Andrew65

"Don't rock the boat!".????

An old British friend has 2 half-Thai daughters. He said it has always been incredibly hard to get them to speak English, even though he knows that they can, quite well. It's almost like it's embarrassing for them to speak English.

There must be millions of Thais in Bangkok from upcountry, places like Buri Ram, and they do all kinds of jobs. I spent nearly 20 years living in Bangkok, and most of the Thais who I asked weren't originally from Bangkok.

As far as COVID goes, testing negative is a positive????

Some years ago an old Scottish friend came down with meningitis just over a week after he arrived in Bangkok, almost died. I suspected that he caught it on the 12 hour flight over, planes are like flying petri-dishes.

In my almost 20 years in Thailand that worked well for me. Also, if we're visibly drunk we become even more of a 'target'.

Not that I ever did this, but in my years in Thailand I heard people say many times that drinking with Thai men wasn't a good idea.

What does a chav look like?

I remember about 15 years ago they reckoned they were going to make Koh Chang a high-end kind of place, never happened. I had a very wealthy (probably $10 million+) Swedish friend who spent many years living in Thailand. His thoughts were that Thailand was not developed enough or 'clean' enough for him. For some years he had talked of going to live in Spain.

Might be to do with it being a sh***y job on equally crappy money, with a total bell**d for a boss!?????

I've never believed what are quoted as the unemployment numbers in Thailand, usually 1%. In Western countries it's said that realistically the number is unlikely to be under 5%. Thailand doesn't have a welfare system where such numbers would come from.

If I had only ever spent my entire life in Thailand I wouldn't see anything wrong with the standard of driving in Thailand.

Quite recently I had a driving assessment by a proper driving examiner in the UK. My biggest fault was starting to change lanes before I had actually started to indicate. On the subject of Thai drivers, I doubt that many of them could pass the UK driving test.

I've long thought that many Thais would like that too.

One of my old haunts, I'd heard the rumours. Wondering if it has managed to survive? I believe the local constabulary have an 'interest' in it.

There's been talk for many years that Nana Plaza was to be redeveloped, maybe this will be a catalyst? (There was talk for about 10 years that Washington Square was to be redeveloped......then it wasn't.......and then it was).

It's also strict in the UK. And if you want to see what seriously harsh penalties are for drink driving, Norway is the place.

They can bring in all the laws they want, but law enforcement is their big problem. As "The Economist" would say, they have a 'weak rule of law'.

Air China is from the People's Republic of China, China Airlines is Taiwanese, as is Eva Air (a nice airline).

"Cotton Mather"????

2-5 has been a thing for a long time, with shops. There is a loophole, if you're buying 10 litres or more, because of businesses needing it. So, next time you're out of booze at 14:45, you can just head around to 7/11 and buy 14 bottles of whisky, no problemo!????

Up until 2006 there was still 24 hour drinking, I'm sure the law was brought in to try to stop children from drinking booze.

About the same as Geordies and Glaswegians teaching English?

I have an old friend who speaks virtually no Thai, and he's been living there for 15 years. His attitude is that it's easier for him if Thais just learn to speak English.

Why should they? I never hear British people in the UK speaking French or Spanish to each other, never.