with the airport shutdown and the pending fight ahead, i thought i'd start this thread. i hate politics and don't vote in the US because i don't think either party can deliver on their "promises" so why bother to give either one a vote.

so here we are in thailand. thaksin gets tossed and they have elections. a guy from thaksin's party gets elected via a democratic, one person, one vote system.

but the PAD don't like the fact that they got outvoted and lost the election. so they get on this new guy and he ends up resigning. i believe the final straw was when he was on a TV cooking show and promoted some product - a no no for thai politicians. so, in a way, he ultimately ousted himself.

this is where it gets really good. the ruling "thaksin" party now gets to nominate a replacement for the newly ousted guy. they pick thaksin's brother in law. you got to be kidding. do they have a brain ? and meanwhile, thaksin is still campaigning via video conferences. even suggesting he's on his way back to run for office.

you would think the "thaksin" party would choose someone less likely to serve as a lighting rod but no. typical politics, logic and common sense is never used.

and then we come back to the PAD. even though they call for the current guy to resign, that won't be enough. they want the one person, one vote system changed so that they can actually have a chance to win the election. and PAD stands for peoples alliance for democracy ? sounds a little fishy to me. you lose a democratic style election and then want to change the way the votes are tallied such that you may be able to win ? sounds like sore losers to me.

here is my suggestion. the current PM agrees to resign and the ruling party acknowledges publicly that they made an error in judgment with his selection (stating the obvious is always tough). then thaksin does a video conference apologizing for his continued involvement in thai politics. after the apology he should state that he will NEVER be active in politics in thailand again. in return, the PAD should not require a change in the way the votes are tallied and then the country can have a new election.
and then THEIR country can begin to pull together the pieces that the two sides have scattered about. if they don't start working together soon, thailand could be in for a tough couple years. tourism is huge for the economy and it sounds like non-monger tourism is going to move to other places now.

vietnam may be the big beneficiary of this as it is cheaper than thailand and offers as much or more to non monger tourists.

Wish things work out in Thailand and things were to play out the way Buick described. The people deserve better.

But there's atleast one tough issue...

Due to the "saving face" issue that many Asians have, it will be difficult for the current PM and Thaksin to admit to anything.

Thaksin has already gone on record saying he would never again be involved in Thai politics. That was when he was first ousted and wanted to come back to Thailand. It's obvious nothing he says can ever be believed.

The PAD are basically the Thai intellectuals and powerful elite who resent that the poor rural vote outnumbers their's so they want Bangkok votes to be weighted more heavily . Kind of like one man one and a half votes for BKK residents and one man half a vote for the ignorant Isaan villagers who vote for the person that gives them the most money.


Now that would be one piece of work as a constitution chai mai.

(Message edited by Khun_Mor on November 27, 2008)

Didn't we used to have something like that?

and what about the king. before all this hoopla, his potential passing was/is a real issue. he probably should have abdicated the throne to someone of his choosing a few years back. i understand his son is not well liked by the people so maybe he'd pick his daughter. but better to make such a pick when the govt is stable and the king is healthy and can hang around a bit while the new royal leader gets a handle on their new position. the king looked real frail at his sister's funeral ceremony........

this is setting up like the perfect storm, problems in the govt and monarchy. oh boy..

If I may offer my own observations. Political and social instability and strife often destracts the usual players from tampering with much more trivial issues such as vice. No one worries too much about wether a few bars are showing or doing pussy shows when the whole damn country is quite rapidly going down the shithole. Further add to this equation, that the devastating economic impact will most certainly leave many beautiful young ladies desperate for money and out of options. You could see how you could get vast increases in supply and vast decreases in customers which positively affects price as well. While this is a terrible thing for the Thai people and a temporary inconvenience to some guys in the immediate future. Going out a little further in the short term this would have to be good for US.

IAS: Unfortunately, you have not made me feel better about being held hostage in Thailand. But maybe a naked Thai lady or two will be more effective in calming my hostage-ridden nerves.

OTOH, I guess being held hostage in Thailand is better than being in the States (although if the damn airport here hadn't closed, I would have been off to Jakarta tomorrow).

I have a ticket for 12/9/08 to BKK. I'm beginning to wonder whether it will be safe in eleven days. On the other hand I agree with IAS that if I can make the trip tourism will be down and I can help rescue some desperate Thai ladies who will show much gratitude in return!!!

LAGUY, I suspect you are currently experiencing the worst of it as it relates to you. Being stranded seems the worst it would probably get for most foreigners. I could see the whole damned thing could blow up bigtime for the Thais but angry mobs aren't going to be sacking Pattaya any time soon. When you figure that two men were shot dead in a Toys "R" Us over an after Thanksgiving sale is Southern California today, Thailand still compares favorably in terms of safety to the US.

Although I am not sure I would be at all optimistic about the airport functioning normally by 12/9. I suspect that even in the unlikely event the protesters pulled out peacefully today, it would still take a week to get the place fully up to speed again and another week to work out the chaos of all the disrupted passengers.

IAS, You think inbound will be in chaos too on 12/9?

Inbound would have to be easier than outbound and I have no real knowledge about the situation. I'm just looking at the shear scale of the mess that exists already and thinking it's going to take a long time to get back to normal. Whenever the protesters leave you would probably loose a couple of days just rounding up all the airport workers. If they don't leave peacefully you would have to expect a lengthy security operation and repairs of damage to the facilities before passengers are again moving normally.

I see EVA is now activly planning to move it's full schedule of flight operations to U-Tapao. EVA is particularly hit hard by the closure of Suvarnabhumi since virtually all of their European operations transit Bangkok.

Presently, my only safety concern is if the airport is retaken by force the trip to the airport to catch a flight leaving may be dicey. OTOH, it is probably as likely, if not more so, there will be a military coup that will result in PAD leaving the airport peaceably, although who knows when this would happen.

What is getting on my nerves is not so much the safety issue but that I already canceled one trip to Jakarta as a result of this nonsense, and may have to cancel a second business trip to another Asian location if this thing continues much longer. Although the mantra among foreigners in Bangkok may now be "at least we are not in Mumbai," this doesn't help us get on with our plans.

the 9th will be a close one. i hope you make it.

this stalemate of sorts is classic. from the pictures i see on TV and the newspaper, the PAD looks to be 50% female. and another 25% look to be men over 50. not what i'd call a formidable force.

also, i saw footage of a thai policeman being "kidnapped" and forced into a car by the PAD. the policeman didn't even attempt to fight the "kidnapping". after the car drove off, all the occupants probably went drinking together, including the officer.

Hiho hiho off to Pattaya it looks like I will go!!!! With the new settlement of govt and airport problems my flight to BKK for 12/9 looks very probable! I will sure do my share to help struggling gogo girls through their problems in Pattaya!!!

So you're a radical willing travel to faraway places to join the struggle! Enjoy!!

I was hoping the Indonesians would do a copycat thing and hold me up in Jakarta by taking over the airport (some people were piss'd as they executed the Bali bombers a few days ago). Alas, no take over, just a few demos on ther streets with throwing of rotting veggies. But I did indirectly and unexpectedly take advantage of the LOS protests while in JKT, they cancelled a flight out of there b/c the plane schedule was so messed up for a few days it appears. So I had a good excuse to avoid visa penalties, having to work ,etc. for a few extra days.

gurock, you are going to make it !!!! incoming flights no problem and assuming you are not planning to leave 2 days later, your outgoing should be fine also. i'm sure you had some anxious moments. i'd rather be stuck here in bkk than stuck at home.......

you may still go to utapao and i imagine immigration could have a quite a line (not enough officers to process). but if you are going to pattaya, you are much closer on the transport front so regardless of where you land you should be in pattaya within about 3 hrs of hitting the tarmac.

have a good trip.

HM:

I'm a hero for the proletariat, I have fluids to donate to struggling working girls. In fact I may donate until the milk spigot runs dry. I'm thinking that I shouldn't warn the girls that you're coming later in December. Remember Bee (my long old spinner at Living Dolls I) she's now the mamasan there and had surgically created 40 Ds made. I did take the 40 Ds for a short time in May. My cherry ride with a mamasan.

Buick:

I'm thinking car should be cheaper from Utapo to Pattaya, as it's a much shorter ride. I don't leave LOS till 12/27 when I go to that fine cesspool of mongering AC. My general plan was to watch Obamba get sworn in with Champaign and two bargirls in Lewis Grand Jacuzzi room.

i've been to utapao several times as i've traveled btwn phuket and pattaya, using bangkok airways flight.

as a point of reference, my private/non meter taxi cost was 1,000thb. but who knows what cost/options will be available upon your arrival. i would guess more than normal.

i was advised to reserve a car in advance as i might end up at utapao (coming in from phuket) and wouldn't have a ride to utapao. multiple taxis are not normally on hand.

i did see several mini vans each time i arrived so i imagine seats were available on those for transport to pattaya. the ride to pattaya is 45 minutes and pure bliss compared to bkk/pattaya.

I've driven the motorbike from Pattaya to Rayoung and gone by Utapo. It's about two thirds of the way to Rayoung. Divided highway the whole way and few traffic lights, no tolls. My recollection was about a 45 minute ride by motorbike if you go down the highway, but much longer if you meander through the beaches in Jontiem and Satahip.