Sydebolle

Ever heard an announcement over the PA saying that "we're about to land at domestic national airport of"? Of course not. It is like many other things in the land. An airport is an airport, handling airworthy transportation devices from blimps, bigger Zeppelin airships and, arguably more common, aircraft. The origin or destination is irrelevant to an airport. And that is applicable worldwide and not only to "Udon Thani International Airport". International refers to any border crossing matter, transport, communication, partnership etc. But this does not surprise me here in Thailand, 30 years ago the then-government, on the subject of religiously-inflicted political trouble in the South of the country referred to press article putting the two parties into "Thais" and "muslims". Somehow the editors completely forgot, that those muslims in the South are, according to the constitution, the same kind of Thais as in the rest of the land.

Welcome to today's world. But, as long as Germany under Merkel bought stolen bank data from Swiss banks and then hunted down tax evaders based in ill-gotten information ...........

You want to go very, very, very careful with that idea. Most Fidels are harmless and do not create a problem, except they stick to a few issues which are a no-no in any other cluster of human society. Halal slaughtering is forbidden in many countries these days as it is the most brutal way of ending an animal's life (and you can put "kosher" into the same chapter). While this might have made sense prior to refrigeration, today it is no issue anymore and should be considered more than obsolete. Their prayer rooms, ear shattering screaming off the minarets five times a day; a nuisance to everybody of non-Islamic origin. An absolute arrogance which could be avoided completely. The Swiss prohibit the erection of minarets; mosques are of course there and being used - but without the unnecessary demonstration of trying to be primi-inter-pari! The subjugation of women; in extreme cases (and I've witnessed such incidents) a male fidel refuses to deal with women by principle. Welcome the muslims as long as they stick to the values of Thailand. This includes some people wearing tank tops, eat pork, drink alcohol and treat women as equal human beings, not running around completely wrapped up in black bed linen etc.

Should Chonlanan Srikaew, need directions to where the majority of Thais can get alcohol any given hour of the day, then just drop a line. This all is just smoke screen all over again. The initial statement was among the biggest jokes ever cracked in Thailand and went as follows. The booze blocking hours were implemented to keep children off the bottle, hence the opening times were defined accordingly: 00h00-11h00 - no alcohol (so sober breakfast) 11h00-14h00 - alcohol sale permitted (when the kids are NOT at school and out for lunch) 14h00-17h00 - alcohol sale prohibited (when the kids are back at school) 17h00-24h00 - alcohol sale permitted (when the kids were out of school) What kind of solid rock bo111ocks is all that, given the fact, that apart from the bigger supermarkets every Tom, Dick and Harry shop sells you anything you want ...... anytime, that is!

All rubbish and if anyone would have cared for professional journalism, this article would have been written completely different. Scandinavians fly in berry pickers on a yearly basis for many years already. I do not know, which ministry in Thailand (ministry of labour?) is in charge of channeling all this; fact is, that a prospective berry picker has to go through an agency which "fixes" the job, air ticket and visa for an exorbitant highway robbery price. Now, as long as these workers show up on the fields, do their jobs and return back to their home country, the Scandinavian employers are happy. The "reimbursement" of exorbitant fees, service fees, interests on prepaid tickets on behalf of the pickers etc. are all a homegrown Thai story. The same happened in the past with Saudi Arabia and North African countries where workers could make more money than back home but got nicely skimmed by those ever-so-kindly-helping agencies. It is big business by the local mafia but it is obviously easier to brainwash Khun Somchai from Yasothon, that all this is the fault of the employer.

I do not want to be cheeky but 80km/h in Bangkok's downtown notorious traffic jam being "reduced" to 50km/h? Latter would be OK already but most of the time you snail through at anything +/- 20km/h - if you're lucky. Pay day, Friday evening, and it rains - forget all that!

Well, tell the minister, that Thai just adjusted their ground services to their lousy inflight performance. It is an absolute disgrace, how these arrogant snobbish air crew behave in their ever-so-important execution of their jobs. I do not really care for smiles and "Hello Mr. " but you can imagine what happens, if these high flyers all of a sudden have to evacuate an aircraft or assist a passenger. The same applies to the food; I agree that in-flight food is not meant to compete with Michelin stars but some food would be so much better if just properly reheated. Hence, I for one, gave up flying Thai long time ago; they will not feel the impact but I get much better deals with low cost carriers operating at half the price; there at least I know that I do not have to expect anything beyond basic minimum - and that is OK with me.

And who protects the youngster from the Police?

There is a distinct difference between "Reduction" and "Increase", as verbs it would refer to "reduce" and "increase". Question to the editor of this article is, do you know the difference?

I remember vividly, that Dr Thaksin, then prime minister, already worked on the idea of a "cell broadcast emergency warning system" after the Tsunami incident on 26 December 2001. Would that have been in place and broadcasting in Thai and English to switch on TV/radio etc. quite many more lives could have been saved. Seeing all those clowns sitting nicely in one row ....... 20+ years later and still nothing happened ....... welcome to Thailand!

Is it not amazing to what extent political dirt-thrown-at-random can go? What has his grandmother's temporary stay in Battambang to do with his personal abilities? Even, if she would have been Cambodian, it would certainly not disqualify him from doing what he does today. Or have I misread the Thai constitution? Remember when they wanted to pee onto Abhisit Vejjajiva (former Thai PM) for the fact, that he was born in Wallsend, United Kingdom, which - by the dinosaurs - should disqualify him from being PM in Thailand? It was brought to a screeching end immediately and never touched again - for those in the know!

A load of crock, as usual ............ anyone living here for a longer period of time can confirm smog and coughing being a daily nuisance meanwhile. If it does not improve, then I shall leave this country - I had it with all this bo11ocks!

Sweetie, no worries. I think the dinosaurs just roared a proper "watch it or we gotcha" message. If the old man does not behave the way the Neaderthalers say, then he will be in hot water. If he behaves and dances to the tunes of their whistles, he should be fine. Question now is the apparent position of his face but only he can answer that. So, if really unclear, then Paetongtarn Shinawatra will have to consult with the father-of-all-politics, like with almost everything else going on these days at the Parliament House 😉

Just realized that I really understand absolutely nothing. Three years ago Thai Airways had a loss burden in its accounting of THB 323 billion (give and take a few billion). That is BILLION not million. End of last year, i.e. 2023, they absorbed Thai Smile (WE) into Thai Airways (TG) officially. TG had shown a profit of THB 10 billion while WE closed with a loss of THB 20 billion. Now they went shopping for new aircraft while 50% can be seen permanently parked at Suvannaphoum and plenty of other planes are standing around in U-Tapao. Empty airframes (other airlines are still flying with those) are seen all over Thailand on Sukapibal 3 Road, Chic Chic Nong Khai and at an aircraft boneyard between Khao Mai Kaew and Rayong on highway 7 (left side just before Sattahip). Question now is, does TG buy aircraft and just park them - more or less - straight all over boneyards and future restaurant sites? Second question is, where do all those billions come from? But, as said in the first line ....... maybe I really don't understand a thing 😉

Well, well, what do I know! Give this complete idiot a solid gold medal for his findings as well as his advice on incense sticks et al. If this exemplary representative of the present government, Karom Phonphonklang, would have an IQ above his American shoe size, then he would simply shut up. But, if for whatever reason, he needs to get his 15 minutes of fame, why not name the real culprits of this terrible haze and smog - meanwhile all over the country and rising tendency? All those (few) processors running feed mills for their pork and chicken business keep srecwing those hundreds of thousands of farmers, latter with their back to the financial wall so adequately put there by loan sharks and the ministry of education. Latter ensures that those farmers have zero education and hence are all slaves of the oligarch elite - still. They need to grow crop like corn or sugarcane soonest possible to (at least try to) keep up with the exorbitant interest payments on loans threatening the ownership of their land. So, Mr Karom Phonphonklang, get real and factual or - just keep your shirt on!

No and that's the reason the Thai officials are not moving their backsides ....... unless, of course, Rolex was invented in Thailand as well 😉

All those who would run around at home with a sarong around their waist or featuring cotton boxers only. This kind of leg wear would be nice along the beach or on a leisurely trip - provided you do not look like a walking commercial for a design so important that the Thais believe that they invented it 😉

While I certainly disagree with the behavior of most cabbies these days, it remains a fact that their fares have not been reflecting inflationary adjustments. Flag fall is still at THB 35, which is a joke. Start with looking at that and that might rid quite a few problems to begin with.

Enraged over an international couple? Well, they upgraded from dirty farang and alien - it seems. Interesting is also that the officials go apes"*%t over something, which is on show against payment somewhere else in this beautiful country. Unless, of course, those pingpong and other shows underline purely educational purposes, that is!

15 minutes of fame in the wake of medieval days - or - game of thrones Thai version?

Well, if "conversion wonders" like i.e. the miraculous "baking flour into illegal substance" has no impact on politicability in Thailand .......

Well, luck has it, that there are plenty of alternatives and no, by principle, I would not go back!

Present senators were not voted in but placed there by Prawit, Prayuth and all the other army cronies. Let's see what happens during this year's election of the senate .....

"amulets are believed to offer protection" Explains, why some Thais have not inched into the 21st century yet!

Well, well, after a 25+ years absence, the tag line "the driver fled the scene" is back ...........