mfd101

Sea walls won't protect BKK unless they also divert the Chao Praya River (but where to?).

As the sea rises (with or without 'sea walls'), the river will have nowhere to go, except sideways.

6 hours ago, IAMHERE said:

Why'd the Canadian wait till almost the last minute to cancel ?  His timing is insulting.

I think he organized his dicey election outcome JUST SO he would have an excuse not to attend more important matters here in Bangkok.

Overall it looks like a sensible summary of Thailand's economic situation & prospects.

I trust a Japanese assessment more than the locals here ...

1 hour ago, overherebc said:

Or you could go very english and opt for a couple of warm beers.

Ugh!

3 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

hey you are in surin? Youever been to Sikhoraphum?

No, but have just checked it out on Google maps & with my b/f. Looks well worth a visit, and good for visitors. We have a young couple coming from Oz (via HK, Taiwan, & currently VN) some time over the next few weeks so will take them for a visit there.

Bangkok will return to its status as a fishing village, and all the khlongs will be naturally clean and lovely.

And there will be floating brothels. The Venus of the East.

The Lanna and the Isaan peasants will laugh.

When my b/f (40 yrs younger than me) and I got 'hitched' in a Khmer village ceremony here in Surin in 2013, I inquired - as things were being organized - whether a monk would be officiating. I was told No, monks are for death not marriage. I then inquired what Buddhism had to say on the matter. The village response was a collective shrug of the shoulders (which I took to mean Who cares?) but was also told that the Buddhist view is that "Marriage is for two people who love each other" without further distinction.

Since then we encounter gay men & women frequently here in rural Thailand, but mostly in 'middle class' occupations (notably doctors - a similar high proportion as in The West, & travellers passing thru by car & stopping to eat ... ). As in other countries (eg Oz) the gay rural teenagers mostly leave for the cities and don't or seldom return.

18 minutes ago, ezzra said:

however settling skilled migrants in rural areas and small cities how are they going to find employments there

If they really are skilled and have the getup'ngo, then they CREATE employment in small-to-medium towns that often lack the cultural capacity for major change.

Has to be a good initiative. Should have happened long ago.

Better safe than sorry.

You probably won't need the cash or the papers you mention when you return, but - given that you live here & have family & possessions here (your life!) - it's not going to cost you anything to have the funds & papers at the ready in case you need them when you reenter Thailand.

Cuba 1953. Personally I'm looking forward to 1957/8.

What a load of rubbish. The unemployment rate in Thailand is so remarkably low because the 10 or 20 million unemployed or UNDERemployed Thais have no idea that there is in fact an unemployment registration & benefit, but of course not advertized and almost certainly in any case so low as to not be worth getting out of bed for ...

Anyone who visits a rural village can stand on the side of the road and point out 20 or 50 young & older adults with nothing to do except sit around all day, gossiping & horsing around & looking lost.

Low productivity is the name of the game. Keep the poor poor and you have an endless queue of cheap labour.

My almost-extensive experience of DENTAL treatment in BKK is that it's better than in Oz and around half- to two-thirds the price (caps, wisdom removal for my b/f, fillings ... ).

Because they are organized (in BKK) in clinics with several dentists, each one specializing in a particular area, you get in my experience a more professional job done than you would get in a one-dentist suburban practice in Oz.

Several of my Canberra friends continue, as they have for many years, to save up their dental jobs-to-do, then fly off to BKK for a week or 2. If they're a couple, the difference in dental price just about pays for the air fare & hotel.

Yes, it's very difficult to change, even in a country like Oz with a strong egalitarian (one-class) culture and, according to OECD figures, one of the 2 or 3 advanced economies with the highest level of redistribution of funds from rich to poorer.

Despite all of that, Oz is not all that much ahead of the US in inequality measures.

On the World Bank Gini index, Thailand rates slightly worse than the UK for inequality & somewhat better than the US.

Yes, read the history books - a magnificent woman, an astonishing life. The video looks good.

19 minutes ago, allane said:

I do appreciate your update re no need for a new TM 30. We will be travelling abroad and returning within the next 3 weeks.

Fine, as long as you understand that what happened today does not necessarily have to be identical to what happens in 3 weeks. It's merely offered as a guideline, but the lines are flexible ...

Having said that, I should have added in my post that, as part of the checking of my retirement extension papers, I & my b/f as witness were invited to sign copies in English and Thai of the edicts of last Dec & Jan. Which indicates their full understanding of and compliance with those rules, and mine too. I thought that was a good indication of professionalism at KC.

Successful. Took 75 minutes. KC is a small office but increasingly busy with more staff than I've noticed in the past. Very cheerful atmosphere today and happy outcome for us.

Did 65K monthly method. No sign that 800K in the bank was the only method. My financials were slightly scrambled because of change of rules in January and I didn't get fully under way with TW & Smart transfers until Feb. But my evidence from 2018, together with copy of last year's Oz Embassy affidavit (suggested by someone here on TV) & my Oz superannuation statements for 2019 was sufficient to leap thru the hoops. No question re foreign transfers, though they were pretty-well lined up in my bank statements & bank books (BKKBk FTT).

Did my 90-day report at the same time.

Issue of TW30/28reports (total absence of, ever) didn't arise, most relevantly in relation to our last foreign trip (Vietnam in April). No request for gate photo or map (they know where we live & are hard to miss). I had done 3 or 4 copies of everything I could think of. Most handed back untouched early on in the process - will use the relevant bits again next year! Only 1 copy of anything kept by them as far as I can tell.

Will probably stick with 65K method from now on as (1) I have the balance right now between TW transfers for TI & using my Citibank debit card for equally cheap but stress-free & immediate atm withdrawals, and (2) our fears about their 'policy' stance proved groundless. I think their mention a few weeks ago of 800K related to having a TOTAL of 800K thru the year, not the 800K in the bank method. So should be No Sweat for the future.

Cheers

She was beautiful and magnificent.

Horace said it 2000 years ago: Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt.

Th skies and not their minds they change who flee across the seas.

As Nouvel Obs commented yesterday, he was better at getting in to power than at exercising it. No economic vision for France. Just hot air.

As one could, of course, say of all too many politicians everywhere in the world.

3 minutes ago, Selatan said:

Unlikely for Thailand to be stupid enough to let Laos and Myanmar link up to China by rail and grab most of the tourists and trade if itself doesn't want to link up. Imagine the horror that one day Thailand have to import Chinese goods via Laos and Myanmar!

Thailand has no land border with China.