Sydebolle

Interesting input for which I thank you. The "chattels" are history and if the Brits want to keep on the "tradition" - so be it. The American problem is not the locals shooting around like there is no tomorrow. The law makers keep the national rifle association and their idiocy alive. In my country every serving soldier (i.e. male, between 20 and 50 years of age) has a machine gun at home as well as 24 rounds of ammo. All those men are professionally trained in the handling of the gun and that results in the world's possibly lowest gun fatalities. The bridge jumpers; well, it cannot be the state's job to prevent each and every suicide as the state is rarely at fault to start with - me thinks

I am retired and hence no more contributions

Thank you VERY much, now that's sorted. Based on your kind explanation, I have been billed a base tariff of THB 3.897 (or THB 3.90) per unit (most likely kw/h) and that is to go up to THB 4.68. The increase would read THB 0.783/unit or 20% over the existing tariff. While I don't have an issue nor want to moan over that increase I wonder, how that goes down with the uncles and grannies upcountry with their electricity destroying equipment like old fridges and energy-inefficient rice cookers.

Was it the newest addition of the Tourism Authority of Thailand called "Barbequeue on the move"? Asking for a friend - Bonne chance, mes amis de la France"

Wondering, what kind of expert will analyze "political illness"

Well, so the King(dom) of Power(buying) comes to an end after 17 years in operation. During those 17 years they could enjoy a monopoly (like other retail business in this country), billions of Baht changed accounts and piggy banks and now they are "not happy"? Their unhappiness might be rooted in the fact, that the horn of plenty is not so plenty anymore after all these years - who knows. I - for one - never bought anything there as some prices were even more expensive than "duty paid" in town - luxury consumer goods like watches sprang to mind ....... It will allow now for ample additions of toilets; that was a real issue when Swampy opened in 2006 when they had more duty free outlet and space than toilets which were more than few and far between. Still better though than Santa Cruz International Airport of Bombay some 40+ years ago, where the toilets got forgotten all together which resulted in a delayed opening to add those private areas where one could "powder the nose"! Mysterious are the ways of the East!

Freedom of Speech - Thai style.

Nong Bua Lamphu - what an excellent choice! I am sure that the uncles and grannies of this province, lost between Loei and Udon Thani, will be more than delighted over the opportunity to share their 15 minutes of fame. Imagine hotels, restaurants and venue operators going all into overdrive; maybe not in service level but certainly in billing abilities ;-)

How to cook up the perfect deal and take an entire nation for a helluva big ride on the merry-go-round called Thailand! Let's see the reshuffling of the cards once the sick patient is healed and out of his confinement. In the meantime I suggest Dr T's daughter on the left side of the picture to change her tailor to an Indian expert, Khon Thai seriously looked at something else than her body shape. Not an issue usually but in a public appearance ...... Thailand Soap Opera 4.1 - the next season is in the making

Be prepared for a surprise, you might have a lot of month left at the end of the money with 70K cold rent and pleasing the willy on a daily basis.

If a Thai has no insurance, it is wrong but no real surprise. If a traveling Caucasian arrives without travel insurance, then (s)he is an idiot. In all fairness, the Thai healthcare system needs to look after its own people (first) and seems to do it - with questionable treatment and equally challenging qualifications of some of those medics. The positive flip side of the coin though is, that Dr Thaksin's healthcare bill presently accumulating at the police hospital, where he spends his prison term, is paid for the Thai government. Latter, not having any money themselves, splurge on tax payers money. Hope that clarifies the actual situation .......

The professor is in the wrong line of duty, he should have become a diplomat with his referral to being "open for interpretation" ..... truer words never spoken. Should the boys go ahead with their THB 560'000'000'000 cash avalanche, then the government (not having a single cent of their own) will have to borrow that from third parties. No commercial bank in their right mind will borrow them anything so that leaves the "government" banks left behind on the ice rink. Should, repeat, SHOULD, that mad idea go ahead, then a government bank will distribute that loan and subsequently go bankrupt - remember 1998, when all the banks parked their dodgy deals into finance companies they owned? Next step was to let those finance companies go down the abyss; of 57 some 56 went belly up. Whichever way, the tax payer will foot the bill one or the other way, so in essence the Bangkokian tax payer will pay for a populistic election promise-cum-post-vote-buying to the benefit of the 75% upcountry voters who have not the slightest idea, what all this is all about. But in true Thai fashion "happy happy happy" with lots of supply of "Baht" manna from heaven, to be invested in lottery tickets, local firewater and other essentials of Khon Thai to the utter frustration of those Thais, who have arrived in the 21st century! In closing, no surprises here as the voter, tax payer and backbone of this country has not been asked about the imminent survival need of Chinese built submarines - albeit without engines - to stir the shallow waters of the Golf of Thailand - and reminds of earlier hat tricks by another complete idiot who "preferred" an aircraft carrier built in Spain and ever since gets grown to the port bay of Sattahip thanks to all those barnacles who seem, apart from the admirals and the children on "National Children's Day" in January each year, "happy too much" ;-)

I asked quite some time ago at the office of the Provincial Electricity Authority on how to read the bill. Although nice and kind, nobody was able to explain this most complicated bill of surcharge, discount etc. on a simple household electricity bill and I wonder, if anyone reading this particular thread is able to explain the basics.

Well, good luck the PM is taking his job deadpan serious. I did not know that "tourism safety" is an issue in Phuket and apparently such a dangerous place that even the CEO of the country has to show up. Ever seen any tourism safety exercises around the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Schloss Schönbrunn in Vienna or Buckingham Palace in London. The Statue of Liberty in New York as well as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco seem all to be less dangerous compared to Phuket. Well, as the saying goes, every day is school day! Count me out, I rather hop over to San Francisco

Loy Krathong Thai-overseas style in a muslim country - well, wonders never seize and the Malay religious police obviously had less issues with the appearance of Khon Thai than the dinosaurs back home ....... what a farçe!

I cross the Friendship Bridge 1 at least twice a month; never ever came across a Chinese tourist in any of the non-existing queues. Apart from Thais and Laotians you find only the odd ASEAN-visa-runner from the Philippines or Vietnam crossing from Thailand into Laos just to return on the next available border-crossing bus back to Thailand. Explains partly the massive tourism arrivals of ASEAN citizen in Thailand?

So what is the government always crying about all those dirty farang who drew the Thai healthcare business financially into the abyss? I - for one - paid my dues into the Social Security Insurance of Thailand - according to the law. Interesting enough is the fact, that when collecting the pay out due to retirement, my birth year on their file was making me ten years old than I actually am. In addition, all contributions from 1985 to 2000 were not traceable anymore. A legal pathfinding might have resulted in clarity but the legal expenses would have been in no comparison to the amount in question. So, I assume, that Dr Thaksin either heals his problems partly on my financial input ....... or was smart enough to get his contributions, if any, out in time!

As the Italians say "attenzione a non essere detronizzato" ;-)

Can anyone share the phone number of the worldwide well-known culprit of those "environmental disasters" with H.E. The Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, who quite obviously is either completely ignorant or smoke-screening activities like all his predecessors? No meeting is required, just enforce the law by the police, which is under the direct leadership of who? Guessing is allowed ;-)

Those around then will remember, that they built the QSNCC centre in a mere nine months as well as a long wall along Ratchadaphisek parallel to Soi 16 to hide the slums. Furthermore school classes were driven over to the new wall to "beautify" the concrete with children's paintings. To hide the fact over Bangkok's then already notorious traffic jam, the government declared a public holiday week and justified that with the statement, that "the school children could also enjoy the IMF conference". I was in charge of accompanying a European Finance Minister who asked me in the government-sponsored limo, what these discussions over Bangkok's traffic jams were all about as we were whisked through between QSNCC and the (former) Hilton Hotel on Wireless Road. The minister passed away, the Hilton manages another property but my memories over that Thai governmental hat trick remains a vidid memory ;-)

Well, that makes two of us. I remember the news on the Thai telly, while the radio would provide a - more often than not - delayed English soundtrack. Some funny moments were enjoyed by one and all. On the way to work in the morning I listened to the English news by Radio Thailand. It took a spoilt brat of a Phooyai to read the news, unfortunately they had not the slightest exposure to a native English-speaking person which had a more than entertaining element on the wireless. Agricultural produce like vegetables got verbally converted to furniture as veghee table; strawberries got announced as "sa-tra-bellee", a promotional support by the department of export on "pa-la-sa-teek" referred to plastic industrial issues etc. etc. etc. Still here, still enjoying while being slightly melancholic seeing, that the next generation is even worse on the issue of foreign languages and wondering, how they will manage the challenges ahead of them in the decades to come

The answer is simple = the government, phooyais and the local upper crust does not WANT to speak English and hence the underlings of the land have to follow suit. I met Thai teachers, major in English, who could not follow a basic English conversation; some years ago they cleared out most native-English speaking staff (the dirty farang again) and the rest of them is getting paid that little, that nobody in his right mind wants to work here. Given the fact, that the kids are glued to the telly being hammered with cartoons from the English or Japanese speaking world, they could just let those cartoons run in their original language versions. By the age of, say, ten or so, those children would be able to speak and understand both languages with ZERO effort; to teach them how to write and read would be soooooo much easier. But try to convince all those clowns at the education ministry. It remains a fact, that those in charge of improving education are the same people benefitting from the fact, that the education level remains sub-zero. I have never found out, what they do with Thai kids over 15+ years of education in primary, secondary and university levels except exercising three, four days prior to graduation to receive their degree with the ever-so-important-picture; fact is, that they leave the education process not being able to compete with almost any other ASEAN state. A poor certification of how the next generation is being short changed and the result is evident. The most sought after commodity here is semi- or skilled staff; Thailand has the biggest problems regarding Human Resources which makes sure, that the longer the more investors turn away to other countries in the region. Their call - really!

Ah, now I understand the Thai navy admiral who expressed his "preference" of submarines over frigates ..........

Only once the RTP is doing the job they are actually employed for, things might change. There is a reason, why Thailand toggles between 1st and 2nd most dangerous country to drive and the RTP is to blame for absolute ignorance and Baht-blindness in enforcing existing (good) laws! But here again, the Phuyais get their share of the highway heist - which explains the sometimes rather fancy exclusive cars parked at the police stations. Latter possibly inherited or won in the lottery?

Blue Diamond Affair - knock on the top floor for that issue. Never solved, left lots of collateral damage behind apart from the fact, that the Saudis banned Thai workers for an entire generation which has cost Thailand billions of dollars for the pleasure of the Blue Diamond and other heisted jewelry for the selected very few! Has anything changed since? Go figure ........... every intersection is your testing ground for what other places would call "highway robbery"! Albeit in much smaller denomination but evidently very fatty returns ;-)