Trebelone

They'd do a lot better by devoting themselves to cleaning up some of the scams that tourism suffers from. Honest cops would be a good start, too. Let's face it, someone planning to spend a few thousand dollars on a vacation are going to be a lot more interested in not getting beaten up by a jet ski rental thug than they will be by the prospect of saving $50 on a visa. Of course, on the good side, it is comforting to know that if you do not shoplift at the airport, you will be locked up in a cheap hotel instead of a nasty jail and the nice policeman will do his very best to make sure you never have to go to prison.

This has to be one of the more sensible responses i have seen on this forum for sometime,unfortunately the thai government doesnt have enough money to pay the police a sensible wage,having said that i see they have found an extra 300 bht extra per day to all the troops and police helping to ...control....the red shirts, no wonder it is taking so long to sort out,extra dosh for doing almost nothing, i just wonder how they have found this extra amount of money,but can only pay the soldiers 208 bht per day to lay down their lives if there should be a war,i expect its more important to protect this corrupt government,at the end of the day when this is all over, i suspect Mr Thaskin and his lot will eventually take back power,and the tables will be turned,and then those that ordered the crack down will explain they were only carrying out orders,brings back memories of the people hung or put up against a wall at the end of the last war...for carrying out orders...

Oh well, thank you to the Reds and Thaksin for destroying Thailand.

Dont talk so much rubbish,i have spoken to many ex pats and they mostly say Thaskin was ok,maybe he was a thief but try to name a handful in high office that arent..they closed down the reds t.v channel and the government one churns out more made up rubbish daily,the army is supposed to be there to protect the people not over throw the government,otherwise Mr Brown would have long been over thrown in the uk..

And he is not in charge. Watch your back mate. If he shouts fire, who knows which way the bullets will be flying. Certainly Thailand will be flying up the UN's list of oppressive regimes and even onto US sanctions lists.

PAD, the people who wrested power from the People on the premise they were too stupid to vote, through mob rule and army control by their elite backers are now coming back on to the street to ensure that the power is not returned through the ballot box.

Can I have accurate soundbite of the day for that please on the BBC?

Nice organisation and I am not surprised they are disguising themselves as multi colourted protesters.

Once the yellow shirts go on, then the army will split.

What utter Nonsense Sir.

And how would you know,are you there amongst them or just on the side lines watching one sided news broadcasts,the sooner the red shirts get what they want, the sooner we can all get back to what is called normal in Thailand,the people in the uk dont like Mr Brown and Co,and the rest of the thieves running the government, but you do not see the army taking over,the people elected Thaskin and the people should have been allowed to vote him out,Thailand calls its self democratic,yet the government shuts down the reds telly station because they do not like what it says,There,s a party in the uk called The BNP and i havent yet read a half decent piece about them in the papers, even though they have elected people in councils etc,its called freedom of info, which obviously they have here but only if you toe the governments line.

What if they're still blocking the streets on May 15?

This statement is just more bs.

Why dont you go back to where you come from, who are you to comment, if the government hadnt shut down the red shirts TV station I suspect by tues this week it would have all died down and most people would have gone home,one rule for the red shirts and one rule for the yellow shirts,and anyway Thaskin was legally elected by the people,so he turned out to be a crook,tell me something new in Thailand,if they arrested all the crooked politicans and police, who would then run the country?

Another peaceful protest?????

Yes great for the red shirts,if the government hadnt switched off their tv station there wouldnt have been any trouble,I dont think for one moment the President of the USA likes Fox News,who are constantly critical of him and his democrats, to the state where they are really rude,but switch the station off!!!

The PM here has enough friends in the media to argue any things stated on the reds channel,no matter what was said on stage they didnt resort to violence,and anyway i personaly think that if the TV hadnt been shut down the reds would have gone home now for the festival.

Nat Jantakat, a 38-year-old lychee farmer from the north, for one vowed to keep up the fight, making light of the 37 degrees Celsius (99 Fahrenheit) temperature.

"I've been here since the first day and I'll be here until we achieve democracy."

Spoken like a true patriot. Democracy is ending the present government, sending Thailand in a downward spiral and bringing back the man on the run to restore his ill gotten gain. What a buffalo.

who are you to call some one a buffalo,go back to where ever you came from and i hope the government in power there are in power and have been elected by the people and not by the army...unfortunately in my own country the UK, the army havent moved against the Labour government,who have managed to run the country into the ground with so much debt and illegal immigration, even if Thaskin were corrupt point out to me where there is no corruption in Thailand,perhaps you might like to start with the Thai Police and work from there.

T

Probably want to avoid provoking these types of people, giving them an excuse and justifying violence. Good on them.

These types of people!!where did you get your brains from?Th e army has no role to play in this, they are there to protect the people,the job is solely the job of the corrupt police, who sole interests in most situations is...how much can they make....its pretty obvious that the reds shirts have the upper hand,the way the Bangkok post played it today was the red shirts were devided and would soon go away,Thaskin was legally elected and should have been legally thrown out by the people not by the militarywho are only interested in their agenda and promotions and nice pensions.

W

Why is it that the government seems to know all about the intentions of the bombers but can't identify those responsible?

Why is it that security laws are being applied to achieve political objectives? Can we have some transparency here, please?

So are you saying that the Thai Government is bombing government buildings? The government is not trying to overthrow itself. It is Thaksin and his Red Shirts that are trying to overthrow the goverment. Prime Minister Abhisit was very calm, cool and collected against the Reds. No other country in the world would have allowed protestors to throw blood on government property and at the feet of soldiers without reacting violently against an act that was clearly done to provoke violence. There needs to be security measures taken to protect the government's property and the people from Thaksin's Red Shirts that will not give up as long as Thaksin calls for the violent overthrown of the present government. The Reds lost. They made themselves and Thailand look like a Third World country throughout the world. Tourism was further harmed and many poor earn their wages working for hotels - thousands of rooms cancelled just in Bkk. Yeah, the Reds really helped Thailand's economy and standing in the world didn't they?!

What a load of trollope,as far as i can remember Thaskin was voted into power by the people, they should have been given a chance to throw him out at the next election,at no time was he trying to change the constitution to extend his power,like many south american and african dictators,they just charge him with being a crook,in the last year i seem to have read how many provinces have claime dfor funds for flood damage, when they didnt have any. then there,s the so called bomb detector,hospital equipment,buses, fire engines,need we go on, as far as i can see he wasnt stealing anything from the public purse, just fiddling some shady shares,and land...now havent i read somewhere about others and land? I have been in the military and been on many overseas excursions,but never been used for public unrest

this government can only rely on the army to help them out,and now ask them for their equipment want lists, and anyway what soldiers lay down their live sfor 200bht a day...oh yes i forgot they are getting an extra 300bht a day for protecting the government from the red shirts,what sort of army is this?Playing politic,s again,its proberbly that the government can not rely on their very corrupt police force,who have better things to do than protecting this government,like going out and fleecing the thai people to make up for their very poor wages.

Dont talk like a twit,comedy classic,s,Hitler killed millions, how many has Thaskin killed? Name 1 decent thai politican that has been elected..i repeat elected, that isnt on the take......I wonder how many people the current PM of Thailand could get onto the streets to support him and his cronies....

I'm not so sure its Aphisit who has got the mental disorder

The public mental breakdown of Thaksin is rather hilarious. His ongoing rants will be comedy classics in years to come, similar to those Hitler rants that are so often spoofed on You Tube.

Don't these idiots realize that most of the soldiers are just poor kids from the sticks?

That's probably why they were targeted. We shouldn't immediately assume this was the work of Red Shirts.

yes i agree.

Looks as if the guy got out of his car and was harassing the red-shirt. Who knows? That clip doesn't show what was happening to cause it.

Perhaps he was shouting his disapproval of the reds or something of the sort. But the red clearly ran over and attacked him. That is in no way justifiable.

Best for all farang to keep their noses out of it,thais, dont get involved in european politic,s and we are here so mind our own business.

It is needed. Well done.

Stop talking rubbish, this is thailand and the thai,s have a right to demonstrate how they chose fit,this is one sure way of over reaction, when will us farang just keep our mouths shut and mind our own business,

I guess the Red leader really did not mean what they said. "there will be only peaceful demonstrations"

I guess they were kidding again

Glad to see you have the only working magic mirror in Thailand and can know these facts. Seems others like this government and those that wish for bad publicity would need to do this as well. Then there is the possibility that it has nothing to do with ether. I guess that evidence and facts won't be needed by many. Please dissect the word assume.

It might be a really good idea if Farangs, with no idea about what is going on, keep their useless thoughts to themselves,whatever the red shirts are up to is no concern of theirs, unless it involves them.

This is thailand,and only the thai,s can sort out their problems,this problem of theirs has been going on for many, many years, so best stay out of it, i do not read or hear many thai,s making comments about the situation in the UK, with our unelected leader Mr Brown.

When the Thai,s have sorted out their problems then maybe they will have the right to comment on western problems, until then best we leave them to it.

" .... Since the attack was foiled, body-scanners, using "millimetre-wave" technology and revealing a naked image of a passenger, have been touted as a solution to the problem of detecting explosive devices that are not picked up by traditional metal detectors – such as those containing liquids, chemicals or plastic explosive.

But Ben Wallace, the Conservative MP, who was formerly involved in a project by a leading British defence research firm to develop the scanners for airport use, said trials had shown that such low-density materials went undetected.

Tests by scientists in the team at Qinetiq, which Mr Wallace advised before he became an MP in 2005, showed the millimetre-wave scanners picked up shrapnel and heavy wax and metal, but plastic, chemicals and liquids were missed. ...."

from The Independent 3 january 2010. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-...am-1856175.html

If public money is spent to increase safety, I agree.

If public money is spent in the name of safety, but in reality just creates business opportunities, I disagree.

If public money is spent to terrify the public into accepting more and more curbs to individual freedom and our traditional values, we ought to do wake up and do something.

This is the second time in a few days where we see examples of governments spending money in the name of our safety, without proper evidence of the effectivity of the tools they buy (see the fake bomb detector).

In the case of the underwear bomber flying into Detroit, the billions of dollars consuming secret services have shown to be bungling and acting without focus. Idem in the case of the picture of the "aging Osama".

The thing that annoys me about all this and not to sound too much like a racist is that 99% so far of these so called bombers have been either black, pakistanis,or arabs,so why must the rest of us suffer?

Treason.

Firing squad.

End of.

I think its about time us Farang kept out of Thai politic,s,and making comments they know nothing about....I,m not going to take sides only to say this,when Thaskin was over thrown by the military, the only response from the USA, was to halt military aid,perhaps people forget Honduras?

Sanctions, and so forth,Thaskin WAS LEGALLY ELECTED and it should have been up to the Thai people to vote him out if they so wished,the current Thai P.M. hasnt been elected by the people,incidently neither has Gordon Brown of the UK.

The current political impasse isnt going to be sorted out anytime soon,those that organised and took part in removing Thaskin, should be brought to book and not allowed to retire or whatever, perhaps they also should have ALL their assets seized until they have explained where in the Military code it says you can over throw an elected government.

Unfortunately in Thailand the military over the years have removed various elected officials and i can not see them changing anytime soon.

Yes, it can be that easy, but it can be more difficult depends on the luck of the draw with the officer. Also let me clarify as the last poster stated "airport", you can also leave via a land crossing. You just need to be leaving it does not necessarily mean you have to leave by air.

You said your friend went to immigration, did he go to a land corssing or airport? or did he go to the immigration office? If he went to the office please provide more information on what the process was, ie he paid and had to leave within 24hrs, was held until he went to the airport etc. Please advise.

Do not worry too much as previous comments, just make sure he has ticket and passport, he can come back on the next flight, believe me i just overstayed by a long period, paid my 20000bht and returned 4 weeks later, no problem, in fact the immigration officer told me go get visa for free from embassy come back asap.

Having just returned to Thailand after leaving for one month,i feel i must say something about those people who have flouted the 30 day visa one way ticket.If you have arrived in Thailand on a one way ticket, without a proper visa, i would like to suggest that the way you talked yourself onto the plane...you keep to yourself...this forum is read by many people including those that should enforce the laws,and each and every trick is noted,try to remember the guy who tried to use his shoe as a bomb, now many airports ask you to take off your shoes for x/raying,and i wont go into the 4 guys who tried to blow up planes using liquids...4 guys and everyone who travels suffers.

Although i can not condone what these weirdo,s have done, i am using them as an example,if you have got into Thailand on a one way ticket then good luck to you, dont go using this place to announce how you did it,eventually all the loop holes will be closed,i arrived on a one way ticket, knowing full well that i shouldnt without the right visa,i was trying to work out what i would say, when for some reason there was some confusion about where my bags were going and the check in staff forgot to check, all i will say is this, check out airaisa and buy one of their really cheapo tickets from BKK or Phuket out of the country, for a month ahead and for 18 pounds you save yourself any problems.

Hi in regard to extending your 30day visa by 7 days. Will you have a problem with your airline refusing as you will stay 5 weeks but only alowed 30 days. i mean on your departure from uk

Hi, you shouldnt have any problems if you travel with AIRASIA, they dont ask any questions and dont want to see any onward or return tickets, best airline i ever travelled with.Any other airline and they want to know everything.

Its not surprising, what with the problems with Kingpower, and changing the visa rules,I just wonder if anyone really cares in the Thai government,suddenly they change the visa rules for border crossers,from 4 weeks to 2, then only 4 times,no wonder there are so many overstayers or illegals working,instead of changing the rules they should do the same as malaysia,farangs no matter what spend their money in thailand,they dont send it back overseas, mainly because theres never enough of it,but the country would rather take a million illegals from their neighbours,and allow them to send most of their hard earned money back to where they came from,the current Thai P.M. is well educated so he must have some idea of what goes on in his own country,Perhaps the people who are incharge of immigration etc, are working to some hidden agenda?

Oldgit is spot on (which is not unusual) about the agent; avoid this one.

If you want professional advice then make sure that the agent is registered in the UK with the OISC.

Difficult to comment on the actual refusal without knowing exactly what the refusal notice says.

It seems doing everything the legal way still doesnt get you into the uk, why not go to Calais and try to get yourself into a truck or get on a boat into the canary islands,once in there,s plenty of ways of getting a uk passport, unemployment money and free housing...

HI can anyone give advice, i came here on 30 day tourist visa, have done the walk to extend twice, now would like to get 60/90 day,would have got in Hull but train fare too expensive and also then visa had to be paid for, so,i want to fly to either Perth, Hanoi, KL eg,to get 60/90 days, with airasia as they are cheapo, which place can some one recommend, as efficient and quick.

with a EU passport do I need a visa to enter Malaysia and get back out 2 days later?

No I arrived from London Stansted, as transit, they gave me 90 day visa, even though i only stay 5 hours.

By The way is there anyone who could advise, just done the second trip...walk...Buma,would like to go get 30/60 day visa, via airasia, could you suggest best place to go..eg..Perth..Hanoi..Singapore? Should have done this in HULL, but train fares etc were just too expensive and at the time one had to pay for visa.

with a EU passport do I need a visa to enter Malaysia and get back out 2 days later?