TheGhostWithin

On 7/8/2020 at 10:46 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

I just googled that name. I am shocked.

 

I have been there once, terribly terribly drunk with my sister to celebrate her 21st. I remember meeting a couple from Iran and there were a lot if Indian men. 

I remember women trying to take me right in front of my (Thai) wife, but I was too drunk to respond. To be honest a very fun night, but I discovered my dear sister had an odd thing for Indian men. 

I have no idea where this place actually is, loung (uncle) took us here when we discovered the ambassador spicy on Suk Soi 11 was closed.

I do remember it being a very interesting place that I would like to return to and are how much of what I saw was real and how much of my vision was blurred by the drink. 

20 hours ago, Dustdevil said:

I've always been repulsed by bar girls. My first Thai gf was a mid-level officer in the Ministry of Education. My second one was a plastic surgeon's RN. My third one was a very beautiful and shapely family cook in an open-air restaurant in Chiang Mai. All of these were the finest of women, real ladies (but passionate and open-minded).  I've had interest, as well, from a beautiful airport ground staff girl, and a luscious, wonderful pharmacist. Seems to me that farang men who can't do any better than bar girls are of several types (a) green 20-year-olds who think bar girls are all that Thailand offers. They could at least have visited ThaiCupid.com before traveling. (b) fat, ugly, bald old geezers who have no other choices (c) idiot sex tourists of all types. (d) guys who have no imagination or don't even try. It's so easy to meet a "real" woman in Thailand. Then there's the desperate dowries--geezers who go up to the Udon Thani area and buy their bride with a dowry (and find themselves building a house--in the wife's name, of course--and supporting half the village.)

While I implore your desire to ride on a high horse, <deleted>r those of us that have been in or around the kingdom fir a long time your post largely speaks of the fact that despite clearly having a fantastic period of time to be with Thai ladies, you have not realised that until you take the time to understand how they tick and what their world views and motivators are, you don't know them. 

My wife comes from a good background and has never worked in a bar, she is fortunate to have a fantastic education. Some of my friends that are working in bars are perhaps not so fortunate. 

Their means differ, the way they go about achieving their motivators are different, but those motivators are all the same. 

It is not the circumstances that define the woman, but the family and the friends that define the woman. 

7 hours ago, Tug said:

Finally a republican with principals you sir have my respect a courageous stand now there is potus material!

But you would still vote democrat every single time, your intent formed entirely on ideology and not on fact.

We are fighting those guys in Iraq, too. 

36 minutes ago, Credo said:

If the Chinese were going to get into bio-terrorism, I suspect they would use a biological agent over which they have control.   Thus far there is no control of this one.   It's also not terribly lethal.   

I would be interested to find out just what assistance was offered to China?

 

Probably access to AbbVie drugs on aftermarket conditions.

If you are curious, AbbVie is the company which combines both ingredients which have had an effect on the virus as claimed by Thai doctors overnight.

To be cynical, I was talking with my lovely lady (Thai) and we have realised it is one thing to steal and make modifications to innovation, it is quite another thing to actually understand the underlying mechanics to the degree required to steer it towards a different target (in this case, instead of targetted treatment against HIV, targetted treatment against the coronavirus.

For those happy to sling about the official Chinese Communist party line of "the flu is far more dangerous than this one", I would ask you this:

- The flu has a mortality rate of 0.13% as per CDC statistics (https://www.sciencealert.com/new-study-estimates-75-000-people-in-wuhan-infected-with-coronavirus)

- The flu has multiple varient mutations moving through the entire global population, which traditionally was more prevalent during winter and variants focussed on a single area. With globalisation, we now see multiple variants working in a single area and infections occuring in pockets outside of winter on a greater scale than pre-globalisation.

- The estimated mortality rate of the Coronavirus is somewhere between 2-3%. This is calculated by recorded deaths and recorded cases (14,700 as announced by China today). It is estimated there could be up to 70,000 infections in China, predominantly in Hubei and Tianjin with a single known variant. There have been unconfirmed reports of bodies being cremated without autopsy procedures being performed, meaning the death rate could be even higher.

If the Coronavirus mutated and formed into multiple variants, and agressively spread throughout the global population (around 7.7 billion people), it the scorecard would look something like this:

Deaths globally of influenza: 10.01 million

Deaths globally of Coronavirus type A: 231 million

The only reason that the coronavirus is not as deadly as the flu is that it has not had several hundred years to infiltrate the global population, and has only had 3 months inside the human body as hosts to mutate its' DNA chain to be most effective in mortality and level of infection ratios vs influenza.

This is big, they just don't want to admit it.

44 minutes ago, xng said:

 

Oh my god! Did you report to the police?

The Police were never spoken to on my part, I left Malaysia after visiting there each year 3 years consecutively, and never returned. I had some friends in Penang that were being extorted by the Police so my opinion of Malaysian Police was relatively low at the time. Sad, I had begun learning to read and write Bahasa, and had a big interest in trying to understand what being "Malaysian" meant, however my interest rapidly evaporated after that event. Not because I blamed ALL Malaysians for the event, but because I understood I could never be part of a society that bred and accepted acts against someone because of the color of their skin.

My Malaysian friends occasionally meet with me when I am in Thailand now, and my Kiwi friends have mostly all heard of my Malaysian experience.

3 minutes ago, xng said:

 

From the comments here, most if not all members are islamophobic.

 

Just as Thailand being a Buddhist country has an Islamic region ie. Southern Thailand, Malaysia seems to have a Christian region in West Malaysia ie. Borneo.

 

I had a knife held to my throat in Kuala Khubu Bahru in the market there in 2009, so I have very good reason to have distrust of Islamic countries and communities. I say this, because I was with Chinese, Indian and Kadazan friends who worked in Petronas Towers, and the entire market stood there whilst the person with his Islamic robes held a craft knife to my throat, told me Christians were not welcome in Malaysia because it was a Muslim country, and I should go back to America (I am a Kiwi).

OP: Yes, you are absolutely correct, I stand corrected I had Borneo and Brunei confused. I apologize for my oversight. But the above illustrates that the religion of peace is still being enforced on others against their will, even if it is not law to ensure this type of cleansing takes place.

45 minutes ago, natway09 said:

Malaysia is a Muslim state where further restrictions are soon going to be made in that regard.

No longer allowed external crosses on churches

Shah Alam is now alcohol free.

Sharia law soon to be enacted.

No thanks, I will stay in Thailand or even  funnily enough  look at Indonesia

Kalantan and Alor Setar are finally having their influence over KL, with those of other faiths being punished in places like Penang. Sharia law is already law in Borneo is it not?

Malaysia is a country with so much potential, however an entire generation of segregation and specialist treatment of one ethnic group over another under the veil of multicultural inclusion has caused it to fail to reach this potential.

And no, Malays are not the native people of Malaysia. They came after the Kadazan, they came from Indonesia.

Their visa system is better (on paper and from those above that have experienced it) but the environment is less ideal.

Hi all,

I have a few items which I want to send to a friend in Nakhon Phanom. I will be in Bangkok one day and Udon Thani the next. Is it faster/cheaper to send it from Udon, or from Bangkok? The items have no real monetary value, but do have a lot of sentimental value for me.

Sorry to bother you all with this question, someone living in LOS would have a far better idea than I would on answering this.

The two languages are quite similar, infact when I was there in February at a market ordering some Kanom, one cheerful lady walks up to me and says in Lao "Farang, you speak Lao very good!", Pood Pasa Lao dee mak Farang! It was quite hilarious for my friends that were with me (Thai people) to hear that.. there is a difference in accent, but that accent is evident even in the outer villages towards Nong Khai. I have never ventured too deep into Laos but can only imagine that the accent would vary so be harder to understand?

Wish I had have seen Klong Songs' post 2 weeks ago when I was in BKK looking for someone to build me a custom desk to send back. It would have been cheaper no doubt than getting the woodwork mafia here to make anything.. they want to charge me 2000 baht per hour plus materials..

To those suggesting flying with Cebu Pacific, a quick note:

I have booked with Cebu on their specials twice in the past 2 years. I have planned flights from AKL to BKK and then BKK to CRK.

Each time. Cebu have rescheduled me without consultation to fly to (a)noy(a)noy Aquino in Manila (rated in the top 5 worst airports in the world, for good reason) with no further transport to Clark/Angeles. I have had a refund in both cases but it has meant having holidays in Thailand longer than I would have liked - I am not a fan of Manila and use Clark to access Baggiou.

Please understand that when booking with Cebu to Clark, it is highly likely that you will be re-routed to an airport that is 2 hours by bus to your destination with no transport to your intended destination - they are cheap, but you are gambling your trip over a few thousand baht.

I have been in Bangkok and am currently enjoying a really nice hotel here in Pattaya. I would not normally stay at this hotel as it is about 30% above my normal spending preference. I was in Chiang Mai about 2 weeks ago and most store owners I talked with were complaining about tourist numbers.

I took my mother and sister away as the smog was beginning to pick up and I was removing black soot from my nose at night - you could see the ash in the air at the night safari at night.

Bangkok is much quieter than I am used to, I walked past centralworld last week and was shocked at how quiet it was.

Pattaya is busy around walking street at the moment because of the Pattaya music festival, but elsewhere very quiet. hotel owners with brains have lowered their rates accordingly, while those operating on traditional poo yai economics have upped their prices so high that nobody will ever stay with them when the competition is half their rates.

I don't understand why the numbers are slowing, but they are slowing.

Thanks to those that have posted, my experience with taxis has generally been good and straight forward in the past - either you run the meter and I go, or you don't run the meter and I find another taxi. This is the first time a driver was openly malicious in their actions as a result of me asking them to "follow the rules" and be fair. I often tip a good driver, so they end up getting the asking price of some of the crooks. But if the driver acts dodgey through the trip they get the metered fare and not a baht more. I make a point to look after the good, honest and professional ones.

Also appluding those who have suggested I am not "all there".. I can assure you I am but expect that when I request a service, it is either provided and duty paid or the service refused and I can find a party that will. suggestions that somehow my world view is skewed are perhaps a suggestion that others might want to look at themselves in the mirror and ask themselves if they are contributing to ongoing corruption and dishonest transactions within the kingdom.

I just wanted to give a heads up to those particularly first time travellers, as MBK is a popular destination, to be aware of this trick. As mentioned by another poster maybe I should have taken the BTS and stopped being so lazy, point taken on board. I have learnt my lesson, and will not be taking any taxis from MBK anymore.

Meters are not turned on until pax is in taxi - that is normal - and every customer would be screaming if it were not so. You want to see them turn the meter on to be sure there is no excess charge (almost at end of 35 baht fee).

Compare negatively to the Philippines? Really? Guess we will just have to disagree on that point also. I have never felt threatened in a Thai taxi - can not say the same for the Philippines.

That said you were at peak traffic and taxi changeover time period so it could be the reason taxi was not able to complete your trip (had to return cab) and your run of bad luck.

FYI: I have been using taxis in Bangkok for more than 45 years and although not always a positive experience would rate the number of cheats at well below 5 percent and none have been more than the cost of a beer or two.

You're right I did not realise it was handover time, thanks for pointing that out.

I've been coming here for 8 years.. I was having a lazy day and he had the first option of turning his vacancy light off and refusing the fare. I couldn't be bothered standing on the bts platform and would've rather sat in the cab for an hour. But I do Co granulate those who say that the solution to a broken system is for those operating it to build a new machine.

He was not taking back streets, Rama 1 Te so lotus where he yelled "farang auk paid laew" is not on the map for getting to sukhumvit soi 10 from mbk..

So my complaint was that he dumped me in the middle.of nowhere, and had I not known where to find a motorbike taxi it would have been a very long walk to find one. If he didn't want a customer, he shouldn't be operating the cab, which is the point the caretaker.government and police are trying to communicate to drivers atm.

For those saying they do not have issues catching taxis in Bangkok, I suspect the Police attempting to make the taxis in Bangkok more honest and fair and consistent is going to cause a few issues.

I have just posted a thread after a taxi driver screwed me over about 30 minutes ago.

Mods if you do not want it linked, please delete this line: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/810230-a-warning-to-those-catching-taxis-from-mbk-scam-alert/

So I was spending the afternoon picking a few things up at MBK, happy knowing that my taxi home was being policed by Bangkok Police ensuring the meter was used. I finished shopping, and waited in the line. This being about 530pm today.

It was noticable that most taxis were driving straight through, the vacant light off and not picking up passengers.

I managed to eventually get a taxi, from MBK through to Sukhumvit 11 which is opposite where I stay. <deleted>

The taxi began to move off, I noticed his meter was off. So I asked him (in Thai) if he was going to turn on the meter, so he looked a bit annoyed and turned the meter on as we were passing the Police officer on duty.

We began moving off and I was seeing streets I literally did not recognise, and I recognise most between MBK and Suk as I travel the route regularly. I figured maybe he was taking some short cut that I was not aware of and left him to do the job I assumed he did far better than I could.

So we get along the way, he stops for 2-3 minutes to open and close his boot, getting in and looking at me annoyed again.

Eventually we get to Tesco Lotus Rama 1 Road, and he tells me "I'm not going any further Farang so get out" in Thai. Real nice guy.

I responded by playing dumb and saying in Thai "I don't understand". And he then repeated he wanted me out of his taxi.

I had no choice, out I went and figure I will catch another. Rush hour, my bad luck all taxis passing me have occupants already. Had to catch a motorbike home, another 100 baht. It should have been about 60 to get home from MBK.. so I ended up paying more than I should have to get back.

Be aware guys, the Police on duty probably means well but he is not checking the meters. If you get in a taxi, make sure the meter is on before you get in, and write down the details.

My scumbags details are contained above, for anyone with links to the Police that has interest in such things as retaining tourism numbers on "quality" tourists that buy things at the malls.

So Uber finally got back to me 2 days ago... kindly refunded me 300 baht or so of my 1000 baht fare but refused to acknowledge that their system is unfair or uneven.

Managed to continue to blame me for their 500 baht flat rate price to either airport regardless of pick up...

Have now taken the advice of other users on here and registered with grab a taxi. .. will leave Uber to use in New Zealand and not use Uber in Thailand..

Travelling in Bangkok with my wife and Kiwi mother whom although I love is large and has arthritis in her knees. As such we have ro go everywhere by taxi (an extremely expensive exercise).

We were refused fare from Platinum Mall to Central world by 2 taxis before one picked us up. The first guy was so rude he called us lazy, threw his hands in the air and said "it's close, don't be lazy just walk Farang" (in Thai).

Obviously only the 100 indoctrinated drivers are aware of the new policy. .

Uber have finally (yes, it has only taken 3 days) to respond to my complaint that they charged me over 300% above a standard taxi to go from M2 De Bangkok Hotel (corner of Viphawadee Rangsit Road and Sutthisarn Road) and informed me that they charge me a "fixed rate" for any trip to Don Mueang.

I have now posed the questions "what if I took the taxi from 1KM away from Don Mueang are you telling me you would charge me 500 baht?" and also "I took one of your cabs from Lat Krabang (near to Suvarnabhumi) to Don Mueang and was only charged 500 baht + tolls - the same as the fares in question - how can you justify this?

I await their response.

I catch Uber daily in NZ and the "fixed rate airport charge" is an absolute farce which gives to a few but takes from most.

Just took a 2 Uber X cars from Sutthisarn Latprao 33 to Don Mueang. Coat me 570 baht each. Took the same route in a normal taxi yesterday for 120 baht. Tried to check their website to raise an issue and cant find anything other tjan a FAQ guide designed to reduce customer interraction.Use Uber daily in New Zealand. In Thailand.. never again. Worse than being scammed by the scum at Suvarnabhumi.

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If the above article is true, and Mr. Shinichi brought 22 million baht into Thailand (instead of it going into the organization's coffers) then the police could be the least of his worries.

Either that or the money has been brought in for another reason, which should flash warnings for the authorities.

I still find it strange that these high fliers are so often found in the exclusive Soi Buakhao area of Pattaya.......................

I would hazard to guess that these kind of people in Chonburi are fairly common. I saw a motorcycle "club" member with full escort last time I was in the lovely city of Pattaya, wearing full gang patches of which local Pattaya Thais would not have a clue what it meant.

On the Japanese front, do not know if it still happens but I used to see the guys in the bars throwing hundreds of 1000 notes at a time, like it was monopoly money.. It made life easy for me, I could sit there and quietly drink my beer or soda without being bothered and hustled with the meanest cracking on the greenest.

The Red Fellas have been in Pattaya for a long time as we know,linked with various clubs and "organisations" to preserve "order" in the city of sin. Other "bandits" of every shape, form and ethnicity have also washed up in the city from time to time and a few make it into the newspapers. The problem begins in at the border and has for some time with poor screening of inbound tourists. It would be more red tape but I do believe inbound tourists should need to obtain police clearance from their local country before entering Thailand. It only takes a few days and most of us would have nothing at all to worry about - it is only a small part of the tourist visa process in other countries. It might make a difference in Thailand.

Criminals thrive with other criminals and in the sea of tourists where we all look the same to Thai Police, one can easily camouflage in Pattaya. The problem needs to be stopped before these people hit the streets of Thailand.