realfunster

T w a t Sorry I cant think of something more constructive to say..

Highlighting the embarrassing state of Bangkok's water drainage capabilities ?

I am sure he is doing fine. Extra few days in Thailand and cover story provided for his boss via media for the delayed return. Job done.

Not a pleasant situation but a few days in Brussels is really not that bad… You can also jump on a train for less than an hour and you are in Ghent or Bruges. As a beer lover, I might be biased ????

Bulk purchasing is not really in the psyche of most Thais, it’s more of a day to day thing. Many in Bangkok don’t have cooking facilities or freezers in their rooms, so eating out or buying take away it is… What this a chap is doing is what many western families have been doing for decades. My old dear used to love taking advantage of sales at supermarkets and would bulk cook a few things to put in the freezer for a few weeks until it was all eaten. Likely the future of food in Thailand will be different, with more people cooking at home as eating out becomes more of a luxury, than the norm. I have certainly observed a big increase in the microwave ready meals range at seven, for example, although Thais still like their fresh cooked food a lot more.

I don’t know his views on road safety but the main objection he is making is around the potential for further corruption in the system as well as affordability of such fines for an average working Thai. The current proposal is around European levels. Perhaps they can look at more commensurate fine ranges for cars vs motorcycles. This proposal reeks of the RTP shrugging their shoulders about road safety and simply asking government for higher fines just to incentivize their people to do their job. I don’t know why the RTP don’t install more speed/junction cameras, sure that would be a good earner for them with little effort, win-win. We have seen with COVID, that Thais are fairly willing to adopt certain behaviours and develop a social norm on mask wearing etc, I don’t know why they don’t launch consistent and frequent media campaigns on road safety to make it socially unacceptable to do certain things on the roads… As for the fourteen year old, unfortunately, I think we are dreaming if we think any of this is going to impact any time soon on the rural back roads, where quite simply there is no police presence and people have limited options on education and transport.

That's at the heart of this and any socially funded schemes unfortunately. If you don't get the funds in the government coffers, then it's hard to support social projects. In Thailand, many individuals and companies are operating either outside of the tax system or playing the tax system. It's a few years old now but I recall reading an article that only around 3 million people are paying income tax in Thailand. With some of the newly touted and implemented changes around weed and casinos, I wonder if the government are starting to feel the pinch and have decided that it's better the state should benefit from these things and not the black market. And I haven't even started on the corruption impact on public spending yet...

France is consistently one of the highest visitor countries, maybe even number one IIRC, so I guess they are comparing the relative recovery of two “heavyweights” on the global tourism scene.

Overall, I do believe the increase in human population and activity being a contributory factor to climate change but we have seen extreme climate variations multiple times in known history. Most recent being a significant ice-age which lasted for 2.5 million years and only ended 10,000 years ago, bang on time for Homo Sapiens to thrive. Such a climatic event is as equally destructive and life-threatening as the apparent modern climate warming but what caused the ice age to happen with relatively minimal inputs from the natural world and certainly no obvious negative inputs from any dominant/pervasive species ? I repeat for emphasis, 2.5 million years of ice age.....just let that sink in....kind of makes the current trends feel insignificant right ? The earth is a highly complex eco-system well beyond our current intellectual comprehension and therefore ability to understand and control. History shows that the human condition is to try to "understand" events via some structured system be this originally religion, early philosophy or in modern times, a more science/evidence based approach. Once this understanding is obtained via consensus, we then, rationally, try to exert some control and influence over it. However, we should not be shy to admit when we are beyond our level of understanding.

Something like that, maybe more around mid-90s. When I bought my house in late 2000's the owner regaled me with tales of the epic flood (I think he mentioned '95) being around 1m deep in my soi in relatively central Bangkok.

Hmm, I understand the distance between Cha-am and Pattaya, across the Gulf of Thailand, is 100km. Taking an educated punt that this would be the biggest and most expensive Thai infrastructure project ever, and by some margin. Seems plausible. Even if they do build it, it’s just kicking the can down the road and they will still have to effectively control the water levels in “Lake Thailand”. Based on previous experience, I can’t say I am particularly confident they can do that… I also wonder if Prof Seri is on the board of any companies operating in a related business? ????????

The mind boggles, when will these chumps ever learn.... Approx 30pax at THB 2bn = THB 6.6m each. Sigh....

Srisuwan - a total waste of space and in all seriousness, someone with psychological issues... Well done Chadchart for calling him out publicly on his usual BS. That's the only way to deal with a deranged bully.

Right, so I assume the assets confiscated will only be in Thailand. Therefore, he retains his overseas ill-gotten gains. I wonder why no-one ever picked up his substantial overseas transfers ? Every time I send money home, I am reminded of my daily/monthly/annual transfer limits on my e-banking page. Surely it would not be that difficult for someone to identify frequent/large overseas transfers and review these ? Corruption is bad enough but when the money is leaving the local economy, that only doubles up on the pain for the populace. I saw the ironic humour in this particular case but that soon wore off for me. This really is a total disgrace and embarrassment for Thailand. Lord only knows how the locals put up with this nonsense and until something changes, I am afraid Thailand is only going to be operating marginally above banana republic status and the quality of life for the average Thai will increase at a snail's pace. One can only hope those in power (across all political groups) are so arrogant, ignorant and complacent that one day they simply push it too far and the house of cards collapses.....

I saw these on sale in my local wet market, including one shop where they appeared to be pounding them into a milky paste for immediate consumption. I later saw some CBD water on sale from a machine covered with hemp leaf motifs in front of my local Lotus express. The times, they are a changing ….

In a busy area - I just hop in a Taxi on the street. In a quiet area - I will order a Grab. - GrabTaxi - metered fare + 20 baht. - JustGrab - car or taxi, at 1.5/2x the standard taxi metered price. - GrabCar - car at 1.5/2x the standard taxi metered price. Grab, unsurprisingly, will "guide" you to the JustGrab option. This may include overstating the GrabTaxi fare, so the JustGrab option looks more reasonable. For example, I just checked my fare home from the office, and it is showing GrabTaxi as THB 197 and JustGrab a bit higher than this. In reality, I have never paid more than THB 120 in a metered taxi. In busy periods, with limited taxi availability, you may be better off with JustGrab or GrabCar. Normally, the GrabCars are pretty decent, I got a brand new MG SUV as my GrabCar this morning, which was quite nice !

I see tints as being at least partially responsible for many ills on the road, not least driving aggressively and rudely whilst safely concealed behind tints and avoiding any line-of-sight interaction. Of course, there is then the obvious vision limitation issue. I once tried some darker tints myself and had to go back to get them lightened up after a week, front vision was OK but seeing much out of the driver or passenger side windows for turning or checking wing mirrors was nearly impossible at night. They really should put a ban at source on the sale of these darker tints. I think we all know the RTP are never going to enforce any regulations on this. Alternatively, as most cars on Thai roads are Thai made, how about pushing manufacturers to do more research in this area ? Anyway, we add tints as item #87 on the list of things to do to improve Thailand road safety.

How is the the 'quality tourist' strategy working out for you TAT ? Still, you managed to get your 2022 departmental budget filled on this pipe dream and that's what really matters. I doubt anyone will challenge you next year when you make a switch back to targeting Chinese tour groups, as it's the path of least resistance...

Worrying statistics, if you are on 50k a month, it must take 10+ years at 5k a month re-payment to clear a debt of 500k. All debt proposes its challenges but it's concerning what the loans appear to be for. At least if it were home loans, rather than consumables/durables as the article suggests, then you are borrowing to (1) have somewhere to live (2) you are progressively acquiring capital/asset and (3) there is some collateral in the financial system. When these sort of consumable/durable loans go bad, it will likely be a significant or complete write-off for the finance company.

Good point, hadn’t initially crossed my mind. That could really have a negative impact on the island.

Yes indeed. A holistic transport review, including air connections, would be helpful. Checking Google maps, a bridge to the mainland would be at least 10 km long, I assume that is going to be a long & expensive project. With the associated opportunities for, ahem, facilitation and consultancy fees, a great opportunity for the national government to find the budget and buy some political allies down south…

After COVID the Thai medical profession appear emboldened to share their opinions on various public policy related matters. I really don't think they should be bothering with this issue....in the linked article, the good doctor tries to draw some linkage with opening hours and COVID to legitimise his involvement but likely he is just a 'conservative' and doesn't want to encourage certain types of "immoral" behaviour. I think we know in Thai society the anti-fun moralising crowd are bubbling just underneath the surface at all times. Keep in mind kids, even "scientists" have underlying world views that can bias their judgement..

Sorry to break it to the good doctor but as in so many things in this country, with its archaic, fearful and somewhat incompetent bureaucratic class, much of the Private Sector has already moved on and is essentially ignoring the government guidance at the moment. Many companies are now running on a weekly or symptom based ATK testing regimen. Test positive, go home and then a negative test required to return to work site. On the basis that for many (not all..) symptoms are quite mild and might even go unnoticed, the return to work can be within a couple of days. I tested negative within 2 days and was back to work on day 3, having suffered a minor sniffle for a couple of days before testing positive. Some colleagues have also tested positive and returned within a maximum of 5 days and the vast majority are able to work normally during quarantine, as symptoms have been mild. Without being reckless, I think the hard reality for many companies and employees is that further disruption to business/lives after the last 2.5 years and with Omicron typically being mild, is not seen as viable...of course, a concern that doesn't impact those working in the more relaxed and state funded Public Sector.

I bet they have… ????

Switch massage chain for convenience store and you have the same situation with CP. But they are Thai and amongst the anointed ones, so no protests there… I would have thought pricing for a product or service was broadly subject to the open market ? Perhaps not, on mafia island. Maybe, they should look at their own pricing structures and strategies in more detail. I guess they have a cosy agreement on a fixed price structure across all shops, likely doesn’t help the end consumer - see Phuket taxis as a good example.