mfd101

7 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

So the car sales boom was not the outcome of Yingluck's first car policy. 

No doubt it helped it along but it obviously doesn't account for the current performance.

People on this site used to rabbit on about how all those cars ended up in second-hand car sales yards ie off the road. Which, on the whole, didn't seem to account for the ever-increasing traffic on the roads - particularly noticeable here in remote rural parts.

Despite the usual cynical & unhelpful comments, it seems to me that overall this is a sign of increasing prosperity across Thailand in what is mostly (but unevenly) a booming economy (with growth rates and debt levels that even Australia would envy). Fairly typical in a developing country - much Third World conditions, and some remaining Fourth World poverty, but some and increasing Second World capabilities. And, as everywhere - and not just in developing countries - wide differential between poverty & wealth.

Which is why much of the increased registrations are motorcycles. The day before yesterday, their owners were on foot or in the back of a dilapidated old pickup. Many of the people making cynical comments on this site are old enough to remember what conditions were like in their home countries in the 1950s & 60s ...

Lots of rain (I think) here in south Surin. But my family says: No, not enough. Very light monsoon. Rice not doing well ...

2 hours ago, Mad mick said:

Australian air force consists of about 5 fighter jet, that are 30 years and well old out of date 555

That's based on your certain knowledge, I take it.

No Brits, I notice. I guess too busy parachuting out over La Manche.

Try suggesting that to the politicians! Or the welfare industry!

16 minutes ago, aircooledflat4 said:

Not sure supermarket shelves should ever be viewed as wholly representative of the bigger picture.

 

Australian exports to Thailand 2017:

 

	Value	Year
Pearls, precious stones, metals, coins	$749.58M	2017
Mineral fuels, oils, distillation products	$489.07M	2017
Aluminum	$279.17M	2017
Cereals	$123.10M	2017
Machinery, nuclear reactors, boilers	$118.29M	2017
Copper	$116.14M	2017
Iron and steel	$104.00M	2017
Lead	$80.22M	2017
Cotton	$79.98M	2017
Dairy products, eggs, honey, edible products	$68.86M	2017

 

Source:

https://tradingeconomics.com/australia/exports/thailand

An interesting list. Many people on TV talk about Oz and its economy as if it were stuck in 1960 or 1970. I guess it's they who are stuck in the past.

Like just about every advanced economy, the Australian economy is mostly (61% by value) made up of the 'service sector' - which includes most notably in Australia's case financial services, health services, tourism and education. Together they and several other types of services constitute 79% of the workforce. And, while they contribute hugely to Australia's exports - particularly of course education - you don't expect to see them on supermarket shelves in Thailand!

For what (little) it's worth, here in Surin I regularly buy Oz margarine, butter, peanut butter & vegemite at Tesco and wine & cheeses at Tops. I don't buy red meat at all except when I'm in an expensive restaurant in BKK and I have either Oz or Kiwi steak.

1 hour ago, Just1Voice said:

This photo is somewhat distorted, but in the original, which was in BK Post, the American is very damn tall.  Gen P's head barely came to the American's shoulder when they were standing close together.  I think it's a picture Gen P doesn't really like. lol

 

Very funny photo. Lots of symbolism of various kinds ...

I guess they're not maths teachers ...

18 minutes ago, Ulic said:

It's not that Thais don't have helmets, they have them, they just don't want to wear them. 

Compare how many people are wearing helmets now with how many, say, 3 years ago. A BIG improvement - consistent with (1) greater police enforcement, with road blocks just about everywhere just about every day (here in Isaan at least) & (2) the example that people pick up as they see others wearing helmets & (3) steady economic movement up the ladder that enables them to purchase things they saw as dispensable and anyway too expensive only 3 years ago.

I see this latter effect in my own family here in Surin: young fellas who wouldn't have even thought of wearing a helmet a few years ago are now decked out & looking pleased with themselves in the sexiest helmet they could find to accompany their shiny new sexy motorbike (bought with my money but carefully paid off gradually over the next 6 months). Example leads to fashion leads to change ....

38 minutes ago, Get Real said:

Perfect! So, now even foreigners that comes to Thailand praise the cops for giving away helmets. And you do not se the fact that a cop have to give away helmets to reduce the deaths in traffic pathetic?

Yes, it's sad that it should be thus. But improvement has to start somewhere.

If people wait for 'governments' or the 'élites' to start the processes of reform in this country, our great-grandchildren will be dead before it happens. Only local initiatives - bottom up - and slowly spreading as ideas catch on will make a difference.

Endless negativism means that everyone's defeated without even trying. How pathetic.

11 hours ago, scorecard said:

Seen this before in my old condo in Bkk, loud intimidating navy officer's Thai wife had 3 young guys (from conscription) as cleaners, helpers, drivers, laborers, shopping trolley pushers etc., (read servants). 

 

They were terrified of her, and she had no hesitation to abuse them, slap them, kick them and more.

 

The twist is that her navy high ranking husband was also terrified of her, was also regularly slapped, etc.

 

 

 

They should have slapped her back. What disgusting behaviour!

My b/f was (supposedly) in something called the Army as a conscript in BKK in 2011-12 when I first met him. He used to climb over the barracks walls at midnight to go in search of food ... His duties included guarding royal palaces and minding the colonel's dog. He was a slim good-looking young man so his main duty seems to have been standing around looking lovely.

Some appropriate tea offerings had him released from all of his onerous duties ...

The three-option suggested new referendum makes sense as a way of breaking an insurmountable deadlock in the Tories, the Parliament and the nation (or perhaps that should be 'nations').

But I guess that's just too rational for at least one side of the deadlock to swallow. And even then, one swallow doesn't make a spring forward ...

1 hour ago, Redline said:

the education system is getting worse

You may be right for ought I know, but how do you know? on what measurements or measurable criteria?

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand was also placed sixth for export of creative goods, eighth in terms of high technology exports and eleventh for patent registrations. WIPO and its partners also placed Thailand first out of 20 nations for innovation development potential. 

It's WIPO, not the Thai government, that has made these calls. OK, so it would be nice to have some real-world examples - 'export of creative goods'? 'high tech exports'? 'patent registrations'?

Ideology meets reality. Guess which one wins.

41 minutes ago, weegee said:

Remember I said November ....

I'll try not to forget.

17 minutes ago, weegee said:

Big rise in the AUD coming...maybe November.

 

Maybe next year, I think, as interest rates begin to rise. Not much action before then, I'm afraid.

35 minutes ago, Mr Smoothex said:

I normally do the transfer at noon on a Monday and the money is in my Kasikorn account mid Wednesday morning.

In the past I have done over 30 transfers with Transferwise and they were getting transfers to me in about 6 hours. Then they increased there fees so I switched to Instarem.

To transfer $1,000 with Transferwise is $10.44 and Instarem is only $5. Their exchange rates are nearly the same. they both use the mid market rate

My last transfer was even better than the cash rate in the TT exchange booths in Pattaya

OK, thanks. Slightly cheaper than my Citibank debit card and only VERY slightly cheaper when I'm in BKK & can use Citibank atm so no BKKBk fee to pay.

The advantage of Citibank is use of atm whether here in the boondocks or in BKK or anywhere else outside Thailand: ie time. Instant withdrawal & the flexibility that provides. Not much in it though, and the larger the amounts one transfers, the greater the small Instarem advantage becomes ... Will keep in mind for the future. Would have been handy 2 or 3 years ago when we were building our house here and bringing large sums across (sigh).

1 hour ago, Mr Smoothex said:

I sent some on Monday with Instarem and got 24.70. Instarem charge only $1 for every $200 sent. So send $1,000 and pay $5 to transfer it. The receiving bank fee was 0. So if you sent $1,000. After fees you would have roughly 22,852 baht.  I got 24,600 baht after fees.  1,748 baht extra in my pocket. Thank you..!! 

 

If you want to save lots of money on fees, then forget the banks. They are a complete ripoff.

 

Instarem are running a referral program at the moment. You can transfer up to $4000 fee free. Just drop me a PM for the code.

Sounds interesting. How long does each transfer take? Say I request $A1000 worth of ฿ at 0900 this morning Thai-time. In the broad, when would I expect to see the ฿ in my BKKBk account here in Thailand?

Last Monday 9th I withdrew 24220฿ [ie including BKKBk 220฿ fee] from BKKBk atm here in Surin. I used my Oz Citibank debit card. It cost me $A985-43. No Citibank fee (ever). Midrate at the time (within 5 minutes) was 24.77. I got xrate 24.57, or 24.59 if you take out the 220฿ fee & adjust accordingly.

Best way to do it, as far as I can tell. When I'm in BKK, I use the Citibank atms at Asoke so there's no BKKBk fee and the rate received is even closer to the midrate at the time (on one occasion a few months ago I actually got better than the midrate, for some reason). Keeping $A10K+ in my non-interest Citibank account in Oz no doubt helps. [Given the low rates of interest to be earned in a savings account + the tax to pay on it, I figure that non-interest + excellent xrate is the way to go.]

1 minute ago, fantom said:

Has anyone ordered a new Kindle from Amazon recently? The price on Lazada is much too high. Would appreciate any comments.

As an alternative, you can always use their Kindle for Mac or Kindle for PC software, which comes free. I've been using the former for several years and have some 1500 books in the Kindle cloud to which I have access as I choose on my MacBook Air.

1 hour ago, jak2002003 said:

This is great news and has made my day.

 

We have been married for 11 years with a same sex partnership from the UK.  It will put my mind a rest about legal, financial and other implications here for the future, and hopefully make things a little easier with the immigration visa things too.

 

The poster saying about how it will fit into a Buddhist country?  It will fit in very well.  Buddhist religion does not have anything against homosexuality.  In fact, it is seen a better to not to have any sex or relationships... gay or straight in that religion.   It teaches that people should act with compassion and see the consequences of their actions.. good or bad.  So, so long as people try to be the best they can, it would not matter what their sexuality was.

 

 

Yes, there do seem to be different views of what Buddhism - and particularly Thai Buddhism - do or don't say on the subject. I suspect the differences in people's attitudes more generally - and at the political level - are based on socio-economic or 'class' factors as much as anything. In many countries that were colonized by C19th Europeans (eg Uganda), the C19th moral & religious attitudes have been frozen in place, I guess as part of the post-colonial ruling classes' status seeking. But of course, as we all know, Thailand was never colonized ...

As for the peasants, attitudes are entirely different. When I married into a poor Khmer family near the border here in south Surin 5 years ago, I asked about attitudes to gay marriage etc and was told - by the family - that Buddhism simply says that marriage is for 2 people who love each other. When I asked whether we would be married by a monk, they laughed and said: No, monks are for deaths. We'll have the oldest man in the village who's still got his marbles to marry you. I asked about registering the marriage with government agencies. They laughed and said: No we never do that. Too complicated and anyway it makes getting a divorce more difficult. [Which is a version of: The king is far away and there are many paddy fields. Or: We don't care about them. They don't care about us.]

And so we proceeded. With half the village present and the old ladies correcting the old man whenever he forgot the words of the prayers. Hilarity all round and a great time was had by all.