JimHuaHin

God appears to be upset with Florida.

What a distressing read; especially the posts from people, life myself, who have lived in Thailand for 10+ years and have been visiting Thailand for more than 50 years. Nothing changes, as the rich and powerful will ensure that any changes which do take place will not disadvantage them in any way. I recently read an academic article by two Thai academics about "contract farmers" and a powerful agribusiness company. The company concerned pressured Thai law makers to "weaken" the draft law on the rights of the contract farmers; when they only partially succeeded in weakening the law, the company then pressured the relevant government department to not enforce the new laws. Result - farmers' poverty increased, the company got richer. TIT. Of course, the company cannot be named, due to Thai defamation laws (which contravene the "Western" understanding of "defamation"). Want to change the system? Learn from the experiences of the Move Forward Party and the Future Forward Party - if you are lucky, you have a warning to stop pushing for change, if not, then there is time in prison, and, if that does not change your attitude, finally death (sorry, I mean you disappear). When the cancers of corruption and cronyism extend from the top to the bottom of a society, there is no treatment, no cure, only a slow painful death.

What about the army? During some extensive flooding about 6-7 years ago in Prachuap Khiri Khan and Chumphon, the then prime minister ordered military rescue teams with rescue crafts to travel hundreds of kilometres from Central Thailand to assist in rescue efforts and to help supply food, water and medications to those isolated by flood waters - have there been any reports of similar efforts this year?

I received a letter from my Australian bank yesterday, dated 15-09-24. But still waiting for voting papers for the March 2024 Queensland Local Government elections.

Short answer "No way"!

Nevertheless, some imported foods - such as jams and spreads, and frozen vegetables - are 2-4 times more expensive than the prices listed at Coles and Woolies in Australia. And even when the Thai Baht increases significantly against the Ozzie Dollar, the Baht price still goes up!!!

Vegemite at several Thai outlets (eg Gourmet Market, Villa Market (?)) still costs Baht 169, which has been the price for 11+ years).

LOL. I have been hearing and reading about this "issue" for over 50 years; I am sill waiting for some effective action.

Thailand - hub of corruption. Thai Prime Minister moved to tears over the 23 deaths. Well Prime Minister, what are you going to do to solve this problem? Or has daddy said, mai pen rai? The ball is your court Prime Minister.

Where did Visa do their survey? Bangkok CBD?

F1 in Bangkok? With Bangkok's high quality roads and never any traffic jams? Dream on.

Dr Nicha at MedPark Hospital, Bangkok, is excellent, in my experience (trained in Boston, USA).

Very dark clouds in Hua Hin now, 1630ish.

Response - Option 3.

Thailand, the land of corruption, cronyism, scams and unrealistic hubs, where powerful business families and local marfia families will exterminate any threat to their profits.

I rented a high-end condo on Sukhumvit, Bangkok for 7 months (on a monthly basis agreement) back in 1997. I informed the management 2 months in advance that I would be checking out on date x. Upon checkout, the management informed me that they were waiting for approval from the owner to return my 2-months deposit, and would send me a cheque. It never arrived. I rented a house in Hua Hin starting about 11 years ago; about 5 years ago the house sold. The new owner, a farang, from a small northern European country, who wanted to move into the house with his family, drew up a new lease permitting me to stay for a few months while I searched for new accommodation. No damage was done to the house, and I paid for house cleaning upon departure. The new farang owner claimed there was damage to the house facilities, which he could not identify (the house was in exactly the same condition when he inspected the house prior to purchase), so he only repaid half my 2-months deposit.

Come on TAT ..... opportunity - "Visit Amazing Thailand Trash". Or .... Thailand "Trash Hub".

Maybe the gods/spirits are sending a message - no more Shins in power?

The heading does not indicate what was stated in the article " He confirmed that no major storm is expected to impact Thailand within the specified timeframe."

As some have noted above, mission impossible. There have been many books and countless reports and articles published on this topic of recent decades, which would take hours to summarise. But to keep it simple - major attitude adjustment and effective policy implementation required. Change the tax system, and tax the Thai billionaires' of wealth. Increase the human capital of all Thais via life-long education. Provide all workers with a minimal living wage and all on welfare with a living benefit. Reduce the number of foreign workers in Thailand (especially those being paid less than minimum wages). Every adult resident in Thailand MUST be issued a TIN, and all subjected to tax (although many on welfare will not have to pay tax). Use more technology in government operations, thus reducing the size of the civil/public service. Change the laws - anyone involved in corruption will receive 5+ years in a real prison plus their family will be fined 25% of their assent; increased punishment for repeat offenders). And deal with the marfia families; Taksin did it with drug dealers (not so well), but I am sure all good devote Buddhists would like to see an end to marfia operations.

Firstly, georgegeorgia made no reference to sexual intercourse, why are most the responding replies referring to sex? Although HIV PrEP is useful in prevention HIV infection (if taken within 72 hours of sexual contact) and doxycyline (100 mg twice a day, for 7-14 days, depending on the infection and is complexity) is useful for some STD/STI infections; to my knowledge, there are no medications that prevent the spread of HSV1 or HSV2, both of which can be transmitted asymtomatically. Secondly, and finally, antibiotics should be used sparingly, under medical advice, and with care. There is in the world, today, an over prescription of antibiotics and an associated growing number of non-viral infections that are resistant to antibiotics. By needlessly taking antibiotics one is developing a tolerance to these antibiotics which will reduce their effectiveness when later use is required, and increasing the change of antibiotic-resistant bacterial and fungal infections developing.

Is it 1 April already?

Short answers, from a fellow man from down under - no (unless you slip, slop and slap), yes, yes.

All these images from the media on the extensive flooding in Isan and Lanna are obviously AI-generated fakes, is that not correct Minister Anutin?

Father died at 66, liver cancer; mother died at 74, natural causes (although she was a heavy smoker and drinker).