Flower sellers

[Jaime]

[prcscct]

Thai publications seldom use the term mafia. The say "dark influences" or "powerful people of dark influence.." Case in point is the woman MP who was assassinated a month or so ago. She came from a very rich and powerful family, I guess not powerful enough.

I believe all kids here have to attend school for a minimum of 6 years. That makes them what if they don't continue, 11-12 years old and out on the street?

I drove by a small Japanese run factory in Ban Chang yesterday as they were letting out for their lunch break. The girls I saw could not have been more than 13-15 years old. I don't know if Thailand has a child labor law, or if they do, it must say kids after attending grade 6 can work?

It all goes back to the educational system. Tighten it up, extend the mandatory attendance years and, punish the parents who ignore it. Pete

[Beguine]

Yes and one of the killers of the Ratchburi MP was so filled with remorse that he conveniently drank pesticide and died making it impossible for him to incriminate the "mastermind" whom police admit they may never be able finger.

Minimum education is 9 years which takes them up to Mor 3 at 14-15 years old. Unfortunately this is not widely enforced and many poor parents can't afford school uniforms and books which are not free at secondary school and push there children out to work after Por 6 at 11-12, the end of primary school which was the leaving age until the early 80s. Stateless kids with no ID card, like hill tribes or Viet refugees, are not accepted by government secondary schools, so they also get no secondary education unless they can pay for private school. Labour law is very restrictive on under 14 year olds and only permits part time light work like in a family business not industrial work. Evening work is not allowed. I am not about ages 14-18, as 14-15 is the school leaving age anyway but certainly under 18 year old are not allowed to do any type of work which involves being in places where alcohol is sold e.g dare I say it, selling flowers in bars.

[caller]

Sad and as awful as it is, we've moved from rotten families who abuse their kids and incompetent officials to a degree of criminality that includes, seemingly regular shootings, executions even, at popular tourist spots in HH that others on this forum place postings about for other reasons, that are news to me.

I guess I'll head to Rio, LA, Albania or even Iraq for my next hols, it appears safer?

Beguine - who are you and how come you know so much? And if such an evil place, why are you living there?
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I know nothing

[Beguine]

Caller, I first visited Hua Hin in the early 80s when the Sofitel was still the Railway Hotel and there were no beer bars in Soi Bintabaht. I have been living in Asia for over 20 years, mostly in Thailand. I still love the country and its people but not in a rose tinted spectacles way. Perhaps I have become more cyncal over time but I think it is important to understand the nasty side as well as the good and adapt your life style accordingly. I have been victimised by senior national police and a government politician in the past when I thought I was just keeping my nose clean and doing my job.

[Beguine]

BANGKOK POST, 7th July 2006. One might be forgiven for thinking that it would be impossible for people dressed in rags, who make a living by begging for money or food, to afford a mobile phone. But a gang of beggars in Prachuap Khiri Khan's Hua Hin district turned everyone's heads yesterday when they flaunted their mobile phones to alert their fellows and escape the long arm of the law.

Only three out of two hundred beggars in downtown Hua Hin were arrested.

The rest managed to vanish into thin air because they had mobile phones to alert each other to the police swoop, said Somphop Wong-apai, of Prachuap Khiri Khan's social development and human security office yesterday.

Mr Somphop said the beggars usually ply crowded areas such as a morning market, a railway market and the Grand Hotel in Hua Hin.

Most of the beggars come from Cambodia and they stay together in rented houses.

Police said they usually depart for their morning begging rounds at 5am.

There are pick-up trucks to take them to locations suitable for begging such as Prachuap Khiri Khan's Hua Hin and Bang Saphan districts.

''They look like ordinary people and some are well-dressed. When they reach their 'workplace', they change into shabby clothes and roam the local streets holding out their hands for money,'' police said.

When night falls, the pick-ups take them to other begging spots.

Some journalists failed in their attempts to capture the mobile phone-flaunting beggars on camera because the beggars were vigilant and quick to spread warnings among themselves.

Their patrons usually give money out of sympathy for the beggars, some of whom walk with what look like painful limps.

But generous folk might now be having second thoughts after seeing the police appearance send the beggars sprinting off at top speed, police said.

Mr Somphop said it is tough for the police to crack down on the beggars because the gang is well organised, with influential figures behind it.

Moreover, some local residents have condemned the authorities for harassing the underprivileged and the poor, Mr Somphop said.

[Beguine]

Note the reference in the above Bkk Post story to "influential figures" controlling the Khmer beggars in Hua Hin. I am sure they would not allow the flower sellers to operate independently of their control, however small the business might be. They have to demonstrate that they control all rackets to prevent any one getting ideas. No doubt the flower children get trucked around in the same pick up trucks used by the Khmer beggars during the day.

[santa]

Sorry, folks, but I've had nothing but good humour from some of the flower sellers. One Vietnamese girl would practically be a "friend" ,and a great girl for a game of pool. Flower sellers are all over the world, but you do feel sorry for the young kids on the soi very late. Maybe you do them a favour by not buying.
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santabanjo