Bob

Doesn't matter but I've never seen the ministry warning come up for all the years (about 12-13?) that I've accessed that board. And, while you may be right, I've never read before that a provider has intentionally blocked it either. And, in the end, doesn't matter personally to me as when I catch up to the board every May/June when I get back to the states, it always seems that I didn't miss anything at all!

Although the topic has been discussed many times on multiple boards, I don't believe the Sawatdee website has ever been blocked in Thailand, Michael (if a site is blocked by the government, you'll get the window that pops up in Thai and contains the message that the particular website is blocked by the ministry of information or whatever it is those "defenders of moral speech" call themselves). Regardless, some internet providers (such as True that I've used for years here in Chiangmai) have some compatibility issues with that website and one simply can't get directly to the website (a window pops up saying the site can't be located). I look at that site when I'm back in the states in the summer but, from September through May, I can't get to it other than through use of a proxy (which, when the mood strikes me every 3-5 months, I actually do).

My mom had a 1959 Chevrolet too, Rogie, and that car is about as good as any to compare to more modern cars which weigh considerably less and are infinitely more aerodynamic. You see the horizontal fins at the rear of that car? While they may or may not have been stylish at the time, they were a disaster aerodynamically - the airflow under them made the rear of the car somewhat lift off the ground at speeds above 60 mph which at times made that particular car occasionally fishtail rather dangerously. And the modern car (whether stylish or not) is infinitely more safer even in the interior due to the presence of airbags, seatbelts, knobs that don't impale passengers, steering wheels that won't crush your face, etc., etc. Hmmmm.....back to the thread topic.....I have never driven a car or motorcycle in Thailand and I'm not sure if I ever will. The traffic up here in Chiangmai is at times just awful and currently (given where I live) there seems to be no need to own my own vehicle (I can walk to where I want to go to 90% of the time and the baht busses are very easy to use and inexpensive).

To say the least, your language here is politically incorrect and, as far as I'm concerned, offensive. Next time, presuming these are your questions, maybe ask why Thai boys are always/usually late and/or why are they always/usually irresponsible. I've read the message boards since the mid-90's and, as far as I can recall, you have the worst luck of anyone I've ever read about. And, frankly, at this point in time, I don't think it's by chance.

If you have a one-year visa of some type which allows you to stay the entire year (such as what we call a retirement visa), all you need to do is to go to immigration every 90 days (and/or do the mail option) and report your address. There isn't any charge for this and that simple process shouldn't deter anybody's desire to stay here long term.

The coup makers also somewhat made the same argument - that the majority of voters are just too uneducated/stupid to elect proper leaders. The philosophy helped them craft one part of their imposed constitution that provided for the appointment of a chunk of the upper house by their entrenched buddies (a provision that the current Thai government appears to be on the verge of changing). Burma, a bastion of democracy (not), did the same thing and, absent the vote of some of the military seats permanently enshrined in the Burmese legislature by their dear leaders, the undemocratic constitution cannot be amended. Any element of society - whether the military or other elitist element - that argues that illegal change (i.e., a military coup) is required or justified because the voters picked the wrong party or leader are simply elements that truly have no respect for or belief in democracy.

Many falang have a totally negative view of Thaksin Shinawatra although some recognize him as just a standard Thai politician (which doesn't mean entirely nice things, that's for sure) who happened to be the first (and one and only?) Thai politician that did a few things that pleased the non-wealthy of Thailand. Whether the 30-baht health scheme, agricultural loans to poor farmers, etc., was or wasn't a wise thing from a national point of view may be irrelevant as what counts in a democracy is if a majority of the citizens vote for you (or your party). Thai Rak Thai was the first political party in Thai history to garner half or more of the vote. And I personally have no doubt that a new election in which Thaksin was allowed to participate would achieve the same result. We irrelevant falang can argue it's good or bad but, in the end, we simply don't count.

Fountainhill is a friend of mine and he has specifically chosen not to post his reasons for taking a breather. I know those reasons but I'm not about to publicly post private communications I have with him. But, if it helps to stop your repeatedly bringing up the topic (for the apparent reason to attempt to take a swipe at Michael and/or other posters), you're speculations are wrong.

That's the first nice immigration building I've ever seen in Thailand. The one here in Chiangmai is a dump and over-crowded as is the immigration office in Hua Hin.

With regard to this sign advertising a new drink here in Chiangmai, all I can say is YUCK!

I don't get off arguing any particular point but I've been coming here since the late 90's and I don't remember any entry fee ever being charged. I never paid one as far as I know. Anybody else ever hear of this? Perhaps you mean the fee for certain visas which was waived for a short period of time?

On that point, Christian, we agree. What we don't agree on is the reverse event - Shan/Burmese/Lao/etc. boys fudging about their origin and status which happens all the time and for very logical reasons. I'm not criticizing the so-called "illegals" here as, like the undocumented Mexicans in the US, they come to financially better themselves and their families. And the Thais - from farmers to contractors - take advantage of them. We have a few locations here in Chiangmai where hopeful construction workers gather every morning and the various contractors come by with their trucks and pick up their daily worker quotas (and no doubt pay them a whole lot less than what's fair and certainly less than the required minimum wage). What's sad and a bit pathetic to me is to see a crowd of these "illegals" suddenly flee and scatter when a cop car happens to randomly drive by.

As I understood it, the exit fee of 500 baht which we used to pay directly upon departing was shifted to the airlines (the airlines through their tickets collected it from travelers to/from Thailand and then the airlines paid it directly to the Thai government). And, unbeknownst to me, the departure fee was later increased to 700 baht. I'd note the following language comes directly from the Suvarnabhumi website: "Since February 1, 2007 the 700 Baht international departure tax was included in the price of flight tickets." Now you say that this departure fee was only temporary and is no longer in effect. What information do you base that on? Since I haven't read anything about the elimination of the referenced departure tax, I presume it's still in place. The new 500 baht fee is in addition to that (although it's not in effect as yet) and the Thai government calls it not a departure fee/tax but an entry fee/tax. And this new proposed fee (as reported in the papers) relates to the Thai government attempting to force foreigners in general to pay into a fund to compensate the hospitals for the fees foreigners don't pay or can't afford to pay. There's little doubt that people who travel abroad to Thailand can in fact afford an extra 500 baht; however, that issue (whether any of us can afford it) isn't the gist of the original post or most subsequent/related comments. P.S. The justification of the new arrival fee/tax, as noted, is that foreigners aren't paying their full tabs to the government hospitals and The Nation recently reported these bills that foreigners don't pay add up to "over 200 million baht annually." Well, in spite of the fact that I consider that amount to be somewhat minor in the grand scheme of things, let's analyze that. Let's say (I think this is about right) that Thailand has about 55 million international entries per year. If my calculator is working correctly, a 500 baht fee tacked on to all those entrants would raise 27.5 billion baht a year. Maybe a little bit of an overcharge?

Rather obvious to me. If you were illegally in a given country and a stranger (let alone anyone else) in a bar asked you where you were from, how would you answer that question yourself? You'd either not answer the question or you would do your best to fudge an answer. We have supposedly a million or two undocumented "guests" up here in the boonies and almost none of them will tell anyone other than someone they really trust about their true status. They sure as hell aren't going to say: "Well, I and my family are currently living in Chiangmai but we're actually here in Thailand without permission." Your use of the word "lying" is technically correct; however, I think that using that word given the background/context of the situation is a bit harsh. They're just trying to be smart and protect themselves, their friends, and their families.

Years ago, one had to pay 500 baht to leave the country (Thailand), it being collected just before you entered the immigration-exit room. What I've understood is that the Thai government made a deal with the airlines where the airlines all collect that amount and pay the Thai government (i.e., we still pay it although indirectly). I never knew (or can't remember) what the justification was for that 500-baht fee. [Yes, it was the "departure" tax/fee that koko and vinapu mention above] Now, they're struggling to figure out how to pay what they claim is the amount foreigners don't pay the Thai hospitals for services. I've seen the claimed total somewhere but I actually didn't think it was very much.....certainly far less than the amount the Thai hospitals profit from treating us foreigners! Another one of those "TIT" moments, I suppose.

I don't quite buy the premise that Asians as a group are causing the prices to rise anywhere in Thailand. Just doesn't make sense to me. If one had to guess and single out a group that might be doing that, we westerners would get the prize in my view. And I also can't fathom the premise that the Asians will cause Bangkok prices to lower when they figure out it's cheaper to go to Pattaya. If they're the big spenders, why would they look for a cheaper alternative?

The article was rather short and sketchy but the fact that many of the Thai politicians come from a long line of politicians isn't at all surprising to me. Happens all over the world too (the rich and elite tend to get and keep those jobs - sometimes because they simply have a popular name and sometimes just due to their wealth). In the US, there's the Bush clan, Kennedys, Rockefellers, etc. For Kings, I think the Chakri dynasty is the currently the world's longest serving dynasty. Even up here in the boonies, the Lanna Kings had about a 600-year run (interrupted rather abrasively by about 200 years of Burmese rule). But I'm guessing that Egypt, Persia, and even China had longer runs.

You not being "surprised", I suppose, is your way of suggesting that others here are a bunch of gullible dumb asses. Now, given that's the case in your mind, why would you want to hang around here?

Ah, another graduate of Dale Carnegie's course.....

Promsak is correct - it's advertising ear piercing. The middle word (เจาะ) means to pierce or drill a hole.

Yep, have seen many menus offering "crap" or "fresh crap" over the years. Of course, they meant crab which in Thai is pronounced "bpoo." And, of course, there was the large sign outside the fancy restaurant here in Chiangmai announcing "FRESH POO" for sale. The following isn't a sign but on Friday I had to take a picture of these items sitting on a side table at a nice restaurant here in Chiangmai. I'm still trying to figure out what the woodcarver was thinking....

Funny but at least the Thai directly translates to English. It reads: Please don't place your foot on the toilet.

Loy Krathong this year is celebrated November 15-18th here in Chiangmai. There are nightly parades that are rather beautiful and I think it's the second or third night that has the largest/longest parade. Other than that, there will be thousands of the lighted lanterns in the air, especially from Taipei Gate to the Ping River. And, of course, thousands of the banana leaf boats in the river which are mainly launched by the Narawat Bridge. Yes, in the past, the area around Narawat Bridge was what I would describe as a war zone; however, for the last two years, that's not been the case at all (the cops have clamped down on the indiscriminate use of fireworks and it's not a significant issue any more). Other than Sukothai, I have to believe that Chiangmai has the nicest Loy Krathong celebrations. As to what the few boybars are doing at that time, I'm not sure as I'm always attending the parades (although I do recall having a drink or two at either Secrets or Soho later in the evening).

Hmmm....once I figure out what old RSS is, I'll move on to what the new or any RSS might be. If I have it, I'm hopeful antibiotics will take care of it!

I viewed the mentioned site's free-for-all forum a few times and, frankly, was actually a bit embarrassed to have even done that. I didn't see much of what I would call rational or normal adult behavior but, rather, sophomoric/sociopathic rants for the most part. If somebody truly deep-sixed and/or blocked that site, good!