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chub

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Everything posted by chub

  1. The next marine tragedy waiting to happen: Speed boats pulling parachutes operate dangerously close to swimmers near the shore at Karon Beach. Shouldn't these boats (i) operate at a safe distance from the shore - say 300 metres, (ii) be fitted with propeller guards and (iii) have at least two crew, one to look forward for swimmers and another to watch the parachute? A swimmer snorkelling with his head underwater is at great risk. Parachute Boat2.mp4
  2. The OP claims that the black effluent crossing the beach from 'the pool' was 'unexpected', something new. Google Earth takes an aerial photo every year or so, and this black stream appears in many of them. See for example, this image from February 2014.
  3. The Mayor omitted to mention that 'the pool' that forms as the effluent reaches the back of the beach is fed from two sources: 1. the outflow from Nong Han Lake 2. A drainage sewer that originates in the foothills and runs through Karon, in a conduit down the main street and emerging as an open ditch around Nong Han Lake. At the time of the image, the tide appears to be about half height and the outfall of the lake is filled with water. The route of the open sewer is shown on the image as a red line. The attached aerial view from December 2022 shows the black effluent from 'the pool' spreading along the beach in front of a big hotel. It's a frequent occurrence. In the rainy season the sewer is flushed continuously by rain water and is dissipated by the waves. In the dry season the 'sediment' accumulates in 'the pool' until it is flushed out by a rain shower in a high concentration, is slow to dissipate and more visible and smelly.
  4. Anyone familiar with Bangkok in the 1990's, before the urban railways were built, will recognise the strategy of 'self-limiting congestion' (or 'do nothing') that Phuket is now experiencing. It's the inevitable result of decades of propulation and income growth with no increase in transport capacity. 'Self-limiting' means that congestion was the main restraint on car use. When it might take several hours to drive a few kilometres only essential trips will be made. In Bangkok, the government made no serious attempt to manage the gridlock at ground level and instead embarked on a strategy of building elevated roads and railways above the chaos. For various reasons, building new infrastructure is much more attractive than trying to manage the chaos which would have required intensive traffic management and enforcement. and restraints on car use. Lacking capability and political will to manage traffic, and with severe constraints on building elevated highways, 'self-limiting congestion' in Phuket is now inevitable. The proposed new roads and LRT cannot provide significant relief while demand continues to escalate. As traffic density increases more junctions lock up and the installation of simple fixed-cycle traffic lights without vehicle actuation increases delays in every case . The Governor clearly does not want to acknowledge these uncomfortable truths, and he resorts to token measures such as diverting main road traffic 'to small roads'. The consequences of such a strategy are very negative, spreading danger, noise, pollution and congestion to sois and residential streets and creating more junction conflicts.
  5. It's not only coconuts that can drop on you in Phuket. This part of an Indian rocket made of carbon fibre, washed up this morning on Karon Beach, but, judging by the barnacles, it came most of the way by sea.
  6. I got rejected three times this week, making minor adjustments each time. The fourth adjustment was to turn off the VPN and was approved.
  7. I registered for expatvac on the first day (1st August) and received confirmation that my registration was successful. But today I received the following message from expatvac: "This is an auto-generated email. Please do not reply. After reviewing your registration, it can not be further processed due to lack of required visas. Please note that this registration platform is ONLY for foreign residents in Thailand and are not Thai nationality. If you are a migrant worker or work under MoU with the Ministry of Labour, please wait for further information from the Ministry of Labour. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand This is an automated message, please do not reply." I believe registration was rejected because when I uploaded my passport into the image box, it deleted the visa already uploaded. Many registrants reported this problem. MFA was aware of this problem and it would have required minimal intelligence for the MFA to request a copy of my visa. Following the rejection I tried to register again using another email address. This was rejected in the following terms: "Please fix the following errors: The combination "first name"-"Family name"-"XXXXXXXX" of Given name (English), Family name (English) and Passport number has already been taken." This is a warning to other registrants who did not upload their passport and visa successfully. We are now blocked from registration with no recourse.
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