Kerryd

On one hand they are whining about too many tourists coming here. On the other hand, they are easing visa restrictions for many countries and proposing to double the "visa exemption" period to attract MORE tourists. On another hand, they want to gouge those tourists by adding yet another surcharge on their ticket prices. But another hand wants to cancel the idea because it may reduce the number of tourists. I expect the next thing will be an increase of prices - for foreigners - at national parks and historic sites. Maybe the ones that charge foreigners 5 times more for a ticket will increase the price and then charge 10 times more while the ones already charging 10 times more will also increase their price and charge 20 times more ? Like Khao Kitchakut did a couple years ago. 20 baht ticket for Thais, 100 for foreigners. Then it went to 20 baht for Thais and 200 for foreigners. I guess foreigners were breathing too much air and taking too many pictures (or not throwing enough money into all the money traps they've set up at the top). Khao Yai and Khao Phra Vihan for example charge 40 baht for locals and 400 for foreigners. I haven't looked at the arrival numbers recently. Before the covid crisis, Thailand received something like 39(+) million "arrivals" in 2018 I think it was and was expecting close to 40(ish) million in 2019. I looked up those numbers a couple years ago when the gov't first announced they were planning on adding another surcharge to ticket prices because "foreigners" skipping out on their hospital bills had cost those hospitals (most of which were PRIVATE hospitals) nearly 300 million baht. I calculated that they only needed to add a 10 baht surcharge to tickets to recover that "lost" money and then some. So what did the gov't decide ? They wanted a 300 baht charge ! 30 times more than they said "foreigners" had stiffed the hospitals for. (It sounds like they got a lot of negative publicity and pushback so have cancelled the increase. For now.) So if they could handle 40 million+ arrivals back in 2019, they should be able to handle at least the same numbers now. It's not like they're suddenly facing 60 or 70 million arrivals in the last year even with the changes to visas and visa exemptions (that haven't even happened yet).

The confusing nature of the reporting probably came from talking to someone who saw a part of the story and then someone else who saw more of it from a bit earlier. It sounds like one of the Chinese men was trying to drag a female "entertainer" into the bathroom for nefarious reasons. She was trying to resist and attract the attention of some staff to come help her. Which is where someone saw a Thai man getting involved with the Chinese man and maybe thought he was the one the Chinese guy wanted to bump fuzzies with when it was actually one of the staff trying to separate the Chinese guy from the girl. Can't believe the one Thai guy saying he aspired to join the Army though. Most people I talk to seem to think that's the "option of last resort" if you can't find any kind of paying job elsewhere.

You can say the same about almost any men from any country when they are in a foreign country. Except maybe Aussies. They're dicks at home and abroad ! But seriously. Arabs in Thailand. Yanks anywhere. Brits anywhere. French/German/Swede/Bosnian. They go to a different country and it's like they think the rules don't apply to them anymore. Or if they do something they can just escape back to home and disappear. Or that their country will bail them out. Expect a LOT more stories about the Chinese in the years to come. They've been slowly digging their way into the country the same way they've done to Cambodia, Myanmar and a number of other countries from SE Asia to the coast of Africa.

My thoughts as well. Especially as she was apparently found wandering around a shopping mall. Not trying to hide in hotel somewhere but just going about her business like normal. Probably not expecting anyone to recognize her in a foreign country. Gee, I wonder if this was the plot of a recent movie or soap opera.

Stories like this one are literally a dime a dozen. Women "romance scam" men just as often as men "romance scam" women it seems. Nice that someone helped out but the problem is - tomorrow there's likely to be a hundred more hands stretched out looking for free money. As for the "investor". Not an Outlaws patch. Their patch has a "rounded skull" with red eyes and an (engine) piston pointed out each side. Not a Rebels or HA or Bandidos or Mongols patch either. Or an Immortals or Necromancer patch. Lol - I just did a Google search for "Pattaya Motorcycle Club patches" and a photo of my bike (and MC banner) shows up - from a 6 year old article about the Hells Angels. (I'm NOT a member or affiliate of that MC !) Could be a member of a 100 different clubs just in Pattaya. No (visible) "1%" patch on the front. A LOT of motorcycle riders here have tats galore and aren't in "outlaw" MCs. 2 friends of mine (both rather big boys that ride rather large bikes) have lots of (visible) tats. One's an Aussie and one's a Swede. Neither is in a "1%" club. And keep in mind - in Thailand - Thais (a very large number of them actually) think that the "1%" patch just means their club is in the "Top 1%" of all clubs in Thailand. I had 5 friends all patch into the Bandidos some years ago. I tried to explain to them what the "1%" patch really meant but they didn't want to believe it. (Just had lunch with one of them a couple days ago. He knows - now - what the 1% patch means - especially to foreign members of the MC but says he himself is not "mafia".)

They will examine the body to determine the cause of death in the event HE WAS ALREADY DEAD before he took the tumble. OR to determine if he was intoxicated, stoned or even drugged (and maybe pushed). Just because a body hits the ground from a high distance, that doesn't mean the "sudden stop" was the cause of death. For all ANY OF US know - he may have had a heart attack while standing on the balcony of his hotel room.

I did my Extension at Jomtien in late May (just over 2 weeks ago). Everything was normal except the IO did NOT give me a paper with the rules about keeping the money in the bank for 3 months and a date to return (90 days later) to verify I hadn't touched the money. This was unusual as for the past few years (ever since the rule came into effect) the IO would give me that paper with the report date on it after he's gone over my paperwork and collected the fee. I normally set my 90 Day reports up so that I have to go back in 90 days anyways so it wasn't a big deal. But now I'm wondering. It seems strange they wouldn't want to check that anymore. I think I will update my bank book and take it with me next time "just in case" things have changed - again. Keeping in mind they've gone and messed with the 90 Day report system and instead of handing the IO my passport and being finished in 2 minutes now it can take 40-60 minutes as they seem to want a TM.47 each time for some reason along with a mess of photocopies (the girl wanted 2 passport pages photocopied and the guy wanted 4). Meaning it's taking longer to process everyone and collect their passports and instead of a 20 minute wait, I was told to come back in an hour. (And it's not a new thing. When I did my last 90 Day back in Feb I was told I first had to do a TM.30 Address notification - and THEN do a TM.47 "To Notify" form and instead of maybe 20 minutes like normal - I spent 5 HOURS there before it was finished !) I remember the first time I did a 90 day and you had to fill out the form and that was it. You were in the computer and from then on all you needed was your passport and the 90 day slip.

READ the WHOLE thing. TOO many people got to "requiring platforms with an income of 1 billion baht" and decided that didn't apply to them so they STOPPED reading. LOOK at the last 2 paragraphs: So what they are saying is they are planning on taxing YOU on ANY income you have made ANYWHERE in the world - even if you DON'T send ANY of it to Thailand. So YOU are going to be treated just like any other Thai citizen - except you can't buy land, vote, get a passport (ect ect). Essentially "taxation without representation" which I suspect is not a consideration in Thai law. Though I wonder how they will verify that you have made any money anywhere in the world if you don't tell them about it ? I seriously doubt too many gov'ts in the world are going to divulge that information about their own citizens.

Just recently they were whining that they were getting TOO many tourists ! Then they decided to add an additional 300 baht to every plane ticket to generate another 12 billion. (Which was originally supposed to be a tax to cover "unpaid" hospital bills that foreigners supposedly ducked out on. However, based on THEIR numbers it would have only taken a 10 baht per ticket surcharge to recoup that money so they jacked it up to 300 baht - but won't use the additional 11.6 billion to offer any kind of health care for those tourists of course.) And just recently they said they were going to crack down on foreigners opening bank accounts after they caught a couple (Chinese) scammers that had billions in different bank accounts related to different phone/boiler room scams. And now they want to legalize gambling - so the poor can get poorer and the criminals will think they've died and gone to money-laundering heaven ! Gee, I wonder which nation has been pressuring Thailand to change their stance on gambling ? Which nation has been drawing Thailand deeper and deeper into debt by financing expensive projects like highways and high-speed trainlines. Which nation did a criminal former PM sneak off too when his attempt to bribe a judge backfired and he had to get out of the country in a hurry. The same former PM who returned, got the VIP treatment from the current gov't (that he supposedly pulls the strings on) and now that gov't suddenly wants to allow gambling ? Because it sure didn't before when that same person was the actual PM. I wonder what has changed.

Remember the case of Victor Bout ? Another case of Americans arresting foreign nationals in other foreign countries. American ATF agents posing as Columbian rebels set up a meeting with Bout in Thailand back in 2008. When he showed up he was arrested and put in jail. Thailand claimed it was for entering the country "illegally" (wrong visa or something) but that was the excuse to hold him until the US could extradite him. Even though he hadn't actually committed any crimes in Thailand - or the USA. It was basically entrapment. (Thailand initially denied the American's extradition request. American agents with help from Thai police tried to smuggle Bout to the airport and put him on a plane to the USA but were caught. Bout was eventually extradited despite lots of pressure from Russia to release him.) (Bout was swapped to Russia in a Dec 2022 prisoner exchange where the drug-smuggling basketball player everyone felt so sorry for because she was a "woman of colour" and "LGBTQ" and "forced to play basketball in Russia because the WNBA doesn't pay enough".) It's funny how some countries can make laws and then arrest foreign nationals - in other foreign countries - for breaking those laws.

I did my last Cert in early April. At Jomtien you have to use the Application form they use, which is different from the one on the Immigration website. I copied and scanned the form they use: I had a photocopy (front/rear) of my Thai driving license and the "Notification of Address" slip. Pretty sure I only gave them 1 passport photo. And of course, signed photocopies of your face page and most recent visa/extension page. (The girls at the counter will tell you if you need additional photocopies of anything and the photocopier guy charges 3 baht per copy so bring some small coins.)

The date is confusing. But right next to the "Issue Date" is the "Expiry Date" and that is the one that is important. And it's in Thai and English so it shouldn't be hard to read. It seems the "Issue Date" is the date of issue of your last (valid) 5 year license. My 2nd license (first 5 year) expired in Apr 2018 but for various reasons, I wasn't able to get to the DLT to renew it until Jan 2019. That one expired in Apr 2024. I renewed it at the beginning of April and my new license says "Issue Date: Jan 2019" (and "Expiry Date: Apr 2029"). I thought they'd made a mistake and only given me a license that expired in 3 weeks but then I saw it expired in 2029 so I took off my socks and started counting and realized the license was good for 5 more years (and 3 weeks) so I put my socks back on and was on my way. Not sure why they don't change the Issue Date to the day the new license was issued.

The tourists apparently tried running a scam at the bar. 3 guys each had their own "bin". 1 guy's bin was 2,800 baht. The other two guys paid their (smaller) bins, then one of them and the guy with the large bill left the bar. That left the guy in the white shirt who waited a bit and then tried to leave as well. Staff stopped him because his friend hadn't paid. That is when an argument broke out because "white shirt" was going on about having paid his bill (which he had as a part of the scam). The cashier called for Security and when they showed up the other guy suddenly agreed to pay his bill. The cashier thought that would be the end of it but apparently "white shirt" for some reason decided to shove one of the security guys. (In her words he "rushed to push him" so I'm guessing she meant "shoved him".) And that's when the fight started. Apparently there is CCTV footage of the whole incident in the bar showing what happened before it went out into the street and the police have a copy of that. People have been trying to scam their way out of paying their bar bills for years. Couple guys go to a bar, run up a tab then one of them leaves. Couple minutes later the other guy "suddenly gets an important call", stands up, walks around and tries to "wander off" while pretending he's distracted by the phone call. This has happened a couple times on Walking Street in the not so distant past. Guy in a go-go, runs up a tab, suddenly gets a call and tries to "step outside to take the call" and then "forget" which bar he'd been drinking in. Which often leads to "security" reminding him and him ending up on the front page. I've watched people try those scams. 2 Indians in my buddy's beer bar tried the "one guy leaves then the other guy gets a phone call" routine but the girls stopped him before he could get to the street. In another friends go-go bar. Guy runs up a tab and "gets a phone call" and tries to go outside to talk, pointing out that he'd left his cigarettes and lighter on the table. The cigarette pack was empty and the lighter was dead of course. They all think they've come up with the perfect scam to stiff a bar out of a bill they've run up but they don't realize the girls/cashiers/mamasan/managers are watching them like hawks. And they've all seen people try those same scams over and over again. Like the guys trying the "I'll just go grab some money from the ATM and be right back to pay my bill" scam. Which is why the bars usually send a staffer with them so they don't (conveniently) forget which bar they'd run up a tab in. The actions by the guards was excessive, even if "white shirt" initiated the physical part by shoving the security guy. And kicking him in the head when he was down and out on the ground is just plain criminal. The police should be looking at training, testing and registering anyone that works as Security. Weed out the psychos, addicts and criminals. Oh right, I forgot where we are. 20 years ago I'd run up bar bills of 12-18,000 baht in a night. Once in a blue moon I'd be short on cash and ask the momasan where the nearest ATM was and she'd send a service girl with me. I knew why she was there. No big deal. Normally, if I saw I was getting close to not having enough money - I'd simply pay my bill then and there and then go find an ATM machine on my own. 31 years of coming here/living here and never had a problem in any bar or go-go club. Funny how that works eh ?

I would never chose a country where religion plays such a huge role in people's day-to-day lives and where they'd happily kidnap, beat/torture/rape and behead you on video because their religious leader said they had a right to. I spent 8 days there back in 2005. I was on a Nile Cruise boat when terrorists bombed Sharm el-Sheikh. That's when I found out there was an armed policeman on our boat. (We were nosed into the shore to wait our turn through the locks. I was outside taking photos and saw a couple police cars pull up and a guy in civilian clothing - packing a submachine gun - stepped off the boat and went to talk to the cops onshore for a few minutes then returned to the boat. Shortly after we learned about the bombing.) After I'd finished the Aswan/Abu Simble bit I took a 1st Class sleeper train back to Cairo. My car was at the back of the train and every time I stepped out of my cabin I saw a guy standing on the back ledge having a smoke - with one hand on the submachine gun he had partially hidden under his jacket. The authorities were really concerned that other fundamentalists might target other popular tourist destinations. And the whole country is literally a powder-keg as the fundamentalists try to take control of the country one way or another. Many are upset about Egypt's non-aggressive stance towards Israel. Many want the authorities to destroy all the old temples, shrines and monuments - because they predate Islam and are constant reminders to the people that there were (and are) other gods besides their own. Trust me - they really, really hate that. I had to tread lightly when I was there as I learned that some of them really don't want to admit there were any gods before theirs - even when they are giving you a tour of places full of statues and paintings and carvings depicting those older gods. When the Muslim Brotherhood (Egypt branch) pretended they'd given up "violence" and wanted to be a straight-up political party, they won an election. (Basically they just out-sourced their violence to different splinter groups that do their bidding.) And almost immediately there were calls from their supporters to start destroying all the ancient sites. (I'm sure that may have gone a long way towards the Muslim Brotherhood being ousted from power soon after. Not to mention the rampant corruption they immediately started committing the instant they got into power.) During a politcal storm in Canada over people wearing Niqabs (Muslim face coverings) I did some research. I came across a Youtube Video shot shortly after Egypt had their first democratic election. The new President was addressing a crowd of people (all men) in a large conference room. Maybe 200+ people. The President was telling the crowd that he'd recieved a letter from the leader of the (terrorist) Muslim Brotherhood demanding that the new President immediately pass a law to force all women to start covering their heads in public ! (Headscarves - like in Iran and other places.) Take a wild guess at the reaction from all those men. All Muslims themselves of course. They LAUGHED. They laughed at the idea of passing a law to force women to cover their heads. In fact, Egypt did pass a law - that women in public positions like News Anchors on TV - were NOT allowed to cover their heads ! Take a wild guess (again) at one of the first laws the Muslim Brotherhood overturned as soon as they got into power. Yep. They threw that one out immediately because they wanted to start forcing women to cover up. Now consider that they have the volatile situation in Gaza on one side. The loonie asylum that Libya has become on another side. Whackos to the South (in Sudan). And they are very close to the problems in Yemen and Ethiopia/Eritrea as well. (Ethiopia recently opened a huge new dam on the Blue Nile, a few kms from the South-East border of Sudan, which has caused a lot of concern for the countries downstream.) I personally would love to live in Egypt. Egyptology is a favourite psuedo-hobby. (It would be a hobby - but not really practical in Thailand - so I spend time on ancient Khmer temples and history instead.) But the reality is - you'd never really feel safe there. And you'd stick out like a sore thumb anywhere you went. And that would make you a potential target for any fundamentalist looking to earn a "merit badge" with his particular faction. I spent 10 years living and working in Afghanistan, made many trips to Dubai and some other places as well as the trip to Egypt. As they are now - even if I was Jeff Bozos rich - I wouldn't live anywhere in that area.

The annual "oh gahd I hope I didn't mess this up" trip to Immigration went better than expected (sort of). Every time you go, you have to be ready for changes. Not just in the building but in the procedures as well. I'd gone to the bank in the morning (between rainfalls) to get my bank letter and update my bankbook. I noticed that the 22nd was a holiday and thought "it's a lousy day, maybe Immigration won't be too busy" so I took all my paperwork with me. I'd already done the TM.7, had signed photocopies of everything and the bank even gave me a photocopy of the bank book (front page) and updated balance page without asking. Off to Immigration. The longest wait was in the "Information" line. The lady checked my paperwork and gave me a queue ticket. Looking at the board, there should have been 2 people ahead of me. No one was sitting in front of the 2 IOs though and after about 5 minutes they called for the next number. For whatever reason - that person never showed up. After about 2 minutes they called my number. Handed over my paperwork, IO checked it all, good to go. Gave him the 1,900 baht, had my photo taken and I was away. Maybe 3-4 minutes from the time I handed over my paperwork until I was heading out the door. I wanted to get out of there and home before it rained again and when I got home it dawned on me - they hadn't given me the "come back in 90 days to check your bank book" for they used to give me in years past. I thought about asking when I went back to get my passport 2 days later (after the holiday) but thought - if they didn't give me the paper with the date on it, then it's probably better not to ask. So everything else seemed to be the same as far as the paperwork and photocopies they wanted. But the "90 Day Bank Book check" is no longer required ? (It wasn't a big deal for me in the past as I have to do my next 90 Day report at the same time anyways so I just updated the bank book, made a couple photocopies and handed that in at the same time.) Now if they could just go back to the "2 minutes in and out" for the 90 Day reports, that would be awesome !

Just did my Extension and 90 day report. For some odd reason, they've taken a step backwards with the 90 Day reports. Used to be (once you did your initial 90 day and were "in the system") you'd get a queue number, hand your passport to the IO who'd scan the barcode on the Notification slip, print a new one, staple it into your passport and hand it back. Barely 2 minutes start to end. During the Covid worries they started doing them in batches. Hand your passport to the clerk and get a number. Maybe 20-30 minutes later they'd come back with a stack of passports and you'd be on your way. But then last Feb I went to do my normal report and - STOP ! You have to do an updated TM.30 (Notification of Residence) meaning more passport photocopies, photos and an hour wait then - you have to do a TM.47 as well (even more photocopies). What used to take 2 minutes took me 5 HOURS. Fast forward to this week. Did my Extension, picked up my Passport and went to do my 90 day (I've got the dates synch'd with my Extension). Not so fast ! Have to do another TM.47 ! Then the girl opens my passport to the page with my new Extension stamp and tells me to bring a photocopy of that. Come back and the guy says no - you need all the copies on the list - Facepage, last entry stamp page, current Extension stamp page, Residence Notification page. Got those, signed them all, came back and it was the girl again and all she wanted was the Face and Extension pages. Fine, save the other copies for the next time. Then, after all that, I'm told to come back in 40 minutes !! You'd think with the exanded office and thinning the "herd" out (and being early afternoon on a rainy day) that things would be faster but no - it's getting slower !! I really hope they change things back before I have to go again !

Societies that show leniency towards the worst criminals do not show a reduction in crime. I'm guessing that societies that take a harsh view towards serious crimes have many fewer criminals left to reoffend. What do places like Vietnam, Singapore (and most Muslim) countries do with murderers and drug dealers ? Little chance they'll ever re-offend - or write books about how hard they had it. LONG read below. Feel free to skip it. That's actually a (common) misquote and is misattributed apparently. The actual quote: Is misattributed to Dostoevsky though it's hard to find who may have originally come up with it. (I've done some searching and it's the consensus that Dostoevsky never wrote that quote - but no one is sure who actually did. Most quote sites give credit to him - but can't reference where the quote was written and it's NOT "Crime and Punishment" either.) Dostoevsky had been arrested in 1849 and sentenced to death for being a member of a conspiracy plot. He was taken to a spot to be executed along with 8 others in late Dec. They were divided into 3 groups with Dostoevsky in the 2nd group. As the first group was being lined up to be shot, a courier arrived with a note from Tsar Nicholas I commuting their sentences. They were then sent to prison where Dostoevsky spent nearly 5 years in harsh conditions. He was released in early 1854. His book "House of the Dead" was published in 1861 and the first parts of Crime and Punishment 5 years later. AND - it is very possible the quote does NOT mean what most people think it does. While it may not have been Dostoevsky that wrote it, it probably was another Russian. Perhaps a friend or fellow writer. And that person may have thought that locking people in prisons for life was cruel and unusual punishment and that they should be given quick, painless executions instead. That is actually a sentiment that many people believe today, though many of them also don't believe in capital punishment. (Which begs the question they don't like being asked - if you won't execute prisoners and think locking them up for long periods is inhumane - then how do you think society should deal with murderers, rapists, drug dealers, war criminals and the like ?) In any event - places like Thailand still believe that (poor) people who break the law should be punished. Not sent to country resorts where they spend their time idling in luxury at the taxpayer's expense. (That's saved for the rich, powerful and politically connected criminals of course.) I mean - sheesh - a few years ago a Canadian with a long history of criminal convictions and prison time came to Thailand using "stolen" ID (that was never reported as stolen of course). After a year here, he murdered his girlfriend, mutilated her face, dismembered her body and discarded the remains in a local swamp before hopping on a plane back to Canada - still using that "stolen" ID. He was arrested - for violating his probation - and sent to prison. Thailand spent years trying to extradite him and was finally able to in what, 2010 ? He was sentenced to life in prison and sent to Bang Kwan. 5 years later his lawyer and a newspaper reporter in Toronto concocted a sob story about the poor guy suffering in a Thai prison for "half a decade" after being "wrongfully convicted" (because, in his opinion, he should have been tried for manslaughter, not murder). (They deliberately used "half a decade" to try and make it sound longer than "5 years".) He applied to the Canadian "Public Safety Minister" (a scumbag Liberal that never met a criminal - or terrorist - that he didn't want to set free and put back on the streets) for a Prisoner Transfer. Which that Minister agreed to - even though he'd been personally informed (by me actually) about the guy's long criminal record and exactly what he'd done to that girl he murdered. Didn't matter. Not only was the guy brought back to Canada almost immediately (and in secret) - he was released within a couple weeks !! FREE and clear ! NO probation or anything ! I found out when I read that he'd been arrested in Canada less than a year after he'd transferred, for a string of armed robberies he'd done after he'd been released !! THAT is what "Canada" considers "punishment" for a career criminal that murdered a woman, chopped her body into pieces and threw it into a swamp. How should a society like THAT be judged ? It seems in a lenient society, criminals are more likely to re-offend because they have NO fear of the consequences. While in a harsh society, most criminals do not want to go to prison again because they DO fear the consequences.

It would take a competent investigator about 3 seconds to determine if the victim had been killed at that spot or killed elsewhere and dumped there. Even AFTER the rest of the cops had already contaminated the crime scene. Remember the Koh Tao murders when they showed the crime scene and even allowed civilians (and possible suspects) to saunter through it before they even knew what had actually happened. It was far to easy to "drop" some evidence (or remove some) as it seems no one was trying to control the area. Bleeding from the ears and nose might indicated the victim had been beaten/tortured before being killed. Probably the reason for the stab wounds as well. The gunshot to the neck was probably after the victim told them (whatever). An autopsy would determine that as well as an approximate time of death. Lack of documentation could be from the attackers keeping it - or "someone" rifled the body before calling the cops. With all the CCTV cameras everywhere these days, they could try to find some along the route to where the body was found then review the footage from the evening of 14 May to the morning of the 15th (when the body was found) and look for any vehicles that drove towards where the body was found - and then drove back within a few minutes (or so depending on how far between the cameras and the location of the body). (I seem to recall something like that happening not that long ago. Police reviewing CCTV footage identified a possible suspect vehicle seen driving towards where a crime had happened and then seen driving back again. The details are fuzzy but I think that even though they could make out the make/model of vehicle, they couldn't identify the possible owner/driver or something.) (I was going to go with the "apparent suicide" joke as well but someone beat me to it !)

Surprised that the Chinese would even bother doing scam business in Thailand when they could do it in Cambodia far easier - and cheaper - and probably have full police protection as well. (The Sen's are very, very friendly with China. Just like a former PM who was also very friendly with the Sens - and China - and just happened to be the one that brought the whole Elite Card business into being.) And gee - what is one of the BEST ways ever to launder money ? If you said "casinos" you'd be spot on. Especially when those casinos are set up on land that keeps most police from investigating anything. Now it's even better as criminals can launder cash through casinos and get their "winnings" in Bitcoin that they can send pretty much anywhere without it being traced. While not "laundering" heres a clue. Not long after Trump opened his casino in Atlantic City, he was losing money (somehow - probably by skimming too much off the top for himself). He got to the point if he missed the next mortgage payment, the bank would foreclose on the casino. His father sent one of his trusted accountants to the casino with $3 million in cash. The accountant bought $3 mil in chips - and then gave them back without ever making a single bet. The casino got $3 mil and could then turn around and sell the chips again. Pure profit. (It was illegal as it violated some financial laws but the Feds wouldn't learn of it until many years later it seems.) But it illustrates how easy it is to simply drop a ton of cash in a casino and walk out with (whatever percentage) of "clean" money that can't be traced. (Or have it in Bitcoin and sent anywhere in the world within minutes.) Hmmm, I wonder who is behind the push to open money-laundering centers - er, I mean "casinos" - in Thailand ?

I guess you skipped over the 2nd line of the original post where it said: Unless you think that call center scam groups are "legitimate businesses" ?

It they were Chinese it wouldn't have even made the news. In other cases where Chinese tourists were caught doing something it barely registered a response of any kind. No one cared. And they still don't - unless the offender is "non-Asian" of course.

You should ask an actual lawyer however I doubt too many of them have any experience with trying to probate a Will in a foreign country. The easiest method is to simply have 2 Wills. One "back home" to cover your assets there and one in Thailand to cover your assets here. Much simpler, especially if you have just one beneficiary. If you are trying to split assets in 2 different countries amongst heirs in 2 different countries with each being Willed stuff in the other country - then YOU deserve the headaches of trying to sort that out. Simple fact. Unless you are leaving a fortune to someone in a different country, it may not be worth their time and effort to go to that other country to try and claim those assets. Friend of mine (American) kicked the bucket back in America years ago. Left some of his Thai assets to his sister but it wasn't worth the cost of flying here, trying to probate the Will (which requires a 45 day waiting period after notification of death to allow family and creditors to lay claims against the estate) and then claiming the small amount of money and whatever momentos he may have left in Thailand. Basically she'd have spent $10,000 to claim $7,000 in cash and (whatever was left in his rented house). My dad had 2 Wills, one in Canada and one in Thailand. I was the sole heir in each. Due to working (in Afghanistan) I couldn't make it back to probate the Thai Will until almost 3 months after his death. Because it was well past the 45 day waiting period, I was able to go to court (with my Lawyer and translator) and have the Will probated in about 30 minutes. I was able to go to Canada a couple months later (with his Canadian Will and certified True Copies of the Death Certificate) and start the process back there. But there is a waiting period there as well and the Will actually ended up being "probated" in my absence about 6 weeks later. I was able to do some stuff (like cancel his pension payments and arrange for the overpayments to be returned, do his final taxes, ect, etc). On my next trip to Canada I was able to do all the little things (close his bank account, empty his safe deposit box, transfer his house and so on). Which is something you also have to consider. In some cases people will appoint an Executor (makes you wonder how they picked that title) whose job it is to carry out the last wishes of the deceased. Often the Executor is either the heir or the lawyer. As the Executor, that person has the authority to distribute the assets in the Will according to the instructions in the Will. He/she can arrange to transfer assets, close accounts, make payments and so on. (It's like having a Power of Attorney over the assets.) And as the Executor, if they incur expenses in the performance of their duties, they can be re-imbursed by assets in the Estate. (So if I had to pay a lawyer to do the Probate, I could withdraw money from the deceased's bank account to pay the bill. Same if he owed taxes or had outstanding bills/credit card balances and so on). If you had a single Will, you could run into a lot of issues as the laws in different countries, especially with regards to the transfer of assets and taxes, could be quite different. For example, in some countries you could Will 75% of your estate to your brother or uncle and split the remaining 25% between your wife and 4 daughters. However, in other countries that would not even be remotely allowed (despite the efforts of some groups to try and change that). The area where you would run into problems is if you had a Will "back home" for your assets there and then made a new Will here that included those same assets but had different beneficiaries. (i.e. your Will "back home" left everything to your son and sister including your country estate and priceless artwork. But then you make a new Will in Thailand and leave all that to your "wife you met in the bar last week" and cut your family out of everything. You can bet the "new Will" would be contested by your relatives - in a court back home. And your teerak would have a hard time trying to use a Thai court to enforce the terms of the Thai Will in a foreign country.) If you really want her to inherit (whatever) back home then you should arrange for it to be transferred to her before you kick the bucket - or take steps to have the marriage recognized "back home" and make a NEW Will back there and destroy your old one. I was lucky in the sense that I didn't have to worry about stuff like that as I was the Executor and sole beneficiary. Still had to do the work to have the Wills probated and dispose of the assets, but there wasn't an issue with (distant) relatives or "other" people trying to claim any part of his estate in either country.

Pathetic. Remember when they took the 750 Baht "Departure tax" and hid it in the cost of airline tickets (the airline charges you the tax as a part of the ticket price and remits the money to the gov't). Then a couple years ago Anutin whined that "foreigners" were skipping out on their hospital bills and they (the hospitals) had lost around 300 million baht. So they proposed a new tax be added to airline tickets to cover those costs. At a time when they were getting nearly 40 million "arrivals" every year. 10 (TEN) baht per ticket would have easily covered that cost. So what did they do ? Decided to levy a THREE HUNDRED baht tax instead. So instead of collecting 400 million (to offset the 300 mil in unpaid hospital bills) the gov't want to collect 12 BILLION in new revenue. Gee, I wonder where the surplus 11,700,000,000 baht would go ? And now they want ANOTHER 300 baht per ticket because they are getting too many tourists ??? Gee, that's another 12 bil in the kitty. I wonder whose pockets that will go into. I wonder what their Chinese masters will think about that (unless the tax is only applied to tickets NOT coming from mainland China of course).

They copied the money before the UC used it so they had proof the money the suspect had was the same the UC used. But it says they charged him with "possession of illegal drugs for personal use." - not with trafficking/selling drugs. And they don't say what he was doing for the "working without a work permit" charge. Won't matter except for when he's sentenced. For that small amount, they'll probably just deport him after a couple weeks and blacklist him. When he gets back to Canada the Police won't even look at him or, at worst, will guide him to the closest taxi stand with directions to the nearest Welfare office so he can get a wad of cash and free place to stay.

It is NOT "Thai culture". If you think it is then you have NO idea what "Thai culture" really is. The endless water fights have evolved from the traditional Thai Songkran celebration. Originally, it was a celebration of the end of the "dry season" and a time when wandering Buddhist monks would find a temple to settle down at during the coming rainy season (from back in the times before paved roads and trains and cars and such. When cart paths would turned into muddy quagmires for months at a time) In the old days, monks would often leave their temple at the start of the dry season and walk to - somewhere else. You still see that to this day. I often pass lone monks or small groups of them walking along a road somewhere in the middle of nowhere, on their way to a new temple or somewhere that needed more monks. Thais would celebrate by washing the feet of their parents/grandparents/elders and thanking them for all they've done. It is also a time when people would wash/clean Buddha statues in temples. (Basically like a big "spring cleaning".) People would dab a bit of powder on other people's faces and use their fingers to sprinkle a little bit of water on the heads of others (symbolically "washing" them). It was never a "endless water fight from dusk 'till dawn". It was also a ONE day event, which would start in the Northwest (Mae Hong Son/Chiang Mai area), then the next day would move to provinces a bit South and East and the next day it would be in other provinces further South and further East and so on. (Songkran dates back to the days when most people had to walk or ride in carts pulled by water buffalo. And of course, no phones or mail or even telegraph back then. Hence why it would start in one place and slowly work it's way across the country.) Took about a week. 1 day each in different areas of the country. It's still like that in some places though now they too have "water fights". Couple years ago I was in a small village in Sa Kaeo during Songkran and basically the entire "festival" was held at a local temple. People did the feet washing and thanking their elders in their homes before going to the temple to wash the statues and clean their family "chedis". In the afternoon there was party and "water fight" in a grassy area that quickly turned into a mud pit. The kids and young adults played and the older folks sat at tables around the "fight" eating and drinking while music blared from huge speakers. And that was it. No one was throwing water outside the temple grounds or in the village. And the next day, things were back to normal. And then the tourists came along and basically ruined it because they thought it would be more fun to throw water at other people than to "lightly sprinkle" some on people's heads (as was the custom before). And that led to Songkran turning into a massive water fight, mainly in touristy areas (which tells you it is NOT about "Thai culture"). And then it expanded to being 3 days in some places. I remember that in Pattaya when they started "playing water" the day before the "official" day up to the day after. (And that made people a bit "salty" even then !) Then it expanded to starting the same day in Pattaya as it traditionally started in the Northwest. And it went for a week. Now it's nearly 10 days ! People started throwing water on Soi 7 a few days ago and the "official" day is the 19th. 3 days - OK. 10 days - no thanks. (Many of my Thai friends went back to their home villages for a week to celebrate in the Traditional way and get away from the city.)