realfunster

I think most Starbucks open at 6.30am.

I believe that expats are more likely to be Tory voters : Based on a 2 minutes Google search : 55% of British expats are men, who are slightly more likely to vote conservative than women. Voters >40 years of age are much more likely to vote conservative. (Average age of British expat: 53) Around 5.5 million expats in total. So, at face value, this would appear to benefit the Tories.

It happens, I had the same with a TG flight from Sapporo-Bangkok around a decade ago. TG put us in the Sheraton for the night and gave us each Y5,000 cash. A good time was had by all ! On a more serious note, this will have cost TG a lot of money and one wonders why they were not able to work co-operatively with other airlines either at Zurich or nearby airports to source the part in short order ?

Is that you Plodprasop ?

Depression can give people irritability issues but this feels rather like it is another mental health condition. Perhaps something lost in translation ?

It was a very pleasant drive to work today, I'd say about 20% of the usual traffic. There's no need for everyone to rush back to Bangkok, please take a few extra days off with your family and come back to work next Monday

I'd try following up a couple more times perhaps including a phone call as well as emails/letters (could possibly even engage a Lawyer to do this for you - with the implied threat that indicates) and explaining that you are considering going to the Labour Court unless the matter is resolved satisfactorily. Without knowing your specifics, the Labour Court is known to be fairly reasonable and generally supportive of employees. However, the whole Labour Court process may well take some time (think months, possibly a year+) so a negotiated and relatively amicable agreement with your employers would be easier/quicker all round.

I had an interesting attempted scam in Mumbai, India, the cashier (small convenience store inside an international hotel) put my note on the counter and then attempted a quick switch of my note for a lower denomination when he thought I wasn't looking. Unfortunately for him, I did see the switch, got my full change and I reported him at hotel reception which was all of 20m away ! Yep, good advice.

Whilst sounding out policy by public reaction and subsequent government u-turns is common here, in this case, the almost instantaneous denials indicate the good lady from the TAT was talking out of his rear-end and purely from his own viewpoint. The resulting <deleted>-storm and slap-down can only have resulted in a huge loss of face for the TAT Governor. Could possibly have been a heavy censure or sacking in many governments, probably not too much to worry about in the un-meritocracy of Thailand, where a delicate balance of power/influence amongst factions needs to be maintained, regardless of individual performance and competence. Still, lesson learned, and I am sure she will keep her gob shut from now on. Well, at least until the next round of monthly TAT Fantasy Figures are released...

I call on the Chinese embassy to censor its exportation of pandemics. Such things might lead to misunderstandings and damaged relationships. Remember folks, China is not a friend.

I take this as a further sign that the Thai economy is fundamentally struggling. Srettha notes the unimpressive growth rate for the past 15 years, of course, not helped by all the political instability. PT have tried the usual Plan A for the past 20 years of flogging the tourism horse, with limited success. Now the usual Plan B, some kind of cash injection into the economy. I believe they are much wider systemic issues that need to be addressed if Thailand really wants to move forward from lower middle income levels. But that would take some serious self-reflection and loosening of tight grips by vested interests. I can’t say I am hopeful of either of those happening.

Rare indeed is the sound of choppers in Bangkok and when seen, they are usually military. Kind of surprises me more wealthy people don't use them to commute in and around Bangkok. There's certainly more than a few high-rise buildings around town with helipads that remain virtually unused. Don't go giving them ideas now...that's already covered with our top-of-the-range submarine.

What a sad reflection of this group of "animal lovers"...money, money and money. Formerly an industry of THB 1 billion = USD 30 million. Apparently, with "millions" working in the supply chain. Pull the other one, it's got bells on

Data on average earnings is always bit patchy but I found a source that indicated top 10% in India would be starting at THB 10k+ per month. As is the way, I am sure there will be an exponential increase in wealth as you move up through this top 10 %. India is a very low GDP per capita country, being around USD 2.5k, compared to Thailand/China USD 7-8k, Malaysia USD 13k, Vietnam USD 4k etc.

On all normal criteria, you are correct. I'm guessing they are aware of certain sensitivity around the Republic of China and didn't want to upset someone by offering the Taiwanese preferential visas....

The Thai man is clearly out of order, young & healthy and starting a physical fight with a frail and elderly old man. Having said that, use of the F word never helps with Thais and the video clip shows the Belgian guy doing some vigorous finger pointing at the Thai man, that never goes down well. Every society has its “fighting talk”, it’s good to know what these words/actions are and avoid, well, unless you are looking for a fight of course.

No, there were several terrorists in the video. It was out on the internet at least 2 weeks ago and I believe one of the many videos/livestreams that the terrorists put out on the internet from their raid on 7/10. Your attempt at humour/deflection regarding garden tools vs military hardware is misplaced. If you can take 5 seconds to click the link, more details in the article. Anyway, I summarise the video here : - Critically injured bloodstained man barely conscious on floor. - One of the terrorists decide to proclaim that his God is great and use a garden hoe in an attempt to decapitate him. - It would appear he actually failed, maybe the laughing and joking with his mates around put him off his stride but I would assume the 5-6 blows to the throat caused catastrophic injury. - The injured man's arms slowly collapse by his side as he drifts off... Anymore light hearted comments to make ?

I had the misfortune of stumbling across this video on FB a couple of weeks ago. It was in the comments section of an English language Thai newspaper site. It’s as grim as you can imagine based on the description in the OP. Very difficult to watch but giving the incident some exposure will serve a purpose in highlighting the barbarity those Hamas terrorists are capable of. IIRC the perpetrator was calm, laughing and joking to camera whilst doing what he did. ISIS level stuff. Imagine living next door to people capable of such atrocity…

FFS - he was saying 2 days ago that they were being coerced into staying there and started a spat with the Israeli ambassador or is it just that they have been offered pay hikes ? Anyway - the overall tone of the article rings true, the Thai economy needs a re-invention if the country is going to progress. Sad to see that the major brainwave from the new government so far (which has been repeated ad nauseam since 2000) is just to encourage more tourists. Interesting that although tourism has grown rapidly from around 10m pax in 2000 to 40m pax in 2020, the overall average economic growth rate is only 1.8%. Something needs to change

Pretty sure vast majority of office workers won't get this extra day off either ! For those unfamiliar with such things, on a regular basis the Thai Government will make such announcements on "extra" public holidays. Around 99% of the time this only applies to those entities under their direct control, being the public sector.

By Thai standards, this appears a very generous settlement, which I don’t begrudge them. there was thread the other day about the costs for Thais to go to work in Israel, some, if not all, would have gone there via the Ministry of Labour “approved scheme.” It’s possible the MoL up-front costs (insurance?), going via a Government scheme and payment of social security etc in Israel is what gives the families this entitlement? Or could just be Israel paying ?

Goodness me, that linked article will give you a headache. There is a very good reason someone invented the weather map.....

It always amuses me that for such a generally inward looking bunch, Thai officialdom are so adept at linking economic and industry performance to local and international geo-political issues. Of course, in the majority of cases this is only ever used as an explanation for a failure to meet targets or expectations. When things are running to plan, the plaudits will come unfettered to those Thais involved, no chance of geo-political positives stealing any of the credit. As for October tourism ? Well, it's the wettest month of the year in many parts of Thailand, that would likely have something to do with it...

Quite. There’s a whiff of exploitation here..including a THB 40k fee when arriving in Israel. It also seems odd that they are buying one-way tickets, would have thought a 1 year open return would be a better idea, and cheaper. The denial from the Minister is on the weak side and frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if someone, somewhere in the Ministry had decided an exorbitant and mandatory airport transfer was a good way to get their slice of the money pie.