Sydebolle

I would reply in detail if your writing would make any sense and would be related to the original subject 8-)

The daily input from the Ladyboy front; it seems that this is all much more interesting than all those historic sites and beautiful national parks ......... me thinks?

But this survey did not include the ladyboy scene which is getting beatings nightly, right?

What a load of .......... the 54 passengers most likely were all redundant bus drivers who, after the Songkran-mania, now were hired by the air force as future pilots?

Governor Worrayan seems to throw a tantrum over the issue. No airport would rob him from the 15 minutes of fame as well as a statue on the main square of Mukdahan - while others might fear for the commissioning which would not take place. Needless to say, that a Basel-Mulhouse airport (being both a Swiss and a French airport) with a bus shuttling from Mukdahan to and from the gated airport would cost an absolute fraction (in the one digit percentage compared to an airport in Mukdahan which is literally 10 minutes away from the Lao Savannakhet airport). But don't hold your breath, Thailand has proven daily to be good for yet another surprise - on vera, as the French say 😉

Point taken, thank you for the correction - every day is school day ❤️

Road 2331 in Petchabun is a pristine example and, officially, listed as a public road. Now knowing more I drove up that lovely road until I reached a "National Park" shack to the right of the road. There they wanted THB 20 for my Thai child and THB 500 from me; official with tickets and everything. I pretended to take out my wallet which made the staff in the shack to rip off a "Farang" and a "Thai" ticket and then immediately invalidating the tickets by tearing them apart. Once that was done I put my wallet back and said that I changed my mind and shall take another road as I disagree with this heavy two-tier policy based on race. I've never heard worse Thai words for a Farang and was surprised, what else they have in store for all those who are not semi-divine. I wonder how this guy explained that to his supervisor for having torn tickets without money but, in all fairness, this really should stop. Having paid taxes here for 40+ years this rampant racism gets on even my nerves. If they would let Thais pass without any hinderance and collection of anything (as they are the tax payers) while all non-Thais would pay a nominal entry fee, it would have never ever sparked any such discussions and is the way it is done all over Europe.

Me thinks that nudity is the smaller problem on the list of activities on said island .... just saying

Announce that as of Monday, 12 May 2025 anything standing around on public pavements will be removed and destroyed. Trust me, works wonders; they managed on Nakluea road and maybe it is time to boot the backsides of the officials in charge of "cracking down". There might be a conflict of interest though as the same crackers in charge of ensuring that everybody adheres to the laws and rules ...... went/go around for some contributions to unknown destinations. Quite simple, all those laws and regulations serve the sole purpose of lining pockets of those in charge of enforcement. Never came across another nation where literally any instruction is carefully read for the (always existing) possibility to bend it .... or ignore it completely. When caught with the fingers in the cookie jar, a "sorry, I did not know" followed by a little tip usually fixes (almost) all problems. The higher up the culprit or the mistake; the better the tipping gets 😉

Well, the food business is pretty much monopolized by CP; a late arrival by another member of eliterian oligarch roots is the Chirathivat family (owners of Central group) with their addition of "Go Wholesale". All the small "convenience" stores get their supplies from literally the same source as everyone else.

I've been traveling for more than half a century and trust me, 50 years ago there was not even 10% of the bureaucracy anywhere which resulted in much faster processing, as less of everything was involved. Today, apart from removing belts and - anytime soon undies as well, you might wonder, what those authorities will invent next to make traveling more tedious? What do they do with all that data. It does not prevent crime, mischief, it does not provide vital quality data for the host country? Which European country has such landing/departure cards and if not, WHY not? It is not only TM6, if you are interested then query the need of duplicated TM2, TM3 and TM4 when traveling overland by car; they still insist (we're taking about car travels) on passenger lists, crew lists as well as the call sign apart from the car plate registration, colour of vehicle, engine and chassis number. Needless to say, that these forms, as said in A4-duplicates, are not even looked at; just collected on departure (and the second copy on arrival) without even looking at the date.

How about blocking this fake website? The Thai authorities in charge of censoring almost everything we hear, see and read certainly knows how to block off such misbehavings. I remember vividly how they blocked all sites not befitting the semi-divines, the stuff for only over 18 years etc. But then again, who runs the illicit site ripping off the infidel non-Thais .... again?

How to promote even more Chinese tourism to Thailand - explained. Provided the story is true, then the official customs authorities would have been better off to keep their mouth shut and pass on a proper examination to be conducted by the competent authorities; possibly letting some Chinese authority representatives be a part of the survey team.

Why does this not come as a surprise. Just waiting for a fake website faking the fake website. If visa service agencies make an extra THB 1,000 as a service provider by "assisting" the data entry on behalf and behest of a traveller, so be it - good on them. Absolutely amazing what the goons at the immigration come up with all the time. Considering the data entry it makes you wonder, what on Earth they want to do with this data, apart from exposing millions and millions and millions of non-Thais to potential data theft and/or data misuse. Welcome to Thailand, the country which never runs out of funny ideas 😉

" bronze Mercedes E 240 bearing Bangkok plates" Retired police seem to pull quite a nice pension - good on them 😉

To solve the problem - a few questions and suggestions: a) tattoo every Farang with a QR code allowing automatic debit of whatever the Thai host fits suit b) why not call the police before hacking down the culprit (who is at fault) as there is no law in Thailand allowing physical gender, race or ethnic bashing (unless I missed something here) c) why do Thai "hosts" keep on serving alcohol and other incapacitating intakes well knowing, that the customer is beyond an acceptable limit? Is it greed, more greed or only greed? d) in case of doubt ask for pre-payment like those charge cards at food courts? Once the cash is used up - fill up further or leave

Yes, unfortunately you are spot on with your statement .......... I could not agree more

Mukdahan/Savannakhet could be Asia's first answer to Basel-Mulhouse. Basel is in Switzerland, Mulhouse in France and on disembarking, the passengers walk through either the French or Swiss exit. Savannakhet's airport would require a minor upgrade - if at all - as the traffic there does not require A380 services every hour to the hours from all Southeast Asian capitals. A bus service from Savannakhet airport to Mukdahan across the bridge which has been in service for almost 20 years, would be the answer. But in true fashion of ASEAN and AEC2015 this will remain wishful thinking; not building an airport in Mukdahan means no commissions, no sale/purchase of rice fields at pristine pricing of lower Sukhumvit, no landfills etc. etc. etc. and, most importantly, no dependance from the red brethren across the Mekong.

Book the cabbie for manslaughter as he purposely did NOT move; might possibly change the arrogant selfish attitude of Thai drivers behind the steering wheel which, in turn, could save lifes! For once, this is something you will never ever have to book a dirty Farang!

In all fairness, who wants to holiday in Pattaya unless they are in for wrip-offs, ladies of the night, traffic jams and overpriced everything ....... Thailand in general and Pattaya/Phuket in particular have lost their crocks!

Two things spring to mind: a) "gestures rudely with his middle finger" - makes it politically correct; congratulations to the journalist b) once the local kings of law enforcement locked up the culprit and thrown away the keys - quite right so - they might want to get their attention drawn to the slightly aged case of the accused killing of a police officer on duty by the grandson of the "Red Bull" empire. Never spent a minute in jail, most charges exceeded statutory limitations meanwhile, a few underlings were booked into the Bangkok Hilton while the real big wigs and the little sweetheart is still running in and out of London; the residence is known (at least on first attempt by Associated Press AP who tried to stuff a microphone up his throat) yet eight or nine digit amounts must have keep the "case at bay" But as it is, everybody is the same in front of the law, some are "samer" than others 😉

As long as Thailand follows the "everybody is the same in Thailand except that some are samer than others", the country will be considered a backyard banana republic. Property cannot be wrapped up, packed into a suitcase and smuggled away. The Alien Business Law (interpretation of Alien might be interesting to start with) stipulates no hair dressing, ice carving and massage services (whatever that in-/excludes), architects, doctors and lawyers are banned as well as tourism related driver seats. Some selected few professionals of non-Thai heritage went for Thai citizenship in order to make serious money as aliens in a field where only the semi-divine may linger. The bottom line is, that this inequality resulted in inferiority along the whole horizon to the disadvantage of Thailand and its people. The best person should be doing the job, irrespective of gender, ethnic background, religion etc. Everything else is medieval and will backfire one or the other way. The property story is flattened out; became a law after the first avalanche of Chinese 80 - 100 years ago, when the new arrivals realized, how innocent and uneducated the locals were and how much money could be made. This property restriction was basically nothing but preventing following Chinese after the Great March to settle. The Thais then threw in the non-difference between natural and juristic Thai persons and, if properly and professionally done, three companies all owning each other result in 3 times 100% Thai owned and legally circumvents this shortsighted restriction of "Thais only". You're welcome - you may now kiss the ring 😉

Since all other problems of Thailand are meanwhile solved, go for the nitty-gritty stuff now. Disconnect all numbers missing registration but keep them for i.e. six months to allow all those foreigners, who are presently not in Thailand, to fulfill the requirements. Send each and everyone an SMS with a URL link which gives the details in various languages on a website. For all others - the verified ones - you might want to re-instate PayPal again so I can legally shop again and do not have to misuse my wife's PayPal account 😉

If this meeting unlocked the deadlock, then the whole exercise of a state funeral was worth every single Euro!

That whole TIN story, the taxation of retiree income etc. etc. etc. Keep C O O L - if they want something from you they will certainly make sure that you know; be it at the 90-days-joke or the yearly one-year-visa-renewal. Until then you can rest assured, that nothing will happen. Sooooooo many ideas were tabled over all those decades I've been living here; if I would have taken each and every one serious I would be no longer alive. A tourist is - whatever you hear - excepted and this house registration book for non-Thais in yellow etc. is not for tourists either. Need to know anything, get it from the horse's mouth and Bob's your uncle!