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I agree with pretty much everything in this and your other posts, but on this aspect; I have a sister who is 1000% a technophobe and scared to death of any form of digital transactions. In contrast I've been using every form of digital technology since my US bank first offered ATM's in the 1980's and on line payments in the 1990's. Before retiring last year I ran 2 US based small businesses remotely from Thailand, something I'd never have been able to do without the internet and cashless payments. Meanwhile my sister uses postal service and checks for any payment she can't make with cash, and has been warning me for more that 4 decades, "wait until you get hacked". Ironically, a few months ago 2 of her payment checks were stolen from a mailbox and deposited into a thief's account. It took her more than a month to get reimbursed for the theft. I have yet to be defrauded in any significant way due to monitoring accounts and processing payments electronically as often as possible

I use QR electronic payments for all transactions at the 700 rai Sattahip market. 100 baht remains 100 baht with QR payments too

Maybe where you live, but not in Thailand. While in Thailand I do 95% of payments with the QR/Promp Pay system. I have never incurred a charge, and the receiver is never charged. The day fees are charged to QR/Prompt Pay payments is the day Thais will revert back to cash

Significant rise in shoplifting, significant decrease in pickpocketing

If you do something so offensive that the government freezes your assets, where are you going to get your cash?

I love QR payments. I use them all the time and have my app logged in and ready to scan when the cashier is ready to accept payment. Takes a matter of seconds for the payment to process. I'm frustrated waiting behind someone digging through pockets of change to make thier cash payments, and hate walking around with a wad of bills and pocket full of coins. I also avoid 7-11 because they're the one major retailer I know of who won't accept QR payments. Whatever electronic payment system they accept is ridiculously slow and consequently they always have long check out times. My wife pays cash at 7-11 and uses thier app to collect "points". Waiting for her to dig out her coins to make a cash payment, and then coax their app to life results in the consistently longest checkout time possible IMO. Fortunately Tops Daily and Mini Big C accept QR payments and checkout time is always faster

I heard of this same issue at least 10 years ago when first looking into long term visas in Thailand, it's not anything new. I personally walked into both KTB and BKB offices in downtown Pattaya and had no problem opening accounts in either bank holding a Non-O visa. Both printed and completed a US Government form upon activation of the account, and where seemingly very knowledgeable about dealing with US citizens. This was 5 and 3 years ago respectively, but a friend of mine used a visa agent in Pattaya to assist with his retirement extension. They offered a lower cost to do that if he had an account with a certain bank, and accompanied him to the bank branch to set up the account. This was only a few months ago. My suggestion would be to go to Bangkok or Pattaya, where there are more foreigners living and they're more familiar with the additional regulations. It's possibly easier to open an account in those locations. Or ask a visa agency for assistance.

Just learned that he was flying a MAX?

Exactly. Current Model 3 price China = 245,900 or 1.24M baht. Import duty currently waived on Teslas in Thailand, price 1.6M baht. If they lower the Thai price to China levels I'll buy one. Otherwise my next car is an MG or BYD EV.

But don't bother trying to incentivize visits from the west (90 day tourist visas for all visa exempt countries)? Only Chinese tourism matters.

Some pretty convoluted logic there. My export oriented customers absolutely thrived when the baht was weak vs the USD, and their prices lower in the markets they exported to.

Exactly. PT traded away their future for a few years on top. The future is orange. My wife is discarding all her red clothes and buys anything orange she sees.

Only women should be allowed to smoke it.

The Chinese Yuan (or Indian Rupee) can never become dominant reserve currencies unless they are allowed to be freely bought and sold internationally. I don't see that ever happening in my lifetime, making the whole BRICS concept irrelevant. I BRICS currency can only be used for a limited amount of trade between members. As soon as one of them sees more currency flowing out of their borders than in they'll slam on the brakes negating any agreement they've made.

No, that's a good ol' petrol fire.

Don't leave out Vermont. https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/article/travel/michelin-guide-road-trip-vermont-cheese-trail

Only grey market imports. Official deliveries direct from Tesla to Thai customers began March 2023.

Thailand has temporarily waived import duties on EV to promote the industry. A Tesla Model 3 currently starts at 1.8M, about the same as a top model Honda Accord. If there are only 3 in Thailand I saw all of them parked in a row at the EV charging station at Central Festival Pattaya yesterday.

Same

Not to mention Police raids of night clubs frequented by Chinese in Pattaya, and the upcoming 300 baht fee that no one can quite figure out how to collect...

It's the existing policy of some Thai power companies, not others. The technology exists to handle that situation as allowing solar to support the grid is the norm worldwide. Having certain oligarchs and persons of privilege profit from the sale of energy, and forbid private solar installations from contributing to the grid to maximize that profit, is not. The current administration allowing this situation to exist is a good reason to place some blame on Prayut for high energy costs, bad air quality and power outages during peak periods of consumption.

Yes I did inform myself and was shocked to learn of the stupid government policy. The work around is to store excess power in a battery for personal use during off peak hours. An extra expense discouraging adoption of clean energy in Thailand. We decided to go ahead with the installation and extra expense in spite of the stupid government policy. IMO it's crazy for the utility company to reject that power being utilized in the grid, while the grid collapses due to an inability to meet peak demand. But I guess you think that's "good" policy?

Prayut may not be responsible for the climate, but he and the Thai government are responsible for stupid energy policies. We recently had solar installed at our house. We were shocked to learn that at least in our jurisdiction it is illegal for us to supply the grid with excess electricity generated by our installation. We are only allowed to supply our own home. This is different from most parts of the world where the opposite true, and electric grids are happy to take advantage of the tens of thousands of small rooftop "power plants" that tend to make the most electricity when demand is highest. Truly idiotic energy policy and predictably the grid failed when heavy AC usage overloaded it a few days ago.

Maybe I have 2 dimensional sensory perception where others have 1, but when throwing water on the "coals" in our sauna I feel like the temperature remained constant, but it became more humid. It also feels more comfortable to me because I don't particularly like hot, dry environments. I figured that was a relatively common perception, because most seem enthusiastic about throwing water and increasing humidity in saunas. It seems very odd to me to describe increased humidity as "hotter". Almost like one is unable to differentiate between the two.

In Pattaya it's maybe 20%. We were in Cambodia 2 months ago, pretty close to zero mask usage.