JonnyF

I kept my house in the UK. In the 15 years I've been here I've received as much in rent as I paid for it in 2003. I intend to rent it for about 15 more years, then sell it if I still have no plans to return there. Even though I work here it's nice to have that steady income stream going into my UK account where the rent is paid. I also like knowing that if it all goes wrong here, I won't be homeless if I have to return. I strongly advise keeping a base outside Thailand if you can afford to.

Yeah, they did on 20th February when I last went on Highway 9. My friend said there were massive queues to pay with cash at 7pm but I went through at 10pm and there was no queue at all, just pay 30 Baht at the cash booth toll same as before. I can't see them removing the cash tolls any time soon. It would be chaos.

A nice way to make 100% profit on a flight. Take the money for the flight, cancel it and refuse to give a refund. Then "restructure" the debt and announce huge profits.

They should push the electric motorbikes harder IMO. Get the ball rolling with something easy. They are very practical here. They are easier to charge than cars and most Thais don't do really long daily commutes so they could charge them from their homes overnight in a lot of cases. I remember visiting Qingdao for business about 10 years ago and was amazed that so many of the motorbikes were electric. It really made for a nice, quiet, clean feeling to rush hour. Unfortunately here in Thailand they will probably make the laws surrounding them ambiguous, leading to lots of fines from the police, insurance companies not paying out, people wary of buying them etc.

They would be insane to consider another lockdown at this point. The majority are vaccinated and Omicron is a relatively mild strain. Unless of course, this isn't really about Covid. I suspect "Unless it is the only option remaining" is a euphemism for "unless the peasants start revolting again".

Very sad. Sounds like she had a few sherberts and decided to squat to pee off the boat and lost her balance. I'm sure most of us have done equally stupid things and got away with it. I know I have...

This is good news. Time to start living with it. Those who wish to stay at home triple masked, are free to do so.

Would be nice to know how many are Omicron as opposed to Delta or other variants.

So you can just use M Flow lanes without buying a card until the end of March? That's good to know, I'd been paying cash at the tolls. I'll get in the M Flow lane next time.

I can't remember which publications I'm allowed to link to but it's all over the Bangkok Post, The Nation, Phuket News as well as the Thai press. So my claim is in fact true. Same as we never see any international boxing news until Rungvisai won a title and then it was all over the place.

Welcome to the bubble. Wait until a Thai wins something, then you'll see it on every station and newspaper for about 2 weeks (until they get busted for PEDs).

Yep, plus the people that test positive and stay quiet about it due to fears of ending up on a cardboard bed in a warehouse or a 200,000 Baht stay at a "Hospitel". I certainly wouldn't be telling the authorities if I got a positive test. I'd self isolate and keep my mouth shut.

Relaxing rules for arrivals while simultaneously increasing the threat level to 4 and banning alcohol in restaurants in Khon Kaen and Buriram? An interesting strategy. It's almost like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Of course, such a thing is impossible under the brilliant, strong, co-ordinated leadership of Prayut, Anutin and Prawit.

Especially when it's not particularly cheap. Or fun.

Totally agree on the EU. They are total hypocrites. The West will sound off about Russia and then do pretty much nothing IMO. Maybe a few sanctions. The West has become weak and everyone knows it. China won't have failed to notice this mess either. Expect an invasion of Taiwan while our Parliamentarians are too busy arguing about what the definition of a woman is.

But that would involve actually providing something. As opposed to just talking about providing something that doesn't really exist. Thais are much better at the latter than the former.

No lockdown? Just like there would be no coup? Whenever these guys assure us something won't happen I always start to worry that it's just around the corner. Let's hope not.

Yeah I used to go there a lot for weekend trips from BKK. Now you've got the oil slicks, trash filled beaches and possibly mandatory Covid tests (not sure if that's a thing this week but why take the chance?). Slurping down oily fish (crude oil not cooking oil!!) as syringes blow past me is not my idea of a pleasant weekend. It's a shame. A beautiful area ruined by stupidity.

Bubbles are soooooo 2021.

Seeing as they can't even make a 90 day reporting app work, I'd say that was inevitable. Plus with a project that size with the CCP as the supplier, the possibility for kickbacks would be huge.

By "extremely literal", I assume you mean honest and truthful?

The Great Firewall of Thailand. Wonder where they got that idea?

This week's column is about how much he hasn't drunk lately ????. Hopefully the content picks up sooner rather than later, I'm not really interested in reading about what some guy in New Zealand has in his wine cabinet. The bars are opening back up, it would be good to hear some real news...

On the bright side, my journey to work is a joy compared to when the schools were open. Seriously though, it's basically 2 years wasted for a lot of these kids. It boggles my mind that I can go to a crowded pub with friends or to a 'bar' in Soi 4, but kids can't go to school. Still, apart from the private schools they are only really being 'educated' to conform anyway.

Growth from last year when tourism was pretty much wiped out? Still massively down on 2019, and will be for the foreseeable future.