Sydebolle

The latest linguistic challenges between East and West could include: Suvarnabhumi, which is pronounced "Souwannaphoom" for English speakers, "Suwannaphuhm" for German speakers and "Souvannaphoum" for our French friends. In general, the English phonetics should prevail. Another lovely example is Pattaya, Pattya, Bad Thaya etc. while the beach of Jomtien can read Chomthien, Chom Thian and, my favourite being "Haad Choum Tien" (Haad stands for "beach"). Unless you put an educated bilingual desk in charge of this, Thailand will always feature hilarious signs to the benefit of non-Thai entertainment, me thinks!

During that time, no one less than the former prime minister, serving also as defense minister, was in charge. So it happened during his watch, and if it happened before him but after 2014, then Prawatch might be taken for questioning. While I certainly would not accuse either gentlemen of being directly involved, it is obvious, that apart from murky aircraft carrier and submarines deals it seems, that there are some other "leaks" (pun intended) within the armed forces ........

From the grapevine; the construction was awarded to a company which is owned by the family of former health minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Today, the latter "serves" as interior minister and is even closer to the flesh pots of Siam. I think we shall hear more of the government's decision on infrastructure construction - possibly not to the disadvantage of previously chosen enterprises, which did said airport, the parliament/government house etc. ???? Still better than to award it to those money-hungry red brethren from the North, right?

Pirkcs 'r us then ...... quite befitting!

Involve the resident relatives, one of them should pick her up from the airport and drop her off there again after the visit .......... Thai Air Asia and Nok Air know more; two flights a day for +/- THB 2'000/return ????

Well, start charging Central Department Store in Lad Prao market-conform rent for the property on which there is the Central Plaza Hotel and the Central Shopping dungeon. Then get these trains anywhere closer to the 21st century as well - Thais use trains as a last resort for good reason. Once that is done, talk to the Commodore or Admiral, who for any price on the planet insists on the survival need of submarines for the Thai navy. Once that is ticked off, see Thai Airways and kick out all those useless leeches in charge of parking 50+ aircraft longterm on Suvannaphoum and other aerodrome aprons. Another source could be the Airport Authority of Thailand with their daydreaming of expansion and duplicating of airports; excellent example could be Nakorn Ratchasima/Korat (IATA NAK). The old airport built by the Americans 60+ years ago between the city zoo and the city proper was and still is perfect; presently only used by the Air Force. The "new" airport was built some 30+ kilometers out of town - nobody in his right mind flies to Korat any longer. The complete waste of land owned and unused by the State Railway of Thailand is sufficient proof of absolute incompetence on the whole line ..........

That is a contradictory move. Only with high import duties it makes it worthwhile for the powers-to-be to bypass the official channels. Be it tobacco, booze or luxury consumer good items, the internet is full of grey market supplies and I would not want to screen all those closed pick-ups or trunks of the Mercedes with Bangkok plates on "duty free" supplies. But, as a former minister of commerce once said, those taxes, import duties and excise fees are there to communicate, that the government is taking it "from the rich" - forgetting, that the rich a) do not care and b) have plenty alternatives. Some countries invoke duties to protect local production which, if you ask me, hardly can be the case with that sludge of unquaffable wines and Thai cheeses have not made it onto a Michelin-rated table either ..........

The police is under the interior ministry headed by sweet heart Anutin. Latter reports to Srettha. My question is, why is Anutin "overlooked" in this matter; after all he is the minister in charge?

As it is clearly a "Thai interest only" subject I wonder, why this soap opera is given so much attention in the non-Thai media. We have nothing to say so maybe we read less about all that Thai-style rip-offs, cheating, lying and stealing from each other .........

What a statement of the Thai primus-inter-pares "income inequality". It has nothing to do with income inequality (which exists within Thailand on a massive scale, no doubt) but the retirees spending their last years in Thailand have nothing to do with income inequality. They worked all their lives between 42 and 45 hours weekly, for 45 years and only spent money they had. Thailand is top ranking on "spending as if there is no tomorrow" and working, well, let's not go there as far as quite a high percentage of the local population is concerned.

It is a Schengen issue, Germany has no longer the possibility to decide on who may enter their country and who not. Throw in their total mess with the unhindered avalanche of asylum chancers with the sole intention to deplete social welfare coffers and the disaster is complete. If the voters would have a choice (and they do not), they would go back to multilateralism - as they had before which included visa-free travel for Thai citizen to Germany. Now the German government in power, completely brainwashed and ideologically corrupt, runs after the "The Pied Piper of Brussels (not of Hamelin) and hence that meeting was a nice exchange of views without any chance of pushing anything through - by the German side that is ????

To deal with the present infection, I suggest (as it works wonders for me all the time) to use: Ciprofloxacin 500 (one after bkfst/dinner) Tarivid Ear Drops (4 drops twice a day) Once your ears are OK again, use corded ear plugs each and every time - 3M has an excellent choice, worthwhile the money and happy days in the pool again ????

Well, more than ten years ago one of them got "accidented" by the Red Bull grandkid who never saw the slammer and did a runner since. So raiding a house for political reasons is the lesser headache - me thinks. The troughs too small or any of the other three contestants lost his patience for the top job? The future will tell. Interesting is that they start hunting down themselves now ????

Well, 15 minutes of fame for yet another family member before they realize, that Pheu Thai went down the drain weeks ago when they shortchanged their voter base big time. But time will tell, let "il padrino" get out of hospitalized jail to mix the cards and Srettha, well, he might start looking for a nice comfy retirement cushion - financially he seems to do OK ????

Whoa, never heard of a PM to welcome unknown zero-dollar tourists - the Chinese though could not give a toss about it - unless it was a freebie along the lines somewhere ........ They must be more than desperate ..... or just keep a smoke screen up to hide something else ????

"... found the answer ...... about the ...... funding" If the state borrows from a state-owned bank, is not regarded as public debt. That boomerang will hit back big big time - last time it was 25 years ago; history repeating itself which sent 56 out of 57 finance companies owned by commercial banks ....... down the toilet!

I speak German fluently and the phonetics for the Russian "нет" reads - applying German phonetics - as "Njyet". Leaving the "j" out is not a game changer though ...... согласованный?

Too good to be true - a Thai soap opera with a Chinese booster - always provided this story is true in the first place. Thailand's slice of the Chinese tourism case is the cheap zero-dollar part; 10 million (0.007%) among 1'425 million Chinese, really? Yes, not all of those 1.4+ billion will travel but still ....... Thailand has to recompose its tourism industry from scratch; teach languages at school, do not paint everything non-Thai as alien, dirty, and negative, stop with this racism for which Thailand meanwhile is known for. Stop dual pricing, changing visa regulations to absurdity and, for longer-staying guests, facilitate the stay without all that bureaucratic nonsense the immigration is meanwhile well-known for. Do not send people away, if a visa extension is signed in non-blue ink or if photocopied are on both sides of a page. The Chinese are hordes of monstrous avalanche characters, rude, loud, impolite and selfish. This does not work with the Thais; focus on quality rather than quantity as you cannot handle quantity. Quality was a money spinner 30 years ago - back to the roots!

Well, Joe later on was told, that Thailand is a country on planet earth and Srettha is the CEO of that political circus performing on the other side of the planet ...

If the legal system does not put this monster down, there is always hope that it gets sorted internally within the walls of the Bangkok Hilton!

What a pity!

Now this soap opera has been going on for at least 30+ years. Toggling with the "Kra" canal in tandem ........ If you want to compete with Singapore by shortening the Far East-West sea link, then talk to the Chinese. No other nation is able to stem such projects all the while read the fine print. And, as Laos proved with its railway to absolutely no benefit of Laos except the few thousands who now can cross the land like greased lightning - some of the decision-makers walked away with a pension scheme to dream of ....... but that does not need extra training for the Thai government ..........

Well, if she is a resident, tenant or owner in said condominium, then I would take it the full nine yards to court - otherwise pay up and understand, that you've misused private parking of other people!

So the Germans remained firm with their "Njyet" on supplying German engines to China - good so. I just wonder now, to what extend Navy Chief Adm Choengchai Chomchoengpaet will benefit of the whole joke. Thailand and submarines - what an unbelievably good flop. Unless the commissioning of the deal is excellent ......... as the French say "on vera" ????

What a soap opera ...........