xbusman

The article was very good. Imagine Chamlong having the courage to say these things in print, a very strong statement for a politician. Despite all the Thaksin bashing that is pervasive in the press and among the "intelligensia" I think Chamlong has a very pragmatic view with the following statement:

He said people could not afford to just drive Mr Thaksin away without thinking about who his replacement should be. As for himself, he did not see any prospective person at the moment.

Exactly what does wait in the wings. While you might think that Thaksin does not measure up to say....(pick your favorite political sleeze of the last decade here).... things in asia can often spiral out of hand with some pretty ugly dictators. The horrible scars of the Pol Pot regime are still visible in Cambodia today, only a few clicks away geographically and socially.

One of the early stages of a popular dictatorship is almost always the dismantling of the professional political beauracracy. This not only removes insghtful critics but also removes potential replacements. This professional political class is often cast as the cause of the all the problems and replaced quickly with junta staff. Next the foreigners are targeted and finally, last but not least, the owners and controllers of capital are led to the slaughter.

Thaksin has done a good job of disrupting the political beauracracy. I think the constant cabinet shuffles are a visible sign of this but I also see it in the recent battles over procurement and test scandals as well as the issue of bird flu responsibility. In the end, there are no opposition voices or leaders who can put together an alternative postion.

I would like to see Chamlong speak out more, its voices like these that make the most progress for the average Thai.

I also wandered back through Tornado's recent posts and found nothing out of line. Tornado has usually been a reserved, occasionally funny, thoughtful poster. As a member of this nebulous community, and an active participant, it would have been proper to drop a line with some idea of the offense. I am unable to judge the moderators decision as the offending post could have been deleted but I am able to judge the moderators craven and unreasonable anonymity to what may possibly be an unreasonable block.

Go ahead and block me. If thats the game then I will take my toys and go home.

so there

The JW Marriot Sukhumvit was cordoned off tonight by about 40 or 50 police. All cars were being stopped and searched for explosives. I deduced this by the mirrors on sticks routine and the undercarriage inspections.

As the JW Marriot was targeted in Bali, it might be just that they are being cautious but looks to me like there might be some information that is not in the daily rags. Personally I think a heightened sense of awareness makes sense in the Sukhumvit area.

I used to work with investors who bought and sold businesses on a regular basis, on all levels. As a general rule, they were very fixated on asset buyouts only, and were completely adverse to buying goodwill.

Using a internet shop as an example, the thinking goes that I can go next door, buy the same amount of computers and make more money because I can run it better and more efficiently than the current owner. I will be more competative because I do not have the extra unproductive cost built into my investment called goodwill. Goodwill (or blue sky as investors like to call it) is very hard to judge and has very little reality.

These investors were all very successful and spent every waking moment looking for companies they could buy like this or avoiding taxes.

For those of us just making a living I usually look at many differant valuations before purchasing. The first is asset buy out, what would it cost me to open the same thing next door, and then what is the cash outlay the current owner wants to save me that trouble (blue sky). I am willing to pay some but not much. Second, my money needs to earn at least 50% ROI (return on investment). So if this business costs 6M baht, can I reasonably expect to net 3M baht yearly. Then I look at the cash and time requirements for each business, there is a personal cost as well.

The ultimate key to making it work though is due diligence. You cant do enough homework to protect yourself. Check everything five time and then, dont trust what you found out. Snoophound is spot on, you will find the paperwork here to be obscure at best.

Regards work permit I think you need to invest a minimum of 2M baht and have four Thai employees for every one farang work permit. I recommend that you contact Greg at Sunbelt Asia for complete details. They are a business broker and can clear up all your questions with good accurate information.

You might want to make sure you dont pay for any export service until the bike is properly registered and legal in the US. Just tell them that you will cut the cash loose when your friends at the Department of Motor vehicles gladly title and license your pocket rocket.

They also make great door stops on those windy days.

Good luck and keep us updated will you?

Trolls, help me find the flaw in my logic.

I am living in a third world country that is only academically familiar with the rule of law. The police corruption here is only second to their incompetence. As a farang, I am often singled out as a particularly tasty target for donations to their favorite charitable organizations. As a farang, I have little access to any resources that might protect my rights if in fact I had any here.

Despite the fact that I neither drink nor do any drugs other than aspirin, posters on this board are telling me that I should have no worries about the boys in brown conducting a medical test on such a serious issue in the middle of Nana plaza.

Give me a break.

Here is some advice for the kids on this board. No charge.

Dont do drugs here.

Treat everyone with respect, you are a guest here and a representative of your culture.

Treat authorities with particular respect, avoid contact and if necessary pay what is required and move on quickly.

Me dear old Dad used to tell me "You wanna be smart or right?"

You guys keep on being right, plenty of windmills left. In the mean while, I am going to stick my cell phone to my ear and exit stage left.

The better part of valour is discretion. I think the Bard had it right.

Well, you want to break it down into smaller pieces than just two boxes. The engine is the hard part, if there are even remotely enough pieces to reassemble a non certified vehicle engine the box will go into the crusher at Long Beach.

If you can break it down enough to sneak it past customs, once reassembled, the motorcycle can never ever be ridden on the street in California. The fines and possible jail time in California would truly scare any rational person. You can have a great time around the yard and on your driveway though. Would be a very cool porch planter as well.

As for the other 49, for a mere few hundred thousand dollars you could spend a few years working with the EPA and DOT to get 49 state approval. If your 125 is a two stroke though, you can just hang it up. The two stokes have no chance of EPA emissions compliance and I doubt that you would qualify for an exemption.

Enjoy it while your here!!!

I dont know what quality level your looking for as I know that for some of the German optics the price can be staggering. Only place I ever found selling even half decent equipment was on the ground floor of Pantip in that mass of stalls after you just enter the doors. They are on the right about half way back surrounded by masses of "sexy DVD?" I did notice they had some nice german optics in the 30,000 to 40,000 baht range but I did not know if they were good units for that price. Good luck!

I think I have some bad news here. For many years I sold a very technologically advanced product to highly successful westerners with limited technology grasp. Despite carefully laying out the product for the customer, it usually boiled down to what their buddy thought at the club.

Doctors will particularly complain about this bizarre human attribute. After 12 or 15 years of rigorous training and careful diagnosis, people go home and hug crystals cause their buddy told them it works. Its a common and bizarre human trait that can be infuriating to those spending the time to earn the knowledge.

IMHO I found the best antidote was to convince "a friend" of the information and in turn they could not wait to inform "my target" of their superior knowledge. When it came from the friend, it was gospel. I think Doctors should pick up on this quirk of human psychology and only offer diagnosis to friends of the afflicted.

Okay, this is about the funniest thing I have ever read on the internet. Thought this group could appreciate the humour as well.

http://www.p-p-p-powerbook.com/

I read a hilarious internet report some time back about a group of IT college students that spent their weekends harassing the Nigerian scam crowd.

Basically they would create personalities that would respond and lead the Nigerians on and on with elaborate tales and finally agree to send them the big bucks. Usually the delivery is made to a Fedex style "hold for pickup" location. The key was this, they would send it to the wrong location about 400 kilometers away and put a valuation on it that would cause taxes to be paid. Also, they mistakenly checked the bill to recipient box only noticed after the box was shipped and with great apologies. So after a 400 kilometer ride through the bush and about 16,000 baht in shipping and delivery charges the Nigerian scammers would open the fedex in Nigeria to find..... well lets just say it was not the cash they expected.

Geeks can be dangerous with spare time on their hands.

Piss test in the middle of Nana Plaza last night. They had the big table and were handing out piss bottles, must have had a few of the GoGos locked down for victims.

I used the evil trick of putting a phone to my ear and pretending to talk to someone in earnest. Just walked past the whole mess and out in Soi 4 without acknowleding anyone.

They are serious, my committment as a good guest is to learn their rules and live by them. When the rules shift or get grey, pay my fine and move on. When it gets too expensive to live well, move farther.

Carry your passport and don't do drugs.

I smell a Pulitzer or even perhaps a Nobel for ripping the cover off this one. Talk about investigative insight!

They must get frustrated at the Nation, I mean think about it, just exactly how do you get through to the average reader about the clandestine mafiaso so adroitely siphoning off the coffers. The complexity and persuasive nature of the mass of graft at the top leaves me numb at times, its no wonder most Thai's just shrug their shoulders. Perhaps this approach is more real to day to day experience.

If you have smoke marijuana in the last few months then you are well advised to stay away from Thailand. The authorities are conducting random drug tests on tourists and there is a new war on drugs. Dont go into a war zone if you are a potential target. For that matter, war zones do not make for fun holidays. Also, carry your passport at all times while in Thailand, copies don't always work.

Lets sum up shall we, if you are doing any drugs that are illegal in Thailand and they could be in your blood on arrival, DONT COME. If you come, carry your passport at all times. Check the ID's of anyone you want to take home and insure they are of legal age. Obey the laws and behave as a guest with no rights because in actuality you are a guest with no rights.

Having said all that, this is still one of the best holiday destinations in the world.

Yes it can be done. If you have many many thousands of dollars and many weeks of extra time there is a remote possibility that one day you could proudly tool around america on your imported Honda Wave.

There are two main obstacles to overcome in getting an america title for your treasure. First you have to get DOT certification and second prove EPA compliance. If you want to get these certifications on your WAVE, plan about two years and around $200,000 and if they are within legal requirements you might get certification. There are some exceptions. If the vehicle is certified for "off-road" use only, you can get an exemption but if you are caught on the streets you will consider the certification route cheap and easy.

I recently exported a Suzuki DR800 to the US for a wealthy individual. Based on that fun, you would be well advised to budget around $5000 to get it in and just give up on ever getting it registered. My customer finally imported it into Mexico, declared it a race vehicle (also exempt from certifications) formally raced it in the Baja, proved it was a race vehicle, and after two days at the border got it into the US. At the border during import he was politely informed that if that vehicle was ever found on the street he would be doing time as a guest of the state.

Try contacting www.motorcycle-brokers.com a Canadian based import/export group that might be of some help.

Best of luck. It might be cheaper to buy a new Harley but hey....it will be the envy of everyone at the drive in!

Thanks for the real information George. Thats what makes this forum so valuable. This is a very very serious issue and the Keystone cops approach in Thailand is a recipe for disaster. This board is now a source of information that might give us an edge if things break loose. The time between mutation and serious trouble will be under three weeks and you can count on it being misreported in the public press as long as possible. Thailands infrastructure will be unable to deal with the slightest disruption so any opportunity to act will be limited.

There are some experimental anti viral drugs available currently, any medical sages have an opinion on if stocking a few of these might be a good investment?

I think Thailand is going to be the hub of government shuffling. Never seen anything quite like it. Exactly how does a cabinet member lay down long range plans in less than 14 days before the next shuffle. I think its a plan to obscure responsibility like the Elite card, of the last 3 directors no one remembers talking with CNN.

Got some bad news for ya Harry, spent a few years in my youth taking care of motorhomes and people were great for coming home and running in the house without unloading the fridge or plugging the coach in. The smell permeates the foam insulation all around the box and there just is not a good way to fix it. Over time it will get better but in my experience no matter how much better it gets every time you open the door you will get a "yechhhh".

If its a top line refridge like I could find in America, some of them can have the interior panely removed and you can get to the insulation to clean it. After thats done, needs to be sealed with a chemical sealant that does not add to the mix. Even then you will have a 90% chance of remembering what you forgot every time you open the door. Dont know much about the construction of Thai refriderators though, might be differant here.

Let me know if my info is outdated, been many years since I fought that problem.

Thailand declares 'war' on bird flu amid fears of global pandemic

Sept 29 AFP via Yahoo News

BANGKOK (AFP) - Thailand's premier announced a month-long "war" on bird flu as tests continued to discover if an outbreak within a Thai family threatened a global pandemic.

Thailand confirmed Tuesday its first probable case of human-to-human infection of bird flu after a mother and daughter died but officials said it appeared the strain had not mutated into a more infectious form for humans.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra warned the disease was damaging Thailand's standing in the world and hinted that several ministers could lose their jobs unless the crisis was ended.

"The government will wage a war on bird flu during October because it is big problem that sparks fear both domestically and internationally," he told a meeting of officials in Bangkok.

"Confidence in Thai poultry, tourism and food safety will also be affected," he said, exhorting officials to greater efforts so the country could be declared bird flu free by October 31.

"Should there be a cabinet reshuffle, a few people including the deputy prime minister, agricultural minister and health minister... will be moved out."

A government spokesman in January admitted Thailand had "screwed-up" over its handling of bird flu after weeks of denials that it had any cases and said that officials could be sacked. However, there were no high-profile casualties.

Thaksin has sporadically declared "wars" on problems confronting the nation and the front against flu will coincide with a new war on corruption and a second round of a controversial war on drugs.

The announcement on Wednesday came after the human-to-human case raised fears that the bird flu virus could mutate into a highly contagious form and trigger a global human flu pandemic.

A mutated bird flu outbreak was blamed for the deaths of as many as 40 million people worldwide in 1918.

Thai health officials said Tuesday that evidence indicated the lethal H5N1 strain had not changed and that likely human-to-human cases had been limited to one family and a single village in northern Thailand.

However, tests were continuing on samples taken from the latest victims and were expected to be completed by the end of the week.

Pranee Krongkaew, 26, died nine days ago after returning to her home near Bangkok after caring for her sick 11-year-old daughter in hospital, according to Thai and WHO officials.

The girl, who lived with her aunt in a village in northern Kamphaeng Phet province, also died this month from suspected bird flu but was cremated before definitive tests could be carried out.

Her 32-year-old aunt was also confirmed with bird flu and her son also became ill but they are both recovering in hospital.

A large number of chickens had died from bird flu in the area and some villagers had fled the area because of fears of further infection, according to newspaper reports Wednesday.

Asia has been hit by two waves of the disease since December last year that have left at least 10 people dead in Thailand and 19 in Vietnam and killed more than 100 million birds across the region.

Almost all human cases are thought to have been contracted from close contact with birds.

Bird flu has struck 32 of Thailand's 76 provinces since July in the second wave of cases this year and badly hit poultry sales overseas.

Thailand had been one of the world's biggest exporters before the bird flu crisis.

Despite the deadly serious nature of this problem, I couldn't resist. This one is for you Ovenman, the AFP is declaring Thailand to be the hub of wars.

As a young man, I took the opportunity to interview as many of the WW1 survivors as I could find. I was fascinated by the history and personal memories of many of the vets. One of the things that kept coming out of their stories was the Spanish Flu. The war was bad, but the flu was devastating. Think about 40 to 50 million people dying at a time when the worlds population was maybe 20% what it is today. Unlike the war in France which was so intensly contained for the most part, the flu knew no boundaries or treaties and was particularly bad for the elderly, infirm and young. Wander through old cemetaries and 1918 and 1919 were banner years for marble quarries.

I worked with the government on a few emergency response projects and they boil down into categories such as nuclear attack, chemical attack, dirty bombs, etc etc. What scare me was they put a majority of their effort in the CDC and WHO response to viral infections. I would hear things like "well an atom bomb would make a mess out of a city for about 30 years but in 50 or 100 years you would really hardly notice. Only about 10 or 20 million might die. What we are really worried about is small pox. If that comes back....." These viral infections are nothing to fool with, nuclear destruction can pale next to some bits of nasty DNA.

I am not one to worry much about what we cant control in life but this bird flu is not a light matter. It surprises me that this forum can muster up 2918 responses to midnight closing but H5N1 is for the most part ignored.

Really folks, take this matter very seriously.

Scientists are convinced the 1957 Asian flu and 1968 Hong Kong flu pandemics originated in Asia, but there is much debate about where the biggest killer of them all - the 1918-19 Spanish flu pandemic - came from.

That flu, which killed an estimated 40 million to 50 million people, was so named because the king of Spain got it, not because it originated in Spain.

"We've got a huge amount of information which tells us this virus arose in Europe, not Asia," Oxford said. "If it is the case that it started in Europe, that tells us that these new outbreaks could happen anywhere in the world where the circumstances are right."

The Europe theory holds that the Spanish flu began in the crowded World War I army camps around Etaples in northern France.

There were 100,000 soldiers on any one day there, and they raised chickens, geese and possibly pigs for food, Oxford said. Those conditions mimic what naturally occurs in Asia.

I think that Flu started in Europe due to the abysmal conditions during the war. It was first reported in the US in a Brooklyn hospital handling the returning wounded.

No one is sure about anything regarding the Spanish flu other than it killed a lot more people than the war did.

You dont think that a response larger than the SARS response would be mounted? They really did a great job of locking that down quickly and getting it under control and SARS wasnt even all that fatal. You want to get locked down here if the fit hits the shan? There are plenty places I would rather be and I doubt if they let me get there by airplane.

Found on yahoo News

WHO 'suspects' human-to-human transmission of bird flu in Thailand

BANGKOK (AFP) - The World Health Organization said it suspected bird flu had passed from human to human in northern Thailand, marking what could be the first such transmission of the lethal virus.

"From the existing data ... we are suspecting human-to-human transmission" of bird flu, the WHO's acting Thailand representative Kumara Rai told AFP after studying information from Kamphaeng Phet province where a girl and boy are suspected to have died from the virus.

The 11-year-old girl's mother, who lived near Bangkok but traveled north to visit her daughter in hospital and then attend her funeral, returned to the Thai capital where she too fell ill and died. Her death is also on the suspect list.

Laboratory tests on the three fatalities, as well as on the girl's aunt who is hospitalised with severe pneumonia, were being conducted to detect the virus that has already killed 28 people in Asia since last December.

Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said Thailand has been put on full alert as a precautionary measure but quickly sought to downplay the fears, stressing preliminary test results from the aunt showed no bird flu.

"Initial test results (from the aunt) were negative, so at the moment it's a relief for the ministry concerning whether the virus has jumped from human to human or not," Sudarat told AFP. "But we still need to double check a final test."

However, Rai said the WHO was still "very much concerned, but we are awaiting the laboratory confirmation", which is expected as early as Monday.

Health ministry officials have confirmed the girl and the 13-year-old boy in Kamphaeng Phet had come into contact with sick households' chickens, but Rai and others have said it was not clear whether the mother and the aunt had contact with the birds.

Rai met Friday with field epidemiologists, Thai-based officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and senior Thai health ministry officials to establish whether the women had come into contact with the fowl.

"We are still almost firm that there was no contacts with sick birds," Rai said.

Charal Trinvuthipong, director general of the disease control department, said in a Thai daily he was concerned that the women may have caught the virus directly from the girl because the mother identified as Pranee and the aunt, Pranom, had "no history of direct contact with chickens".

"If we find the virus in Pranom, and both Pranom and Pranee had no direct contact with the chickens and merely tended to their sick girl, it could mean that the virus jumped from human to human," Matichon newspaper quoted him as saying.

Charal said the aunt's condition had stabilised but her six-year-old son was hospitalised with fever and pneumonia and was now listed as the kingdom's fifth suspected bird flu case.

Several people have been placed on Thailand's suspect list in recent months but nearly all of them have since been cleared.

Rai said he had contacted the UN health agency's headquarters in Geneva to urge them to send experts to Thailand to assist in the investigation.

Avian influenza's lethal H5N1 strain has killed 19 people in Vietnam and nine in Thailand in the past 10 months in two waves of Asian outbreaks which also caused the deaths or culling of more than 100 million chickens.

The WHO fears H5N1 could mutate into a highly contagious form and trigger a global human flu pandemic.

When asked if a confirmed viral leap between humans in the Thai cases would mark the first step in such a feared mutation, Rai said, "I think so."

The WHO suspected human-to-human transmission of bird flu once before in Vietnam during the height of the first wave of outbreaks in February, but was proven wrong, Rai said.

"Hopefully the same holds true for this outbreak."

Since the second wave of bird flu began in early July, Thai authorities have confirmed 149 outbreaks in 30 provinces.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Saturday lashed out at government agencies for failing to contain the new outbreaks.

"I have instructed the public health and agriculture ministers to supervise the tackling of bird flu and the focus on human safety. They have failed to report when poultry is dying," he said in his weekly radio address.

Now I think this could be very very serious. There are those in the scientific community that theorize that the great flu pandemic of 1917 was caused by an avian virus. The Who has repeatidly shown a great concern that the current flu could mutate as described in the above article. I think this is an area where the Thai government better stop saving face and get very serious. From what I have read and learned from medical professionals, this single issue has caused me to put an exit strategy in place.

For serious serious pool THE place in bangkok is A Ball in Hand across from the Rajah Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 4. Kuhn tim the owner is downright neurotic about having the premium commercial felt, competition grade pool balls, and all the tips on house cues are manicured regularly. He has a regular schedule for leveling the tables and keeping the equipment to regulation standards. International rules are posted and there is always a judge on site to make rulings if requested. Very well run, the tables are usually full.

CNN is particularly known for being rife with corruption and dodgy business practices. l am confident its all their fault. I also like the part about it being the fault of the original director who resigned over a year ago, must be CNN's fault again for waiting so long to invoice.