BKKBike09

Doubtless like before it (proof of vaccination) will only apply to foreign visitors / residents, not to Thais coming back to Thailand. Which makes it all pretty pointless, especially if there's no requirement for vaccination to be no older than x months etc (not that I want to give them any ideas on that front).

Actually it says the SWAT guys and many other colleagues in tight brown uniforms went to the suspect's house and waited 3 hours before it became apparent that he wasn't home. Then they issued the arrest warrant. It also says that road rage is suspected as the cause, and that the previous week the suspect had argued with a foreigner (doesn't make clear if the same person as the victim) in the housing development and had threatened that person with a gun.

Andrew's service flying helos as part of the ship anti-missile screen in the Falklands was contemptible, was it? Maybe you're too young to remember. Sheffield, Coventry, Antelope, Ardent, Atlantic Conveyor, Sir Galahad - all lost. It was a very high threat environment. Andrew - like Harry - won a great deal of (deserved) respect for his military service. Then, over the last 25 years, he's squandered it all and is now rightly out of the picture. He's now 62. Harry's just getting started: he's 38 - let's see where he is at 62.

I always liked Prince Philip precisely because, while he didn't go out of his way to deliberately cause offence, he didn't spend too much trying to be diplomatic. On one occasion he got off a long flight only to be asked by a journo "how was your flight sir?". He responded: "Have you ever been on an aeroplane? Well, it was just like that".

So, kinda like ...

The link you post above talks about the Sovereign Grant Act but fails to mention that government gets the money back from the Crown Estate. "The Sovereign Grant Act 2011 came into effect on 1 April 2012. It sets the single grant supporting the monarch’s official business, enabling The King to discharge his duties as Head of State. It meets the central staff costs and running expenses of His Majesty’s official household – including official receptions, investitures and garden parties. It also covers maintenance of the Royal Palaces in England and the cost of travel to carry out royal engagements such as opening buildings and other royal visits. In exchange for this public support, The King surrenders the revenue from The Crown Estate to the government. Over the last ten years, the revenue paid to the Exchequer is £3 billion for public spending." https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sovereign-grant-act-2011-guidance/sovereign-grant-act-2011-guidance You said Prince Harry had a choice between paying his own way or 'sponging off the public purse'. You're still wrong on the 'sponging off the public purse'.

Prince Harry is shaping up to be Prince Andrew Mk 2, although hopefully there won't be any allegations of fun and games with 17-year olds. Both of them served their country in the armed forces in combat zones, which is more than can be said for any of their siblings. Andrew in the Falklands, Harry in Afghanistan. Both deserved respect and credit for that, and both received it. Both then did a great job of squandering it. Moreover ... 1. Both have a strong sense of entitlement. 2. Neither is an intellectual titan 3. Both married women able to twist them round their little finger 4. Both have had to watch as they slipped further down the line of succession and therefore importance/relevance within the institution 5. Both aspire to lifestyles beyond their means The last point is the one that will cause Harry to come a cropper, as it has Prince Andrew. The jet-set lifestyle is not possible on the income received as a working royal ... but there are plenty of very rich people who are only too happy to provide it in order to parade a royal 'friendship'. And before you know it, an Epstein, or a Bankman-Fried or whoever is your new best buddy ...

"sponging off the public purse"? Wrong. The expenses of the spares like Harry come from the Privy Purse, funded by Duchy of Lancaster, or from Charles via Duchy of Lancaster. https://www.duchyoflancaster.co.uk/financial/ No taxpayers money there. Harry has saved the taxpayer a good whack by shunting off to USA and having his Met security pulled. The late Queen also decided years ago to reimburse the public purse for all Civil List expenditure (the expenses/allowances for all 'working' members of the Royal Family apart from her, Prince Philip and the Queen Mum). The Civil List was done away with some years back and now the funding comes from the Crown Estates.

Surely the key point is that when China opens its borders in a couple of days, there won't be millions of Chinese immediately coming to Thailand: there simply isn't the air travel capacity for that. And surely policy makers worldwide can draw on previous experience since 2020 to understand that it doesn't matter what restrictions are in place, a very transmissible virus will always spread. Restrictions just slow that down. Possibly that was helpful for allowing a window to 'vaccinate' more of the vulnerable, but now? This isn't 2020. As long as governments don't use an influx of Chinese to maintain / reintroduce broader restrictions, I say let them travel freely. It's ironic that the Thai government is also now talking about how there's no need to be worried / frightened by covid any longer, yet still pushing the language and symbols of fear: "wear a mask, social distance where you can, have regular boosters".

Got to love China's foreign ministry spokesman saying this with a straight face ... But earlier on Wednesday, Wang Wenbin, China's foreign minister spokesman, accused Western countries and media of "hyping up" and "distorting China's Covid policy adjustments". He said China believed all countries' Covid responses should be "science-based and proportionate", and should "not affect normal people-to-people exchange". Mr Wang called for "joint efforts to ensure safe cross-border travel, maintain stability of global industrial supply chains and promote economic recovery and growth". "science-based and proportionate" ... "not affect normal people-to-people exchange" ... from a country that until a month ago was blindly implementing the most draconian restrictions. As you sow, so shall you reap.

Nicely spotted. Also, appropriately festive (Turkey at Christmas n' all that).

He doesn't look like such a bad a$$ in this pic. As other posters have rightly commented, wearing that jacket constitutes a serious offence in itself. Credit: Sophon Cable TV https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=601644495304350&set=pcb.601644591971007

As an aside, in Thailand the process requires you take weapon / any ammo in separate locked boxes to security at the airport in question. You need to show the original permit for that weapon (in Thailand the permit to own is specific to an individual firearm). You also need to show that the airline whose flight you're taking has accepted carriage of the gun /ammo. Many airlines have a limit on how many firearms can be accepted on a given flight (5 is common) and also limit on ammunition that can be carried. It's not a quick process. Plus this is only for domestic flights. International carriage is a whole different ball of wax.

What a <deleted>. Great random selection of bullets (revolver and semi-auto): good luck using the former in a 9mm semi-auto. Looks like he put them in a steel flask and figured that would avoid x-ray detection. Interesting gun, though (G19 Mariner). https://siamrath.co.th/n/409521

SEAnery Beach Resort and Coral Hotel in Bangsaphan Noi might be options. I've stayed before in Sunrise Bungalows a bit further down the beach. Okay for a couple of nights but not very fancy. Day trips to Koh Talu are something to do and the beach where Sunrise is, is pretty nice. Pine trees for shade.

It all sounds so scary - if you're not vaccinated or not properly boosted, your risk of death is so much higher! 15 times higher if you're unvaccinated, say the CDC. But it's not 15% chance of dying, it's less than 0.005% (5/100,000). And if you've been vaccinated, without booster, it's little different from having been vaccinated up the yin yang. I really don't understand why so many people are, apparently, still so focused on all the doom and gloom. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#rates-by-vaccine-status

The pandemic-fuelled explosion in delivery services - order a drink in a plastic cup, with a plastic straw, in a plastic bag - hasn't helped, not to mention all the PPE and packaging that's used, often quite unnecessarily, every day.

Ah, the trusty plastic face shields. To protect against just what, exactly? The corpse rising from the dead and poking one of them in the eye?

According to the news, there was concern he had MERS, so they tested for that but threw in a Covid test as well.

First thing is to decide when you're going to change your car. You say "not this year" but that's less a month left! If you're not going to change for another 2-3 years, then the whole EV situation here in Thailand will be so different that answers today will likely be irrelevant. In 2-3 years there will be: 1. vastly more choice of EVs available in Thailand 2. many more people using them (and potentially competing for chargers at highway gas stations), so more body of knowledge and experience about practicality in Thailand (eg battery life in prolonged high temp environments) 3. more clarity about long term Thai government policy towards EV / ICE cars If you're concerned about costs then, as other posters have said, best to keep the Vios. Cheap to run, cheap to insure, can be fixed pretty much anywhere. The debate about fuel / electricity costs is somewhat artificial because both are subsidised in Thailand. That's not likely to change much over next few years because it is a hugely sensitive political issue. But MG, for instance, show 'cost savings' on their web site based on an outdated electricity price (elec pricing as of June 2020). Truth is that, as long as diesel is subsidised heavily, a diesel double cab pick up is as good a vehicle as any up country. The debate about battery longevity is however germane. As another poster said, your ICE doesn't wear out in 8-10 years (usually). Who knows with a battery? My current car (a VW Scirocco) is 11 years old and the engine pulls like new. But if battery change is modular replacement, then cost of a new battery may be more than offset by maintenance savings over the past 8-10 years. I'm buying an EV now (a BYD Atto - supposed to get it this month) really out of curiosity. I live in BKK, most of my driving is urban with the odd 300 km round trip, I like the styling and I'm interested to see whether it really makes practical sense, since it's supposed to have a +400 km range. At THB 1.2 million it seems reasonably priced. The price of the Atto in Australia has just been hiked by AUD 3,000 so maybe a price hike is coming here. Then again, BYD are building a production facility for the Atto and other models here in Thailand; when that is up and running in a couple of years, maybe the price will be massively cheaper and I'll have to take a big re-sale hit. All that said, I'll be keeping the Scirocco as well.

Many places (in BKK) lease copiers. Here's one for 1500 a month. https://gcs.co.th/รายละเอียดสินค้า-242636-canon-ir1730-rental-copier1500.html "what are the costs" depends on things like do you need to do colour printing/copying? How many copies/sheets a month etc.

The 'alleged' seems a bit redundant. A semi-auto 12 gauge. Yep. Shooting at them in the shop seems reasonable (If four guys, at least two of whom are visibly armed, break into your place of business, do you politely ask them to leave), but the guy in the shop also kept shooting at them once they were outside.

Thai media reports that this was the 4th time this guy had trespassed on the property to steal weed. https://www.khaosod.co.th/around-thailand/news_7402657 Plus he wasn't taking a few leaves - he took armfuls of weed as can be seen in the CCTV footage: As the houseowner points out, it took the thief a long time to seek medical attention. Good luck proving that he died as a result of injuries received that night - perhaps he tried to steal something else a day or two later and got beaten up by another person?

Good for them. I much enjoyed this photo of Papa Didi "giving a speech on bitcoin adoption in Tulum, Mexico" (pop. 93) to an entranced crowd. Not sure why he doesn't spend some of his billions to buy a few more t-shirts.

Prospective BYD Atto purchasers who can understand Thai might find this interesting - guy got 525 km out of his car. He explains (in endless detail) the route / driving conditions / speed etc. Basically he didn't go very fast because of traffic etc but I guess it's a real world trip so ... I'm buying an Atto (booked on Day 1) and am told delivery in Dec. Be interesting to see whether it's a practical alternative to an ICE vehicle. I've no interest in pottering along on a highway at 90 km. Atto says it has a 480 km range: as long as it can do a 250 km round trip and not use more than 75% battery, with music playing, A/C at 23 and highway speeds of 110-120 kmh then I'll be happy. THB 1.2 million for the BYD Atto seems reasonable enough - same price as in Oz/NZ. Adaptive cruise control, built in dashcam system, PM2.5 filtering A/C, panoramic sunroof, quirky interior styling (which I like), well built, not too much hard plastic etc. Test drove briefly and was quite impressed at how responsive it felt - albeit can tell it's a heavy car. Better tyres would probably help. Seems to me full EVs are probably at the point where they make sense for urban dwellers who rarely make any longer journeys and - key point - live in a house with space to park and have a home wall charger. Live in a condo? Out of luck in most, I'm sure. Hybrids make the least sense to me, at least in Thailand. Fuel and labour costs here are so much less than in the West.