Tropicalevo

The unfortunate Burmese have little choice. With conscription in place, the military government has stopped all legal visa avenues for the Burmese to leave the country. Then, Thailand's very poor record with the way that it treats refugees, illegal crossings are now the only option.

In my experience, after riding motorbikes in Thailand for 25 years, NO ONE gives way to motorbikes. Vans, trucks, car, lorries all expect the bike to give way. Even when the bike has right of way. I even get aggressive horn beeping when I do not stop and let vehicles out of a side road when I am on the main road. They try to edge out, I do not stop and they get angry! Wow!

So not illegal yet?

CP Foods v local farmers. No prizes for guessing who will win this one. ($$$'s).

Totally agree. One negative side effect will also be the increase in basic costs for Thai people. If you think that the manufacturers and producers of the goods will not pass on the increased costs - think again. Thais in restaurants will still put salt on their food. I am on a salt free/sugar free diet and I really notice the difference when I eat out.

They actually do not care about most Thai people - until election time and then just buy the votes.

And the farce rumbles on. Do rich retired people still file tax returns?

Absolutely horrific. It is sad to see the comments about riding motorbikes, wearing helmets and so on, but most Thai folk at this level are living hand to mouth. There is no spare cash for 'safety'. I have stopped buying motorcycle helmets for the staff - they just go and sell them the next day.

Has anyone out there heard if the four Thai fishermen that were arrested back in November have been released yet? There were promises from the illegal military that they would be released in December, then again, they were to be released on January 4th, but according to the last press that I read, they were still in gaol. Thailand should keep this lot in gaol until the four Thai fishermen are released. This from an article in the Bangkok Post on 8th Feb

And the lies just cascade from the PM's mouth. I am sure that this is just a 'do as you are told or we will penalise you financially'

Some first time visitors arrived at Samui airport and tried to book BOLT to bring them to their accommodation. Bolt driver asked them to leave the airport and walk to the 7/11 at the entrance to the airport access road. For some reason, that is not clear, the BOLT driver never turned up. After waiting for75 minutes, the guests called us and asked us to send a taxi. The taxi people that we use said that they could cover the transfer, but to ask the guests to walk back into the airport arrivals area. When we asked the taxi people why they could not pick up at the 7/11, the reply was that area was only for BOLT and GRAB cars. Usual transfer time to our location - 15 minutes. Today, one and three quarter hours. Has anyone else come across this little conundrum before?

China was probably hoping that more than 5 would die in the inhumane conditions. https://apnews.com/article/uyghur-china-deportation-thailand-xinjiang-human-rights-d6f813654cf40ce464bc19203a226de0

That will never happen. Years ago we used to have a weekly newspaper here on Samui. Every week, they published the number of accidents along with fatalities and injury counts. 'Someone in authority' ordered them to stop printing the numbers. You can guess why. The paper was closed down some time later. This was all about 15 years ago, or more. The average death rate back then was reckoned to be one per day but I suspect that was a slight exaggeration.

Not really a crime wave. Just a small percentage.

And the lies just keep on a'coming.

300 billion baht is a pretty good bribe for 40 refugees.

Yellow bellied coward Anutin. Own up. You are on record as saying exactly what you think about foreigners.

Any repercussions are down to you Thailand. You deported innocent refugees to a country that has committed genocide to the people of their race.

Looking at the way that the robber runs out of the shop, it could be a woman.

If that really was to be his first try of drugs, hopefully this painful lesson will keep him off them for life.

The police caught them and they paid up. Following a police report filed on February 22, Koh Phangan Police quickly located the Pakistani tourists, who then agreed to pay the 500-baht ($15) service fee.... อ่านข่าวต้นฉบับได้ที่ : https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2025/02/22/foreign-couples-haircut-scam-foiled-at-koh-phangan-salon/

Well done Taiwan Nothing that China does is an 'accident'. Everything is very carefully planned and implemented. Confiscate the ship and gaol the crew.

I always ask the doctor to write down the medicines that they are prescribing and then I order it at the local (independent) pharmacy. The pharmacist is much cheaper than the hospital, and she gives me a discount on the retail price. The added bonus is that she also happens to be good looking and is fun to talk to.

Whilst this is a start, Thailand still has a long, long way to go if it is serious about modernising its laws.

I have made plenty of trips to China thank you - I ran an office there. This article isn't about the fact that these folk may or may not be terrorists. There has been no trial. It's not even about the fact that Thailand has held them in inhumane conditions for almost 11 years with little attempt to return them to China. The article is about the fact that Thailand states that they went willingly, when there is lots of evidence that they didn't. Will these Uigurs have a trial in China? Almost certainly not. In the eyes of the Chinese government, all Uigurs are guilty regardless.