khunjeff

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.

Andreas Mogensen, a European Space Agency astronaut who has flown to the ISS twice, slammed Musk's comments as he shared a clip of the interview to his X account. “What a lie. And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media,” Mogensen wrote. https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/elon-musk-spacex-astronaut-fight-34721922

The bigger "root" is that developers keep building huge towers with units the size of hotel rooms. That makes it easier to sell them out at relatively low prices to people who are desperate to be property owners, but realistically there are very few people who want to live long-term in units that tiny (and it's essentially impossible for families). So once you've bought a unit that no one actually wants to live in, what do you do with it? Not surprisingly, tourists who would otherwise stay in hotels are fine with apartments the size of hotel rooms...

I think that in theory it's supposed to be for the last two years, but I know people who only uploaded evidence for one year (because their income had only recently risen above the threshold) who were approved.

I've been in one Wine Connection branch that would not serve alcohol from 2-5pm, and another that would happily serve all day. It's quite unpredictable. If you live here full time, it's a minor annoyance, you know it's going to happen, and you can keep alcohol at home if you want to. If you're a tourist who's here for three days and you find that you can't have a beer with your lunch or a glass of wine with your dinner, and you don't understand why, it can put a damper on your holiday. The real absurdity of this "holy day" ban is that it makes little sense from any religious perspective. If you follow the Buddhist precepts, then you never drink alcohol, regardless of what day it is. If you don't follow them, then you do whatever you want, regardless of the day. This attempt to force people to pretend to be good Buddhists by prohibiting alcohol on certain days while permitting it the rest of the time is purely performative.

How so? The road looks well built and in good condition - this appears to be entirely driver error that would have had the same unfortunate result in any country.

I wasn't aware that provinces could make up their own visa regulations. This implies that the meetings with consular officers have some connection with the things that immigration is "ensuring", which they don't. "No warrants" and "no blacklist" simply means that arrivals are run through the immigration database, just as they are at every other checkpoint in the country. "Sufficient funds and a defined itinerary" is also a theoretical requirement at every checkpoint in Thailand, but is virtually never checked, in Phuket or anywhere else. And let's remember that these things are checked in Phuket only for foreigners arriving on the island directly from abroad. For those coming from Bangkok or elsewhere, Phuket immigration never sees them at all.

It's so novel that no one thought of it before, other than every market stall, every retailer, and even the Don Muang airport buses...

I assume that was generated by AI. In reality, blowing whistles doesn't accomplish any of those things, because when they are being blown everywhere, virtually nonstop, for any reason or no reason, people stop paying attention to them. Rather than thinking there's an emergency, people assume -usually correctly - that it's just some idiot with an ill-fitting uniform showing off his self-imagined power.

As do I - almost all second hand from market stalls. And I wear them year round.

Except that they weren't operating a costume rental business at all - they were just (illegal) employees at a shop operated by a Thai owner. But perhaps the police thought it would sound more impressive if they claimed they had busted a foreign-run business...

Just a few months ago they said it would be tied to the ETA, so that only visa exempt travelers would pay. But now the ETA has completely disappeared from the conversation, and the zombie tourist tax has risen from the grave yet again. Let's not forget that the supposed motivation for this tax was the millions the government was allegedly losing from tourists skipping out on hospital bills. But even if every instance of that evasion were accepted as true, that loss would come out to less than 10 baht per foreign visitor - so they've decided that 300 baht should just about cover it, and they'll figure out what to use the rest for. Uh huh. This tax is, and always has been, a solution in search of a problem.

Mr. Boon-Anan is living in a fantasy world. Thailand has never had strict screening of tourists, and is not going to start anytime soon. He and his fellow pearl-clutchers seem to think there's "one weird trick" that will magically detect people who will end up causing mischief here, but there isn't. Biometrics and database checks are all well and good, but all they show you is whether someone has gotten into trouble in Thailand in the past. Unless they want to start personally interviewing all potential tourists and rejecting anyone who looks the least bit suspicious, they will never keep out the troublemakers. Whether foreigners need visas in advance, or get them on arrival, or get a 30,60, or 90 visa exemption, there will still be no checks conducted other than running their names and (maybe) fingerprints through a local database. That's it. And his call for a return of the TM6 is patently absurd. There was never any check made of the accuracy of the listed accommodation, and even if there were, what would that prove? Are criminals unable to book hotels for one night?

...and yet there's no mention of any human trafficking. In fact, the only person who could possibly have been a trafficking victim - Ms. Khith - was, as usual, arrested rather than provided with assistance.

Oh look, he's awake! Good morning to you, Mr. P!