Grandpa Cool

Up until the pandemic I flew to Bangkok from the Gold Coast (Queensland, Australia) many times on budget airlines (Air Asia and Flyscoot) for as low as Aust$160 one way and not more than Aust$220.

You're wrong with your assertion. In "civilized" countries there is an instituted system of revenue raising which goes towards road maintenance and upgrading. So instead of improving the standard of living and road safety, saving lives, lessening danger on the roads the short term "fix" by way of a bribe is actually contributing to poor roads, poor infrastructure, more accidents and more misery.

I'm not a US citizen but I did follow the election campaign and results. Apparently there is a huge division in the society there. It's very immature to gloat about what can only be described as a very narrow win. I don'tike the way American society is headed. There's something very very wrong when 3 people can have the same amount of money as the bottom 160 million!.... that's half of the population! Apparently the Republicans are about to give tax breaks to the wealthiest people. I fail to see how this will make America great again or improve the lives of the bulk of the people.

It's strange how we admire the super rich and powerful. I have to say that I too admire entrepreneurship but I don't like the accumulation of vast wealth to the detriment of others. There's something very wrong in this world when do few people control and accumulate such vast wealth. 3 individuals in the USA have more than 50% of the population combined. We live in a world where half the population lack education, proper housing, basic health care and even basics like running water. Unequal distribution of wealth is a major cause of the suffering of humanity. What is the remedy? Heavily tax the wealthy and super rich worldwide and invest that money where it is needed worldwide : education, housing , healthcare, water reticulation, pollution control, etc. But we won't do this! Instead we let the few who know how to accumulate vast wealth run everything, including politics. And blindly we give them accolades like this article. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

There's a lot of long and convoluted replies to this topic. But, to me it all boils down to the circles in which you move....and it goes both ways. It has now become a cultural norm.

I flew Air India Singapore/Mumbai return twice last year. The food and entertainment were good. Everything ran to schedule. No dramas. Nothing remarkable happened. I've flown with many different airlines over the years and Air India was average. In fact, none of the airlines I've flown on sticks out in my mind (I always fly economy) except I was upgraded once on a Qantas flight from Heathrow to Dubai. It was exceptional!

B.S.,🤣🤣🤣

B.S. A completely orchestrated campaign.

ALDI sells Sim cards for $5.00 and they have a wide range of options. They use the Telstra network under licence. Google ALDI mobile and check it out.

I've just come back to Thailand from Australia where medical cannabis is now available on prescription from online doctors and distributed by online pharmacies. It seems mostly to be imported buds from Canada. I guess the Australian licenced growers and processors will catch up with supplying the market. Certainly illegal growers are being displaced in the marketplace. It's a state by state legal story, but from my observation there is no notable changes in society wherever the laws are soft towards cannabis. Notably, Germany has recently decriminalised cannabis. Just chill out all you moralistic naysayers. Take it easy. Stop bastardising people who want to smoke cannabis. After 60 years of the failed war against drugs all that has happened is that cannabis has become popular worldwide and is becoming normalised in many parts of the world. IMO here in Thailand it is politics at play with career politicians beating up an issue.

In other words, it's career politicians playing politics. That's what they do in every country on Earth.

That's the best idea! I started travelling in Asia over 50 years ago and was early enough to enjoy many beautiful, unspoilt beaches. The "hippies" discovered so many fantastic out of the way places...... unfortunately people ruin the reasons for going there. We've loved these places to death! Cases in point : nearly every beach in Bali, Phuket, Koh Samui.....the list is too numerous to mention everywhere that has lost it's originality. Bars, resorts, shops, roads, traffic, the maze of cables, the influx of people all contribute to deculturing. Keep your secrets!

Is there a brown envelope culture in the UK?

And just in case you aren't aware, Germany announced yesterday that it is legalising recreational cannabis. Perhaps this is a chance for the Thailand government to modernise it's outlook and align it's laws with Germany's cannabis legislation structure.

"Illegal government" is easily the most important issue!