Chads

Sorry but is there a transvestite in the article's picture?

The plan it's similar to the many Korean drama serials that are being dubbed in a variety of Asian languages. If they can pull off one or two really popular ones regionally, then there's quite some money to be made.

Come on, every single human rights NGO out there is politically motivated, as in it has an underlying political ideology. But the point this NGO is trying to make here is that the Thai Army Chief has been meddling in investigations. And I think that's valid enough.

1000 dollars. Not bad. Could have been worse, like 30,000 Euros. Why/how is it that the majority of these reported thefts result in such generous payoffs?

He probably has travellers' insurance.

Why would anyone carry 1000 USD on them in Southeast Asia? Other than the fact that it's unsafe, you don't even need to carry around that much for spending.

She sure gave him a ride. Wonder if he'll ever come back to Thailand?

I believe that Tesco Lotus, embroiled in a debate with Old Phuket Town shopkepers over a plan for a new supermarket, today gave 200 bags of cleaning equipment valued at 500 baht each to be distributed to registered flood-hit families from Phuket Province's media centre.

I wonder what was donated from the protesting small businesses?

Have they always made such donations? Hope it's not just a publicity stunt because of the resistance they're facing now. (But yes, publicity stunt or not, they still at least helped some people).

This is about the airport scanners not the fake bomb detectors.

Thank you for clarifying that. I did mix the two up, but I think my comment can apply to both cases.

“We have helped customers lower their cost of living through low price products and promotional campaigns"

How refreshing to see the caring, sharing face of an aggressive multi-national company

Hypocrisy at its' best. Look at this “We serve a large number of customers each week, including small retailers who can buy our products in bulk to sell at a healthy margin." What tripe. My wife has a small business and there is a Tesco in town. She never buys in bulk from them. It would most certainly cut into her profits. In fact, she would have to take a 45 minute drive towards a larger downtown area to actually get a decent wholesale price. How can they claim such a thing? There is a great wholesale place in Chiang Mai where small retailers can actually benefit from buying in bulk. I've been there, so it is a fact. Coporate shills with their non-stop exaggerations and false claims.

I believe you, and that may be the case in Chiang Mai. But in Phuket at least, small retailers do go to big supermarkets to take advantage of the big sales they have on certain products sometimes. As other posters have commented before, some to the point of bringing a big delivery truck, and others taking every single piece of an item that's on sale and stuffing shopping carts with them, leaving shelves empty and getting angry when you try to take one.

That does sound pretty funny

Also, at the end of the full article, "Officers will fine Withawas THB200 for causing a public nuisance."

I'm just waiting for a comment on the PM being across the road

Photo proves that you don't always need the looks.

I do sympathize with the store owners who have protested about this. I would buy at a local store (as well) if I could find one on the street I live on, but unfortunately there are none for quite some distance.

On the other hand, lots of Thais do shop at Tesco, BigC, and Supercheap too because of the big discounts on certain products. Do the majority of Thai consumers sympathize with the small local stores? I don't know.

I really don't mind if all the foreign supermarkets close down, I've lived in places where there are rarely any 7-11s or mini/supermarkets around. But if they are nearby, and they provide good discounts on some products or have some items which I can't find elsewhere, I don't mind patronizing them.

metered taxis @ airport ? but do they use them ? first time i heard about it ... every small transport is 600 baht and up

When you exit the airport, turn right and walk straight all the way till you reach a Taxi booth that says "Metered Taxis". They do not actually use the meters but you can get a cab for between 400-500 Baht.

On the street where I live in Phuket Town, there is a small Supercheap, small Tesco, and a 7-11. I buy most of the stuff I need from the small Supercheap. For what isn't there, I go across to the small Tesco. And sometimes I buy some other small things at 7-11.

There are no mom-and-pop stores and the local markets and large BigC/Tesco outlets are a bit far off so I don't go there much anyway.

Perhaps because Tesco and the like have so much capital to start with, they can buy everything in bulk for lower prices and therefore sell cheaper. Smaller local shops can't do that and they naturally can't sell as cheaply. I don't think it's because they want to rip people off.

If the local shops and markets go out of business because people prefer shopping at Tesco, then I guess the local businesses need to change what they deal in.

All well and good pushing the wages up but what happens when the employers decide that they can't support the dead weight of surplus workers ? You only have to go into any of the big stores or malls to see staff playing on their phones or standing around. Guess this isn't a problem at 25 baht an hour but if wages increase and they become a larger part of the company overhead I can see plenty of Thais being made redundant. I had four guys arrive yesterday to fix a phone line/PC problem yesterday. Most anywhere else in the World it was a one man job.

They still took an hour to confirm what I had already told them. Had to show them how to use their TDR too

Unless staff become more efficient, work harder and put some effort into their work I can't see any return for the employers.. And that means trimming the fat to continue making a profit.

This is the same <deleted> the West has been thru. Increase wages, increase the cost of business and then finally price themselves out of the market and manufacturing/business etc moves somewhere cheaper and less regimented. Unless the Thai workforce can offer something that others can't raising wages is a false move.

I could not agree more.

They are now talking about skilled work force, what skilled work force ? I have been advertising in Chiang Mai for 3 months for ten skilled welders. We even pay traveling allowance on top of the salary to try and attract them and still no applicants. We even applied to use Burmese welders but refused because we are BOI registered.

The Thai idea of a skilled worker is a man or woman that can fit 1 wheel nut on a car moving down a production line every ten minutes.

We are forced to employ 4 Thai's for every foreign worker and that is the only reason we employ them at all. Like you say standing around doing F all and playing on mobile phones is the only thing most of them are good at.

I usually hate generalizations such as yours of Thai workers. But I'm trying to understand your point of view and experience as a business owner, as it sounds like you're sincere about what you're going through.

It's sad though. I guess a greater focus has to be put on creating truly skilled workers, starting from the education system. But of course that will take a long time.

Now, just wait for the next flood.

Have u ever been to Phuket ??

Too many Farangs, not suited for Thais.

I think that doesn't apply to Phuket Town though, which isn't near Patong. Phuket Town has a lot more Thais in my opinion.

Yes the toilets in that airport are in fact quite clean.

And in other news, Happy Mother's Day.

Just an honest question here. Maybe I am just very lucky and never see this stuff. Mind you I live in Bangkok but every time I have had an argument with Taxi's / Bar owners it has never been more than just words and I can easlily say sometimes I have gotten my money back. But reading the way some of you gent's write it seem you dislike Thailand quite a bit but yet you still stay here? Are you guys into business here or even though you disagree with a ton of things that happen here still stay for family ect? I would think after reading some of the comments quite a few of you have left Thailand.

As for myself, though I shared the jet-ski story of a friend, I still came to live in Thailand. Phuket, in fact, but never Patong. I do generally enjoy living in Thailand and Indonesia.

I still can't find out which party he's from. Does anyone know?

"Accidentally" fired an uzi and killed his cousin - oops!

A friend of mine fell for the usual trick where the paint came off and scratches showed up when he brought it back. He was asked to pay US $5000. After 2 hours of trying to argue, a policeman arrived at the scene. After another hour of arguing, the jet-ski owner pointed a gun to my friend's head. The police stood by, and told my friend he should pay the guy. He withdrew the US $3000 left in his atm and gave it to the guy.

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Oh yeah? WHY had you not told your friend not to rent a jetski in Thailand?

He went before I knew anything about the jetskis in Phuket. I'm relatively new to Phuket myself.

I love Krabi/Lanta/Ao Nang, not a jet ski in sight!

...yet.

The incident I described happened at a beach in Krabi, albeit a more secluded one. But you're right that those places are generally better.

Not on a beach in Krabi! secluded or not, and with it's own very special atm???

are you so lonely?

I'm not lonely Look, I shared this here because it happened to someone I know. If some of you don't want to believe it, it doesn't matter to me at all really.

Anyway I don't know if the atm was at the beach area or somewhere else nearby. As far as I can remember, I believe he mentioned Krabi. I may be wrong, but I'm really not going to send him an email about this now to check every single detail. And because I'm new to Phuket myself, I may be getting the exact location wrong. I'm sorry if I did.

No one is making anything up, what's the use of that anyway?

I think you don't need a Citibank atm to withdraw from a Citibank card. I withdraw straight from any atm in Thailand using my foreign atm card (since my card includes VISA and Mastercard as part of it's services).

If you want to withdraw in one hit the full limit on your card in the case of Thailand, you would need a Citibank ATM,

Yes I know you can use foreign cards in Thai ATM's , but they would not allow you to withdraw the full limit on your card in one hit, you would have to do mutiple transaction and pay THB150 at time

So I guess he made multiple transactions. The only reason I mentioned Citibank before was because I wasn't clear about the withdrawal details and someone mentioned that the limit on a Citibank card matches the amount my friend handed over.

My friend was genuinely freaked out by the incident. But it didn't stop me from moving to Phuket Town, because I think his is an extreme case scenario, and I'm not in Phuket for the same reasons, in the same areas, or doing similar things. I'll skip the jet-skiing though