Stocky

AN is a curmudgeon magnet I too find the average Thai to be friendly, I like Thais and Thailand, if I didn't I wouldn't be here.

Splendid wheeze

Is that the bruise Macron gave him with the alpha male handshake malarkey? The old man really should be more careful trying to out muscle a man near half his age.

Looks like a squalid tip!

I wouldn't put Hat Yai up there with "prostitution capitals of this kingdom", it's all rather discrete compared with Bangkok, Phuket or Pattaya. Sure, depending on the hotel, and whether the bell boy considers you're a likely customer, you might be offered special room service. Otherwise most transactions occur via the massage parlour and karaoke lounges. If Police Colonel Nattapong Koet-iem was really interested in tackling the issue he'd crack down on the Karaoke Lounges, which act as a fronts for prostitution, instead he's basically going after entrepreneurial competitors. As for bombings in Hat Yai, they are a very rare occurrence, I've been here over twenty years and there have only been 5 incidents in Hat Yai during that time and nothing since 2014. We have plenty of security in Hat Yai which is handled by the army not the police.

On the positive side at least someone's talking about resolving the southern conflict. There's been a general apathy within the Thai government, content that the conflict is restricted to the southern states and far away from Bangkok. Fingers crossed something comes of this new initiative and partnership with Anwar Ibrahim.

I'm taking my 14 year old granddaughter to the UK in April and will do a trip to London. I asked her to list the things she wanted to do there and top of the list was the Natural History Museum followed by the National Gallery.

Across an active spreading plate margin, no not many, but Iceland sits on that same plate margin, it's the reason the island exists, and their roads get cut off and need rerouting after major events.

Not only seismically active, but volcanically active too, it's a spreading plate margin; the distance between London and New York increases by some 2-5cm per year.

Smart move by Jude Bellingham, he's going to be footing the bill one way or the other, might as well be clear from the start.

Some folk are only happy when they're moaning.

A quarter century! Well played sir.

Frank '2 Bob' Spencer Surprised one of them didn't do a whoopsi on your back seat

Indeed, one hopes they follow the Singapore and Malaysian format. Completed online up to 3 days prior to travel or can be completed in the arrivals hall if necessary.

Old two Bob really is Frank Spencer in Thailand

It's very much East v West - East Germany is still full of Nazis

Old news From New Scientist Article dated 21 February 2025 The world’s space agencies have reduced the chances of asteroid 2024 YR4 impacting Earth to below 1 per cent, which strongly suggests that a potentially devastating collision will be avoided. However, the asteroid will still probably pass extraordinarily near to our planet, giving astronomers a rare opportunity to observe an asteroid up close. “We are not expecting the impact probability to rise back above 1 per cent for the close approach with Earth in 2032,” says Richard Moissl at the European Space Agency (ESA). “The most likely further development is a further drop in the impact probability, likely even to 0.” https://www.newscientist.com/article/2469516-asteroid-2024-yr4-will-now-almost-certainly-miss-earth-in-2032/

+1 for Thai Post, we've sent all sorts of stuff, including motorbikes, between Hat Yai and family in Prachuap.

Which "European Downfall" are we talking about, over the centuries there have been a few Roman Byzantine Frankish Caliphate of Cordoba (Moorish Spain) Portuguese Spanish Ottoman Austro-Hungarian British Soviet or Dictators Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin All have come and gone, but Europe has a habit of picking itself up and carrying on.

Steady on, they aren't that daft!

A tale of two Bobs or Dumb & Dumber

That's my understanding too, but I've tried it out.

Absolutely no chance. They couldn't sort out a berth for the Seahorse Ferry link to Pattaya, not the slightest possibility they would find space for a cruise liner. The main attraction, Songkhla Old Town, would be trashed with so many tourists flooding in at one time. This is just so many empty words. Southerners are smart enough to trust a Shinawatra about as far as they can throw one.

Reform are savvy enough not to touch her with a barge pole.