katasyd

Been there twice this week.

Great food and a great atmosphere and had a full house tonight.

Highly recommended

Take a holiday outside Thailand and things will get better Fred.

I had not left Thailand for 3 years until last month, made a world of difference getting back into a normal society for just 2 weeks.

Came back to Thailand refreshed and i actually missed the place.

Some people need a timeout from the madness that is Thailand.

The Nation is reporting that Chaengwattana will be open from 28 September. Anyone have any idea about those of us using the 5th floor (non-bangkokians from Nonthaburi, Patumthani etc) at Suan Plu, are we being moved too? On my last 90 day report almost 3 months ago I was told that office would not move... Any ideas?

Yes.

The old office will only be used for laos,burmese visa's etc and the rest go to the new office.

Today my wife was doing the banking and was depositing via the ATM.

She said it has a warning before entering the pin(in Thai) that beware of farangs posing as tourists and stealing money.

What has happened to bring these warnings on at the ATM?

Supposedly it's at all Kasikorn ATM's.

Can anyone else confirm this?

and if the owner / staff don't speak English??

maa mai dek will soon get their attention.

Very smart self promotion, mate

Hope you at least get some interested parties before the mods deletes your thread

That's rich coming from you.

Your Sichon beach promoting is tiresome and been covered numerous times.

It's even in your sig.

1.2 million for those red heaps of crap that battle up the hills at 10kph causing traffic backups?

I don't buy that rubbish for a second.

They should spend 600,000 baht on a locally made Honda or Toyota and offer a better service and save themselves 600,000 baht

Aircon and safety features like seatbelts and airbags and the cars could make it up those hills around Patong to Karon.

But that you be too logically for Thailand.

British airways owns around 85% of the planes in the sky.

They lease them to carriers which is a major chunk of their business model.

If other airlines are failing, british airways will be hurting right along with them.

Sometimes it sucks to have a monopoly.

please enlighten me with more details of this revelation.

Just google British airways leasing.

100's of articles related to their leasing to airlines but nothing on percentages, sorry

Both of my brothers are in aircraft maintenance for BA and it's common knowledge in the airline industry about the monopoly BA holds in leasing.

Ask anyone in the industry,you will hear the same thing.

Go to btjunkie.com or mininova.com and search for garmin maps Thailand.

I downloaded it and all is good, and it's free.

Joes125, I said 'if convicted'. I also pointed this out in post #23. Notwithstanding, the circumstances and background detail that have emerged suggest to me that there is more than merely smoke...

And no, I do not resile from my comments about drug dealers. This fellow is accused of dealing hard drugs to tourists. Hard drugs - not just cannabis. IF he is convicted, I would hope that he feels the full force of the law. He denies knowledge of the hard drugs. There is also some suggestion that threats were made against his girlfriend in respect of monies owed, but he does not raise this as a reason for traffiking drugs - he denies doing so. As against this, the entire recent background of this fellow, as told by his fan club, is shabby (suspicious) and he was found in direct possession of the drugs. If he is convicted of the deed as alleged, let him do the time. There'll be no sympathy from me. Note again the word IF.

dear all

having full facts now I can update you - David kevin griffin did not get involved in drugs or the dealing of them - i did get a phone call and he did have some problems BUT a close friend had ALREADY fixed his loan prob - the thing with the police was UNRELATED and someone has a lot to answer for and it sounds like there are lots of snakes there.. So please dont start slating a good bloke - you never know whats around the corner yourself if u live there.. me.. im stayin here in yorkshire cos i know even if anyone accuses me of sheep shagging i wont get treated like you could haha!

WE - in the UK - His ex, his stepdaughter and myself, got worked up and ASSUMED what had happened and filled in a lot of blanks of the story between us because we didnt hear anything - we were worried but he lost all his numbers in all the bullshit!

best thing is.. if you ever see him over there buy him a beer (from me! lol) and ask him about it all yourself its a shame so many people were negative when a good guy really was in trouble.. if you were one of those people i wouldnt try to buy him a beer - RUN! lol

thanks for your help - an good luck living there!!!

You **** with the bull, you get the horns.

Maybe he was a good guy but if he ran into money difficulties, he should have went home and not resorted to dealing drugs.

I think the evidence is quite clear, now he must pay the price.

British airways owns around 85% of the planes in the sky.

They lease them to carriers which is a major chunk of their business model.

If other airlines are failing, british airways will be hurting right along with them.

Sometimes it sucks to have a monopoly.

You can't compare the two because who wants to live in Malaysia? You ask 10 expats and 8 or 9 of them will likely choose Thailand for all its faults over Malaysia any day.

So true,i love living in Thailand but business wise, it's lame.

I will still live here but take my factories to Malaysia where i can own my business 100% and own the property it sits on.

Also, the tax breaks are very attractive and the baht is too strong which is costing me bigtime.

I have a close friend who has a garment factory that employs 720 thai staff, he is sick of the red tape here and want's to move it south to Malaysia.

You are going to see many companies following suit.

Thaksin phones in to Pheu Thai Party campaign rally in Sisaket

Ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday phoned in to a campaign rally of the Pheu Thai Party, pitching for votes in tomorrow's by-election in Sisaket and pleading with voters to help him return from exile in Dubai.

"The weather in Dubai is very hot, soaring to 51 degrees [Celsius] and, with your help to carry me back, I want to return to Thailand," he said in his telephone message to about 500 supporters.

-- The Nation 2009-06-27

His phone-in does confirm that his current location is Dubai.

Now then, someone's lying.

Presuming Thaksin is not lying, then that means the Dubai officials who denied his presence there, are lying.

So then, who's lying?

UAE set to pounce on Thaksin

MANAMA : The United Arab Emirates has promised to expel ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and send him to Thailand if he is found in Dubai. While the two countries do not have an extradition treaty, there is a reciprocal arrangement that allows for the exchange of fugitives.

The issue was raised in talks yesterday between Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya and his UAE counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on the sidelines of the meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in Bahrain.

Mr Kasit said Thailand had already sent six fugitives to the UAE as requested by Abu Dhabi. Sheikh Abdullah admitted Thaksin had stayed in Dubai, Mr Kasit said. The UAE was looking into the issue of whether Thaksin had re-entered the country by possibly using a passport from another country or another name..

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/1...unce-on-thaksin

-- Bangkok Post 2009-07-01

I bet that Thailand is holding onto that expat who stole "millions" from a company in Dubai just to get at Thaksin.

I know that in Dubai, there is alot of public pressure to get that guy back to Dubai so we might actually get a trade.

*fingers crossed*

http://www.smh.com.au/world/for-all-malays...90630-d3tq.html

For all Malaysians: new PM abandons ethnic capitalismJuly 1, 2009 KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia took a big step yesterday to liberalise its economy, relaxing a host of restrictions on foreign investment, including a controversial rule requiring businesses to be partly owned by ethnic Malays.

The Prime Minister, Najib Razak, announced that listed companies would no longer be required to allocate 30 per cent of their holdings to Malays as part of an affirmative action program for the country's ethnic majority.

Mr Najib said the rule was neither benefiting poor Malays nor was it sustainable amid the global economic slowdown, which will force Malaysia into its first recession in a decade. The economy is expected to shrink by up to 5 per cent this year.

"The world is changing quickly, and we must be ready to change with it or risk being left behind," he told a conference organised by the stock exchange.

"It is not a time for sentiment or half measures but to renew our courage and pragmatism to take the necessary bold measures to advance the national interests for the long-term benefit of all Malaysians," he said.

Mr Najib will have to walk a political tightrope in diluting the new economic policy, which provides a host of privileges in business, education, jobs and property ownership to the Malays who make up 60 per cent of the country's 28 million people.

Chinese and Indian ethnic minorities have long chafed against the policy, which Mr Najib has been dismantling since taking office in April. Even many Malays have protested against it, saying it mainly benefits the elite Malays.

Mr Najib later told reporters the policy had failed to meet its target of raising the Malay share of corporate wealth to 30 per cent by 2010. It stands at 19 per cent now.

The Government still wanted to meet the target by reforming the system and creating a new investor-friendly economic model, he said. "We will help the best and the good in business. We want to be fair to all communities. No one must feel marginalised … It is a tricky balancing act but it is do-able."

As part of the liberalisation, stockbrokers and trust management companies will be allowed to have 70 per cent foreign ownership, up from 49 per cent. Foreigners could also own 100 per cent of fund management companies, Mr Najib said.

The liberalisation moves take away most powers of the Foreign Investment Committee, a government body that has been the bane of foreign investors.

The Foreign Investment Committee has been derided as an impediment in Malaysia's efforts to become competitive against regional rivals such as Singapore, Indonesia and India by imposing various restrictions on investment.

Foreigners will also no longer be required to obtain the body's approval before buying property, either residential or commercial.

The last line is the most attractive^^^

I know a few other business owners who have been waiting for this day.

Thanks Thailand but you can no longer compete in your region.

Discuss.

not to be funny but they must have seen this coming? and i'd imagine that swine 'flu has sod all to do with it.

I entirely agree, its like their vision is limited to the next meal,.

having lived in LOS for more than a year now i'm still struggling to get used to the short-termist thinking of the government.

Nothing new there, "the 1000bt in one hand and 10,000bt in the other" story, was the first thing I learnt about Thai logic & thinking nearly 10 years ago.

Short term mentality is in the Thai genes. Not an overt criticism, just a fact.

That is why there is no Thai chess champions, they can't think a few steps ahead.

Let's hold this guy until the UAE hands Thaksin over.

Sounds fair.

Who cares where he is or what he is doing?

The guy lives alone in a desert with some grovelling sidekicks like Noppadon.

How Chalerm boasts about Thaksin's new business's in gold mines and real estate, it's rubbish, Propaganda for the stupids back here.

Thaksin wants people to think he is doing well when he is faring rather badly.

Thaksin won't leave the UAE, it's safest out of those African nations and Nicuragua, he has a certain standard of living to maintain, won't get 5 star luxury in Liberia.

I see now they are changing the name from 'LOW SEASON' to 'SUMMER SEASON' Can you imagine some poor sods of a family looking at the brochures and reading that it's now 'SUMMER SEASON' in Phuket so lets go there as it's bound to be sunny as its SUMMER SEASON there. Only to arrive and find out it'd p*****g down and likely to be every day they are here after spending thousands of pounds, euro's or dollars to get here. What a con! They will say and do anything just to get the room occupancy rate up. They don't give a dam about the poor tourists who have to shell out their hard earned savings to come here for holidays. I think it's a disgrace to con people like this.

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+That's rich coming from a guy that has probably not left Thailand+

Don't be too sure, I am certain he visits every trade show in the world. I go to the ITB, the world's biggest tourism trade show, and the Thai officials are very well represented there.

What I find rich is that, when working in the hospitality business, you can think what you want about your paying guests/customers; but you bloody well keep these thoughts to yourself.

So true, PTA are one of the worst budget skimmers in Thailand.

Mia noi's and fortuners are rife at that office.

I am armed up for the low season, can't wait for my first mugger when i ride home one night.

Every dog gets his day.

That's rich coming from a guy that has probably not left Thailand.

Why is it so hard for Thai's to get visa's to western countries?

They can't be trusted, that's why.

This mat theft happened on the 2nd or 3rd day of April, right?

No.

I meant May, my bad.

I was supporting the doggies and watching the game on 3rd of May, Steve was present.

While he is trying to say he was not in the country at that time, he was there.

I should think that the governor has a much better idea of what actually happened than the posters here, but I do agree with you that it is easier to blame the bar owner for a situation that was blown out of proportion.

As I understand it, this man Steve was not in the country at the time, so he couldn't have pressed charges. If charges were pressed, then it must have been by one of the other partners or the manager.

Well, i believe he was in the country at the time.

This mat theft happened on the 2nd or 3rd day of April, right?

Well, i was present that Sunday,3rd of April at Aussie bar, watching the Tigers + Bulldogs NRL match.

I can assure you, Steve was present that evening, Sunday 3rd of April.

This is something that can't be denied.

"He wondered why the Australian owner of the Aussie Bar would allow a dispute to develop with a fellow Australian. " Quote from phuketwan.com attributed to the Govenor of Phuket. Sure the bar owner isn't feeling too comfortable now after the Govenor making a public statement concerning his action in the case.

Even the governor thinks Steve is petty, these people put money in his pocket and he presses charges on a fellow Australian.

Never bite the hand that feeds you.