chondan

I never had a phone or laptop coming into Thailand. One female IO said I had to have a phone and even stapled a note in Thai saying "don't allow entry without phone. Got a free broken in VN and showed it on return. Male IO laughed and took the note out.

Met Charles Sobhrai in Soi Ngam Duplee and did not find out about until 5 years later.

Never trust big Pharma!

Riots are not free speech.

Tour minister, Labor minister, when is Phiphat going to disappear?

The student's parents were "influential" in the province.

I have never seen a Thai teacher give an F to a Thai student caught cheating. I was told to not give an F to any student, no matter what reason. Some students did not attend my class all year. I let my Thai counterpart teacher give the grade. Guess the grade the student got?

Corruption rating. Ukraine 104 out of 180 countries. Their military with the most corruption.

Sadly it is true. No one dared to question Thai officials back then. If you did they put the word out that you were a communist.

A friend of mine traveled to airport in BK from USA and was going to VN same day. The women IO asked what phone he had. He told her he doesn't like phones and he has not had one for over 10 years. She got very upset and stapled a note in Thai in his passport. He can read Thai. It said "Do not allow this farang back in Thailand if he does not have a phone." He bought a cheap phone in VN. When he flew back to Bangkok the IO asked to see his phone. He showed it to them. He laughed cause it did not even have a sim card. It just lite up saying no sim. He tried to sell it in Bangkok but no shop would buy it. He threw it in the garbage can outside the the shop.

At my house in Isaan when finally water went by, the water dept. came to me and said I need to buy a water meter for 3,000 baht. My neighbors paid 400 baht for theirs. I mentioned that to the officials. I told them I won't use city water, I will just use the 3,000 baht to buy more tanks for rain water. I was very polite to them. The police came the next day and escorted me to the police station. They told me it was against the law to buy tanks without previous permission from the Phu Yai Baan and the Kamnan. Which is BS. They hinted that "I was on their list of trouble makers." They demanded copies of my Visa, work permit, marriage license, house registration, birth certificates of my kids copies of all my relatives Thai ID cards that were living on the same site. I had to go 20 kilometers away to the nearest copier. When I gave them the copies they said to me "wouldn't it be nicer to live in Bangkok?" I bought a water meter the next day for 1,500 baht. No problem after that.

I was working with a village group to dig a much needed canal for the village. They applied for aid of 100,000 from USAID. It took 6 months to be approved. In the week of the approval the Nai Amphur showed up in a brand new Mercedes to congratulate the villagers. Six months went by. When the money arrived at the Amphur it was only 1,200 baht. The Amphur officials used the money to have a teak sign saying that this canal was from the gracious grant from USAID. They had a big ceremony to erect the sign at the site. Only problem was there was no canal.

Years ago the Govt burned 3 10 wheel trucks of weed in Saraburi as a show of a crack down. I just happened to be in Saraburi visiting a friend at that time. We rode our mc to a hill near the site. There were over 200 farangs from Bangkok at the site. Including 4 of my best friends that I had not seen for quite a while. We enjoyed the party on the hill. Some of them camped over night. My friends from Bangkok stayed the night with us at a house in Saraburi. That night I went to the local police station (I was fluent in Thai). I bought 1 kilo of weed for 100 baht and gave it to my Bangkok friends. I was always invited to spend the night at their house in Bangkok and saved my hotel allowance whenever I was in Bangkok on official business. Those were the days my friend.

In the 70's Gov.. workers making 400 baht/month bought Ray Ban sunglasses for 100 baht/month for 7 months.

Exactly!