Skajd

Military hardware, much of it on flatbed trucks, rolled onto the island yesterday afternoon.

He said international standards would be applied in providing security for the leaders of the 28 countries due to attend.

The Internal Security Act will remain in force in Phuket for two weeks, until July 24.

On Wednesday morning, hundreds of policemen in full riot gear practiced their crowd control techniques outside Phuket City Police station.

The exercise involved using shields to form phalanxes to drive off protesters.

ive just read the report about advising people to avoid public and busy places because of swine flu. and to wear face masks and wash hands etc.

theres going to be quite a gathering of people in a small area, and all the police in tight phalanxes etc. will they wash their hands and wear face masks? they won't be avoiding busy places. i wonder if there will be people who contract the swine flu? members from 28 countries too! and phuket has had quite a few cases already ... we will see i guess. if more than 100 people can contract it from one night club in pattaya who knows what could happen here?!?

I am reading a book on the 1918 flu the powers that be in that time frame had the same attitude that some of the posters have on this forum it's just the flu. Yes it was just the flu but it killed 100 million people world wide the United States Army lost the same number of men to the flu that died in Viet Nam 50,000 it was just the flu.

One of the main reasons it spread in the army was because of over crowded living quarters and the shipment of men from one camp to another but it was only the flu. Most of the deaths occured in the first 10 weeks.

A man got on a street car in South Africa by the time he got of 3 people had died from the flu. When the 1918 flu started it was not very lethal but in a short time it was the grim reaper cutting a swath of death thru the US, 650,00 died, and the rest of the world.

The problem is the word "flu" you associate that with having a cold, sneezing and a runny nose, the 1918 Spanish "flu" should have been called the 1918 Spanish "black death" that might have attracted a bit more attention, as already said by 1920 upto 100,000,000 people had died of this "flu", if this present outbreak mutates and comes back in the autumn/winter then buckle up.

i mean what a stupid name for a killer disease. pigs might fly.

Hi all, I am a new member of forum

and then?

I don't understand. How can an engine room be underwater?

Did someone say it was underwater??

a ships engines are underwater, its not the problem. the problem is the pathetically retarded staff who didnt react to an obviously intelligent lady's concerns about her missing boy. they could have saved him ... posibbly ... but you know what? they didnt save him. he died ... "deathgaurds" would be a more suitable title for them.

i put a curse on those "lifegaurds" and i put a curse on the people who employed them. how can such empty mindless attitudes have pride. disgusting and unacceptably common place.

Its a big business around the world and slowly being dealt with , however its a busy business within Thailand and especially from here in the North. Many come from Myanmar and China , they are paid normally a lump sum upfront to give to family members and then meet the contact in Thailand. Then someone is paid to transport them to where the job maybe , normally BKK . Conections on route are aware they are coming and what time they will be arriving at the Police Checkpoints. Money is passed and they are free to continue on the journey. Once in BKK , the job of housekeeper turns out to be something different but not in all cases. Some are paid 30,000 bht upfront , so when they come into Thailand to work the first part of what work they do is to repay the 30,000 bht . When being paid only 3,000 bht per month working in a restaurant it takes 1 year of no wages to pay back what they owe before making any money for themselves.

This is something happening regularly but how can it be stopped. Poverty is the biggest problem , as without the poverty they wouldnt do it .

I have had some people working for me from the Shan State , they are here already and need work and if I am in need of a house keeper or gardener , I try to help these people. They get a good salary , nice place to live and the same food as I eat . Also if they dont want to take their days off , they can save them up and take 2 weeks holiday at a time. I also get papers for them to work for me legally.

Some restaurants will employ those from Myanmar and get papers from Immigration to make the contract legal .The Shan workers are then made to work in some cases 18 hours a day , get fed poor quality food, eg, what needs to be got rid of from the restaurant and sleep in bad conditions within the building where they work. Time off , only for sleep. Salary for 1 months work - less that 3,000 bht for the month.

Thai's are exploiting the poor as well as everyone else who can make money off of their backs.. Sad but True.

it's a case of out of the frying pan into the fire for them. they have a "dick whittington" attitude

(i just thought of a really appropriate puss in boots joke, but its not a laughing matter so i refrained)

surely these kind of nasty crimes are common knowledge among thais? surely it's a case of "the bogieman" or "the big bad wolf"? even in rural communities there must be stories about this handed down from generation to generation. its a nasty crime thats always been going on. i can't believe a thai girl, no matter how naive would not have an inkling that there was a risk of this happening. i find it impossible to believe i think these girls did have an idea that they could very well be used as sex pawns but something went bad for them so they did a runner

I am not so sure if these girls are 100% innocent.

Are you kidding ?

These girls would have been manipulated for someone else's profit, would have been very young, totally naive and not had a clue about what was to happen to them. How the hel_l do you think trafficers operate ?

this is a big problem for me

This is such a non-issue. This will never amount to anything really serious. Between 250,000 and 500,000 people die annually,

worldwide, from the normal flu. So far, 141 people have died of the swine flu, this year. Compared to approximately 125,000

to date this year for the other flu. Which flu would you rather have? Of the 27,000 people infected to date, 141 have died. Do

the math. This is a media based hysteria. There is nothing to it. I am not concerning myself for a nanosecond over this.

I totally agree with your attitude.

So who's paying the controlled media to hype this up and get all the sheeple scared?

And why is Thai Visa bothering to make a statistic into breaking news?

Lets just have some good news - even if it's just imaginary, we'd all feel better

Perhaps you should educate yourself and review the potential for the current H1N1 virus to combine with the far more deadly Bird Flu virus that is more or less endemic in this region, the result of that mating would likely mirror or exceed the effects of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that killed over 50 million. Whilst the current "bug" has a low fatality rate it its human to human transmission rate is exceptional - the bird flu virus by way of contrast has low transmission rate but its kill rate is exceptionally high. That's why the WHO and TV publish these notes so that people can understand. Got it now!

Yes i got it , , BUT what are you going to do ??? Stay home and lock all doors and use masking tape to prevent air and potential virus spread ?? Yes , we need to watch this carefull and WHO is doing that . Only the media make people scared which is crazy . The virus has spread allready as WHO stated it has reached fase 6 or global pandemic . Basically it means nowhere you go you cannot be sure you wont be infected . Weather it is Phuket Pattaya , BKK , London , Stockholm , New York or Timbuktu , it doesn't matter : it is present and potentially dangerous . Quarantine the cases involved and do a follow up and that's it . No reason to change your travelling plans because it is at home also ( for the people who don't know , USA got the most infections http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_06_12/en/index.html ) . I'm going on a holiday next week and this will not stop me , neither will an airport being closed or a money crisis and from all all 3 options mentioned , this 1 is the least worry .

no need for such extremes, but it is wise to take this problem seriously just in case ....

a sensible safeguard would be to try to avoid enclosed public places with others. so my precaution will be a strict diet of open air beer bars and breezy topless beaches. it'll be tough but it's for the best methinks

oh my god patong phuket whaaaaaa ....... ladyboys with swine flu!!! ....... aaaaaaaaaaaarrrgggghhhhhhh

Great - of all the headlines they could have chosen they had to go and use this one - searches for Phuket are going to bring this one up fast because of the "Swine Flu" searches elsewhere.

If he did not get it here, he is no longer here, and there are no related cases how is this news?

Does the Gazette not get that we are in an economic downturn and we need every advantage we can to survive it - such irresponsible reporting only harms the island.

If people were being infected here for sure report it if you must but this is just an attempt at sensation journalism at its worst - only good thing to come from it is that the Gazette will probably get an increase in their hits on their website. No doubt another news story next week to say they hit XYZ number of visitors this month

There are so many nails going into the coffin wood is now the minor part

Firstly ... this is a very "blinkered view" you are expressing (im being polite). You are looking at this from only your personal gain perspective. This makes me think maybe you are a Thai person.

People have a right to know about any potential risks and dangers about where they will be travelling to. where there is a possibility of health risks. People have a right to know. It is disgustingly idiotic that the location and name of the Pattaya Swine Flu Disco is being withheld. Done purely through selfish, self-minded greed and lack of care for the visitors. They should have made a big noise when the first case was discovered and now there wouldnt be over 100 cases in the very same freaking establishment for gods sake.

I got hit by a runner last year. I came out of a big moobahn, saw the coast was clear, and crossed the road to get in the motosai lane. BAMM she hits me from behind, shoves me and the bike off the road, and drives away. As far as she knew, I was dead. Next morning she repented and turned herself in. The police impounded both vehicles for about a month. We each paid about 1K to the police and then she paid a huge sum - 10K baht or more - to the police, because she hit and ran. We both had license and insurance. Police decided I was at fault for crossing the highway, but refused to believe she was running without lights. We each paid our own damages.

A friend of mine hit a girl a year or two ago. Not my friend's fault. Had a court case. I believe she won.

YOU ARE ALL BEING SCAMMED FOR GOD'S SAKE! WHEN WHEN WHEN WILL YOU ALL CEASE TO TOLERATE IT EH? EH? EH???????

IF U R NOT GONNA DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT ... STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT IT !!!!! this isnt necessarilly for the author of this comment its for all you winjing whining expats.

the part highlighted in red says it all: you spoke Thai and, most important of all, your Thai wife came on the scene and likely said all the most polite and important things needed to be said at that moment. It's doubtful she neglected to mention what an important guy you are, and the important VIP Thais you'all are chummy with.

Can't say I know any Thai who's puu yai could help me out of a bind. I once saw the governor of Khon Kaen sitting at the traffic lights in his car but he didn't see me. Oh, and I went to the dentist last year. Could he help me out? Does that count? I guess the reason I spoke Thai is having made the effort to learn the language after living here a fair number of years. I guess the reason I called my wife was to ensure nothing was lost in translation. I guess the reason why nothing happened was it was a clear case of the fault of the other party. I guess the reason you made such a moronic statement knowing nothing about me, my wife or witnessing the situation is, well, the simple fact that you're a moron.

Go on. Get your 200 baht out and pay "Da Man" when you've done nothing wrong. It'll give you something to tell your fellow bar-propping Thai experts the next time you're having a drink with them.

hahahahahahaaaaa yessah!

Indeed it sounds terrible that drivers run away from accidents. After you realize how the law works then you can better understand why this happens. Drunken motorcycle drivers, no helmets, no lights and driving on the wrong side of the road is normal behavior. If a car or truck hits him it is the car or trucks fault.

I once had a Thai do a doggy dart out in front of me. She never looked and I had no way of missing her. Fortunately she wasn't badly hurt but I made the mistake of stopping. That stop got my car impounded and eventually cost me 10,000 baht even though I had first class insurance. Impound my car, WHY? That's why people hit and run.

Thailand is a crazeeeee country full of crazeeee's

April Fool's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

......... 20th Century fools. God they're dumb

is this for real?

yes, this thailand, please wake up people, this poor innocent man has to do some time just becasuse of some pathetic low life wants to save his face

do you know why they get away with this?

answer- because the west ( who ultimatley controls the world) lets them

its as simple as that

trade is far more important than basic human right- we could get that man out faster than simply saying " do it, or we will fXXX you up"

I love what the brits did just after WW2- they should do the same( economicly) every time any place steps out of line.

For everyone, inluding the locals sake.

why have what people died for, when this is allowed to happen. Who knows anything about this poor man. i I wish to arraange a visit.

When one man like this sit's in jail all so called legal process must be questioned.

I pray for his well being

Hear Hear. But when will it get better? ... I think not. The west says serves you right for going abroad.

Hi,

With all the problems occuring between Cambodia and Thailand at the moment, can anybody confirm whether the border located in Trat province is open?

Also what is this crossing called?

Any info will be appreciated.

Cheers.

It's Hat Lek.

Dont know if its open but I'm confident it would be. Beware ... you will be treated like a peice of old baggage. There is nothing pleasant at all crossing that point. There is absolutely NOTHING there for the hot weary traveler. next next next. be strong the day you cross that hot and harrassing border.

I think Thailand is crying out for a fight. They've had it too good for too long ... Theyre spoilt and have attitudes. What with their internal trouble making and violence and disrespect and now killings over a temple .... I think they need a good fight to learn (or remember) how bad things can be, they haven't known suffering for hundreds of years. I think Thailand is pumped up for a fight and maybe it would do them good to have one. So they will chill out again and be as they were