DaveSamutP

Exactly. And anyway, much of the commenting re Chinese tourism is simply face giving which the Chinese are sensitive to. Domestically, they love running those "we are the greatest" stories. The Thais of course are masters at telling people what they need to hear ala Noi from the massage shop saying "I don't like Thai man. I like you Farang. Good heart. Big snake. Handsome man."

Always fun to see how easily people trust numbers produced by a government that has it in its interest to lie as often as possible and which has no checks or balances. I guess this government has a track record of being truthful and transparent.

1st, important not to overlook that tourism (s3x tourism) is technically an export. Thais generally are too embarrased to admit how reliant the country is on massage parlors. 2nd, what they should have been doing for the last 20-30 years is moving up the food chain rather then assembling stuff. This is how you avoid the middle income trap that they are firmly in.

Any of the quality Western mattresses. Thais are generally light, so mattresses with less strength suit them just fine. Also, they tend to be younger (than us old guys) and fitter. I've found that losing weight, drinking less and exercising is helpful. I also purchased one of those super heavy American mattress a few years back. Lovely to sleep on. What I don't like at all are thosw super expensive foam mattresses.

The Asians only talk this nonsense when they think they can convince gullible Western countries. You can be guaranteed Prayut won't be in China talking this nonsense.

It's sort of like how people who have no idea complain at Google for Google Translates poor performance without understanding that it is because there are virtually no Thais in roles to train the algorithms. Nothing modern or innovative works in Thailand because most simply don't care. And, establishment Thais who do care, are more than happy to continue to status quo that they control.

It is a rule of nature that Thai initiatives go as bad as possible. Surely, very few are surprised it's a disaster.

Admit to a lesser crime and let some low level guy take the fall... And quietly let him out of jail in a few months. Who would ever know or care?

These people are an absolute circus. Why do they waste time pretending??? I'm CERTAIN this will be a raging success. It just relies on Thai country folk to follow the rules. No chance it will fail.

Probably. Thais love their uniforms and costumes.

Typical Thai (Asian) tactic, not uncommon in the West: discredit the messenger. I encountered this often in Thailand. Upon making a claim, the first thing most Thais will want to know is "who" not "what" or "how". If the "who" holds little power, they will attack the "who" and ignore the rest.

Thais in these positions are (a) expected to know virtually everything about everything and (b) face no checks and balances on their opinions as Thais would never openly criticize each other, esp not people in this socioeconomic group.

Smart looks and hand gestures. Must be smart. I trust him.

Sounds like a fun vacation

Bird on the right looking alluring. Wonder what Russell got up to in Thailand...

Well, fairly sure he's English so it'd be Murmite. Same same but different.

I reckon the Thai subs will have the THAI logo on them. Smooth as Silk

If only the world's most powerful military had thought of this... ???? They will be basing a range of subs in Australia for the interim and training the sailors there until the new subs are built. Do not get to the top of the pile by being daft.

All the things you mention have little impact on whether Thailand will attract wealthy expats to live and retire. To the truly wealthy expat, Thailand is NOT the list of places to base themselves and store their wealth. Thailand. What wealthy person will risk the lack of the legal protections on their investments? Most wealthy people are not daft. The Thais simply can't understand that their country and culture cannot attract large numbers of wealthy foreigners. It will not happen until the culture changes in some rather dramatic ways. We will all be back here in 12 months saying the exact same things

Singapore has the most wealthy foreign millionaires per capita in the world. So, I guess the answer is "no" Such clowns, these guys

I must agree, respectfully. It's not my daughter, and only he can decide what he thinks is best, but I might take out an investment and legally give the daughter access when she is of age. I'm not sure how that works in Thailand, but in most developed countries such financial instruments exist. A house for a 4 year old... In Thailand... Could end up in anyone's hands. Not like the 4 year-old can determine the outcome.

And, the most likely discrepancy between road deaths in the UK and Thailand is that the Thais have better infrastructure, processes and procedures, so they simply capture far more than does the UK.

I feel like it could go either way. The key is what has been said by many respected China military and strategy analysts. Who is hungrier for the win. China and the US could decide to be at war for a hundred years... leaving out any nuclear conflict, of course. Who has more patience and resolve? You could argue that it's China in this case. I expect them to take Taiwan at some point. Might be 10 years, might be a 50 years. But, it's more important to them than it is to us.

They'd no doubt have secret positions with such a large Sino entity. I have every expectation many Thais (private and institutions) have exposure to Evergrande directly. There is also likely going to be contagion throughout the China banks and other real estate firms. Just yesterday, Fantasia, another big player, missed a payment. This is going to be big.

So many donations from Western countries and Asian democracies like Japan. How many donations from their friends in China? No, China makes them pay and pay over the odds for vaccines of low efficacy AND asks for political leverage in exchange for the priviledge.