Trentham

Same same. 99% of China, Japanese & Australia PMs don't speak good English if at all. It fact, most have worst English than YS. Yet they are SUPER powers.

Maybe in next PM acceptance citeria, Candidates should required to have a TOEIC 550 cert; just like in many semi-govt companies like PTT & TG.

WOW I am a citizen of a super power now, and I think all of Australia's PM's speak reasonably.

I personally like Mr. Thaksin, it was under his leadership Thailand looked to be going forward with a lot of farangs ploughing money into Thailand, i know for a fact the tourism industry went through a 'Boom' time whilst he was in power and i was never short of work here (i work within the travel and tourism industry) but now for the past 3/4 years i have struggled to find any work, and tourism no matter which figures you read, is definitely down and i mean way down !

So Thaksin was slightly corrupt....erm excuse me, but which government is not? Someone on TV.com quoted 'he stole the Thai's money' isn't that what all governments do?

I for one look forward to his return to his beloved country, it wasn't so long ago he returned to an absolute heroes welcome with the media and the people cheering him as he walked out of the airport? it was live on most tv channels here as well.

Good luck Thailand **Comments removed**

Who are you, for God's sake???

Try doing an internet search for Thai inventions. There is only one man who ever invented anything in Thailand and guess who he is.

Corruption is good...where else can you pay off a cop right on the spot for violating a traffice law. U gotta love that.

Often it is paying off the cop for a traffic law you didn't violate

Perhaps Thai Buddhists can stop using the Christian cross in their tattoos and also stop wearing jewellery made with the cross. I have often heard Thais complain about Westerners using the Buddha image for decoration in their homes or on their bodies at the very time they are using the cross.OH and by the way, it is Thai Buddhists doing the tattooing or selling the images for decoration.

Price of KFC in Bangkok about 130 baht

Price is KFC in New Zealand 140 Baht

Wages for staff in New Zealand $13 hour = 290 baht an hour

Wages for staff in Bangkok 27 baht an hour

KFC, restaurant brands in New Zealand still make a profit when they pay 10 times more in wages than thailand and charge the same price

Also the chicken is no doubt sourced cheaper here too

I am a capitalist but when I see the disgusting super profits these businessmen make while paying their staff nothing so they can buy their latest merc to show their friends

it makes me want to be a socialist

Same goes for McD.

As long as their is cheap supply of labour in Thailand the chinese will continue to make massive profits

Point well-made.

I've always taken notice how I pay the same price for KFC chicken here as in the west. But shocked that employees here make less than 10% of KFC wages in the west.

Some fat cat is pocketing a huge profit margin on the backs of hapless employees who can barely afford the cheapest of BKK's dormitories and transportation beyond the "red bus."

Yes, capitalism at its worst.

Wages for staff in New Zealand $13 hour = 290 baht an hour

Wages for staff in Bangkok 27 baht an hour

KFC, restaurant brands in New Zealand still make a profit when they pay 10 times more in wages than thailand and charge the same price

Also the chicken is no doubt sourced cheaper here too

Sounds fair enough to me. Every Thai I know only does one tenth the work of a farang.

My mouth has dropped open. My jaw is working up and down.............it is just that the words won't come out.

And farang claim that Thais aren't smart?

Well 4 different Thai doctors were treating me for acid reflux disease for the last 3 years at a modern hospital near Silom which caters to farang. I even went to the emergency department in the middle of the night on 2 occasions with very severe pain and was put on drips to control it. A few months ago I came home to Australia for a visit and went to the doctor here. Within 2 weeks he discovered I have cancer in my pancreas. The Thai doctors could not find that in more than 2 years. Thai doctors, through not doing the required tests, may have cost me my life.

What bulls**t. If ,for example 1% of people are peodophiles. that makes 1% of gays and 1% of straights peodophiles. Since there are about 15 times the amount of straights in the world it makes straight peodophiles the majority. Get your facts right.

If 95% of male peds rape exclusively boys - I don't care if they are Catholic priests - they are **ing gay. get it?

I agree with what you just wrote. BUT you originally implied that 50% of peodophiles are gay. That is not true and a slur on gay people generally. What you said is sexist. Studies show that peodiphilia occurs with equal percentages in both straight and gay people. With that in mind, please go and re-read my first comment to you.

I cannot be bothered replying to you again. Your brain seems to be incapable of understanding a simple concept. you are befuddled by your sexism.

It amazes me how many of these peds are gay. Way over 50 %. Sick twisted human filth.

What bulls**t. If ,for example 1% of people are peodophiles. that makes 1% of gays and 1% of straights peodophiles. Since there are about 15 times the amount of straights in the world it makes straight peodophiles the majority. Get your facts right.

i suggest you work on getting your maths right instead of making up 'facts'

Nothing wrong with my maths. Read again or go back to school.

It amazes me how many of these peds are gay. Way over 50 %. Sick twisted human filth.

And with a name like Powderpuff, I wonder what you are.

It amazes me how many of these peds are gay. Way over 50 %. Sick twisted human filth.

What bulls**t. If ,for example 1% of people are peodophiles. that makes 1% of gays and 1% of straights peodophiles. Since there are about 15 times the amount of straights in the world it makes straight peodophiles the majority. Get your facts right.

Maybe not so impoverished. Maybe he just wanted a new mobile.

Words escape me. It just goes to show that there are so many sick people out there. This story is sad. The poor kid must have been in such an impoverished situation that he had to resort to selling himself. At 13, just past puberty. That's just wrong in so many ways. Then there is this sexual deviant that did not hesitate to take advantage of the kid. This is sickening.

The Thai Police are merely a product of a flawed cultural and societal system.

They are representative of Thai society itself, and the country as a whole.

They can never be changed or improved until the cultural flaws are addressed.

You are absolutely correct. The entire Thai culture must be changed.

I got bitten by a black bear up in Bo Klua in Nan province. It was jealous of the other one that was licking me. ha ha ha.

A retirement (long stay) visa is only issued in your home country. For that a police report and medical is required from that country.

In Thailand no such visa can be issued. You obtain a one year extension of stay from Immigration here. For that only a non immigrant visa entry and financial proof is required (along with 1,900 baht fee and normal photo copies of passport/arrival card/entry/visa is required. If you do not have a non immigrant entry that can also be obtained from Immigration at additional cost of 2,000 baht if more than a week or so remaining on permitted to stay stamp. If not you obtain a single entry non immigrant visa from a Consulate and return using that for a 90 day stay and extend for retirement during the last 30 days.

I entered Thailand on a tourist visa but brought with me my Australian police report. I then applied for my retirement visa when I was already here and received without a question being asked or a bribe paid

This is 8 years of university chemistry, biology, math speaking, MS Soils/chemistry, magna cum-laude. Ground water passed through a good filter is your best bet. The major brands of bottled water may have fluoride, hopefully not. Despite heavy propoganda about the benefits of fluoride, it will do NOTHING to prevent decay, but it will gradually eat out your brain first, then bones and teeth, then the rest, so avoid it like the plague and shut your ears to the propaganda. These claims originated with the Rockefeller family who found it difficult to get rid of the hazardous waste from aluminum production, and who were good friends with the Nazis who used it to brain hobble concentration camp residents. Tooth enamel is especially hard due to fluorine content, but consuming rat poison, which uses the same active ingredient as the fluoride put in water, is not the way to get the fluoride in the right place, but a lot of money exchanges hands over your deteriorating carcass when the chicks come home to roost. Even a Nobel winner has openly called out fluoride for the scam it is. Likewise, don't let your dentist talk you into "silver" amalgams. Ceramic or composite is extra good these days, but try to find a dentist who can also assure you that the composite is BPA free. Staying alive isn't as difficult as it used to be, it's being conscious while you're still kicking that's getting difficult.

Well can you explain how a filter removes chemicals and pollutants that have molecule sizes as small or smaller that water molecules?

If you pay your 1000 baht for the re-entry permit, on a retirement visa, how long do they allow you to stay out of the country??

I have been boiling Bangkok tap water for years now and then keep it in ordinary plastic water bottles. I have never had a problem. My concern with filtered water, as an amateur, is that filters can remove bacteria but virus are too small. Are they removed by filters too? I doubt it. The cost of the electricity to boil the water is cheaper than the cost of buying water too.

Nothing is as it seems in Thailand. Nobody can be trusted. You can never know who your friends are or when they will turn against you. Money, power, face, greed and revenge are the leading forces behind events in this country. Buddhist principles are an illusion. The coins everybody drops in a beggar’s cup are not for the beggar. He is not important. You drop them in the cup to buy your own merit. That is not true merit. Right now in this “land of smiles” these forces are completely out of control. What is happening is not a revolution to help the poor and downtrodden. It is a battle for power and money by very rich people one side of which is using the poor as pawns to be disposed of and sacrificed in their attempt to win this ruthless game of chess. Thailand’s poor are not going to gain from their struggle and sacrifice.

Did you install the Thai keyboard?

(Control Panel - Region and Language - Keyboards and Languages - Change keyboards - Add)

I guess it is installed. I am using it for this message now. It has both languages on it and It did work OK before the service. Sorry - I am a bit dumb when it comes to computers.

I have an English /Thai keyboard. In "control panel" under Regional Languages I have selected the option which includes Thai and have clicked "apply." I recently had a service on my computer and now when I press the key just beneath "escape" in the top left corner of the keyboard it does not change the writing from English to Thai like it did before the service. Can anybody assist me please? I will be most grateful.<br>Doug.<br>

I do believe we will now be seeing a lot of PURPLE fuel now....as it goes without saying when you mix yellow and blue.

I believe yellow and blue make green