khunjeff

2 hours ago, JoePai said:

2 hours ago, NanLaew said:

Ah, so those golf carts from two different companies that I observed whisking passengers from their international arrival gates to immigration yesterday are fakes and don't exist.

 

I see.

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Thai Elite maybe

No, there are other cart services that are not connected with Thai Privilege, and they are advertised all over with packages that include Fast Track immigration. Even AOT itself sells this kind of service through its "Sawasdee Pass" scheme.

55 minutes ago, Presnock said:

I just changed from retiement to the LTR, and plan on using the non-existent fast track service if I go through a Thai international airport.

LTR, SMART Visa, Thai Elite, and a few others are specifically authorized to use Fast Track. The article isn't saying that Fast Track doesn't exist, just making the ludicrous claim that the privilege isn't being openly sold to pax who don't qualify to use it.

7 hours ago, webfact said:

in 2023, [] Thai citizens receiv[ed] an alarming 79 million dishonest messages and calls. This figure presents a notable 18% rise from the 66.7 million deceptive calls and messages recorded in 2022.

Those numbers seem way, way too low. That would mean fewer than two scam calls per phone number per year, and pretty much everyone I know or have read about receives far more than that number per week.

Kasikorn can produce a one year statement while you wait for the same 100 baht price as a shorter one, so you might as well get the longer version just to be on the safe side. And in my experience, it shouldn't matter whether you update the bank book before or after the letter is issued (since you're actually allowed to get the letter up to seven days before the appointment).

1 hour ago, Sydebolle said:

Revamp the entire immigration; unload 90% of all those forms, forget about blue-inked signatures on photocopies etc. etc. etc. It is tedious, repetitive and - in some cases - rather insulting

Entering the country as a tourist at the airport - which is what is under discussion here - does not involve any forms or signatures.

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

This Act outlaws any form of advertising that displays, directly or indirectly, an alcoholic beverage’s brand or trademark.

Other than the nonstop giant billboards everywhere showing the names and logos of the biggest beer companies - but oh, sorry, those are actually advertising "club soda" and "mineral water"...

1 hour ago, josephbloggs said:

They did that quite a while back.

Really? I last rode the ARL less than two months ago, and the empty, unusable baggage car was still on the train that I was on - and I've never seen an ex-Express train without it. (All the former Express passenger cars were converted to the City-style beech seating years ago.) 

"But she and her four colleagues, who are all members of the [Lawyers'] council, have agreed that they cast the province in a negative light and that the message in the advertisement is degrading to women, as it likens them to food, which constitutes a libel"

The billboards may be clever or stupid depending on your point of view, but how they could constitute "libel" is utterly beyond me.

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

With the Airport Rail Link’s extensive reach, stretching further since its last overhaul in 2018

Its "reach" is exactly the same now as it was in 2018 - there have been no extensions to the system since it opened.

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

CP Group has pledged hefty investments to enhance services and expand capacity

The ARL has had insufficient rolling stock since the day it opened, which is why the frequencies are so poor. Neither the SRT nor CP have shown any interest in spending money to buy more trains.

Meanwhile, the stations are still gloomy and stifling, the guards still blow their whistles in passengers' ears, the seats are still narrow and uncomfortable, and the exteriors of the trains show no signs of ever having been washed.

30 minutes ago, newnative said:

Nice if they added reserved seating and express trains from Makkasan.

Very unlikely anytime in the foreseeable future. The express trains never made economic sense, and would still run mostly empty if they were brought back. That being the case, CP should finally convert the unused baggage cars on the former express trains to accommodate passengers - it's ridiculous that those trains run with one empty car, even years after the express service was discontinued.

1 hour ago, webfact said:

 

In many instances, police have noted that these foreigners have faced prosecution for employing nominees to hold shares on their behalf in companies established with concealed intentions to provide work permits to other foreigners.

Is this really true? Despite a lot of bloviation by authorities, I don't think I've heard of any instance of a foreigner being prosecuted for an illegal nominee relationship.

So once again the smugglers have escaped and the trafficking victims have been arrested, in contravention of international standards. Be prepared to go back on the Trafficking in Persons watchlist.

1 hour ago, fredwiggy said:

I'm thinking park in an area, legally, so you aren't blocking other vehicles. Or am I missing something?

Almost every Thai parking facility explicitly allows double parking, but with the requirement that the car be in neutral so that it can be pushed out of the way if necessary.

3 hours ago, ericthai said:

back around 2000ish I read an article in the BKK post, that some toll booth collectors and the manager were skimming money from the toll collections. They all were transferred to inactive position, nobody got fired or asserted for theft....just transferred.

 

How nice steal from the government and dont lose your job, just sit at a desk all day doing nothing...lol

My recollection is that it went far beyond skimming - they were stealing something like half the tolls for many months. The government brought in soldiers to man the toll booths for a while, and then the story just disappeared.

17 hours ago, transam said:

They've got upside down elephants on, is that normal.....?

There are hundreds of different designs out there, but yes, virtually all of them include elephants in both directions (as in the photo) to make the sewing easier - the design is the same regardless of how you orient the fabric.

About time - those pickers were regularly exploited by brokers, and many of them actually lost money after paying exorbitant fees and expenses out of their own pockets. 

10 hours ago, proton said:

That only applies to wine, I thought it included local beer and spirits also?

10 hours ago, proton said:

 No reduction on beer or spirits but there should have been by now

8 hours ago, foreverlomsak said:

Since the reductions in tax levies were announced, the only effect I've seen at some (not all) of my local "refreshment" stops, has been a 10 Baht increase in the price of bottles of local beer, I don't drink wine and very little spirits so don't really know about them.

6 hours ago, proton said:

what about local beers and spirits?

2 hours ago, Lancelot01 said:

Lotus's have recently raised the price of my favourite sm beer tipple by B4 so I suppose I will be impressed when it is reduced by B4 by the end of the year.   

Beer, whether local or imported, is not part of any of these tax reduction schemes.

"See, this is why we need to buy a new frigate from China."

The renovated canal area looks nice, but I've never seen more than about one block of the walkway in active use - the rest is always deserted. Part of the problem is that it's impossible to move from one section to the next without going up some stairs and running across a busy road, with no light or crosswalk at the natural crossing point.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

“The tickets will then be dispatched to the vehicle owners responsible for paying the fines. We can’t always dispatch the police to deal with illegally parked vehicles.”

So they don't intend to actually enforce any of this, other than by maybe sending a ticket through the mail at some future date. And how exactly will that move traffic along today?

Also, I don't know anyone who would characterize license plate readers, CCTV cameras, and 3-minute timers as an "AI system".

3 hours ago, webfact said:

The other strategies include displaying signs to discourage tourists and customers from using transport that violates the law

Yes, the problem isn't too many vehicles on the roads, it's tourists using the wrong vehicles. Uh huh. And signs have proven to be so effective...

4 hours ago, webfact said:

The secretary-general of the Office of the Ombudsman, Police Lieutenant Colonel Keirov Krittateeranon

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Police Major General Vichai Sangprapai, the former deputy commander of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, initiated this review

Is the "ombudsman" looking after the interests of the police, or the public? Reasonable people can disagree about what the cutoff in the number of pills should be, but Vichai's argument seems to be "drugs are bad, therefore we should keep exactly the same enforcement regime that we've always had" (and which has done such a great job in reducing crime and abuse 🙄 ).

And his "fear[] that corrupt police may exploit the regulation, accepting bribes to ignore the quantity of drugs in possession" kind of ignores the fact that if you assume police will accept bribes, then no enforcement mechanism will work...

I'm not sure why this wasn't already prohibited, but the bigger question is whether there will actually be any enforcement. (And given that the indented area in the photo has no sign saying "no parking" or "official vehicles only", it's not surprising that people were "misusing" it.)

18 hours ago, BangkokHank said:

I used this company when I moved from Bangkok to Saigon some years ago, as well as for two local moves within Saigon. They were extremely professional with the packing and moving and unpacking. And they also have an option for insurance. You can find the details on their website at the following link:

 

https://www.santaferelo.com/en/your-thailand-moving-company/

I too used Santa Fe from Saigon to Bangkok, and also got a recent quotation from them for a local move within the city (they now have a subsidiary called Sanelo for non-corporate moves). They offer insurance at a price of 1.5% of the declared value of the items, which is the same rate offered by JWD/JVK and Asian Tigers. All three of these companies provide excellent, professional service, but will likely be more expensive than local firms.

On 3/9/2024 at 4:44 AM, webfact said:

Speaking at a meeting of a committee on preventing teenage pregnancy

On 3/9/2024 at 4:44 AM, webfact said:

Somsak advocated for targeted campaigns aimed at younger women to bolster the birth rate.

So he went to a meeting aimed at preventing young women from having babies and proposed that the government urge young women to have babies?