realfunster

20 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

This place gets sillier by the day!

You mean the fact they felt the need to superimpose a giant red circle of doom around the car in the video ?

Without it, myself and millions of Thai netizens would never have been able to identify the vehicle involved !

Anyway, hope the old fella is OK and recovering. 

As the saying goes, the fish rots from the head.

If you are expecting exemplary behaviour from those in positions of power or authority in Thailand, I am afraid you are going to be disappointed…

19 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

The staggering price increase has killed off any slight chance of a UK run for me will look again next year maybe????

Checking June for London - several airlines (Emirates, Qatar, EVA, Etihad, THAI, Swiss) offering UK return trip for THB 32-37k, which is around pre-COVID levels IIRC ?

Business fares are definitely up, at around THB 120k+, usually you might see many options at THB 85k+.

EVA premium economy remains an attractive proposition if you want a bit more comfort at around THB 55k.

More capacity is coming back on line, so prices and availability should improve even more as the year progresses. With current capacity levels , booking well in advance work best. 

2 hours ago, Captain Monday said:

China even forced anal swabs on visitors. Supposedly very effective. There were some complaints.

I bet there were ????

58 minutes ago, goatfarmer said:

It has nothing to do with perception of risk and much about herd mentality. They will stop when they see a critical mass of others stopping. That critical mass might be higher than other countries, such as India, where masks have largely been abandoned, but where society is more fissiparous.

Simply horrific.

What on earth can possibly be going through someone's mind, even in an extreme rage or the worst kind of desperation, to rationalise killing a 3 month old baby. 

The article says more details coming today and there's no mention of any suspects or ongoing investigation. With the mention of only one bullet being fired, it might sadly be a murder-suicide case. 

On 2/5/2023 at 5:19 PM, Kwasaki said:

Ford is new to Thailand ????????????

 

"It's still a newish and unestablished brand in Thailand."

 

Yeah it only came to Thailand in 1913. ????

 

"Likely questions still linger in local minds on reliability and convenience/costs of service."

 

Yeah some of my neighbours have Ford trucks 20 years old or more and only serviced them but not often being Thai.  

 

 

1) The history of Ford is patchy in Thailand and only included some element of production starting in the late 90s IIRC via the AAT joint venture with Mazda.

This was expanded in the early 2000s to include some Everest and Ranger production. Thailand was and is still a secondary market for Ford with the majority of the Ford production at AAT going overseas. In the 2010s a further investment was made which saw a bit more focus on developing the Thai market. This may further change with the new significant investment coming in from Ford.

In the 110 years since they "arrived", Ford has acquired 5% market share, with the vast majority of this coming over the last 15 years based on the investments noted above. Ask anyone driving here 10+ years ago how many Fords they used to see at that time ! Nowadays it's not too difficult to spot Rangers and the odd Everest. I'm OK with my previous assessment on Ford's standing and perception by the Thai market. I'm fairly sure Ford couldn't care less, as they obviously have not viewed Thailand as a key market for the past century !

2) I really have no axe to grind with Ford but you can google Ford Thailand class action lawsuit 2018. Please let me know if you feel that doesn't potentially contribute to "questions lingering in local minds on reliability" vs the rock solid Japanese alternatives.

Oh come on, 490 million views ? Has someone sense/cross-checked this ? 


 

27 minutes ago, G Rex said:

I have been trying to sell a 3 year old Ranger ute with only 7000 ks on the clock for 300k less than I paid for it. In 4 months I have had 3 enquiries, and only been offered 35% of what I bought it for.

Not to slag off Ford but that is probably part of the issue. I quite like the Ranger but see very few in Bangkok, may be a few more upcountry.

It's still a newish and unestablished brand in Thailand. Likely questions still linger in local minds on reliability and convenience/costs of service. 

Selling the established Japanese brand cars is a lot easier. 

Many years ago, I yearned for something a bit more interesting than a Japanese car but despite my best efforts to convince myself otherwise I had to admit defeat. For a non-motor head, they offer a very good value and convenience proposition from purchase through to sale. 

13 hours ago, Yodarapper said:

Expat with family, wife and 2 kids. Arrived in august, not sure if we will be here 2 years or 3 or 4. 
Definitely need a car. Currently renting for 16k month.

Two good salaries - currently we rent car and save 1 salary and a bit of the other - we use money to send back home for mortgage and to invest in private pension.

On a separate note, as you have decent salaries, has your Thai company enrolled you in their provident fund ?

Up to THB 500k allowed as tax deduction (if you are top rate tax payer = THB 180k tax saving) and the company must match your contribution.

If you are leaving within 2-4 years, you would get all your contributions returned but only a % of company contributions. Likely still worth it though.

Interested to hear, as some companies tend to be a bit economical with the truth on this, especially with expats on fixed term contracts...

7 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Stop investing for awhile and buy a new car. Many think the market is due for a major correction this year. The car may be a far better place for your money at this time. Also, we managed to get a zero percent loan on our Mazda. Hard to beat that. 

Was that as a foreign couple or is your partner Thai ?

Just asking as I have a car loan but I'm fairly sure my (Thai) wife needed to be guarantor.

1 hour ago, kingstonkid said:

The questoin though is 

why is he doing this?

 

And it is not to make Thailand a better place.

An interesting take and I share your skepticism. Rarely are things as they seem in LoS. 

There are many possible reasons but I will note there has always been an uneasy stand-off between the Armed Forces and the Police. 

It’s quite possible that he is regularly harassing the Police under the protection, or even guidance of the Army/Establishment. I seriously doubt he has gone lone wolf on this, that would be extremely dangerous. Maybe the Army/Establishment are fed up with the Police’s conduct and in typical Thai style, are indirectly letting someone else convey the message. 

So, ironically, if this theory were to be correct, some of the AN crowd might be cheering on the antics of an Army/Government stooge…sort of a much more amusing and useful version of that idiot Srisuwan. 

18 hours ago, webfact said:

The suspect - also known as Boy - has only just been released after murdering his former wife.

 

In this case he is suspected of murdering a woman who was dumped in a gravel pit.

Sigh - yet another abysmal failure by the Thai judicial and penal systems. I think we have seen quite a few similar cases over the years. 

He is 34 years old and yet already released after murdering his previous wife- what time did he serve for the worst crime of all  ? 6 years, 8 years, 10 years ?

What behavioural and psychological assessments were made prior to his release ?

RIP to the (2nd) victim.

23 hours ago, sandyf said:

Hold luggage gets quite cold and will remain cool during transit.

That's what I was going to say.

I am not a serial cheese "smuggler" but on occasion bring some back and would put in the checked bags for this reason for the 16+ hour trip back from UK.

(Door to door).

Myself and the good wife found a particularly pungent soft cow's cheese "Stinking Bishop" which we loaded up on.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinking_Bishop_(cheese)

Had we actually brought that onto the plane, I think we would have caused an aeronautical incident of some sort.

19 hours ago, LaosLover said:

He wants to go on dates that are not really dates. Not dismember women in the bathroom and then stick me with the cleaning bill. 

Coffee meet keyboard ????

It's good to familiarise yourself with the common international codes they use. Prefix +69 is a common code at the moment.

Once in your phone has the missed call, you can then block the number. Seems they don't use many as I've blocked a couple and that has seemed to work.

I was chuckling at the filipino lady comment, seconded. Normally they are the back office for some westerner to sell you a spurious investment opportunity...with those guys I have tried telling them (i) I am extremely poor or  (ii) I am a qualified financial professional who self-manages my investments to get them to disappear. I have asked them directly to stop wasting their time for these reasons and remove me from their calling lists.

6 hours ago, ALLSEEINGEYE said:

Overworked? They just sit on their butts and usually sleep. Must be a bit grumpy when he is woken up???

Just look at the guy - 44 years old ? The daily stress of managing a small car park has obviously got to him. 

Joking aside, this is obviously a tragic overreaction and incident but overall I do wish Thais would speak up/stand up for themselves more against their "superiors". It seems a societal problem to bottle things up until the explosion comes...