gohmer

5 hours ago, MINIMIGLIA said:

Toyota by a country mile,

Obviously you haven’t owned a ford. There’s a reason the Ford F150 is the top selling vehicle of all kinds in the states. If you’re an outdoorsman, building a house, etc the fords are on the road years and years after the Japanese pickups. They are great the first few years but not built fir heavy use or the long haul. 

Here are the steps and tricks I used to bring my dog back. 

1. For those who have dogs in the 7kg or less range,  which is still well over the limit that the airline specify, however if you put your dog in a collapsible carrier as small as you can bye and sling the carrier over your shoulder when you go up to the checkout, they never weigh the dog. My dog was 7 kg and he wrote in his own seat on the plane since there was empty seats.

2.  Get the paperwork the vet needs ahead of time, vets generally do not have it. you have to get it from Immigration. Then hand-deliver the paperwork with the dog to the vet for a check up.

3.  After the vet fills in the paperwork hand-deliver that, do not have the vet deliver it, to the agency that you got the paperwork from and have them stamp it.  

4. Make sure the dog gets all of his shots and you have a complete history of his medical records with you when you start your trip.

5. Book the dog on the airlines and show up plenty early. 

This discussion has been going on forever. The dual pricing is wrong in all aspects, but what I don't understand is this; with the many coups, killings of foreigners falling off hotel balconies, crime, corruption, filth and garbage everywhere, unregulated chemicals sprayed/injected in all of the food, including the fresh food at the markets, the driving dangers, lack of proper criminal justice system, a significant percentage of the population disliking/hating/jealous of farang, dirty beaches, poor customer service, house prices higher than places in Europe and the US, and the constant complaining so many seem to do on these forums, while the F haven't you all moved back home. Are you wanted by the law, murderous ex-wife, or what??? It took me 7 years, but I am so glad I moved home. The arguement about the cost of living is totally bogus, unless you life in City of London, NYC, San Fran, or Moscow. I bought an almost new 4 bedroom, 3 bath house, extremely well built, with a resort style pool and spa for less money than the same place in Hua Hin or Chiang Mai, let along a nice neighborhood in BKK. Its in Southern California where the weather is summer every day. I'm 45 minutes to the beach, 1 hr to snow skiing, 1 hr to national parks, surrounded by great universities, entertainment, and the streets are all landscaped and parks everywhere. My internet is the SLOWES that Verizon sells in Temecula, CA, which is 50mb up and 50mb down for $35/mo. I have superfast cell service and when I buy a pair of shoes at REI for trail running and a month later they cause my toes to turn black, I can take them back and get a free pair a half size bigger. When you add up all of the amenities that countries like the UK and the US have, I don't get the point of living in Thailand, except for one, cheap, ignorant women. God you must be desperate. I came for work, yes I met a wife, but can't say any better than my American wife - just as cheap and ignorant, but that's another story. I left for all the other things. Now I have a great job, great home, safe, clean, and other than food, just as cheap. My advice, stop complaining about the two tier pricing and just go home. Problem solved!

I suppose the US interest in Thailand, and some other SE Asian countries, probably begins and ends with the extent of their usefulness for stagng US military assets to annoy the Chinese. The whole "Democracy" for the Thai people thing sounds better in the media however

So does that mean you are in favor of Chinese expansionism into SE Asia? Hope you aren't that ignorant.

OR, you could do what I did and that was relocated back to the states with my 12 and 14 yr old step-kids and Thai wife. 7 years in Thailand was enough for me to know I couldn't have my Thai step kids educated in any Thai school. I put them in two of the best public schools in Southern California that's giving them the best education which will allow them the opportunity to attend a top 100 university in the US. Not only has their English accelerated at an unbelievable rate, the academic curriculum is vastly superior. They actually learn world history, chemistry, advanced algebra, biology, not just what all of the good things the you know who's, which we can't talk about, have done.

My kids absolutely love it here and have said repeatedly they never want to go back to Thailand except to visit. They have a zillion friends and have social and recreational opportunities abound. And, most importantly, my Isaan step kids will actually be able to get really great jobs without the extreme prejudices of Thailand for being dark-skinned, too old (over 30), etc.

Nope, no way, no how would I put my kids through Thai schools not even international ones because I don't want them to live a life under the social, political, or economic constraints of Thailand.

Don't forget it was one of those ridiculously expensive international schools that the kids dressed up for Sports Day and marched through town all dressed like Hitler, goose stepping, and carrying swastikas. The international schools have an economic stranglehold on foreigners or even Thais due to the incredible gap (mostly perceived) between public and international. Most parents to rave out their international school do so so they don't look stupid for paying such ridiculous tuition and, if the teachers are Thai, well , their goes the international in the international.

My advice, take your kids to Europe or America and get them educated their. If you don't have to absolutely live in Thailand, why are you even asking this question about Thai vs international.

Dear Pornpimol Kanchanalak,

Your country gets aid from all over the world. It is the business of those who send you aid to make sure you clowns don't destroy their investment or put their citizens in harm's way. If you were capable of handling your own country, you would not be treated like children on the international playground. Yet, here you are, time and time again. So suck it up or deny all aid. Choose one.

Cheers,

The World

I was going to write the exact same thing, but found yours. Thanks. Couldn't have said it better, especially the reference to Thailand acting like children. They are children. I will only add to your point that all this talk of the US staying out of other's business is exactly what the world can't afford, but it sure makes a good sound bite for the ignorant. The world is a global community and economy and that requires a police force to keep the delinquents off the streets and obeying the laws; otherwise, their neighbors, friends, benefactors, and dependents suffer. Trouble in Thailand hurts tourism and business in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Myanmar. It creates instability and could allow for terrorist groups to gain a foothold, it rocks stock markets, disrupts trade, and many more bad things. It is this type of control by the Royalists that almost brought the Thai government major problems in 1975 when communists coming out of Laos into Isaan threatened to take over like they did in Thailand's neighboring countries. Thailand sure didn't mind 5,000 Marines showing up to help put that issue to rest. What Fn hyporcrites these Thais are. To say that a coup is only Thailand's affairs is ignorant at best and destructive at worst.

Whether you like it or not, the local police force in most of the world is the US and will remain so until some other country can deliver half-million soldiers on your frickin soil in lickety split time with a dozen nuclear aircraft carriers to back them up. Maybe the year 2080. If you don't believe it, take a look at the totally wasted countries of Afghanistan and Iraq. The US destroyed their country, but they are damn well voting now. Thailand should get their act together and hope the Taliban or Al Qaeda types don't start showing up their or Cobra Gold will take on a whole new purpose - teaching the idiot Thai military how to actually be something other than border guards for Chinese drug lords and ripping the lungs out through the Royalists throats.

Unbelievable the level of ignorance in this forum thread. You all make the red shirts look like Rhodes scholars.

Good article. Too bad there's not many in this forum who can understand it. There's always the stooge that brings it back to blaming Thaksin. It was said above, "the people voted". That is right, the people voted. Nowhere in the Democratic manual does it say that you have to vote for the best, smartest, or whatever. You vote for who you want. If the majority votes for Thaksin, or his proxy, then they get their turn at the wheel. If they screw up, the people will vote for someone else next time. The key point, is they get to vote and you stooges that keep complaining about the results need to just <deleted>.

Back to the article. The most brilliant part of the story was where Vandana Shiva talked about valuing everything. This is not new, but it really needs to get traction. In 1992, a Professor from Australia and an Economist from World Bank wrote a book called "Valuing the Earth". You can actually buy it for $1.99 on Amazon. It is a great education on how messed up our current economic model is and how most of the worlds problems could be solved by simply proper valuation. I'm from the state of Oregon in the US. I can give you a perfect example of this. Back in the '70s and '80s, Oregon was the #1 timber producer in the US. 50% of the entire state, which is the same exact size as New Zealand is owned by the government with vast stands of mature and "old growth" timber. Huge timber companies also own vast swaths of timber lands. The timber companies would bid on the cheaper government timber at auctions and save their own for a rainy day. When the timber companies logged the land, they would do this in a clear cut fashion leaving nothing but stomps, even on the side of steep mountains. When the rains came, the dirt washed into the creeks, streams, and rivers, silting over vast stretches of native Salmon and Steelhead spawning grounds. This nearly drove this major fishery into extinction. The fishing industry was decimated the price of Salmon in the stores went up 3, 4, 5 fold, and thousands upon thousands of people in the fishing industry lost their jobs. The Oregon coast became a stretch of rural poverty as a result of this.

Now, the price of wood was kept cheap because the timber company didn't have to price into their product the cost of the destruction to the fishery and other costs associated with the destruction of wildlife habitat. If they did, the price of houses would have gone up; therefore causing people to build smaller, more energy friendly homes. This would have also caused the timber companies to change the fashion in which they harvested the timber so that they didn't have to pay for the destruction of the environment. Oregon would have had two prosperous industries instead of just one.

The best thing that could happen to Thailand is that they abandon an outdated political model of the parliamentary system. It does not allow for proper checks and balances and is not responsive enough to its citizens. But good luck with that one.

IS he the only one in history to lose bus US citizenship to become Thai ? I can't believe it !

He renounced his US citizenship 18 years ago. A lot of Americans do that. A lot of French do that. Taxes you know or other business reasons like embargos from doing business in Vietnam. But I don't know what "lose bus US citezenship" is.

I have to inform you that in 2012 less than 1,800 U.S. citizens gave up their citizenship and that was double any other year in history. I don't think that constitutes "a lot", especially in contrast to the over 700,000 immigrants who became U.S. citizens in the same year. I'm speaking of people becoming sworn, legal, voting, citizens. That is also more new citizens than all other countries in the world put together hand out and, it is well below the over 1,000,000 who became legal U.S. citizens a few year prior. Oh, and while many people think it is Mexicans becoming the citizens, it is Chinese, Vietnamese, and Filipinos who are making up the bulk of new citizens.

Why would anyone want to become a citizen of Thailand unless you were a billionaire and made your money here. The majority of those giving up their citizenship in the U.S. are almost all wealthy, greed Fs who don't want to pay taxes after they made their money off the American system.

I took my first computer class in 1977. It was a Fortran class on a house sized IBM mainframe. Since then, I've been at all levels of IT from programmer to solution architect to director of development, to owning my own software development company. I've worked at small companies on up to GMAC and Bank of America. I've used just about every type of computer there is. I make my living using computers. At home, there's only one computer I'd ever consider owning and that's a Mac. I have a 27" iMac with i7 quad-core, 16gig memory, 1Tb HD, and dual monitors; a MacBook Air; an iPad 3; and an iPhone 5 (the iPhone and MacBook Air were provided by my company where I had the choice of PC or Mac, Galaxy or iPhone).

I have a time-machine backup system that backs up my entire universe of data on my iMac and all Apple gadgets every hour onto a mirrored RAID 4TG dual drive system. The Apple OS syncs all my contacts, music, photos, mail, settings, documents, and the entire OS, etc to iCloud (all behind the scenes without me clicking a single button) making all of it available on all devices anywhere in the world. Everything works effortlessly all of the time. I don't have to be a "Tweaker", the stuff just works. My iMac and all Apple devices automatically keep the OSs and apps updated behind the scenes, no need to mess around with maintenance.

At work, all of our conference rooms have Apple AirPort devices connected to the conference room projectors and it is instant wireless connection.

I have all of the standard Mac software, including Microsoft Office for Mac. I also run parallels which is a virtual machine for Windows. Windows 7 actually runs faster on my iMac in a virtual machine than what Windows 7 does on my high-end Lenovo workstation at my office, where I am usually on my MacBook Air instead. My PC at work is 64 bit windows 7 and I can't even find a audio driver for it. It snapped and smoked the other day, then blue screened. It is a mangy soi dog compared to my iMac. All of my development tools all run on the Mac with the exception of one design tool that is a piece of crap; however, its the piece of crap the company picked. The alternatives to this one piece of crap all have PC and Mac versions. There's no software the average person needs that you won't have on the Mac, and when you add the Apple devices, Apple iOS has more apps than imaginable, and they all work, unlike Android apps with different versions for different phones and updating is a nightmare.

And here is the best of all, no matter what sites I venture onto ;-), not one virus ever!!!! I don't even have to have anti-virus software, even though I do just to be on the extra extra safe side.

There, enough with the quantification and qualification.

My advise is to keep running the dog you have until it dies - save your money and then buy a really great piece of technology. And don't forget, by the end of this year, Apple will be coming out with a 60" TV that will blow away what we consider TVs are today. If you have a Mac, it just becomes an awesome homogeneous, tightly unified system that no PC + gadgets can compare to.

The frequency of this type of accident is in direct correlation to the amount of (or lack of) money paid to victims. The victims settle for peanuts. If the tour companies were sued like in the States and/or their executives/owners held on criminal charges with severe sentences (that actually got fulfilled), that would be the near end of these accidents. The bad companies would be out of business, the good companies able to make better profits to pay higher wages to drivers and provide better training. Legislature without serious financial and personal consequences is worthless. Another option that would work even faster is if the victim's families take up arms and attack the bus companies hanging their owners. I vote for the latter - faster, more effective, and results in permanent change.

Dead over NYE how desperately sad?

Problem is we all move here for a better life but in doing so for the most part lose feeling part of a community.

R.I.P Ronnie.

Para,

There are still plenty of places in Thailand where one definitely feels a sense of community. Saying that, I've noticed for all the years I've been here, that the sense of community is falling by the wayside.

If one looks at other countries, the same trend has been around for some time. Cities being the worst for lack of community / neighborly...

RIP Ronnie...

I can't speak of any of the countries in Europe; however, after spending 6 years in Thailand and with a GF and kids most of the time, I couldn't wait to leave. I completely get what Para is saying. I was in Para's position of not being able to come back due to not having a job and not affording to leave the one I had in Thailand. It was 2 years of prospecting and waiting out the crappy economy until I got an awesome company to hire me over Skype. The job is in a beach community just north of San Diego, California. I was very concerned about the cost of living, the SoCal culture, and the possibility that America had changed so much I'd be very disappointed and regretting the move back when I got here (I hadn't visited in that 6 yrs).

Well, unbelievable, the people, weather, streets (I bike to work), beaches, cleanliness, business attitudes, far cheaper rents and food than I ever expected, sense of community, endless activities, parks, nightlife, big name entertainment, dozens and dozens of microbrews, beach runs, endless mountain biking trails out my front door, 2 hours to snowboarding, 30+ year old California women that make 30+ year old Thai women (assuming you get married and don't spend your entire remaining life chasing lowlife bar girls) look like soi dog meat, and on and on and on.

Everyday when I ride my bike to work (and I'm 59) I am so thankful that I don't have to be on edge ready to die dodging the crazy F'n drivers in Thailand. I went to a popular outdoor sports store and bought mtn running shoes. I wore them for 3 months about 40 times, but I bought them half-size too small. I went to buy a second pair and the guy said to bring the first ones back, no questions guarantee of satisfaction. He said if I had wore them for a year or even longer, it would be the same. Now try and find that kind of business in Thailand. When I went through immigration flying into LAX, the immigration police chatted with me and sincerely welcomed me back when I mentioned I had been gone a long time. Get that at immigration in Thailand. When my Issan fiance (we are applying for a Fiance visa right now to get her and the kids to eventually be US citizens) goes to Robinson's makeup counter, she can't even get waited on (I make six-figures and she shows it). In the US, she will be equal to everyone else and my kids won't have to grow up with the kind of F'd up prejudice found in Thailand.

If I was rich, I'd pay for Para to live her just so he could get out as I did. I can't image the kind of crap hole all of the rest of you came from to think Thailand is an up tick. Now, if you come from a really messed up country (fortunately, despite its problems, the US ain't one), then I feel sorry for you too. But if your home country is not messed up, I can't imagine you staying in Thailand for any reason than cheap kittie(synonym), and if that's it, then you are the kind of person who probably doesn't care about community or quality of life anyhow.

I enjoyed your post, even the running shoe bit and the gripes about Thailand's faults.

However, your last paragraph ruined the story. You may very well be happy with your six figure income and your Isaan GF and her kids ready to share the SoCal dream, but your put down of others who do not share your enthusiasm for the west is disappointing.

I happen to be from the large land mass squatting to the north of your country and even though it's not quite as 'messed up' as the USA, I, like thousands of other expats choose to live our lives, peacefully here in Thailand. I can do without the snow, cold and constant drizzle that makes the 'wet coast' experience. Summers there can be beautiful.

Thailand has many expats who for one reason or another cannot fit in with the Thais and live their lives among their fellow farangs, speaking English with their female partners if they have one. Good for them, if they are happy.

On the other hand I know of many American, Canadian and British as well as Australians and other Europeans etc who speak some Thai and are absorbed in Thai communities, with their families, with access to just about all the services one might want without being part of a nanny society and believe it or not, they are quite happy.

I, like many who came here, am well past the "kitty" seeking age and realize this country has major problems but where on earth doesn't? Certainly not in the Excited States of America, with their fiscal problems etc. The United Sharia Kingdom of GB is definitely not a place I'd head back to.

Anyway as far as the original story is concerned, even in Nong Khai, there is a sizeable expat community and it is indeed sad that one of them should have had an accident and nobody was concerned enough to try and contact him..

I hope Nong Khai Ronnie rests in peace in a far better place and I hope you enjoy your new life in the California sun.

Well, you might be right about the last paragraph, maybe a bit judgmental, wasn't meant to be. And, you trump my hand with the fact that Canada is not a crap hole (IMHO). I love BC and Alberta; however, who can take that cold, I now have weather that is mostly warm all year round, most every day is sunny, and best of all, virtually no rain, humidity, or mosquitoes. Also, I will add, that I haven't met a Canadian who hasn't lived a long time in the US that understands it. All the Kanuks are critical of the US as are most Europeans, yet most that are critical only now the soundbites and cliches, not the real America (but that's for another post).

You're also right that it is truly sad to have been Ronnie and no one around. I don't want to imagine what his life must have been leading up to his end. Very depressing story. Makes me know that I will be doing everything possible to make sure that I take care of my family and love them to the end so I have someone there when I go.

Just to remind those who are not familiar with American law or society, Obama has nothing to do with this. Nothing at all. Gun laws are rooted in our constitution for one reason, originally to keep our government from ever becoming like the one that we repelled during our revolution. Plain and simple, its constitutional law that every President since Washington has had to uphold. The only thing any President can do is to appoint Supreme Court Justices who favor changing the constitution and then drive a constitutional amendment regarding the 2nd amendment, which he/she can't do unless one retires or dies - its a life long position. Anyone on this forum relating this issue to Obama is simple ig - nor - ant about the issue.

This is a huge blow to our culture and society, but it is clearly not an American issue alone - Norway has very strict guns laws and one guy killed 77 random, innocent people last year, but I don't here a bunch of derogatory statements about Norway, just the ones about the guy that did the killing. Every time something bad happens in America, all the twits come out in force to babble. Even in Thailand, there are university students shooting each other over rivalries.

The vast majority of posters here are the same who seem to always miss the the issue and simply babble. While the tittle and topic are ripe for humor and parody, the fact is, this is an issue of rights. It is like freedom of speech, a rule by an employer that prevents someone from saying the F word in certain places or situations is not about appropriateness or morality, it is about the constitutional right to free speech. The NRA is pushing the legislature on this is as just another battlefield over our constitutional right to bear arms. No European can understand this because they don't have the same aversion to gov't control, many of them still believe that one particular person who pops out of one women's vag I nah verses another is somehow superior to all the rest of us. America is messed up in many ways, but its still the freest country in the world due to our constitution that has only needed 27 amendments in 223 years...not like Thailand that has had 18 different constitutions in just 80yrs.

and pigs have been seen flying over Phuket

Oh yeah, the other issue here in Singapore is that there is now a strong backlash against foreigners here. When I first came here 13 years ago, the population was at 4 million, including 1 million foreigners (from maids and labourers to professional expats). Now we're at over 5 million, and the citizen population has increased only a bit in that time... we're talking about another million foreigners using the infrastructure here. Streets are more crowded, there are more traffic jams, things break down more often, etc. So the anti-foreigner sentiment here is very strong... you see it everyday in forums, in the news, etc. Of course, this place wouldn't be so successful without foreigners (cheap labour as well as professionals), but a lot of Singaporeans have lost sight of this and simply want to get rid of all those smelly unkempt foreigners that dirty the place and cause all the crime (in their minds).

Had a laugh yesterday: sitting in a pub over-hearing a Singaporean 'auntie' chastising a Filipina waitress for not having Chinese food on the menu. The waitress repeatedly tried to explain that it was supposed to be an IRISH pub, but the Singaporean lady was incensed that she could not get her Bee Hoon there.

One word for the whole mess, Chinese

Sometimes it is hard to contain anger - the empathy towards the Southern people is waning fast to the point where I would (almost) suggest round them all up, not matter what creed or colour, and send them back across the border. They have no rights and were given solace in being allowed to stay in Thailand against persecution and biting off the hand that feeds you is no way to express thanks. Destroying innocents lives due to religious BS and beliefs is unacceptable in the 21st century. And if this was a retaliatory gesture from a Thai person against Muslims, go with them. Thailand does not need you or your stupidity. And take your brainwashed families with you.

It is Malay land!

You appear not to have the first clue as to the origins of the conflict nor of the history of the region.

Get rid of state sponsored religion and the entire problem goes away!

This one steamed B***ch! Reminds me of my ex.

Natural selection comes to mind.

I just don't understand why all of you winers just don't go back home...like I'm doing. Heading back to the states cause I just can't F'n deal with the level of ridiculousness in this country. I'd live in Detroit before Bangkok, Alabama before Surin, Denver before Chiang Mai any day of the week. I tried it for 6 years because work sent me here. I just can't deal with it anymore, and based on all the negative comments on these forums, I don't get why you all stay here. Can't work and earn social security, can't own a house, Farang pay 2x, 3x, 4x, or 5x more for anything these people can gouge you for. Thai women are so jealous they become psychotic, dangerous evilness when the relationship doesn't work out. The corruption and ineffectiveness of the laws makes the worse of America look like Unicef. The military and police are the drug cartels. The food and water are deadly toxic from chemicals banned in the states 40+ years ago. And, let's not even talk about the driving, drunkenness, and out right hypocrisy of the so called followers of Buddhism. Sorry everyone, my sister just bought a small house on a piece of land with fruit trees in a nice quiet little town in Oregon last year for 1.3 million baht. You can't even do that here. See ya, wouldn't wanta be ya!