John Drake

Looks as if Thailand's turning up its nose at the donation of quality vaccines from the US and Poland might be having an effect not realized. Look at this tweet from the US Mission to ASEAN. More than 14.5 million doses for the Philippines. Over 12 million for Vietnam. Nearly 13.5 for Indonesia. Only 1.5 million for Thailand. And it looks like the 1 million additional Tammy Duckworth tried to get is no longer included.

Maybe hire this kid to work for Thai Immigration.

As far as I know, the US doesn't rely on tourists from Thailand to support 20 percent of its economy.

Page 26??? This is why opening up Thailand to tourism again is doomed. What tourist in their right mind wants to read through 26+ pages to apply for a simple tourist visa? When I first came to Thailand I entered on a visa exempt. Returned back to the US, went to an honrary consul general and got an O. Now, it sounds like they want security clearance to Fort Knox.

"Popa needs a new pair of shoes!"

No need to say anything.

Are you trying to curry favor?

The other thing to take note of is the consumer affairs offices of many businesses. Get something off the grocery shelves that turns out spoiled or no good? Call the 1-800 number and you will get several times over what you paid in coupons for free replacement items. Bigger problems? Class action lawsuits occur all the time. Insurance and bank regulators mean when one of them goes under you don't lose your money. Many solid consumer protections in the US. The critics, however, do have a point: things are getting worse and the system is crumbling.

B lister trying to hold off being demoted to the C list.

I don't drink alcohol. But this I know. An integral part of the fantasy vacation to the beach is lounging under an umbrella with a Mai Tai or Blue Hawaiian and watching the waves come in. Just look at the tourist ads. Substituting cold coffee or a Coke isn't going to cut it.

Not going to happen. Some real greedy insurance companies are strangling Thai tourism. Didn't a few months ago the government announce a 500 baht entry fee to be applied on plane tickets? Now, on top of that, they want to add the insurance scam.

The US is always a softie in trade relations. What do you think would have happened if Thailand had done this to China?

A couple of years ago, Thailand openly marketed itself to Chinese companies as a place to "relocate" to in order to avoid US tariffs and exclusion lists. For that and things such as this glove scandal, the US should put a trade embargo on Thailand until the country can verify to the standards of the US that is no longer engaged in fraud. Would be a good time to clean up on IP theft as well.

There are strong consumer protection laws in the US.

A very large part of the marketing of "prestige" schools, here, is that should you enroll your child with them, then he or she will meet and be among people from other hi-so families. It's also a key part of the marketing for up and coming "new wealth." What they're selling are connections. It's very blatant, openly advertised in their brochures, often before academic offerings. Over the years at Mahidol, I was part of the committee that interviewed students applying for a place at MUIC. I had students from all these schools sit in front of me and answer questions. There was rarely any strong separation among the students from one school or another. The pecking order didn't matter much. Usually, they were prepared, had passable English oral and written language skills, and lagged in the areas of science and mathematics. Most wanted to go into the business program. But nearly all of them carried a sense of entitlement I found astonishing. I think these "prestige" primary and secondary schools in Thailand perpetuate many of the social and academic problems, here. I think we have seen that sense of entitlement and false superiority even in some of the posts from people on this forum. These students come out of "elite" schools and are solid, albeit not spectacular. That is as a group. Of course, individual talents do shine. But they would do so even in the worst circumstances. Intelligence, as with truth, usually will out.

Just wait until DeltaMax hits, then DeltaTurbo, then Deltasupercharged, etc.

No thanks to Russell Crowe?

Take it or don't take it. Make your own decisions. I have taken it, because it reduces fever quickly and faster than Tylenol. I don't know if it is the same family of plants as echinacea, but it seems to have the same benefits. I used to take echinacea (https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/echinacea-common-cold#1-3) in the US. I take Fah talai Jone here for the same reasons. And I usually take one or two if I'm going out to a crowded store.

Struggle? I thought a tsunami of Russians and Chinese was champing at the bit to swoop in and buy thousands and thousands of condos. Wasn't that in a forum topic a couple of weeks ago?

It has to be fantasy. My wife's friends and family mostly work as police or in police administration in Khon Kaen or around Chaiyaphum. Most of them make around 10,000 to 11,000 per month and think they have a very good job (I don't mean "extras" that come with it).

So, how about letting water out of the dams before the storm hits and they overflow?

No India, Indonesia, or Taiwan? And Cambodia, yes, but Laos and Vietnam, no? And Czech Republic, yes, but not Slovakia? Very odd.

I'm actually surprised it's that high. If the Move Forward people think they're going to get the average Isaan salary to 40,000 then they're selling fairy tales.

Don't know about the married part. I was employed by Mahidol and retired at the end of my last contract. At Nakhon Pathom immigration, they asked for my retirement letter, wrote some sentences in Thai in my passport, and then sent me to Chaengwattana to do the new extension. (Mahidol's address was used for my earlier extensions and so used Nakhon Pathom. Then had to change to my physical address in Bangkok and go to Chaengwattana.) To this day, I still extend for purposes of retirement off my original Non-B.

You can just extend the non-B for reason of retirement. That is what I did six years ago. No need to change to a non-O. I only needed to supply a retirement letter from my employer.