Runamile

Failing the update, can we establish a writers' syndicate, to move this forward into exciting, uncharted, territories?

OK, this is for moderator and/or geeky Thai Visa staff to see. We are all excited by this major event. However, I'm less than happy that my e-mail, when I'm in the middle of important business, has keeled over under the weight of incoming From Thai Visa.

As best I can see, you can only unsubscribe from Thai Visa, not an individual thread. Am I wrong? If I'm right, hope some techy person picks up my comment and devises a way to unsubscribe individual threads.

Excuse that this is off-topic, but it's a real problem, that many must be experiencing. Also, if someone picks this up, sees it as misplaced and moves it to a more appropriate forum, it means they will have had to read it!

As to the coup, all I can say is that he gave them their chance. They decided to do it their way!

He gave them a chance!

@ Scarpolo

Well your post seems to have gone awol, but certainly there was a part of it that covered the rumours an American nudge to the Thai Army. If so, my point may well be wrong - the diplomatic community having already worked through the sanctions issue, in the event of a coup. Indeed, if the conclusion was that sanctions would be unavoidable, that may be why we have martial law and not a coup.

Whatever, what Thailand must understand is that events are now reverberating way beyond it's borders. Other countries' interests are affected. Thailand has long-since blown ASEAN. Note that, in recent months, Hanoi has proved very skilled at producing a rapprochement with Washington. The diplomatic balance is changing. And as for relative investment environments in South-East Asia ....

@Impulse

Another possible view is that a political agenda has led to increased reporting on the insurgency.

@ Scarpolo

I totally agree your post!

I think the point on the insurgency is profound. Thailand has been without Government for many months, now. During that period, there's, already, been a marked upsurge in the insurgency. If there's economic decline, that might act for the insurgent recruiters.

I think the effects of the collapse of tourism (and I believe it's a collapse - I prefer to trust my own eyes than TAT's figures) will be profound for ordinary Thai people.

The elites, as someone has said, have been salting it away for years - Western prices to customers, Thai wages to workers.

For ordinary folk, the story is entirely different. The effects, will spread way beyond those involved in tourism. Think transfer payments. For instance, what happens to a Bangkok bar girl's income? It's, largely transferred to Isaan. Back home in Isaan, maybe Ma and Pa won't now buy that new pickup-truck. Maybe, they won't be able to continue the payments on the existing one. Profound effects for a local economy that, itself, isn't tourist-based.

Better watch out, lads. The marriage market, notably the "dating" sites are about to ratchet way up!

I know with precision who was responsible. My friend ,Rashida, arrived in Thailand on holiday one day. Next day, Martial Law. It's Rashida Khanam wot done it!

Let's be clear - you can't compare now with 2006.

The tourists are different, not "ballsy" Europeans. Thailand has been marketing more and more within Asia. Are Chinese people, terrified of their own shadows, as a national pastime likely to come? Of course not, especially given that since MH370, they're frightened of getting on a plane. Fancy a Malaysian Airlines flight out of Shanghai in an hour, no problem!

To a lesser extent that applies to Japanese, Vietnamese, etc. The decline in Indian numbers was very clear, already, when I was in Bangkok in February. Indian's don't find demonstrations fun, like to get involved, as I saw so many Westerners doing. Then the Arabs, who are now, often, family tourists. I just don't see it all happening for Thailand.

That's particularly true when your foreign office is giving heavy warnings against travel, and if your travel insurance has become invalidated.

I just don't believe TATs figures on decline. What I was seeing was way greater, even earlier in the year.

@ marko kok prong

Gender re-assignment

@Craig

No! Take a look at Ryannair. I think that. maybe, some of the British scheduled airlines that grew out of charter airlines might me the same, then what about the European international low costs, like Whizz? On the other hand, more than I piece free does happen on some airlines, on some routes eg China Eastern and their 2 pieces at 23Kg, out of UK, rising (if you have the right guanxi, to 3 pieces at 23Kg). Also, remember, that some airlines have a 30Kg max on the single piece, as against 23Kg.

@jonesthebaker

Your stories are horrifying, though not in the slightest unexpected.

To be fair to DHL in BKK, I've only had good experiences, unlike China. However, in all cases, it was only sending documents.

Thai Customs and Excise are simply robbers. Books, as best I know, are zero rate. Number of books, maybe, titles - ridiculous. My impression is that they try to exhaust and bewilder you. Bit like those threads on marriage scams, though, they're not good at what they do. The art is to try on remotely sensible figures. As it is, they would have got tea money as the books went to shops, but, realistically, how much?!

@Buddhist Monk

Yep, that can happen in Europe, too, for instance Ryannair.

I've no objection to payment. What I have objection to is uncertainty. Naturally, of course, I will though, get as many "freebies" as I can, or a little extra luggage weight, if we're not talking of extra pieces.

If airlines would guarantee, though, to load whatever I care to bring along to the airport (within the normal security bounds), then fair enough to paying. If an airline would make that guarantee, then they'd get my hard earned for the seat. Again, I repeat what airlines have, assuredly not got their heads around, that for many people the controlling factor in purchasing is luggage, not personal comfort, but all marketing seems to be around personal comfort.

Yeh, copying that very Putin who purports to be anti-gay, whilst acting as though he wants to be a gay icon. Troubled man?

@mraitchison

Yep, Aeroflot. I've not used for many years, but, in the past, the point was not simply that their rates weren't crazy, but they actively accepted excess baggage (some used to say "encouraged" it). China Eastern is the same. It's not just to do with the cost, but the willingness to accept. You never have a right to excess baggage allowance - it's discretionary. Try getting Korean to exercise that discretion!

Isn't it crazy, though, that in this globalised age, we scamper around with our little scales in hand, desperately weighing our baggage, desperately searching for the best airline allowances, the greatest flexibility, etc. To a certain extent this refers to any country, but Thailand is, particularly, an issue, due to high protective tariffs and inflexibility by Thai Customs and Excise.

As I understand it, there's no recognition that we're talking used goods, sometimes over-used goods, but things of sentimental value. Best only get sentimental about books. As for that wedding dress - the garbage bin awaits! Ridiculous! Likewise unsolicited gifts, when in country. We've probably all heard those stories of granddaughter sending a pair of Xmas socks to Grandad, who then, resolutely, leaves them at the Post Office. That's sad. Please, someone, tell me this is urban myth - but I think not.

A little PS to airlines - for premium economy, forget seat pitch and leg room, just give us more baggage allowance. I'll fly on the wing, if it gives me more baggage allowance. In fact, baggage allowance is the sole determinant of my air ticket purchasing patterns.

I think the message is out there. Beach and pool ok. Anywhere else, discourteous and disrespectful.

What interests me, though, is if people disagree that why do they not see the reactions to them?

I suppose you could answer they're just blind or insensitive. Trouble is that particular form of blindness comes back to bite you in the form of bad service, etc. I've seen the service reaction guys get in central Bangkok as they march around in shorts and wife-beater or no shirt - it ain't quite the same as the guy in business trousers and nice, traditional, buttoned shirt gets!

I've been in that space. Total nightmare. Actually, my space was even worse - no Thai address to "repatriate" to. With one, utterly exorbitant exception, nobody would touch it, meaning being the receiver, without knowing me. Of course, apart from worries that I might be trying to store weapons, or something, there were the worries over the potential actions and costs of involvement with Thai Revenue and Customs. I'd have thought that professional companies would know which hands to grease, but there appeared to be as much fear of Revenue and Customs among the professional companies as among the many foreigners with their personal horror stories.

Your strength is that you have a Thai wife, mother-in-law and address. Also, everybody agreed personal negotiation is a key - not very easy if you don't have access to Thai language skills!

I've ended up returning everything from China to UK. In the rare event that stuff actually arrives in UK from China, when I return to Thailand, in a few months, it will be using China Eastern, taking advantage of the China Eastern enhanced baggage allowance, with a bit of guanxi on top. Beyond that, people seem reasonably agreed that sending books out, once I have a Thai address, should be relatively safe from Customs and Excise attack. I think, though, the major moral of the story, in the case of Thailand, is to max out what you carry in on your own back and in your own hands, even buying excess baggage allowance (again, China Eastern score).

The saddest thing of all, even beyond being expected to chuck your life in a bin every few years, is the negative feelings it gives toward entering a country. The barriers to being globalised are supposed to be in our head, not unreasonable bureaucracy among member nations of the global village.

Wow, on the boatbuilders. So the Thai authorities assumed not only that the boats would be for sale, but for sale in Thailand.

My next question was going to be suppose the bikes (boats) were sold elsewhere than Thailand - to the extent that they were built/worked-on in Thailand would the authorities feel justified in making a claim against earnings realised through sale in another country?

@ Stoli

I take your point; and agree that this type of question is so often to do with someone searching for the answer they want - the "nobody will ever notice" type answer.

Surely, though, it's reasonable to investigate whether the law is an ass - often it is. Does the law simply require 4 Thai names. Maybe they only work an hour a week each, or does the law say 4 full-time employees? That's a big difference. What of vacancies? Never mind trying to search out weaknesses in the law, it's actually the case that, sometimes the 4 would be 3 .... or less!

Something I've yet to discover, but, potentially very pertinent, is how many hours must each of those Thai employees work. Additionally, what is the position relative to vacancies?

No, no. Keep on.

I just know that a huge amount of money is going to end up being paid to the husband.

I can't work out by what plot twist we'll arrive at that point.

I can't wait to find out - better than any TV soap!

"Darling, part of my new diet is that I have to have lots of sex. I don't want to inconvenience you, even less to hurt you, so I'll need to be seeing a large number of bar girls. But, don't worry, I won't take any alcohol at the bar - that's another part of the diet"!

I'd be more inclined to watch my front ........ a little below waist level.

@h90

Some vegetables are zero carbs, some very low. Think salad leaves. Sure, other vegetables, often roots, are very high in carbs. Watch out for those. For instance, I wouldn't touch a potato or sweet potato with a barge-pole. It's also useful to know which vegetables are very high in protein eg chick peas (which are also a great fibre source).

Fascinating stuff on testosterone.

We seem to be going in a direction that out-and-out body-building practice might have some interesting information for us all. Anybody know of a website or book that pulls body-building information, even sports nutrition more broadly, into the realm of relevance to the average Joe?

This thread has reminded me that many years ago I lost a lot of weight, following Briffa and Atkins, meaning high protein, zero carbs. That weight stayed off for many years. Hunger, what hunger - and I always work on a one meal, sometimes two a day, anyway.

Something I found was that making that one meal a day breakfast was very effective - maximum burn-off before bedtime. I'm back on high protein, no carb again. It's difficult in China (where I am for the summer), without ready availability of prepared pulses, but the new dimension I've founds, thanks to listening to Briffa's new material is the power of the nut.

I should have added that I'm drinking only water (I swear 100% fruit juices aren't as healthy as they sound), as before; and I'm, anyway, vegan.

The nut is working well! If expensively!

I prefer Thaid in Knots