gumbleby

I've got a certain fascination for the way the Doge was selected in the former Republic of Venice, i.e. with multiple consecutive rounds of elections and winnowing by lottery. In a democratic society, the first round would of course have to be a popular election. A similar solution might be applied to designating a senate or constitutional court judges,... An unusual solution, but Thailand claims to be different. By spreading nominations over time, some degree of stability might be obtained, while still avoiding inbreeding within a ruling class.

Samut Prakaan Crocodile Farm and Zoo ; Aquarium in Siam Paragon (als : a boat ride on the shark tank) ; Taking the public boats on the klongs and on the Chao Praya river.

I believe this must be a brand new hotel. The page to which you link states "Opening in December 2014" ; the map on this page situates it almost opposite Signature hotel. When I look at this area on Google Street View, it looks like the startup of a construction site.

I've rented a car 3 times already, every time for a week, visiting BF's family and friends in Isaan. I recognize the remark about mixing up blinkers and windshield wipers. After I return home I occasionally have the same problem again. Fortunately the pedals are in the same places. It helps I've got quite a bit of experience driving on the left ; having a local car also gives the right clues to keep to the correct side of the road - I'd hate having to drive a left hand drive car on the left side of the road ; I think it's very useful having a local along for directions and to help interpreting traffic situations. I hope my BF gets his driving license soon though. I found the roads generally in good condition and not too busy. That said, the to my BF's home must be the worst road I've ever seen - the locals joke the road has ten-thousand holes. Some sections of the road between Pattaya and Nakhon Ratchasima are extremely winding. I find Thai car drivers hardly worse than elsewhere - at least inland (I guess traffic is crazy in European cities also - maybe that explains it). The motorbike drivers are slightly suicidal (for one they rarely use the special lane on the side of main roads). I like driving in the beginning of the night, the roads are more quiet ; the disadvantage is there's a lot of buses on the road then, they tend to be some of the most annoying drivers. Last time I drove was in January, during caning season, there were a lot of extremely slow, top heavy trucks loaded with sugarcane on the roads. Fortunately all important road signs are Thai-English. I've never driven in Bangkok itself (I rented a car from the airport once - the traffic jams when I wanted to return the car were impressive), In Pattaya I hated driving along Beach road etc. I never had more than a cursory stop from the police. I've also been doing a bit of bicycle touring in Thailand. I generally found it fairly enjoyable. Dual carriageway main roads are very disagreeable unless there's a decent shoulder, I avoided main roads where I could. People were at times somewhat surprised seeing a fat farang touring on a loaded bicycle, they were very helpful and friendly though. I found no complete, detailed road maps for Thailand, I regularly ended up basing myself on the satellite imagery on Google Maps. Even so, finding the correct turnoff points in villages was a bit of a problem though - I didn't have smartphone or GPS back then.

If I'm not mistaken, the 2007 Constitution explicitly required elections to be held between 45 and 60 days after the dissolution of parliament. By clarifying that this rule is not written in stone, the Constitutional Court freed the hands of the government. Until this ruling, the constitution didn't really give the government the authority to postpone the election. The government couldn't prejudge this ruling without being accused of disobeying the constitution. The same limitation applies to a resignation by the government - a situation not really allowed by the constitution. The question I now have is if - by postponing the election - registration of candidatures can be reopened. If not, I believe postponing serves no real purpose - there are too many constituencies where no candidates managed to register, and by-elections would have to be held until the quorum is met. Even if registrations are reopened, any candidates in democrat strongholds are taking a major personal risk if they try to register.

RIP Monty, you'll be missed. Every time I was in Pattaya, I looked forward to having a few drinks in your bar in Jomtien (in all of its various reincarnations) and enjoy the one and only Sexy Boys Show. The best and most genuine in Pattaya.

I have a boyfriend now, before that I used to just go with the flow (I rarely discussed money, the exact deeds, nor short time or long time except as a practical matter). Most of the time it turned out quite well (not necessarily what I had in mind upfront, but quite satisfying nonetheless). If we got along well, and I felt like it, I sometimes invited my guest for staying overnight, often after I gave his tip. Quite often they ended up staying.

In my opinion, a universal and exact transliteration system will never be developed or imposed, because in the long term it might become a threat to the use of the Thai script (which is after all non-trivial, even quite baroque). For example, I've been told people in Cambodia often transliterate to the western alphabet when texting.

Huh ? I'm not sure about 7up, but Every 7-Eleven, Family Mart etc. I've been into in Thailand sold sparkling water (naam soda). Look for Singha or Chang brands in the same fridges as the still water. It comes in stubby glass bottles with a red or red and white logo. Almost every restaurant or bar will have it too (they use deposit bottles). Ice, Cola, sparkling water and still water are the standard mixers for whisky everywhere. In fact the general availability of sparkling water is a major advantage of Thailand over Malaysia or Singapore as far as I'm concerned.

As I understand it, the validity of your Call Credit depends on the rate plan you select (for your prepaid). Some rate plans offer cheap calls, others long validity, but more expensive calls. If I understand it correctly, it is possible to change the rate plan when you want to ; the phone company will charge you a modest sum for this. If the seller is a bit mobile-savvy he/she can probably arrange this for you when you buy the SIM card (or maybe some credit) ; you'll have to ask. All this is explained on the web site of most of these companies, but the information is often mostly in Thai, so you might need a Thai to help you. If you want to get GPRS working (very useful if you can't access Internet via WiFi or ADSL), it gets even more interesting, there's a lot of rate plans and promotions to choose from. I definitely needed a Thai friend to call the call center for me.

I'm a bit amazed about all these problems with validity. I've had both Happy (DTAC) and 1-2-Call Sims ; the Call Credit was valid for 1 year for both. Do they expire SIM cards with valid credit if you don't use them for a while?

I guess I'm out of luck, I'm landing in Suvarnabhumi that evening, will be very hard to make it on time. Have fun.

Where have you not been would have been a much shorter list for me.

I don't think it's a good idea for the military to even try to intervene just because protesters keep blocking off a few intersections. Thai authorities didn't even manage to keep protesters out of an international summit nor from parliament. Talking of threats to national security and dignity, they hardly tried to remove protesters who trashed Government House and even the airport. Of course defense against overwhelming force is easier if you're holed up than if you're in the middle of an intersection. I guess it might be best to just let this run it's course, probably until the next scheduled elections - it's not as if all of Thailand is paralysed. Thai authorities definitely need to improve their riot handling skills and get the proper gear for it (I don't believe tear gas or water cannons kill or maim many people when used in western democracies). Until they do, any attempt at intervention is risking a bloodbath out of proportion to the problem.

If they have sufficient money in the bank, a lower income should not be a problem. In that case it's a very good idea to live within your means. With that sort of budget, most can live much better in Thailand than they would be able to at home. Only problem I see might be medical expenses.

I'm certainly interested. I've been doing a bit of solo cycling in Thailand myself (mostly along the Melong, also from Cha Am to Prachuap Kirikhan. Hated the main roads though, particularly near Hua Hin (I couldn't find a coastal road option and the car fumes got on my breath). I could be in Thailand in december, I'd bring my own bicycle over, rented bicycles are too flimsy for me - I'm in