Bob

Hmmm.....I'm very hopeful that nobody starts asking who's the king and who's the queen. I don't wanna know!

Strange. You all have heard me bitch about the fees SCB has been charging me this year but the one and only thing they are not charging me for is when I do online transfers to my Chiangmai bf's account. He has an account at SCB and it's "linked" so that is maybe why I'm not being charged for transfers to him. And, no, he has no access to my account.

I haven't received a dime. But....I've been thinking about setting up a bank, buying some horrible investments, and then getting a billion or two dollars bailout for having the bank almost fail. With that kind of fuck-up, I'm sure they'd be happy to pay me millions of dollars to simply get out of Dodge. Well, at least that's the plan.....

Sounds interesting. I'm guessing that you either have the post office forward your mail to one of their company addresses (I'm wondering if you can do that for 6 months every year or if the post office will get pissy about it) or you tell whoever is sending you mail to use one of their company addresses (which could be a hassle doing and undoing that every 6 months). This past winter, I paid a neighbor kid to get my mail and he'd tell me about it by email (or, if it looked important, he'd scan it and send the scan to me). A bit of a hassle but fairly prompt. But he was a great junk mail filter!

The rest of the story (all of which backs up the woman's claim to the Thai cops in the first place): Her Friends Did It.

It's difficult for me to dump on China about this as I'm doubtful such a park would be allowed in most US states. I wonder if there is such a thing as zoning in China. In Thailand, there doesn't seem to be much (given it appears anybody can open up just about any commercial business, mom-and-pop store, fruit stand, etc., almost anywhere).

Since I'm never in Pattaya, the Pattaya restaurant/bar reviews are fairly irrelevant to me; however, it seems to me that your reviews over the years have been intended to be helpful to the Pattaya visitors so my guess is that most of them appreciate the effort. But, like GSG said, you maybe ought to ignore the small minority of carpers although I know it's hard to do. Remember the old Abe Lincoln saying (something to the effect that it's difficult to engage in a battle of wits when your opponent is unarmed....)

GB, I can assure you that I was charged 20 baht for using the SCB ATM (only one I ever use) both in Chiangmai province (the home province) and in Hua Hin. I've had the account for about 5 years and I was never charged a dime for anything (other than using any ATM outside the "home" province) before January of this year. I was mad about that but what really pissed me off was the 20 baht fee for using the passbook update machine and the fact they also charged me 20 baht for the one time in Chiangmai where I withdrew funds at the SCB home bank with my passbook and a withdrawal slip. When I get back in the fall, I'm going to have a chat with the SCB branch where I opened the account in Chiangmai and either they'll agree to eliminate those fees or that account will be closed in short order.

Good for you guys but I'm not so lucky. Prior to 2009, the only charges I ever incurred at SCB (Siam Commercial Bank) was when I used the ATM card outside Chiangmai province (where I opened the account). But, from January to April, the buzzards charged me 20 baht every single time that I used the ATM (in and outside of Chiangmai province), every time that I updated my passbook (whether inside or outside of Chiangmai province and regardless if I did it myself with an indoor or outdoor machine or if the bank person did it), and every time I used the passbook to withdraw money directly from the bank. And it's not due to some low amount in my account (given I maintain the long-term visa amount or more in the account). So, maybe time for me to speak to the manager or just go to another Thai bank.

I've always had the theory that Thai discos ought to moonlight as mobile phone sellers - given how many millions are lost there every year! After the second time "Mr. Responsible" lost a mobile at the disco ("hey, it just bounce out!), I suggested that he chain it to his neck as the third one was the last mobile this old falang is ever buying.....

I can't help you with the bars as I haven't been in the bars in Pattaya or Bangkok for years. Just do some searching of prior posts on the various boards as there is a lot of information there (of course, like you intimated, a lot of one's enjoyment of a given venue depends on one's attitude going into it - and it sounds like you'll have fun wherever you go). For beaches, I always thought the waters around Pattaya (with the exception of Koh Larn) were pretty dicey; yet, if you really don't care to swim, going to Dongtan Beach provides you with a lot of eye candy. For swimming, boarding, or whatever, you'll find excellent beaches in Phuket, Hua Hin, Cha-am, and probably many other places. Have fun and don't do anything I wouldn't do (that gives you ample latitude....).

You're quite correct and, although I likely share your bad views of Bush, it's probably not that fair to single him out for blame. The problem has been around for years here in the states and long preceded the W idiot. We pay alleged experts millions of dollars to run a company and then, after they screwed up the company, we gave them millions (or hundreds of millions) to go the hell away. And we're still in the game of not going after the directors (fiduciaries) of companies that somehow had no idea that a significant percentage of the alleged "assets" they were paid to oversee was no more than worthless paper. The idiocy and lack of ethics in big business has been with us for far too long. And the notion that government regulation of business is bad for business (which has been in the forefront since at least the Gingrich view of the early 1990's) seems still to be with us. Madoff was and remains a crook. But the culture and politics of the US for the last 30-40 years aided and abetted his existence.

chúc may mắn (good luck or "wish you luck" in Vietnamese). As to the symbol? Hell if I know. Tons of dragons all over the place in Vietnam so that's my tepid guess.

And nobody suggested that one becomes a crackpot because one is emotional or upset. What makes her a crackpot is the statement about hiring thugs to kill Shinawatra and his family members. Hardly your normal discourse.

Lady is definitely a crackpot. You just don't make your case very well when you combine your argument with threats to kill somebody and his family members. As for the "American accent", she definitely is speaking American English versus British or Australian English and I presume that is what they meant. And, given she's Thai, it would be rather normal to speak with a Thai accent?

A fair amount of illogical and, frankly, goofy thinking going on here. Same-sex marriages have never been the norm and never will be. The notion that everybody ought to view a same-sex marriage the same as what we all understood as a "traditional" marriage is advocating a "political correctness" that doesn't exist. Nor should it (why the hell should 95% of the population be compelled in any manner to accept the views of maybe 5% of the population as either acceptable or the norm?). I have sex with other men. While I ought not to be punished for that, I'm not foolish enough to think that most people ought to accept that as normal because, frankly, it isn't. That comment is not putting a "moral" spin on it, it's simply stating a fact. Everybody views life as it ought to be based on where they currently are situated. The Pattaya gay crowd incorrectly view that Thais in general think this is normal or acceptable (but, then again, if you spend a large chunk of your time in Boyztown or surrounding areas, I suppose it's normal for you to think all of Thailand is like that). It isn't. Kudos to the Thais for their toleration - but one should never view that toleration as approval of any of it.

Seems rather normal to hold a political candidate to task for whatever views they hold as those views usually can tell you something about how the candidate would vote. While I don't particularly cotton to the whole concept of "beauty" contests (seems rather tacky to me), being "pretty", "talented", and "articulate" (rarely, unfortunately) doesn't seem to be in the same category. Not much different in my opinion how one should deal with the political views of a person hired to be an electrician, butcher, beautician, or whatever (i.e., their political views ought to be irrelevant to their hiring or firing). I can understand and somewhat support the concept of some form of equal rights (relating to economic rights, testacy rights, etc.) for gay couples; however, a marriage has been considered by all cultures for thousands of years to be between a man and a woman and, while those cultures and countries can choose to try to change that through legislation or whatever, that doesn't alter what's been understood and accepted by 90%+ of the world since the beginning of time. Most marriages fail and the aftermath (not to mention the "during-math") is often rather ugly. I wouldn't wish that part on anybody. I don't accept that the existence or the practice of love or affection has anything to do with whether some government gave you a certificate. Like it or not, we gays are not the norm (maybe 5% of the population?) and we never will be. While that doesn't mean anybody ought to be able to target us because of our differing lifestyles, the implied demand or notion that society is required to view us just like everybody else seems rather silly to me.

I'm gay and I find no fault whatsoever with her views (not that dissimilar to mine). I've always understood that a marriage was between a man and a woman and that too is how I was raised. While I'm not fan of the beauty pageants, her legitmately-held views shouldn't have affected the outcome; unfortunately, bias and prejudice runs both ways.

If so, he ought to sue for breach of warranty! In one photo, it looked to me that there were 30 holes through and through in the friggin' windshield alone. I think he was extremely fortunate.

Songkran was also alive and well here in Hua Hin. And, yes, there were many pasting and drenching motorsy drivers and I never saw a single case where the perpetrator wasn't Thai. Hell, the motorsy drivers (with passengers) are driving right into the sois with the most activity looking for the soaking (and, at times, carrying their own water weapons). Thankfully, I didn't see any accidents as that's always my biggest worry. I've been told that the water-throwing only lasts one day here (although there was some activity around town late yesterday too). I'll find that out tomorrow....

I don't have a clue at this point in time - and, to me, that's the key: they've allowed this to go so nuts up until this point in time that there is no good or probably even so-so solution at hand. As to your suggestion, Rich, that they arrest a certain number of people from both sides, I don't know if that would have worked some time ago but I feel it's way too late for that. Trying to arrest redshirt leaders now would involve immediate retaliation and substantial violence by the redshirts (plus I'd bet it'd take an army to get to their leaders at the moment).

"No smoking permitted", which clearly means that "smoking is not permitted", is perfectly clear and acceptable English. Your thought that the phrase suggests that smoking is permitted is simply in error.

Does he post here?

Don't hold your breath. I thought it was that time when the yellowshirts grabbed the airport.....but the silence was deafening.

Other than writing down the info and form number (TDF 90-22.1) from the post, I know nothing else. I filed my US tax return in January just before starting the current sojourn here in LOS. I did not report any income from my Thai account although there was some (nothing to write home about....). And I didn't do that because I simply forgot about it (we, of course, don't get 1099's from Thai bank accounts and all you would get is something marked in your passbook when you update it - although I suppose I could have looked online too). I'm doubtful that I'll ever get caught for this - and the interest income wasn't that much; however, if I proceed to file the disclosure form, I am concerned (a little) that I'll trigger a letter from the IRS asking me why I didn't report the income from the account. By filing the TDF 90-22.1, I'll certainly lose the "hell, I didn't know about that" defense and I don't want to waste the time and expense of amending the return I filed in January. Up to you as to what you do.....I'm not sure at the moment what I'll do. Edit: I see GSG posted just ahead of me - and thanks, GSG, for the link. I've copied the form in case I decide to actually file it.