Rrose

I am not Thai, but I find this thread of comments quite offensive. Nobody of any nationality (what's country got to do with it anyway?) has a monopoly on brains, or stupidity. without a firsthand account of the investigation process (news sources don't count) we cannot know what is going on, and the idle, insulting speculation that is going on in this thread is just more hot air. And pretty poisonous hot air at that.

Do the Thai police really think most people are that stupid,

In a word Yes. They know Thais are and hope farangs are too.

Really, I do not think most thai thinks of other thais as stupid - because they are all equally stupid with a acception of a few. There is a paradox here in that it is the simple minded nature of Thais that makes me love this country, but at the same time they are so simple minded that they are incapable of coherent / cojoined / progressive thinking or deductive reasoning. They really do just believe what is spoon fed to them. The police's job is to find things out - therefore they are capable of finding out and will do their utmost to do it, because that is what the police do...... that sort of dummy logic..... kind of santa-claus like.

It amazes me at work - I assign some tasks to senior staff, who in turn assign it to their juniors ..... and I just know they are having a laugh "sa-too-pit farang" because my instructions are not obvious in the 'join-the-dots' image they have of live..... then a week later when all becomes clear they are all like a herd of cows moo'ing "aaaaawwweee la"...... patting themselves on the back for the foresight they didn't have. And the next time do they have a little faith...... nope, its back to the "sa-too-pit farang" scenario.......

To be honest, I can see the dopey local bobby at this hotel wondering in bemusement "what could possibly have happened here"....... so then some moron postulates some proposturous idea as listed previosuly (from ghosts to bad karma) and the local bobby latches onto it..... to his equally numb-skull colleagues this is a stroke of genius, and so he is hailed the sherlock homes of modern times..... promoted.... and case solved..... and so he is justly rewarded financially...... This is far too complex a scam for them to consciously mastermind - I reckon they just naturally fall into these "solutions". Then the couple of morons in charge who might have some semblence of intelligence decide in their infinte wisdom that if the police forces best and brightest can't get to the bottom of it, then the "sa-too-pit" farangs definitely wont.........

In conclusion -I reckon that that "They know Thais are and hope farangs are too" pretty much nails it.

Has no one considered the coincidence that the couple in question was staying in the same hotel/same area as the three young women from New Zealand who allegedly became ill (and one died) from food poisoning? I find that very curious. Might there be something in the water? Or some other environmental cause? The authorities have been investigating and still have not announced just what the young women became sick from- contrary to all the speculation, the original supposition of seaweed has not been confirmed.

This forum would be performing a public service if it would publish any information announced by the respective authorities regarding these matters. The hot air contributed by members does not really help.

That was a previous mayor- I don't recall whom. This mayor is new, but a member of the same family that 'ruled' the city in the past, tho not that of his predecessor who was a lady mayor, and who was 'unelected' on a technicality halfway through her term.

I believe this is the guy who, when Chiang Mai had its 2006 smoke emergency (300,000 across the north treated for smoke symptoms, 58 deaths) blamed the event on Korean barbecue restaurants - & ordered them shut down.

He subsequently improved on that by ordering fire trucks to spray water all over the roads - to 'wet the air and attract rain'.

So you guys in Chiang Mai at least know you are in good hands.

Keep posted for a mayoral edict to light Korean barbecues across the city, to evaporate the floodwaters.

It's a sad day when the world loses someone as vital, accomplished and wise as Mrs. Kanomi, but to have her misrepresented in print as has been done by the Chiang Mai Mail is more than sad- it's reprehensible. Mrs. Kanomi was a frequent visitor to Chiang Mai for more than thirty years, a long-standing favorite of Thailand's Royal Family, an accomplished musician, and author of an early, definitive study of the hilltribes with her book Peoples of Myth: Textiles and Crafts of the Golden Triangle. She deserves to be remembered with reverence and respect, not idle, uninformed and incorrect speculation. Shame on the Chiang Mai Mail!

Privacy is only part of what people should be concerned about: how can we really know these machines are safe? They tell us they are, but have they truly been tested enough to know for sure? This aspect needs to be questioned and researched more thoroughly.

Can anyone out there provide some current information (mid-2009) on satellite TV options, their costs, providers, capabilities, pitfalls, etc.? Programming at True Vision is just getting more and more lame- it's time for a change.

Thanks!

Am probably a day late and many baht short, but I'm curious if anyone has any up to date information about Mau Tours: Are they still operating? Did they change their name to Global Trek? Is there any kind of legal case being made? Are these criminals still at large?

Also, I cannot find the other thread under Chiang Mai/Warnings- it doesn't come up in any searches of ThaiVisa, and tho this thread has a post saying the threads have been combined, it doesn't appear anywhere that I can find. It included useful information and would be helpful to anyone looking into the history of this problem.

I will also say that I was scammed by these folks, but was able to recoup the balance of the money owed by using a debt collector. If anyone would like his contact details, just contact me thru this forum.

Your readers should know that both TAT and the Tourist Police are powerless and a waste of time in this situation. And not speaking adequate Thai, we found the regular Police to be unhelpful as well. Mau Tours knew this and took advantage of the situation. I seriously doubt that it would be any problem to find ten victims of theirs: the Tourist Police had a thick file on them full of complaints. Maybe someone reading these threads will know more about the current disposition of this problem, and can share some facts with us all.