mfd101

Ditto.

That may be partially true but there's no point in shooting the messenger. The banks & the other agencies such as Wise aren't given a choice in the matter.

If Thai officialdom had half a brain they would just add on the extra to the airlines' ticket cost and not announce it. Noone would notice.

I am aware of restaurants in BKK owned & run by Burmese who have both Thai & English language skills. But I wonder how students navigate Thai university courses ...

I recall a case several years ago of a male swimmer rated (from memory) 17th in Usofa. After he became a transgender woman he was rated - surprise! surprise! - no. 1 in Usofan female swimming ...

Precisely. You're blaming human individuals for something that was initiated - quite properly - by a machine. A damned nuisance from your point of view but there's no point in getting all upset with the human individuals at the other end of a phone line. Their systems are under ever-increasing worldwide pressure from assorted government agencies to increase security. If there weren't multiple crooks everywhere trying to steal your and the company's money, the excessive security wouldn't be needed.

Roast dog is THE delicacy in my Khmer peasant family. Knock one over on the road? You stop & throw it in the boot then off to the farm at high speed ... Conclusion: An industrial-level system for sending dogs dead or alive to Isaan would solve 2 problems simultaneously.

So what should they have done or should they do? Ban condoms and The Pill? Even apart from the worldwide ecological aspect, I should have thought a shortage of workers would be rather good for poorly-paid or scarcely-paid-at-all Thai workers. 350฿ anyone?

Thailand joining the club. Europe, China, Japan ... No reason why Thailand should be any different. 8 billion people is arguably more than the planet can sustain (at least at 'Western' levels of consumption). Get used to it.

What you 'identify' as - whether to others or inside your own mind - and what you do and who you do it with are at least 3 different things. And all combinations are possible. And all may get tried out in different situations and at different stages of a person's life. Nothing surprising in any of that. Been that way for a long long time. The only thing that's a bit new is people talking endlessly about it all.

Conclusion: Greed leads to insolvency.

One f/w less to worry about.

Much the same as me. Dragged here at age 62 by an acquaintance. Met my b/f, aged 22. Now happily ensconced together here 14 years later in a big house full of books. The books are my bubble.

The fundamental reason (if you'll pardon the phrase) is that their customers are men who identify as 'straight'.

So the Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement was not negotiated and agreed between two equal parties?

And then there's Oz, up there with China in rare earths of all kinds, just less developed as yet. But the Japs aren't hanging around, busily snuggling up to the dependable Aussies.

60 years later? (No sweat, mate.)

From an historical point of view it's hard to see what Columbus has to do with Usofa. There's any number of European explorers of North America with more obvious links. Probably the Pilgrim Fathers (oh! and the Pilgrim Mothers too) would be the most suitable.

Never mind, soon we'll be complaining of rising prices of anything imported.

Never mind. All will be well. The guvamint has it all in hand.

Fairly cold comfort. As the article notes, the baht could easily rise again once the current disturbance resolves itself one way or the other.

So for once it wasn't the ladyboys who initiated the scuffle.

Ditto here in sth Surin. We were advised - correctly - when we built here on the outskirts of Prasat not to rely on town water supply. Plenty of water 40m down. But I'm always relieved all the same when the rains arrive in April/May. According to my b/f, it used to be June before they arrived. Getting a little earlier each year.

Some beautiful photos here. Very fine. Congratulations! (from Surin next door)

One thing about Thailand's (mainstream ie conservative) politicians you can count on: They may be incompetent or ineffective or uninspiring at governing the country for the benefit of ALL Thais, but when it comes to elections and especially election results in and out of the Parliament, efficiency & effectiveness are the order of the day.