trainman34014

First the Airport, then customs, now road safety.

Go Abhisit!

Has he been reading the letter page of the Bangkok Post?

Don't get too carried away. Remember that so far it's all just words and no action. Seeing is believing and Abhisit has to start delivering real change in the next few months or by this time next year he will be history.

I think it is very good. Why does young school children have to look like prostitude !

They are just acting out what they are going to do when they grow up!

Is this too short?

No! These skirts are much longer than the 'wide belts' worn by teenage girls in England in the 60's. They need shortening by at least another 4 inches.

Hello, this is good news as I have people yelling at me every time I get back to Bangkok. I hope the government will take this to the long term and make it more safe for the new people that go to Thailand. It will be a good change only if they keep watch on the illegal taxi and touts so the hard working real taxi drivers get more work.

You are living in Cloud Cuckoo land pal. Give it two weeks and the very same lot will be back there doing it all over again.

May be he got it as small change in notorious King Power Duty free shop while coming to Thailand. He should contact Srilankan Mr.Tony for his release

Hey everyone...before this poor alledged passer of forged notes is found guilty from "trial by forum experts" consder this...

Three years ago I received USD$5,000.00 in 100 dollar notes from my account via a bank teller in HSBC Singapore.

Upon returning to Phuket, I tried to change 10 x $100.00 notes for Baht. Four of the notes were rejected as forgeries.

Lucky for me, the guy at the exchange booth didn't contact the police, or I would have been in the same diabolical position.

HSBC firstly refused any liability, but when I threatened to contact the media, they reluctanly requested return of the notes

and two weeks later my account received a credit for $400.00. Think again folks...it could easily be you in the same position !!!!

In July 2008 my brother went to his local Lloyds branch and drew 200 pounds from the ATM outside the bank in 20 pound notes. He then went 3 doors down the road to a W H Smith store to buy his fags and a newspaper and the girl on the till swished a 20 pound note with her magic pen and told him it was a forgery. He told her he just got it from the banks own machine and she told him that he was not the first person to say that recently and suggested he take it right back. He did so (fuming with anger) and asked to see the manager. After initial disbelief, the staff at the bank asked him into a private room, locked him in and called the police. When they arrived they asked him to empty all his pockets and all he had was the money he had just drawn from the machine and not a penny more. The bank checked the notes and found that two of them were forgeries. Meanwhile other bank staff were checking his bank records and running back the CCTV from outside the bank adjacent to the ATM. The bank were quick to admit once these checks had been made that they must have put the notes in the machine and my brother was credited with 200 pounds in his account for his trouble and inconvienience.

It just goes to show you that your local bank can't be trusted when it comes to checking all the notes they handle. It can happen to anyone and we can all fall victim at any time.

well managed to stay on me feet that little longer, and can't wait to be down the line, about 5 weeks, life will be so much sweeter then, by the way, tetleys t bags, where in chiangmai.

Sorry Doppa; the Tetley came in boxes of 100 in my luggage when I returned from the UK in March. I managed to squeeze in 400 but they are running low and I'm dreading the day when they are gone. Still; apart from getting a new 1 year visa, they represent the only good reason to go back again. My 7 grand kids drive me up the wall within a week of being there and I can't wait to bung the Tetley in the luggage and beat the retreat out of there.

So far; Shower, Breakfast and two mugs of Tetley Tea.

Pee around and sprinkle red and black pepper,

Good reply. A farmer friend of mine told me some 20 years ago that the best repellant for dogs and cats around your own property is your own Pee. Subsequently; I have used this method after dark whenever I have had this problem over the years,even though it is now officially an offence to urinate in public in the UK! To hel_l with the law...it works!

Just left Piggys after 8 hours of drinking and eating (yes Im a fat bastard but lets not talk bout that right now) and i was one of the first to get fish and chips and since i owned a chippie in the uk i gave them a few tips and watched them get better and better throughout the day and I believe they are the best chippie in chiang mai they have a ways to go with take away and a few other additions but i really enjoyed the meal there and the fish and chips are crackin not to mention cheese on toast with HP sauce (not at the same time LOL)

ITS THERE FIRST DAY ( yes i am shouting) meaning they are still sourcing the best pies currys etc therefore before you chavs slag them give it a couple of weeks to sort things out.

Yes the boss's hubbie has more tats than the average GEEZER

Charlies is good i have eaten there many times but this place is cheap as chips (pun intended) 120 baht for Fish and Chips if you want COD 170 baht but the regular fish is kicken and the beer batter is very tasty.

try it out give them a little breather for a couple of weeks till they get things in order but if todays meals as an indication of whats to come Im there

Cheap tasty and very authentic

Sounds great and I think I'm off down there today. Cod 170 Baht...Bargain!.....Have you seen the prices in yer average British chippy lately? They are going into orbit.

in general 2 but after exercise, outdoor work... add....

in the tropics it certainly can become compulsive behavior

to have a bath/shower... there is simply no better way to rid the body of the heat.

I prefer the Thai-Style (ap nam) pouring water from some container over the body,

it is usually much cooler than tap water, especially if it comes from one of these outdoor

tanks!

So you stand by the outside tanks naked?

I still don't like the idea of chucking water about all over the place like my wife does; it just seems very wasteful after paying horrifically high water bills in the UK for many years. 2 showers a day will normally suffice but if I go out I can't resist another when returning home.

Does anyone know what these things are that are all over my walls? Are they some kind of cocoon or egg sack? How do you get rid of them?

Don't worry; the gekko's will eat them, the cats will eat the gekko's, the rats will eat the cats and the market traders will sell the rats to the municipality for 5 baht each!

When the street urchins hear of this this , the rat population thru out the city will come under attack. Just hope this is not another program where the rat catchers are screwed by middlemen, etc. Now that someone has started something that will help Chiang Mai's image, hope we can get them (who ever them are) to include soi dogs in the program, the city would become a much more hygienic place.

Yes bit who are the police going to screw?

At 12.34 and 56 seconds tomorrow, Friday 7 August 2009, clocks in the real world (ie, non-USA) will give a combined reading of 12:34:56 7/8/9. As far as I can tell, this won't happen again for 100 years. (Our cousins in USA choose to put months before days - so they don't count when we're talking about "real" stuff!)

For those who can't see the significance here, try 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9.

I just sprang this on two members of my wifes family. They look very baffled and will be back to ask me more questions tomorrow!

All I can say, that who ever tries to deal or smuggle drugs, they always get caught and lose all their wealth with it no matter what country they are in. I have lost 3 good friends who fell for a similar activity like this because they were running dry on the cash front. One of them is serving 7 years in Japan, 1 is doing 3 years in Norway and the other is awaiting trial in Bangkok. I told them not to go, but they would not listen, the money is tempting with the highest being Japan upto 15000 USD.

There are recruiters everywhere, even in Pattaya down soi six, and soi seven/eight. A few british/austrailian lads working for Nepal & Arabs in Bangkok, who get paid $500 for recruiting people.

And its not just foreigners, there even getting Thai ladies to do it as well. How low can you get.

I bet these recruiters wouldn't even do it.

So where are all our much medaled police 'Special Task Force' (tourist police) hero's performing daily and nightly 'Stings' against all these recruiters?

I had the reception at the AMARI RINCOME HOTEL... picked the LARGE POOL area.... was absolutely wonderful. Food was great... everybody had a blast.

We had 240 guests and everything cost us 74,000 THB with special flower arrangement. 50,000 without.

Don't worry about the money to the parents... I pulled 500,000 THB out of the bank for SHOW!!! and i got it all back and gave the Family 50,000 THB.

Gold... just needs to be gold... necklace.. rings.... someone mentioned over 5,000... not necessary... just make it look like it is over 5,000 :-P

Thai weddings are mainly for show... dont worry too much about it... and you do NOT have to grease any wheels. If anyone asks you for money... dont give it to them!

Wow, that seems really cheap for it being the Amari. What sort of food was that? Did they dress the room. How long was it available for in the day (Could the ceremony be held there too?).

Did they throw in a nice room for the couple too? And special rates for guests?

Sorry for all the questions, Im just shocked at how affordable it is.

I got married 'By Social' last May and it cost me about 5,000 for the party, Monks, Leader of village and uncle tom cobbly and all. Great day and from that moment on it is accepted that you will be able to sleep together even in her parents house. I gave my wife 1,000GBP as a present to get what gold or whatever else she wanted and gave her parents a lot of alcoholic beverage and quality food. As far as Thai's are concerned you are now married and that's that. However; You are not married by law in England where I come from unless you are 'married by register' so off we went to do that only last week and finalised yesterday. It cost me 4,000Baht at Star Agency for the Bangkok Translation and 3,074Baht at the British Consulate for my freedom to marry document(which you have to get first). At the registry office yesterday we waited about 40 minutes and paid 110Baht for the paperwork. You can take your own witness if you want to but they will happily witness it for you if you give them a little money. It's up to you what you give but the bloke said to me that the cost of paperwork was 110Baht so I gave him 500 and said thanks pal, keep the change.

If your wife wants to change her surname to yours, then that's a different job and it's not automatic. Different registry office and loads of paperwork but costs about 200 baht all in. Did that this morning!

Cheers for now...........Brian.

We went to Australia for our 'Honeymoon' last May but sounds like that's not on for your budget. Have also been up to Pai and there are some good hotels etc up there at good rates. Have a look at the various offers online.

It's disappointing that someone hauling smack out of the Kingdom gets life, but farang murderers here often get a only few years and serial pedophiles are frequently released so the police can extort them again and again.

Disappointing, ridiculous and wasteful.

They should all go to the gallows. The ultimate deterent for anyone who has half a brain. If the half a brain isn't functioning properly then they deserve what they get.

How true, rolling into Hualamphong at 0600 with droopy eyelids because your carriage was full of tourists that decided to have a late night party. At 881 baht for a 12 hour second class lower - no value.

I have ridden the night train at least 6 times and have never had the pleasure of experiencing a late night party. Just my luck

Since I dislike AC, the 2nd class sleeper seat only costs 581 baht.

Unfortunately, as someone has stated, the trains tend to arrive 1 to 2 hours late.

Did the train back in February and on the return journey we were 5 hours late getting into CM. For some reason the train stopped but I didn't notice as I was fast asleep for at least some of the extra hours.

By the way; Thai airways may get priority from ATC in Thailand but I have been on five flights with them over the past 3 years that have been late leaving either BKK or CNX. I have been flying around the world now for close to 46 years and I have never known any airline that does not suffer delays.

To avoid the change issue, I always fill up with either 500Bt or 1000Bt - whichever I have on me.

Then all you have to do is check the pump reading and hand over one note; saves hassle.

I have never asked for so many litres or to fill up, I always ask for 500Bt or 1000Bts worth of petrol, much easier.

About time somebody came up with this answer! Blimey; how easy is it to get out of the car, check the pump is set to zero and ask for 500 or 1000 Baht's worth? I am amazed people fall for such basic scams after living here a lot longer than me.

true gent, true to all his clubs, true to all those who watched him. a loss

Agreed

A gentleman always, and never to be forgotten.

RIP Bobby

marshbags ened by the news

One of the most respected British managers of all time both by players and the general public. RIP Bobby.

Last month, I flew last minute with Qatar for less than 28,000 THB (Bangkok-Paris).

They also had a promo running for about 5xx Euro, a bargain in July/August, from Paris to Bangkok.

You got done!!!! Considering at the moment stands at 350GBP return London-Bangkok.

28,000THB = 550GBP

Yes, but it's always cheaper to fly from Europe to Bangkok that the other way round - well recently anyway.

Back in March I could not get a flight to London under 600GBP return no matter which agent or website I used. Meanwhile my mates were flying in the opposite direction for 350GBP return.

Talking of 'Standby' ; back in the 80's+90's I used to live in UK and often travelled to USA for work purposes and I would arrive at Gatwick and walk around the numerous airlines desks and take the best offer. My best result was 99GBP return to LAX! Of course, there were far too many seats available across the Atlantic at that time and subsequently a lot of Airlines like 'People Express', 'Air Florida', 'TWA', 'LAKER', Etc etc all went belly up before the 90's were out. These days if you arrive at Heathrow or Gatwick and ask for standby they look at you as if you are some kind of Alien!

I never noticed phone shops in the night bazaar - more like at the big malls; Airport, Kad San Kaew.

I buy sweat shirts there but I will only pay what I want to and if they don't agree I move on to another trader until I get what I want at the price I want to pay. Never seen a phone shop there but there are dozens of them all over town. Never bought one here so don't know about prices.

Using a non professional e-mail address is so very amature. I will reserve judgement untill I have a reply to my e-mail!

Agreed! Anyone posing as a professional outfit while using a free email account is hiding from something. Either that or they really are armature. Either or, whenever a product or service is offered and the email is hotmail, gmail, yahoo, or any of the other give-aways, i say avoid them like the frigging plague.

Aitch

Amature? Armature?.......Try 'Amateur'....'One who does something for interest not money' or 'Unskilled Practitioner'. I suspect the latter is the correct description for these Sharks.

The fastest way to lose life long friends and fall out with family members is to borrow their money or lend them money.

Golden rules:

Never do business with family or friends.

Never get involved with money amongst family and friends.

Never live with close friends unless it's a romantic relationship.

Do not see too much of each other socially.

Do not involve yourself in their personal lives or take sides in their disputes, even if you think it`s doing a good deed. In the end after they make up, you will be caste out as a trouble maker.

Brilliant post. These rules should all be taught to children at school before just about anything else apart from how to read and write them. However; it is a sad truth that most of us learn then through bitter experience at some time rather later than our childhood. There is no substitute for the experience being ripped off by those you thought were your nearest and dearest.

Do not divulge your secrets or too much of your personal life to family and friends, stay as a bit of a mystery. This way when you fall out of friendship, no one has anything on you.

Believe me, I have gained a wealth of experience during my 57 years of life.

Want to know why their are so many crazy Farangs living in Thailand?

2 years ago Immigration brought in a new form of punishment for those who had let their visas expire.

These people were locked in a padded cell for 48 hours with a TV showing non stop Thai soap operas. These TVs have no means of being switched off and are controlled by the police.

After only 5 hours the Farangs went completely insane.

You don't have to be locked in a cell to go mad watching most of Thai TV. However; there are one or two moments of 'Spirit Asia' worth watching from time to time and just recently we have new prog's have appeared about Plane crash investigation and World Railway Adventures. Maybe there is intelligent life somewhere in the corridors of Thai TV stations!

may that deceased american guy in pattaya rest in peace.

and may his wife and kid forever remember this kind old man who contributed in every which way including giving his own life, to help at least one thai family and its members to a life that otherwise might be unknown to them....

does the gent has a name to remember by pls?

Well said Sir.

As a very new member (minutes in fact) I have read all this thread with interest but fail to see what all the fuss is about. I have only been here for 19 months and I have learned a few words and one or two sentences but I do have trouble with understanding what Thai's are saying to me so far. Luckily I have my beautiful Thai wife to translate and I can't say I have found the locals irritated by the fact that I have not learned much of their lingo yet.

Back in the UK there are thousands upon thousands of immigrants who have been there for decades and have never bothered to learn my mother tongue. Do I really care? Well No actually. They have their own life and very often very successful buisness's which they run very well. Of course; they must need help with translation from time to time as I do here but so what?

Live and let live. If people don't want to learn another language that's up to the individual.