Sydebolle

Too much text on the issue; I wonder just one thing: - some citizen got their 10,000 Baht to splurge on - some citizen walked away empty-handed So much to unite the electorate; wondering how many of those short-changed this time will vote for the next promiser in the Land. Wondering how long the taxpayer will watch idly how his hard-earned tax contributions are distributed flame-thrower-style among the Thais; most of them never ever having paid a single cent of tax to start with.

Take it up with your new employer, apart from possibly seeing the Labour Department. Should they intend to play funny (like not paying your last wage) then just drop the line of Labour Department as they are very open to employees rather than employers. This refers to the fact that you never had an issue with your employer resulting in a warning note. It is idiotic to keep an employee against his/her will if they want to leave. In the past, when I had employees (Thais and non-Thais alike) I had them leaving soonest possible as they - understandable - did not execute their work with full heart and mind any longer. Never had an issue as I - of course- did stick to the deal as outlined in the contract and company regulations as far as salaries due and untaken vacation etc. was concerned.

Given the fact that nobody in his right mind is reading all this avalanche of bureaucratic manure out of government offices all over the land it seems that it just serves to explain the complete overstaffing of all these offices while hiding an inferiority complex second to none. In all fairness, this has nothing to do with thorough immigration procedures and clearly reflects their attitude, that if Thais cheat from early mornings to late evenings, it does NOT automatically suggest that non-Thais are doing the same. Wondering when this madness of printed paper flood will come to a screeching halt ........

Thailand proved that volumes, i.e. quantities cannot be handled. No infrastructure, road network grid, insufficient guides, shortage of languages in particular and common knowledge/sense in general. Focus on what Thailand's tourism industry was all about in the past as a top quality product. Quality over quantity - but explain that to the buffaloes

The kettle and the pot and the story of being black ......... We had similar experiences with Thai tenants in the wife's properties and the result is, that she does not rent out anything anymore unless it is a caucasian Westerner with proper passport and visa. Never ever had a problem.

Aha, so Premchai is out of prison for his little midnight activity in a National park hunting black panthers. By the looks, the catering in prison must have been quite acceptable; just make sure that the guy does not explode one day 8-)

Here we go again with the "hub" saga. While U-Tapao would be an ideal alternative, the goons are at it again. In the past two daily services with Udon Thani, booked to the rim in each and every of (many) cases. A total desaster though - again - was the passenger handling on arrival. No regular bus services to i.e. Rayong or Pattaya, the "authorized" taxis are an absolute wrap-off while third party vehicles were requested to pass security including photo being taken of driving license/ID card. Bolt etc. had absolutely no chance to get it - just another lovely little Thai airport mafia ufck-pu 😞

Return to sender and file a diplomatic note with the US ambassador on how sloppy their export control in regards to commodity (and safety) is concerned; what a loss of the all-American bureaucratic face 😞

Until those geeks got their act together I can only recommend to all those living along the border, say the Mekong, to hop across to the Comrades on such days. There you have zero restrictions (maybe a different Buddhism is celebrated there) and there are also no restriction on hours during the day, when you cannot buy booze as in Thailand. Thailand is a far cry away from professional and welcoming tourism business. What is applied to the uneducated underlings in the land keeps the distinguished dirty Farang tourist away. Latter, being educated, mature and an adult, does not need anyone breathing down their neck, be it as retiree or as a tourist. Until that is understood, Thailand can only benefit of arguably better domestic infrastructure compared to its neighbours.

Just make sure that the food industry does not go down the same alley with those crickets et al, as with most other food items in the last 20 - 30 years. When I arrived, one could literally eat at each and every food stall, street side or elsewhere, and got a tasty home cooked dish served. Today most of the food is terrible; tons of MSG (Ajinomoto and friends) as well as sugar became acquired tastes and the result is inedible. That happened over only one generation. When I arrived, Thai jasmine rice was - by far and second to none - the planet's best rice for Thai dishes, unmatched and not comparable to Japanese rice or Risotto from Italy as the latter being completely different rice crops. Along came Yingluck with one (of many) election promises to guarantee a minimum price of 15,000 Baht per ton of rice ..... I F ..... she would get elected. Well, she got elected and then the loyal voter base started reeling in Cambodian, Laotian and Burmese rice across the border; those rice shipments would have fetched much less than 15,000 Baht a ton. So that (different, if not inferior) rice quality got nicely mixed into the pristine rice and sold off at the promised amount. Eventually she got dethroned, fled the country, the army under Prayuth stepped in and Uncle Tu paid out the open claims. Some of the rice was sitting nicely for a decade in government warehouses until one minister had the glorious idea of selling the rotten rice to "Africa" - remember that beauty? In short, the pristine rice of the past is ..... a thing of the past. So just beware of the next hoax; that sustainable protein might be the next victim of Thailand's greed of "optimizing" food costs ........ you've been warned 😉

Dr. Taweesilp Wetchavitarn apparently said, that "the Medical Council's decision was based on incomplete information". I - for one - would ensure that Taweesilp would not even write a prescription for a running nose of mine as, according to his statement, decisions are based on incomplete information". Does that mean, that cancer might be treated with dextrose sweets (which we enjoyed as children) - depending on the incomplete information? Scary, to say the least, very very very scary when coming from such competent sources. Who protects whose backside here?

Well, I assume that the huge pile of 300+ billion (B - not M) losses have been recovered then and the profits are heaping up again. If that is so, I am still waiting for a refund for a cancelled flight. I am aware, that this cancellation was back in 2019 and hence I am pressing a little too early for the refund but I would appreciate if Somchai the accountant could be woken up. Six years to verify and check documentation ........ yes, I understand, these dirty Farang are always sooooo pushy and want a refund only six years afterwards already. Meanwhile I shall be flying on anything else but TG in order to avoid even more burden in TG's accounting department. On a more sombre note; I've written off the amount years ago and returned their Royal Orchid Plus Gold Membership card, nicely cut into small pieces - so nobody needed to care about yet another crazy passenger.

Vasilios's acquired two lions at a knock-down price of only THB 1.7 million? Goes in line with the BB gun and the Thailand Privilege Card covering all the ever-so-important non-Thai VIPs. Help me out here, arriving with two lions at - say - swampy and passing customs and, for argument's sake - through the red channel. "Anything to declare?" being Somchai's question is answered "Yes, two lions in my hand luggage, got then at a fantastic rate". "How much" asked Somchai back, reply being "THB 1.7 million" - so Somchai's conclusion must have been "now that's what I call a steal" 😉 But in other news it is noteworthy, that Pattaya is visited and inhabited by people who celebrate family life, are in town for its temples and enjoy the untainted reputation of what Thailand (not quite) believes is right. On a more sombre note; how on Earth can you get two lions into a gated estate without anyone noticing anything, be it customs, transporters or neighbours enjoying the stench or at least the roar? Mind boggling!

So far everything seems to go according to plan. Noteworthy though might be, that it was neither Trump nor his administration with the rattling of the "tariff" cage. Whoever control Trump and his minions are in for very powerful realignment of power - let's stay tuned and wait 😉

What they actually meant to say - but could not wrap up in clear words = see "Thai-style" is, that the five mentioned categories are conclusive. All other establishments could never care to start with so we're all good to go now. Unclear though is my lack of understanding; what is the difference between Thai Buddhism and the philosophy celebrated and followed in neighbouring Burma/Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia - as in all those places there is no such thing as prohibiting booze - just asking

Cosmos 482 - what a lovely co-incident; shall leave my desk now to hunt all lottery tickets with "482" in the number

"evidence including 11,000 baht in marked bills, condoms, and a handbag" - really? Remaining question is, how do you mark a condom - just asking 😉 She should have applied for a work permit providing "horizontal refreshment" and Bob would have been her uncle!

Thank you profoundly for making the following statement the present Number One - yet the year is still young as we know 😉 “Digital Crime Clock keeping a real-time an eye on crime patterns while potentially shining a light on criminals skulking in the shadows." What a statement for the weekend 🙏

Maybe Thailand, after all, might want to adjust to actual tourism needs rather than to dope-smoked goals those officers are dreaming up while never ever having served a tourist in the first place. And then do not forget, one quality tourist is ten Russians, 20 Chinese and 50 South Asians - just saying. Quality over quantity as - quite obviously - quantity is what they cannot handle while quality was on the cards 30+ years ago 😉

Why not have a word with Anutin, the jack-of-all-trades? In this government he serves (what actually does he serve apart from himself?) as interior guru after his last government's stunt of public health chief (during which Covid happened). He is usually on the very front of everything and as his company (ahem ... sorry .. his in-laws) company is building everything lately (parliament, swampy and swampy extensions but luckily not the SAO disaster) he would be the man of the hour. I am not aware of what guarantee period a new parliament building gets but that building in Bangkok has been trouble for many many years. So why not ring Anutin for advice and sharing possibly a word with his in-laws to fix all those shortcomings, once and for all. After all, almost a billion (with an B and not an M) is looser change than for the taxpayer 😉

The weekly bus input - again. But yeah, all under control and Bangkok still busy with neck braces and three submarines ....

All the medical staff involved in this case needs to be briefed/retrained, the doctor needs to get his license revoked as it was not just a mishap but a simple incompetence based on ignorance or arrogance. Such "medics" give the entire industry a bad reputation and almost cost the fellow's life.

Introduce a "landing" tax for Chinese passport holders and finance this out of that slush fund. It is the private industry, the tourism-related SMEs, who have to get their act together. From a governmental point of view: - eradicate on all levels the two-tier pricing; if necessary fine those who still keep this ill-gotten practice - throw out those zero-dollar operators - ensure sufficient Mandarin-speaking guides who can take care of this avalanche from the North; possibly allow Chinese citizen to guide their groups (as so done in most European countries) - understand that volume alone can be suicidal; sometimes quality prevails over quantity - explain in details, what they need this hefty amount of taxpayer's money for - last not least, how many Chinese have arrived and then compare that with this budget idea

Here we go; you can transfer your "Non-Quota multiple immigrant entry" visa with the enclosed form. As this site does not allow *.pdf nor *.doc I am attaching the two pages as *.jpg. If you don't get an embassy letter = no issue (to be frank, I never worried as being too lazy to add this unnecessary piece of paper to the bureaucracy). You also do not have a TM (arrival/departure) card, the TM6, as the latter is completed on the way out and the "arrival" part is taken/kept by the immigration on the way back into Thailand. There is no fee for this transfer and so executed (in my case) in Bangkok (Chaengwattana and Suan Plu before) as well as the immigration in Nong Khai. Good luck 😉

Those immigration geeks get better and better by the day. You think that they've pulled out the final rabbit but no, every day is a new interpretation. Amazing, how these low-key officers can goof around and make life so unnecessarily miserable. But then again, they represent Thailand pretty well, it is no different anywhere else in those endless halls of the government dungeons