khunjeff

My transfers normally take under 10 seconds, but the one yesterday ended up taking 90 minutes. I have no idea what the reason was, but it was still fast enough that I'm not going to worry about it.

Those are Electronic Travel Authorizations (ETAs), which are what Thailand announced last year and then completely stopped talking about. What is being discussed in the OP is an electronic arrival card, akin to what is being used in Malaysia, Singapore, and Cambodia. They're not the same.

This is exactly correct. The person you dealt with at the Revenue Dept is misunderstanding the difference between a Social Security payment and a pension paid for being a former government employee. How (or if) you can get him to admit his error, though, will be the real challenge.

Price gouging by both the retailer and the suppliers... https://youtu.be/Z8-wqv9_-Ac?si=-REDODgQiTgqWw29

I'm having trouble understanding exactly which type of "shady" massage parlor they're trying to crack down on - the ones that are really just providing sexual services, or legitimate massage shops with poorly trained staff? Micromanaging the pricing structure of thousands of massage shops seems like a pointless endeavor, and one that they'll never be able to enforce. Not only Chuvit - a former Minister of Commerce came from the family that owns the huge Poseidon Entertainment Complex on Ratchada. And you're right, many of these establishments have folded for economic reasons - there are more valuable ways to use the land that they sit on - but the ones that have been closed down by authorities were accused of illegal use of ground water or employing minors, not of offering sexual services.

That's the perpetual Thai response to tourism in general.

That's fine, but then they can expect leasing aircraft from overseas to become more difficult - many of the leasing companies want to have their own personnel operating their planes.

That was a separate law that was passed earlier this year, but has yet to take effect - the article below says that it "could come into effect by October". https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2940490/house-passes-bill-to-free-up-liquor-production

It's actually surprising that they released anything at all, and the reason has nothing to do with who he is or which family he comes from: "Visa records are confidential under INA 222(f) and are generally not releasable under FOIA or the Privacy Act unless the document was submitted by or sent to the requesting party." "It has been determined that visa records and information contained in a visa applicant's file are statutorily exempt from release under FOIA provisions." https://fam.state.gov/fam/09FAM/09FAM060302.html

No, it doesn't - it "resonates" with a desire to continue a purely performative response to a tragic incident which the response would not actually have prevented. Not "past incidents", but one single incident. The "inebriated man" was not a passenger and did not buy alcohol on the train, so the prohibition could not possibly "prevent[] similar incidents". Problem: drugged-up railroad employee commits a terrible crime. Solution: prohibit passengers from drinking alcohol on trains. Wait, what? 🤔

You're not missing anything. It's completely nonsensical and illogical, as is the fact that it's the tourism industry that's pushing to make it more difficult for tourists to come... And here's more illogic: Let's see, it's legal to rent out condos for over 30 days, but illegal to rent them out for less than 30 days. So how do we solve the illegal rental problem? Why, limit people's stays so that only illegal rentals are possible! (Though of course the reality is that the THA would prefer that all condo rentals be banned, and that all visitors be required to stay in hotels.)

That commitment would be clearer if they had investigated these issues before issuing the licenses...

I wish media outlets would include a map with reports like this so we could better understand exactly where the bridge in question is located 🤷

Since I've never seen Highway Police "patrolling" any road, and have never seen any police show the least interest in "unusual" vehicle behavior - of which there is an enormous amount everywhere in Thailand - I have to assume that in reality the police had been tipped off about the smuggling operation and were acting on that tip.

This is the project that was "just one step away from a Cabinet decision" in February 2018... https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/thailand-approves-high-speed-rail-link-connecting-three-international-airports ...and for which CP already signed a contract in October 2019... https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1779144/cp-led-consortium-signs-three-airports-train-contract ...so please forgive me if I don't rush out to buy my tickets just yet.