[Public Health Ministry on alert for chickenpox spread]

Shouldn't adults be immune to this from vaccination or childhood infection?

Children who have had it should be immune, however there are many like myself who didn't get it as a child (I was the only one out of 4 who didn't, and I don't know why). I didn't think there was a vaccine, but apprently there is. Guess I should get one.

[Proposed alcohol ban for New Year and Songkran]

sounds like the place I'd liketo go for holiday.... NOT!!!

[Bangkok: Vendors who are unfairly pricing their food items may face legal action]

Does this mean they will start arresting people for double pricing foreigners?

[Thailand: Time to limit working hours for our stressed out doctors?]

I think pretty much everyone in Asia is worn out with these 6 day work weeks for low pay that a lot of people make.

[Over 700 motorcyclists arrested and fined in first day of crackdown on footpath riding]

a 400-1000 baht fine? I can see the police enforcing this for a long time.

[Body Found Off Koh Tao 'Not Missing Swissman']

Koh Tao isn't sounding like a very fun place right now

[Thailand to 'allow' second DNA test for British murder accused]

unless the British police are comparing the two Burmese men, the Koh Tao mafia, and the original source of the DNA as it was found, I'd say this is pointless as there has been too much time to allow for tampering.

[Koh Tao Murders: Thai Authorities Deny 'Scapegoat' Allegation]

It's sad that the people responsible for ensuring the safety of the citizens of a country are not trusted. Until they stop routinely turning a blind eye, taking bribes, extorting people, and creating scapegoats this will always be a third world country no matter how "developed" it becomes.

[Arrest warrant for Koh Tao murder suspect to be Issued in 3 days]

If they had the evidence they needed they could just issue it now. This says to me that in three days it will be blamed on someone if they can't or won't solve it.

[Grand travel events planned for Ko Tao after murder case solved]

What Thailand fails to realize is that they need to get their priorities in order in accrordance with how the tourists feel. Solve the murder first and then establish steps to ensure safety before you even think about considering re-establishing tourism.

[Bangkok taxi drivers threaten to stop using meters without fare hike]

The only honest ones are the ones that use the meters. I say give them a raise, the dishonestones won't really be effected.

[Tougher penalties for brawling students in Thailand]

They could give them a minimum jail sentence of perhaps 30 days or so. After the first time they might decide that its not a good idea to fight over such stupid crap.

[Hunt for extortion ring 'godmother' in Pattaya]

"Many say Pattaya is designed to attract the worst kind of foreign tourists."

Pattaya doesn't necessarily attract the worst kind of tourist, it attracts people looking to have fun, drink and get laid and that's not different from most tourists anywhere, those ones are just willing to spend a few extra baht to ensure that that is exactly what happens.That's what people go there for, because it damn isn't the beach that people go there for.

What Pattaya also happens to attract is scammers who like to prey on people who just want to have a good time. Since the police openly work with the scammers it becomes blatantly obvious that crime is ok and it does pay, such as the jet ski mafia who has been operating without incident for the last decade or so. Anyone with a few baht can convince the police that their scams are ok. It's been going on for so long it's become normal and that's what has allowed Pattaya to become the riddled mess it is.

What you can't do is blame it on the tourists. Pattaya knows EXACTLY what kind of tourist it's attracting, but it can't get the police to protect what is essentially an investment. That quite frankly is a shame.

[Thailand's new cigarette warnings more macabre and bizarre than ever]

Why not simply raise taxes on the fags? Tripling the price should encourage people to smoke less.

1st) They're less than 30 baht a pack in Cambodia. How difficult do you think it would be for someone to cross the border with them illegally and sell them here in Thailand as another TV member posted.

2nd) There's the liberty question. Why should the government interfere in any individual person's business? If someone wants to smoke why shouldn't they be allowed to smoke? Why should someone be taxed out of the right and/or ability to smoke? What if they taxed alcohol so high nobody could afford it? what then? salt? soda? refined sugar? red meat? To give a government the ability to tax something so high that nobody can afford it is dangerous and slippery slope.

The answer to that is that when the smokers get cancer they expect free treatment. They should be free to smoke but should also pay their own medical costs. Cigarettes and other items mentioned above should be taxed to cover the true cost of the damage they do. At the moment they are subsidized by taxpayers who have to pick up the bill for medical costs for all the damage caused. Eat all the junk food you want but don't expect others to pay your medical costs.

Also, nearly all smokers just throw their cigarette butts on the floor. They have zero respect for the environment around them.

I don't count the healthcare thought as a legitimate argument because obesity is just as bad, if not worse, than cigarette smoking yet we don't target beer, soda, salt, refined sugar and anything else we deem "fattening"

There's also argument one that I raised which was that outlawing, or raising taxes to the point where someone can't afford them, will only result in a black market which would be unregulated and pose an even more dangerous threat to society than cigarettes would in the first place.

[Thailand's new cigarette warnings more macabre and bizarre than ever]

Why not simply raise taxes on the fags? Tripling the price should encourage people to smoke less.

1st) They're less than 30 baht a pack in Cambodia. How difficult do you think it would be for someone to cross the border with them illegally and sell them here in Thailand as another TV member posted.

2nd) There's the liberty question. Why should the government interfere in any individual person's business? If someone wants to smoke why shouldn't they be allowed to smoke? Why should someone be taxed out of the right and/or ability to smoke? What if they taxed alcohol so high nobody could afford it? what then? salt? soda? refined sugar? red meat? To give a government the ability to tax something so high that nobody can afford it is dangerous and slippery slope.

[travellers checks or money orders]

I need to make a travellers check or money order to send to the states. I've tried several banks and Western Union locations around the Ramkamhaeng area and even inside the MBK mall. Can anyone tell me a location where i can get one made so that i can send it to the states.

[Thaivisa.com to meet with Immigration Commissioner]

I'm more or less curious if he could make a clear black and white distinction between visa runner and tourist. It seems a lot of tourists are scared to even come now because of the rules. If he could just make it simple and clear (i.e 3 of the 30 day entires, or two consecutive DE tourits visas, or 180 days in country and 180 days out before you can return etc etc) it owuld be very beneficial to the tourists and tourism industry. 

[Man Boobs.]

Assuming this post is real, the best exercise to do any weight lifting. Every pound of muscle built means that your body will need to burn extra calories in order to sustain the muscle. Don't just focus on your chest, as another poster mentioned, because this will only build muscle in the area and most likely make your man boobs look bigger.

A lot of people think theycan get by with only cardio, and this is wrong because the first 30-45 minutes of cardio you are just burning off the body's sugar. If you build the muscle first not only will you increase your metabolism and burn extra calories, but the excess sugar will be burnt off and the cardio will actually burn off the fat instead of the sugar.

And remember, when it comes to weight loss the first weight to go will be from the neck and work it's way down, so it may take a while to reach your man boobs, several weeks in fact.

And also keep in mind that diet is more important than exercise. 1500-1600 calories a day with a good 1 hour workout should do the trick to lose weight. Good luck.

[Bangkok Morchit 2 bus terminal to be moved]

Moving to Rangsit or Don Muang? This is utterly rediculous.

[Time to get 'jealous girls' off screen]

It's not the producers responsibility to tell people what they want, it's the producers responsibility to give peple what they want. The ratings are doing well so why should they change? It would be nice to see more entertaining television, but with so many naive girls watching this crap it would be stupid for them to stop airing it.

[Double and Triple Entry Visa's - does it make sense to get one right now?]

Wouldn't it be a nice situation if everyone obeyed the laws of Thailand.

Then all this in-out nonsense would not have arisen.

Blaming Thais for their own laws? Wow. Some of you think you are so hi-so you ought to be on intergalactic visas.

Considering that people are and have been following the law i think your post is ignorant and uninformed. Thailand has been allowing people to enter and exit for several years. Their consulates are still issuing double and triple tourist visas. People ARE following the law.

Thailand however, is failing to establish coherant standards and practices across the board and blatantly ignoring their own timeline for a crackdown (i.e. Malaysian border crossing denying people with tourist visas who have already paid for them, while there are no problems coming from Laos borders).

[Need to cash a paper check from a bank in U.S.]

I had this problem a while back, check with your bank because a lot of banks are now offering internet services where you can actually scan the check or use their mobile app and take a picture of the check and have it deposited almost instantly. Both of my US bank accounts offered the service. This is by far the easiest way i have found to deposit checks into a US account.

[Thai Police to crack down on street vendors in congested spots from August onwards]

Soi 11 is one giant roadblock of vendors...VW bars and Taxi Mafia clowns. Go get em General.

Just a thought

The VW bars are the best part of soi 11. Drinking outside in the open air gives it a very festive feeling and Soi 11 feels empty when they're not there.

[maximum back to back tourist visa allowed]

Not to hijack the thread, but would getting a new passport erase all previous history and start a clean slate?

[Work Permit, No Degree]

You don't have a degree, which means you are not a teacher. How in the world do you realistically expect to be a good teacher in Thailand. Certified quality teachers spend thousand of hours preparing themselves to be a teacher. Being a good teacher in extremely difficult at best even for a truly qualified person. People like you are the reason Thailand is way behind in teaching the Thai children English. The Thai government needs to seek out and recruit truly qualified natural English teachers from the US, England, Canada, Austrailia, etc. The should provide incentives like a decent salary, housing, motorbike to entice quality people to come. The USA has is doing this currently with Chinese and Spanish speakers from China and Mexico. I am really tired of people who think teaching kids is easy or that they can do it without any kind of training. Bottom line: Thailand needs real teachers to teach English to their kids and Thai teachers!

This is such rubbish. I came in with the attitude that i wanted to teach and i have a degree in English as well as TEFL. The truth is that the degree is required, although it is meaningless. The TEFL provided actual training that teaches you how to teach as opposed to just learning things in an academic environement. That academic environment is nothing like any type of teaching in Thailand, WHERE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE OT FAIL!!! That being said the children know this and literally don't care. For them it literally is all about playing games, and if you try to do any actual teaching they stop paying attention.

So the bottom line is Thailand has real teachers and they are limiting them.