arithai12

Ask Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, .... ... the list goes on, how dependable an ally the US are. Thailand would be very wise in trying to balance favors and deals with both China and US, as they are doing so far.

I think they all can! Just tell them what you need. I use the one at the intersection of Chiang Rai Rd and Nimman (20m before reaching Nimman on the left side), they let you choose size, background, and so on. Ready in 20 minutes. btw, when I need a visa for my wife, we have to go to my Embassy in Bangkok and they can take pictures right there, if yours does the same it's perhaps the best option.

Always refreshing to see a positive comment about living here... thanks!

You are basically saying, with various rants some of which are unfounded, that Phuket was better in terms of natural beauty 20 years ago. Really? Who would have guessed.

well said. Still in the south, you could find much of what you seem to look for in Krabi/Lanta, at more reasonable rates than the main Phuket places.

So true!

Yes, if you want to discuss "men in dresses pretending to be a woman" then you are right, it should cause no confusion which one is called "husband" and which one is called "wife". I have to admit that I am not too familiar with the differences between "cross dresser" or "men in dresses pretending to be a woman".

I think you are confusing man-man couples with man-ladyboy or man-transvestite couples. The former is the one we were discussing in my reply to the poster that asked me to clarify. I think in most married man-man couples at least in the west both will wear man's attire.

ok. A poster said that being caalled husband and wife, in the case of same sex, would cause confusion. You said, oh no confusion at all, a man married to a man comes and introduces his partner as "my husband", indeed everybody expects to see a man. I said that the opposite is less clear: a man married to a man comes and introduces his partner as "my wife", I think almost everybody expects to see a woman, hence the confusion. The society has made enough progress to recognize same-sex marriages, the language not yet. btw, the woman-woman couples are a bit different, often the one that is "the man" in the relationship does indeed dress and carry herself in a way to be easily seen as a male.

Actually I am not sure it's on Thai Immigration. If it was, they might have done a better job, judging from how they deal with 90d report reminders and so on. The TP is issued by the "tp.consular.go.th" site which seems to be sponsored by various agencies, including Health Minister among others. Perhaps they need to develop some experience. Or better, they need to go home soon with the TP abolished altogether.

I read the Telegraph article, and frankly it was a waste of time. This just about sums it up: Prof Oliver Johnson, a mathematician at the University of Bristol, told the Telegraph he was “honestly not too worried”, but said any new wave was worth keeping an eye on. He added that the variants had already swept through South Africa without causing major problems. Translated: nothing to see here, carry on.

Agreed. And EU leaders are finding it increasingly difficult to explain to their own people why is it that they have problems finding a job, a place to live, making ends meet with increasing costs, while billions in economic and military aid are sent to Ukraine and the refugees are welcomed with a red carpet. Only diplomacy will end this, not sending more weapons.

they already are, since months! Or this war would have ended within one week. The USA support (directly and through pressure on their allies) is the only reason this is dragging on.

This was the subject of several posts in this other thread. I suggested that the mods make an explicit warning to all those with TP issued before June. I guess cases like the OP's will continue to happen. It's a shame that the Thai authorities don't send an emai warning all TP holders of the new rules. Some clarifications: - the new validity window (even for those TP which report -7d,+7d) is -0d,+3d. where is 0 is the formal date of arrival into Thailand. - people in doubt can check by scanning their TP's QR code - if need to apply for a new TP pass, from submission to notification, it was 30min for me.

You told only half of the story. Now, take the case of a guy who introduces his wife... and that's a man.

yes, and at the same time if you drove a scooter instead of a car you could replace one for the other in your text and it would still hold true. it's the driving culture not what they drive. But I like your "excitement", it's one way of looking at it!

I realize this is mainly a Thai-bashing forum, and if you want to be liked you should write posts with TIT and Hub and so on. But I don't need to be liked so let me offer a positive note. I see an increasingly number of shops in Chiang Mai that ask you whether you want a plastic bag or not, and seem glad when I produce my own fabric shopping bag. I always have one or two in my backpack. And I see both Thai and Farang do the same. I also see several restaurants that package their take-aways in cardboard containers rather than styrofoam. Ditto, paper straws instead of plastic. My condo does garbage separation. I know it is a small thing compared to all the plastic, but it's a good sign and with our support it may grow bigger.

perhaps you are right. But slightly more politely: "what does it matter?" Speaking about Thais, they (and anyone else in the country) are required to present proof of vaccination already when boarding a plane in Thailand. So what's the difference when the Finnair check-in counter will ask for the same? I already noticed that Scandasia produces daily articles many of which fall in the same category of your comment. They must have a special arrangement with AN.

Similarly, you don't know that I am white, do you? I said you should not quote references you do not understand and spread misinformation, everything else is bla-bla that I am not interested in. Good bye.

I don't know, and frankly I don't care. 90d you can do online, and for me yearly extension in CM is a no brainer. I know what they want, I get an appointment, in and out in 30 min. We are guests in this country, we often tend to forget that. You want to know ridiculous? Try asking my asian wife what she has to go through at my Embassy for visiting my country, to stay with my (and now her) family.

You are not gifted in physics, are you? Then perhaps you should not quote articles that you do not understand. The catchy headline you quote is meant for the general public and to gain notoriety, maybe some interviews on American TV and such. To physicists, it's clear that this was a lab experiment designed specifically for the purpose, under conditions that do not exist in nature. Similarly, there have been experiments "demonstrating" time travel and such. Also in astrophysics there are phemomena (diffusion of a light beam from a rotating source off integalactic clouds) that can be interpreted as fast-than-light speed. Relax, laser travels at about light speed in our atmosphere, which btw is more than sufficient to fulfill the destructive purpose. Considering how many civilian aircraft have been brought down by human mistakes or errors of judgement, I am far less enthusiastic than you about this news.

I live on a planet on which the USA has all interests for this war to go on and it's them, by supplying billions of dollars of weapons (money which they don't have btw), who are propagating it. Obviously it's a different planet from yours. But trying to use common sense for a moment, it's clear that Russia will not stop if they are humiliated. Macron is (sometimes) right. Like when he said that NATO is obsolete and EU needs their own (minus USA and Canada, that is). That doesn't go well with the USA economic interests.

Let me guess... not Tasmania?

Wherever you choose to go in Thailand, please don't come to Chiang Mai. It's a horrible place, no bars, very unfriendly people who never smile, terrible climate, no greenery, no nature only traffic, immigration is the worst in the country, no attractions, abysmal medical care, no shopping places, it takes hours just to get the simplest things done, girls are ugly and so are boys and ladyboys whatever your inclination, no decent local food, no swimming pools, banks are always closed. Every expat that moved here regrets it. Special for digital nomads, there are no co-working spaces and internet here is mostly done with telnet. A coffee is 500B/hour. You have been warned.

You can take a power bank with you in your carry-on. Not in checked luggage. I don't remember when the ban started, but there were a few instances of power banks catching fire spontaneously. But it would be great to see someone hiking with a paper map, again. I love those memories, for the most part. One exception: when Lonely Planet had a map of an atoll in the Cook Islands printed with the scale wrong by a factor of two. I had to be rescued by boat at darkness.