gohmer

I read a lot of post about people being hurt or killed in some very unfortunate situation (like the one above) or maybe a Thai minivan driver trying to pass on a blind corner or cutting someone off, drinking then driving a motorbike 120km/hr with no helmet. Most all of you people on this forum always say the same incomprehensibly kind words - "I wish them well", "may they rest in peace", etc. maybe I'm just a cold hearted person (NOT!), but I just consider most of this "natural selection" considering Thailand has a culture and people which are either too naive or just plain ignorant to common sense things like personal safety and that just seems to let foreigners fall into the same condition. Notice I didn't say st oo pid, but that might apply in many cases. Not that my country is better, but the difference I see is that there is a full conciseness about what is ridiculously dangerous and a strong attempt to educate and regulate for the purpose of public safety.

In Thailand, there doesn't seem to be the slightest awareness that something is dangerous. I laughed at the news reports about the 7days of danger during the holidays where the police issues x tickets for no helmets and x tickets for no drivers license, but no mention of tickets for driving drunk or going a zillion KPH - an exponentially greater degree of causing death and injury to others than me personally not having a license or helmet. I rack this up to absolute, institutionalized laziness on the part of Thai police and lack of caring by the Thai gov't - where's father when you need him.

No, I'm sorry, I can't say kind things about this Russian even though my grandmother was born there. His is an example of absolute st ooooo pidity, and anyone saying kind things completely miss the point that as long as everyone does the polite "Thai thing" habits, policies, laws, and understanding will never improve.

Thailand is a dangerous country with dangerous, uncaring people with more interest in their ego/pride then someone else's safety - I know this well as I ride 10km to and from work every day on my bike and I'm on 100% high-alert/defensive guard the entire way to and from.

The best thing I can say, "hopefully this fuc_kle will have learned a lesson about drinking and alleys".

It seems most of the above posts are from UK citizens. So here's some food for thought. Point 1, as a comparison, America is the richest country in the world, most all modern things in the last 100 yrs have been invented in America, in its history since independence America has been in approximately 10 wars (most that we didn't ask for) versus about 75 for England (most England asked for), America is the 3rd most populous country in the world. All of these things have been primarily the result of 2 things. First, having a political, social, and economic system that offers great opportunity and draws the smartest, hardest working people from all over the world to immigrate. And, second, this massive influx of immigrants are the ones creating companies like Google and Cisco Systems. So, how that relates to this thread about immigrants into a country, is that it is obviously not a bad thing unless you are a racist, unimaginative, twit like the guy that complained about people from Pakistan immigrating to the UK - maybe they are a burden on your system because you can't offer any upside opportunities for them or because of your racist attitudes.

Point 2, Thailand on the other hand, does not offer the same kinds of opportunities for immigrants, and therefore, immigrants can be a burden for the country, especially since Thailand seems to get a dispropotionate percentage of the bottom of the barrel rather than the cream of the crop as America does. And, it is precisely due to the limitations of Thailand, its culture, and economics that prevents these opportunities, so why would the brightest people in the UK want to come to Thailand and work - and please don't say the cost of living because I can buy a house in Arizona, Nevada, Florida, North Caroline for the same price as a house in Hua Hin or Chiang Mai. The only thing cheaper in Thailand is healthcare, food, and women, and that's it. All else costs the same. But compared to the income differences, it is just a BS myth that you are money ahead. Only if you are on a lower blue collar pension does it make any sense, and if that's who you are, you aren't important to the economics here as you can't do much more than any Thai person.

Conclusion: I don't blame Thailand for "cracking" down.

My G.F. and I had the same experience in Sept '09, and we hired a US Immigration attorney in BKK. I don't believe the questions they as the girls are relevant in regards to decisions they make. I believe they've scanned the docs in the back room, take a quick look at the girl and have already decided before they come in. I also believe the humiliation is to make that person highly reluctant to try again. So the actual quetions about work, school, age, etc, are just a facade to make it look like there is some reason for the rejection.

It's OK, the victim was a Brit so they have to blame the Thais.

Touche on the Brit thing, seems all the Brits I meet can't do no wrong and are better than everyone else. But on another note, was the guy wearing a helmet, if not, natural selection is at play here not bad Thai driving behavior, if yes, well, just really bad luck and my condolences.

moving to the news forum

please keep this respectful people