mfd101

8 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

 

Wow! takes me back.

1 hour ago, Samui Bodoh said:

Kudos to the Nation for this editorial; I didn't think they had it in them.

 

They are correct; the military has been a cancer on the body politic of Thailand for many, many years. And the best way to deal with a cancer is remove it completely and let the healthy tissue thrive. 

 

 

Problem is there's not too much healthy tissue. A pretty anaemic patient by the time you've cut out corruption as well as authoritarianism ...

I hope you're right (tho I'm preparing myself psychologically for defeat).

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I'm shy about predicting election results after you know what, but it seems to me that the marriage equality mail in vote thing has a good chance of failing. Why? Well of course unlike actual Australian elections, it is not mandatory, and the main people motivated to vote will be the effected people themselves (a small minority) and those motivated enough to lift a finger to support them and of course the anti-gay civil rights people often driven by hatred, ignorance, and bigotry. I don't like those odds and I'm not surprised this mail in vote thing was opposed by gay civil rights advocates there. Civil rights for minorities, especially unpopular minorities, should not be so dependent on such opinion polling. The PRINCIPLE of civil rights for ALL should be stronger. 

I fear you may be right on the likely outcome (no doubt planned that way by Abbott & his cronies). It's a bit appalling to think that Oz could be just about the last representative of Western civilization to finally stagger across the line ...

41 minutes ago, newatthis said:

Concur. Three visits  to the Aussie Embassy this year to get documents witnessed / notarized  were a pleasure with excellent service and very friendly staff.

I entirely agree. I suspect the people who have difficulties with Aussie bureaucrats are the same people who have problems with Thai bureaucrats, and for the same reasons.

10 minutes ago, sinbin said:

It's not his job to report full stop.  The property owner has to do the reporting. Not farang job.

My point is that, whoever it is who has to report - farang property owner or Thai property owner, the French text is not explicit that they have to report within 24 hours of arrival back in Thailand. It suggests rather that it's within 24 hours of arrival back in Phuket. But it's not 100% clear (only about 90%) so someone could no doubt clarify this with the French Consul or even with Thai Immigration in Phuket ...

1 hour ago, bruno1990 said:

Thanks for clarification but it seems pretty clear for me.

 

It says foreigners who hold a non immigrant visa, must, after each trip oversea, report to their local immigration office with a proof of residency (house contract ect...) within 24 hours, If not, they will face a 14000Thb fine.

 

Now, this information come from from the french honorary counsul of phuket. I met him several times, and i cannot believe he could send so wrong informations.

 

Here is the mail :

 

Chères et Chers compatriotes,
 

L’Immigration de Phuket vient de rafraichir un ancien texte de Loi : Toute personne  résidante légalement à Phuket après un voyage à l’étranger, doit se présenter aux bureaux de l’Immigration afin de confirmer son retour et son lieu de résidence ; ceci dans un délai de 24 heures maximum.

Une amende pouvant aller jusqu’à 14 000 baths (quatorze milles baths) sera appliquer aux contrevenants.

Présentez-vous avec votre contrat de location, ou tous types de documents précisant votre lieu de résidence à Phuket.
Vous pouvez retrouvez cette information sur notre page
 

 

I don't think this means you have to report to Phuket immigration within 24 hours of your return to Thailand but rather within 24 hours of your return to your residence in Phuket! Not the same thing!!!

Ignorance ⇒ Incomprehension ⇒ Fear ⇒ Outrage ⇒ HeadinSand ⇒ Ignorance ⇒ ...

Oh dear! too much sun, cancer scare!

Oh dear! too little sun, Vitamin D deficiency!

Wat shall I dooooooo?

17 minutes ago, Jiggyfly said:

Have to counter the NEVER go well here stuff.  I personally loaned a Thai family member 200,000 Baht to buy a used car when she graduated from University.  I went into the agreement knowing I may not see a dime, but she has paid me faithfully as agreed.  Next month is her last payment which I intend to give back to her in appreciation for her hard work and dedication to doing the right thing.

Yes, that is my experience too. I give money regularly to some members of my Thai family who work hard & are deserving. The money is a gift. I have also loaned larger amounts (20K, 30K) to other members of the family for nice-to-have purchases -  a new motorbike on 2 occasions - and each time I have been explicit that the money is to be repaid. And it has been, not always quite  'on time' but at Thai speed. And that's fine by me.

2 hours ago, topt said:

Interesting - can you provide some recent links to support that please?

A great deal depends on geography and on government immigration policies.

In the case of Europe, geography makes having a sensible immigration policy very difficult for all the obvious reasons - proximity to Third World countries & poverty & war, few natural barriers to illegal immigration ...

But the Europeans' lack of sensible policies, only now being addressed, has made matters worse. Sensible countries like Australia & Canada have had 'points' systems in place for many years. These ensure that MOST of your migrants (but not refugees) have a reasonable capacity to integrate into your society & economy (facility with the language, education & skills, health ... ). Only now are the European politicians & bureaucrats looking at these examples of how to do immigration business in the huge multi-dimensional modern world.

Well, aren't the homophobes and the "You musn't ever pay dowry in Thailand" specialists going to have fun with this one!

Yes, it's not obvious to me that, even without Erdogan, Turkey really belongs or should belong within the EU. It's not really European, for various obvious reasons.

That doesn't mean it can't be friends with & do trade with Europe! Heavens, even the UK is looking for that!

27 minutes ago, tonray said:

Malls are major family entertainment and free A/C. Hard to believe that they will be replaced here anytime soon. I myself like to go (and back in America I dreaded going to the Mall) because there are so many activities and the shops and events change dynamically. Part of culture, Thais love to be with other Thais, sitting at home and ordering online is anathema to their 'be with other Thais' way of life.

Sure, modernity with Thai characteristics. But there weren't any malls here 20 years ago. So what will people here be doing in another 10 or 20 years? It seems to me the trend lines are fairly clear, and they're the same as in The West, except a few years behind.

In the long run we're all the same and technology, communications & demographics are making it more obvious. We are living the reunification of the human species.

If it seriously improves the ultimate outcome - for users & local residents - then that's fine. If not, then not.

The article OP is the best short summary I've seen yet of the situation.

Only once the Thai middle classes accept the basic concepts of liberal democracy will Thailand move forward politically, culturally and economically. That includes devising policies & their implementation for a majority of the total population so their political parties - currently the misnamed 'Democrats' - can actually win an election.

3 minutes ago, leeneeds said:

This is still in dispute.

No doubt, but in politics - including international relations - it's often, even usually, the PROCESS which is in dispute. [If I & my people introduce a new policy, that's good. If you & yours introduce the same policy, that's bad.]

23 minutes ago, timendres said:

So much analysis... for what?

If you love her, and she is excited, and you can afford to toss away 100,000 baht - then give it to her.

She will love you for it, and you won't miss the money.

Analysis paralysis. As a former bureaucrat, I know it well.

But you need both. Think then act. And accept the consequences, good or bad.

I see these problems from the family farm perspective here in Surin. My family are (mostly) softies so don't dare ask a reasonable price when selling their produce (bananas, fish, chooks, geese, ducks, mua).

And, worst of all in my view, they have no idea what anything they sell has cost them to produce (feed, medicines, labour ... ). Not the most basic accounting skills (despite my occasional pestering) and the notion of costing their own labour is an alien concept. "It's just what we do!"

When I point out that there's no point in doing it unless they're making a profit, and can prove it, they just shrug their shoulders. I've turned down the cash flow from my atm but doesn't seem to have helped so far ...

2 hours ago, colinneil said:

Well done sir, pity there were not millions more like you.

Sad fact is corruption is embedded in society here and will never be stopped.

And what was Mother England like 150 or 200 years ago? And what changed it? Top-Down benevolence by the rich & powerful?

I don't think so. Bottom-Up self-awareness with increasing literacy, spreading education, & worker organizations did it, helped along by steadily improving communication links. Exactly what we see happening everywhere in the world today with modern communications & social networks. Takes a while to get going, but all these things - corruption, injustice, Yingluck & so on - are now on Facebook & all over the internet, even in Thailand. Which means that Thailand is slowly changing before our eyes. And for the better.

No reason to be cynical & depressed.

1 hour ago, manarak said:

Macron does a lot of (good) talking, but he has yet to do anything.

 

 

It's because he's TRYING to do that his popularity has fallen. On the whole, a good sign.

Be thankful you live in a country where authoritarian governments have Thai characteristics (sloppy, lazy, inefficient, incompetent, mostly harmless).

3 minutes ago, moe666 said:

She took lessons from the Monk

Yes, probably hiding in one of the temples. After she's had her haircut and donned the robes, they won't be able to touch her then. Might even get her bail money back as a donation to the temple!

I'm an expresso guy and I've had a wonderful Saeco fully automatic in Oz for the last c20 years [Saeco Magic de luxe - cost me $A1400 in the late 90s]. Never a problem till now. It arrived here in Surin a few months ago after 18 months storage in Canberra. All fine & working beautifully with a medium roast from The Coffee Bean. Until a few days ago when I managed to pour some water into the bean container instead of the water container. Needless to say, that was the end of the grinder - despite best efforts with hair dryer & vacuum cleaner! And then the water container decided to spring a leak, so at that point I decided to buy a new machine.

I'm now looking at a Minimex Meximo ES, currently going at 28900฿. It's the only thing I can find here in Surin that looks like what I'm used to (apart from 2 more expensive Minimex models). Anyone have experience of Minimex? service? spares/repairs? I figure that, being made here in Thailand, service shouldn't be a problem (even in Surin!).

Reforming the French economy must be one of the harder jobs in the world (like reforming the Usofan electoral systems or changing Australia's constitution).

If you don't make mistakes, it's because you're not doing anything. If half the population isn't in uproar, it's because you're not doing anything useful.