sidneybear

Nah. Thailand IT sector has some pretty smart people.

Tourists who find 300 Baht a hindrance aren't worth having anyway.

Just add it to the price of the air ticket and collect it from the airline, like they did with departure tax years back. Nobody would even notice it then.

Pretty much. I was in an EV taxi the other day, and the driver was telling me how useless it was. The battery only lasts half his normal shift, and he was planning to go back to a taxi with a proper engine. EVs are a gargantuan con.

A better question would be how many kms does he drive them. Solar power is puny.

In what ways have I insulted the countries that you listed by making comparisons to Thailand? Please, enlighten me with your insights, if indeed you have any.

Aside from ad hominem insults, are you able to discuss, like an adult, any of the points I raised?

Thailand is no different from anywhere else. For example, what kind of democracy offers its electorate a choice between Biden and Trump? Democracy doesn’t really exist anywhere, when you think about it, and what makes it the best system of government anyway?

Nobody listens to the preaching west anymore, thankfully.

Chicken and egg. These people have hated each other for decades.

True, but it's all a question of degrees of badness.

Spot on. Hamas had been indiscriminately firing rockets at Israeli civilians well before what happened on October 7th.

Nonsense. Personal Income Tax applies to Thais and foreigners in equal measure.

A very long post to say that you don't hold any opinions and have nothing sensible to add to the discussion.

Are you a sheep, or a free thinking person who holds your own opinions, even if other people on this forum don't agree? What's the point of a forum like this if everyone agrees with each other. In you, we see a textbook example of the kind of conformism that's killed the art of debate in recent years.

If you htink that western countries are democracies, you probably believe there are fairies at the bottom of your garden. Whatever you vote for in the west, the outcome is the same. Think only Thailand is authoritarian? Think again.

I don;t think so. Bargirls might say that to you, but most Thais I meet are perfectly happy where they are.

You're talking about the west, right?

How so? Mike said that if Europe opened up, Thailand would move there. I rebutted this by saying that Europe is a dump, and what Mike said won't happen.

Well, there's no such place as Utopia, is there?

Is that so? Read its manifesto and compare with that of the Democrat party. "Conspiracy theory" is a work out term coined by the CIA in the 50's - it's used to denounce an opponent, rather than conduct a sensible debate, so go away if you have nothing sensible to say.

Do you seriously think that Europe is a better place to be than Thailand?

Good news. Thailand doesn't need rhese western backed so called "progressives". Look at the state the west is in thanks to all this progressive rubbish.

I think it depends on the question and how it is asked - like any public service they get lots of daft emails asking for stuff that's already on their website, or is impossible, as well as rude and boorish emails. My wife and her lovely colleagues generally respond to emails from people who are genuinely in need of help. Worth noting is that visas are going all online very soon, with no more visa stickers, so the whole process will be a lot more convenient.

If it's Boeing, I won't be going. Cost cutting and DEI are more important than engineering excellence.