nisakiman

Near Chatuchak market, not in the market itself but down one of the roads adjacent to it - Kamphaeng Phet, I think. There are several shops next to each other that sell a whole assortment of those type of figurines.

Even this forum is censored.

And I thought the whole idea about a forum is, is that you can write what you want, and then others can agree or disagree with you.

But not in Thailand.

Yes, the LM laws render all political debate on this forum meaningless.

And how many websites are blocked in Thailand?

As already mentioned, censorship in Thailand is the norm, and has been for a long time.

A couple of years ago I did a visa run to Viengchang, and on the way back over the friendship bridge (I was on a bus) I popped into one of the duty free (?) shops on the Lao side and bought a couple of boxes of Aussie wine - 10 litres. Good price (can't remember how much, but a lot cheaper than Big C!), and very drinkable wine.

No-one took a blind bit of notice on either side of the border. And I wasn't trying to conceal them. Just had them sitting by my feet.

Sounds like he left the deposit, which will probably come close to covering the month rent, if not the power bill.

The landlord certainly won't be pursuing you for peanuts like that. (Unless of course you were running a hydroponics marijuana plantation in the loft with megawatt lighting! )

As for the parking tickets, there are probably fifty million unpaid tickets floating around the various maries in France. Don't sweat it. You've got nothing to worry about.

But don't make a habit of it. These things can come back and bite you in the bum.

Small corruption is OK. Like 100 Baht to the police for speeding. Big corruption is a no no.

Corruption is corruption is corruption. Makes no difference if it's 100 Baht or a100,000,000 Baht. It's still graft.

[ And who else but reds would listen to the fat fool?

Ergo all reds are uneducated, misguided fools and all yellows are enlightened angels with God on their side. Yes?

A little partisan, don't you think?

You display a rather touching naivety. Maybe you should get out a bit more...

In my opinion, one of the major disadvantages of Nok Air is that they fly in and out of Don Muang Airport. Hopefully Thai Tiger will realise this and not follow suit.

In my opinion that is the big advantage of Nok.... It is faster to get downtown from Don Mueang than from Suwannabhumi.

But a considerable disadvantage if you want to connect to an international flight, as many do.

Except blonds, because I think they smell odd and would rather not get too close to them.

That would be the peroxide.

You should perhaps aim for a better class of blonde.

Sounds like a business opportunity to me...

And from your last topic numbers l assume you bedded the entire class.

The entire class? Get real, transam - this guy would have bedded the entire female population of the province!

Went through all this on a previous thread.

Had a brother in law who hung himself when full of cannabis, was a full time addict used to buy the stuff by the kilo with his dole, he was unemployable.

Not dangerous! Yea right.

All the drugs that are banned should stay that way and tobacco should be added to the list.

Appart from the abject stupidity of sucking a dangerous polutant diractly into your own lungs it also now seems certain that half of all smokers will die of smoking related disease.

I noticed, and there was a lot of cannabis where I lived, that taking drugs is a progressive thing starting with smoking.

Non smokers were less likely to go on to cannibis and then on to so called hearder drugs.

Ah, I can tell you are an avid reader of the gutter press, and believe everything you read therein.

"Well, it was in the paper, so it must be true..."

If your brother in law was a "full time addict", then he was the only one in the world. And if he was buying it by the kilo with his dole, tell me where he lived - I'd like to get dole money on that scale!

Sorry, Robby, but I'm afraid you are one of the "useful idiots" so beloved of governments and organisations around the world. You obviously know absolutely nothing about the subject upon which you are pontificating.

How about educating them as to what each drug does so they will know what they are choosing. It will not stop all people but it will stop some and there will be those who go for a drug with less harmful affects to them and society.

Good idea as long as it is honest education not propaganda. I agree that drugs are bad but they are not all as bad as they are portrait ed.

Or I would say, some are really bad - including those against prescriptions - but one cannot lump everything together under one label and say 'super bad' as they did in school when i was young. People smoked weed, found out that they propaganda about psychoses etc was most likely propaganda, and then questioned *all* the info given...including the fair warnings.

Yes, this is where the root of the problem lies.

My gut feeling is that had they not made weed illegal in the first place we wouldn't have the plethora of exotic psychtropics and amphetamines on the streets now.

The mere fact that the the demonisation of cannabis is demonstrably based on myth and fallacy forms the basis for the casual interpretation of warnings about the dangers of other substances.

The reason for marijuana being made illegal in the first place is in fact quite interesting. There are several accounts which vary slightly in detail, but they all basically say the same thing. You can read about it here. It's an interesting piece of history that most people are totally unaware of, despite the fact that it has had such far-reaching ramifications globally as the subsequent years have unfolded.

I heard that Belgian monks drink so much that they even brew their own beer in their churches; and worst, sell it to church comer at a profit.

http://www.usatoday....beer-usat_x.htm

Mmmm, yes. Great beer, too!

Drugs are a supply and demand product....one must have the other to survive.

Cut of the supply, it will stop.

Cut of demand it will stop.

Perhaps the area that needs to be looked at is not existing addicts but the prevention of new or future addicts. Lets get the kids educated about the dangers of illicit drug use, lets try and prevent kids from ruining their lives.

Just like they did with such success in the US in the 20s with prohibition, eh?

You are right about educating the young about the follies of taking some of the illegal drugs that are available, but you won't convince them while the current drugs regime prevails. You never heard of the "forbidden fruit" syndrome? Young people just love to stick two fingers (or one, if you're American!) up to authority.

No, unless there is a seismic shift in global (and it has to be global, not local) drugs policies, nothing will change. Drugs barons will continue to make billions, unfortunate mules will continue to be duped into reckless attempts to smuggle, street dealers will continue to cut their stuff with all sorts of crap, and kids that take those drugs cut with the aforementioned crap will continue to suffer the consequences.

And the politicians, who don't have a clue what they're talking about, will continue to issue populist soundbites about "getting tough on drugs" which is merely a euphemism for spending more of your money on an unwinnable war.

And nothing will change.

Oh well - looks like it's back to the Lao run to pick up a few boxes of Aussie red.

Poor girl. I hope they find the gang that hired her. You guys don't even understand the half of it when you say you have no sympathy etc. Sme thing in these cases happens about the same way they do with human trafficing in the UAE etc. They take the girls and threaten to kill their entre family if they don't prostitute themselves and even recruit others. Also if any of you were raised in a third world country where you see your own family and many people starving every day and have no prospects of making money through and honest living you all might just do the same.

Noone knows this poor girls personal story yet so lets stop all the smart remarks and THINK.

Many of you sit on your high horses collecting pensions etc living like kings here in LOS and never even think about the poor. Many of you even contribute to their sad lives by using them as prostitutes etc so try not to be so judgmental until you hear her side of the story.

:clap2:

Yes, a lot of people are very quick to moralise from the comfort of their ivory towers.

Many drugs are really bad for a person...and some are still legal. Some need prescription, some can be bought anywhere.

The decision as to what is banned is based on money and power, not danger levels.

And the 'War on Drugs' has only created powerful and rich drug cartells that can field an heavy armed army to fight the army of a third world country.

And politicians have invested too much of their political capital to see the truth anytime soon. Or in many cases benefit directly from the 'War', be it from the candidate being the one who is taking a 'tough stance', are in bed with lobbyists from the industrimilitary complex, drug company cartells or other, or a misplaced political belief in who should decide what others can and cannot do to themselves.

All we know is that the war has and is failing for the last 100 years.

And will continue to fail for the next 100 years if they insist on pursuing the current policies.

But then politicians are traditionally neither bright nor brave, so they will carry on pouring billions of taxpayers money into a no-win situation. Same old same old...

Solve the problem & legalise drugs.

Wishful thinking, indeed. It's been far too late for some time now. This long ideals and history of such illegal drugs and the subsequent war on drugs has long been implanted in the minds, hearts, and souls of populations - and the fabricated dark overwhelming negativity that such activities that associate. Social engineering at it's premium. If only more understood the rhymes and reasons {and history} of how this rather modern phenomena of such "bad drugs" was developed for them.....by the corporate-government national security system. And then, we are asked to turn a blind eye towards the ever-present monster that is the medical-pharmaceutical industrial mafia - which I might add - kills tens of thousands of people annually through misuse, malpractice, and the ever-popular conditioning of drugged-out societies. The real criminals will never come to the surface, as we've been slightly hypnotized as to the "good drugs" and their {perceived} well-intended properties and promoted goodness. The criminal activity and behaviour associated with 'illegal' drugs is purely a farce. Real as it might be, there is certainly no reason for gangland executions and well-established cartels behind the distribution of these substances. Why? Because they've invented such a world for you. Ever heard of whiskey or beer cartel? Alcohol, which kills and disables 100 fold more individuals than any such illegal drugs. Criminal activity? Can we recognize it? How are druggies, their associations, a real harm to a respective culture? Whereas, the real criminals of government and industry {white-collar} generally are never prosecuted nor brought to any satisfying justice regarding the crimes they commit on societies at large - whom really do harm to societal infrastructures and whatnot. Critical thinking and historical knowledge is principle in combating the real wrongs that are perpetuated among our societies.

A surprising post.

I don't agree unequivocally, but the broad thrust of your post is pretty much on the nail.

You won't convince many here (or anywhere, to be honest) however, as most have been in thrall to the received orthodoxy all their lives, and have no appetite for objective thought.

Perhaps if they increased the number of mandatory death sentences for drugs offences, this would cull the numbers of prisoners and free up more space in the cells for those sentenced to jail for more minor crimes.

How very progressive.

What would you call more minor? Armed muggings?

Maybe while they're at it they should introduce the death sentence for alcohol offences - you know, DUI, glassings etc.

They could even extend it to the whole prison population. That would free up loads of room and save loads of money. Problem solved...

Yes, yes! Hang 'em high!

Why not raise the taxes on cigarettes by say 200%? That would send shock waves through the cigarette smoking community and not only encourage them to stop and improve their health, but improve the health of those around them who don't indulge

Indeed, why not raise the taxes on alcohol by say 200%? That would send shock waves through the alcohol drinking community and not only encourage them to stop and improve their health, but improve the health of those around them who don't indulge.

Or do you like a drink, so think that's not such a great idea?

Self-righteous, holier-than-thou hypocrisy is an option. It's not mandatory.

God preserve us from the zealots...

i dont think anyone on thaivisa ended up with a former working girl so you are probably in the wrong place. try a different forum. this forum is better at answering questions about what it's like to be 55 and dating a virgin hiso thai chinese 25 year old whose parents are billionaires and support us.

Never a truer word was spoken!

The fact is that working girls can fall in love same as any other girl. It's just a little more of a quagmire than normal. There is a lot of truth in the old adage "You can take the girl out of the bar.....etc"

It's an attitute that a working girl needs to develop to survive in the industry.

I'd love to know what happened with the OP. A disaster probably, but who knows? Love can conquer all...

I kind of accept it as an occupational hazard when in mozzie country. I'll sometimes use a repellant if they're bad.

Got malaria back in the late 60s in India, which was a pain, but I think you have to be unlucky to get it. I get bitten, but I find a bit of Tiger Balm soon relieves the itching (something my wife taught me).

Mozzies certainly wouldn't stop me travelling somewhere I wanted to go. So to the OP, just do it, and take it as it comes. The repellants are very good, even if a bit clarty and stinky.

Whatever, the result was certainly not a resounding victory for the democrat party, and it would appear that had it been run under more normal circumstances (emergency rule, opposition candidate not able to campaign because he was in jail, censorship of the free press but not of the government machine etc) then the result may have been very different.

I think Abhisit and his cronies have much to be worried about after this result, and will probably try to delay a general election for as long as they are able.