jts-khorat

Maybe you need to read up a little bit more about Theravada, it is right there in the Pañca-sila (Five Precepts). It does not get more central to Theravada than this, truly, so you are absolutely mistaken: Suramerayamajja pamadatthana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami. I undertake the precept to refrain from intoxicating drinks and drugs which lead to heedlessness. It is a valid discussion however, if a government should restrict people from breaking the Five precepts out of their own volition.

This happens every year. It is called monsoon. As the Phuket authoirities seem to be unable to keep storm drains clean during dry season, this is a yearly twice occuring thing on Phuket.

This, my, list has not changed since 1998. - the culture - the people - the food - the weather I am currently living back in Germany and visit only one month a year, so I certainly see the contrast. Still, if I would not be happy internally, I also could get riled up endlessly. Maybe, @bob, try to avoid that. Whereever you go, you carry yourself in your head -- as we all do. Fix this and things will fix themselves.

You mean, ChatGPT. But he is not wholly wrong with what he is saying. Truth is, however, that back here in Germany it is also full of unfriendly and obnoxious people, so I believe we really seeing a reflection of that and expats are neither more criminal nor more negative than right here. As negativity sells, also here on Thai Visa, we also have a much better chance to hear about each little transgression, so this adds to the negative echo chamber. If I remember correctly my time in Thailand in the late 1990s, these people were certainly around. We called them "characters" or Thai originals", and in those days it added to the charme of the place, because you only heard about their antics every once in a while, if you developed common acquaintances.

One would really think the world really does not need a Germany that takes re-arming itself serious. Germans are goal-oriented. If there is an armed military, sooner or later the populace will ask why that much money was spent if it is then not "used". Already there is a serious problem with right-leaning rhetoric, but few tools to act on it on a world stage. I wish that Germany stays as it is: it pays for everybodies armaments, but keeps out of the business of having them itself. And I say that, being German.

This same story, nearly word for word -- only with changing names in it -- has been going around since the time I first set foot into Thailand, in 1998. Gambling has never been legalized, but it always seemed very close. As so often in Thauland: people announcing something or thinking out loud, even if in Thai government, has little meaning. Look what the hand does, not what the mouth says (whin in this case means: who ins invested heavily in the casinos right over the border to Cambodia, or the enclave in Laos... and who would gain if those same people would be cut from the thorugh.

Use a different browser.

After the tsunami we had exactly the opposite problem, lots of hotels had already received the payments, but not the guests. I had calls by hundreds of customers, who wanted their money back, but -- no big surprise!! -- this was not happening. Many were quite furious, as they had the wrong understanding that the hotels themselves, the Thai government or some insurance would reimburse them. So maybe the Thai Hotels Association should pull their own nose before whining.

Ok, obviously we talked past each other, sorry. For the small train from the new terminal, I have no knowledge. Maybe there is a possibility to go outside and use a taxi to drive aorund the airport from terminal to terminal -- surely somebody else might know?

Maybe it would be of interest to know to where you want to fly. We fly normally to either Udon Thani or Phuket, and of course it is well possible to book flights where you never have to leave Suvannabhumi: they also do have a domestic terminal. The walking distances within the airport are far, but everything is very accessible with a wheelchair and you will have to walk most of it anyway (baggage claim, customs) before getting to transfer. At one stage you will need to change to a different airport level, but there are plenty of elevators. Obviously I do not know if there are also domestic flights to some of the smaller destinations within Thailand, but maybe you have been doing it more complicated than necessary. And if you need to travel through the city, you can get a taxi... definitely a different price point, but you sit in comfort without worrying about finding seating in a public transport. A normal folding wheelchair should fit in the trunk of a sedan, if you still think it necessary to bring one.

The free shuttle bus is still running and it was surprisingly empty the last few times we used it -- it seems not to be well known. It is a normal bus, so not very comfortable, but a wheel chair would have been possible.

Just looking at these two stats would show to my mind, that the system has indeed shortcomings, but works well at least in some subjects. Self-learning math can be difficult, still the system has produced good results. One would think, that Science would fare similarly, but it did not, so here I would want to understand what has been the issue here. Very interesting, that failure rates in Thai and English have been similar where I would have expected a large disparity. This again shows to me, that vocabulary learning must have worked fine (or there would not have so many successes in a foreign language), while grammatics (the obvious thing for native speakers to fail if they are not well prepared) seems to have not led to good results. In any case, the suspicion of the parents that here a system was tested which has serious issues seems validated just form this alone.

What I would wonder as the father of this son: how is it, that I hear first from it after two months? Between 15-18 is the "age of consent" part, where the parents have a say... but I do understand, that practically it would be difficult to prevent the relationship just by forbidding it (my own son is 24, so I know a little bit about this). I would have a serious talk with the son. He needs to understand that the nature of most relationships, especially in his age, is ephemereal and tell him, that you will have an open ear if things don't go to his plans. I would tell him, that he has all my support, either ending or prolonging the relationship -- if the girl passes muster. The only way to find out intentions would be, to meet the girl. Have her come around for a dinner and have a deep chat where this is supposed to go from her perspective. I would put quite the emphasis on that she explain how she intends to safeguard the emotional health of your son, due to his age and her being of a supposedly more mature age; maybe she can explain herself coherently. If she does not disqualify herself right there, I would widen the net and invite her parents to a similar meeting. This would put responsibility on her whole family (I presume they are Thai, so this would be a cultural thing either way). In the end I would at least try to keep in as close a contact as possible with the girl and her family, as long as the relationship lasts; if it breaks, you might see the signs earlier than your son and cushion him from it; if it lasts, all the better for everybody involved, as you always get the family with the girl if things get as serious as marriage. In the end, it is your son who will need to learn to live in a sometimes disappointing world. You can protect him and guide him, but some errors simply need to be made to gain a perspective for the times he will need to stand on his own. And with 16, this point in time is approaching fast. Edit: @Nikmar, I see you are basically following this script already, I had not seen your last post before posting mine. Good luck, I hope it works out to the best!

Very interesting is the argument of the bank: that an ATM -- even the inside of an ATM -- is not part of the banks promises. Taking the money out of the ATM surely would be theft to my mind. But following the banks argument, the money was "found", not "stolen". I guess this means, that also the police will be unable to help, if that truly is the case. TiT.

Of course, there is the Central Marriage Register in Bangkok. Actually, to get legally married as a foreigner to a Thai, she will need to bring a certiifcate, that she is not actually registered there. From this alone, I would assume that she might have ben legally married to the Danish guy, but not to the Aussie. In this case, just having had a ceremony but no registration at the Amphur, he would have no legal standing at all.