soalbundy

He's looking for luuuuv outside holy hours. It's just a phase he's going through and I dare say he's been through a lot and not just the monks.

Just the normal lies and meaningless slogans we feed the mob with at election time is what he meant.

Not protesters, enthusiastic supporters (spin doctors bread and butter exercise)

A day's outing to look for watch parts at the site.

Premeditated murder? doesn't sound as if he meditated on it much. He must be brain dead to admit that, a crime of passion, self defense, anything would have gotten him a lighter sentence, he obviously isn't the sharpest knife in the box.

Not very falang friendly, didn't he once suggest getting rid of all road direction signs containing English words, only Thai allowed? I think his appointment will cause street riots, it's pretty blatant isn't it, we don't give a s*** about what you want.

So basically he is confirming PT will form a government in two weeks.

No, even I'm not keen on being British, here he has extended family, farmland, two houses and will be studying (16 yrs old) What would he have in the UK.....nothing and another citizenship could be a disadvantage in the future. I would have considered it but for Brexit. If we were still in the EU he could have chosen to live in any European country without hassle.

No, just a normal retirement visa. At my old address I had a marriage visa. When my son was born I had to legalize our father/son relationship at a court of law so perhaps that's how immigration got the details.

Cambodia is a good alternative, no way would I go back to the UK, after more than a 50 year absence it is a foreign country as far as I'm concerned. I think however the worry is blown out of all proportion, I can remember the last changes to the regulations......and here we all are, worrying again.

I don't know, obviously things like where I used to live with my wife has come from the yellow book when I relocated to a different province, That they knew about me being investigated for the suitability of being a co-carer with my partner of two small children in our household (I now take care of their children) has come from the Youth welfare office (a very detailed investigation with lots of interviews with her relatives, the children and possibly contact with German authorities as they knew of my divorce in Munich, took 3 months), I being a foreigner they probably reported the findings to immigration. That I hadn't left Thailand was apparent because I had never applied for a re-entry permit. I don't know why they should know about my son except that my name was on the birth certificate although why it should be necessary to inform immigration of his birth, he being Thai, I can't imagine. I have the feeling that they know more about us than we realize.

How did you deserve that? Only once did an officer call down the 'big boss' from his office to 'investigate' me, she couldn't understand why an Englishman received a German pension, the German embassy letter wouldn't ally her fears that I was a fraud, she had never heard of the EU. The boss was quite puzzled by her confusion and opened up my file on the computer for her to see. From the ensuing conversation I was amazed about what they knew about me, a lot of private stuff, Where I used to live in Thailand, that I had been checked and found suitable to look after my partners 2 small daughters (I am estranged from my Thai legal wife), when my son was born and that he only had Thai citizen ship, that I had never left Thailand for a holiday back home etc. He then explained the EU to her and finished with the words, "Extend his Visa", gave me a smile and left.

You are letting your imagination run away with you. The Chinese aren't any more important than any other nation except possibly as a flavour of the month. No country can plan years ahead, world politics are too volatile for that. Thailand is all about Thailand they are a pragmatic bunch (see Russia/Ukraine war), they always hedge their bets. I've never felt enmity towards falangs (here in Isaan) in fact just the opposite. A few years ago the wife and went to the IO very early, before they had opened and watched all the officers perform their flag saluting ceremony, the boss gave them a pep talk about being fair and friendly to their customers and to help the falang where they could.

Why get your knickers in a twist about something that probably won't happen. Hakparn had a bad hair day about some criminal elements which reflected badly on him and made some remarks about being stricter with the laws, so now you extrapolate from that that he will lead a crusade against retirees who have been here for years, I don't think so, Thailand has a record of 'clamping down', it lasts all of 3 days. I've been here nearly 20 years without ever leaving and have never had a problem with visa extensions, I am on the 65k/month route, maybe eventually they will bump it up but I doubt it will be exaggerated. Have you ever considered that the IO needs us as a justification for their existence, (hence the 90 day nonsense) a mass exodus is not what they want.

That would be superfluous for anyone who has been here 20 years, the Thai police would have to issue it.

Yes, there isn't a great deal at stake here. Democracy is an over rated word anyway, most people will go their whole lives without being confronted by constitutional matters or having to speak with their MP. As for 'Western democracy' if we take the UK as an example, there is no proportional representation in government, just winner takes all and an unelected House of Lords and a huge disparity in the distribution of wealth. More important than parliament is an Independent judiciary (providing you can afford a lawyer) and a free press but the media is owned by the elite. The majority of people get by just fine under a benign dictatorship or a pseudo democracy like Thailand, a little excitement only happens at election time but soon calms down and life goes on in its own chaotic way.

It isn't Bangkok per se but more likely arrivals at swampy who then get a connecting flight elsewhere.

No, that's just transferring responsibility. Accept instead of expecting. It is as it is, there is nothing else, start from there. He could be mentally ill, in which case he doesn't have a starting point. Drugs and/or alcohol as an escape perhaps but then he was expecting instead of accepting. 2,000 years ago the stoic philosopher and Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius said, "You can't control outside circumstances but you can control your reaction to them" that is as true today as it was then.

I think you are talking about the second crop, where I am in Isaan they don't have a second crop and the present Jasmin rice is coming along fine, harvest in Dezember.

So Thai farmers should get a decent price this year, it's an ill wind that blows no good

Nothing wrong with the world as long as you accept it for what it is and stop trying to change it.

A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.............Lao Tzu

Too many horses in the coral confuses the traders.

admirable qualifications for a high office in any government.

The disappointment may be large in one camp while there is relief in the other. I don't know, so I am assuming, that many Thais (if one includes, as one must, the old and middle aged) are traditionalists and that changes to paragraph 112 wasn't popular with them, whoever wins there will always be losers who will feel disenfranchised (an exaggeration). Whatever system is in place it is never perfect. No system is written in stone and if it were it can be chipped away piece by piece, as is happening now, no need for a bulldozer.