sriracha john

Don't ferget, y'all who castigate us loud-mouth septics...who built Pattaya and those lovely highways to Udorn, Udon, U-Tapao etc?

signed, Bubba

Admitting to being responsible for Pattaya will only lower other's opinions of us Americans even more...

dr_Pat_Pong - been to Ogrish. I must admit watching those beheadings just pisses me off even more. Can make a peace loving man certainly want to go out and take those cowardly bastards down.

That change is what the video producers/distributors want. For them, it's Mission Accomplished, to get you as riled up...they're fueling the fire with your emotion.

No safety railings surrounding huge boiling pots??

Every major factory should a safety department, safety manager, and a safety committee? This factory is obscenely guilty of gross negligence.

I feel very, very sorry for her family...she sounded like a very nice lady.

Rest in peace....

Immigration was all to happy to provide the "departed" stamps, but "arrival" stamps would only be given to people who are obviously genuine tourists, or people living here on the appropriate visa's.

Buisiness wise the ship was doomed by this rule, as the majority of visarunners in Pattaya are "30 days on entry" runners and a very small percentage have real multiple entry visa's. Plus the 30 day runners are returning customers every 30 days instead 60 or 90 days!

Immigration only changed their mind the last day, that's why these people went ahead with advertising in Pattaya Mail! Reaction on the first advertising was real good, lots of people wanting to book but obviously no bookings were accepted. Made it probably worse for the guys behind it knowing there was real interest.

Thank you for your research and responses, Bobo..

I can certainly understand why all the interest (myself included) was there. It offered a much more desireable, safe, convenient, and pleasant alternative. Too bad Imm. decided to change their cooperation at the last minute. One can only hope that the situation will change.

THAILAND: PM launches second war on drugs

07/10/2004 | Asia Pacific Programs

Undaunted by an avalanche of criticism to the outcome of his first war on drugs Thailand's prime minister Thakshin Shinawatra has launched his second offensive, this time vowing to destroy drug bosses. The ten month war on drugs last year left some 2 thousand five hundred people dead ... many the victims of extra-judicial killings. The government has now promised to investigate every death that happened.

Nothing like waiting more than a year AFTER a catastrophe happens before doing something about it...

please leave thailand for thai people! all of u mess thailand. no one is ready to have ur comments .

who?

why?

Seems pretty amazing that the authorities responsible didn't close down the Zoo following the earlier tiger sale to China and the discovery of all those "illegally imported" orang utangs there (or was that another place?). Suppose the cops and other officials who swarmed into the place during earlier raids just "forgot" to notice and ask for documentation for the 450 tigers.

It'll be pat on the back time at CITES now, and then back to business as normal next month when the journos and NGOs have gone home. Or perhaps not? Perhaps this time it signals a more serious stance on wildlife trafficking in the Kingdom. Would be good news for the long suffering and fast - dwindling endangered animals of Asia if so............

Just for the record, the orangutans were at Safari World, outside BKK.

And YES, let's all hope that things do NOT go back to the status quo after CITES is over and Thailand resumes it's place as one of the biggest shopping centers for illegal animals in the world.

Rod is correct. They weren't breeding for return to the wild or even for wildlife parks, simply making money by selling their parts.

Additionally, with their factory-style breeding, they failed miserably to take into account the extremely delicate nature of the tiger gene pool, potentially damaging any future chances for successful, appropriate breeding to truly help this beautiful but highly endangered species.

Sriracha Tiger Zoo was nothing but a money-grubbing business with no connection to any legitimate zoological organization. May it's owners be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

Thaksin said southerners, many of whom speak Malay, not Thai, may have to endure tighter security measures,

Will that become the new "throw-down" excuse to shoot someone? Same as the last drug war, when all the justification needed to kill someone was to thow-down a few ya-ba pills near the corpse.

Policeman #1: "What happened? How come you put three slugs in this man's head?

Policeman #2: "Well, I had no choice really. He was speaking Malay!"

Policeman #1: "Oh ok. Good work. Let's go have a drink."

Now the only hick-up in the thing is, immigration wants only genuine tourists on the boat.

In retrospect, Pattaya immigration probably refused to give the stamps as they recognised the venture for what it was, an easy and fast way to do a border run!

Hmmmm.... so no non-imm O's and B's allowed, eh?

Is the ship leaving from Maptaphut, Rayong or Pattaya?... if Maptaphut, then I would assume that's why Pattaya Imm. was not invited to the party.

Well, finally. Shutting down the Tiger Zoo has been long overdue, indeed. Let's just hope that, for once, good follow-up on the initial action is completed.

something pro-active to PREVENT people from running into problems in the first place????? All it seems I'm hearing is what they will do to the farang AFTER using the boat... the Immigration folks got things backasswards....

ah, come on: if anybody really cares about following visa rules, its not hard to smell the scam...

but if you dont care anyway, why should immigration (or anybody else) want to hold you back...?

thailand is not disneyworld thank god - if farang is stupid (and ignorant) enough - tuff shit

** sigh **

That's the same attitude that puts the blame onto the 2 murdered British tourist in Kanchanaburi themselves.

Your self-absorption is very disappointing.

sorry, but if you want to blame all the scoops in (visa)life on immigration alone just like a little kid... maybe thats what you need to grow up :-(

If I could understand what it is that you are trying to say, I'd be able to respond.

I am wondering how many (or how few) were tourists, given they report that people were busted for not carrying identity cards (sounds like Thais) and also reported they were allowing underage persons (again, sounds like Thais).

Are non-Thais, non-Lao allowed across it??

I THINK ITS UNFAIR TO LET KN. T CALL THE NEW RIDE "AIRFORCE 1 ", AFTER ALL THE NAME HAS ALREADY BEEN TAKEN.

HOW ABOUT QUESTIONING MOVING UP A LITTLE SAY LIKE "AIRFORCE 2-WHAT? JUST A SUGGESTION.

Airforce Wannabe

1. Just curious - has anyone ever actually *seen* one of these ads ?

2. Now that doesn't sound dodgy, does it ? Looks like the directors are evaporating just as fast as the cash...

1. Yes, the ads were very professionally done. All splashy and full of idyllic scenes of Thailand with perfect-looking tourists enjoying all joys of a perfect holiday in perfect Thailand. I just kept repeating "bullsh1t" throughout.

2. Most people would abandon a sinking ship, yes?

Reading the Samui forum I learn that there is NO mafia in Koh Phangan.If your bar is there and you get tapped up for protection money just tell them to piss off.You know they are only pranksters.

I also heard there's no trash or corruption or drugs there....

yeah taskin had his last american partner arrested and thrown out of the country more than 15 years ago...

I'm very interested. Could you please provide more details about this?

yes it is common knowledge that drug dealers are forcing the drugs onto the consumers. with such a bright future ahead for most thais it is beyond me why they would turn to drugs for solace.

The explanation I think is that this "Thaksin joy ride" is leaving so many, everyday Thais behind at the curb... as the gap between the super rich and the poor grows wider and wider, disillusionment sets in.

Okay, are you happy to be the first innocent to die in this second war on drugs? You can be a real hero. We'll make posters of you and put them up all over the country. 'He died an innocent man, but he sure died for the greater good'.

Another confused soul.

(yawn) If I associated with known drug dealers, yes, I'd have to be able to accept that fate. As for any 'innocents' within a family of drug dealers? ... no such thing. The family is typically a cohesive unit here and if that kid wasn't a dealer at age 9, he surely would have been by age 18. Just like in any business here: from wholesale rice, gold, to construction materials trading, the whole family gets involved.

good logic. Let's just take the kids from anyone that is in prison now, line them up and behead them.... and don't forget any women that are involved in the drug world in any way.... if any of them are pregnant, we could publically abort their fetuses with a coat-hanger. I like your solution, eliminate any and all future potential drug world workers before they have a chance to soil this clean world of ours.

Phew!.... so many major position changes! He's busy reshuffling the deck time and time again, but the Tarot readings still keep coming out the same... Doom.

To those guys traveling thru Isan, particularly through Nong Khai. Please remember this is not Pattaya or Phuket or Bankok when meeting thye local girls. Check with the regulars whereever you stop in and get the lowdown on the girls you see there. Many are wives or long term girlfirends and are not there to be handled and hustled even if they seem flirty or friendly. It will save you a lot of embarrasment and frustration if you talk to the local Falangs before you make a foolish mistake.

Here, here... good advice. In fact, I would extend that coverage to every single community in Thailand that is NOT Pattaya, Phuket, and BKK.

You parrot that everyone on Mr Thaksin's original "surrender yourself" list was summarily executed without trial, but the fact is that many of those on the list surrendered and proved themselves the innocent victims of malicious gossip and were released with an apology ... they weren't arbitrarily twepd on some informant's say-so.

You parrot about "rogue policemen" running wild in the streets and pumping bullets into innocent people then planting guns and drugs on them, but the fact is that the MIBs did very little shooting at all.

You parrot about the number of innocent people who were murdered by "Thaksin's hit squad that doesn't exist". Forget about collateral bystander deaths like the kid who died in crossfire between anti-drug police and drug dealers and name one "innocent" who was deliberately gunned down without any trial or evidence. You can't ... because he doesn't exist!

I must admit I admire your inside tract on all of the murders. How are you privy to such publicly unknown information?... The reason I ask is because none of the murders were investigated, nor has there been even one conviction... Given that, we (the public) simply DON'T KNOW who did all the killings, be it police or others.

Until we know the facts, which is highly unlikely... to come to your conclusion that all the victims deserved what they got is extremely dubious at best...

Whoever did the market research for the Elite Card should be castrated.

It was Thaksin's idea from the start...

sell the target 100,000 cards

Thaksin envisioned selling ten times that amount or 1,000,000 cards

Chalong admitted that Somchai’s proficiency at arresting suspects and familiarity with police procedures made him more difficult to track down.

amateurs !!

send in inspector clousseau and a model-t full of keystone cops , they would stand more chance of catching him than inspector "knacker of the yard" chalong.

Is this the same police force that you have so much faith in and trust so confidently enough to give them a free hand to indiscriminately use deadly force during the so-called drug crackdown???????

perhaps just a wee bit inconsistent??