Sydebolle

The fight of the Titans. Explains possibly why a lot of former Thai visitors now opt for other destinations where the immigration rules have reached the 20th century. Thailand's stonehenge rules, written and enforced by dinosaurs, have created most of the damage. I - for one - would have flat refused to pay as it was the Thai authorities not planning for such incidents to happen and the illegality of the stay was legally enforced by Thailand. You move in your circle of friends, within your income level and among fellow interests. Guess, how much damage this particular case is creating since ......... the internet is also accessed from OUTSIDE Thailand! Go figure!

Ah, that means that there will be massive traffic jams again on all the highways leading into Pattaya by busloads of staff to take able care of the visiting, testosterone-loaded boys from faraway lands. What a load of ..........

Co-incidentially I know of people who looked forward each and every year to return back to Scandinavia for the berry-picking season. They all were properly and very nicely treated, the employers fulfilled their part of the deal and all is good. The picture shown proves a mess, which is self-inflicted by the tenants. The infrastructure though looks much "better" than what I've seen how Cambodians and Burmese were treated and kept in Thai dungeons. Latter does not excuse eventual wrong-doings in Finland but the Finnish authorities addressed and dealt with the problem and will keep a weather-lifting eye in the future. So, maybe to balance the reporting, why not pick-up problems "closer to home" like how (il-)legal immigrants from neighbouring countries are dealt with while doing jobs which no Thai would even touch. Something along the "kettle and pot" line ..........

Honestly, does anyone care? During normal days I saw news on the Thai telly showing ranks of empty chairs. Were they all on sick leave or had bigger fish to fry outside the parliament - I do not know. So, go ahead and book the missing fellows as "excused, on sick leave" - next please!

Does the gifted leadership of Thailand's newest political f-a-rts also offer baking with flour at home?

Well, ¼th of the US population is retired, ¼th of the population is massively obese - that would be 1/16th of the entire US population in high risk brackets ....... possibly even more if some people end up in both categories - just saying!

Well, speeding is 400 Baht, if my knowledge is correct. I was also not aware, that the police force pays such juicy salaries so that the cops can arrive on fire-red Ducati's. What a farçe; I - for one - would start combing through all those temples in the Land, quite some surprised there possibly? I'm just glad that it is not the Doctor's fault having crossed on a zebra crossing in the first place!

15 life sentences and 23 hours in solitary confinement ....... Welcome to 21st century!

Same as falling into an open manhole; no one to blame. It happened to me decades ago when I was told "falang too sa-toompeed" (too stupid) which brought all discussions to an end .......

Always done it myself; the fastest was 18 minutes from into/leaving parking at the one-stop-facility on Rajadapisek Road - for a one year work permit that was!

Alcohol-free beer is sold in the vegan butchery! On a more serious note; why not give your body a break and go booze-free during your (hopefully limited) medical antibiotics treatment? As said, there is Heineken 0 and in the past you could get "Clausthaler" or "Veltins", both being German beers tasting like real beer without alcohol. Quaffable yet "uncheap" as this alcohol-free beer is taxed like any other imported beer. Reason is, that alcohol-free beer contains a minuscule fraction of alcohol in the 0.00000? percentage - so Somchai is taxing full steam!

The red plate - in essence - is a plate for garagists and car dealers to move around cars from A to B (one workshop to another - or factory to showroom) without going through the usual paperwork of registration and ownership. In other countries they have a special marking, a prefix etc. With the red plate in Thailand comes a brown registration book and, if done strictly according to the rules, you would have to enter each and every trip into this book whenever you drive somewhere. In practice this is not done as the Thais have, as usual, overcomplicated things by entering, each and every time, the engine and frame number as well as other details of the car. Would make sense as the book/plates can be used on different cars even during one day but, as said, impractical and nobody gives a rats ....... You may NOT leave the province (i.e. a red "Bangkok" plate may be used only within Bangkok), not after dark and not on weekends/holidays. In all practicality usually nothing happens unless a boy in brown needs some beer money for "after work". The registration of a brand new car is done in 45 minutes after which you walk out with brand new plates and the blue car registration book - at least in Nong Khai. In other places, like Khon Kaen, it takes three working days - for whatever reason. Worst place is Udon Thani, where it takes bloody six hours to change the ownership of a car (not the plates, just the ownership) as the physical inspection of the cars goes slower than snail pace. Equally bad was Korat/Nakorn Ratchasima some years back when trying to pay the road tax. If your dealer takes 45 days, then he is lying through his teeth but as it might be a contractual obligation previously agreed you can only either collect the original paperwork from the manufacturer and do the job yourself ........ or wait 45 days. If you had to leave a security deposit for the red plates, ensure a refund OR do not return the plates and the brown book which will put the dealership into trouble. After almost 40 years in the realm I can tell you, based on my own personal experience, that you want to do this yourself in places like Nong Khai or Morchit (head office Bangkok) yet avoid Korat or Udon Thani - where you let the dealer's staff do the queueing, standing around and poking noses until those DLT-officers move and do their job. Whatever you chose/do, dont forget the insurance aspect and you're well advised to have a voluntary 1st class insurance. This means to get coverage onto your red (temporary) plates and lateron a policy amendment to your permanent plates. Good luck and drive safely ????

You cannot undo the damage of rapists, pedophiles and drug dealers. What you can do is to rid society of such manure once and for good. Put 'em up against the wall and blow out their candles. It might, in one or the other case, put the sufferers nightmares, fears and anxiety to rest while it likewise saves millions of tax payers money. But, as the dirty farang in Western societies prove, now is the time of tree huggers, do-gooders and we-love-you-all daydreamers, irrespective of gender, vegetarian orientation or lactose- or gluten intolerant wannabe sufferers. Just waiting for the next level of society disintegration, in whichever form it my appear anytime soon. Good gracious me that I am no longer a teenager .......

The oil was told to behave this time and do, as explicitly instructed, not head towards the shore - as otherwise Uncle 2 might get seriously <deleted>, if not outrageously angry! Next, your call!

So "MacDonald Agogo" did not cough up the going rates which led Kunlachart Kunlachai to work overtime. Good on him, good on all those boys in brown hunting down the culprits; arrest the janitor and the parking attendant, a slap on the back of the owner's hand, a little "token of appreciation" and ..... back to normal. Yaaaaaawwwwwwnnnnnn - how boring; nothing else to report like, say, lottery number forecasts for 1 February or some findings in the latest vomit of dinosaurs? Really?

The boy will walk; the envelopes just have to get as thick as possible to extend the delay beyond 1 September 2022. What do you expect of this country, honestly? Money talks big, big time in this country and this little pr1ck of an oligarch elitarian sunshine will be facing the music in far distant future. The day will come when the dam breaks and then all those crooks, cheaters, liars and corrupt pigs will get haunted. You cannot rape a country and its (in itself very good yet hardly implemented) legal system without getting reprimanded - mark my words as the writing is on the wall. The bottle neck is always on top of the bottle and once this is understood by the various colorful shirts in this country then God may bless us all. A bumpy ride into post-slavery civilization; the Madoffs, Strauss-Kahns and other much higher profiled outcasts were taken to the cleaners and will make this case look ridiculously small. It's just not time yet for Khon Thai to realize, that their biggest enemies are their own leadership. In short: a failed state!

Heard that Buriram is moving its immigration office coming Tuesday. Any details on that?

My SD card went South after having been installed in my Taiwanese-made PapaGo2 dash camera since 2014. An alarm went off; I removed the card and saw, that the last recording was toast. A new adaptor and a 32GB card solved the problem for little money solved the problem and this camera, regretfully no longer in production, continues to provide excellent supervision of what happens in front of my car for the last six hours of my trips.

Who overrides who; how many times have I been forced to cross by a police officer while the traffic light above me was switched to red? Lets wait and see, until that controversy burps up. Meanwhile for all who do not know how things work in Pattaya:

Lucky them. Thai-style would be to sell everyone a ticket to the island and on disembarkation the next trick would be to force ATK - or a return ticket to the mainland. How often did I drive into a road which was closed further down. No indication of road work, one-way further down, closed or temporarily inaccessible. Trying to turn around the next two, three cars were behind me already ???? Welcome to Thailand - the country of tourism novelties 8-)

What was that saying with kettle and pot and black colour something?

So you want to tell me that the "No Tips Please" campaign is over already?

I've seen "The Serpent", definitely worth watching. But this story with the Saudi jewelry will not be filmed anytime soon; most of the actors and beneficiaries are still alive...... Fact is, that Dr Surin Pitsuwan, a very capable politician, Thai Foreign Minister and ASEAN Secretary General in his resume, tried in vain, despite being a very moderate Muslim and Arabic speaking. Prayut will not achieve anything in this regard as the Saudis, quite rightly so, insist on the return of the heist. The Embassy got downgraded by calling the Saudi ambassador back to Riyadh "for consultation" 30+ years ago, ever since was run by a Chargé d'affairs and the Thai workers got replaced by other Asians who meanwhile must have sent a double digit of dollar trillions back to their home country - to the dismay of Thailand.

The generalissimos have needs too. While some are corrupt, others are more lucky and get 22 luxury watches from a friend. Latter most likely deceased over the joy of giving - there you go! Others take flour all the way to Sydney and are reprimanded for that; some nasty judge could not distinguish between flour and illicit powers. How unfortunate for all those honest, hard working, servants to the people who "elected" them.

Run a company here with 1'600 staff and then I'll talk to you again. The average years of employment in my 15 years company was 10.7 years - key index enough for not having done everything wrong. I would not mind, if employers would not have to pay for all those populist promises and absence days. In a 21st century country, vacation is stipulated in the law, sick leave is granted according to a certain roster and an employer can even take an insurance for absence-compensation etc. etc. Here all this is payable by the employer and populist election promises are footed by the private industry.