More Trouble

Yesterday saw some of the worst violence in Thailand since last years Military Coup. The next part was taken from a news service off the internet, they can say these things better than I can.

"BANGKOK, Thailand—Anti-government leaders said Monday they would continue their protests, despite facing potential criminal charges after a weekend demonstration turned into a riot that left 270 people injured.
About 200 policemen and 70 protesters were injured in clashes Sunday night when several thousand people demonstrated outside the Bangkok home of former Prime Minister Perm Tinsulanonda, said police chief Lt. Gen. Adisorn Nontree.
The protesters accuse Prem of instigating a coup last year that ousted the elected government of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. They demand that he resign as top adviser to King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Prem, 86, is also a former army commander respected by many in the military, including the group that staged last year's coup. He was at home during Sunday's tumult.
The protest, the latest in a series, came as Thailand prepares for the restoration of electoral democracy by the end of the year. A new military-backed draft constitution will be submitted to a national referendum in August, and national elections are expected in December.
Police filed charges against an alleged ringleader and five other people accused of involvement in the violence, which came at a protest whose leaders were mostly former top members of Thaksin's now-disbanded Thai Rak Thai Party.
The suspects were charged with "causing chaos, obstructing the work of authorities, and damage of state property, and they include a protest leader, Noparut Worachitwutikul," police Col. Supisan Pakdeenarunart told The Associated Press.
"This is not the end, and we will continue to fight for democracy until they step down," protest leader Jakrapob Penkair said, referring to the military chiefs who led the coup.
Protest leaders said they would file assault complaints against the police.
Sunday night's street-fighting began when police tried to detain protest leaders but were forced back by the crowd. Sporadic charges by police using pepper spray set off street fighting and wild chases.
The military-installed government that replaced Thaksin's after the Sept. 19 coup originally met with public favor, but its popularity has declined and there have been increasing calls for a relaxation of its political and social restrictions.
Thaksin, in exile since the coup, called on supporters to remain peaceful.
"Reconciliation is what I expect to see this government to put more effort for," he told reporters in Hong Kong."

Once again Thailand is in the news, and once again not for the right reason.

Posh & Becks

The news the last month or so is of the impending move of David Beckham from Real Madrid to somewhere called the LA Galaxy, (I must just add that Los Angeles is not the Galaxy, its just a large city on the western coast of the US!)

In all fairness David Beckham is one of the best football players in the world, and pretty much any Manager would have liked to have him in their squad. The deal with the Galaxy is said to be worth £50M over three years, whichever way you look at it, thats pretty good. I beleive it will be good for Beckham and good for US football.

Sadly poor David as had to bring all of his baggage to the US, this includes is wanna be wife Victoria. Not content in living the life of a superstars wife and a loving mother who used to be big in the Spice Girls. Poor Victoria as had to try and get in the act with her hubby. How can anyone seemingly be so far out of touch with reality that she is.

David Beckham is a huge worldwide star, in Thailand and South East Asia, pretty much every male over the age of eight as heard of him and most of the women want him. This is the main difference between the Beckhams. David is a superstar and excellent football player, Victoria is married to David Beckham!

Anyway, good luck in the States, makes loads of Doh and retire to a nice tropical island to live the rest of your lives in peaceful contemplation.

Nuch encounters Pervert

When I got home last night, Nuch recountered a strange and twisted tale to me.

Whilst on MSN someone whose sign in name was close to one of her friends asked her the usual how are you questions then asked if she wanted to view the web cam? Kind hearted Nuch of course said yes. She was then greeted by some sicko wanking himself off!!!!

Sad City or what?

Tour de France 2007

Its that time of year when the Tour de France (TDF) its the screen again. This year the start was in London. The spectacle was amazing, London doing the country proud.

The TDF also coincides with myself getting back on the bike, I had a few attempts last year to get back on my bike including a MTB race at Hua Hin which nearly killed me! This time i've gotten a road bike and am determined to get fit, this shouldn't be to difficult as I can't get any more unfit.

The first day I rode last week was a disaster, only 15 miles and I had to stop after 10 miles, this weekend I rode another 15 miles and I felt great apart from having a cold. I would have been out more except the rain is so bad.

So hopefully this time next year i'll be regually riding my bike again and a little more fitter.

Thai Internet rumour mill

Ex pat based web sites in thailand have more histrionics than the country they write about.

Recently I discussed the Death of Mangosuace This was my personal favourite and one I regually commented on. There are strong rumours that there is some sort of comeback under the guise of another equally funny site Bangkok Girlfriend. At the moment Bangkok Girlfriend just says under construction on its home page. I really hope it comes back!

The biggest spat is between a Guy called Stickman, who amongst many things is an english teacher come PI come man about town sort of dude. For many years he as had a website about living in Bangkok, I wont say about thailand because most of his anaqdotes only apply to life in Bangkok. Well he really pissed off a bloke called Keith Summers, something about a review for Keiths Mates Bar which was not that good. So Keith who labels himself The Great Galt started a web site called Not stickman Bangkok. The whole thing got out of hand very quickly when Not stickman Bangkok (NSM) printed a picture of Stickman Bangkok (SM) and also people that he worked with. (SM) hasn't retaliated as such, but it seems that several of his friends are now having a dig at (NSM). Very confusing! The up shot is that all this I believe is giving the wider expat community a bad name with the Thai Authorities. Its worth reading the whole torrid business, just goes to show what blokes get up to when they have too much time on their hands.

Personally I don't have any sympathy for either of them and should they stop posting on the internet then I doubt anyone would notice in the long run.

3,507,583

That is this months figure for where my website is in the most viewed league. Thats a jump of over 3 million this month!

So its onwards and upwards.

If you would to see where your site comes, just go to www.alexa.com

The new iPhone

This weekend saw the release of the new Apple iPhone, a all singing all dancing new phone based around iPod technology.

It does look great and some of the features like touch screen are cutting edge. The price is around $499 for the 4GB model so around the same as a top end Nokia phone.

A few words of warning, not all the features will be avaliable until one of the big operators pick the iPhone up, also there are strong rumours of a 3G version for the european market, so a couple of months wait could be in order.