Oberkommando

Three people dead all stayed in the same guest house now you would think that would be logical avenue for the investigation to follow but this from the latest update in the Phuketwan.

Phuketwan Updating News

THE CAUSE of poisoning that killed two tourists on Phi Phi over the weekend is being investigated, the Governor of Krabi, Siwa Sirisaowalak, said today.

The tourists, both young women, were from the US and Norway. They had been staying at the same small local guesthouse.

A blog posted online by a companion who was travelling with one of the victims suggests that the air conditioning may have been the cause.

But a doctor on the island this afternoon said investigations were focussing on what the two women, and a third who survived, had had to drink.

Consumption of alcohol mixed with fruit juice was common to all three cases, the doctor said.

Brilliant Sherlock. Fair bet everyman and his dog on the island had a drink.

Even the local Muslim population?

A terriable thing to happen, my condolances to the families of those gunned down and I hope a swift recovery for the Swedish girl caught up in it all,

As many have said it can happen anywhere in the world but here in TL the country is brought up seeing the hate and voilance depicted on Thai soapes every day of the week.

If I understand correctly the most popular soapes are the ones with the most screaming, raving, violance, often towards woman complete with blood, and the occasional producing of firearms. I see parts of them from time to time when the lady changes channels but she usually shakes her head in disgust when they get violent and goes to another channel.

Not so many people, stayed at the sister in laws place last week and the family from the baby to grandmother were watching intently as someone was being beaten up by 3 men while another held a gun on anyone who might try to interfere. To me sickening but to them normal, this is what Thai TV is teaching the country.

Should we be surprised if it happens in real life?

Indeed, but I would go further and say that most Thais do not absorb anything I consider educational, be that TV programs, comic books or computer games.

We had the computer game Grand Theft Auto 4 banned in Thailand recently as some Thai imitated the game by hijacking a taxi and killing the driver.

It seems those evil foreign influences are quickly targeted while ignoring the Thai contribution, not least of all as you mention, the Thai soaps which are incredibly violent. I witnessed one where a man was severely beating a woman with a cane for the better part of five minutes. This is shown while cigarettes in the mouths of cartoon characters are pixellated out.

Even then, one can only wonder about the mentality of those who watch and even enjoy such shows.

I remember TRT legalise this lottery (manual, not online). Democrate/PAD cry foul. Now Democrate wants to launch it themselves. Do you think PT/UDD will cry foul as well?

Indeed. The hypocrisy is not lost on most of us.

I'd be very wary of using Paypay especially with large sums of money. They can freeze your account at any time and your funds will remain in limbo for 6 months.

As mentioned earlier they gouge on the exchange rates even more than the banks and other financial institutions.

By all means use it to buy trinkets off feePay but you'd have to be mad to use them to t/t money.

You should compare the exchange rate you get with PayPal against the international rate. You might be in for a shock...

Live rates at 2009.05.04 06:37:38 UTC Notice: The THB rate shown below is the international rate. Rates used within Thailand may vary. <h2 class="XE">1.00 USD</h2> <h2 class="XE">=</h2> <h2 class="XE">35.1772 THB</h2> United States Dollars Thailand Baht 1 USD = 35.1772 THB 1 THB = 0.0284275 USD

You will find that PayPal is making a tidy profit by gouging you on the exchange rate... Remember PayPal is owned by GreedBay!

Paypay exchange rates are worse than the offshore (international) rates by some margin.

Total rip-off.

So if we see an incident going on who should we call the Tourist police??

I wouldn't bother - they would take forever to arrive, esp in all the traffic. What gets me is that there are always police hanging around the entrance/exits to Khao San road, seemingly ready to pounce on any miscreant at the slightest whim. Not. What are they doing letting this guy get away with murder - isn't it the same old story with the useless Thai police.

There's a Police station at the other end of the street also.

According to the Thai news the perp is 44 year old man who already has a criminal record. He was the boyfriend of the street vendor whom he shot and killed, along with her 19 year old son and her boss who tried to intervene. She had another younger son who ran away and survived. So 3 fatalities in all.

The Swedish woman was an innocent bystander.

The gun used was a .38

The shooter escaped and Police are now looking for him. Apparently he went to KSR to get back together with her but she spurned his advances which angered him.

Victims in the south would be included for sure. That's a very good point.

The Nationmaster stats are from 2000, before the Southern conflict escalated.

There was a fatal shooting on Khao San Road last night.

Some guy shot and killed his girlfriend and the guy she was with. A swedish tourist was also shot.

It was just on the Thai news. Anyone got any further info?

DB that would be an ideal solution, I drive a Mitsubishi which has a very good Pioneer radio so your solution would mean I could retain the great sound!!

Any idea where in Chiang Mai I could find a suitable FM broadcaster??

Great idea except it doesn't work. So don't do it. I repeat: Don't do it. It won't work, and the "great sound" of your pioneer will be wasted because you get tons of FM interference that makes your mp3s sound like an AM radio station from 1975. Forget about it.

I spent BHT 4500 on the most luxurious FM transmitter, the Griffin RoadTrip, with iPod charger and all. Now for one thing this particular device will ruin your cigarette lighter outlets because it has a stiff arm meant to keep your iPod in a fixed position.

I paid 300thb for an FM transmitter from MBK and it worked perfectly with my mobile phone.

I used my Aussie Westpac card to withdraw 30,000 (the maximum daily allowable - under A$1000 at the time!!!) from a UOB ATM in Bangkok and it didn't spit out the money however I checked online afterwards and the money had been withdrawn.

I immediately contacted Westpac and they started an investigation. 6 weeks later I was reimbursed the full amount.

Don't waste your time with Thai banks, go straight to whomever issued your card.

There's no real alternative.

They are a monopoly, just like many large Thai companies, not to mention a rip-off.

The only reason I have it is for the European football and I resent paying them a single Satang.

In Australia for the same price as the TrueVisions Gold Package I could have Fox HD with 30+ channels with some in glorious high definition.

The other day I was in my local mall and the TrueVisions store had one of their channels on a 42" plasma HDTV. The picture was barely legible. Sums them up IMO.

IF any one gets ripped off with bad dvds in Thailand they only have then selves to blame

Buy of a street stall and what do you really expect

In Sukumvit there is a luggage shop that sells dvd's out the back

Tell thm you only want a digital master copy and they give a money back gaurantee on the quality

Go to Pratanam Centre and all the DVD stalls have a dvd connected to a tv so you can see before you hand over the money

I find on average 1 bad dvd for every 10 I buy and always get an exchange or my money back

In Pattaya I sit out the front and they always let me check the dvds first before I buy on my laptop

If they say no I say No and wait for the next travelling dvd sales person

It's a shame that the discs are rubbish quality media even if the content is watchable. The encoding on many titles is simply terrible even if they are so called 'master' quality.

Not to mention many of the covers and discs state DVD9 when they are not in fact dual layer DVDs.

If you are still paying these petty criminals for this rubbish instead of downloading yourself and getting better quality stuff quicker than the Thais from scene group releases then you are in no position to be lecturing others about anything IMO.

I love the "Dek neawl" style that's in at the moment with the thai kids in Bangkok, quite similar to tokyo and London street styles but it has a unique twist that i've only seen in Bangkok. Skinny Jeans(usually Black), slightly baggy floral print shirt, BIG hair, smart pointed shoes or plimsoles.

Good Places to see examples of this style are....

Dalaat Sapan Put (wednesday bridge market)

the Dek Neawl market siam.

sections 3 - 6 at JJ market

The saturday night market in Rachada

Silapakorn University

Club culture - Praya Thai BTS

If you go out in ekamai you will see loads of trendies in the bars etc, seems like Thailand is developing some really cool styles of fashion, i just hope they all realize how bad the music they've been listening is and opt to do something about it.

Back home the clothes you wear are so closely tied in with the type of music you listen too, just doesn't seem to be so much the case here.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll try to avoid as many of those places as possible.

So next time you see a pirate dvd for sale in Bkk

Buy 6 you are really helping them keep their prices high

Not hurting their business in any way or form

No thanks.

Why should I pay Thai criminals for something that, if I wanted to steal, I could download for free?

To be completely honest I don't want to goto cambodia. It is a less civilized and completely unappleaing version of Thailand and beside potentiality to obtain I would not waste my time going there. Lonely people will argue about anything..

Less civilised?

Considering by your own admission you have never been to Cambodia I wonder how are you qualified to make that ridiculous pronouncement?

I find the Cambodian people more charming than Thais and I enjoy my sojourns across the border. Phnom Penh is a pleasant place and Angkor is more impressive than anything Thailand can offer.

Credit goes to the Cambodians who remain happy and friendly despite decades of war and extreme poverty.

Let's hope the Economist's projections still hold true and the current setbacks are just temporary.

Good article in the FT.

In 1995 The Economist projected that by 2020 Thailand would be the world’s eighth-largest economy. Its forecast, which now looks a tad, shall we say, optimistic, followed a 10-year run in which Thailand muscled out even China as the world’s fastest-growing economy, expanding at a blistering 8.4 per cent a year. Those were the days.

The decade after the Asian financial crisis, which began with the devaluation of the baht and ended with the 2006 coup that ousted Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister, has not been so kind. Although the country bounced back from the 1997 devaluation, when it carelessly misplaced 15 per cent of gross domestic product in 18 months, the economy never recovered its former vigour. It has bumbled along at a respectable, but less than socially transformative, 4-5 per cent a year. This year its economy is likely to shrink by some 5 per cent. In that, admittedly, it is not alone.

Yet it is fair to ask why Thailand has failed to fulfil its potential. Once mentioned, at least by the excitable, in the same breath as high-tech Taiwan, it is now more likely to be grouped with the high-maintenance Philippines. Far from closing in on the world’s eighth-biggest economy – a slot currently occupied by Spain, with an output nearly six times that of Thailand – it languishes in 33rd place. In per capita terms it plods in at an even more pedestrian 78th, with an income of $3,851, far below Taiwan’s $17,000 although above the likes of Indonesia at about $2,000.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ebf80c58-34ed-11...?nclick_check=1

Hollow words.

Once again, all M16s I saw were cycling live ammo.

No blank firing adaptors = impossible to cycle blank ammo in an M16.

What does one do in a straw hut village with $1 Billion. kinda defeats the purpose eh !

If he had $38 billion he might get worshipped as a half-man half-God.

Something to aspire to.

This government do command a majority in parliament as shown by their easily winning the censure vote with an increasedmargin over what the PM was initailly slected by.

Wrong. The Democrat Party occupies only 173 seats. By any definition of basic mathematics, that's a hung parliament, not an overall majority. Hung parliaments in Thailand have always played out the same way: powerless coalitions that veto real progress for the man in the street, in favour of petty intrigue and factional, often personal interests. None of them has ever lasted a full term.

Speaking volumes is the simple fact that Abhisit still hasn't managed to achieve anything concrete since he was installed by his military masters, other than making vows and assurances. Making promises is something that the Dems have had a lot of practice in doing over the years.

May I remind that Mr. Abhisit won his confidence vote in parliament. Even some votes came from the opposition.

So, he got a mandate from your political brothers and sisters as well, right? I know it is hard to lose face and admit you have failed not only in parliament but in the entire country.

May I remind only after a military coup, a judicial coup, losing a general election, a junta, banning as many of the opposition as possible, airport closures, militant protests etc, etc, etc.

whom are you trying to bullshit?

The World needs ditch diggers too Naam, so chin up.

I'll shout the beers if we meet up though, so don't get too disconcerted.

If this is true you should be depositing money in the Bank, not withdrawing it?

I don't keep large amounts of money in Thailand. I don't particularly want to start transferring money by t/t although it is certainly an option.

So I read this as your blaming the fatcat bankers but punishing those who live on their tips ? A warped sense of values indeed.

I'm not punishing anybody, I am recouping this outrageous fee by being more frugal with my money.

By your rationale I am being punished by the Thai banks for using their ATMs.

As I said, don't let the truth get in the way of a good argument. After failing to pin anything on Abhisit, you now attack his father, with more false accusations and innuendos. Not that anything his father did would have any bearing on his success as a PM, but never the less, let's look at a few articles:

Who is attacking Abhisit's father? I am merely pointing out he also benefited from a military junta and was appointed to his cabinet position thanks to the NKPC junta, of which Suchinda was the leader.

Those are the facts, not innuendo nor false accusations. You can debate whether he was Anand's choice or Suchinda's or the NKPC, but the fact remains that another Vejjajiva has benefited from the military's meddling in politics.

Mr Panit said the UAE government had already received the arrest warrants for Thaksin from the International Criminal Police Organisation, or Interpol.

-- Bangkok Post 2009-04-23

Poor journalism or Mr. Panit is lying.

Interpol have issued a red notice about Thaksin which is not an arrest warrant.