thailien8

Hard Rock hotel has two tables, as does Fairtex hotel. Both charge daily membership fees. Queen hotel on Central road at Second road has a table where play is free I believe.

Hi Hope and and all other ping pong players. Please respond to the PMs that I have sent you, please come over and play with us in our excellent ping pong venue. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

From SFGate:

"The Worldwide pursuit of Wikileaks Editor-In-Chief Julian Assange because of both a rape charge in Sweden and his release of now hundreds of thousands of classified documents, is due to a detail that must be reviewed.

According to The Raw Story and Crikey, Swedish prosecutors charge that while Mr. Assange did have consensual sex with his two accusers, he allegedly did not use a condom, which, according to The Herald Sun, is against Swedish law.

Apparently having consensual sex in Sweden without a condom is punishable by a term of imprisonment of a minimum of two years for rape. That is the basis for a reinstitution of rape charges against WikiLeaks figurehead Julian Assange that is destined to make Sweden and its justice system the laughing stock of the world and dramatically damage its reputation as a model of modernity....

They had a discussion and decided it would be OK to share the living space, then went out together for dinner.

When they got back they had sexual relations, but there was a problem with the condom - it had split.

She seemed to think that he had done this deliberately but he insisted that it was an accident.

Also, neither woman complained to police, but approached them for advice, a technique in Sweden enabling citizens to avoid just punishment for making false complaints, and bragged about what's described as "their conquest."

I have to wonder if (how much) these two farang women were paid to belatedly become vengeful bitches, and by whom?

Seems Julian was woefully unprepared for casual sex. I'd thought he was smarter than that.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/abraham/detail?entry_id=78430

Are you kidding??? You pay the 100 baht Express fare and the airport, and then if you want to go all the way to Phyathai, they're going to charge you an extra 15 baht to transfer to the City Line at Makkasan??? That's a pretty raw deal... considering the entire City Line fare if 15 baht now...and later to rise a bit after the promo period is finished...

In July, when the trial runs were free, I rode the Airport Express Train from Phaya Thai station to the airport. No stops, fast, convenient; I thought that's how it's gonna be. Well, no.

Today, the first day of full train operation, I paid 15 baht at the airport to ride the City Line, rather than 100 baht to ride the Express Train, and I'm glad I did. The City Line took me all the way to Phaya Thai terminal station, from where it's an easy walk to the Skytrain station. Had I paid 100 baht for the "fast" train, I would have had to transfer to the City Line at Makkasan station, costing an extra 15 baht and more waiting time, in order to reach the Skytrain.

Not kidding, and annoyed as well; but not surprised. TIT, after all. Why the Express Line stops at Makkasan station is a mystery to me. Could this be a concession to the taxi mafia? We rail addicts must change trains, and pay twice, to reach our beloved Skytrain from the airport, if we are so foolish as to take the Express Train. But, TIT again, this is no problem. Just pay the lower price to take the slightly slower City Line Train, and you will be a two-minute walk, above the traffic, from Skytrain's Phaya Thai station.

In July, when the trial runs were free, I rode the Airport Express train from Phaya Thai station to the airport. No stops, fast, convenient; I thought that's how it's gonna be. Well, no. Today, the first day of full train operation, I paid 15 baht at the airport to ride the City Line, rather than 100 baht to ride the Express train, and I'm glad I did. The City Line took me all the way to Phaya Thai terminal station, from where it's an easy walk to the Skytrain station. Had I paid 100 baht for the "fast" train, I would have had to transfer to the City Line at Makkasan station, costing an extra 15 baht and more waiting time, in order to reach the Skytrain.

I think City Line will do quite well; I fear for the viability of Express Line, as it fails to reach Skytrain. Seems the Express service was better when it was free, before today's official opening.

i will be gg to kasetsart uni soon. i m hoping to have a place to trn so that i wont drop.. can anyone tell me whether theres a club nearby with some good standard players?

Now that the red-shirt problems in Bangkok are over (I sincerely hope) I'd like to refresh this thread. I've had good luck meeting nice people to play ping-pong with, thanks to thaivisa.

We're not a club yet, but maybe we could start one? We have a nice place to play, on a decent table in a big, mostly unused room in my condo building near an MRT subway station. So far I've played with four thaivisa members, and five residents in this building. Hoping for more. Please PM me for directions.

BTW, our "club" is free of charge.

Bangkok's bus service of the future is here and now. BRT is up and running, for free as of now. I've taken it twice so far, and like it. More detailed report to follow shortly, after a few more rides. For now, I just want to recommend it, bump this thread, and recommend anyone to try this new public transit service.

The term "failed state" has been used so often and so widely it no longer has a coherent definition. It therefore makes little sense to argue whether Thailand is, or at risk of, being something which no longer has a clear definition except in the most extreme examples, Somalia being an obvious candidate.

If on the other hand I had to pick out a nation where deep social and political divides, entrenched unyielding interests and a score of other factors were creating the potential for an explosive conflagration then Thailand would be pretty far up my list.

Agreed, and I would like to thank The Nation's Khun Sopon for reminding us of why the Reds were able to invade Bangkok, hold us hostage, commit savage arson attacks, and why they could try it all again -- Thaksin Shinawatra lives, wherever he is, his precious face still lost.

Just think -- if Thaksin died tomorrow, would we Bangkokians finally be able to exhale? I sure would. The chances of another bloody Red invasion of our peaceful city would go from only too likely to almost nil, without Thaksin.

Khun Abhisit understands the needs of Thailand's poor people, and is trying to help. Without Thaksin's revenge to deal with, Abhisit could flourish into Thailand's greatest ever Prime Minister, the leader Thailand needs to avoid becoming a failed state.

The bloody-minded former wannabe Thai dictator (and GREAT MAN in his own mind) has gotten what he wanted, yet again.

"Takki Shinegra", a sad substitute for Frankie Shinawatra (final syllable pronounced, during his short run of footie glory in England) must be very happy just now, wherever he is, as we Bangkokians suffer from his well-funded, and organized (exceptional for a Thai) campaign to right, by any means possible, the ultimate wrong --] the worst loss of face in all of recorded Thai history -- when he got coup'ed out of power, just before he was going to take the UN stage in New York City, at the height of his delusions of power, and BS the world as only he can do.

Maybe if the Thai media could show Thaksin as a hungry ghost that the superstitious Isaan people all seem to fear, they might see the truth about his evil spirit.

Who gives a shiite about the yellows they were a bunch of loosers that caused some shit years ago. This is now.

The yellows proved to that it's perfectly okay to overrun government house and take it over for 8 months and basically live there, then take over 2 international airports and hold hundreds of thousands of tourists stranded in Thailand for 10 days. They used grenades, firearms, slingshots. And they attacked police and army personnel and beat them up, even killed one of their own guards (his body was found at Don Mueang after the yellow shirts left).

That was "years ago". So what do we have today? Red shirts, you're right, who have seen that it's perfectly okay to do what the yellow shirts did and not having to go to prison. Since the yellow shirts are, 2 years later, still not in prison. Even worse, the yellow shirts are allowed to hold more demonstrations and dictate the government how to handle the red shirts.

You red posters remind me of the robocalls made by machines to potential voters in recent American elections.

Are you clowns getting paid by the word, or by the post?

What part exactly of my post bothers you so much?

Your robotic, and nearly instant in this case, repetition of Toxin's party line. We all know it by now. How much do you get paid per post, or per word? I can write BS even better than you, and I could use the money.

Who gives a shiite about the yellows they were a bunch of loosers that caused some shit years ago. This is now.

The yellows proved to that it's perfectly okay to overrun government house and take it over for 8 months and basically live there, then take over 2 international airports and hold hundreds of thousands of tourists stranded in Thailand for 10 days. They used grenades, firearms, slingshots. And they attacked police and army personnel and beat them up, even killed one of their own guards (his body was found at Don Mueang after the yellow shirts left).

That was "years ago". So what do we have today? Red shirts, you're right, who have seen that it's perfectly okay to do what the yellow shirts did and not having to go to prison. Since the yellow shirts are, 2 years later, still not in prison. Even worse, the yellow shirts are allowed to hold more demonstrations and dictate the government how to handle the red shirts.

You red posters remind me of the robocalls made by machines to potential voters in recent American elections.

Are you clowns getting paid by the word, or by the post?

Recently, one of my friends called me & asked, "When are you going to visit BKK?"

My response was, "When the colour 'red' is no longer evident in BKK."

Good response. Sadly for me, I've lived and worked in BKK since 1992, and for all this time I hoped / expected to stay in this great city to the end of my time on earth.

Tho I haven't yet been affected (not "effected") personally by Thaksin's redshirt plague upon us Bangkokians, of course it has made me unhappy.

I live two miles from the red area, and have been sickened by the hate speech being vomited by Thaksin's well-paid mercenaries on the red stages, every day.

Knowing that there are hordes of reds not far away, being whipped up to hatred constantly, is unnerving when one remembers what the maddened red peasants from upcountry did to the good people of Phnom Penh in Thailand's unfortunate neighbor, 35 years ago.

The sense of impotence on the part of the government, police, and even the military is emboldening the lunatic fringe that is too tolerated in Thai society.

My current retirement visa expires in August. So personally, I will try to hang in at home in BKK until then. If the situation has not improved, I'll be out of here.

I love Bangkok and Thais, but appreciate having the option to flee this poisoned scene.

Got my bathtub full of water, all batteries charged, 7 Eleven worth of food/snacks that require no cooking and a fire extinguisher... just in case...

Good advice, thanks. You inspired me to finally clean my bathtub, and it's filling as I write. No power, no water up here.

Suthep, along with Anupong (although why is his feral still loose on parade at the lockdown with the blood of a high ranking Army officer on his hands ) and Khun Pinnochio have played this if not to the letter of all "sane" recognised international law, then very close to it. The Reds demands are now just p!ss taking to stall the Thai economy. Khun Pinnochio needs to accept that he has a lockdown looming in Bangkok's CBD as at 15th May the day the Reds said they would hand themselves in to the police. That date has been set by them, and at that date then Khun Pinnochio's offer of the roadmap and the elections is withdrawn and reset to late 2011. If they are still there at the stroke of midnight on that day then lock the place down. Sunday becomes removal day with warnings given that anyone within the lockdown area with a weapon of any sort will be immediately dealt to. The Army needs to understand that as well. Prime target for capture has to be Sae Duang. Remove the barb and the remaining fester can be treated. I hope the so called elite troops have been using the last few weeks wisely training hard tactics and testing command structure communications.

Poor attempt by the Reds to deflect the blood of Black Saturday from their loose feral to Suthep. And by still standing there on Sunday they become guilty of harbouring Sae Duang, and as such are part of a problem that requires a final solution.

Let's hope a "final solution" (where have I heard that term before?) will not be necessary.

Soldiers were removing those rolls of razor wire from the sidewalk in front of Times Square this afternoon, as I was headed in to shoot some pool at Hustlers. One soldier smiled at me and I thanked him for being there. I felt good.

A momentary burst of hope dazzled me. I thought maybe this could really portend the end of the red nightmare. It WAS supposed to happen today, wasn't it? ....after Suthep's face-losing visit to the relevant authorities, whereupon the reds would pack up and go home, as per their latest promise.

I had to go take a look. This could be historic. Pool can wait.

I got off Skytrain at Ratchdamri, and started walking thru the red encampment. As on my three previous treks thru the reds, the incessant blaring of Toxic hate speech from the unescapable banks of loudspeakers, was maddening. Earplugs in, I walked thru Lumpini to the tire 'n' stick barricade, that has been lengthened and strengthened, thanks to the diligent tactical military experience of Mad Bomber seh daeng, who is having the time of his life, as Toxin's new supreme red leader.

There was no getting across Rama IV to Subway home from Silom station, as I had done a month ago, before the grenade attacks on my precious and beloved Skytrain, so it was back thru redland to Ratchdamri BTS. On the sidewalk at the park's north end, an extensive display of photos celebrates what little red blood has so far been shed for Toxin so far. There was no sign of any move to decamp.

Not as many people were in the red encampment on Rajdamri as there were on my last visit, last month. More traffic was squeezing thru. My impression was that the peaceful reds at Ratchprasong are gradually leaving, and being supplanted by Toxin's private army behind their barricades at Lumpini. The over-amplified hate speech continued to attack my wounded ears all the while.

How utterly brainwashed must these poor redshirts be by now??? Nobody was smiling.

Some of you are really putting a spin on this. Abhisit says the election will be on the 14th. How can he say that when the election date is not up to him? To dissolve parliament IS up to him and he refuses to give a date. WHY?

The EC formally sets the date. Not the PM. Usually the EC rubber-stamps the date BUT they do verify the dates coincide with the law of the land. That is part of their duties. To keep people from manipulating the electoral process. Sadly you have people like Arisaman raiding the EC ........

edit ---

So he will obviously set a date in the designated time period after consulting with the EC. There is work to be done first. Like getting the illegal violent mob out of BKK and seeing that candidates are not interfered with and getting the budget done AND most importantly getting the charter reform done. If he set a date now and the charter reform required a different date ... people would cry foul.

Are these legal technicalities about setting precise dates really just more basic face-saving by the face-obsessed Thais? UDD's big, original, continuing demand was/is for a firm Parliament dissolution date, so Abhisit's proclaiming such a date could lose face. Abhisit offered an election date instead, leaving UDD to work out the possible date(s) for legally-required dissolution. UDD could use this opportunity to enlighten us further on this legal technicality when (if) they ever get it together to present their own road map.

With two road maps on the table, sane negotiations could prove fruitful.

Sadly, the red reinforcements that kept on truckin' into beleaguered Bangkok on Saturday, show that Thaksin still has enough wealth to continue financing his red troubles here in our capital city for our foreseeable future. Remember Thaksin-in-self-exile's motto: "No Justice, No Peace"

We "farangs" who lived thru all of Thaksin's reign of terror, while trying to keep smiling as Thailand became his family corporation, remember Thaksin's concept of "justice", which was rooted in the double standards that he supposedly now deplores. Thaksin, his relatives, and friends were first in line. His formerly engorged nipples of money leaked just enough to keep useful followers happy, while the Isaan peasants survived on loans and promises.

Thaksin's justice was relative, collegial, familial, regional. He promised to prioritize government help, depending on which provinces voted for TRT.

Nighty night, don't let Thaksins bed bugs bite

Yeah well, Thaksin is a nightmare for most of us normal law-abiding citizens... but for others, he is clearly a wet dream. Enjoy your sleep now.

Thaksin as a bed bug... I like it. Good analogy, grandpops; Kafkaesque....

A quote from geriatrickid: "Those that oppose the Red Shirts have some valid views. Unfortunately, those legitimate arguments and points are pushed aside because a segment in TV insists on pursuing the Reds are ignorant, Thaksin is evil, they must all be killed strategy."

Well, you got two out of three correct, so I guess that's not too bad.

Somehow I missed any TV poster who "insists on...they must all be killed strategy." Who are you referring to? I don't think anyone is advocating that.

What are the yellows??

Burr,

the Yellows are/were the crowd the Bangkok Bandits wheel out when they lose an election. Unlike the Reds, the army does not shoot them when they occupy an airport, etc.

Most of the farang posters here seem to be right-wing authoritarians who have not a clue about democracy. In a real democracy, ultimate political power is the will of the majority of people, as expressed at the ballot-box. It is not some elevated elite possessing unlimited money, troops, tanks, guns, & English-language newspapers.

I see one of the latter has dubbed the Red-supporting majority of Thailand as 'terrorists'. Nice one for all authoritarian anti-democrats. It's a simple 'law 'n order' situation, so bring on more firepower! Were Adolf Hitler & Joe Stalin alive, they would be cheering behind you.

By all means let the legal attrition against Ole Squarehead continue. Meantime, howsabout a free election, dudes?

I get really angry when I read ignorant comments like this.

Oldgit - you have absolutely no idea, do you? Were you around when Thaksin was in power? Were you paying attention? Thaksin was more of an authoritarian than Abhisit will ever be. Do you honestly think Thailand was ruled democratically when the red hero was in power? Did you completely miss the intimidation of the press and the opposition, the manipulation of the courts, the use of goverment powers for private profit, the extra-judicial killings? Have you ever read Thaksin's words about democracy while he was ruling the roost? Not exactly a hero of democracy back then and hardly one now ... more like a hero of hypocrisy. I am hardly a right wing authoritarian, but I despise the red shirt leaders who are nothing but a bunch of thugs and wouldn't know democracy if they were choking on it. They are in it for themselves - period! The rural poor have legitimate beefs, but it is sad that their cause has fallen prey to the likes of Thaksin and all the other scumbag red leadership.

By the way, dude ... the current parliament consists of people who were elected in the last election in which the red shirt party (Pheua Thai) won more seats than any other party but not a majority, so a democrat-led coalition was formed when the Pheua Thai lost the support of the minority parties. That's how a parliamentary democracy works - look it up! But no! You and the reds would have the PM dissolve a constitutionally elected government just because a bunch of demagogues have convinced a bunch of gullible people to roam around the city blocking roads, defacing public property, launching grenades, and performing barbaric blood rituals. You call that democracy - seriously?

I submit that it is you, oldgit, that don't have a clue about democracy, not those of us who are attempting to call attention to the hypocrisy of the UDD leaders.

I get really interested when I read posts like this. Thanks Charmonman.

Thanks also to all the TV writers who are being champions in trying to help us understand what has been going down, here in Bangkok. The hours I've spent reading the many threads on this forum, since the red menace surged into our formerly peaceful city, have deepened my understanding of my chosen nation.

Special thanks to Khun Animatic, who combines quantity with quality. Please don't change your avatar, as I sometimes scroll quickly down a page, looking for Animatic's triangular eye, at which point I stop scrolling and start reading.

Kudos to Kasit for trying to tell it like it is, at least a little. Thaksin is now a terrorist indeed, and Thais do need to prepare for HM's death.

But poor Kasit is in a tough position, as FM for a coup-enabled gov't., and a yellowshirt airport closer to boot. That's a tough sell to the outside world.

The non-Thai world doesn't give the coup-makers the credit they deserve for deposing Thaksin, without any blood, violence, injuries, or deaths, just in time to save Thailand; or so I thought at the time.

It's easy for con artist Thaksin to fool not only his redshirt cannon fodder, but also the world.

The redshirts believe that Thaksin will return to give them all 10,000 baht (from his own pocket?) according to some TV posters in the know (?)

The world believes that Thaksin will return to restore democracy to Thailand.

How can Thaksin possibly lose? He's already conned some of the reds into dying for him, and celebrating their death with their corpses and coffins.

The world doesn't care much.

Or is this celebration of death and hatred in Thailand a reflection of his own imminent demise?

From The Nation:

"Red shirts seek to file complaint with police against PM

A former Central Investigation Bureau Tuesday represented the red-shirt people to file a complaint with police against the prime minister, accusing him of having unlawfully ordering troops to kill people."

Other than the tampered tape recording that the reds played on stage to their red sheep, do they have any real evidence of this outrageous accusation?

"Pol Lt-Gen Chaj Kuldirok asked assistant police commissioner-general Pol Lt Gen Pongsaphat Pongcharoen at the Royal Thai Police headquarters to ask him to provide some 100 police officers to receive complaints from red-shirt people.

Chaj said the injured protesters would later meet police officers to register their complaints against the prime minister."

It's all going well so far, according to Thaksin's evil scheme of undermining Thailand's best hope ever for an effective, good-hearted Prime Minister, Khun Abhisit, who can improve Thailand's precious image in the eyes of the world, and of so many potential tourists who mean so much to Thailand's fragile economy, not to mention foreign investors, who are now very nervous.

Former Thai policeman Thaksin still has lots of influence in the normally useless Thai police, who seem eager to co-operate in his grand scheme to bedevil poor Khun Abhisit into submission.

TV 3 reporting that someone tried to take out some major electrical pylons (towers) with explosives.

If they cause a prolonged blackout in Bangkok, a lot of people are gonna get mighty hot and bothered.

Does anyone have a battery-powered fan?

From a Wall Street Journal article, OPINION ASIA APRIL 8, 2010, 11:02 A.M. ET

Thailand's New Normal

The country's rural poor want a voice, with or without Mr. Thaksin.

"The protesters, known as the "red shirts," are comprised mostly of the rural poor who want a democratic voice. Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra showered them with attention and populist handouts during his time in office, and when he was ousted in a military coup in 2006 these voters felt disenfranchised. The red shirts want Mr. Abhisit to dissolve parliament and hold new elections as soon as possible. Many have told journalists they are willing to die for their cause."

How pathetic is that? As it stands now, "their cause" that many reds are supposedly willing to die for, is to restore Thaksin to his power, wealth and glory, again.

Die for Thaksin ...???

Just my personal view on this:

The government has done an incredible job keeping its cool. Personally, I'd would have picked up a club and smashed some teeth out of this Jaturporn. Absolutely amazing how K.Abhisit has kept going, even after Friday's trouble.

There is, for me, no doubt that there is one principal reason behind all this which is greed for lost money.

That people out there don't see this is not their mistake, it is a problem that will take generations to solve and you can not blame 99% of the red-shirts for whatever happened today and in the last 3 weeks.

There is a small group of people that need to be punished for being responsible for the death of 9 people.

That group is easy to identify, they all got arrest-warrants in the last 3 days or so.

The only person escaping this would be Mr. Jutaporn, but my gut-feeling is that he will not show up in parliament anymore and loose his MP-immunity status very very soon and will be spat upon once he opens the door to enter parliament.

How hard is it to actually arrest a few red leaders? They have all the legal warrants they need. They need to stop the hatred spewing from the loudspeakers every day and night, poisoning the minds of the nice Isan folks who took the offer of a little money, and a free trip to Bangkok. Well, this toxic propaganda has had its effect for sure. Now they're all stirred up with war fever as never before, and doing crazy stuff that had to lead to today's tragic violence. The reds have also introduced grenades and bombs to peaceful Bangkok. Will car bombs be next?

I'm hoping this taste of force from the long-suffering Khun Abhisit is well-timed, helping make a safe trip back home for happy Songkran seem more inviting.

Walking thru the redshirts' encampment, I was impressed by all the stuff for sale. Red shirts, bandannas, plastic clappers, much more; all must-have stuff to be in with the red crowd. It seems that Takki has found another way to make money from his supporters, now that he can no longer over-charge them for their mobile phone calls.