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Thai-Spy

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Posts posted by Thai-Spy

  1. I know I should know this sort of thing after living in BKK for years :o but.... what is the quickest way to get from Prakanong area on Sukhumvit to the new airport at around 5pm on a weekday?

    I am considering jumping straight into a cab outside Sukhumvit 67 and getting onto the expressway just after Prakanong Soi 71 (Is this possible? I have never actually seen an entrance to the expressway there??) and then following the expressway all the way to the airport.

    Is this the best idea? Will this be the fastest way to go at 5pm on a weekday? I would be willing to try an alternative such as using a motorbike or skytrain for part of the journey to avoid traffic if this helps.

    I am unable to leave my house any earlier than 5pm and the plane leaves at 8pm....

    Thanks

    This is probably your best solution given the time of day. The tollway entrance is a few hundred meters on your left past the Sukhumvit 71 junction and just before the bridge over the Phrakanong Canal. Your travel time should be comfortably less than one hour.

  2. Are there no police checkpoints for these buses? I have taken VIP govt buses in the past (from Surat Thani) and have always had at least one stop in the middle of the night at a police checkpoint where the police got on the bus to check out the passengers.

    That's about all the police will dare to do; check for illegals or other wanted persons on the coaches or visit the carnage after an accident. They will generally not interfere in any other way given the links between the bus company owners and certain influential persons.

  3. Met an anti-fur activist with leather shoes once. He didn't seem to get the connection. :o

    Perhaps because there isn't that much of a connection? Not all anti-fun activists are vegetarians.

    The vast majority of leather in the world is derived from cattle slaughtered for meat or milk cows who've outlived their usefulness. On the other hand a significant percentage of fur is derived from animals raised or hunted exclusively for that purpose.

    Like any genre of activism, animal rights issues exist on a spectrum which each individual judges according to his intellect and conscience. One can object to one human activity such leg-traps, bull fighting, hunting for subsistence or sport, show jumping of horses, dog racing, pet stores, the eating of meat and the specific techniques of slaughter, etc. without having a negative opinion of any other.

  4. There's an abundance of evidence and numerous reports on the internet that deal with the disturbing issue of human body part trafficking in developing countries around the world and impoverished regions - and Thailand in this respect is probably no different than the rest.

    The original post is, without doubt, bonafide and certainly deserves more attention and coverage.

    However, in the main, the main stream media, and in particular the Thai media are reluctant to touch on this issue.

    Here, just like everywhere else in the world, the media is strictly controlled and regulated and certain subjects remain taboo - for whatever reasons.

    The original post is a near-verbatim copy of a "press release" apparently written by the same person and posted here:

    http://www.i-newswire.com/pr93673.html

    One can't help but wonder if some individual or group is fanning the flames of rumour and speculation (now approaching the level of a classic "moral panic" in many regards) only to later propose some form of commercial, legal or political solution to their own benefit.

    To bring this into focus, has anyone DIRECT, FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE of a child or adult having gone missing or having been killed under mysterious circumstances in the last 6 weeks? That is, a member of your own family, someone personally known to you, or someone residing in your own village?

    Certainly no one wants a child to be at undue risk, but if these claims of mass abductions are the unsubstantiated product of gossip and imagination it can only lead to general hysteria, misplaced resources, unfounded accusations and worse.

    Yes, think of the children. But keep the emphasis on both "think" AND "children".

  5. Yes but hasn't bendix has thrown a curve ball? If the chap signed a paper at the land office, stating that he has no rights to the property would he still be able to inherit it?

    It seems doubtful to me, but seeing as this has not been tested (to our knowledge) its a question as to which law would take precedence over the other but unfortunately that's a question I can't answer.

    The farang husband signs a paper which states that he understands he does not have the permanent right of ownership of the land when his wife dies, only a temporary right to it and must dispose of it within a specified time, and that he agrees to those terms. This puts him in a position roughly equivalent to that of the executor of the wife's estate so far as her land holdings are concerned.

  6. Happened Sun morning about 4am in soi 11. Normal taxi driving along with 2 guys and 2 girls, all farang, and came to a few cops manning the street who looked in, saw we were farang and asked us to step out.

    They then did a pocket search, tho we didn't let them put their hands in, checked wallets and sent us on our way.

    Anyone else???

    I have had several such attempts since the drug war. At one i flat out refused to be searched on the street and told them to get me searched at the police station, where at the same time i would file a case against them for harassment. They have left.

    Another time they stopped their search after i showed them an official ID after which they have sent me off politely, apologizing for their rude behavior.

    Given the political and social climate now, expect more frequent searches. Be very careful of cops planting drugs, or fake cops, both not exactly unknown here.

    Hahaha,

    Fake cops, easy stuff.

    Go down to the area near China town where all the gun shops are & there are a few shops selling all police & soldier & commando uniforms etc. Any one can buy the stuff.

    A couple thousand baht & you can be decked out like a full police "colonel" add a few more & you get a very realistic replica gun. Make an ID.

    And BABY you're on easy street.

    Happy hunting,

    Soundman.

    But very, very bad if you get caught by the real police. In all likelihood, getting the ribbons in the correct order of precedence would be the hardest part of sorting out the kit for most people.

  7. There have been a few threads discussing legal rights of foreign fathers but I recall it is not considered parental kidnapping of one parent takes the chilren away from the other in thailand. A few guys have told their story of how after a marriage breakdown their kids have been whisked away to somewhere else & they have had trouble finding out where. No real suggestion except if you think your wife is conseridering this then dont leave the states. A discussion with a good thai lawyer may also throw some options up as there may be some kind of court ordered joint custody document possibe???

    Even if they never leave the United States all together, there is no way to indefinitely forestall the Thai parent from asserting their right to obtain Thai citizenship and a Thai passport for the child. This is the case even overseas, so long as the Thai parent can secure a copy of the child's birth certificate, then a filing for documentation of the child is made to the Royal Thai Embassy or Consulate having jurisdiction. Thereafter the only way to stop them getting on the plane is to have a court award sole custody to the non-Thai parent or issue an injunction against the Thai parent removing the child from the country of origin.

    It is possible to request the US government to notify you if an application is made for a US passport for the child by filing a form DS-3077 "Request For Entry Into Children's Passport Issuance Alert Program" with the US Department of State.

    Further reading on the subject can be found here:

    http://travel.state.gov/family/abduction/abduction_580.html

    and here:

    http://travel.state.gov/family/abduction/c...ountry_528.html

    The second link has some citations from Thai law which are relevant to all nationalities. (Reproduced at length here as non-copyright material in the public domain per http://travel.state.gov/about/about_2727.html)

    GENERAL INFORMATION: Parental Kidnapping is not a crime in Thailand and Thai authorities will not issue a warrant or become involved should one parent take a child without the other parent's authorization. The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction cannot be invoked if a child is taken from the United States to Thailand, or vice versa, by one parent against the wishes of the other parent or in violation of a U.S. custody order.

    CHILD CUSTODY: Under Thai law, the question of child custody is addressed in Book Five of the Thai Civil and Commercial Code under the general headings Termination of Marriage and Rights and Duties of Parent and Child. The relevant portions of the law follow in full:

    Section 1520.

    In case of divorce by mutual consent, the agreement for the exercise of parental power over each of the children shall be made in writing. In the absence of such agreement or (if) an agreement thereon cannot be reached, the matter shall be decided by the court.

    In case of divorce by judgment of the court, the parental power belongs to the party in whose favor the judgment is given, unless it is decided by the court that the parental power shall belong to the other party, or that a third person shall be the guardian.

    Section 1521.

    If it appears that the guardian as provided in Section 1520 behaves himself or herself improperly or there is a change of circumstances after the appointment, the court has the power, after taking into consideration the happiness and interest of the child, to give an order appointing a new guardian.

    Although the parental power belongs to one party, the other has the right to continue such personal relation with the child as may be reasonable according to the circumstances.

    Section 1522.

    In the case of divorce by mutual consent, an arrangement shall be made and contained in the agreement of divorce as to who, both of the spouses or either spouse, will contribute to the maintenance of the children and how much is the contribution. In case of divorce by judgment of the court or in case the agreement of divorce contains no provisions concerning the maintenance of the children, the court shall determine it.

    Section 1566.

    A child is subject to parental power as long as he is not sui juris. The parental power is exercised by the father or the mother in any of the following cases:

    (1) The father or mother is dead;

    (2) It is uncertain whether the father or the mother is living or dead;

    (3) The father or the mother has been adjudged incompetent or quasi-incompetent;

    (4) The father or the mother is placed in a hospital by reason of mental infirmity;

    (5) The parental power has been granted to the father or the mother by an order of the court.

    The parental power is exercised by the mother, when the child was born out of wedlock and has not yet been legitimated by the father according to Section 1547.

    Section 1567.

    A person exercising parental power has the right:

    (1) to determine the child's place of residence

    (2) to punish the child in a reasonable manner for disciplinary purposes;

    (3) to require the child to do such work as may be reasonable to his ability and condition in life,

    (4) to demand the return of the child from any person who unlawfully detains him.

    As shown above, the question of child custody under Thai law is addressed mainly in the context of termination of marriage. It is therefore difficult to speculate about what kind of stance the Thai courts would take toward a custody decision made in the absence of the termination of a marriage, e.g., in the event of a legal separation.

    As a matter of law, foreigners are treated on an equal basis with Thai citizens in matters relating to child custody. Thai law makes no distinction between the rights of the father and mother on issues of child custody.

    ENFORCEMENT OF FOREIGN ORDERS: Foreign orders (including U.S. custody orders) are not enforced/enforceable in Thailand. American citizens who travel to Thailand place themselves under the jurisdiction of Thai courts. If a taking parent chooses to remain in Thailand with a child or leave a child behind in Thailand, the U.S. Embassy cannot force either the taking parent or the Thai Government to return the child to the United States. American citizens planning a trip to Thailand with dual national children should bear this in mind.

    ACQUIRING THAI NATIONALITY: The Thai Nationality Act, Doc No. 2, B.E. 2535 (1992), states that any child born in Thailand of at least one Thai-citizen parent is a Thai citizen. If the child is born outside of Thailand, and has at least one Thai-citizen parent, the Thai parent can report the birth of the child to the nearest Thai Embassy or Consulate and the child will acquire Thai citizenship.

    SPECIAL COURTS: Juvenile and Family Courts to hear custody cases can be found only in Bangkok and a few of the larger cities in Thailand

    THAI PASSPORTS FOR CHILDREN: Parents wishing to obtain a Thai passport for their child must present a Birth Certificate (for children under14 years-old) or Thai identity card (for children between 15-20 years-old) of the child, the House Registration Certificate and the identity cards of mother and father. Both parents must accompany their minor child during the application process. In case one of the parents is unable to be present, he/she must sign a letter of consent, which must be brought to the office by the other parent and the minor.

  8. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Herman probably will be sentenced to between four and five years in prison.

    -- cleveland.com 2007-03-11

    Is that all????????????? :o

    Under 18 USC 2423(d) the penalty can be up to 30 years but there's no mandatory minimum sentence.

    (d) Ancillary Offenses. - Whoever, for the purpose of commercial

    advantage or private financial gain, arranges, induces, procures,

    or facilitates the travel of a person knowing that such a person is

    traveling in interstate commerce or foreign commerce for the

    purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct shall be fined under

    this title, imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.

  9. Lets hope this isn't tipping off the wrong person. :o

    The wrong people, you may be sure, already know. If our understanding of the scale of the operation is correct, it would not be possible to keep it a secret. In practical terms, you'd have to doubt that the intelligence services of the separatist movement are paying a great deal of attention to ThaiVisa.

  10. Expect a significant action in Bangkok by the Royal Thai Police against people and places associated with terrorism in the South some time shortly after Sunday, 11 March. Surveillance of a number of locations is currently in effect and search warrants have been issued which are very broad in scope. If you live in a sizable apartment building within a block or two of a mosque, you may get a knock at the door one day next week.

  11. Interesting statistics there Iamatopo. One thing which struck me from this link was the downward spike for the months of April and May. I can understand people flocking to Thailand during the Northern Hemisphere winter / Christmas holiday period (December and January), but I would have though Songkran would be another peak. Obviously ToT needs to put more work promoting Thailand during this festival.

    Peter

    That's driven in large part by school schedules and the availability of children to travel with their parents. Other social and economic factors pertain as well.

  12. I would have thought a very polite one liner to the published email address, enquiring as to whether their daughter is still misssing would have have minimal impact. After all they put out a search enquiry, so they must expect replies to trickle in from time to time.

    If for any reason it has become too painful, they could change their email address.

    The remarks above were written with the best expectations of the board community and that a flood of inquiries to the Aarnes family was more likely than a trickle. Apologies all around if those remarks seemed at all discouraging, but as an organization that routinely has to convey the worst possible news we're vigilant about the potential impact on the families of potential and actual victims.

  13. One thing that should be considered is whether or not to intrude on the family's privacy. It may well be that this matter has been resolved, either happily or tragically, and in either situation they may be trying to put this behind them. If there is a group consensus here to take any action, please publicly elect one person (and one only) to contact the family.

    The family has a website here -- http://aarnesonline.com/ -- which is entirely devoted to photos and information about Lisa. However it makes no reference to her disappearance and doesn't appear to have been updated since 2004. Two of the three photos from the missing person bulletin can be found in Gallery 3.

    This points to a larger issue which should not derail this thread, but still needs to be said. There are a lot of sick people in this world and posting a child's photo and personal info on the internet could be the same as drawing a bullseye on their back, leading to kidnap-for-ransom or far worse. This is IN NO WAY intended as any sort of condemnation of the Aarnes family, but only as a caution for all parents.

  14. If "called it a day" means that you've told her things are over between the two of you, you're probably better off staying with the new status quo. If you try to restart the relationship, you'll be doing so from the very weak position of being the guy who came crawling back.

  15. Thank you very much for your kind response...

    I'm planing a journey to singapore in late march / early april... do you know how long it takes to get a 90 days thai visa in Singapore ? Should I plan a 3 days stay, or is it too short ?

    Many thanks,

    kevin

    You may have trouble finding a flight that gets you to Singapore early enough to make the Embassy's visa application cutoff time once you factor in time spent getting to the hotel to check in and stow your luggage. So perhaps plan to stay two nights. A general itinerary might look like this:

    Day 1: Mid-day arrival to Singapore, free time.

    Day 2: Wake early and submit application for visa in the morning, then free time.

    Day 3: Collect passport with visa in the early afternoon, fly home in the evening.*

    * You'll need to arrange a late check-out or have your hotel hold your bags for you.

    Keep in mind that a Thai Embassy or Consulate will close on both Thai and local holidays.

  16. confusing abt the german man, if his mums thai & he is working in HER place then it should be an easy process to get his own thai id & passport & not get arrested!!! Weird.

    Then again, claiming his rights as a Thai would subject him to taxation, military service, etc.

    Possibly a case of trying to have your cake and eat it, too?

    It could also be that the article doesn't distinguish between a birth-mother and a step-mother.

  17. as many people have written it does not have to be registered at the embassy to be seen as legal in the UK, however if he decides to effectively be a biggamist and marry again then there will be no problems unless someone checks or tells the authorities, there is no way i believe for the UK to keep track of the Thai Amphur records?

    I would suggest of course he doesnt do this as these thing have a nasty habit of coming back to haunt you when you least want it!!

    It's not simply a matter of Amphur records. All marriages and divorces registered in Thailand are recorded in a national database. However neither the UK or any other foreign government has a right to audit them.

  18. Having just moved to Bangkok, I am finding it very difficult to find any recycling stations to drop of newspapers, plastics etc. Are there any recycling stations/bins in the sukhumvit area?

    I've just come from a country where recycling comes naturally and am finding it tough just to throw away plastic bottles and newspapers in normal garbage bins. How does recycling work here???

    Any info would be much appreciated! Cheers.

    You don't mention whether you're in an apartment or a detached home. If an apartment building or condo of any size, you may find that there's already an informal recycling program in place, courtesy of the security or janitorial staff. Try leaving a few glass or plastic items near (but not in) the garbage bins; if they disappear overnight, you've got your answer since almost no one in Thailand will move someone else's mess.

    Most of the crews of the big garbage collection trucks will also root through what they collect and seek out the higher-value materials.

  19. One of the things that gets missed in discussions about crime and life in Pattaya overall is the demographics of the local Thai population. There are somewhat more than 100,000 people aged 20-29 beyond what would be expected if the age distribution followed that of the nation overall. Compounding this further is the fact that there are 12,000 to 15,000 more males than females in this age bracket.

    Pattaya, like any resort, serves as a jobs magnet. However the jobs are low-paid as a rule, impermanent and convey no meaningful skills. So it's a short leap to understand why there could be a drift by some into more lucrative criminality, either in organized crime or crimes of opportunity against the obvious tourist wealth. This is compounded by the tendency for higher rates of lawlessness and substance abuse in younger populations and those deficient of females.

    Unfortunately it's a problem which doesn't permit an easy solution.

    Hello Thai-Spy,

    I'm not disputing what you say, but can you just enlighten us to the source of these statistics please?

    Is it from some sort of census or poll? I would have thought it difficult to be sure of the demographics of the Pattaya populace as many are transient and are registered in other provinces.

    More males than females! now that is a surprise. My eyes tell me that the females outnumber the males, but then again I probably take more notice of the females :o

    National Statistical Office, Office of the Prime Minister. Population and Housing Census 2000.

    Your eyes are probably not deceiving you. But when you only see the retail sector, you aren't seeing the whole picture.

    Thai-Spy,

    I do have my doubts that any census carried out in Pattaya would actually reflect the true current population as many will fill in the census as living in their hometown. But that doesn't take anything away from your other points. Thai males do probably outnumber available females. Also the fact that many Thai men's girlfriends are servicing farangs must affect some of them mentally.

    It was a census rather than a summary report of House Registrations. If that had been done all places of any significant size would have shown more or less the same curves in demographics. Phuket also shows the same phenomenon though on a smaller scale and skews somewhat older.

    The primary mental effect is to induce laughter and ridicule at the expense of the "stupid farang" who grossly overpays for companionship. Not to say there is not a significant proportion of Thai males who are genuinely heartbroken that their girls work in farang-oriented establishments, but they are a minority.

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