realfunster

Sounds like a win to me. Many times I just want to read the article, without fellow members' comments. On the days I feel like engaging in a broader discussion, I can always click the discussion link.

Well...let me put it this way, as Tokyo and Beijing have had a diplomatic spat over Taiwan resulting in CCP issuing travel advisories for Japan, with an estimated 40% drop in Chinese tourists, I see Japan as a much more appealing destination. Less crowded, better availability and pricing of rooms etc. Hopefully, Takaichi will keep up the good work in her new government and will continue to irritate the CCP. Something for Thailand/TAT to consider, that CCP can, at a whim, issue travel advisories on a country...

I am not an expert on such matters but the suggested solutions of flood walls at BKK and DMK do rather seem attempts to solve the symptom rather than the underlying problem. Could these funds be used on a national level to address flooding issues "at source" and so they don't reach Bangkok ??

Agree with pretty much all of this. In respect of the "professions" they can only hope to charge these high rates for international clients invested or considering investment in Thailand or with Thai Mega-Caps. For sure, that's where they make most of their business rather than the standard Thai listed or private companies who view legal/regulatory compliance as a nuisance and will happily pay bottom dollar to meet the basic requirements.

I’ll admit I’m older now but can’t really see a big necessity or benefit for widespread 4am closing. Remove the daytime black out period and dare I mention the often inconvenient Buddhist Holiday and election weekend alcohol bans also…before anyone says go to my local mom&pop, I do , but I think back to a big conference I attended in BKK a few years ago over a alcohol black out holiday. International visitors were very frustrated at not being able to go out and have a drink/explore the nightlife.

I assume this would be a paid Tourism Ambassador position using tax payers money ? If so, TAT will presumably be sharing details of the arrangement shortly ? With a stated target of a 5-10 million increase in tourists, that must be one hell of a budget to recruit Lisa I can’t recall too many memorable celebrity tourism campaigns, back in the day, Paul Hogan did some good ones for the US off the back of Crocodile Dundee.

Hold your horses there cowboy. Tata definitely had plenty of ahem..charm, charisma and talent from where I was standing.

Not good news for Thai tourism, I expect it would be a welcome shot in the arm during low season. I note Japan mentioned as a popular destination. I made a schoolboy error last year and visited Japan during China's Golden Week. Tourist areas were crowded, car rental and room prices were through the roof, and that's if my preferred hotels were even available. Once bitten, twice shy and this year I will arrive a few days after the masses have hopefully departed !

Oh come on - spend 30 seconds on a Google search for XFG. Been around 9 months already, "the WHO assesses the public health risk posed by XFG to be “low”". More relaxed now ?

XFG SMH BTW DGAF

Infrastructure - borne by the developer/operator ? Surely jobs created in the construction and operation of the casino complexes ? “Financial loss transfer” - couldn’t all economic activity be categorized as such ? What I really suspect is that there is a major discussion between the power-brokers as to who will get what piece of the highly lucrative pie. Until that is sorted out, no progress will be made.

I am also bracing myself for less Chinese tourists.

Switching from natural to manufactured "pharmaceuticals" I have a stash of Xanax (Alprazolam) handy for those stressful times in life, also helpful to get to me sleep on long-haul flights and manage jetlag. They work very well for me and guarantee a good nights sleep. As finances are a concern, I believe a Thai medical clinic can give you a prescription for a Government pharmacy where they will be reasonably priced. If not, you can ask the Doctor at a private hospital to give you the prescription to fill externally yourself at a Government pharmacy, avoiding the usual private hospital mark-up. Be careful not to take them regularly (read daily or thereabouts) as resistance/addiction can be come an issue with benzos. I generally take a few a month. My last prescription of 30 tablets lasted me around a year. Exercise and meditation (as mentioned above) can also help with expending your nervous energy prior to bed time. Also worth employing sleep hygiene methods - no food several hours before sleep, avoiding digital screens, playing gentle and calming background music/noises (plenty on YouTube) etc.

I struggle to clearly articulate just how delighted I am that the worldwide privacy tour will continue.

On a related note, the only Pan Pacific Co I can find in property development on DBD company website is Chinese owned.

Now let me see : AseanNow sourced from —-> Daily News sourced from ——> People’s Daily = Google search. ”The People’s Daily is the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party”. Excellent.

We’ll likely never know who fired the first shot. What we do know is that Cambodia has been indiscriminately launching missiles at civilian areas, resulting in the deaths of non-combatants.

From reports, they were firing BM21s which appear to have a range of < 50km. They were highly reckless firing into civilian areas around the border yesterday, if they somehow escalated to your sort of range and deeper into Thailand territory I think they could reasonably expect the Thai Air Force to further bomb the absolute living c--p out of them and start attacking military targets deeper in Cambodia. Thailand has total military superiority, so it would be stupid to continue poking the bear. Social media is full of nationalists of both sides with the cut, copy and paste statements. Quite frankly, I don't really care and we will never find out who fired the first shot, was does seem evident is that the Cambodians were indiscriminately firing missiles into Thai civilian areas. I expect most neutral observers will judge that extremely negatively. The Cambodian leadership likely won't care a jot about global opinion, this whole exercise is more for domestic consumption and affirming their grip on power. #Team Thailand

Yeah right, let's come back in 2 years and see how this plays out. US is around 30% of global GDP and it has solid geopolitical allies (despite current posturing) in the Anglosphere, EU, Japan & Middle East, that make up another 30% or so. These tariffs are impacting only the 18% of US economy linked to goods, the other 82% is services based. The only current economic competitor is China, with around 20% of global GDP, 5x the population of US and a misfiring economy. We can see how they treat their "friends" with their massive trade surplus with a poorer country in Thailand.

If that’s true, a future episode of air crash investigation just waiting to happen ?…

Question : Most, if not all of us will work or have social engagement in the following: Family Workplace Social activity: arts, sports etc If these were based around an untouchable and unquestionable dogma combined with a strict hierarchy, how happy would you be as a member and how truly successful would these organisations be ? How accountable and transparent would leadership of such organisations be ? There you go. You have your answers for many of the problems in Thai society.

Hubba, hubba, hubba. Lots of buzzwords, which is what I see daily in my Thai corporate life. Proof, if it were needed, of lack of any substantial plan and only a reliance on buzzwords to propose policy. China is only focusing on this as they wish to supply EV to EU & US. Both EU and US have recently significantly rolled back their Carbon and EV targets. Sadly all these focus areas are mostly CCP focused industries. If Thailand believes it will ever be exporting EV/Net Zero products to China, think again…

That's a pretty good list. 1 and 7 are also creeping up on the sidelines. Just had some silly daily transfer limit slapped on my Thai bank accounts as I am a foreigner (even with a WP/Visa) and we all know, ad nauseam, about the potential taxes on income transfers into Thailand I'm still working for a few more years yet which will definitely keep me here during my working life. Very likely I will retire here but not set in stone. The only thing I would add would be a change in marital status at some point in the future. My wife is a major reason for me staying in Thailand, if we divorced or heaven forbid, she passed away, I would consider going back to the UK either full or part-time. I still have a good circle of family and friends back there.

Great news, maybe under that FTA Thailand could reduce their massive trade deficit with China.

I just saw the TTB notice in my app today also. As you mention, apparently need to visit a branch to give biometrics starting 12/7. Not entirely clear from their blurb what will happen after this is done… Not uncommon (couple of times a month) that I will be transferring >50k, don’t really want to be messing around with multi-day installments. This is clearly a BoT/government regulation so for those suggesting changing banks, good luck with that.