richard_smith237

The Indian guy is claiming... “no touch, I did not touch”... Meanwhile the screeching woman is saying “you no eat for free”.... Did the Indian man take some food from the street stall ? Did the Indian touch some food at the street stall but not take it ? Did the lady simply think the Indian man took food and was mistaken ? The Indian guy seems very adamant he did nothing. The lady seems very adamant he did. Either way, the Thai’s were way too eager to turn this accusation into aggression. This is where the police need to be around to de-escalate any situation such as this. Too many situations such as this in places such as Pattaya turn into someone getting their head stamped on or horiffic and completely unnecessary injuries when locals have seemed hungry to escalate something simple into violence.

Yep. Taking 10+ times longer to do things is called 'progress'. Handing over cash takes seconds but is too simple for the modern world. Paying with the QR code at Makro is faster than paying with cash and waiting for change - unless of course you are a boomer, need your reading specks, didn’t have your phone ready etc, in which case you are the same sort of person who never has their wallet ready either. Boomers will find a way to complain about development and fail to recognise the improvement through the fog of their own bias. Departing through Suvarnabumi airport is a relative pleasure compared to the UK airports, arrival even more so. The news presented in the article is confusing... its just a boarding pass scan to make sure those entering the secure area (through security into the Immigration queue) are supposed to be there. It’s an extra check point and one they have at most airports. In Thailand it was a always a person, now its a boarding pass and passport scanner - I’ve no idea why its even necessary when Immigration are going to check the Passport / Boarding pass anyway.

Definitely a step too far, but something strange happened in your set up. Grab doest have any access to that.... It just needs access to your location.

Grab is definitely more expensive than a metered Taxi.... about 1.5x to 2x the price..... Grab is simply a lot more convenient - they come ‘into my complex’ and pick me up rather than me having to walk out to the main raod and then have a few taxis in a row decide they don’t want to take me in the direction I’m going.... Grab also keeps a record, so the IF the driver or passenger is terrible they can be reported - this means there is ‘incentive’ for both the driver and customer to behave and not act like impolite tools. Grab also have different options, including just ‘Grab Car’ which means its not regular taxi and is often cleaner with better drivers etc. Bolt is about 1.2x to 1.5x the flag-fall metered fare - however, I gave up on Bolt, they don't seem to be as ‘available’ whenever I need a taxi.

I would trust their judgment - Why would you ? half of the drivers don’t even know Bangkok very well, certainly not as well as I who have lived here for over 20 years... Traffic is an issue everywhere...... 6pm on a Friday is true a nightmare in Bangkok, I can understand drivers saying no at that time. 2pm on a Tuesday afternoon, 3 in a row saying no.... The reason is they don’t know the direction to get where I wanted and thinking about it was too much trouble. Many of these guys are just fools.

A free ride in life Some of you guys simply seem bitter and jealous.... Why does it bother you what someone else buys their son ?

Is it stating the obvious that you struggle to have any comprehension of life beyond your own limited experience ??? This does not sound as though the lad is spoilt at all.... You clearly misunderstand and equate money equalling spoilt kids. You are wrong... its also ‘just a car’... its not a big deal.

Very little.... I got caught without Tax a number of years back (got the wrong month of renewal). I gave the police officer 100 Baht and drove off while he was still asking for 200 Baht !!!.... I went straight to the DLT...... The chances of being stopped while driving to the DLT are minute.

This... there is no need to go to the DLT with the car.. Just take the Blue registration book to the DLT and buy the Por-Ror-Bor.... You’ll also have to pay the tax for the last couple of years EDIT: You mentioned your car is 2011... so it will need to be inspected before you can tax it and get the Por-Ror-Bor etc... A bit silly being forced to take an uninsured car on the road... but well, TiT !!!...

I forgot about BOLT... I think they are a little cheaper than GRAB too. However, unlike GRAB they do not accept credit card payment.

It was on Rama 9..... ( so not in a tourist area...).... I find that about 50% of the time when I get a flag-fall taxi there is usually some sort of irritation... i.e. the driver says no, there’s no seatbelt, drives like a d!ck etc... That said - the other half seem perfectly reasonable and fine... Taxi’s in Bangkok are a relative pleasure compared to trying to get around other cities. The Flag-fall taxi’s with the green lights are the best options.

There is no UBER in Thailand anymore... So, its GRAB which works well. Or FlagFall, then of course have 4-5 taxi’s in a row say no depending on your location. I lost my keys last week and needed a taxi urgently to get home (5 mins away) and return with the spare keys... Grab were too far away, 3 taxi’s in a row just said no.....

I really like the way you presented your argument to the debate… I don’t agree with all, but the contribution carries a matter of fact reality usually circumnavigated by political correctness yet remained bang on point…. a tough topic if we’re honest..

They are forum members, their comments regarding what they have contributed add a degree of tangibility to the donations and story for many of us..... But go ahead... accuse them of virtue signalling !!!

Prawit will remain as caretaker PM until the Constitutional Court issues its ruling to change the law and permit 3 terms..... ..... there, fixed it.

Comments such as the above are a far better ‘indicator of intelligence’, or the lack thereof !! You have the luxury of remaining quiet and not making any comment which may lend to a minor element of doubt !!!

There are some outrageously narrow minded and judgementally naive and foolish comments on this thread. I don’t have Tattoo’s.. neither does my Wife... they’re not for me, I guess they’re not for her either. Not many of my close friends have tattoo’s either..... That said, I think no differently of those who do have tattoos because they have tattoos than I do of those who don't..... I have seen tattoos that look awful, I have seen tattoos that look incredible - there is a whole spectrum, so to judge the ‘whole’ when the issue is so very multifaceted is somewhat flawed in the first place. While its impossible not to form judgements when first meeting someone the fact that someone has a tattoo should play a role in impacting that initial judgment no more or less than the clothes a person wears, the hairstyle they carry etc... Anyone forming or carrying a lasting or firm opinion of another person (either positive or negative) based solely on them having a tattoo is an utter moron, it is far more likely the character flaws make that judgment fool a far less likeable, respectable, admirable character....

Given the subject and the positions from which you are both presenting your debate that would actually be some from or ‘reverse irony’ !!! ???? I wonder how many people are ‘very nearly’ involved in incidents such as this ? We all know we ‘should’ stop and wait until we are 100% sure the dog is out of the road. But realistically, we all know that dogs are streetsmart.... Thus when driving down a quiet soi or a back-country road and there is a dog sleeping in the middle we pap our horn and slow, expecting the dog to move.... the dog always moves so we always ‘assume’ the dog has moved... only this time in the example of this thread, the dog didn’t move. What about other animals? rabbits? cats? pigeons ??.... where do we draw the line for stopping, getting out of the car and looking to ensure with 100% certainty that the animal has moved away ??? Is it only dogs that we ’should’ stop for ?

The driver didn’t ‘deliberately run ver the dog’.... The driver slowed and thought the dog had moved, the dog didn’t move with the inevitable result. The issue is multifaceted: - The driver should have been more careful. - Big C should not allow animals on its premises. - Dogs should never be free to roam the streets (dogs should be owned and restrained or removed).

Agreed..... I suspect it was one of those... ‘we haven't set it up, but use this excuse to fob off the customer’....

I pay with my Bangkok Bank APP (via QR code) at Makro... and yes, as the following poster pointed out, they only accept certain credit cards (SCB credit card I think). I went to pay with a QR code at a restaurant the other day - I was told they don’t accept that form of payment. When I asked why I was told the Bank takes 5% of the transaction.... That seems a huge amount - I wonder if the restaurant had it right. I paid by credit card instead as these days I rarely carry much cash and prefer to hold on to cash incase I need it ( for a taxi etc )....

never really considered myself a racist but I think i tick most of the boxes, I wonder if any other members have failed "The racism test" Lists like this are never realistic.... I’m also an alcoholic if I go by the AA list, I’m most definitely not by any stretch of the imagination. .....And ‘woke’ most definitely can be derogatory term.... It kneecaps the logic and intelligent basis of any discussion with a political correctness which may itself be damaging... and in many cases PC most definitely has gone mad !!!!...

I much prefer bing called ‘fulang’... then we can get into the debate about the spelling of a non-English word and whether the r is pronounced trilled or not !!! ????

I often use my Bangkok Bank ATM / Bank card (which is also Mastercard Debit) to pay at 7-11... In a lot of other places I use mobile banking to pay, i.e. scan the QR code and pay with my mobile Banking App.

It's just an unintellectual and juvenile attempt to trigger me and anyone else who see’s Thailand for all its balance... the wonderful and the horrible things... To do this he is starting ‘anti-British’ topics to trigger the British, which for some reason he dislikes and throws out this ’superiority complex’ rhetoric and accusation of racism when he couldn't be more wrong. The fundamental flaws in this belief that ‘if you like and respect Thailand you will see nothing wrong with it’ is myopically flawed.... I wonder how such cerebrally challenged minds would accuse Thai’s of being anti-Thai if they had close Thai friends with whom they could discuss such matters, would they have the intelligence to recognise that Thai’s too have opinions which very closely match those voiced on this forum - we are after all far more similar than we are different !!!... hammer doesn’t yet get this, he’s still in some ‘honeymoon phase’ and simply doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. I for one have far more in common with many of my well balanced Thai friends than I do with a myopic brainwashed feckless character who thinks everything around him is perfect !!!! Now, If someone is the type of person to walk around thinking everything is amazingly perfect, they will very quickly be thought a fool by the very Thai’s they think they need to protect by speaking out against anyone who expresses the slightest negative observation, someone in this feckless honeymoon phase doesn’t yet understand this. Any yes... England is going through a major drought, so the anoxic depths of reservoirs are being exposed to the air and they smell. And yes, catastrophic car accidents also occur in the UK.