TheGhostWithin

There is infact a reason for this - when your government tells you everything is OK, that is what you believe. When you have ample access to food at cheap costs, and housing is reasonably cheap (outside of expat areas, which are now shockingly expensive), everything seems OK.

What the peopled ont know, can't hurt them is the situation here. In countries where media operate more freely, and government departments are more honest/accurate with their disclosure of the REAL fiscal and social situation, the optimism/confidence levels are more accurately indicative of the climate of the population as a whole, and as such the true future of the economy. I am quite sure, that other places such as China are very optimistic also, whereas you have India (next door) with more free disclosure policies where people are actually now getting worried and starting to react.

The Thai way is similar to the Chinese way, of covering up any weaknesses with government aid and subsidies. If the BOT actually stopped meddling with the export/import markets and currency markets, and the news agents were allowed to report the true situation, the "optimism" may not be there. As such, this is a false optimism which will be realised in due course.

I love Thailand, but nothign is perfect. Things need fixing.

Is it really such a problem? I think it is positive, that girls are allowed to show themselves off. They are not committing a crime, nor it affecting their learning ability. For gods sake, it is a bit of positive publicity that perhaps Thailand had it right by allowing their students to look nice and feel sexy. At least let them enjoy their university years. It is about expression, about growing up, and about being human whilst getting an education - maybe a better focus would be cracking down on the black african women on Nana soi 3 & 4 that wear tight clothes and harass the hell out of anyone wakling past, often physically grabbing hold of them and refusing to let go (it happens to me regularly sadly).

A better focus would be on the highschool students out shooting and stabbing each other, or the many other far more serious issues facing the government. Having literally hundreds of crack downs on various issues each year (some repeated annually, as earlier noted) does not provide good results. Maybe the politicians should look at the concept of university - does teaching the student engineering, nursing, teaching, computing and mathematics to all students all at once make Thailand a better place? Probably not. But teaching a single student to be a star engineer, another to be a star nurse/doctor etc will. Focus energies on your biggest problems, and leave the small problems until they are big enough to be worth your time.

Seriously Politicians of Thailand, it is time you started "cracking down" on something constructive, instead of picking on university students learning to express themselves.

If you want to know the rate for a given currency from so-you-wanna-boom-boom just let me know. My girlfriend works there, I can ask her to find out for you. I need to know the currency you are converting from obviously.

Also, as others have suggested the rates are not competitive. I normally only convert enough to get me to Nana and then change my money there - the money changers there have the best rates in Thailand. I have one changer who constantly gives me the best rates, she will beat all other money changers in the area. If you are interested, let me know and I will find out the exact name of the shop as my girlfriend is going there in a few days to pick up some USD for me. I also like dealing with her, as it is one of the few money changers around that is not owned by a Muslim. They do employ Muslims, but the Buddhist owner works during the day and is very nice.

I wont be subscribing to this thread, but you are welcome to send me a PM if you want the rates at the airpuerto, or want details on the money changer I have mentioned even just to compare rates .

So it's the foreigner's fault for working without at WP . Somehow I know that this would be the case.

Sorry I don't get you? The factory has been charged with hiring a foreigner without a work permit and not paying him. He's been charged for nothing and they're looking into charging the factory for human trafficking. Get your facts right!

Both you and he are looking at two different sides of the glass. I understand your logical point of view, the factory owner is being charged (possibly, nothing is confirmed).

What Otherstuff was stating, is that it is a light penalty for a very serious and horrific sounding situation for the Ukranian man. The attitude by some Thais, and an issue for many years from the Thai government, is that Farangs are dispensible, and maybe even worth less than a Thai. The process of getting a visa, the laws surrounding ownership of business and property are testiment to this issue. Here, you are not even allowed to apply for a job without a work permit. Employing smoeone without a work permit is a crime and the business would be fined heavily, the worker deported.

The DSI have basically said that the Farang deserved not to be paid, because he had no work permit. I am sure, someone as highly skilled as it sounds he is (he is some sort of engineer if I recall from the original story) would not enjoy working without a permit. Ask many English teachers, whose employers also refuse to get work permits for them (to avoid cost, or because they already employ too many foreigners vs thai ratio). Are they also in the wrong? They are providing the work of the same quality with or without the permit, it is the employer who is:

a) employing the person without a permit, and ;

not following their own countries laws in giving the farang the opportunity to work legally

For too long, the Thai establishment has been taking advantage of Farang who love the culture.. I wonder if that is why now Thailand is shrinking in popularity (it is, no matter what any government group will tell you), and Vietnam, Cambodia and the Phillippines are growing. Go figure. I love Thailand, but I do not love the way that some are cheated by the government.

TimTang,

Your statement that Thais receive training in Terrorist camps is true - before Iraq and Syria, now the Phils and particularly Indonesia, Malaysia.

The latest bombing happened in Yaha district, less than 2 hours from the Malaysian border. The weapons and violence are coming from Malaysian borders, and are being funded by (as you suggest the Saudis, possibly, though I have no proof of this), Muslim businesses within Thailand (I NEVER buy from someone I can see is a Muslim, even if it is the last drop of water on the planet), and drugs coming from Malaysia. How do you think they get all of those new motorbikes in the south if they have such high unemployment?

The government should not bow to these terrorists, instead they should be closing the Muslim schools in the south, and have government run Muslim teaching institutions where the Government has complete control over what is taught - in THAI language, and Thai script writing.. none of this Malaysian writing rubbish. The border needs to be strengthened on both Thai and Malay sides, and anyone going in or out needs to be checked much like the system in USA. I’m proud of what the soldiers do, and admire the Buddhists for holding their ground.

Appointing Muslims to power to satisfy them does not work - in my own workplace, we took on a Muslim within management, and since then his "brothers" are the only ones to receive promotion while my fellow New Zealanders sit and watch Muslims promoted above them, even though the Muslims are only new to the company. Remember, anyone who is a non believer is the enemy - they never lose sight of it, nor should we - and we should act accordingly, as they do. They would not promote us before their brethren, so why should we? The only ones who have repelled terrorist acts are Israel, and love them or hate them their example is the only way that has worked. I small city state that has repelled every terrorist organisation you can think of, and done a dam_n good job of it.

Remember, the Muslim religion is fighting a "holy war" against Buddhists in Thailand, against Catholics in Philippines, Christians in Indonesia, Christians in Iraq, Christians (the west) in Afghanistan, Christians in Sudan, Orthodox Christians in Russia, the Chinese in western China, the government of Myanmar/Burma (from Aceh province) , and Hindus in India - that is just off the top of my head, now, tell me who is the real aggressor? Show me one other religion fighting against as many religions as this, at any one time. I don’t buy from Muslim shops, don't interact with Muslims, don’t employ Muslims, wouldn't sell my land to Muslims. This PC approach to stopping terrorism and Muslim aggression has to end if we are ever going to have peace.

Another cheapskate trying to wangle out of thousands of years of tradition.

Pay up!

Is that like Thai culture..... and the Thai national dance the Ram Wong.. you would think THAT would be several 100 years old..

NO it was designed in 1932. Because the dictator/ head of state at the time decided that Thailand had no culture/ forgotten it's culture. So thats when A LOT of Thai culture happened.. So when did sinsod start and how did it start?

Is it possible? 1932? ha ha.

Almost every girl that I ever joked with about it, seemed to think 1 million. Some of those normal girls, some of those bar girls a few years ago when I frequented those kinds of establishments. 1 million baht is an insane amount.. I am 25 years old and 1 million is about 6 months of my salary before expenses and before tax. Im happy to pay a sin sod, but when it begins to infringe on the intention (proof that I can look after their daughter) it becomes too much. Completely understand the paying based on what you get type deal.. my partner has a university degree and works hard.. I would much rather have her than some lazy bar girl who thinks all problems will be solved when she opens her legs and if they arent all she has to do is open her mouth. I feel sad for some guys I know, who have ex bar girl wives, some of those girls are great and lovely but some still behave like bar girls 5-10+ years down the track.

I have not delved into the sin sod side of things with my partners family yet, and it is not something I am particularly looking forward to - probably one of the low point attractions of having a Thai partner. Not just because of the potentially insane financial cost, but that I come from a traditionally British styled family and my parents would see it as me having a mail order bride type agreement. We shall cross that bridge when we get there, I guess.

An alternative is the Siam Commercial bank, where I find the staff more attractive than the Bangkok Bank.

http://www.scb.co.th...b_dps_fcd.shtml

Says you can open an account at any branch in Thailand, and suitable for tourists! I wonder if they will open one with just a 30 day VOA ticket?

Hi there,

Do yo know what the fees/rates are for deposits and withdrawls? I cant find them anywhere. My wife will set the account up, so will be under her name. I cant find the information on their website.

It is high time, that Malaysia stepped in and accepted that it is some of their own citizens who are causing this mess.

My respects and condolences go to the families of those that died, for without the army and the Police in these provinces, they would truly be very scary places. Think Iraq, surrounded by jungle and not knowing who is watching you. These men risk their lives every day to stop the violence, and I only have admiration for them.

A large part of the problem, is the smuggling of drugs from Malaysia into Thailand via these states - it is no coincidence that they are along the border with Malaysia.

I know that it may be a little out of the Thai budget, but this would be one place where drones used soley for tracking purposes would pay huge benifits to the government. Only then, would they start to see patterns in the terrorism. Would the terrorists comje from/run to the same villages? Would they come from common ancestry? Would the offenders be members or associates of the same Mosques, or Fundamentalist Islamic schools?

The fact that these schools, where only Islamic ways are taught are even allowed to exist, puzzles me. There should only be government schools, whereby Islamic teachings are an elective - this way, the government would have far more control over who is teaching, and what they were teaching. The only way the south can be won, is if the walls the terrorists are putting up, are pulled down faster than they are made.

This means rewarding those that are good, and alienating those that are not. Those that offend for ANY crime in the south of non Thai citizenry should be deported, no questions asked. The death penalty, as well as serious jail time for anyone (including family) who is found to have known of the intentions of terrorists must be enforced - not financial hardship pyouts when their family members bombs explode inside apartment buildings.

No surprise, and no surprise of the countries which they predominantly eminate from. Though, sadly to Thais, if you have white skin, Latino, Russian, European or Australian, we are all the same.

I hope, that any steps taken to stop this activity (e.g. restrictions on maximum stays, reporting etc) will be evenly applied, meaning that only those of offending nations will be punished, perhaps encouraging those same nations to be a little more selective on who they let out of the country, and what information they provide to any country these people visit.

I know as a New Zealander, I have never met a Kiwi or Australian organised crime person, though Im sure they exist. Would hate to see our guys punished by further restrictions because of what some Russian or South Americans who do not even speak a common language to us did...

Hi all,

Point has been taken with regards to the fact that anyone of a reasonably high qualification, as well as in some cases just being farang, you can be percieved as knowing more about medicine. Perhaps this person is playing on that a bit, as he often introduces himself by saying "Hi, Im Dr. X", even in public. I get the feeling he does it for a little bit of attention, and to command a bit more respect than he would otherwise have (as I said, Ive seen him do a few things which would be arrestable offenses here). In New Zealand, to put Dr. before your name, regardless of the circumstance is actually a criminal offense unless you are a medical doctor or have a PhD, in which case you would need to also note what you are a doctor of, as I understand it.

I guess, for now, until Thailand advances their laws by a thousand years, all I can do is try to keep my friends safe. They are adults, but naieve on such issues, as they genuinely believe he is a doctor, whereas I do not. I shall follow up by finding out what exactly his area of speciality was back in the US of A next time we speak somewhere in the village.

Thanks for your help and advice everyone.

Thanks for the informative posts guys, have been very helpful.

The person is not practicing medicine, or claiming to practice. He simply signs everything with "Dr" before his name, and talks about how he is now retired in Thailand (which he is), and is substantially better off than many other farangs because of his background. He is one of those people you get a bad feeling about when you are around him, and I have seen him do a few questionable things I wouldnt expect a doctor to do, nor any other respectable person. Do have a business card with the title "Dr XXX XXX" on it, though it is basically just listing various organisations he claims to be involved with (anyone heard of the Royal Diamond club btw? The only thing I turn up, is a frequent users spa club in Bangkok).

Really, this is a bit of advanced work should I need the information later, as he is mixed in with a few good friends in the kingdom (Thais) who think that every white man is good and honest - these are not run of the mill bar girls, but proper nice people working in decent jobs. Theyve looked out for me many times in the past in similar ways, so feel abliged before they eventually get screwed by one of these sorts.

Will do some further talking with him, as he claimed he worked in sports medicine, with a few prominant american sporting organisations. Doesnt seem to be anything coming up for him on the doctor finder mentioned above though.Sorry for the lack of info.. dont want to defame someone if they really are a doctor

Hi all,

Just wondering if there is any way to verify if someone is actually a doctor (foreign national). The person I have in mind is seemingly nice, but want to do some background checks on him before associating with him. Good to know who you are friends with these days. This person resides in Thailand and is a nice American chap. Have googled him, but apart from the term Dr. being put before his name, can find no record of him ever praticing either locally or abroad. A bit of a concern.

Also, can you confirm if it is infact illegal (as it is here) to pose as a doctor, if you do not have a practicing certificate?

Not looking to make problems, but trying to understand someone a little better and confirm some claims they have made on their background. Would prefer some knowledge from people in the know, as it is quite hairy having to dig up someones trash and can cause issues without the right information being given at this point in time.

Thanks for your help.

Have spoken with the girlfriend and she knows nothing about any Crystal anything airlines. Seems by the responses of others too that this is probably not real, sadly.. as the Manila flight wouldve gone down a treat. Philippine Airlines is too expensive, Thai Airways is too expensive (on a global scalle now sadly) and Cebu Pacific have great prices, but fly out at midnight.

My girlfriend works at Suvarnabhumi check in counters. she would handle most of the smaller airlines so would know if a new airline was being launched. I will ask her, then get back to you tommorrow when I wake up.

I am going through this right now with my "good friend", for the purposes of the visa. The difference being, I am an NZ national. The key, as with any visa is to plan.

The NZ immigration website and the corresponding visitor application form will list every document you will need to supply.

Plaese remember, the funds required for each of you to enter NZ ($1000 per month if I recall of the bat, dont quote me on it) must be in HER account for her visa, and in YOUR account for your visa - my friend had his girlfriends visa denied for this purpose, even though they could see the money was in his account. Also, you cannot be seen to gift her the funds, so she must be given this in cash and deposit it herself into her bank. Immigration will check these things. They are strict on Thai Nationals since way back, which is a pity considering how we are treated so well by immigration in the Kingdom.

She will require a return flight booking prior to visa application, as Thais cannot leave to NZ without proof they intend to return. From both Thailand and NZs perspective, they want proof that your partner will not overstay - generally those with businesses, study inside Thailand, land, or a powerful family at home get visas first. Doesnt mean to say others wont get visas, though you just have to do everything exactly as worded in the application well in advance.

Your partner cannot bring any exposed fruit, plants or other eating products into the country without declaring them - a lot of what you delcare will be siezed. She can bring in virtually anything that is factory sealed inside a container, and MAF (the agriculture department) will usually be OK with it. You may want to bring some Singha and Chang, it is bloody expensive here nowdays.

"But they'll get a good night's sleep."

maybe thats the long range plan ( if there is such a thing as long range plan in Thailand) well rested tourists spending money during the day time,

Patrons of these kind of establishments come to Thailand to party, and spend far more in the night than they ever possibly could or would care to during the day. I would say, that making these kind of tourists leave, may make a fe "good" tourists come, though the overall balanec sheet would shrink. These kind of tourists also spend, but in another form. They dont buy "I love bangkok" shirts, or laptop computers. They already have those. They came back to Thailand because it is one of the best places in the world to party at a good price. Trying to remove the party atmosphere from one of the places some Farangs (not including myself by any means btw) like to visit can;t be a constructive thing for tourism, or for the Thai balance sheet.

I have worked in jails in the states plus have had a family member incarcerated. State jails and prisons are no fun, but medium, low and minimum security federal "correctional institutions" in the states like where Bout is are entirely different. They call them. "Club Feds" They are more a campus than a prison. They have dinning halls, TV room for each race, libraries, computer centers, sports programs, fitness centers, music centers, pool tables, minimarts, (expect Bout to gain his weight back), community colleges and other education programs. The cubicles don't even have doors. Bout is certainly enjoying his day to day existence a hell of alot more than he was in Thailand. The problem he has with the US jail is he is likely going to spend the next 2 decades there.

He has one other thing he has to worry about. There are 4 types of people other inmates will kill or assault to gain cred. Child/women abusers, snitchs, cops, and terrorists.

I would say, in most US prisons, there is a Russian/Arian population sufficient to protect Mr. Bout. Also, he would probably be able to deal for his safety guarantee as well, from the other organisations within the population. Remember what Mr. Bout has been extradited for, and that groups within the population are after what only Mr. Bout can get is hands on. Also remember, he is a hero to the underworld in Russia, and would not be seen as a terrorist by many. He has also done legal business with the Americans - it was his planes which initially took weapons into Kurkuk at the beginning of the war on contract with the US Armed forces.

That is not taking into account the protection which Mr. Putin will have Obama guarantee considering a Russian citizen is incarcerated. There is evidence that I read somewhere which links members of the Russian Federation with bouts activities. Though, without the links I read I guess it is hearsay.

I am expecting recession in China and possibly also India due to inflation and overheated housing markets in tier 1 cities in China and Hong Kong.

If this happens, those markets made like porcelin towers will fall back to where they were pre-lehman, and pre-european debt crisis.

you mean China and India will boom even more than today? because that was the case pre-Lehman and pre-European debt crisis.

Quite the opposite - their economies are built like a house of cards. And if the North Korea thing starts becoming bigger, and the money which has made China grow is withdrawn.. well you have serious liquidity problems in China, and the REAL value of the Yuan will crash.. rather than the value the Chinese government imposes on the world. Just remember, countries only grow because of foreign investment or because of technological advances, Chinas growth was based on foreign investment, vs. the growth of the USA and UK when they had booms, which were both based on technological advances.

Pakistan is an issue for India, as well as inflation, as well as the fight back from the rest of the world to stop outsourcing there (some US states now prohibit outsourcing to India for certain fields). When you get the market demand increasing locally to have higher wages etc, but the real supply (of work) to the market shrinking, that creates problems with growth in GDP.

GB£ 1.00 = THB 46.715 today.

What do we expect for 2011? Will it possibly go as low as 40 at some point. UK's doing pretty bad all round with regard to low or negative housing growth, consumer spending down and low GDP figures when compared to SE/asian economies. I could be wrong but I see the baht getting stronger yet over next 12 months or beyond.

I am expecting recession in China and possibly also India due to inflation and overheated housing markets in tier 1 cities in China and Hong Kong.

If this happens, those markets made like porcelin towers will fall back to where they were pre-lehman, and pre-european debt crisis.

The world markets are cyclical, and very rarely ever diverge. This is how people like Warren Buffet make their money. It is 80% understanding and interpretation of the cycles, and 20% luck. China is next in line for recession as it is next in the food chain.

What is down, must one day come up. At least that is what I thought until I looked at the changing demographic of the people dictating the growth of the English Economy. The social policy of the UK has ruined its economic outlook, it could not be said more plainly than that.

Many rich Brits have now left to places like Australia, New Zealand, and the USA.

Unlike the USA, which is also multicultural, the UK is multiculturally imbalanced and lets the voices of minorities overpower the voice of the majority. So sad, that my ancestors have given up their homeland to large groups of vocal ethnic groups who now seem to dominate England.

I was in Yala and Pattani provinces in November, and although foriengers have not been targetted it was quite clear that there are two sides.

Driving through Muslim neighborhoods, people were coming out of their houses looking at you as you passed (I was with Thais and the only Farang).

A few KM from where we went to the Temple, a family of 5 thais were shot in their vehicle that day.

Upon entering, I was warned by the family not to answer cell phone calls whilst in transit, not to send sms messages and not to call back any missed calls - these can set roadside bombs off. Army check points pretty much run between every village, and more heavily so in the divisions between Muslim Villages (which are msotly filthy dirty, with rubbish along the roads and their Malaysian style houses with Malaysian writing rather than Thaiscript) and the Buddhist Villages.

We went to a festival, and the entrance to the temple was lined with soldiers holding loaded M16s and checking all incoming vehicles, which is not somthing anyone would be used to.

Going into the Buddhist areas, people were literally amazed to see a Farang, and were the kindest and friendliest people I have met in Thailand bar none. Even the monks at the temple seemed to be curious as to the presence of a Farang - I would not have gone there without very good reason, which I had. I have the luxury of speaking some Thai, so could converse a little. Great food, but understood where I was and stuck close to my friends.

Of note, went into a 7/11 so dirty we had to walk over top of large piles of newspapers and packing holders to enter on the way to Hat Yai, not far from Songkhla, and upon entry myself and a Buddhist friend were stared down by a large group of Muslims and made clear we were not welcome. I was told "we have to leave here, we cannot shop here" by the friend, and we had to find a less intimidating place to shop.

The red shirts, are nothing to the intimidation of having to surround government schools and Wats with military checkpoints, Police stations with large checkpoints and clearly being made to feel extremely unwelcome by the Pasa Bahasa Pattani speakers to a large degree.

It is so sad, because I am sure that there are some who are willing to Co-exist, but also a group who wish to have schools teaching only under the muslim ideologies, with a Malay styled kampung/village hierarchy and wish to punish those who do not follow their lead.

By the way, I do not see myself as bias, I also speak a moderate level of Bahasa Pattani, and do have Muslim friends - I am an athiest.

"Around 30 shops in Ubon Thani have closed, especially those that have a sticker reading "T-G-TK" - a signal that they have the police in their pay. The stickers have reportedly been removed to cut down the chances of them becoming targets allegedly at the suggestion of local police."

So what this is saying is the Police told the shops to take down the stickers so they wouldn't be raided. I thought they were suppose to be arresting these people not hiding them...

The shops are in Udon Thani, and the Police there are as corrupt as they come. They let the red shirts burn down the Town Hall there and did nothing.

To open any business as a Farang there you HAVE to pay the Police or you get shut down. If you run a night time entertainment venue (dodgy or not), you HAVE to pay them. If you are a Farang and you are pulled up for any reason, you HAVE to pay them, regardless of uif you did wrong or not. Every friend I have had in Udon that has been pulled over by them has had to pay some sort of fee.

From what I can read (between the lines) on this article, 1000 were arrested in relation to drugs. 4 of those were persons of high interst to Police. Some others were wanted for other crimes, related or unrelated to drug activities it does not mention.

A large number of those arrested were on the Police books, indicating they had evidence of historical dealing, or use, rather than actual posession o use.

Sounds to me like 696 were taken in, on questioning related to drugs and that some of those (an unmentioned number that will probably be created later by a roll of the dice) were arrested for actualy posession.

Good on the Police for getting rid of these scum. Great suggestion , to remoive those African dealers that hang around Soi 3 and the area between Soi 11 and Soi 13 on Sukhumvit - those guys are annoying punks. Most of them do not have valid visas either, or run on ghost jobs to hide their real activities.

Go the BIB for doing the right thing.

I wonder what the CHinese Government would do in reaction to world leaders banning the use of Chinese Language in their countries? There are shop keepers here in Auckland that cannot even speak English to explain a product to me, and only know how to say the numbers (e.g. Two dollar fifty).

Sounds like China is taking Lessons from North Korea.

Now I know why I go to Thailand and spend my tourist dollars, and not China. At least Thais are prized for knowing English, and we are prized for knowing Thai (usually).

I shall read labels more closely and ensure I do not buy the products of a country that stands against the language I speak by avoiding their (crappy, unreliable) products.

Hi all,

i am looking to bring some New Zealand honey through as gifts to my partners parents when going to see them in a few weeks.

Can anyone tell me if Thai Customs will have issues with me bringing through Manuka Honey into the Kingdom, provided it is unopened? Many thanks for your help.