TJH

Beyond belief!!!

floods,floods , floods,is that the only reason they can come up with?

You don't think the floods are the problem? Please enlighten us.

Simple answer.

30 years ago Thailand had a virtual monopoly on tourism in SE Asia. It was the only viable option for mainstream tourism (albeit that fighting with the CPT was still in full swing in N. & NE Thailand, and the Golden Triangle section in Thailand meant a lot more than a tourist label).

Since then Thailand has basically jogged on the spot in tourist appeal terms and in some senses has gone backwards (the overdevelopment of Pattaya, Phuket, Samui etc). The attractions and destinations of Thailand have basically been matched and bettered as the rest of SE Asia has come online as a tourist destination.

The shortsightedness is epitomised in the example of the Andaman Sea dive sites. Sure, the widespread bleaching in 2010 was due to a rise in sea temperatures but the management of this area has been woeful. The latest wizard wheeze is to boost the existing 200 tuna fishing boats based out of Phuket by an additional 300 Taiwanese fishing boats. So dead coral and no fish, no wonder many of the dive operators are relocating to Komodo in Indonesia, where not only is there world class diving but the navy shoots (or at least shoots at) fishermen encroaching on the Marine park, rather than busying themselves towing Rohingya refugees out to sea in boats without engines as the RTN allegedly likes to do.

The situation here is similar to the demise of tourist destinations in the UK such as Blackpool, Brighton and Margate in the UK. Once Brit tourists could get cheap flights and holiday packages to Spain, Greece etc these places went into long term decline (though Brighton has reinvented itself as the San Francisco of England). Here the combination of LCCs such as Air Asia and Lion Air coupled with better options throughout the region present a massive challenge to tourism in Thailand.

Mass tourism from Russia and China will probably fill the gap in the short term but even they will probably wise up and seek out alternative destinations in years to come. but this type of tourism will do little but undermine Thailand's appeal in the long run as it becomes Asia's version of the Spanish Costas and Benidorm, Torremolinos and Loret del Mar are recreated in a Thai setting.

The likelihood that Burma/Myanmar fully opens for tourist business is on the verge of becoming reality and this will eat another chunk of Thailand's tourist lunch. Phuket or Ngapali; Ayutthaya or Bagan; "trekking" in Chiang Rai area or trekking in Northern Shan state; Doi Inthanon with a RTAF/NSA station on top or Putao's mountains with snow on top; and so on.

it's not too late for Thailand to get it's tourist act together but it seems that TAT (never has an acronym been more appropriate, as in English vernacuar "tat" means rubbish or trash) revels in complacency and ineptitude fully supported by bucket loads of spending money and highly dubious statistics. Spain has pulled its tourist industry back from the brink, and I would love to see Thailand pull off the same trick, but I'm not going to hold my breath....

What an excellent post. Thank you.

Great stuff!! Or, apply to be Yingluck's new speech writer

The only thing this shit hole has going for it is the women

I've heard that the TAT are looking for a new slogan writer. You wouldn't be interested in the position by any chance would you?

Thai Tap water still up to WHO standard

The Metropolitan Waterworks Authority (MWA) Wednesday opened its Bang Khen plant for inspections by various agencies so as to assure the public that tap water in the floodhit capital is still safe for consumption.

"The water production is in line with the World Health Organisation [WHO] standard," WHO representative David Sutherland said following the inspections.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit, Commerce Minister Kittiratt NaRanong, Japanese Ambassador to Thailand Seiji Kojima, Japanese media, and representatives from Mahidol University's Faculty of Public Health, the Federation of Thai Industries, the Public Health Ministry, and the National Research Council also took part in the inspections.

-- The Nation 2011-11-09

But I am sure I read yesterday that there were tests done on ice and ice in drinks that were contaminated. Maybe just rubbish reporting. Can't remember the OP where I read this on TV, but pretty sure I am correct. Also, why would you need to boil water (as has been suggested), if it is safe for consumption (presumedly out of the tap)?

My tap water in Sathorn has markedly dropped in taste, smell and colour in the last two days, big time! I have no idea how contaminated, (or not), it is. However, I've stopped bathing my kids in it, just in case. It would be nice to get an independent report on quality from around various locations in Bangkok. I'd feel better for that.

Might be a bit late in the game to suggest this but what about subdividing this page in to four districts, North, East, West, South?

Cracking idea

Does anyone know the water level situation around SCB Plaza and the TMB Bank Head office building? Thanks in advance..

Some of my clients staff were evacuated by truck from Northgate Serviced Apartments opposite SCB Plaza last night. One of the guys is 5 foot nothing and when I asked him how deep was it, he answered, "Higher than me!"

Wow!! Thanks very much for the update. Appreciate it.

Does anyone know the water level situation around SCB Plaza and the TMB Bank Head office building? Thanks in advance..

Here i just recieved aid, 6 bottles of water some banana's and pork and sticky rice. They are getting organized here they know who are in this gated village and bring food and water to them. I hope it will be elsewhere too once the flooding hits.

I was at Taksin Bridge about 1pm today. The river was flowing really fast and wasn't far off the red and white chequers marks on the bridge supports. The army were there filling sandbags and making raised wooden walkways. I took a walk around the area and many shops were having concrete walls put up around their entrances. The builders in town are doing a roaring trade.

As of 1740 today, Sathorn around St. Louis hospital is still dry

Huge rainstorm coming towards the west from Rama 3 and the river. First rain in a while and it looks like it won't be a shower!!

Big storm coming over Sukh 71 now

Happy to have taken the bait...It allowed me to share with Thai Visa Peanut Gallery a very real frustration I and other feel. You, of course..are, as always...a saint. Love to chat more, but on my way to actually HELP some people. Bye Bye.

I just read in the paper that you were on your way to help people!!

You read it in the paper?? Bit out of date then I reckon

I just read in the paper that the Royal Irrigation Department have made it official. Bangkok is going to flood as some canals they have released water into have broken their banks.

I reckon, Not much hope of stopping it now.

According to the information I got from a Thai friend, Minburi has been declared a disaster area. Where I live, we are still dry, but it has been raining off and on and some big khlongs.

Just been out and looked at Sathorn Road (around the Ascott Hotel and Soi's 11 and 13). All ok for the moment.

Thanks for the update waza

My girlfriend is in yannawa, she says around 200 meters from my area is flooding 1 feet, I was out to get some dinner but then raining very hard rain and still some area are flooding.

Keep your powder dry guys

Given that it's absolutely pissing down in the Sathorn/Silom area (at 1925) and given that all the Thai news channels that I'm looking at at least, seem to be concentrating on what was going on 5+ hours ago, can anyone that is in close proximity to the river at Thaksin/Oriental/ChinaTown give us a clue as to whether the river is looking at breaking point or not? I was there at 1230 today and again at around 4pm and it looked (to me at least), as if it was on the rise.

Perhaps we can have a thread that is solely for updates around the region that concentrates on useful info on the flooding (levels, traffic conditions, power outages etc), that leave all the political BS out of the picture. Just a thought. Thanks

Surasak/silom junction about a foot of water, got hit hard by that.. lost the first half of the big match, well fracked off

Thanks for the update MH. Hope all is well with you and yours. I wonder if the water is from the massive rainstorm we just had or from the river??

Given that it's absolutely pissing down in the Sathorn/Silom area (at 1925) and given that all the Thai news channels that I'm looking at at least, seem to be concentrating on what was going on 5+ hours ago, can anyone that is in close proximity to the river at Thaksin/Oriental/ChinaTown give us a clue as to whether the river is looking at breaking point or not? I was there at 1230 today and again at around 4pm and it looked (to me at least), as if it was on the rise.

Perhaps we can have a thread that is solely for updates around the region that concentrates on useful info on the flooding (levels, traffic conditions, power outages etc), that leave all the political BS out of the picture. Just a thought. Thanks

Same in Chiang Mai (Tesco)

Just been in Villa on Narathiwas at City Viva. Most bottled water gone (apart from the expensive stuff like Evian etc), dried noodles are few and far between. No sliced bread. Otherwise, loads of fruit and veg, booze and meat and dairy. We had a massive bout of heavy rain at lunchtime (1230 ish) and now, looking to the south east from Empire Tower (14:45), it looks as if we are in for some serious rain by the looks of the sky. Canal in the middle of the road looks a bit fuller than it was yesterday. Get those waders on!!!

Nah, That's Sean Penn

Judo - Osama in the 80s with his trainer Jimmy Wu (right)

I got my wife from this guy, great woman. If she starts chewing my arse out I just pull the plug, fold her up and put her back in the box until she cools down.

I just wee'd myself laughing. great post!!

Do your culling elsewhere mate. My original post was not a "conspiracy theory" as you say. I was merely an observation in which instead of being reasonable and pointing out in a civilized way that it was in fact, probably him at 15 on his Thai ID Card, you launched into a tirade. Please stop your flaming.

OMG... you really DID have a wager on that.

Sorry.

(but not really)

<deleted>! I won't bother with you.

"The FACT that the owner was in Hong Kong was stated in an earlier post"

Stated by whom, checked by whom. How do we know its FACT????

the id cards do indeed have the height scale but then so do the police mugshots, interesting now eh.

So they are your theories thats all.

DOES NOT STOP THE FACT THAT THIS INCIDENT will be whitewashed.

But YOU can continue with your 'BAM' and 'POWS' as if you are Batman.

Just culling the bandwidth wasters... one inane poster at a time.

Most of the people that got on their moral high horse when Miss Teen Hi-so flipped the minibus full of lo-so's all over the highway don't even know (or really care?) what happened in the end.

In about 3 or 4 days, even you will have forgotten to check this thread.

Do your culling elsewhere mate. My original post was not a "conspiracy theory" as you say. I was merely an observation in which instead of being reasonable and pointing out in a civilized way that it was in fact, probably him at 15 on his Thai ID Card, you launched into a tirade. Please stop your flaming.

"The FACT that the owner was in Hong Kong was stated in an earlier post"

Stated by whom, checked by whom. How do we know its FACT????

the id cards do indeed have the height scale but then so do the police mugshots, interesting now eh.

So they are your theories thats all.

DOES NOT STOP THE FACT THAT THIS INCIDENT will be whitewashed.

But YOU can continue with your 'BAM' and 'POWS' as if you are Batman.

"But YOU can continue with your 'BAM' and 'POWS' as if you are Batman."

I'd have a small wager that judging by his mug shot, that he's closer to 16 (or below) than 19 as reported earlier. Let's see!

That's not his 'mug shot', that's his picture from his Thai ID card which he got when he WAS 15... like most Thai kids are legally bound to do.

Bam!

Another conspiracy theory shot all to buggery!

Pow!

Another lost wager!

Bonus!

Jesus, calm down. It was just an observation. Without the benefit of knowing what you do about Thai ID cards, wouldn't you have thought it was a mugshot taken at the time of his arrest? BTW, before you pass any comment, I do live in Bangkok. I just haven't seen a Thai ID card up close that's all.

I'd have a small wager that judging by his mug shot, that he's closer to 16 (or below) than 19 as reported earlier. Let's see!