Kaoboi Bebobp

Yeah, ask Australia how its Thai-Oz free trade pact worked out after the unilateral Thai shutdown of the Chatree gold mine.

It's ludicrous for the traveller to huff and puff when he was caught flouting the import law, which every nation in the world has. Even more ludicrous when you can buy a carton of cigs for around 700 baht at the duty free in the Swampy luggage area. He could have bought 42+ cartons for the fine. 

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. . . a charge of cruelty to wildlife animals against the 63-year-old Premchai was withdrawn last week because there was no such offence stated in the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal and Animal Welfare Act 2014.

That's like not having a charge of homicide in the homicide statutes. Are there no lawyers in the justice department who could, you know, run their eyes over the proposed laws before they go to lunch?

I have no sympathy for these girls who transported (stories keep changing) counterfeit money (Chinese spirit notes?)  from Cambodia to Thailand and hoped to cash in on their little caper. They're taking a s**t-kicking on the 100K scamme page and disbelief running 50/50 on the 50K page. 

 It's also interesting how quickly the scamme page was set up after the news, not just one but two, both with vastly inflated fund goals (thanks darksidedog for insider info). 

I decided the make the train trek to the BKK airport yesterday instead of taking the Ekamai bus to Pattaya. Change of pace but there's also the fact the Jomtien bus stops at Pattaya Klang and I live near the Big C Extra. So I walked home, stopping off at Harbor and Foodland for supplies.

Got to the Jomtien bus ticket lineup at 10:50 am. As I was waiting, they changed the Next Bus to 12 noon from 11:40. Found out a bit later there was also an 11:20 bus. So it's not just hourly; they can adjust to the number of passengers. Loads of Russians, by the way.

6 hours ago, RichCor said:

From what I've seen from previous posts, other ThaiVisa members who have applied for Thai bank issued Credit (not Debit) Cards were being required to deposit funds in a locked account, so essentially they were receiving a prepaid or 'secured' Credit Card, not an actual Credit Card with a pre-approved credit limit.

^^^ This. You are actually using your own money to buy things on "credit". It's not a credit card at all.  

If you don't pay off your monthly balance, you are charged for using your own money, not the bank's. Abso-f**king-lutely absurd. This was with Kbank.

I had deposited 100,000 baht, thinking it was security for a new customer. I'd bought a small thing on the CC. Due to forgetting the date, I was charged interest for not paying it off and keeping my balance at 100,000 baht. It was not properly explained to me. Having found out the bank was holding my money and charging me to use it, I immediately cancelled it in month No. 2.  

Many desperate business owners will hire someone to pick up their garbage and dispose of it. And where do you think it will be dumped? Ideally, in front of City Hall. 

It's always amusing to me to see how many officers RTP can cram into a photo op during an arrest, most of which probably have nothing to do with the case. They all look like they just stepped out of their air-con offices. 

Thailand, yet another Hub of . . .

13 minutes ago, Muggi1968 said:

Educate people first....

Sent from my [device_name] using http://Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

And get them to respect the development of skills and work. Along those lines, there will be even more Burmese, Cambodians and Filipinos (and possibly Chinese) working in Chonburi province. Just got a shock recently in Bangkok. Almost all the staff at the new Scruffy Murphy's on soi 23 are Filipinas. 

Oh, it's going to be even more fun trying to catch a BTS train late evening at Prom Phong when the staff from  EmSphere join the other thousands of workers trying to get home.

I've just recently spent half a year in VN. Having just checked several VN bank for-ex charts, the rate is running 700 dong/01 THB. So 10,000 baht will be 7 million dong. From my POV, that's not enough for a 4-day trip, little left for emergencies. FYI: You can only pull 2 million/$85US from most ATMs from a foreign source. 

I usually do change some Thai baht into VN dong in BKK for immediate taxi usage/SIM purchase, etc. 

If you have Thai baht (or any currency), gold shops will change it at a pretty good rate, roughly equal to the best exchange bank, Eximbank. Before you exchange money, check the Viet banks online exchange rate charts.

So, where is The Bay Mall?

From the other side of the planet: 

Canada imposes sanctions on Myanmar general over Rohingya abuses

Not the same military officer the Thais are congratulating but all the same. Thailand really knows how to cultivate foreign friendships. Of course, the US won't say anything because it needs Thailand for its centre of operations.

Canada also now has a Sergey Magnitsky Law, officially called the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act. 

I know nothing about Cowboy and Nana anymore. But if there comes a few hours where you want to avoid the "What You Name" game, Scruffy Murphy's on Soi 23 is a cool, affordable pub, taken over from the Queen Vic. Farther out is Robin Hood, Herrity's and Royal Oak all on Suk 33/1.

And even a bit farther out, where a lot of activities are headed these days, there's W District Night Market just past Phra Khanong BTS, thronged by local pretties but really just a great place to hang, eat and drink. Cheap Charlie's has moved to a container village on Suk soi 50, beside the Tesco Lotus. 

Londoner Pub is way out at Pattanakarn soi 30-32.

As noted, after-hours street bars are all but a glorious memory.

The wearing of masks by pedestrians and riders has become very noticeable in Bangkok. Now if only motorcycle riders wore helmets. 

Same here in dirty Pattaya. A haze hangs over the city and has done so for days. The nearest pollution monitoring site Laem Chabang shows a "moderate" 93. But the AQI has been into the mid to high 100 indices for many days.

1 hour ago, banchang said:

We are on page 7 and i still don’t know where soi buakhao is. It isn’t on google maps.
From the descriptions from others I’m sure i have spent time there but where the hell is it.


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That's because it's so well known, it needs no map ref. But here's one anyway. It's on my Google Maps. It runs north-south between 2nd and 3rd roads. 

Soi Buakhao, Pattaya

If anecdotes are anything to go by, I think bkk6060 is right. This increasing invasion is only the beginning. I've sat on Soi Yume for several mid-evening nights. The dominant nationality of bus loads of tourists are Chinese. I could barely believe it. I saw about 15-20 buses pass by in the space of a little over an hour. Also groups of 20 or more crossing Yume. That's just my little area. How many other areas are active with Chinese tour arrivals and departures? 

I'm thinking if I want some old-fashioned, easy-going, low-impact, uncrowded lifestyle, Pattaya will not be the place for it, now that I've been back in Thailand for a few weeks. And, no, Issan is not my cup of tea.  I'm actually considering moving back to Bangkok but in a more remote area.

3 hours ago, Briggsy said:

Whilst it is very good that this poor victim is not dead or in a vegetative state, this type of statement always comes out after a horrific and avoidable accident. It is part of the sweeping under the carpet process that always happens because nobody wants to deal with the real issues. "Don't worry, everything is fine now, forget about it, move on, nothing to see here."

Alas, I believe you speak the truth. I'm very relieved the girl is conscious and apparently coherent. May she recover in the best way possible.

But does anyone find it  (adjective here) and (adjective here) that an RTP officer is standing in the photo? 

10 minutes ago, PEE TEE said:

I do believe that may of these topics are FAKE news ,like to no smoking ban i check the allocated beaches.  these wer to take effect on the 1st of Feb. no signs or allocated smoking areas  were in force . i suggest these topics are taken with a pinch of salt. or will that be the next thing to be banned 

Interesting thoughts. Any of you guys playing darts, please check your local pub to see what they have heard. Maybe the Soi 6 brigade can poll their hangouts, so to speak. 

Thank you Dinooz57. I'm so happy to hear she's alive and in the care of good people. And surprised and pleased the driver of the assault car has come forward to help. While not such a good story over all, it looks like the best of outcomes are strongly indicated for your step-daughter's sake.