richard_smith237

2 hours ago, Photoguy21 said:

So how would this work for persons that have overstayed their visa? Further, on entry if they were used how would your passport be stamped in?

Good idea if everyone plays by the rules but as has been demonstrated many times there are those who abuse the rules.

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. 

5 hours ago, Highlandman said:

 

Travelers need to exercise personal responsibility, not be forced to buy things.

 

While travel/medical insurance is a good idea, I don't think it should be forced.

 

Myanmar aside, which still requires Covid/medical insurance at least to apply for a visa, all other regional countries have scrapped insurance requirements. Why would/should Thailand impose such a requirement when even Singapore doesn't? 

 

Tourists would stop coming to Thailand and visit Laos/Cambodia/Vietnam instead.

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.

3 hours ago, geisha said:

The baggage wait at the end is annoying. And that every time I arrive at Suvarnabhumi. 

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.

12 hours ago, ChumpChange said:

I've been asked the same question many times over the years by both Thai men and Thai women from within mainstream Thai society. Many have even asked me if foreigners don't like white skinned women at all.
 

I try and be polite about it, but the truth is 80% of those relationships started in a bar and there are no light skinned Thai women available working in those bars. So it's not necessarily by choice. It's about availability and the least path of resistance for the foreigner who comes to Thailand for a week to find a woman to have some fun with.

 

Much easier for a middle aged white man in Thailand to find a dark skin woman working in a bar than to try and approach a lighter skinned one in a mall or public place when they are not living in Thailand and only have a short amount of time to hook up.

 

Some foreigners may even prefer the lighter skinned oriental look, but for most it again comes down to access, convenience and availability. 

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.

4 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

On 6/10/2024 at 2:36 AM, webfact said:

This continuous flow system eliminates the need for passengers to go through checks one at a time.

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. 

6 hours ago, geisha said:

It’s not only the departure , the arrival in a country is your first welcome to thousands of passengers daily !  At the moment it is a horrendous experience for most, the queues and then the disorderly baggage belt.  Why oh why do the suitcases take so long, I have often waited 20 to even 30 minutes ! And for those who say “ fly business “ , I can assure you I already do and it doesn’t make any difference to the belt wait . ( I fly Emirates and Swissair) . I go through Heathrow at least once a year and I have never had a wait . Even Bali where the airport is from an other era is very reasonable.The airport authorities should do a complete retrain of their staff, miserable lot and often downright rude , they should sort out their methods and their technology, for goodness sakes, get some experts on the job !  Stop with the nepotism and cronyism. It should be made illegal. ( don’t laugh). 

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.

22 hours ago, renaissanc said:

I'd like to see a digital stamp put on the passports of people who have a one-year visa so that they can use the passport machines at the airport.

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.

25 minutes ago, ChumpChange said:

Real question is why would anyone even want to get drunk?

Because its fun.

25 minutes ago, ChumpChange said:

Wake-up in the morning feeling like shiit with a pounding headache, all your cash is gone, awful taste in your mouth.

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).

25 minutes ago, ChumpChange said:

Why not just stay home, chew up some thousand Baht notes, and hit yourself over the head with a blunt object? Same thing innit. 

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.

30 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

I find the younger generation can’t hold their grog as well as us middle aged. 
They are a bit over sensitive these days 

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

24 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

Ok, so do those Thai boyfriends and husbands get jealous while they are sucking us dry?

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

Just now, Crossy said:

2 minutes ago, zyphodb said:

<deleted>faced was always one of my favorites...

 

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...     

2 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

26 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

This thread is going to be Cat-Nip for a handful of our more prolific 'friends of the realm' !!! 

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... 

19 hours ago, impulse said:

Hell, I can sweat in a blizzard in winter.  Just genetic, I guess.  My Russkie grandfather and my very American father (of Russkie lineage) were the same. 

 

That's why I usually wear loud print shirts in public.  They don't show the sweat as much.  I love Songkran shirts for that reason.  And I always got complimented on them back in Texas. 

 

Back when we were dressed in black to honor the beloved King, my black shirts were always gray at the end of the day from all the salt from sweat.  That's after I'd been working in BKK for years.

 

Regarding A/C, I just kept mine a few degrees below ambient to knock out the humidity and keep the place from getting musty.  That said, living on the top floor of my Asoke area building, my electricity bill was still pretty high.  But well worth it for the gorgeous view from the 5th floor.

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.

1 minute ago, Gottfrid said:

So, now you came and corrected many of us. We are so lucky that you have all the superior knowledge to always walk in and do that. Thanks Richard! Really, from the bottom of my heart.

First you are dealing with my comment as it is wrong, and after that agree to that it might have been circumstances that would leave the truck no time to stop. Yes, that was about what I posted, but not in the same fancy way like you did it, right?

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.

1 minute ago, Gottfrid said:

After that, you are assuming it will come a lot of comments regarding armchair detectives? Really? Had a nice party yesterday? Still partying?

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 !.. 

1 hour ago, Gottfrid said:

Why are you saying that? Seems to me this is the bikers fault. First they are not driving safe enough and too quick so one fall off. Another one is attempting a sudden quick break or manoeuvre. Probably driving quicker, but if that happens an a truck only drives in 60-70km/h it will be very hard to stop in time even with 30 meter space between them.

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... 

17 minutes ago, Robert Paulson said:

I don’t believe that. Because if I buy a ticket for a plane right now, and I don’t show up to the flight, they are going to sell my seat. I would say the same would happen to you: booked flight they are going to sell any “unused” seat they have available. And yes a passenger with the same name on two seats and only one of them checking in would trigger that system. Idk maybe I’m wrong but they are in the business of selling open seats. 

Some airlines allow the ‘second seat’ for a single person.  Some don’t…

it’s really just that simple.