Rorri

So you want to blame the hospitals because foreigners rip them off. It is not the hospital’s fault if a foreigner doesn’t have any money or refuses to pay his bill. This could easily lead to restrictions on the care of foreigner, which no one wants.

It works out to approx. US$80,000 a year, think about how much the tourist bring into Thailand, I think Thailand is coming out way in front. This is an old reused, time and time again story, simply for some bureaucrat to get their name, and face, in the news. Poor Thailand, and its expensive hospitals, I shed no tears. Go ask TAT for 30 baht for each tourist, that should keep the whinging money pinches quiet. But hey, instead of complaining about non payers, why not investigate the corrupt over charging of insured patients.

most elevators if power goes out will descend to the first floor and doors will open, but this is China it doesn't work like "most" places....and perhaps this elevator was really old and did not have that safety feature

First I've ever heard of this, as there is no control, my belief is that safety brakes activate to STOP and movement.

Sale of submarine includes technology and training.

Well, I hope so.

I can't imagine buying a sub without knowing how to start the damn thing.

Well, there is an aircraft carrier they have trouble running.

What warning system do they have in place that actually works. We know the warning system on Phuket has never worked, they also have no evacuation procedure in place. As for 40 seismometers throughout the Kingdom, we know from the past, that many are lost and/or do not work.

Owned and maintained by National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC), Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT), Thailand

STB - SAIC Tsunami Buoy

DART II payload

8.905 N 88.537 E (8°54'17" N 88°32'13" E)

New buoy/bpr deployed 1/30/14.

I hope they are working........

I recall that the replacement buoy was for one that went "missing", they also mentioned that some had flat batteries, due to no maintenance, but more worrying was they had not paid the leasing fees for the necessary satellite link, rendering any working buoys useless.

Why no warnings from the government on social media. The fastest way to reach people.

Actually no. The Japanese has set up the warning system through telephone. Everybody with a cell phone gets notification of earthquakes, tsunamis and other major disasters. That is the best way of doing this.

um, just in case you have a problem reading, this is about THAILAND, no other country.

Oh yee of love to pick apart posts just to try and be better than others....

My quoted reference and subsequent comment was pointing out the fastest way of getting warnings out is not social media but through phone informational warnings through the various phone company provider's operations. Not everybody who has a mobile phone is on social media. Everybody who has a phone has a service provider.

And to the point of Japanese and system not working correctly....that issue was fixed unfortunately after the Tsunami but, it was fixed.

I have no problem reading.

And not all tourists have mobile phones, connected to thai providers, not all thais speak fluent foreign languages. Tsunamis take time to travel, with effective, working, systems and a trained team, coastal areas can easily be evacuated, in fact, if we look at Patang, go to the second floor of any hotel, or jung ceylon, most tourist areas could operate the same, the problem would be the coastal villages, as thailand really doesn't care, the last 11 years has proven that. Another thing, I doubt thai providers have the technical ability to proved, and maintain, a warning service.

Why no warnings from the government on social media. The fastest way to reach people.

Actually no. The Japanese has set up the warning system through telephone. Everybody with a cell phone gets notification of earthquakes, tsunamis and other major disasters. That is the best way of doing this.

um, just in case you have a problem reading, this is about THAILAND, no other country.

What warning system do they have in place that actually works. We know the warning system on Phuket has never worked, they also have no evacuation procedure in place. As for 40 seismometers throughout the Kingdom, we know from the past, that many are lost and/or do not work.

Whats funny about it, don't most countries have a volunteer defence service or some kind or another?

Perhaps you don't live here, or are recently arrived, there is NO volunteer defense force, they are conscripted.

National Defence Volunteer Day

Now that the Royal Thai Military has forcefully drafted all of Thailand into its organization, the term Volunteer loses its meaning.

Goes hand in hand with "National Submarine Day" with no submarines since 1951.

He should lead by example, but with his thinking ability, there's not much of an example, but hey, at least he knows that most of the country is as dumb as he is, so aren't likely to question him.

Check out the contents of Chemtrails.Its one of the reasons I left the US.I do not see them here,but.

Doesn't mean they are not there... bad news for you, it is and you are breathing.

complaints from businesses who are feeling the effects of business firms doing business that is rightfully protected by the FBA through Thai nominees.

Aside from the pure illegality of foreign nominees of Thai companies, how are pure thai-owned companies being harmed?

Unless the alleged Chinese nominee Thai companies are illegally importing fruit or dumping surplus foreign fruit into the Thai market in order to undercut the market value of fruit, they will be on par with Thai domestic suppliers in terms of profit margin and cost. Apparently the problem for the pure Thai-owned companies is just plain competition for a limited demand.

The greater problem may be that the FBA encourages Price Fixing among Thai companies. When a company is willing to offer open market competition through lower profit margins and costs through more efficient operations, it will effect sales of companies that are tied to price collusion.

NonThai ASEAN-owned businesses may cause further problems for Thai businesses as they should not be bound by FBA. Thailand as the self-proclaimed Hub of ASEAN may have to leave ASEAN to protect its Thai-owned businesses.

Srikcri, show me where in law it actually backs your comment "Aside from the pure illegality of foreign nominees of Thai companies," fact is, there is NO law forbidding it.

The people maybe worried, but the Government,not so much,

as this problem was forecast months an months ago,and only

now are the Government are starting to make plans (?),or should

i say think about what could happen,but Songkran,will still go ahead.

regards worgeordie

They should have cut the farmers of long ago. Water for human consumption is far more important. But they worried too much about their image instead of thinking of the majority of people. In Ayttaya 70% of the water used is used by farmers. So cutting down on them would have helped the normal people.

What a good idea, destroy the farmers then no food. Who needs food anyway?

the most water intensive food crop is rice - Thailand is one of the worlds largest exporters of rice. It's foreign exchange that will suffer.

You do know that there are drought tolerant strains of rice, why Thailand doesn't grow them I don't know.

Good, get rid of.

Oh my, if they get rid of them, then all they might end up with is a**holes like yourself, Thailand is in enough trouble as it is.

There is either something very wrong with the reporting, or some very very wrong with the way the Thai "government" thinks, a few days back we see they are dealing with human trafficking by "reorganizing" beggars, I still fail to see how this is a fight against trafficking, and now we read "According to a report released last week on the government’s progress against human trafficking, 51,318 Cambodia migrant workers, including 4,030 children, were from Thailand during the first 10 months of last year", how the hell do they stop human trafficking when these people are MIGRANT WORKERS.... NOT slaves or kidnap victims. No mention of arresting any traffickers, or their bosses.

human trafficking

Must say the point isn't that obvious apart from the fact that all these hybrids are bred in captivity...it doesn't mention any found in the wild.

Granted, but is that any reason to kill them, especially when the numbers are in decline. I would still prefer to see them roaming free than dead.

I don't think many are actually suggesting killing them. What we re trying to do is get across the reality of the situation. "Roaming free", if you mean released into the wild, is not an option due to the potential eco-damage it could cause to the existing wild populations.

There is a lot of stuff known about tiger behaviour in captivity and if properly applied the tigers can be held captive and kept in a reasonably psychologically stable condition. remember that none of these animals has ever been in thw wild or even out of a cage for more than a few hours.

Go back and read Toknarok's first comment, where he suggests euthanasia, which, when I went to school, means kill them. Then read mine where I suggest a "reserve" where they can roam free, where they can be "trained, by food, to remain in a given area, similar to open plain zoos.

One spot to go and they can claim number 1 hub in road kill.

They'd already be number 1 if they, like many countries do, counted those that died on their way to hospital, or later from injuries.

Here's an interesting article about cross breeding tigers http://messybeast.com/genetics/hyb-tiger-subspecies.htm

And your point is?

Must say the point isn't that obvious apart from the fact that all these hybrids are bred in captivity...it doesn't mention any found in the wild.

Granted, but is that any reason to kill them, especially when the numbers are in decline. I would still prefer to see them roaming free than dead.

Here's an interesting article about cross breeding tigers http://messybeast.com/genetics/hyb-tiger-subspecies.htm

And your point is?

Extreme as it may seem the best answer to the problem would be to euthanise all of them. They are almost all certainly hybrids (Bengali/Corbetti)) and as such are completely unsuitable for genetic pure breeding purposes. Even if some should prove to be pure Corbetti (the species indigenous to Thailand) they just cannot be released back into the wild, they would starve to death, a much crueller fate than being put to sleep.

Did you ever think how the tigers would feel, about being euthanized, given the chance to roam freely, in a reserve, with feeding areas provided, or being killed, I suspect they would prefer to roam. As for their genetics, well for a start you are guessing, but here is a fact, cross breeding happens in the wild, there are NO boundaries stopping tigers, or any other species, migrating. Yes, now I await those who will "shoot" me down by bring in oceans, rivers, mountains etc.. but I think most THINKERS will get my gist.

I suggest you read this and notice the distribution and location of the area Burma where Begali and Corbetti link. A similar overlap, in Alaska gives a hybrid polar/grizzly bear.

LET THEM LIVE.

Why should the Thais care if a tourist dies here?

I can't remember caring about tourists getting killed in Australia when I lived there. It just wasn't something I or anyone I knew gave a stuff about.

I don't even care if a tourist dies here.

It amazes me that we are back on the no tourists here again. Don't believe TAT, but at least Google and you will find the only people saying tourists numbers are down are a few posters here.

You can find out where the tourists are from, breakdowns and all. Asian countries make up the top three, so maybe some posters don't notice them, and assume they are Thais.

See quarterly data from 2009 till end of 2015 at bottom of this page.

2013 saw the highest number of arrivals yet at 26.55 million arrivals.

During 2014 arrivals decreased to 24.81 million (-6.54%).

(Arrivals decreased by 10,28 % in the first three quarters of 2014. The end of 2014, saw an increase in arrivals, compared with the previous year)

2015 saw a massive increase in the number of visiting tourists. 5 million more visitors arrived, bringing their total up to 29,881,091 . There was some loss of momentum during the months of September and the fourth quarter of the year with only minor increases in visitor numbers in these months. Likely this was related to a bombing of the Erawan Shrine in central Bangkok on 17 August 2015, which caused 20 casualties, and was reported worldwide.

To a great extent the increase in visitors in 2015 was due to the significant increase in Chinese tourists. 7,934,791 Chinese tourists arrived (26,55 % of the total !), and increase of more than 3 million when compared with 2014. Then again, the number of Russian visitors dropped from 1,606,430 to 884,085 or almost by half.

Boom Years for Thai Tourism Industry

International arrivals to Thailand from 2000 to 2015 show a significant rise from 2000 onwards. If we take the year 2000 as an easy benchmark with 10 million visitors at the time, we reached 26.55 million visitors in 2013, an increase of 165 %. Arrivals decreased by 6.54% during 2014, in a year that saw massive political demonstrations, followed by the military taking over the government. A recovery occurred in the final quarter of that year, and 2015 saw a boom in arrivals, almost up to 30 million.

Temporary dips in arrivals occurred

SARS 2003

Post-Tsunami 2004

Global recession and riots in Thailand 2009

Riots and political uncertainty in 2010, major flooding of a large part of Thailand and northern Bangkok end 2011, and political demonstrations end 2013 and ongoing into 2014. Anti-goverment demonstrations occupied most of the first half of 2014, and were followed by declaration of martial law, and a military (bloodless) Coup d'Etat on 22 May 2014. Military government since then. Bombing of the Erawan Shrine on 17 August 2015 likely had some negative effect on the number of arrivals.

It is yet to be seen if the recent passport check on a 100 or so people will be the final nail in the coffin!

Last year was a record year, this one is shaping up as another one. Don't believe me, don't believe TAT, just google it. Certainly don't believe posters here that have no real figures only what they reckon.

Pattaya also has a weekend influx of Thais every weekend that the other resort towns miss out on because of the distance to Bangkok. You won't see them much from the bar stools in soi 6,7,8 either. They are for the farang.

Do the Thais really care where the tourists are from? Why would they? Seems to me they are keeping up with the times as they always have. Smart people these Thais.

Record numbers of tourists leads to more tourist deaths. Simple.

This comment "I can't remember caring about tourists getting killed in Australia when I lived there. It just wasn't something I or anyone I knew gave a stuff about." is a load of rubbish, any death, except natural, is taken seriously by the authorities, obviously not by a WHOLE nation, I can see Thailand is the right place for you.

It's interesting to point out, that in fact, there is NO law forbidding nominees, therefore, NO laws are broken.. So I fail to understand just what you would be charged with. Perhaps someone, in the media, could ask Ms Pongphan Jianviriyaphan, and enlighten us.

What has this " Prime Minister’s Office spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd disclosed that the government is satisfied with its continuous performance in preventing and combating human trafficking, an important national agenda." got to do with "reorganizing" beggars.

He is, and always will be, a hero, not matter what kratiaboy and ruamrudy wish to believe, I suspect they were either too young or not born, to know how much of a heroic act he performed.

I cannot speak for the other guy, but I was merely commenting that he had very low standards when it came to the women he was seen with.

You also need to study history, which shows Maggie was just what the UK needed, whether you like it or not, maybe it is your standards that need reassessing.

Thanks, but I am quite comfortable with my perspective of the Thatcher years and the lasting blight she inflicted on my country, and, also, with my own standards. However this thread is not about a dead woman who caused untold misery across the country in her rabid pursuit of a flawed ideology.

And I, sir, am NOT the one who raise Maggie, as an issue, perhaps you should have kept your views, though wrong, to yourself.