tomacht8

9 hours ago, Johnniey said:

Because the mafia police make a lot of their money from these sellers. Used to be 10,000 baht a stall/day on lower Sukhumvit.

Not 10.000 baht a day. That would be 300.000 baht a month. sqm goes for 200-500 baht a night.

Now they want to invite again the masses, who trample down to 100th the beaches and corals.

Chinese mass tourism is only useful for a few major organizers. The majority of normal small thai shops have zero profit of it. Short-term profit thinking from a few, will permanently destroy the natural resources for all.

I am happy to see that marriages between older foreign men and much young Thai women can work.
 

4 minutes ago, overherebc said:

 

Could it be that jet-setters are not really the kind of people who like to be crammed inside an overloaded mini-van to do a border run every 30 days?

Maybe, just maybe they have visas, flights etc all sorted before they go anywhere on holiday.

Anyway the main point of this new rule/law just means that Thailand is only getting itself onto a par, visa wise, with many other countries. IMHO.

SWMBO and self do a fair bit of travelling and it really is not that difficult to sort out visas etc before each holiday.

Example

I like to fly to Thailand for the temples, beach, fun, girls or whatever.
As an European I can enter without a visa and get a 30 day stamp at the airport.
So my planned stays 2017 with flying in and out to Thailand would be February 3 weeks, April 3 weeks, July 3 weeks, September 2 weeks and December 3 weeks.
A visa is then not necessary at all.

And this would not be longer possible?
I can not believe that.
 

13 minutes ago, Arandora said:

But if someone enters under a 60 day Single Entry Tourist Visa, then leaves, they can only re-enter under Visa Exempt twice? Yes? 

Think if you walk over the national borders ( land crossings) , yes. But if you fly in with an airplane and can present money plus onward flight ticket, there should be no problems with more than two visa exempt entrances.

So I've understood it so far.
Can not understand way thailand want to kick out the jetsetters.
But may be, i am wrong.

If you are alone, as a foreigner, I would avoid the small karaoke bars, pubs and discos where only thai local youngsters 13 - 21yo sitting around in Cliques and getting drunk and filling themselves up with Yabaa / Ice / Meth. These places are easy to spot: Usually on the outskirts far away from the tourist areas, with very dark lighting, cheap shabby decor, no bouncers, only with motorcycles in the parking lot and with only one foreigner inside: you.

5 minutes ago, Wilsonandson said:

Still, Thailand is pretty free. Come on guys you all know that. Out of the 10 Asean nations, Thailand has to be one of the most open societies to live in.

That is true.
Looking forward to the next free elections.
I hope that controversy will be than reflected in the results of voting, and there is finally transparency about the use of taxpayers money.
Imagine that the whole money, which had been misappropriated by corruption, would be used for education, hospitals, investment and care of the elderly, then Thailand would be in a leadership position of the 10 Asean nations.

12 minutes ago, Wilsonandson said:

Uhm, a bit O.T.T. this is Thailand not North Korea.

The National Legislative Assembly unanimously passed the second and final readings of the controversial Computer Crime Bill by a vote of 168:0 with five abstentions.

The PBS Headline is a contradiction in itself: controversial
Read the word: controversial!

Where else are such parliamentary voting results in the world?

If only one man is so important, that is very disadvantageous.
For example, what happens if he gets sick for a long time?
Then the whole government would break into pieces.

Already busted?
Pity.
I was in temptation to make an appointment with these two prettys to get out the wrinkles from my nutsack.

“When they reached the site of the alleged rape she invited him to have sex which they did.”

So the totally drunk woman knows well in Bangkok, coz she did know this place, where they can have undisturbed sex?
He drove her into this quiet corner, and his plan was clear.

“The motorcycle taxi driver said he saw the Australian woman, who appeared to be drunk, near the Khok Wua junction, so he approached her. He said she got onto his motorcycle of her own will, as he always does when he’s hunting for drunk women.”

He is a slimy molester sh*t bag and has clearly admitted his inclination.

He has himself specializes in the chasing of defenseless, drunk women.

“He is a "win" or motorcycle taxi rider called Ekburut Ritrakkhaphan. He has a previous offence for molesting a woman who was mentally deficient, reports Thairath.”

 He is a serial offender.

“….after the suspect handed himself in in Sakorn Nakorn province.”

So shortly after the “event” he went to Sakorn Nakorn.
650 kilometers from Bangkok.
Looks more like an escape.
And he went only to the police, after his name was known in the media.

Such molester types are puke.

Some can be very unfriendly and are not willing to explain which papers you really need.
Think your approach is right, to try another day with another official.
Submit your documents, be submissive and smile.
I feel that the mood has deteriorated among many of the imigration officials.
Somehow everything much less "Sabai, Sabai" and "Mai pen rai".
Everyone is afraid to make a mistake. The officials now rather say "no",  than show a little flexibility.
Too bad for all.

The motorcycle taxi driver said he saw the Australian woman, who appeared to be drunk, near the Khok Wua junction, so he approached her. He said she got onto his motorcycle of her own will, as he always does when he’s hunting for drunk women.

He is a slimy molester sh*t bag and has clearly admitted his inclination.
He has himself specializes in the chasing of defenseless, drunk women.
That will probably not always based on consent.
 Hope the court adds here all known cases together to find the right punishment for this Degenerated.

 

In the mine is still gold for the next 20-30 years.
There are two general strategies.
1. Mine decommissioning announcement, then buy cheaply at the stock exchange the shares, then permission to restart.
Bingo.
2. Mine decommissioning announcement, take over the mine with an own mailbox company, then permission to restart.
Bingo.

Akara had been planning to invest a further $US1 billion ($1.34 billion) to continue mining on adjacent leases for another 20 to 30 years, raising several billion dollars in revenue, company executives said.
In order to get such investment sums, it needs operating guarantees.
Kingsgate now plans to open a mine in Chile.
 

What is interesting is that the company received a low-ball bid at 4.2 cents per share from a Thai petroleum millionaire in September. Chatchai Yenbamroong’s Northern Gulf Petroleum is offering just $9.4 million for just over 50% of the company, but it seems clear that his eyes are on resuming gold mining at Chatree.

Mr Yenbamroong has told The Australian, “They’ve got no solution to the challenges in Thailand. They’re trying but it’s got to do with strategy, access to decision makers, key people, and you have to know the environment you’re in.”

He added that if his bid was successful, his urgent priority would be lobbying the Thai government to renew the mining licence.

The reputation of Thailand as an investment location is in the drain (and some people become richer).
 

On 12/14/2016 at 5:44 PM, Taco said:

Total BS.  Business is down this year for sure and those coming have less baht to spend.  Full moon party day in Koh Phangan. Yes backpackers around but most restaurants slow.  Plenty of motorbikes still for rent.  Some hostels full but most not.  Only places busy are 7-11 selling ham and cheese toasties and big Changs.  10 new family marts and 7-11s opened or under construction now on Phangan in the last year, all sucking the local business's potential income.

Also plastic raincoats and umbrellas are currently the top seller.

10 minutes ago, elgordo38 said:

Not in our lifetime. What does 50,000 bahts a month buy ThaiBev anyways. Event security??

Event security?
This requires a lot of staff.
I do not think he can use state-hired police officers for this.
That would correspond to the abuse of public resources.
In these small 3 sqm shacks at the factory entrance  barrier, he will not sit neither.

May he do investment advice in money questions for the top management.
Thailand have some very talented policemen, who have won hundreds of millions on the stock market.

1 minute ago, JAG said:

Good lord, you're not suggesting that our Internet phobic junta leaders don't understand the likely (inevitable ) results of their cunning plan?

Well, I'm only wondering what levels of IT qualifications usually have army and police personnel.
If the leadership is only surrounded with uncritical yes saying  self-appointed experts and policemen start working as consultants for booze companies , yes I fear the worst.

An advisor?
In which field he advises then, what is worth 600,000 baht a year?
What is he doing for that money?
How many hours he must spend on the consultation?
How is it compatible with his deployment plans and hours in the police service?

If he is so good in his consulting work, why he does not finish the police service and look for more consulting clients.
With the low (official) salaries for police officers, the complete change to the advisory field would be financially much more attractive.
 

Scary.
All bank account data, pins, passwords, credit card numbers and TAN's in one hand.
Central monitoring and documentation of all private and company data?
Poison for business and investment.

Like Yahoo with 500 million accounts.
Yahoo says the information stolen may include names, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdates and security questions and answers. The company says it believes bank-account information and payment-card data were not affected.

Unfortunately, I do not trust the software developers here much regarding the data security.
Guess that will be then a challenge for all hackers around the world to paralyze the flow of data from a whole country.
If a single gateway is turned off, then good night.
Banksystems, money flows, telephone networks, electricity networks, traffic control networks, factory control systems, etc. will then be brought to the knees.



 

The importer of medical devices must do very well.
Unfortunately in my house, not even 7 million baht lying around.

26 minutes ago, fruitman said:

 

The worst thing in a crisis is the locals stopping spending money...that's why they act like nothing is happening.

 

If all locals saw a crisis coming they would save up money for harsh times which can speedup the process of becoming in a real crisis.

 

The motoexpo sold much less new cars than last year, immediatly they said it will be back to normal next year....that's another clear sign of a crisis around the corner....but they always try to wave any bad news away....(more countries use this trick though).

 

So they are kidding all Thai, if they stop spending there will be a crisis for sure and very soon....If you want to buy something big than better wait for the crisis to come first, saves you a lot of money when it's half price.

I feel the same.
Business is bad for many,  not only in the tourist business.
When talking to the ordinary people, I unfortunately hear a lot of pessimism.
One of the best crises indicators: Even the bar and massage girls offer now great discounts,
just because there are not enough customers running around. 
The pressure to make some business is absolutely there.


 

The absolute minimum, which must exist when I buy a new car and the contract is signed, is a Pretty who smiles at me.
It is difficult to sell a car with prudery and stiff neck cries.
No honey, no money.



 

They only thing i can confirm for the southern islands, is flooding.
Mostly water last week from heavey rainfalls.
 

6 hours ago, TSF said:

100,000 baht for 1 night, an ultrasound, and a ride to Surat. Hospital was shafting her with the bill, then when it blew up and back down fast. Typical sly scumbags. Should be an international investigation into hospital rip-offs in LOS. Back some years ago when I was active on the Thailand Travel Forum there were reports all the time of ridiculous bills made up by Thai hospitals. One Aussie woman reported she felt ill and went to a hospital at Koh Samui, had a consultation with a doctor, was given some meds...14,000 THB charged against her travel insurance. Out and out fraud. 

 

But yeah, I know, it's their country, they can do what they like....blah..blah...blah

What is the difference between a taxi driver who trying to scam you with a manipulated taximeter and a hospital with an inflated bill?
There is no difference.
The mind setting is identical.

Reminds me of an old story where a guy drowned in the sea and was flooding dead in the sea for over 12 hours.

When they fished him out of the sea, at the beach a resuscitation was attempted.
I asked the hospital staff why they were doing this senseless measure.
Answer: We can write this resuscitation effort on his bill, - smile, smile -
I thought it was a joke, but it was not.
.

1 hour ago, smedly said:

 

she didn't run up any bill the hospital did when they thought it would be an insurance claim

 

lets ponder this for a moment

 

She had a 1 night stay in a room - how much ? well I'd guess maybe 2000baht

She had an untrasound - my guess would be 3000 baht

Doctor fee - 1000 x2 ....2000baht

nursing fee - we'll call it 2000baht

 

various medication food etc - 3000baht

 

= a grand total of 12k baht so lets round it up to 20k

 

100k baht seriously

For 100.000 Baht she should get a pair of advanced silicon E+ cup ti... breasts plus a facelifting inclusive 4 days hospital and a belly button piercing for free on top of it.

100.000 Baht for this little medical care, no way.