Valentine

Saudi Arabia has no drug problems because they kill the dealers. It works well as a deterrent. Didn't that use to be the case in Thailand, too?

The death sentence is still in place but if you confess it gets reduced to life.

Surely Mr Peerapat is long gone as this story broke quite some time ago.

The curve where the latest bus crash happened has bad corrugations in the centre & side of the road which can easily cause vehicles to bounce when coming down the hill. Going up one can easily see side of the road will eventually slip away unless they do something to shore it up but being pro active does not seem to be a redeeming quality here. They are only now fixing one just near the top of the Patong hill leaving one lane open & causing a tailback to the go cart track yesterday. In the meantime the Patong City sign inexorably leans further out which will eventually result in a major landslide.

It is unbelievable that this Pongpat doesn't know any "connected" people, who he could donate a few greenbacks to end his legal woes. He must not be the sharpest tool in the box, being the only rich fella to ever see the inside of a Thai prison. If you are reading this mate, try giving the guard a "favor" he might reward you with a cigarette if you did it properly( act like you are enjoying yourself).

In the past a top banker was jailed & fined 2 billion (I think), a former health minister was sentenced to 15 years for which he served qy\uite a bit of time before release, a top cop (killing a mother & son of a jeweller involved in the gems case) sentenced to death but now reduced to life. I realise many are still walking free who deserve to be in jail but Pongpat is not the only one.

So the only way the tourists can get something back is by spending more money on something they have already paid for. In other words Diamond is not accepting any responsibility & those who do not take up their offer will have to wait until the completion of the court case which in this country can take forever. I wonder how long he was acting on their behalf as 1 million is a lot of tours & they never thought to check?

If I remember rightly there are over a thousand different tarrif codes. The customs people really don't know what they are doing most of the time with small private packages. I once left a laptop in a hotel in Paris and the staff gracioulsly sent it to me by UPS. It took 48 hours to arrive then another 6 weeks of hassle to convince the customs that it was a used computer, and that no way was I going to pay Baht 15.000.00 duty on it. I got my way in the end but it took several visits to the airport. So much for express shipping. Needless to say, the UPS staff were also pretty clueless and they were trying to get me to offer the customs a Baht 6,000 backhander just to get the thing released and over and done with. It all boiled down to the fact that the hotel had declared it as a laptop computer, whereas if they had simply declared 'personal effects left in hotel' there would have been no hassle at all. I tried to convince the customs officials to take a look at it and see for themselves that it was second hand, and the reply was "Do you think we have nothing better to do than climb over mountains of miscellaneous packages in the UPS pen?"

Small private packages in groupage containers are never physically inspected - its very different from breaking open a 20' container in the port which might be stuffed full of pirate watches for example. It therefore depends much on what kind of declaration the sender put on the package, a chlorinator could be declared as 'home and garden' or' 'power tools' or 'domestic appliance'. Unless every thinkable item in the world has a dedicated customs code - and it doesn't' declarations are very often just guesswork, unless it's a manufacturer exporting thousands of the same product every day.

Pool supplies are traditionally expensive the world over, let's face it, unless you can build it yourself a pool is in the luxury goods market so if you can't afford the upkeep, you don't buy one. 17 years ago I paid over 1,000 Fr in France (that's about AUD 30.00} for a simple plastic lid for a Certikin (made in England) sand filter. That piece of injection moulded transparent plastic was worth all of a few cents to produce. The big profit therefore is being made by the manufacturers and every one down the line suffers. Those who are selling Zodiacs (or any other chlorinators) at extremely high prices are just being greedy, and most of them don 't even carry stock, simply ordering from the importer when a customer wants one. Those are the ones, BTW, who will find any excuse for not providing product support later on. Those who are offering the lowest prices are either the importers, or very near the top of the food chain and sell in sufficient volumes to keep their prices down. They are the ones who are accredited dealers and who are supported directly by the manufacturers and offer the end user some real support.

Only a handful of pool firms in Thailand have proper web sites, and as far as I can see only one operates a proper online store. You'll notice however that none of them publish the prices of some capital pool goods, so it's no good providing links, you'll just have to do what I do and phone around or go into pool shops pretending to be a potential buyer. In 2007 I was looking for a PoolRite SureChlor and a shop in pattaya wanted 45,000. I got the farang shopkeeper down to 32,000. (glad I didn't buy it with no spares available now. )

Are you related to Swimming Pools Thailand ?

I posted the customs document, if you ever bothered to open it, and it clearly say Salt water chlorinator Zodiac Tri Large pH on the document issued by the Thai customs department, as well on ALL other documents.

I guess this proofs enough that the item was handled by the Thailand customs and that it was not imported as a spade or a wheel barrow.

So why would the Thailand customs department accept the tariff code and ZERO import duty for me but not for other companies?

A markup of more than 100% is simply theft in clear daylight.

Pool supplies are not expensive the world over. In South Africa for example that same Australian made Zodiac is far cheaper than in Australia itself.

You still failed to provide a link for the Zodiac Tri large pH available at 71.000 Baht including VAT.

Congratulations on getting a saltwater chlorinator for 40,000 Baht even though you now have no local company who will provide warranty coverage. I do suppose you realize companies have expenses like VAT, company tax, wages, social security payments, overheads, all of which greatly increase the landed cost price.

After seeing the video I would happily be part of the hang em high brigade. Hopefully he is already "enjoying" his just desserts.

Also could try Santi opposite the old bus station.

Making a deep well they keep drilling till they hit a layer of rock. Mine is 19 meters, my neighbors were luckier, got to 26 meters.

Even though the deep well drillers have a special machine (I think like a sonar type device) to detect water I generally see them just using divining rods. One company I know will quote to include drilling, pipework, pump, control box, obtain license. There may be some of you who do not have a license but it is the law & they will not grant a license if you have government water available.

Like the way the reporter put " around the words wise men.

This is about as much a piece of art like the infamous 9 million Baht wasting for a "Patong City" sign, which accidentally was erected in the area of Kathu.

Do you mean the sign which could affectionately be know as the leaning sign of Patong & will eventually be part of a fairly major landslide considering the land behind it must be moving to cause the lean.

Saw them yesterday on the bypass but nobody taking any notice including farang on 3 wheel m/c who was doing about 90. I agree with 50 in built up areas with homes around but the bypass does not need it just now. Good excuse for revenue raising but if strictly enforced will further slow trips to & from the north of the island. If it saves lives then fine.

How about a reality check? The world is very different for the majority of people who are gainfully employed in legitimate businesses or who have proper visas.

Under the anti corruption laws in effect in the USA, EU, Australia Singapore, Hong Kong and many other countries, 'tipping' foreign government officials is deemed to be a bribe. Foreigners subject to these laws are forbidden from doing so, and have an obligation to report when such activity becomes known. That is my company procedure and I had to sign off. If I violate, I can be terminated and reported to my government for criminal charges. All major companies are subject to the additional requirement of having a designated compliance officer to enforce this.

In accordance with the current government anti corruption measures, tipping activity is considered to be an act of corruption and subject to prosecution.

Maybe some people do tip government officials. If a tip is expected, then it suggests that something isn't right with the person expected to tip. Under such circumstances, the tip appears to be delaying the inevitable collapse of a house of cards. I find it odd that I should be expected to tip the people who are collecting monies from me. I find it even odder that I would be expected to tip a clerical worker who is paid to process the paper work. Even more idiotic is the tipping of legal counsel. If one has to tip counsel, then one should consider retaining the services of someone who provides quality legal services from the start.

There are obviously two very different world that foreigners occupy in Thailand: The legit and the murky world of corruption where there is always some problem with a copper, or local fonctionnaire, or a hooker lurking.

It's more of a performance based bonus than a tip

Call it what you like, as GK said it is a bribe if any gratuity over a certain amount is paid. Forget about whether or not this rule gets enforced or not, it is still a bribe. By tipping/bribing you could well open your self up to a whole sh.t load of problems if you offer to the wrong person. Most of us here understand the culture of corruption but that does not make it right.

What about the people who want to do things in the correct, legal way but end up constantly being pushed to the back of the queue by those who have the means & the will to pay their way to the front? The people doing this are IMO being extremely selfish & no consideration for others.

Strange - no congratulations to the police from the endless "when will they get the bigger fish" whingers !!

Ummmm...............are you suggesting that he is the "big fish"?

If I was this guys wife, I would be hightailing it out of there IMMEDIATELY!

No I said 'bigGER' fish - people on here are always whining only the couriers get caught - when the police do get someone higher up the food chain ....silence !

This might help http://www.thefreedictionary.com/big+fish

Bangkok Bank managers will issue you a letter to take to immigrations. You bring in your passport and bank account passbook. You tell them you need the letter for immigrations (at Jomtien or wherever). At the Pratamnak branch they charge Baht 100 and produce a standard letter that shows your current balance and any foreign originated deposits during at least the past 90 days. At my branch I go to the foreign exchange counter. it is a standard procedure that should take no more than 10 minutes on any day they are open.

They should update your passbook and the balance shown in the letter must be EXACTLY the same as that in your updated passbook. When you go to Immigrations bring photocopies of pages from your passbook for at least the last 90 days and you should sign each photocopy. Get the letter the same day you go to immigrations or the day before.

Don't you need to get it from the branch where you opened the account?

It would be a risk IMO. No security & the car park seems mainly for those who are there to drop off or pick someone up. To be honest I think the car park is a disgrace but better than nothing.

"Chanita said she was a daughter of the second wife of furniture factory owner Thanayos Pathumwassana, who was killed along with his third wife, two children and a maid in 2009, and claimed that she had received death threats since then."

This line says it all about the evils of corruption. The 2 children, the maid & possibly the 3rd wife appear to be innocent victims.

The other day when I did my 90 day report I was still there a little after midday but was told by one of the volunteers the immigration guys would finish those already in the room before going to lunch, which they did. Anyway just after midday there were no volunteers at their station, gone to lunch, so some European lady came in from outside & plugged in the ticket number machine as I assume it had been unplugged by one of the volunteers. She saw me watching so went back out the door but I have no doubt she would have come back in & helped herself to a number(s) thus circumventing the vetting process which in turn could mean hold ups down the line due to not having the correct paperwork. This in turn of course causes everyone else to wait longer.

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Is there anything as boring as these continuous statements ...but it happens in other corners of the world too?

It is simply a news item as it would be elsewhere. This forum is about Thai news so don't know what you expect. Perhaps if it looks boring then you should just move on instead of making some inane comment.

And that makes it right? I guess you must come from one of the places in the world that accepts such incidents as normal every day life. If so I feel sorry for you

How did you get that from my post? I was replying to someone who said it was boring. It is no way boring & items like this should be reported so as to have a true feel for life here. I am sure there is much violence going on that does not get reported nor do we normally get any follow up from the media unless it is a high profile case.

Is there anything as boring as these continuous statements ...but it happens in other corners of the world too?

It is simply a news item as it would be elsewhere. This forum is about Thai news so don't know what you expect. Perhaps if it looks boring then you should just move on instead of making some inane comment.

Looks like the government has good intentions...but they're approach could be better. They should set up certifying authorities for each skilled trade, then establish 2 levels of certification: 1) apprentice, and 2) certified. Then achievement of these would be based on work experience and a testing regime. For the workers it would be voluntary; but contractors and other employers would have to decide whether they wanted to have "real" skilled workers or amateurs; and the public would be educated about the benefits of employing certified tradesmen.

The process would have to be essentially free of corruption.

Oh, well.

2nd last sentence basically covers it considering corruption is so ingrained as it will take many years & a strong government to make a dent in the corruption here.

A proper certified apprenticeship programme would help but surely any sane employer would at least check the prospective employees credentials before hiring & then with the proviso that he proves his skills on the job before being given full time employment. I could not count how many workers we have had demanding high day rates because they were so skilled but turning out not to be.

How about using some of the unsold rice in the Thai market with a decent reduction in price. This will have a direct benefit for the whole population & will surely go a long way to "happiness". The country is already losing untold billions on the stored rice so time to cut the losses.