Sydebolle

The "copyright infringement" of a unproven Thai design - which makes everyone laughing - comes from the same sources not caring a bit about the tons of Rolex copies and the likes sold to tourists by the truckload. I would have bought such legwear long time ago, if it would be available in neutral pastel colour, i.e. without design. Maybe I am not the only one; many people around me think the same.

Questions: - why did Grannie film the rape rather than going over-the-moon like any other decent grandparent would have done? - when does Thailand implement and execute capital punishment for paedophiles, rapists and drug dealers? - is the officer in charge, who did not move his backside, facing a paid vacation in jail prior to get fired immediately for good? - is the head of police station getting demoted for not having his shop under control? - the PM, apparently in direct control of the police force (not under the interior ministry) should appoint external help to clean up the police force, once and for good; when is this going to happen? - are the men of the cloth being properly screened prior to entering monkhood; too many criminals and run-aways hide behind the semi-divine walls of all those temples these days and give the cleric the "tainted" image - to put it mildly

How interesting ...... Is someone (who?) driving the message home prior to Thaksin's imminent parole expectation (expecting 22 February or shortly after that). It certainly makes it crystal clear, that he is not to rock the (political dinosaur) boat and that some drummers are keeping a very, very close eye. As said, how interesting, this arena of circus politics ......

Taking "quality tourism" to new heights on the infamous "full moon island" ........

Don't think so, but your Embassy or Consulate can clarify this point. Based on what would the UK immigration NOT let a British subject return to the motherland?

The very same happened to me in Nong Khai. Able barber but, post-pandemic, changed his "list of services" and increased marginally (THB 10) for "small child", "child" and "grown-up" - all in Thai language (which I can read). The only English reference was "Farang" with an increase from THB 100 to THB 200. I had to wait for previous customer to finish when I saw the sign. Stood up, told the owner (who knows me for many years) to reconsider his pricing as I would go elsewhere. The other customers waiting were surprised to hear me talking in a composed normal way. Bumped into the barber months later at a local supermarket; he approached me and said, that I - of course - would be categorized into the Thai pricing. Vote with your feet; no big stink or show, just walk away - but make sure they know why you're doing the walk 😉

One way to keep the Missus out of the house and busy ...... interesting!

It comes with the price. I've written off refunds and - hell, no - never ever managed to TALK to someone. The nasty part of the story is, that all other carriers are the same. With Thai Lion you can, if it is your once-in-a-lifetime-lucky-day, speak to someone but the outcome = same, same.

Way to go Sir; we had visitors who spent almost two hours in the "queue of immigration bureaucracy" which - I, for one - would add to the list of attractions in Bangkok. The immigration needs a MAJOR revamp to reach this anticipated goal. In Singapore, after Paya Lebar closed and Changi Airport was closed, they managed then already some 30+ years ago to be in a hotel room one hour after touch down. As said "way to go" and maybe - for once - go and look how others handle their immigration. Much worse is crossing in and out - overland. Traveling by your own car from i.e. Nong Khai to Vientiane ....... total nonsense, honestly. Apart from a "information of conveyance" (called TM2) - in duplicate, a "passenger list" (called TM3) and a "crew list" called TM4 is required. All with engine and chassis number (Thai car registration number is not sufficient - for whatever reason), no carbon copy paper and, since it is overland, a "departure/arrival card" (TM6) needs to be completed also with only black or blue inked ball pen in capital letters. This, in addition, also requires a re-entry permit. The customs for the car is another issue, but does not belong here. Mr Prime Minister, shake up your underling Anutin - in charge of interior Thai bureaucracy - and inch Thailand's internationalism towards the 21st century - thank you!

Immigration and Department of Labour will be out in forces to hunt down the dirty farang, a.k.a. alien, for begging without work permit. Needless to say, that such news is terrible as it taints the "farang ruae" (foreigners are rich) message hammered into the semi-divine Khon Thai which results in getting overcharged due to white skin - on all levels, governmental (national parks and sightseeing sights) as well as private (hotels, taxis etc.). And then they wonder, why the very group with fed the tourism industry billions of dollars in the past, went elsewhere and, what is left behind is either a poor fellow begging or a crook taking Thais for a ride.

The convention is called "Den Haag" and refers to the Dutch city with the same name. Best is to write your embassy an email on where to get a notary public serving an "apostille of Den Haag". Worst case scenario you will have to process the documents through the UK (which will cost you an arm and a leg) - OR - you go back to the enquiring office in Mexico. Have you checked with the Mexican embassy on the issue?

Very interesting professional feedback, thank you for that. The cattle then, back in the day, was for milk production (so we were told) and, not being experts in cattle to start with, we assume that the programme was successful as milk is readily available everywhere these days. Unclear though, how much is rehydrated milk powder and how much is locally milked dairy ;-)

The hub of all hubs - how comforting. But, before you apply for this position, you might want to clean up your tremendously bureaucratic immigration act and inch from 1'380'417 BC to the 21st century. Air travel, no TM6, border crossing TM6 mandatory (in some cases), the confusion with the nose-poking officers is evident. English, politeness and a smile would really help as this is the first direct face-to-face contact with the dirty farang, alien, khaek, jeck and whatever the semi-divine call the tourists. Latter should actually just dump their cash and valuables in a drum, best not even leaving the aircraft and bugger off again ;-) Some last week's impression of the qualification to be come the hub-of-all-hubs ....:

I worked for TG and was very proud about that. In 1992 then, Chatichai Bunya-ananta - the sitting CEO - was retired as he reached 60 years of age (but would have been willing to continue). Once he was out of the way, the goons of the Ministry of Finance and some zero brainers with lots of gold all over their "rent-a-cop" uniform took over. In no time these absolute ignorant idiots turned an international icon and ambassadorial pride of Thailand into a 7/11 without a cashier on the way out. Everyone helped himself, corruption was abundant and the prestige brand "Thai Airways International" went down the toilet. Every engine and aircraft manufacturer could sell some stuff to TG, without coherent planning on anything as long as the "crème de la crème" could enjoy the fleshpot of the national carrier. Low Cost Carriers came up and the Middle East woke up in the dunes of the sand and started doing professional aviation business at market-relevant pricing, excellent service level, reliability and quality. They, unlike TG, understood that "Customer Service is an attitude and not a department". Chatichai is no longer among us as he would cry 24/7 and so does the team of my generation looking back on where TG came from - a very successful venture between SK (Scandinavian) and TH (Thai Airways). From the 60s to the 90s - a sparkling star, top product with top people. Today it is an expired flint of an extinguished candle rather than a sparkling star and closer to the bottom than any other carrier of relevance in the region. THB 300+ billions of bankruptcy resulted in TG clocking THB 10 billion "profit" while WE (Thai Smile, a 100% TG owned LCC) was sent into free fall with THB 20 billion and disappeared at the end of 2023. Nobody has a clue, where all that money came and comes from - for sure not revenue in flying happy passengers around the globe. What a pity for what had been done in previous decades; close the shop and start anew again, with professional (foreign) management as the local boys, proven for the last 30 years, are unable to manage a break-even operation, a reliable and thoroughly through-planned timetable with passenger orientation and a product which is worth the (expensive) airfares those goons are publishing off their shiny desks at the head office at Viphavadee-Rangsit. TG = tomorrow go, possible one point to start working on ;-)

Make your life easy and buy a new vehicle in Canada; those local coffins on wheels will never pass any check of any department of land transport of countries which have arrived in the 21st century ......

Well, his brother New and Anutin might have different plans for the(ir) future?

I remember when we imported 1'200 cattle from Australia into Thailand some 30+ years ago when I was in freight forwarding. Trust me, that livestock was "the real thing" which might not be applicable to what is shown in this postings photograph ........

My little PM2.5 gizmo goes ballistic nightly in dark red colour, hovering between 165 and 195 microgrammes. So, once the two-coloured socks PM is finished with the North, he can draw his kind attention to the Northeast, which is equally f8"ç%"%çd. The difference is, that the Bangkokian HiSos and the dirty farang group in Thailand's Northern provinces of Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai much more often and closer than in Isan. There are days when the visibility is less than a few hundred metres; guess what kind of air those people - damned to live here - have to breathe ........ Despicable, to say the least, considering that all this is manmade for profitability of the selected few food mills and processors ....... A Thai way of stopping immediate neighbours is to throw out some used spray cans into the field just before they start burning down. The small explosions are then explained is "roaring ghosts" being unhappy with what they do. Works ;-)

Signs in English giving "rental details" for chairs and tables would be helpful. For years now I've been witnessing unnecessary discussions and bad mouthing as the foreigner did either not understand what Khun Sisaket said in Tinglish - or got nicely ripped off. The highest fee proposal I ever got was 250 Baht per chair and 300 Baht for the centre table. As there were eight chairs (of which my family and I would have used only four) they wanted 2'300 Baht for eight chairs - used or unused around the table. Since I am a burnt child I asked when arriving and opted for slightly cheaper options of 20 Baht/chair. The rest was invested in food and drinks provided/sold by the chair operator ;-)

Former PM Prayut went bananas over AirBnB, declared it "prohibited by law" and now his successor is promoting the forbidden tourism alternative? Well, have we not seen the very same with Grab Taxi; some years back "legal" cabbies in i.e. Pattaya stopped Grab drivers, pulled passengers out of their cars and gave the Grab drivers a nice shake down - not to be forgotten by the latter.

Well, how interesting, that the Chairman of the Airport Authority of Thailand is a Police General - what a career. His uncle happens to be Dr Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth, who owns Bangkok Airways, Bangkok Air Catering, the airport of Koh Samui and the Bangkok hospital chains throughout Thailand. Maybe the Chairman, as a Police General, might have a word with the immigration to rid the system of the tremendous bureaucracy which seriously slows down the handling of travelers, results in long unnecessary queues and might be guided by immigration systems already in use in Malaysia or Singapore (latter for 20+ years already). Otherwise he will not go into history of propelling Swampy airport into the Global 50s league - for sure!

I am certainly not a fan of TG and have not flown with them in 20+ years for the main reason of unreliable, narrow seats and arrogant crew on ground and in the air. Having said that, TG met the expectations one might have when irregularity hits. They had a technical issue on HS-TKV (TG971) and needed a spare part from Bangkok to be flown in on their next service - 24 hours later on HS-TKU (TG970). Meanwhile all passengers were provided with meal vouchers, transport to/from hotels and boarded TG971D (HS-TKV) the next day. This can happen to any airline at any airport; so while the technical irregularity was not explained (yeah, I know, everyone is an airline mechanic and engineer) they lived up to expectations, kept the airframe on the ground and provided food and accommodation. And yes, this exercise has cost them a truckload of cash in Switzerland which is even much more in Thai Baht. Today's service from Bangkok to Zurich left 4+ hours late ........ TG = tomorrow go!

How lucky Dr T must be - the 30 Baht health insurance covered the 13? days stay so far as he has no access to an ATM machine and credit cards are possibly not ideal in a prison hospital run by the police ...........

TG flew to Brussels in the past - nothing new then ........

This has been in place for years already ...... seriously news from yesteryear