Tom Parkinson

The article states, “they discovered around a hundred other Thais being coerced into working as call centre scammers.” But they only rescued these three? That seems odd. 🤔

I was chatting with a casual acquaintance at a cocktail party years ago. I asked him what he did for a living. He said he was a lawyer for an insurance company. I asked him what that entailed. He said in all seriousness, “Mostly I send threatening letters to old ladies telling them to accept our measly settlements or else…” Pretty much sums it up, in my opinion.

I appreciate your point. But if you think that “the concept of principles” exists in Thailand, you must be fresh off the boat.

The headline reads “Minivan driver’s alleged sexual assault of teenage girl sparks investigations”. In the Thaiger article on Monday, the grandmother claimed that the police had not even questioned the driver. So I’m thinking it was not the assault that triggered the investigation, but rather the Thaiger article and Channel 3 news story that kicked the police into gear.

How do they know these images are AI-generated? Is it possible that they are just trying to bury “offensive” but very real pictures of monks misbehaving?

I can only imagine a lot of expats will opt for the BOI-supported Long-Term Resident visas, which specifically exclude from taxes all income from outside Thailand.

Is this the same Donald Trump who as US President delayed $20 billion of federal aid to Puerto Rico after thousands of people died in Hurricane Maria in 2017?

According to the article, “military sources say they believe Pita supporters may rally ahead of the PM vote, in a bid to put pressure on senators.” So the military is saying that MFP supporters may rally to put pressure on senators. Via their scare tactics, are the military themselves not trying to put pressure on the senators? What other possible reason could they have to spread such alarms?

There are two issues here. The first has to do with BB policies on moving money. I don’t know of any way you could wire money to the US remotely, unless you have previously executed a wire transfer authorization (for example, I have one in place at Fidelity). It may be possible, but given how hard it is to do any banking here, I would guess not. if you wife is here, she should be able to withdraw cash from your joint account. I don’t know whether she could wire transfer from the joint account (but I don’t see why not). But she should be able to wire cash via a service like DeeMoney or open a bank account in her name and wire from there. The other issue has to do with restrictions on transfers out of Thailand imposed by the Bank of Thailand. I had to look into these when sending money to Dubai last year. To send money out of Thailand, a foreigner must be able to show that he previously moved an equal or greater amount into Thailand. A Thai person has to state the use of the money to be transferred. I don’t know if some uses prohibit transfer. Good luck!

I thought the Personal Data Protection Act of June 2021 does not allow taking a video of another person without their consent, even if they are engaged in an illegal act. The person taking the video is liable for civil damages.

I’ve done six extensions at Chaeng Wattana. I used to take a copy of my condo lease as proof of residence. But the officer would always hand it back, so I no longer bother to take it. All they do is ask me to draw a little map of where I live.

I cannot comment on PR issues, beyond the fact that I know I'm not eligible. The new BOI Long-Term Visa program (https://ltr.boi.go.th/) may help with the work permit issue and does not require any Thai fluency whatsoever.

A 14-year-old girl today has been using a smartphone her whole life. She would probably feel uncomfortable and insecure if she was not holding the phone in her hand. If no one bothered to tell her, why would she think there are times when one should not be using a cell phone?

I’ve alwatys had good success at the K-bank on Sukhumvit at Soi 33.

I believe that there is one key difference between the “O” retirement that you could get in Thailand and the “O-A” that you could get in London. The “O-A” requires that you carry health insurance acceptable to Immigration; the “O” (currently) has no such requirement.

If the junior cop who leaked the video still alive?

I can appreciate that the Thai government does not wish to cover expats’ and tourists’ unpaid medical bills. So I don’t have a problem with some coverage requirement. My personal experience with medical insurance has been that if something is expensive, it turns out not to be fully covered. So I choose to self-insure, and I have the luxury of being able to do so. I have set aside far in excess of the $50k requirement to cover any possible medical needs. What burns me is that I must purchase insurance I don’t need and don’t want just to be able to return to Thailand after a trip abroad. What I’d love to find is a $50k policy with a $50k deductible. You’d think that wouldn’t be too expensive, even for an old codger like me.

I believe that the second autopsy determined that the cause of death was asphyxiation. Did it rule out suicide? If so, they’ll probably have to rely on a self-defence plea.

The nice part about turning 60 is that you don’t care who you p*ss off any more. Great screed!

There is no bar mentioned. The picture could be a stock picture unrelated to the claimed offence. This whole story could simply be a warning from the Thonglor police. There is no proof that the claimed incident actually happened.

The policies are simply irrational. The only possible rationale is that they are deliberately designed to fail. Thailand has 50 million unvaccinated Thais. Let’s imagine that we let loose a million fully vaccinated tourists. What’s the likely incremental impact on the Covid situation? it’s probably on par with round off error.

I was surprised to see no entry for “double-jabbed already”. Two doses of AstraZeneca for me.

Why is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs running the jab program anyway? Why not the Ministry of Public Health? Are foreigners not the public?

Starting the non-immigrant “O” process again would be a bit of a hassle, but it might be worthwhile to save 20k baht on Covid insurance! Thanks again.

Yes, I thought so. If I returned on 30 October with a renewal date of 31 October, would I only need coverage for one day?