Sydebolle

Give the returned son a medal for his bravery; pay respect to one of the planet's 5,000 listed gods and spirits, wearing the neck brace (which keeps him comfortably warm) in the company of his daughter-sweetheart. Bottomline for me is, nothing has changed in the last half of the century 8-)

Remember the days, when kids would sell illegally imported non-Thai cigarettes everywhere, three packets at a time? Then someone had the glorious idea of importing tobacco legally and tax it accordingly. Then, the taxation of an imported box of cigarettes was higher than the sales price of locally produced fags in the shop. Unknown to me is the fact, why Thailand is not following suit on these products. The customers want it and get it; question is if the government is following suit and allows import against taxation. But that would make Somchai's envelope thinner as there is no extortion possible anymore ..........

So the wage doubled in 10+ years; question is, did the labour perform double as well? If not, it fans inflation and Somchai, getting more money for the same work will be stunned over the fact, that his Somtam and noodle soup will increase as well - as the person cooking it, growing the ingredient etc. get more money too. Vicious circle it is called!

It is called police and Thai law. Losing a child is the most terrible thing which can happen to any person but let the authorities execute. It does not take the media to accuse anybody or anything as well as it does not take the media to glorify a person they never met. To the parents, I share your grief over this most terrible loss in your life and hope that over time you will be able to cope with the untimely loss of your loved son. And to all the others, stay factual, correct and less xenophobic - thank you!

By 15 years experience running an authentic Italian garden restaurant I can share with you, that Thais are - in many cases - difficult as they expect "Thai-style Italian" and "sapechian service" all the way. Pizze must be thick manhole lids, served with Roza ketchup, the Bolognese sauce may not contain beef (as they don't eat beef) and Sriracha sauce has also no space on the Italian menu. Duck breasts must be cooked pink (medium) as well done results in chewy affairs. Upon ordering guests were told about it in their language to avoid misunderstandings yet Thais insisted on "well done". Once served, they drove the staff crazy over the chewiness - although they've been told about it ahead. Same with Salmon steaks which should be served slightly soft in the centre for ultimate flavour and dining pleasure. "Al dente" is the proper way to cook pasta; we had a "T" button on the POS system for "Thai" so the kitchen would know to overcook the pasta - as all Thais seem to have a problem with "pasta al dente" (which means slightly bitey - but properly cooked already). Table manners = another highlight, specially with children shouting, roaming around and disturbing other diners. Asking parents to take care of their minions resulted in the standard reply was "you know how it is with children, ha ha ha ha". Another issue was "corkage" for drinks they bring along. Our wine cellar stocked THB 300K; starting from affordable real Italian house wines at THB 120/glass and market-comparable priced spirits. They showed up with their boxes of Mont Clair and Castle Creek when we told them about the corkage - also shown in the menu. Every second bill with corkage resulted in discussions and nagging for discounts. More breaking news came steadily from the (mainly ladies) rest rooms. A mother misused one of the sinks for a toilet bowl, washed the child's backside and did not even rinse; sanitary napkins in the ladies loo happened more than once, entire toilet rolls disappeared and once even the soap dispenser was forcefully semi detached. We had cloth towels to dry hands afterwards; within the first 18 months some 350 towels "disappeared" in God-only-knows-where and some were stolen by putting them into handbags without stuffing the towel in properly. We switched, against our standards, to paper towels instead which created a mess in the sink, toilet bowl or on the floor. Shoe prints on the ladies toilet ring were a monthly classic. The gents, preferring the toilet over the fully automatic urinals, were regularly out of focus and quite honestly, many gentlemen preferred leaving without washing hands! My wife and me did the housekeeping check every hour to the hour ourselves - the rest rooms are the name card of a restaurant. We could identify the "culprits" on the CCTV recordings and in 95% of the incidents it showed Asians. The staff was not too keen on their fellow compatriots for sometimes rude behaviour, trying to change each and every dish and leaving at the end, many times without leaving a tip. Latter is commonplace, I know, but explains, why 40 years ago a petrol station would blow out your air filter, fill up your wiper water tank and clean the windows, which I always appreciated with a nice tip. As Thais did not tip - that service element of at least cleaning front window disappeared. Of course we would not "ban" Thai customers but given the choice, I could have easily done without that particular segment of the esteemed clientele.

If the airline has safety issues in not being able to attend to the passenger's possibly special needs in case of an emergency evacuation? Let the passenger sign a disclaimer form? Accept him and - in case of problems - face an avalanche of juristic maze? Would other airlines have accepted the passenger under the preamble of the above? It has to remain the discretion of the vendor/service provider to communicate its limits and, in case of exceeding possibilities, refuse selling the product .... or in this case, the airline seat.

The Swiss again, this time producing something everybody else - except Thailand - wants to copy ......... how inconsiderate of those hillbillies with their timepieces 😉

Yes, as a Thai she can return anytime with identity documentation on her nationality - even if those should have expired 😉

When the Thais want to outdo the Swiss in the media worldwide ..........

Routine inspection ........ of the envelope, most likely!

So the 39th gender in the semi divines society is now taking the men of the cloth to the cleaners?

This xenophobic racism is on its very best way to get completely out of control. Thailand might have to be reminded, that they are walking a very, very, very tight rope here. Irrespective of nationality, race, religion, gender etc. - everybody is equal in the eyes of the law. So treat everyone equally. Anything wrong, file a complaint, take it to court, get a court ruling and execute the verdict = simple as that. But maybe some people are more equal than others? Do never forget, the percentage of non-Thais doing wrong is marginal compared to the semi divine Khon Thai with all this petty crime, raping, mishandling of children by parents, relatives and teachers etc. etc. etc. - and hardly anything gets reported. So beware that this Farang-bashing will backfire as every farang moved once in their lives already ........ and can move away somewhere else to spend their money. As said, leave it to the police and courts and keep the manhunting media out of it. The average Thai is not educated enough to read between the lines and see the difference!

Well, unlike his many predecessors he keeps smiling all over the planet and has not achieved anything bag (nor good for that matter but that does not matter) 😉

Call Dr T, I remember he went on an official government trip as prime minister and sold the Indian hosts some of his private satellite channels. Apart from that there was zero outcome of that state visit 😉

Well, the boys in brown will not be excited over legalizing casino, gambling etc. as it will slim the little brown envelopes drastically. In essence it is the same with alcohol-ban hours, bar opening hours and the non-existing prostitution subject.

The underlying bomb ticking away is on the "xenophobia" timer ...... Thais should be VERY, VERY, VERY careful on this subject - many of those "dirty farang" (as so called by a Thai minister all over the media) had it and are leaving to less racist shores ......

So this is not from the horse's mouth then?

Who is the beneficiary of this xenophobic man hunt, seriously?

They play with fire - xenophobia is very common in Thailand, rooted in an inferiority complex and will - with absolute guarantee - backfire big time one day! Of course there are non-Thais being non-desirable, criminals, crooks, cheaters. But treat them with your existing tools like filing a police complaint, taking it to court, get a verdict handed down and the culprits reprimanded, if applicable. Nobody talks of all those tortured children by relatives, family or teachers at school, nobody talks about the tremendous cheating and short changing of the lesser educated by the upper crust. So keep your shirts on and follow the constitution which says that "everybody is same". Well, I sometimes have the feeling, that some are "samer" than others in Thailand .......... same, same, but different?

Overnight stay is nonsense and not required. Yet the pricing is very very cheap and would scare me. Maybe you get it from the horse's mouth and check with www.rutnin.com ; seven floors of a top medical hospital dedicated to only one organ - the human eye. Yes, you would have to travel to Bangkok but trust me, that's nothing compared to a damaged eye sight for the rest of your life!

In line with how the semi divine treat the nasty Swiss in Phuket I would assume, that the "service fee dispute" shall result in an official apology on all Thai TV channels, a hefty fine and an extradition to the home province with a life-long ban returning to Phuket. Flower baskets for the foreign service seekers and a handshake by the Thai foreign minister to the respective ambassadors of the foreigners nationalities ......... "service fee dispute" of a worker in a trade, which is illegal to start with - really made my day, thank you 😉

I sometimes wonder, what kind of excellent weed some people seem to smoke. 21 days of alcohol-free zoned Songkran, I beg your pardon! "The government's "World Songkran Festival" from 1 to 21 April is divided into three phases: preparation, festival days, and post-festival." The reality reads more like this: the division into three phases reads "get plenty of booze 24/7 despite no-alcohol-sale-hours anywhere except the supermarkets, get hammered and completely drunk during the festival days and the post-festival serves to clear up the mother-of-all-hangovers due to the extremely high quality of the local firewaters". I am open to everything and wonder, if this year's "festivities" would be any different to what I saw over the last four decades. Well, the duration is a novelty; from three to 21 days; wondering how many alien will pick up the idea for holiday alternatives and how many locals can afford three weeks of partying ........

That's all <deleted>; I've had a FCD account with Bangkok Bank for 20+ years - albeit with their head office on Silom Road in Bangkok. You transfer foreign exchange onto your FCD account. Latter can, if you wish, be added to your Bualuang iBanking (internet banking, but works only on the desktop version, not on their smartphone app!). Withdrawing money works as follows. If you withdraw THB = you need to convert (sell) foreign currency (it happens real time during banking hours only) and subsequently you can withdraw THB from your THB-acount with the same bank (not essentially the same branch/city though) Foreign Currency = they will take the required foreign currency from your FCD account, convert it into THB and subsequently buy foreign currency again prior to give you foreign currency. This gives them the exchange profit twice, once when selling Forex into THB and then again from THB back into Forex. For obvious reasons I never did that. More on the official website; alternatively call Bangkok Bank's head office, phone 1333, and get connected to the foreign exchange division; they are fluent in English and know their onions 😉 https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Business-Banking/Manage-My-Business/Operating-Accounts/Foreign-Currency-Deposit-Account Should all this fail, vote with your feet and go elsewhere, Siam Commercial Bank as well as Kasikorn Bank offer such banking for sure; it boils down to the clerk behind the counter. On that note; heard scary stories of foreigners who wanted to open a bank account with Bangkok Bank and were literally forced to buy an insurance coverage - which the customers actually never wanted. Some remained stubborn and did not fall for the trick; most of them though bought an insurance. Reason behind is, that Bangkok Bank expanded into the insurance business ....... welcome to Thailand!

Anyone remember the "Magnolia" hotel at the Mabprachan Lake east of Pattaya? This place was run by cadets in navy uniform for years and the owner was, co-incidentially, a bigwig in the ...... yes, the navy. Too many private businesses are run with the free-of-charge-manpower of the defense forces, be it army or police and, unlike the private industry, those labourers cannot resign nor complain!

Depending on the envelopes, the grass gets greener on the other side of the fence 😉 No surprises here, Thais screw Thais, in the past, now and will carry on doing so in the future - as long as there is nobody bringing all this to a screeching halt! The alien have to shut up and are not allowed to say a word and the semi-divines don't care as their meagre education level does not allow them to understand, how Thailand is getting cleaned out by some culprits in high places, for generations already!