f***in-A-Man ! Send in the CIA Man and they'll set up free Mekong whiskey watering stations ! Damm the BS Bangkok Anarchy by the Reds ! get em passed out drunk and Pattaya baht bus em over the Burma border where they belong !
As of yesterday victory monument was clear of protesters, but rather heavy police/army presence around Asoke... Dont know about you but for me it does not make for a relaxed feeling to see all those people in full battle gear walking around and being bored....sooner or later they will find something to do, like having a go at people they dont like....hum let see...people with white skin, long nose and too much money for example...
people have been saying the Red's would just melt away from the beginning of this. It aint happened so far.
the ones paying the price are all the working Thais whose jobs have been suspended due to businesses being closed or street vendors not having customers.
Siam Sq. used to be throbbing with people shopping along it, now its just a smattering of people with less vendors bothering to setup each day.
with the BTS closed at 8pm, the taxi drivers are now even less inclined to put the meter on. It's been taking about 3 tries to find one that will each nite.
I'm used to taking taxis after midnight, so I cant say if traffic is worse taking taxis 8-11pm than before. Either way, it is now taking a long time to go from point A-B.
the Reds get more entrenched in Siam sq every day. now they have added barbed wire to the tire/bamboo spike walls they block Rama I with. today it appeared blocking the sidewalk, so everyone has to walk in the road and go through the red "checkpoint" to go down Rama I from Phaya tai towards Dunant RD.
I dont see any evidence of them losing steam at this point.
Quote: from magnum on 1:47 pm on April 29, 2010 ... there is progression of attacks on public infrastructure and civilian targets now... RPG attacks on the Din Daeng oil depot and Saladaeng BTS Station, piling tire barriers onto the BTS tracks, seizing large areas of public property and roadways, massive road blocks on the BKK outskirts and illegal searches of incoming cars (and the contents of bags and all) by armed protesters, threatening to lay seige to the Bangkok Bank HQ.
... while the government has largely succeeded in keeping the civilians combatants from all out clashes with each other, seems to me these attacks on public infrastructure and civilian targets qualify the discussion of Thailand's status to be elevated to the edges of anarchy, or civil war, or failed state status.
... and screaming across today's Nation headlines: "REDS STORM HOSPITAL"
... 200 Red guards blew past police to search the hospital for soldiers... led by well-known and wanted Red leader Payap, they took 2 suspected soldiers, interrogated them and then released them, conceding they were just workers.
... in the process, police negotiated the Reds departure, BUT ONLY AFTER AGREEING TO ALLOW THE REDS TO SEARCH THE HOSPITAL AGAIN TODAY FOR SOLDIERS!... face-to-face negotiations by police was with the wanted Red leader Payap, who walked from the scene untouched.
... this seems beyond the standard fare of incompetence and institutionalized corruption with which the world associates Thailand... is there a better word than anarchy?.. failed nation?.. what?
... overall BKK hotel occupancies are at 35%... umm, that's almost half of what is generally accepted as the breakeven... a number of hotels closed... a number operating with only a percentage of their rooms available.
... with everything we know to date, I'd still make the trip... but, being thoughtful about where I stay.
Speaking with some taxi drivers, many dont do their full days at the moment as they simply cant work properly with the many blocade. They also complain about lack of foreigners...."mai mee farang, mai mee satang" being my answer, look like they start to get the message...
So far no taxi driver refused to put the meter for me, but anyway if it happen I ll just walk out and find another one.
Quote: from madfrog on 9:40 am on April 30, 2010 (re: BKK taxi drivers) They also complain about lack of foreigners...."mai mee farang, mai mee satang" ("no farang, no money") being my answer, look like they start to get the message
... wonder if this is our hour... the revenge of the farang... maybe WE now demand of Thai taxi drivers, "mai ow meter, mai ow" ("I don't want meter, I don't want"}... and then offer them fixed rates at LESS than their 35 baht minimum flag fare!... woo-hoo!... suuu-weeet!
mags, after moving back to farang land I have found, as I sure others have as well, the only constant "great deals" in LOS these days are taxi's, street food, many hotels, and tailors....all the other things have become more expensive with the drop in the dollar and so forth....
but my last few trips I would never argue or haggle with a taxi driver and actually tip way better than when I lived there....those dudes work pretty hard for not much dinero...just my opinion!
atl
BTW, if they dont offer the meter, I just politely say "mai ow" and get out! they just lost a good tipping fare!
Quote: from magnum on 9:44 am on April 30, 2010 ... wonder if this is our hour... the revenge of the farang... maybe WE now demand of Thai taxi drivers, "mai ow meter, mai ow" ("I don't want meter, I don't want"}... and then offer them fixed rates at LESS than their 35 baht minimum flag fare!... woo-hoo!... suuu-weeet!
Interesting power trips you have: fantasizing about squeezing a few cents from a poor third world country taxi driver. BTW, how much do you pay for a coffee back home?
Quote: from magnum on 9:44 am on April 30, 2010 ... wonder if this is our hour... the revenge of the farang... maybe WE now demand of Thai taxi drivers, "mai ow meter, mai ow" ("I don't want meter, I don't want"}... and then offer them fixed rates at LESS than their 35 baht minimum flag fare!... woo-hoo!... suuu-weeet!
Quote: from magnum on 4:28 pm on April 16, 2010 ... c'mon, man.
... it is hard enough being a poor woman working for peanuts under crap conditions in a thai hotel... many of these young women live separated from their infant children... you think they need this kind of crap?
magnum it must be the "White Mans Burden" to get the low ball taxi fare in a third world nation. That taxi driver may be the husband to the hotel maid you refer to above and working for peanuts under crap conditions living separated from their infant children... you think they need this kind of crap?
f***in-A-Man ! Send in the CIA Man and they'll set up free Mekong whiskey watering stations ! 
Damm the BS Bangkok Anarchy by the Reds ! get em passed out drunk and Pattaya baht bus em over the Burma border where they belong ! 