geriatrickid

They've  cut up  the sidewalks on the beachside from the soi into the Patong Condo Tower right down past the Banana complex (towards Bangla). What's going on? I was watching the poor tourists trying to get around the demolition. The walkways were put in after the tsunami and were in decent shape. Is it for more parking?

In case no one  knows, SPANAIR suspended operations on Friday.
Spain's fourth-largest airline Spanair has collapsed, leaving more than 20,000 passengers stranded across Europe and Africa.
The Barcelona-based firm stopped operating on Friday and more than 200 flights were abruptly cancelled.

Spanair is a member of Star Alliance. Because of that link, it had some codeshares with TG into Spain and  Europe.
Ticket holders for TG flights connecting from TG hubs should verify their tickets and routes. If TG issued the ticket, you should be ok.
There was one  routing that connected in Hong Kong and then on to Munich  using Lufthansa with a connection on Spanair.  The Singapore - Barcelona service is flown by Singapore airlines even though a Spanair codeshare appears.
Anyway,  doublecheck your routes to be safe.

cheers.

I don't know if anyone has noticed but the soi dogs of Patong have all but disappeared. Although  many were  vaccinated and sterilized by local NGOs, it  is alleged that the local Or Bor has arranged a mass cull with allegations that the dogs were being bludgeoned and then buried alive in pits. One well reputed organization posted on its FB site  that they have investigated and that the local government claims they were taken to the pound ( I was sent the link from a colleague). However, the  government agency that administers the pound has stated that it has not taken any dogs from Patong.  No word in the local papers, but the allegations are getting more intense. This has the potential to explode into some serious bad PR for Patong if not managed right and could do more damage than the tuktuk and jetski issues.

Does anyone know what is going on and are the concerns being expressed in emails now circulating valid? Has the local mayor  sponsored a secret cull and is it one that violates the  agreements and protocols in place with the Department of Agriculture and the NGOs?

Apologies if this has been dealt with before, but I didn't see it when I looked.

What happened to the smoked salmon? It used to be at the back with the weepy Casino brand ham  and stuff, but its not there anymore. They used to have 2 types, the Norwgian product that  usually tasted off and the  higher quality Scottish sourced salmon. Also gone seems to be the cream cheese. I noticed the capers have disappeared from the usual shelf, but I need my smoked salmon. I suppose its around elsewhere, but ideally I'd like something near Patong.

I was in a vile mood after  striking out for the 3rd time in a row and  after asking the clerk about it being shown the raw salmon, I gave up. Didn't get any better when I had to get around that weird guy  in front of Jungceylon playing the  electric bongs and his diggerty doo or whatever that aboriginal thingie is called. I was sort of hoping that the immigration police would come and take him away by now.

Anyway, I would  be ever so grateful for suggestions/guidance. Thank you.

I'm surprised this didn't make it to the news section as the report has been circulating for 2 days. Thailand didn't do as well as it should have and the following comments explain why the concept of  Reputation is important;

Perhaps the most important finding in 2011 Country RepTrak™ is that reputation means money. Reputation Institute found a very strong correlation between a country's reputation and people's willingness to visit there, buy its exported products and services, invest there, study there or even live and work there. "Our approach provides a strategic tool that enables countries to make informed decisions about how to spend their brand and reputation building budgets," says Kasper Nielsen, Executive Partner of Reputation Institute. "When you consider that a 10% increase in your country's reputation leads to an 11% rise in your tourism receipts, and a 2% increase in your FDI - this is something both countries and companies might want to take note of."

Although Canada was ranked No. 1, the top 4 countries were all within whiskers of each other and it should come as no surprise who made the top 10. Here's a teaser;
1. Canada 74.8       2  Sweden  74.7    3  Australia   74.3.   4  Switzerland   74.2

Interesting enough the top 10 countries also do well on the Transparency, Corruption and Quality of life ratings published elsewhere. One can quibble on where the top 10 rank a country belongs, but it in terms of peer groups, being slightly behind Denmark or Sweden etc. is nothing to be embarrased about.  However, the Thai peer  group is hardly something to be proud of.

The full report is available from the institute. For those that just want the good bits, check out the news release from which I copied. The US and EU news feeds were not as detailed.   http://www.cnw.ca/en...1/27/c6961.html

Reputation Institute's 2011 Country RepTrak™, an annual study measuring the public perceptions of 50 countries around the world. The study measures the overall Trust, Esteem, Admiration and Good Feelings the public holds towards these countries, as well as their perceptions across 16 different attributes, including a good quality of life, a safe place to live and a strong attention to their environment



edited for embarrassing spelling error. Scuzi.