newnative

'...queue times at check-in counters'. That was by far my biggest complaint the last two times I flew out of Swampy. Several of the most popular low-cost airlines are all in one check-in area, making for very long lines and very long wait times to check-in. I think both times the whole process, including going through check-in, security, passport control, etc., took about 3 hours. They aren't kidding when they say arrive at least 3 hours before departure.

'...maybe he wished it upon himself' ? Are you serious? Way to blame the poor victim. The driver admitted she was driving at a high rate of speed, hit the bike rider, and fled the scene, not offering any assistance to the victim. Had she not been recklessly speeding, the accident might not have been fatal, or might not have happened at all.

No apology, she needs to be fired.

And, the badness debate continues . . .

Absolutely! Not to mention the debate regarding how long he plans to be a dictator if he is re-elected. I find the whole thing madness that there's even this ridiculous debate going on regarding the degree of his badness. I wonder just how horribly bad he needs to be before the Trumpets reach a tipping point. For too many, I suspect the tipping point will never be reached--which is both sad and scary.

Even still, why are way too many supporting this madman?

After reading the numerous posts debating whether Trump was convicted of rape or, instead, sexual abuse, I found myself thinking, in regard to the Trump defenders, are you even listening to yourselves? I mean, seriously? You're struggling to defend someone that, whether it be rape or sexual abuse, should not for a nano second be even remotely considered suitable for any elected office, let alone president of the US. It just boggles my mind that we're even having this debate--rape vs. sexual abuse. Like one would be a deal breaker but not the other. Ludicrous. It doesn't matter. Disqualified, in any sane universe. Not to mention all his other serious law-breaking. Sadly, gone are the days when a candidate's wife wearing an expensive coat could threaten to torpedo his chances for election, and necessitate a national speech--with his dog in a supporting role. And, what a depressing commentary on the state of the US--that significant numbers still see this dreadful, multiple law-breaking individual as worthy to take the reins of the country. We crossed over into The Twilight Zone in 2016 and, horribly, are still there.

I don't think I would say the pensioner was hogging a space. If he is an owner or a renter, he should be entitled, with his condo unit, for a yearly car decal allowing him to park one car in the condo's parking. It should not really matter whether he moves the car daily, weekly, monthly, or whatever, as long as he has a current parking sticker. I would say if anyone is hogging it would be owners of one condo unit parking more than one car. In order to receive a parking sticker, an owner must be current with his condo maintenance fees. I did notice in one condo I visited signs in the garage suggesting that owners who will be absent from the condo for extended periods might consider parking their cars on one of the upper levels of the garage while they are away. Seems a sensible suggetion. I think if condo projects are experiencing parking problems, the first thing needed is parking stickers, with one sticker per condo unit. That will at least be a start in sorting out what cars are using the condo's parking spaces and will help get rid of those cars not entitled to a space.

Sorry, didn't see your post before I posted.

Just a quick note, and one fact. You keep referencing the 2018 Thailand rental law. This law applies only to landlords renting 5 or more properties. If your landlord is renting fewer, the law does not apply to her, as she is not considered to be operating a rental business and subject to the rental regulations.

Yes, including me.

We have it at our Bangkok condo, too, but it's more for being able to park on a lower parking floor than any lack of parking. There's always plenty of parking and we've never had to ever use the fifth, top floor of the parking. The condo issues annual car stickers and remote controls to enter the parking garage so unauthorized vehicles are kept to a minimum.

A condo management company should not have the power to institute a rule change such as this. Management companies should not be independently making up rules. Instead, they should be following dictates from the condo board, which should be following both the bylaws and agenda items, budget, etc., approved at the annual meetings. As previously stated, this type of rule change should have been voted on by the condo owners. I think you need to get more information from both the management company and the condo board with this issue. Something doesn't sound right to me.

I've had three done and there's really not much to it. As others have said, the preparation before the procedure is more bothersome than the actual procedure. I would urge you to have it done--and any others over 50 who have not yet had it done. My father lived to 95, partly because his colon cancer was caught early enough by a colonoscopy he had done in his early 70s.

Instant karma gotcha.

The last time we were there, several years ago, the beach was absolutely filthy, too. We were appalled at how bad it was--trash everywhere. Trash on top of trash. And, like you said, it looked like it had been there for a long time, not just recently washed up from a storm. It made us appreciate how clean and well-cared for Pattaya's beaches are.

Guilty as charged. In my defense, I do try to not write any more than what is needed to convey what I am thinking. As others have said, sometimes a topic will need more space than others. Now and then, I do enjoy going off on a riff with a topic--and I like when others do, as well. To me, that's one of the enjoyments of AN, reading a well-written post; thank goodness we have full-page replies! How boring it would be if everything was one or two sentence posts. Occasionally, I will do one word posts, when one word is all that is needed. Variety is the spice . . .

We have clothes driers in our Pattaya house and our Bangkok condo. Both work just fine. One's an Electrolux and the other is a Beko. The clothes washers we own have extra spin cycles, which we use, and the clothes are fairly dry when they go into the driers. We do at least one load of wash a day and, these days, I can't imagine hanging the clothes on the too-small clothes racks we had on a procession of condo balconies, like we used to do. That ship has, thankfully, sailed. Over the years, we've had LG, Sanyo, Mitsubishi, Hitachi, as well as the above brands and probably some others, and the only problem has been with our robot vacuum cleaner, which is pretty old now.

Last flight on Emirates in 2023 we were bused to the plane at the Dubai airport--after a very long walk, several changes of floors, more walking, a train ride, and, finally the bus to the plane. That was no fun.

Why, indeed.

The whole mall has been nicely refreshed--ceilings given interesting paint treatments, stone work on pillars changed to white, bathrooms nicely redone, murals added on walkways to the bathrooms, etc. Looks great.

They can, indeed, be a big problem--and not just for noise late at night. They were a big problem for one of the large projects my spouse and I lived in. Over 1000 units, built by a Bangkok developer, with the project designed with the idea there would be a lot of absentee Bangkok owners using the mostly small units as weekend getaways now and then. Two not very big pools and 1 not very large gym--sized for a project that wasn't expected to be very busy most of the time. Enter illegal short-term rentals and the project used as a hotel, instead of a residence, by a number of owners who bought multiple units to rent out daily. Instead of a pleasant place to live, it was soon over-run, with the 'hotel' guests acting badly a lot of the time. Total disregard for condo rules, the facility, and the long-term residents. We'd walk down the hall and see garbage bags sitting in the hallway because they couldn't be bothered to find where the trash room was. Constantly running to condo staff and overworking them with 'hotel' types of problems and issues they weren't hired to deal with. Elevators were overwhelmed with the constant moving in and out of dozens of new people every day--often a long line for residents to wait to get on an overcrowded elevator filled with suitcases--and daily renters who could care less about bangng them about into the walls and doors. The wear and tear on the building was quickly noticeable with the constant moving in and out of so many illegal renters every day. What was once a pleasant lobby became a crowded mess of the daily renters sitting everywhere with their luggage waiting for someone to come give them the keys to the condo they had rented for a couple of days. Think noisy, busy airport terminal without the planes. I'm certainly glad you have not had this type of situation in the condo project where you live--but lots of others are dealing with these types of issues with large condo projects now popular with tourists renting illegally. After that experience, we picked an older condo project with much larger unit sizes and a smaller number of units, less than 200. Made for a much more pleasant residence.

Good!

Sent a private message to your mailbox.

Keep dancing.