soalbundy

This morning I went to immigration to get my 18th visa extension in their swanky new building, it was the first time I had been in it. To my surprise my normal officers with whom I have friendly relationships were nowhere to be seen. During the course of signing a 100 documents a woman officer pulled my wife aside and asked where I work ;- Wife "He doesn't work, he's retired" IO "How can he possibly get so much money each month from a pension" wife "He does, it is verified by the German embassy, you have the letter" IO "It just seems suspicious, an Englishman getting a large German pension, where did he work" wife " We have explained this in the past, we've been coming here for 17 years without problems, where are the usual officers?" IO "Since we have had the new big boss (big joke?) all officers get moved around to different IO offices to prevent familiarity which could lead to corruption" wife (haunches up and claws out) "Are you accusing us of corruption" IO " No, no, no, of course not, it's just that these days we have to be very careful that we aren't lied to" wife "check your computer and you will see how long we have been coming here" IO "No need for that, sorry, didn't mean to cause offence, the visa will be ready in 10 minutes" So, looks like stricter times so dot the 'i's' and cross the 't's' but this being Thailand it's probably a flash in the pan, a new broom sweeps clean until tea break.

You can't blame refugees (or economic migrants) for trying to get a better life (although if that is their goal the UK is the wrong place) The fault lies in the system.

If those are working in the UK then they are paying taxes and providing a (usually) high quality service, those who are a nuisance can be refused a residents permit, the laws are in place, they just have to be applied.

A Schroedinger's cat question.

He was having a panic attack, not quite the adventurous person willing to take the world by storm...he was attacked by diversity, threatened by adverts and scammed by packaging. ????

Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be.

Like, drunk in charge of a lawn mower?

If they knew all about me it would bore them to death

Reminds me of some humorous banter one can have with a falang. In Chiang mai I often ate at a small road side cafe tucked away in a small soi. The owner and cook was an Englishman. One day he made a very good meal and I congratulated him ;- Me "well, you're certainly improving" Cook "I'm glad you enjoyed it" Me "But I didn't enjoy it, however you are getting better at it" That would have been pistols at dawn instead of laughter if he had been a Thai, I do miss the funny dark humour and sarcasm of England. Thais don't do sarcasm, even my Thai/British 15 year old son who speaks perfect English doesn't understand it, it just annoys him.

Yeah, to hell with the mortgage, let's max out our credit cards on a holiday in Thailand, to hell with the interest rates.

There is also a big difference in 'attitude', you can make a Thai lose face without meaning to so easily that social interactions can be a mine field, you have to be very careful with friendly banter. I have a Thai neighbour, he is about 50 years old so younger than me, we had a very easy going friendly relationship. He offered to help me paint the outside of my house, he started mixing one bucket of paint with too much water so I stopped him and jokingly pointed to the instructions, "it says here one to four not half and half", he blushed profusely and turned his face away, I then suddenly realized through his response that he couldn't read Thai and I as a falang could, it was a huge loss of face. Nothing was said openly about him being illiterate but we both understood, it was the end of our easy going relationship, still friendly but distant. I had simply assumed that, like Europe, everybody could read, my bad.

How much did she rip you off ?

I don't understand where they get the money from, either things aren't as drastic in the West as the media would have us believe or this is the last surge before the great recession.

You can see it in their shifty eyes.

I live in a Thai village near the Cambodian border and drive to the market town to shop. Although the Thais here don't have that much money they all make an effort to dress well in public as do most of the few falangs here but there are the inevitable minority who have seriously let themselves go, it looks disgusting.

Thais form their true friends in childhood and they are basically regarded as family, very strong bonds, while casual easy going friendships are formed at the place of work. I don't think a falang will ever get past a friendly acquaintance stage of relationship. I have a good reputation in my village and have friendly relationships with everybody, I'm greeted by name on the street by people whose names I don't know but I can't say that I have what one would call a friend here, neither Thai or falang actually but I'm not looking for it either, I'm comfortable with the way it is.

So his privates have just gone social, not really news but inappropriate behaviour by falangs (especially Brits) is not so rare; my pet hate are unshaven, fat, hairy, middle aged men dressed in just a vest, shorts and flip flops shopping in Tesco among well dressed Thais, makes me cringe every time.

A lot of high ranking people who serve the people and protect the nation rely on it being illegal for extra income.

Errrrr, the description is accurate though the way your avatar is presented he could have said blackhead.

close my eyes and pretend it was a bad dream

Yes I admit it is gloomy. In the past only one or two major countries got into economic difficulties and there was always a saviour on the horizon be it America, China or the IMF but now there is no saviour coming to the rescue, both the big players, the USA and China have economic problems, the mighty Dollar is being challenged as a reserve currency (only talk at the moment) because the Saudis are considering taking the Yuan as payment for oil which would open the flood gates, the US would lose their reserve status and the Dollar would collapse, Americans would have to live within their means and this would have a disastrous effect on Europe. The Chinese are balancing a tight rope with housing debt and massive corruption. QE is no longer an option for central banks, it was the substratum of our problems today so what do they do, raise interest rates every three months to get inflation under control (see Argentina with rates of 75%) but this strangles industry and companies are already over leveraged as it is. One option is now being considered, a world wide digital economy which would give governments total control of your money. There are are also whispers of going back to the gold standard (perhaps why many countries have been buying up gold recently) Whatever, it is now generally recognized that just tweaking the system as before wont do it any more, the system is broken, it can limp on for a few more years to give the technocrats time to build a new system, I have the sneaking feeling that it wont be to the advantage of Mr and Mrs Smith.

Yes, the golden years are over, at least for the next two or three years (probably longer) but it has nothing to do with visa lengths or general Thai incompetence and corruption. The world economic system is breaking down,, the central banks world wide are out of money and out of ideas while all nations are awash with debt and inflation, it's what happens when you print 7 trillion dollars of QE. Potential tourists have no discretionary spending money to go on holiday, they can't even pay their electricity and gas bills without government (borrowed) money. The pandemic, QE and the Ukraine/Russian war has shown up the vulnerability of FIAT currencies, Governments no longer steer the ship, central banks and the stock markets have all the power ( Liz Truss in the UK) and now they too are coming apart at the seams, scary times! There is no chance for Thailand, or anywhere else, to attract hoards of tourist willing to upload their Dollars, Euros, Rubles or Yuan, the era of funny money is collapsing.

Well in Isan there are loads of kids from toddlers to 16 year old's, after that it gets a bit bleak, then tho 50 to 80 year old's take over, many of the 20 to 40 year old's are all working in Bangkok and the kids are left with the grandparents.

L at the end of a Thai word is pronounced N

Surely there are laws regarding keeping an animal in unsuitable conditions, aka animal cruelty, alternatively people could protest by not going to the shopping center. I wonder how many ways the 30 million is to be split, such a lot of money can confuse some authorities about moral duty.