Callmeishmael

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.

Meet the new boss.... same as the old boss!

A large percentage of sugar cane is fermented to make alcohol that is then mixed with gasoline to make gasohol. Burnt sugar cane cannot be eaten, but it can be used to make gasohol. While gasohol is theoretically cheaper and cleaner burning than gasoline, it has less energy, so it negatively impacts both fuel economy and engine lifespan. So both the production of gasohol and its use go against the purported need for it!

The GoFundMe was actually started by one of Trump's groupies. She used this picture with her appeal!

I lived 5 miles from the University I attended and could get to school easily by motorcycle or even bicycle. However, all freshmen were required to live on campus.

Thai language as a subject has little to do with speaking Thai, it's more like studying grammar, literature and writing essays, so kids who speak Thai fluently can still struggle with Thai language as an academic subject. Are your children self-motivated high achievers in their other subjects? If so, then option 2 would probably be ok, but if they just have average grades I would keep them in your international school and hire a weekend tutor for their Thai. Bilingual schools are a mixed bag, with some being good and others being awful. Students who study and learn on their own can usually get a decent education out of even a mediocre school, but students that are less motivated will benefit from having good teachers and should probably stay in the international school where they should get more consistent support.

One one hand, these young Myanmar refugees could be the answer to Thailand's demographic problems. On the other hand... prejudice and xenophobia on the part of Thailand's ruling class may result in closed borders or impossible paperwork requirements for new immigrants!

I would presume that riding a motorcycle without a proper license or not wearing a helmet will constitute "negligence or risky behavior".

So the people who live there now are descended from the people who lived there in the past! Surprise, surprise!

While I am not in any way a fan of Trump, I do think that he should be allowed to run for president and win or lose on his own merits.

Here's a quote from the article in the OP: These hotspots were predominantly located in protected forest areas, national forest reserves, agricultural areas, communities, and other regions. So the latest government response that I heard about was to start checking the exhaust of the ferry boats in the Chao Phraya River!

Depending on whether you are using a new (to you) book or an old book, teachers need between 1 to 2 hours of prep, grading and other duties for each hour of teaching. 15 hours of teaching equals 30 to 45 hours of work. Having said that, at my school the Thai teachers mostly teach 15 hours per week and the foreign teachers usually teach 20 hours per week.

I gave up running several years ago after dislocating one of my knees. I still walk 10,000 steps (8 km or 5 miles) about 3 or 4 times a week. If I miss a few days I can really feel the difference!