madmitch

Amazed how many people haven't heard of Conde Nast. Vogue, GQ and Tatler are among their publications. As stated above, Conde Nast Traveler is aimed at the luxury traveller, just the sort of tourist that Thailand wants, so they probably pride this ranking above many others (and there does seem to be a new one every week!). Of course, this is published at a time when long haul travel is still slowly recovering so I'm not too sure where the results are compiled from.

Ladie's volleyball seems to be about the only sport which gets blanket TV coverage in Thailand and my GF and her friends are glued to it whenever it's on. I find it eminently watchable as well......not sure why????? When she was in England I managed to get it on my TV via an Android box, which she was very please about. The problem was she discovered she could watch the Thai soaps every day as well!

Prawit might be enjoying his his position of power so much that he may have thrown a few watches the way of the judges.

Says nothing about handing out 500 baht notes to everyone in the constituency!

Sound like they were better actors than most of those in Thai soaps!

Judging by the number of bookings received so far for my partner's guesthouse and similar properties nearby, I'm not too sure there will be much of a high season. I really hope I'm wrong as another year like the last two will be the final straw for many of those small businesses that have managed to stay afloat.

Will TV presenters drop their masks?

Whilst agreeing with your views on village life for foreigners, I found the rest of the article insulting and insensitive and I'm surprised the mods have allowed it to be published. The Rooster ramblings have become increasingly self-centred in the past months but this has topped the lot!

About time Thailand officially lost the Land Of smiles nickname as nobody sees the smile any more In the UK I'd guess 99% of people do not wear masks. Of those that do, the majority appear to be of Asian.descent.

Has he actually looked at any other currencies, many of which have fallen further against the dollar than the baht has?

They won't reduce tax on imported vehicles. Hi-sos will pay whatever theyy need to for a show-off car and it's o ne way of getting some tax money from them. Just a shame it limits the choice of regular, non-luxury vehicles.

In both cases someone trying to stroke the cat. I know to avoid approaching stray cats but tourists don't.

They do sometimes bite. I've had two guests bitten by stray cats and they have to go through the same set of injections as you do for a dog bite. However I do agree with your point about vermin control, though a friendly python would work as well????

It's hardly a new concept. Local Governments, schools and even some companies have been arranging these trips for years. As @PETERTHEEATER says, they are a pain in the butt to other drivers both on the highways and especially on the narrower roads when nearing their destination.

The minimum wage should increase but this in turn would force prices to rise and the rate of inflation to accelerate, which would affect the elderly on their almost non-existent pensions and those who work outside of the social security system and are often paid below the minimum wage. Difficult one to balance.

I wonder if the airport taxi drivers have learnt how to use their phones to find destinations during the quiet period? Or will they still be phoning the hotels and guesthouses asking for directions?

Ah, one of those thousands of "tourists" from Laos who are helping to raise the tourist numbers.

I've stayed in many hotels in Thailand and none have not served booze between 2:00 as nd 5:00,pm. Many even have happy hours at theses times.

RIP Queen Elizabeth II. You will be sadly missed.

And if a new charter were to come into being during Prayut's continued tenure would this restart the clock? You've done your time, Prayut. You even set up the rules. Time to give a younger man a chance.....……...........oh I've got that bit wrong!

He should retire gracefully. I should rephrase that, I doubt he could do anything gracefully????

Photo taken today during the caretaker PM's visit to Krabi. Yes, just the man to move the country forward!

But this should open up opportunities for Thai tourism. It could be cheaper for retirees to spend their winter in Thailand than back home in Europe. On a separate point, the reason France is faring better than Thailand is down to geography, with the country easily reachable from the whole of Europe and attracts long-stayers, weekenders and day-trippers alike. Thailand's neighbours are more likely to hop over for a short time (and you can interpret that whatever way you want????). Thailand's tourism industry will remain in the doldrums until the Chinese and, to a lesser extent, the Russians return. Even then I can't see it exactly flourishing.

I wonder how many of the 549 "new" travel businesses are actually brand new operations and how many are registered by speculators buying existing distressed businesses at a knockdown price?

.........one of whom has just been suspended as a result of accruing unexplained wealth!