Don't insult the Royal Family

You need to be VERY careful here. I remember once buying some chicken at a cart and jokingly waved the money in the flames. The look I got from the Thais I thought I was going to get lynched. Never did that again! I also once had an argument with a Thai and threw money on the ground...something else I won%26#39;t do again!

Look at the mess Aussie writer Harry Nicolaides is in right now%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;

%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;HARRY Nicolaides, the Melbourne writer arrested on a charge of insulting Thailand%26#39;s royal family, has described his appalling prison conditions and his fear of contracting tuberculosis, and pleaded to be allowed to apologise.

';I want to immediately apologise to the royal family for my reckless choice of words,'; Nicolaides told The Weekend Australian at Bangkok Remand Prison.

';I want to write a comprehensive letter apologising with the greatest humility to the Thai people for the way the Thai press presented what was written in the book.';

Nicolaides is distressed by his conditions of imprisonment, which could extend for 84 days before he can be released on remand. Bail of 500,000 baht ($17,820) raised by his girlfriend and her friends has been refused.

He fears he has been deliberately isolated as the only farang (foreigner) in a prison cell crammed with 60 or more Thais.

Nicolaides said he entered the prison on Monday a healthy man, although almost suicidal over the threat of 15 years%26#39; jail, but he now had swollen lymph glands, chest pains, constipation and stomach cramps and could not eat.

Almost all the other inmates in his cell were coughing and wheezing, he said. ';There is a rumour going around that some of them will be transferred to the tuberculosis ward (of the prison hospital), which is terribly overcrowded,'; he said.

He feared his condition was deteriorating so quickly he would be vulnerable to tuberculosis infection.

Nicolaides was arrested at Bangkok%26#39;s international airport as he tried to fly home to Melbourne on Sunday night, and held on a warrant charging lese majeste, or offences against the crown, a crime he did not know existed.

The charge was provoked by a passage in his 2003 novel Verisimilitude: is the truth the truth.

';I wrote that from King Rama, and I didn%26#39;t say which King Rama, to the Crown Prince, Thai men are well-known for having multiple wives and concubines for entertainment,'; he said.

Nicolaides said the passage was in the form of ';an omniscient narrator passing a rumour to the protagonist ... it%26#39;s a work of imaginative fiction';.

He acknowledges the passage, from a period of his life when some of his writing was ';flaky';, offended Thai culture and tradition. ';But I%26#39;m not that person now,'; he said.

He had returned to Thailand seven months ago, mainly to spend time with his girlfriend, who teaches at Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai, where he previously taught.%26lt;%26lt;%26lt;

Don't insult the Royal Family

Most people who have traveled more than just a bit, know to keep their opinions of local culture - wherever they are - and politics, and royal families - etc etc etc, to themselves.

Even if asked by someone who is obviously seeking a negative opinion, all you need to say is, ';Sorry, I just don%26#39;t know enough about it';.

Or as I once has to tell a very rude and persistent foreigner at a restaurant, ';My mother taught me to never talk politics or religion at dinner';.

Really, no one who is reasonably polite or socially erudite need worry about these issues.

Don't insult the Royal Family

Until Thailand gets rid of these bizarre and arbitrary l猫se majest茅 laws, it has no hopes of ever becoming a true democracy.

Imagine throwing a man into a jail with common criminals because of something he wrote in a novel 5 years ago!

Sorry, no ';edit'; function here - I meant to say, ';HAD TO TELL'; in the previous post.

Agree that the law may be rather anachronistic, BUT it exists so it%26#39;s essential that we all watch what we say/do. Anyone who researches Thai customs/sensitivities even a little bit will soon realise that negative comments about the Royal family are a no-no, so I do think this guy was a little naive in writing such things then expecting to be given free rein to visit Thailand.

Interestingly, Thais aren%26#39;t similarly gagged when it comes to criticising politicians, thank goodness, or they%26#39;d never have any chance of getting rid of corruption and their version of %26#39;democracy%26#39;.

These kind of laws exist in every monarchy, but aren%26#39;t that strictly enforced. It doesn%26#39;t make a country less democratic even if they are enforced.

Try writing something about the islam which isn%26#39;t in line with their religion, you really have to start watching your back.

This man lived in Thailand for many years and would have been well aware of the law. He repeated the remarks on a website recently, along with other comments (%26#39;ve seen them and they are highly derogatory). What ever foreigners may think of our laws, they are there to be obeyed. He was not forced to live here, he made the choice, and he chose to insult the monarchy.

You should respect the laws and rules of the country you are visiting but some things are ridiculous.

If you don%26#39;t mean to offend but do by mistake then it is a mistake and life gos on. No need for it to be a major issue.

You can not insult the royal family, the Thai people love them and so they should but if done in ignorance let it go.

I read a quote from Bumibol in which he said he didn%26#39;t like the fact that people weren%26#39;t allowed to say anything bad about him - he doesn%26#39;t want to be idolised by force. He said he%26#39;d pardon anyone arrested for the crime.

I wonder if this is true.

If you%26#39;d read the website that this was recently posted on, you would know that it was not done out of ignorance, he knmew the law every well.

Anyway, In most countries ';ignorance of the law is no excuse';.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, prepare to die. Great Klingon Expression.

It is a basic rule of travel not to show disrespect to peoples cultures. Even I know that!

Wen