30 Day Visa Runs now just 15 Days? What?

A Thailand focused website was reporting that the 30 day visa run has been changed to just 15 days from now forward. This affects those that are coming across land and that do not already have a visa.

The purpose of this was stated to: limit the amount of foreigners using “back-to-back” border runs to extend their stay.

Effective immediately, visitors without a visa will receive a visa good for 15 days of stay if they are arriving over a land border checkpoint from a neighboring country.

What a great way to limit the number of days tourists stay in Thailand - especially after the protest shut down the Bangkok airports for a week.

Here’s what I was able to pull off the official site…

Requirements for foreigners applying for a visa:

* Nationals of countries specified by the Ministry and approved by the cabinet. The nationality must be the same as the country issuing the passport
* Entering Thailand as tourists for 15 days
* 1 passport picture 4×6 cm, not more than 6 months old
* No blacklisted person (persona non grata) according to the immigration laws
* Confirmed onward or return ticket within 15 days
* Indication of actual address of residence in Thailand
* Cash of at least 10,000.- Baht (US$ 250.-) per person or 20,000.- Baht (US$ 500.- per family)
* Valid passport with validity of at least 6 months

Thai Immigration is at this web site, it’s in English but is a bit hard to follow. No, it’s damn impossible to follow. Better to weed through the mass of unrelated posts at ThaiVisa forum to figure out what this means for you.

If your visa expired during the protest at the Bangkok airports you just need to show immigration officials your expired plane ticket with correct departure date and they’ll take care of your visa overstay without incident.

Trust No One

I read a post this morning about an incident that may have been an attempt at an abduction of a child by a Thai man.

Thai man says to girl, “get into the truck”…

Thought you should read it too in case you have kids in Thailand. In my experience I’ve not seen many Thai men act overly nice toward someone else’s kids. I don’t see them play with them, talk to them, smile at them or anything else. Thai men pretty much ignore kids - especially someone elses kids.

Could be entirely innocent - but I don’t trust anyone here. Not Thai, not farang. You can’t. There are so many predators here - of all sorts, that if you let your guard down you might be had.

Who wants to be had?

Why Are Professional Photographers Becoming Useless?

The more I think about it - the more I think I’m on to something with this.

Technology has killed the professional photographer’s novelty and usefulness. Virtually anyway.

There was a time when photographers were able to command disgustingly high fees for taking photos. I know, I worked in New York City for a number of professional photographers in the late 80’s and early 90’s. It was true back then that even a nimrod that could hold his pointy-finger on the shutter button in brief 8-second bursts and produce photos that were bought by nationwide catalogs.

One particularly successful photographer I worked for whose name I’ll limit to “Tony L.” was a coke head and couldn’t go more than an hour without a darkroom break with the art directors and models on the shoot. They’d come out blitzed on coke and Tony would continue the shoot laughing like a jackass, hardly able to find the camera on the tripod in front of him and continue on as if nothing happened. Nothing needed to be different. I had already set up the lighting, the cameras, everything. He held his finger on the trigger and did an Austin Powers… Yes, yes… ok, good. Yes, good. Great, that’s great. Ok. Yes… He could be annihilated on coke and still shoot photos good enough to print worldwide.

I worked with Tony for about 6 months before I got accepted to be an assistant with up and coming professional advertising photographer, Steven Wilkes who was a nephew of the ‘great’ Jay Maisel. Jay was or is worldwide famous for his photos but you know what? He had a fishbowl - very large just full of 100,000 slides that weren’t good enough to sell or do anything with. They were junk. He shot 100,000 slides of junk.

What does that tell you?

It tells me something. It tells me that someone considered at the top of his field as an advertising photographer isn’t skillful enough to shoot just a few photos and call it a day, secure in the knowlege that he is skillful enough to have got the shots he needed.

Professional photographers in NYC typically shot 12 to 30 rolls of Hasselblad film for one shoot consisting of maybe 4 changes of clothes. I was loading film so fast for Tony that it was like a joke. Was this guy really making $2400 for each day of this circus? It was ludicrous. Maybe it still is. I’ve been out of that scene for many years now.

Now the world has changed. Anyone and a spider monkey can pick up a new Nikon D300 or better and produce some wicked cool photos. Put that person in a paradise like Hawaii or Thailand and you’d have to almost try NOT to take a good photo. I’ve seen children produce amazing photography over the last couple years. You know why?

It’s kind of like - if you had every monkey on the face of the planet tapping on a keyboard from the time they were born until they died eventually it is said that one monkey would produce the works of Shakespeare, perfectly written.

Is that a possibility? Nah, not in my lifetime.

You know what is possible though? A six year old child can point a good camera at a scene in Thailand and take as good or better a photo than any one that calls him or herself a professional photographer. It’s possible.

Good writers aren’t born of luck. You can’t possibly luck out and write 1000 words that changes the world. You could take a ‘great’ photo that does that by pointing your camera out the window at Rodney King receiving an unjustified beating in the streets of LA at the hand of the police.

Photographers are quick becoming a useless commodity. Technology has given us the capability to see in real time whether we got the shot. No more shooting polaroids and guessing whether the lighting was perfect.

Metering capabilities on today’s new digital cameras is astounding. It’s getting hard to beat them even using all manual settings and bracketing. The camera will bracket for you too.

Technology has given us complete control over the lighting so that even if we shoot a bad digital image - underexposing a bit, we can still create an amazing shot in Photoshop or other graphics program.

In the past a photographer could shoot 30 rolls of film in a day and the charge to develop all that film into slides would be hundreds of dollars. Today - memory sticks give us the freedom to shoot ten times that amount if we wanted. One needn’t be skilled much at all to produce outstanding photographs.

I hate to see it happening, but you know what? I’m not fighting it. What’s the point? Taking one look at the extent of Flickr’s library of photgraphs from everywhere on the planet is really humbling. There are many OUTSTANDING photographs there that are licensed under creative commons and available to use. Dreamstime.com has over 4,000,000 high quality images taken by almost 50,000 photographers. Fotolia, IStock, Getty, and other stock agencies are bringing professional level photos to anyone that wants them for hundreds less than what photographers used to get for them. Is this a good thing? For me it is. For the photographers that want to make a living? Yes and no.

The world is changing. It’s not changing in favor of being a pro digital photographer. Wedding photographers are invited TO the wedding to watch it - not photograph it. A friend of the bride with a couple years experience shooting for free is doing the wedding now, and is entirely capable at it. Who is going to pay a wedding photographer a couple hundred dollars to do it?

Newspapers are hiring journalists that can also take photos. It isn’t brain surgery. One manipulates a few settings, frames the shot and takes it. Then takes 1,000 more if it’s important to get a good one to publish. Why pay a photographer’s day rate to get a photo that’s only marginally better?

I don’t know if anyone’s noticed but the market is wide open for anyone with a digital camera and a few thousand bucks to spend on creating photo calendars, books, coffee cups, t-shirts, stickers, and other fluff that they’ll never make bank with. Photographers used to have skills that nobody else did. That edge is becoming soft. In 2 months someone serious about photography can learn the basics enough to shoot what a professional is shooting and almost as good. If the difference is between $3 and $300 guess what the person needing the photo is going to pay? Don’t kid yourself to believe there’s a $300 difference between the photos you take and the ones that are available on stock agencies shot by some of the greatest photographers on the planet.

It’s time for digital photographers to go out and get themselves some real skills. Digital video is one such area that they should be pursuing. It takes a lot of skill to shoot digital videos well. The market for digital videos that are of high quality will be around a lot longer than the market for outrageously priced photos. The photographer’s market is going away. The world is welcoming $2-4 dollar stock photos and free creative commons licensed photos.

Professional photographers, if they haven’t already shouldn’t be afraid to go out and get themselves some real skills that will set them apart from the monkeys hitting the shutter. The days are over when I could shoot a photo of Woody Allen in the window of his apartment watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and get $1000 for a 1/4 page in People Magazine. The days are gone when a 2 photo set of John F Kennedy, Jr. losing his bike lock key at lunch brought me $3750. Now - everyone has a camera and the variety of photos is getting much better.

My next post will compare the vast difference in skill levels necessary between being a good writer and a good photographer. Let’s put a camera in everyone’s hands, but not a keyboard… Am I making any sense to you people?

Cheers.

The Ole’ Thailand KANG KOK Scam, Eh? Don’t Fall for it!

Some clown posted something at Craigslist Bangkok I just found today that I thought was funny. At first I thought he was talking about his personal - well, you know - his ’stuff’. “Kong Kok” would be “My Kok” and the way he describes it is odd - he had me going there for a minute.

Then as I went through 19 possible pronunciations my g/f said - Oh, I know that - it’s a _ _ _ _ .

So - this guy is selling photos of something that’s VERY common here in Thailand and making it seem like you’re going to be so amazed to see this thing.

You won’t be.

Kang Kok Scam >

Oh, and he’s selling 10 photos for over 500 baht. Digital photos. This is some piece of work…

Here, I’ll save you the trouble of losing 500 baht. What? You didn’t care anyway? I thought not -but I wanted to spit in the soup anyway.

Here’s basically what you’re going to see…

Yeah, it’s a frog with weird skin - not wired skin like he says in the ad - that would be some weird skin.

Cane Toad - all over Thailand - poisonous - don’t boil them and eat them - or the babies, as they will kill you. For some reason there’s always people in Isaan that are eating these. Multiple members of one family died last time I heard about it.

Pedophiles in Patong Beach? LOS Tots Network: Secret crimes? Secret retribution., (New Book)

A new e-book is on the Thailand market called,

LOS Tots Network: Secret crimes? Secret retribution.

It’s a vigilante thriller about a guy that stumbles upon a pedophile network based in Patong Beach, Thailand and goes about dismantling it… trying not to get killed in the process.

It’s a fun book, here’s an excerpt from the author’s site, www.mikefook.com:

Dr. Justin Baker, a psychologist moves to Thailand at the urging of his brother for some rest and relaxation. During the tsunami of 2004 he stumbles across a dead pedophile with a backpack full of color photos of the sickest pornographic child content he’s ever seen. Also in the bag with the photos is a 75 digit code he eventually cracks. He finds the pedophile’s site, www.LOSTOTSNETWORK.com is teeming with sick pedophiles from all over the planet, many of them based right there in Patong Beach, Thailand.

After cracking the code to login to www.LOSTOTSNETWORK.com, Dr. Baker struggles to eliminate as many pedophile members of the LOS Tots Network as possible before they destroy the server or spread the word amongst themselves that the network has been compromised.

Can You Spot the Pedophile? (Take the test)

I don’t condone this - and I don’t think it’s funny…

But you might.

Here’s a page about whether or not you can identify a pedophile just by looking at a picture of him/her.

Identify the Pedophile Test >

Well, it’s something to do anyway…. Don’t miss the link at the bottom of the page. Does this guy have an inflated view of himself or what?

No it’s not me.

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Egyptian Man selling 100 kg Dead Dried Hooker? In Pattaya Beach!

What the hell?

Immigration arrest Egyptian caught illegally importing and selling Hookah.

Foreign Visitors to Buddhist Temples in Thailand (Please take note)

Yesterday and since tourist season started I’ve been seeing something disturbing.

People coming to Thailand on vacation that don’t think to read up on proper behavior not only in Krabi town, but at Krabi Buddhist temples before coming on vacation.

People, let me explain… Thailand is NOT Germany. This is NOT Italy. This is NOT France, America or the UK.

The following behavior is not only uncool, but totally shocking to the traditional Thai people that live in areas outside Pattaya, and Patong beach…

Walking around Krabi town with your shirt off. Guys and girls. Anywhere except AT the beach, standing on the sand, it is completely inappropriate to have your shirt off.

I saw at least 4 idiots (men) at the Wat Tum Sua temple without shirts on yesterday. Walking around shirtless at a Buddhist temple in front of the monks and nuns!

Unbelievable the idiocy that abounds. People, you cannot take your shirt off at a temple. At most temples you SHOULDN”T have uncovered legs or even bare arms… Wat Tum Sua is a bit of an odd temple because there are 1,237 steps to climb to the top of the temple. So, yes, it’s a workout. But, at no point is it OK to take off your shirt. If you’re hot and sweaty drink some water. Pour it over yourself even.

If you’ll notice, most Thai men have pants and shirts on as they walk up the steps. It’s not because they don’t understand that shorts and no shirt would be cooler… it’s that it DOESN’T MATTER. There is a code of conduct to be followed when you’re at a Buddhist temple. They understand what they can and can’t do at a temple.

Most tourists

1.) Don’t give it a thought.

2.) Don’t bother to find out.

3.) Do as they do in their own country.

or

4.) Do as they do all over Thailand the same as they do in Pattaya and Patong beach.

Would you take your shirt off at the Vatican? I’ve not been there - but I couldn’t imagine it being standard operating procedure.

It’s not OK to drive your motorbike away from Ao Nang beach with your shirt off.

It’s not OK to walk down Chao Fa road without a shirt.

It’s not OK for women to go topless at Nopparat Thara beach or ANY beach in Thailand that isn’t well secluded from people.

It is not OK for you to touch Buddhist objects with your hands…

Yesterday I saw something more outrageous than even what I mentioned already…

I saw a woman at the top of the mountain at Wat Tum Sua put her bare foot up against a Buddhist statue so she could lean in further to get a better photo! Really!

I didn’t have time to pull my camera out and get the shot - but from now on I’ll have it ready everytime I go up. It’s nuts what tourists are doing all over Thailand.

Visitors to Thailand - have some respect and find out what is OK behavior and what is not. Thais’ don’t go to your country and piss on your crucifixes you know?

Krabi is full of things to do from adventure to getting comatose on a beach bar stool. Up to you.

Pedophile GUILTY of Sex with 2 Children < 13 yrs SENTENCED to less than 5 Years!

German paedophile jailed 4 years eight months in Thailand. For a GUILTY sentence. Come to Thailand for sex with Children. Great Place, cheap girls, widely available and even if you’re caught with 2 different girls - spend less than 5 years in jail! WHAT A COUNTRY! What a farking country.

Does Thailand have any idea what kind of sentence this would get elsewhere in the world? Do they care? Is it OK for foreigners to come here and abuse the Thai kids? That’s what this ruling says to me. I hate the idea of jail, but 5 years? Hell, anyone could do 5 years. The risk of getting caught for anything here in Thailand is almost negligible… no wonder Thailand is filled with pedophiles…. land of smiles and pedophiles…

Anyway, that’s what book number 2 is about. Yes, book number 1 - the fake cover was just that, a fake. I’ve written another book that IS book 1, but that book isn’t getting released while I’m still here in Thailand. Not a good idea.

This next book takes a look at pedophilia in Thailand and offers a solution.

read more | digg story

German paedophile jailed 4 years eight month
(from The NATION)

The Criminal Court Friday sentenced a Geman paedophile to four years and eight months in jail for having sex with two Thai girls under 13 years old.

Jorg Rudol Fiedle, 43, was found guilty of having bought sex from the two girls at the Natural Beach Pattaya Hotel in November 2002.

The court initially sentenced him to seven years in jail by commuted the jail term by one third after he confessed having bought sex from the two girls.

The man appealed against the ruling and was detained at the Bangkok Remand Prison pending the Appeals Court’s decision whether to grant him release on bail or not.

The Nation

Hawaii Man in Pattaya Eats 3 Kamagras and Dies

I don’t know about you, but 1/8th a pill is more than enough to do the trick even after some heavy drinking… not that I’m admitting to anything you understand…?

Hawaii man eats Kamagra and Dies in Pattaya >

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