realfunster

Mum is sweet and loves her boy dearly but dumping a motorbike in the road and then running across traffic it to beat and stab someone doesn’t sound like a ‘misunderstanding’. I suggest there is more to this than meets they eye. No pun intended.

I don't know about her but my banking app and CC app inform me of virtually every transaction, sometimes to my annoyance even. Maybe she should check her notification settings... I guess more details will come out but I have the gut feeling these people have messed up and put themselves at risk and are now trying to blame others so they can recoup their losses. At our company, we do periodic test fake emails and the hit rate for opening and replying with sensitive information is worryingly high....certainly high enough to encourage these scammers to keep trying with these approaches.

A quote oozing with Thainess...

I understand where you are coming from, Thailand has its unique charms and culture, and for many of us, that is one of the things that attracted us here. Respectfully, however, I think that is an easier position to take coming into Thailand as a foreigner having had all the benefits of the system which is supported by 'greed/profit'. Education, healthcare, work experience in desired industries and yes, financial security have, in many cases, given us as westerners financial and career freedom to either explore Thailand as a worker or as a retiree. That is, by definition, a wholly different experience to those born and raised here. I can't speak for others but when I see this kind of pronouncement but national security is not the first thing that springs into my mind but rather a continuing ploy by a small, unelected group to keep firm control over business and national interests, more than likely to the overall detriment of the wider Thai populace. This would appear to be evidenced by Thailand's gini co-efficient and general poverty, educational and socio-economic measurements.

Broadly agree with all of the above. Thailand has poor population demographics and other significant societal challenges. They have already, for many years, needed to import labour from surrounding countries. This has tended to be in the lower-value sectors but if they are to fulfill Thailand 4.0 and escape the middle-income trap, I think it is likely at some point they will need to open up other industry sectors and the employment market. In the context of regional and global economies, you can only artificially manipulate your economy for so long before it starts to hurt. Of course, when the chips are down, a bit of rampant nationalism can also be a great unifying cause and distraction for the people, let’s hope they don't go down that path even more…

You classify Thailand as developed ? If not, why make the comparison ?

They might even have a similar rule in Thailand, but you know, it’s the Navy isn’t it…they are pretty much above the law, never mind pesky “regulations”.

This must be a cunning ploy of some sort? Threaten Thais with Prawit as PM and they may actually be excited and overjoyed to continue with Prayut - more so than now anyway.

I’ve lost track now, I thought I saw a published result of 10mg and with 20-30mg metabolization per hour, which with a 4-5 hour delay, would still put him at least 90mg, and possibly (probably) higher. Someone posted a blood alcohol calculator on another thread and unfortunately there are so many variables, I expect it will give him an exit route. Our only hope is the public outrage remains steadfast and something is done as a result. Unfortunately, interest in such cases typically appears to wane fairly quickly…

Surprised 4 hours after this OP there is little comment. This is very bad news, sailing against the wind of any reasonable interpretation of competition laws, restricting consumer choice and free market dynamics. It is symptomatic of a dysfunctional society, economy and bureaucracy. . Virtually impossible these days to avoid passing at least some of your hard-earned to CP. Maybe they should change their name to OCP (a la Robocop) to reflect satire becoming reality, at least in Thailand.

Let’s all hope this fails like most TAT projects or projections. Thailand was already creaking at the seams with 40 million pre-covid. I have zero confidence that they can make the required infrastructure improvements to sustainably handle 80 million within 5 years. If this prediction comes true, I expect it will be hellish in many tourist areas and providing an overall experience which only the mass-tourism market would accept. Once again, it raises the (rhetorical) question of how does this fit in with a quality and sustainable tourism strategy as so often espoused by the TAT ?

Indeed, moving someone in such circumstances would not be wise. The ambulance arrival time is probably quicker than the UK at the moment….

I disagree, the winners were the content platforms and providers, for example the gentleman writing this opinion piece. Nothing like a good covid entry restrictions story to get everyone wound-up, even better as there was a Chinese angle involved. Just a pity for them the 'order' was rescinded before the ink had dried, there was so much more mileage to be had !

I think they have stopped reporting cases, not deaths. Sure someone will clarify for us ! Apart from the sad deaths of those before their time, this doesn't appear bad news to me based on the data below. Now we are at the lowest daily death rate since covid kicked-off in Thailand in April 2021. The peak in early '23, is the 58 deaths in the OP being reported on 1 day being Jan 9th, as they didn't report since Jan 2nd.

Easy now Tiger, maybe first they should start with the carpets.

Life's tough isn't it ???? These types of mandates typically only apply to the public sector. For those of us in the private sector, I'm sure we will be working as usual, unless we take some annual leave.

If my timelines are correct, this meeting happened later the same day after Anutin was rolling out the red carpet to the returning Chinese at the airport. Quite brave of the US ambassador As I mentioned in the Chinese welcoming ceremony thread, this is yet another picture of Anutin without mask, immediately after exposure to higher risk groups and in close proximity to others. Leading from the front and showing the Thai people the way forward and that masks are obviously an optional extra ! Or it could be, he is so arrogant he simply doesn’t think the guidelines applies to the anointed ones in the government. I’m going with the latter option.

Nothing says progress and advancement whilst foreshadowing a bright future more than a bunch of gimps in uniforms.

From the linked article : "The area in which Thailand performed best is working towards the “No Poverty” goal, which is to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. The indicator is the poverty: population ratio. (Q - how is poverty defined ?) Another area in which Thailand performed quite well was “Quality Education’. The report said that challenges remain, but that the country is still on track to SDG achievement. This is the goal to ensure inclusive, equitable and quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all. The indicators are participation in pre-primary organised learning, lower secondary completion and literacy rates." I will allow the good folk of TV to draw their own judgement on poverty (strangely Thailand has highest gini co-efficient in the region and very high globally...??) and Thai "Quality Education"..... Proof, if it were needed, that we should not simply digest as truth everything that is spoon-fed to us in the media...

The art of trolling and satire involves subtlety and believability, unfortunately you don't quite cut the mustard. Not replying to you but my general observations : Harry is clearly a troubled and manipulated individual. The amount of negative press him and Meghan received was negligible but somehow they have portrayed this as a media/institutional witch hunt and themselves, in their massively privileged position, as victims. Particularly sickening given what has happened in the last 3 years with covid and the cost of living crisis faced by many at present. If they want to break free from the rigours, challenges and duties of royal life then they are free to do so without mud-slinging in all directions to enrich themselves. He is probably not there just yet but if this carries on much longer I hope a review of his royal titles is considered. In the space of a few years, Harry has turned himself from a very well liked cheeky royal rogue into a majorly disliked enigma. This is quite a sudden and unexpected change of circumstances for a man of approaching 40 years of age, one wonders what or who was the catalyst for this...? Of course, it may take years but I feel there is a high chance that things will turn sour with Meghan, whom clearly has a history of relationship issues with nearly everyone close to her, and may well be instigating the same pattern of behaviour in her malleable husband, at which point he will be running home to.....

That's interesting that Anutin & at least one other welcoming host aren't wearing masks whilst in close proximity to an elevated covid risk group. Obviously. they are leading by example that there's no need for the Thai public to wear them anymore as well !

That would be hilarious. It's doubtful as Anutin has previous on this during the height of the pandemic, when he was confirmed as positive after some overseas jolly, was meant to isolate for a week and was back only a couple of days later for an obviously too important to miss photo-op.

Yes, my thoughts exactly. It's almost as if the writers have a good idea of what buttons to press to get a reaction (and web-traffic) from the expat community... ???? I think I will wait for a bit more substance than a half-arsed report from the world-renowned publication that is "PhuketGO"...

Easy access via the river by boat. Drop off at the 1st floor private 'sky' dock, purpose built for such occasions. Just kidding. Back to the OP : I live in an area of central Bangkok that was prone to flooding, neighbours tell me it was chest deep here back in the mid-90s and I have electrical sockets that are fitted half-way up the wall, which gives the game away ! However, to the best of my knowledge no floods at all in the 25+ years since then and definitely not in the 15 years I have been here. Yours is an interesting case, I can see the attraction of a nice property overlooking a river but being near a river comes with risks. On the basis everyone else has told you to stop considering this, let me offer an alternative view. As your map shows, many others have built there- so why not you ? With numerous houses and 2 main roads in the direct vicinity, you would expect that the 'authorities' will have a reasonable motivation to keep the area dry, if at all possible. Try to establish the risks - what's the historic and ongoing flood situation - was the previous flood just a f-up by the local water management team ? How often have there been floods on the property over the past twenty years ? What's the general state and condition of neighbouring land and properties ? Either way, it would obviously be prudent to build in some flood-proofing into your house/land designs (any design clues from neighbouring properties?) and if it's a once a decade or more thing then you can evaluate whether you see not being able to access your property for a few days/weeks once every 10 years and some clean-up/repair costs as a price worth paying, assuming the main property and belongings of value are safe and sound above the water line.

Doubt Thailand will be too bothered about this, if fact they are probably relieved that the temporary and insincere wooing of the less desirable Indian tourist market can now move to the back burner as the tourism mother load from China is back in action - yeah, baby ! Thailand is being quite liberal with covid entry requirements for the Chinese tourist market, let's hope it doesn't come back to bite them on the xxxx. I also wonder where this liberal attitude fits in with their stated "quality tourist" strategy, or should we just resign ourselves that all visitors with a pulse are welcome in the struggle to get Thai tourism back on its feet ?