Beetlejuice

To qualify, "it's been my experience" that Thais really don't see nationality when coming into contact with a white foreigner. They see farang. I don't think most Thais give a hoot what some U.S. government official says. Some might, but even those are not going to hold it against he average American they meet on the street or perhaps work with.

The real problem is those damn Englishman!

haha...come on man...don't serious and I mean don't serious.

It`s the Welsh I can`t tolerate. The people that sing; there be a welcome in the hillside, because they don`t like inviting people into their houses.

As regards the attitudes of Thai women about age, it seems the older I get, the more expensive they become.

I too have various expensive gold chains and rings that I never wear, we keep them stored in a strong box at the bank. Don`t want to be a victim waiting to happen.

I am sorry for your ordeal and know this can be extremely traumatic. What you should have done is once you arrived at the hospital, claim some sort of injury, strained neck, rib pains, anything, then insisted that the doctor called the police. Otherwise the policeman was correct in saying that leaving it so long after the event to report this, you have no evidence, meaning; no reports of injury to yourself and by that time the gold chain was probably well hidden out the way somewhere. As they say; strike when the iron`s hot.

Sadly, this is something you will have to write off to experience.

You must be kidding. You`ll be lucky to find women of ill repute under the age of 40 in the Loi Kroh road and surrounding areas. In those areas women less than 35 years old are considered underage and females in their 20s as absolute cradle snatching. Most of it is crap, but now it seems they`re even taking the crap away. Heartless swines.

I have been warning for a long time that the clamp downs will progressively increase in Chiang Mai, having first hand word of all the rumours well in advance.

You now start contradicting yourself within a single post.

You have all the inside information when it comes to law enforcement and police policy, yet here we have it in black and white that girls under 18 were found by that same police force, yet you dismiss this and keep at the tired theme that 'everyone' there are old hags.

You can't have it both ways.

(If you would visit a bit more often you'd find that most staff are in their twenties or early thirties, a minority is over 35 and an even tinier minority is under 18. But there are some under 18. (16 and 17, but that's still under 18.) Another thing we may disagree about is that there is something wrong with women over 35, and that this age group would be somehow detrimental to the enjoyment of wine and song. I'm over 35 myself and enjoy talking with women of any age when in a bar. (Or men for that matter.) I assume we do agree that girls under 18 do not belong in bars.)

I have many fond memories of that area from the past, old friends some now departed, made many new friends, wine, women and song and loads of laughs that was affordable. We were not sexpats, just a bunch of lads out for social. The whole area was heaving with farangs of all nationalities and ages at the time. The Spotlight used to be packed out on most nights plus some great shows on stage. Little did I know at the time that the scene would end up like this.

My, the past does get better with time doesn't it. I visited Las Vegas (the CM bar) 20 years or so ago and it was one of the saddest places I've ever been to. And: Spotlight ever had shows? It may have had the occasional girl or two putting a bit of extra effort into her shift, but let's not fool ourselves: it was always a parade of 3-4 groups of 4-5 bikini-clad women shuffling to sad 80's songs, with awkward German bands with big 80's hair featuring far too prominently in the same tired playlist.

Here, for old times' sake, a Modern Talking playlist.

Now, I will say that I had good times at Spotlight in the 1990s and early naughties, but its decline is completely due to the owners having stopped caring long ago and make any kind of effort other than to raise prices; prices used to be just a couple baht over any other bar, these days it seems they think they're located in Soi Cowboy. At the same time, tourist-oriented nightlife has expanded in Chiang Mai, providing more options. The decline of spotlight has nothing to do with any legal policy but is entirely their own doing. (Or lack of doing) It's operating the exact same way as always, which is probably part of the problem.

Well, now it seems you are also contradicting yourself.

Of course I detest the thought of underage persons working in bars or anywhere else within the adult entertainments industries. All I can say is that I have never seen evidence of this in Chiang Mai, only read about it, or perhaps they are kept discreetly in the background or I have been oblivious to it. As for the age of the women, as they say; one man`s meat is another man`s poison.

Whatever, I do not totally disagreeing with what you say, but in my opinion the Chiang Mai nightlife and adult entertainments scene has become abysmal, again some may disagree depending on preferences and lifestyle.

I have many fond memories of that area from the past, old friends some now departed, made many new friends, wine, women and song and loads of laughs that was affordable. We were not sexpats, just a bunch of lads out for social. The whole area was heaving with farangs of all nationalities and ages at the time. The Spotlight used to be packed out on most nights plus some great shows on stage. Little did I know at the time that the scene would end up like this.

2 weeks ago I drove passed what used to be the Las Vegas bar. Now it`s just a derelict building with the fading Las Vegas sign still showing over the door. Many other of my old haunts went the same way. I think the beginning of the end was when they levelled all the little open bars close by where the Foxy Lady is located now and then planted trees in the area.

Sad, sad, sad.

Try a Termite repellent spray, the one that really stinks, orange and yellow label with a fine nose sprout that you could spray into any nock or crany , they hate the smell of it as do snakes also, works for me in Kan.

If I remember, will take a photo of this spray can and the other cans etc. that I use to repel mossies indoor and outdoor.

Win

The name of the repellent that you are recommending is "Shell Drite'.

That stuff is strong enough to choke an elephant. I certainly don`t recommend spraying that in a car, unless you have asbestos lined lungs.

I assume locals here wouldn't mind being charged ten times everyone else to go to visit Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks, Glacier National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, etc? Well, no need to stop there, just charge them double to go up to the top of the Empire State Building, visit the Statue of Liberty, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and similar sites around the world.

And while we're at it make it illegal for them to own land or the majority share in a company. Both of which should be Thai laws forbidding their citizens from doing overseas the same things that they forbid us in this country.

That wouldn't work! The laws would have to be passed by the countries that the Thais are investing in. Can you imagine Thai judges passing laws that forbid Thais from buying English football clubs, for example?

The law cannot to be made by the country a Thai may invest in as that would be discrimination. The law would have to be a Thai law forbidding Thais to do the same outside their country as we are forbidden to do in theirs. It is called equality. If Thailand deems in wrong for foreigners to own land in Thailand then equally they should deem it wrong for Thais to own land outside of Thailand. Equal rights. Anything else is hypocrisy.

Perhaps in the perfect world, but in reality opening up the flood gates permitting westerners to purchase and own land and real estate here would be a disaster for Thailand. The people to thank for this are those who would abuse the system.

It would be a land grab by those from the wealthier nations, using marriages of convenience to Thais, foreign land speculators taking over the property markets and all kinds of cons and tricks in order to claim their stakes on Thai soil. The Thais would simply be priced out of the market, not able to compete with the wealthier foreigners in their own country. A totally different scenario with Thais owning land and property in the west where the bidders and land prices are on the same levels. Giving westerners strong footholds in Thailand would have the affect of increasing the cost of living for everyone, leaving only the richer Thais able to compete in the real estate markets and the poor destitute.

Thailand is simply not geared up for foreigner investment in the country on the foreigner`s terms, where they can own everything outright, dictate the rules and eventually set the prices.

These parks should be free to tourists and should be well maintained so tourist bring nice photos and memories back to their home countries. This is a cheap way to promote Thailand.

Now Instead of seeing all the beautiful waterfalls and parks many tourists will only see the dirty streets and beaches and red light areas. Short sided thinking, some one should be fired !

True, but even the crap is becoming more expensive for westerners these days. Pay more for everything is the policy.

The problems faced by these online business entrepreneurs in Thailand, is that the majority are not registered businesses, either hoping that the authorities will not notice or using Thai names to front their activities.

So in fact they are caught between a rock and a hard place, wanting the maximum exposure aiming at the appropriate clientele but also having to operate with a certain discretion not wanting to bring too much attention to themselves by whom they consider as the wrong people. This is why they prefer the free classifieds rather than go the whole hog and advertise in the main stream media.

I would imagine that the majority of members of this forum apart from bird watchers don't visit Thai national parks all that often. If Thailand had a system like the British National Trust then this may alleviate the problem for frequent park visitors and for tourists that intend to visit National Parks, palaces and other places of interest where there are Government entry fees.

These 'season tickets' can be bought from the National Trust and then allow free entry into venues. There is for example one specifically for London which gets onto things like the "London Eye'. I'm sure the powers that be in this Country could devise a set up whereby these could be bought online from overseas if needs be thereby generating foreign exchange.

All of these tickets bought online would be one price.

Actually your post has made me aware of something that I hadn`t thought of and is very interesting.

Does anyone know if it is possible to acquire season tickets for anything in Thailand? Such as forests, parks, theme parks, cinemas, on any public transport systems and so on?

Or are season ticket schemes something the Thais consider as bad for business?

Taking out a life insurance policy on his girlfriend prior to letting her loose on the ski slopes could prove very lucrative.

I guarantee that the majority of dumb tourists, if not all, won`t complain and will still consider 400 baht as a cheap day out. It won`t put them off. The National Parks know this. As long as there are the hordes willing and able to pay inflated prices way and above the normal Thai rates, then this practice will continue. As for ex-pats living here, the amounts we spend on visiting tourist attractions is a drop in the ocean and insignificant, they couldn`t care less.

I've done just about all the visiting here that costs money so it's no big deal to me. Most of it wasn't worth it.

Personally, I wish they'd drop admission prices in Britain for places like Tower, Buck Palace and St Pauls (which shouldn't have an admission fee anyway). They should drop it for British Citizens born in the UK and double/treble it for tourists. They won't lose any tourists because UK has some of the greatest tourist sites in the world and the tourists can afford it.

As a young snotty nosed kid and then with my own snotty nosed children, the sights and attractions of old London town was a wonderful experience and well affordable, most of it for free. The pigeons of Trafalgar Square (that has now gone) the museums, splendid parks, the numerous zoos, Kew Gardens and so on. We used to buy a cheap one day bus pass, no way better to see London than from the top of a double decker bus.

I am becoming tired of Thailand`s attitude of we are a poor country, you rich farlang, you pay for everything and you pay more. Even I, having been here many years and speak reasonable Thai, they still try it on with me on occasions. Every time I make a purchase here I need to be alert and on my guard to avoid being ripped off.

I do believe that those who are here as retirees, bringing their money over from abroad and can fulfil all the requirements of the Immigration departments should be given some concessions, discount deals and same price as Thais access to certain venues, part of a package deal, because in fact those on retirement who are imposed to keep 800000 baht in a Thai bank and spending their money over here are offered nothing except that we can live cheaper over here, but over the years the gaps between cost of living expenditure in the west and in Thailand has narrowed. Thailand no longer appears to be a viable final grazing ground destination it used to be or as many are led to believe.

And before anyone says; if I don`t like it, I can sod off somewhere else, the answer is no, I`m not going.

I guarantee that the majority of dumb tourists, if not all, won`t complain and will still consider 400 baht as a cheap day out. It won`t put them off. The National Parks know this. As long as there are the hordes willing and able to pay inflated prices way and above the normal Thai rates, then this practice will continue. As for ex-pats living here, the amounts we spend on visiting tourist attractions is a drop in the ocean and insignificant, they couldn`t care less.

We have a small fresh herbal juice business and also stock a few other healthy items. I have been constantly looking for a local media to advertise in that targets the permanent CM expat market (not tourists) and gets good traffic. I am willing to pay for decent exposure. Other than advertising here http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/forum/28-chiang-mai-forum/ (which I am considering, great traffic, but for some reason the banner ads do not show up on my computer???, how many others cannot view them?) I cannot find an appealing local media outlet. Perhaps www.chiangmainews.com but the tiny online banner ads do not allow any description whatsoever. I want to be able to mention at least 4-5 items and a link to our website.

Don't know if this helps but just my 2 cents from a frustrated potential small business advertiser looking for a popular media outlet. I do not know how typical our situation is but my guess is there are hundreds of small area businesses like ours looking for better exposure that does not "break the bank".

Doug

I am going to give you some professional advice for free:

Firstly, 2 points of importance to mention here: 1. If you are running your company from within Thailand, that you are doing so strictly according to Thai law as regards foreigners owning and running businesses in the Kingdom, 2. That you are a little IT savvy, able to design and create a basic website and so on.

For companies, Google and Weebly hosts excellent free websites. Easy to create templates for layouts, then once uploaded all you need to do is register your website with the search engines and online listings directories.

Also create a facebook company page, list the company with linkedin and even a Utube video for maximum online exposure. If wanting to be more adventurous and you have some knowledge of File Transfer Protocol (FTP), it is possible to create a professional website using a programme such as Abobe Dreamweaver and uploading using an FTP client including your own domain address with a host from a little as 150 baht per month.

Once you have established your website and other links mentioned above, then you can advertise your company in various online classifieds displaying the links to your website that will increase the odds of it being crawled and picked up by the search engines. After 6 months your company name will appear all over the Internet at virtually no cost, plus you will have full control and able to make amendments and updates, again at no cost.

And of course you have the option of becoming a Thai visa sponsor if you specifically want to aim at the Thailand ex-pat market.. Whatever, as the wise man says; where there`s a will, there`s a way, if you are prepared and determined to work at it.

We have an excellent website that is in all important search engines, we come up #1 in the "search terms" we want to.

thanks!

Doug

As they say; you only get what you pay for. The free classifieds websites are not really up to much. What it requires is something like banner ads on well known Thailand related themed sites, or regular ads in well known online magazines, including as I mentioned, Thai visa. Other than that, considering you already have a company website and the other means of low cost or free ways to promote your business that I have mentioned, there is not much else open to you.

We have a small fresh herbal juice business and also stock a few other healthy items. I have been constantly looking for a local media to advertise in that targets the permanent CM expat market (not tourists) and gets good traffic. I am willing to pay for decent exposure. Other than advertising here http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/forum/28-chiang-mai-forum/ (which I am considering, great traffic, but for some reason the banner ads do not show up on my computer???, how many others cannot view them?) I cannot find an appealing local media outlet. Perhaps www.chiangmainews.com but the tiny online banner ads do not allow any description whatsoever. I want to be able to mention at least 4-5 items and a link to our website.

Don't know if this helps but just my 2 cents from a frustrated potential small business advertiser looking for a popular media outlet. I do not know how typical our situation is but my guess is there are hundreds of small area businesses like ours looking for better exposure that does not "break the bank".

Doug

I am going to give you some professional advice for free:

Firstly, 2 points of importance to mention here: 1. If you are running your company from within Thailand, that you are doing so strictly according to Thai law as regards foreigners owning and running businesses in the Kingdom, 2. That you are a little IT savvy, able to design and create a basic website and so on.

For companies, Google and Weebly hosts excellent free websites. Easy to create templates for layouts, then once uploaded all you need to do is register your website with the search engines and online listings directories.

Also create a facebook company page, list the company with linkedin and even a Utube video for maximum online exposure. If wanting to be more adventurous and you have some knowledge of File Transfer Protocol (FTP), it is possible to create a professional website using a programme such as Abobe Dreamweaver and uploading using an FTP client including your own domain address with a host from a little as 150 baht per month.

Once you have established your website and other links mentioned above, then you can advertise your company in various online classifieds displaying the links to your website that will increase the odds of it being crawled and picked up by the search engines. After 6 months your company name will appear all over the Internet at virtually no cost, plus you will have full control and able to make amendments and updates, again at no cost.

And of course you have the option of becoming a Thai visa sponsor if you specifically want to aim at the Thailand ex-pat market.. Whatever, as the wise man says; where there`s a will, there`s a way, if you are prepared and determined to work at it.

Mine was getting 7k a month. She had her own room and food provided.

Thai live in housekeepers are demanding 15000 baht per month, some even more. The days of cheap domestic labour have long gone in Thailand.

If the OP is also paying 7000 per month or similar, is probably why his maid is seeking greener pastures elsewhere.

It is not a screw up. The container is probably being held at port due to export/import taxes being required for payment.

Over the years I have seen many Chiang Mai classifieds websites come and go. There are still quite a few in existence but hardly anyone uses them. When I look at the different categories most of them are marked with a zero content. There is now a successful Chiang Mai classifieds website called Chiang Mai Locator, that has become more famous for advertising it`s adult establishments, but similar would entail a lot of setting up, plus it has to attract the advertisers, work permits required and would probably require a team rather than a one man operation.

An alternative to craigslist may work, but probably not viable to run in Thailand, due to the strict defamation laws, again work permits required and so on. It`s the same with dating websites, the Internet is flooded with them.

Probably easier and less complicated to stick with blogs and facebook.

Beetlejuice -- your post was coming down hard on Trainman and in your holier-than-than-everyone else fashion you are saying that western debit/credit cards have no value here and we should leave our unrealistic expectations back in our Home countries. Yet when I point out perfectly good examples of when it makes sense to use them -- hah -- you dismiss those examples.

Don't you think you're being just a little too hard on the OP and Trainman? I think the real frustration is when people have to wait in line behind someone settling a small purchase with a credit/debit card. Kind of like in the old days in our home countries when you'd get caught in line behind someone who insisted on writing a check for a small purchase.

Madam, one part of your post contradicts another part.