scorecard

Doesn't interest me. but it does interest many many western visitors.

Agree, and is it valid to try to compare the two countries? Thailand has attractions which don't rate too highly re Vietnam. And Vietnam has great attractions which are not so good in Thailand. I have no data but I suspect Thailand rates higher for the total numbers of easily available 'entertainment' girls. English language is developing faster in Vietnam. Great food, friendly helpful people, beautiful scenery everywhere. Ever visited Halong Bay? Totally beautiful and lots of folks take an overnight boat trip to get there from Hanoi. Gets good reviews. Ultimately though it's personal choice.

Quck, add Udon Thai, don't want to miss any chance of more budget 'opportunities'.

Plans to massively expand most airports have been announced 4 or 5 times in the last several years. Have none of them been approved? Have all of them been approved? Has any of the constuction started? Have any of the approved plans been overridden by later approvals of more expandion plans? Therefore requiring new design work? Have finances been approved? If yes where do that all 'sit' in terms of conflicting / superseded / resdesigned plans?

I got PR 27 years ago. At the big amphur office the man asked 'where's your TB book? I expained 'I don't have one.' Company driver who was taking me everywhere that day (speaks goo english), stepped forward and offered his TB sheets* with "can his name go in my TB sheets?" Amphur guy took the sheets, had a one second look at the first page then recorded my details on the sheets and handed them back to the driver. No questions asked. *TB sheets - this was before the computerized TB books came into existence. TB for each dwelling was several sheets of extra long landscape oriented loose pages with staple.

Happened 1 yr ago, found a good site 'Restoro', with a dedicated fix for this isssue, now link doesn't work. Tried several searches / found siggested answers. None fixed the issue, I'm lost. Any suggestions much appreciated. Thanks.

" You must include taxable Australian Government pensions, payments and allowances in your tax return. Examples include: age pension carer payment Austudy payment JobSeeker payment Youth allowance Defence Force income support allowance (DFISA) where the pension, payment or allowance to which it relates is taxable......" The fact is must be listed doesn't automatically means it is subject to taxation. It could be that: - I must be listed but is in fact exempt from taxation. Some folks receive a DVA Disability monthly Compensation Allowance (used to be called DVA Disability Pension - name changed a few months ago.) In many such cases the disabilities are severe and make life quite difficult (both anotomical and mental - PTSD , panic, anxiety, depression etc. issues) All a result of a war. I very much doubt any OZ government would ever consider taxing such allowances/payments.

From the link: " "This is expected to apply to around 80,000 people, and they will continue to benefit from more generous tax breaks on earnings from the $3 million below the threshold." On this time line, the measure would take effect after the next federal election." Keep in mind: - This is specific to Superannuation. - This is comment by the trearurer, NOT current law. Not yet discussed by the full parliaament, which could bring changes/adjustments. It's NOT about pensions.

Who turned it into his own 'company', ordering banks to give loans to dubious borrowers and more.

If that's the law then so be it.

"The aggravation arises from endless negativity. Permit me to doubt I am alone in that perception." You are NOT alone, the negativity comes from one poster who it seems searches for anything /creates whatever, to keep posting negative comments. He quotes 'data' which is his creation. The reality is quite simple. Nobody knows what might/could happen in the longer term re pensions, taxes and similar, so everything this poster submits to the webboard is assumption, speculation, twists into negativity. In the meantime I assume that the OZ government will not penalize pensioners in any way. In fact there's been recent mention in the media that pensioners are struggling and metion of the possibility of some support. Not facts, just some mention. Further, nowadays I don't believe most media reports, all media/any country. I put a block on the 'usual suspect's' posts but somehow the block stopped working.

Where does the 200,000 Aussie expats number come from?

There's also the issue of privacy. Folks who gain Thai citizenship (and other items) may not want this to be made public, their choice. On the other hand if it is there to see in the Royal Gazzette so be it.

Apply doesn't mean automatic approval. It's been said before the approval rate is very small, similar to the approval rate for Certificate of Residence (Permanent Residence). But they are different items.

There is also the point about personal choice.

Well does a 30 year old know what old/elderly folks who have contributed greatly to their country want and need?

There's been a shin gainbox in existence for over a decade. Every new announcement (incl. right now) takes many/most of the items already in the shin box. i.e. nothing really new, just more gains (they hope) for the shin family, nothing more. And who decides? No need to answer...

I wonder how many times 'mai pben rai' came into interviews* with the cabin crew concerned and how many crew members were involved. * If they were interviewed, or were they unavailable because too busy shopping for hi-so bags at Gaysorn Plaza...

Open the Thai Immigration website in English. Easy to find details of the various regions. Same with the RTP site.

She's notorious and has no morals or ethics, she'll find a new angle to feather her nest.

Her choice when she does her shopping and very probably doesn't think of your suggestion, she does what she likes and perhaps it's more convenient for her. And very possible she has no concern for fulfilling her job responsibilities. ANd quite possibly a hi-so / famouls family person 'I do what I want and when I want to. Second point - no comment, no need for any comment.

A 'companion point', many years back a work collegue called TG early the morning after the previous evening flight he used to get back to Thailand. He wanted to complain. Switchbaotd op. tells him TG don't have a complaint dept., and hangs up. He tries again and gets transferred to the catering manager (catering/food/drinks not connected to his reason for complaint. Catering manager says he's never heard of a complaint dept. / mnger. Catering mngr transfers the call, now a very young man on the line, speaks perfect English, who confirms 'yes this is the complaint dept.,' and 'no you can't speak to me you have to speak to the complaints mngr'. ' OK please tsfr me to comlaints mngr.' 'Cannot she comes to work at 10:00 to 11:00 am after these taken her children to school and had breakfast with her kids and then finished her shooping for fresh food at the market for the family cook to later prepare the family dinner'. Also reveals the complaint manager is his aunt. Caller says 'Can you please take my name and number and ask her to call me back?' Response 'cannot because she has a personal policy she doesn't return calls.' 'OK please give me her extension number so I can call her later'. Response 'Not allowed to do that for privacy reasons'. Caller gives up.

Checking! I recall many years ago I went to a seminar about measuring staff performance. I ran into the director responsible for HR at XX. I asked him how do you measure the personal performance of cabin crew. His resposnse: Ohh we don't need to do that because most of our cabin crew have a masters degree.

What could happen is that in panic the passenger tries to fold the rtray table up to lock it closed, but they can't because the food table, plates, bowls, cups, crockery all jam the tray table before it's anywhere near it's closed position. And for a window seat passenger two other tray tables to deal with. Unacceptable in terms of very fast exit from the aircraft, possibly made more complex because it's cuasing panic and causing some passengers to get involved when in fact they should have already been at the door / out of the aircraft. Also causing passengers to press the hostess contact button, and at that point in time the cabin staff will be (should be) going throught a process specific to getting passengers to the door, as many as posssible in as little time as possible, and not being sidetracked into multiple tray tables which won't close and have possibly been jammed, plus food and drinks on the seat, chair backs, aisle floor, causing passengers to slip. The hosties involved know their routine very well and should get these easy actions completed quickly and timely, and their supervisor should be checking all the time that these things are being done according to operating instructions and on time.

Well that's not really the scenario, is it?