Everyman

I’m not saying everyone has to like spicy food, just that when 99 farangs reject any food with a single chili in it (when it’s supposed to because they ordered a spicy dish) the cook will see my face and assume i will as well and make me the “farangitized” version. There are some dishes that are never made with any chilis and Thai people that don’t like chilis tend to order those, not order “pad prik gang” with no “prik” (and therefore no gang). As far as food being premade…I am not talking about the “rice curry” shop. I’m talking about restaurants that make each dish from scratch.

I don’t get it. Why order pad grapow “not spicy?” Why not order something that is normally not spicy, like gang jeut, or fried rice or pad thai or sweet and sour pork or an omelet? Do they like food that tastes like <deleted>? Because when i go to a new restaurant i often see lots of delicious food around me being eaten by Thais but i am served some “farangitized” garbage i wouldn’t feed to a soi dog. Then when i protest they act like “well of course you want crap food mr. farang, that’s what your species eats.” so instead i have to have a conversation ahead of time where i beg them not to ruin my food and often STILL won’t make it properly. It’s not just leaving out chilis - it’s leaving out anything resembling a flavor. I don’t even recognize the crap i see most foreigners eating. Aside from me always ordering Grab, which seems to solve the problem of getting “farangitized” food (since they can’t see my white face) why can’t foreigners just order dishes that are normally not spicy? Why ruin my dinner by teaching Thais that all foreigners have chili-phobia? Can TAT hand out pamphlets or something? Is anyone else as frustrated by this as I am?

In a months time it will be clear this the proposed tax law changes are a nothing burger and nothing will be different. The revenue department might have a few particular Thai individuals they want to go after, but expats with names like Jomtien Jack and Bangkok Bob aren’t likely to be targeted.

Most Thais don’t pay tax and the rest endeavor to pay at little as possible, just like everyone else in the world.

I completely do not care about him but the idea that wealth causes poverty is stupid. It’s fixed pie fallacy. It’s as ridiculous as your parents telling you to eat your broccoli because kids are starving in Bangladesh.

there are a lot now. and there is a high turnover rate. despite assertions to the contrary, i think they are just losers who hang out there and give themselves job titles. i doubt they are paid. it’s not like anyone will buy them lady drinks, and if they did, the bar would think they are taking one away that a girl could get.

why care about anything? What are you, a nihilist?

What is with these guys? Are they just losers who hang around the bar? Are they paid? Why are they needed?

Show me on the doll where the foreigner touched you

Why don’t you stop ordering people around and telling them what to do based on your value system and instead, respect theirs.

Paying 7% VAT on all purchases and 100% tax on alcohol is sufficient to satisfy the instinct to reward Thailand with tax money.

Immigrant rights campaigners in western countries say it’s racist.

I would like to know how you manage to do this, since all my transfers are rejected since they are not IAHA and no retail bank in the US does IAHA transfers.

you can cancel your debit card and do everything (QR code payments, ATM withdrawals) from the phone app. It will save you the 300 or so baht yearly debit card fee.

It’s a myth that organic produce is grown without pesticides. In fact they are grown with “organic” rather than synthetic pesticides, but that says nothing about the toxicity of the pesticides. Many “organic” pesticides are more toxic than synthetic pesticides. Certainly organic farming is much worse for the environment because crop yields are lower, requiring more land to grow the same amount of food.

Can Thai people get extensions of stay in Laos on top of their 30 days, similar to those on e-visas or visas on arrival?

I’m surprised they let you update your passport without the old one, at all. Bangkok Bank outright refused me on that point.

correct

time to start using cardless withdrawal

How and why do you have anti virus software on your phone? Is it a windows phone?

they will say you don’t need it, but then will block transfers over 50k.

I’ve been self studying Thai for about 20 years, and I would like to quantify my skill level with an official test or ranking system, similar to the N1-N5 ranking system in Japanese. Does such a test exist, or do learners of Thai forever have to self describe their own proficiency in subjective terms?

I like your idea, but since tourists can’t open Thai bank accounts anymore, they could assume that anyone with a Thai account is a tax resident. Then you would have to prove you are not in order to get your withholding back.

I can’t believe that Thai authorities will go through the trouble to avoid taking money transferred from a DTA country. Instead they will take everything and then make you prove you are from a DTA country and that you paid taxes at a rate equal to or higher than the Thai rate. Since capital gains taxes are going to be far less than the top Thai tax rate of 35%, the difference will have to be made up. Hopefully this will go the way of prior ridiculous announcements, like that Thailand will host the tour de France, or open nuclear power plants or buy F-18s from America or that everyone will get 10,000 baht.

As of about a year ago, no retail US banks had checking accounts that could international ACH transfers. Is that still the case?