chanchao

The English soccer team already knows very well how to get knocked out.

Not voting is hardly vital, but it is a real option. I actually wanted to add another category but you only get three. I can't vote myself, but my wife and a couple other eligible voters actually listen to my opinion, so it is like I can vote. This is the closest I have ever come to thinking that not voting is the right thing to do. But really the best way to get back at the coup makers would be to vote PPP. But that would be a revenge vote.

I *COMPLETELY* agree.

On the one hand I'm inclined to go for the revenge.. But then the PPP has people like Chalerm in it. Basically everyone I ever despised in Thai politics is there, with the exception of Banharn who's in bed with the "Democrat" party now.. Of course PPP had no other choice, with the actual, current and modern TRT leadership not allowed to run by a biased junta controlled show trial. Otherwise there WOULD be reasonable options, like suppose if Somkid was the main person for PPP.

"Democrat" is out no matter what; not gonna happen. I've commented on that enough, and the treason they committed to democracy.

So then 'not voting' is the remaining option. Nothing good will come from that either though, and if you don't vote this is registered somewhere. So it's the only option that's not anonymous, though you could go in and just not cross any marks, of course.

It's a border area.. Some Isaan speaking people, some Thai. Easiest way to get there is via Phitsanulok, a central Thai province. It's also a rather big province.

It's quite remote, but I really enjoyed visiting.

<removed by author ; didn't want this comment to be mixed in with reports of sexual conquests in other posts>

Very well said Damian.. I completely aree word for word.

Good poll, though this one and also the one posted earlier lack one vital option:

"Don't vote" / "It doesn't matter".

Because the junta has insured that it truly doesn't matter, and that changing their constitution in near impossible.

Wow, what an excellent poll.. Most difficult choice I ever came across.

I bought a fish tank for 1300 baht yesterday. A big-ish one too with air pump and stuff. Good deal I think.

And they gave me a gold fish with it for free. A big black one. The orange ones just seemed too happy, and I don't like to have life around me that looks happier than I am.

Or check www.travelfish.org

As for availability, the most popular places might fill up but there's always something.. You could try contact them if they have a website; doesn't hurt to try. Though it's also not a 100% guarantee.

did a google search, found their web site, no directions or address, abbreviated desciption of facilities. Struck me as an elitist, English gentemens club. Maybe I'm wrong.

It's a golf course. A very old, 9 hole one.

High-tech: Use one of those 300 baht blenders that comes with a small spinning blade type implement. This works very well.

Low-tech: Use a regular Thai kitchen mortar & pestle.

Farang-tech: Throw 4000 baht on an imported dedicated coffee grinder, imported from the USA, manufactured in China for the same 300 baht.

This is a bullshit thread. You take an opinion piece written by Michael Kinsley in Time Magazine, use one quote from his opinion piece, and try to make it a universal truth. You have sunk to an alltime low Jingthing.

I disagree.

I think the spoon thing ranks lower.

I'm happy and enough, or I wouldn't be here.

Obviously. Same applies to me, and everyone else.

For some reason the OP got it in her head that everyone who isn't continuously in happy-teletubbies mood also when serious events happen around them, are therefore miserable sad gits who need to leave.

Colpyat was banned?!

Well, that would be another thing I'd like to comment on, but can't. Any way to get in touch with him?

Whenever you pay w/ a larger note, you always have to call attention to the larger note. You show it and say "Pan nung, na! or 1000 na." And get the waitress/waiter/cashier/whoever to nod in agreement.

It has to be routine, every time, every place. I do it without thinking now. If you don't, then yes, you WILL get scammed at some point. Learned the hard way myself. Now it's been years and years . . . . .

Right, so what I and JetsetBKK were suggesting was to put this into an apologetic form rather than yelling at them in grammatically iffy "Pan nung, na!" which just isn't as nice.

Which is why its best not to mention them in the first place.

Then this is the end of this discussion, and all discussions like it.

Let's go discuss if people choose to eat with fork & spoon or fork & knife shall we?

Vewwy important.

It's already the elephant in the room. In the end you're a country of 60 million people where 50 million get shafted, 9.8 million are happy with the current situation because they're doing alright and can contribute to shaft the 50 million, and the remainder actually rule the country.

Now, everything else aside, those are the basics.

And sooner or later the 50 million will get sick of getting shafted. This may happen very soon, it may also happen when a certain destabilizing event happens in the remainder-section that rules the country.

Would you care to elucidate on what destabilizing event will happen? If not, perhaps it's better if you didn't allude to it in some less than cryptic manner in the first place.

John, you know and I know what I mean, and let's leave it at that. This is a Thailand based forum and we all know the limitations on free speech in that country, and as such I understand, acknowledge and abide by the forum rules. So I have to decline to explore this further, though if you PM me I can direct you to some places where this is freely discussed.

The basic premise is that if the current balance between people, politicians, military and elite is shifted in some way, profound change may occur.

Cheers,

Chanchao

then, that is what is going to happen anyway in 2 weeks. Let the elected government then decide if they wish to revise the constitution.

You haven't been paying attention have you.. The next (or any) government CANT change the constitution because that requires a 2/3 majorit in the Senate, WHICH IS NOT ELECTED but APPOINTED under the new constitution that was forced down people's throats.

So.. Game over man.

If I'm not mistaken, there's a separate thread that says the constitution was approved by the majority of the voters in Thailand.

The constitutiton can be changed.

Yes, with two thirds majority in an appointed Senate.

This topic is also running on the Isan forum

As I mentioned on there, I am very sceptical of the numbers. Thai wives rarely have any money no matter how much they receive from their husbands. It all goes on the family, cards, the lotery or tamboon. How then are they able to come up with the required 50/60,000bt for lawyers fees to obtain a divorce?

More likely the foreigners divorcing their wives due to their errant ways

LOL.

But anyway, you did bring up a serious point, namely that it's also unsubstantiated who is divorcing who; the article spins it as if 'Thai wives are divorcing their husbands' but in any divorce there's two parties consenting to it. (Or contesting it, obviously, but this too isn't made clear.)

The original article (and the one in the Nation, but my expectations of The Nation can't really get lower) really isn't very good.

Also I recall another article that I can't find back at the moment that also ran the story but with a different spin; namely the number of marriages was HUGE and the number of divorces pretty insignificant.

As someone else said, there's not a whole lot of Westerners married in that one city

"Someone" said? Source? Because you yourself quoted in the original post:

And, and any chance of putting some numbers there?

Post #18 said it... and it certainly seems reasonable to me based upon my experiences in Khon Kaen.

As for precise, exact numbers... as the updated article post above says... those will be hard to come by.

I mean the number relative to the number of marriages, obviously, as previously requested by a number of other posters, e.g. :

Seems like a lot but would be interesting to have the number of Thai-Farang marriages registered during this this time to get an idea as to percentages.

Duh!

It's already the elephant in the room. In the end you're a country of 60 million people where 50 million get shafted, 9.8 million are happy with the current situation because they're doing alright and can contribute to shaft the 50 million, and the remainder actually rule the country.

Now, everything else aside, those are the basics.

And sooner or later the 50 million will get sick of getting shafted. This may happen very soon, it may also happen when a certain destabilizing event happens in the remainder-section that rules the country.

then, that is what is going to happen anyway in 2 weeks. Let the elected government then decide if they wish to revise the constitution.

You haven't been paying attention have you.. The next (or any) government CANT change the constitution because that requires a 2/3 majorit in the Senate, WHICH IS NOT ELECTED but APPOINTED under the new constitution that was forced down people's throats.

So.. Game over man.

So... I guess we need to find a different forum to actually discuss what was said?

Well, another day in paradise!

Never mind.

Anyone else got wrong charged?

I did. Though they gave me too much change back.

Anyways, in those rare cases that I'm stuck with a 1000 baht note, I'm in the habit of APOLOGIZING to the staff for not having smaller change.

Only half the reason is because I actually feel sorry, the other half is that it makes it very clear that I know what note I'm giving them; but in a nice way.

Also I know plenty bars where staff are instructed to confirm back to the customer the denomination that he just paid with.. After a few drinks and in a dimly lit bar some punters just don't remember all that well. I like that policy.

But if it ever would happen to me, no way that I would let it slide.. 1000 baht is my "thiow"-budget for a week. (Another reason why I'd be unlikely to pay with a 1000 note: almost all of the time I don't HAVE a 1000 note and the Mrs. usually gives it to me in small bills. Or when I do use an ATM I make sure I get an amount like 900 or 400, so that I don't get stuck with high value bills that are hard to get change for. (Alert readers will have figured out that I don't live in Bangkok )

In the end, businesses here don't care about their crappy service and robbing customers, they lose one and two walk in.

I think this type of thing is more often perpetrated by one or two staff members.