xenophon

What a dreadfully written letter!!! Rewrite and sack the author.

What! No guards? No preparation? An inside job? Corruption? Is FROC managing this too?

The south has been an undeclared insurgent war zone for years. Surely, they are aware of the probability of this sort of attack.

Gives new meaning to "being removed to inactive posts"

Studies and statements lamenting the state of current morality (or crime) among the young are always, at their most innocent, simply wrong or, more often, a deflection of focus from real social, political and economic issues (e.g. unemployment, youth nihilism, youth suicide).

There was a fascinating study by the University of Melbourne tracing the use of the state of current morality (or crime) among the young as a tactic over time, used by Victorian, mediaeval and classical Greco-Roman politicians, bureaucrats and commentators. It is a reliable, but cynical, old strategem politically as the young (current and past) are usually unable to defend themseves.

Visit any bar anywhere and you will find some old git holding forth with 'back in my day, we wouldn't let these young people get away with ... etc., etc'. Simplistic rubbish.

Last time they tried something like this, the Japanese chamber of commerce and the stock exchange protested. In the face of threatened Japanese withdrawal, it was shelved and the foreign businesses act amended.

Have they spoken to these parties this time? Probably not.

THB 30000 to pass the exams, eh. Thankyou, that is exactly the amount that my local plod asked me for, a month or two ago. Said it was for his kid's education.

Bloody awful. this sort of thing happens a lot, particularly in Phuket it seems. However this one is very sus - the apparently 'innocent' text message, the 'healthy' assailants being hospitalised, etc. no history between them given? looks like a tar baby to me - don't touch it.

Yeah, bar brawls never happen anywhere but Phuket... Right? But when there are, in my opinion too many Muay Thai and MMA camps around here these days, sh't happens. Especially when alcohol is in the mix.

In those immortal words, congruent with the incident under discussion: "you talkin' to me, punk" "feelin' lucky"

Bloody awful. this sort of thing happens a lot, particularly in Phuket it seems. However this one is very sus - the apparently 'innocent' text message, the 'healthy' assailants being hospitalised, etc. no history between them given? looks like a tar baby to me - don't touch it.

What a deliberately odd piece of writing. Almost works. Tongue (or something) in cheek?: "PC Air" ... "maiden flight" .. "ministrations" ... "four third" .... etc.

Very, very sad case but ... love your black humour, Reasonableman. (I once met somebody who paid for this particular service, - without the pyromania)

It lost its appeal long, long ago. Haven't returned since 1997 when the touts, aggression, avarice and general bad vibes were extremely unpleasant. Luckily, I managed to avoid the very expensive and dangerous scams but I know some who didn't.

I see it has not changed.

Oh, a banker, eh? Well, that doesn't add much credibility these days, unfortunately.

I think I will stick to listening to Dr. Seri (or Seree)

For 3 years I have watched and listened and learned. I see stupidity, racism, bigotry and plain arrogance and ignorance on this site. Why dont all you Expats grow up and stop complaining and do something about your complaining about everything. THAIVISA YOU ARE NOT A POSITIVE focal point but an avenue for whining old expats who cant get their own lives sorted. We all know there are good Thais and not so good Thais, but have you really considered your own country where it seems everyone is amazing and can do no wrong. Just do something positive and make a great impact on your own lives an those around your or go back to your the amazing havens you have crawled from and have amazing lives once again,the rest of us who know what we are dealing with and make educated decisions will not miss you hazbeens and fools for more than a milli-second.

Yes Yes Yes we all know what you are talking about .... how about those so called experts who have been here for so many years stop complaining and be positive and help others. Tell us how you all manage to be so happy everyday here in Thailand (but cannot resit complaining constnatly - grow up you fools).

Thaivisa....tired of all the silly petty people on here who have nothing positive to add to our lives. Grow up and best of luck. wont read or log into Thaivisa again..this i a pool fools!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Won't hurt tourism. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its all going to get very expensive.

There, there ..... have you just realised that this is a notorious cranky ol' farts site. Always has been.

But a great source of info. Just take and contribute the info you need and carefully pick your way past the embittered old gits. For christ's sake don't take them on. They love that!

These figures are for what time period? September? Early October?

Just not credible and they know it. What is offensive is that they believe we believe them.

As if we do not have enough to worry about, Vibhavadi is flooded, and this little note drops out of the other news. "Small nuclear reactor on Vibhavadi is safe as the facility is much higher than the road."

<deleted>? Thais running a nuke reactor in a flooded area. Genius. I am leaving town tomorrow. Enough is enough.

S

OMG!!!! better get to the airport!!!!

Good point re water from Sukhothat - does anyone have link to relevant NASA image?

Re: reemergence of of Bkk vs everyone else divide (commented on in the 1930's by the then brit ambassador) teh cricket match simile is apt. It is long, drawn out and will end in stalemate with a few unlucky people copping it in the nuts.

Hospitals: Rutin hospitai still at high level servise- :I hope this is on topic - went to wonderful Rutnin hospital this morning Hope you never have o go there ...... bouquets to them/ i have an chorinc blindness prob:

hope you neverh ave to use it but ...Rutnin ...great hosipital

So far so good. No water around here .. for the moment. As long as the dykes hold. If not, flash floods. soi 6 ad 8 I continue to be so impressed with Rutnin Hospital and Dr Hathairat (remember her name, should you ever need i) - hope ou nrbrtnever needit. She gave me the full treatment today.

My very good expeserieceWent there this morning. Very few patients (I was no. 5). Eyes very sore. No corneal or organic damage but something going haywire with the irrigation system (tear ducts, etc.). Off to the dreaded nurses' station where they are usually sooo slooow. Very efficient for a change. Ran liquids through the systems and identified the problem. I made the mistake of speaking Thai and received lots of rapid fire Thai instructions. When I went walking off to the wrong room, the nurse realised my Thai was not that fluent. So Dr H took me off the normal eye drops as they have a preservative and with this duct issue that is not a good idea, as she fully explained (as I said I am impressed with her - she really is professional - so much better than the cattle processing oz docs I dealt with). She repeated (tells me every second time I see her and I have now been seeing her for years) that sleep is very important for eye recovery especially in my case - corneal - forget the name of the substance but it is the same as in fingernails. keratin? So, sleep a lot please, she said yet again. As usual, the cashier was the slowest service, but out of there in an hour. Felt so good I walked home. Well, I realised that although I have lots of buddhist candles (lucky for some), I don't have a torch. Where do you go to get a torch? The chinese chemist of course. I also needed a flash drive to record shows for sanity. Where? the chinese chemist, obviously. I think that guy has absolutely everything. Will see if he can arrange a ticket to Vientiane and a crate of beer tomorrow. Well, this is becoming a bit routine ... military coup - hole up in the condo ... last year's shootup and riots - hole up in the condo .... floods - hole up in the condo. And, as usual that little joint between sois 6 and 8 remains open no matter what - coups, riots, shootings, floods, etc. They must really like their job!

Seems to me very relevant to know how much water is still north of Bangkok/Pathumthani/ Nonthaburi, since obviously what is up will have to come down.

Well, if you can manage to scroll through the "it's dry" trash posts from trolls you'll find out a lot of members have mentioned that the water level has more than doubled just in the past week around Don Muang. It's definitely coming south.

I know that. And I know what's happening in Rangsit/Pathuthani too, it's all in this thread. What I want to know about is further north as that will give an idea how much longer/ how high the water now in those areas (and eventually coming to other areas) will rise.

If Ayutthya and Nakorn Sawon are still significantly flooded, the answer is a lot longer & a lot higher. If they've subsided, we might hope to see the worst of it in the northern part of the city over before too much longer (obviously further down stream it'll take longer and get worse before it gets better).

BTW I don't think the "dry" posts are from trolls and please note forum rules/ettiquette before calling other posters that.

Personally I find it helpful to know where it's not flooding as well as where it is, and several posters have indicated likewise. For those who don't find it useful, skip over it...just as I skip over flood reports for parts of the city I don't have a personal stake in. We've got a diverse audience here with diverse info needs so patience is in order.

I agree with all of the above - I also want to know where it is dry and where it is not. (Now I understand from the tone of various posts why my friends laughingly saw my joining thaivisa.com as confirmation that I had also become a cranky old git)

"inner Bangkok to be spared". If true, good. Who knows?

However, i worry about those levees and, beyond simple survival, I hope they can maintain power, clean water and internet. i remember living thru last years shoot-up without power - damned hot.

I presume Bkk has one interconnected water system. So smelly and polluted water noticed at St John's and Lad Prao will eventually make its way through out Bkk.Correct? Anyone know?

Also can someone tell those kids to "stop being kids" - swimming in the klongs at the mo' is v dangerous.

Cannot believe that this discredited IQ stuff is being trotted out again. Ever since Eysenck, the cultural bias of these so called tests has been well established. For example, native americans, australian aboriginals and the san people all end up classified as moderaterly retarded. Having dealt with two of these groups, be assured they are at least as intelligent as the git quoted in the article. Rural people are dumber than city, black than white, etc etc. What rubbish.

And how about his recommendation ... give them love, etc. and increase their IQ. Does this mean that if youlove your intellectually disabled child more they will improve or that they are disabled because you did not love them enough. What a twit!

We can see who the cretin is here - another idiot Thai academic. Gawd they're hopeless!

I am amazed that anyone is amazed. This has been going on for years. Some places even have the gall to put up signs barring certain groups.

The GM of a 5 star international hotel in bkk told me that he has been trying to get his staff to treat blacks and Indians courteously without success. They, last year, had a 'secret guest' who evaluated the hotel. He was a handsome 30+ European who was treated very well and gave the place top rating. 6 months later they received a very damning evaluation. Seems they had had a 2nd secret vistor, a fat middle aged Indian woman, whom staff ignored, treated brusquely and stared at. This is a famous 5 star place, which I cannot mention for his sake!!

Anyway it gave him the excuse he needed to whip the staff into shape - hope it worked.

Bangkok University is Thailand's largest private university and used to be its most expensive (I think ABAC now is). The students tend to be from extraordinarily wealthy families, Chinese Thai, and there are a large number of foreign students from Asia, Europe and US, who tend to be retained.

Its reputation for quality is variable, depending on the area. But the same applies to other universities, e.g. Chula's EL program is not well regarded and there are many complaints about the quality of CU's postgraduate teaching. Some students report that they changed from ABAC to BU's English language programs because the teaching at the latter is superior. It has a good reputation in Business English (undergrad), Communication Arts - including post graduate.

A post graduate friend of mine from Mahidol described BU as the best 'social university' in the kingdom. Not sure what he meant - networking, parties, short skirts, models, TV soap opera stars?

I too initially made the mistake of going to Bumrungrad. The opthalmologist was bloody hopeless. Told me that I would recover in 3 weeks (4 years ago) and then was angry with me when I didn't. He obviously did not have a clue. (I now use him for driving licence tests, because I know he is useless)

Went to Rutnin and saw the corneal specialist who explained patiently in perfect English and in detail that three factors were contributing to the condition and how they interacted. I have a chronic eye condition and go to Rutnin every month or so mainly to monitor the medication and consequently am able to read, see, etc with their ongoing treatment.

(BTW, I went to the main eye hospital in my home country and am insured at a very high level. Was treated like cattle for an afternoon being put in one pen after another. The doc removed the Rutnin drops and said they were dangerous - 15% chance of blindness. After ten days without the drops it was like looking through a bottle of oil. Returned to Rutnin and was informed by the doctor that a patient should never be taken off those drops in one fell swoop - can induce blindness - has to be gradual. Interestingly, she explained the stats regarding the danger of the medication. 15% of the population have a negative reaction NOT that each has a 15% chance of problems. Pretty basic stats!! As I have been taking the drops for 4 years, it is unlikely that I am part of that 15%. But Rutnin check every month. They are fantastic.)

Although I don't wish a visit to Rutnin Eye Hospital on anyone, they never fail to impress me on my occasional check ups. Completely superior to similar hospitals and doctors I have used in my so called advanced home country. Saw the surgeon about an op on Thursday - perfect English and very full explanation. Found three little warts and said he would zap them as part of the bigger op - not with laser as that is unsafe which was news to me. Said that, as there is burning with a laser and as warts can be viral, material could float around and get into people's lungs. Booked operation for the next day (last Friday). Amazing pre-op procedure ... put into what reminded me of very comfortable lounge in private booths ... adjustable chair like airline 1st class... soothing quiet Thai music ... nurse creeping up on me every 10 mins with antibiotic eye drops which she squirted from about 4 inches away ... I had arrived about 3:30 pm and the op was at 5:00 .. a long time, but that's what they wanted. Then, guess what, a lady arrives with creams and a hot water bowl and proceeds to give me a 30 minute foot and leg massage, including lots of pressing spots on the sole of the foot as in shiatsu.The rather long wait was pretty pleasant. As I said ... impressive. After that, off to the operating theatre ... went through various changes of clothes and footwear as we entered different rooms (although I noticed the nurses were running around barefoot but not in the theatre). Atmosphere in the operating theatre was very different .. like a sterilised auto work shop with '80s music playing. There were a couple of medical students hanging around who put patches on my eyes which fell off in about five minutes. They had that air of completely indifferent incompetence that Thai males sometimes exude. Luckily, they didn't do anything more dangerous than push the trolley around. I was relieved when they disappeared to the next trolley to observe the surgeon doing an injection. Along came the surgeon who fully explained what they would do. I confirmed that he would be doing it, and not the lethargic students. Operation was interesting. I was relieved to see a very competent and focused looking female nurse take up position next to the surgeon. Hopefully, the students had gone off to have something to eat. I was a bit worried about being on the other end of a scalpel wielded by them. Surgeon kept saying sorry every time I showed any pain reaction to needles and slashes .. that's a first. With eyes closed throughout and cold steel all over your face, plus objects like pads being dropped or placed on your body, having your nose used as leverage for cutting, 80s music playing, conversation in English and Thai and trying not to bump the instrument table touching your chest, there was a lot to think about. Came out looking a bit punched up but not too bad. Then, a 45 minute wait for the cashier and the pharmacy nurse. This is traditional at Rutnin .. services are super efficient except for the cashier and pharmacy. All cost less than $600. Caught a motorcycle home with a massive eyepatch on. Lots and lots of traffic so he had to go slowly. Came home and proceeded to knock over various items which were either blocked by the eyepatch or required depth perception. Telling those who ask that I was attacked by a katoey.

Your response "Yep, avoid the English (unless you need some back-up in a fight of course);" unwittingly proves my point. 'Out of their own mouths ......'

It is not about dangerous behavior, like riding m/cycles when drunk or fighting, with or without backup. It is about ensuring your right to the pursuit of happiness . Therefore, avoid situations, which, on balance, may end negatively - like having to deal with some knuckle dragging hoon

It's just no fun any more.

Yes, that's almost right. Of course it is still fun, but even with better-than-average Thai language, I am having more hassles than over th e past 30 years and having to parry far more rip-off attempts.

Part of it may be explained by there being more chickens (tourists) available for the plucking but I really believe that people have changed in other ways. Because there is no education system to equip people to make judgements that weigh alternatives, they degenerate to the level of the 'football hooligan' or 'redneck' (less violent perhaps). Thus they end up with absurd stereotypes of foreigners as stupid, targets and undermenschen.

Irrespective of the genesis of this change, the consequences are a pain in the arse. On the other hand, as I say to taxi drivers who ask shob meung thai na?, ... baat sip per cent. So I won't take my own smug adivce about the airport yet (but I have been thinking about it).