Lorry

Then you have not read this tax carefully. It was mentioned

These threads are always full of racist posts. Blaming Thai culture, Thai greed, Thai corruption, Thai stupidity, Thai carelessness, Thai unwillingness or inability to learn. Many state how superior "the West" and its safety is. Someone in the bus threads reminded us of Santika - but 8 years after Santika 5 more people than at Santika died in a residential fire, in a very Western country. And I haven't seen Thais exulting in racist bigotry about it. They were rightly shocked, like we are about this bus fire.

Many posters seem to differ, especially those with kids using busses the school provides. Good. The outside of the bus says nothing about the quality, as explained by several posters. Don't be so ridiculous.

Liverpool Lou said in another thread it's a "presumably reputable company".

What makes you think this was a reputable company? Thais usually know very well which company is reputable (eg Nakhonchair Air) and which isn't (it is against forum rules to give an example)

I don't tell you their names without their consent. And I doubt they would give it. But it's not a secret at all, I think you know and you are just trolling.

Thais are efficient. Farang, looks like he works here, with a reasonably new car - why waste resources to inspect it?

As opposed to which country's culture?

Pimps are the biggest difference between many Western "liberal" countries, where prostitution is "legal", and here. Here, any girl can follow her aunt's advice how to find customers, put her contacts in the relevant websites or walk the streets. The money is hers, not taken away by a pimp. If she tried this in the West, she would be physically forced by the mafia to use a pimp. The pimps, of course, are well connected in those "squeaky clean" Western countries. Prostitution here is a lot freer and safer for the girls than in the West.

Both. And someone like you who spends most waking hours on this forum knows it. I won't feed the troll more.

There are several Thais on this forum

Are the regular interprovincial busses (999, Nakhonchai Air, Chantours etc) always diesel powered? Or sometimes powered by CNG? Bangkok Taxis are always gas powered. I cannot remember a similar accident. Is that only because just a couple of deaths don't make it into the headlines?

No, they live 2 sois further down. OP can PM me for an introduction. Tell me your preferences: less then 5 kids, or more than 5 kids? BMI over 30, or a bit less than 30?

Rule of thumb: if they move slowly, they are venomous. If they move fast, not so. Exception: cobra.

That's not the python I told you who lives there. Nice to hear he got some company. A bit further up the soi is a pretty green one, it's often indoors.

I have heard this, too. Do you actually know this?

The school chose the bus company. A company with a 54y.o. bus, illegally fitted with 11 gas tanks.

This thread is about Thailand, not China

The cold never bothered me anyway

You may be right about US prices, I have heard quite a few horror stories. But it looks like you are quite mistaken about prices in most of Europe.

May be true...I remember how surprised I was in the US how they build there shackshouses. No wonder they fly away when the wind blows. It's not necessarily bad that way. The walls of my parents' house were 1m thick and would easily last for 500 years - what for?

I saw a pickup carrying a lot of people, 3 days ago, and I realized how rare this sight has become in Bangkok. Yes, every day. Works very well. Better than in my home-country. Big change since the doctor died. And it keeps getting better. These racist undertones are not really helpful.

Thailand is not good value. Some things are cheap, especially what a tourist needs (restaurants, hotels, local transport). Generally, you get what you pay for (unhealthy street food, unsafe taxis, lousy building materials). But you can live very cheaply here. Many things are neither cheap nor expensive (rents in Bangkok, electronics, prostitutes). Some things are expensive (education, health care - please don't compare with the predatory US system, chemists). Example: A generic antifungal I happen to know costs 63 times more in my home-country. Another generic antifungal I happen to know costs 7 times more here. In the end, it averages out.

Usually, at the end of the year the baht is at its highest (tourist season)

India and South Africa are supposedly even worse.