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I am going against the grain because I fly Thai Air from Bangkok - Heathrow quite often and I have no complaints . Also their flight from Heathrow to Bangkok gives the choice of arriving early morning at 06 00 am which gives me time for other flight connections from Don Mueang . Thai Air food and drinks are generally good . The disembarking at Suvarnabhumi is not too far to walk to the immigration as opposed to other airlines where the walk is often 10 - 15 minutes . BTW , I only fly economy . More often than not the Thai Air flights are mostly full of passengers , so they cannot be that bad . Also cheaper than Eva who I use to use and IMO are also a decent airline . I avoid the luggage carousels because I travel light and can be out of the Suvarnibhumi in 30 minutes after landing ( over 70 immigration booth )

So you disagree with the link I attached earlier ? The fossil discovery in Myanmar clearly proves that the ancestors of monkeys, apes and humans , evolved first in Asia before moving on to Africa where the evolution continued .

"Out of Africa " was the accepted theory of the human evolution . However there are differing views held that state the march lands of Myanmar were the home of a monkey type creature that was the ancestor to anthropoids . There is no reason why Africa should be the only place for the human race to evolve . Historic finds of human ancestry were once solely linked to Africa but the Asian fossil find and theory theory cannot be ignored . Further more the article states that not only did evolution begin in Asia but it then moved on to Africa . Link below to read . https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna47681134

Dedicate the new runway / terminal to the Chinese and Russians ? That would be popular

Moronic jokes and laughing emojis are disgraceful when there has been a fatality . I wish the moderators would censor .

Nah , Thailand's version of Laurel & Hardy ?

Fascinating subject . However the theory that all humans evolved from Africa is doubtful . Indeed it appears that the majority of the European colonisation , came out of Asia as did possibly, the Aboriginal race , according to a study by the " Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA ". However for the Aborigines to find their way to the new land of Australia in primitive boats is not easy to conceive . Why should it be that Africa and Asia were the only two continents where humans evolved ?

Yes , glad you picked that up , dc and not ac . As regards the kitchen roof , I am thinking of adding another layer of insulated bluescope zinc panels . That should help in not only the heat but also as a sound barrier when we have the torrential rain . My aim would be to reduce the temperature to about 30 c . Would that be feasible in reducing the amount of panels ? Currently 38 c + in the hot months . I will forget about ac air con units . Thanks for your opinion .

A very interesting read and many thanks for that . However as a layman much of the technical side flies over my head . Couple of points . Have you read about the vertical solar panels ? One YouTube video stated that they can be up to 7 times more efficient . I have a commercial kitchen which gets very hot . A stand alone off grid system would be practical as the kitchen is used mainly during the hot hours . Consideration in keeping the solar installation to a minimum cost , is it possible to use alternating current air con units , thus an inverter would not be needed ? Kitchen size about 20 x 4 x 3 meters . L x W x H

The queue after security check leading to the descending escalator , hardly moved one time and airport workers were asking passengers what time their flights departed and some passengers whose flights were about an hour away , were taken out of the queue and to the front of the immigration line . Nearly every time there are not enough immigration officers at arrivals or departures . Planning to arrive at departure check in 3 hours prior to your flight time , is now leaving it tight because sometimes the check in can be slow as well .

Well the answer is , it depends on the queues in the p/p control . I have been in a queue on the first floor when just clearing security and in the corridor before the elevator which takes you down to p/p control and behind me have been many others in the queue . In those circumstances I would keep my place in the queue but if the queues were short then I would get my re-entry before p/p control .However because of my age , now 70 plus and often in a wheelchair because of a spinal problem , I use the security at ground level and fast tracked through p/p control .

Me too . I was unaware of a re-entry before p/p control . I have always done it after p/p control

Whilst they are at it maybe consider giving exemptions to alcohol drinking for non Thais on special Buddha days and elections etc . Very annoying for newly arrived tourists to find the bars closed . Some have told me they would think hard about a Thailand holiday in the future.

So true and for that reason I always try to book a ground floor hotel room . Indeed I have stayed in a hotel that had added to the height of the balcony rail , bringing it up to chest level . The low rails maybe OK for an averaged height Thai person but for foreigners who are often around 6 feet tall and more the rails are not fit for purpose . You would think that with the common occurrence of hotel falls the authorities would have realised the problem and called for the rail heights to be increased and also not climbable for toddlers .

A friend ( UK ) has used an agent in Bangkok to renew his passport . My friend posted the old PP by recorded delivery from Surin to the Bangkok agent . The agent phoned my friend the following day to say he had received it . Agent said that he had just had another UK customers PP returned and that took only 3 weeks . The agent fees were 11,000 Baht including the cost of the PP which is about 93 pounds 4200 baht) Friend said he knew it was expensive but when considering the travel costs to and from Bangkok , 2 nights in a decent hotel , meals and taxis etc and the inconvenience , he was happy to pay .

So for the reasons that you give above , the U.S.A. and allies do not want a direct confrontation with Iran but retaliation must be on the cards from Iran . Would you be surprised if Israel was hit directly by Iran , or increased hostilities within the Arab states or possibly beyond ?

FYI I never mentioned PURE co2 as I did not want to digress from the main topic . Helium gas for welding is commonly used in the U.S.A. as opposed to argon in the UK . There are various blends of gases for different welding procedures . No need to be pedantic .

Interesting video but I wonder if the fabricators knew the extent of the testing on completion ? In the video the frame was made of carbon steel . If stainless had been used the distortion would have been greater . The welding method was co2 or helium gas MIG which has a greater heat input compared to T.I.G. welding . To avoid distortion caused by welding on a simple frame structure as was in the video requires pre- stressing as was demonstrated and the cost to fabricate would have been higher . However distortion control is far more difficult when welding sheet materials . ( e.g. noticeable on the shell panels on ship hulls ) . I have noticed that in Thailand many fabrications are T.I.G. tack welded only to avoid distortion and reduce costs . Seen that on s/s balconies and s/s gates etc .

I have similar experiences as you . I have had skin cancers operated on my arm , chest forehead and 6 months ago had part of my right ear removed but it does not notice too much as the surgeon reformed it . Also about 5 treatments of cryosurgery . All procedures were carried out in the UK. I have another small under my left eye and I am treating that with efudix / fluorourcil cream that has cured a number of places on my face but the cream can cause your skin to redden temporarily . I hear that skin cancer in Thailand is not common within the natural Thai person but maybe in expats etc and in a similar way , in Australia I believe skin cancer effects many of the white European immigrants . I try to avoid the strong mid-day sun and also wear a hat sometimes , especially when I played golf . Not the baseball cap as that does not protect your ears . Wider the hat rim the better .

Fact , the UK , since Brexit , has tripled its trading with E.U. countries . In comparison with all European countries , China & the U.S.A. the UK is second only to Spain & the mighty U.S.A. Spain had only one way to go and that was up . The Thai economy will suffer because of the decline in foreign exports and small order books . The Thai tourist industry will no doubt suffer because of the cost of living around the world , global disposable income and the now expensive long haul flights to Thailand . However the Thai Baht remains fairly strong but how much longer can the Baht be supported by Thai foreign assets / reserves ?

Totally agree . None more so than the Labour leader Keir Starmer at yesterdays Prime Ministers Questions . Labour are showering abuse on the Tory gov; at every opportunity but do not have any proper alternative solutions or plans . They are trying anything to get in power and I dread to think of the outcome if they succeed . World economies , including the E.U. , China $ Germany are struggling . No doubt that the Thai economy will struggle too .

IMO , Tops association with acquiring and selling Waitrose products has been cut back or at least it has up here in Surin & Buriram . I used to buy Waitrose cod fish fingers and also their garden peas which were sweet and tasted the same as a newly opened pod of peas . Alas , both have been off the shelf for some time . Only peas that were previously available but not now were Talleys which I do not eat myself . Cod fish fingers are no longer available up here but maybe have in more populated places e.g. Pattaya , Bangkok ? Indeed , I have just been on the Tops on line page and the only items that are now imported from the UK to Thailand by Tops are biscuits and sweets . Also they do not even have an English pork sausage .

So true since Tesco left . What I do not understand is that they use a bar code system which is not only for the till scanning but also is fed into a computer to give remaining stock and automatic reordering . I can only assume that their main warehouse has run out of the product and the company buyer cannot source a new stock . The same story is at TOPS where they used to sell a variety of Waitrose products but many are not available now . I am commenting about the Buriram & Surin shops but maybe different in the big cities .

The wheelchair system is abused by some and often overweight Indian women both in Thailand & Heathrow . Mostly just lazy people without any disablement's . I also heard a white English woman who told us that she " blagged it " and got a wheelchair because it was a long way to walk ( nothing physically wrong with her ). Also I sat next to 2 British guys on a flight from the UK to Thailand who drank alcohol the entire flight . One said to me that they would get through Thai Immigration quickly because he carries a fake doctors letter which said he had sciatica . Sure enough they passed me in electric buggies . There should be a way of vetting the users of wheelchairs .

Agrre and Nickys on Soi Bukhao has a varied menu which includes many English dishes besides breakfast . As I recall it was a clean , comfortable restaurant with air-con and reasonably priced . Also has daily specials . Recommend it.