animalmagic

Just now, car720 said:

Spot on.  Chinese with 4 tones is bad enough but Thai has 5.

Cantonese Chinese has 9 tones!

The pronunciation of 'yes' in Japanese is something very rude in Cantonese.

I am not sure that local economies actually get much financial benefit from zero sum tours.  All the money goes to the Mainland China organisers and the Chinese owned businesses that they patronise where they travel.  

To the average Chinese tourist it's all about saying you've been there, and showing the photos to prove it.  I had a Chinese guy working for me in HK who took great delight in showing me millions (actually only a slight exaggeration) of pics from his family trip to Disney.  They had every permutation of pick 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 from 5 at every place of 'interest'.  There were almost 20 pics of them standing outside the gates of the place.

Sad to say but the reaction of the western world is, realistically, unimportant to them due to the economic pressures they can bring to bear in terms of oil and arms sales.  Eventually things will die down.  A few hissy fits and diplomatic expulsions and the west will claim they have made their point.  Further action explained as being too damaging to home economy and jobs as DT said earlier.

Sinister to say they are also quite pleased that the news is out in order that other critics, both inside and outside their country, will definitely think twice before carrying on.

Very similar to the attempted murder of Skripol in Salisbury.  Their reach is long and they will get you if you annoy them too much.

2 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

All these countries who are huge weapon suppliers are refraining from tough comments. What is this world coming to?

Not coming to anything.....it's just where it's been for many years!

18 hours ago, Basil B said:

So where is the rest of his body... 

Probably inside a dog.  They couldn't use the Bricktop solution from the movie Snatch.

Perhaps the alleged murderers were only there to share tourist notes with the two Russians who had just come back from admiring Salisbury?

8 hours ago, Mac98 said:

If this disastrous operation had been done without MbS approval then the culprits would already be in the chopping block. I'm sure there are big rewards promised down the road for the man taking the fall.

A perfumed garden and many virgins?

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Pompeo said the United States welcomed competition from China, but criticised a lack of transparency at its state-owned enterprises and what he called "predatory economic activity".

Probably because America can't afford "predatory economic activity" any more?

Just now, MaksimMislavsky said:

Yes she probably saw him as a threat to the cubs. But he was deeply averse to fighting a female, and there was nowhere for him to walk away. So he just let her end his life.

You mean they got married?!

Not been there for a while but I used to enjoy the Sunday Roast Buffet lunch at Molly Malone's on Soi Convent (between Sathorn and Silom).  Lots of roast meats and tons of veggies.

15 hours ago, Yeahbutwhytho said:

Has anyone noticed any differences in Chinese guest numbers around the malls and attractions? Has there been a noticeable drop off

Can't really answer your questions but can offer possible reasons - 

(5) The Chinese citizen is prohibited from exiting China as decided by the relevant competent department of the State Council because the national security or interest may be compromised; or

(6) Other circumstances as set out by laws and administrative regulations under which the Chinese citizen is prohibited from exiting China.

Above extracted from Mainland China laws relating to entry and exit visas.

Just now, canuckamuck said:

For the sake of brevity I will keep my response short as this forum is often intolerant of these discussions.

Your initial comment that the devil is not in the Bible is patently false. The New Testament is loaded with references to the devil, as I have proved. The article you have linked speaks nearly entirely about the Hebrew bible, which is essentially the Christian Old Testament. And although the Devil (the accuser) does feature frequently in the Old Testament. The usage is often more figurative there and open to some interpretation. The primary focus of your article is making the case that the serpent in the garden is never spelled out to be Satan. This is true, There are a lot of things in the story of creation which are handled uniquely and have been vigorously studied for thousands of years.  Obviously most people consider the serpent to be a 'type' of the devil (the accuser). When the the two testaments are considered together, a more complete picture occurs.

To get into this further would require tons of links and some ponderous translations of Hebrew and what not.

But the devil is certainly mentioned in the Bible.

Sooooo, does that mean Voldemort is the Devil and Nagini is the serpent.  They both died in the last movie so we can't blame them any more!

(p.s.  not a dig at you, I enjoyed the information)

When children die from horrible cancers or born with horrific defects we are told that it is god's will; surely the revelations of the church's sexual predators is also god's will?

Just now, Ctkong said:

What do you expect when you promote sex shows to the ‘rural’ Chinese reinforcing their perception that pattaya IS A SEX CITY ?Chinese place sex workers low in their social structure and a country that has a whole Sex city lined up is not high up there  in their mind.

What utter cobblers.  Pattaya is not a 'whole Sex city,'  It has a raunchy nightlife area but that in no way covers the whole city.  You'll be telling me next that there are no sex workers in China, or that there are so few they are almost invisible!

Just now, Katipo said:

I wouldn't say Thailand is a colony yet, but I would call it a 'financial dependent'. Following a similar path to Cambodia. When you are led by the incompetent who are capable of creating long term jobs and growth, you just sell everything off to create the illusion of growth.

That sounds like the world economy.