scorecard

But joe public is not allowed to take that leeway and is required to not move his / her vehicle so that the cops can gather evidence.

Lots of salient points. Here's another example: farang goes to local private hospital (small city), talks to the receptionist at the main desk and explains what the problem is and mentions an allergy he needs to be careful about. Receptionist prints a document then take the farang to another office. Then chaos: Fifteen minutes later nurse at the specific dept., who speaks good English brings the farang back to the main arrival desk and says 'wrong department'. Two assistants at the main arrival desk also speak good English and now speak up to the farang. 'Sorry but main receptionist can speak zero English and he just guessed where to send the farang. Farang now getting a bit annoyed and says 'Let me speak to the supervisor'. Supervisor arrives and gets all the details, speaks English and says to the farang 'why did you come here, the receptionist cannot speak English. By this stage someone has called the 'hospital international office and a young look krung man (speaks perfect Thai and English) arrives, he realises this situation is not acceptable and says that he will explain in Thai but then realises the main receptionist has disappeared. International office man asks the 2 reception assistants if they are sure what dept., the farang should go to. Yes, and documents prepared. International office man then escorts the farang to the correct dept., along with one of the reception assistants. They stay with the farang until he has seen a doctor, had blood taken and has a next appointment slip in English and farang pays the bill. International office man gives the farang his business card and says (in English) 'at next appointment please come direct to my office and I will escort you as needed. Farang asks 'why didn't the junior reception assistant speak up quickly to indicate the farang is being sent tp the wrong dept? Answer: 'they are very junior in rank compared to the main reception guy who cannot speak English and it would be very rude / insulting if they spoke up and made the main receptionist lose face.

And why would trump single out Thailand for special tariffs / zero tariffs?

So do you have a clear specific definition of 'look shady'? What about if their tattoos are all hidden under a shirt / blouse on arrival?

Quote: "...I agree with you about what this clown in the White House decides and I do not see why any decision about Ukraine is down to him. " I wish someone with credibility would strongly tell trump he's out of his territory; he has no right in any way to tell Salensky or Ukraine what they have to do. If this were another country many leaders would be giving trump clear indication 'absolutely not your call'.

Seems to me that trump and his 'team' have not realised that many / most countries can trade with more than 100 other countries if needed. Many countries; At least China and many EU countries have clever folks who can search out the products they want outside of US manufacturers. And many might well be inclined to do business with alternative countries / suppliers on a specific basis of 'no import / export duties or tariffs'. And very possible the countries these suppliers come from would very much like to move totally away from any trump bs.

I certainly agree that trump is all over the place at the moment. I do wonder if trump realises that Russia taking all of Ukraine is a very bad move for Europe. As said trump is everywhere in his statements and I wonder how logical his thoughts are. I've read in other reports that Zelensky is correct when he says he has no absolutely no authority to 'give' Ukraine or Crimea to Putin. Seems to me that trump doesn't buy that line, I guess because trump believes he can override US law / any law / any country.

Unfortunately stronger / faster development is often held back by Thai teachers who are tasked to teach English but can't themselves speak English or speak it very poorly. My granddaughter went to a primary school in CM with an 'English program'. First period 80 minutes every day was English and the focus was on conversation. Teacher a mid 20's young guy from the UK who has gained specific qualifications (and good experience) to teach English conversation and limited time on grammar. An old Thai female English teacher had to sit in the back of the room for every lesson (above), take notes and last period every day reteach the same lesson to same kids. Her lesson focused mainly on criticizing the morning lesson conducted by the foreign teacher. Progressively the students realized her negatives were unfounded / wrong and the kids found / invented reasons to miss the afternoon class. My granddaughter never missed the afternoon class but came home and shared with me and her Thai father (who speaks near perfect English). She wanted to be very sure what was correct. She had very good English course books and if needed I found the 'item' in her course books and we constructed perhaps 4 or 5 further examples to emphasize the correct 'version'. It all came to a head when the Thai English announced she was going to start a new course labeled 'TINGLISH'. School headmistress soon put a stop to that and within 24 hours the old Thai English teacher was retired early.

But it is changing, more and more Thais are speaking some / more / better English. This is life.

Is visiting Vietnam different to visiting other countries? Or are attempting to make negative comments re Vietnam?

I don't agree. Americans are concerned about their borders and keep in mind for many decades the borders were open and nobody got concerned about it, in fact were happy for that situation. And yes they are concerned about the situation in Ukraine, good news.

I continue. My Thai son (34 years old) went to one of the 2 shops late last week. As always the staff listened carefully, did a repair, son tested his notebook, all fixed, all less than an hour 200Baht.

Agreed cannot be Chinese! You can't be serious, there's scum / dishonest people in every country in the world.

Example; 2 hours late to start end of term exam, after being reminded many times 'exam date cannot be changed, exam cannot start late and exam time cannot be extended. One 'gang' of 4 students came 2 hrs late. Their excuse: - 'we had to go to the airport to say good bye to a friend so it's OK to be late'. - 'our group will do the exam tomorrow, we promise we won't be late. NO, and NO. This gang spoke very loudly on arrival (late arrival) and one member of the gang kept asking other students who were in the midst of doing the exam things like 'are there any questions about xxx? Plus a further 12 friends were outside the exam room being very loud and causing a disturbance. Because of the noise the deputy dean arrived, she ordered all concerned to leave the room and go to her office. Took forever to get the late arrival exam takers to be quiet and listen, the deputy dean then gave all four a grade - F (fail), then threw them out of her room.

Stupid ignorant comment.

What are / is "Liberal Science Books"?

I'll adjust my comment: .... It has only one opening, it has a heavy duty zip all the way around the bag and a triple digit lock and I always engage the lock.

...and reasonable prices.

Is there not a bottom line here. Easily available there's thousands of short / long HD video clips of M/F, F/F, M/M penetration etc., in every conceivable position, with sound. Kids know how to find these clips, hide them, and how to delete them after they replay them a hundred times.

My error, my apologies, now removed.

Posted in error, my mistake, apologies, removed.

I use the same 'overhead locker' bag every time I fly. It has only one opening which has a triple digit lock and I always engage the lock.

I didn't say that or suggest that in any way. Just your unsuccessful attempt to deflect and to, perhaps, suggest they are all good guys, which they aren't. I mentioned 'high profile global charity'. I've had a different experience with this group, their Thailand / S.E.Asia leader (Filipino lady) called my office in Bkk about 1:00 pm and proceeded to abuse a new junior staff member because she couldn't instantly transfer her to a highly experienced expert about the structure of non-profit organizations. She left a number, I called back and also got abused. She finished the call by saying 'I expect you to be in my office in Manila tomorrow morning at 09:00 with a contract to be signed'. and she hung up. That didn't happen. After some further discussions my company did provide some expert advice but only after I added some clauses to the contract refusing to work with Ms. xxxxx, which was endorsed by the client. But she ignored that, the morning the project was to start I, and my 2 staff members, were invited to join their regional team for breakfast at the 5 star hotel they were staying at. The Filipino lady mentioned was continuously abusing the young hotel staff. After breakfast I confronted her say 'the signed contract states that you will not participate in the work, are you going to honor that clause.?' She responded 'maybe', I responded 'the only answer is yes I will honor that clause in the contract or we will not start the work'. She then withdrew. ) Another factor, another senior person from this organization called me to insist that I be available at a date / time to be advised by this organization for a photo-op at a Bkk 6 star hotel with their most senior person, from their California HO when she was signing the contract. The lady from California did come with a 2 person entourage, and in a discussion with one of the entourage we discovered all three had flown business class (proven with documentation) from the US to Bangkok. Great way to spend donations given by donors who believe their blurb that every cent is spent on a needy child. Life's a puzzle, some folks achieve big, become rich and live a very comfortable life. Others don't which is sad and unfortunately there's no special formula to make all people rich or well off. That's capitalism at work. There is, I believe, a case to say the elected government of any / all countries should have polices / be active to provide better education for all, equal opportunities for all, better quality of life etc., for all. In the case of the hill tribe peoples there is no elected government and alternative organizations such as the united nations, the world bank, ASEAN etc., have achieved nothing for these people, worst of all being that they have no actual status as people, they cannot (even in 2025) get a passport etc. But there is a case to say that developing the basic skills of reading and writing is a step forward.

Sure but it's not that simple. The American I mentioned was employed by one of the world's biggest / very high profile children's charities, formed / financed controlled by a Mainstream big name Christian church based in California. Seems that the have very successful methods to gain the attention / confidence of Children, and an early item is learning (with a lot of fun) to read English, then comprehend then speak read and write English and learn to read and comprehend the bible. At the same time families have their accommodation, food, clothing, transport upgraded, so they get to respect and follow the missionaries, and work together with the missionaries.

Twenty years back I was invited to conduct one full day lecture every week end for a year re the impact of leadership behaviors on motivation and performance. This was at a Thai university which conducted a one year week-end program 'Executive MBA - Motivation and Leadership'. Total of about 25 students, most between 30 and 45 years old, 50/50 Thai and foreign* students (*some were foreigners who had been working in Thailand longer-term and some were exchange students, signed up to attend this specific program.) One guy (American) arrived 1 hour late, quickly walked over to me, interrupted as I explaining an important point. I asked him to sit down, he didn't and he requested that I start the lecture again. Several other students (Thai and foreign) instantly told him to sit down and be quiet, they also apologized to me and asked that I continue. At the coffee break the American approached me and tried to insist I repeat the first hour again in the lunch break. I refused. I asked him what work / activity he was doing in Thailand. His response 'teaching English to hilltribe people'. Another foreign student was listening and said 'yes, so they can read the bible and so he can threaten them with punishment from god if they disobeyed (disobey the American). I had been using a set of PowerPoint slides which are the intellectual property / copyright of my own company, all coming from respected long-term global research. The students had been given paper handouts which gave a very big picture of the salient points but no graphics or further explanations, all because of copyright. Before the lecture started the handout content and the strict copyright of the original PowerPoint slides was well explained and I told the students they needed to add their own further notes as I spoke. AT the lunch break, as soon as I stopped the lecture a Thai student quickly said to me (as he was pointing) the American is doing something with your notebook. I stepped quickly to my notebook and discovered he had inserted a thumb drive. I asked 'what are you doing?' 'I want a copy of your PowerPoint file.' I responded 'I told you earlier / very clearly they have full copyright.' He continued 'but I'm sure god will allow you to give me a copy'. He then asked me to sit down and asked me to hold my hands in a prayer position. He said "I will now pray to god to give you permission to give me a copy of the file". I puller the thumb drive out of my notebook and asked a student to open the thumb drive and see if my file / part of my copyrighted work had been downloaded to the thumb drive. About 20% of the file had been downloaded. I then asked the student to remove my content from the thumb drive. Mr. America was not perturbed, but commented 'You are disrespecting gods' desires'. Mr. America didn't attend the fifth and fourth lesson. Then I got a phone call from the dean "your student is in the lock up, waiting for a judge to sentence him". I asked 'do you know what he had done?" Dean responded "yes, it seems for at least 2 years he has been take young hill tribe boys (13 to 17 years old) to his house to work for him 2 or 3 days each week. Much more recently he asked a 17 year old boy to come to his house, the boy came but discovered that all the other boys (apparently about 10 in total) very all nude and Mr. America was fondling their front parts and their rear parts. The boy fled and went home and told his parents. The boys father is a senior regional cop. In fact that family not hill tribe people. The father quickly questioned several other boys, they all confirmed Mr. America's activities. Mr. America was instantly arrested and was awaiting a court hearing. Later we learned that he had been fined 50,000Baht and deported and banned form ever entering Thailand again.