nonthaburi

Politically I see two things that may happen. Presuming that Yingluck becomes the next PM either with an overall majority or without , then there might be more prostests , this time from the PAD ( yellow shirts ) . The same people who took over the airport before.
I can't see the reds accepting this because they have been waiting a long time for conclusion over this seeing how their man Thaksin ( democratically elected ) was kicked out by the coup. Due to the demographics of Thailand the reds will always have more support simply because there a lot more poor people than rich people. Could be some fighting going on at protest sites.
The other thing that may happen is that there is another coup , because the army ( loyal to the King ) will not accept the possibility of Thaksin's ( percieved to be against the monarchy ) return.
When the big guy goes I think there will be a lot of soul searching within the country as to what kind of Thailand people want and what happens now. His son is not respected in the same way so people may feel differently about things.
I don't think there will ever be any civil war in Thailand as has been predicted by some with all this red / yellow stuff because the vast majority of Thais do not want to fight anyone. They just want peace and to be able to get on with their lives. The same as people everywhere.
I tend to think that the THai " mai pen rai " will win the day , as most of them don't really get that worked up about anything pretty much. They don't really care about real democracy that much and seem to be quite content to let things happen to them rather than the other way round.
Even when there was the mass protest at Ratchaprasong downtown not that many people died. If you compare it to the muslim insurgency in the South where it's something like 4000 dead in five years the death toll was pretty insignificant.
See what happens. Who knows what will happen ? Just have to wait and see.

Claudia1

The just released WikiLeaks cables quoting senior US sources makes very grim reading & outlines some of the risks you have correctly mentioned below. So, definitely a good time to hedge Thai assets via gold. Also, perhaps best for prospective retirees in Thailand to delay asset purchases since currency/property there could easily crash 25% PLUS when the inevitable issues come to a head (i.e. future retirees could then benefit !). Clearly, there could not be a worse time to be attempting to sell property & I feel desperately sorry for people in that position. Perhaps, much wiser to rent out for a few years unless they need to sell.

Claudia

nonthaburi

I was speaking to my dad on the phone last night and he quoted The Times talking about the released cables and what they contained. I don't want to be too specific but they mentioned something about a well known blood disease as well. First I had heard of this. Has anyone else heard about this at all ?

On the property front I think it depends where you are. We live in the BKK area and there is definitely no slowing down on the building going on. New estates with houses in the 2-3 million bracket just pop up everywhere all the time . If anything it is this that is making houses hard to sell. Round my way anyway.

Rents are so cheap too, so it's not that bad renting anyway. We rent a very nice two bedroom townhouse in a nice village for 5000 a month. Nicest house I've lived in probably.

Claudia1

Clearly, far more intelligent to rent when you can achieve such a great deal - well done ! In any case, it appears you intend to reside in Thailand long term which further minimises any risks.

On the other hand, a Kiwi couple we know bought about 4 years ago on a whim & then decided within 6 - 12 months it was not for them. If they had initially applied just a little commonsense plus rented on trial basis, they could have avoided an extremely stressful costly experience. Somewhat baffling how really silly some people can be.

Claudia

Kooky.

It's probably not a great idea for anybody living in Thailand to delve too deeply into all that but, if you do want to read further, let me know and I will PM you some links. (The journo in question is an acquaintance.)

bakedbean

I'll have some links please, if that's alright.

You hear a lot of stories, especially when living in Thailand. I certainly did and I'm sure Nonthaburi does too.

So how's the election proceedings going? I have to admit I've not been following it too closely lately. It's Sunday isn't it? Booze free day, right?

Kooky.

I'll direct you to the guy's page on Facebook, old bean.

Actually, I've been away and hardly online for a week so just catching up - it seems his articles have gone worldwide, he's doing a ton of press, so they're probably easy to find

bakedbean

Cheers Seasider, and enough of the "old" bean thank you Yup it's scarey when you go offline for a few days and so much catching up to do. What did we do without the internet?

nonthaburi

Wouldn't mind those links if possible. You never know how long you'll be able to look at things in Thailand if you get what I mean.

nonthaburi

Ah, the beating jungle drums of Thailand.

Yep, the nation goes to the polls on Sunday. My wife asked me the other day who I think she should vote for. My reply was that it woludn't matter as nothing will really change. See what happens.

I think it's booze free from 6:30 pm Saturday to when the polls shut on Sunday. It won't be though as a lot of places will sell out of plastic cups and local shops will still sell anyway. AT LEAST I HOPE THE ONE IN MY VILLAGE DOES !

Kooky.

I've sent you what should be the best link, but there's a chance it's blocked in Thailand so let me know by return PM, if you can't see it.

bakedbean

Some interesting stuff - knew some of it. Didn't know about the "estrangement". Are we allowed to discuss it on here

nonthaburi

very interesting. be careful though. Loose lips sinks ships !

bakedbean

Right, I'll keep mum them

Kooky.

zenjournalist is constantly being updated so keep an eye on it