catweazle

PhilipCook: "When you attempt to lure tourists to these new destinations"

Yepp, and there is the "lure" word again that the Thais love so much. Everyone has to be lured in, because the subconscious aversion of Thai people towards everyone non-Thai shines through more and more, with that smiling facade crumbling down constantly, year by year.

If the majority of Thai people would have it their way, tourists would only be allowed to fly in, throw cash and valuables onto the runway take a selfie of themselves with airplane and beach in the background as proof they have been in Thailand, before buggering off home until next year. And this is the impression more and more Thailand visitors get - due to my job I talk to tourists and also possible investors on a daily basis and their smile in the land of smiles is fading as well due to the "let's see how much we can squeeze out of them" Thai way of running a tourist destination.

The TAT could save a lot of money that could better be invested in schools, proper education systems, hospitals, road, boat and tourist activity safety campaigns and education, along with laws that allow possible investors to truly and legally own what they invest in and retirees to legally own the land and house they buy, non-racist laws for foreign male / Thai wife couples, etc. but the Thais would never listen to us anyway, because we're just stupid white ATM machines that deserve to be maxed out, right?

And it is - surprise, surprise! - that bloody Karon Beach again... For the 23 years I am here the most drownings are reported from that #$ck!ng beach. Karon claims victims every year due to extremely dangerous undercurrents. A friend of mine, who is a very good swimmer, almost died himself trying to rescue a drowning tourist several years back. A Thai man with a rope attached to his body and several helpers on the beach pulling them back in saved their lives. Karon is the only beach in Phuket that is dangerous even during high season, especially during full moon. In my opinion this beach should be shut down for swimming and watersports in general for good (at least during off season) with severe financial penalties to offenders and huge signs along the beach. Karon is a death trap and every Phuketian knows it - nothing is done because it would hurt business...

$#ck!ng wannabe VIP HiSo lunatics who act like that should not only be detained, but sentenced to pay compensation to airline and all passengers for the wasted time and troubles.

Only occasionally on parties or events but always little enough to keep me in control and be able to walk home like a man without making a fool of myself. There are months without a drop and I wouldn't miss it either.

I actually am surprised by the fact that most members seem to give honest answers here. Reinstates my trust in humanity...

No ground!

One here asked, "How stupid can you be?" - I believe his face tells the story, huh? Good to see him going to Bkk Hilton.

Oh, I love it!!!!! Finally Thailand is cracking down on the real culprits and not just babbling hot air. Super!!!!!!!!!!!

You know when there is something wrong in the education system when the girl at the counter needs a calculator to figure the change for an 85 baht pack of smokes and you hand her a hundred baht note.

By now the world has reached the point where similar "calculator incidents" also happen in Europe, even in "made in Germany" land... It's frightening to say the least!

"Perhaps you kinda "forced" him to quote you a superlow Cheap Charly price and he was too weak and in such money trouble that he simply agreed to it all without thinking twice. The typical Thai "Yes, no problem!" thing... Usually stories like yours are born through those Cheap Charly ways of thinking. Correct me if I am wrong, but I sense I am close to the true essence of your story here."

What a crock of horsesh!t!!! How is it OP's fault that someone can't add up??? Exactly how could you force someone to quote stupidly?

I believe the portion you actually quoted explains it - reading skills and the ability to let a text "sink in" and analyse it would help.

Btw... There was a thread about teaching analytical skills on TV just today

The OPs only fault so far is that he did not give us the whole story - we know that 500k were paid and the house is 30% completed... We have no info about the original contract/agreement, the total house price, time frame, etc. but despite all this missing pieces in the puzzle several members automatically feel obliged to jump on the "fight for that poor, innocent, betrayed foreigner" train without even knowing whether or not he actually was conned after all. It's pathetic!

Enthusiastically I clicked on this topic's link, to quickly be disillusioned having to read this: He also talked about the 2015 operation plan, saying the OBEC would focus on sharpening students’ analytic skills and instilling patriotism, honesty as well as religious principles, and love for the monarchy, in accordance with the policy of the National Council for Peace and Order.

How does "brainwash" mix with "analytic skills" ?

Nice to see things improving - quite sure they will get down to the middle men responsible for the overpriced tickets soon, and then also the whining of the lottery vendors will stop while people can afford to buy more tickets for less money. Never thought I'd see the day coming when this corrupt mess of a country is being cleaned up - miracles can happen!

Well, when I was a small kid I always wondered why some adults so desperately wanted to become politicians and not pilots, firemen, race car drivers, sailors... Think by now we all know

Suthep would have needed an approximate 135m THB to get out of debt - so it's easy to calculate how long he would have needed to keep a hold of the rudder of the fascist regime he was about to build up. I think that anyone who believes that any politician would enter the stage with honest intentions to change the world to the better while not robbing the local population blind, is a hopeless dreamer. And we all know what Yingluck stood in for - at least she was nicer to the eye and ears (Thank you three times!) compared to that endlessly shouting and ranting Suthep... Stuff em all in a big barrel and let them sail down the Niagara Falls, at least then we would have a nice video to put on youtube...

Nice move - me like !!!

It is interesting looking outside of the box. Meaning, living out of country and looking back at ones own. IMO the Eu and USA are so into the philosophy of 'democracy' that when a nation for whatever reason breaks from that.....aka Egypt and now Thailand.....they get all authorative. The world seems to be split between democratic nations.....aka USA, EU, South Africa, India, Thailand etc. As compared to authortian aka Russia, MIddle East, China, North Korea.etx. So when one of 'our own' meaning Democratic have coups.......they the USA/Eu being at the top feel that they need to keep the membership however loosely they are connected within the group. Sort of like a family keeping their members in line to the rules.

Speaking about the USA only, it does have its own issues. Look at the politicial partisanship happening now. The government has seemingly come to an almost stop due to the obstructionism of the opposite party in power. I wonder how the USA would respond if other nations started making critisms of its management. But, then again, they don't have the power of economy, clout as the USA.

In the long run, could it just be hyperbole just to save face of their principles? What is happening behind the scenes. Their ambassadors must have given data on the breakdown of the internal affairs of Thailand during the red shirt/yellow shirt events. They can't be that narrow visioned. Or could they?

When I did not live in Thailand I really did not pay attention to the internal affairs of the nation. I was just aware of the glimpses of its culture and people.

The coup may be a bad name, but it has been cleaning the cobwebs of corruption and settled the unrest. That is a good thing. I trust that the USA and EU also see that and will hold their blustering till further down the road. Thai is as it should be.

Correct! And all the fuzz is cooked up just because the US and the west realized by now they are about to lose their stranglehold on Thailand. If you compare this situation to a simple husband/wife partnership it would be like the husband shouting at the wife who was always loyal and never cheated on him ever, but is now about to leave him for good; "I condemn you for leaving me!" whereas she never even said a word while he was f#$%ing around behind her back for 30 years on a daily basis...

Hypocrisy at its best...

Look what useless clutter rich people buy...

Try washing your feet!

This article is totally dillusional. The writer has no concept of Democracy and the normal workings of a Democracy. To say that the Western nations (And others) should not speak negatively towards a Coup tells me that the author does not understand the basic concepts of Democracy. Still, with this being said, understand that the West also recognizes that Thailand is a different subset of nations. We know that Thailand will go full circle and return to Democracy. Why? Coups are so common in Thailand, we know its coming, and more importantly, we know that it will end. So smile, relax, and the West will applaud you when Thailand returns to Democracy.. Why not, its happened so many times in the past!

Dillusional is if a person who has no idea what he or she is talking about. Democracy in the western world is dead, my friend!!! It has been buried long time ago and is rotting in a shallow grave. Dunno where you come from, but if you'd manage to at least try to think outside the box and google a bit to find out what for example the gay string puppet Obama has done to the constitution of the US of A, you would be surprised. Same goes for the majority of all other western nations, especially in Europe, where human rights and souvereignty of all member countries of the EU have voluntarily (and without asking the people) been handed over to the uncontrollable and untouchable control monster in Brussels. Do you truly believe, nations that have destroyed "the concept of Democracy" (as you put it) in their own country have the right to tell Thailand off for a coup that brings change to the better and is fully supported by the majority of Thai people?

Here is your Democracy:

I agree with this article. Not about the regret part, because if SEA ceased to exist

it would make little difference to America or Europe. From an outside perspective,

a coup looks bad. Probably conjuring up images of some tin pot dictator taking

over a country and immediately ordering a private jet. But that is far from what

has happened here. Through vote buying, it was fairly easy to simply take control

of Thailand and start looting it .Prayuth has brought that to a halt. So what he has

now is a communication issue. He needs to fully expose the cancer of Thaksin

to the public eye, prosecute those involved ,and show the western world the

enemy he is fighting. Then and only then will the western world understand what

is going on here.

Excellent, very well said indeed.

I'd sign that - great post, EyesWideOpen!!! Your's and Neverdie's posts sum it all up nicely.

Looking through the countries on the list, it's just the usual suspects, USA and it's main allies, which is comical and what one would usually expect.

Seriously, how can the USA lecture anyone on the issue of fair elections. This is a country that laughs in the face of true democracy by allowing their whole election process to be manipulated by money, powerful

co-operations and hidden secrets.

The arrogance of certain western nations is overwhelming.

Your post is the perect hommage to a perfect article, thus deserves in my opinion to be quotetd throughout this thread. Nothing more I could or would want to add to what you wrote, perfect!

Looks like there is a mole in the HAARP headquarters

Think it is time to face the facts - in the few years since Russians "discovered" Thailand, they made up the majority of bad press whenever it comes to crimes, accidents, and other misconduct committed by foreigners in Thailand. I have never seen such a plethora of bad press about foreigners of any origin in my past 23 years of Thailand ever - not in the era where Germans made up the majority of Thai travellers, not when the Scandinavians enlightened us with avalanches of happy and financially sound tourists rolling in, not when English and Aussies assembled the main force of Thai travellers in the early days, not in the few years where the Japanese suddenly realized that Thailand might be "it"... never!!! How about the masses of Chinese now? Ok, they are killing your eardrums when they flock into a 7Eleven, I give them that, but that's about it... no Chinese mobsters, drug dealers, human traffickers, killers, etc. in the press in Thailand...

In the past I always have been the one trying to defuse anti-russian threads, especially when they resulted in Rus-bashing, but by now I am sick and tired to stand in for a certain nationality that appears to have a seriously deranged gene pool...

By now (even though I have met very nice and friendly Russians and even have one befriended couple I simply adore), it is obvious to me that a majority of Russians travelling to or living in Thailand not only have bad temper and short fuses, but have more than just one skeleton in the closet, let's better say it flat out: are downright criminals. Time to put a lid on it before they pull the rest of us so-called "farangs" down with them. Just takes a few rotten apples to infect the whole basket. Our standing here in Thailand as such already is fragile enough, we don't need an army of empathyless Homonculi to destroy the brittle foundation we are standing on for us - I think we can handle this ourselves if we ever wanted to. Time for super tough visa and work regulations for Russians, and perhaps also time to check out their finances a bit more thoroughly. Might sound drastic, conservative and perhaps even right wing, but as I see it, the Russians f#$%ed it up themselves and should suffer the consequences.