cmsally

Felt it in CM this morning. Had a feeling it wasn't a local one, they tend to be more abrupt or rolling. This one shook the building and caused leaves on the trees to "knock together".

From what I have heard, a lot of Chinese coming to Thailand for the international education. The ones I have spoke to said cheaper than China, but not sure where in China they came from.

Maybe happiness is actually not a state but rather the absence of melancholy ?

All the rumours I heard were of places with a type of show and lantern release. They seemed to think north of CM.

Interesting , so the rumours I have been hearing are turning out to be true ! Was there by any chance more than one of this type of event.

3 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Section 39. Any person who is an insured person under section 33, has paid contribution for a period of not less than twelve months and, subsequently ceases to be insured person in pursuance of section 38(2)*, if such person wishes to continually be insured person, he or she shall, within six months from the date of his or her termination to be insured person, notify his or her statement to the Office according to the regulations prescribed by the Secretary – General.

 

*38 (2) cessation of being an employee.

 

Whatever you do, always check the the Social Security Office first as new subordinate regulations are issued from time to time. 

I remember an American friend being rejected and told she needed 13 months instead of the 12 months paid for on her year contract!

15 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Don't quote me, but I heard it was 15 months you must work.

It used to be 13 months contributions. A lot of people used to get caught out as they pulled out at 12 months!!

21 minutes ago, echrist said:

Maybe it's incorrect, but I heard women did not have to take the oath since they are considered as adopting their husband's citizenship instead of changing their citizenship. 

That was the conclusion I reached too. Will have to see if it is true.

22 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

I thought everyone had to do the oath.

 

So did I, I think I will just wait and see on that. But the head police guy who did everything said no. Very confusing.

Haven't taken an oath. I was told after file sent to BKK then I just wait for my name to be announced.

10 hours ago, Neeranam said:

How long does it take from the MoI interview these days until getting ID card?

So far 18 months since I passed interview and paperwork sent off to BKK. There was another round of successful female applicants announced just a few weeks ago, but I wasn't on it!

Can't say I miss the fire lanterns. This year has been the first in many that I haven't had to sprint down the soi with a very heavy fire extinguisher.

Don't advise a hose and water as most of the fires they start involve some kind of electrics.

If you start reading about the history of this guy it gets quite interesting! He certainly had his ups and downs.

https://futurism.com/neoscope/google-project-nightingale-medical-records

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/14/google-healthcare-data-ascension

https://www.wired.com/story/google-is-slurping-up-health-dataand-it-looks-totally-legal/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jilliandonfro/2019/11/11/google-ascension-project-nightingale-electronic-medical-rehttps://www.wired.com/story/google-is-slurping-up-health-dataand-it-looks-totally-legal/cords/#700c63707a0a

Woopeedoo, Down to the countryside.

16 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

There is currently no exception for SS, Tricare or (except for the onitial yrar of entry) foreign insurance. One of several major flaws with this scheme.

What about foreigners who are married to Thai spouses who are government employees? That would be applicable for quite a number of expats, although probably not the ones on OA visas.

For starters missing an objective pronoun (after prepared) and the word population should probably be proportion.

Should be an interesting 120 hrs!!!

From what I could see most lanterns were heading approx NW. Therefore any landing at the airport came from maybe Mae Hia/Lamphun/Ban Tawai areas.

55 minutes ago, Nicknoodle said:

I don't live in Chiang Mai but I have spent a considerable amount of time there in the last 7 years. I have only seen a minimal increase in hotels, but as earlier mentioned on this thread, the increase in numbers is only attributed to "guesthouses" now being licenced. In regard to numbers, you can ask any hotel, any bar, any travel agent, they will all say the same thing, numbers of tourists is well down year on year. But one thing I have personally noticed is that there are many more independent Chinese tourists booking cheaper hotels instead of being on tours and paying through the nose. This has in turn has caused the cheaper end hotels to increase in price. If, as per this article states, the number of hotels was up, but the number of guests was pretty much the same then I have no doubt that the hotel prices would have dropped, but they haven't! Always gotta love the Thai statements that are so obviously false. 555

If places at the lower end got licensed, then it would have cost them a considerable amount . Impossible to drop rates or keep them the same if you have to fork out that amount of cash. There is also the phenomena of thinking that a vast upgrade and entry into more middle market would make it much more profitable. Not necessarily the case as CM has a vast glut in the middle market.

13 minutes ago, khunPer said:

Do you think that "booking.com" represent all hotels in Chiang Mai?

I would say a good 70-80 % . I can think of some places not on Booking.com, but not too many. Then there are some which are condos, rooms on AirBnB only.

38 minutes ago, 0815 said:

... and owned by Chinese companies.

Would be nice to see some statistics of how many of the new places are built on 30 year leases held by Chinese are by proxy companies funded by Chinese. I think it is quite  a few.

For some reason I awoke with thoughts of the Great Leap Forward which of course was followed by the great famine/crash. Except this time we will probably all be going along for the ride!

8 minutes ago, LomSak27 said:

 

I worked in both Korea and Japan and still have passable Korean. Hey Don't believe me, get your hiney out there to both walking streets next week and see if I'm wrong. Check out out Airport and Festival malls while you're at it. Don't just sit at the keyboard, cyber whinge-ing & reading footie scores. Get out there, do some first hand reconnaissance. Make us proud!!

 

 

 

 

 

I would agree with that , have heard a lot of Japanese and Korean being spoken. Also Chinese around, but not so noticeably skewed towards Chinese as in the last few years.

Definitely lanterns being let off from Ping River area but probably only a few locations. Much less in the way of noise and fireworks. Seemed pretty quiet compared to previous years, but then downtown in previous years has often resembled a warzone. Accommodation at the lower end has been booked out for the Loy Kratong days but after is anyones guess. Anyone in business for many years in CM might be thinking about the old tale of the hare and the tortoise. Hares are mostly toast.