[larentont]

By my definition if people have to help you to get around then you are being treated differently. If your environment is designed so that you can get around unaided then you are being treated the same as everyone else.

David

O.k perhaps we have different definitions about being different and treated differently. Thailand has less nursing homes( I don't know any), because Thais are helping and taking care of the older folk...it's a norm..it's life in Thailand. Same as helping handicapped folk, it's the part of living in Thai community...it's the norm; building a ramp for handicapped veterans would not be a norm, it would be for the sake of tourists and helping tourism business in Thailand.

[VXHLrsO1]

Yes I have.

David

Wanna post it?

[larentont]

So Thailand isn't a place for handicapped tourists. Hong kong is perfect though, considering the best place for handicapped tourists even.^_^ Thai authorities won't do anything much different in this matter, and there won't be any outraged cry from Thais either. Are you familiar with the word-"mai pen rai, rao khon Thai, yuu bab Thai Thai"? Thankx for the link, David.

[larentont]

Thailand is actually bigger in area than all but two US States (Alaska and Texas), and more than twice the area of 43 of the States. It is also larger than every European country apart from France. Thailand is the 50th largest country in the world.

It is 210% the size of the UK with a population of only 105% that of the UK.
It is 143% the size of Germany with a population of only 75% of Germany.

So Thailand isn't really overpopulated by European standards.

David

Thailand's size is twice bigger than the United Kingdom (UK), but, has slightly the same amount of population as the UK (the UK - size 244820 sqkm & population approx. 60 Million / Thailand - size 514000 sqkm & poppulation approx. 64 Million / composed by Google). i don't know about Germany's, but is the number you have given accurate?

[RagonaCon]

Bucky-pics from Chiang Mai night Market?

Its taken in Bangkok Sukhumvit Road outside a Mall call Nana Mall or something. It actually stretches down the pavement..... I'm not sure where but at least Soi 5. My friend says it probably stretches to as far as Thonglor and Ekkamai.

I took the pic cos I thought its funny as I feel there's already hardly any walking space through the tourists and night vendors, so how'd they expect a bicycle to go though?

[RagonaCon]

They have good plans for cyclists though.

[VXHLrsO1]

Thanks for clarifying that. I know Cheshire issues bus passes that are restricted to that County and that next year they will be valid England wide. I didn't realise *each* County in England had a County bus pass.

I think you will find that when next year your pass becomes nationwide it will be restricted to England. Currently Welsh bus passes have the badge of the County that issued it on it but it is valid anywhere in Wales since it was introduced some years back. As I understand it when your national system comes in next spring Welsh passes will still be restricted to Wales and cross border routes where our journey either begins or ends in Wales.

David

My bus pass has the name of my local town borough council stamped on it, I think the County town may have "County Council" on it. Hopefully the system will be a lot more flexible than you suggest-I suppose it depends which government is in-and how much they think they can rip us off at the time.

[VXHLrsO1]

Wallet? You get a wallet? Oi! I've been cheated! All I got was a card!
Seriously, I think the politicos have not really made up their minds yet-and if they have it is all, as eve,r subject to change! Saves me a packet on local fares though-was paying £93 a quarter for a pass.

Did you write a reply to the "Bangkok Post" ?

[adverwork]

Thankx David for the stat, how is Munich comparing to BKK? Is poppulation in BKK more than Munich and London combined. Well, London is too gloomy to have many people walk on the streets anyway so I can skip counting it on.^_^

This <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_population" target="_blank"CLICK/a> website lists the top 50 most populous cities in the world, by that list London on it's own has a greater population than Bangkok and is virtually the same size.

David

[adverwork]

Thais who are handicapped or disabled to walk fully or do other things in their daily living haven't been treated differently as they are in Europe or USA. Remember though Thailand is the country that people do help each other even though they may not know each other. Handicapped Thais are able to go around without needing special accessible paths, if someone see them, people will just simply help them get through without stop to think ,"oops, are we going to get a lawsuit in the mail if we touch this person." In the ex-pat 's viewpoint, yeah, Thailand doesn't have enough accessible paths visibly shown to them; however, handicapped Thais can all live and get around without those extra spaces becuase the way of life in Thailand is less collective and 'lonely' than in Europe and USA. By the way, no handicapped ramp is in Zambawe at all, so please don't try to even thinking of going to go to inspect the 133 Karat pink diamond over there.^_^

By my definition if people have to help you to get around then you are being treated differently. If your environment is designed so that you can get around unaided then you are being treated the same as everyone else.

David

[VXHLrsO1]

Bucky-pics from Chiang Mai night Market?

[adverwork]

That's interesting to know, when in Bangkok our hotel of choice, Bangkok City Inn, is on (or rather just off) Rajadamri Road.

David

[VXHLrsO1]

Its taken in Bangkok Sukhumvit Road outside a Mall call Nana Mall or something. It actually stretches down the pavement..... I'm not sure where but at least Soi 5. My friend says it probably stretches to as far as Thonglor and Ekkamai.

I took the pic cos I thought its funny as I feel there's already hardly any walking space through the tourists and night vendors, so how'd they expect a bicycle to go though?

It looked a lot like Chiang Mai.

In the UK when the cycle paths are full of pedestrians etc cyclists use the pavement. When the cycle paths are empty cyclists use the pavement. If the cycle path is shared with the pavement, then the bus lane is used. Crowded pavements are there to be cycled through-even if the road is empty.
All cyclists are congenitally unable to read "No Cycling" notices.

[VXHLrsO1]

Thailand opens first walkway for disabled

Three Thai government agencies Sunday officially opened Thailand's first footpath for people with disabilities and the aged, aimed at celebrating the 80th birthday of His Majesty the King on December 5.

The footpath was developed by improving the surface of a 1.6-kilometre long section of Rajadamri Road in Bangkok's central business district and is suitable for crippled and aged people, according to Dr. Poldej Pinpratheep, deputy minister of Social Development and Human Security.

Dr. Poldej said there were about registered 1.9 million physically handicapped persons, or 2.9 per cent of Thailand's total population, and more than one million unregistered persons with physical disabilities who are entitled to equal rights from society.

Besides that the number of people aged over 80 who need the same facilities as persons with disabilities is also rising, he said.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration said it planned to expand such services to five other nearby roads next year. (TNA)

Bangkok Post

[larentont]

To make Bangkok more accessible to disabled people it is not necessary to 'build ramps', it's more a matter of not placing so many obstructions, motorbikes, rubbish etc. on pavements, addressing the state of the pavements (fixing holes etc.) and traffic stopping at pedestrian crossings (isn't that the whole point of pedestrian crossings anyway?). All of these issues would benefit society as a whole and not just disabled people.

As I have already said, the other issues the letter writer brought up in the "Bangkok Post" are, in my view as someone who uses a wheelchair and spent time in Bangkok and Thailand both with my wife and alone, incorrect. I have written to the BP with my alternative viewpoint

David

How can we solve the problem of overcrowded poppulation? Those you think of as 'obstructions', many of them( if not most) are the tools for living or working in this tiny land. Sure we can do so many great other things, but the poverty is prominent in thailand among many other greater problems. It's the problem of prioritizing what we should do first, isn't it?-when the country have tons of problems with limited resources.

By the way, I'm not arguing about the importantness of having accessible way for the disable persons.

[larentont]

By the way, not that I'm against building special places and passages for the disabled persons, but it should come out from the pockets of businessmen/women in tourism, definitely not from the taxes revenue of the country. Thailand needs more spaces and passages for the poor who try to work and feed their families daily. More than 50 millions people live in the land the size of a state in USA. I don't think Thais should be looking into extra passages for the handicapped tourists. If it's going to have a stamp to the country that Thailand isn't the place for handicapped tourists, then it's simply a fact... errr.. I don't know if Guiness cares about posting it though.^_^

[adverwork]

Thailand's size is twice bigger than the United Kingdom (UK), but, has slightly the same amount of population as the UK (the UK - size 244820 sqkm & population approx. 60 Million / Thailand - size 514000 sqkm & poppulation approx. 64 Million / composed by Google). i don't know about Germany's, but is the number you have given accurate?

I don't make up facts/statistics.

The size of Germany is 357,021 sqkm with a population of approx. 83 million.

David

[adverwork]

O.k perhaps we have different definitions about being different and treated differently. Thailand has less nursing homes( I don't know any), because Thais are helping and taking care of the older folk...it's a norm..it's life in Thailand. Same as helping handicapped folk, it's the part of living in Thai community...it's the norm; building a ramp for handicapped veterans would not be a norm, it would be for the sake of tourists and helping tourism business in Thailand.

To make Bangkok more accessible to disabled people it is not necessary to 'build ramps', it's more a matter of not placing so many obstructions, motorbikes, rubbish etc. on pavements, addressing the state of the pavements (fixing holes etc.) and traffic stopping at pedestrian crossings (isn't that the whole point of pedestrian crossings anyway?). All of these issues would benefit society as a whole and not just disabled people.

As I have already said, the other issues the letter writer brought up in the "Bangkok Post" are, in my view as someone who uses a wheelchair and spent time in Bangkok and Thailand both with my wife and alone, incorrect. I have written to the BP with my alternative viewpoint

David

[adverwork]

I don't know how unusual it is, I've not seen it elsewhere, but just over the border from here in Chester there is a one way system and on at least part of it there is a cycle path which runs in the opposite direction to vehicular traffic. A lot of drivers that don't know this shout at the cyclists that actually use the cyclepath...

To get back on the subject of suitability for disabled people, one of the greatest hazzards we find in UK is dog mess on the footpaths. Despite the amount of feral dogs in Thailand I have never really come accross this problem. However, in our home in Buri Ram I am forever getting in trouble with chicken sh...

David

[adverwork]

Wanna post it?

It's very similar to my post #5 in this thread, let's see if the "Bangkok Post" publish it first.

David