Sydebolle

No, but I've lost my tenants on a yearly basis now ..... all due to haze and smog. I - myself - would have loved to live in Chiang Mai but for known reasons - off limits. And for the "nice" time one can still take up "residence" in a nice hotel with all the mod cons - simple as that.

But it was Anutin's family enterprise which got - co-incidentially of course - awarded the expansion of Swampy during/after Covid already. Do airports wear off that fast, I mean, we're talking three, four years here?

Newly appointed tourism minister, Sermsak Pongpanich, though lacking specific tourism experience ........ Yet another expert stirring the tourism soup. One day - protect Thailand from over tourism, next day introduce 300 Baht arrival/landing fee, another day cancel TM6 for arrivals/departure by air but not overland, then a year later cancel the TM6 overland as well on a temporary basis. Next you read is expansions of airport to accommodate extra traffic while Korat airport, built for the sake of - most likely very juicy - commissioning, is moving back into the barracks of the Air Force where it had been operated for decades. Betong in the South got a new airport and the tourism experts back in the day did some arm twisting with Nok Air to operate there. After a few weeks of literally empty planes they seized the services without great fanfare. Other experts called tourists "dirty farang" and "alien", the rip-offs by cabbies and jet ski operators are standard here, apart from governmentally endorsed two- if not three-tier pricing for admissions to national parks and historical sites - which are rarely visited by the locals anyway. Instead of letting the locals go completely free and hence avoid the pricing discussion, the non-Thai fees are getting jacked up. So may I conclude, that the appointed Mr Sermsak Pongpanich fits perfectly well into the tourism ministry which has been run by clueless politicians in successive rows while the underlings keep on hammering on the goose which had been laying solid golden and platinum eggs in the past. The writing is definitely on the wall, in big red letters which even gloom at night ......... what a pity!

This might turn out to be better than any soap opera they usually broadcast nightly at 8.30pm - get the popcorn out!

Coming November/December I shall put my condominium onto the market - I had it with the total incompetence to do ANYTHING in the right direction. Let them burn their country to the ground - after all - it is theirs ...........

Thailand had one of the best airlines 40 years ago, but yeah ...... that was 40 years ago. I have not flown TG for many years as I had it with delays, HiSo-nose-up staff on the ground and in the air apart from being usually the most expensive carrier out of Bangkok. Domestically any dog <deleted>-carrier is better than TG and internationally there are so much better alternatives on offer, so why bother - really, why bother? They now brushed up the P&L by selling B744 and A380 and will got and buy new toys by whoever offers the biggest kick-backs. Call Rolls-Royce for guidance; they know how to deal with the semi-divine Khon Thais when it comes to selling ........

Good luck with that idea ..... me thinks, that Thailand's Cabinet Reshuffle should fuel the possibility of Government Reform .....

Now you see him, now you don't! How can you run a country like that; it is the name card of the country and should be managed by the best possible candidate, irrespective of political alliance. But there is hope, in 2027 latest the total reshuffling of (old) cards will happen; lets see

Last time round it was the Russian President Putin, this time they are s1ht-scared about the Chinese leadership in Beijing. The US is in itself a failed state for quite some time already and uniting domestic fighters under one umbrella is done easiest by inventing a non-existing foreign enemy. China's farewell protocol of Blinken's recent departure was self-explanatory for the fact, that there was not a single Chinese present, neither foreign minister nor cleaners - get the message, Mr Blinken. In closing, how poor must the American electorate system be to allow any Tom, Dick and Harry to fiddle around in US internal elections?

Ordered some plastic screws from China, THB 94 incl. postage. The following scenario shows the more juicier details of yet another splendid idea on how to finance the three engine-less submarines 😉 7% VAT is THB 6.58 (or THB 7). In order to "earn" THB 7 tax money, the costs in opening, checking, resealing, delivering, collecting and channel the VAT via Thai post (or courier service) to the Ministry of Finance ........ Yet another royal fart by this most entertaining group of governmental goons and showtime by the clowns of Bangkok's bureaucratic circus! And then the Thais are surprised, if the non-Thai crowd has a kind of non-understanding smile on its face 8-)

Kotchakarot Parthanawong will get a warning, consider financing a few metres of the temple wall and start looking ....... for new Indians 😉

Sounds like yet another round of chess to me - the Shinawatras are back in full force. The retiree-cum-fugitive-cum-sick-to-death-yet-reborn-oncemore-again pulls the strings, tries to hammer the trade into his incapable daughter while the rest is hanging around like puppets - ready for the puppet master or cooking up their own little soups. This is all OK and certainly a "Thai-only" matter but do not refer to Thailand as a democracy for quite some time to come please.

a significant increase in commercial activity Now, that's one way of putting it - now the boys drip in and out of sick bay and by the time they hit home, the dripping is over ....... everybody is happy; what more do you want.

Yes, it works with commercial banks like those named or even Stonehenge Bangkok Bank. UOB is a different story; had a credit card for 30+ years by Citibank and since UOB took over, literally n nothing works anymore. Well, I had a fraud billing, announced by SMS with a phone number to call in case of fraud. After 17 minutes waiting a lady answered "no sapeak Thai" and cut the line. Went online onto the website; the first pop-up on their webpage are the numbers to call in case of fraud, one for Thai and one for English. 32 minutes into the waiting - phone got answered, card blocked and new card announced for "next month". No online statement viewable for the time being so it is "wait and see"; I for one would want to keep the card as the paperwork involved to get a credit card from another bank reminds me of Einstein's theories with an avalanche of papers, certificates, blue ink signed copies and hours at the bank. But to your question, I am using BKK Bank for a foreign currency deposit account, online through Bualuang Ibanking and it works flawlessly, real time BUT only during office hours of the bank (for whatever reason) .....

Well, even he will learn rather sooner than later, that he cannot eat money nor does power last forever. Yet, absolute power corrupts absolutely - as the saying goes; but we all know that this certainly does not apply to the kind gentleman who took care of watches of his deceased friend as he was not willing to share the details of the widow to avoid more pain over the lost husband. Mysterious are the ways of the East ........

What a lucky surprise - sort of a Songkran gift?

We're all back in business - it seems ..........

The envelope size is not finally defined yet - me thinks!

Prior Covid = TAT was blowing its own trumpets over 40 million tourists (as if they would have anything to do with this) Post Covid = overcrowded Did, by percentage, more Thais than tourists die? Or is it, that the level of tourist went down even further and now becomes unmanageable as the slice of the zero-tourists (China) and the cheaper segment (Russians in Pattaya) increased compared to Phuket with the richer Russians? Quality is one thing, quantity is another - fact is that Thailand actually cannot handle either due to its own people not being able to welcome, accomodate or handle the business ....

Ensure uninterrupted popcorn supplies 😉

Thai must have retired dozens of B747 all over Thailand; from Nong Khai via Korat, Bangkok etc. They also dumped the 6 Airbus 380; their fleet planning boggles the mind ..........

Tip of the iceberg, if you ask me; visit any casino (King Royals, Savan or Poipet) for clarification of what "serious" money can mean .........

They seem to know the culture of the envelopes as well ..... Or did the Thais learn it from Khun Amelica?

Organs clean themselves, unless you've massively intervened in unnatural build-up. What you might have is an ear infection hence don't fiddle around with questionable therapies but see and ENT specialist.

It is like Bollywood - the poorer are happy to escape reality for a mental break. Some go to the cinema (like in Mumbai), others get completely drunk (half Isan) and some smoke weed. Latter is also smoked - quite apparently - most likely in various government offices which spring to mind with fantastic statistics, forecasts and assumptions.