Dr B

Based on my own experience a few months ago, the only potential issue I see is your No 7. I think there is some fine print somewhere that refers to how old the document can be, and mine was too old because I chose something that had a translation, and all bills are in my wife's name.

I think PR is the way to go, but I am afraid I cannot offer any up-to-date advice on how to get it. I have had PR for 26 years this year, including 14 spending most of the time in Australia, but I kept it going and it was well worth it. As long as I do not leave the country I can stay here forever with no annual hassles. I started on the basis of supporting a Thai family, but we are divorced and the children now grown up and Australian. There are very few of us in Krabi, and my re-entry permits which I used to obtain in CW were sequence numbered around 1,500, but my last one here issued in a February was 1, and one issued in a November was 5. That does mean that many officials, including bank staff, are unaware of PRs, which can create hassles. Good luck. I did not need Thai language skills in 2000, but that may have changed.

If you are not sure what IO really means, and I am not, then Srisuwan has very kindly explained that it means "manipulating public opinion". Isn't that what advertising and political campaigns are actually supposed to do? It would seem that Srisuwan's complaint would require all of those billboards with candidates photos and numbers to be banned, since they are also intended to manipulate public opinion.

Well greed is all that drives Bitcoin and other similar "currencies". There is nothing behind it, with the price fixed by supply and demand, the demand being driven by greed because of what very early investors made. One day demand will cease, and then it will no longer have any value. Some blockchain coding has no residual value if noone wnats to buy it.

Everything in your post appears to be true Jim. However nowhere did the OP suggest that it was a "benchmark against global averages". If the global average success rate is 90 to 95%, then it seems quite reasonable that a local sample in Kalasin can achieve a 100% succcess rate, and not a lie or a fiddle as your opening sentence might suggest. For them that it a worthwhile achievement, which may help them encourage others to undergo the testing, which would also be beneficial.

This is complete nonsense. It allows the vote counting to be done much faster using machine scanners. The bar code or QR code would be used to check that the voting paper had been legitimately issued, then the X could be counted against the Candidate number. One would have thought that that was much faster and more reliable than the current manual reading and recording. If you have the record of the Voter ID against each voting paper and code, then you could possibly identify the voter, but that is no different to what can be identifoed from the voting paper. The vote counting software does not need to know who the voter is, only that the paper was properly issued.

Fixed it

Your "quotation" from the Thai history professors is very nearly correct @scorecard, but I think there is a small error, from my reading of the 1961/1962 ICC papers. There was an agreement in 1907 on the border, but the Thais couldn't do the field work so left it to the French. Captain Bertrand seized the opportunity to say that he had followed the agreed procedure, but actually grabbed some extra land for France, and the Thais didn't notice. They accepted the French printed Maps as agreed in the Treaty, and issued them, but still followed their old ideas on the ground as to where the border was. So there are still two borders, one on the agreed maps which the Cambodians rely upon, and one on the Thai maps. Not at all easy to resolve, as it needs Thaialnd to expalin how it was cheated in 1907, and why it didn't appear to notice and do anything about it at the time. Whatever arguments they used at the ICC did not work in 1962, hence their rejection of ICC. So who can decide?

I know nothing about warfare, and very nothing about military drones, what I know beingn based on media reports. mainly from Russia/Ukraine, over the last 3 years. Nevertheless I will make a few observations, and those of you who know will please correct any errors. Yesterday @Burma Bill posted a picture from a Khmer newspaper of two buses which had been shot at, with a report saying that the Khmer army was saying the Thai military used drones to attack the buses at around midnight. The buses looked as if the had been shot with a machine gun. I have seen photos of Iranian built UAVs, or kamikaze drones, which look like small windowless aircraft with a delta wing. They could be fittend with bombs and flown to impact targets, but couldn't possible manage a machine gun. I have seen video of Ukrainian troops using reconnaissance drones, helicopted style, to identfy targets which can then be attacked by artillery. It would appear that drones big enough to carry a machine gun are available, bt expensive, and then would be very vulnerable as a single shot would take them out. My suspicion is that the Khmer militray got a couple of old buses, shot a few holes in them, and used the as propaganda to raise nationalstic fervour against Thailand to justify what is going on. At the same time, we have seen from the Russia/Ukraine conflict, that both sides have sophisticated air defence systems, so do not generally risk fighter aircraft over foreign airspace. Thye use multiple drones and missiles to try to dfefat the air defence systems by numbers. By way of contract, the RTAF has flown pre-emptive missions into Cambodia, which would appear to be a significant escalation, They have also taken out a casino which they say was a drone headquarters. What sort of drones do the Khmer military have which can be operated from such a building at that distance from the combat zone? It would not appear to be a likely base for controlling reconnaissance drones, so was it just an excuse to get rid of a casino? Not too long a ago I saw some footage of a Thai made UAV undergoing testing, but it did not appear to be combat ready. As far as I can tell, the two sides each have their own maps, which are different, so there will never be agreement on where the border is. The Thais were, in a way, tricked by the French Colonials, Captain Bertrand in particular, into agreeing a border drawn on maps which was not where it had been agreed that it should be, but they failed to pick it up at the time. During the Pol Pot troubles, Khmer refugees were accommodated in the border strip, agreed by King Rama 9, and it saeems that some have lived there long enough that they have come to think of it as Khmer territory. My good lady tells me that Thaksin agreed some deal with Hun Sen, for how much she didn't say, to increase the width of that border strip and extend its western end out into the Gulf. That gives him access to some O&G rserves, and she suggests that he has already sold the rights and been paid. Quite possibly the Thai military are trying to retain Thailand's rights to that O&G. All very messy, and not likely to be ended soon.

You have hit the nail on the head there @chrisbangkok. I know practically nothing about economics, but I understand that two things that should be of importance to Thailand are exports, and tourism. Both of these would gain by having a weaker Baht. Two things that are not good for Thailand are imports, and the ultra wealthy buying foreign currency, and that includes senior members of the Government with their "commissions".

I renewed my wife's Australian passport last year. The photographs are a nightmare. It is the not the photograph itself, but the very high quality type of printing that they require. I cannot remember the special name but it is in the instructions. I think it has "flow" in it somewhere. I live in Krabi, and it was just not available here. I tried online and it was still not available. In the end I sent the digital file to Bangkok and the Embassy agreed to print it, which was straightforward. The postal arrangement worked well and the new passport was received by post here in Krabi without issue. All in all it was easier than renewing my UK passport which I did last month, but had to go to Bangkok to submit, and then found some small print that required a colour photocopy of every page of my old passport, which cost me Bt 500 to be done next to the VFS office. I has also gone to Bangkok on my own, and taken my notebook to do some work while waiting, but found that I could not take it into the VFS office! Had to go downstairs to leave it in a locker, all of which made me late for my appointment. Then had to pay someone to pick the new one up for me as they will not use the Thai post. Hope that helps.

It is a recent change. I usually got the balance back each time I used a Big C Food Court card, but was very surprised a few months ago when I found an old card and it was still current. From then I kept the card and just toppe dit up each time. Then a few weeks ago after not visiting for some time my card was invalid under the new regulation. I only lost about Bt 50 but just get cash back each time now. I have no idea where you would find the "small print".

If three top financial experts recommend checking yopur borrowing annually, then there is no hope. As @hotchilli said, most do so o a daily basis now.

Another well thought out plan. Have they realised that everywhere not designated as an official safe zone will be an UNSAFE zone?

I agree. I knew his father quite well as an alumnus of my old university, and had a face to face with Abhisit about a corruption issue. I choose to beieve, based on that olus no evidence to the contrary that, like Chuan Keekpai, he is anticorruption, and has enough family wealth, not acquired through politics, to keep his own nose out of the trough. I assume that he took the PM position on offer from the military last time because he thought that he might be able to do some good, but was not allowed to carry it out. Wtih reference to the "welfare state", which certainly sounds like something intended to help the Thai people broadly, that could easily include and build on the Bt 30 Healthcare introduced by Thaksin I think, which I still see widely touted as one of the good things he did. I also heard that PP were talking about a Bt 3,000 payment per month for poor people, which was criticised as unsustainable. It is worth noting that the Thai budget for 2026 is Bt 3.28 trillion. If you take a commission rate of 20%, which is a realistic estimate, that would allow for paying 18 million people Bt 36,000 per year, without affecting the budget. That amount of money in peoples pockets would increase trade at a local level and circulate around several times. Let us hope that more people like Abhisit and some from PP can rise to the top and make a difference. It was reassuriung that PP did a deal with BJT which did not involve taking their turn at the trough.

I cannot argue with the dates, so assume they are correct, but don't forget that the commissions on the budget for the Three Airport Link, as well as on the 179.41 billion baht for the HSR, have all been paid long ago.

This is another example of how AI, which is relatively new, has been confused with programming, which has been around for decades. The headline and the first paragraph both mention AI, but nowhere else. Digitla banking uses programming, but AI is something quite different. We need to be very wary of AI being used in banking.

Here's my story. Back pain started in the UK when I was 28, I believe triggered by driving long distances in a car with a not very supportive seat, and lifing my first daughter, now 49, in and out of a baby seat in the middle of the back seat of the car. Recurred on and off, treated with physio or chiropractice, until 1997 when I was in Thailand. Started in January, treated with physio, including traction, chiropractice, and an epidural, all unsuccessful. Ended up that I could only stand for long enough to urinate. Running my own business I travelled to my office lying in the back of a pick up. Lay on the floor downstairs to rest, then upstairs to lie on the floor and work. Medicine was very strong and caused an ulcer which perforated, causing a blackout. When effects of that had worn off, as well as the epidural, it was June. Had an "operation" by an army surgeon at Bumrungrad who, I understand, drilled small holes in my vertebrae and nibbled away the protruding herniated discs. The operation started at about 6:30 am. At 10:30 he came and removed the catheter from the incision. At 13:30 they removed the catheter from my urethra, which was the only painful part! I was then told I could walk to the toilet and, to my absolute amazement, did so. Very rapid recovery at first, but then slower. Even played some rugby again. In the last 30 years have had no major problems, just one or tow minor issues dealt with by rest, and a few exercises.

In the interests of accuracy: The essence of Anutin’s plan hinges on strategically navigating the political landscape to ensure that he (or more realistically his father) gets his go at running things. another go at skimming off his percentage of the turnover. There, fixed it for you.

Of course it is a sham. Forget all the stuff about the telephone conversation, which was simply the result of her incompetence. How on earth can a 38 year old, with a degree in Political Science from Chulalongkorn University where they are not allowed to discuss Thai politics, and a Masters Degree in Intenational Hospitality from the University of Essex, no relevant experience of any form, never held a real job, and only joined a political party in 2021 become a Prime Minister? That is just as much an indication of a Banana Republic as anything the Constitutional Court may have done.

Is it significant that in the line of logos on the wall at the back of the stage, the RTP symbol had GRAB next to it? Is it equally significnat that the Deputy Minister of Tourism and Sports choses to call himself a Vice Minister?

So presumably you would be happy with giving chunks of the USA to African countries, South American countries, or countries like Italy or Israel, based on where the population hail from or the language they speak? The borders of Ukraine were drawn up at the end of the Russian Empire, and were there all through the USSR period when Ukraine was one of the Soviet Socialist Republics in the Union, not part of Russia, which was another Soviet Socialist Republic.

Yes, and Big as in elder brother or "Pee".

Surely there is a crying need for AN to up its game, which really would not be difficult? If they are journalists, as I believe AN and Thaiger claim, why can't they look at what they are given and point out the inconsistencies, then maybe enquire into the reasons for them, At the same time they need to do some simple arithmetic on the numbers that they are given, to make sure that they make sense. Very often they do not, especially when they are quoting statistics to ridiculous degrees of accuracy. Comparing percentages without making sure that the quantities are comparable is very misleading, since 100% of 1 million is only 3.3% of 30 million. Saying that "Vietnam appears to be a major beneficiary, boasting a 22.5% increase in foreign tourists in the first seven months, a total of 12.2 million" implies that they had 66.4 million foreign tourists in the first seven months, whereas they probably meant "to make a total of 12.2 million". There are many more similar examples.

We have a very nice Airbnb if you don't mind not being in the city. It is called Thai Teak House.