Sydebolle

You simply did not get it, right?

Correct, yet overland crossings are a completely different ball game - the forms and the blue ink are celebrated like nothing else would matter. On arriving by air though you need to present your boarding pass; leaving it on the aircraft (as in my case) resulted in a shower of lectured "just to let you know" for 20 minutes after consultation with the supervisor on duty and facial expressions like if they just caught Jack the Ripper!

Well, I have to agree to disagree yet it might come to an utter surprise, that neither your nor my opinion is of any relevance - whatsoever 😉 Enjoy Wednesday all the while .....

I do not want to sound cheeky but what do you expect for a consultation fee of 200 Baht - seriously? You got an opinion on your skin spots for a steal of a price!

Pay up and get on with life - it is not the end of humanity and might indoctrinate the old saying that homework is essentially important, specially in this part of the world. And, given the fact, that Americans are not the most popular folks in Indochina, you can assume, that apart from Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore you might need a visa in each and every case. Does it make sense, does it promote tourism? No, it does not but that is not up to us to evaluate.

Well, well, what do you know. For once Thailand is not the mother-of-all-hubs as the article refers to "although Thailand did not make the Top Ten". Discount all the paid services and the institution of minor wives - which seems to still be very much in fashion. I'm crossing the border regularly into neighbouring countries overland and every second time I'm asked on the number of wives. Not being among the Fidels they shake their heads or grin stupidly if I refer to not bnok around like a hyrno rabbit. The problem is certainly the chauvinist structure of the Thai society and those hundred thousands of left-behind women with children parked somewhere with the uncles and grannies upcountry speak a language of its own!

Once you're done with your xenophobic farang bashing over that Swiss bloke who apparently did wrong you might wonder, how this vapor got through the security screening, how nobody really realized what happened inside the aircraft except the person taking the video. Last not least, the entire eVaping business is illegal and punishable by low - possibly 250 years in the slammer or 50 Baht ...... or both! While the incident is absolutely irrelevant and actually not even newsworthy it nevertheless shows the intended ignorance by Thais towards their own country, countrymen and the Thai law! Bienvenue en Thaïlande ...... 😉

Get it from the horse's mouth and check directly with the department of land transport. They are online connected throughout the country and can give you, real time, the actual status. Get a copy of the book and tell them that you've been offered the car. Possibly you need to properly prepared for stories you simply cannot invent.

Simple - you cannot make this entire soap opera up - beats any real life! And, despite having short changed the ever-so-important voter base this pristine example shows, once more again, what can and is possible in Thailand.

Well, the airport is privately owned by Dr Prasert who, co-incidentially also owns Bangkok Airways, Bangkok Air Catering and the Bangkok Hospital Group all over Thailand. So, if anyone is eyeing anything, it would be Dr Prasert who, despite his age, is in excellent state and very sharp minded. Srettha is one of the PMs who came and went while the business icon is still there ........

Neutral - my foot. Throw those illegal immigrants into the slammer in Mae Sot, impound the aircraft and treat those brothers-in-arms like any other illegal immigration ......... Naahhhh, this is Thailand, so just forget about what I wrote - I am completely off the page on this subject as well 😉

Wondering, if this considerably worse incident - compared to the Swiss bloke in Phuket, generates 1% of the World's media attention. The story of the Swiss guy in Phuket resulted meanwhile in a second-to-none collateral damage example, while the local Somchai did what happens here cheaper by the dozen.

Well, I do not know what "Ubonjoe" might have written 8+ years ago but I can tell you what I am doing on an almost weekly basis - it includes, among other idiotic TM2, TM3 and TM4 also the TM6, each and every trip .......... and have been a PR for the last 36 years 😉

Anymore, but forget to present your boarding pass when you started the journey and you'll be in for a hell of a surprise, trust me!

Like it or not, China calls the shots. Louder in countries like Laos and Cambodia, not as strong in Burma/Myanmar as well as Thailand. All decisions made in this country, irrespective of private industry or government, are ethnic Chinese. Most of them were not here yet 100 years ago. And, trust me, if China says no, then the Thais will bravely agree with "understood".

Well, the few isolated incidents among the tens of millions of tourists are in absolutely no comparison to what is happening to Thais by Thais, in absolute numbers as well as in percentage. But I might suggest to simply close Thailand to all non-Thais, do not let anyone in anymore. No issue with immigration, alien crime, no minister to be compelled to call them "dirty farang". All those girls below 18, impregnated by meanwhile runaway boy friends, can remain in the village harvesting rice, dance the mohram, watch the temple festivals leekaeh as there are no gogo bars and houses of ill repute anymore. The semi-divine are among themselves and everyone is happy. Keep the bashing on non-Thais coming, fan more into racism and xenophobia - just to keep everything under control. If common sense would prevail and everyone would be treated according to the (good) Thai law, this place would be a much cleaner place, less crooks would be creeping around those most complicated and mind-boggling rules and regulations by the immigration, money could be parked into any bank account, irrespective of work permit, one year visa as nobody would be given overdraft facilities. Use some of the tremendous piles of kick-backs with the army, navy, air force and literally all other government agencies to upgrade your education system and Thailand would slowly inch towards the 21st century. Pathetic farçe, all those hot air statements by the "bosses" - sick and tired of 'em!

The Lao government gave the green light in 2016 for their high-speed train on an uncharted territory as Laos never had a train system before. The Chinese dug hundreds of tunnels and constructed hundreds of bridges in order to open the link from the Lao-Chinese border in Boten to the Lao-Thai border in Vientiane. 2016 they said, it would be running on 2 December 2021 - in line with the Lao National Day. Guess what, the train rolled on 2 December 2021 and since then proved a flawless operation. If the former Thai government - self-assigned since 2014 - would have started then as well, the train link would have been finished in 2021 as well and Bangkok would be connected by rail to the rest of the world. This did not happen and lukewarm excuses came, as the self-elected government finally got out in 2023. The Thai terrain is much easier without all those hinderances of tunnels and bridges - but there was no will. Now they finally had to give in and listen to the marching orders from Beijing; I guess the train might run by the end of this decade, unless a political bumper is thrown in - for good measure!

You cannot find Thai staff willing to work - simple as that. I lost a maid in charge of mopping the restaurant floor and three rest rooms clean at a staggering pay cheque of THB 17'500. In addition to this, she got her share of the service charge; never under THB 7'000, a free quality Thai meal, one day off a week and one month paid vacation. She left as I had two, three suggestions to improve while facilitating her job like keeping the rest room door open after (daily) mopping and using a floor fan to speed up the drying prior to opening. Apparently she lost face .... A kitchen helper doing crockery and glassware was asked to help the kitchen staff in helping to wash up pans (every dish is cooked in a clean new pan). She was not busy at the time but said, that she is here for crockery and glassware and not for pans. When I mentioned to her to help her colleagues (exceptionally) she took of her apron. While everyone thought she went to the look - she had left the restaurant and never returned. Burmese, Laotians and Cambodians perform much, much better for the same amount of money - problem there is that you hardly get an official permit. The Thai bureaucracy is in full steam and hence quite a few of other restaurant and hospitality operators just hire them illegally as they cannot be a"*ç%*%d with all that paper nonsense. You're welcome!

Well, it is party time then - most perfect timing just before Songkran .......... Happy New Year to everybody 😉

Well, he'll be booked for a while with a permanent address for the time being ......... meanwhile some other crooks tried to smuggle 128 buffaloes from Myawaddy to Mae Sot. The mind boggles, very active smuggling in and out

Revamp the entire immigration; unload 90% of all those forms, forget about blue-inked signatures on photocopies etc. etc. etc. It is tedious, repetitive and - in some cases - rather insulting by immigration officers who cannot even speak English. I mean, who seeks the services of the immigration - Thai citizen for one are not among them!

Apart from the endorsement you will need a re-entry permit; question is, is this the same form for "non-immigrants" as for "immigrants"? I hold a PR and prefer to fill in the forms at home after downloading ......

Wrong, TM6 still required if you travel overland into/from Thailand (at least in Nong Khai at the Friendship Bridge) ......

Well, bananas are for such low levels like him; real politicians believe in a political agenda and programme - less about money and certainly not about monkey food, Sir! But as long as this country is run by such banana lovers, what do you expect, seriously?

I remember the old airport very well and also used it. Once they moved it out of town - completely unnecessary waste of hundreds of millions of Baht - most of my staff and myself were faster in Korat than flying. The capillary logistics to/from the airport = not in place; just another big mess. Going back to the old airport is more than sufficient for the air traffic, the commissions on the new airport must all have been not only paid but also burnt up so there is nothing to prevent the return to a much better solution.