scorecard

'imfamous' is part the meaning for some. But not all, I'm well aware that many Thai folks use the term with zero negative conitation.

Like it or not many Thai folks believe the laws about stopping at zebra crossings are wrong because it disrupts the flow of traffic. Clearly there needs to be a very major long-term education campaign and bigger penalties, perhaps also new camras / relocation of cameras so that there's clear evidence and rego numbers are available. A job for big joke, he seems to be quite determined and effective.

Yes the list of 'cannot do' is extensive. Seems to me that list has been progresively built from case by case situations. And will probably be added to as more situations deelop/occur. Nothing on that 'cannot do' list is IMHO surprising.

30 minutes wait for luggage. Try Changi, a very very busy airport, deplane, at passport desk within a few minutes, through passport within a few minutes, pick up luggage 5 minutes later or less, in a taxi 3 minutes later. It can be more efficient if the Swampy folks applied themselves to continuously forecasting manning needs. They have continuous new data and fast access to historic data. If they wanted to they could be much better at forecasting. But is always seems to remain: - Ohh, there's a problem, how did that happen? - Lots of 'we're going to' after the event. - Little real result/improvement.

Which is the very reason why advanced countries give very good/focused experience based training to their new soldiers about 'the arc of fire' and more elements, to train them to not fall into the trap of shooting their comrades. And to train the soldiers and their leaders in well constructed on the ground strategies and equip them in terms of controls, strict following of orders and more.

Plus the international language of business is English but (as recently show a few days ago in a global ranking) Thailand's overall English language capability is falling further and further behind.

Perhaps this might push some Russians to realize that their president putin is neither capable nor concerned nor compassionate. Plus it's clear from many reports their military leaders on the ground are also incapable and have no concern for the welfare and the lives of their troops.

" 9 hours ago, mistral53 said: Really?! Somebody else fell for the marvelous Ukrainian propaganda..........lol If there is anything the Russian army will excel in is their winter gear - but hey, if it fits your narrative, lets believe what we want tot believe and be happy." ""If there is anything the Russian army will excel in is their winter gear..."" So how come there's been report after report about the russuan soldiers severely lacking in equipment, clothes etc. Just 2 days ago a report about russian soldiers depatched to a contact area with no rifles and NO SOCKS.

Yes we do. The embassy has said many times they don't/can't give handouts to everybody and not surprising. But if you read their script a bit further there are other possibilities. Another slant, if you call consular they are very willing to calmly talk and discuss, and I learned some valuable information about 'who should be informed in Australia when an ozzie passes away abroad' and several other concerns. The consular lady ended with a polite 'don't hesitate to call us anytime if you need clarification, advice of what's possible etc'.

Agree, I saw this on service in Vietnam; One CO was a tyrant and enjoyed finding fault and did nothing in terms of support and welfare. Also he was an alchholic. A couple of times was found early morning asleep in a ditch. Next CO exactly the opposite, took 24 hours or less for all under his command to see that he was focused, he was highly capable, he recognized that his troops mattered and deserved support, respect and care. He visited sections and platoons every day and where possible drank cofffee out of a discarded rations can, he listened and he explained. And he followed up on every promise etc. His troops were highyl committed to him and it showed.

One of the officers on the 'older Australian hotline' told me: - The total amount of time you can be out of Australia is not made public but it is quite extensive. - There's no maximum number of trips out and in for the 2 year period. - Being out in one block of time can be quite long but never allow the actual time out, on one block of time, to go over 365 days. - Centrelink have a permanent live link to immigration (passport) in/out records and every time you come in / go out it automatically records into your Centrelink file.

Yes, but there's other factors involved to get the Oz old age pension (OAP), not just age. If she wanted to apply now for the OAP one roadblock would be the requirement to be physically in Australia on the day of lodging the OAP application. This regulation is 100% fixed, no flexibility because of illness or any reason.

And maybe it was a working situation where he was not allowed to be absent to go get medicines etc.

Philippines may be easier but there's other negatives. A lot of violence, many folks carrying handguns 24/7, muggings, abject poverty, regular typhoons and landslides. A positive is of course that many folks speak some to advanced English.

A question for our Chiang Mai cheese experts. Any suggestions where to buy a home size block of parmessan cheese in Chiang Mai at reasonable price much appreciated. Thanks.

Would appreciate any suggestions / recommendtion for a nice Christmas dinner, typical menu in Chiang Mai. Hopefully around 2,000Baht or less for adults, discounted for children, perhaps with 1 drink. Prefer an air-conditioned venue. Please share your up to date experiences, thanks.

If you're the person to be mentioned as the person who must give approval for the land/property to be sold there is no requirement that you must reside at the property on which the usufruct is being recorded.

Agree.

Sure.

Sure, In Australia everybody pays/everybody accepts debit card. And very fast, 99% of vwndors have the machine and 99% of the card holders have the card which just needs a fleeting touch on the machine and all done (fully insert the card into the machine). And (in Australia) many debit cards issued abroad are accepted but need to be fully inserted in the card reading machine because the cards are not programmed for 'touch and go'. No big deal. Along with that (in Australia) ATM machines are disappearing, not needed, very few customers withdrawing cash. At the 2 big shopping centres near where I stayed in Australia for a while, it's getting more and more difficult to find an ATM.

Wow, tough guy.

"Every election won by the “Reds” allowed international observers who unanimously declared the elections free and fair (minor corruption uncovered was at a level insufficient to affect the outcome)." Not correct. You keep repeating the actions of the military and I repeat: IMHO totally unacceptable.

"I would think hat your Will is far too important to be done by DIY instructions from the internet." Agree, poorly written could include words/phrases/sentences which could be ambiguous/possible to be interpreted 2 (or more) ways, and because of the words/construction used impossible to be used to distribute the assets. Another example (which I've also heard of), what's written in paragraph 1 / section 1 etc., clashes with what's written in another part of the will. Again, impossible to be used to distribute the assets.

Sure, military take over is NOT OK, NEVER EVER OK! That doesn't mean thaksin and his family are legitimate, it doesn't mean they did win FREE AND FAIR elections. Vote buying was rampant and in many areas people were frightened to NOT vote for thaksins machine. So you've been here since 2002 teaching scuba divng etc. I've been working here for 35+ years in mainstream very large Thai companies and in international conglomerates and in JVs 49% owned by inter. conglomerates and 51% Thai gov't agencies. I've mentioned before I worked for some time with a loud in your face Thai lady who loudly reminded all Thai staff that her father was a snr cop and was the paymasters organizer for a large part of NE Thailand. She proudly/openly admitted the vote buying. She spoke very advanced English. I recall one of the farang in the office commented to this lady 'so you give people money to vote RED, but how do you now they do actually do vote RED? She laughed and said 'they wouldn't dare NOT voting RED and we tell them we can check'. There had been incidents where a big 'sign' had been painted on the houses of folks who didn't vote for the paymaster. These families were instantly seriously harrassed by their neighbors, houses and cars burned etc., and the familied fled. Note that in previous times it had been proven that ballot forms had been marked on the back so that it was traceable back to the name of the voter. Also don't forget the election where the RED folks insisted that the voting booths had no curtains and that RED monitors could closely watch what voters were indicating on their ballot papers. Further, I have a close Thai friend who was a very senior beaurocrat in a ministry which handled massive funds distribution. There was an incident, when the paymasters mob were in power, he had a sudden visit from several of the paymasters 'appointed' ministerial officials who had documents in hand to transfer many many millions of Baht to an unknown beneficiary. He refused to sign and these folks quickly threatened the senior beaurocrat if he didn't sign now there would be consequences for his young family. My friend made an excuse to leave the room for a second, ran to his actual office, scooped up several important personal documents and fled the building, hailing a taxi on the street and changing taxi several times and meanwhile telling his wife by phone to very quickly pack some clothes and all their personal documents. They grabbed the kids from school and direct to the airport and fled Thailand. The mother of one of my sons Uni buddies has a royal title and was a very snr. public servant, quite shy lady. When the 1Million Baht Village Fund was started the lady was appointed (not asked or invited) to a fund monitoring committee. She was horrified how the money was being used in most villages, and she protested. She was promptly seriously intimidated and she quickly resigned from the public service.

imagine going to buy a pad thai on the street for 40 baht and having no cash to pay only credit card?? where is the vendor gonna swipe it exactly, lol. More and more small vendors are displaying their QR code, I see many Thai customers doing a quick QR scan and pay using their bank app. Totally easy. I pay as much as posible by bank transfer (most times the details are already in my notebook internet banking) or QR code payment. But I do keep about 200Baht cash in my wallet just in case cash is 'compulsory'. Rarely used.