Tourists are fleeced at Bangkok Airport by some duty free areas who seem to be in league with uniformed people.

Until the authorities clean this up in a country where corruption seems to have become a byword, it is better that tourists avoid the duty free areas.

In the press in the last few days there has been a story about two people from Cambridge who, it was claimed by authorities, were suspected of shoplifting. After coughing up £7.500 they were able to leave the country. The BBC website has a story by Jonathan Head which summarises the background.

Someone spotted that Ryanair charged the same price in euros as it did in pounds. This idea comes courtesy of 360travelguide.com which was picked up by the online trade magazine, Travolution.Because Ryanair say that a euro equals a pound, they were making an extra 16% clear profit over and above their usual profit if [...]