carlf

I won't disagree with what you said, but it has to start with some countries acting responsibly. And Thailand can't even seriously complain to other countries unless it can show that it is cleaning up its own back yard. Thailand should be showing leadership here. I have NEVER once read about any farmer getting seriously fined for burning. The Thai government has totally disappointed in this area.

I'll certainly post some info here after the trip. Based upon the suggestions here, as well as from some Facebook posts, I'll likely ride down to Surat Thani and then see what the weather forecast is. If the weather looks promising, I'll go down the East Coast. Otherwise, I'll head west to Trang and then follow the west coast.

Hello all. I'm planning on bicycling in November from Chumphon to Penang, Malaysia. I've been living and biking in Thailand for 5 years, so somewhat used to biking conditions for central Thailand especially, but not southern Thailand. Any strong recommendation as to whether it's better to bike down the Eastern side of Thailand (via Nakhon Si Thammarat and Hat Yai) versus crossing over to the west around Surat Thani and going down the west coast (via Krabi and Trang)? Thanks.

From an ecology point of view, I question the interest in spending a lot of money to develop those regional airports. Perhaps the money would be better spent in developing the train infrastructure at this stage. For info, France has now essentially outlawed domestic flights. Short haul flights evidently are considered major culprits in polluting the environment and the government wants to encourage using the high-speed rail lines. Seems like a good idea to me.

I am very sad and disappointed not to see Pita become PM, and to see in general how this "democratic election" has evolved. BUT... let's get the facts correct. The "majority of people" did NOT vote either for Pita nor the Move Forward party. As far as I know, they received 148/500 votes, so not even quite 30%. Yes, they were the party that received the most votes, but this is NOT a majority of the votes of the representatives.

Why would you say this? Isn't it just possible that the kid is jerk and would do it for any teacher?? When you say "They", are you referring to Thai kids? (if so... then I think that you might want to think about who is racist here)

I just read the original article and quickly saw the video on Thaiger, as well as the Asiannow excerpt. Perhaps I'm missing something, but I see NO reason to call this "racism" !?? I read about a young student making rude gestures. Ok, probably the student should be reprimanded for being disrespectful, but I see NO reason to call this racist. Is there any reason to think that this student wouldn't have done the same thing to a Thai (or Caucasian... or Chinese... or....) teacher?

I won't compare Thailand to all of Europe, but I'm coming from Paris, and I've been living in Bangkok for the past 5 years on retirement. Bangkok is significantly cheaper than Paris for retired life. We pay for a typical lunch in Bangkok perhaps 6 EUR (200 THB) per person, and maybe 12 EUR (400 THB). In Paris, you're lucky to find a decent (French) lunch for 20 EUR, and perhaps 40 EUR for a decent (French) dinner. Housing? For a small studio (20M2?) in a reasonably safe area in Paris, probably about 1000 EUR/month. In Bangkok, we live in a lovely, modern 65 M2 apartment on Sukhumvit in Phrom Phong with a 25M swimming pool for about 550 EUR (20K THB).

Very sorry to hear this. I remember 5 years ago when I arrived in Bangkok as a Thailand Newbie with numerous questions about visa extensions, etc. Everyone in the forums said that "Ubon Joe is the man". And indeed he quickly, clearly, kindly replied to a few questions that I asked. Ubon Joe was the example of what I love with forums, news groups, social media. Sharing. I'll miss him. May he rest in peace.

I may have been just lucky, but I went to MBK in Bangkok and got the Moderna bivalent last week as per articles that I read, and they didn't charge me a thing. Very quick, efficient. I'm grateful that this was offered.

I don't agree. I've been in Bangkok for almost 5 years, and my recollection is that pre-COVID the majority of Thais that I saw on the streets WERE wearing masks on the streets during the high-pollution periods, eg. Jan-Feb-March.... burning season up-country). Personally I didn't often wear one, and many Thai friends suggested that I should especially when the AQI got over 100, but I hate wearing masks. I've always suspected that all those people already wearing masks in early Spring 2020 may be a another reason why Thailand has as many deaths (per 100) as many other countries by COVID.

The original post states "Your 90-day reporting period will resume once you re-enter Thailand.". This suggests that if it's been 50 days since my last 90-day report, and I leave Thailand for 2 weeks, then when I return, I'll have to do my next 90-day report in 90-50=40 days. I do NOT believe this to be true. When you return from outside of Thailand, it "resets" the counter to an additional 90-days before my next report is due.

Euh.... Happy April 1st.

It's a nit, but a Menorah is indeed a Jewish candelabra, but generally used for Hanukah (coincidentally, this Sunday evening). Happy holiday.

And buses are MUCH cheaper! And sometimes buses can be faster as they can save you walking time as they have many stops (and the driver will often drop you even where an official stop doesn't exist). But, of course, buses can be horribly slow (and often unreliable). In any case, relative to other BKK transports, I generally wouldn't call the BTS a great deal.

Where are you getting your statistics? I just checked at https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/gun-deaths-by-country And I do NOT see the same thing. I'm seeing 10,95 deaths per 100K people for the USA, vs. 3.91 deaths for Thailand. Thailand is the 3rd lowest country out of the 50 or so shown in the graph. On the negatives for Thailand, I read elsewhere recently that Thailand shows about 15 firearms per 100 people vs. 120 firearms per 100 people in the USA. But Thailand apparently has one of the highest rates of firearms/person in Asia.

The USA didn't ban abortion. Get it straight. As I understand it, the Supreme Court in the USA rescinded the FEDERAL (national) law that gave the right to abortion, and essentially has delegated this decision to the INDIVIDUAL STATES. Many of the States (perhaps 50%?) still have every intention of maintaining a woman's right to abortion.

Not that surprising. A big percentage (sorry, I don't know the number these days) get COVID and are asymptomatic, especially those that are younger and/or in good physical condition. I think that it's more likely today, especially if you live in an urban area, that you had it, but didn't know it, then never having COVID at all. I think that I read a recent (gu)estimate that over 70% of those in Thailand have had COVID. So yes, you probably are just lucky! Enjoy, and stay well!

I understand your scepticisme as we've often been told that the COVID vaccines don't necessarily prevent catching COVID, but they're very good at reducing the risk of SEVERE illness. BUT.... numerous articles clearly indicate that getting vaccinated DOES indeed significantly reduce the probabilities of infecting others. See, for example, https://www.newscientist.com/article/2294250-how-much-less-likely-are-you-to-spread-covid-19-if-youre-vaccinated/

Totally agree. Ok, these approximations of prononciation of Thai words with Latin characters aren't great. But at least the responsible people are trying. I'm quite sure that it's written also in Thai characters. Try finding signs in anything other than English in the USA. Quit complaining. If they're interested enough in Thailand such that they're reading AsianNow, then perhaps those complaining could learn how to read Thai. Took me two months of studying, but it helps me every day, and I earn a lot of respect from the Thai people when they see that I can read Thai.

Sure is! I seem people in line every day at the cosmetic surgery clinic in my neighborhood. Can't believe how many Thais pay fortunes to change their faces. Quite sad as I find in general that the Thais are naturally handsome people... but too influenced by the (mostly western) images presented in films and advertising.

I know that it's more complicated, but I'd love to see them implement fines that take into account revenue. Probably not toooo difficult to implement if they just took into account the prior year's tax revenue declaration. Basically, the idea is to make a fine that is painful, and the level of pain depends upon your revenue.

Strange... I've been living in BKK for almost 4 years. I don't take taxis that often... perhaps once a month or so. But I find that almost ALL of the taxi drivers that I ask accept to use the meter. Granted, I speak a bit of Thai so that perhaps helps.

Are the DSI the ones who have shown their efficiency with the impressive handling of the Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya case?

I think that Thailand has certainly committed some major gaffes whilst trying to open up again for tourism (eg. complicated Thailand Pass, going back 'n forth about additional 300 THB "tourist" surcharge, slow in lifting restrictions, etc). But I suspect that the different % numbers between France and Thailand are also due to very different tourist profiles. I think that Thailand purposely decided to heavily develop Chinese tourism, and that faucet has just run dry and nothing that Thailand can do to force the Chinese to allow their citizens to come back to Thailand.