Sydebolle

Taken quite some time ago; still exactly the same. Run or die 😉

The old goat toggles between naps and changing nappies most likely. If he is missing, nobody notices it anyway and there is definitely much less collateral damage 😉

Thai Rak Thai = Thais love Thais! Only once the culprit is booked for a healthy term into Bang Kwang or Klong Prem, made him coughing up a six digit fine and get the car impounded for good, only then this pristine example of selfishness will be brought to a screeching halt. But, as we all know, Thailand is blessed with a good set of laws; the only shortcoming though is the absence of implementation. It will happen again and again and again.

They just did it again - you have to give it to the Thais to f"ç%"-up their public image all the time. If there are no ladyboys grabbing Indians roaming the beach road for the latter's beauty then there is Somchai racing through town with his motorbike. If that is also not happening, pull the "pee into the sea" story from the drawer. In all fairness, if the only pollution remains human pee, well then all those goons, clowns and retarded officers have accomplished a sterling job. But, to make everyone else laugh, throw in - for good measure - the "tarnishing the city's image and violating the Cleanliness and Orderliness Act." What a bunch of completely brainless creatures in uniform ........

They just did it again - you have to give it to the Thais to f"ç%"-up their public image all the time. If there are no ladyboys grabbing Indians roaming the beach road for the latter's beauty then there is Somchai racing through town with his motorbike. If that is also not happening, pull the "pee into the sea" story from the drawer. In all fairness, if the only pollution remains human pee, well then all those goons, clowns and retarded officers have accomplished a sterling job. But, to make everyone else laugh, throw in - for good measure - the "tarnishing the city's image and violating the Cleanliness and Orderliness Act." What a bunch of completely brainless creatures in uniform ........

Fact is, that he was drunk - book him accordingly. Fact is, that the bike was parked perfectly so such an accident MUST have happened. All those having lived here for a while have their little stories about absolutely careless bike drivers and bike owners and more than once I was just very lucky having avoided a collision due to the fault of the other party. If that singer would just have been the average Joe around the corner, nobody would even talk about it. As said, book him for drunk driving but forget about the rest, me thinks!

He was properly prepared for the "smooth as silk" services offered by the national carrier maybe? Maybe the Missus wanted to book him away as "good riddance" or a little dispute elsewhere triggered off the stashing away of weaponry. Maybe just a distorted old geezer. Was the gun loaded, did he have the necessary paperwork, what was/is his statement in this whole matter?

The deluges from the sky are being replaced by Thai-made smog - same procedure as every year again. How stupid of a nation to poison its own people ........

Now, after all this is over and the facts are pretty clear, make sure that those 23 lives were not wasted completely. Get all those VIPs shoulder-rubbing in front of cameras and journalists to carry on paying. Yesterday they came to "pay respect", now it is time to "pay attention". Education Minister Permpoon Chidchob is not only an absolute incompetent ignorant by prohibiting school excursion with busses but he also has a big conflict of interest. An external, neutral body should now get into action and cross-examine each and everybody in the line of this disaster. Starting from the top, get the Transport Minister facing the bench, not only the present one sitting on that throne but his predecessor, Saksayam Chidchob, who was at the baton of the transport ministry 2019-2023 and happens to be the brother of the Education Minister. Then take the Department of Land Transports Directors, Governors etc. all aside and grill them over what really happens in those castles of bureaucracy. Who issued roadworthiness documentation, who must have been completely blind not seeing the illegal alteration and doubling of gas cylinders? Who did not find out, that those six cylinders should have been roof-mounted instead of eleven, which were all not on the roof. Who kept that bus (as well as hundreds if not thousands of busses) on the road despite knowing, that this coffin on wheels was 54 years old. Then book the bus owner, the tour operator, the workshops who did/do these alterations, the mechanics and the rest of the manure into the dock. Cross examine them on a one-to-one basis, live on TV and clean up this huge pile of typical Thai-style. The driver needs to be queried to find out, what really happened. He was apparently the second bus in a convoy of three vehicles; what happened with the first and last coach. Fact is, without going anywhere further, that he might have been driving too fast, he might have lost control over the vehicle, but ............. whatever it was, the most likely minor accident would have not resulted in anyone injured or burnt alive. But, as things stand, there is too much face and money involved. The driver might be locked up in the slammer and the keys will be thrown away and, as with all the other Thai-made disasters, nobody will talk about it in a week or two.

Disregard above comment. I misread the original question which is related to the VISA and not to a marriage, sorry for this wrong interpretation 😞

Absolutely correct, the question - which I misread - was related to the VISA and not to a marriage, sorry for this wrong interpretation 😞

Absolutely correct, the question - which I misread - was related to the VISA and not to a marriage, sorry for this wrong interpretation 😞

Values explained, as if any financial compensation would have a positive effect on this terrible disaster. I would sue the bus owner(s), DLT staff issuing the roadworthiness, the garage which did the conversion as well as the regular maintenance (if any), the ministry as well as the minister of transport for manslaughter. You cannot even classify this as "involuntary" as every party involved knew about the risk and was purposely ignorant in applying the existing laws and regulations. Individual cross examinations at court, possibly on live TV, and that might (in capital letters again MIGHT) have an effect on future "dealings" with 54 years old busses with tens of millions of kilometres and all the side alterations to the vehicles. There are some 13,000 such busses out on the road (that's at least what I read) and this accident can happen before I've finished this comment. Will not happen, money talks and now at least I know, what Thais assume is the value of an innocent child on a school trip. In closing, fire the education minister as well as he had this splendid idea to solve the problem by prohibiting school excursions once and for good ......... while his own brother was transport minister from 2019 - 2023 😉 Your call!

Big brother is watching everything - cash is anonymous. All the while PayPal (a cashless payment system for online transactions) got blocked for all those dirty farang and alien - like me 😉 Meanwhile got it up and running through the wife again - what a joke all this is!

Trust me, flame-retarding seat covers are the least of the problem in Thailand's fleet of "King of Bus". This accident blew everything out of proportion; the kids had no chances for all the wrong reasons. The driver is the "least guilty", get the entire lot of thousands of incompetent or corrupt staff in the transport ministry, the DLT, the fleet insurance, they tour company^s staff and certainly the owner(s) to the King's bench, cross-examine them on a person-by-person basis with live feed on social media and TV and, if found guilty, off to the slammer and throw away the key. The seat covers play a minor role and, in this case, most likely completely irrelevant

Based on what exactly were the 5,000 Baht - usually the official fee for anything which happened or not is 500 Baht. A quiet day at the news desk - nothing better to report on Thailand? Public transport safety, possible (yet most unlikely) corruption at DLT and the transport ministry etc. spring to mind ?????

Code Red - not only in the US (A few good men - it the name of the movie). Wondering why this country has an army to start with - apart from yearly promotions and a permit for looting for the higher ups. In most other countries the army is called into immediate service and assistance in case of a catastrophe - like the recent floods. They (should) have the (possibly) trained manpower, the (eventually still working) equipment for such major undertakings yet I never heard of anyone calling for the army to serve its country when in need (apart from ridiculous parades and the self-profiling neuroses during children's day at the beginning of the year)

The driver will, as in most cases, get the scapegoat ticket and that explains, why you read mostly "driver fled the scene" and the vehicle operator does not keep track of which driver is on the cash payroll and drove a said vehicle.

Don't forget the little mark-up of 300% which some landlords believe is OK. Many many moons ago I was looking for an apartment and was told that utilities are debited and collected by the landlord. The m3 of water was then charged with 75 Baht (official fee a ridiculous franction of it) while electricity would cost 25 Baht a unit (official tariff 4 Baht). The difference in the electricity was explained with elevator and staircase lights. I opted to take up another lease with a direct billing of electricity by the service provider. Nothing wrong in asking to see previous electricity and water bills as this is an instrumental piece of information in making up your mind, if you enter a lease or not!

For a legal marriage in Thailand - irrespective of any type of visa - you require a "marriage application" issued by your embassy confirming, that the (US citizen) applicant is indeed able to marry a Thai citizen. That document needs to be officially translated into Thai and legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - and Bob's your uncle! That particular confirmation might be based on a background check, financial means to support a spouse etc. but that you would have to request from the embassy directly. No need to use "legal services".

So all the transport ministers for the last 40+ years are getting cross-examined on a one-to-one basis on live TV transmissions now and, if proven not having done their jobs and running their ministry in line with given criteria = off to the slammer? And, if you are it, do the same with the DLT and their staff checking the roadworthiness (in this case the bus was cleared apparently on 23 May this year); do this now with all buses and coaches and wherever there is such an irregularity = off to the slammer. This endless corruption and blunt ignorance to any given law in this country has to come to a screeching halt without any further delay. Yes, I know, wishful thinking ...... nothing will happen; let the dust settle and then it's business and envelopes as usual!

Who remembers the SEA Games in Winter 1998? That was the glorious moment, when the city of Bangkok "repaired" all the pavements on lower Sukhumvit in record time and, you have to give them that, they did a sterling job. The pavements were beautiful, "pram proof" and a pure joy. Once the SEA games were over a few weeks later, the same city administration sent out the workers again to collect all the concrete blocks from the pavements and left an even worse disaster behind than before. So witnesses by me living on Sukhumvit Soi 6 near the Nana intersection. I asked for details in a "letter to the editors" of the Bangkok Post or The Nation and that's where the bucket stopped - for good - and nobody ever reacted on the issue. Somchai must have "rented out" concrete blocks for a month on a monthly basis as a friend of mine, living on Thonburi side, told me a carbon-copy story in 1999 in connection with a special occasion related to an anniversary of royals. Once the festive weeks were over = concrete blocks collected again 🙂

Either one of Anutin's worker had a running stomach or Prawit might not have been able to hold it - as overheard over lunch 😉 Too funny!

Fire the minister and all those directors immediately - for life. The vehicle inspector on that bus to be locked up in jail for negligent manslaughter in 23 cases which will park him indefinitely on state's luncheons and will send a strong signal to all those other goons and clowns poking noses and scratching backsides in all their ever-so-important vehicle inspection offices. What a hopeless mess, seriously .......

a) inspect all public buses on a yearly basis - ALL b) retire public buses after X years or Y mileage, whatever comes first c) fine the operator of the bus in case of breach with a juicy fine of seven digits in Baht