khunjeff

1) In the few places in the US where I've seen discounts for locals, the discount applies to all residents, regardless of nationality; a Thai studying at a local university or on a work visa would get exactly the same price as a similarly situated American, while a US citizen from another state or city would not get the discount. 2) Have you ever seen any venue that requires presentation of a Thai ID or passport to get the free or reduced admission? Every place I've ever been they charge based on how you look, which means if you're Asian and don't open your mouth, you're charged as a Thai.

That "discrimination" occurs because hundreds of thousands of their fellow citizens have gone to other countries under the guise of "wanting to travel" and ended up working illegally - in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Europe, the UK, the US, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere. It's unfortunate that those who really do just want to sightsee have a difficult time as a result, but other countries can't ignore reality.

The poor ratings for Thai aviation from ICAO and the US were based on findings that the relevant government agencies were not providing adequate oversight and regulation of the sector. "The FAA safety rating is issued as part of the agency's International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program. This program assesses "a country's ability, not the ability of individual air carriers, to adhere to international aviation safety standards and recommended practices" established by ICAO." https://simpleflying.com/thailand-faa-rating-failure/

That's a good question, and I don't know. There weren't many Thanachart ATMs prior to the merger (at least in any areas that I go to), so all of the TTB machines that I've used are ones that previously belonged to TMB. If I happen to see a legacy Thanachart ATM (and can recognize it as such), I'll try it out and see what happens.

Unless the roof was leaking, I don't understand why rainfall would have any impact on internal ceiling panels.

ATMs from Krungsri, TMB, CIMB, and Citibank all allowed 30k withdrawals using a foreign card. There are no CIMB or Citibank machines left now, and I don't know whether UOB kept that limit when they took over from Citi, but TTB definitely maintained the 30k limit on its legacy TMB machines. As of now, then, I'm only aware of Krungsri and TTB still permitting 30k pulls. Some people have posted here that they were able to get that amount from Kasikorn as well, but that was never my experience in the past - I haven't tried recently, though.

It used to be that only TTB and Krungsri allowed withdrawals of 30k at one time - I don't know whether any other banks have started doing the same.

I remember the first Popeye's store opening on Silom in the early 90s, but it disappeared after a few years. Yes, a few weeks ago - the opening was covered extensively in the media. Del Taco did open one store on Sukhumvit about 20-25 years ago, but it didn't last long. Those used to be plentiful and cheap throughout New England, but unfortunately clam prices started skyrocketing a few years ago due to red tide and invasive predators, and they're now very expensive when you can find them at all. https://www.patriotledger.com/story/news/2021/07/26/clams-latest-food-hit-skyrocketing-prices-shortages/8055477002/

I think most people on this forum have seen plenty of police vaping as well, often right outside the police station...

I remember the name and the iconic gong, but was not familiar with the slang term...!

Condescending? The video is about a bunch of Americans who desperately need a huge design and printing job done, and can't find any company in the US with the ability to do it on time. They go to Thailand, where a Thai company is able to meet their needs by designing and manufacturing a million items in under a week. I guess the "netizens" were so busy trying to be offended that they missed that part. And didn't Thailand write the book on broad-brush comedic stereotypes of absolutely every national and ethnic group? Or am I thinking of another country that has wacky Isaan maids in every comedy, and where newspaper headlines refer to Korea as "the land of kimchi"?

Even by Thai standards, this has to be one of the most ridiculous excuses I've ever heard. "Winds blew dust" into the middle of a tunnel that's 5km long? And if somehow that utterly implausible scenario were true, won't the same thing keep happening again after every cleaning? 🙄

And also incentivizing breeding? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hanoi_Rat_Massacre

The amazing thing about science is that it works regardless of whether you believe in it. No matter where climate change is "on the list of voter priorities", it's still happening.

I personally have no opinion at all about their legality - I was just referring to what Thai officials have already said: "Pol Maj-Gen Panthana Nutchanart, the deputy commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, stated that the advertisement is not illegal since it does not offer Thai passports. He remarked that the sale of foreign passports is a common practice in several countries."

It's great to see that being unlikable and unpopular is no bar to high office 🙄

Prosecution on what legal basis, exactly? So far, every official has stated that the content of the billboard was not illegal - the only issues were that the Chinese person who arranged it didn't have a work permit, and the building owner didn't have the right license to put up advertising. And why is the Labor Ministry involved in policing foreigners obtaining passports - legally - from third countries?

There's an awful lot of detailed planning and posturing going on for a program that has yet to be funded or even approved.

Either this term was badly mistranslated, or the justice system here is even more bizarre than I thought it was. "Serving" his (truncated) sentence in a luxury hospital suite and at home may erase his obligation to the penal system, but it certainly doesn't erase the fact that he was found guilty by a court. This case has nothing whatsoever to do with US politics, and I don't even know who the "goose" and the "gander" are supposed to be in this scenario. A pardon in the US, however, does not in any way render the recipient "innocent": "There are substantial differences between legislative immunity and a pardon; the latter carries an imputation of guilt and acceptance of a confession of it" (US Supreme Court in Burdick v. United States) https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/236/79/

"Well, they may be impostors, and we didn't do anything wrong, but let's pay them just in case" - does this make sense to anyone...? 🤔

So which is it - this is officially confirmed to be starting in three days, or it's still awaiting approval? And if the cabinet hasn't approved it yet, presumably it hasn't been gazetted either...?

Spam on Line and Whatsapp makes sense, because the messages are free - they can send thousands of them at no cost. SMS spam in Thailand is more peculiar, because the messages cost money. I haven't received the "temple" message, but I did get the one below the other day and was wondering how the scam works:

Generally, yes. It's up to the airline - I've checked my bags through on Indian low cost carriers when transiting through India en route to another country. Transit through Bangkok is the same - some low cost carriers will transfer your bags to your connecting flight, and others say you have to do it yourself.

I don't think anyone would assume that ethnic Chinese from the Mainland would have the same spending habits as those from Singapore or Taiwan, which is why this is a peculiar survey. The article also states the following, though of course it could just be poor reporting: Not even the PRC government pretends that Singaporeans are "Chinese nationals"!

Yes, it could only be spotted by the eagle eyes of foreigners 👀