losworld

is it normal that an agency sells thai airways tickets (at very special prices) only to thai people? as I am foreigner (farang) I can't buy it because I was told from them that those prices are only for thais.

do tell more!

I am planning a trip to tokyo, my collegue (thai) he bought already a ticket (the period of travelling is different but the offer is still available throught the same agency), so I ask him about the price he paid and being quite convenient compared to thai air website, I tried to book through the same agency. Being their website all in thai language, he called them for me, and when they knew i am not thai they replied that I can't buy the ticket. It is quite sad considering that I pay taxes in this country (quite big amounts).

If you make the big bucks who cares. Just pay it. Everything else is cheap.

Wayne Newton in a dual to the death Thai boxing match.

I'll wait for the book printed in Cherokee then have it translated.

A big beautiful park/green garden area, with no motor traffic

near Chaweng/Lamai.

It needs cofee shops, around/in it to make it alive.

The closest thing to that right now, is

the long, ghetto ambiance, concrete area by the chaweng lake,

and that area look horrible.

Big, people friendly, beautiful areas, makes a destination

worldclass

samui will NEVER be that...or world class...too many monkey maffia...

I see room in there for a few jet ski rental shops.

More beer bars, jet ski rentals, motorbikes, karaoke bars and all night discos. Abolish all automobiles and contract all taxis to Phuket mafia. Establish free trade zone on beaches. That should get rid of most of the tourists. The remainder will be extradited to Pattaya. Now start over.

Just get some of those shoes with the hidden heels to make you taller.

Just paint "I love farang" or "I love neighbors" on the side of the pot. It'll be gone from view almost immediately.

In the future its best just to ignore what they have to say as what you have done has caused them to lose face and when this happens you are asking for trouble.

Do it the Thai way next time and tell them you will come and visit them and bring gifts instead of chasing them away. Then never show up with gifts.

I recently spent two days in Chumphon

The beaches there were very beatiful and to my surprise deserted.

Then I discovered I had been ravaged by sandflys.

86 bites in one sitting.

That was 6 weeks ago, I have had numerous visits to hospitals for lotions, potions and injections and the itching is at last subsiding.

I won't be going again !!

Beautiful beaches though !!!!

The same thing happened to me in Hua Hin. I have heard the western gulf side is bad for sandflies and I believe it after my visit to the beaches of HH.

I my opinion, the above estimate is from a very narrow and atypical slice of the real Thailand. Living in Bangkok would be like you wanting to get a taste of the "real USA" and choosing to live in Manhattan, NYC.

Let's now take living near a medium-sized Thai city--let's say Khon Kaen or Ubon Ratchathani. Your costs:

Apartment (2-3 rooms): 2,500-4,000 Baht/month (little or no deposit)

Food: 100B/day or 3,000 Baht/month

Internet 1mb/ADSL: 700 Baht/month

Transportation: 1,750 Baht/month (buy a used motorbike for 5,000Baht for the three months)

Beer: 40B a bottle 1,200 Baht/month (30 beers/month--that enough?)

Total: 10,650/month 32,000/3 months $1,000 USD/3 months

Huge difference, huh? You could save enough on a daily basis to take plenty of side trips throughout Thailand any time you wanted (see the big tourist traps of Phuket, Pattaya and Bangkok).

Furthermore, Isaan (where both of these cities are located) provides an infinitely more genuine Thai experience than the cosmopolitan Bangkok (just like any other big international capitol city, in my opinion).

Also, photo opportunities would be immensely more diverse--for example, check out an Isaan friend's local photos at http://www.trekearth.com/members/Senk/

Great photos. Is he from Canada?

It's like they used to day in the Soviet Union - they pretend to pay us and we pretend to work. I'd like to see how motivated some here would be at 300 baht per day.

Good analogy and I think you're overstating it at 300 Baht a day, they will probably be lucky if they're getting 200!

Paid according to worth

So are you saying a person is not worth 300 baht per day for their time?

It's like they used to day in the Soviet Union - they pretend to pay us and we pretend to work. I'd like to see how motivated some here would be at 300 baht per day.

It's like they used to day in the Soviet Union - they pretend to pay us and we pretend to work. I'd like to see how motivated some here would be at 300 baht per day.

I get your point. But it still remains, if you don't violate a traffic law back home, you won't be ticketed.

If traffic is slow or non existent find me a driver who does not do a rolling right turn (I guess in England rolling left). Remember this is a turn that flows with traffic.

I guess the difference is that, by using cameras, they are simply catching more people who violate traffic laws. Here it seems to have very little to do with any sort of traffic violation. The cost comparison is worth noting, but the comparison is invalid.

They are both simply ways of extracting revenue. In fact many yellows have been shortened here definitely not in the interest of safety but in the interest of revenue.

I'd sooner pay a few random fines even if not deserved in a petty amount then pay a fine that is double what it should be to simply pad some official's pockets. That is the point of the post.

http://photoradarscam.com/revenue.php

I constantly read on Thai Visa about members being frustrated with roadside tickets costing a few hundred baht all designed to get revenue from the unsuspecting. This week I made a rolling right turn in my Western hometown and received a ticket in the mail in the amount of $440. Yes that is right $440. At 200 baht payoff per ticket that would equate to approximately 75 tickets in Thailand. Has anyone on this board received this kind of blackmail in all their days in Thailand via road tickets? Plus here in Los Angeles there is an additional $70 payment for traffic school or the insurance rates go up. I am sure many Europeans are suffering the same fate with these easy grabs by their local governments who have mispent and are looking for further revenue. And it is only going to get worse.

Ironically one half of the ticket price goes to the lovely Lockhead military company who are quietly putting these money machines at intersections across the city. The good company urged the city to start fining rolling right turns as well as direct runs through a red light. Doing this triples their revenue. And to boot they changed the fine from 250 in the past to 440.

At least in Thailand it goes into the pocket of the cop who is likely only earning 300 dollars per month. Here it is feeding a greedy military industrial company and an incompetent and corrupt city government.

Things may not be so bad in Thailand after all?

Dumb decision, he's one of the most famous figures in history, good reason to have a wax carricature. It's unfortunate a few imbeciles can choose what the rest of us can and can't see. The museum just needs to ensure that his portayal is done in a tasteful manner, which the comment probably didn't do but that's an easy fix and doesn't require him removed.

It's odd that nazi sensitivity has grown with time rather than fallen, a sure sign people (you know who) are milking it.

Ridiculous thing is that you would likely have the same media uproar if this took place in the U.S. or Europe? What has happened to free speech. Let people make their own decisions. Have we no faith in humanity or we merely being being controlled through selective media.

Today the wife's sister said to her.." you two should stay in Canada, so many problem here in Phuket..yellow, red, many murders.. etc.." Personally I don't care, and would go back tomorrow, but have to wait a while. Sure enough, checking Thai visa, there sure are a lot of murders going on in Phuket these days..tourists on Bangla Road, a landlord kills 2 tenants and wounds one in Chalong area..etc.. Personally I like going to Bangla road, but keep the visits down to ONCE each 2 or 3 month trip, and I go with a buddy who works in the Thai immigration police.Question..Is it getting worse for murders generally in LOS and specifically Phuket, or is this just a blip???

Do you think its any better in Canada ? Vancouver is second only to Miami in North America for property crime. This is just BS, everyone thinks its getting worse everywhere. If you mind your own business and hang around with decent people then you will be ok anywhere.

The post has nothing to do with Canada or any other foreign country........this type of response is really getting old. The question is about safety issues in a "vacation spot in Thailand."

I dodge less stray bullets in Bangkok then I do in Vancouver so I guess what I am saying is that there is not a safety issue in my vacation spot.

Vancouver is pretty safe unless you venture down Hastings or another run down area. As per Patts and other areas of Tland of course you will encounter undesirables when frequenting undesirable areas and coupled with an economic depression this should not be surprising. Personally I have traveled many parts of Tland during many late hours and never encountered any problems nor seen much unsavory activity besides many a tourist with far too many drinks in the belly.

Could this be considered an "ATM deposit"?

Dome the lake, freeze it with air con units, and you can rent skates, sleighs and ice fishing huts. hel_l you can even have an ice vodka bar! Brilliant! Never been done before in Tland!!!!

I gotta say John McCain is showing infinitely MORE CLASS than 95% of those calling themselves 'from the right'.

He is acting like a gentleman and a statesman by congratulating the President on this award.

Regardless of it's logical probity relative to his timespan in the job.

And Mr. M. is shown as a good sport, and good loser, considering how recently the election was.

This puts into stark relief the social and moral bankruptcy residing in the GOP the last few years,

and so glaring like a sun reflection off a chromed bumper as currently shown to all and sundry.

As a presently registered Republican, I feel shame for most of the GOP bretheren who act in such a

knee jerk, lockstep fashion. Truly scions and inheritors of 'The Greatest Generation?... I think not.

Thinking for yourself is not just out of fashion it seems to be considered anathema

and, god help us, Un-American to do so. Truly a saddening state of affairs for America. And dangerous too.

Certainly Rupert Murdock is partly to blame, but so many more deserve a perpwalk of shame over this.

And to hide their greed behind a facade of high-minded religiosity and pseudo-patriotism is equally shameful.

I can certainly see my primary votes for common sense in the GOP party are over whelmed by bile.

Thank you Mr. McCain for acting like a true gentleman and congratulating President Obama,

without reservation or equivocation, for winning this award, premature or not.

Rather than look forward, which is obviously the Nobel committee's aim, many seem to prefer

a back stabbing look backwards in anger. Such as that red-beady-eyed Dave Gibson above.

Searching history for anything that might be considered against Conservative principles...

not principles, imperfect word for this, but Conservative 'entrained though patterns',

and so beat a dead horse for effect, and entrain 'the base' another notch into

abrogation of individual discernment as citizens. Conservatives know how you should think,

and we will repeat it until it is beaten into your head. Righty o.

Congratulations Mr. John McCain for congratulating the President at his award,

and not taking the low road and using the decisions of others as a reason for blatant

and disgusting displays of partisan biliousness.

McCain and Obama answer to the same circle of influence peddlers. Repubs and Dems are one and the same in action and only deceptively differently in words around election time.

venturalaw

Believe me, we have all lost. Lost big!

Never.But thanks for your efforts.

losworld

What has he changed?

He is working on it. It is difficult with the hard core obstructionists working overtime to stop him. Ask again after EIGHT years. If after EIGHT years he has changed nothing, I will agree with you. Until then, please let him GOVERN. The presidency is not a dictatorship even though bush tried to make it more like that. If nothing else, after EIGHT years the SUPREME COURT will indeed be very much CHANGED for 50 years. So don't jump to idiotic conclusions about the consequences of the Obama era too soon, OK?

So one is to sit back and do nothing while the same lobbyists and special interests govern wall street? While Americans sit on their hands and give him more time he has handed the health care of a nation to a man named Baucus owned by the health care industry. No single payer and no public option and we are to believe this is change? Change for the benefit of the health care lobbyists. It has only taken six months to reveal this illusion.

Predictable post Bush responses.

Ignoring the last paragraph's that explain their logic.

There will always be those who just hate USA, based on their personal biases.

Congratulations Mr. President.

I for one HAVE felt safer...

even safer from verbal assault from our so called allies citizens,

since Obama began his long overdue retread of the USA's global image.

Maybe it is a bit early, but he still has caused a sea change in the perceptions

of a huge segment of the world towards America, and I never expected all to agree.

Face it, Bush was a terrible act to follow and it is amazing how much progress has

been made to erase his bilious legacy. Even in the worst of times and

with the least amount of assets to make use of.

When will people learn it is "same sh*t different pile" when talking about Republicans and Democrats. The same inner circle still runs Washington.

Obama is really nothing more than an illusion. An illusion of change. What has he changed? Wall Street? Health Care?

So some chemist spends his life to find a cure for cancer. An aging woman lives in the jungle to provide relief to impoverished people. Obama spends five years in the corrupt Illinois legislature before becoming a Senator for a short time then President for less than a year and he gets a "peace prize".

So? So did Yassar Arafat.

What a <deleted> joke. I like the guy. Nice to have a beer with I'm sure. But he has failed miserably on fixing Wall Street, Health Care and much more to come.

The prize/payoff is actually for saving Wall Street's ass but it sounds better as a "Peace Prize".

There's nothing a Rotten Ronnie's Gut Bomb in the morning after a round of drinking .

I live in a fairly quiet area just south of Hua Hin and several of my neighbors have been robbed.

First, I never leave the house empty overnight. We live here full time and if we do go on an overnight holiday we pay our gardener extra to sleep outside like a security guard while we are gone. We also have a hard wired alarm system that was installed during construction that makes an earsplitting noise and flashes bright strobes from the front and back of the home if tripped. I think the noise alone would scare all but the most determined burglars away as it hurts the ears. The alarm system also calls me on my mobile when tripped with a pre-recorded message so that I know someone set it off and can call friends, neighbors, or the police to investigate if I am not home.

We also have two guard dogs that roam the entire plot during the day and at night one is locked in the front garden while the other is locked in the back so that even if they are sleeping one of them will wake up if someone enters the yard. We have a two meter wall around the property that is also alarmed with light beams. We also leave the garden lit with wall and outdoor porch and pole lighting all night long.

As I said, knock wood, we haven't had any problems so far and neighbors have. One neighbor was robbed three times and then embedded broken glass into the top of his wall. So far that has worked. Another one put those big steel double spikes on top of the wall.

The main things are not to leave the home unoccupied for long periods. If you must, remove all portable valuables to a safer location. Other than that make your home look harder to rob than the neighbor's. Most robberies here are not done by professional criminals, but are just crimes of opportunity so if the neighbors home is darker and quieter and less secure than yours, the burglars will probably go there.

It's the same principle you use if a bear is chasing you in the woods. You don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun the other people with you!

Nice life... have you considered digging an underground bomb shelter?