gearbox

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1676600/eu-news-france-election-marine-le-pen-polls-eurosceptic-far-right-national-rally A British based think tank urges Brussels to interfere in the next French elections and internal affairs as apparently Macron is not doing a good job and may finally lose to Le Pen...

That sounds right as many Asian energy multinationals and state energy companies have long term contracts with the Australian LNG producers. The gas prices are linked to the price of oil, but the price of oil didn't go that high. Not hard to imagine if they have surplus they would sell it at the spot market.

It doesn't really matter who did it in the end, whatever is done is done, there is no way back. However the German politicians are not happy with the gas prices.. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/05/german-minister-criticizes-us-over-astronomical-natural-gas-prices.html And the German voters are even less happier.. https://www.thelocal.de/20220821/majority-of-germans-dissatisfied-with-government-and-scholz-poll/ Europe is slowly moving towards the far right and the far left again. If the far right gains enough in Germany it would be game over for EU.

Macron needs to do something as the French trade deficit is trending record high. However it is going to be a tough sell here. Nobody would buy French junk cars, and there is a limit how much perfume the market can consume.

That country sounds like a terrible place. Hopefully you are not living there.

Good luck to him...I did a "thailand" search on gofundme out of curiosity, there are tens and tens of cases for donations related to medical treatment or funeral expenses in Thailand. And some love stories ending very badly: https://www.gofundme.com/f/get-a-loving-grandfather-home-to-australia?qid=25df96d6109e52323c65f7cecd0c6600 Poor old geezer falling in love...where else but Thailand. On the other end some opportunistic requests...probably won't bother with travel insurance too.. https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-me-pay-for-my-trip-to-thailand?qid=a6f4d895d6ed8292cadc0ca8856f5154

Hard to say..at one end airfares are high and cost of living is skyrocketing, on the other end it looks tempting to lock the house, move to a nice warm country and avoid massive energy bills. That's of course people who don't depend on annual leave from work. I flew in around 2 weeks go, the Abu Dhabi and Istanbul airports were packed, never saw that many people in Abu Dhabi before. Swampy looked deserted compared to them. So far seems people are choosing holidays closer to home, at least during the Euro summer.

Some areas are banned for flying drones but people routinely ignore them. In other areas you need to pay to film. Governments everywhere are starting to demand paid registrations - in Australia it was free to fly until mid this year. In practice if you are in remote area there is usually nobody around to enforce any rules. One just needs to be sensible and not invade people's privacy or fly near airports or military bases. I flew my drone in 5 countries in the last 6 months, never bothered to apply for any registrations, had zero problems including the borders.

There are unfortunate people everywhere, but is highly unlikely a Thai to die from cold or hunger. The energy price shock is much softer here than in Europe. Exports are holding so far and the tourism is slowly picking up. In Samui the businesses are slowly reopening one after another. I would say I'm a bit insulated from the ordinary folks nere but just don't feel that uncertainty and fear of the future I sensed in the people in Europe in the last 3 months.

Please do tell us how it went, it is hard to get info first hand.

AUD will probably get some support tomorrow when the Reserve Bank is expected to raise the interest rate again.

You would have been around long time to know that the Pacific peso, also known as Australian dollar, performs pretty poorly in time of some crisis. Look at the charts during covid, it plunged to 18 baht for a dollar. So not much to do with the Thai central bank. My strategy is to have at least an year worth of expenses in Thai bahts in my Thai bank accounts, and top them up when the exchange rate looks reasonable, last transfer I did was at 25.5.

Thailand is in much better shape than many countries, especially in Europe. It has a trade surplus and produces most of its food. In regards to the tourism, the sky didn't fall down during the covid times when the borders were closed, it can't get any worse than that.

South is generally richer than the North, from what I've seen they look down on northerners, esp from Isaan. Most of the beach tourism is concentrated here. I would include Samui in the Surat Thani list, and also add Songkhla. Wonderful people there, and very nice scenery around the big lakes. However it is a no go zone according to the Aussie government, and your travel insurance may be void there ???? Contrary to the government advice I've been there a few times, can say only good things about the area.

Very easy, you can get it online, I still have mine valid until 2025. As far as I remember max 180 days per year and need to get out after 90 days, so not true 5 years visa.

To add to this useful link: 1. Check with them how it needs to be packed. Most airlines require hard box, like the original packing box. If you want to transport it within Thailand AirAsia is the best as you don't need the box, get plastic food wrap roll from a supermarket, deflate the tyres, align the handlebar with the frame, remove the pedals and wrap everything up. 2. If you need to bring the bike back you'll need a box again, these can be obtained from bicycle shops, they may charge you a little bit for the box. 3. Check the oversized items dimensions with the airline before selecting a box, and make sure your box is within the limits, esp length. If the box is deemed oversized item many airlines will charge you extra, even if you are within your baggage allowance.

OP, not sure whether you nephew wasted his life so far. As you said he has never worked in his life so he has been very time rich...and still probably not lived that bad in the welfare freeloader state that is Australia. In a few years he may get government accommodation, and come the pension age he gets OAP without working a single day. It is the middle class wasting their life, working every month hand to mouth, incredibly time poor, and in the end would probably get less pension than your nephew.

I don't know about the leaders but seems the ordinary folks had enough already. I spent 3 months in Europe, uncertainty about the future and internal divisions are everywhere. People started to gravitate towards populist parties, to the far right or the far left, which was easily predictable. https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/inflation-bankruptcies-and-fears-of-decline-is-this-the-return-of-the-sick-man-of-europe-a-41d914b0-0322-46a8-9087-d118b3f0b399 "Left-wing politician Gregor Gysi went after an allegedly "overmatched" federal government, while far-right mouthpiece Jürgen Elsässer ranted into the microphone: "If the government wants to freeze the people for its damn war against Russia, then the people must give the government a hot autumn."" EU lost its focus and is facing intense competition from China for many of its exports, if China gobbles more market share there would be even less money to redistribute.

Grab prices are more competitive but I don't know if they allow them to enter the airport. Outside the arrival area near 7-11 there are many taxis, so if you get a Grab driver to pick you up from there not sure how the taxi mafia would react ???? Download the app and see for yourself what the prices are.

You can't get a reasonable spec brand name phone under 2k. Try pawn shops or second hand. The phone shouldn't be too old model/OS version as you may not be able to get security updates. Memory wise ram is much more important, don't go below 3gb as it would run very slow.

BYD are about to start selling in Australia and NZ, getting glowing reviews there.

Koh Samui.....the best spot for people which want to live near good beaches and still have some city like conveniences like good shopping and broadband. The weather is the best in Thailand in regards to sea activities, the wet season is only around 2 months. As the island is not that big, one can easily go to a side which is calm and have little waves. More good beaches around at Koh Phangan and Koh Tao.

Unless we are citizens or PR we are all guests here and not required to integrate or assimilate into the Thai culture....only need to realise we are guests here and the way Thais are running their country is none of our business. Not that difficult to do.

Property downturn in China is real, however it is engineered and controlled. Xi wants to channel the investment flows from unproductive residential real estate to hard science high value added sectors. The results started to surface, this year it looks like China will overtake Germany as the second ranked car exporter by volume behind Japan. The Chinese also slowly are grabbing market share and starting to dominate the display and TV markets, threatening the market leader South Korea. Thailand has nothing to fear, just a week or two the Chinese EV car giant BYD announced it is going to build a plant here, great win for Thailand. https://unctad.org/news/china-rise-trade-titan This year for the first time ever the combined sales of the Chinese global fortune 500 multinationals exceeded these of every other country, including US.

It will be waste of money to target the Americans. The long haul airfares are through the roof, it is getting expensive for the ordinary folks in North America to come here. Much better targets are the Indians, the Arabs and East Asia, direct much shorter flights, surely more expensive than pre-covid but still bearable.