WinnieTheKhwai

Up to you, however bit childish on your part. You are seeing democracy in motion, one should be proud to see the interest at the grass roots.

I don't understand why all these foreigners have a problem with a bunch of poor subservient people trying to get at least a little bit of freedom and honey flowing their way. I guess they just want to keep poverty and oppression, so they can be cooperatively wealthy and free?

I strongly suspect it's because their lifestyle depends on a supply of bar boys and girls. Wouldn't want the rural masses to demand empowerment and a fair deal now would we.

Up to you, however bit childish on your part. You are seeing democracy in motion, one should be proud to see the interest at the grass roots.

Absolutely.

To the OP: feel free not to go to the toilet in that particular guesthouse anymore.

All: How about the places that show ASTV? You know what, I manage to respect the people's view, no matter which way they lean. So I happily still patronize places that show ASTV. For example, Phuket Laikhram. Great place!

Have some respect for your hosts political views!

That is awesome!!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much for posting!!!

It also shows that Songkran was ALWAYS fun! The vinegar-pissing brigade would have you believe that it was just temples and a little water on the elder's hands 'back in the day when they first got here', typically MUCH more recent than 1965!

Everyone in Thailand should be treated equal under the constitution. That includes freedom of speech, like it or not. Suthep doesn't seem to think so, but to be honest that's probably one of the more minor issues he seems to have with the constitution.

Guys.. What I am alluding to is that the gears of justice should ideally rev at the same speed in all cases.

Did you conveniently skip over me callling it good news?

Please, no need for name calling and flaming. Manage some respect for fellow forum members who may hold a different world view to your own!

how many people have chiang mai PAD killed?

They key-word being 'Chiang Mai' right? Chiang Mai is not exactly a hot-bed of PAD supporters. (There are some obviously)

any news on what happened to red shirt leader who tried to take the gun in to the airport or those manufacturing explosives?

Any news on the PAD guys trying to murder journalists during the airport siege? Look, there are plenty violent nut-cases on all sides. The justice system has the difficult task to punish the criminals involved, and do so thoroughly and promptly, so the nation can see that everyone is treated equally and fairly. That's all.

For reference, in case people have short memories:

A mobile TV technician and his driver almost got killed when they lost their way at an anti-government protest site yesterday.

Phanumart Jaihork, a TNN relay controller, said his pickup truck came under heavy gunfire from People's Alliance for Democracy guards at Don Mueang Airport. The vehicle carried the logos of the company and TV station on its sides and a microwave transmitter in its bed.

Source: http://nationmultimedia.com/2008/12/01/pol...cs_30089833.php

Sir, they're protesting. Let them be.

But you can write general Anupong to see if he wants your consulting services.

Meh, if you do the same in Thailand, people will just whine about it on an online forum.

Ironically, the whole point of visiting #1 for Songkran is that it's MORE safe compared to being on any other road in town, especially the moat. (Smaller soi = safer) Cleaner water too.

EDIT: The safety concerns arise from people not realizing that it's actually a public road. But when you're aware of that, it's one of the safer public roads to be on.

Yeah, I agree that qualifies as horrific.

In general when it comes to safety Thailand has severe issues, and far too many foreigners seem to be happy to go native in this sense too. This is just about the only area where I'm absolutely NOT going native. Someone smack me if I ever spend more money on useless 'bling' for a vehicle than I do on safery, including top of the line child safety seats, etc.

However, the question of saftey of the children IS an issue because Number 1 bar is on both sides of a narrow Soi where some idiot patrons insist on driving their vehicle through at night. Park your frigging car outside the area and WALK a few hundred meters!

Well, to get to the designated #1 parking you need to enter that soi. I will say however that there is a right way and a wrong way to drive through that soi, and the only right way involves taking it super-slow (slower than walking pace) and turning off the main head lights at night to not blind the people sitting close to the soi. When doing it the right way there's not much difference between car or motorbike; some idiots (Thai and foreign alike) drive motorbikes way too fast through that soi as well.

That said, I've been to the Number 1 bar many times and I haven't been hassled once by the WAITRESSES. Calling them all prostitutes is WAY out of line.

I've discussed that very topic with the staff at #1 and after statistical analysis the consensus was that about one third are prostitutes, one third takes things as they come and only go with guys they're attracted to, and the remaining third is not interested in any after hours shenanigans and are there to serve drinks and food.

Same here. However if it's an unfamiliar place that wants to be high-end, charging amounts like 380 baht for a dish or more (), then I would most certainly bring it up. Then it's not so much food, it's an investment.

For regular restaurants I will just not go back, and complaining is unlikely to improve the food anyway. It's cheap enough to just walk away and go somewhere else. Now, to be honest this is an exceptionally rare occurrence indeed, I can't remember this ever happening in Chiang Mai. (Of course I'm quite skilled at judging a place based on appearances.)

Good news; always nice to see a legal process actually come to a conclusion.

..Now for the PAD criminals.. .. that may take some more time.

Otherwise in entire central Bangkok, roads are very quiet. Barely any vehicles on the roads. Most have a red flag though...

Seriously? Even in Chiang Mai only a minority of cars have red flags. Relatively more tuk tuks and songthaews but you'd expect that.

Sorry to bring this topic back from the dead, but I was at #1 recently talking in general about the upcoming Songkran festivities, and the lady who runs the place tells me "Don't bother showing up unless you bring your kid too!".

So I think that addresses the question on if kids are welcome at #1.

I thought the more interesting (and more worrying) bit in Abhisit's address was that he actually defended silencing TV and radio stations that don't agree with his world view. You can't call your self the 'Democrat' party and then silence and censor people who disagree with you. It's sad that it seems he will have to learn this the hard way.

Don't know the context of the photo(s) - hard to say what provoked it or it was unprovoked.

Brit ---- so stomping the guy on the ground is appropriate "if provoked"?

If he was the prick driving his Porsche into a crowd: yes. Without knowing the background we'll never know.

No dissolution.

Democrats dissolved.

Power vaccum or by-elections all over the country.

More protests, more dancing and karaoke.

Sweaty shirts out in protest against the smelly shirts.

Welcome to amazing Thailand ...

It doesn't even take that much, and he courts will never rule against the Democrat party. I still think other parties/factions in the coalition will defect back to where they came from, thus ending the government. They're just waiting for the right moment.

380 baht is pretty much TWO big bottles of Sang Som.. Staggering priorities!

Where did you see a 'ban' suggested? Around Songkran there are all kinds of ceremonies and organized events and parades. Cancelling some of those in Bangkok does in not mean that people can't go 'play water'.

Apparently you're taking this seriously then? So more than: "The essential question of the OP is this: "Does anyone know of any corroboration?"

Because the answer seems to be 'No.'.

Wow, that's one loopy site!!

(Perfect for this forum! )

I'm not sure if I'm looking at bad acting.. without any background whatsoever, this is yet another meaningless post aiming to incite hatred. Put it on the pile.

Oh, and "Welcome to the Forum" to the OP I guess.

Yeah, whatever happens, Songkran goes on! If there is talk of cancellations then it'll surely only apply to government organized things; who cares about those things anyway, it's the party that matters!

That said, the situation in Bangkok could get dicey. So indeed it's better to party up-country, just about any town will do really. Chiang Mai is particularly awesome. I'm seriously looking forward to it, I went Songkran-supplies shopping today.

The anticipation is just like that before Christmas when I was 8 years old.. Can't wait, can't sleep!!

Heh. I think 380 baht for a meal (any meal) is expensive too. Besides, I didn't come to Thailand to eat steak.

The tools used by the Reds to incite unrest should be shut down. The broadcasting of wildly inaccurate information cannot be tolerated at a time of national crisis.

(Crisis? What crisis? It's only a crisis if you want it to be. Protests can be managed while without suspending the constitution and human rights right? Your country always managed that, it would be nice to allow Thais the same freedoms.)

> And our air quality is back to the suck level 155.8PM. Red Flag mad.gif

Yeah. Very unhappy about that as well.

Songkran should clear it though, that always brings rain. Still, it'd be nice to have blue skies going into Songkran.