nisakiman

Well, they do say the 80s and 90s. They may have improved their record by now, statistically!

Problem with that is what if its not my number that's up but the guy in the seat in front of me ?

Yes, that's one of life's great conundrums, isn't it!

Used them LHR - BKK - LHR about 10 - 12 years ago. They were the cheapest, and an added bonus was that at that time they were one of the few remaining airlines that still had a smoking section. LHS - SVO was ok both ways, but the SVO - BKK leg was terrible. Landing at Don Muang was the most frightening landing I've experienced, everyone on the plane suddenly rediscovered their religious roots. The plane for the return journey was indescribable, The carpets were like the carpets just under the public bar in a busy pub (putrid and sticky), the seat backs were worn through with bits of foam hanging out, the plastic trims round the seats were broken and jagged and the service was the worst I've ever encountered.

Never again.

Here in Greece it's the norm - in fact I believe it's mandatory that if you own a bar / resaurant that your toilets are for public use. Maybe it's because there are no public toilets here. Personally, I will always buy a drink in an establishment if I need to use the loo, but I've witnessed on many an occasion people walk in off the street, use the loo and then walk straight out again, without even aknowledging the owner. I find it strange, but it happens. When I had a bar here, I had people stop their car to come in to use the facilities and then just leave. At the end of the day it's no big deal. You have to clean the loos at the end of the day anyway...

It's all a game really, isn't it.

What a monumental waste of time, money and energy. It's depressing to think that they'll never learn.

Keep toking Willie.

How sad. What a waste.

Yet another victim of the "war on drugs".

Yes kuffki, you are of course right in your assessment, both in the futility of prohibition, and also in the fact that there are far too many vested interests in the legions of drug enforcement agencies and their equipment / services suppliers.

Things aren't about to change anytime soon, even though it's blindingly obvious that prohibition doesn't work. Never has, never will.

It's all about where you are.

When I'm in France, I drink (and enjoy drinking) Ricard and other pastis brands. Wouldn't touch the stuff when I'm in any other country. Same as retsina in Greece, raki in Turkey and beer with ice in Thailand. It just seems right when I'm in the location.

And I do hate warm beer....

Well let's admit it, did anyone expect anything other than a rigged election?

The military have been in power there for donkey's years. They're not about to relinquish that power any time soon.

A lot of "hubs" in that article!

Did they forget tobacco?

In my recent brush with cancer at the base of my tongue, the first question

the UK doctor asked was

Do you smoke?

The second,

Do you drink?

Smoking in Thailand is much more prevelant than in the UK.

And your point is?

We all know that many activities we pursue are potentially harmful, maybe even lethal.

Smoking, drinking, snorting cocaine, mountaineering, driving, swimming, playing football, working, walking down the street, these are all potentially lethal activities.

But we weigh the potential risk against the potential gain.

For every individual, those decisions about loss and gain will be different, regardless of how well informed (or not) they are.

Thus rendering pompous asses like Nunn, and their equally pompous and misleading reports, utterly irrelevant.

The big problem with all these "expert opinions" and "surveys" is that they only address the bad effects of the various substances. What about the good effects which mitigate the risks? We hear about the drunks and we're told about the potentially baleful effects of smoking ganja, but nowhere do you see about how many great nights out were had, fuelled by a few beers, or how many millions have had their concert experience enhanced by a few spliffs beforehand.

It's all tosh. They should march all these "experts" off the end of the pier and leave people to get on with their lives as they see fit.

I"m very rich. I'm just not wealthy. I'm rich enough to give my money away to people who need it more than me. Because I pick and choose who to give it to is nobodies'business but my own.

One of the things I hate more than hypocrites is waste. I hate to see useful things tossed away. I hate to see partially eaten meals with the remainder thrown out. I hate seeing poorly constructed products break and then tossed out.. I hate to see people with boundless energy beaten down by employers who don't know how to treat staff.

I can't sit in more than one chair at a time or bathe in more than one tub at a time. I can eat what ever I want, when ever I want, but I prefer a simple meal I can prepare myself. I could drink the finest whiskey or greatest wines, but alcohol doesn't impress me. If you ask me for a drink I'm more likely to ask for water with a bit of lemon, or a cup of tea.

My true wealth lies in my two children and 3 grandkids who all love me. My wealth is also in my friends who do enjoy spending time with me. Beyond that, material things don't impress me. I've got a great big home in Canada that I only spend half a year in. And, even then I'm more likely to be traveling somewhere on a fishing journey. I've got all the "toys" I need and only replace what eventually breaks down. Cameras, fishing tackle, electronic gizmos are just tools to be used until they are of no value to me anymore. At some point I'm going to give it all away. I once had a garage sale of good stuff I don't use anymore: things like valuable vases, crystal my parents had, paintings, books I no longer need and furniture I seldom use. I sat all day and sold the stuff to earn a paltry $300. Afterwards I said to myself... "Why bother?" I'd rather give it all away to someone who needs it more than me.

I don't think of my home as mine anymore. It's just a place to store my toys and something to pass on to my kids when I die.

Good for you, Mr F. You are fortunate enough both to have money and to know how you want to use it.

You are not one who, as Oscar Wilde would have it, "knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing".

(Electric) traffic lights at 1:19 would suggest a later date. Wikipedia states such lights were first developed about 1914 in the States. Does anyone know when they first came to Thailand?

- Roger -

Thanks Roger. Good point. That was something that caught my attention as well. I looked at the object in full view but it's not very clear. However, I agree it certainly looks like some kind of traffic signal, particularly because it's mounted on a candy striped pole. If it's a traffic light, it looks like it only uses a single light. The title doesn't specify a date, but generalizes by saying it's about 100 years ago. I'd guess it might date back to the 1920's. If it is from 20's, even the latter half, then it's possible might be electric, although I'm just guessing. I too would be interested in knowing when the first electric traffic lights came to Thailand. Still, it's an interesting look at BKK long ago.

Yes, looking at the style of the cars suggests the 20s. Nice clip! Thanks.

Why always so much nonsense about a Schengen visa ?

It is a very simple system:

1) you have to apply for a visa at the embassy of the country you will stay the longest / where you enter / where you depart. But in fact.. nobody checks this.

2) EU governmentsd do NOT want a few things:

a) somebody here on the expense of the EU tax payer

somebody who stays long time as illegal

So: ad a ) show you have a health insurance + the money to pay for your stay. When you have an invitation letter from somebody in the EU to give you free accomodation, that amount is not needed to show.

ad b1) Have a proper reason to go back: permanent job, capital to take care of ( house for instance ), own business.

b2) departure ticket ( best return to origin, but .. departure to .. Dubai.. is jusst as good )

The more your papers are clear, the less chance for interview to explain or a refusal.

Last: if refused, you can complain at the Foreign Dept ( visa section) of the country who refused the visa.

Remind: it is NOT a criminal offence to overstay ( as long as at a stupid control by police as you did something wrong, you are not caught )

So, sister where you stay in .. NL sick and you want to stay longer to take care for her children? Simple trip to the police here and about sure you can stay longer.

This is NOT Thailand and NOT the USA.

This has gone seriously off - topic ! I doubt if the original OP ever got a response that was useful. That said, I'll make few comments for what they are worth. Firstly, I find Nisakiman's story just a little bit unbelievabe - coffee with the consul, etc ? Mind you, if it is true it then it demonstrates well my next comment, that is that Schengen rules are only rules when the concerned country wants them to be. The original concept of the Schengen agreement was to allow free movement within the Schengen area. I guess it does, but you have to get in first. Schengen visas are most often issued to allow free movement within the Schengen countries but the issuing country can, if it wishes, restrict entry to just one, or more, countries within Schengen. Or even for transit only through one Schengen country with entry to one or more countries. I have seen many Schengen visas with restrictions as to country.

A lot of the earlier comments are correct. You should apply for your visa from the country where you intend to spend most of your stay in Schnegen. You do not need to apply to the country where you first enter Schengen unless that country is the place you mean to spend most of your time. For example, if you wanted to travel to Italy by car from UK it would not be possible to have Italy as your entry point to Schnegen. You would, in fact, go through several Schengen countries before arriving. I would suggest that, in this example, you could apply at the French or Italian Embassy. Also, what do you do if there is no Schengen Embassy where you live for the country you want to visit . Obviously, you cannot apply there. You have to apply at the Embassy of the country which handles consular activities for the country you wish to visit.

Airlines and immigration staff operate as they wish really when it comes to applying the Schengen "rules". For instance, if a passenger on an airline flying from, say, Nigeria to Paris holds a Schenegn visa issued by Poland or one of the other "minor" countries ( as Nisikaman would propose ) then it is likely that the airline ( possibly Air France in this case ) or the French immigration liaison officer in Lagos, might say that the passenger cannot travel, and that he should fly to Poland. If he is later allowed entry to Schengen in warsaw, so be it, but he is not flying to France ! The rules don't allow this, but it is a pragmatic decision.

I have lots more comments on " Schengen ", but I won't bore you further !

I have no need for b/s.

I have his card in front of me. His name was Vassilios P Petromichelis and he was head of consular section. His wife was from Romania, and he came from Kalamata. Those are just a couple of probably easily verifiable facts (if you can be bothered to look) that I remember from when we were chatting over coffee. He was both charming and helpful. And we came away with a 3 month Schengen visa.

Not correct again because you also have to show a ticket or reservation for the country you are going. Impossible to apply for a visa in Germany if you are flight is to Spain.

Not strictly true, AyG is correct in saying that you are supposed to apply for a Schengen Visa at the country you intend spending the longest time, this is what the French Consulate say about it:

If you intend to visit several Schengen countries, you must apply for a visa at the Embassy or Consulate of the country of your longest stay.

You have to show confirmed travel bookings in and out of the Schengen Area, and if not staying with friends or relatives, also confirmed hotel bookings, but if you are flying into Spain staying for a few days before traveling to Germany, where you will be staying for a couple of weeks, you should apply for a Schengen Visa for Germany.

These are the Schengen rules, how strictly they are applied I don't know.

This is why I suggested using an embassy from a smaller country. They tend to be a little less pedantic, a little more personal, and you can often bend the rules a bit.

The first visa my wife got was for 1 month, but I was able to extend it here twice to the maximum of 6 months. The second time she applied for a visa (we were still not married at that point), I was with her in Bangkok, so I went with her to the Greek Consulate. I don't know if it was because they found it highly amusing that an Englishman was in the Bangkok office speaking Greek or what, but we were ushered through the security barriers into the inner sanctum, and ended up drinking coffee with the Consul, who couldn't have been more helpful. He gave her a 3 month visa that time, based on my sponsorship, even though I'm not Greek. I was at no point asked to give any proof of income / worth, or indeed that I was actually resident in Greece.

That is the advantage of using a smaller embassy / consulate. I think I would have met with a far more rigorous and impersonal response had we gone to the German / French / Dutch etc offices.

You have a choice of embassies to apply to

Not correct. You are required to apply to the embassy of the country in which you will spend the longest time.

That may well be true in theory, but in practise who is to know where you will be staying longest? As a tourist in Europe you are quite likely to have a flexible agenda.

Not correct again because you also have to show a ticket or reservation for the country you are going. Impossible to apply for a visa in Germany if you are flight is to Spain.

Yes, of course your initial destination airport would have to be in the country from which you applied for a visa, that goes without saying. However, when my wife first came here, she got her visa without any sponsorship from me or anyone else. And no organised bookings. She just bought a BKK-ATH-BKK Thai Airways ticket and showed them that. And the visa she got specified that it was valid throughout the Schengen area. So had she been so inclined, she could, quite legally, have landed in Athens and the next day taken a flight to Frankfurt or wherever.

I've got both Mekong and Sang Som in the drinks cabinet - they've been there for about 10 years and are both still 75% full.

It's something I've noticed in my travels, that local booze consumed locally goes down a treat, but take it back to your home country and it rapidly loses its appeal. Here in Greece I like to drink Ouzo, but when I lived in UK I never touched the stuff - tasted foul. Likewise French Pastis, Italian Grappa etc etc.

It would be a shame really if they re-brand Mekong. One of it's attractions was the indecipherable label and low price!

You have a choice of embassies to apply to

Not correct. You are required to apply to the embassy of the country in which you will spend the longest time.

That may well be true in theory, but in practise who is to know where you will be staying longest? As a tourist in Europe you are quite likely to have a flexible agenda.

When my wife came to visit me in Greece 4 or 5 years ago (before we were married), she had to have 50,000 baht in the bank, plus a letter from her employer confirming that she was in full employment and stating her salary. I would guess that now you would need more than 50,000 in the bank.

You have a choice of embassies to apply to, as your visa will be valid for all the Schengen states, which covers most of Europe. It may well be that you will find it quicker and easier to apply at one of the smaller countries' embassies (like Greece, for instance), as they will have a much smaller workload and may be less strict about the requirements. I know my wife had no problems getting her first visa to come here.

Internet censorship is wrong but I support a strong monarchy. That's my conundrum!

So too do I! But in the long term they will be under mining the institution that they seek to 'protect'

The most prescient comment in this thread so far.

Yes, MyP2P is a pretty good streaming site. You need to download a few (free) software programs to hook up to the various streamers (Sopcast, Veetle, PPStream etc) but they're small and quick to install. Reception is variable - depends on the uploader and their connection speed. Can be horribly pixellated, but other times it can be TV quality.

They stream most European soccer, but not F1. For that I use a UK based VPN so I can watch BBC. (And all the other UK terrestrial channels.) I pay for that, but it's not expensive. About £6 - 7 a month, I think.

And just what reason would I give to the BIB for being strip searched? I never wear undies and haven't been bothered in 15 years. But then I don't usually let my bits and pieces hang out either.

good lord you make my skin crawl.

That is great. At least I irritated another self righteous bigot.

Thai doctors are world-renowned for the expertise in reattaching severed penises.

Maybe TAT should get involved to promote yet another Thai cultural phenomena ?

Penis reattachment HUB, perhaps..?

Yes, and I would say a Police Crackdown on these dis-memberers is long overdue...

Do not know what interest this has in the forum so why not get the Mods to delete it

Get a life, will you,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Yes, interesting clip. Pity the interview was conducted at tabloid level - it could have been much more informative than it was.

I just read a very good article in an online mag that I read. The author (in fact it's taken from a speech he made, but all his articles on many subjects are insightful) is articulate and objective and always makes very valid observations.

Here, he is talking about the quasi-religion of climate-change activism and it's bedmate environmentalism.

A good read.