khunjeff

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.

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?

How can he speak for how other airlines might price their flights? I'm sure they haven't colluded, since that would of course be illegal 🙄

"All deposits at federally insured credit unions are protected by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, with deposits insured up to at least $250,000 per individual depositor." https://ncua.gov/newsroom/press-release/2020/deposits-are-safe-federally-insured-credit-unions

They replaced all of the baggage scanning equipment last year. The vast majority of countries in the world have exit immigration - the US and the UK are rare exceptions.

Obviously the manager of an individual branch can make up whatever absurd rules he or she likes, but no, this is not an "all Thai banks" policy and is not even the rule of any Thai bank. What they don't understand is that they're stuck with the paperwork whether they like it or not. The Bank of Thailand signed an agreement with the US Treasury Department a number of years ago obliging all Thai banks to comply with FATCA, so no bank - and certainly no branch - can opt out of that, no matter what the manager wants; they must make every new customer fill out the US paperwork to determine whether they meet the definition of a "US person". They also misunderstand what's involved in having "US persons" as customers - the reporting is all done electronically at the HQ level, with essentially no work required by the branch.

That seems to be the case: "When travelling abroad and using credit cards for purchases at international stores, individuals will be presented with the option of paying in the local currency of the country or baht. If the user chooses to pay in baht, an additional 1% fee will be charged." Of course, choosing to pay in baht overseas via DCC is already a terrible idea, since it will be quite a bit more expensive than opting for local currency. And no, this is not a way for Thai banks to cover currency conversion costs. If you choose DCC overseas, the bank in that country will do the conversion. If you choose local currency, conversion will be done by Visa or Mastercard. In neither case will the Thai bank do any conversion or bear any exchange rate risk - the transaction will be submitted to them in baht. https://www.nationthailand.com/blogs/thailand/economy/40036058

That's true if you take out cash using your debit card. You will not pay a fee if you use the cardless withdrawal option on the ATM.

It's adorable that the health minister seems to believe he has the power to enact legislation - his proposal hasn't even been discussed or voted on, so it's a bit rich to say "Thailand plans..."

The name of the person making the announcement is Phantana, not Thanana (his name is even shown in the photo), and he's a Major General, not a Colonel. Itthipol is a Lieutenant General, not a Major General. And Big Joke Surachet is a full General, not a Lieutenant Colonel. This isn't hard.

The head of AOT keeps giving the same speech again and again in response to every crisis: we're bringing on 200, 400, 800 extra staff to guide people through the procedures!! Guess what? Passengers know where to go, that's why they're in the queues - the problem is the number and speed of security and immigration stations, not people getting lost on the way there. And the bizarre repetition of how great the electronic check-in kiosks are...which the airlines didn't ask for, which WE are paying for through an increase in the airport fee, and which will NOT ...since every airline still needs to examine travel documents, weigh bags, etc. This is really getting tiresome.

Does the airport currently have any scheduled flights at all?

And yet these crackdowns never seem to target overcharging and law breaking by registered taxis, which affect the well-being of tourists far more than these illegal private cars that are so vexatious to the authorities.

What is complex about a prison brawl? 🤔

Oh my god, the brilliant detective work involved here! I guess African men standing along the street asking, "want drugs?" might have been the first clue? Luckily it only took 25 years to pierce the veil of this well-hidden enterprise.

He made the statements in 2015, more than eight years ago - what "additional evidence" can possibly be uncovered at this point by "further investigation"?

As usual, this is either poor reporting or just nonsense. How can AOT - an airport management company - bring on immigration officers, who belong to the police? Are we talking about actual officers at the counters, or just more officious teenage queue managers in red vests? Immigration has told us repeatedly, every time there's a negative news story about long queues, that all 119 counters are staffed, and that the problem is those pesky flights that just keep landing. So where is the "30% shortage"? Or is AOT finally admitting that the previous claims were nonsense? Or are they only talking about "queue managers"? So are these the same 200 new staff mentioned above (in which case they won't be manning the counters, just waving their arms and shouting), or 200 support staff in addition to 200 more officers? Pro tip: if there aren't enough actual officers to process everyone in a timely fashion, no extra number of facilitators will speed up the process.

Yes, the problem isn't massive overcharging, refusal to abide by regulations, grossly inflated fares, or mafia thuggery, it's...private cars. Glad they have their priorities straight.

Nothing clandestine about it - they're sold openly everywhere...

We do indeed have the same friend. It's definitely possible that they've relaxed the rule on VND export, or they just don't care. It's pretty clear that their main interest is in folks taking out lots of foreign currency.

The bill was drafted years ago. Exactly what "process" is still incomplete? Submit the bill, debate it, hold hearings or whatever they do, and vote on it. Don't keep talking about how much you want to pass it without actually doing anything.

Wait, won't he have to be picked up by an ambulance and taken directly to a private hospital? We've been told that the poor fellow is practically at death's door...

Vietnam requires a declaration when taking over 5k USD or 15 million VND (about $600) either in or out of the country. And the person who questioned the OP wasn't a security guard, it was a customs officer. In Vietnam, customs officers sit next to the security screeners (you can see the different uniform) and look for cash and contraband. As you say, the screeners themselves are only looking for items that pose a danger to aviation. (Anyone who ever flew to VN years ago may recall that customs used to have its own x-ray machines just before immigration - they have since streamlined the system by having customs share a checkpoint with security.) I wonder whether we have the same friend, because the exact same thing (with the same amount of money) happened to a friend of mine. To this day I have no idea why they happened to talk to him when he came through the green lane, something that virtually never happens.

"Thongchai said the number of accidents did not significantly increase after allowing entertainment venues in assigned areas to stay open until 4am. Nevertheless, accidents related to drunk driving increased by 25% following the extension of opening hours." The number of accidents didn't increase, but it did increase? Am I missing something? I also have no idea how drunk driving in the wee hours after a night of boozing has any connection to what might happen for three hours in the middle of the afternoon.

The Fast Track area you're looking for is at "Immigration 2", but it's not clearly labeled as such - as mentioned, just follow the "Visa on Arrival" signs, and you'll find Fast Track just to the right. The sign below is next to the entrance, but you can't see it until you're right there. I've never had any issues getting in, because the entrance is screened by an immigration officer, not a guard. For departures, though, LTR is not listed on the sign (only the cryptic "BOI" and "Long Stay"), and the entrances (on the far left and get right of the check-in hall) are guarded by young contractors who know nothing about the rules. They've never tried to deny me entry, but I have had to press the issue once or twice.