mfd101

They're doing charitable work, helping you lose weight.

Yes, exactly the same experience here in Surin in the last 2 weeks. NAB and CSC (super) threatening me with dire consequences if I didn't reply by 2 or 3 weeks before I actually received their letters. NAB had already frozen one of my accounts. In both cases I sent them a firmly-worded email that said that sending letters by snailmail to rural parts of a Third World country was not a sign of an effective and productive organisation. NAB sent me a holding reply by email saying they were overwhelmed with messages and would reply in due course ... 😀

If the photo's anything to go by, she's made of plastic. Or she's an AI construct.

So expel them and no reentry ever.

Pull the other one.

After a nice brunch with my b/f at Asoke Terminal 21 followed by a double espresso at Starbucks, then a bit of a walk - perhaps round Benjakitti Park if we haven't already done it earlier, any shopping, then back to the hotel for a swim & a snooze, then check the emails etc, then prepare for a nice dinner (Thai? Italian? Monsoon for good Western? mmm we'll do all 3 during our stay).

Precisely. Talk about mountains out of molehills! Simply carry both the old & the new p/p with you next time you have to go anywhere official - bank, Immigration, local government ... Once done you can just store the old p/p away with all the other old papers you have in or near your desk.

For your information, the Khmer peasants who have lived in the southern 1/4 of Isaan for the last several hundred years ARE Thai nationals. They are referred to as 'Khmer' (not 'Cambodian') because their first language (at least of the over 50s) is northern Khmer, and they have Khmer temples different from the Lao temples of the Lao people who occupy the northern 3/4 of Isaan. All of them - Khmer & Lao & Suai & multiple other small groups (the leftovers of history) - are Thai nationals despite different cultural traits.

The difference between the Oz past and the Thai present is in the wages paid to the factory workers. China's GDP per capita is twice Thailand's and its GDP per capita in PPP is about the same as Thailand's. Yet Thailand still can't compete ...

I wonder how the uneducated and illiterate older (& some younger) members of my Khmer peasant family will manage/access their 'digital wallet' ...

If I were Usofan I wouldn't vote for Trump if you paid me. But I couldn't help admiring his reaction - waving the fist and yelling. He displayed (for once) admirable strength (as opposed to his usual kind). And probably won the upcoming election in a matter of seconds.

And Kiwis used to be such NAICE people!

Here it is. And it's extremely difficult - even for a former bureaucrat! - to work out what it means. Each time I reread it I change my mind ... ARTICLE 19 Government Service 1. Remuneration (other than a pension) paid by one of the Contracting States or a political subdivision of that state or a local authority of that State to any individual in respect of services rendered in the discharge of governmental functions shall be taxable only in that State. However, such remuneration shall be taxable only in the other Contracting State if the services are rendered in that other State and the recipient is a resident of that other State who: (a) is a citizen or national of that other State; or (b) did not become a resident of that other State solely for the purpose of performing the services. 2. Any pension paid to an individual in respect of services rendered in the discharge of governmental functions to one of the Contracting States or a political subdivision of that State or a local authority of that State shall be taxable only in that State. Such pension shall, however, be taxable only in the other Contracting State if the recipient is a resident of, and a citizen or national of, that other State. On rereading it now, I think the 1st para. is not relevant (because it's about 'remuneration'). The first sentence of para. 2 seems the relevant one ("shall be taxable only in that State") and the following sentence is not relevant because, though I may be considered a 'resident' of Thailand, I am not a 'citizen' or 'national'.

I bring in to Thailand every year roughly AUD80,000 [c1,900,000฿]. None of this is 'income'. 90% of it is my Australian federal government superannuation, which is funded annually by the Oz Government out of consolidated revenue (ie the annual budget) and it is heavily taxed in Oz because I am a 'non-resident for tax purposes'. A small amount is derived from my investment of the non-taxable lump sum I received on my retirement 20 years ago. On my reading of the relevant parts of the Oz/Thai DTA, none of this can be taxed in Thailand. I take it from the bits of the discussion I have browsed on this thread, as well as other threads, that I should nevertheless prepare to do my first-ever tax return in Thailand next Jan-March, with a view to my funds being rated assessable but non-taxable. Am I right in this? I must confess that trying to persuade the local office here in Surin province on all of that strikes me as a tall order. I doubt their English will be up to the job and my b/f's English certainly isn't. My inclination is to do nothing.

I am a (mostly reasonably) happy ATM. I give my b/f 35K฿ every fortnight for all expenses - house repairs by family, lawn mowing by family, Lotus, Tops, petrol, vast poverty-stricken family ... He has no other source except an occasional win at the cockfighting. Needless to say, he runs out of shekels after 10 days, sometimes 5. So I fork out some more. But I manage to save some monies in Oz to cover the annual big bills - life insurance, house insurance, car insurance, trips to Bangers ... and we're planning our first (for him) trip to Europe next May. Life is hard but we manage.

Everything hangs on what's an official act and what isn't. And perhaps a particular act may be 'official' in one context and not in another ...

99 years does seem excessive. For practical purposes (as opposed to symbolism) you might as well not have a limit.

Buttigieg on 57% is interesting.

Medvedev seemed quite a reasonable person 20-odd years ago when he was first PM then Putin's 'deputy' as president of Russia. More recently he seems like a nut case.

So is Qdenga available in Thailand yet? in rural Thailand (Isaan)?

During my working life I used to have 5 or 6 espresso double shots a day. Now in old age I have 3. It's great to know how wonderful it is for my health.

Mostly a vote-against rather than a vote-for. But in any case a nice example of how, when more than 2 parties are competing seriously, first-past-the-post produces a seriously out-of-kilter result (in this case some 60%+ of seats from some 30%+ of votes). Time the UK modernized itself with preferential voting.

So the former police chief has just made a whole lot of heavyweight enemies, starting with Thaksin & the current PM ...

Barely readable. If they're going to roll it out to all offices, they might consider having it translated into English.