Misterwhisper

A good trick to semi-appreciate Thai beer is to start off the boozing session with a shotglass of that paint thinner known as "lao khao", followed immediately afterwards by Leo, Chang, or Singha. Compared to the paint thinner they all will taste divine. It's not going to last for long, though. So do keep that "lao khao" bottle close-by!

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Additionally, the department said gatherings on the occasion will likely increase the chance of spreading COVID-19.

If THAT is the department's one and only concern while swarms of 12 to 18-year-olds are fornicating in every dark alleyway and behind every bush unprotected and passing on STDs and causing a wave of teen pregnancies, the department truly has lost the plot. Alas, that is nothing new with government agencies in this country.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

aged 12-18, indicated that 88.9% of respondents said they intended to consume alcoholic beverages on the romantic holiday and were hoping to perform intercourse afterwards.

And you always wondered why your wife only is a little over a decade younger than her mom? Here's your answer.

If the penny finally drops with Thai film makers that not each and every film MUST have a token villainous transvestite, foul-mouthed maid or ridiculous ghost woven into the story... that might be a good start. Oh, and please do away with the comically melodramatic over-acting that is so prevalent in Thai films. Good looks alone shouldn't be the sole criteria by which to choose the main cast. And because cinematic movies are no low-brow soap operas or childish game shows, the assorted cartoonish sound effects (bang, clang, hoot, whistle!) are superfluous, too.

The government is in its "death throes"?

Doesn't matter at all, because there's always a way to keep the pigs at the feeding trough...

45 minutes ago, webfact said:

Places like Phuket and Pattaya in particular are well known for harboring foreign criminal elements and individuals with mafia connections. 

Yep. Like those elderly Bridge players that were rounded up in Pattaya a couple of years ago and treated as if they had committed a capital crime. 

The high-so circles are already dancing, clapping and ululating with joy as Thai Airways' return to "normalcy" certainly can mean only one thing for them: free first-class tickets "as normal".  

"Best destination for exciting daily scuffles and brawls at the all-you-can-eat prawn buffet"

"Best destination for turning beaches into garbage dumps and trampling coral unpunished"

"Best destination for avoiding locals altogether during your entire trip"

"Best destination for unrestrained spitting in hotel elevators and anywhere else"

"Best destination for encouraging your kids urinate and take a dump wherever they please"

"Best destination for keeping all profits at home, as your all-inclusive trip is pre-paid in China"

"Best destination for leaving the floor around your dining table look like a landfill"

"Best destination for staying at hotels where there is no danger of running into other nationalities"

"Best destination for buying China-made plastic trinkets at three times the price than at home"

"Best destination for receiving a warm smile to your face - and a frown behind your back" 

Strangely, reading the headline alone I immediately knew this was neither a NNT news report nor a TAT announcement.

Nothing against individual travelers from China or small groups.

But please remember: It was these huge, locust-swarm-like tour groups that brought you so much trouble in the recent past, causing many among you to huff, puff and whine incessantly and breaking out in racist slurs how bad, misbehaved, dirty and uncultured they all supposedly were.

> Your famed Maya beach had to be closed for environmental rehabilitation because of them.

> Environmental scientists moaned they were responsible for destroying the few intact coral reefs Thailand has left.

> The famed White Temple in Chiang Rai was closed by its owner because Chinese tourists broke off pieces of sculpture as souvenirs, washed their feet and clothes in the temple's public wash basins and toilet bowls and (probably because the latter were occupied by feet washers) urinated and defecated elsewhere in the temple grounds.

> Restaurant owners complained to locals newspapers about Chinese locust swarms' unruly behavior at buffets, with even brawls breaking out occasionally.

> Other restaurant proprietors gave themselves disgusted at the after-dinner state of their localities, whose floors frequently resembled landfills after the "guests" had left.

> And countless other tales about noisy and unruly Chinese, trampled or picked-clean ornamental flower beds in public parks, littered beaches, trashed or soiled hotel rooms, damaged rental vehicles and sports equipment, urine and saliva stains in hotel elevators, etc. etc.

Well, at least one woman on Koh Larn island, a destination that has by now been permanently changed from a former nature paradise to a veritable trash dump thanks to the locusts, will be happy when the swarms return. Because then she can cash in again, big time. Somehow I have the hunch that she is of Chinese descent.

But don't be too jubilant too soon, dear hospitality operators. After all, your government has announced concrete plans to transform the country into an exclusive high-end-only tourist destination. That is going to seriously whittle down the number of Chinese arrivals, I suppose. But I am not holding my breath yet.       

The true irony behind that plan is that Thai workers are now going to be sent to Saudi-Arabia to toil in the very same jobs that none of them would ever consider taking at home, rather leaving them to Cambodian and Burmese migrants.

58 minutes ago, Silencer said:

Since you can buy a house, or buy land and build a house now, through using a Thai limited company, and sell it again later if you want, I don't see what the big deal is with "owning" land in the western sense? Just seems like a topic to complain about even though you can achieve 'almost' the same results under current rules. I know dozens of people here that own their houses through a Thai limited company arrangement. Some have recently sold their property and moved on. 

I likewise know dozens...  whose trusted Thai wife and her family, who usually are the "majority owners" of the limited company, sold the property and MADE the foreign husband "move on".  

5 hours ago, webfact said:

residents must have the ability to generate wealth and prosperity for the kingdom’s wider economy.

I've done exactly that for the past 30 years by paying religiously paying my taxes and spending practically all my income here to support "the wider economy". Not that I gained any advantage from my commitment. I still have to prostrate every year, kiss countless b**ts and submit increasingly thicker reams of paperwork just to secure another visa and work permit extension. (On a side note, I never had to extend the validity of my tax ID. It's very curious.)

Well, I guess I am just not wealthy enough. But then again, perhaps I shouldn't complain. I am not sure I want to be part of that newly cooked up scheme. Even at this early stage it very strongly reeks of "fleece them, fleece them, fleece them, then fleece them some more".