Wino

Here is an article from the Pattaya Daily News. When living large and playing in Thailand, one has to watch out for too much sexual stimulant. An Indian National died of a heart attack during intercourse after it was found that he had consumed a sexual stimulant. Pattaya, 10th April 2010[PDN] At 1.00 am police colonel Nanthawut Suwanla-ong Pattaya Police Superintendent and police Lieutenant Colonel Klitsakorn Thongin Pattaya Police Deputy Superintendent along with an investigation team, responding to a call, arrived at a hotel on Soi 11, South Pattaya in order to investigate the reported death of an Indian National. The deceased, Mr. Hamid Moghadda [45] had died of what appeared to be a heart attack after having sexual intercourse with a prostitute. Miss Thitiwan Sae-ia [31] from Chon Buri, a Pattaya Beach prostitute stated to the officers that around 3.30 pm Mr. Moghadda approached her on the beach, whereby both agreed to a sexual service. Going to the room 217 at a hotel nearby, she saw the man taking some kind of medicine. Subsequently during intercourse, Mr. Moghadda began having breathing difficulties before twitching and falling off the bed. Miss Sae-ia in a frightened state went down stairs in order to inform the receptionist of the incident. Unfortunately Mr. Moghadda had died by the time they returned to the room. At the incident, the officer presumed the death of Mr. Moghadda had been caused by an overdose of a sexual stimulation. However the deceased man will be sent for autopsy at the forensic institution to find the actual cause of death. Indian Suffers Heart Attack During Pattaya Service Call | Pattaya Daily News - Pattaya news Powerful news at your fingertips

The problem is Bell. If the management and staff do not realize they need to somewhat stick to a schedule, then the business will decline. The incident I experienced was at the airport waiting for late passengers. I can see waiting for 10 or 15 minutes but beyond that, the bus should have departed.

BANGKOK, April 17 (TNA) - As celebrants of the Songkran festival, Thailand’s traditional New Year, begin returning to Bangkok from upcountry to start work, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department announced that 2,863 road accidents occurred in the first five days of the ‘seven dangerous days’ of the festival, killing 257 persons and injuring 3,104 others nationwide. During the first five days ending Friday, the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima recorded the highest number of fatalities at 17 dead, followed by the northernmost province of Chiang Rai and the northeastern province of Ubon Ratchathani with 11 each. Drunken driving was attributed as the main cause of accidents overall, with nearly 32 per cent, followed by 26 per cent of motorcyclists not wearing helmets and driving too fast accounting for 18 per cent. Some 75.5 per cent of all road accidents involved motorcycles, over 10 per cent pickups and 6 per cent passenger sedans. Director-General Anucha Mokaves said officials posted at road checkpoints have been instructed to be alert, especially at night, to prevent accidents resulting from drunken driving. Motorists are also warned by the weather department that roads would become slippery on the Saturday and Sunday weekend due to unusual scattered showers and strong winds. Revellers of Songkran festival which officially ended Thursday are now starting to return to the capital from upcountry to start work next Monday. State enterprise Transport Co, Ltd has increased the number of its buses to 6,000 from 3,500 to cater the demand by passengers, especially those travelling from northeast and north to Bangkok. It is expected that about 200,000 people would return to the capital on Saturday. (TNA) 257 Songkran travellers killed, 3,104 injured in first five days of road accidents | Pattaya Daily News - Pattaya news Powerful news at your fingertips

To my knowledge Bell Travel Service has no booth/table at Suvarnabhumi, unless it is something new in the last few weeks. The Jomtien bus has a booth, but all Bell has is a small sign by some chairs where people wait for the next bus. I am not sure if this is a new policy, but a while back, I walked up to one of the representatives hovering around the waiting area. I said I would like to go on the next bus to Pattaya. He asked if I had a reservation and I said no. He went off and made a call and gave me a ticket and a business Bell card/paper with the phone numbers on it. He said next time I need a reservation. One annoying feature, I experienced with Bell on a recent trip, is they sometime do not leave on time. At ten minutes past the hour, the ladyboy in charge kept counting the passengers and looking at his clipboard. I couldn't understand why he did this a half a dozen times, delaying our departure. Finally twenty minutes past our schedule time of departure four more passengers show up. More counting and then finally two Arabs come aboard. Thirty minutes late, we finally depart.

Things are heating up between Thai/Cambodia border troops. (Sorry about the extra "o" in the title) PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Cambodian and Thai soldiers engaged in a brief gunbattle in a disputed border area Saturday, with Cambodia accusing its neighbor of instigating their latest clash. No injuries were immediately reported. Troops fired rifles, machine guns and rockets in the 15-minute gunbattle near the Ou Smach checkpoint in northern Cambodia, said Pech Sokhin, governor of Oddar Meanchey province where the border is located. The countries accuse each of encroaching on the other's territory. Pech Sokhin said the Thai soldiers fired shots after Cambodian troops ignored a demand to shift their location deeper into Cambodia. "Once the Thais got back to their side, Thai forces opened fighting and Cambodia had to respond," Pech Sokhin said, adding that no Cambodian soldiers were wounded. Thai authorities could not immediately be reached for comment. Gen. Chea Tara, Cambodia's deputy military commander, said commanders from both sides met and called a truce. Relations between Cambodia and Thailand have been strained over the status of land at a historic temple at another spot along their border. The International Court of Justice in 1962 recognized the Preah Vihear temple as belonging to Cambodia, a decision only grudgingly accepted by Thailand and still challenged by Thai ultra-nationalists. Deadly clashes have occurred near the temple. Thailand also was angered last year when Cambodia named fugitive former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as an adviser on economic affairs. Tensions worsened after a subsequent visit by Thaksin, and Cambodia's rejection of a formal request from Thailand to extradite him. Cambodia, Thai soldiers exchange gunfire at border - Yahoo! News

Looks like the free tourist visa has been extended, for sure. This from another website. BANGKOK (NNT) -- The Ministry of Tourism and Sports has extended tourism stimulus measures for one year until 31 March 2011 to assist tourism related entrepreneurs who were affected from the demonstration of the United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD). Tourism and Sports Minister Chumpol Silapa-archa announced on Thursday that the ministry has resolved to extend the assistance measures to help tourism related entrepreneurs while road show activities must be organized on a continuous basis to further stimulate tourism. The stimulus measures include the exemption of visa fees for foreign tourists, travel insurance for foreign tourists of not more than 10,000 USD, low interest rate loans, and extension of loan payment periods. However, Mr Chumpol voiced concerns with the target of 15.5 million international tourists for this year. He said more incentives must be made with cooperation from airlines and tourism related entrepreneurs to boost the number of tourists in exchange with public relations assistance. The minister added that the number of tourists travelling into Thailand at airports in general have not decreased, but on the other hand, is more than the number in the same period last year because the figure last year was very low. Mr Chumpol admitted that tour bookings in Bangkok would be affected from the mass rally of the UDD now taking place at Ratchaprasong Intersection. However, those in other areas, especially in the southern islands of Phuket and Samui would not be affected. source: Tourism stimulus measures extended : National News Bureau of Thailand

I recently read where they may start flights to Luang Prabaung, Laos from U-Tapao.

When I am traveling light, I usually do not mind taking the above bus. With heavy luggage I stick with Bell Travel Service Bus. At 200 baht it is a little more expensive, but worth the door-to-door service. Bell's Travel now has several mini vans to take customers home. Early on, they had one mini van and it was annoying taking six different people all over town. Of course, I was the last to be dropped off and it took what seemed to be forever to arrive home.

I think, like you, I would have paid the extra baht to be done with it. Perhaps the timing will be better next year.

Not only Canadians but many nationalities fall in love with Thailand after a visit or two. I love amazing Thailand and find it really "the land of smiles."

Or "pet nic noi" if you want it a little bit spicy.

Not all people need door to door service. The Jomtien-Airport bus station is now across the street from Pan Pan restaurant. One can easily flag down a baht bus or motorcycle taxi.

This service has proved to be very popular and the company has expanded their service. You may call and ask for the current schedule or if at the airport, look for their booth on the first level by exit door #8. The fare is now 124 baht and they also use newer blue and white busses.

Here is the latest on Levi. Levi Johnston: My Reality Show Will Be Better Than Sarah Palin's Mon Mar 29, 10:34 AM PDT Levi Johnston is hoping there is room for two Alaska-based reality shows on TV. The father of Sarah Palin's grandson is reportedly shopping around a new reality series and he's showing up to meetings in an RV/party bus. According to Radar Online, the recent Playgirl model is shopping around a show currently titled "Levi Johnston's Last Frontier," which a source described as "sort of an 'Entourage' on ice." VIEW THE PHOTOS: Levi Johnston The show will reportedly feature America's most famous baby daddy living it up in the great north engaging in a slew of his favorite activities, including riding snowmobiles powered by jet fuel, hunting, hanging with his bros and meeting "lots and lots of women." Levi told Radar that his planned reality show would be better than Palin's upcoming series, "Sarah Palin's Alaska." Levi Johnston: My Reality Show Will Be Better Than Sarah Palin's - News - Yahoo! TV

In the US, Southwest Airlines has opened service at smaller airports outside of large metropolitan areas and has done very well. Perhaps the same thing would be sucessful at U-tapao?

Thanks for the info. I will post the process if and when I know more.

No experience but I should think the company you will be working for knows the process. Doesn't hurt to visit the local immigration office to see what they say. I should think you could fly to a closer destination like Phenom Phenn, Penang, or Vientienne instead of Singapore. Good luck.

Good to hear obtaining a passport is neither difficult nor expensive. Does anyone know the approximate cost? I suppose a Thai ID, money and a filled in form is about all that is needed? I am sure Western countries are difficult destinations for Thais to obtain a visa, but many Asia destinations should be easy.

If Air Asia is like many low cost carriers, they often use a less traveled airport that is close to metropolitan area. I guess the landing fees are cheaper. U-tapao would certainly fit the bill.

Does anyone have experience in helping a Thai obtain a passport? I think it is an easy process, but not sure. Don't they have to go back to their home province in order to do the paperwork? Thanks for any help.

Here is one very good reason to take it to your room. MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian couple having sex in a car parked in a tiny garage have died from carbon monoxide poisoning, Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday. "A man and a woman retreated to their Volkswagen to have sex... Most likely the lovers turned on the engine to get warm," Interfax reported, citing a source in the Moscow police force. During a moment of "intimate closeness," the pair, in southern Moscow, inhaled the gas and died, the source added. Many Russians keep their cars in box-like iron garages near their homes, which snugly encase their cars. (Reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman, editing by Paul Casciato)

Here is an article about Bernie's "falling out of bed" incident. I guess he is suffering deeply. Last December, officials at the federal prison in Butner, N.C., rebuffed rumors of a prison-yard beatdown involving the facility's most famous inmate, Bernie Madoff—he of the multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that crashed to earth so ingloriously in 2008. Yes, the prison’s administrators conceded, Madoff had suffered facial fractures and lacerations, broken ribs and a collapsed lung requiring an extended hospital stay. But the former Wall Street titan had just fallen out of his bunk bed, they insisted. Today, observers who were skeptical of the odds that one’s lung might collapse after a tumble out of bed were vindicated. The Wall Street Journal confirmed the more plausible version of events today: that Madoff was indeed jumped and beaten up by a fellow inmate, a “beefy†gent who possessed a black belt in judo—and had a personal grievance stemming from a Madoff-contracted debt he believed he was owed. According to three prison sources the paper spoke to, the man who stole tens of billions of dollars from clients over a span of decades spends his days at the medium-security facility watching action films like "Lethal Weapon" and doling out financial advice to fellow inmates in the prison library. The sources say that Madoff’s closest buddy is a New York pharmacist locked up for the illegal distribution of painkillers—but that he also socializes frequently with Carmine Persico, the head of the Colombo crime family. The unnamed man—who’s serving out a sentence based on federal drug charges—clearly is not part of the Madoff inner circle at Butner. He might well be able to score some free drinks once he’s released, however, from fellow members of the bilked-by-Bernie fraternity—an extensive list that includes Kevin Bacon, Steven Spielberg and New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon. Even Harry Markopoulos, the whistle-blower who tracked the Madoff scam for years, has told the press he wouldn’t have blanched at murdering Madoff if that was what it took to stop him. The December incident wasn't the first time Madoff found himself engaged in a prison brawl. He allegedly emerged the victor after an argument with another inmate over the "state of the market" ended in fisticuffs last October. Additionally, the New York Post reported last year that various prison gangs, including the Butner facility’s "homosexual posse," had been aggressively trying to recruit Madoff into their crews, regarding his notoriety in the outside world as a badge of honor. Oddly, for all the concern about the irrational bent of the nation’s army of pitchfork-wielding populists, physical attacks on Wall Street chieftains are not exactly epidemic. The only other former master of the universe who’s suffered a physical attack was former Lehman Brothers head Dick Fuld—and he was smacked by one of his former employees, not a fleeced investor. "It's actually been a little surprising that there haven't been more of them out there," said John Carney, about episodes in which financiers might find themselves on the wrong end of a fist. Carney, who covers Wall Street for Business Insider, adds that the cocoon of privilege that envelops most high-rolling investors can also serve as protective camouflage. "They live in a world where they have limited contact to normal human beings. In order to get beat up they have to be in the same room as people who aren't just like them." — Brett Michael Dykes is a national affairs writer for Yahoo! News.

Looks like the Catholic Church is not the only organization with problems with leaders molesting boys. By WILLIAM McCALL, Associated Press Writer PORTLAND, Ore. – The Boy Scouts of America has long kept an extensive archive of secret documents that chronicle the sexual abuse of young boys by Scout leaders over the years. The "perversion files," a nickname the Boy Scouts are said to have used for the documents, have rarely been seen by the public, but that could all change in the coming weeks in an Oregon courtroom. The lawyer for a man who was molested in the 1980s by a Scout leader has obtained about 1,000 Boy Scouts sex files and is expected to release some of them at a trial that began Wednesday. The lawyer says the files show how the Boy Scouts have covered up abuse for decades. The trial is significant because the files could offer a rare window into how the Boy Scouts have responded to sex abuse by Scout leaders. The only other time the documents are believed to have been presented at a trial was in the 1980s in Virginia. At the start of the Oregon trial, attorney Kelly Clark recited the Boy Scout oath and the promise to obey Scout law to be "trustworthy." Then he presented six boxes of documents that he said will show "how the Boy Scouts of America broke that oath." He held up file folder after file folder he said contained reports of abuse from around the country, telling the jury the efforts to keep them secret may have actually set back efforts to prevent child abuse nationally. "The Boy Scouts of America ignored clear warning signs that Boy Scouts were being abused," Clark said. Charles Smith, attorney for the national Boy Scouts, said in his own opening statement the files were kept under wraps because they "were replete with confidential information." Smith told the jury the files helped national scouting leaders weed out sex offenders, especially repeat offenders who may have changed names or moved in order to join another local scouting organization. "They were trying to do the right thing by trying to track these folks," Smith said. Clark is seeking $14 million in damages on behalf of a 37-year-old man who was sexually molested in the early 1980s in Portland by an assistant Scoutmaster, Timur Dykes. Clark said the victim suffered mental health problems, bad grades in school, drug use, anxiety, difficulty maintaining relationships and lost several jobs over the years because of the abuse. Dykes was convicted three times between 1983 and 1994 of sexually abusing boys, most of them Scouts. Although there have been dozens of lawsuits against the organization over sex abuse allegations, judges for the most part have either denied requests for the files or the lawsuits have been settled before they went to trial. The Boy Scouts had fought to keep the files being used in the Portland trial confidential. But they lost a pretrial legal battle when the Oregon Supreme Court rejected their argument that opening the files could damage the lives and reputations of people not a party to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also named the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because the Mormons acted as a charter organization, or sponsor, for the local Boy Scouts troop that included the victim. But the church has settled its portion of the case. The Portland trial comes as the Boy Scouts are marking their 100th anniversary. "They spent a century building the Boy Scout brand," said Patrick Boyle, author of a book about sex abuse in the Boy Scouts. "It's one of the most respected organizations in the world." The trial "can only erode what they have been doing for 100 years," he said. The Portland case centers on whether the Boy Scouts of America did enough to protect boys from Dykes. The Mormon bishop who also served as head of the Scout troop, Gordon McEwen, confronted Dykes after receiving a report of abuse by the mother of one boy in the troop in January 1983. In a video deposition played for the jury, the bishop said Dykes admitted abusing 17 boys. But McEwen said he contacted the parents of all 17 boys and the boys themselves, and none would confirm any abuse. Dykes was arrested in 1983 and pleaded guilty to attempted sexual abuse, received probation and was ordered to stay away from children. Clark told the jury Dykes continued with his scouting activities until he was arrested in July 1984 during a routine traffic stop while he was driving a van full of Scouts on a camping trip. A spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America at its headquarters in Irving, Texas, said in a statement the organization cannot comment on details of the case. But it has worked hard on awareness and prevention efforts, including background checks. "Unfortunately, child abuse is a societal problem and there is no fail-safe method for screening out abusers," Deron Smith said.

Church abuse is not only in Germany but throughout Europe. Here is another article. By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer DUBLIN – It often starts as a voice in the wilderness, but can swell into an entire nation's demand for truth. From Ireland to Germany, Europe's many victims of child abuse in the Roman Catholic church are finally breaking social taboos and confronting the clergy to face its demons. Ireland was the first in Europe to confront the church's worldwide custom of shielding pedophile priests from the law and public scandal. Now that legacy of suppressed childhood horror is being confronted in other parts of the Continent — nowhere more poignantly than in Germany, the homeland of Pope Benedict XVI. The recent spread of claims into the Netherlands,Austria and Italy has analysts and churchmen wondering how deep the scandal runs, which nation will be touched next, and whether a tide of lawsuits will force European dioceses to declare bankruptcy like their American cousins. "You have to presume that the cover-up of abuse exists everywhere, to one extent or another. A new case could appear in a new country tomorrow,"said David Quinn, director of a Christian think tank, the Iona Institute, that seeks to promote family values in an Ireland increasingly cool to Catholicism. Quinn noted that stories of systemic physical, sexual and emotional abuse circulated privately in Irish society for decades, but only moved above ground in the mid-1990s when former altar boy Andrew Madden and orphanage survivor Christine Buckley went public with lawsuits and exposes of how priests and nuns tormented them with impunity. Floodgates opened for Irish complaints that have topped 15,000 in this country of 4 million. Three government-ordered investigations have shocked and disgusted the nation, which has footed most of the bill to settle legal claims topping euro1 billion (nearly $1.5 billion). "A lot comes down to: When does that first victim gather the courage to come forward into the spotlight?" Quinn said. "It seems to take that trigger event, the lone voice who says what so many kept silent so long. That's basically happening now in Germany. It could happen next in Spain, Poland,anywhere." In January, an elite Jesuit school in Berlin declared it was aware of seven child-abuse cases in its past and appointed an outside investigator, Ursula Raue, to seek testimony. Within weeks, she had gathered stories of long-suppressed woe from more than 100 ex-students abused by their Jesuit masters, and from 60 molested by parish priests. "I always thought that at some point the wave would reach us,"said Petra Dorsch-Jungsberger, a commentator on Catholic affairs and retired University of Munich communications professor. She credited heavy German media coverage of the latest Irish abuse scandal —a November report into decades of cover-up in the Dublin Archdiocese involving approximately 170 priests — with inspiring similar soul-searching in Germany. "Once the door had been opened, then many others felt they were able to step up and say: That happened to us too," she said. In recent weeks, new German abuse claims have surfaced on a near-daily basis and spread to Pope Benedict's Bavarian heartland and the Regensberg boys' choirlong directed by the pope's brother. Benedict was Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger of Munich from 1977 to 1982, and questions now focus on what role, if any, the pontiff, played in handing pedophile priests to new parishes rather than to the law. A Swiss abbot said in an interview published Saturday that 60 people have reported being victims of abuse by Catholic priests in Switzerland. Abbot Martin Werlen of the Benedictine Abbey of Einsiedeln told Swiss daily Aargauer Zeitung that the allegations were reported to the Swiss Bishops Conference, which is investigating them. The Vatican on Saturday denounced what it called aggressive attempts to drag Pope Benedict XVI into the spreading scandals of pedophile priests in his German homeland, and contended he has long confronted abuse cases with courage. In separate interviews, both the Holy See's spokesman and its prosecutor for sex abuse of minors by clergy sought to defend the pope. "It's rather clear that in the last days, there have been those who have tried, with a certain aggressive persistence, in Regensburgand Munich, to look for elements to personally involve the Holy Father in the matter of abuses," Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi told Vatican Radio. It's inevitable that all bishops of the day, including Ratzinger, handled abuse complaints against priests in-house, said the Rev. Fergus O'Donoghue,editor of the Irish Jesuit journal Studies. "The pope was no different to any other bishop at time. The church policy was to keep it all quiet — to help people, but to avoid scandal. Avoiding scandal was a huge issue for the church," he said. "Of course there was cover-up," he added. But worse was "the systematic lack o concern for the victims." In the Netherlands, a former Catholic boarding-school abuse victim is leading a campaign for accountability. Bert Smeets, 58, has formed Mea Culpa, a victims group that has collected testimony from hundreds of abuse victims and is mulling a class-action lawsuit against the Dutch church. The church has apologized to the victims and set up an inquiry headed by a former government minister, a Protestant. Smeets dismisses that effort as"a typical Vatican cover-up." He said the pressure on the church came from aggressive investigations into abuse in Ireland and the U.S. In other predominantly Catholic areas of Europe,child-abuse scandals have tarnished individual priests and even a Polish archbishop, but have not mushroomed into a mass movement. In Spain, more than a dozen priests have been convicted of child abuse in recent decades and two potentially larger-scale cases are attracting attention. Ireland was until relatively recently the most enthusiastically Catholic country in Europe. Its half-dozen seminaries exported priests worldwide. All but one of those seminaries is closed now, illustrating the rapid falloff in Mass attendance as the economy has advanced and secularism has spread. Quinn, the Dublin think-tank director, noted that a few Irish dioceses are openly warning that they're struggling to pay bills stemming from abuse claims. In the southeast diocese of Kells, the archbishop's house has had to be remortgaged. "The church is asset-rich but cash-poor,"Quinn said, noting that it's the biggest property owner in Ireland but has comparatively little cash in the bank. He said the Vatican, too, has less money on tap than resides in the endowment fund of a typical top-tier U.S. university

The exception being speed boats in Pattaya bay.