ronnie50

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/

This should be in the news section but it's not...like so many others that shoud be. Maybe they are just being accidentally overlooked.

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?).

The thing that I really wonder is whether the PooYais that let Thaksin come back on the same day that his party (eventually) formed the coalition government still think all is ok and their 'plan' worked. "Is everything still going to their plan?" By 'their' I mean the unholy trinity of oligarchs-amart-military/royalists. What did they hope to gain through this? What did they gain? Was it all just to form a coalition with his party so they could still govern and access the power/money? Are they ok with his increasing over-reach? Will they try to shut him down (again) - or is this Thaksin big-footing 'part of their big plan?' Who knows. Yes, his daughter is a puppet - that's obvious - but interesting fun-fact: she was just named one of the World Economic Forum's 'Young Global Leaders 2025' - are they just deluded, or was there some strategic reason they included her name? https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/3004517/world-economic-forum-names-three-thais-as-young-global-leaders

The usual tourist trope websites claim 'rainy season' in Thailand is May - October. In fact we, all know each region of the country can have variations - like the south (Phuket, Samui and even Koh Chang during December peak season where it can rain heavy at times in December). But even Bangkok has seen rain and high humidity continuing on into 2nd week of December during last 5-10 years. It used to stop in first week of November 20 years ago - but not any more.

I can't understand why the Thai national government needs to build such large structures for its government offices, when it has such a comparitively small economy and tax base. For example, look at the comparison of similar government office structures between Thailand and the UK. The UK is a member of the G7 - which a massive budget and infrastructure compared to Thailand. Audit offices UK Thai (artist conception of 38 floor Audit Office) Budget office (UK) Budget 'Bureau' Thailand (also around 38 floors) I mean, I can 'guess' why such big "public" infratructure projects are 'needed' (maybe they are needed, but both seem grossly disproportional to the number of staff and work that would go on there. And the amount of spending required from such a relatively small tax base raises Qs)

Last night's rain in Bangkok (15th) was phenomenal for this time of year. It was a lightning and thunder show that was sustained for at least 20 minutes (heavy). I've never seen a Bangkok deluge like that in April - it was like October. Flooded streets, some localized power cuts,

Mazda SUV CX-5 S is a great car to drive. Mine has 2.5 L petrol. Hard to find in Thailand now. Biggest engine they have now seems to be 2.2. They are pricey though, as they are assembled in Malaysia and not Thailand. Not sure if duty or what the reason but you can pay 1.6 - 1.7 million baht for top of the line. You could import one from Japan - shipping is remarkably cheap - but Thai duty is not. Japan-made usually better IMO (but with Japanese language gauges). You may also like the MG SUVs made in China - I think they have EV options too. Similar look to the Mazda CX-5 but cheaper. End of the day, how the car feels when driving is at the top of my list. That's why I bought the CX-5. A bit older now. But read the reviews for newest models before you take the leap on any car and definitely test drive first.