mike1967

4 hours ago, mikebell said:

If you lay out 50,000 baht on a plane ticket from Europe + hotel charges + entertainment and you can't go out for a decent meal and/or a drink for two of your allotted nights, you'll remember this tremendous waste of money for a long time. And then tell all your friends.

Maybe that would be a forgettable holiday then?

18 hours ago, mikebell said:

I tried to dine out last night, notwithstanding the fact I couldn't buy a G & T or have a glass of wine with my meal.  ALL my favourite restaurants were closed.  Looks like many tourists will suffer an unforgettable holiday in Thailand and tell all of their friends.

It's not just the property owning laws which are racist and medieval.

Unforgettable?

14 hours ago, jing jing said:

Quite so.

 

I notice the press release made no mention of any desire to attract more tourists from North America, UK, Western Europe, or Australia.  It would seem Thailand has moved on and has no need for those of us who continually complain about how horrible Thailand and Thai people are, yet malinger here like a stubborn case of syphilis, or bleat from afar regardless.

 

Let's get over it already.  Thailand obviously has.

I actually agree. There are so many people moaning on here, me included, for what? No one is listening and the Thais don't appear to care. Better to focus that energy on finding somewhere new and putting Thailand behind us. Sad but for best for everyone's sanity.

8 hours ago, nomad2019 said:

i know at least 30-40 guys who have come to los the past 10-20 years from uk and ireland,  i speak with lots of them now and as before they done 3-4-5 trips per year, now most them not coming to thailand, many are finding it too hard to get by even on 5000 baht per day . thats mostly in pattaya, i darent talk about BKK

 

living in isaan might lighten the load but not by much,  theres a thread on business forum i made 2 days ago, reading and studying the currency charts a well known website ( XE i think )  predicted the pound sterling will fall another 19% from now to 26  !!!!!!!

 

do your homework lads, for me i cannot go as often but ive a girl there so ill be staying in her place instead of hotels,  ill be cutting back on the beer and trying to do different things,  to be honest if it wasnt for her i would not think about going back anytime soon.

 

i was used to 73 back in the day,  it does my head in now changing £100 for 3800 baht.....but as the movers & shakers say its going down to around 26 in 2023 ( apparently )

Can you imagine 26 to the £. That would be £10 and up for a pint down in the south. I can go to my lovely local marina in the UK and buy a pint for £2.29, work out the maths.

Does this figure include travellers that just use Bangkok as a stopover for other countries? Even if the figures are correct how long are people staying compared to before? With the new Visa laws etc people may be coming but will be staying for much shorter holidays. Myself for one, plus many of my friends, aren't going back to Thailand because it's just too expensive, not worth it if you factor in the travel. More worrying is that my friends that do live there are looking to move away. Everyone is getting sick of the regime there.

There is no such thing as cracked, chipped, jail broken or any other term in regards to a firestick. They are just simply side loaded. This is something than can be done easily so no need to pay for anything more than the price of the item. I used to run Kodi but I find apps far simpler to add. Sometimes, but rarely, these apps do go down but always an alternative out there. Everything can be found on YouTube.

5 hours ago, Dinobot said:

 

It’s no accident that this fundamental change in Thais, which I think many of us can agree on, coincided with the development of the smartphone and the invention and subsequent spread of selfie culture.

 

I’m not saying that the vain self interest wasn’t there, dormant to begin with... but the Instagram ecosystem made it not only possible, but most importantly acceptable - and even admirable, to be a completely self absorbed little tawt within thai society.

 

What were once curious eyes pointed outward at the world and the many curious foreigners come to their homeland, are now buried in an endless scroll newsfeed of self indulgent masturbatory one-upsmanship where everyone tries so hard to present a picture perfect lifestyle but simultaneously and quite ironically, leaves them more empty and wanting to live up to their fictional avatars, ever more lonely in the increasingly connected world.

 

The Thais did not patent this social phenomena, but they sure do it to the fullest extent possible, in my opinion.

 

Many facets of what was once a wonderful combination of attributes in this culture have as a result been thrown to the wayside, including the once-famous siamese welcome mat.

I recently questioned why the bar girls are on their phones constantly. The answer from the bar owner/manager was that they had customers. Not sure what I was then? 

6 hours ago, ChipButty said:

I went to get some breakfast the other morning and bumped into a poo ying I know from somewhere I couldn't remember which bar anyway she knew me, she ordered her food which came to 90 Baht she didnt even have enough money to pay so I gave her 100 Baht so even the bar girls are falling on hard times

My ex girlfriend always moaned that I didn't give her any money (not true by way). I said you don't work so you don't need it!!!????????????

4 hours ago, Gecko123 said:

I must say that if the front and second row of people in this photo are representative of Pattaya's Indian community, they appear to be affable, well-groomed, well-dressed, hard-working, and likeable people, totally undeserving of the constant bashing you read on this forum.

Yes, I think it's pure class when I see them trying to negotiate over a 10 baht bus ride. Not forgetting the cup of coffee they shared between four of them, spilling half the cup in the process leaving an eighth of a cup each. IT'S THE FUTURE!!! By the way, the Thais are known for their ability to listen.....NOT.

2 hours ago, twizzian said:

I’ve been here long enough and out on the bike every day.

Never been stopped or robbed by police.

I'll have a stab in the dark, you don't live in Pattaya? Have you never read the endless posts of why people don't return to Thailand? They are fed up with the constant harrassment/corruption by the police, one of the things being motorbikes. Just because you've not been stopped doesn't mean it's not happening. Someone has to win the lottery whatever the odds are.

14 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

The main problem as I see it is that Thais are so brainwashed about how great their country is that they simply cannot envision that tourists would want to go anywhere else. They believe they have the best temples, the best beaches, the best shopping, the best everything. They do not. Far from it. And they are so blinkered and uninterested in the world outside of their tiny, insignificant country that they don't know that somewhere better exists. I know of many Thais who have gone to live outside of Thailand for various reasons, and after seeing how the real world operates only one said she would return once her husband died. He did, but several years later she remains in Europe.

All totally true. Travel makes you wise yet they seem to believe they understand all different cultures because they have spoken about them in a bar. They truly think they don't need to see it to understand it. 9 years of frustration has taught me this. England is nothing like Pattaya, just for an example.

Does anyone think it's ever possible for the Thais to realise that western money doesn't come from the magic money tree? You know, the place we go to pick endless money that we ''ALL" have apparently!!!

Thailand you truly are pathetic. Your reputation just gets worse and worse. Well done to her for refusing to pay such a ridiculous fine, 4 months wages for an average Thai.

2 minutes ago, Shadychris said:

It's all rather subjective... You have chosen to pick a single case of 500% increase in entry fee charged to foreigners to fishing parks.  It's not the case that everything has gone up by 500%! 

I take you point about the crap state of the GBP £ - but that will affect your worth in any overseas country. I still find many things to be much cheaper in Thailand than they are in the UK - even taking into account the piss poor exchange rate. Utility bills, fuel, local produce, clothing, etc etc. But if you want to live like a westerner in Thailand and shop only in 'supermarkets' like Tesco, living on western brand products then yes you will pay through the nose for it. That has always been the case.

Personally I think that if someone chooses to emigrate to another country then, as you say it should not all be about money. For me there are many many more important factors concerning my quality of life than whether its cheaper or more expensive to live in my country of origin.

Of course some things will be cheaper. My point is, if you want to live in Thailand and like to spend your time fishing, for example, then this is no longer value for money and has no relation to a Thai person's income. Okay, you carry on going then the prices go up and up and up. There has to be a point where we have to say enough is enough. It's a shame where doing what we enjoy becomes unaffordable due to Thai mentality. If you want to sit indoors all day or spend your time at a 50 baht beer bar then good luck. I was recently chatting to a guy at the money exchange in Pattaya. He said his beer only cost him £1.30 and was well chuffed. I said you have to remember it cost you £1000 to buy that first cheap beer. "Oh yeah, I hadn't thought of that".

2 minutes ago, ramr said:

 

Unfortunately, if you don't pay and vote with your feet, many will *raise* prices to try to recoup the lost income...it flies in the face of the market logic we expats are familiar with, but TIT.

 

I asked my wife about this mentality when we were talking about the recent "Phuket tourism = in the shitter this year" TV thread.  Specifically, I asked her, "How bad does business need to drop off for a typical Thai before they actually admit to themselves they need to adjust their prices *down* or change their offerings/price points/etc?

 

30%?  No. 

 

50%?  Keep going. 

 

80%?  Nopity nope.

 

Well, how much then?  Answer: 100%.

 

Hardly scientific, and my wife is no economist, but it was certainly an interesting conversation.

 

Face, laziness, sense of entitlement from having it easier in the past, trying to play the long game, stubborn landlords, type of business, expected % of farang customers, and level/type of financial backing all play a role, so no way answers... and yet somehow her answer still seemed illustrative of the Thai mentality.

 

 

 

 

Great answer, you definitely get my point. My friends own the Scooter bar chain in Pattaya and recently talked about their concerns due to lack of farang coming to Pattaya. I said you couldn't be more wrong. They keep their prices down with great music. This attracts customers which attracts girls. They are busier than ever and expanding rapidly. It may be a bar but business is business and they know how to make money. Obviously no Thai input. 

18 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Not only Thais, modern marketing is 'charge whatever you can get away with, in any country.

 

That's as maybe but that wasn't my point.