benthai98

Yeah, BFB is a great place. We play L5R and Malifaux miniatures game there all the time. Great way to spend the weekend - although continuous visits do reduce the thickness of your wallet.

hehe...

We've been asking the same question.

We've just created the Facebook page "Warhammer 40K - Pattaya" (search for it and join up) in an effort to find people to play with.

hey guys,

I live in Bangkok but work in Pattaya.

I have about 1,500 + of both Dark Angels and Goff Orks.

I'm not sure when I'd have time to play here in Pattaya but it would be great. A work colleague of mine is putting together a Blood Angels army.

To be honest; we paint more than we play.

My name is Ben; nice to meet you.

You're a fast reader, I just wasted an hour.

hehe...

7 pages of utter crap... can I please have the last 20 minutes of my life back...?

I assume he means he's living in a PTT (company) housing compound and looking for similar persons to play squash with?

If living in Pattaya he can go to the Pattaya Squash Club every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 17:00 at Ambassador Hotel.

ahhhhhh - don't i feel silly.. :-)

My level - chubby beginner... :-)

Where do you play in Pattaya? I play with the wife and friends in BKK but can always chuck the racquet in the car if you don't mind going soft on a wheezy, puffy noob.. :-)

We play at a very nice sports club, Parkway Chalet, on Raemkhamhaeng (Minburi end). A long way from you city guys though. Great sports club and anyone can use the squash court for 60 Baht an hour.

look again the soldier in the back of the truck is armed.

This is kinda sad really.

I may be wrong but I can't imagine a mob of people would be able to approach a convoy of armed Australian soldiers. I would assume that as soon as a crowd came within a certain radius of teh vehicle guns would be pointed and ultimatums made.

The fear in the soldier's face and their reluctance to use their weapons just shows how difficult this situation is.

To be shot for your troubles is a little low though.

or it could be this one that gets the award

reds shooting a soldier

I wonder what response levelhead will have for this? Pretty disgusting really.

WE live in a country where 'think too much' is a bad thing- where 'serious' means clinically depressed (him seriout too much- go hospital). Where children are taught to whom and how to kiss ass before they are taught to speak- where critical analysis of Thai culture ultimately leads to prison- where kriang jai and conflict avoidance are regarded as noble traits rather than the institutionalization of meekness and obsequiesness... where everyone is reminded daily that they are children of a loving father- where initiative is regarded as dangerous- how else could this have played out?

Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Whose gonna do it? You? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for San Deng, and you curse the army. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That San Deng death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a dam_n what you think you are entitled to.

Did you order the Code Red?

You’re Goddamned right I did!!

Huh? Are you nuts? Or didn't bother reading my post before responding.?

hehe - "You can't handle the truth...!!!"

[

2 years ago but I went through the VFS centre.....others on here have gone through the embassy stating that it fast tracked the system but it really isnt much of a shorter route.

Thanks guys. I didn't think so. I've tried to find alternatives but the embassy just end up sending me around in circles.

cheers

I have a slightly different question that you guys might be able to help me with.

We have been married for about 5 years now. I'm Australian, my partner is Thai. We live in Thailand.

My wife works for Thai Airways which means we pop home to Aussie for the occasional weekend etc quite regularly. Every now and then, however, we try and pop home to see mum & dad for a couple of weeks at a time. When this happens she has to rely on her tourist visa, as opposed to the work visa she uses when flying.

Since the visas are being handled by a contracted company now the process for her to apply for a tourist visa means she has to leave her passport with them for a week. As she flies internationally a couple of times a week it means that she needs to take a week off work just to be able to apply for a tourist visa. This is becoming tiring.

I've noted a 'partner' visa though this seems to be aimed at people migrating into Australia. We don't currently have any intention of living in Australia.

My question is whether anyone knows of any fast track process that would allow us to get a visa to travel home every now and then; without having to take a week off every year for a tourist visa. Alternatively; are they likely to give us a tourist visa for longer than a year (her work visa into Australia is for 5 years) as she is married to me?

This is going to be either a very long winded topic full of every one's opinion about the varying women in their lives OR it's going to be closed by the mods after the 2nd or 3rd demeaning comment about the OP or Thai women.

Either way it should be fun... :-)

I was 17 when i came here. Lived with a Thai family. I went to local school and picked it up like any other person I guess. I remember sitting in class for first 3 months or so bored sh*tless with a constant headache. I couldn't even count to 10 or name the days of the week when I came. Math, science, history, religion etc etc. Not fun at the best of times; even worse when you have no idea what is being said.

As was fashion at the time (1992) we were all in to comics. I used to sit with consonant list in one hand and a comic book in the other. Slowly I was able to string together the characters and form words. Helped immensely with vocab but not with spelling. As I found out later comic book spelling and language is not always best.. :-)

The only short cut I can think of (and it's anything but short) is to speak Thai whenever possible. I didn't have the option to speak English back then. There wasn't anyone around to speak to.

The only way to learn a language is to use it.

BBC World News wonderful interview on Hardtalk yesterday with the P.M. very hard hitting interview about what and who created this mess.

You must have watched a different interview to the one I saw.

The one I saw was conducted by an ill informed journalist who had already made her mind up regarding the state of Thailand and the PM's responsibility for it.

When the PM started to provide a decent answer to one of her 'observations' she cut him off saying his comment was long winded (can't remember her exact term) and in depth. She showed no intention to gather or assess information but rather attempted to point the finger.

This and the fact that her answer to the country's problems was that he resign and 'give the people what they want' just astounded me.

Life is what you make it. There are things that drive me crazy about Thailand but nowhere is perfect so you have to make a judgement based on the pro's and cons.

I came here married and now I am single. I set up a business and, through working extremely hard, have seen it grow and become the most successful of it's kind in Asia. Even though I started it at the beginning of the worst recession in living memory and with all the current political turbulence it is still going strong.

I am investing millions back into the economy which everyone tells me is madness. Just like everyone back in the Uk told me it was madness to start a business in Thailand.

In two years I have created a life and lifestyle which would be the envy of many (except the working hours!!).

ANyone moving to any country and expecting to live like a tourist is going to be disappointed. A holiday is just that; a break from reality. It is never the same when you live full time somewhere.

For all its faults Thailand can be a great place to live. As long as you accept that there will be things you don't like.

Advice to others: Learn Thai, roll with it, get a job or interest, have fun. Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.

nice post... Always nice to hear someones opinion that doesn't resort to abusing someone else's... well done with the company etc by the way too...

Right. My salary here is more than double what I would get in Australia. The house I bought here would cost triple in Australia.

***Handy tip: Don't get involved with a bar girl. That's a free one.

I'm with you mate...

And the 'majority' of Thais are willing to put their country in these safe hands?

Bring on peace and prosperity for all !

I wouldn't say the 'majority of Thais'.

Just because the majority of the red shirts comes from the most highly populated area doesn't necessarily mean the majority of the most highly populated area supports the reds...

Although it might hold true in this case... :-)

- I stopped holding doors open for other people.

haha - I'm afraid WTK has us all beat... I still find myself holding doors open. Though, i will admit, the longer the legs on the walker seems to have some effect...

So let me get this straight.

The six main Red Shirt leaders include:

- A veteran politician who has twice served time in prison. Once for backing a failed military coup and once for insulting the country's monarchy. Despite this and being banned from politics for five years for electoral fraud in 2007 he is a red shirt leader.

- Jatuporn Prompan,who has parliamentary immunity from arrest.

- Nattawut Saikuar who failed to win an election again during the 2007 post-coup poll.

- Doctor Weng Tojirakarn who has a tendency to talk in terms of old Maoist guerrilla tactics , fled into the jungle after a student-led communist uprising in 1976, involved in"Bloody May and joined the anti-Reds "People's Alliance for Democracy"

- An ex- pop singer who led the Red Shirts to storm a regional summit in April 2009 and who dramatically escaped a Bangkok hotel by climbing down an electricity cable, claiming he had survived an assassination attempt.

- And the"Rambo of Isaan" a hard-core activist who attacked the prime minister's car .

hmmm... Kinda explains a few things huh...?!

Hahaha...

Hear hear

don't be like that... ;-p

Where where????? there there???? do you mean ' hear hear'?

umm... maybe... :-)

It's late....

wasnt from working out with the monks then?

hehe...

They don't want to give us credit that actually we do care about Thailand and sincerely do not like Thaksin and the reds and the misery many of us feel will be visited on Thailand if they manage to prevail.

here here....