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I guess I didn't make it clear - she didn't have to give up her dual citizenship to avoid US taxes. Switzerland allows US citizens resident in their country to get credit for taxes paid to them, while the resident is earning income there (as per the tax treaty). There is likely another reason besides taxes she gave up US citizenship.

No. 5, Noa Herrera, Venezuela

No. 4, Ruby Bella Cruz, USA - a contrast to the petite Asian contestants.

1st photo, Marla Vera, Singapore 2nd photo, Veronika, Russia photos 3-5, no. 3, Kevin Balot, the eventual winner - her experience in contests clearly an asset for MIQ 2012. She was also a favorite of my special panel.

BB, thanks for the kind words! Yuzirneym do you mean seeing her on an escort site? The names used for this competition are typically stage names. They do try to screen out escorts, but it is more difficult with the non-Thai contestants. Next 9 photos, the beginning of the evening gown contest.

If you are assuming it has to do with the recent income tax increase on US taxpayers earning more than $450,000 a year - I'm not sure I agree with your conclusion. Switzerland has an income tax treaty with the USA, so any taxes Tina Turner would have paid to Switzerland as a resident, would be counted towards any US taxes. I am not tax expert, but I think there may be other reasons why Tina Turner gave up her US citizenship. Even with the coming increases for high earning US citizens, it is quite low compared to many European countries - France being a good example, and the UK being another.

A lot depends on how the Pheu Thai deal with the increasing levels of debt created by their populist policies - particularly the rice mortgage scheme. The government debt levels are rapidly approaching levels seen prior to the last crash in the 90's. If they don't handle this right, then I think the Thai economy could tank, and we could see the Baht go to 40 to the USD.

1st photo, no. 19, Tanja, Romania 2nd photo, no. 20, Stefania Cruz, Philippines 3rd photo, no. 21, Sunny Dee-Lite, USA 4th photo - another lovely Tiffany Showgirl who had the cheque 5th photo - one of the lovely Tiffany Showgirls with the sash 6th photo - getting ready to announce the 1st special award winner 7th photo, no. 16, Yuki Tachibana, Japan - Best National Costume winner

1st photo, candidate no. 13, Matrica Mae Centino, Guam 2nd photo, candidate no. 14, Leha Angel Lelga, Indonesia 3rd photo, candidate no. 15, Bianca Gold, Brazil 4th photo, no. 16, Yuki Tachibana, Japan 5th photo, no. 17, Michelle Montecarlo, Philippines 6th photo, no. 18, Morgana, Mexico

Photo 1, candidate no. 7, Panvilas Mongkol (Nong Jeli) Thailand and Miss Tiffany Universe 2012 Photo 2, candidate no. 8, Imanni Da Silva, from Angola Photo 3, candidate no. 9, Mariam Jimenez, from Philippines Photo 4 - candidate no. 10, Jessika Simones, Brazil Photo 5 - candidate no. 11, Tukishima Beni, Japan Photo 6- candidate no. 12, Nikki Normanson V Mascenon, Spain

Photo 1 - is contestant no. 1, Marla Vera from Singapore Photo 2 - is contestant no. 2 Veronika, from Russia - a first, plus she was hearing impaired, so also signed, besides speaking Photo 3 is contestant no. 3 Kevin Balot from Philippines Photo 4 - candidate no. 4, Ruby Bella Cruz from USA Photo 5 - candidate no. 5, Noa Herrera, from Venzuela Photo 6 - candidate no. 6, Deniz from Turkey

Sorry for the delay in posting computer problems only recently resolved and work has been busy. So without further ado, photos from the contest. First 4 photos of Nong Sammy - Miss Tiffany Universe and Miss International Queen 2012. She was in the opening number.

Yuzirneym I think you're teasing, I'm sure you know who she is. For those who don't, her name is Luk Pad Miss Alcazar 2005 second runner up, moonlights at Alcazar Cabaret, is a dancer and singer with the lb group "Shades of Divas". Here's a photo of her and friend from Miss International Queen 2012.

There was a Nepalese lb in the 2010 Miss International Queen contest, no. 18, Meghna Lama - most likely a stage name. Here are some photos of her from the contest.

For the intermediate to mid-term, I would recommend GE - now some of you may scoff at that, but as part of the last effort to avoid the financial cliff there was a prolonged extension (no expiry date) of the tax credits for wind turbine power. GE is well poised to take advantage of this, plus has a very large amount of cash to put to work for acquisitions this coming 2 years or so. It also pays a reasonable dividend.

Unfortunately PC Air has been grounded due to financial problems and the lb flight attendants are out of work. Hopefully their experience can get them jobs as flight attendants with other airlines.

There is now another bank that does not charge the 150 Baht foreign ATM card fee. This is CIMB http://www.cimbthai.com/CIMB/en/home/ , which is a Malaysian Bank recently expanded into Thailand. Unfortunately they do not have that many ATMs yet, but on the homepage you can check out their locations throughout LOS. Hopefully CIMB and AEON will put some pressure on the Thai public banks to lower or reverse their fees.

Thanks for sharing about some of the challenges PI lbs face. The strong influence of the Catholic church has a lot to do with this, - almost ironic as many of the PI lbs personal ads ask this as a preference for their partner. In LOS, in junior high and high school, lbs don't necessarily have to short hair - and a recent change in the education ministry lifted a rule that specified the length of hair for males. It was more the discretion of the principal to enforce the old rule. LOS universities are a different matter - some universities do restrict what students can wear, especially for graduation. If the graduation ceremony is presided over by a Royal family member, lbs must wear male clothing and have short hair. I know of some lbs who have either skipped their graduation or wore short hair wigs, and borrowed male clothing to attend.

In between his lb adventures, he tends to work full time to save up for his next adventure. This might be the case, or he may have returned to his home country. Either way, I don't think we've heard the last of him, and the next time he has encounters, I'm sure he will share them.

There have been a couple of reports the militants wanted to trade the hostages for the release of a couple of Islamic militants/terrorists held by the US - I don't think this has been confirmed, but it could have been one of the motives.

I don't think going into Bangkok is a very good idea - that would take you around 30 min to 1 hr depending on traffic to get to Sukhumvit Soi 4. So if you arrive on time, take around an hour to clear customs and get your bags, it would be around 8:45 am to get a taxi into Bkk - and around 9:15 - 10:00 am to get to the hotel, then you want to take a taxi to Pattaya at 1:00 pm. You would be better off calling your hotel on arrival to see if they have early check in available. If so, just grab a taxi from the airport to Pattaya, which is a good 45 min - 1hr faster than taking a taxi from Sukhumvit Soi 4. Even if they don't you can take a Bell Bus which will get you to your hotel in around 2 hours, so assuming you get out of immigration and get your bags around 8:45 you will arrive in Pattaya around 10:45 - or perhaps noon, depending on the timing of the Bell Bus schedule.

All the girls in this contest are Filipina lbs. The country they represent with the sashes - is a feature of many Asian lb contests, Malaysia, Cambodia - but strangely Thai contests do not follow this theme. The assignments I think are by the luck of the draw. The reason why they do this - I am not sure, but possibly to bring some more excitement as crowds cheer for their favourites.

A question for the Americans living in the US - is there any explanation as to why this thing is as close as it is? It's hard to imagine how one debate could have turned it around for Romney so much. I've been following the talk shows, etc., it's difficult to believe that people accept Romney's move from the far right in the past 2-3 weeks is sincere after the last 2-3 years painting himself as the "extreme conversative" to win the Republican nomination. How can they possibly believe what he has to say after probably the biggest flip flop of all time?

radiouno, I can assure you there are more lbs in Bangkok than there are in Cebu. Bangkok has a population of over 10 million, and probably has the biggest concentration of lbs in the world. I agree with Kahuna's points - and I've also discussed the situation with some PI lbs. There is an overwhelming drive to "escape" the economic situation in the Philippines (not just lbs, the Philippines is known to have one of the highest % of overseas workers of any country). Thai lbs on the other don't have the overwhelming urge to leave Thailand. So just because there are tons of PI lbs advertising on the internet, doesn't mean there are more of them in total than the Thai lbs - who don't have the same drive and means to do so.

Photos of the contestants are up at http://www.ripleysthailand.com/contest2012/ (Miss Ripley's Popular Vote 2012. There are 5 from Philippines, 2 from Japan, and 2 from USA. I would think Guam may be a Filipina as well, but must have a Guam residency. No. 3 from the Philippines looks cute!