newnative

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.

Love irony and humor--neither of which you have demonstrated. Doubt many found any humor or irony in your crime in Pattaya part 1 and part 2 threads. You do seem obsessed with disparaging Pattaya, for whatever reason, even when a news story isn't even about Pattaya--as your post that I referenced for this Phuket thread shows--you couldn't wait to make it about Pattaya, and, of course, not in a positive way. Your final sentence above reminds me of those poor, long-suffering, grossly overworked Donald Trump staffers trying to come up with some explanation for yet another of his ridiculous, asinine pronouncements. Fail.

Must have really fried your bacon to read about this crime incident that happened in Phuket. You, with your stated 'impression', posted on several threads you started, that 95% of the crime in Thailand happens in Pattaya. Since that is your warped, misinformed thinking, then I suppose the only way you can reconcile this crime happening in Phuket is by more warped thinking that maybe the 'motor bike taxi driver just moved to Phuket' from Pattaya. Pathetic.

Jesus wept.

It's a start. Breed should be outlawed.

No, he doesn't.

Agree. Dead last--with next-to-last a far distance away. Well, makes sense. All he accomplished in his presidency was a big, fat tax cut for himself. Once that was done, he pretty much lost interest and spent the rest of his presidency playing golf, grifting, spouting literally thousands of lies, more grifting, and tweeting.

Everything just way too slow. Deadlines always missed, even when they are ridiculously distant in the future. Highspeed train 4 years late and counting--why? Incompetence at every level. But, let's form another committee to study it, with a report due in a few years . . . maybe.

25 degrees, on the whole night.

No traffic police ever around.

Gimme a break! A pair of crutches would have been a nice touch, as well. And, maybe an eye patch.

I don't know about ACH transfers with Schwab. I always use Wise to transfer from my USA bank account, not Schwab. I use Schwab strictly for my stock portfolio.

I have a Schwab international account to trade stocks. I don't use any of the other banking features such as debit cards, etc. I can't remember what I used as proof of address here in Thailand. I've been very pleased with their service.

Neck brace??? Pathetic! Look! I'm sick! Look at the neck brace I'm wearing!!! Boggles the mind that they think the public is that gullible.

Good.

Sad.

If he's locked up, he'll eventually be paroled. That's rehabilitation enough, in my book. Someone going 'beserk' on a plane and endangering several hundred lives does not deserve to fly.

My definination of 'farang' is a foreigner, someone who is not a Thai citizen. One definition I saw on the internet was: 'A European or other foreigner'. 'European' is not a race, neither is 'foreigner'. So, still not racial. Certainly it could be seen as discriminating against non-Thai citizens but it's not racial discrimination unless specific races are singled out and treated differently. A foreign runner who comes in first but receives no prize money might be considered to be discriminated against, but not because of race, but rather because he or she is not a Thai citizen, and does not qualify for prize money. One caveat: Should the race organizers define 'farang' in your above rule to mean only white or Black runners, that would be racist. Amateurs competing in PGA golf tournaments do not collect any prize money if they win a tournament. Only professional golfers qualify for prize money. Is that racist? No. 'Amateur' is not a race. Is it possibly discriminating against amateurs? Maybe--but those are the rules. Pretty much the same thing for the Thai race--those are the rules.

Thought this only happened in Pattaya.