realfunster

Do you have any credible statistics supporting this increase in cancer in kids or are we supposed to discuss this proposition based on anecdotes from your nurse friend ?

The market has certainly changed in both positive and negative ways. I think Grab, in particular, has been driving this. The app gives you main options for Car (higher fixed rate), Taxi (Meter + 20 baht) or JustGrab (car or taxi at higher fixed rate,) Drivers have figured out, especially taxis, that accepting the JustGrab option is a lot better for them. In my experience as a customer, JustGrab is around 2x the fare for flagging a taxi off the street for the same trip. The topic is quite timely, tonight I was out in central Bangkok and when heading home at 10pm, I was finally accepted by my 6th taxi of the street. Despite a long legacy of Bangkok drivers refusing fares, I do wonder if this will increase when they get used to ‘grab’ level fare rates. Problems remain in this industry…

I think you should take this initial report with a pinch of salt at first before escalating , not sure how old your kid is (which may determine the confidence levels in the report accuracy) but it may be a simple misunderstanding or, as you mention, they are trying to stimulate debate/critical thinking or maybe it's just an attempt a humour. If your kid comes back with similar reports again consistently over a few weeks or so, then I would suggest talking to the teacher directly.

For "Pattaya" - you could try Jomtien Beach which is more relaxed and lacking the in your face nightlife for the most part.

Ko Samet (4 hours, ferry involved) Hua Hin (2.5 hours drive) Pranburi/Sam Roi Yot Beach (3 hours drive) I can't really recommend Bang Saen to be honest, I used to go there as an easy beach day-trip from BKK but got bored of the dirty water.

Isn’t this more simply stated in common English as “Everyman and his dog ?”

This made me laugh from the linked article…couldn’t happen to a nicer lady. “Atthaphon, who leads the activist group “That’s Enough”, said the court found Pareena guilty of two counts of defamation by advertising, because she had posted the same message twice”

Note to all for future reference : take anything from NNT with an extremely large pinch of salt, it is just a government propaganda mouthpiece. In this case trying to milk some positive spin from the APEC conference, including the much coveted foreign approval from the IMF MD. Note the obsequious nature of the commentary regarding government policy contribution to this rebound. Of course, the story doesn’t mention that the rebound (already contradicted by NNT on their own website) is mostly due to the low baseline of a Thai economy that, due to government policy, underperformed global and regional peers during the 2020-2022 period.

That's great. How many of those were what might be described as 'successful' years ?

What with this and the recent Chinese owned nightclub busts, I am starting to get the impression that the numbers of Chinese on overstay has increased significantly during the COVID period…

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.