alex100
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Posts posted by alex100
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It was Millingtons - but they only had a few left on special
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Local travel agent offering £599 for midweek flights
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Can anyone commnet on the EVA Air enhanced economy service - is it much better than normal economy - they have some real cheapo's LHR - BKK at present
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I am back in the UK now whilst waiting for my wifes Visa to drag it's way through the 1000+ of Beurocratic in-trays at the Embassy. I'm therefore calling her from the UK almost everyday and i am using JoyTelecom (via access number) which is costing 8p per minute. Has anybody got details of phone companies who are cheaper than this? I think 8p per minute is reasonable but i have heard there is some doing it at 1p per minute
Cheers
Mr BJ
08448615615 -------------1p a minute
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i could have been lost in translation mabey visa runs no longer possible soon
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Please any water you don't want send down to Pattaya, we badly need rain and water down here.
Absolutely... it's strange how the thunderstorms seem to be bypassing Pattaya this year... Rayong, Sri Ratcha, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Surin, and of course BKK have all had good heavy rain recently (from what I've read on TV anyway), and Pattaya is bone dry with water restrictions.
The storms are mssing Pattaya because you are EVIL
HAVN'T YOU GUYS REALIZED THAT YET IN FACT MAYBE THE GODS JUST WANT YOU TO DRY UP AND BLOW AWAY
I wonder how many people got blown in Pattaya today
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Please any water you don't want send down to Pattaya, we badly need rain and water down here.
Absolutely... it's strange how the thunderstorms seem to be bypassing Pattaya this year... Rayong, Sri Ratcha, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Surin, and of course BKK have all had good heavy rain recently (from what I've read on TV anyway), and Pattaya is bone dry with water restrictions.
H'mm intelligent thunderstorms
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3927241.stm
Authorised discrimination
Ministers have powers to permit frontline staff to discriminate on grounds of nationality and ethnic origin to help them better target illegal immigration.
What in some nationalities is viewed with scepticism will be accepted in others
Mary Coussey
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Immigration report (442kb)
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Combined with intelligence reports, this power theoretically helps immigration officers to better target their efforts, rather than randomly stopping visitors. So at airports, immigration officers will focus on flights from key countries. At the ports, they may stop certain coach companies.
Although we don't yet have figures for 2003, the nations with the highest rates of refusal for entry into the UK are expected to include Brazil, Poland and Lithuania.
Last December, London City Airport witnessed a huge rise in refusals of Brazilians after intelligence suggested South Americans believed it was an easier way to get into UK than Heathrow.
Officers at the Eurostar terminal in Paris have long been on the look-out for locally forged Italian or Dutch identity papers.
'Benefit of the doubt'
But where operations become problematic, says Ms Coussey, is in the exercise of discretion.
"It seemed to me that passengers from certain nationalities with a record of refusals or of immigration breaches were less likely to be given the benefit of the doubt when compared with passengers from nationalities with a good record," she said.
"What in some nationalities is viewed with scepticism will be accepted in others.
REFUSAL RATES BY COUNTRY 2002
Jamaica: 6,000 (9.1%)
Lithuania: 3,400 (7.5%)
Zimbabwe: 2,500 (4.1%)
Latvia: 955 (3.5%)
Brazil: 2,400 (1.8%)
Source: Home Office. More up-to-date figures expected soon.
"To this extent, the use of information on adverse decisions and breaches may become self-reinforcing." In one case cited by the report, immigration sent back a Brazilian man who said he was coming for eight days, primarily to go to Carnival in Notting Hill.
He was turned back because he could only give vague details about his trip and apparently not earning enough to pay for a week in London. But while cases like this one demonstrated credible reasons for refusal, says Ms Coussey, there are others that do not.
One case highlighted by the report involved an African student who had confirmation papers for his college course, receipts showing he had paid for it and proof of accommodation with his sister, living legally in the UK.
Immigration officers use special powers to focus on key countries
The report says there was no adequate explanation for why this man had been turned away. While immigration officials are on the watch for college/student scams, there was no evidence this man had any intentions other than to study.
While Ms Coussey says most immigration officers are professional - she says she also came across "case-hardened" staff making derogatory comments about certain nationalities.
Others appear to be turned away for either getting their facts wrong - or being somewhat economic with what they tell officials.
"Once there are discrepancies, if the person is a national of one of the countries being more closely checked, the officer is unlikely to give them the benefit of the doubt," says Ms Coussey.
"Even if such a passenger admits that incorrect information was given, perhaps in the mistaken belief that it was a more convincing explanation than the true reason for visiting, their credibility has been so damaged that they likely to be refused."
Immigration minister Des Browne said the government would make a detailed response to the report later in the year.
"I am pleased that Ms Coussey was impressed with the overall professionalism of immigration officials.
"I also agree with her that the public needs to have clearer information about immigration and asylum and that the Government has an obligation to encourage and lead informed debate, based on fact not fiction, and challenge misconceptions."
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See you have had the stick already
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Even if she were to get a Visa to vist she could fall foul of the immigration officer on arrival who wil ask all the same questions and if they are not satisfied she will be refused entry on arrival ?
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The last part of a TEFL course involves the attachment of a chip on ones shoulder and the insertion of a stick where the sun don't shine. This makes it very difficult to work for more than a few hours a day. It also results in lots of winging and complaining about everything from the price of a 10 baht bus fare and the sudden habit of trying to scrounge drinks off people in Bars. Therefore working becomes secondary. Now do you understand. This was meant for my many friends who are English Teachers a bit of a private joke - is that OK or do you also need a stick.
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Deadline set for migrant workers to register
BANGKOK: -- The Thai government has introduced a one-stop service to register illegal immigrant workers before the deadline expires in June. Officials estimate that there are nearly 400,000 migrant workers without work permits.
The registration system has been revised to allow applications for work permits to be processed within a day, the Director-General of the Department of Employment, Chuthatawat Indrasuksri told TNA on Sunday.
Applications can be submitted at any of the local government offices throughout the country, he said.
There are currently around 1.2 million registered foreign workers in Thailand. This includes 900,000 from Myanmar, 190,000 from Cambodia and 160,000 from Laos. More than 800,000 of them work legally.
In order to manage the foreign workers in the country more effectively, the Thai government set the 30 June as the deadline for migrant workers to register with authorities.
Those who fail to comply with the law will be deported. Their employer also faces a maximum of three years in jail and/or a fine of up to Bt 60,000.
--TNA 2005-05-29
You forgot all the English teachers pretending to be workers
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My wife brought a cat from UK to Khon Kean last year - we heard a couple of weeks ago the Soi dogs got it - personally I think her sister ate it - with a little bit of sum tam.
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US limits Chinese textile imports
Is this a sign of things to come will the Chinese currency be floated soon weakening the dollar against the baht.
Cheaper Chinese clothes have been flooding Western markets
The US has announced that it is to re-impose quotas on three categories of Chinese textile imports, arguing that thousands of jobs are at risk.
The moves follows a massive surge in clothing imports into the US since worldwide quotas were abolished at the beginning of this year.
The clothing ranges which will now be limited are cotton trousers, cotton shirts and underwear.
Last month the US and the EU began investigating Chinese import levels.
They said the goods were damaging their own textile industries.
Under the rules of the World Trade Organisation, countries have the right to act if it is determined that serious market disruption has taken place.
The US Commerce Secretary, Carlos Guitierrez, said a government investigation had established that this was indeed the case.
The EU has already urged China to curb its textile exports. Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said on Thursday that China should clamp down or face legal action.
Manufacturers' complaints
The US decision was taken by the inter-agency Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA).
It means that total shipments in the three categories will only be able to increase by 7.5% above shipments in the past 12 months.
"Today's action by CITA demonstrates this administration's commitment to levelling the playing field for US industry by enforcing our trade agreements," Mr Gutierrez said in a statement.
The action came partly in response to complaints from US textile manufacturers about the increase in imports since global quotas ended on 1 January.
The quotas could remain until the end of the year unless the US and China reach a "satisfactory" agreement, CITA said.
US retailers have opposed the quotas, on the grounds that they will raise prices for consumers.
Winners and losers in textile shake-up
By Kaushik Basu
Professor of economics, Cornell University
Indian textile firms made big initial gains in the quota-less world
The end of country quotas on textile exports marks one of the most major events of the world economy - one that can cause tectonic shifts in the global business landscape.
The Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA), under which these quotas were organised, was put in place in 1974 to protect the textile industries in the US and Europe.
The MFA expired in 1994, but the quotas were continued and managed by the World Trade Organisation with the understanding that they would be terminated at the start of 2005.
That has happened now and the winds of change are palpable.
The US is expected to lose a large number of jobs in this sector, which has anyway dwindled over the past decades.
In 1974 there were 2.4m workers in the textile sector in the US. By 2000, 40% of these jobs were gone.
What is more worrying is that there are many poor countries that could lose out.
Anticipating the end of quotas, exports from El Salvador collapsed by 30% last November. It is expected that the apparel sector of the Dominican Republic will lose up to 40% of its jobs.
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/edit unnessecary quotes
Not off topic nor political at all - just an observation on the human condition and how some segements of world society can't see beyond the end of their big noses - that when stuck in others business often get burnt.
Another 9/11 will unfortuately happen it is only a matter of time. The forces that drive the terror are focused by a unreasonable belief that they are correct and that what they are doing is justified. This is not off topic - it is an example of how someone from a percieved developed nation spouts of about conditions in another country crtitsing them very much in line with the original post.
The situation in Iraq is very much connected as an example where a so called devloped country can also make a complete hash of things through bad planning and a lack of realisation about the consequnces of their actions. Not Yank bashing. Just a observation on the reality of things.
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It's cool, Meadish. I'm just sick and tired of the same old same old America-Bashing that never ends. That "agent" was driving at a "high rate of speed" from ALL accounts. Proven by satellite. He did not alert the authorities that he and the Italian "journalist" were going to be coming thru AND, he refused a legimate command to halt.
There is this small thing called WAR going on over there...
I would say that I'm sick of all these lies.
There is no proven that the car was high speed, bon't bullshit with satellite, this is invented by you right now.
No Halt was given and this was confirmed by US authorities.
Yes there is a WAR over there and war has to be made by soldiers not by recalled unemployed americans ....... (this is a fact)
Having said that and after having visited the Museum of WAR crimes in Ho Chi Min City, I fully support the resistance and the battle for freedom, the terrorists are the ones who can act like in Abu Gravi and being sentenced to "candies"
Unfortunaley the US Military at grunt level are not trained to a high enough degree to think outside the box. The are trained to act in a very gung ho fashion and respond aggresively. This is is out of place in what should ahve been a policing action in Iraq - that now has turned into a guerrila war. The main porblem in Iraq is the style of the US appoach shhot first ask questions later. I am sure that this will attacct some reaction from our US buddies but it is true. The Brits have made a far better job at policing the peace. This has been honed by years on the streets in Northern Ireland where a potentially war like situation was kept under control.
I do have a right to express this opinion as I worked in SA with the US forces for over 11 years. And their training was always their limitation.
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There comes a point where one has to stop and think what the ###### is going on. Some people have a greater tolerance to things that are not presented in a clear and logical aspect, and then there are people who get upset at the slightest thing. Somewhere in-between these two extremes – I find myself. Many times a day, I am blinded by sheer incompetence when it comes to when a Thai person or company has to make a plan or forecast for a particular need or project.
It is completely beyond the capabilities for most Thais to make a plan about anything in advance. Their tendency to live only for the day has wide ranging implications. First it impacts business done in Thailand.
Many, yes not all, western based businesses have rejected Thailand as a hub for the businesses because of the failure of Thais to carryout task specific deadlines. A deadline to the majority of Thais is a concept beyond them. They simply do not think before they act. They never consult with a focus group to try to predict problems before they arise.
For example, the Thai Elite Card. How many times has that program changed over the last 2 years. The first major selling point was the ability to actually own some land. Then later, they renege on that point – leaving those that had purchased it without an explanation. Then over the next 18 months the card proceeds to become nothing more than a glorified golfing card.
Another example. DTAC and AIS. These two very competitive companies started having network problems because of the influx of traffic they created with promotional calling rates. It was easy for them to think … “Oh lets offer .01 a minute calling for all our 50 million customers to try to beat our competition!” They neglected to think… “Ok, how are we going to adjust our network infrastructure and routing to handle the 20 million more calls the promotion will cause each day..” It is only after the fact that some idiot realizes that their network can’t handle the traffic. Then is the Thai sprit of not “losing face” they try to blame TOT/CAT for bottlenecking the network and a classic “It’s not our fault” is issued.
The country’s infrastructure is crippled by the Thais failure to forecast and to deploy predictive modeling for developing everything from the BTS to the MTR. To the stupid pedestrian overpass at the Mall Bangkae. That project has been going on for more than a year, and has changed plans at least 5 times over the year from mistakes they have made in their planning. At one point, the construction stopped altogether for about 4 months because it became too complicated for them and they reached a point where they couldn’t figure out how to complete it. Evidentially someone finally came a long and gave them some insight.
The BTS thing really bothers me. If you look at the Japanese subway/train station there are significant areas for parking both bicycles/cars at nearly every station – not so much the major metro (Shinjuku etc) ones, but definitely the rural stations. People simply ride their bike the station and then park their bike and take the subway into the city.
The concept of a mass transit system is not just to move people around once they are already in the city center. It is to meant to provide a means for entry and departure from the center as well. The Thais do not understand this. There is absolutely no place to leave a motorcycle (the Thai equivalent to the Japanese bicycle) at any BTS station.
Now, they are building a BTS all the way to Bangkae. YEAH! It is about time, even though it will be done nowhere near the August 2005 projection released when the extension started. My money is on that there will be NO parking spaces for either cars or motorcycles. Even that the Bangkae station will be a major transit artery for outlying areas on the other side of the Chao Phyra, there will be no accommodations for “park and ride.”
I tried one time to take my motorcycle into the city and leave it around the Surasak BTS station. Then I wanted to take the BTS into MBK. However, there is absolutely no parking around this area. So I went down the next street (the one with the Myanmar Embassy) and I parked my motorcycle on the street about 200meters down from the embassy in front of a office building. I walked about 10 minutes back to the BTS and returned about 6 hours later.
I returned to find that my motorcycle had a BIG YELLOW lock on the front of its wheel. There was also a ticket my motorcycle for 700 baht. So, to try to do what the BTS should have been intended to do – ended up costing me an additional 700 baht. Absolutely fricken crazy!
Over the many years that I have been quite of few “instances” that I recall. Here are just a few of them:
---Restaurants---
A Thai restaurant running-out of rice by 6:30 in the evening;
Dairy Queen runs out of both Chocolate and Vanilla ice-cream by 1:00 on a Saturday (only strawberry left);
MacDonald’s out of fries on a Sunday evening “no have fry. Want pie?”;
Street Side stalls constantly running out of food “not have. Not have.”;
Fuji running out of Chopsticks “sorry not have, have fork today”;
Pizza Hut runs out of lettuce for the salads on a Wednesday night “salad? Cannot. Not have salad”;
Fitness First running out of Banana, Mango, and Watermelon for juice shakes – (can only have strawberry) “want coffee?”
The list can go on and on from Thais not being able to make a travel plan until the night before they are supposed to leave, to fricken Home Pro selling paint but not having any paint Rollers.
I will leave some for you to post. I would be interested in reading your take on this situation!
And the Yanks planned the peace in Iraq - not, worst bit of planning Iv'e seen.
HEY! Take it to the Bearpit, pal.
We got a possible Thai-basher here - don't need no Yank-bashing...
Just making comparisons to highlight reality
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Some peoplee just don't realsie that things happen diffrently in many countries:
for example:
Bukkara Inshalla,
Mai Pen Rai,
More than my jobs worth mate,
Que Cera,
Another day another dollar,
Get the drift and find some patience friend or find a new life.
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Porbably have a hard time as it will be really diificult to prove the purpose of her visit and her small amount of money will not support her during stay.
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Hi all, I don't normally post on these forums, but with recent events in my life I feel compelled to.
My background is this: I am 25 and my ex is also 25. I was living in Bangkok with my ex thai gf for over one year. I headed back to the UK in march 2005 with the intention of my ex following me soon, so we sorted out a fiancee visa for her, which was by no mean easy or cheap, but I was in love so I was determined that she would follow me to the UK.
I sent her money for her flight and also helped pay for her flat whilst she was in Thailand and I was back in the UK. She came to the UK in early May and was supposed to stay with me for about 6 months before we had the intention of getting married. Unfortunately she only stayed for a week, as she was complaining she was homesick, didn't like food etc.
I tried to persuade her to stay but her mind was made up, so I took her back to Heathrow and left her there without checking that she checked in for her flight.
I then assumued that she went back to Thailand where she was supposed to be looking for a job. However I discovered via a friend of her's last night, that she is now staying with another guy that she met in Ko San Rd last January, when we were going through a rocky patch. This guy lives in Leicester and I called them up after her friend gave me his number. I have never been so shocked, upset, gutted in all my life. This simply is not right, she is staying in the UK on a fiancee visa with my name written on it, surely there is something I can do to get her out of the country?? Any sensible offers of advice would be much appreciated.
Sorry to hear this myself and my wife live in Leicester married for 13 years - she has lots of Thai friends - do you know the guys name - There are loads of Thai girls living in Leicester - a lot of them meet in the Corn Exchange Pub in the city centre by the market on Sautrday afternoon most of them meet through a market vendor Thai woman who has a Thai food stall . Immigration will find it difficult to trace her without an address she has to all intents and purposes dissappeared. If you can give me any more details I will ask the wife to have a chat.
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Bob the Builder
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I did wander into a gay bar in Pattaya once quite pissed , ordered a Bacardi and coke before I realised, but **** it I had to pay for the drink so I stayed and finished it - gay for a minute.
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Have you tiried Bob?
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I have no idea as to the penalties involved. But I do know that if you look at the overall problem, 250,000 pounds is a drop in the bucket. I've been duped into buying counterfeits on ebay before and I know that those people are still selling. I reported it to ebay, but they didn't do anything.
If you pay by CC or Paypal or paypal linked to a CC then they have a legal obligation to act under Uk consumer credit act you can insist they freeze or reverse the payment. If you bought from a seller in the UK you know through e bay what the address is ring up their local constabulary make a complaint and get a crime number they will then act on that.
Honey Hotel
in Bangkok
Posted
Very good little hotel for the money book a mini suite 1300 baht you can e mail them direct - does get a bit full with American Servicemen sometimes