Stocky

With Trump it's hard to distinguish reality from parody.

Someone should point out to Piers that Harris' politics would probably place her as a middle of the road UK Conservative, not in the Labour Party.

It's changed a lot since the offshore oil & gas industry has decreased in scale, and many operations moved north to NST. So those few bars & freelancers you remember have largely disappeared. Songkhla still has good seafood restaurants and bars, they've done a lot to smarten up the old town and the lake frontage, there are some nice restaurants there. I'm sure it would make a pleasant change from Chiang Mai, Songkhla is a relaxing place to go, but it's not really throbbing with nightlife action (not that I've found). I live in Hat Yai, we only visit Songkhla for the very occasional weekend, and I've not visited since October last year. Maybe a Songkhla resident can give you more up to date information.

I think Maxim is available in Hua Hin, I use them in Hat Yai and they're better than Grab here. .

Unlucky you

I wasn't suggesting bad food wasn't still available in the UK, obviously it is, as it is in every country. Your experience on the rigs is probably more to do with a switch from greedy corporate oil multinationals to state owned Statoil.

No, I can't remember when anyone last made comment on food from the UK. I think most educated people understand the poor reputation for food in Britain was gained during the period of food rationing during WW2 and for a decade afterwards. A reputation that has taken decades to shake off, much like the idea that London is blanketed in smog, unfortunately they remain clichés to be dragged out by lazy journalists or foreigners who've never set foot in the UK.

Where do you get this nonsense from?

Further to the above, there are numerous genetic studies of the peoples of SE Asia and the Malay Peninsular. I've picked a graphic from one research paper below, which compares the DNA admixture graphs of the four main groupings in Thailand clearly showing how similar each group is genetically. This supports the historical narrative that the local population converted to Islam rather than being replaced by a foreign Muslim population. Wibhu Kutanan et al., 2021 - "Reconstructing the Human Genetic History of Mainland Southeast Asia: Insights from Genome-Wide Data from Thailand and Laos" - Molecular Biology and Evolution, Volume 38, Issue 8, August 2021, Pages 3459–3477

That's incorrect, this isn't a story of mass migration, this is a story of conversion. It has no comparison to Europe and immigration from North Africa and the Indian Sub-Continent. Islam was brought through trade and an exchange of culture and ideas. Adoption of Islam accelerated in the 15th century after the then King of Pattani, Raja Intera, converted to Islam. I repeat this is not about immigration or invasion. I'd be interested in your source for "Most people know". There's a good book, in paperback, "The History of the Malay Kingdom of Patani" by Ibrahim Syukri, translated by Conner Bailey and John Miksic, it's worth reading. .

Remind me how many of President Trump's so called 'A' Team were fired or resigned?

It's difficult to interpret your statement that "The Muslims took that land off those who had been living their for thousands of years" any other way.

I have issues with inaccurate portrayals of history, read my previous comment. Muslims did not invade southern Thailand as your post would imply, rather the local population converted to Islam.

Where? A link to whatever article would help, I searched for both 'Thailand' and 'Malaysia' on that link page and there are no matches! You posted that "Muslims have not been living there for that long mate - learn some history. The Muslims took that land off those who had been living their for thousands of years - since before Buddha." Which is incorrect, the people of southern Thailand converted to Islam. The process was gradual, slowly replacing Buddhism, which had in turn displaced Hinduism, Islam was brought by Arab traders. .

What exactly has that website to do with the conflict in Southern Thailand? As said I suggest you try reading the history of the south before making ill-informed comments.

Again you show your ignorance, the people of the south didn't change, their religion did.

Maybe you should take the time to learn about Southern Thailand before making such a statement.

There's a Premium and a Fast Track service. The Premium you complete the online application, upload a digital photo, and provided the photo get's a green tick, you pay your money and select your appointment date and time. On the appointment date you go in an collect your passport, they clip the corner off the old one at that point, took about 10 minutes. I picked the passport up 3 days after I made the application, that was a date that suited me, the earliest you can get an appointment is 2 days after you apply. The Fast Track service is different, you make an appointment take the application form and photo to the appointment, and the passport is then sent to you within 7 days after the appointment.

Which is pretty accurate. (OK, the Neanderthal bit I agree would require DNA confirmation) .

£110 that was a long time ago. I renewed mine at Newport passport office September last year £204.50 for a Jumbo passport using the 1 day premium service.

I have, otherwise I wouldn't have said so. That's with the usual caveats, which apply to a PC as much as a smartphone. Make sure the operating system is fully patched, that the banking app is from your bank, you don't disclose your login details to a 3rd party and observe all normal security protocols like not using public WiFi etc. .

You really do need to catch up, banking apps are generally far more secure than internet banking on your PC.

Then all you require is a dumb phone, you're wasting your money, the main purpose of a smart phone is not making phone calls.

Correct, Hat Yai require my wife do a TM30 anytime I leave the province, whether inside or outside Thailand. I'm on a marriage extension and have a multi re-entry permit. We've lived at the same address the last eighteen years. End of last year my wife was a couple days late reporting my presence after I'd returned from Laos. The immigration officer told her that would be a Bht2000 fine, then laughed and said he was only joking. .

You don't have to go all the way to Grimsby, I find a good half hour of snogging and heavy petting is enough to prime the pump.