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Uh-oh! Mon and I are taking the train to Hat Yai on the 25th on the way to the Malaysian border for a visa stamp. This does not look good. I actually tried to book a flight straight to Penang, Malaysia instead today, but oddly my card kept getting declined. I'm getting a little worried now.
Six bombs explode in Thailand city, killing 4 From Dan Rivers and Narunart Prapanya CNN HAT YAI, Thailand (CNN) -- Six bombs exploded, one every five minutes, in a southern Thailand city, killing at least four people and wounding 30 on Saturday, police said. The evening attacks in Hat Yai came just hours after a government-sponsored peace rally in the nearby town of Yala and on the 21st anniversary of the founding of the GMIP -- Gerakan Mujahideen Islami Pattani -- separatist movement. The six bombs were placed about every 500 yards along the main commercial street, police said. The targets included an Odeon department store, a marketplace and the Lee Garden Hotel, police said. The explosives were hidden in motorbikes and a tuk tuk -- a tricycle taxi -- and were apparently triggered remotely by cell phones, police said. Chaos followed in the streets of Hat Yai, which is normally free of the separatist violence that has plagued some of Thailand's southern provinces. | |
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what is even scarier: I actually thought about you when I heard this on the news this morning while driving to work.....  | |
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That's awful!! You and Mon don't have any family there, do you? Goodness, what is the world coming to?  |
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abierman said: what is even scarier: I actually thought about you when I heard this on the news this morning while driving to work.....
I need to make alternative plans. I don't have long to make them though, and it doesn't help that PM Wacko Thako is doing his best to boot foreigners out of the country and changing visa laws. I don't feel welcome here anymore and this only makes me more fed up with this place. | |
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shit dude. stay safe! | |
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Oh Noooo!
Wow! Glad you's are okay. 
 | |
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CarrieMpls said:
That's awful!! You and Mon don't have any family there, do you? Goodness, what is the world coming to? We don't have friends and family there, but have taken the train to Hat Yai several times together. If I do a visa run with my best friend we tend to take the plane to Penang, but Mon likes to come with me to Hat Yai for a mini-holiday and go by train (lawd knows why, it's a nondescript place). I tried to book a plane ticket to go to Penang by myself a couple of weeks ago but my card was declined a few times on that day and I put it down to problems on the website (since my card was working everywhere else). Tried again yesterday after the trouble and the same thing happened. I've just thought of a decent solution. I'll ask my friend to make the payment and I'll just give him the cash back. It's going to be double the price this late, but I don't feel comfortable taking an unnecessary risk, especially with Mon going. Flying to Penang avoids all the trouble and will be a little boring for me on my own but stress-free. ... [Edited 9/18/06 9:22am] | |
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be cautious, dude!  | |
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abierman said: be cautious, dude!
Absolutely. |
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abierman said: be cautious, dude!
I'm going to do everything to get out of it. I'll lose a bit on the train tickets and have to pay a lot more on the flight this late, but it would seem reckless to go to Hat Yai if I could avoid it. Another scary thing is talk of possible coup d'etats here (nothing to do with Saturday's bombing though). With that and the visa policy changes it's all a bit worrysome here right now. As for the violence, it's nothing new, but it's usually isolated to the far south and is quite sporadic and limited in scale. Just every so often it flares up though. I suppose I shouldn't say sporadic since, I believe, there have been over a thousand deaths relating to the violence in the last 18 months to 2 years, but it is normally in the very far south and places slightly east of Hat Yai. I never felt worried going to Hat Yai before now. Ok, my father-in-law has just said he's heard news that they have openly threatened to bomb a train before the end of this month. I am definitely not going there!
... [Edited 9/18/06 9:43am] | |
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Fauxie said: abierman said: be cautious, dude!
I'm going to do everything to get out of it. I'll lose a bit on the train tickets and have to pay a lot more on the flight this late, but it would seem reckless to go to Hat Yai if I could avoid it. Another scary thing is talk of possible coup d'etats here (nothing to do with Saturday's bombing though). With that and the visa policy changes it's all a bit worrysome here right now. As for the violence, it's nothing new, but it's usually isolated to the far south and is quite sporadic and limited in scale. Just every so often it flares up though. I suppose I shouldn't say sporadic since, I believe, there have been over a thousand deaths relating to the violence in the last 18 months to 2 years, but it is normally in the very far south and places slightly east of Hat Yai. I never felt worried going to Hat Yai before now. Ok, my father-in-law has just said he's heard news that they have openly threatened to bomb a train before the end of this month. I am definitely not going there!
... [Edited 9/18/06 9:43am] You're wise for not going there if it's not necessary....Coup d'etats? They wanna overthrow Thailand's government????? Jesus, don't these people think?? Almost two years after the tsunami, this country is still licking it wounds.....a violent coup d'etat would only scare away more tourists.....  | |
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abierman said: Fauxie said: I'm going to do everything to get out of it. I'll lose a bit on the train tickets and have to pay a lot more on the flight this late, but it would seem reckless to go to Hat Yai if I could avoid it. Another scary thing is talk of possible coup d'etats here (nothing to do with Saturday's bombing though). With that and the visa policy changes it's all a bit worrysome here right now. As for the violence, it's nothing new, but it's usually isolated to the far south and is quite sporadic and limited in scale. Just every so often it flares up though. I suppose I shouldn't say sporadic since, I believe, there have been over a thousand deaths relating to the violence in the last 18 months to 2 years, but it is normally in the very far south and places slightly east of Hat Yai. I never felt worried going to Hat Yai before now. Ok, my father-in-law has just said he's heard news that they have openly threatened to bomb a train before the end of this month. I am definitely not going there!
... [Edited 9/18/06 9:43am] You're wise for not going there if it's not necessary....Coup d'etats? They wanna overthrow Thailand's government????? Jesus, don't these people think?? Almost two years after the tsunami, this country is still licking it wounds.....a violent coup d'etat would only scare away more tourists..... Right, and Wacko Thako's trying to boot out the tourists who go monthly to the border for a 30 day stamp as he wants to kick the 'kii nok' (bird shit) foreigners out and keep the wealthy holidaymakers. Thankfully I get 9 months with the visa I get, but I still do border runs and go to immigration regularly. That Karr case didn't help matters as far as this issue is concerned. | |
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Oh Lawd!!! Stay safe! I'm glad you're okay.
M MyeternalgrattitudetoPhil&Val.Herman said "We want sweaty truckers at the truck stop! We want cigar puffing men that look like they wanna beat the living daylights out of us" Val"sporking is spooning with benefits" | |
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Fauxie said: abierman said: You're wise for not going there if it's not necessary....Coup d'etats? They wanna overthrow Thailand's government????? Jesus, don't these people think?? Almost two years after the tsunami, this country is still licking it wounds.....a violent coup d'etat would only scare away more tourists..... Right, and Wacko Thako's trying to boot out the tourists who go monthly to the border for a 30 day stamp as he wants to kick the 'kii nok' (bird shit) foreigners out and keep the wealthy holidaymakers. Thankfully I get 9 months with the visa I get, but I still do border runs and go to immigration regularly. That Karr case didn't help matters as far as this issue is concerned. What you're saying is, that if there will be a coup, and you have to make a border run for your visa, you are risking not being let in the country again???? But you are married to a Thai-woman (btw, I want that as well  ), doesn't that give you some status at all????? | |
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Cheers for the concern everybody.
I'm going to ask my friend to pay for my flight on his card. It's boring going to Penang alone (get there at 8am and flight back is at 6pm - not worth leaving the airport as Penang is no more interesting to me now I've been several times), but it's safe at least. Would love to know why my card is being declined by this one company though. It would've saved me time, worry and about half the cost. | |
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abierman said: Fauxie said: Right, and Wacko Thako's trying to boot out the tourists who go monthly to the border for a 30 day stamp as he wants to kick the 'kii nok' (bird shit) foreigners out and keep the wealthy holidaymakers. Thankfully I get 9 months with the visa I get, but I still do border runs and go to immigration regularly. That Karr case didn't help matters as far as this issue is concerned. What you're saying is, that if there will be a coup, and you have to make a border run for your visa, you are risking not being let in the country again???? But you are married to a Thai-woman (btw, I want that as well ), doesn't that give you some status at all?????It's all changing at the moment - the visas, the rights of married couples, about property, investment, citizenship of children born to Thai/Foreign parents, and we're all waiting to see what happens. My best friend's gf is pregnant and he wants to get married and he's very concerned about it all. He's pretty much burned his bridges back in Australia by way of unpaid student loans so he's looking at back-up plans should things really go tits up. I am too, but I think everything will settle down. The government has these periods from time to time when they get strict on everything and it's usually just a phase. Usually it's things like having to demonstrate a certain amount of money in your account on return to the country and then a few months later they'll stop asking for that. | |
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one of the dead is apparently a canadian
glad you are thinking about your well being faux honey but what would happen if they wanted to get nasty with you? didn't you say once something about your marriage and it not being recognized? safe travels nick   She couldn't stop crying 'cause she knew he was gone to stay | |
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Cancel the trip fauxie, too dangerous 
Ohh purple joy oh purple bliss oh purple rapture! REAL MUSIC by REAL MUSICIANS - Prince "I kind of wish there was a reason for Prince to make the site crash more" ~~ Ben |
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moderatorluv4u said: Cancel the trip fauxie, too dangerous
But I have to go somewhere as my visa needs stamping no later than the 26th. I could overstay a while but it's about $12.50 a day after the first one and that's all fine as long as you declare the overstay yourself rather than getting caught somewhere before that, which can have horrible consequences. A rich businessman recently missed his flight to Honalulu and incredibly stupidly tried to bodge his transit visa to show it was valid for one more day. They threw him in a cell with 40 people and by the next morning he was dead. | |
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Ok, my friend is booking a flight for me on his card as we speak and we're off to the train station to get back 80% of the ticket prices. I feel a lot better now.
I have to go from the new airport outside of Bangkok though.  | |
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Fauxie said: I feel a lot better now.
me too 
be good  She couldn't stop crying 'cause she knew he was gone to stay | |
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emm said: Fauxie said: I feel a lot better now.
me too
be good Will do.
Should be interesting to see the new airport, even if it is almost closer to Pattaya than it is to Bangkok. Could be an expensive hour's taxi ride though. | |
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| Hope everything goes well for you Nick, keep us updated | |
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Take it easy mate and most of all, take care!
You and your missus come back safe  "..My work is personal, I'm a working person, I put in work, I work with purpose.." | |
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Fauxie said: abierman said: what is even scarier: I actually thought about you when I heard this on the news this morning while driving to work.....
I need to make alternative plans. I don't have long to make them though, and it doesn't help that PM Wacko Thako is doing his best to boot foreigners out of the country and changing visa laws. I don't feel welcome here anymore and this only makes me more fed up with this place.
Stay safe Nick. Come to Australia, if you can... | |
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jesus christ, coup is going on right now!!!!! | |
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abierman said: jesus christ, coup is going on right now!!!!!
I just heard it on the news! Be well Nick | |
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