JulianLS

1 hour ago, DipStick said:

Well he managed to drive it in so what's stopping him reversing it back out. The car will have already suffered body danage I guess

If you read the full article, you will see that he burnt out the clutch trying to do just that.

Well, the video certainly doesnt help her case much. Now the insurance company has seen it, I doubt any cash will be forthcoming.

Clearly the car came out slowly, some seconds before the accident, and was stationary when the motorcycle actually hit it.

The motorcyclist clearly wasnt paying attention to the road ahead, and seemed to be going too fast for the traffic conditions.

I hope she recovers. But she really needs to take responsibility for this accident herself, rather than harras the driver on social media because she is a farang.

If a drunken customer is kicking off over the bill, call the police. Simple.

Some tourists get drunk, its a fact, but there is no excuse or need for this type of retribution.

Pattaya and Thailand suffers from this primitive response.

I wish I had a yacht. And now he does too

Joking aside, glad they got to dry land safely and credit to the rescuers.

Many of the posts on this thread reflect the quality of minds here...... It was fairly obvious from the parents original statement about the phonecall, and the Thai police comments on finding her, that she is not well mentally. But to jump from that to alcohol... drugs... wasting police time.... is utterly mindless. Seems many here cant seem to join dots in a logical manner!

To the parents: I am glad she has been found, I wish her a speedy recovery, and apologise for what you may have read from armchair posters who seem to go from A to Z without any facts...

To Grace: please get well soon!

To the Royal Thai Police: maybe finding her wasnt so hard if she was blowing a whistle in the middle of the airport (to where it was known she was headed), but it seems you handled her paranoia of the Police well by passing her on to TAT rather than pushing the point. Respect for that! I might have chosen a psychiatric ward, but those are probably hard to come by in Krabi.....

This is an expensive (they prefer the word boutique) airline, not a bucket airline (as they fly certain exclusive routes without competition).

But judging by last weeks near miss, the pilots may not be following proper protocol.

They may have avoided hitting the hospital building on an aborted landing (hurrah!) but they should never have been in that position in the first place...... It may have been foggy but if they had been paying attention to their ILS, and followed proper procedure at the decision height (go around if you cant see the landing environement), they would never have found themselves so far off course and heading towards a buidling at landing......

And peopole here think MaeSot have a ILS, get a grip/

Mae Sot Airport has a NDB, and VOR-DME for ILS.

Of course the runways and planes have instrument landing equipment. They couldn't operate year around if they didn't. That doesn't mean the pilots were paying any attention or had a clue what they were doing. Obviously he was way off the glideslope and out of sync with the ILS (instrument landing system) but...

If the plane was working properly he would have had alarms going off such as the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS).

"In the late 1960s, a series of controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) accidents took the lives of hundreds of people. A CFIT accident is one where a properly functioning airplane under the control of a fully qualified and certified crew is flown into terrain, water or obstacles with no apparent awareness on the part of the crew.

Beginning in the early 1970s, a number of studies examined the occurrence of CFIT accidents. Findings from these studies indicated that many such accidents could have been avoided if a warning device called a ground proximity warning system (GPWS) had been used."

Cheers.

ILS does not necessarily mean the capablity for fully automatic landing (CAT IIIc ILS). This is a small airport, that only operates in daytime hours, so it is unlikely to have CAT III ILS. If not category IIIc, then at the decision height, the pilot still has to have a visual on the runway (or the landing approach lighting system, though smaller airports might not have that) or MUST go around. More likely this was a CAT I or II landing. In which case the ILS is only going to take him to a point where he should be able to see the threshold.

It seems like he was on the wrong vector, rather than below the glide slope, in which case the GPWS may not alarm. GPWS cannot predict an upcoming hospital buidling! He may have been at the right height for the approach, just in the wrong place! (ie horizontal drift, not necessarily vertical drift from the glide slope).

Most concerning here is that the pilots seem to be below the decision height without having eyeballed the runway. As such, they should have gone around way before getting low enough to hit the hospital buidling!

I have read this thread. And I have to say I lived in Thailand for a considerable time without insurance. But not for the want of trying to buy insurance.

So here's the thing. If you are a tourist, normally resident in your country, then buying travel insurance is no problem.

If you work here, your company may buy it for you, or if not, you can buy it yourself. No problem.

But if you are a world traveller, of no fixed abode (regardless of how many properties you might own around the world or how much you are worth!), you struggle to buy insurance if you are honest with your answers...

I wonder how many smug TV bloggers are here thinking they have insurance when, if push comes to shove, their insurance is invalid because of the small print,,,,,, which normally comes down to residency. A huge number of people are are not resident in their home country, which invalidates most insurance policies....

I am no longer in thailand but I am still uninsured...... Because I have yet to find a company that will insure me! I will check out some of the links that have been posted here though.

(the upside is I have saved a lot of money... hmmmmm... maybe.....)

I have flown every which way from Europe to Bangkok. But Madrid > Tehran > Bangkok. Never seen that route used

OK, some poetic licence used there. But a Spanish man arriving from Iran is probably not a Spanish tourist. Not necessarily bad... Just not a tourist...

RIP my country man, I hope they do not decide to something awful to the elephant to keep TAT and the animal rights people appeased.

To the "riding animals" brigade are you serious?

Without the help of elephants, horses, donkeys this modern world we have would still be in the dark ages.

I abhor the abuse of animals in Thailand, or anywhere else in the world.

Mahuts love their Elephants, it's a relationship that can Span decades, do not deride these guys or their majestic mounts!

yes -we are serious - you are making the classic assumptions that ill-informed make about elephants.

First mistake: they are NOT comparable with other "domesticated" beasts of burden

They have been used for riding (and even war) but their skeletons are not suited to bearing loads on their backs.

Their main use has always been for PULLING which is a completely different thing.

You imply that the history of the elephant goes back millennia - this is actually not true - they just weren't very good at it and in those days people had know idea about how an elephant's body worked (or any other body for that matter). They had no explanation for the not uncommon paralysis in elephants that had been repeatedly forced to carry stuff on their backs. You will still see elephants today that have paralyzed rear legs etc. due to this.

Then you speak the unspeakable........

"Mahouts love their Elephants, it's a relationship that can Span decades, do not deride these guys or their majestic mounts!" - in Thailand THIS IS ABSOLUTE NONSENSE!!!

most "mahouts" - and they really don't deserve this name are employed part-time or short term - they are only partially "trained" and in reality just know a series of often violent actions to make their elephants perform for the public.

Often elephants are owned by an owner who LEASES them to a "mahout" who then takes the animal away long or short term to make money out of it any way he can. There are few laws to protect the animal; they are no more than chattels. Even in genuine conservation parks, the relationship between minder and elephant is often only short term as the pay is simply not enough to keep a young man and his family.

The idea of a long mahout/elephant relationship is just a "Kipling myth".

In the west we all abhor animal cruelty; the problem is so many in the west are too ignorant of the issues to recognise it when they see it.

Whoa... your heart might be in the right place but your history sucks.....

Elephants go back millions of years (mammoths).

Use of elephants does go back millenia. Try googling "Hannibal". In the 16th Century, the Indian Mughal emoperors had tens of thousands of elephants in their armies.... and so on.

Yes, none of those people gave a shlt about the well-being of the elephants. And now we do to a greater extent (well, more occidentals than orientals to be honest). But please dont try to re-write history, as it detracts from your credibility and your message!

Very sad.

Elephants on Samui? Really? When would an island have an elephant population? Was there logging there?I suspect they are just shipped over for the simple aim of exploitation in pursuit the tourist dollar.

Where have these elephants come from?

It's about time that Thailand faced up to its abuses of animal rights.

it is about time that tourists educated themselves on animal abuse before coming to destinations like Thailand.

Rule of thumb -= if you can ride it, it's being exploited.

Have you heard of the Sumatran elephant? I think you will find that Sumatra is an island. You might also find one or two elephants on Sri Lanka too!

It wasnt so long ago that you could walk from Bangkok to Jakarta (let alone to Samui)....and you can find marine fossils miles from the coast in many places. Things change. Samui may be an island now.....but perhaps not always!

Having said that, geo-history lesson over. The points you have made are valid and very probably the reality. And I endorse the general principle that you are conveying.

It is not an airliner part. Bolt heads sticking out in the breeze is a no no.

How can you tell, are we not looking at the underside????

I would put most of my money on Air Asia wreckage (as per two previous posts, the most likely source imho), a bit on Japanese rocket (a fun outside bet), and nothing on MH370 wreckage! (Oh, and by the way, it looks nothing like the flaperon than rocked up at Reunion, at least, not to the trained eye).

Is castration an option for the prosecution?

Castration would not avoid a repetition.... Gelding would be more effective in reducing the risk of re-offending!

Gelding is the castration of horses. They are the same thing. As the alledged offender is not a horse, castration is the correct word to use. And if you understood the medical consequences of castration, most likely it would avoid a repetition.

Is castration an option for the prosecution?

Castration means that the patient can no longer reproduce. It will not stop him raping if he is that way inclined.

You clearly do not understand the consequences of castration, LoongJohn....... No testes, no testosterone, no sex drive.....

Not to be confused with vasectomy....

Am i getting this right. He sold weed in a country that allows weed to be sold. He then invests in a country that has now jailed him because the money he is investing has been gained through the sale of a drug that is not allowed in Thailand, even thou he has never sold this drug in Thailand.

No, you haven't got it right.

He was convicted on money laundering. Not for investing his money in thailand (which is not money laundering). His assets in thailand were seized presumably because they suspect they come from the proceeds of money laundering (rather than his cafe business).

Just because he has a legit business in NL, doesnt mean he is not doing something less legit on the side. Not that I know whether this man is innocent or guilty. He may be innocent of money laundering. I don't know. But he was not convicted of investing in thailand, that is allowed if not encouraged!

So the extent of his crime is tax avoidance/evasion on coffee shop income? Starbucks does that in every country in which it operates (somehwat ironically basing some of the shell companies in The Netherlands)

Err.... no..... if you read the article, he was convicted of money laundering. Not tax evasion. They are two, completely different things.

I am no position to judge whether this chap is guilty or innocent, as there are not enough facts available. That doesnt seem to have stopped other posters expressing an opinion on the subject though.....

But what is clear is that he has been convicted in Thailand of money laundering. Not selling weed in the Netherlands, nor evading taxes. Note also the 43 convictions, implying that they convicted him of 43 instances of money laundering.

Now, money laundering is taking a nother person's "dirty" money, putting it through a business, and then giving it back to him. For the service, the launderer gets a signficant cut. Bringing money from a legit Dutch coffee shop businesss to Thailand is not laundering it. It was never dirty, and it was never laundered. However, putting someone else's money through one's coffee shop books, and giving it back to them for a cut, would be laundering. It sounds like this is what he has been accused of doing. As some have pointed out, 24 million Euros is a lot of profit from just a few coffee shops.

I for on am suspending judgement for the time being. Reason: lack of any of the facts of the case!

Guilty or not, all of the people arrested are just low level people who are either easily led or short of cash, or both of the above. I am not saying they should not be punished if guilty of a crime. They should. But the bigger question is who is behind this? I have kept an open mind but for me, the focus is becoming clearer.

What is becoming clearer is the smoke screen pointing to Turkey, Turks and the Uighurs. But all these links are apparently fake...at least the passports are.

And is deporting a bunch of illegal Uigghur immigrants enough to warrant such a revenge? I suspect not... they had no real right to be in Thailand anyway, if anything their grudge lies elsewhere surely. That fight is about central asia and china, not thailand.....

Connections to the muslin south are starting to pop up. But again, why would the muslim south suddenly feel the need to change plan? No believable trigger for that. SO I am ruling that out too.

Which finally leaves the closure of the "nice little earner" of illegal immigrants in the south. Muslim connections too, dont forget. Rich enough to fund such an attack, and the timing fits. And given the track record of the affluent, arrogant type of people leading that type of illegal activity, loss of face is the most plausible motivation for the unforgiveable attack in Bangkok.

Oh my God, it never ceases to amaze me how many uneducated people post on this site..... Arabic numerals.... 1,2,3,4 and so on. This is common knowledge. The "arabic" numerals were put on the gun by the American manufacturer. Oh derrr....

As to whether he got the gun in Thailand or Japan. Let me ask this. Where are you most likely to be able to lay your hands on an unregistered weapon. Thailand or Japan?

Ever considered that someone who lives in an Arabic country, and who owns a private yet and has been in Japan not so long ago, might have deposited the gun for Camronwit to pick it up and transport to Thailand?

You are missing the point, I am afraid.

There is NO connection to Arabia.

There are just English letters (A, B, C) and Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4) on the gun. Both put there by the American manufacturer.

I repeat, there is no link to Arabia beyond their advance in mathematics a thousand years ago or so......

just google "Arabic numerals" and all will become clear....

I don't think you are being rude at all. Since you didn't read the rest of the posts, you don't know how many times I've been challenged on this, you also wouldn't know how tedious it is becoming but, just for you, I will, once again, repeat my explanation of why I posted what I did.

At first I thought the same as you but I wanted to be sure as most people just say 'numbers', when they refer to the numbering system used by the West, and not add the word 'Arabic'. That raised a question in my mind so, I went to Bing Images and typed in 'Arabic numbers' and this is what I got: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Arabic+numbers&go=Submit&qs=n&form=QBILPG&pq=arabic+numbers&sc=8-14&sp=-1&sk=

The OP said: A highly placed source in Japan said the gun had only Arabic numbers and English letters... This made me ask myself why the Japanese source would distinguish between Arabic numbers and English letters. Why would't he simply say English numbers and English letters or, simply, numbers and letters and then we could all assume he meant traditional Western numbers and letters? To my thinking, he was obviously making a distinction on the type of numbers that were imprinted on the frame as a serial number.

As I've said repeatedly, the trial will bring out all evidence and we will see photos of the actual gun and I will, for sure, be proven correct or incorrect. I'm wondering why this is so important to so many posters that I have had to address this more than a dozen times on this one thread. I welcome you to interpret the OP in any way you wish and I will interpret to OP any way I wish, as is my right. If my explanation is not good enough for you, I am sorry but it's the same reply I gave the first person who challenged my veracity/viewpoint and it's the best I'm going to attempt for now.

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As I said before. Oh my god. So many uneducated people post here.

There is no such thing as English numbers.

In England, we use roman numerals (I, II, III, IV, V...) and Arabic numerals (1,2,3,4,5). We don't have any English numerals!

Trust me, I am English. And educated. Americans use Arabic numerals too, they just don't know it on the whole.

Are you American, perhaps?

If you're looking for an argument, you will have to look somewhere else as I'm done with this topic. Bye, now.

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No argument. Just fact. Bye bye....

I don't think you are being rude at all. Since you didn't read the rest of the posts, you don't know how many times I've been challenged on this, you also wouldn't know how tedious it is becoming but, just for you, I will, once again, repeat my explanation of why I posted what I did.

At first I thought the same as you but I wanted to be sure as most people just say 'numbers', when they refer to the numbering system used by the West, and not add the word 'Arabic'. That raised a question in my mind so, I went to Bing Images and typed in 'Arabic numbers' and this is what I got: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Arabic+numbers&go=Submit&qs=n&form=QBILPG&pq=arabic+numbers&sc=8-14&sp=-1&sk=

The OP said: A highly placed source in Japan said the gun had only Arabic numbers and English letters... This made me ask myself why the Japanese source would distinguish between Arabic numbers and English letters. Why would't he simply say English numbers and English letters or, simply, numbers and letters and then we could all assume he meant traditional Western numbers and letters? To my thinking, he was obviously making a distinction on the type of numbers that were imprinted on the frame as a serial number.

As I've said repeatedly, the trial will bring out all evidence and we will see photos of the actual gun and I will, for sure, be proven correct or incorrect. I'm wondering why this is so important to so many posters that I have had to address this more than a dozen times on this one thread. I welcome you to interpret the OP in any way you wish and I will interpret to OP any way I wish, as is my right. If my explanation is not good enough for you, I am sorry but it's the same reply I gave the first person who challenged my veracity/viewpoint and it's the best I'm going to attempt for now.

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As I said before. Oh my god. So many uneducated people post here.

There is no such thing as English numbers.

In England, we use roman numerals (I, II, III, IV, V...) and Arabic numerals (1,2,3,4,5). We don't have any English numerals!

Trust me, I am English. And educated. Americans use Arabic numerals too, they just don't know it on the whole.

Are you American, perhaps?

Oh my God, it never ceases to amaze me how many uneducated people post on this site..... Arabic numerals.... 1,2,3,4 and so on. This is common knowledge. The "arabic" numerals were put on the gun by the American manufacturer. Oh derrr....

As to whether he got the gun in Thailand or Japan. Let me ask this. Where are you most likely to be able to lay your hands on an unregistered weapon. Thailand or Japan?

Good spot, Jaffacakes1.

The photo isn't high enough res to be able to confirm that it's Xanax in the strips on the bed. But it is good enough to see that it is not Nytol.

Xanax likely to cause more problems than Nytol for sure, especially with alcohol.

Was the empty Nytol box left as a 'red herring' I wonder?