Taco

Not sure about the visa run but currently my biz partner is stuck in Panang waiting for a visa which now apparently is not one day but a two day turn over so anyone going down to get a new visa should look into that.

Here is my Chinese tourist story. Took an Air Asia flight from Surat to BKK a few months back and we parked on the tarmac to transfer to the Air Asia buses. We jam in like sardines and I am next to a large group of Chinese (Saw a passport in the hand on one so know for sure). They were loudly yapping away like they were alone in the bus when I noticed the oldest of the small children maybe 8 or so years old is taking a piss right in the bus and piss is leaking around on the floor.

I was shocked! The whole group couldnt give a damn he was pissing and kept yapping away. I loudly said "are you kidding me?" about five times to no avail he just continued on peeing and they kept being disrespectful loud Chinese tourists.

If you can only bring yourself up to the level of a poor Chinese farmer maybe best to stay on your farm and spare us from your rudeness.

It starts Dec 30 and ends Jan 5

The world is very lucky to have Bill Gates as the richest person. From combating polio to developing lasers to shoot malarial mosquitoes to supporting the battle against Ebola to this latest endeavor.

In a 100 years when the richest person is Chinese and he is spending his last dime on a high tech fishing fleet to skin the last shark fin intelligent people will be missing someone like Bill Gates.

PHUKET: -- A reliable “witness” the Danish Hotel Manager, Michael Gaarde-Nielsen at Centara Grand Beach Resort Phuket on Karon beach, had already informed ScandAsia earlier in the year that all of the tourist island’s beaches, including Karon, were completely cleared from sunbeds, umbrellas and vendors.

Did they leave out one word at the end of the last sentence? were completely cleared from sunbeds, umbrellas and vendors and visitors!!!

Koh phangan is pretty cleared out of tourists as all the parties are still cancelled and bored backpackers are straight off to phi phi to have some fun. I think this is becoming the OVERCRACKDOWN.

Home and life is a solid place. I supported all their rice for a year (40,000bt) quite a few years back and last time I visited they had teachers from Phuket teaching the kids how to make dish washing soap out of common household chemicals and limes. She has continuous foreign volunteers, an in house bakery to learn from and lots of positive influences.

She might have made a good choice staying put and looking for the next best option. Going with Kim would mean dealing with Kanye West's BS.

The first thing that would happen with the implementation of law like this would be a collapse of real estate prices in all tourist related areas.=Bad for Thais

Second, a flushing out of some of the most creative businesses in the kingdom.=Bad for Thais

Third, a massive movement of farang owned business and their money to Cambodia due to ease of visas, regulation, inexpensive staff. =Bad for Thais.

I could go on and on about this but, what Thai would listen until its to late to reverse the flow?

Kitung farang... pai nai?

I keep trying to explain to my gf that I go easy on her compared to the competition.

10 million baht a month lost from the cancelation of the other parties is a way smaller number then what we are feeling on the island. I would say its over 10 million baht a week. The last 2 months have been horrible for business on Phangan. Aside from the full moon party week all the hostels have been empty, restaurants empty and the young travelers are leaving to Phi Phi and other party spots because there is nothing for them to do at night. DJ's, security personal, bartenders are all out of work. The songtaw taxis are hurting bad as well and everyone renting motorbikes. Big C and tesco are fairly empty and there are no lines in Makro even on the day after the full moon. There was a police check point opposite my restaurant the last 2 nights and that killed our business as well.

This party ban make no sense. The parties that are banned are mostly all on private property back in the jungle near the mountains. They are not in heavily populated areas. They all have private security, police security and before the ban even army presence. Violence is minimal and even fist fights are rare. Most all the physical damage done on phangan is self inflicted hangovers and people who drive on their motorbikes after the parties to save 100 baht.

These efforts to improve the safety and reputation of Thailand are totally backfiring here and making one of the most beautiful spots in Thailand less appealing to the average backpacker. Backpackers, even on their tighter budgets, spread their money among the locals more then any other traveler demographic and tens of thousands of peoples livelihoods depend on their wanderings. Restart the parties!

Guy sold me a nice suit last week... fits great! Has a special holster for an AK inside the vest.

this is news? I wouldn't think this would even make it into the station in Pattaya.

Amazing birds they are. There was a hornbill couple on koh phangan for a while. Wasnt shy at all. Came to my friends house often sometimes poaching a little food and people occasionally fed them bananas or fruit. Havent seen them in years now. Its a big island with lots of jungle intact so not sure if we can be checked off the list but its very possible.

Koh Phangan is the same. One of my staff paid a monthly 500 to the police as well. She now has a proper Thai ID card that the new gov demanded yet it is valid only 2 months (which we had to wait 2 full days in a steaming hot tent in Surat for). How ridiculous is that? So for 2 months she did not have to pay the police. Next we tried to renew the card for one year and the answer we got was, dont worry let it expire. When you need to take care of the next step you will hear something.

Obviously that is to get that 500 baht back in their pockets.

colchine .6 mg one pill every day and you can drink daily and eat what you want. Been on it for 4 years with no side effects and only one very very minor one day only inflammation during that time. I go the the government hospital once every 6 months, pay the 500 bt doctor fee and 180 pills (6 month supply) cost about $6. I drink beer 6 days a week, I dont overeat but I am a chef and often eat rich foods high in purines. Happy days!

Funny that I was just talking today with a fellow business owner in Phangan about Koh Tao being the worst off tourist destination with the new visa rules. As as restaurant owner that is popular with local farang in Phangan, I know a LOT of dive masters, instructors etc... and almost non have a work permit. Most will just move on to more hospitable countries like Honduras or Cambodia. There is a good chance Thailand dive ops will be more like Indonesia where there is a good amount of local dive masters. That of course would be better for the Thais but would be a rough transition. Just imagine the number of luk krung island babys popping up from those after dive drink sessions!

While the army is tightening up some regulations they should also relax some. My only illegal staff member is an English girl who is married to a Thai man. Why the hell should she not be able to work in Thailand? Absolutely makes no sense what so ever.

There is only one rule in entering Thailand and not getting searched. If your a farang and you dont have any cardboard boxes and none of those ridiculous plastic fiber massive colorful bags bring whatever you want in. It works year after year after year.

At least she went out with a bang! There are more depressing ways to go these days.

I would like to buy that guy a beer! 14 years on the lamb from immigration and beating the Thai women at their own game with a splash of Thai Hollywood status.

P I M P!!!!

Lets set up a Ferris Buller style fundraiser to get him out of jail!

No way are they banning any fishing in Surrathai province for 3 months a year. On the contrary the ching chang fishing boats with nets that catch anything larger then a human hair have been on the increase the last 3-4 years with awful effects on the local fishing. The big ching chang boats scoop up any and everything running all day between samui and phangan and off the west coast of Phangan. They only way they keep the local longtail fisherman quiet is by offering up free ching chang as bait big buckets at a time. In addition the price of wild caught jumbo prawns in the market have gone up almost double in the last year. This story is PR fairytale.

Declaring martial law and tightening tourist's visa runs should be a massive boon for tourism. Should be great for job growth, consumer spending and foreign investment!!

Number of Privately Owned Firearms

At least he was smart enough to pull this on a flight to Hawaii. I just checked on a Chicago to bangkok flight in July and is $2200 so I dont blame him. People will probably paying this kid pay per view one day to pull off televised magic tricks. Bravo!

Cargo pants yearn for worthy cargo. The only way a farang gets pulled over at customs in Thailand is if you have a cardboard box part of your luggage. Pack those pants up and dont worry about it.

Thanks everyone for your input on this... I also found this article which was good. Hispine Beetle sounds like the culprit

http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/ad522e/ad522e07.htm

I know when Yingluk made a trip down here, Samui and Koh Tao they planned on releasing a predator bug. (we all know how those usually work... backfire)

Does anyone have a suggestion of the actual pesticide to use inserting into the trunk? We are quite limited on the island of what we can buy so might have to go to Surat.