jingjai9

Thanks Uweb

I want to take a van from Bangkok to Hua Hin. Are there any van services from Don Muang Airport? If not what are the options? I will be traveling on a weekday between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Thanks

In the past 3 or 4 years I have seen a significant increase in the number of Dental Clinics throughout my city, Udon Thani in the northeast. Many of the clinics built are rather large, colorful and modern. I believe the surge of new clinics has been fueled by the huge financial returns they can bring to their investors. However, as I have visited these clinics for non-cosmetic dental work (root canal and crown), I have been stunned by the prices. I have been quoted a price of over 20,000 baht by two clinics for root canal, a post and a crown. I have had this work done before in my city at a non government clinic for much less. I believe there is a connection between the rise in prices and the proliferation of the dental clinics in my community. I suspect the clinics are run by corporations and are not locally owned. These places are packed on the weekends by patients (customers) receiving cosmetic dental work and the clinics often post "menus" on the front of their buildings advertising what they sell. I do not want to be cynical. I want to get other viewpoints from people in other parts of the country. Is this now the norm? Is Thai dentistry following the US model of oral health care? I would like to ask, it 20,000 baht is really the going price everywhere around Thailand for root canal, a post and a crown on one tooth? I am American and I know what expensive dental care is like. In fact, it seems to me that the Thai dental clinics are using the America's playbook in setting up these beautiful looking, spacious clinics with inflated prices. I am having a difficult time trying to find a dentist who is independent of the clinic system. I can recall as recently as 4 or 5 years ago paying a fraction of the cost for dental work that I would have paid in my own country for any kind of non-cosmetic work from a private dentist. Also, I wonder how many corporations own these clinics - 2 or 3? 4 or 5? Is this a monopoly?

There is a difference between restocking shelves during the day while blocking merchandise with ladders and huge boxes or even closing aisles in the supermarket during the process. I have seen stores abroad restock during the day unobtrusively. People are inconvenienced slightly. However, in Thailand it appears to me that store clerks and their duties are more important than customer convenience and revenue. If this is in fact the philosophy of Thai customer service, as guests here there is not much we can do. However, we might also consider that when Lotus was Tesco-Lotus with a foreign partner, the practice of blocking merchandise while customers shopped along with closing store aisles while restocking was regularly practiced. So perhaps this restocking process during the day is a better choice for Thailand rather than opening the store overnight. Perhaps there is a fear of theft and other criminal activity late at night if the store were to remain open.. All I know is that I have been kept from making purchases in supermarkets due to employees blocking my way more times than I can count.

How can they advocate for this yet threaten to put an end to legal cannabis? The cannabis industry can do for Thailand all of the things the casino industry can do? I am not saying cannabis revenue would surpass Legal casinos, but from the sounds of the proposal stated herein, I would think more revenue from the cannabis industry would stay in Thailand than that of the casino and gaming industry; especially if they allow foreign investors and partners to participate. Also, there are studies that have been conducted which suggest that areas with legalized gaming experience an uptick in crime such as prostitution, drug use and theft.

Dear Xenophobes, You can't have your cake and eat it too. You want the money foreigners bring yet you contine to isolate and brand those who put money in your pockets. "Thailand warmly welcomes visitors." In fact they do as long as you keep at an arm's length and do not stay too long. The mere suggestion that the government wants foreigners to wear masks only symbolizes this dichotomy of us and them. If you work in Thailand this separation of us and them is more evident. This is embedded in the culture much the same as racism has been embedded in western culture for centuries. It goes without saying that humans are flawed, but can't we do better than this??????????????

I say this with the upmost sincerity. It doesn't matter who you are - we all suffer. We are all in this together.

It is just a matter of a few more days and once the fun begins they will be complaining about how bad the foreigners are behaving and how they need to crack down some more on these rascals and we will hear how the police will be really serious this time patrolling party areas thoroughly in order to make sure everyone is safe, and meanwhile the drunk driving injuries and fatalities will rise as the groping of the young girls and boys mixes in with the party atmosphere and all other kinds of mean and nasty activities will unfold like fighting, leaps off balconies, gangs racing and doing battle . . . . need I go on? You could write the news stories now and simply plug in the names and locations just before press time. If you want to make big money from tourists, you gotta work for it - that' life.

TerraPower might produce energy at a lower cost for Gates and Company, but will this result in lower prices for the end consumers? Please consider Bill Gates' record when it comes to lower cost. Microsoft has maintained a monopoly on an operating system for nearly 90% of the world's computers for 30+ years. If Gates had even a little bit of heart, he could show it by reducing the cost of Windows or making it open source. This of course is my dream. Do any of you on this forum recall seeing Bill Gates at a Congressional hearing back in the 90s attempting to demonstrate that Windows Explorer could not be separated from the windows operating system? Do you smell another monopoly in the air? We will have to take this new Gates project with a grain of salt I guess.

Open Arms vs. Xenophobia Thailand has high hopes of receiving 36 - 40 millions visitors in the coming year. Some of them will be bad people. People who come to play and then get drunk and have melt downs. A handful will fall off the balcony and there will be some other bad boys and girls who draw the attention of the police. There is a small part of the tourist population that no doubt tacitly believe that since prostitution is so much in the open and road signs and regulations serve as no more than mere suggestions, there is really no need to respect the law in Thailand; therefore, some will be prone to act accordingly when they drive and when they party. If Thailand is going to extend its open arms even wider - be realistic. You can't have it both ways: More people mean more problems. Don't treat tourists like objects. You are inviting people here and giving them incentives to come. And it is often forgotten that tourists in general are not cognizant of Thai culture. What can you do about that? Running news stories day after day and week after week about tourists that run amuck seems to broadcast the notion that non Thais are somehow culturally inferior. This may or may not be the intention, but reading the forums on ASEAN.NOW, ii seems to me many of the forum readers interpret the publicity as treating westerners pejoratively. I do not see how the news stories educate people or serve as a way of improving relationships between tourists and non-Thais. If Thailand wants these tourists and their money, they are going to have to work for it and that includes being creative.

I am smart enough to know I am not smart.

I used an agent last year to do my marriage visa. This year I want to do it on my own as I have the necessary funds in the bank. Will I encounter any problems about my bank account balance? The agent withdrew the necessary funds from my account as soon as the visa paperwork was accepted and I had the necessary stamp in my passport (pending). When I apply for the visa in June, I will have had the required balance in the bank just a shade over three months. Therefore, my bank account will show a balance below 400,000 from June 2023 until March 2024. How will this look when the immigration sees my bank statement for the past 12 months? I will be using the same immigration office as I did with the agent.

I think the lawmakers are out of touch with reality. People use cannabis for medicine and recreationally because they like it. It is quite appealing to be able to use cannabis in the privacy of your room and then go and hang out at the beach, etc. Tourists like this and to think that the restrictions on cannabis will not affect tourism is a prime example of taking something you believe and then converting it into facts simply because you have thick skin and power. At the risk of continuing a tiresome argument comparing alcohol and cannabis, all the criticisms lodged against the dangers of cannabis can easily be applied to alcohol. However, it is doubtful alcohol has any real health benefits. So here we go again, the uncles in the military and government have decided cannabis is no good so the public is forced to comply. This seems to be one more iteration in a process that covers most legislation, mandate, edict or whatever the word of the week is.

I want to use a webcam on my PC to take a photo. However, the photos are not clear. Does anyone know how to improve the quality of photos using a webcam. I have two webcams - a Microsoft webcam and General Webcam (that is all it says on the product's box). Is there any software available to aid with the quality of PC webcams? There are settings on the webcam application, but they do not really improve the quality. Is there a particular way to hold the webcam or an optimal distance? I am trying to photograph documents like passports, driving licenses, etc. My own personal documents.

Don't you think Edward Snowden is America's Navalny? America did not have Snowden killed, but he is in exile and skillfully marginalized by the US Mainstream Press.