ronnie50

I've done all of those. My vote is Tokyo or Osaka to break up the journey. I didn't like Taipei because the airport sucked, regardless of whether flying China Air or EVA - nothing was open airside. But I think they have a newer airport now. Perhaps better. HKG is good for Cathay Pacific (which is a good airline - One World partner), and a good airport, but you're looking at a 12-14 hour onward flight from there. They also have this annoying habbit of not boarding by zone or rows like other airports, so if you're in economy class you could end up in a line/queue that runs for hundreds of meters. By the time you get on, there's no overhead storage left.

I am truly curious. Do the golf courses have short-time rooms (typically)?

To play along with the nice caddie girl routine, if it were me, and so it didn't appear too transactional, I'd first meet her for a few drinks near a short-time hotel, then suggest she join you there. At the end you give her a 'tip' and thank her for being a good caddie. Probably 1,500 - 2,000 but I don't really know - like I said I don't golf 😉

Dunno. Don't golf 🙃

Ask yourself a few helpful questions with hopefully self-intuitive answers. 1. Why are they all female cadies and shagable? 2. Why are they in a job that requires them to work outside in the hot sun, when Thai women hate to be in the sun? 3. Why would she want your LINE ID/number? (never share that) 4. She works every day for some different guy as his caddie, do you think maybe she goes through the same routine at the end of each round? 5. Were there short-time rooms available at the golf course? Check next time. 6. Does she want short time or something longer? (She'll probably take what ever comes along, but now that she has your LINE...) Nothing is free as all well know. There's always an angle here.

Antifa time in Minnesota

Fully agree!!

So where exactly are we with this? Did Anutin get shuffled or not? I've seen conflicting media reports.. Has it been concluded?

Are you a coup supporter?

I don't think they will hit that mark either. He's right about the unwashed masses though. It's maybe anecdotal - everything we read about the kee nok riff-raff being welcomed with open arms to try to (never) substitute the 20-30 million Chinese - but there is surely a sense that the main tourist areas like Pattaya walking street and Soi Bangla on Phuket have become horrible if not dangerous (more than ever before). The notion that Thailand can come up with some plan to attract only well-healed tourists by the millions is infantile wishful thinking.

Modern Thailand and its nationalists don't want to acknowledge that 'Thailand/Siam' was historically part of the Khmer Empire. In the Thai movies and lacorn, it's always Siamese versus Burmese armies - never Khmer. Also downplayed or ignored is the Japanese occupation and collaboration in WWII.

No. The American police were the first in the democratised world to become militarized. More Americans in prison per capita than any other country - many for petty offenses. The US is basically a police state and has been for 20-30 years now. It's true police in other western countries have followed that path unfortunately. But they haven't privatized their prisons to make it profitable to jail as many as possible.

It's just a war of words to make the leaders look strong. The media are stretching it as far as they can.

Netanyahu, Pinochet, Saddam, all US Presidents that I can think of, Stalin, many right-wing Central and South American leaders... Hitler and Putin of course ..

Exactly. Two things obvious here. Exagerated headline in this thread - and anyway Hun Sen is playing to a home crowd. Why would Thailand care if Cambodia stops showing Thai movies. Permanently closing one of several border crossings is an inconvenience. But none of this is a significant escalation in any sense.

I still think there's something fishy going on with all these arrests for 'smuggling' weed. Sure, they could all be mules but like you say where is the incentive versus risk. Doesn't the UK have any of its own grow ops?? The other thing that's odd is the lack of information reported about the actual arrests. How, when and where did the authorities find the weed in all these cases? Tip offs for all of them? Scanning of luggage or dog sniffers airside before the transfer to the luggage carousel? Or after the passengers collected their bags in the terminal? One or two busts is feasible, but not half a dozen, all coming from Thailand (BKK), and all within 6 months. If they all say the same thing to the authorities about their innocence then the Bangkok airport's baggage handlers could be involved with partners in crime working in baggage at the UK (to intercept the switched contents).

Flying in an easterly direction is usually faster than the other way. Yes, it's the jetstream I believe that gives the plane a tailwind - sometimes a very big one.

I don't typically answer calls from an unknown mobile number. Pretty sure I'm not the only one who doesn't answer.. They should send an email first..

Yes. It's only CP (Lotus's) and Central group (Big C, Tops) now - the European/British partners are all gone. Who owns Villa - is it Central Pattana now? Has Foodland ever expanded in the last decade? I don't think so..

I was in the location at CentralWorld last week. Seemed normal. But it wouldn't surprise me if M&S is pulling out of Thailand. Over the years they've stopped selling much of their food and only have sweets and biscuits now (like you noted). There was some cereal too that I saw. But everything is quite expensive and much of the food seems to be close to expiry. Some years ago, the owners, Central Pattana, or Central group, also imported some great frozen food from Sainsbury's - but I don't see much (if any) of it these days. Maybe the partnerships have reached their end.

I've wondered about that in other places like Bangkok too. The big question is who owns them? Is there a certain small group of people that own the majority of them? I doubt they are all individually owned by sole proprietors. Money laundering comes to mind.

What I don't get is why the cost of food in Thai supermarkets keeps rising. And that rise affects both domestically produced food/drinks and imported (why the latter with a weakening USD - it should be cheaper not more expensive?) Examples: Tipco's fresh/chilled 1L juices are now 109 baht - up from around 99 baht at the beginning of the year (all supermarkets) - so that's domestic. Bon Cafe - was roughly 150-160 at the beginning of the year. In the most popular Western-style supermarket in Thailand it is now 220 baht - a huge rise - so that's imported (though I see the price hasn't risen as sharply in the bigger Thai supermarkets).

Right. I also wonder what was the motivation of SCB's senior officer to make this statement. On the surface it looks like he's just trying to drum up business in SCB's hedging advice department. But predicting the baht will strengthen later this year follows rather closely to the government's encouragement to get Thais with money overseas to repatriate those funds. In other words, 'bring that money back soon or it will cost you more'. Quid pro quo? Also, the baht is already over-valued many (most) would agree, and while the US dollar may well continue to depreciate, as the article predicts, that would only partially justify the possibility of a stronger baht.

Not called the seven year itch for nothing. Within a year or two of marriage, there is usually a kid or two, the house is purchased and there is financial security - bored with her spouse, the wife wants a fresh relationship and thus divorce - and she'll take more than her share. I have a friend back home that told me his wife asked him to get the snip around 7 years in, he did, and a month after that she told him she didn't love him anymore and wanted a divorce. I told him he should have sued her. He said "I've already had my kids" and so he left it at that. The other guy was already in the picture I recall.

BTW, an Air India flight with 244 people just crashed shortly after takeoff. Headed for London Gatwick, There is video of the crash. A bit grainy - but it looks like the flaps weren't set for takeoff. BBC has live coverage https://www.indiatoday.in/india/video/video-captures-moment-air-india-ahmedabad-london-flight-crashed-after-take-off-2739732-2025-06-12 BBC link https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c8d1r3m8z92t Says 53 Brits on board.