SabaiBKK

I wonder if I create a fake profile for myself on facebook, get some photo's of a hot Thai chick.

knock on a few doors so to speak.

Maybe I could make a few bucks myself.

At least stock up the wine cellar a bit.

yes some people really ARE THAT STUPID.

there are already plenty of DUDES doing just exactly this , on facebook , thailovelink, thailandfriends, asianfriendfinder etc etc .... like how many guys going out with some rice paddy crabs from patpong, cowboy,nana, bangla, walking street are actually the ones writting the emails to the kwaïs asking them to send in money? WAKE UP this is one of the oldest scam in thailand !

yes blame the victims ...that is the way we do it in thailand !

you make me puke !

One beach vendor said many tourists were left to save themselves from the dangerous surf.

What's so hard about this? Just don't go in.

Anyone with a half-hour to spare can read about their destination online or in a travel book, and will come across the warnings. I was well-warned on my first trip to Thailand (and Karon beach) in August ten years ago about this danger. The information was everywhere, and clear to understand. The way some people travel (unprepared, unread, and clueless) just invites trouble. Sympathies to the victims, but it's a needless tragedy, as reckless as motorbiking without a helmet.

Since Monsanto is quite active in Thailand for years , i'm really not surprised.... hell just buy a thai advocado and try to make the core sprout? normally nothing is easier, well , in thailand its impossible, advocados are steriles. Thank you Monsanto .

As for why I am moving back, the major reason is I can buy a nicer house on some land(in my name), own a better car(for less money), Work in any field I want, buy better quality clothes for the same price and have a better living lifestyle then I do here for about the same overall cost and with less friction and I do not feel limited. It is simple as that. I am not saying Thailand is bad and a horrible place, it may work for some. I am moving for me and where I am at California is simply better. I mean its why we moved around right? I saw opportunities but after I landed and lived it and I dove into Thailand and as I peeled the onion back it gets a bit hard to manage basic daily life. I did not come here to live on a 100 baht a day like a peasant. While some find it fun, it wears thin very very fast. I moved here as I saw what appeared to be a better place and I wanted to come see. For me its not. No harm no foul. Thailand is a great vacation destination

I second that , and for the property part since my wife came to france and saw what kind of house or appartment you can buy for 10M baht compared to thailand , she definately want to buy in France and NOT in thailand. ( not speaking about paris of course, more towards britanny) ...

I've no doubt this will become a trend! Next year we won't be counting deaths by wreckless and drunk driving, but the number of murders.

It really is time to clamp down and control the revelling. Limit it to controlled areas, where those who want an official soaking go to meet.

One really does sick and tire of songkran after some lengthy time living here!

-mel.

When you have lived here as long as I have you learn to avoid it.

I go out after dark and even then I avoid certain areas. Mostly Farong areas.

It is a shame when the Farongs carry some thing to the point where they want the Government to control one of their National religious holidays.

Ban it completely and there will still be murders,

When you have lived here as long as I have you don't refer to FARANGS as farong, falung or faleng ... it's FARANG !!!!!!!!!!!!

sorry i could not resist !

BTS has a rule no balloons. This is very clear. I almost got into a similar situation when it was my sons birthday. I was in a hurry, had balloons and was stopped. I nearly went balistic. I seriously thought about taking on the BTS guard. However I kept my cool and explained that I was just passing through the station and not taking the train. This is an unfortunate event and hopefully the BTS system will relax their no balloon rule.

ballons are clearly not allowed in the MRT but i never saw such signs in the BTS

I have the solution for Yingluk, from now on she must always use an interpreter at international forums, (as Mr Chuan used to do).

But unlike Mr Chuan, her interpreter has no need to translate the words from English into Thai and vice- versa, for his or her real role is to think on 'his or her feet' and answer the question themselves. Just translate the question for show.

I know the person perfect for this job- Khun Apisit!

Does she have a Masters Degree from a native English speaking university?

No? Then I wouldn't expect much in the way of her English speaking skills.

Logically, if one is in possession of such a degree, it's expected that a higher level of English language ability goes along with it.

It's not that difficult a concept to follow.

.

and yet both her and her brother claim to have such degrees from US universities !!!

Doubts expressed over Yingluck's ability to 'think on her feet'

Her ability to think while seated are just as un-reassuring...

this is horribly embarrassing for the country .... i would even say painfull to watch !

Please grow up.

oh yeah you really made a strong point with that stupid statement ... care to develop your thoughts?

Do you want me to hold your jacket?

I don't know about reading books, but if you chaps are facing up for a square go, I'm sure we could find a Thai to open a book on it.

SC

he's a very emotional guy isn't he.

not emmotional , just don't understand people who troll in threads writing just 3 words per post without contributing to the discution ... just asked him to develop his thoughts because i find it a little short .... but hey trolling is the only way to boost your post count to over 5000 ... imagine if he had to really take the time to think and write something consistent and of more than 4 words .... he would need to spend his days on TV .... ohh wait , its already the case

Please grow up.

oh yeah you really made a strong point with that stupid statement ... care to develop your thoughts?

I don't know what part of thailand you live in but Thais actually read quite a lot, bookshops are actually doing very good with Thai language books. so of course they may not read nietzche or kilkegaarde because its not in they scholar cursus at the contrary of european countries ( or truman Capote and John Fante for the american cursus) ... but they do have good authors like Piram Suda for instance who was nominated for the nobel prize of literature few years back...

Pile of rubbish all round, very very few Thais read extensively, I'd say less than 1% read by choice more than ten hours per year. Many farang don't read much either, especially in recent generations, but I don't know anyone back home who doesn't read at least a few books per year - that's real books, hundreds of pages of just words, not comic books or glossy magazines.

Over the years I've accumulated about half a shipping container's worth of books, and hope to one day open a second-hand book/coffeeshop. Most Thais when encountering my collection will ask something along the lines of "I can help you get rid of those", and I found out they mean sell them to the scrap recycler for pulping by the kg!

Regarding Pira, the Nobel Committee does not publicize the identities of any nominees for a period of fifty years after voting. There is no way to know who was nominated for a given Nobel Prize, and just because someone in a position of sufficient prestige in Thailand nominated him doesn't mean he's all that great.

OK for entertainment and learning about what the culture of Isaan used to be like, but not world-class from a literary POV.

I don't wish this to be deemed critical but in nearly eight years i don't remember ever seeing a thai read a book.

Just an observation so please don't bother to flame!

WOW! you have such low esteem for Thai people , that is scary! really!

as for the nobel prize nomination of Pira it was in 1990 for his novel moosoon country ... and I doubt it would be written on all his books and biographies if it was not true !

my wife reads tons of books ranging from history books to thrillers and they don't have images in it .... just go in the BTS and MRT and you will see legions of Thais and farangs reading books .... Hell just look at the magazines/ book shops in the BTS stations and they even have a top ten chart of their best selling titles ( even remember WEIWEI's Shangaï Baby being on top of the charts a few years ago )

welcome to the reality of Thailand.

I don't get all the paranoia about the taxi booths and their taxis- i come in and out of Swampy 2-3 times per month and always use the taxi booth system, never had any problems at all.

I used to think the same, but the last 2 times I took a taxi from Swampy to the Asoke area, the meters were definitely rigged. It's a 220-250 baht ride, but these meters came in at 400 and 450 baht- and traffic wasn't anywhere near bad enough to explain the discrepancy.

depends which way you take , for instance from sutthisan - ratchada to swampy if you take the tollway at rama 9 its approx 250 baht but if you don't pay attention and the cabbie takes the other toll going through at narong it will cost you 450 ... without the tolls

....since otherwise they would be dead-heading back out of the airport without a fare. ...

They don't. They loop around and get in the queue downstairs. Taxi drivers are generally lazy sods and the airport run gives them a decent 2-way fare and time for a nap. If it wasn't a money maker for them, taxi's would be unwilling to take fares to the airport.

how can you say that taxis are lazy sods? its incredible to read such nonsense ... my wife's uncle is a cabbie and works everyday ( thats right 7 days a week, starting at 7 am till 7 PM ).... he's the bread winner for his familly and borders on nervous breakdown when his cab get immobilized for repairs ... and 90% of cabbies in bangkok fit this description.

I think it may be that you have found the exception to the rule . . . even educated Thais with good jobs that I know tend not to read a lot

I don't know what part of thailand you live in but Thais actually read quite a lot, bookshops are actually doing very good with Thai language books. so of course they may not read nietzche or kilkegaarde because its not in they scholar cursus at the contrary of european countries ( or truman Capote and John Fante for the american cursus) ... but they do have good authors like Piram Suda for instance who was nominated for the nobel prize of literature few years back...

"The Ministry will set a limit on the number of cabs so that taxis do not outnumber passengers."

Well, this is the same authority setting the new pricing - good luck to all of us. Bangkok's taxis are anyhow among the cheapest on the planet which explains smaller wheels and faster meters for the last 20 years. In the old days you bargained the fare and, if you were lucky and grabbed an old Toyopet with a Nippon Denso airconditioner which got fitted later you topped another 20 Baht for the air.

spmaller wheels don't make any difference as the axle is similar on most cars, the meter is not fixed on the wheels ...lol

How many revolutions would a 10cm wheel do compared to a 100cm wheel over a 1km journey? the meter is rated on revolutions of the axle so the smaller the wheel the more axle revolutions, did I really need to point that out?.....'lol'

why didn't I think of this before , that is why all the bangkok taxis are equiped with rollerskate wheels then its so easy to cheat and yet no one does it in a coutry where cheating is a ways of life,.... stupid of me !

Bangkok taxis have meters? Most of my journeys seem to start with "no meter".

Not sure where you are using taxis but in 5 or 6 years, i have never once had a taxi who tried to scam me or tried to not use the meter.

Sometimes it works in our favour.

I took a taxi from Khao San road the other night back to Bang Na. He said two hundred baht. I agreed. It would of cost twice that on the meter!!

Ok Bang Na is big but... I never pay more than 160 to get there from Khao San. On the meter.

a 50 kilometers journey from rachada to nong chok costs between 290 and 325 baht depending if you go through the motorway or through suwintawong .... khao san - bangna costing 400 baht is very off!

No problems with the fare increase in any way but get the feeling that raising the start fare to around 50 baht will only increase the number of refusals. Better put it on the mileage to make it more attractive to the driver for long journeys.

I was thinking the exact same thing. I think if the starting price goes up the refusal rate will go up dramaticly. This is obvious.

refusal is not meter or distance induced , its timeframe induced . Most taxis who refuse a fare do it because they have to bring back the taxi to the company so they'd rather stay in the vincinity for fear of being fined if they are late ...

I wish they had considered regulating the rental price of the taxi to the driver.

While the yellow/green taxis are operated as a company, the solid-colour ones are rented to the driver at a daily rate. If you just increase the per km or flagfall, the owners will just get out their calculator again and raise the rental price. This is what happened last time.

Cheers

my uncle owns his single colored cab. in all cases all companies do rent out their cabs to drivers between 500 and 1000 baht / day depending on the car's condition.

as far as I know there is no cabbie employed by any company.

"The Ministry will set a limit on the number of cabs so that taxis do not outnumber passengers."

Well, this is the same authority setting the new pricing - good luck to all of us. Bangkok's taxis are anyhow among the cheapest on the planet which explains smaller wheels and faster meters for the last 20 years. In the old days you bargained the fare and, if you were lucky and grabbed an old Toyopet with a Nippon Denso airconditioner which got fitted later you topped another 20 Baht for the air.

spmaller wheels don't make any difference as the axle is similar on most cars, the meter is not fixed on the wheels ...lol

i response to people complaining to other people that they speculate without even thinking or giving condolences for the victims i would like to say that you can have sympathy for the victims without having to brag about it on a webboard that only irrelevant people from the story read .....

on a nother note I still remember the ambassador hotel fire which was purely an insurance scam to make way for a new shopping mall .... what impressed me was the firefigthers in flip flops or rubber boots fighting this huge fire !

Yes, but have you seen the taxes on these flights? They double the cost of the ticket in economy, not as super special as the headlines lead you to believe.

are you kidding?

75 000 baht for 2 adults 1 child and 1 infant to Paris 1 way is unbeatable ... if you find cheaper on a decent other national carier let me know ...

Thinking twice now about my TEFL license.

Hell yes, the guy selling moo ping next to my local seven eleven works from 7 to midnight with his little cart and coal fired BBQ ... he has approximately 250 customers by evening and the minimum per head is 20 bht . cut the raw pork, plastic bags, wooden sticks coal and 100 baht to the sidewalk mafia he may be left with 1500-2000 baht a day ..... no wonder he can take 1 week breaks for holidays every 2 months.

Wow! That`s 50 customers an hour. He`ll also be working before he starts selling - cleaning his utensils and buying stock, so with that work rate he deserves his little holidays. I know the motorbike and sidecar food vendors in my own district which isn`t populated like Bangkok and they clear about 600 baht a day and the food is of good quality and variety. Not a fortune but it`s better than packing chickens or soldering PCB`s for 200 baht a day for some greedy factory boss, and they`ll never go hungry in their line of business.

2,000 Baht a day is about what the vendors make outside my condo in Bangkok ... at least that is what they tell me.

well my nephew owns a minimart ( mom and pop style) but he regrets doing it as he makes less money than when he was a motosai so it must really depend of what you sell and where you are situated .