@Christopher ********

- Are you familiar with the history between Thailand and the other countries you mentioned? I don’t doubt that there is some form of discrimination that goes on, however I think it’s natural, and likely more based off of history, cultural, behavioral, & economic differences, etc… vs just something superficial like skin color. Thai’s are very protective of their country and its people. They truly believe Thailand belongs to the Thai people and will fight to keep it that way. However unlike a lot of other Asian countries they are not completely homogeneous like Japan, Korea, Mongolia, etc… They do accept mixing (I believe 40% are mixed with Chinese.)

I think it’s easy as a foreigner to make judgments based on surface level interactions and observations. But unless it is actually your country/ people/ way of life at stake, or you are able to completely suspend your own biases and judgments, it’s difficult to understand all the nuances and possible reasons for underlying feelings of resentment if any in that regards.

Whitening products are not about race. If anything it’s more about classism. The idea is that if your skin is light, then you’re not out in the sun doing manual labor. It also implies that you can afford beauty products to take care of your skin. Lighter skin is an Asian beauty standard not exclusive to Thais it has nothing yo do with wanting to be racially white. I would liken it to white people tanning- the implication is that someone who is tan can afford to artificially tan or have enough free time to lay around in the sun.

I’ve traveled with this. It works with any normal seat belt. It essentially re-positions a seat belt to fit the child.

It’s just a thing that they do, but not necessary to open an account. They tried to sell me insurance too and my account was opened in my small hometown where the banker knew my mom. (She was with me). I just told them flat out that the coverage amount isn’t worth it to me, I have no need of it and that I have all necessary insurance from out of country.

Was this a Thai requirement or France/EU? I frequently travel by myself with my children (US Passport) and this has never been an issue. I don’t even have the exact same last name as my children either. Not sure about other countries but US passports require that both parents be present or have Notarized Consent from absent parent in order to obtain a passport to begin with.

I’m having the exact same issue in Germany!

@Bruce ********

- It isn’t for everyone, the US seems to be a bleeding heart for some. This is why the US needs a total immigration reform. It’s an unfair system that essentially incentivizes and rewards the illegal immigrants that come through our Southern Borders.

“Robin Hood” is a Thai term for illegally immigrating.

Next to impossible unless she’s very rich, has a long term established business in Thailand, owns a lot of property, etc… she has the burden of proof that she has obligations in Thailand and every intention of returning. The interviewers are instructed to treat and assume that every Thai National applying for a Visa has no intentions of returning and are only going to the US to “Robin Hood”.

Right- but the program has an expiration date since it is government funded. “Duo Pricing” I assume wouldn’t be Government funded/ supplemented.

@James **********

- No I hadn’t, but I just now looked it up. So it sounds like the Duo Rate is also an attempt to place something more permanent and not government funded in order to incentivize domestic tourism among Thais.