whatawonderfulday

An interesting concept to have a 26 km line with 31 stations ? That's one less than 1 KM apart. Now Bangkok can become the hub of monorail stations. At that spacing it would be better to have an elevated moving walkway, although guess that concept would not work too well given the proclivity to just stand still and block them if swampy is an example.

And another "Thailand the Hub of stupid claims"

The three fingers salute? much better than the one finger salute any time...

Ahh well, do these children understand the alternative: Benevolent military rule or a Thaksin dictatorship? I know which I'd choose.

And of course you are Thai with a right to vote ?

In my naivety I was very positive that the new regime in Thailand would bring about genunie change regarding corruption etc, despite the manner in which the current PM 'acquired' his position.

I then read stories in the press of his collection of luxury watches, executive cars and expensive jewellery. Not bad for a man who officially has never earned my than $45,000 per year.

Now I read this story about land deals totalling 600 million THB.

600 million Baht!

That's quite phenominal. That's not just a matter of selling a couple rai of rice paddies. That's a land deal on a huge scale.

So despite all of his talk on anti-corruption is it not unreasonable to say that the current PM is no better than the mob he replaced?

This country will never learn. Corruption will be here long, long after the rest of us has gone.

His father sold the land. The question to ask is how much did his father earn per year.

No that's not the question.Many Thais have low salaries but hold valuable family land.The question is who purchased the land, did they pay a commercial price and if not why not.

Apart from the dubious financial vehicle that was exploited by the General and his family, then dig a bit deeper to find out how his Father, (Him and his family originally from Korat ), came into possession of the land in Bangkok in the first place !!!! Check out the years and what position his father held at the time !!!

Why do the junta need to waste time on bills or rules when they can easily hold a coup anytime they want?

Leave things as they are and it might not be so easy the next time. The masses from the North are not going to keep on copping this Yellow shirt shit. If they are not carefull Thailand just might split in two. Yellow to the South and Red to the north, and guess who will be the strongest.

That is an excellent question to ask. Now here is another one for you.

Excluding the South of Thailand 80% of the nations natural water supply comes from the North, North West and North Eastern regions of Thailand due to reservoirs / rainfall. Boreholes in Bangkok and extensively throughout central regions are becoming progressively saline, water table is dropping due to intense extraction and hence the increased dependence upon those natural resources.

If the current self appointed government, even though it is seen by outsiders as economically illiterate and less credible then any of recent years which is saying something, are fully aware of the energy requirements for the future. Even today the importation costs for natural gas are a significant chunk out of the national budget and with exports declining and possibly with full ASEAN working from next year, declining further, then there are huge budget shortfalls approaching that will accelerate the economic decline. Why does that matter, well you can fool some of the people all of the time but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.

The decline in predominately gas from the Gulf of Thailand is the reason for the recent push to award a further 6 offshore and 19 onshore exploration sites early next year. Even then Gulf gas will deplete based on current reservoir assessment 2024, yes 10 years time. Why does that exploration matter ? well the Korat basin ( yes folks unfortunately for all the elite/yellow lovers that is Issan !!) contains an estimated shale gas potential that would maintain the countries current and growing energy demand for around 50 years if it could be produced economically, a matter that the US are leading the game on. Thailand is actually 19th in the league table of potential world shale gas deposits.

All the above is in the public domain either from the Thai MoE or elsewhere so just google it.

So what does that mean when I said above here is another question for you ?

Well you stated "Yellow to the South and Red to the north, and guess who will be the strongest" . So my question with the future natural energy and water supplies being in the North and north Eastern parts of Thailand , yes I will say it again - Issan, guess who really will be the strongest ?

In this world you generally find "what goes round comes round" it may take years, it may take decades and in some cases perhaps centuries, ask the Israelis. Now the exploitation last century of the poor folk from the North/North East generally by the families of the current elite / well connected that has still drifted into the current century. A century prior to that the forcible relocation of 3 areas of what is now LAOS/Cambodia ( to break up the remaining troublesome Kymers) and forcing them into what become known as Issan, (don't believe ? it then spend some time checking up on Thai history in 1700's ) and then perhaps you can perhaps understand why many important families are really worried about the future. Something that even the General and his men's current attempt to reintroduce the feudal system will be unable to alter.

Only time will tell.

Whilst there are the fools and optimists on the forum the main paradox of life is what goes round comes round. That applies to those who perceive they are better then others as well as those from less fortunate backgrounds. Those that cheat others and those that fools others into cheating.

Just wait and see and you will find life is a great leveler.

If less than US $ 100 including shipping costs then often no tax. Otherwise for a bag expect 20% import duty plus 7% VAT. Import duty is calculated on cost including shipping and VAT is calculated aggregate of those costs. However you may be lucky and get away with 10% if you have to pay anything

If you get divorced in same Amphur as you got married in then it is much simpler. Just take original marriage certificate and both of your id/passport

My my, can I see "Thailand, the hub of cold weather" coming ?

Pity he didn't have a JCB

I pay 500 baht/kilo for mature chedder produced locally. Many others as well by a Farang run dairy. So how much is it now in the UK by way of comparison?

Small packs of cheddar in UK supermarkets can be had for a similar price, maybe marginally cheaper if purchased loose in larger quantities, obviously buying locally at that price would be easier.

I'm more interested in Stilton's and cheeses of that calibre, I've never seen that locally at an affordable price, though I would be happy if it were.

Try giving Simon a ring on 0892467880 and asking

I have never had any problems bringing cheese from the UK but it is now available in Thai supermarkets so why bother?

It's a he'll of a lot cheaper in the UK ,when I come back I bring loads

I pay 500 baht/kilo for mature chedder produced locally. Many others as well by a Farang run dairy. So how much is it now in the UK by way of comparison ?

Even if you fitted rear set belts, would they be used?

When half the population travel in the bed of a pick up why would they ?

This topic is getting a bit like I bet I can piss further then you can regarding cars with/without airbags.

As anyone should know who has lived here for any period of time, airbags, ABS, stability control or any other form of device is not required and really unnecessary.

Take a look around at the stuff most Thais have in their cars. It is an established fact that an amulet stuck to the dashboard will protect the driver and passengers in the event of anything happening. Why if you have half a dozen of them you can even drive without any safety worries whilst also looking at the onboard TV, simultaneously talking on the phone whilst ramming an inhaler up the nose with the other hand.

If you have countless number of them, together with other paraphernalia ( ideally obscuring your vision) you are absolutely invincible. Hence all safety devices are superfluous to requirements for most Thais.

We falang aren't as trusting on images of deities to save us in a bad accident. I do have a hula dancer on the dash, does that count?

Not sure about that. Maybe get a few more as insurance

As others have said this is good news. As Thailand continuous it push to ensure only quality tourists come here, they fully appreciate that the quality tourist don't drink that junk anyway. Therefore by forcing the cost up it will be more challenging to market providing better opportunities for more appropriate beverage to be sold. For example many Central stores now have fresh orange juice vending machines. What better way of encouraging the quality tourist to spend their money in these quality stores then offering quality refreshments ?

My benz sclass has all ! but not sure it is made in thailand though :-)

Tell me prey where did you buy your "Benz" ?

The last Benz was made in 1923. The fact that, like Americans, Thais can not spell Mercedes Benz is the only reason they think they are driving a vehicle manufactured by a company that no longer exists. If you did actually own an S class here, which I doubt, you would know if it was a CBU or a CKD vehicle which in an event neither are manufactured in Thailand, only assembled with respect to the latter

Well the Chinese will be very happy now.

The big Chinese firms will now come into Thailand and rape it for everything it has, and will have a nice shiny rail system to haul everything back to China.

They won't buy jack shit from Thailand. I can see they will be taking over the rubber production as a starting point.

The Chinese started raping Thailand a long time ago and are still doing so. The only difference now is they are called the Thai elite and their ill gotten gains generally end up in the British Virgin Islands.

Apparently they took a vote first prior to suggesting this forum which was inconclusive owing to forged voting slips

figures road deaths per 100,000 people per100,000 vehicles

uk 2175 3.5 6.2

thailand 26,000 38.1 92.4

usa 36166 11.6 13.6

italy 3753 6.2 7.6

australia 1196 5.2 7

brasil 43869 22.5 67

So based on those statistics Thailand could quite rightly claim to be the "Hub of road deaths "

Go on make it worse and add the average traffic densities in another column. Will make it even more staggering

last week we did have this foreigner working for a public relation company, talking about thailand reputation

a couple of days ago, we did have this english working for a tourism agency, telling us, tourism will booooooom,

today we have this looney talking about thailand becoming a financial hub....

where do they found all these foreign sexpert? in pattaya sitting in a barstool??

That's a bit unfair. Even bar stool banter in Pattaya is more believable then that looney's suggestion

Looks like America is an amasing please if you examine the text. For example it states:

The 41-year-old was wanted by Colorado Court for allegedly stealing using credit card swipers without authorization

One can only assume therefore if you receive authorization you can indeed steal credit card swipers ! now who gives that authorization ?

This is not a misquote or grammatical error by the news writer, this is actually the description of the violation on the books.

I am pleased to read these Americans have been captured and will now be sent home to answer for their alleged offenses.

And making Thailand a better place in the process.

So it appears you have confirmed that America is an amasing place after all.

Whilst foreign criminals are undesirable they have only been able to stay in Thailand with relative impunity due to Thailand's own criminality and police corruption. But as they say " it takes a thief to catch a thief" so in fact the RTP should be the best in the world for catching them.