richard_smith237

Who needs an arrival stamp ? People who can’t remember how long they’ve been in for ? All info is in a digital database, any overstayers will be flagged if attempting to depart via the e-gates, just as they are in other countries.

I agree... But its also somewhat of a conundrum... When a tourist rents a bike, no helmet, comes off his bike, smashes his scull, is taken to a private hospital, needs surgery, can't pay his costs, is transferred to a government hospital... and the bill comes to 500,000 baht.... then authorities complain that tourists are not paying their medical bills - the Optics look very poor for authorities. I've argued in the past that the medical burden of tourists is a tiny amount of the income from medical tourism alone and a minute amount of the income from tourism in total - So perhaps the authorities should stop the 'bad tourists reports' of those who don't pay - which always looks very poor when read in the overseas press. Perhaps the better optics are 'I was so very well looked after following an accident in Thailand'... Additionally - some can't get travel insurance. Perhaps if there were a well priced 'option on arrival' to purchase cover and Thailand advertises that, it could be a good option.

How long are you waiting for your baggage... As pointed out - I'm usually through and in the baggage hall within 10mins of the air-craft doors open. I rarely wait more than 10 mins... but if it were 20 mins I'd still think that no unreasonable. Thus, I am curious... how long do you think its taking you... from plane docking / doors opening to receiving baggage ? ... as it seems your complaint is about waiting a long time for baggage which doesn't mirror my experience of approximately 8 arrivals per year.

Completely agree... Then those guys will pull the wool over their own eyes and make some spurious claims... ... "She was just the cashier" being an old favourite.... Or... "She'd only just moved to the bar to join her Sister, I was her first customer" !!! .... Or... they met in 'spicy disco' (or some such place) after hours, so he plays the 'plausible deniability card' that his 'freelancer' was never a hooker 'cos she once worked at the reception of crappy hotel !!!! I've heard / read of some real humdingers in the past - but one thing is always clear, its easy to spot the hooker-farang couple and the foreigner in the mix never has a clue how obvious it is to anyone who's spent any length of time here.

Someone needs to go back to school...

I feel for the lad, watching his father pass away like that... But, as usually, we see a fully avoidable incident result in tragic consequences because both parties fail at the very basic safety. - The Van parked illegally still on the road. - The motorcyclist riding into a 'stationary vehicle'. As far as the van driver 'getting in his van and driving away' after the incident - what an evil callous vile human... 'Fear' ??... No, his only fear was of getting blamed, so he ran like an spoiled evil little brat... Its really is high time people face serious charges for fleeing the scene of an accident. Yet again - photo for reference only - so the presence of the Motorcycle helmet in the reference photo is completely misleading - I wonder if the father was wearing a helmet at all and if wearing one would have meant the difference between walking away bruised and serious head injury.

Eh? Yeah... Someone used AI for that and input 'write an article on automated e-gates in the manner of a tampon advert' !! Continuous flow is obviously over egging it... No e-gate system in the world is 'continuous flow'... you still have to stop, scan your passport, get your photo taken, place your finger prints, then when the system ID's you and matches your photo an fingerprints to your biometrics on record you get the green light - its a 30 second process at best, certainly not continuous.

True story coming up... At one of the US airports a common complaint came up - the wait for baggage was too long. A 'marketing genius' at the airport resolved the issue by moving the 'arrival gate' further from the baggage area, the baggage arrived at the same time, but as people had a longer walk, they waited less for the baggage and complained less. I find the 'baggage handling' and timing at Suvarnabumi airport pretty decent, I get fast-tracked through Immigration etc with Thai Elite so am usually one of the first waiting - I'm therefore well aware of the 'wait times'.... Now that there is a satellite terminal, 'some' will take longer to arrive at the baggage hall and be incredible impressed at their reduced wait time because they've taken an extra 10 mins to get to there. Thus - the solution to your 'waiting for baggage' is not to fly business, but to travel economy, sit at the back of the plane, you won't have to wait for your baggage !!... Realistically: I'm often in the Baggage hall in less than 10mins from the air-craft doors opening - so a 10-20min wait for baggage is quite reasonable, certainly no worse than many other Airports IMO. I know Suvarnabumi enjoys a bashing from many on this forum, but travelling around a lot, its one of the better airports, and if the regular Immigration queues which have blighted arrivals can get resolved, this will make a huge difference for many. It's good to see AOT concentrating on the right thing. Its also good to see the 300 Baht tourist charge not being added, as this was potentially going to cause further choke points unless they could achieve a way for streamlining that and avoiding choke points. Now they have to address the 'insurance' issue with so many tourists arriving without health / emergency insurance (travel insurance) and their hospital bills are not covered - it would be good for Thailand to find a way in which arrivals can either show they have insurance or purchase cover that ensures they get treatment without the controversy and negative optics that we see in the news.

Entering and departing could rely on biometrics and tied to your Immigration Profile - just as it does in many other countries. Finger Prints & Photo taken on arrival and departure, just like many other countries. There's no need for any stamps - everything is already linked to your Immigration Profile - you should know already how many 'days you get'... over stay and the system flags it upon departure. I now enter many countries without an entry stamp, just using the e-gates. People with long term Visas, & extensions of stay based on residency visas such as Non-Immigrant (based on work, Marriage, Guardianship, Retirement etc)... Could easily be issued a 'Card'... that could be used in conjunction to enter and exit, everything is digital and stored on the card - this card could then be carried as ID to comply with the legal requirements to carry 'Government issued ID' in lieu of a Passport.

Because its fun. Not if you don't get so 'trolleyed off yer face' that a hangover is moderate at worst.... Not if you drink in better company and don't get so 'pie-eyed' that you don't blow all yer wedge on lady-drinks.... Not if you drink the bootleg swill most bars serve and still to sensible amounts.... (and hydrate before sleeping). Each to their own... but I think even a Chang tastes better than a note !!.... beers are refreshing. Wine's are excellent with food... Whisky' is thoroughly enjoyable at the end of an evening... So no... not same thing at all really, not even close.

I find the older generation to make a lot of unfounded, uneducated sweeping generalisations with no basis in fact but simply projecting flawed bias...

Irresponsible owners should face hefty fines. Its not enough to 'just blame the dog', the owners are also fully responsible.... They chose the dog, failed to train the dog, allowed the dog to be in a situation where it could bit a child. How to prevent further examples of such dogs biting children, postmen etc.... strict enforcement, and herein lies the issue - those in enforcement just don't care until such issues become a social-media-hit.

Nope, it´s doesn´t! The dog has to be put down. Agree.... Its bitten a Child, its proven it will bit, it will bit again given a chance. Chaining up the Dog will do what exactly ?.... make it more frustrated like a caged tiger... And... as is always the case with these stories... One day, a person will forget the chain, leave the gate open and the dog will get out and chew the face off another child... As Gottfrid wrote - the dog has to be put down, it is the only 100% effective solution to prevent a dog that has proven it will attack a child from doing so again.

What you get up to with the Thai Boyfriends and husbands, and how 'dry' they suck you, is surely TMI... no ?

Would that be "number-two'd" perchance? 🙂 Given the context it could have been one of many... W$%kfaced, Shyeatface, F£$kfaced, C%^£faced, A$$faced, P!$$faced, Tw@£faced...

I don’t think so, but why would you care anyway. Life in the UK would be very boring without booze. Every milestone and special day is made better with booze. Celebrating births, deaths, birthdays, xmas, watching sport, public holidays, going to the races, holidays abroad etc. Could you imagine how boring those events would be without the drink? Totally agree.... Booze is a great social lubricant, although it can 'lubricate some too much'... which is the obvious issue and quite likely the direction this thread will take...

Same here.... My AC is currently set to 22 in the living room. The Bedroom is set to 23 (Wife wants that temperature). I've never acclimatised here... I can be out all day in the heat... but come back, shower and want the comfortable temperatures. I play football in the heat - no major issues (pool with sweat though).... I walk to 7-11 and I have sweat rolling off my face... I sweat in -15 Dec C bombing down the side of a mountain...... As you mentioned, the body getting this warm and needing to dispel heat (sweating) must be genetic. One option for the house - I'm wondering if a dehumidifier may help more, so I don't need to turn the AC so low.

Take a chill pill... or what it is to pull yourself back from the edge of wanting to jump into an argument - there is no argument here. I wasn't contradicting you, rather, adding to the comments, I was agreeing with you, but could also see how others might read your comments slightly differently and press the issue with some disagreement - as some will argue that any vehicle must follow another with the correct stopping distance. I have pointed out how it might have been possible to for one of the motorcyclists to end up on front of the truck without giving the truck time to stop. Correct - usually in these threads when we discuss events and possible causes, where will be a number of posters who come along and state that we know nothing, are guessing, are making assumptions, we weren't there, are we crash-investigators, we are just armchair-detectives (a favourite).... the point of that last sentence in my post was to 'pre-empt the pointlessness of such comments... to remove the oxygen they may have... Nothing against you - so you can retract the neck a little and relax... have a cuppa !..

No defending the old guy here.... his actions clearly were manslaughter. But, as in many examples of things going so very sideways so very quickly here, there are always two sides and issues leading up to the 'snapping point'... ... In this case we have a teen showing no respect for his grandfather, the person who provides a home - roof, shelter, clothing, food and education... the missing part of the recipe here is discipline... How spoiled was this boy in earlier years such that he turned into a the type of monster that would push his grandfather to such extreme measures? I'm not saying the boys had it coming - but to behave in such a manner in someone else's house and ignore requests to remain considerate implies a degree of complicity in the outcome.

This thread is going to be Cat-Nip for a handful of our more prolific 'friends of the realm' !!! One of my favourites is 'bat-faced'.. no idea how or from where it originates. I've always liked the French signal to indicate one is three-sheets-to-the-wind, with the hand in front of the face in twisting motion as if 'winding up the nose'... I think in reality - the Brits have a way of replacing an adjective within an sentence of context with almost any other adjective and it can mean the same thing... Toasted for example... or cooked, or even made up words... staggerwhaked, tippsyfuddled, splooshed, blurfed... its endless... .... "He was absolutely blurfed"... The 546 words... are more an indication of the versatility of the English language rather than any indication of its nationals to 'drink to extremes' although some will naturally want to take that path of discussion as suits their agenda.

Firstly dealing with this comment... any following vehicle should be following within their 'stopping distance'... If the vehicle cannot stop in time it is too close for the speed it is traveling. However, going by other reports and info - if the bikes were swerving and weaving in and out of lanes and one bike collided with another causing the woman to fall off, she may have fell into the path of the truck (presumably on the inside / left most lane) leaving the truck no time to stop, with the ensuing tragic consequences. Finally, just to head off a few comments - plenty of members always accuse those of us who discuss such incidences as being 'wannabe armchair detectives' - but discussing these events helps us understand how they may have occurred so we can avoid similar circumstances either as riding, or when driving and giving vehicle behaving similarly more space etc...

Some airlines allow the ‘second seat’ for a single person. Some don’t… it’s really just that simple.

I thought it was flat faced square jawed, splay toed skinny hobbit with at least one tat that the boxes for western men… … y’know, as we’re getting into the territory of sweeping generalisations based on a minority….

‘cos you’re like every other 2 week newbie you’re believing everything every bar girl tells you & projecting all these silly ideas you may have heard from an ex SAS Millionaire !!! … next you’ll start dating a ‘cashier’…

So true…. doing a project myself after the contractor started messing around with timing. (& I’m now I’m behind schedule & effing knackered !)