Priceless

Thai at Heart, on 2012-04-28 08:23:20, said:

Why is it a useless article because of that comparison? Do you think Greece has always been at 150? It was the policies within the Greek economy that led it down the path to financial ruin. The Government there were continually handing out money to the poor and to government workers. Populist policies were rife. The same trend is being set in Thailand. Drain the banks at the tax payers expense to get re-elected. It wont take much more mismanagement for it to start snowballing out of control.

It appears that the Finance Minister needs to do a course in finance.

With their (almost) unbelievably naive schedule for getting these devices in place it is hardly surprising that it hasn't happened. Perhaps they should have got a few of the smarter Prathom 1 students to have done the planning and procurement as a school project - lets face it, they could hardly be more naive than the current planners... and probably much better!

What I find many times more frustrating than Thai politics are TV members, allegedly worldly wise and educated who insist on making pathetic obsequious apologies for a clearly inept holder of a prime Government position. I am sure Yingluck herself would laugh at some of the excuses made by some on here on her behalf. It is nauseating.

Personally, I think that pic of her texting at the funeral is absolutely disgusting. Its common decency and politeness to stand on ceremony when you're in the middle of a ceremony! When you're a leader in any form its important to lead by example. If I (as a teacher) start yabbering on my phone in the middle of a class or assembly how can I then tell of my kids for doing the same. It's basic decorum and common sense. I honestly can't imagine any other world leader behaving in such a disrespectful manner. An earlier poster used the word bimbo, I'd add the word vacuous to complete the slur.

After not getting out much the past month due to weather/health related issues, it's so nice to see blue skies again, and go re-discover some of the great places around Chiang Mai.

It's almost like a new spring, when you can go out again and enjoy.   And it's good to see the temperature creeping up day by day, it feels more and more like Songkranny Weather. Some pics.

     

Just last week:

The Thai New Year festivities will soon be upon us once again, which plenty partying, watery fun and general merriment to be had for all.

Kids especially enjoy the water festival, but for responsible parents there are definitely several do's and don'ts about the festival when it comes to kids joining in.

With 18 Songkrans under my belt and as a parent of two young children, I would like to make some recommendations for a fun and safe Songkran celebration.  For seasoned residents and seasoned parents much of the below may be obvious, but I hope it will help some who are new to Songkran or new to having kids.

Locations

Many locations to 'play water' are not safe or appropriate for young kids.

• Avoid locations close to fast moving or heavy traffic. It's too easy to stray on to the road and be too close to traffic. Don't play water along highways in and out of town.

• The city moat is a prime location for the festivities, and for large sections of the moat the traffic moves slow enough. Keep in mind that the moat itself is VERY deep.  If kids aren't excellent swimmers, they should not be on the side where the water is. As there are many people running and playing there, and as the pavement will get slippery from the water, it becomes too easy to fall into the moat. And even if they are excellent swimmers, you still don't want them to panic; keep in mind that in most places it's difficult to get out again, they would need help getting back on shore.

• Don't pick a location near rounchy bars, especially not where there are many adult Western (or Thai) men drinking and partying. Kids can get run into, and drinking sometimes leads to trouble.

With the above in mind, if you play along the moat at all, then for example the stretch North of Thapae Gate on the side of the Amora hotel is suitable: traffic moves slowly there approaching the Thapae Gate bottle neck, and it's (just) far enough away from the Farang bar area.  Thapae Road also moves slowly.

Also consider some of the smaller sois, but make sure there is enough space on the side, and good visibility of any traffic through the soi.

Picking a location in front of a restaurant or hotel/guesthouse is good, often these places have some people celebrating in front already, and will provide clean tap water to use from a hose leading outside.  And it's nice to be able to order some food and drink, use the washroom, etc.

Precautions

• Tell kids where they are allowed to go, and where they cannot go.  They should never get on to the road or soi itself. If they drop a bucket or water gun there by accident, they should call you or another adult to retrieve it.

• No running!  It can get VERY slippery, and it's easy to fall and get hurt.  Open wounds can easily get infected, so any cut = Game Over.

• Try to keep your mouth shut.   Even though you try to pick a place that provides tap water, it's very likely to also get hit with water straight from the moat.

• Use Sunblock!  It would be better to be in a shaded place, but when out in the sun it is VERY easy to get severe sun burns. Use a water-proof sun block and re-apply as needed.  Don't forget any spots: ears, feet, etc.  Using long sleeves and long pants or skirts is also a good idea.

• After-party health check: Bathe kids thoroughly afterwards and put on clean, dry clothes. Be aware of common ailments such as irritated eyes, ear infections, upset stomach, sunburn, cuts and scratches.

Recommended Rules

• No spraying on things that shouldn't get wet. (Point these out, if any)

• NO SPRAYING AT MOTORCYCLES unless they've stopped and are clearly participiating.  This goes for adults too, but no harm in teaching this early. It's too easy for motorbike riders to get into a fall or accident when they try to avoid getting wet. Even just pretending/threatening to spray water distracts a rider's attention from traffic. So just don't.  Yes, other people do it. But we don't.

• NO SPRAYING AT people who clearly indicate they don't want to partake, or who have items with them that shoudln't get wet.  (including food sellers, etc.)   Yes, other people do it. But we don't.

Others

Kids can get cold quickly when wet. Make sure you can either get back home quickly, or that you carry dry clothes and a towel so kids can get dry, rest abit and have some food/drink in a nearby restaurant, hotel or guesthouse.

Riding in a the back of a pick-up truck is dangerous. If kids are old enough to join a truck, they should NEVER stand up while in the vehicle. They should sit down all the time. You don't want kids falling out of trucks. Only have them in the back while driving very slowly through a party area. Before going home on faster roads, get the kids to change into dry clothes and sit inside the cabin. (Pull into a hotel parking lot and change clothes)

This should go without saying, but when driving kids in and out of town, make sure the driver doesn't drink and drives responsibly. After dark it's best not to be on (or near) the road at all, as there are many drunk drivers.


Finally

If this is your first Songkran, go test the waters (heh) yourself first before bringing the whole family. No matter what you've heard, you can't possibly be prepared for complete mayem and mass party all around. This will also allow you to pick a good spot to take the kids.

Know that in addition to the crazy party, Songkran is also a religious and cultural festival, with many events organized around town, and with many people visiting temples. It's well worth catching some of these; all of these activities are kids-safe; they mostly happen in the mornings before the masses start the party.

Decide if you want to take your kid into town at all. An alternative Songkran party would be to get together with other parents and kids in a garden setting somewhere and let the kids go at it amongst themselves.  Safe, clean and much less stressful for the parents. If some or all of the above has raised concern: GOOD! This is in no way a recommendation to let kids participate in Songkran in any way; make your own informed decision if, where and how to celebrate Songkran.

!!! Happy New Year -- Sawatdee Pee Mai !!!

orang37, on 2012-03-23 18:29:01, said:

To get real rain we have to wait until all the old water has been thrown away at Songran and then wait again until they fire the rockets at the clouds to punch holes in them and make it rain.

Take a look at the river water level. Great pictures.

I'm going out on a limb here to suggest that the current devolution of this thread has eloquently answered the OP.

The OP requested that we ignore the technical/legal issues and focus on the financial only, but I'm afraid that's like saying "never mind about corruption in Thai politics, how can I sponsor an altruistic idealist to run for an MP seat?"

My POV - it only makes sense to "invest" in real estate in Thailand if:

the amount you're sinking is low enough relative to your income/assets that losing most of your investment wouldn't be more than a minor annoyance.

I personally believe the odds to be quite high that it will be very difficult to get back even close to the overall investment back, and it may take a lot of time and energy to do so, work which most likely needs to be done by you personally in that location. The biggest cost from my POV is the loss of freedom and peace of mind, and thus I personally will likely always rent, until I've found a place where I want to live out the remainder of my days.

Other scenarios where buying as opposed to renting **might** IMO make sense:

1. You plan to live in the property yourself, hate the idea of "throwing money away" by paying rent, AND don't mind paying (possibly **much**) more per month overall for the privilege of being an owner.

2. Alternatively, you plan to become a professional landlord, buying up properties as cheaply as possible and renting them out as dear as possible, and have factored in all the cost variables of maintenance costs, deadbeat tenants, legal issues.

3. Your purchase is an expression of love to your significant other and his/her family and you're willing to see it as an outright gift if things don't work out as well as they seem to be going right now.

chiang mai, on 2012-03-04 17:30:42, said:

   -- italics mine, cmx

I believe that the purpose of this thread is to develop facts.  We find here more specifics about how reliable are the data, what is happening this year, and (I particularly conclude) what long term results appear to be (excluding bumps this way and that such as last year and 2007).

Certainly I can do little about the situation except develop solutions for myself and stay alert for any realistic, practical, solution to which I might contribute - if even in only a small way.  But without facts, all of us are shouting into the (polluted) wind.  Facts help me in determining what to personally do - getting away for a while, for example.  Sorting and refining them, 'tis true, is somewhat tiresome.

As for the carrot (which I favor as a better tactic when attempting to change culturaly values held for centuries), it would cost, and those costs vie for national priorities and resources.  Here again, only facts will eventually convince the populace and elected leaders of the degree of danger in these practices.

mcgriffith, on 2012-03-03 20:27:28, said:

And yet, it ISN'T.  (!)

We've been on a decreasing line since Thursday.

Not sure how much more proof people need that local factors have a very limited influence on the city-wide (valley-wide) situation:  Insane forest fire on the mountain right next to town, and the air is better than yesterday.

el jefe, on 2012-02-26 22:14:04, said:

It seems that station experienced a problem. You can see that if you look at the graph, with an unusual dip showing.  The Yupparat station didn't show any dip, of course.    Overall the government pollution control department is doing an excellent job of providing data, and they even improved it for this year with the new site.   But yes, any station can have an outage.

Anyway..   Just as I already mentioned a couple days ago: it comes and goes in spikes that will become more frequent and of higher intensity over the next couple weeks.  

But it is in no way unusual, it's not 'starting earlier', and in fact it's getting better over time.

Just today you could visibly see it clear up, note that this happened WITHOUT the need for rain.  It just clears up again.   You can see this in the clarity of the views, that you can see the mountains again, and that the sun is a lot brighter, causing today to end up a pretty hot day.

The numbers -of course- back this up.   It's a little tiring to go through this debate every year, with all kinds of Chiang Mai newbies suddenly thinking they're discovering an outrageous phenomenon for the first time.   It's even funnier when the conversation happens in a bar with someone, and they're smoking cigarettes!  

Thailands strength has always been the weakness of its neighbours. Once they all start developing, lazy Thailand will be left behind.Burma has
hundredsof magnificent little islands presumably far more pristine than over commercialised Phuket. Great for eco tourism.
Laos is coming up albeit slowly and Cambodia should be ready to rejoin the human race within 10 years.

Biggest problem in Thailand is the country is owned by the top 100 or so richest Thai and Chinese Thai families. They want to keep the status quo. Tobacco monopoly, alcohol /beverages monopoly, pseudo monopolies created by shutting out competition using huge import duties and  appalling corruption at the docks and airports. Crappy locally produced appliances and cars, foreign reserves created through massive prostitution industry and impoverished Issan wife exports to England,Germany,Sweden, Switzerland, Korea, Australia, USA. Insane foreign ownership laws and regs, restrictive and expensive immigration regs,.
Thailand is their own private club, so 60 million Thai's and foreigners arent invited.
The government refuses to take the English language seriously so they will suffer severely long term. Thais are not wanted because they cant speak English.
This country has always been incredibly difficult for outsiders to conduct  business .
Better options are popping up.
Thai's will just shrug their shoulders because they dont care. Pretty girl PM Yingluck will head off to Milan to buy the latest LV handbag for 150,000 b.Nothing will ever change here.