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.
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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.
 
blue44 said:
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.
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I was travelling alone so it was bound to happen I suppose. Another quite weird thing was sitting on the koh san road and a couple of English girls came over and said mind if we join you. Yeah sure. They ordered about 3 lots of drinks then later disappeared. The waiter comes and asks me to pay. I paid for my own but said no way I'm paying for others. They actually caught them 20 minutes later 2 doors away in another bar. Dragged them out and about 3 or 4 kicked the daylights out of them. Not the best part of Thailand.
I stayed on Koh phangan for about 7 weeks. Loved it. Quiet, really nice locals. Played football every evening about 5pm. foreigners against the thais...about 25 a side. Opposite side of the island to the Had Rin full moon party dump area. Cheap as chips and a gorgeous part of Thailand. Sea like a lake. Thong nai pan. 2003.
 
Keepingthefaithsince1976 said:
I was travelling alone so it was bound to happen I suppose. Another quite weird thing was sitting on the koh san road and a couple of English girls came over and said mind if we join you. Yeah sure. They ordered about 3 lots of drinks then later disappeared. The waiter comes and asks me to pay. I paid for my own but said no way I'm paying for others. They actually caught them 20 minutes later 2 doors away in another bar. Dragged them out and about 3 or 4 kicked the daylights out of them. Not the best part of Thailand.
I stayed on Koh phangan for about 7 weeks. Loved it. Quiet, really nice locals. Played football every evening about 5pm. foreigners against the thais...about 25 a side. Opposite side of the island to the Had Rin full moon party dump area. Cheap as chips and a gorgeous part of Thailand. Sea like a lake. Thong nai pan. 2003.
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Them girls were playing with fire doing that over there,it happens a lot to western blokes,getting pissed in bars and refusing to pay or questioning the bar bill at the end.They get a serious kicking for their trouble ,trust me.
My serious advice for anyone going to Thailand,never let a Thai lose face or you will regret it.
 
blue44 said:
Them girls were playing with fire doing that over there,it happens a lot to western blokes,getting pissed in bars and refusing to pay or questioning the bar bill at the end.They get a serious kicking for their trouble ,trust me.
My serious advice for anyone going to Thailand,never let a Thai lose face or you will regret it.
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Yeah I wasn't drinking at the time thank god.
 
I saw Steve coppell once in Pattaya. He wasn't having a piss but I guess that's for another thread. Might have been there for a meeting with Thaksin. Money Number 1 over there and everything else comes 2nd. He will not spend long in the big house as he wouldn't have gone back . Millionaires don't generally leave the comfort of a safe haven to do 8 years jug.
 
blue44 said:
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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blue44 said:
Them girls were playing with fire doing that over there,it happens a lot to western blokes,getting pissed in bars and refusing to pay or questioning the bar bill at the end.They get a serious kicking for their trouble ,trust me.
My serious advice for anyone going to Thailand,never let a Thai lose face or you will regret it.
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You're not selling it.

And let's be honest, as much as there are western blokes getting pissed in bars, there are dodgy bar staff adding drinks to the bills of people who they think are too drunk to notice. You can bet that if those girls had slipped the net, the value of their drinks would have mysteriously found itself onto a few other poor suckers' bills over the course of the evening. I've heard of owners charging the bar staff for money they've failed to collect in certain places, so I imagine it happens in Thailand too.
 
I'm With Stupid said:
You're not selling it.

And let's be honest, as much as there are western blokes getting pissed in bars, there are dodgy bar staff adding drinks to the bills of people who they think are too drunk to notice. You can bet that if those girls had slipped the net, the value of their drinks would have mysteriously found itself onto a few other poor suckers' bills over the course of the evening. I've heard of owners charging the bar staff for money they've failed to collect in certain places, so I imagine it happens in Thailand too.
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All I'm saying,Iv travelled a lot ,and Thailand is no different than other places Iv travelled to,
for sheer agression and constant pestering,Eygpt,Tunisia but especially Morocco are the worst Iv experianced,it was unbearable,travel in east africa where they have open discrimination for admission prices,Tanzanian citizen cheapest price right down to non africans dearest price, a government official there still owes me £20 from 1993 when he said i needed a visa to enter,although I told him I didnt need one when i'd entered Tanzania a few weeks back before leaving,it was either pay it or get a " no entry " in my passport.
 
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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Don’t want this to turn into some esoteric talk about Thai society. I am not sure why you think things will change greatly within the next 10 years based on the current happenings. Think that’sa combination of PollyAnna and Little Bo Peep.

Been spending time in Thailand for over 20 years and have owned a flat there since 2005 when I got married. Never gotten shaken down, scammed, intimidated. Having a local close to you helps immensely though.

The only wildcard is having # 10 take the permanent dirt nap. We can only hope.

Things were never going to change once that tin point dictator wannabe Prayut aka the Thai mr bean forced control of the 250 Senate votes. Hardly democratic that…
 
Frank the Yank said:
Been spending time in Thailand for over 20 years and have owned a flat there since 2005 when I got married. Never gotten shaken down, scammed, intimidated. Having a local close to you helps immensely though.
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Same for me but 34 years going back to 1989, never felt unsafe ,never been tricked,scammed etc,you have to keep your wits about you obviously , too many people go and get too pissed and disrespect Thai's,thats when the trouble starts.
 
MCFC Wirral said:
He instructed people to sell the club for him. It’s understood Cook’s presentation was also a huge positive.

Remember Cook himself has admitted he regrets not doing thorough research on Thaksin.
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I would rather have Thaksin today if it was a choice over these yanks that have infiltrated the leagues.
 
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