Thaksin returns to Thailand and is arrested

halfcenturyup said:
A revolutionary?

A more balanced view would be that Thai politics changes 180 degrees whenever it has to. Yes, the royal family is corrupted, the army is corrupt and all the politicians are corrupt, but that isn't the issue that affects most of the population. That is the endemic corruption in every day life. If you have two houses here, you will have experienced it. Pay people to get things done. Pay the police to get off even the worst crimes. Pay the police to frame someone. To make them disappear. No money? Go to jail for the smallest thing. Getting rid of the royal family without changing the rest won't achieve anything. Luckily, there are signs that change is coming from the younger generation when these have been largely ambivalent for many generations. The time of Thaksin, the army and a royal family in its present guise will be over in the next ten years. Have to wait and see if that makes things better for the ordinary folk.
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Sadly your right. Or in my case pay people to get things undone. Like when I helped someone who had fallen of a jet-ski...I went over to them on the one I had hired and bumped into theirs. A bit of plastic bounced off and then the owners raced out to us and stopped the hire about 10 minutes into the hour.
They wanted about £600. I told them didn't have it and the guy completely lost it. Another guy said someone was found knifed to death the other day after not paying him. I valued my life at more than £600 so got the money on a credit card and paid. It left a sour taste and put me off Koh Samui for good but when that sort of thing goes on what chance do the local honest hardworking people have. A lesson learned. It's actually a beautiful country and I hope that the people get an honest government and police force but as you say it'll take at least another decade. I sometimes wonder how corrupt the UK is but that's for another day I suppose.
 
Keepingthefaithsince1976 said:
Sadly your right. Or in my case pay people to get things undone. Like when I helped someone who had fallen of a jet-ski...I went over to them on the one I had hired and bumped into theirs. A bit of plastic bounced off and then the owners raced out to us and stopped the hire about 10 minutes into the hour.
They wanted about £600. I told them didn't have it and the guy completely lost it. Another guy said someone was found knifed to death the other day after not paying him. I valued my life at more than £600 so got the money on a credit card and paid. It left a sour taste and put me off Koh Samui for good but when that sort of thing goes on what chance do the local honest hardworking people have. A lesson learned. It's actually a beautiful country and I hope that the people get an honest government and police force but as you say it'll take at least another decade. I sometimes wonder how corrupt the UK is but that's for another day I suppose.
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That's a common police scam on tourists here. Same with cars and motor bikes. The money would have been shared with the police.

The only way to get out of it is to have police back-up at a higher level. They all have their superiors that they have to keep happy (i.e. pay) ....
 
Keepingthefaithsince1976 said:
Sadly your right. Or in my case pay people to get things undone. Like when I helped someone who had fallen of a jet-ski...I went over to them on the one I had hired and bumped into theirs. A bit of plastic bounced off and then the owners raced out to us and stopped the hire about 10 minutes into the hour.
They wanted about £600. I told them didn't have it and the guy completely lost it. Another guy said someone was found knifed to death the other day after not paying him. I valued my life at more than £600 so got the money on a credit card and paid. It left a sour taste and put me off Koh Samui for good but when that sort of thing goes on what chance do the local honest hardworking people have. A lesson learned. It's actually a beautiful country and I hope that the people get an honest government and police force but as you say it'll take at least another decade. I sometimes wonder how corrupt the UK is but that's for another day I suppose.
Click to expand...
Yeah I went in 2011 and I've never been to a country where so many people have constantly tried to rip me off. Literally everything you do, there's someone standing around trying to con you in some way. And don't get me wrong, I've been to most of SE Asia, but this was a whole other level.
 
Keepingthefaithsince1976 said:
Sadly your right. Or in my case pay people to get things undone. Like when I helped someone who had fallen of a jet-ski...I went over to them on the one I had hired and bumped into theirs. A bit of plastic bounced off and then the owners raced out to us and stopped the hire about 10 minutes into the hour.
They wanted about £600. I told them didn't have it and the guy completely lost it. Another guy said someone was found knifed to death the other day after not paying him. I valued my life at more than £600 so got the money on a credit card and paid. It left a sour taste and put me off Koh Samui for good but when that sort of thing goes on what chance do the local honest hardworking people have. A lesson learned. It's actually a beautiful country and I hope that the people get an honest government and police force but as you say it'll take at least another decade. I sometimes wonder how corrupt the UK is but that's for another day I suppose.
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The old jet ski scam
Iv seen it happen so many times over the years,in Pattaya especially,
and they always seem to choose a big group of hard looking westerners to inflict it on,Iv seen
USA naval sailors get done,a group of big Welsh lads once,

Whenever you hire a jet ski, let them see you take photos or a video on your mobile of the jetski,that lets them know you know about the scam,same when hiring a motorbike, The jetski or motorbike ,already has some damage,you take it out,when you bring it back they say you damaged it ,if you don't pay,their back up.mafia turn up pronto,Iv seen loads arguing at first but all have ended up paying.
 
I'm With Stupid said:
Yeah I went in 2011 and I've never been to a country where so many people have constantly tried to rip me off. Literally everything you do, there's someone standing around trying to con you in some way. And don't get me wrong, I've been to most of SE Asia, but this was a whole other level.
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I must have been lucky on the 25 to 30 times Iv been there,I wouldn't say Thailand is bad,been with my wife though the last 6 or 7 times though going back to 2005,so being with a Thai obviously helps.
 
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