Sydebolle

...... and if he does not succeed then we will see him possibly declaring the "Free State of Banharnburi" by renaming Supanburi. The Bavarians did the same a few centuries ago; to the benefit of its people as well as to the Federal Republic of Germany.

When will the voters get a chance to get educated in such a way that they will understand these sneaky approaches. Banharn farted around for decades already. Those longer in town will remember the "mobile crane" inforcement at Klong Toey port 20 years ago which brought the operation to a total stand-still and collapse; shipping lines inforced penalties for blocked containers and the works.

Then Banharn became known for moving the Yaks infront of his Ministry (he had so many I forgot which one it was); his daughter was apparently involved in that murky deal with a little plot of land which got co-incidentially sold to the Thai Mintery stamping new coins and the land was ...... well, not essentially cheap.

Ah, possibly his next campaign will be in French as he obtained a Master's Degree in French from Ramkamhaeng University and to this date I am not too sure if they even teach French there. Et voilà, c'est la vie d'un politicien thaïlandais! Bravo!

www.ticino.co.th/en has all the Italian goodies; a little off the beaten track some 2.5 miles from Sukhumvit!

It is a little heavy on seafood with a limited selection of non-seafood dishes. Food excellent, service Thai-style and good value for money (considering that seafood is not cheap anywhere). The Tocino is actually called Ticino; a fantastic website with maps and the works under www.ticino.co.th/en.

And no, nobody has to drive to town for decent food; the dark side is maturing into a culinary treat

Why do we not buy salads or carrots by the litre? The electricity is charged by length and water comes in bushels....

I assume all the Burmese work legally, are paid minimum wages etc.

What kind of animals are roaming free in this country?

Well, am I getting this right or wrong? According to the UNESCO, the ICC ruling back in the early sixties and the acceptance of the French mapping some 100 years ago there should be ....... no disputed area left

Tiffany will not like it ........ and strolling on Pattaya beach will be a safe affair again!

And quite obviously he forgot the red diplomatic passport as well. How clumsy indeed. Suggest that the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs runs courses for MPs on how to behave at duty free shops as well as how to declare those purchases at Thai customs upon arrival.

Thais do no longer need a visa into Cambodia as of January 1st, 2011!

..... well, what do you expect in a country selling ropes and strings ....... by the kilogramme?

As a "professional" shopper for my restaurants I used to get Creme Fraiche, Pommery Mustard and Ladyfingers (latter for the creation of Tiramisu) from Carrefour. For the last six weeks everything was ongoingly "out of stock" and no new merchandise was imported.

The rebranding will be from Carrefour to (Very) or (Smaller) Big C; selling Foremost's Whipping Cream at THB 147 when Makro charges THB 99. The luckier among us can resort to Foodland and/or Villa Supermarket; the others = enjoy the local overpriced fare!

Do these clowns at ATTA, TAT and other "professional congregations of ignorants" really believe in this rubbish they say?

For a three months visa you require presently:

- proof of means = EUR 20'000/person,

- health certificate stipulating no AIDS and Syphilis (went down very well with my 74 year old mother's doctor who rang me and asked me, if my mother had suffered mental brown-outs lately?)

- clean sheet by your local secret service

while i.e. Malaysia and Macao stamp 90 days with a smile and an English "Welcome"

Thailand suffers from the same old rubbish; cheating and rip-offs of tourists starting at the airport, closing of airports two years ago, pouring blood infront of the parliament, randsacking the PEACH of the Royal Cliff Hotel over Easter weekend, torching of shopping centres, burning of (Bangkok) banks. The political ice became thinner and thinner, and nobody knows when the whole filigrane structure will simply cave in.

All Thailand did was increase prices and ensured, that the selected few (i.e. AoT = Airport Authority of Thailand) kept their pockets very well lined. Ah, and before I forgot, remember the stints at King Power's Duty Free Emporium where tourists were accused and threatened with mind-boggling jail sentences for "crimes" they never did.

I can only wish a gruesome low season when NO tourists come at all; maybe then (most likely though not) these clowns will get the message.

And no, the weather has ZERO influence on Thailand's ailing tourism industry compared to the f..k-ups the Thais did to these geese-laying-golden-eggs-called-farangs! Malaysia has double the arrivals and 68% more "Farangs" which are nicely called "Aliens" in the Land of the Free. And Bali as well as Vietnam is ...... fully booked!

If NKP stands for Nakon Phanom = cross the Mekong into Thakaek, get up the ramp and to the left there are a few "duty free shops". The first one in the corner is quite well stocked (I get tons of Campari, Gin, Penfolds Bin 2 etc. from there). Cross the river again and yes, it is worthwhile doing the paperwork to get your own car in. That is where communism meets capitalism.

Well, while I do not agree to the practice of illegality the message is very, very, very clear. The protectionists are getting beaten now.

All those whining Thais should stop farting around and get their act together. Their command of the English lingua has not improved over the last 25 years of my presence here and their "product" just became more expensive. Why is it, that all good hotels, non-Thai as well as Thai restaurants and official tour operators (Diethelm, Asiantrails, Siam Express etc.) in this country are run .......... by non-Thais. Thais became slaves in their own country; initially by the Sino-Thais and now by the rest of the world because they believe that Thailand is still the centre of the entire universe.

Move up, make your homework and seriously analyze, why a Russian roadside "operator" outbids the rest. Or study the Indian taylor who successfully sells clothes being sewed together by ...... a background Thai!

Well, what do you expect? Living on the dark side of Pattaya's Sukhumvit Road I see our law dedicated, hard working police roaming the roads without helmets - on a motorbike. The reason for not wearing a helmet becomes obvious - they are on the phone.

Why on earth are you all getting so excited? We live in a zoo and our opinion as "aliens" was neither asked for nor appreciated. If you use a bike, wear proper helmets and other biking gear and leave the Thais to go through their very own learning curve. Yes, it is sad, that each and every of those 6'000 bike fatalities a year are sons, daughters, mothers, aunties, wifes etc to somebody. But I've attended funerals of accident victims (drunk driving, biking without helmet) just to witness that upon leaving the funeral rites they got intoxicated before roaming away on a bike ... needless to say, without a helmet.

Bienvenue en Thaïlande!

Sometimes you win and sometimes the others lose. Mind-boggling indeed and, nope, the station has not Mandarin nor Arabic speaking men-in-brown thoroughly trained in the étiquette politique on how to handle diplomats. The Saudi crown jewelry story, although 21 years old already, is definitely under the big Thai carpet considering that "replicas" were worn by the Khunyings and Thanpuyings at official functions. One guy asked how to do replicas without the original ...... but well, that's another story.

Like the story of the plastic bag hung at a bush or tree near a police station cotaining - YES, you got it - part of Saudi bounty which was apparently stolen by a Chiang Mai pig farmer who worked in Saudi Arabia. I understand that the gilding stuff weighted some 500 kgs; quite a luggage burden for the pig breeder from Chiang Mai!

I owe a restaurant and have seen almost everything and anything possible. Breakage can happen, by staff or customers alike. If it is interpretable as "can happen" then we do not charge. If it is easily avoidable, we charge and on the menu it is stipulated with "breakage can be charged".

Giving something breakable to a 2 year old tolder is "easily avoidable"; chances are tremendously high that the item breaks. So charge the parents for their ignorance or stupidity.

Ah, and "Took lae Dee" is a branded chain for fast food restaurants run by Foodland; and it translates into "Cheap and Good". It wraps it up nicely; the food is indeed very cheap and good fare for the money hence it does not allow for avoidable damage or breakage! Or am I completely wrong here ?

Would like to see a map of the dam project........it's upstream of the golden triangle or downstream??

Well, it's FAR downstream of the Golden Triangle. Take a Thailand map and look for Nongkhai (opposite the Lao capital Vientiane). Then follow the Mekong river to the Thai city of Nakorn Phanom; accross the mekong river you'll find the Lao city-village called Thakaek. From there follow the road east (towards Vietnam) until you hit a village calle Glommaraj (or written Khlommarat or similar); that's where the Nakai plateau starts. From Glommaraj the entire northwester part; approx. the size of Singapore, is today's Nam Theun II area.

Ecologically speaking it is not good but much worse is the lignite power station which will go up in the northwestern city of Hongsa (Xaiyabouli province). 600 million tons of low quality lignite will create havoc to environment and people a like; going online with 1'800 MW in 2015.

Just out of curiosity. The mobile phone operator runs logs of all incoming and outgoing calls/SMS and what-have-yous. Hence the call "could" be traced back even today. Secondly the ATM transaction went onto other bank accounts. The medieval way of Thai banking insists, that for bigger withdrawals they stop short of seeing a verified-and-true-copy of your great-grandfather's birth certificate.

If a story is too good to be true then....... Trace that incoming call (possibly ending up at a phone booth or indeed the DSI) and follow the papertrail of the ATM transaction. Rocket science?

Just waiting for the opening of "Happy Bank" which could tell you, from where money came onto your account, where a PIN code suffices (in my native Switzerland you withdraw 8 million THB, you punch in the PIN code at the counter and the only question the clerk asks is "big or small denomination?"

...... and Malaysia sails through with 26 million tourists this year. The mind boggles! But until the local yocals have not understood, that a tourist is not a perpetual cow to be milked, the mess at the airport's arrival floor with all those ghost guides and illegal taxis charging upto THB 5'000 to Pattaya.....

Another interesting fact is, that while the THB has appreciated a lot, prices for imported stuff did INcrease. Visit Thailand while you can, in a generation from now the country will be torn to pieces, nobody wants to work, everybody gets cheated and the human resources are simply not being prepared hence people will travel elsewhere!

...... and be sure you're having a visa for Vietnam (which you could get in Vientiane and hence would make the trip worthwile). There is definitely and despite different statements NO VISA on arrival without prior arrangements which costs unnecessarily money.

If you would have time, take the bus from Vientiane to Attapeu; then on to Bo Y from where you cross into Vietnam. The trip takes you two days and is much more fun than flying.

Unbelievable. Stone age is alive here in this country. May I suggest to buy all vintage teletype and telex machines as this will be sold to the buffalos in this country as the latest invention of those clowns at CAT and TOT at twenty times the price of brand new equipment. Medieval bulls produce medieval sh..t. Welcome to the 21st century BC where pockets are here to be lined nicely.

And then people wonder why regional operators (like me) move out of Thailand into more civilized infrastructures like ..... Lao PDR or Vietnam

Well, that means that the "Flammekueche" or "Tarte Flambée" will increase in price at the Ticino restaurant. The owner there told me that the Crème Fraîche needed for that dish is available at Carrefour only (apart from the stuff at Villa which is outdated and double in price). The French are difficult people but as far as food, wines and savoir vivre is concerned they definitely are the front runners (next to Italians and the Iberians).

Big C; the name says it all = Big Crap!

Déja Moo........ the strange feeling having heard this bullshit before. But until they amend the laws here to make non-Thais and Thais equal, then nothing changes. As this will not happen anytime soon, keep away from doing business in the Land of Smiles OR do it without any Thai partner. At the beginning the Non-Thai has the money and the Thai has the experience. Such business structures result in having the very same result all the time: the Non-Thai has the experience and the Thai has the money. Or am I missing something out here?