khunjeff

So, which is it? I had always heard 30 years, with no guaranteed extension.

Never...

So actually the number of factories is increasing, not decreasing, meaning this is a completely invented "crisis"...

The US Embassy did not spell "honoring" with a "u"... 😉

Actually, exchange rates are normally quite good. At this moment, the Visa rate (which I would get from using my foreign debit card at an ATM here) is 36.61 THB/USD, only marginally lower than the SuperRich cash rate of 36.67. And the fees and charges are dependent on your bank. If your card has no foreign exchange fee and refunds all ATM fees - as mine does - then the "service charges" are zero.

That's been part of the Suvarnabhumi master plan from the beginning - supposedly the two terminals will be linked by one or more rail lines.

I've never had to go as far as requesting a refund through Shopee itself. Each time I've had an issue - wrong item sent, item missing, counterfeit, item not as described - I've contacted the seller via the Shopee chat function to discuss it. More than 90% of the time, the seller has apologized and immediately either sent me a refund or sent out the correct item. On only a couple of occasions was the seller stubborn, arguing about the issue even when they were demonstrably wrong. Once I got tired of the argument, I would just say, "ok, forget it, I'm sending this to Shopee and letting them decide", and the seller would suddenly decide to return my payment. (And only once did the seller even want me to return the counterfeit item - I didn't feel like waiting for someone to come collect it, so I just walked over to Kerry myself with the prepaid address label.)

He's incorrectly conflating zero dollar tours with the economic concept of "dumping". In a dumping situation, an entity sells below cost and takes losses now with the intent to drive competitors out of business, so that the seller can enjoy monopoly profits later. Zero dollar tours may sell the airfare/hotel package below the actual cost, but they do so knowing that they will make back the loss through kickbacks from the stores where the suckers are forced to buy expensive garbage. Overall, they make money on every tour - that's the point. They have no need or desire to push legitimate travel companies into bankruptcy.

That's the constant claim by the Thai travel industry, and is obviously untrue. These tour groups are not shipping in their own food or bringing their own beds and hotels from China, they are buying goods and services in Thailand from local companies. If the businesses here happen to be illegally owned by foreigners through nominees, that's a separate matter from the zero dollar tours issue.

Or abstained. There were 18 abstentions, so my math was wrong - 152 participated by voting or abstaining, and 98 weren't there at all.

Since there are 250 senators, this seems to indicate that over 100 of them didn't even bother to show up for the vote.

How on earth can you demand that an official be removed, but not specify which official you're talking about?

"Couples will have equal access to marriage, as well as the same rights in areas including child adoption, healthcare consent, and inheritance." https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/18/thailand-same-sex-marriage-equality-vote-bill-legislation

Can anyone translate this into English for me? What does it mean - putting up signs in these cities pointing to the "notable destinations"?

The last paragraph is not adding any categories - it's separate and distinct from the first paragraph. First paragraph: You must, within 24 hours, report the stay of any foreigner who has been admitted to Thailand on a temporary basis (i.e., anyone other than a permanent resident). Second paragraph: However, if a foreigner goes somewhere else temporarily and returns to their usual place of residence, you don't have to report them again. Third paragraph: The exception in paragraph two applies only to foreigners with multiple entry visas or reentry permits. (In other words, if you come in visa exempt, go on a border run, and come back on another visa exempt, you do have to be reported again.)

Yes, in fact I have! I got the OnePlus earbuds that I currently use for more than a thousand baht under the regular price during a flash sale. For the really steeply discounted items, you usually have to pounce immediately when the sale starts to have any hope of catching one.

What I posted was in Thai, not English, and was written and distributed by immigration headquarters, so I'm not sure what you're trying to say.

I can almost always get free shipping just by going online at noon or midnight when new codes are posted, but you're quite right about item-specific free shipping offers and discount codes. In many cases, those seem to be from months earlier and have long expired, but are never removed from the listing. In the case of "free shipping from this seller for orders over 40 baht", I have never seen a single one that actually gave that benefit - I have no idea what the deal is with those. I order a lot from Shopee, and I have literally never seen this. I think that's extremely unlikely, but they do vary the coupon offers based on how often you order, how much you spend, which of their games you play, and so on.

You're correct, it was formally cancelled as of 30 June 2020, as long as you're on a multiple entry visa or a reentry permit - but some immigration offices don't seem to have gotten the memo.

That's a good start, but the courts should also start imposing sanctions for what at this point are totally frivolous lawsuits. Asking for judicial review of the election process is one thing, but repeatedly flogging a dead horse using wholly invented "facts" is another matter entirely.

That's the kind of transparency in government that we know and love 🙄

The ARL cars are 2.80m wide, compared to 3.12m on the BTS.

That's exactly what most online operators do, at least in the first several years of operations. The investors fund discounts and free shipping in order to increase the customer base, even if it means taking a loss on every sale.

For foreign passports, the gates will only be used for departures for the foreseeable future. As you note, that means that for some people, fingerprints may be scanned on arrival, but not when leaving the country.

Not really possible at this point...