A Singaporean's guide to living in Thailand

[yinyang]

 

[yinyang]

 

[Froggy]

Chill out at a beautiful Thai restaurant near home last night



4 simple dishes dinner

Somtam

Cabbage stir fry with fish sauce

Thai herb minced pork deep fry

Seabass tomyam

 

[Froggy]

Thailand's roast pork or crispy pork rice is something I like especially for the sauce. This dish is actually a Chinese dish brought to Thailand by early Chinese immigrants.

Here's one of my fav shop

Always busy

This is the roast pork section that prepares wanton dumplings too

This is the crispy pork section

My dinner

Just look at the sauce so nice

Wanton

 

[Byebye Penis]

I don't like roast meats but I admit that Tang Jai Yoo roast pig is superb too.

 

[yinyang]

Thai cuisine is reknown. But their fishballs suck. No fight with sinkie balls (excuse the pun).

 

[Froggy]

Saturday brunch at a Hong Kong restaurant near home

Roast duck and pork

Fried noodles

Fried oyster omelette

 

[yinyang]

 

[Froggy]

Tonight's moon is so beautiful

 

[Froggy]

On Sunday had a great lunch alone at a, how should I say, very countryside setting type of restaurant which is only 2.4km from my home

Location - Location - ร้านบ้านต๋อง https://goo.gl/maps/ehaWq1wxyzWu6ACJA

Somtam

Moo dat deow (pork jerky)

Yam hoon sen tapay (yam salad with glass noodle and seafood)

Tom saeb keduk moo (spicy soup with pork ribs)

My favourite chili - jeem jiao

Lunch

Added chicken wings, pik gau thod

Fried pork in spicy sauce, larb moo thod

Great lunch and it costs only 700 baht ($30)

 

[JustOneSingh]

 

[JustOneSingh]

Bhai Froggy,

You have a very big appetite.

 

[yinyang]

Asia’s Worst-Performing Currency Takes a Hit From Tourism’s Wipeout
By
Lilian Karunungan
31 March 2021, 04:49 GMT+7

Commerzbank AG sees baht dropping to 32 against the dollar

• Japanese outflows, current-account deficit work against baht

A perfect storm is engulfing Thailand’s baht and the one group of people who can save it are stuck in lockdown, thousands of kilometers from the arrivals lounges of Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai.

A current-account deficit, resurgent dollar and the seasonal repatriation of dividends by Japanese investors have all helped made the baht the worst-performing currency for Asia’s emerging markets for March. But it’s the bleak outlook for tourism that’s underlying the weakness, sending the dollar-baht to nearly a six-month high and ever closer to a test of its four-year downtrend.

“The real stimulant for the economy would be the return of international tourists and it’s something that will largely be missing in action this year,” said Prakash Sakpal, a senior economist at ING Groep NV in Singapore. “I would be surprised if the Thai baht sees the previous support it enjoyed from external surpluses anytime soon.”

The more than year-long pandemic has helped erode a key attraction for the baht -- the Thai current-account surplus -- which has flipped to a deficit for four straight months after six years in the green. Tourism receipts contributed more than 62% of the surplus in 2019, according to ING.
As Europe -- the second-biggest source of tourists to Thailand -- is grappling with another wave of infections, visitor numbers are unlikely to rebound soon. The Bank of Thailand lowered its estimate for arrivals this year to 3 million from December’s estimate of 5.5 million -- less than a 10th of the 39.9 million tourists who visited in 2019.
Thailand to Reopen Phuket to Vaccinated Tourists From July

The shortfall in the current account has had a knock-on effect, leaving the baht vulnerable to outflows from rising U.S. yields and the seasonal repatriation of dividends by Japanese companies, according to Kobsidthi Silpachai, head of capital market research at Kasikornbank Pcl in Bangkok. They amounted to $3.5 billion in the first quarter of last year, he said.
The propensity to import gold by Thais when prices are going down has also weighed on the baht, he added.
The Thai currency has dropped about 3% in March, taking losses for the year to around 4.5%. It traded above 31.3 per dollar on Wednesday, its weakest since early October.

Welcome for Some
Still, the baht’s decline is welcome news for the central bank, which had been trying to rein in appreciation of the currency last year.
“Policymakers should take comfort in accelerated baht depreciation -- something they strived hard for quite a long time through several market measures that never came their way -- as supportive for exports and tourism recovery,” said ING’s Sakpal.
Commerzbank AG forecasts the baht could slide to 32 by year-end, well above the median year-end estimate of 30 per dollar in a Bloomberg survey of analysts.

“We’re looking for a muted, bumpy recovery for the economy given the pandemic,” said Charlie Lay, a currency analyst in Singapore. “Global travel will only come back gradually, which will hamper the recovery in tourism.”
— With assistance by Chester Yung, and Suttinee Yuvejwattana
(Updates baht performance in second, eight paragraphs; current account in fourth paragraph)

 

[Froggy]

Dinner at Somboon Seafood Restaurant with a fellow Singaporean visitor to Bangkok.



Fresh oysters

Oyster omelette (orhlua)

Egg plant with minced pork and salted fish

Glass noodle

Curry crab

Steamed roe crab

Groupa steamed in soya sauce

Mango Sticky rice

 

[amazedbyyou]

damage at least B3k ?

 

[Froggy]

damage at least B3k ?

6,250 baht (brought my own Double Black there)

 

[shittypore]

That's around 300

6,250 baht (brought my own Double Black there)

Dream lunch lah!!! Screw salesman got CLASS.

 

[yinyang]

Yingluck freed of B35bn rice compensation order
Bangkok Post PUBLISHED : 2 APR 2021 AT 15:57

Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra appears at the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for People Holding Political Positions in Bangkok on Aug 1, 2017, to deliver her closing statement in the case involving her administration's corruption-ridden rice-pledging scheme. She fled the country later in the same month. (File photo)

The Central Administrative Court on Friday annulled the Finance Ministry's order that fugitive former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra pay 35.7 billion baht in compensation for her administration's loss-ridden rice-pledging scheme.

The court found that order number 1351/2559 issued in October 2016 was not legal because the corruption in the process - which included the verification of farmers' qualifications, the illegal use of foreign rice in the scheme, the substandard storage of pledged rice and fake government-to-government rice sales - happened at the operational level.

Yingluck had been aware only of memorandums of understanding for G2G sales of pledged rice and there had been attempts to investigate graft in the scheme. She had not intentionally allowed corruption to grow, the court said.

Besides, the Finance Ministry admitted there was no clear evidence proving that Yingluck had been directly responsible for damage caused by the scheme, the court said.

The ruling ws in response to Yingluck's petition against the compensation order. The 35.7-billion-baht figure was considered to be 20% of the total damage from the rice-pledging scheme.

Yingluck fled Thailand in August 2017 to escape punishment over her administration's failed rice-pledging scheme, just before the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for People Holding Political Positions was set to pass judgement.
She was sentenced in absentia to five years in prison.

Deputy Prime Minister Wisanu Krea-ngam said on Friday that the government had the right to appeal against the court's ruling.

 

[yinyang]

 

[Charlie99]

That's around 300


Dream lunch lah!!! Screw salesman got CLASS.

Probably a very successful screw entrepreneur.