John Drake

So a Chinese business is involved in the consortium building the highway whose slab of concrete fell down. More Tofu anyone? Isn't that what they call these suspect building projects in China, where buildings, roads, and highways collapse or fall over?

Thanks for putting up the expanded OP, including the picture and more details about Ubon Joe. In my mind's eye, I always imagined him looking like Robert Ryan or Andrew Duggan for some reason. What a decent fellow.

Wear loose clothing. During the day, drink cold water, eat lightly, use fans, take showers. When/if heat overwhelms you, use a cool compress, go into your smallest room with a/c and set it to 30 or 29 and get in front of a fan. Don't let electricity worries undermine your health. The weather should break in a few days.

The epitome of patience and equanimity.

That is all we have to go on, what is discussed in places like the Bangkok Post. It could be wrong. It might change. The entire idea might be scrapped.

Irreplaceable.

This tax is only for Thais and Permanent Residents. If you're a tourist or staying on some sort of extension, you are not a resident or a PR. It will not affect you. It will, however, hit some Thais pretty hard, if it goes into effect.

Keep in mind that this is a departure tax that is being discussed, not simply an airport or air flight departure tax. It's 1000 for flights and 500 baht for land and sea, all according to the Bangkok Post.

The proposal also is for 500 baht at land borders. Imagine if you are a Thai family of five or six people who live near the border and make frequent crossings with your family.

Submarine tax

Can't tell from the photos. Were they in a crosswalk?

Another story to interest the gang on Weibo.

Already, he seems exhausted. There's something about the entire situation that seems broken.

Keep going, Chuwit!

It's been a couple of years, but the last time I drove by that building it didn't look anything like that picture. It was covered in stains, mold, with "discolored" eyes. Hideous. Ought to junk it. The Elephant building looks terrible too.

Ah, so the correct headline for the OP should be "Crackdown on Crime Wave By Chinese Tourists in Bangkok"

Who will be the first person to call this a cluster f*?

What happens if you get your face smashed up in an accident, and you're in the hospital needing to transfer money to pay a bill?

Just a few minutes ago, I was going to send $7000 via Wise to Bangkok Bank. It notified me, too, that I it would take until 8 May to complete. I then tried just a thousand and it said it would take seconds to transfer. It did. 7 seconds, in fact. That is an adjustment I see that Wise has made since I last used it. Nice to see that you can get the option of seconds versus days for delivery.

That is actually the clenched fist salute used by communists.

It is also a bank holiday.

One time I contacted Bangkok Bank to see why a transfer from my American bank was taking so long. They returned my call later from what they said was their international office. They were apparently going through transfers and checking them manually before approving them. Or at least this happens at one level. I've noticed that when I do a small transfer with Wise, it goes through in a matter of seconds if it's around $1500-1700. But if I transfer a somewhat larger amount, say $6000 or $7000, then it takes a couple of days to get into my Bangkok Bank account.

To be honest, I would fear my US bank going under this weekend before anything ever happened with my Thai bank. I can say I've had some delays such as the Coronation Day holiday delays with getting my money through and out Bangkok Bank. But it has always been there eventually. And most of the time, I do get it on the 3rd/4th.

Nobody in this country is good at acting, especially the actors.

The 5th is yet another holiday for banks they added.