connda

It's just all with the purpose of making us feel welcome and comfortable here...

It's all for our personal safety and to make sure the ISIL, ISIS, IS, Daesh boogeyman doesn't put a cap in our ass. I mean, really, what else could it be?

We had visits after the Erawan fiasco. I didn't even bother going outside, just let the tiirak do the talking. Christ, I've lived here 8 years, locals all know me. Wasted gas money for immigration as far as I was concerned. I refuse to even deal with Immigration this year. I've already hired a Visa Agent. Chiang Mai. If you live here or have read the threads you understand the Cluster Fox Trot this immigration office has become. So I have a visa agent, and my wife of 8 years between me and the I/O who never talks to me anyway, even though I understand what they are saying, and I'm just fine with that too -- excessive hubris and nationalism. If The Land Of Smiles keeps pushing, they'll lose their 'cash cows'. I have no problem leaving the country. I won't return to my own either. I have other locations scoped out. It would destroy the world of my family and extended family, but if that's what Thailand wants, keep pushing. Not too much intelligence in the Land of Smiles bureaucracy imho.

Coming out of the closet?

Has anyone sent this article to that British newspaper which shall remain unmentioned. They'd have a field day with this.

God help any foreigners engaged in that immoral game of -- canasta. OMG! Gasp! <women faint>

Busted for playing Bridge. Hello Facebook.

God! That is all we needed and another Sexually Transmitted Disease that kills you. All we had to worry about as a teen was getting the Clap that could kill you. The Clap didn't kill you. But your Girl Friend did.

Yeah, a trip to Tijuana in the good old days was cured with a couple of APCs, a shot of Tequila, and a shot of penicillin.

Oh cool. A GMO manufactured epidemic to cull the masses. Pass out the vaccines to the elites. For the rest of us, more GMO mosquitos carrying GMO viruses. Of course, I'm cheering for an X75 Class Solar event that hit's the Grand Reset button, takes out the freaking elites with everyone else, and puts the Earth back to the pristine condition of the past: The Third Rock from the Sun sans intelligent life.

Why is it that the US and the UN have to Rule the world? If it is Ok for the US and any other country to play with Nukes ,,Than it is Ok for North Korea to play with them to. Equal Rights isn't it?,,,Isn't it more important to stop the world being taking over by the Space Invaders called asylum seeker/immigrants/refugees? C'mom People get your shit together and Work together.

Agreed, Better to let the North fire off a few rockets. Hope that one of them land on South Korea. Then let the fun begin.

Too many people in the world now. Need to weed out 100 million.

Hummm, according to Jerry Brown I thought they needed to weed out about 6 billion and get the number of serfs down to 500 million.

Or what? I'm not a fan of NK, but nations have a right to support their telecommunication infrastructure with satellites. Considering there is about 1/2 million pieces of junk floating around in space, what's one NK satellite? The rocket will probably end up in the Pacific anyway, satellite and all.

TIT, but sad. Prays to the victims. Hopefully compensation for a life that is now fundamentally changed.

Nothing new here. Anything semi-liquid are that is a solid and can melt. Ice cream, yogurt, various drinks or frozen drinks. City monks will probably be less picky than forest monks who tend to hold more strictly to the Patimokka.

The government just need to establish a Luuk Thep collection center and then incinerate these dolls from hell. They're scarier than freaking clowns.

I don't hand over money. I have, at my discretion, given food or in a couple of cases, sat an obviously distressed and hungry person in a restaurant and paid for their meal. Some of these people have serious mental issues and can't care for themselves. However, most Wats have excess food and do have outreach programs for feeding the desperately poor and hungry. You have to take it on a case by case basis. But I never give ฿฿฿ which just ends up in some mafioso's pocket.

But this global war against the homeless and hungry I really don't understand, especially in a Buddhist country.

Just take at look at major cities in the US like SF, LA, NY, and Seattle. Heck, they make it illegal to help the homeless. But then on the flip side, if you're homeless and the cops arrest you, at least you get 'three hots and a cot' for a couple of days.

Well, if your name is Richard it explains it all. BTW, I would have done the same. Hiso means nothing to me. I leave it to Thais to kowtow and be impressed. Hisos eat, sleep, and poop just like everyone else. Nothing special.

First, hunt for what? Wild game is pretty well non-existent except in reserves;

Second, they have 'hunting permits' in Thailand that allow you to legally carry your gun around in the jungle? For some reason I doubt it (see First question).

If they tested the bacterial and protozoa levels in Plaraa, they'd make it illegal.

Have worked out of Yangon a few times and already four years ago there was a growing expat community there with more and more condo developments getting built.. Substantial offshore industry with TOTAL and PTTP major players.

A friend of mine went to Yangon. If you like traffic jams, that's the place to live. From what he said, there are virtually no motorcycles on the road, just cars. Maybe someone can explain why. For everyone who doesn't drive them and complains that they 'hate motorcyclists', just consider what happens when all those motorcycles you hate are forced to drive cars instead. "Well, they take mass transportation instead." Sure they will, just like the United States. I wouldn't bet on it. If I'm living in a densely populated city, I prefer a motorcycle for in-city driving over a car, unless it's pouring rain.

Blame the victims!

Inflation rate falls for 13 consecutive months

BANGKOK: -- Inflation rate fell 0.53 per cent in January to stood at 105.46, the Trade Policy and Strategy Office said.

Director-general of the Commerce Ministry’s Trade Policy and Strategy Office Mr Somkiat Trirattanapun said yesterday that the consumer price index (CPI) or the inflation rate in January stood at 105.46, down by 0.53 percent from the same period of last year.

He said the decline in January marked the 13th consecutive month fall.

He attributed the fall in the inflation rate to the declining fuel and retail prices.

However core CPI expanded by 0.59 percent, he said.

He said prices of goods and services such as food and household items moved up slightly last month.

According to a survey on prices of 450 items by the Commerce Ministry, prices of 144 products went up, prices of 202 products remained the same and prices of 104 products decreased last month.

But he expected the inflation rate to move up once petrol price rises above 30 US dollar per barrel.

He also said that the fall of inflation in January is not a sign of the country’s entering deflation. He added that the Trade Policy and Strategy Office still keep the target inflation rate this year unchanged at 1-2 percent.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/149128

-- Thai PBS 2016-02-02

Sure. That's why my local shopkeepers have been raising the prices every six months for the last 5 years.

The new Luuk Thep comes to town.

Pattaya, Phuket and Hua Hin will need a lot of burqa beaches soon

Out of political correctness, they will have to cover all Buddha images. Closing all Wats as to not offend Muslims would be a good start. And no ringing bells at the Wats during morning and evening prayer.....it will offend also.

On another website I read the story:

The elephant was a male and already the whole day wild, meaning in heat. To get him to work the mahout used the iron hook many times.

For a photo the Scottish with his 16 year old daughter sat on his neck teasing him with bananas. When they climbed down the elephant attacked first the mahout and then the Scot. At the end he killed him with his tusk and ran away.

So the tourist died because of greediness. This male elephant shouldn't have used for carrying anybody but to stay in his coral for a while.

It's a shame. RIP

OK - firstly - the they are saying the elephant was in musth - this is NOT "in heat"

This means one of rwo things - they are looking ofr an excuse, and they have put their foot in it because they basically have admitted they don't know how to handle an elephant.

The use of these "ankus" or hooks is normal practice on elephants - it is of course very distasteful and cruel, but most tourists choose to ignore it.

if the hook was being used more than normal, it also shows further that the keeper didn't know what he was doing....whether or not this goaded the animal further cannot be really established and tin musth and elephant's behaviour is unpredictable - goad or not.

the concept of "teasing" is yet another example of anthropomorphism and really doesn't help very much.

i don't actually think that ANY newspaper report at present is a very good guide to what happened - only a full inquiry would achieve that....but we know full well that all will happen is a load of platitudes from the local authorities designed to calm the public and keep the tourist trade coming.

well, you are right. Every newspaper produces a slightly different story depending on the view

Really it's the source and the knowledge of the reporter......some are just regurgitating the same story with a coupe of their own edits. No-one seems to have first-hand conversations with any of the elephant owners/keepers involved and I don't see any evidence of knowledge about elephant behaviour by ay of the articles.

If an elephant is in mush even the most stupid handler would not let it come anywhere near the public.

however these animals are used day in, day out to carry people about.......they are saddled with frames for carrying the tourists which at best are poory constructed with little acknowledgement of the elephants skeletal structure. If this carriage is poorly mounted or attached - (the ropes often cause running sores and scarring) - it would be very likely to cause the animals pain and I wouldn't be at all surprised if this could affect the animal's behaviour........it might even see the passengers as the source of its pain.

TIT. If an elephant in in musth, it can't earn the owner money. Greed being what it is..... As far as using the word 'tease', it seems to come up a lot after an animal attack. Show me a video, and I'll be the judge whether the an animal has been 'teased'. No video. No picture? No evidence. Then it's simply innuendo.

An eye witness report suggests the man, who had a prosthetic leg, had been teasing the elephant with a banana that he offered to the beast before taking it back.

Farang man bad. Tease elephant with banana. Elephant mad so kill man. Farang stupid. Stupid farang not to tease elephant. Maybe elephant musth. Stupid farang should know better. Stupid farang fault he die.

My input: Close all zoos. End of story.

Oh crap, I just read the governor indicated the bull may have entered 'musth' two day earlier. Yeah, hope they are sued into bankruptcy. That's just negligence.

Elephant Kills Scottish Tourist on Koh Samui

KOH SAMUI – A Scottish man has been killed and a mahout seriously injured by an elephant gone berserk during a trekking tour on Koh Samui.

The 36-year-old Scottish tourist was riding the male elephant with his 16-year-old daughter in a forested area of tambon Bor Phud this afternoon when, witnesses told police, Pamang, a Myanmar mahout, climbed down from 13-year-old elephant to take photos with the victim and his daughter.

The elephant struck Pamang with his trunk and stabbed him in the torso with a tusk.

The elephant then unseated the Scotsman and his daughter, then stomped the Scotsman and gored him in the chest with a tusk, killing him instantly. The bull elephant then ran into the forest.

Full story: http://www.chiangraitimes.com/elephant-kills-scottish-tourist-on-koh-samui.html

-- Chiang Rai Times 2016-02-02

Do these bozos check to see if their elephants are entering 'musth' before releasing them into the tourist population for rides? Just wondering. Hopefully, the zoo is sued into bankruptcy.

I no want play with monkey.

I no want play with elephant.

I no want play with snake.

I no want play with (alpha predator) tiger.

You want to take a ride on Thai wildlife? Try riding on a nice docile, domesticated buffalo.