trainman34014

You can bet that the company that supplies the masks is owned by someone 'connected' and suddenly had the answer to 'help out the nation' whilst making a financial killing.

RIP those lost and hopes for a speedy recovery for the injured. One has to wonder how well worn the tyres were and how long ago the tread depth was checked. I've seen many buses here with badly worn and/or under inflated tyres.

Sad; but I understand.

If you live outside the Chiang Mai City area the smog is nowhere near as bad as some would like you to believe. They could be telling you things are bad because we have a lot of fine women to choose from up here and they don't want to share them. I only need one so you are welcome to come and take your pick !

One presumes Ladyboys will be in the crew and King Power will be running the duty free trolley's?

I don't care what colour it is as long as the price to fly on it is right when exiting Thailand (faint hope).

Commande, I know the type, beer belly, bottle in hand, tattoos everywhere, Mrs, with a fag on, 2 kids screaming in a push chair/buggie. Donkeys years ago we used to see them waiting for flights-package to Spain. maybe owned a fighting dog. You have the same here in places, from all sorts of countries, but a minority. So MOST of us are brainless. Were you visiting-living here??

2 kids screaming in a push chair? You mean actively pro-creating? God, they must be scum!!!

Does no-one get tired of this bs stereo-typing? Beer, check, tattoos, check, smoker, check, children, check, likes football, check... surely enough evidence for the hang em high brigade to convict them of some crime or other...

I know plenty of people who enjoy a beer, have some tattoos, are married with children and enjoy playing and watching football. Most are fairly decent people IMHO, I guess I must be white trash...

The only people they used to hang around my way were Arsenal supporters !

Shit travels downhill; so we know where this hypocritical creep is headed. Enough said.

A pair of lazy scum bags. Hope they spend a nice holiday' in the BKK 'Hilton'.

They put shame on the Brits, as now we hard working Brits may be tarnished because of them.

Just like any other wrong doing by foreign assoles, when they get done, the Thais generalise

and bring in laws making it more difficult for us foreigners. Poor things, 'We ran out of money' !!!! Was it for drugs?

Answer: Yes, it was for drugs. Another drug-related crime, as was the stabbing of the Aussie woman (stabber needed to pay a drug bar bill. Young Brits spend a significant portion of their money (even if they only have a little bit) ...on buying beer.

As for tarnished reputation. You need to have had a good reputation in order for it to possibly get tarnished (ok, I jest. It's just so easy to offend Brits. It's like they're walking around with giant hats in the shape of sailing ships of war).

I'm reminded of Thaksin, who slaps defamation suits right and left - as if he's got any decent character left - that may get defamed by what someone says. Ok Brits reading this: take five deep breaths while doing deep knee bends, then make a pledge to your bar-girl-friend that you won't drink any beer for the next two hours.

I'm a Brit and I am not offended by snide remarks often aimed at my countrymen on TV. I am more offended by the scum generated in my Mother country by the Nanny State and the bleeding heart liberals that have all but destroyed the reputation of a once proud population. There are still a majority of hard working people in Britain who are doing their best to uphold what is good and right. However; an underclass has been growing in numbers since the 80's and the majority of this species once used to prowl the streets of Spain and Portugal, the so called 'Lager Louts', who caused endless trouble in those countries and embarrassment at home. Since the introduction of the Euro it's cheaper for the scum to come to Thailand and other countries in SE Asia and commit atrocities here. As long as it stays that way I'm afraid things will continue to get worse, so the way for the Thai and other Governments to deal with it is increase the amounts of money needed to stay for any longer than 30 days. After all; you can't imagine such effluent turning up in such large numbers in places like Hong Kong or Singapore, where you need to be reasonably well heeled to last more than a few days.

Fresh salmon is good - but have you ever eaten fresh Arctic Char ?? They are salmon that return to the ocean after spawning in fresh water.

Lived on the Arctic coast for four years, and my arms used to get tired reeling them in.

I thought they all died in the river?

Worlds dumbest criminals.

You can not pull out the machine from the bank.

These kind of robberies are very frequent in the West(Oz especially) but you have to have a truck and only free standing machines, like the ones at service stations.

Several gangs in the UK have been very successful using JCB's to rip machines out of Supermarket walls and load them onto a Truck, whereupon they take them out in the sticks and use cutting gear to open them. No tracking devices fitted to many machines as that's an ongoing process. The Supermarkets are getting tired of losing half of their frontage to this kind of damage and are having large obstructions fitted into the ground outside many locations. However; the crooks simply use the JCB to rip them out of the ground first causing further damage ! These jobs are normally done in the small hours, and if you can find a Copper in Blighty in the small hours these days you've made a very rare find !

How about a crackdown on corrupt police to help tackle widespread crimes? If they just did what they were suppose to do, Thailand would be a much safer place. I know, I know. I'm dreaming.

How about a clampdown on Chalerm opening his mouth?

Since we moved out of Wifeys noisy home village,which happens to be now divided by a main drag, things have been getting better and better in our quiet corner plot 15 klicks from town. Don't go into the City unless it's unavoidable and 108,or not far off it, and the local markets have it for all our shopping. Neighbours are great, both Thai and Farang, so from a personal point of view things are moving ever upward. It's all about what people want and expect for themselves.

I buy my salmon from Macro, it is defrosted when I buy it, so I can only assume that it was once frozen. Even so, it's bloody beautiful.

I'll second that; they have the best Salmon in town IMO.

What town?

Any town there is a Makro I would guess; for me it's CM.

This is way overdue and should of been built many years ago. Too much nonsence created to stop it by the faint hearted who moan about the likes of Bomber Harris dishing out orders to bomb Dresden etc. Now; they have waited until the majority of the Bomber Crew survivors have passed on before honouring them and their fallen comrades. Typical of the bleeding heart masses of Blighty in these modern times.

I buy my salmon from Macro, it is defrosted when I buy it, so I can only assume that it was once frozen. Even so, it's bloody beautiful.

I'll second that; they have the best Salmon in town IMO.

And so what's the latest Trainman and Vagabond ? Still without the fees ? And of oucrse we're hearing about different locations. Which ones do you frequent ?

Just came out of Tesco's 20 minutes ago and no 150 Baht charge. I talk to the girls in the bank frequently and they always tell me there never has been a charge and as far as they know there never will be. I also use the free standing machine in the old Carrefour at times around the beginning/end of the month to avoid the Tesco queues and always fee free as well.

We came back in two days ago, Cards in/out required BUT whereas I used to go with wife through Thai counter when entering Thailand you can no longer do it, as Thais are NOT stamped in now, they just did her fingerprint and swiped her passport and that was it. I was told to queue with all the rest , bummer ! and why, well because those desks no longer have stamps.

Not so in CNX; no fingerprints for wifey just the usual stamps etc with cards required. It will take several years for regional airports to catch up.

We came back in two days ago, Cards in/out required BUT whereas I used to go with wife through Thai counter when entering Thailand you can no longer do it, as Thais are NOT stamped in now, they just did her fingerprint and swiped her passport and that was it. I was told to queue with all the rest , bummer ! and why, well because those desks no longer have stamps.

My wife and I returned from the UK on friday afternoon and I was allowed to go through the Thai passport check-in with her.

Admittedly the woman on the gate into the area did say no but then the guy in charge came up and said if officialy married then its ok.

I was very relieved because the queues on the other side were huge.

By the way Charlie, many Thai's were ignoring the electronic thingy and queuing up for the manual check-in, as my wife did because I was with her. The desks definately do have the stamps, so I guess it differs as to which shift you are dealing with.

HL

Same here; came back in to CNX from MCA and went with wifey through Thai desk and no problem for me.

My Mrs took my name at marriage almost five years ago and has never had a problem. She's even bought land in her new name and sold land still in her old name without problems. Biggest difficulty is Thai's can't pronounce,spell, or even recognise English owing to their weakness in this area. The mind boggles at the thought of how they will cope when the Asean agreement comes into play in 2015.

Yes. I have even seen people turn violent, though that is a rare sight. Some also get very vociferous too.

Thailand, Thai logic (??) and the Thai way can be very frustrating at times and can drive you up the wall and be very stressful if you allow it to be. The idea is to know and understand it and back away when you are hitting that brick wall. Life is too short to get stressed out. Yet many are unable to see their own bad reactions are a waste of time.

Count to ten, turn away, take a deep breath and try a different tack later.

After all, we are here to enjoy life, are we not?

Yes, the best method is just to avoid as many Thais as you can. Only interact with the ones that you must.

Hmmm. It would seem to me that if one's goal in life was to avoid Thais, then one would consider living in a country other than Thailand. Lots of Thais in Thailand, no? Does it really take a rocket scientist to figure this out? But then Thailand is not renown for having particularly bright expats.

As Billy Connolly once said ; Australia is a great country. Its just a pity that its full of Australians. Same goes for Thailand.

I've always felt the same about France. The answer is the Neutron Bomb; which kills all living creatures and leaves the beautiful infrastructure complete for us to walk onto unhindered. Come to think of it, there are a good few other countries that need 'treatment' as well !

Blimey; been away for 10 days and return to find a new thread about Fish&Chips. Nothing much new has happened then !

Many of them are unaware it is their birthday, or wedding anniversary, or any other daft reason we find to give away presents. My Father-in Law only knows it's his birthday when he hears it announced on the Village loudspeakers. He has never bought a present for any of his five wives or nine children and has never known when their birthdays are, or were. He's outlived all of the wives and two of his kids but he can't tell you when they died either. Somebody asked him last week how old his daughter is (my wife), and he said he had no idea and couldn't remember.

Since I've lived here I've tried to keep things sensible and not gone overboard with present handouts, but I have to say Wifey has responded by giving me a few small but nice things in return.

What's on the menu?

If you give up everything on the list you are giving up life...you are dead.

Live life for what it is for you personally and enjoy the good times and bad. Life is for living and not giving up on anything it offers. Don't try to analyse it...just get on with it and be happy.

Ibis in North Point,still cheap,with swimming pool.

Agree on this one; seems often cheaper if you book direct on the Ibis website. Right next to MTR Station and easy access without being right in the City Center.

OP; don't forget to get your 'Oyster Cards' for your travel which cover the majority of public transport systems which will take you to all the major parks, peak, etc etc. Cheapest way to get around by far.