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realfunster

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Everything posted by realfunster

  1. Are you Thai ? Deflection onto neighbouring countries has been their approach for a while now... I've seen people sharing hotspot maps over previous weeks laying blame onto Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. It is not inaccurate to imply they are making a contribution to this pollution mess but it's purely a timing difference as we waited for the Thais to start burning in earnest...and now they have. Last weekend, I drove up to the Khao Yai area : 1) Numerous verges around the highways had been burnt off. I assume this is actually done by the Highways Department, part of the government...great example. 2) There were regular sightings of field burnings all along the road journey, including some that were very near highways creating a driving hazard. 3) Once arrived at my destination and sitting down to enjoy the views and rural scenery, these were punctuated with regular fires going off in the surrounding areas. There is a well known phrase which applies in this case to Thailand before admonishing neighbours : "get your own house in order".
  2. Au contraire... The person in the middle of the photo is the aforementioned Anne Jakrajutatip of JKN, who now owns MUO. A transgender woman.
  3. You probably don't want him too. I expect he is referencing some conspiracy theory or another. More likely a previously undiagnosed congenital or acute medical condition, a gradual darkening of skin in peripheral areas (hands/feet) would point to an onset of a pulmonary circulation issue of some kind. Anyway, RIP little man, too soon.
  4. 1) Yes, it is not a lot 2) The ones that went bankrupt were mostly/exclusively the ones offering the completely braindead and greedy COVID insurance for THB 1,000 with a THB 100,000 cash payout for a positive test not linked to any related health issues or actual medical costs. You may even remember a brief social media fad of people licking handles and sticking things in their mouth/nose to get infected and their payout. These companies were a bunch of complete idiots, as were the insurance regulators who gave their approval to such policies.
  5. You've probably got the convenient options right there. For an alternative, you could look at Air Asia X --> connect on Air Asia from SG to KL --> Air Asia X has direct flights to Sydney and just this week restarted flights to Gold Coast. Both flights about THB 30k round trip in "business".
  6. Would be interested to hear the update once/if it is all sorted out !
  7. Indeed, salary increase inflation has been running well above underlying inflation and reasonably above GDP growth for pretty much the last 20 years. If you read the annual reports such as the one in the OP it’s typically around 5-7% increase per year. Even during COVID 6-8-10% pay rises were being given. Perhaps more reflective of a limited talent/resource pool, worsening demographics and high competition for people in the job market than anything else ?
  8. Thailand : Corruption potential in {insert applicable noun here}
  9. Yes, indeed. It's actually all very interesting from a demographic perspective. A still-developing country which has already worked through (wasted?) it's demographic dividend and seems destined to settle into international mediocrity on many metrics. Hard to see how they are going to punch through the economic levels above unless there are fundamental changes in outlook and policy. All good news for the locals, as the labour force is already shrinking, so should see them being able to demand reasonable pay/opportunties. Similarly, maybe not great news for Thai employers, Unfortunately, on an international level, these demographic factors surely can't help Thailand be competitive and it's hard to see where they are going to stand out. So, if observers were expecting that modernity/globalisation was going to see all countries eventually dragging themselves up around the same standard of living, I think that ambition is well and truly busted.
  10. I am sure the OP is sensible enough to realise that after going to this barber shop as a regular customer for 10+ years that a brief question/statement in basic Thai will highly likely confirm that you can get the Thai price. If the issue is their practice of double pricing, then you can go always go elsewhere. I didn't see it on here but recently there was a video of a European customer ranting at a barbershop in Pattaya and he ended up clipping the hairdressers own hair in a fit of rage before running out without paying. I could see why they might want to charge a premium to foreigners (tourists) given the challenges in communication and the often higher expectations from foreign customers when compared to the local working class Thai people who would typically frequent the 60-80-100 Baht barber shops.
  11. Hmmm...more details are needed but : 1) Was this initially COVID related or 2) Were they really that overstaffed ?? 3) I hope they haven't overcooked the redundancies leading to maintenance and/or service issues ? I am still waiting for re-instatement of my small investment in THAI, as part of my RMF. It was written down/off by my RMF fund manager a few years ago. I assume they thought it a safe bet- being State owned at that time - until the government pulled out the rug. I'm surprised no-one has launched a class action lawsuit, a lot of shareholders/investors must have taken a hit.
  12. A quick Google says that "pure" Thai gold (22-23k) is not best used for highly ornamental pieces/settings as it is too soft, so it might be they have mixed it with some alloys for this piece ? Maybe it's 18k/14k/10k carat gold ? Having said that, if it was the lower end of the purity scale, the colour difference should be clearly visible from Thai standard 22-23k. As Lopburi3 mentions, many moons ago I took a 18k gold item to a Thai gold shop, they were not interested in the slightest.
  13. Beat me to it ! Lord knows where/what they are talking about.....
  14. I have but I am still a bit confused. The article seems to suggest Ann's father was there and his colleague shot the boyfriend when he charged with a knife. The final paragraph then states that no connection was found between Ann and the man purporting to be her father. Maybe the father sent some police minions to pick up his daughter ? Anyway I suppose it will become clearer in due course...
  15. Yep - that's the best way to remove the outbound issues...you could then move those IOs to working on the inbound queues as well....
  16. A secondary issue to the main story but don't let this gem slip by unnoticed. They truly are a disgrace.
  17. 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.
  18. 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 ?
  19. Depression can give people irritability issues but this feels rather like it is another mental health condition. Perhaps something lost in translation ?
  20. 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
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