khunjeff

The mental gymnastics involved in these moronic announcements should be classified as a sport, albeit an extremely uninteresting one. And no, no one considers poker a "sport"; it's a gambling game that can involve a high level of skill.

What exactly does "popular" mean here? A simple search will show that Bangkok gets at least five times as many international visitors as Sharm-el-Sheikh 🤔

No one is going to organize a competition here if they have to wait for an absurd "case-by-case" determination to know whether it's even legal 🙄

Tens of thousands of overseas Thai workers, though probably very few of them pay Thai income tax.

According to Thai legal definitions, apparently. The same thing happened a few years ago when "online" alcohol sales were banned - companies disabled ordering via their websites, but were still able to take orders via Line or email. Go figure.

Their definition of "key" must be very different from mine...the following is from Deep Seek, and should be mostly correct in terms of scale: Thailand’s International Airports – Annual International Passengers (Estimate) 1. **Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) – Bangkok** - ~**40–50 million** international passengers (pre-pandemic levels were ~60 million, but recovery is ongoing). 2. **Don Mueang International Airport (DMK) – Bangkok** - ~**10–15 million** international passengers (mainly low-cost carriers). 3. **Phuket International Airport (HKT)** - ~**8–12 million** international passengers (one of the busiest for tourism). 4. **Chiang Mai International Airport (CNX)** - ~**3–5 million** international passengers. 5. **Samui International Airport (USM) – Koh Samui** - ~**1.5–2.5 million** international passengers (mostly charter and regional flights). 6. **Krabi International Airport (KBV)** - ~**1.5–2.5 million** international passengers. 7. **Hat Yai International Airport (HDY)** - ~**1–1.5 million** international passengers (serving Southern Thailand and Malaysia traffic). 8. **U-Tapao International Airport (UTP) – Pattaya/Rayong** - ~**1–2 million** international passengers (growing due to overflow from Bangkok).

Will someone please shut this guy up?

I don't think it's possible to "carefully conceal" 60kg of drugs in a suitcase... At those checkpoints in Chiang Rai, they normally stop all trucks and buses, and wave cars through. Why did these fools take a bus?

Why does the press continue to report on the nonsense that perpetually spews out of this guy's overactive mouth?

Alex was smart enough to con people out of millions, but so dumb that he stayed in Thailand after being exposed? Or did he think he had greased things with the police? This is the usual MO in the Chinese "pig butchering" scams - get people's trust by letting them log onto a doctored website that appears to show great returns, and maybe even let them withdraw or move small amounts, but then close it down and disappear when they become suspicious or try to get their money out.

You're referring to the proposed 300 baht "Tourist Tax", but what's under discussion here is the airport Passenger Service Charge, a user fee paid by all departing air passengers. There has never been any talk of exempting Thais from the PSC.

The major airports are run by AoT, and the small provincial airports by the Department of Airports. CAAT is a regulatory agency that doesn't operate airports, so why are they the ones pushing this? It was raised a year ago, but why let facts get in the way of a good story? https://www.airportthai.co.th/en/aot-will-adjust-its-passenger-service-charge-psc-of-international-and-domestic-passenger/# First of all, Changi provides far better service than BKK, so that's a foolish comparison. Also, they cherry-picked that example, since the PSC at BKK is higher than those in Seoul, Tokyo, KL, and Taipei, and similar to Hong Kong - and most of those airports are much more passenger-friendly than Suvarnabhumi. What a remarkable coincidence that this is exactly what Thaksin said in a speech a week ago... https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/3071305/thaksin-touts-golden-visa-higher-travel-fees-to-boost-thailand

It's also never been explained how they're going to triple the number of garbage trucks to make three different collections. Up until now, all trash has been thrown into the same truck regardless of what the label on the bin said.

This imbalance is certainly concerning, but I'm not sure I see how it's a "paradox". It's a pretty common phenomenon in large cities worldwide, with low-wage workers having increasing difficulty being able to afford living where the jobs are.

It would have been nice to have a short explanation of what exactly the Metropolitan Council does, since we hardly ever hear it mentioned in discussions of city government.