Hockeybik

3 hours ago, robblok said:

One case is a bit more extreme then the other but both sides are just thinking about money. So its the same thing both are thinking about the money. (not a bad thing thinking about money though a lockdown can destroy an economy)

Yeah, bringing down a multi-trillion dollar economy is a wee bit different than a 5,000 seat boxing venue losing a nights profits.

"Many fear that the outbreak, hitherto felt most keenly in Bangkok, may now move to the provinces,..." Ya think? <deleted> <deleted>. 

Let me know when they close Immigration, then we'll know it's serious.

On 3/15/2020 at 7:34 PM, FritsSikkink said:

Why? You can do it per mail / online

Not if you are within 14 days for mail and 7 for online plus, online has not been working.

13 hours ago, tifino said:

all they will do... is talk talk talk Super Spreader 

 

okay - this makes it Real  

 

I'm not sure many will know what that thing is. 

16 hours ago, Beggar said:

No this sadly is not satire. I myself use a 3M 95N mask when I go to the Central Shopping Mall here in Pattaya. I see very many Asian people using masks. But I don't see many Farangs using them. Now the question arises - are we using the masks sick or the others?

I use Grab almost exclusively for car/taxi rides and about 50% of the time a meter taxi shows up. These "win" guys could do the same thing. Work both sides. I'll wait for snarky replies.

9 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

The 1% in this world should be ashamed of their endless money hoarding, when little girls like this can't even stay with their families due to lack of funds !!! 

It's 2020 yet people are still starving and others have 2 or 3 super yachts just to be seen on ????

Don't begrudge rich people their wealth because they do not spend it in a way that you approve of. The wealthy do not "hoard" money they invest it in businesses and assets almost all of which benefits someone. Even if it's only sitting in their bank, the bank is loaning it out to build houses and buy cars and build businesses. It took hundreds maybe even thousands of people in the supply chain to build their "2 or 3 super yachts" and they have to pay their captains and crew. Those folks are regular people like you and me. Not to mention the upkeep on the yachts and multiple mansions. Those are regular wage earners too. The "rich" spend their money, it goes into the economy. You may be jealous of their wealth or maybe it's envy but they don't keep it under a mattress and bring it out only to bathe in. No poor man ever gave you or me a job.

I just spent a week with "rich" people who donate their time and their money and raise money from their friends to help kids left out like this poor little girl. Their efforts support 7 homes for over 300 kids around Thailand for exactly kids in this position and worse. This mom no doubt did what she thought was best for her child. She was at the end of her rope. There are people out there who give their own time and money to directly help kids like this. 

You sit there at your keyboard and berate the "rich" and what do you do? Actually 'do' for these kids, anything at all? Paying tax and demanding "the government" do it for you, doesn't count. Either does bitching about how someone else spends their money. You just pass judgement on others to make yourself feel better. At least the "rich" are giving a few people a job when they buy their yachts. 

22 hours ago, bbi1 said:

Why would anyone be stupid enough to give immigration your email address? Why would anyone be stupid to also put their email address on their arrival card? Well, I guess there are ones that do instead of leaving it blank or putting N/A.

I've given mine to immigration before and I'm sure many others have too. What is troublesome but not surprising about this is that someone inside immigration is selling the database to for profit companies. They are either doing it systematically, in which case that information should be disclosed or someone is selling it illegally. I doubt that it is being hacked but that is possible. None of the possibilities are good.

3 minutes ago, roquefort said:

How hard can it be for the embassies to verify income statements? I have used the income method for years and the British Embassy always demanded copies of my pension statements before issuing the letter.

Verification done.

They did not verify with the agency or bank or whoever was paying you, they only verified what you showed them. I think Thai Immigration wanted the embassies to verify all the way back to the source and you are not a valid source.

2 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

What's wrong with Thai banks ? BKK Bank and Kasikorn are international banks with a reputation to consider, the Baht continues to rise on the FX markets and is stable, Thailand has large FX reserves and is one of the least affected Asian countries affected by the turmoil in the markets.

I'd rather not hold that much in one place but the major Thai banks are probably no worse than other banks in the region.

6 minutes ago, thesetat2013 said:

Has anyone ever considered that this is Thailand's way of getting their banks some hard cash that they can use to get out of financial trouble... Seems they are pushing the 800,000 more than anything.. What other motives can they be doing this for? 

Anyone here thinking outside the box discussed in this platform? 

How many expat retirees do you think are in Thailand? Anyone know? Any guesses? Interesting idea but would the totals be significant? 

Hey Joe, thanks for the info. The documents are not a problem. It's going to be difficult to get my son there at the same time. Does anyone know of a local service company that may be able to get the visas without being present? Thanks.

Anyone have recent experience at Thai Embassy Yangon getting a Non-immigrant B visa? I'm American and I need for getting a work permit. Also need a Non-O (I think that's what we need anyway) for my son, also an American citizen.

Question for you who have ordered from Amazon US for international delivery - Thailand specifically. Do you have to actively apply for the duty/tax refunds? OR does Amazon automatically do it for you?

I have ordered small items from Lazada that were shipped from outside Thailand and they guaranteed they would arrive at the stated price and that was true. No added charges on delivery. I have not tried this with a large item - either large price or large size.

Thanks.

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Actually common sense eludes most governments but you both hit it spot on. If the tax were reasonable, most people who want fine cars would just pay it and not take the chance of having problems with government. But 300% tax makes it attractive for officers of the government to accept "gratuities" to let things slide and for consumers to take their chances circumventing the tax. Markets do not respond well to outside pressures and that's all this is, is a market force being resisted.

Who was(were) the one(s) who thought - "let's impose a curfew" and then did not immediately understand in the next thought - "this will impact tourism"?

When the medias try to avoid a specific information, it is most likely to be true.

That's freakin' brilliant - guess we can apply that to any conspiracy theory, eh?

LoS eh?

I wonder why Office 365 was chosen over google docs which is free.

Google Docs isn't free for enterprise either.

Mae Sai had two 15-20 second aftershocks around 7:55AM, rattled windows a bit.