lounger

Sorry ... who "won" the last election?

I'll ignore the previous election, which was invalidated (before the coup).

Who won any election? In rural thailand, where I live, the most corrupt wins. So the November election is going to be massively expensive and then they the elected will be scooping their money back from the new pot intended as funding for the less well off. In the last local election my wife was offered 500 baht and 1000baht......

no, elections are not the answer. whoever is in charge needs to drive against corruption and that includes the drug dealers the military and the police.....having an acceptable international profile will help too.

Far more impressive, noble and respectable than the yellow shirts who are rich and from next door.

Anyway, more and more Bangkokians become Reds in the sois (at least in my Chatuchak area).

More Reds in the sois? Sure sensible people stay indoors while the reds roam the streets. On the outskirts there are very, very few red shirts. In addition, I hardly see any celebrating thais, most are not even wearing the flowery Songkran shirts.

Mt Thai wife says her friends not want to talk about

They all say the Red shirts are no good and make trouble for Issan Thais who live in Bangkok

But when she asks what it is like they say

Not effect us, they not come this area

So lets all stick our heads in the sand

what we can not see, can not be happening

This is the Thai way

Farangs will never understand

It no longer surprises me when Thais say 'farange not understand Thailand'. Of course this is a standard response for anyone who has never thought beyond their own borders and doens't have the intelligence or education to realise they are just uttering a cliche, a worn out sound bite.

Any civil war has far more complex realities than 'issan man stick head in the sand'. Every continent has experienced the hatred existing when ideology causes brother to fight against brother. Every civil war has an anti war group.

What is happening in Thailand has a typical progression with the next phase possibly being escalation. Dont mock the characters if they dont want to participate. They may well be the peaceful moderators and they dont need to be worldly to do that.

Just a thought But how did the different groups arrive at their chosen colour ?

Red is associated with communism and normally considered a bad political colour ( unless you are a communist )

And Yellow is associated with the King and is considered a good colour

Or did somebody's wife just select the colour because it went with her outfit that day ?

Red is considered lucky in China. There are many Thais with Chinese origins.....Thaksin is.

annoying...don't think anymore Bangkokians give a dam_n what the red shirts want, it is inconveniencing everyone, the traffic is completely crippled (i live on sukhumvit). I think through out the last month they've killed traffic in almost every street in Bangkok. Inconveniencing all bangkokians is a bad idea in my opinion.

I live on Phaholyothin Road in Bangkok. The mobile rallies have caused minimal inconvenience on the streets here. Red shirts passing through today on their way between Chaengwattana and downtown Bangkok. Heard a couple of people shouting abuse from a condo, but still others waving and smiling at them. Certainly not all Bangkokians are anti-red.

I know of a school owner (Bangkokian) who also owns a huge chunk of land on Rachadapisek. She is hardly your stereotypical red shirt country bumpkin. You won't see her at the protest site, but she is behind the reds for sure. I am not saying this is an indication that the majority of Thais are behind the reds at the moment, but there are a proportion of people who are, who you will never see out on the streets.

A huge majority of the population is extremely fickle. They will back whoever is in charge. Army in charge? Ok, whatever. Peua Thai in control? Yeah, yeah, whatever! Democrats leading the country? OK ... whatever. Aliens from space in charge? Arai gor'dai ... whatever!

There is a reasonably large number of people, but still a minority, who do care who controls the country, either because they believe it benefits them directly or they have a genuine interest in politics. However, the majority of Thai people are more interested in their daily battle to make ends meet and don't have time to protest for any colour of shirt as they actually have to earn a living.

Politics in Thailand is so different from that in the West, that I find it amusing that people who have either lived here for a short time or have had their head buried in the sand throughout their time here, can find a way to try and compare the situation here with that in their home country. It's like chalk and cheese.

Still, without all the different opinions and outrageous claims and counter-claims, this would be an extremely boring forum. For that, I am grateful to one and all for the daily humour that is provided.

Sure, most of the photos show a happy colourful festival. The aggressive redshirts are misleading the public by using the rent a crowd...... What would happen if the protesters were not paid, if they were driven by their own beliefs and not the idea of a paid holiday. heck they are probably unemployed anyway and this is a temporary job.

Maybe rent a crowds could be made illegal... an advance tactic on forbidding rallies... track down the coffers and grab the gold.....problem solved

Everybody still half asleep ?

All Fools' Day today.

Its indicative of the anxiety felt by expats that this foolery was taken seriously. I am sufficiently paranoid to believe its not a new April Fool but something already ingrained in Thai society. Of course its not Tesco applying the 'tax' but the hotels bars and restaurants.........

Maybe a thai newspaper could carry an article saying The government is going for a level playing field and the Thais are to be charged the same as the 'Faranges', including:-traffic offences, hotels, bars and restaurants, parks and museums, shops and services(!)

That would be sanook mak mark

Silly question - but why do the police wait for late at night - there are lots of "girls" hanging around in the daytime - or are they just relaxing?

It's too hot.

The police run the bars: bar fines, kick backs etc. Freelancing must be discouraged... get back in the pen girls

If they were to seize the money, who would benefit? The Thai people? I don't think so!! You would see all the entire 'elite' fight for their share.

If they gave 5,000 baht to every person claiming old age allowance (500pm) that would use it all up. The mob would go home to raid granny and the world would thank the government for being generous with Thaksin's money. Thaksin would vanish as I guess his friends are only in it for the money....

Am I the only one waiting for the baht to take a whacking great hit against the pound so I can transfer some money at more than 50 bhat to the pound.

Pound and Euro have been tanking since late last year. Lets hope a little "hiccup" is in the wind!

I thought Public reaction would anticipate the judgement and I could exchange money at a better rate. Nothing, if not worse. Now they say reaction will be Saturday onwards. I am holding my breath for the exchange rate to plummet but commentaries are that there will be minimal disorder ( does that mean they give the money back?).....still waiting am down to my last 10,000 baht.......

The issue is should the Supreme Court take all of his money?

My view is no. When Thaksin was first elected in 2001, by a landslide margin, it was widely believed that because he was already rich he wouldn't need to rip off the country. Therefore, it is hard to understand how all of his assets are now subject to seizure when only a part where obtained after he was PM. Did he abuse his position as PM? Yeh, of course he did, so seize this portion, but not all that he had before he entered politics.

Is this the issue? All the time I have been following this debacle the issue has not really been defined. There seems to be a tendancy to generalise as to whether assets should be siezed on the timing of the wealth or whether Thaksin should be called to account for other non specified activities.

My fear is that the courts brief is too narrow. The case should have been broadened to 'Thaksin should be fined for illegal political and social disruption'.

The court would have no problem building a case and the mounting cost of keeping the peace and refunding the treasury for lost commercial opportunity would easily come to 76b baht

It is two months for first time application - it is three months after that.

Are you saying people on long term retirement extensions have been told that? By what office? Thanks.

My colleague is 69 years old recently married to a Thai, has in excess of 800,000 in the bank. It used to be in joint names but has recently changed to single name. He has Non Imm O and has been extending it for years. He heard that 2months cash in the bank was ok and went to Ayuddaya Imm to check it out. He was told by the guy with a tash that he needs the cash in for only 2 months.

Could this be a concession? eg for expats switching from joint a/c to single ownership?

(1) The alien has obtained a temporary visa (NON-IM);

(2) The applicant is 50 years of age or over;

(3) Proof of income of not less than Baht 65,000 per month; or

(4) Account deposit with a bank in Thailand of not less than

800,000 Baht as shown in the bank account for the past 3 months at the filing date of the application. For the first year, the applicant should have that amount in his bank account for not less than 60 days or

(5) Annual income plus bank account deposit totaling not less

than Baht 800,000 as of the filing date of application

I know Two seperate occassions expats on retirement extension visas have been told the 3month rule is reduced to 2 months...

Or it was just a honest mistake

A grenade/bomb at 11pm on a saturday night in a university sounds more like a deliberate attempt to create alarm while making sure no one is hurt........... So who fired it?

Then disarming a bomb? Good PR without damaging any property.........

Well I think we know what it is (sexual attraction towards prepubescents). Of course the man should be prosecuted if found guilty. One trouble with such a hot button topic like this is that people have a really hard time discussing it rationally. It tends to bring out the lynch mob. It is possible to be in favor of prosecuting criminals and ALSO opposed to a lynch mob mentality.

The lynch mob seems to happily adopt the age 18 as a cut off point of childhood. This is absurd. There appear to be many very young adults who are not pressured into living off the sex industry but do so by choice. Linking these very young adults with prepubescent children seems to somehow provide excuses for the adults in these markets.

Its time a sensible view was taken on this.

I guess the "love hotels" are amongst the cleanest because they change the bedsheets every four hours

mmm maybe the sheets are changed but the bathrooms can be a joke. Its as if they know you are not staying for the facilities......but I have had a really dirty time in a few!

Hoorah, another crackdown...

Valentines day is coming up The police need funds for their giks... A decent sub from the owner who was behind on his payments and a whip round from the sex tourists who dont want to be deported.

On the other hand Its an exercise to see if Taxin could have amassed 76billion as a policeman before he went into politics

Be on the lookout for nervy sweaty people on planes kissing their a-ses goodbye. They have their reasons for such odd behavior!

Don't worry, big brother's got it covered...

New airport screening 'could read minds'

US security officials could soon be screening potential terror suspects with a new type of technology capable of detecting "hostile intent"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...read-minds.html

How about lie detectors

as you go through the scanner an official asks if you are carrying a bomb....or anything illegal. If it goes wild then look at the scanner more closely ..

Good name for a university. I suppose the assumption was that the poll would favour the government and this was achieved by assumption screening....

Having an operational cable does not equal a faster operation in Thailand. There are probably numerous commissions of people who want to look like they are important who have to deal with the subject first, than maybe, they may start giving the consumers a bit more bandwidth. So do not get to exited. It will take a long long time before we actually see an improved internet speed.

Am getting net consistent bwidth of 4.3 Mbps on a monthly pyt of 350Bt ! ChiangMai Rocks! )

Rgdz from Brewsta

Huh! in Singburi its under 400 download and upload according to ThaiVisa Test, but 1.4mb per ADSLTHailand, for 500baht per month ( sometimes its so slow redings cannot be taken). Prioritising!

I would recommend meeting the Thai girls. Their eyes are hide nothing but sadly photos are not so honest..

and its easy. You tell someone local that you are available and job sorted.

Every time I have a friend visiting the girls/women are lining up and making plans. Do you want a resort proprietor, a pharmacist, a fried chicken sellor..... ( I am talking rural Thailand; in the resorts its rather more predictable; short time and about money). Come and visit rural thailand...........as I said job sorted!

Wow. I wonder where those weapons were headed for?

MAYBE CIA BLACK OPS UDON THANI ...

I like this idea the yank army equiped with Russian, built in Ukraine, kit

or

more likely CIA blaming insurrections on the Ruskies

What was that great movie where the yanks blow something up using UK SAS using Rusky ammo and giving credit to the Israelies....

this time its re written:

Ruski ammo, N.Korean blame, G Triangle rebels, rich Thai airport baggage handlers..........

If you fail to "check-in" to family and friends back home via a weekely email / phone call etc, ..............................

You what? weekly emails .........

Are you sure you are allowed out alone? have you got your insurance and repatriation of remains registered?

Gimme a break...

I assume that most British citizens move to Thailand because they do not want to get tracked by their government.

Aye, then after you register the taxman comes knocking!

I'll do them a deal...I won't bother them if they won't bother me.....

Help the UK government balance its books. Haha. Now they are scratching around trying to save index linked pension arrangements..... and save NHS medical fees etc..... Sign up and you'll find a government department is sending you letters.

on another incidence did you see a woman claiming benefits was traced through twitter. THEY are using every trick in the book.......

]Since he has already basically got a pardon on the cambodian side, Interpol cannot touch him in cambodia.

.

Ummm I suspect that Cambodia has NO ability to forgive or pardon breaches of other countries laws. In fact, I will bet my lunch money on it.

Wonderful Ummm. You must be English. I was tempted to reply but my language would have been more choice.

I do Visa transfers at the counter of a Thai bank ( Specifically Bangkok Bank)

Forgot to mention that there is no charge in Thai Banks ( specifically Bangkok Bank) for Visa card transfers at the counter (drawing cash on/off a visa card).

The US charges are something you DYOR.

I dont know why you specify an HSBC account. You dont get any special treatment or ease of use because of holding an account in US . Having said that HSBC is a good bank and I would use them if I needed this type of account which I dont. ( Inernational bank based in Bangkok)

I do Visa transfers at the counter of a Thai bank ( Specifically Bangkok Bank) and switch part to a second Bank. This gives me two Banks in Thailand, two current accounts, 2 ATM cards and 2+ term deposit accounts. Why? Because International accounts charge 150 baht at the ATM and Thai accounts charge 20Baht if using an ATM away from the branch where it is opened. Of course all ATMs, passbooks, counter service are available to you but using a remote branch costs......