Sydebolle

Well, well, here we go again ......... time to clean up this place, once and for good!

What Saksayan does - quite obviously - not know yet or is unable to understand, that the train on the other side of the Mekong was announced to run early December 2021. The project started in 2014 - et voila - the job was done by professionals. Thailand, with its big mouth and the same legalized junta since 2014, are confronted with the fact, that while the train runs perfectly well in Laos, Thailand is still looking at its antiquated rolling stock, a rusty, non-maintained yard of engines and an operational desaster worse than an African banana state. In general, nobody cooks Thai food better than the Thais; planning beyond the next meal (Somtam, by the way) is not a Thai thing and if they are serious, they would get some external professionals in and listen to them. But it is like Thai Airways, their state shipping line (read up Unithai), the vintage bus services of Bangkok and all the other infrastructural logistics. All that served only one single purpose; to steal and loot whenever they can as much as they can. But Thailand belongs to the Thais - let them have it their way .......... In the meantime thousands of containers are stacking up on the Lao side of the Mekong as they cannot get the stuff across the Australian-gifted Friendship Bridge from Thanaleng to Nong Khai - go figure! Without the Australians that bridge would not have been in service for the last 28 years ........

I suggest her for the post of Prime Minister which is getting vacant soon. No party membership, no political experience background and certainly as popular as the lame duck presently sitting in the little box of the organization chart ......... And, as far a eye candy is concerned, we do not even want to go there ????

Irrespective of private international school or governmental Thai school; the teacher has no right to slap a child. Likewise the child has to behave within the framework of the class and communicate with teacher(s) and fellow students in an orderly, polite and correct manner. If there is a repetitive provocation, continuous delayed arrival, no homework done etc. - then the school office has to inform the parents accordingly; best by having a/the parent/s seeing the teacher person-to-person. A class is always as fast as its weakest link; that is a given. What a teacher does not want is purposely slowing down the development with inappropriate behaviour. In the above case, reprimand the student for being late (if it happens again I will dismiss you from the class you've arrived late); a log-in issue is to be solved once and the next time the student can sit around watching fellow students doing whatever they do and given the remedy of password log-ins at the end of the lesson with a hint to be more attentive to such things.

Thailand is finally ready for Putin's or Xi's invasion - unclear though is, do they come with engines? If you see, how the legalized junta is cannoning money into toys-of-boys for no apparent reason or threat, if you compare the ex works price to the landed Thailand price ....... The envelopes must have been moved by gooseneck trailers ever since 2014 ........... But, as said before, Thailand belongs to the Thais - your call!

"A new house blessing ceremony was held ......... (they) .......were playing on the second floor.." Well, the ceremony could have been under a better star then.

I assume that all police officers as well as governmental representatives who approved the premises as restaurant, have been thrown into the slammer as well. Remember vividly, when the goons came around to "approve" my restaurant which, very much to their regret, fulfilled all conditions, laws and criteria and so they had to leave empty-handed. I could have built anything and get everything approved; just a matter of the thickness of the manila envelopes as well as repetitive payments into the coffee box of the semi-divines ????

"He hoped the court would understand that and realise that giving bail to his client would facilitate the arranging of compensation payments. He would not try to run away." Well, the Red Bull grandkid springs to mind ????

Well, well, what do you know. Someone should have told the Chinaman that Patpong is much cheaper over all ...... and you get something to drink even ???? What a farçe; this makes Thailand - oncemore again - the laughing stock of Planet Earth 8-)

The headline might be wrong and I hence rather suggest to change it against the following: Police to prosecute THEMSELVES for corruption, non-adherence to laws, regulations and common sense. Will never happen; oncemore again though they cannot stick that onto the dirty farang's back. While there are plenty of crooks of foreign lands roaming Thailand the biggest, by far, impact comes from Thais. Thailand's biggest enemy is its own people, latter cheering, clapping hands and handing out little "tokens of appreciation" for building permits, business operations, enrolling kids at schools etc. etc. The list is endless. Do I care - no - it is not my circus and not my monkeys!

".. the committee has approved the procurement .... 45 to 22 votes." I therefore assume that the committee is overloaded with absolute air force, aviation and aircraft specialists. "..... could only proceed ... )if there is a) of the budget from 738 million baht to 369 million baht." Well, some of the committee and some at the air force will be having thinner xmas boni envelopes then. What a farçe; with two airplanes you'll win the war between PRC and ROC, the Ukrainian mess, the nasty Myanmar conflict and possibly even clean up North Korea. Keep up the good work then 8-)

Stoned at the Kindergarten - way to go; you cannot train 'em early enough, it seems. On a more sombre note; that "relative" should be jailed but well, this is Lalala Land as we know it ????

Amon Leelarasami - yet another star on Thailand's sky of gifted clowns. Honestly, who allows such absolute brainless statements to be made, printed and broadcasted. I - for one - have filed a patent for a headset without cable, antenna or batteries. It is absolutely sound proof and will be marketed under the brand name of "Bu11sh1t Protector". As a quality identification mark, there is a US, EU and a Thai model, the latter is the most expensive one as it is classified as "heavy duty" and sometimes must be borne 24 hours a day. Amon Leelarasami's comments are more than welcome, specially in the family resort of Pattaya, where people visit for the temples, butterfly farms and the cultural adherence of "no bikini". Next please, don't hurry though, as I have to get a refill of popcorn to enjoy the continuation of this endless soap ..........

Well, it seems that he shot himself into his own foot. The eight years are on record simply because the PM has to be instated by His Majesty. Coup d'état or not, voted in or won the seat in the latest washpower competition - all irrelevant. Once His Majesty signs the order, the clock is ticking hence Prayut now cannot come and say that he was officiated in March 2019 only (read that somewhere a while back). Best would be to dissolve the house and just forget about all that mess. Hire external professionals to govern Thailand and pay them according to their savings to the benefit of Thailand's people. Of course, this will never happen but the consecutive governments I witnessed ever since Prem in the 80s are proof enough, that this country is two, possibly three generations away of any political responsibility. So, bottomline could also be, leave Prayut in charge until they carry him out of the parliament feet forward, put Prawit in charge or the Mae Baan (janitor) swiping the floor of the parliament building. The benefit of Thailand remains the very same. Only exception I could quote are the two interim governments by Anand Panyarachoon as appointed directly by His Majesty back in the day.

Every now and then you see satan rising from hell and this time he came along dressed as ol' Grannie Nancy Pelosi. Now, as the cognoscenti know, the Republic of China, aka Taiwan or formerly Formosa, has no oil or gas. So what on Earth does the official US risk by flying in an 82 year old grouchy Grannie without the hint of manners and politeness in an official air force jet to Taiwan? Taiwan is the world's biggest producer of electronic chips, literally used anywhere in everything these days, their market share is more than 50%. In case of electronic issues (like a war), the Americans run dry with their arms and ammunition industry, if there are no chips available. Quite obviously the arms mafia in the US is of the opinion, that the People's Republic of China, aka China mainland, will do a lot of rattling with swords and sabers but will not take it more than just (more than) borderline teasing and threatening. We all know, that the Taiwan issue backdates to 1949, and I can only hope for world peace, that Pelosi's absolute US-selfish suborn appearance in Taiwan does not trigger off an armed conflict. Latter would escalate in no time into a full fledged war; here we could only hope that Pelosi is the first one to hand in her dinner pale. If the US is actively (and they would be) involved in a conflict between ROC and PRC, then it is green light for Putin to clear up the NATO mess in Ukraine and, we all know, that the US is more talk than action and they could simply not run a two-front performance of their arrogant opinion of supremacy. But, maybe it takes such a big bang on two ends of the planet to put the Americans there, where they belong. And, with America I refer to the official US in Washington DC and its brother- and sisterhood of a selection of the world's best criminals.

It just leaves me wondering, how thick, wide and long those massive manila envelopes must have been to keep this pristine example of "Thainess" away from the "mother of all tickets". Interesting is though, that he is accused to have made one of their own ranks disappear via a coffin through the chimney. Some call it unfortunate accident, others might call it manslaughter, yet others call it first degree murder as everyone knows, that being under the influence of much less than cocaine handicaps any driver ....... and well, boy, I remember vividly the trace from the crash site into the residence left behind this car, for which the accused could not even pay the highway toll or a tank of petrol from money he never earned. This is Thailand and if Thais think, that this is in order - well, their call. Despicable farçe in other societies and legal systems - me thinks!

If you work in Laos, you can go for the 5'000 Baht visa, valid six months, granting unlimited re-entries; a visa model for all those hospitality operators who come (.... ahem .... came in the past) shopping in places like Nong Khai. You would have to enquire with the Thai visa goons, what exactly these fellows want on paper (Lao work permit, Lao stay visa).

Thailand's labour market is hopelessly spoilt and absolutely destructive; for me reason enough to sell my restaurant (5 years ago); I will never ever do anything here again which depends on labour. It is not about the pay, it is about the absolute lack of loyalty and that belongs into the educational corner of children - which is in blunt absence as we know. They got, in the day, a minimum of 15,000 Baht, six days a week with seven working hours; a free meal, all the rest like SS, health insurance, uniform (which we washed at our premises for them). Salary end of the month, tips were accrued (never below 10,000 Baht/person) and paid middle of the month, so they would have money twice a month. Working conditions were nice with mandatory working blocks (Xmas, New Year, Songkran, Loy Krathong) which got compensated with one month fully paid vacation. Despite all those fringe benefits - nothing extraordinary as an European employer - I had staff disappearing into thin air without notice nor apparent reason. All departures were not work-related as I checked, if there were some tensions among the staff prior to the disappearance. Leaving without notice cost them physical money, either part of the salary or part of the tip money; they were made aware of that during the hiring interview - to no learning curve. One kitchen helper left on 12 April (for Songkran most likely), losing 27/30th of a full month tip (THB 14'320) and 12/30th of the salary (15'500 Baht) - in total 19'000 Baht. Well, face, family calls or god-only-knows-what influenced the fellow to write-off 19'000 Baht and I was short of a kitchen helper. Don't apply corrective, constructive criticism, as it concerns the semi-divine face. Staff was told, during the hiring interview, about hygiene. There was a separate (sparkling clean) staff toilet, shower and a basin to wash hands. It was an absolute law in my place to wash hands on leaving the loo. Failure to do so would result in immediate dismissal. Over the 15 years I had the restaurant, I must have fired 10 staff I caught (and the dark figure is considerably higher). See above for "education corner"! I have no recipe; being nice and correct is definitely not a guarantee and I am not a slave trader as some local businesspeople were. Get a quota for ASEAN migrants (Burmese, Cambodians, Laotians or Philippines), depending on what you need and take it from there. We were given quotas only under the condition, if we would hire ASEAN-staff through agents sitting in front of the labour department of Cholburi. We did that, paid the agent their commission and saw the same staff being "moved" three times from place to place and the agent creamed off the commission each and every time. So I gave up on the quotas and started hiring non-existing staff ????. Then I realized, that the Thai staff considered ASEAN colleagues of lesser status who should be paid less than Khon Thai. I intervened on that idea and two Thai staff left - see "face and loss of the latter"! In the end, I gave up, sold the business and Thailand lost some 1'700'000 Baht direct and indirect tax money from my company.

Chicken feed explained. Approx. 1.5 million border runners, doing the trip every month, spent an average of 350'000 - 400'000 Baht per year each; do the maths and the mind boggles. The chicken feed was scared away to Cambodia, then the Russians came - and left, the Chinese came - and left and now it is the South Asians and Middle Easterners. Every tourism professional will confirm, that none of those groups are compatible per se with the Westerners (Europe, North America or Australia), although it was the Westerners being - by far - the best spending slice of the cake. Thailand went down the same way as Greece, Spain, some North African countries etc. A good product outpaced itself, got catapulted off the competition ramp by greedy cheaters, two-tier pricing and, in Thailand's case, complete overcomplication by the immigration goons with TM6, TM30 while longer term visitors are herded brainlessly into the immigration offices every 90 days; the extension procedure requires the same 2kgs of papers and photocopies, latter to be signed only with blue ink. For how long does Thailand think they can get away with it? In my opinion, the point of no return has passed quite some time ago, but explain that to the semi-divine Khon Thai and the ever-so-illogical masters of the successive governments of this beautiful country.

What the heck are you complaining about? It's USD 1.5 or UKP 1.4 selling price, the gross profit is 75%. You do not pay rent, staff and utilities with percentages but with real money. The operator made 40 Baht gross profit on your drink, served in a clean glass he had to buy with ice and a slice of lime he had to provide on a stool/chair he had to buy in a place he is renting being served by a waitress/waiter who gets a salary. I suggest you stay wherever you come from, the a coke in the cheapest supermarket and drink it straight out of the can at the door steps of the shop you're buying ......... A bottle of wine can have a GP mark-up 800 - 1'200 Baht, the equivalent of 20 - 30 cans of coke, yet by percentage the mark-up is definitely below the soft drinks or water. Just to put this into proportion .......... With a price of 55 Baht you avoid the cheapies nursing a coke for hours, blocking a seat which could be taken by a higher revenue customer ........ or kept empty, which might be exactly what this restaurateur is trying to achieve.

Well, it allows TG now to charge Manchester-Heathrow-Bangkok UKP 1'600 one way ...... in cattle class that is. Prorating Manchester-Heathrow, it still leaves an airfare for TG of which other carriers can only dream about. So, once the troughs are filling up again, I wonder, how long it takes the ever-hungry crowd of managers to return. Looking at the face of the gentleman in the original posting ...... he is either more than happy, completely stoned by some seriously good weed or Somchai overdid it the photoshop assignment again ????

Well, well, what do you know. Bout's stint in Thailand is a vidid memory and now he might get a ticket home? I thought, however, that Biden stopped talking to Russians and his NATO-slaves had to follow suit. Contrary to the Cold War, East Berlin is no longer and Checkpoint Charlie got turned into a museum, I now wonder, how and where this swap might take place. This traditional trading gate/bridge between West and East Berlin saw countless spies, prisoners and system-critical shadows scurrying or darting sides. Stay tuned, John le Carré - regretfully no longer among us - would have had a field day ............

"set up a committee of investigation" ....... that's why nothing works in this country. This teacher needs to be properly reprimanded, if not completely blocked, defrocked or delicensed to work as a teacher. It is the teacher's responsibility to run a communication channel with parents circumventing the child of any responsibility or penalty. But, as the saying goes, in Thailand you "play the fiddle to a buffalo" ...........

Must be a definite error as the last estimate I came up with is 300 million tourists ......... outnumbering semi-divine Khon Thai on a ration of 1:4 - despite dual pricing and other funny ideas they have here