nong38

I would say that my outgoings have gone up by a third in the last 8 years, inflation has caught on here, unless you are a Thai pensioner, you still get the 600 bts a month you did over 10 years ago! To make things worse for them the claim age has just gone up from 60 to 66. A lot of the blame goes on the Governments who raised the daily minimum wage without any productivity in return, the costs are passed onto the public. Expats feel the pinch in the exchange rate, the price rises here and the lack of pension increases from home, standards of living are bound to be hit.

This reminds me of the enthusiasts in the UK who preserve old locomotives, it costs a lot of money to keep them going, like a bottomless pit you can never throw enough money in but they think its worth the effort and good for them! Thai Airways is the same in so much as you can never throw enough money at it and nothing will change, it might be better called incompetents R us. The best thing they could do is to sell it to Singapore Airlines and let Singapore take it over and run it as a part of their operation, their management and staff. The current Thai staff can apply for jobs I am sure some of them are good but just not enough of them. It cannot carry on in its present form, its the Governments duty to deal with this and not just asking the public to stump funds to keep an airline going that is clearly not being run in a business like way, Thais deserve better, there are better ways to spend the loses on, now don't mention submarines anyone!

Excellent idea so long as there is no added noise, I like to hear the Monks when they are coming. Would it also be possible to make purchasing beers and spirits from 0900 until 1200 to sober persons. I would also suggest the promotion of Bingo Halls as a means to attract punters, I mean tourists from cloudier climes. Cricket to be reported upon in Thai TV sports reports to attract many more Indians to the hallowed shores.

Fingerprints and foot prints at Immigration then straight down to Soi Buckou or whatever it is for a few pints with the locals and then the pub quiz...…...What does the Pope wear under his robe/tent/ Real Madrid traditional costume?

It might be better for tourists if they did not encounter the alcohol free "Monk Days" about which they knew nothing when booking their holiday.

Sounds like a pintable to me, will cause more accidents than it prevents, do try and think ahead!

Whatever they being paid and claiming is allowances its just a drop in the ocean compared to the loses the national carrier is showing. The people running the show don't seem to be up the job, in a private company they would be out on their ear.

Support the Government, not be the Government, of course.

I should add that although we can see what the easiest thing to do is Thailand has to find an alternative more complicated way of doing things! They don't help themselves and they don't like other telling them there is a better way of doing things.

Whenever I look at these vans I think they do not look like a strong safety cage to me and then who wears a safety belt? They really are not safe here, its a risk you take when you climb in. a risj people seem willing to take. Drivers take too many journeys, take too many risks with other peoples lives.

They will insist on local insurers you can bet on that, otherwise the extra money cannot be guaranteed coming in, money going out to pay for hospitals etc is another topic.

This just looks like another ruse by the local insurers to extract money from people who bothered to get a visa and are easily tracked for contributions. Its far more likely that any unpaid bills are from tourists who arrive by air have an accident and depart by air never to be seen again, how big this problem is depends on whether you want hoards of tourists here or insurance contributions. If the medical bills are so high then the easiest things to do would be for forms to filled out on route and fee payable on entry.

We will miss them all, a long and hoppy retirement.

A silver Spitfire is to fly the world and its on its way now! It will be in Thailand in October. It will be at Ubon Ratchathani on the 14th October for 2 nights and then fly to Don Mueng where it will rest for 4 nights after which it will fly on to Chiang Mia for one night before heading for Burma. A once a lifetime chance to see and hear this aircraft, there is more information on silverspitfire.com