96tehtarp

visa

When I first came to Thailand my favorite sunscreen was anything labeled "Sport" and 50 SPF or higher. The sport label means waterproof and it doesn't sweat off. This is very important.

Since then I've evolved and never use any sunscreen. I do it the Thai way, and wear long pants, long sleeved shirts, gloves & socks, and wear a hat which includes a back flap which protects the back of my neck. I haven't yet evolved to the point where I wear a balaclava covering my face... maybe someday I'll get there.

The creams get very tiresome, and the constant application, not to mention the cost at 500+ baht a tube is quite expensive on a yearly basis. Now I only go swimming at the beach in the morning, or early evening just before sunset, just like the Thais do. It works.

If I'm on holiday on the islands I'll use any "Sport" at 50+ SPF.

Good luck.

immigration

transfer

Pleading

Precisely which fake deals?

The ones which were made to sell rice to 2 companies in China that were not licensed to import rice by the Chinese government, nor Chinese government companies. Allegedly, export documentation was forged so the rice could be bought by a Thai trading company at lower export prices and then sold illegally on the home market. The Thai company involved was named in the reports, as was one of the senior's who is married to a prominent red shirt leader, currently on bail.

Don't you remember?

Let's see what details of this and other "deals" come out at the trial.

Thank you for your civil and informative reply.

Regarding trade with China, when the central government wants to tender for purchases of FX. urea; it is never a centralized purchase. The bidding requests go out to absolutely every entity in China. These entities then send out tenders to every imaginable entity on the planet. Very often these are offshore entities incorporated in places like the US. Virgin Islands or the Cayman Islands. That's how the Chinese do it. So, in my experience very few G2G deals with the Chinese are in fact government to government. I'll admit my experience is more than ten years dated. I'm suspicious of any claims of "Fake" deals, as I've had experience with private to govt. deals with China through these type of corporations and they went nowhere, by their very nature they are almost always fake.

I had a large request from someone in China that I had done business with previously for an astronomical amount of a specific raw material. It was out of my league. My associate within whose league the deal was called one of the leading commodity brokers on Wall St. who promptly told him to forget it, as this tender was already nearly a year old and had done the rounds thousands of times. Again this was a fake deal. Was it criminal? Certainly not.

"Allegedly, export documentation was forged so the rice could be bought by a Thai trading company at lower export prices and then sold illegally on the home market."

I have no doubt, and knowing Thailand as I do, with this amount of money floating around in a government scheme someone is going to try this. We will need to see how the indictments settle out.

It's obvious to me that the present military management is desperate to find massive wide-spread fraud which directly implicates the Shiniwatra family in the rice pledging scheme. So far nothing has stuck. As you and I have both stated w'ell have to wait and see.

This is Thailand, and I'll be very disappointed if nothing more than negligence or dereliction of duty can stick. I doubt the mere possibility of reselling already "exported" rice on the domestic market will be enough to find a conviction. A conviction will require actual sales.

Appeals

Indictments

Indictments

OP: I don't believe the problem of just below the surface violence is any worse here than in any other country. I'ts probably less violent here than most other countries. Latin countries where "machismo" is a way of life come to mind, not to mention the middle east.

You mention "pressure cooker" and I think there is some validity to that, as Thai society is largely based on repression, face saving, and conflict avoidance. When the situation lets itself go it can be explosive. However generally, here it's not worse than anyplace else.

Another factor here is as foreigners we are not aware of the social strata, and sometimes mix with the types of people we would never mix with in our home country. Unwittingly many foreigners get mixed in with the wrong sorts who often are more violent.

There are 100's of reports like this all over the net. If we can recall even the 787 aircraft had to be recalled by Boeing to address lithium ion battery fire problems.

beer

Star

Amulet

As absurd as it seems my most recent four visits to Pattaya did not include visits to the Walking Street.

Dip

Tuky, all the best and godspeed. What you describe does not happen exclusively in Thailand. Good luck.

Very, very, Thainess.

Potato

Heart

Arrest

RIP to the poor unfortunate man who failed to wash his dishes. What a waste of life..

I vote for a ban on underboob selfies while wearing Niqābs, in the south. I can only dream.