Sydebolle

5 October is the next hurdle or then, two months later on 5 December - Xmas at home?

Minor = activity, Major = counting the printed paper in bundles ............

Thank you for your input - I am aware of the DBD's e-service shown here below: https://ebiz.dbd.go.th/eservice-web/ https://ebiz.dbd.go.th/eservice-web/login.xhtml Back to Square One ???? regretfully!

Remember the days when a flight from Rangoon to Bangkok would take 90 minutes and then you queued 120 minutes at Don Meuang International Airport some 30 years back? Well, I am pleased to report that we're back in the queueing business again; regretfully those trumpeting 20 minutes waiting time are never seen when that avalanche of A380 etc. are all coming in at the same time. Somchai, challenged with any non-Thai language, flips slightly lost - through passport giving me the impression, that not all immigration officers really know what the hell he is doing.

Well, well, what do you know! "Boost Indian tourism in Thailand" should read "boost Indian tourism in Thailand in general". Thailand's tourism industry was second to none 35 years ago, when "Amazing Thailand" was coined. Thailand lived up to its promise, tourists came, enjoyed, paid and left. On the way out they took their newly-discovered love for Thai food along which put Thai cuisine firmly on the map of the planet. Today, the tourism is a disaster of many-tier-pricing, English is on the way out, people became as unfriendly as their greed increased; it is rip-off and taking visitors for a ride on the Thai tourism-merry-go-round. Prices went up proportionally to the service going down and today the industry has to move around many more tourists for less money in the bank. The answer is not free visas for Kazakhstan (although I am happy for all those Kazakhstani who were waiting in the wings for this privilege). Increase the present visa-free duration from 30 - 45 days, offload 90% of your bureaucracy with TM1 to TM100, allow tourists to open bank accounts (as in the past, when it was no problem) as they do not want to roam the land with tons of cash, get all those ghost services lurching around airports and tourist sites away, clean up your act and start (again) to provide "service with a smile". Do NEVER EVER forget, that the tourist has the choice and Thailand has to adjust to that as well; it is not that the tourist adjusts to Thailand for a temporary stay of a few weeks.

Is (s)he really ......... ?

What does the Public Health Minister chat with Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sitthipun after holding a talk on February 19? Back then Anutin was not Interior Minister and possibly Saksayam Chidchob might be taken into the discussion as Transport Minister? Whatever, this time they can only blame themselves and not the dirty farang!

Well, my blood pressure has been fluctuating on a daily basis ever since I put foot onto this planet ????

Seventeen years ago it was the venue for kicking the Thai PMs throne .........

As long as I see diesel cars in parking lots of shopping centres and supermarkets with running engines - empty of course as the owners and their passengers are roaming the air conditioned temples of consummation ........ Make public transport free of charge, add one or two Baht on benzine and keep the diesel price where it was lately - my unimportant grain of salt!

As long as doctors are treated semi-divine (together with teachers and government officers), you will always have the imposters pretending to be more than they are as even those "who are" sometimes do not admit, not having the slightest clue of what they are doing. Well, not one but two certified doctors working part-time at two independent private top hospitals at the Eastern seaboard attested a cataract in my eye. Replacement of the lens was quoted with THB 550'000 (multi-focal) and, getting a second opinion, THB 70'000 (mono-focal). Unhappy with the situation I went for a third opinion to see Rutnin Eye Hospital in Bangkok whose expert attested AMG (macula degeneration) with is a retina issue and had absolutely nothing to do with a lens-related problem. Without the third opinion I would have fantastic sight except that I would suffer from an irrevocable tunnel blindness, i.e. the focal point of my view would be ........ black and could no longer watch a movie, lest driving a car or anything else where a fairly good eyesight is necessary.

Well, that is nothing new. I remember back in the 80s flying to Mae Hong Son from Chiang Mai on a Short 330-200. Every passenger had to get on a scale and was seated accordingly - was it for trimming the plane reasons or anything else, I never found out.

The Royal Thai Embassy in the United States has, for sure, never done any business in Thailand - in that case. Sitting snugly in Washington DC with diplomatic status is one thing - but certainly not the reality! The endless avalanche of photocopies (all one-sided only, never copy anything on the backside), duly rubber-stamped with company seal and signed with blue ink for anything, together with company affidavits not older than one to three months spring to mind. They never applied for a work permit whereby the CEO has to confirm, that he decided to employ himself; all this again with blue ink, company affidavits, copies of passport, education certificates etc. Of course there has to be a board meeting with himself acting as CEO, secretary and witness - three in one. In case of a renewal, the yellow income tax payment receipts have to be presented in original and - yes - copies duly stamped and signed with blue ink. A full set of photographs showing the applicant seated behind a desk, again copied and blue inked. Organization chart, staff list etc. again - stamped and blue inked. Ah, and yes, not even half the people filing nails or enjoying a bowl of noodle soup at 10am behind the desk would speak a word of English despite doing nothing but paperwork for alien from outer space or, as so befittingly worded by a minister "the dirty farang"! Depending on what business (i.e. hospitality) the powers-to-be issue licenses for imported and local tobacco, imported and local alcohol and spirits, license for processing food and two licenses for playing music in public places, one for international tunes and one for local squeaks. Of course they are not in the same building, Soi or road and sometimes even in another municipality of the province. The labour department is next with their most antiquated system of social security welfare processing and payment; opening bank accounts - without any credit facility - adds to the bureaucratic fun. They certainly never tried to get a credit card swiper as that again requires copies of affidavits (not older than one month), work permit, passport and bank account books, all rubber stamped with seals and blue ink signatures. To get the affidavits, you are welcome to see the next "Department of Business Development" or DBD with 30 times more seats for customers waiting than officers behind the desks; latter usually manned only by 60% - 80%. You need to present rubber stamped and blue inked copies of your ID (i.e. passport with front page and all pages with a stamp in it) to APPLY to get the DBD affidavit, wait anything between 45 - 90 minutes, pay a ridiculously small fee and you're on your way again. So, whatever that Embassy may say - they have not the slightest clue what they are talking about. The entry into Thailand is tedious, a permanent uphill battle with authorities, government officials and other brakemen in full force; combined with a complete absence of common sense but yeah, once you get there and know your way around it is a walk in the park. This is my conclusion after almost four decades in the Land of interesting moments ????

I remember flying nonstop to New York on TG, one of the worst flights ever - apart from being veeerrrrryyyy long. The army boys some years back participated in a military show of some sort in Honolulu/Hawaii and they flew on a B747; the catering featured French champagne and the works in the tens of thousands of dollars and the official number of participants was more than doubled by shown only on the outbound passenger list, mostly females and ha generation to two younger. The public queried the matter ...... to no outcome, of course, as usual. Some years ago I read an article, that the Swiss president (which is higher than a prime minister) attended an ASEM meeting in Ulanbataar; the capital of Mongolia and travelled on a normal business class seat on Turkish Airlines via Istanbul - interesting how some countries keep public spending of their "officers" in check!

Except Thai Lion all other carriers owe me money which is ........ under process ????

That came in faster than expected but his background with Newin and Saksayam as well as the reputation of his father Chai might come in handy in times of need ..........

Well, he is roaming the North with Anutin who introduced the legalization - so they might have something to talk about tonight instead of hanging around in a sleazy karaoke bar ..........

Presently 13 flights weekly from Bangkok ......... but yes, get the runway extended to 10'000 meters as the forecast of the Tourism Authority of Thailand might earmark A380 flight, every hour to the hour from each of those 21 Chinese cities with more than 5 million inhabitants - and on weekends double. What a joke; Nan is a nice place but the Chinese have equally nice places more than similar to Nan - me thinks!

Jack it up .......

Given the totally overburdened farmers with debts left, right and centre ........

Pipat and his present as well as past cronies simply don't get it. Those increases, without any impact on productivity , are exclusively borne by the private industry, i.e. the corporate juristic tax payers. If salaries go up unjustified, the inflation is curbed - explain that to Khon Thai. His salary increase from 200 to 300 Baht (Yingluck's government) meant 50% from bottom or 33% from top which might account for the fact, that the noodle soup increased from 30 to 35-38 Baht. Latter though was not understood as the electorate is too uneducated to understand, that noodles and the soups need to be made prior to consumption and if the making increases - it might affect the costs 8-). But, and that's where the corporate tax payers come in. If unjustified rulings come from higher up, the work is relocated and Cambodia was a big winner already in the past. Just keep indirect vote buying with promises IF elected and you will run out of those who pay for your populistic election promises. Considering the vote outcome in May this year it is quite apparent, in which direction all this is heading .... but someone has to explain that in slow, clear spoken spellings to people like Pipat ????

That went faster than expected; the first strange news appear ????

So the boys are on an outing again; interesting are the traveling partners Anutin Charnvirakul, Patcharawat Wongsuwan and sweetheart Thammarat Prompao. What a team of experts roaming the land - how lucky Thailand is ????

Given the fact, that most kids are glued to all sorts of phones and tablets already - it would not make a difference to them. The stuff they learn at school here is provenly substandard - to be polite - irrespective if administered in printed or electronic form. For argument's sake, uploading respective school applications would suffice and well, if not enough space, then throw out some of those useless game apps with which those children are wasting their playtime outside. But the money might not be in the apps but rather in the hardware and, surprise, surprise, the name Chidchob pops up. The sitting Education Minister Police General Permpoon Chidchob is lesser known than his father - the "Padrino" of Buriram Khun Chai Chidchob. His brothers are the uncrowned chief of Buriram, Bhumjaithai Party patriarch Newin Chidchob, the ruler of Buriram and Saksayam Chidchob, former Transport Minister. All of them interesting characters on the political chessboard of Thailand. This tablet business taps interesting tax payers resources while the problem is not the media but rather the content - me thinks!

All OK, all good - everyone is the same in the eye of the Thai law. Some are just more equal than others and I had this idiotic imagination, that it might be related to some mail, envelopes or statements - but, as said, imagination only ????