties in a twist, let the diminutive ever smiling thais sort it out; after all it is their country, hence the appropriate name-> "thai-land". Also don't forget (depending on how you count 'em) the glorious "Land 'O Thais" has had at least 10 successful coups and 7 abortive attempts BEFORE the 2006 ouster of Thaksin. It's the status quo, so suck it up & deal with it.

You guys get keyed up way too easily. As the thais say, "Don't t'ink too mut"; everyone knows it can hurt your brain, IF you actually have one.

good post!

"people that use force, arm themselves and break laws are scum" - if only life were that simple......

""Soldiers will not stage a coup," he said during a radio interview on Tuesday morning."

Imagine if someone in US or UK or Australia said something like that???????????

Anyone who thinks that demos arwe NOT part of the democratic purpose does not understand the meaning of democracy.

people can get to work under a dictatorship....in fact some of them have to.....in a democracy you can stop working without getting put into prison or shot.

If you want to see Koh Kood....go quickly......within the next couple of years (months?) it is going to be developed. The sad thing is that unlike Koh chang, it is relatively flat and that means development will sprout up all over it. Its the 4th biggest island in Thailand - imagine a Samui with no hills!

NBT - is seen as little more than a vassal of the govt and or Thaskin & Co.

In any normal democracy the govt would have resigned ages ago.

However the opposition seem to be little different from the govt.

THis is a country ruled from tghe top down and this represents a struggle not for the people but between which of thwe ruling clans will run the corrupt system.

Having two relatively famous fortune tellers / Fung Shui masters in my close family, I can't say it works, but what's sure, it's profitable !!!

I can sit any member of thai-forum down in front of me who I,ve never met, and know nothing about, and tell them all about themselves, and be 100% accurate.

I can tell them the name of a past girlfriend, how much is in their wallet, predit any number they choose..etc... etc

I can make a pen move any direction from a distance- a person forget a number they,ve just seen( 80%), sometimes their own name.

bend spoons and forks. Make a ghost appear on someones mobile.

Touch someone and make them unable to move.

Or put an electric shock through them with my fingers to show spritual powers. I can cut myself and have it instantly heal.

Or have any number appear as blood mark on my arm- or ass if I choose.

I can make rain appear from the sky anytime. I can levitate off the ground. I can hold up an empty hand and rain down ashes ( something I,ve seen sai- baba do- we use the same method) to the ground

I,ll do it much better than any old fortune teller, fung-shui person.

Am I God?

When I was young I used this stuff to get dates. It helped...

Knowing all this can give one incredable powers-

I,ve gone to so called gifted people and listened to their crap and laughed inside. They often truly believe what they,re saying.

They ALL use a combination of mentalism, basic magic and hypnotic suggestion.And a few other tricks of the trade.

The so called fraud mystics, christains, et al, have discovered this. But they,ve also discovered the real secret- that most people make themselves willing lambs to all this crap-because they want hope.

Their lives are lacking.All this nonsense has nothing to do with any fakes,false power. They do not exist.

I can do this, so can you, study mentalism ( a branch of magic)

I love what Randi did- not one person has ever been able to earn the 1,000,000.

Because its all false- and it time to wake up, stop acting like sheep, and progress

I can tell a lot from onw posting.....and it's pretty accurate too!