mfindlay

Ho Ho Ho! Very Good!

Bangkok has footpaths??????

They are the big wide black coloured things! With those tin things called cars on them!

The OP stated that an increase in prostitution in the UK would likely decrease incidences of violence and vandalism. He was not saying that legalizing prostitution in the UK would decrease the violence related to illegal prostitution. He also typecast Thai women with VISAS as likely to be involved with prostitution overseas.

And do you really believe that Thai women overseas are not statistically to be more willing to be involved than the indigenous western population ?? Please get a grip.

I lived in Holland with my Thai wife.. We plugged into the Thai community at first to attempt to make her settle and feel like there were people around she could get on with.. After a couple of meetings she didn't want to keep going.. Why ?? All the Thai girls there were totally focused on money and how much their BF's gave them.. Most of them were turning tricks (some with and some without their husbands knowledge) and encouraging her to do the same. She got on great with the dutch girls and GF's of my mates.

Of course its not every one but don’t blame others for having preconceptions when its the Thai women overseas that reinforce and create those stereotypes.. Of course generalizations are not helpful but sometimes you do have to look at the facts.

I don't mean to offend, but, you probably don’t realize how ugly and potentially dangerous your above sentiments and conclusions are. No, Thai women do NOT “create” and “reinforce” the “stereotype” overseas that they are all prostitutes or involved in prostitution. Please don’t blame Thai women for other people’s shortsighted and cruel projections upon them.

All the women you and your wife met in Holland appear to have been sex-workers, and Thai women as a class cannot be blamed if your fellow countrymen cherry pick prostitutes to bring back home with them. You can’t really blame Thai women as a whole if the uneducated Thai prostitutes Westerners bring home with them don’t miraculously transform themselves into business professionals.

I hope you are not suggesting that average Thai women who have never been involved in prostitution are somehow, if all things are equal, more likely to do so than other women.

If you are merely saying that prostitutes with VISAS are more inclined to be involved in prostitution overseas than are non-prostitutes, than I agree. But most the Thai women overseas are not prostitutes brought back by their johns. Many are educated middle class Thais looking for better opportunities and a higher standard of living.

I know at least a half dozen Thai women living or planning to live in the West and none have anything to do with prostitutes.

The perception of Thai women as prostitutes is usually harbored by men who primarily have only sought the company of Thai prostitutes, or who treat Thai women as if they are prostitutes whatever their occupation. Be careful not to support this sort of harmful discrimination.

Thai women tend to be at a disadvantage in patriarchal Thai society, as well as in trying to work their way up as foreigners overseas. The Thai women I know already have to deal with being joked about or perceived as prostitute material. I can clearly remember a Thai women friend of mine becoming upset that I left her alone with a guy who had been to Thailand and was trying to talk to her in the few Thai phrases he knew. He was treating her like the girls in the bars in Pattaya. An actual close friend of mine referred to someones Thai girlfriend in the West as his "Thai hooker". The girl in question was anything but that.

Here Here

I worked in Thailand for nearly 2.5 years and had a Thai friend, who is a girl over to stay with me and my family. The jokes some very hurtful not just for her but also me were way off the mark! The young lady in question is a very successful business woman selling foreign property to very wealthy high hair Thais her father a successful Lawyer.

Air Chief Marshal Kongsak said the leading causes of road accidents were driving while under the influence of alcohol, speeding and cutting in front of other vehicles.

--TNA 2006-04-09

So what is new?

I have always wondered how many per weekend / week is the normal?

So what is the delta?

The Posting from the BBC

Thaksin claims Thai election win

Mr Thaksin had hoped snap elections would resolve the crisis

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra says his party won more than 50% of the vote in a snap election he hoped would end a crisis over corruption claims.

But he acknowledged support for his Thai Rak Thai party had dropped, and pledged to set up a committee to try to resolve the political crisis.

He said on live television he would resign if the committee asked him to.

Official results from Sunday's vote are not yet published, but Mr Thaksin said his party had won 57% of the vote.

If the committee asks that I resign, then I will, if that will solve the problem

Thaksin Shinawatra

The prime minister told a political talk show that 16 million people had voted for his party, down from 19 million in last year's election.

He said Thai Rak Thai had won 349 seats, down from 377 a year ago.

"Last year we got Grade A, now it's Grade B," he said. "There's no difference, we've still passed the examination."

By-elections

Mr Thaksin had called Sunday's snap election in an attempt to end weeks of instability over claims by the opposition that he was corrupt and had abused power.

But the main opposition parties refused to put up candidates, and in 278 out of 400 constituencies Mr Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party ran unopposed.

THAI PARLIAMENT

The parliament has 500 seats

Of these, 400 are directly elected. A candidate must win 20% of the votes in a seat to be an MP

The other 100 seats are elected by proportional representation. A party must win 5% nationally to be eligible

All 500 must be filled for parliament to convene

Only a convened parliament can elect a PM and form a government

Unfilled seats require by-elections

Thai election: Q&A

The election commission said earlier on Monday that enough votes had been counted to declare Thai Rak Thai the winners.

But there were also indications of a big protest vote, particularly in Bangkok and in many parts of the far south.

Candidates in 38 constituencies - all in opposition strongholds in the south - failed to win the 20% of votes needed to become MPs, and by-elections now need to be held.

All 500 seats in parliament must be filled for it to convene legally, which, under the constitution, must happen within 30 days of the poll.

Election Commission secretary-general Ekachai Warunprapha said they planned to run two rounds of by-elections within that period.

'Not shocked'

Before the vote, Mr Thaksin said he would step down if he failed to win 50% of the vote.

He told the TV programme he was "not shocked" by the result.

HAVE YOUR SAY

I hope that [the PM] will step down and finally allow the country to heal

Sakabatou, Bangkok

Press dismisses poll 'trick'

Send us your comments

"I always knew I would lose popularity in Bangkok. But people in the countryside still voted for Thai Rak Thai," he said.

But he went on to outline plans for an independent committee of eminent people - which would include three former prime ministers - to consider a way out of the country's political crisis.

"If the committee asks that I resign, then I will, if that will solve the problem," he said.

Mr Thaksin has been under increasing pressure following his family's decision in January to sell its shares in one of Thailand's biggest telecom groups, Shin Corp, which netted them and others $1.9bn.

The move angered many urban Thais who took to the streets in protest, complaining that the prime minister's family had avoided paying tax and passed control of an important national asset to Singaporean investors.

Be intresting to see if they block all the unregistered roaming SIM's. There are not too many countries in the world that require SIM cards to be registered, or if they do its just against a local address. 

In the UK they are now recommending that if you go on holiday buy a local SIM to reduce the cost of roaming charges.

This SIM registration was reported on Thaivisa back in late June early July.

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Roaming phones will not be blocked. Your SIM identifies your native network and you are allowed access to a network, after the local operator receives a message back from your native provider. Now if someone screws up the change on 31 Dec, and chooses to block all SIMs, then all bets are off! Should be a relatively easy software change, just block all the local providers based on the SIM identifier, for those people who have not registered.

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Thailand's communication authority will also cut unregistered mobile phones with numbers from across the border in Malaysia, Kongsak said. Thai authorities and private mobile phone companies have already informed their Malaysian counterparts of the new system, he added.

"All Malaysian SIM cards which were not registered will have their signals blocked too," he said.

How will they do that then???

MINISTRY OF ICT TO DISCONNECT PHONE SIGNALS ON 15th OF NOVEMBER

As for people from other provinces who would like to travel to the three southern border provinces and use pre-paid phones, Mr. Sora-at added that they must have their sim-card registered as well or else their services would also be cut.

Source: thaisnews.com ประจำวันจันทร์ที่ 14 พฤศจิกายน 2548

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Stupid question... Why are they doing this? Everyone's got to register so what's all this about the South?

I guess your not paying to register your phone, so it's not a money spinner.

How are the Govt justifying this? Security reasons? And what are the aims?

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Stop bombs being detonated via un registered mobile is the goal!

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It really was a stupid question!

Here's another... If you're going to detonate a bomb, does it matter if you're in the south or not? Could someone do it from a neighbouring country?

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The problem is not to stop the call from the un-registered phone its to stop the calls to an un-registered phone that then detonates a bomb.

Must point out that you have to have two other things, coverage and capacity. So CP-Orange need not bother and DTAC it would only work if you called during the wee small hours.

Be intresting to see if they block all the unregistered roaming SIM's. There are not too many countries in the world that require SIM cards to be registered, or if they do its just against a local address. 

In the UK they are now recommending that if you go on holiday buy a local SIM to reduce the cost of roaming charges.

This SIM registration was reported on Thaivisa back in late June early July.

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Roaming phones will not be blocked. Your SIM identifies your native network and you are allowed access to a network, after the local operator receives a message back from your native provider. Now if someone screws up the change on 31 Dec, and chooses to block all SIMs, then all bets are off! Should be a relatively easy software change, just block all the local providers based on the SIM identifier, for those people who have not registered.

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I know how it works they will just delete the SIM number off of the CAMEL database for the unregistered SIM's. But it would be just like the operators to screw up the operation and delete the VLR database instead.

Thousands of southern mobile phone users face service cut 

  The telephone companies had repeatedly asked their customers via SMS to register over the past few months.

--TNA 2005-11-15

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I've had the same number and the same handset for 5 years now

I've never had an SMS telling me to register it - at least not in English, and as I can't read Thai (like the several hundred thousand other farang users of pre-paid in the kingdom) it's no use sending me an SMS in Thai - the phone companies should recognise that from the default language set on my handset - the language setting is part of the ID signal that monitors which cell you're currently in.

I have no idea where I have to do it

I have no idea what documents I have to provide

I had no idea of the deadline until reading this at almost 10pm

They really publicised this well didn't they?

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These were Georges Posts on 22-June-2005 & 10-October-2005.

Mobile phone users told to register SIM cards

BANGKOK: -- Mobile phone users are being given six months in which to register their personal data under a government scheme aimed at cracking down on the use of mobile phones to detonate explosives in Thailand's southern border region.

Introducing the 'Joining Hands, Joining Forces' campaign today, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Minister Suwit Khunkitti said that prepaid mobile phone customers would be given from 1 July to 31 December to register their information.

Under the scheme, mobile phone users will be expected to fill out forms in their own handwriting, in which they will state their name, identity (ID) card number and mobile phone numbers.

They will then have to sign the form in the presence of an official, who will then countersign it.

The scheme is being introduced in an effort to prevent southern insurgents from using mobile phones belonging to other people to detonate explosives.

By registering all SIM cards, the government hopes to be able to log the identity of all users.

--TNA 2005-06-22

ICT to cut signal of unregistered SIM card phones in South on Nov 15

BANGKOK: -- The Information and Communications Technology Ministry is set to terminate a signal of pre-paid mobile phones that fail to have SIM cards registered in the three violence-plagued border provinces of the South form November 15 onwards.

ICT Minister Sora-art Klinpratum said the ministry needed to terminate the signal of the phones that fail to have pre-paid SIM cards registered in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat from that date in order to facilitate the government’s measures to cope with the southern unrest.

For other areas, users of mobile phones with refill cards are required to register the SIM cards from December 31. Otherwise, the signal of their phones would be also terminated.

Currently, he said, the ministry found the signal of mobile phones in Malaysia covers certain areas of Thailand. So, it had asked local private mobile phone operators to talk with the Malaysian counterparts to solve the problem.

So far, around 10 million out of 21.5 million mobile phone users with refill cards around the country have registered their SIM cards.

--TNA 2005-10-10

Be intresting to see if they block all the unregistered roaming SIM's. There are not too many countries in the world that require SIM cards to be registered, or if they do its just against a local address.

In the UK they are now recommending that if you go on holiday buy a local SIM to reduce the cost of roaming charges.

This SIM registration was reported on Thaivisa back in late June early July.

refusal to take the test should lead to an automatic guilty verdict.

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Totally disagree with this.

Regards

Rio F.

Salford

Manchester

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Why do you dissagree?

You live in the UK and if you refuse to provide a specimen then its an automatic 12 month ban and you are treated as if guilty by your insurance company and the courts.

My question is more if you jump into a Taxi when you are Three Sheats to the Wind and the drivers pissed. Will you be arrested to?

This industry has a massive cash turnover, so they won't close them down this way. (What was the guy who knocked down those bars in Soi 10 paying the men in brown each week?)

I think it's just so the Govenment gets the kickbacks rather than the little men in brown!

Oh! Well, just have to stick to the beer!

Until I get pissed

Petrol stations may close earlier

Domestically, retail prices continue making new records. Octane-95 gasoline is now priced at Bt27.14.

--The Nation 2005-09-06

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Think yourselves lucky folks 95 Octane in the UK has just hit £1-06p thats 79.98 Baht or $1.98 US per Liter. Which is equivelent to $6.775 US per US Gallon.

I need a job in Thailand again!!!!

SANAM LUANG: Prostitution tackle

BANGKOK: -- Phra Nakhon District Office’s director, Noppadol Savikamin, is pushing to declare Sanam Luang off limits between 11pm and 5am every day.

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Just Where is this area?

Could understand it if it was Nana or Cowboy, unless they are hitting the Thai soapy massage parlors!

I know that when I am in BKK, or any other South Eastern Asian country (Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, HK...) I am always especially careful.

I work as a model in these countries, and the circle of wealthy men and women know no boundaries as far as their sexual appetites. Sadly, they know that it's a matter of what you can afford.

I have heard stories of models disappearing from parties, clubs, etc... and it has always been believed that this is what happens to them when they disappear.

I remember that I was at a club one time in Kuala Lumpur hanging out and having a few drinks with some people I had just met. I was talking to this guy that I though was very nice... turns out he was "royalty", and when my friends saw me talking to him, they immediately pulled me away "just in case". They said that it's not a good thing to have a rich man fancy you in this circle.

Strange, but unfortunately, true...

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At least you would be missed and your family could afford to look for you! Which is more than these children from the north can expect!

The sad fact that life is cheep in many of the North and North East provences permits this process to happen. The sad old men who then pray on these children can then strip them of their childhood.

They should ban it between 3-5pm, like the beer. That seems to be a real problem solver.

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No just turn off the TV transmitters after 3:30pm when the schools come out! Will save power as well!!!

Find a blank channel with white noise (snow). ... That is theorectically legacy noise from the big bang. I could watch it for hours...

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UBC is run by the CP Group! They will be getting a boost in sales if this policy goes ahead! Typical Thai logic, turn off the terestrial transmitters! There would be a greater power saving if the TV was turned off on the switch and not just the remote, the standby consumption is almost as much as the normal with a normal screen!

Why so quick to jump on the Africans?   After all the article said 3 Chineese and a Iraninan where picked up. Lets not forget a french passport would be just the thing for a Cambodian with a lil dough looking to get out, OR better yet for someone looking to smuggle in cheap Cambodian labor or sex slaves into France. France did their colonisation thing over there too ya know.

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Over 83% of all oversatyers/ dissapearers in the UK are from Africa is this a trend

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Hmm we have the same problem with Mexicans here in the States. Though we have a 1000+ mile long boarder with Mexcio... You guys in the UK have easy immigration policies?

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No! Its difficult to even get a visa for a trip. With the rest of the EU if you get a visa for one you can enter any of the other EU countries. UK hasn't signed up to that agreement. So travel into the UK is more restricted.

Yep. Nice guy actually. Has morals 

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this makes me laugh. I hope the sewage stinks up his resort and his business goes into the sh1tter. (no pun intended)

PKG

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u r right, absolutely! Must be a German or French a.h.

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Im offended being american , maybe why thailand is going to waste is because there are so many european people there that dont give a sh!t . hmmm makes you wonder .

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That's Right take the morel high ground! Then retreat and blast it back down to the US level!

You think your offended by a Thai's remarks what about yours!

She pointed out that many countries have more than one national name, such as the Netherlands and Holland; the United States and America; the Great Britain, the United Kingdom and England; Switzerland and Helvetia; Germany and Deutschland; and Japan and Nippon.

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Huh??

England and Scotland are two countries that make up Great Britain (with Wales as a principality). When combined with Northern Ireland, these territories makes up the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". So the country has one official name.

Germany, Switzerland and Japan are in English. The counterparts listed above are the names in their own languages (yes, I know, they don't always translate correctly).

The only one in the list that makes her point is Netherlands and Holland. How about "Thaijinland"?? Isn't that the way things are headed??

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Holland again is the English name the correct name is The Netherlands! America is a Continent and the United States of America are a country within that Continent, it would be like calling Thailand Aisa.

Personally I think Thailand should be dropped and Siam used you mention you are visiting Thailand and all you get is nods and winks as to why you are going!

Friend of mine came over to the UK in December by Phuket Air, or rather didn't. The flight was delayed at BKK for 12 hrs. When she kicked up a fuss telling then she had a business meeting in the UK and she would want compensation if she didn't get there. They transferred her and about 15 others who were near her to Thai Air she arrived 28 hrs late. Poor girl had to fly back with Phuket though. Might be cheep but is it worth trading safety for it.

Been here in LOS for 18 years, been on a bus once only, 18 years ago. I would rather WALK from BKK to anywhere, than take a Thai bus. [snip]

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Fair enough if you've got a reliable car and driver. For those of us who have to rely on public transport there's not really any very feasible alternative to the buses (trains are too slow and too infrequent). Given the way that many taxi drivers behave on the expressways, I wouldn't fancy taking one of them.

As it is, my wife and I have been using the Ekamai-Pattaya bus route regularly for the last four years. In all that time, although there have been a few hair-raising moments we've only ever been in one accident - a pickup pulled out of a side road without looking, and the bus driver didn't stand a chance of avoiding him (though he braked pretty hard). Made a nasty mess of the pickup, but all that happened to us was that the windscreen was broken and there was a dent in the front of the bodywork.

Moral: if you're going to travel by road, you might as well be in as large a vehicle as possible.

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I have travelled many many times up an down highway 2. To and from Khon Kaen and on up to Nong Khai. The number of buses that I have seen on their roofs having rolled off the highway into the fields below. At around Ban Phai there is a very large bus grave yard.

The issue is not the fact that pickup driver has pulled onto the highway. It is simply the fact that the buses drive too fast and the drivers don't have long enough to rest, so they pop pills or drink caffeine drinks to stay awake.

I have had too many near squeeks and white knuckle rides with Thai drivers that I will only drive myself or fly. Getting to the other end of the journey is more important than getting there by ambulance or in a box. I'm sorry if this sounds very high and mighty but with such a high accident rate on the roads I feel it is the only way.

Before you ask yes I know it is the most expencive option, but what value do you put on your life and loved ones?

I must admit i'm pretty new to this forum but it's encouraging to see that I'm not the only one who thinks that these schemes of Mr Thaksins seem to become more unbelievable at every turn. The worst part being that I can't work out if he actually believes his own rhetoric or if it's just a show for the public?

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The worst bit is he's up for re-election this year, and who else is there?

...[snip]Its about time our respective Embassies earned our tax wages and get their AR*****S in gear.

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And do what exactly? I just wonder how many Thais [substitute nationals of the developing country of your choice] get murdered in Western capitals every day - and what their Embassies/High Commissions are expected to do to prevent those murders? I don't think any country's nationals pay enough taxes to afford a 24-hour bodyguard service...

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You are missing the point , I meant for them to bend someones ear not issue bodyguards

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I think that if the World Press picked up on these issues more and there was more adverse publicity, then maybe the Thai and Laos authorities would act. It was only the begining of this week that George posted this.

Thailand to focus on top end of tourist market in 2005 

PHUKET: --  The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) yesterday unveiled strategic plans for the coming year which show a strong shift in favour of high income tourists, while revealing that the mushrooming of low-cost airlines had boosted tourist numbers by 20 percent over the first nine months of 2004.

According to the TAT's Deputy Governor for Domestic Marketing, Juthaporn Rerngron-asa, the organization hopes to see a 4-5 percent increase in domestic tourism next year, while at the same time achieving a target of 13 million foreign visitors.

The 20 percent rise in tourist numbers over the first nine months of 2004 can be attributed both to the birth of several no-frills airlines this year and also to the tourism slump last year brought about by the Iraq War and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which pushed down tourist figures by 10.09 percent.

But this year tourism has picked up, and the TAT is confident of reaching its target of 12 million foreign visitors by the end of 2004.

Fifty percent of foreign tourists visiting Thailand are now from the Asian Pacific region, with considerable numbers from Malaysia, Japan, China, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong, while increasing numbers are coming from new markets such as the Middle East, Russia and Scandinavia.

Mrs. Juthaporn said that next year the TAT would focus on attracting quality, rather than quantity, with an emphasis on the top end of the tourism scale. 

This would mean an increased shift towards niche markets such as convention groups, honeymooners, health tourists, and golf and spa tourists.

-- TNA 2004-12-07

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A few headlines would soon put off the "High Income Tourists" don't you think?