khunjeff

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.

Maybe, but that seems unlikely. Since this is being promulgated by the NACC - not the Interior Ministry - and applies only to state officials, it appears to be addressing some specific way in which officials were carrying out corrupt activities. Perhaps some people were purposely avoiding marriage registration so they could put assets into their partner's name and claim it wasn't theirs?

"Trafficking" a substance that can be bought and sold legally - crime of the century for sure.

Considering that we know its name, number, designer, builder, launch date, and purpose, I would say that it isn't terribly mysterious.

Unless they know something that the rest of us don't (which is certainly possible), this has all the earmarks of a boondoggle. I was in Nan a couple of months ago, and the current terminal looks quite new. And given that there are very few domestic flights going there, it's hard to imagine why there would be any demand for direct international flights to a province that is very scenic, but has limited infrastructure for mass tourism.

That isn't the only claim from the police about this case that seems odd... Virtually no one tries to use completely counterfeit passports, which is what they're describing here. With all the fancy security features in modern passports, a total fake can be spotted with the naked eye. If they really bought homemade passports (as opposed to real documents with a substituted photo, or from a holder with a similar appearance), they weren't very bright. They spent two weeks in Thailand and have entry records, so this doesn't appear to be accurate...and they were trying to board a flight to Oman, not Spain. The police seem to have mixed things up a bit in the process of trying to make their interception appear more heroic.

I'm pretty sure their faces and fingerprints remain the same regardless of which passport they're using, which is kind of the point of biometrics - they should have been flagged and identified immediately as soon as their fingers were scanned.

The big stores like Bang Na and Bang Yai do have multiple shortcuts, with signs directing you to them. The smaller branch at EmSphere, though, really does force you to walk through the entire store - even the restaurant is in the middle of the store rather than on the edge like at Mega.

So they're patting themselves on the back for removing obsolete cables that they themselves left on the poles?

If the flights will be delayed, why are we getting there early? 🤔

I believe that loophole was eliminated years ago. As you say, it used to be the case that if you bought 10 liters or more, it was assumed to be a wholesale purchase and was allowed. Now, you can officially only make those purchases during restricted hours if you can show an alcohol sales license.