thaiophilus

You are staying in a traditional Chinese hotel with rooms around a courtyard. Your friend's room is on the other side of the building but you want to talk to him. Do you: Walk round to his room? Use the room phone kindly provided by the management to call him? Yell across the courtyard?

The official TFL site quotes taxi fares £56.00 - £105.00 (plus Heathrow surcharge £3.60) for a black cab from Heathrow to Paddington. That's about 15 miles. By Elizabeth Line train it's £12.30, by Heathrow Express £25. Stansted to Paddington is nearer 50 miles and minicab websites quote around £100. The train fare is £25.10.

That has a direct translation into Yorkshire: "Tha 'thee' thisen".

There's an old saying that any time you see a newspaper headline phrased as a question, the answer is "no". 😄

Is that fair on the boy? 😄

Strictly, flat width in mm. Double it for the girth. (The diameter when circular is less by a factor 2/pi.)

"Cocks"? Plural?! 😵

Can't help with information about Korat, but you could combine your visit with a couple of nights in Khao Yai.

Footnote for non-Thai speakers: literally he says "older_sibling give younger_sibling already yesterday" which is a very Thai idiom - pronouns which literally refer to kinship are often used between people who aren't related at all, because they denote relative status, which is culturally important. So I think it doesn't have to be about "you" and "I" at all - it could also be talking about two entirely different people. Only the context can tell. (Personally I give up trying to translate when I see ให้ because it's used in so many idioms where word order can make a big difference, and often means "cause" rather than "give". Or something like that. ☹️)

It's like the argument over whose territory Preah Vihear is in. It's in the interest of the governments on both sides, because it gives them a pretext for some nationalistic sabre-rattling when they need to distract the population from something else they would prefer to hide.

On a more prosaic mote, it is technically illegal to export Buddha images from Thailand without a licence. Your statuette may be a monk, not a Buddha, but I wouldn't want to argue about it with officialdom.

... one who's prepared to "accidentally enter" the new terminal and miss a flight to find out what happens? Any volunteers?

It wasn't speculation before COVID. Back in 2016, if you can believe The ASEAN Post, "the Thai government decided to stamp out zero-dollar tourism, estimating losses of US$2 billion each year in tax revenue. Three companies were shut down, 2,155 buses were seized and several people were arrested for money laundering and operating illegal low-quality tours." If you want speculation about the future, the Bangkok Post has an explainer with a 2023 dateline.

If a Chinese tourist in China pays Chinese money in advance to a Chinese company for a package tour staying in Chinese-owned hotels, how much of that money goes into Thai taxes?

Completely off topic, but I have a couple of 60 baht notes hanging on my wall (hint: they were issued in 1987 and 2006).

... putting it very mildly, and not just because of the language. Are you sure you can handle the potential boredom of small-town life? Also, the land route from Songkhla to Padang Besar takes you into "FCDO advises against all but essential travel" territory. To satisfy the need for regular visits to Malaysia, you might be better off living in Bangkok and flying to KL or Penang. (it might even be quicker!)

Been there, done that, back in 2001, though I don't suppose it's changed much since. If the river level was low, some of the older wooden boats took three days in the upstream direction. In that case, instead of the relative metropolis of Pakbeng you get to stay in two tiny no-name villages. The trip had its moments... Late on the first afternoon we met another boat identical to ours, which had hit a sandbank and sunk. So we stopped for a couple of hours while our boat's crew helped the other crew to rescue their cargo. By the time we moved on, it was dark. Very dark. Those boats have no lights and we now knew that apparently even an experienced crew can run aground, even in broad daylight. It was a welcome relief when we reached Village #1. The evening meal was noodles or rice; breakfast was rice or noodles. The "hotel" was a row of mats. When we reached Pakbeng at midday the following day I chose to leave the wooden boat and complete the journey on a (slightly) faster and stronger steel boat the following day. Meanwhile I enjoyed the UNESCO world heritage delights of Pakbeng: choice of guest houses! private rooms! beds! choice of restaurants! choice of food! electric light (until 9pm)! Slower than usual slow boat up the Mekong. Pakbeng Luang Prabang

Yes. Difficult to forget, as until you tap the gate doesn't open 😄

I'm not.

Just to clarify: "visa on arrival" and "visa exempt" are different things. People from the countries in 10tazione's list are entitled to the visa-exampt 30 day stamp. The 15-day "Visa on arrival" applies to citizens of Bulgaria, Bhutan, China, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Fiji, Georgia, India, Kazakhstan, Malta, Mexico, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, and there is a desk in the airport before immigration where you apply for it. (caveat: this list came from some random web page so may not be 100% accurate!)

... so why are you wasting your time here? 😊

Yes, of course. And for any doubters out there, here's the evidence.

I'd say opportunistically political - left or right, red or yellow, you can demonstrate your "patriotism" and attract the popular vote by putting on up a big rally to oppose some minority you can label as "un-Thai".

Don't worry, we already know who he is (see recent thread complaining about various nationalities...)

If any of these Lanna destinations appeals, you mght want to look at the Mae Hong Son loop. Lots of picturesque mountain scenery and intersting small towns/villages.