khunjeff

Using the military to address poverty? Will they use the blimp and the F-35s to drop money into slums? So he made a public, written promise that the military will stay out of politics and immediately cashier anyone found to be plotting a coup? I thought not.

I'd like some oil and vinegar with my word salad, please - this is all buzzwords and no substance.

They have one million sim cards to hand out "to all foreign visitors landing in Thailand" over a period of nearly six months. Are they aware that well over one million foreign visitors land in the country every month? Edit: they actually said the distribution will go on until 2027 - so I think they'll need at least a hundred million extra cards...

You're quite correct.

Because he's not actually "inspecting" anything, he's putting on a show. Anytime the authorities talk about "intensifying" security measures, you'll see a few days of high ranking officers walking around, snappy salutes being given, publicity photos being taken, and then the whole thing will quietly disappear. And if you walk past the "intense" security points when they're not being "inspected", there's a good chance that everyone will be taking naps or playing with their phones. Second verse, same as the first.

All the problems within the police force, and all the threats and challenges that the country faces, and they decide the most important thing to focus on right now is...haircuts.

The last time I did the visa on arrival was earlier this year, and I don't think it's changed since then. The fee is $30 for a tourist visa, or $35 for an "ordinary" visa (for business, etc), payable in USD cash. (If they accept any other currency, it will be at a very unfavorable rate.) There is no need for an application form or photo - they use your arrival card as the visa form. If there's no one ahead of you in the queue, the whole process takes 5-10 minutes. Unfortunately they do take up a whole page in your passport with the visa sticker.

I personally prefer Shopee, but I've used both. It's annoying that Shopee doesn't accept foreign cards, but once I managed to enroll in Shopee Pay (which wasn't easy), it's been ok. I seem to get more free shipping codes on Shopee, and I can read Thai so the language thing isn't a big deal. (Search is usually ok in English, but most seller descriptions are only in Thai.)

There used to be a $25 Passenger Service Charge that had to be paid in cash, but it's now included in the ticket. That charge, for airport maintenance, was paid by every person flying out of the country, not just foreigners. Even if you believe all the claims about the amount of unpaid medical bills left behind by foreigners - which I don't - the total could be covered with less than 10 baht per incoming foreigner. Instead, they want to charge 300. Hmm. Yes, and the airlines rightfully refused to collect it. It's simple for them to add a fee that applies to all passengers, but very difficult and expensive to only charge the fee to some people and not others. (And before folks start saying, "but they know who the foreigners are! They ask that when you book the ticket!" - well, no, most airlines don't ask your nationality until check-in.)

A few of those, like in Bhutan, are genuinely fees or taxes on foreign tourists. Most of what the media labels as "tourism taxes", though, are simply hotel taxes that are implemented with the assumption that very few locals will end up paying them.

Right. The Thai son of wealthy Thai parents goes into a Thai shopping mall owned by Thai billionaires and kills some foreigners. To show how much it cares, the Thai government pays compensation to the victims using money coming only from foreign tourists. Wait, what? ????

All Thai banks are FATCA-compliant, since it's required by the Bank of Thailand. The Thai government signed a bilateral agreement with the US about this many years ago, so individual banks have no choice but to comply. The funds aren't converted. The US Treasury - which has holdings in pretty much every currency in the world - sends the payments in baht, using its own exchange rate to determine the THB amount.

If this is like what's been set up in the US, then no - it's a national emergency warning system, and you can't opt out other than by turning off your phone. There was a test of the US system on Wednesday - the first in two or three years - and all phones sounded an alarm and gave a message at 2:20pm Eastern Time.

That was actually a correct enforcement of the rule, even if we might not agree with it, or would hope that the screeners might be more flexible (as the ones at your origin airport evidently were). "If your liquids are stored in containers larger than 3.4 ounces, even if there’s only 3.4 ounces left inside the bottle, you can’t bring them through security." https://www.afar.com/magazine/the-tsas-3-1-1-rule-for-liquids-in-carry-on-luggage

We see this lack of understanding of the distinction between governments and individuals again and again here. A restaurant in the US displays a Buddha image in a way that some Thai thinks is disrespectful? Complain to the mayor or the state governor! A UK newspaper says something "insulting" about a prominent Thai? Send a complaint letter to the British embassy! Each time, the complainers seem mystified when their entreaties are ignored or laughed at. (The US Embassy has regularly refused to accept letters complaining about the actions of George Soros and other private citizens, suggesting that the aggrieved parties might want to send their complaints directly to the person whose behavior had bothered them.)

Oh, give me a break! The Crazy Horse is a burlesque venue famous for its nude dancers, and they're complaining that Lisa's "bold attire" "objectifies women"??

Holding a visa for Thailand has no effect on European entry requirements. Whether you need a Schengen visa will depend on your nationality - if you're a US citizen (not clear from your post), you can enter the Schengen area without a visa. There were plans to institute a mandatory online pre-registration system for visa-exempt travelers to Europe in 2024, but that's now been postponed until mid-2025 at the earliest.

That office is actually immediately past passport control, but before security.

"the committee plans to send the complaint document to Iceland, urging the government to acknowledge the inappropriate actions of its residents." Iceland is a free country - I'm pretty sure they don't discipline their citizens just because a foreign official thinks they've been insufficiently deferential. "Additionally, the committee intends to pursue legal action against the restaurant owner under Thai law, regardless of whether Porntip chooses to pursue legal remedies." So Thailand now has extraterritorial jurisdiction over rudeness in European restaurants? Fascinating. Perhaps they can take the case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague while they're at it.

I'm not sure I follow this. So will appointments be based on merit, or seniority?

They didn't withhold the name of the hotel from the firefighters? How irresponsible! ????

You can easily adjust the settings to show the net price instead of the base price.

You missed the part that says "and a national of...". This clause was written to cover, for example, a Thai who lived and worked in a foreign country long enough to qualify for a pension, and then moved back to Thailand for retirement. It doesn't apply to citizens of that same foreign country who retire in Thailand.

Yes, I think they changed their view on all of those US Government plans at the same time. They didn't accept my FSBP/AFSPA when I applied a year ago, but when my friend applied with exactly the same policy this past April, BoI took it with no problem.

I can't speak for France or other countries, but the US has no requirement to "declare" foreign real estate holdings - only bank and financial accounts have to be reported. Any capital gains on sales of overseas property would have to be declared as income, but there is no Federal property tax.