ronnie50

Lowest minimum wage in the western world..in the world's biggest economy.

I've noticed more places add a service charge automatically to the bottom of the bill - usually 10% - and THEN another 7% VAT on top of it all. They are in the minority, but I mean should a waitress at FUJI or Greyhound (as examples) automatically get 150 or 200 baht tip, when in other places I leave maybe 40 baht?

Nah. Amateur stuff. Remember THIS guy at a Las Vegas hotel in 2017 who killed nearly 60 people and wounded 500 from his hotel window and a rapid fire weapon? Not an immigrant. A good-ol' boy from America with lots of guns. https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/las-vegas-shooting/las-vegas-police-investigating-shooting-mandalay-bay-n806461 In America, you are what you shoot.

There was a similar discussion about this a couple of months back when the US was planning to upgrade Thailand. The feeling at that time (by American posters) was that most US carriers wouldn't bother flying here to Bangkok - regardless of FAA upgrade. Maybe THAI will fly to LA again. Air Canada operates the only non-stop from Thailand to North America at present - but it's seasonal - and the seasonal flight might have already stopped now.

Hmm, worse traffic than the polluted one-way giratory of CM city? When they think their crumbled red brick wall and a dirty dried up moat is a great tourist draw, you gotta wonder about their medium-long term visitor plan. CM just gets more attention because of the old-money Chinese immigrant families that live there (e.g. higher GDP than other secondary cities). Probably half of the population is Chinese-Thai in CM. Maybe that's why the Americans band together up there. The Chinese-Thai would be suspicious of the farangs living there (competition for business). Strength in number I guess. BTW - not sure who's been to Khon Kaen in recent years, but it's also on the fast train line from Kunming, and the development of the city is almost unrecognizable. I hadn't been there for some years until a few months ago. (No, I wouldn't move there either - just making an observation).

Spot on about Chiang Mai city. Been that way for years. Retired Americans seem to gravitate to it - don't know why. Pai and Lamphung seem to be their other favorites - perhaps they have secret clubs up there.... Maybe outside of the city in the hills of Chiang Mai might be okay. Not for me though - Bangkok still number one, despite its well-reported issues.

Maybe, but post-Brexit, many miss the Romanian girls.

Fully agree. But its geographical size (e.g. similar to Phuket) worries me that it will be the next 'Phuket' even though it is not on the 'sea' but on the calmer waters of the Gulf. That would ruin it. They already can't handle the solid waste/trash.

Aside from the character support/assassination flip-flop posts, the article says she was suffering from 'renal failure' - which I believe is stage 3 or 4 of kidney disease. If treated properly with dialysis, it should have extended her life by five-ten years or so (do we know when 'renal failure' was diagnosed)? If she was heavily overweight or obese (I recall she was just overweight), perhaps this was medically induced suicide. Still - three kids left behind. Sad for them

Yes, they must know about it. Just sending a message to the US Embassy, probably, that they are still best friends with Washington and will crack down on the Chinese if Trump goes easy on the tariffs. Let's see how many American-owned Thai nominee places they bust.

So Chinese businesses in other words. Vast majority of the condos in behind Ratchadaphisek (Ruam Mit) are Chinese owned, and if you've ever been to Royal City Avenue in the last year (aka RCA), you'll see it is unrecognizable - almost all the signs, restaurants and bars are Chinese - menus, signs, etc. - no English or Thai. A couple of the big Thai nightclubs remain on RCA, but that's about it.

You forgot: "they're eating the PETS!'

George published this story back on the 14th of this month. So this is a new link. I asked this below back then, but didn't get a reply. (Anyone know if this below is a correct assumption? I really don't know if it's a one-off victory for foreign corporations or a real game-changer.) From the earlier thread I asked: 'Does this upend the Thai business model of insisting a foreign company must have a local Thai partner to do business in Thailand? So many foreign brands have been burned in the past through failed partnerships (think Carlesberg Beer among others). If a global brand no longer needs a local Thai partner (or 'Thai franchisee with nationwide marketing rights and profit sharing'), then that's huge news... right? Or am I reading too much into the court ruling (if so, why so?).'

Body scans and strip searching 18 and 19 year old girls. And a video of the striped down teens is probably circulating right now among ICE. This is the freedom these emboldened knuckledraggers now have thanks to Trump. Once they had their kicks, they deported them. Why anyone would want to go to the United States right now (with their wives or daughters is just not worth what they can do to you or your family and there's nothing you can do to stop them). Fok em. Don't go there.

The Economist also had something on this the other day. The stock market can bounce up and down, but , as the Economist points out, the sell-off of US Treasury Bonds is a major concern because the Bonds are seen as the bedrock of US financial system. It said one-third of them are held by individuals (e.g. not countries), and individuals won't bend to tariff threats or other BS. If they feel squeezed or scared, they may sell too (apparently Japan sold off billions of US Treasury Bonds last week). So not good at all. This is the thing to keep a careful watch over... not that there's much anyone else can do about it..

Too bad for Pattaya. I never liked Food Panda in Bangkok. GRAB has always been the best, at least the most convenient, but I agree not all menus are in English - seems to be the fast food places mostly that are in Thai - don't know why. There are some other food delivery ops here but I never use them - just seen them - like Robin Hood. LINE Man seems too much hassle to bother with and, as someone said, it seems to be the bottom feader or smallish places that rely on them. I just don't bother at all with LINE Man. It's not good news though that GRAB is going to have a near monopoly and it could mean longer wait times for deliveries, and even for a driver to accept the order. Some years ago, when GRAB was just getting started, I remember how odd it seemed that people would order McDonalds or Pizza Hut through GRAB when the restaurants would actually deliver for free with their own drivers.

I wonder if they have Trump's face on billboards in Chiang Mai - "Little Idaho" - I wouldn't be surprised. Paid for by "the Boys from Boise".

It will be interesting to see what Barbie has to say in the next WH briefing. Will she hide her cross?

There are no words that describe this bottom-feeding slug, are there? I always knew she was unhinged, just like so many others in her Trump camp, but why would anyone say such a thing about the death of a Pope? Maybe the hardest core member of the Ulster Nationalists? Even Iran's president, who met Pope Francis, sent condolences. What a complete POS Greene is.

Netflix and other platforms will be hotly peddling re-runs of the Tom Hanks Vatican 'who-done-its' - actually they already were - more so now.

Anyways.... Then the Pope died and this topic of conversation (my OP) is kinda moot. Lots and lots of coverage now..

Why is it paranoid? Also, I'm not in ol'Blighty so not monitoring Channel 4 or the footie. I was making a general global reference. Not much news and nothing evident (advertised) on Netflix.

Sure, I wasn't making reference to Thailand. I meant what's out there in general - world news and Netflix

Happy Easter to those observing Easter weekend. While I'm not very religious, what I'm 'observing' is an almost invisible media presence of Easter and its significance in the Christian calendar. It's quite easy for those of us not all that religious to almost not even notice the annual event while living in Thailand. Maybe no surprise. But World News on this site has nothing about it. And the mainstream media isn't exactly doing any big coverage either - just a sort of auto-reflex. The Pope's message, King Charles' message, etc., are there if you look for it (a couple of links below). But what I find most curious is the absence of any Netflix headliner. It's not even on my main Netflix page, nothing under any genre (e.g. no Jesus on the cross films). Anyway, just an observation. It's still early on Easter Sunday in Europe and the Americas of course, so maybe there will be more coverage later. Will Trump attend a service? Links: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/20/europe/pope-easter-blessing-sunday-appearance-pneumonia-intl/index.html https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a64505384/king-charles-queen-camilla-easter-sunday-2025-photos/

It's worth mentioning the case of the Hi-So Benz killer of two post-graduate students in 2016. The driver of the Benz, 37 year old Janepob Veeraporn, high on meth and anti-depression meds, smashed through a tollway barrier in broad daylight at high speed and continued on at high speed until rear-ending a car carrying the two young students. According to the article below, as of 2020 it 'appears' as though he was incarcerated at that time, and had also paid compensation to the families of the deceased. I say 'appears' because I can't find anything newer in English media. In the article below the Appeals Court increased his sentence by 4 years but the 'Department of Corrections' were already considering a parole request within a few months of his imprisonment. Google is a deadend. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1979487/janepob-paid-b17m-in-compensation