herfiehandbag

His reputation on such matters is, umh, as full of holes as a Swiss cheese?

You really don't need Nomura's research tool known as the Tourism Recovery from Inbound International Passengers Tracker (TRIPTracker), to work that one out! Snowball and Cookie (the Chihuahuas) suggested it to me when they were having their breakfast the other day!

No. I don't "identify" as anything. I am an Englishman, who happens to have long had a curiosity to learn about the world around me — and (I hope) an ability to keep an open mind and an interest in sorting out the changes being wrought every day. Maybe I should have taken the grumpy old expat option...

Poor so and so, couldn't even go for a quiet beer! Shouldn't chuckle...

Virtual I expect!

Well who would have thought it...

Why not, works well with the motorcycle taxi lads, no? Why on earth does a bloke or blokess delivering noodles for Food Panda need a numbered jacket? Because the proles have found a new way of scraping a living. We must control them, so we can collect the appropriate "informal fiscal contributions"!

Yet another example of that peculiarly Thai governing classes skill in "Podiatric marksmanship"!

They obviously didn't think much of my suggestion to rename "The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM)" to "The Department for Clearing out the Drains when there is Nothing else to do in the Dry Season (DCDNDS)".

Funny isn't it. Some months ago they were blethering on and on about the cashless society coming to Thailand, and now they are shutting down one of the pillars of the new "cashless" system. I suppose that it is all about control - Paypal is basically not owned, controlled or delivers it's profits to the Thai establishment, so it goes. No doubt other International money transfer and payment channels will follow - should fit well with the trumpeted. ambitions to attract the wealthy tourists and expats! I don't use PayPal very often, mostly for receiving fees from some online teaching and for buying second hand books from the UK. I suppose I could use my UK PayPal instead, and transfer the money in and out of my UK account. Interestingly transfering money between my Thai PayPal to my Thai bank takes up to a couple of days, whereas between my UK PayPal and my UK bank it is instant.

Oh I think that you can expect that as long as there is a benefit to the comic opera chorus, in terms of ensuring the "uniform" loyalty of their key support groups, and various "other benefits" then they will continue to control, ration and allocate the "really good stuff" (Moderna) accordingly. It is, quite simply, how they work.

I have been thinking this through for some time now. I will declare that I have a minor interest in a small (single shophouse) bar in Chiang Rai. I think, that in certain "farang orientated" areas (Pattaya, Hua Hin) there is certainly a desire to clear out the hotchpotch of small independently owned bars. This will clear the way for special " Casino" zones a- la Sihanoukville. The money making potential of which can hardly have gone unnoticed amongst the influential. Similar - but perhaps real estate based ambitions - may apply to Soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza. I also suspect that there are those amongst the influential who may be interested in becoming major players in the Thai orientated nightlife scene. Elsewhere, the smaller places (such as Chiang Rai) are probably just collateral damage. Covid restrictions provide an opportunity.

If you have any to spare perhaps you could gift one to the chap who posted immediately before you - it should guarantee a spectacular meltdown!

It would seem that this fellow was neither a sociopath nor a murderer, but a radical (?) student journalist. Now I don't particularly agree with some of the views he professed, but then I come from a very different background and society. If I had been a Thai student at that time, developing my political philosophies under the (rather nasty) regime then in power, that may have been very different.

Yes, either they are labouring under the misapprehension that 80 is close to 100 or they are really motoring...

Yes one can only speculate - but you are on safe ground speculating that somehow loss of face on the part of the comic opera chorus line was involved; along with "inadequate unofficial financial arrangements"...

Well it is the internet - and the word "Marxist" was used several times...

Hotel bar prices - nothing to do with the real world!

Probably a not unrealistic expectation, given how hard they are working at making the whole business so unattractive...

Too right - I recently paid ThB34000 for 10 days, and that included major surgery (2 operations) on a badly poisened foot. Someone is making a lot of money. Should put yet another boot into a renaissance of the tourist industry! The people running this <deleted> show, and tolerating this sort of nonsense really and truly don't have a <deleted> clue do they? It takes an almost stellar degree of incompetent buffoonery to shoot yourself in the foot- with a howitzer!

I seem to recall a discussion on this forum a couple of years ago which concluded that the consular department would be operating from one of those blue PVC frame tent affairs, sited adjacent to the Trendy Building on Sukhumvit Soi 13 (?). So handy for dealing with the agents...

Because the USA has a far greater " media reach" if you were to mess them around by allowing various "interested parties" to get involved, than Poland does. Absolutely not a reflection on the generosity of Poland, but a reflection of the self interested "real politik" which drives this comic opera chorus line!

Anyone from these 4 categories, considering coming to live here as an expatriate, (and therefore entrusting a significant proportion of their wealth to Thailand) will of course do some serious research into the country and those who run it. 10 minutes on Google should suffice...

I am glad that your daughter is recovering. I agree totally with what you have written regarding both parental responsibility and proper maintenance and equipment design.

M2 "Science in English" - it is covered in the first semester, I have just taught it. I presume that it is in the Thai language syllabus as well.