Callmeishmael

I will eat my hat if that roadwork is completed by 2025! 2035 is more likely.

I hope that I am wrong, but I suspect that Myanmar faces a choice between dictatorship and anarchy. Either way, Thailand can expect a flood of refugees coming across the border.

The picture shows the fire at the stern of the boat, which is consistent with the fire starting in the engine room. [deleted]

When I married, I was in my mid-forties and my wife was in her late thirties, with an ex-husband and a child. I paid zero sinsot, though I (actually my father) did pay for the wedding. When I asked her about the sinsot, my wife told me that it was not needed as this was not her first marriage. However, if her parents had still been alive, we would have been expected to send them some money every month.

This is classic TRT 2.0. All of Thaksin's old policies are being brought back: Casino, crackdown on drugs, emphasis on nationalism/xenophobia... it's 2001 all over again! I wouldn't be surprised to see a massive increase in Visa/extension fees and a new Rice Scheme!

The only way to screen out "bad people" or "scammers" is to require everyone entering the country to produce a current Criminal Background Check. This is obviously impractical (until AI is further developed) so all they can do is make it more difficult for everyone to enter the country!

A Saudi friend once took me to the disco in the basement of the Grace Hotel. Believe me, some of those Arabs can really drink once they are away from the mullahs!

You need about 15 kph of wind on a consistent basis in order for wind power to be economical. There are very few places in Thailand with enough wind to make wind power work. They should just put solar panels on top of every roof on the island - there is plenty of sunshine here!

Of course the police won't help her... what's in it for them? Unless they can make a profit they won't do a thing! 😠

So they will scrutinize them more closely, but do it in only 30 seconds! 😋

I had a heart attack last August. I had a balloon angioplasty and a stent inserted and then spend 4 or 5 days in the ICU and then another 2 or 3 in a regular hospital room. After a week in the hospital and a week at home, my school wanted me to come back to work. I got a note from my doctor saying I couldn't and so I was able to teach online for the next week. 3 weeks after my heart attack I was back at school, walking slowly up to the 4th floor office!

It doesn't help getting an AI to issue the tickets, the Tuk Tuk & Taxi drivers still won't pay the fines. There doesn't seem to be any consequence for breaking the laws or not paying fines, so until the police actually start doing their jobs, nothing will change.

I wonder what percent of these Elite people are leaders of Organized Crime networks?

This could just be a test case. If the number of visas issued in NZ at the new prices does NOT decline significantly, then they could roll out price increases for all other non-Chinese embassies. However, if the number of visa applications plummets, won't!

Are these real students? Or are they 40 year old students with crew cuts?

I skipped through the first 3 pages of sparkling wit after reading the OP, so someone might have already mentioned this. Reading about what she eats, she should be more worried about getting diabetes than gaining weight!

When you say 'Americans', are you referring to these Americans? 🤠🤠🤠 If so, those are Texans. That's a different country.

Safest place in WWIII? Mar del Plata. Argentina. Why? 1. After the initial explosions, the biggest threat to life will be starvation. With the supply chains interrupted (or destroyed entirely) anyplace that is not self-sufficient for food supplies will see starvation on a mass scale. Argentina seems to be the #1 country for food self-sufficiency. 2. It's a big enough city to have resources, but not big enough to be a target. 3. I could easily improve my Spanish from rusty/basic to fluent. Spanish is an easy language to learn and I used to speak it well enough to get by. 4. The climate is moderate and should be survivable even if it cools or warms by several degrees. 5. It is far from the starving masses in Asia, Europe or Africa (many African countries are not food self-sufficient and will face mass starvation after the war).

According to Thai social media, Rama II road has been an mess due to ongoing construction for the last 30 years!

Maybe it's because women enjoy a good conversation. After all, many Toms are cunning linguists!

Since only the NZ Embassy has posted figures that are so out of line with other Embassies has anyone considered the possibility that someone there simply doesn't know how to convert from Baht to NZ Dollars correctly?

I don't have a source to confirm this, but I was told many years ago that if someone built a house on unused land and stayed there for 10 years with no eviction effort from the landlord, they would gain the rights to stay there (not full ownership, but living rights). This usually happened with State Railroad land and it was very difficult to move then squatters when they wanted to use that land later.

Speculating about Visa changes based on a single announcement is fruitless, but that's what we do best at AN! 800NZD = about 17,700 baht at this time. It could be that we are seeing a ten-fold increase in visa fees, from 1900 baht to around 19,000 baht and the $800 figure is just a rounding error.

I don't recall all of the fee increases, I do remember that the amount of money to be kept in the bank for marriage or retirement doubled from 200K to 400K and (I think) 400K to 800K. I think the actual visa fees at least doubled. I'm sure that someone else who was around then will remember the exact figures.

It's been 20 years since the price of visas and extensions increased. The last time this happened was after Thaksin was elected for his first term. I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen again.