lukamar

Has anyone considered that some of the breakaway TRT politicians may be lured back into the fold of the PPP. Most of them left the TRT because they were in fear of their political careers. There are a million scenarios that can play out over the next while. PPP only has to attract 12-14 MP's to form a numerical majority.

PPP certainly does not have an overwhelming mandate.

Not bad considering the shenanigans that went on in their martial law stronghold areas by Junta. Remember this was a party that the junta tried their best to kill, prosecute, slander and obstruct for over a year. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes... Has to make you wonder about Military inteligence...LOL

Yes the military knows how to lay land-mines which continue to function after they have gone. (I shouldn't say GONE, more like taken a temporary spell).

They can leave now knowing that they have fulfilled their budgeting targets for the next few years. Much like an elected politician getting rich while in office just the generals polishing their helmets with arms procurements, telephone eavesdropping equipment, fighter planes, APC's and submarines?

Maybe General S will have to move out of his 3 free houses that the rural poor ar paying for.

Some posters are saying that the majority of thais voted for PPP and Thaksin. The last i looked 47.5% is not the majority of thais. The majority voted for someone other than PPP and Thaksin.

Next closest party, the Democrats, only got 33.25% the next closest 9.50% Together they got 42.75%. Makes 47.5% of the popular vote look like a runaway train. You are not beaten if you are defeated by 14.24% in an election, you are trounced. If you get less than 10% you don't even count as a viable alternative.

little of it filtered down to the guy in the paddies.

If this is the case as you say, then why have they voted for him a third time? Oh, yes, they must be stupid, barefoot hicks.

Not stupid, just uneducated and easy prey for anyone using Taksins brand of nationalist, populist policies.

Now they will really be uneducated since the military installed NLA passed the University privatization bill, on the last day, that will soon make government universities like CMU unaccessible to the poor.

You guys just don't realize the elite likes them poor and uneducated - it's good for business, and they don't like them voting for people the elite don't support.

No matter who forms the government they should send the entire military off to Iraq or similar to give them something to do with their lives. They need a sandbox to play with their toys outside of the parliament buildings and the street.

I've only skimmed through the last couple of pages of posts but only one person alluded to the reason for the coup.. The military filled up their budget reservoir to overflowing in a year, cemented themselves into ISOC and did little else.

With PPP winning clearly over their closest opponents maybe that's an eye opener to the Military that they have not had a handle on the feelings or the wants of the Thai population.

Time will tell if Thailand is going to take a step forward or another step backward.

Our place is in Phayao but I was amazed at the amount of detail that Google had there.

Overview of Phayao

Close Up of our MooBan

We use A&S Cargo in Hangdong. 53-430 539

http://www.thaitradepoint.com/a&s/

Years ago I had what sounds like a similar setup. It used an FM remote instead of the infra red one. I could change the channels etc from the bedroom which was quite some distance and a few corners from the receiver. When in the bedroom I would use the FM one and in the living room use the IR one. My system worked well BTW

As for the other comment about a custom order, you need the right material really. Chef coats, being industrial, have many safety features built in that normal cloth cannot do - you need to have the right material. In many cases they are fairly stain resistant, heat/ flame retardant, and even the method of attaching buttons is special so that should hot oil/ water spill on you, you can literally rip the jacket off asap and prevent a deeper burn. There are real reasons these things are often sold in industrial uniform stores, and not just made independently by anyone with a sewing machine.

I was an executive hotel chef for 35 years. All my jackets were custom made, but then I didn't have to foot the bill and they were always dry-cleaned. There are hundreds of grades of jackets and as much of a selection of buttons hooks clips pins and knots for closure, all the way down to the the commis ones in Polly blends. Just because you buy one in an industrial uniform store doesn't make it a quality garment. BTW I've never had to rip my jacket off, if I did my mentor would rise from his grave and drown me in a stock pot. If you can't keep the drips off yourself better buy one of those new wave black jackets...

Bit of background. We have a house in Phayao and were planning on moving to Chiang rai when we move back to Thailand from Canada in 1-3 years (no set date) depends on a lot of things but we have decided that Chiang Mai is where it would best suit our family. We now have a 2 year old son who speaks english and understands a bit of Thai but we are not planning on pushing thai language studies on him at this stage.

My wife lived in Chiang mai when I met her and we spent a lot of time there. We have preferences as to areas we would prefer to live BUT..

We would like to have our child go to an english language school, international ones are probably out due to cost, so we would like information on what schools have good english programs that may not break the bank. We are very interested in what experiences others have had, good or bad. The choice of school will probably greatly influence the choice we make in the location we finally decide to live in.

The other alternative that we have is to have him take correspondence from Canada, through out local school district but neither my wife or I want the responsibility of being "the Teacher" for our son. I feel it would be easier if someone independent did that job. If anyone has any idea about what a private teacher may cost, part time, and the time requirement it would take, we would be much appreciative.

Why not just go to a seamstress (chiang tud seo - probably spelled all wrong) and have one made to order should not cost any more than a shirt. Nurses uniforms, or the ones I've seen, are made from the same material.

Be ironic if Burma became democratic before .......

Wouldn't it though.. ROTFLMAO

One and half to two hours.

Get the VIP bus though.

There is also a slow bus that stops and picks and drops off people along the way and also goes into every small town. I loved to take that bus, as every time we did I saw something new because the bus went so slow. I may be strange in that regard.

Budget rent a car also has maps, this one is in pdf but you can get them in a book.

Budget map

chiefly because I don't want to leave my pets in animal 'hostels' when I go away for a bit -

If you just want someone to look after the animals when you go away my sister in law and her husband are always looking for extra jobs, but they both work full time. If you live anywhere around the old airport they may be interested, although they have transport. I can get you in touch with them if you send me a PM.

If I were in a life or death situation and

had to make it to a hospital in Thailand again...

I'd go to Russia.

Perhaps you could find a TukTuk to take you there before your demise. In a life and death situation anyone with any first aid knowledge is a god sent.

If they do that with the cases, it will all come to a large waste of time and money.

And it could be better spent on eavesdropping equipment and a higher military budget..

Suan Dok uses the same doctors as Ro-ban Ram, the expensive CM hospital, with truly gorgeous nurses...

They actually use entire surgical teams from Suan Dok (also known as Maharajah and CMU) at all the private CM hospitals even the ICU staff is brought from CMU for private rooms. It's a teaching hospital and as such is very much up on what's going on in all the fields. Although I haven't been in the ICU's at the private hospitals the ones (general, CVT and Neuro) at CMu are really good - modern, well equipped, superior staff and exceptionally clean. They are as good and even better than some I have been at in Canada.

As a note - if you have to have heart surgery go to CMU the Coronary team there is exceptional and the head of the Department was trained and worked in Texas for many years before coming back to Thailand to work and teach.

I for one miss limbo's input6 no matter what the situation is.

You could interpret this as either they're dragging their feet on purpose, as many on this forum believe, or that they're attempting to show that they're crossing all the t's, dotting the i's, and even though a military junta they are observing every convention of due process.

The judges know that all the cases and the verdicts under the Junta will be looked at and debated very seriously in the future and will reflected in Thai history. Probably few Judges in any jurisdiction, including Thailand, want to be remembered as the puppets of anyone. They are just making an effort to look, on the outside at least, like they are following the rule of law. Time will tell if that is the case.

help the authority keep tracks of the citizens.

It's hard to keep track of those pre Kindergarten types. They may have a cookie coup or protest for better smelling Care powder...LOL Isn't there anything more pressing the government could do with all their idle time? You couldn't think this stuff up for April 1.

with rumors already spreading that the family are willing to spend big to buy seats

Have you asked yourself who is spreading the rumors. Thailand has been rife with rumors for over a year. Why would we believe this one.

Having lived in an earthquake region all my life a couple of things come to mind. Don't have pictures with glass over your bed as they can/will fall off the wall during a quake. A lot of people are severely injured by this even with light shaking. Anything falling becomes a hazard in a quake like your TV.. If you can make your way to the bathroom, if possible as it's the strongest room in any house, baring that sit in a corner or under a doorway and cover up with a blanket, preferably not where anything falling can hit you. An open area or field is good as long as it has no overhead hazards. Don't run outside and stand under the power lines to see what's happening, there was a lot of that in the Bangkok pictures I saw.

BTW SJ, you seem to be overridden, as this dead thread has been resurrected by the moderation team.

Whilst the demonstrations continue, with still more planned, I see no need to close this thread unless some eclipsing news event breaks that makes this topic redundant.

We all agree with you, well except one..

the deal is the amount of campaign and organisational time available ,

and since #15 is still law , it's illegal currently .

They will eventually allow new parties to be formed but they will also carefully adjust the timing so that it is impossible for members of those new parties to run under the timing rules that everyone accused Thaksin of using. It will be interesting to see if those same people will be so outraged this time around, I somehow don't think so.