ROMANOBA

Given the standard of education in public thai schools, it' surprising to me that most students can get above 70....And now a IQ test for thai teachers, the result would be MUCH MORE surprising, I suppose...

I was watching this on the news last night - they showed a coloured map showing the regions over the kingdom. It puts an end to the average 80 IQ statements last year. I am always concerned about the testing here though - I hope this was conducted correctly and without the usual teacher help (aka cheating) - as that would actually be a disservice - how can one tackle a problem that is not visible?

It also shows that Thai kids have the right foundation (biologically) - so poor education can really only be blamed on the education system, not the students ability to learn.

...What's the news?!...

Police corruption.... Prostitutes in Phuket ........ i nearly faiting, please say this isnt true !

Ticket of 1500 bath? This is the price of a flight with Orientthai.Secondly most people taking the train now are tourists enjoying to SLEEP in the train, and they do not care how long is traveling time.Chiangmai is a tourist destination, not a business destination, so I do not see the need for a speed train between Bangkok and Chiangmai.They could IMPROVE quality and speed of the existing connections instead of daydreaming about populistic and useless projects...

I dont care about high speed, I just want rail that doesnt throw me out of my seat !!! Fix what ya got first pinheads.

As long as they do not allow people who have sufficient funds to live here but are not 50 years old, they will have to ' tolerate' some kind of loophole, like a ED visa....

In ALL asean neighbouring countries this category of people - under 50 - are allowed to stay WITHOUT any problem ( and as long as they do not cause any problem...)

Phjilippines: 2 months tourist visa, EXTENDABLE ALL LIFE!!!!

Cambogia: one year visa without any requirement, 280 usd.

Laos: one year visa without any problem

Maleysia: 3 months visa at any border, extendable without any problem

Singapore: 3 months visa, extendable.

Obviously the reason of the demential visa regulations in Thailand IS NOT the couple of backpapers working here illegally as a teacher ( which by the way is strongly NEEDED, so where is the problem???).

Minority complex towards first-world-countries?.....

About time!

Exactly.So basically foreitgners will be punished for having pumped money in Thailand's economy!...This kind of protecionism could make some sense 30 years ago, when the price of land in prime locations in Thailand was substantially lower than in Europe or America, but now that the square meter price in Phuket is higher than in Manhattan or London this sounds ridiculous.Somebody want to grab some overprized lot for peanuts...Furthermore therr asre two kinds of foreigners investing here in Thailand: multinationals, owning hotels in prime location, and those are out of the scope of this disussion.And retired people having bought small lots in the village of their ' shark', and those people will be an easy target, without any doubt....

More legislation...

Just what's needed.

Bad Bad foreigners, investing all that money and making the economy grow... Very bad for Thailand. They should feel the full force of the law for their crimes.

Mexico?Culture in Pattaya? People come to Pattaya for sex - in the broad sense of the term: also couples coming to Pattaya - especially russian couples- enjoy the ' sexual atmosphere', and so do people who come here with their family.The ones coming to Pattaya or Thailand with kids are a minority.No sex or sexual atmosphere in Mexico, period.

About russian tourists: true, they are noisy, but also colourful and they are an attraction on themselves!!!....So they fit the Pattaya-variety-show.

What a crock, European tourists do not go to Pattaya to learn about the Thai culture they go for sex, if they arrive totally unaware that Pattaya is the biggest brothel in the world they pretty soon find out and have a disappointing holiday. I must add I admire the large expensive hotel chains that are moving in, but being a cynic I suspect they have their eye on the rich middle East guys rather than mum, dad, granny and the three kids from Birmingham.I must add this guy sounds a little crazy ( read a lot ) to suggest Mexico will be a rival to Thiland ref tourism, nobody dare go to Mexico because of the drug murders. I have Mexican relatives living in LA who are too afraid to cross the border to visit their own family. does this guy work for TOT //???????

As usual, lack of common sense from thai autorities.My experience is that the SIMPLIEST question asked to a thai immigration officer is already enough to give him /her a headache.Aside from that 99 percent ot immmigration officers DO NOT speak or read english.Aside from that it's quite arrogant to doubt the legitimity of embassy documents.Aside from that it's not clear at all WHICH proof of pension must be submitted.I doubt that a thai officer can only read an original proof of pension.

This will be interesting.

The 'front of house' staff at the immigration office I am required to attend for my annual visa extension based on retirement (Nakhon Pathom) struggle to understand my (British) embassy letter, then to do check my arithmetic on the conversion of UK Pounds to Thai Baht. To expect them to decipher a British Inland Revenue P60 should really throw the cat amongst the pigeons.

To top it all, more than half of my annual income comes from sources other than my UK pension.

Proof readily available(as provided to the British Embassy) in the form of fixed deposit contracts and interest statements, but again, not the easiest of documents to understand if English skills of the reader aren't up to it.

Because of the inevitable variations in English language ability amongst the immigration bureau staff, and the differences in 'supporting documents' supplied by different countries, I'm afraid that I can 'smell' the approaching requirement for all documents to be translated into Thai, and notarised by the Department of Consular Affairs before presenting to Immigration.

Oh dear......

ALL Asean citizens are exempted for a Laotian Visa and ALL get 21 days.My filipina girlfriend always got to Laos straight, without any need for a visa.

Visas for Laos are needed for all except Japanese visitors. According to agreements made since 2005, ASEAN country citizens should be given free entry for 15 days. However, this is not always the case and some ASEAN citizens (e.g. Indonesian) have reported being charged for entry into Laos. This may also apply at other ASEAN country border control where the free entry agreement has not been implemented or is being ignored.

ASEAN does not include new Zealand and Australia

I agree.Nothing more urgent to take care of???Aside fromt that, IF somebody wishes to show disrespect/criticism to any given religion, well, it's his/her choice, I think we need some more disrespect towards the folly of religions, after all the damage the did to humanity.Active but not indecent disrespect is also an opinion and must be respected as such.

Culture Minister Niphit Intharasombat ought to get a life and start worrying about something that actually matters...

i agree.Unsafe sex could ' kill' maybe 10 people a year ( and I think I overestimate). From unsafe sex you can get a STD, of all STD only ONE can kill you on the long run, and this is HIV.

Today the new antiviral medicines allow people to cope with this sickness, so it's quite unlikely you will die of HIV - the quality of life will be less, this for sure, but that's all.

Furthermore, statistically if you have unprotected sex ONCE with a HIV infected man or woman, the chance of getting infected is about 1 percent.

If you smoke the chance of getting a smoke-related sickness which will kill you is much higher than 1 percent.

AND your sex life will be killed on the long run, because of the clotting of veins and arteries.

So, eventually: smoke will kill your sex life and probably kill you, whereas unprotected sex will not kill you and will give you a lot of joy and pleasure, and all you will risk is to catch a STD which will be cured within a couple of days with an antibiotic.

So, this article is ridiculous indeed...

I would think that smoking causes far more premature deaths than unsafe sex - that's a ridiculous article.

I agree.Maybe Mr Absit need a reality check.Everywhere in the world Thailand means: low quality, cheap tourism.People with some refinement and money avoid Thailand like the pest.I do not mean that Thailand has nothing to offer to' quality tourists', but simply that the image of Thailand doens not match any of the requirements of quality tourism.Thailand is COMPETITIVE at the low, perhaps medium level, but if you want to spend 500 usd for a state of the art resort. well, choice enough elsewhere in the world...Go to the Maldives, or the Seychelles, or tons of other places.If I am a ' quality tourist' and at my arrival at the airport i go to the information desk, and the employee answer my question with' NO HAVE', well...quality tourism ask for quality staff, right?Furthermore it s obvisous that of the 15 million tourist coming to Thailand, maybe a few thousand are' high quality tourists', but that the bulk of the money comes from low to medium tourist segment.One last thing: with the increase in prices, the medium segment is becoming less and less competitive.For a cheap beer and some cheap fun I can go to the Philippines.For good medium quality I can go to Vietnam,Indonesia or even Malasya, they are now cheaper than Thailand.For high quality, well, I will not even think of Thailand....

"A smattering of Russians and no one else" was how the tourist numbers on Koh Samet were described to me yesterday. "Even the staff are getting worried", said the restaurateur of eleven years in a prime location on the island.

"Low season hasn't even begun and I've never seen it this bad, even the Scandinavians have vanished."

This is the reality and these business owners are not expecting any growth in trade for the foreseeable future, particularly now with very high oil prices on the horizon with the revolutions across the Middle East, continuing global economic turmoil and the resilient strength of the Thai Baht.

So I think they need to be concentrating on quantity. Not quite sure how you control quality unless consulate interviews are conducted to get a 30 day holiday visa.

Well, the MAJOR attraction of Pattaya is prostitution, and the most colourfull part of this attraction is prostitution on the beach road,period. I wpuld not even bother coming back to Pattaya if the beachroad would be totally clean of girls,ladyboys and all this various humanity making Pattaya something really special.

can't we just make the girls and the ladyboys stand *on* the beach, like... in the water? and we'll just come to them when we need them?

I like that idea very much! Now THAT could seriously be marketed as a unique tourist attraction. The standing in the water sex worker statuettes of Pattaya. Perhaps hire a choreographer so they could do some periodic synchronized dance moves ...

Wow....Good that Police confiscated 10 condoms and some viagra....Now we can can walk safely in Pattaya....

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I do not see why Pattaya should be worsrt than Bangkok.It 's just a place where you can find anything you want. it's the best and the worst of Thailand packed in one small place.At least it s more colourful and less boring than the rest of Thailand.And more safe than 99 percent of the rest of the planet.

Pattaya always has been, and will be the place foreigners go to for anything illegal. Way it is, way it will be for the forseeable future..

Go ahead and flame me, but I lived in BKK for 3 years. Everytime I went there, I wanted to get on the first thing smoking back to BKK so I could experience some sort of normal civilization.

I think all the recent "suicides" and "self-defense" homicides should show people the deal there. That said if I ever want to hide out from the cops, I know where I'm going.

There is good and bad everywhere for sure also in BKK and i do have a total different view of things than you do, but i'm not living in the city, just outside... That Danish blokes name doesn't at all sound Danish, does it ?

Crossing a street in Bangkok will give me a much higher statistical chance to get hurt than to get hurt from a bomb blasting at a ATM or a bank.So in term of numbers the chance a tourist will get hurt because of a bomb or a riot is pretty much ZERO.

It is ridiculous top quote Thailand as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for tourists.This is not Irak or Afghanistan and tourists are not a target.

The verdict proves that Thailand is de facto more democratic than my country, Italy. where the prime minister, Berlusconi, acted in a more outlawish way than Thaksin, but was never convicted...

I think the' folklore' linked to prostitution, aside from the prostitution itself, counts for 80 percent of the charm of Pattaya.The strange ' zoo' which is the Beach at night is one of the tourist attractions of the city! Otherwise WHO would take a stroll along the beach?It's polluted, crowdy,noisy.So TAT should ENCOURAGE prostitution on the beach, and police should do the same.I like the beach the way it is.It is an institution, a sanctuary, a living museum, a unique scene for unrrivaled stand comedian. It s almost poetic, at times...