DonaldBattles

On 4/10/2018 at 6:11 AM, simoh1490 said:

I think this is about the Philippines where the central store of rice has been depleted and the government has issued an emergency order to buy 250,000 tons of rough rice or paddy (palay in tagalog) - it's not clear to me why the central reserve store of rice has been depleted but it looks as though demand has outstripped supply. Rice yield has always been a problem in the PI for some reason - one story here: http://www.manilatimes.net/nfa-runs-out-of-rice-for-mmanila/390353/

If you have ever lived in the Philippines you can understand why. They are lazy and politically motivated by communist. It will never get any better. What kind of a country is it if they can't feed themselves?

If the immigration rules and laws were tighten up you could dramatically reduce the number of criminals they let in. But doing so would damage Bangkok sex industry.

Normally the Super Bowl is on Thai TV. I watch via a Slingbox in my son's US home and the internet.

Having watched this country develop for 34 years I have no doubt that they can operate and maintain a train. After all they will have 50,000 Chinese building the railroad and teaching them about the new technology. I felt a bit the same when we but Nakorn Strip Mill the latest state for art in a continuous steel making plant. We a little help it has been turning out a lot of hot rolled coil still since 1998. A train is not that much of a challenge. They are able to operate a complex train system like the BTS in Bangkok for many years. One train will be pretty straight forward. 

Construction on the Laos sector is well underway. It is estimated that it is 10% complete. The tunnels at Boten Laos are moving along quickly. It looks like the Boten to Vientiene will finish about the time that the Nong Khai to Bangkok section is finished. When both sections are finished they will connect to the high speed train in Kunming. This means you can get on the train in Bangkok and go to Europe. Would be a nice sightseeing trip but long. The 3 long freight weekly trains from China to Frankfort Germany have been hauling a lot of freight for several months.

People living in Thailand should think the whole train line not just Thailand. These trains follow the Old Silk Road to Europe. 

2 hours ago, jaiyen said:

Oh !  I thought we were going to get a crappy Chinese train system.

I think you will find the high speed trains in China are world class. Thailand will accept no less. Not how the longest train in the world leaves China going to Frankfort and branching to the UK 3 times per week. The Silk road has been opened.  

4 hours ago, blackcab said:

How much will the tickets cost? Will the tickets be cheaper than catching a plane? Will the train be faster than a plane?

 

How is the maintenance going to be funded?

2 hours ago, twizzian said:

 

Will the driver be professionally trained & or have a lot of experience just like the bus drivers here?

Will the train be maintained & brakes fixed to the stds that we know here?

Then I just might!

4 hours ago, blackcab said:

How much will the tickets cost? Will the tickets be cheaper than catching a plane? Will the train be faster than a plane?

 

How is the maintenance going to be funded?

Tickets will be expensive but have to be reasonable. Time is money and people will pay for bypassing the airport. The Japanese will be here forever supervising the maintenance. This along with the Chinese train from Kunming will serve Thailand well. The Laos portion is well under way with 10% complete. The Chinese are digging 85 tunnels. It will cross over in Nong Khai going to Bangkok.

2 hours ago, stanleycoin said:

Pattaya  The Top world class family tourist destination of the Hub of Asia.

 

Don't see what the problem is. 

 

Pattaya is the sex capital of Asia, always has been and always will be because that is the way the Thais want it. What do think people come to Pattaya for? I lived there for 5 years while working in Rayong. I enjoyed the city but not the dirty beaches. 

It is a long and mountainous trip. Recommend you spend the night in Pu Rua a lovely place.

3 hours ago, SheungWan said:

Ignoring the dollar and controlling the currency? Good luck with that one. A finance/economics course might be an option.

Remember July 2, 1997? These controlling rich people and the military people do what they want when they want to. Truck loads of money was shipped overseas to Swiss banks. They let it go from 25 to the $ and in Jan. 1998 it was 56 to the $ and the rich brought their money back. Yes I had Economics 101 and 102. Plus I have had 34 years of Thai economics. Don't ever think that the people who control the show follow any logic except what benefits themselves.

I don't think the Bank of Thailand, the 25 rich families and the military that run the country pay a lot attention to the US$. In order to protect their wealth they have to keep the Baht at a high level. This is accomplished by the central bank controlling the currency.

19 minutes ago, funandsuninbangkok said:

Great place / nice people. What's not to like?

After being here for 34 years and working and living in 9 provinces I can never go back to the USA. I have been back 2 times, once when my mother died and the second when my now wife and I went to Hawaii and the mainland to get married. I said good by to all my old NASA friends and relatives and reminded them that the plane flies both ways. No NASA friends or family members have chosen to come.

2 hours ago, rkidlad said:

It's a sad and extremely paradoxical day in Thailand when one of them is telling the truth, but you still don't believe either of them. 

It is hard to find the truth here. When you ask a yes or no question you get a 15 minute answer.

Have you ever met a person here that would admit and accept the truth?

3 hours ago, Srikcir said:

So no new markets but taking 10% of an existing market. That means overall the liquor industry will lose jobs because of automated production.

Yay Thailand 4.0 !

Be careful what you wish for.

 

Note that Thailand does not promote automation. Recently Ford announced the building of a new truck plant for export that will employee 10,000 people. Elon Musk at Tesla makes an entire car with 160 robots. Thailand is not ready for this.

There is no hope of a decent liquor being produced here. Once a dog starts to eat sh***t you can never make him stop.

Has anyone from the USA received their yearly status letter from Social Security for retirement. I keep looking for mine. The postman here cannot be trusted.

On 5/16/2017 at 8:26 AM, phantomfiddler said:

Leave the river alone ! Why does everything have to bend to the will of the chinese ? A greedier more bullying race never existed. The river should be left in it,s natural state, just like the islands in the South China Sea, and China should be allowed to mess up it,s own environment as it is so successfully doing at the moment.

Notice that the Thai  government is not opposed to the blasting of the rapids in the Mekong River.  It will be easier for smaller Chinese made submarines to navigate. 

On 5/16/2017 at 1:26 PM, Flustered said:

I think you will find that China has already messed up it's own environment and wants to share the success with others.

 

Biggest problem to be faced is that the hordes of PRC tourists are completely ignorant of foreign culture, don't give a toss about anyone and will happily ruin the environment of other countries. To them it is the natural order of things. They don't even care that one likes them.

I am curious as to how you define foreign culture.  The Zhou Dynasty in China goes back to 1046 years BC.

Few Thais realize that Thailand does not own the Mekong as it was lost in a war settlement with the French in 1893. 

Previously about 10 years ago they had a nice boat that made the trip. Since then this boat has been discontinued. It took 12 hours going up and 8 coming back. It may be that they have started the boat up again. I don't know.

This is just the beginning. Chiang Rai will be flooded with river tourist. Wonder what it would cost to take the trip back up the river. I did this 10 years ago and it was very enjoyable. The boat ties up in the middle of Jing Hong Town.

Pib: Many thanks for your information. Now I know that the forms are normally received in June.

Don Battles