Well we hoped against hope his stand against Clayton of the real-estate empire would strike a blow for us internet bloggers and webbers not to be gagged.
Alas the Galts been pole-axed and dealt a number of blows in court and on the web.
His vocal detractors and enemies are numerous and have quite a big mouth on them.
In Bangkok there's Stickman, Mango-sauce.
While in Pattaya there's some support for Galt.
The short an bottom of it is that Galt has had to shut down his now infamous notstickman site.
It remains to be seen what will come of Claytons court case from an internet slanging match.
Whatever happens Keith good luck and hope to see you on the other side...
Monday, November 30, 2009
Thailand Bike Crackdown
13st March 2009
Well, the sugary days of free-wheeling around on unregistered bike are looking very gloomy indeed. In yet more controlling moves from the authorities a ton of big bikes in Thailand have been impounded.
On the 24th February in Pattaya and 4th March 2009 in Chiang Mai the enforcers landed and soon got to work.
Large rental operations from the sun-washed beaches of Pattaya up to the dusty mountains of Chiang Mai have felt the weight of the law bear down on them. Bikes were promptly checked for legality, those that were suspect were loaded up onto pick-ups and driven away!
Even Isaan has a degree of this, although the checkpoints merely wanted to see insurance and licenses.
Any bike without plates or the correct papers / book have been seized and impounded. It's not just the big biking shops either, small shops have been affected along with the farang and thais out riding them.
Tales abound of luckless farang who've put their machines in for repairs / servicing and returned to find the place crawling with thai police confiscating their rides! It goes even crazier, if some are to be believed the cops are even noseying about the condo buildings and scoping out big bikes there, then waiting for farang to ride them outside before pouncing on them.
Korn Rentals, a well known bike shop in Pattaya had to pay out to the tune of 2.5 million baht to retro-actively register 28 or so big bikes! For solo riders the 'fee' is reputed to be 50k baht.
Up in Chiang Mai WR tells me he was followed for ten minutes before loosing the cops on a block to block chase! He's road legal but felt like distracting the BIB to keep them busy for a while!
But seriously, it looks as though the 'rules of the road' in Thailand are changing, at least for the immediate future. The crackdown has been ordered from the highest level, some say from the prime minister himself. The police themselves are affected and under the spotlight, with some of there own bikes being confiscated!
So either keep a very low-profile or get you bike legal. The sting looks to be a lasting one...PAD Airport Occupation
Interesting times once more in Thailand.
The Toxin man won't keep his poisonous hands off the government in Thailand so the PAD (Peoples Alliance for Democracy) have taken radical action. Following a clash on the highway in Bangkok the PAD have stormed and occupied Thailands capital airport, Suvarnabhumi. They did it pretty much without barely a hand raised against them and now have pretty much full control over what comes in and out of Thailand. Don Muang airport soon followed.
This now means that tourists wanting to go home are completely stranded and can't easily fly home without an overland border trip. Now the PAD are taking a lot of flak but in our opinion at OTRT this action speaks of the measures they have to take if they want the PPP to stand down.
Time and time again we've all thought Taksin was gone for good, but like a phantom character, he keeps trying his best to come back for round 2.
If Taksin does get back, things will get pretty ugly. The Brits have booted him out of the UK by revoking his visa and the loss of face in having this happen will mean he'll have a bone to pick with Brit tourists. This may seem far fetched but we need to remember back to 2002-2003 time when all the draconian immigration measures were brought in and the bars were clamped down on. Guess who brought them in? The answer is Taksin. And if he's done it once, he'll do it again...
The Thai Army is staying out of the power struggle thankfully. But the Thai police have tried to re-take Suvarnabhumi twice now. They've been repulsed though. The advantage of the PAD occupants (thought to number in the high thousands) is that they outnumber the police. The PAD could also wreck the airport control systems if the police look to be on the verge of taking the airport.
Whatever the outcome this will mean that the typical mainstream tourists will now steer clear of Thailand. We've been hearing a lot of bluster and angry talk of farang who want to quit Thailand for good. In some ways this is good riddance. Thailand is not some neo-spain resort colony. It's a third-world country that is in Asia. The Thais don't really give a hoot about tourism in the grand scheme of things and this is a good thing in some ways. The tourist industry has grown too big, too fast. So this could well serve as a cooling down period for the industry, a contraction and possibly a getting back to the good old days again.
Time will tell...
Winds of Change in Thailand
10th November 2008
Well this time last year it certainly was a very different world economically and politically. The £ was still flying high against the baht and things looked fairly stable.
New Political Order and Recession
Now the political changes in the US with Obama the Democrat (read left-wing socialist) in power now means that we've got a potential new epoch dawning. In my experience left-wing rulers do not like expats and those who leave home-countries to rove further afield. It goes against the left-wing doctrine of 'stay together like good little sheep in a flock' mentality.
The Tory's have pledged to back expats and revoke the stupidly low 90 day residence rule back to the good old 180 days. Good news to hear. They have over a year to ride out the Labour waves until a general election is called in 2010.
Expats Suffering
With the recession now hitting home all over western Europe we've got interest rates down all over the place so the ageing expats relying on meek earnings out here in Thailand are really going to be suffering. I too believed the days of 5% - 6 % interest on cash deposits were going to go on for many more years. Such optimism now needs to be tempered with caution.
It's basically a case of rolling with the punches and moving to a new rhythm. This is that you've gotta cut back on the luxuries and yes, that means the bars and girls folks. You do that and you can outlast the deep trough the worlds in right now.
OTRT is still fully operational and on the move keeping the lore flowing. We've anticipated something like this for a while. I personally don't mean to sound smug here but I've been brought up the Tory way of saving my money for tougher times to live off. Conservancy may be a dirty word to the younger generation blighting the UK but believe me, I'm glad I conserved. Cause the tougher times have come again and I'm glad the castle has been built and stocked up to live out the ride.
How many folks said to me 'Hey Johnny you should cane some credit cards, flee to Thailand and live it easy here out in Thailand.' That groove ain't for me baby, borrowing another's cash isn't my thing, I just worked hard, knuckled down and fixed the roof while the sun was shining. All the credit thieves are now in a very gray and grim world now as they can't live in the never-never of endless credit. I reckon less than 5% of the credit thieves invested their money wisely out here and that means a lot are now either on the streets, struggling to make a wage teaching or on the next plane home.
But the ones who've put money aside, are now in a stable position to ride out the storm and have a bit of fun while we do it.
The £ against the baht has fallen to the borderline-territory of the £1 = 54 - 58 to the baht. This isn't critically dangerous but certainly is not in the comfort zone of what it was. The failed policies of our reckless Labour government can take the credit for that one. For a fair few of us this is a double whammy too far with the interest rates now cut to 3%. All is not lost though, you have to remember that this is a Trade Cycle. It can take between 10 and 15 years, but typically you have a boom and bust cycle. We've just hit the bust part of the cycle (or the bottom). It will turn but it takes time. I roughly predict a recovery as the recession hits Asia, then a leveling out at about 63 - 68 to the baht.
The Bar scene is fairly quiet, with still some speculation as to whether there will even be a 'high season' for the nightlife and even the daylife activities. There are still those that aren't put off by the wilder aspects of Thailands political situation with the more family-minded farang steering clear for the most part. No great loss there.
Latest news from The Man of Galt (NotStickman) is good, he's remaining optimistic in the face of adversity and is issuing a counter lawsuit against his opponent, the real estate entity from Pattaya. He's still in business and hopefully will remain one of the shining examples of how the farang can achieve success out here if you've got the right mentality and attitude. Good Luck Keith!
UPDATE! Pound has falled to the dangerous sub-50 baht range! Tighten those belts some more folks!
Still Movin' & Weavin' - Thai Style
Blog Update
22st August 2008Time flies folks, can't believe it's been over six months since the last entry! Seems a world away.
First of all, a big thank-you to the loyal vistors and surfers who keep the site going by generating the traffic, contribute to the site and support the OTRT cause. It ain't small or big, but it all makes an impression.
A lot's happened since then, the boys have been busy, some have returned to Thailand and have really got things going. The Patrician has singlehandedly expanded operations and kept a satellite entity of OTRT operating while most of us have been away. Unsettling reports filtering through from the Brit Expats out here in Thailand though. The pound ( £) is taking a bit of a dive and making funds a bit tighter than usual. The dollar ($) not so bad. This isn't good but I often say that to make do you have to cut back. So just cut back on the usual amenities and niceties and you should do ok. The fun and games in our home countries should soon be completed and we'll be back in the Thailand groove before we know it.
Toxin has been and gone. But the Government (PPP) still sucks in OTRTs opinion; too repressive and over-conservative, sticking its nose in where it's not wanted. But you just have to roll with that shit sometimes and see what's next. Hopefully, if and when they are booted from power, we'll see Thailand going back to its more happy-go-lucky self. At the Cambodian/Thai border there was a bit of a border-clash with troops on boths sides doing the sabre-rattling thing. A poor Thai dude lost his foot on a land-mine but there were no other casualies thankfully.
The Teako-Lasio wars are now a fading memory. TD vs OTRT & The Last Forum (alas now scuttled and dead in the water) are all at peace. We're all man enough to admit that though it was fun while it lasted, long-term it was taking away from the fun and adventurous spirit we all love about Thailand.
So we're back in the groove we've got a bunch of trips and activities planned. The usual nightlife madness as well as reviews for some of the more dodgy businesses out there.
Thais Making Their Mark
Taking Their Rightful Place
5th July 2008
Living in Thailand and the other Asian countries gives you a good insight into things. You get to glimpse into the ins and outs of certain things. One thing that's always struck me and continues to strike me is the way a person can go out from his or her village or town and make their mark on the world. It's the whole free-wheeling, anything-goes-vibe tempered with the drive of someone trying to make their mark on the world. You see the characterisation of this in quite a few Thai movies, kareoke videos, TV shows (well, some of them anyway) and in the flesh if you pay attention to what's going on.
The typical stereotype is the young kid who ends up in the big bad city where there is money to be made while trying to steer clear of the shady-underworld types.
This may or may not be accurate but there is plenty of work out in Thailand for young healthy lad or girl willing to travel and put in the work. Using the western world as a comparison I can certainly say that this sort of thing is becoming less common by the year as the curse of the service industry and our manufacturing decline continues. But in Thailand at least the old ways still hold true and the olde worlde mindset of hard-work equals wealth. The beaucratic tonnage of red tape and regulations which strangles and chokes free-enterprise and dynamic attitudes in the west is, at best, minimalist, 'hands off' and quite right it should as well. If anything the Thai way of travel for work really is evident. Forget trying to re-invent some notion of 'working from home' or social engineering, for the grafters and free-minded types who want to make their mark and know how to do it then this attitude is key to success. Anywhere in the world I might add, not just Thailand.
I've noticed dozens of examples over the years of Thai people who have 'made it', 'not made it' or just cruise along 'making it' in the cities and towns. We often observe the tourist-connected Thais working in the travel agents and sales-industry doing the best financially. English is usually the key here. The more stable yet hard-graft / work-minded Thais will choose the constructions industry.
Oh, how the lazy, good-for-nothings back home in the west if they had to adjust to this. With no soft and sycophantic benefit system to cheat or live off the Thais are more than hard working grafters compared to, say, a welfare state which encourages a minimum wage along with mediocre work.
The gulf of difference when they are 'making it' is awesome to behold but visually the most obvious sign is what footwear they are wearing. Strange as it may seem, a Thai lad on the make will often trade in his sandles for trainers and I can't say I blame them either! Forget what else they have upgraded on their clothing wardrobe but look to the footwear for the sign of how well a Thai is doing. With Thai girls and women it is not so obvious as they tend to send the money back home or share with the boyfriend / husband, gold is one sign, attitude another.
I often return to an area after some time and ask after someone I know from there
'Where is Som or Tai' I might casually enquire.
'Oh, not here, they leave to go work xxx' Is the typical response.
Thais making their mark gentlement, so 'mark' it well 'cause they often know things and have a good mindset many folk in the lazy western world we've left behind.
At The Thai Market!
Old ways meet new
Being at a Thai Market is like stepping back in time, you've got the free-wheeling, anything-goes vibe and a sense of the traditional way still present in todays world. You can roll up to the market and part your bike or car for free and not have to worry about parking charges or some cowboy clamping fool trying to abuse your vehicle. The price is fair and square as you typically have to haggle and enter into a conversation with the trader thereby have a verbal honour contract. The connection is, therefore, above and beyond the western world of fixed-price for everything and thats it.
You do still have fixed-price in the upper end places in Thailand and for certain goods in the market but even they are often 'open to negotiation' if the quantity is sufficient.
The Thai people who come and go doing their daily shopping are a snapshot of the Thai style free-willed types who are all about being stress-free and sanuk. Yes the touristy guidebooks may rave about sanuk this and sanuk that but until you actually spend the time to get out and about you will be in the dark as to what this fully is. So if you're in town or a village and haven't been yet, get yourself down the market might learn a thing or two!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
