StayinThailand2much

That would actually cost money (before paying off); where is the fun in that?* *Beware: sarcasm.

Yes, compared to cities of similar size in Asia (e.g. KL, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Singapore), those trains are ridiculously expensive, esp. if one changes lines, and they only provide relatively few stops in select parts of the city. Why is it that any other country can create just one transportation system for their capital (covering most of the city), but Bangkok has several, run by different companies, and one has to pay the full base fare for each of them. If one needs to travel with three or four different lines, the fare almost adds up to prices seen in Hong Kong (where consumers have much higher incomes).

Hahahaha... Great conspiracy story! I had to laugh that hard that I spilled some of my morning coffee. I bet that you've never even been to Hong Kong in your life... As you love the CCP so much, when will you move to Beijing to work at the propaganda ministry there?

It was mentioned that it is a projection for domestic tourism, so they expect every Thai (grannies, toddlers, factory workers, rice farmers, the unemployed, beggars, the homeless, etc.) to make 4 leisure trips next year, despite the fact that many are under-employed, up to their neck in debt, and without cash...

Congratulations, Thailand, to this historic moment, supposedly also the peak of domestic tourism, meaning that income from domestic tourism will go 'downhill' from there. I'm sure the TAT will counter any news of declines with their own stellar projections of such income doubling and tripling...

However, Taiwan is almost as little a part of that glorious history as the "Nine Dash Line"... Statistically, more and more Taiwanese see themselves as just that, rather than being 'Chinese'. And after what happened in Hong Kong over the past 10-15 years, I very much doubt that the Taiwanese are eager to join China, at least not as long as the CCP is in power. You could also argue that Ukraine is part of Russia's long history of a 'unitary state', which also has nothing to do with the realities of the 21st century...

Same here. Earlier this year, while in NZ and Oz, I drank beer or red wine almost every day. Back in Thailand, lousy local beer, ridiculously overpriced (and bad) red wine, and being forced to buy alcohol before 11 a.m., or after 5 p.m. - Down to a bottle of beer once a week on average. "Som nam na", Thailand...

And this despite 'the economy doing well', 'widespread optimism', and the 'many tourists'... Seems, Thais are becoming teetotalers.

Don't know who Bella is, but, yes, it is accepted in showbiz, but I don't see it happening in politics; certainly not for another 50 or 75 years. And even then this Luk Krung would have to be extremely popular thanks to showbiz, comparable to Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming governor of California thanks to his movie career...

I wonder if 'loan shark' is on the list of jobs reserved for Thais...

Wonder, how, as a foreign loan shark (and on overstay), he ever got his money back, unless he had well-paid local thugs employed.

They will never accept, or vote for a "half-blood". The only exception are half-Chinese which are accepted in Thai society. But, IMHO, half-Caucasians/Africans/Indians never will (as PM or cabinet ministers).

Luk Krung (half Chinese), likely. Half Caucasian, no way!

Chinese are buying up most of the condos in Thailand (Japanese too), while 'the French' buy only a tiny fraction...

As in any tourist ghettos around the world.

It took me years to realise that the friendly sounding question: "Can you speak Thai?" is NOT to ascertain whether they can have conversations with you in that language...

Girls dancing on a pole in plain sight in Pattaya? Must be a new trend... LOL

Yes, that's one reason why I hardly ever utter a sentence in Thai these days, except saying 'Khop khun khrap' at the bank, or after I asked someone for directions, to name two examples. If the recipient is female, it is usually answered by a giggle, even though, as I've been told more than once, my pronunciation is very good. Many Thais don't like foreigners who stay here 'long-time'. Speaking some Thai was appreciated 15 or twenty years ago, but not anymore. Also, unlike past times, most Thais don't seem to be interested in foreigners at all, or willing to talk to them anymore. While two decades ago many Thais asked me 'How long you stay', 'Are you married', etc., nowadays there's no curiosity at all, which, IMHO, makes learning Thai in 2023 pointless.

Muggings by motorbike, too! (See recent news.) LOL

The joke is on them; despite dozens of papers we fill out, reporting our whereabouts regularly, and their computer systems, they still do not have a clue how long and where we are staying... (To name an example; went to the immigration office, filling out a TM.30 form, the IO asks me where I was staying before... Why didn't she just look it up on her computer, where she should have found five TM.30 reports from hotels where I stayed before moving to an apartment?)

Lamphun (Lanna) and Phang Nga (Andaman) - 40 million passengers annually?? Even Phuket and Chiang Mai airports had just over 28 million passengers together(!) in 2019 (Phuket:18 million, Chiang Mai: 10.23 million), and Phuket's total capacity is 20 million passengers (Chiang Mai's is currently 8 million)... Will they pay people to fly to the new airports?

Yes, the 300-baht fee is shelved for now, but I will ring the bell in a full bar, if I'm wrong and a similar one isn't proposed again within the next 18 months...

This proposed insurance is for accidents and death, so only if they were to classify contracting gonorrhea (and a resulting death, perhaps) as an accident... Yes, condoms break, but no chance in hell that they would pay out for such.

I noticed. Tomorrow's weather forecast for Bangkok says '29 degr. C'. Brrrrh...

That's a whopping 1,471 baht (US$42.25) for each of the 72 million citizens over a few New Year holidays! Party time!!