Guderian

With all the scare stories in the media here recently about surging Covid case numbers and a return of mask wearing, it's not surprising the under-vaccinated Chinese don't want to visit if the same stories have aired in the Middle Kingdom.

So much for the future of Thailand when it's in the hands of young, progressive politicians with open minds and liberal values. :rolleyes:

Please, please, please... Thai beer's some of the worst in SE Asia, and with the current setup they have zero incentive to improve things. Let's see a booming craft beer industry to keep the booming weed industry company. No need to worry about the sex industry, that's been boom-booming for a very long time, lol!

I've got TOT fibre optic internet here on Thepprasit and it's working fine.

The Thai government, whether by design or accident, has created an astoundingly dynamic free-market in weed. Given time, the free market will work its magic and the best businesses will thrive while the ones selling overpriced or poor quality ganja will close. Unless the politicians decide they can make some money by interfering, of course. Just enjoy it while we can, I'm not into smoking but I love a chocolate hash brownie on occasion. My Thai builder doesn't smoke or drink alcohol, but he swears by adding some hash to his food.

You can imagine the deep, probing questions this committee will be asking Pita's team: "Now then, krub, what can your candidate offer the senators here as inducements to conclude that he is a person of fit character to hold the PMs office? No cheques, please, used bank notes only, preferably US dollars. Kob khun krub."

I don't know if it's the DWP's mail room that's a mess, or Royal Mail and its wretched strikes and dismal service, but I'm having a similar experience. I made the state pension claim by phone back in early March, 3 1/2 months before my 66th birthday. The lady I spoke to said at the end of the process that all was fine and they'd send me a letter confirming all the details. Now almost 2 1/2 months later I still haven't received anything. It's a bad joke.

Oh my gosh! What next? Will they ban tourists from wandering around the city's drains for hours on end, lol?

As the French would say, merde!

No need for coups anymore, the unelected military appointees in the Senate can wreck the prospects of a civilian government just as well as tanks can.

When I did my last one a month ago, it took 3 or 4 days for them to approve it. I think the delay now is that someone actually checks the details before approving it, whereas in the past if nothing had changed in your details the system simply approved it. It's a good reason for doing the online report nice and early, so you have options if it still hasn't been approved after, say, 5 or 6 days.

Weird. I don't recall the Thai Baht crashing when Prayut ordered his tanks onto the streets of Bangkok back in 2014.

I was in a bar in Jomtien with the GF on Saturday afternoon, enjoying a few cold drinks before the booze shutdown for the election. Suddenly, at the far end of the bar, a fight broke out between two young men, one of them in a biker's vest. He won, anyway, punching the other, bigger lad onto the ground and then beating him into submission. Not that anyone wanted to see this, as there were several families with children present and the noise terrified my small dog. Then the GF turned to me and said, "Why farang always boxing? No good. Thai man has gun and they shoot bang bang." I could hardly believe what I was hearing. By now, the two pugilists were having a drink at the bar shaking hands and making up. Surely, that sight in itself is more than enough to explain why fists are a better solution to a disagreement than a 9 mm pistol (though calm discourse would be much better still)? But the whole gun violence thing seems to be so ingrained in the culture here that most people hardly bat an eye at the latest news of someone being shot dead as a result of some imaginary slight.

Wait a minute, what's that deep rumbling sound I can hear in the distance? Could it be...

Of course. Never mind the rampant corruption in all walks of life here, no need to worry about the huge income inequalities and poverty, and the school system is just perfect, no cause for concern at all. The very real prospect of another military coup in the next few weeks, if the army decides it doesn't like the election result, is also clearly way down peoples' list of worries. Just protect the poor little pipe fish at all costs!!! ????

Nicely done, Khun Armin, that's some first-class pointing! https://assets.aseannow.com/forum/uploads/monthly_2023_05/image.jpeg.4f2f26aa51c39935524aa5bec7d42144.jpeg

Why wouldn't you use the online system? I know the old one was a bit glitchy and some people just gave up on it, but the new one seems to be a lot better-behaved.

Absolutely sickening, like pigs around a trough, the only thing the Thai authorities care about is money, money, money.

So nothing much has changed since the vaccines first appeared in 2021 then, they were pretty much useless even back then. Vaccines? Yes, we have no vaccines, better try a government hospital. Though at least now they're not trying to rip you off with a non-refundable charge of 3,500 Baht, lol.

The original programme of free jabs given in the Royal Garden Plaza was organised by Pattaya City Hospital on Soi Buakhao. I'd suggest you just drop by there and ask at the reception desk. I read or heard a few months ago that they were stopping giving free jabs to foreigners as they were worried the ever-increasing number of Chinese tourists would avail themselves of the offer. It's possible that might not apply if you were in the Thai programme from the start, back in 2021. Mor Prom will tell them that.

He's probably wondering why only a few million of the billions of Baht spent on this project have flowed into his bank account, and making sure the contractors fix that problem. The conversation roughly translated: Deputy Mayor: So you say that on this side of the road the work is now finished? Contractor: Chai, krup! Deputy Mayor: Well that's no good, I need more sugar, so tear it all up and start again. Contractor: Chai, krup!

Well I just asked it a question about a special type of blood test, and it didn't even answer it, just rabbited on about biopsies. I happen to know about this blood test as the doctors have used it in my case a number of times, but Chat GPT doesn't seem to think it exists. Be very wary of AI, it might write pretty essays or poems for students, but its learning is constrained by what's been openly published on the internet during a certain time period, so it's very far from having access to all knowledge, and especially not the most recent information. Thank you, but I'll take a doctor's advice over a computer's.

Another little trick I've noticed this store playing is that they often put up discount price signs on goods, and the new prices have not been incorporated into the checkout computer system. On three separate occasions I've had to go to customer services after checking out and explain to them that the price shown on the shelf is not the price charged at the till. With the usual resentful attitude towards a picky farang, they stump off and come back 5 or 10 minutes later, reluctantly agreeing that it's a mistake, and then give you the refund. If you see one of these useful discounts, take a photo so you can just show it to the people on the customer service desk if you end up being charged the wrong price, the cashiers can't do anything.

Around 15 years ago, I did a 40-minute flyover of Mt. Pinatubo in The Philippines from Clark, and the cost was $60. The plane was tiny, though, a trainer, so it could only take one passenger. A great experience, anyway.

That was the case 10+ years ago when the Thai second-hand car market was a fantasyland, but the used-car market is pretty much normal now. No problem at all getting a decent car for 150K-200K Baht.