PeterRS

I wonder how you increase flights with lower airfares which adds to congestion, and yet the PM expects the AOT to reduce congestion!

The personality factor in Thai politics preceded that of Trump and Johnson and their cronies. Thaksin was seen as a saviour when first elected PM in 2001. Before then, few Thais seemed to pay much attention to politics as the same old members of the corrupt elite formed governments. I suppose the only ones not to be a part of that swamp were General Prem, although I do not know if he was as revered during his 8 years as PM as he was later in life as Chairman of the Privy Council. The other was Anand Panyarachun whom the King, having surprisingly intervened in politics folllowing massive protests against the government and a bloody army massacre, asked to form his second government in May 1992. This was met with popular approval around the country. Anand was seen as one of the few to be sincere and incorruptable. No doubt the privations suffered by so many in the country following the Asian Economic Crisis helped steer popular feeling towards a relatively new party leader who promised much. And to be fair, Thaksin did deliver policies that helped tens of millions around the country. Yet, despite the PR spin masters, he was essentially massively corrupt and deeply involved in cronyism. Even so, I can recall talking with taxi drivers in the mid-2010s who still seemed to revere Thaksin and said everything would be better once he returned to run the country. But these were members of the older generations. It is the young who seem now to be driving politics. Certainly Pita Limjaroenrat has a ton of charisma and seems not to be tainted with corruption and scandal, although his former wife did take him to court alleging he was controlling and abusive during their marriage. That case was dismissed as false by the family court. The LGBT movement will be staunchly pro his party as he has promised to introduce same-sex marriage. Will his popularity continue even though he has been denied political power? We ought to get some indication after the Rayong Constituency by-election on September 10.

I remember the days before the Skytrain and MRT when traffic was horrendous. I once read of a family from the southern part of the city driving north to Chiang Mai for Songkran. To beat the traffic, they set out at 8:00 pm the day before the eve of Songkran and were prepared to drive for 24 hours. By 08:00am the following morning they had not even reached Don Mueang. They gave up! The problem is, as the Bangkok Post article I quoted in my earlier post points out, the public transport system is extending outwards. Nothing is being done about what the developer is quoted as calling "the first and last mile." I live almost exactly a mile from an MRT station and slightly less from a bus stop. For me that is hardly a problem as I rarely have to be elsewhere in the city around rush hours. I have a car park space at my condo but I do not want a car. If I had one I would get stuck in miserably choked roads between around 07:30 and 10:00am as the narrow road leading from near the expressway to the business district is packed with cars hoping to beat traffic on the larger main roads. It would take a good 20-30 minutes to travel the 300 meters or so just to get to that road. Add in the problem of flooding during the rainy season and many experts have stated the only solution to the inner city traffic problems is either to make it much more expensive to drive private vehicles (politically impossible in my view) or substantially increase the number of roads (practically nearly impossible in my view).

Part of the blame lies squarely with the Pheu Thai government run by Thaksin's sister. One of its election promises and first acts was giving subsidies to first time car buyers. This is estimated to have added bewtween 1 million and 1.5 million new cars on to the roads, the majority in Bangkok, but with no increase in the road network. Unsurprisingly, in 2019 the navigation company TomTom ranked Bangkok as the 8th most congested city in the world and the 4th highest in Asia. One reason reducing fares is unlikely to work concerns Bangkok's limited road network. Whereas New York has a road to area ratio of 32% and even Tokyo's is 23%, Bangkok is way down in single digits at 8%. As the Bangkok Post reported in an article in October 2019 - The city's low road-to-area ratio, in particular its dearth of secondary roads, has created "superblocks": large tracts of land without access to major roads and in the case of Bangkok, without public transportation. Residents have to traverse long distances via local roads before they could access the main road. Consequently, they have to pay extra to use another form of transport (such as a taxi or motorbike taxi) or walk long distances before they can access public transportation. A real estate developer once told me: "This is the problem of the first and last mile. It is one of the main reasons why people don't use public transportation." https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1762349 Other issues that encourage private vehicles are that unlike most cities, (1) Bangkok has very low parking fees, and (2) BMA construction regulations permit a large number of parking spaces in new commercial buildings This is unlike most other major cities which specify a much smaller maximum number of spaces.

I'm surprised you did not read the OP. He has returned to Sweden and will be departing again from Sweden. He is not doing a border run! With an onward ticket out of the country he will have no problem.

Let's not hold our breath. We have no idea if the Move Forward Party will be allowed to continue. In the 2019 General Election, another new Party Future Forward gained 81 seats, a remarkable number for a new Party. Due to political shenanigans, the Party leader was accused of violating election laws - the same tactic used to get rid of Pita Limjaroenrat, the leader of Move Forward. Naturally he was then disqualified by the elite-led Constitutional Court. This same Court ordered the Future Forward Party dissolved in February 2020. The following year 55 of the Future Forward MPs decamped to Move Forward. Will history repeat itself?

If China just opened up more to the LGBT community they would make millions already in sham marriages and many more millions of single men and women much happier.

Ten years ago 18 year-old Ratchanok Inthanon became Thailand's first World Badminton Women's Champion when she won in 2013. Tonight at this year's World Championships in Copenhagen, Thailand's 22-year old Kunlavut Vitidsarn from Bangkok, the current World No. 3, became the nation's first-ever Men's Singles World Champion. He beat another 22-year old, Japan's Kodai Naraoka, in three sets in one of the longest badminton matches I have ever seen. Some years ago, Khun Kunlavut was the World Junior Champion for three successive years. One of those he beat in the final in 2018 was the same Kodai Naraoka! He now seems certain to enjoy much more international fame and success for over the next decade. Photo: AP

Not only Japan whose population has been shrinking quite fast for well over a decade. Young Japanese are putting off marrying until much later than before and many couples are either delaying having kids or deciding not to have any. The country's allied problem is that it still does not want to open up its labour market to foreign workers. It is estimated that for population numbers to remain constant, a country's birthrate should be a minimum of 2.1 children per woman of child bearing age. Japan is now at 1.26. Singapore's population has also been shrinking quite dramatically for at least 2 decades. Last year the fertility rate dropped to an historic low of 1.04. The country's economy now depends on well over 1 million overseas workers. South Korea's population started shrinking much later in 2020. But its drop has been much more dramatic and last year stood at a world record low of 0.78. If nothing is done to change the attitude of young South Koreans, it is estimated the country could "lose" close to two-thirds of its population within just one generation. As worrying for Beijing, its four-decade policy of one child per family certainly had the desired effect of reducing its alarming population rise. But it has now joined the list of countries with worrying declines in birthrates. Equally, due to the preference of parents for boys rather than girls, it has a major population imbalance. It is estimated that some 30+ million young men will be unable to find wives. The one child poicy has now been replaced with a recommendation that couples aim to have three children! And like Japan, both China and South Korea are reluctant to open their countries up to a larger number of foreign workers. Unless they do so, the ability of the countries to look after their ageing populations will become increasingly problematic. There are many reasons for population decline, including improved personal incomes. Singapore and Japan have tried to encourage more young men and women to marry with the opening of special centres for meeting members of the opposite sex. Tax and other financial benefits are also available. But so far these do not appear to have more than token success. The major hurdle all countries have to overcome is that recent surveys have shown that more than half of young Japanese and South Korean women in in their 20s do not wish to have children. A survey in China found the percentage to be closer fo 66.6%. Asia is shrinking! https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/singapore-s-birth-rates-hit-record-low-in-2022-along-with-most-yearly-deaths-since-1960#:~:text=Official figures released by the,2021 to 35%2C605 in 2022. https://www.foreignbrief.com/analysis/population-east-asia-decline/#:~:text=EAST ASIA IS SHRINKING&text=China is only the most,children per woman is required.

Having read so much about retirement visas over several years, increasingly it seems that the bad guys continue to be the crook agents and crook Immigration officers and less crook retirees. If the government just cleaned up its own house, much of the problem could be solved without the need to increase fees in my view.

For two entries in relatively quick succession, this is important - less for Thai Immigration and more for the counter official when you check in at your departure airport. So please make sure you have evidence of a ticket out of Thailand ideally not less than 29 days after arrival (to be certain there is no confusion with night flights). Although living in Thailand, as a regular traveller I find I am increasingly asked either to show my visa or for proof of onward travel within 30 days when checking in overseas.

Unless the brown envelopes are stuffed with enough for them to avoid prison altogether 😵

If the couple only had 9 milion baht in their bank account, my guess is that a great deal more has been squirreled away and is sitting in overseas accounts.

Two interesting points from that article. First that the "younger generation is not interested in travelling abroad or applying for a passport." I find that almost impossible to believe. Walk around Honolulu and amost everyone is a young Japanese. And every younger Japanese I meet always wants to visit parts of Europe. Secondly, it does not mention flight departure times. If it is like many low cost carriers (and some of the full service carriers on the Japan routes), at least one leg will be overnight. Maybe OK for those elusive younger passengers, but I for one will not fly on a 6 to 7.5 hour overnight flight, even with that low price. I'll happily pay more for the JAL daytime economy tickets.

I always travel with two different types of ear plugs. One is made of a waxy substance which can be moulded to the shape of your ear and blocks out almost all sound. But it cannot be used on aircraft because it can trap air in the ear canal. I use them in hotels with a lot of traffic outside or noise from adjoining rooms. For flying I get the softer plugs that are usually given out in business class but can be purchased in stores like Watsons and Boots. These feel a little strange when you first put them in but I find them very effective in reducing external noises.

The Photos page in the members area has disappeared!

I wrote quite some time ago about the US political system and how the four year Presidential cycle really should be changed given the present state of the world. One President does one thing. The next reverses course and changes it. That has happened several times. Throughout his Presidency starting from his first year in office, Clinton examined ways of involving North Korea in talks in the hope of coming to some nuclear agreement. By his last year, considerable progress had been made that he even sent Madeleine Albright to Pyongyang. Earler he had established the Trilateral Co-ordination and Oversight Group along with Japan and South Korea specifically to move forward on North Korean relations. According to documents declassified in 2020, some time before her visit Albright had described Kim Jong Il as "strange, moody and hypersensitive." After meeting him in October 2000, her view had changed. Now she saw him as more "practical, pragmatic, decisive and non-ideological" than the US had earlier realised. She discussed her findings with the Japanese and South Korean leaders. President Kim agreed to use his influence with Chairman Kim to find ways of continuing to improve relations with North Korea. Clinton then wrote of his intention to remove North Korea from the list of nations supporting terrorism. George Bush soon assumed office, abandoned all talks and called out North Korea as part of an "axis of evil!" A total about turn and a total collapse of any form of co-operation. That said, I have lots of say about the poitical systems in other countries, especially my own - the UK. But this post follows on the point made about Cuba and the US.

Indeed! And has anyone yet discovered what he and Putin discussed during their 2-hour meeting in Helsinki in 2018, uniquely for a US President without any advisers present - merely an interpreter? When one reporter asked at the ensuing media conference if the Russians had interfered with the 2016 election as all Trump's intelligence agencies had claimed, Trump disagreed. According to him in front of the world's media, Putin had "just said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be." Was Ukraine discussed? Did Trump say he'd turn a blind eye to further Russian incursions? Only the interpreters know.

Yes. It's the first topic in the third section of the forums headed Boy Toys, Escorts, Moneyboys Discussions.

I can fully understand your reasoning. Yet sometimes it is too easy to place blame on a people rather than a regime. I abhor what Russia is doing - and has done in other places like Chechnya - and I loathe dictators like Putin and their regimes. But that does not mean I use a broad brush and also loathe Russians, Chinese, Iranians and others living under similar regimes. I have met very few Russians, but spent two weeks travelling in Iran in 2018 when I met many Iranians. I found all extremely friendly, many very cultured and all utterly loathed the regime they had to live under. I have lost count of the number of times I have been to China over 4 decades visiting and making friends with people from Harbin in the far north east to Zhuhai in the far south next to Macao. The older Chinese tell tales from their grandparents of the disasters of the 20th century and compare these with the relative wealth of life today. They tolerate the regime that has radically improved their lives, but few actually like it.

Odd argument. And what of America? How many different ethnicities? How about the UK which not only has ethnic Scots, Welsh, Irish and perhaps some English, although there is Viking and French blood throughout the UK.

You err. The Khmer Rouge taking over Phnom Penh were hardened soldiers of the Pol Pot regime. When I was in Russia in 2011 and 2013, the young men I saw were students - not soldiers.

Russia lost roughly haf the total. That represented more than half of all Soviet deaths. On the basis of per head of population, Armenia, Latvia and Ukraine lost a fraction more but Belarus suffered by far the most. The other 10 Soviet states suffered considerably less than Russia. I thought Belarus was an ally of Russia. Only Ukraine is presently terrorized by Russia. Armenia has banned Russian imports and would arrest Putin if he entered the country. Latvia is a member of the EU.

Thai Insurance policy that covers overseas. The overseas limits are smaller than required for most countries and so i top it up with simple one-trip travel policies. I used to have an annual travel policy but the premiums jumped to a level I felt unnecessary.

The same way that most of the Chinese leadership never acknowledged the atrocities Mao inflicted on China with 30 million or so Chinese dying as a result of his various campaigns - including Let A Hundred Flowers Bloom, The Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. Yet it is estimated that less than a milion died during Stalin's purges. Even adding those who died of hunger and the estimate is little more than 5 million. Granted, two blacks don't make a whilte. But it's not unreasonable to make comparisons. I have been to Russia six times - 3 during the Soviet era and 3 much more recently in 2011 and 2013. Moscow and St. Petersburg in the 1980s were basically drab with large numbers on the streets trying to sell their household goods to get some cash. One group of youths even offered to buy the jeans I was wearing. My last three visits were like chalk and cheese. Both cities were fascinating, lively and with some stunning guys. At a Conference in Moscow, along with three fellow delegates (all gay!) we went one evening to the bar at the top of the Swissotel with its stunning views of Moscow. Equally stunning were the waiters and the boys manning the bar. Our waiter told us that all his colleagues were Russians but the barmen were Czech. Every one would have been extremely beddable! In St. Petersburg in 2013 I was with a dear friend from London. One day we ventured to the gorgeous Catherine Palace. The subway passes a Technical College. Once again most of the young guys looked extremely attractive. I thought one was smiling at me (wishful thinking no doubt!) but my friend is a lady and so my smile back was little more than weak! But when we talk about Russia and atrocities, we should never forget that without Russia the outcome of WWII might have been very different. We should also never forget that 27 million Russians died in that war, compared to little more than 400,000 each Americans and British. We tend today to think only of the 6 million Jews massacred by Hitler. Russia's contribution was vital to the allies winning that war.