Spilornis

One of the joys of Asia is the barber shave. Each country has its slight variant. They are all great but perhaps my favourite is Bangladesh and Kolkata which both share Bengali history. What makes it special is the use of a crystal when the shave is complete to rub all over your face. While the crystal is room temperature its interaction with your skin is such that it feels that your face is being rubbed by a block of ice. Can't say I love the ear cleaning in Vietnam. Such joy for around US$1 or 2

A very good friend had a close friend who died a couple of years back after a long illness. For his final weeks he was in palliative care His cause of death was listed as covid. Long before that I had ceased to be moved by covid death numbers where they were not accompanied by co-morbidity or even age data. I'm a big believer in science and vaccines but the post December 2020 reaction to covid didn't cover governments or the medical fraternity with glory. To see that continuing in 2025 is amazingly disappointing

It's a gimmick... "Hundreds of Aussies have turned up to vote without pants. Australian swimwear brand Budgy Smuggler put a call out on social media earlier this week encouraging people to “exercise their constitutional right to vote without pants on”. The company offered a free pair to anyone voting in their smugglers and posting a photo with the hashtag #SmugglersDecide." https://www.news.com.au/national/federal-election/why-aussies-are-voting-on-election-day-with-no-pants-on/news-story/02f376617dbeb1e1fdc7b6c032bf7cc2 It worked. Media all around the world have picked up the photos. There were a lot.

In India where the prices to national monuments and museums is around ten times the price of local entry the foreigner tickets are highly regulated and tracked to avoid re-use. The usual means is electronic scanning of a QR code. FYI the usual admission charge for a foreigner is around 200 baht with the Taj Mahal being 400 baht. My main gripe is that it is the same price (200 baht) for the "lesser" places which means you quite often give them a miss. A weekly ticket for say 1000 baht would be great but imagine the fraud. (Then again some countries mange tickets like this with potos on the tickets etc

What you say is true and often quoted for both China and India. What is not often analysed is what the Chinese/Indian middle class want from a tourist destination. From what I read domestic tourism in China and India is going strongly (prior to Trump's tariffs at least). One thought that strikes me re Chinese tourism is that they have become used to an "internet environment" including payment systems that is completely Chinese. Perhaps Thailand needs to include that environment if it hasn't done so already. Also there's the dreaded influencers who are enormous in shaping Chinese short term habits. At the end of the day I think the wealthier tourist just wants to feel safe, comfortable and welcome

Kerala or Karnataka is where most expats go. Kerala has a significant Christian community and is known locally as Gods own country. Easy to get a five year visa allowing you to stay 180 days each calendar year. India's not for everyone but have a visit by all means Understand the local weather. 50 degrees in summer is common in many parts including Delhi. Air quality can be very bad. Although India is not much bigger than Thailand as a landmass it's enormous when you're there

Normal for an ex parte injunction. May even have been that Nestle didn't want to submit to the jurisdiction preferring to enforce the foreign arbitration order in its favour. Jurisdictional fights are the norm if you have enough money

Agree Vietnam offered to drop all tariffs on US goods and were immediately told US wants a lot more

The method of how they calculated to trade imbalances has been well publicised. Childish in its simplicity but it is as follows. 10% tariffs was the default level which was imposed even on countries such as Australia which has a trade deficit favouring USA. For the rest it is explained as follows: "There was no explanation given for how each country’s “tariffs charged to the USA” were calculated. Boffins on the outside quickly worked it out: the number is just the 2024 US trade deficit with that country divided by the US’s imports from that country. For example, in 2024, the US trade deficit with China was $US295.4 billion ($469 billion). US imports from China were $US438.9 billion. Dividing the deficit by the imports equals 67 per cent, which is the exact figure shown next to “tariffs charged to the USA” on Trump’s chart. It’s the same for Thailand, Indonesia, the European Union, the Philippines, Israel, Japan and every other country this masthead has checked so far. " You then divide by two for today's tariff imposition

Look behind the mirror and one easily sees that this is not about relative tariffs. It's more about what concessions USA can derive from each country. These deals will be done on a one by one basis and could include so much more than restrictions on the importation of goods. So ask yourself what does USA want from Thailand? I have no idea but it could be an airforce base or it could be delinking from China in some key way. It could also be allowing restriction free importation of pork. My feeling is that Vietnam will be one of the first to do a "deal". At 47% tariff and 40% of its export market being to USA, Vietnam cannot withstand the pain for long. The unknown is of course China. Will they do a "deal." If so one doesn't have to be too smart to understand what Uncle Sam will be asking for. Of course China will blink last hoping that US consumers raise merry hell when they see all those Home Depot prices going up. Welcome to the world of chaos. It's not pretty

The Singapore form even remembers your details from previous visits plus a very easy drop down menu for your hotel. Of the ones in use it's certainly the fastest. A bit of autofill does wonders

They are relatively quiet these days. A few years back they increased the noise level because the fans complained that the cars were too quiet

Quite a few are one week. Melbourne/Shanghai... one week. Austria and Britain is another. Imola, Monaco, Spain .. three races in three weeks, USA and Mexico plus there 's a few more The European races don't pay anywhere near the fees paid by Asia. Italy having two F1 races is not the norm. Las Vegas pay nothing as F1 is trying to expand the US market. Liberty has changed F1 beyond all recognition

There's a week between China and Japan that is free plus the option of extending the season further If an existing F1 is cancelled it will be in Europe. Don't forget they will be keen to return to Sochi in Russia if that becomes possible. The drivers talk of Singapore as being the most physically draining due to the humidity. I expect Bangkok would be the same. Unfortunately Singapore has positioned itself as the networking/must see race for South East Asia. Will the "money" people also come to Thailand. Probably not but you will get a lot of F1 tourists happy to pay US$1k a day for a good seating package

Singapore frequently has monitor lizards crossing the track. Las Vegas had "loose" man covers sucked up due to the incredible down force of the F1 cars. Just part of the theatre