realfunster

FYI- Mexico is around 15,000 km away and Uruguay is pretty much the country farthest away from Thailand at 17,000km. Europe is only 7-9,000km.

South Korea.

As dog owner myself who likes to travel in Thailand, I have seen a big shift over the last 10 years with resorts accepting dogs. I sense dog ownership and travelling with dogs has clearly become more common with Thais, and resorts are responding to that. Admittedly, my experience is in a certain range from Bangkok (2-3 hours drive) but many resorts are wising up that a lot of people travel with pooches. Some accept dogs with no issue, some will refuse and some accept with a minor cleaning surcharge, say THB 100 per pooch. So, in short, I wouldn't worry about it...you can find somewhere. If you encounter an "emergency" you can always head to the nearest "24 hour love" hotel at 300-500 night (basic but clean) and just try to keep the dog(s) quiet during the check-in process !

For sure, you have to be on your guard back in the UK (especially London, as a tourist hub) and not only for 'soft' crimes. I attended a seminar in London around 10 years or so back with some Thai colleagues, on their first day out sight-seeing, they got spotted as easy targets and were mugged, with some minor violence thrown in... Apart from the dangers of walking down Pattaya Beach Road with a gold chain, it is generally much safer on the streets here in Thailand, with more people out and about late at night and the police effectively acting as a local mafia and keen to avoid negative incidents with tourists/foreigners.

That’s the kind of informed and balanced insight we love on TV. Why do you think Xi snubbed Prayuth’s handshake offer ?

One a physical midget, one a mental and physical midget… I will let TVers decide.

They still haven’t deleted it, 16 hours after your post. How much time do you think we have to allow before we can start to celebrate sneaking it past “them” ? By the way, who exactly are “they/them”?

That's labs for you ! Great for a cuddle and playing fetch, ferociously guarding property - not so good ???? We should give some credit the to alleged criminal for having such lovely and well-adjusted pooches. He can't be all bad...

Hmm, Kunming you say ? Not very surprising, when I have watched those Aussie border control programs, both the quantity and 'exoticness' of goods found on Chinese arrivals never ceases to amaze... That's a couple of bat snack stories in the last few days, I really hope this is not going to become an in-trend food option here in LoS.

Kind of the point I made in my post above -so that’s all well and good then, if he’s earning coin ? I hope we can agree to look at more than someone’s bank balance to assess their value and contribution to society ?

Well, you got a like from chief contrarian Neeranam, so you are obviously on the right track… Whilst I am not a Boomer, I would say it rather depends how you define “doing well”. He is likely financially quite successful, if that is how you personally measure “doing well” but appears to essentially be the class clown at school, except he gets paid for acting an idiot. We are living through this social media revolution in real time, there is the much supported perception (by who, I wonder..) that nearly anyone can become financially successful via social media, although of course, only a tiny minority do. Still, it keeps the “masses” encouraged that one day they can hit gold on Youtube, Tik Tok or Instagram, so its good for them to keep using these platforms and generate profits for the companies. Even for those that do achieve a level of success, history has a track record of showing that quick and easy fame has a habit of chewing people up and spitting them out. I fully expect we will see plenty of “social media fame ruined my life” exposes in 10+ years when all these types of banal content creators realize they have sold their soul and credibility for the easy quick likes and bucks, and unless they have been careful, the money earned in their 20s has already disappeared. There will for sure be plenty of TikTok and OnlyFans content providers on that list… And all this from the virtue signalling, climate emergency, social justice generation espousing “values” and “purpose” at any given opportunity …many have about as much substance and integrity as a chocolate teapot…

"This week, Dr Muhammad Fahmee Talib of Prince of Songkla University’s Faculty of Medicine, in an objective assessment of the situation made clear that while the current problem is still manageable for Thailand’s health service, the picture is changing rapidly with rising cause for concern. He pointed out that last year 3% of all Emergency Room (ER) admissions to Thai hospitals were linked to cannabis or marijuana ingestion. That figure, so far, for this year, has risen to 17% or nearly 6 times what it was." Is the "Dr" really expecting anyone to seriously believe that 1 in 5 ER admissions across Thailand are related to marijuana ? Absolutely incredible and wholly embarrassing for a 'professional' to put his name on such a statement/statistic.....

1) Yes, I am sure lots of people do. 2) That's life isn't it ? People will make content about changing something in their life ? Few are going to write a report or make a video to announce to the world that they are simply maintaining the status-quo and staying in Pattaya. 3) Inflation is currently a global problem, so I expect those unhappy with prices will only find similar issues elsewhere.

Pretty sure that the whole Akara/Kingsgate gold mine saga will be fresh in the memory...

Richard, I think you have misunderstood the proposed scheme. Probably also those who liked your post... A distinctly separate investment of THB 40m for 3 years in Thai government funds gives you the right to buy 1 rai of land. After the stipulated investment holding period of 3 years, this THB 40m in Thai government funds is returned and the land remains yours. The news today is that they are discussing whether to increase the investment holding period to 10 years or increase the investment amount to THB 100m to be able to obtain the right to buy 1 rai. The entire range of options and this scheme seem quite silly to me but better that we are at least understanding it correctly when offering our comments.

That a Thai politician can, without hesitation or fear, publicly say something like this tells us all we need to know….

Great work ! Busted an operation with revenues around the same size as SCB and AIS, of USD 13 million per day/USD 5 billion per year. The RTP are just so awesome ! Alternatively, perhaps someone at Thai PBS might want to engage some brain and skepticism when reporting figures provided by the RTP press officer…

Hello, hello...is that KFC Nakhom Pathom ?

Wow - hard to keep up with that story. Disgusting, frightening and full of tangential non-sequitors..the main protagonist appears to be delusional based on all the various jobs/studies they claim to have undertaken.

You know, I have friends that are "positivists" and I have friends that are "negativists". I take them both with the same large pinch of salt...I wrote a post about this the other day regarding "Thai bashers" and those that complain about the Thai bashers, which I called the "Thai-basher bashers". Of course, the TBBs end up doing just what they accuse the TBs of doing, which is making wild and inaccurate generalisations, with a view to shut-down opinions which challenge their own life-view. These are often accompanied with a charming encouragements for the TBs to "go home". People that do this kind of thing are insecure in themselves, their life choices and their current situation. They are seeking approval/confirmation and will react strongly to anything which dares to indicate that all is not well. For a satisfying life, it is better to remove all this background noise. Be confident in your own clear and distinct view on things and keep an even keel. Somethings in life are are good, somethings are not. We should expect, not fear, ups and downs and be able to deal with them. From time to time, assess where you are with your life overall. If you are not satisfied, then look to adapt and change. Therefore, I have no comments on the minutiae you have commented upon. These are all just background noise and of minimal importance to achieving real happiness. Good luck.

"Standing on the shoulders of giants" Nothing better for a Thai government agency to grab some budget than throwing around some global buzzwords. None of which resonate with their main tourist target group, the Chinese, but it does impress the locals, who are convinced this lot must be so much more educated than them. Of course, the relevance of these concepts in normal day-to-day existence in Thailand is extremely limited and it creates a strategic mess for the tourism industry, but it presents well enough to get the budget and the guys get their spend. Build up solid foundations on education, social mobility, patriotism (in a meaningful way...) and anti-corruption, and then you might see some progress.

So about USD 2bn for the full year. Well done Thailand for exploring and expanding this market. Compares favourably to US exports to Saudi in 2021 of USD 11bn. No idea what the trade balance is, hope it is not as skewed as with China. Would be nice if they could get themselves together on various levels and engage in more trade with the "developed world", who I am sure are keen to diversify their supply chain. Unfortunately, that comes with a pesky restrictions on brown envelopes....

Oh God help us...words of wisdom indeed.

Is it just me or are "stationary trucks" involved in a disproportionate amount of accidents ? Issues with road lighting, truck lighting, stopping position and drunk drivers ? Update : I think these guys on the right need some PR training, similar to the Police Media Officer involved in the mass shooting.....

I don't recall ever needing a residence certificate for any of my vehicle purchases or sales but having said that, I have always been here as a worker. Think I had to give an employment letter from my company and copy of work permit/visa etc. Obviously a 'tourist' couldn't provide these, which might be why the residence certificate is being requested in this case ? Or it might just be Thai officialdom at work again...