ingvar

The only Swedish name in the lot is Soderlund, Smidth and Ljung do exist as Surnames in Russia. Anyway it is very easy to change names in Sweden too, specially if you marry a Swedish girl you can elect to take her name.

Although they carry Swedish passports all of them (it is fairly easy to get citizenship in Sweden) they look more Russian to me from the Picture.

Considering the murdered guy was Russian from Birth one could speculate about where their real connections lay.

Dont worry, they will build another skytrain link between Swampy and DM.

The Swampy station will be 5 Km away from Swampy so you have to take a taxi there anyway.

Meanwhile the taxi mafia will move over to DM and take over transportation services there.

You will have to take a taxi from DM to the nearest Skytrain station anyway because the DM station will be so high up in the air and far from DM so you need to climb down 10m of stairs. Apparently elevators does not work in Thailand.

I think I was sober once during a weekend about 7 years ago, it was an horrible experience, would want to go thru that again!

A good opportunity for the bag scavengers to steal stuff from your luggage on its way from makkasan to Suvabum

I don't know if any mentioned this before, didn't have time to read all post but I saw some questions in the beginning regarding the degree.

The degree is actually only needed if you are looking to work for an employer in Thailand as I understand from the documents. If you are starting your own business you need to show evidence that you have experience and skills in the proposed business activity, which leaves the matter open to interpretation by officer and hence.......

For example opening a dive shop or teaching business for a diver or a teacher with experience should not be a problem I think?

So, according the moralists, logically she cannot wear a swimsuit then? because then you would actually be able to see both legs in their full length right up the....

As I understand the karaoke bars and other establishments along second and Third roads in Pattaya, frequented by locals are full with underage girls, mostly from Cambodia, Laos and Burma. There is ample supply as indicated by the report that evidence of 200 different girls was molested.

I live in rural Thailand central region, A few years ago I was sitting in a rural local police station waiting to met an official. A mother and her son came into the station and talked to the officer on watch (reception). From the conversation I could hear that the young man had in some way molested or tried to molest a underage girl in the village. The officer proceeded to give him a very loud scolding and sent them packing home again.

Maybe the rubber bullets are from the same supplier as the exploding tear gas canisters previously used.

Another boost for that country's exports....

I suppose its a matter of how much charge you put in the shell, and from what distance it is intended to be used.

Shooting someone with a rubber bullet from 10m is probably very like to cause serious injury, if you see similar events in Europe the shooters I think is very far from the mob

What are the travelling statistics for the Takky family?

How often do the travel abroad? every week, every month, maybe twice a month? Does any one have any statistics or facts rather than speculations?

Now would be a good time to put the BS3000 red and blue shirt detector to use

Fullwhenempty and Sheryl gives very good descriptions, I would just like to add one thing that my teacher says about Vipassana meditation:

One goes through life gathering anger, frustration, sadness, hapiness, disappointment, craving etc.. etc.., like a towel that is constantly wound and wound and wound, at some point it cant wind anymore and you break down.

when you sit down for meditation, you stop doing anything, your mind is empty. You are not exposed to all the beforementioned. It is then that the towel start to unwind automatically and you observe all the old filth come to the surface of the mind (and body) and dissapear.

There has been mentioned some companies here in the context of Pyramid schemes. I do not know of the others, but I do not see Amway as a pyramid scheme. I do not like the way their products are sold and the way they gather in conventions like some religious gatherings and so on, its all very silly and I would be much happier if the stuff was sold in shops. As I understand there is a pyramid like structure of the dealers, but there are actual products being sold and actual profits are made.

On the other hand I like their products enough to tolerate buying the stuff from my Amway acquaintance. The core products are really good stuff, Everything is organic like the vitamins, Protein powder, Toothpaste, water filter etc.. The cost is usually higher than comparative shop items, but last about 3 - 4 times longer due to no fillers in the product.

I do'nt care for the cream and makeup rubbish which is not really the core but has been added because Thai people are crazy about external care rather than internal.

There are probably hundreds of Meditation centres all over Thailand That gives courses in English for free, usually around 10 days.

Yes all the places I mentioned in my previous post are taught in English.

What many people who are not familiar with Buddhism, is that it is not really a religion like in worshipping something or someone. What it is really is a method of practising Dhamma which includes deep meditation. When you see Thai people worship or pray in front of various brahmin or Buddha statues, this has nothing to do with real Buddishm but is a mix of Hindu, folklore, supersticion and ignorance.

In recent years many new and costly mediation centres and schools have been set-up by foreigners (Europeans) here in Asia, focusing on combined physical activity and meditation. But IMHO the best way to learn meditation is to go to a traditional Thai Buddhist temple or Buddhist mediation centre. The teaching is always non secular (nobody will try to convert you to any religion) and almost always completely free. There are always rules to follow at these centres, these rules are there to make it easier to learn the mediation techniques and are there for the benefit of the Student. There are many that admit foreigners.

In Pattaya there is a centre that have a quiet relaxed schedule but they want you to stay at least 6 days I think: www.meditationboonkan.org/MainProfile.htm

Another centre with a stricter schedule is located at Ban Bueng not so far from Pattaya: http://bhaddanta2.blogspot.com

The World Federation of Buddhists head office at Sukhumvit 24 in BKK gives one day instruction in English every first Sunday in the month, or maybe its weekly nowadays, check their web: www.wfb-hq.org

As previous post, I would warmly recommend the Goenka 10 day course, its free including all food and accommodation. I have done it 6 times and the first time I also had problems with hypertension, it went away after the first few days as well as my sleeping problems. Mind! it is not for the weak minded, strong determination is required. discipline is probably the strongest you will find anywhere, except for some monasteries in Nepal I think.

The Prachinburi centre is only open for Thais nowadays I think, check the web site, I can recommend the centre in Pitsanulook, it is newer and more quiet with nicer facilities. it is also colder because located in the hills.

I would say, difference between the Goenka 10 day course and other is; with the Goenka course, if you manage to stay the 10 days, you will really learn how to meditate guaranteed, its like a meditation boot camp, while other centres with lesser discipline, there is a risk that you will not learn or see any positive improvements initially, get disinterested or bored and never come back to meditation, which would be a great pity because meditation can give you so much in life.

Just get me to a riot and beat me up a bit, 10,000 USD guaranteed!

I will even speak to the press how I was beaten by the red shirts and tried to run away but I forgive them because I am a Tourist!

And I will testify how the GT3000 red shirt scanner detected my assailants too.

(GT3000 scanners on sale for only 1M Baht each at e-bay).

Ok so where and when is the next riot so I can get my 10,000 USD?

"Wut" seems a pretty smart guy, he can speak English!

What is "Pattaya times"?, never heard of it?

Fugitives from the US pops up just about everywhere in the world, why? because the US is one of the most criminal countries in the world.

One wonders why it is, just a step across the border you arrive in Canada and you are suddenly in a country where relatively few crimes are comitted compared to US?

Is there a GT3000 device that can detect red shirts, even when they dont wear one?

And maybe the army can buy some submarines (long in the planning) to monitor the red shirts with those GT3000 devices. Or they can just use the submarines to tow the aircraft carrier to BKK to protect against red shirt protesters. The harriers should be equipped with these new GT3000 devices. Of course they cannot fly but who cares.

SO what they are saying then is; they cannot guarantee the safety of tourists destined for BKK?

I think that is a worlds first for a tourist destination to announce a thing like that, except for war zones of course but they are not really tourist destinations are they?

If the safety of tourists cannot be guaranteed, what about the safety of Bangkokians???

Does any one know how exactly the credit cards get copied and how to avoid it?

I mean when you use the card in a shop/store, it is scanned by the cashier, if it is copied there it must be in some background system "behind the scene" that is connected to the scanning system. You would expect the communication between the bank and the scanner would be encrypted?

Maybe it is when you visit one of those low end shops on the street it gets scanned by the staff behind the counter?

I thought I've seen 98 at some stations but probably I am mistaken. Or maybe I remember from long time ago, since I really never look for it, only look for the one which is cheapest so rarely notice the actual octane number.

So I admit my mistake, sorry.

Most pump stations only have two tanks for the gasoline, high octane and low octane, and maybe a third for the gasohol mixture. When you want something in between (such as 95, 95 and 10% gasohol or something similar) they simply mix the two in the right proportions at the pump.

That is why it is so easy to cheat the customers. It is not the delivery truck that comes with the "cheated" gasoline, the cheat takes place at the station by the staff.

I do not understand why any1 goes to Phuket, I went there once and the whole place is a rip off from taxi to Hotels and the restaurants. The food was truly disgusting and the hotel rooms are barely holes in the wall, luckily I had my own transportation but unfortunately I could not even enter Patong because of all the Tuk Tuk all over the place.

There are so many beutifull places surrounding Phuket such as Koh Lanta, Krabi and using those places as a base for visiting Islands around Phuket for diving, snorkeling or just the beaches is much better and cheaper.

Start a campaign to boycott Phuket!