Kerryd

Go to ANY major tourist location and you will find the SAME problems. Drugs, prostitution, crime, poverty. Las Vegas, Amsterdam, Budapest, Delhi, Dubai, Cairo, Hawaii, Mexico, Jamaica (mohn). Really no different from most major cities in most countries. Anytime you get large populations, especially of "transient" visitors/workers, you are going to find the same problems. It has also been my experience that the people who make a living from tourists (on the low end of the ladder like waiters, taxi drivers, vendors, security guards and so on) are often the ones who most resent those tourists. Because their livelihood is dependent on them and it's like a shackle around their necks. They want the money that comes from working in a place like Pattaya, but hate seeing tourists running around spending more money in a night than they make in a month. And we've had gov'ts for the past 20+ years that have "vowed" to get rid of the sex trade and vowed to "restore" Pattaya's image (as a world class family resort). And what has happened ? There's more tourists now than ever. So many that even the locals that make a living from them are complaining that there are too many. I don't know. Maybe if they shut down all those "BB Gun" arcades and Turkish Ice Cream stands on Walking Street the numbers of tourists might drop ? Just open (or re-open) beer bars and go-go bars in their place and that should do the trick ! After all, no one wants to go to a "world class resort destination" - especially in the middle of a dreary winter back home - if there's a possibility that they may see some "sin", right ? That would surely make the numbers of tourists coming here drop, which apparently would make a lot of the locals happier. (LoL - it might cause the numbers from a couple lower-spending demographics to go down, while causing a surge in other, higher spending demographics. Pretty sure the locals wouldn't have a problem with that at all !)

There's a fool born every minute - and two bargirls to take him. Literally, every single day, thousands of starry-eyed single (or not) men arrive in Thailand and fall in love with the first bar girl they meet. Because for most of them, they've never had ANY woman treat them the same as your average (Thai) bar girl has been doing since she was a kid (before she ever went to a bar - it's Thai culture - women are generally raised to "take care" of the men). And it's not just old, ugly guys on their third divorce either. When I was in Afghanistan (first time, '03-'05) one of our firefighters was a guy who looked like he came straight out of a Chippendale's calendar. Any time he'd be outside sunning himself you'd see a bunch of the women (military and civilian) trying to sneak peeks from their tent lines. He goes to Phuket on his first holiday. Falls in love with the (2nd or 3rd) bar girl he met (according to his friends). Comes back to work and on his next holiday he clears out his bedspace and flies back to Thailand (without giving notice). Marries his teerak and tries to open a "dive shop", thinking he was living the dream. Until he found out life isn't so easy. Small matters like visas and work permits and so on. Suddenly he's out of money, no job and his "teerak" dumps him (naturally). He ended up doing odd jobs at a hotel owned by a Canadian couple and getting paid under the table until he got enough to get back to Canada. It's a story that is literally repeated every single day in Thailand. Usually with older guys who've been married and divorced, often more than once. They meet a woman in a beer bar. She's nice, pays attention to him, pampers him a bit and the hook is in. Suddenly he thinks he's "living the dream". A resort paradise, not freezing cold or drizzling, dreary rain. A woman who smiles when she looks at you and treats you "like a king" compared to how you were normally treated by women "back home". This has been happening here ever since the first "beer bar" opened however long ago (likely before the first US servicemen started going to Pattaya on R&R from Vietnam in the late 60s). And it will keep happening for as long as Thai women keep being Thai women and "Western women" continue being "Western women".

I have the usual gov't insurance on my scooter and Harley. I also have a 3rd party, Class 3 policy for the Harley (it's old so I can't get a better policy). As well, I have a pretty good medical insurance polict (with MTL) that should cover me for anything short of full organ and brain transplant, and that policy has additional coverage in the event of a motorcycle accident (on scooter or Harley). And yes, hospitals in "tourist areas" DO charge foreigners more, especially if they have insurance. They know what the maximum rates the Insurers pay and charge you/them that full amount. The fact that it will result in you having to pay higher premiums in the future is not their problem. Trust me, I have found out that "the hard way" after an accident a few years ago. And remember the story (earlier this year ?) about the Thai woman who was in a hospital in Bangkok and had a disagreement with the hospital over her bill as she thought they overcharged her. Turns out, the hospital admitted they thought she was "Swiss", not Thai, and agreed to knock 100,000 baht off her bill after she went to the media about it. I watched a "finance clerk" at a well known hospital talk to a doctor on the phone about a procedure I was going to have to remove a plate from my wrist. She wrote down 500 baht/3 for the 3 nights I'd be in the hospital as well as the cost of the procedure and regular daily costs. Then she called someone else and started changing the numbers. Suddenly it was 5,000 baht a night for 3 nights in the hospital which, by no coincidence, was the maximum amount my insurance policy covered. She also amended so of the other prices to match the coverage in the policy. Total quote - 180,000. I went to a smaller, lesser known private hospital and had the procedure done there. Total price - 90,000. (When I had the accident 3 1/2 years ago, my "friends" drove me from hospital to hospital looking for the "best deal" for me. We went to that well known hospital in Pattaya and they quoted us a price of about 520,000. We went to a hospital in Sri Racha (lord knows why) and they were too busy (lots of covid patients) so we went to another private hospital who quoted a price of 280,000 so they stuck me in that one.) (I was woozy from the morphine shot I was given at the little regional "hospital" near where the accident was and all I wanted was to lay down and sleep for a few hours. I even told my friends to just take me home and I'd go to the hospital myself the next day.) My gov't motorcycle insurance covered part of the cost and my medical insurance covered most of the rest though I did have to pay some out of my own pocket for some reason. About 10 years ago I tore a rotator cuff (shoulder muscle). Went to the hospital and after spending a whack on "steroid" shots and other non-invasive treatments, we did an MRI and they could see the torn muscle ligaments and a bone spur that was acting like a thorn and tearing the muscle every time I moved my arm. Talked to the doctor and he was quoting me the costs for the operation. I told him I was paying cash. It was going to cost something like 220,000 baht. Went to the bank to get a bank draft (or transfer or whatever) to pay the hospital and the accounts clerk asked my why my insurance wasn't covering it. I had a policy with the bank but I thought it was one of those "Life Assurance" policies and not "Health Insurance". Went back to the hospital and told the doctor that I actually did have insurance. The look on his face was not a happy one as they would have charged me (or my insurance) a lot more than if I was paying cash. And remember - if you are in an accident there's a VERY real chance you won't be in any condition to negotiate anything with anyone - or access your bank to pay for anything. Or argue with the healthcare provider in your home country. So pretending that you have enough "cash in the bank" to cover any unforeseen medical expenses is just retarded. And if you don't have insurance you could end up in far worse condition and be facing some very steep bills afterwards. Imagine being in an accident in a remote corner of Thailand like in parts of Bueng Khan or Nan, where no one speaks English and no one knows you, where you're from or who to contact in an emergency and all you have is (maybe) an International Drivers Permit and 500 baht in your wallet. Basically, you are screwed. But when they look in my wallet they see my Medical Insurance card, my "Bangkok Hospital - Pattaya" admittance card (with my blood type on the plastic envelope) as well as the business card from my lawyer and 3rd party (motorcycle) insurance provider (as well as drivers license and other stuff of course). At least that way people will be able to find out where I live and ransack my place after I die !

Insurance is not a requirement in Thailand (except for the mandatory gov't insurance for vehicles which provides very limited coverage - for you - in the event of an accident). But if you travel anywhere in a foreign country - or operate motor vehicles - or engage in "risky" behaviours (not just unprotected sex with Beach Rd freelancers) then you are an idiot if you do not have medical insurance. How many "GoFundMe" appeals do we see almost every month (some of which may actually be authentic) about people having accidents or getting sick and not having medical insurance. Or they supposedly had insurance - but their claim was denied because (insert justifications here but usually are entirely the fault of the injured person - like not wearing a helmet, not being licensed for the vehicle or driving while drunk and so on). Or they "assumed" that they were covered by their home country's healthcare (like NHS in the UK or their provincial healthcare plan from whatever Canadian province they came from). I was like that when I first visited here. I just assumed that, being in the Army, I was covered anywhere I went. And later on as a civilian, I just assumed that my company's medical coverage would cover me even when on holiday. After all, if they covered me while I was in a war zone, why not while in a party zone ? Luckily I never had to find out the hard way how wrong those assumptions were.

If it was a gay friendly hotel/spa then he was probably just advertising his availability. Otherwise he was maybe stoned and thinking he was at one of "those" parties.

Yeah, insurance scam. Abandoned hotel, restricted access, no electricity but for some reason they suddenly had welders inside and - shocker - a fire breaks out that apparently consumes the entire hotel. Uh huh. Purely coincidence, right ?

Note that most of the dead were from Myanmar. Companies hire labourers from Cambodia and Myanmar because they work cheap and you can often avoid having to pay them at all by just calling "someone" at Immigration just before payday and having half your workforce arrested and deported for being in the country illegally. (Used to be a fairly common occurence in Pattaya Condo construction projects in the past.) Most of those workers are probably even less qualified than your average Thai worker and we know just how "qualified" your average electrician/plumber/bricklayer/labourer is here. In Thailand, cutting corners to increase profit seems to be the main guiding principle on these projects. Hence the new roads that collapse, develop potholes and deep ruts (or all three) within a couple years of construction. ForFreddiesSake - we built roads all around the Kandahar Air Field that were routinely used by tanks, armoured vehicles, cargo trucks and heavy equipment and never had the problems that they have on literally every new road built here. Mainly because here they try to build the cheapest road possible, using packed sand as underlay and thin layers of asphalt (that starts to crumble and fall apart within months) or concrete (where they have an inch of poor quality concrete overtop of wire rebar that gets exposed within a couple years as the concrete crumbles. No one cares and there doesn't seem to be any "Quality Control" or "Contract Assurance" to make sure the contractors do their job properly. It's a wonder any high rises in the country survive the first monsoon season. (Also why I would never consider buying a condo as I highly doubt the construction standards are that much better than they are with your average single or two story "village" house.) I suspect there will be a couple news stories about "increased inspections" and "enforcing safety standards" in the next few days - and then it will be back to business as per normal a couple weeks later. Just like happens after every nightclub/mall/condo fire disaster. Lots of chest-pounding in front of the cameras for a couple days, some photo ops of "inspections" and then 2 weeks later everything is back to the way it was before.

Also note - in Thailand, Customs determines Duties and Tariffs on the "CIF" value of a shipment. Cost (declared value of the shipment) Insurance (regardless if the shipment was insured or not) Freight (the shipping costs to get the order to Thailand) The total of those 3 is the "CIF value" that they then apply the applicable Duties/tariffs to. And I found out (the "hard" way) that even if your order has no insurance and "free shipping" - Customs is allowed to "estimate" what those values "might" have been, then add them to the declared value of the order and then assign the Duties/Tariffs. I had a (minor) discussion about that once at the Customs House in Laem Chabang with an order I received from AliExpress that was "free shipping". I even showed them the "invoice" on the AliExpress site for the order where it said "free shipping". Didn't matter. They basically just added some small percentage of the value of the item I'd ordered as a "shipping" fee and a smaller percentage as the "estimated" insurance and then applied the Duties to the total. (I think it added about 300 baht to the "CIF" value on a shipment valued at just over 2600 baht.) And then they charged me a 40% Duties and Tariffs fee (the scheduled amount for "new motorcycle parts"). I went through that a couple times with them. (I now know the route to the Laem Chabang Customs House quite well in fact.) Usually it's only when it's a large item (like leather saddlebags for a motorcycle) or has a "higher" declared value. Smaller items (and cheaper ones) used to either go to the Chaiyapruek post office - or slip through without any additional fees at all. I had it worked out a couple years ago. It seemed that packages worth less that $75 US sailed right through. Packages valued at $75-150 would get hit with additional fees about half the time and packages valued at over $150 would always have additional fees imposed. (Unlike what the courier companies like FedEx, UPS and DHL do, where they charge the FULL, maximum amount on any shipment, regardless of value - and then add their own handling fees on top because they know even if you refuse the shipment - you STILL have to pay the Customs duties - and then the courier company can "destroy" - or keep - your package. You've already paid for it and the shipping and they don't have to return it to sender - especially not at their expense - so they are "supposed" to destroy the package(s) that get refused.) I looked that up a couple months ago when FedEx was jerking me around on a package they had in Bangkok. After a week of dicking around I was ready to tell them to stuff the package and I looked into what would happen if I refused to accept it. Basically, you'd end up still having to pay the Duties, and no refund on the shipping, and it wouldn't go back to the sender so you'd lose the package as well (and couldn't claim it as "lost" in shipping) so you'd end up with nothing. And the courier companies KNOW that, which is how they get away with it. With that FedEx shipment, I spent almost 2 weeks jumping through hoops before they finally delivered it and I ended up paying nearly 3,200 baht in extra fees and charges for a shipment valued at 3,600 baht. (I kept the paperwork.) And of that 3,200 - only 746 was actual Customs Duties !! And frakken FedEx made me "register" with Customs and send them a copy of my "registration card" - and THEN charged ME an additional 1,400 baht to "amend the waybill" because on the shipping label it had my first and last name - but on the "registration card" it had my first, middle and last name !! So yeah, avoid using courier companies if at all possible. Order smaller amounts if need be or have someone ship stuff through the regular postal system. Otherwise you could get shafted by the courier companies.

This has been in effect for a couple months now. I think it came into effect on 1 July actually. It was a big news item (here and in other media) that Thailand was going to start charging duties on shipments "under 1,500 baht" in declared value. They said it was to "protect" Thai businesses that were being hurt by all the cheap imports coming into Thailand through (orders made on Lazada, Shopee, AliExpress, etc), mainly from China (where the vendors on those sites get most of their stock from). I thought it was hilarious when they announced it because they made it sound like, if you ordered something worth 1,495 baht they'd charge Duties on it but it you ordered something valued at 1,505 baht, no Duties would be charged. I've been getting packages from eBay and AliExpress and from my mail forwarding company in the USA that have had "Duties" added to them. 3 packages were delivered and I paid the driver (and was given a paper copy of the Fee summary) and once I had to go to the Chaiyapruek Post Office (I think because that one was over 100 baht in fees or something). And of course, NOTHING will change and the extra fees will have NO effect, good or bad, on "Thai businesses" - because most of the stuff being ordered through those sites is all made in China anyways, regardless of who is ordering/selling it. And the vendors on Lazada are (mostly) Thais and Thai companies - but THEY aren't the ones paying the extra duties so it's not having any effect on their businesses.

I believe the problem is that forming "gangs" and "flagrantly flouting the law" are occupations restricted to Thais only, primarily those in politics, policing, judicial and military occupations. Nobody likes competition horning in on them ! Makes you wonder what Thailand will do when the Triads start taking over the local "mafias" and stepping on a lot of toes (or cutting them off completely). (Pretty sure they don't like to share too much either - and will be a lot harder to identify than the "caucasian" criminal element.)

In Thailand they prefer to dose the booze with Insecticide. Remember the incident(s) in (Phuket ?) where two female tourists were found dead in their hotel room, no signs of foul play (i.e. not beaten/raped/stabbed). Someone pretended that maybe the room had been heavily fumigated but that's not likely. I know what a heavily fumigated room/container is like and have never seen anyone in Thailand that would waste money spraying a room for bugs, let alone with enough insecticide to be lethal to humans as well. But they had been drinking at a bar well known for it's "bucket drinks" - filled with alcohol and who knows what but said to also quite often include insecticide as an extra "boost" (that's cheap, easy to obtain and not regulated even in the slightest). But that's the trade off for going to a warm, tropical country that is also (usually) a cheap vacation spot. Low - or no - standards and even less enforcement of existing standards. That's how they get away with chaining and locking emergency exits and fire doors in Condos and nightclubs. Or using unlicensed, barely trained welders/electricians who end up causing fires that spread through ceiling material that is not even remotely fire retardant because the "good stuff" costs money ! Or sell booze that may have "suspicious" origins. (Sheesh, even my Thai friends are super wary about buying Regency brandy because of all the fake stuff being sold.) I was joking with a friend about what would happen if a "health inspector" from Canada (or other western country) were to come to Thailand and try eating at some local "restaurants". A minute later we saw a rat scramble across the floor and climb a nearby tree while you could see cockroaches trying to climb out of the sewer grate 3 meters away. (I said the "inspector" would probably throw up, run away and have a heart-attack, not necessarily in that order.)

For those unfamiliar with the original story. "12 May 1994 A 34-year-old Briton, who was in Thailand studying martial arts, was arrested at Bangkok airport early yesterday and charged with smuggling two kilos of heroin. Jonathan Wheeler, from Southampton, was arrested by Thai customs as he prepared to board a flight to Taipei, Taiwan." https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12697620.briton-on-drug-charge/ 1994 - NOT 1993. "8 Feb 2000 Jonathan Wheeler has lived in Bang Kwang prison for five and a half years. The story of how he got there is so familiar that it is a cliche. He was trapped in a gambling debt and threatened with death unless he carried a package out of Thailand to pay it off. The dealers tipped off customs and while Wheeler was stopped the people with the serious quantities of heroin slipped through. Wheeler's life - working in a bar on the island of Ko Samui and kick boxing for a living - was over at the age of 33. He was sentenced to 50 years." Again, making it 1994, not 1993. Note how the story has changed from what it was 24 years ago. I guess you won't sell as many books if people know the truth about why you were in prison.

Wow ! Such riveting news ! I'm waiting with baited breath to find out what the outcome of this amazing news will be ! Surely a movie must be in the works as well ? A 6 part mini-series perhaps ? It does highlight how easily a lame, meaningless "news" story that affects maybe a dozen people can be spread over social media and become "international" in just a few hours thanks to social media and the internet. Without which - no one would have heard of this story - or cared about it in the least.

Sigh. If you'd been here more than a day you'd know that pimps have been importing hookers from Uzbekistan for decades. The usual ruse was to bring them to Thailand as tourists, take their passports and put them on the street to sell their "goods". Many were not "prime" but ! They could usually do pretty good because they had a winning strategy. They'd saunter up and down Walking Street (or other areas) and look for old, white guys sitting alone in bars. And they'd go talk to them. In English. Which it seems many Uzbekis learn in school. So old Joe Brown, who doesn't understand Thai - or "Thaiglish" - and isn't doing well with the ladies suddenly has a "white" girl smiling and speaking to him in his own language. One hand on his leg and he's as good as bedded. I know this because I used to know a lot of bar owners and managers (mostly Thais) and asked them what was the attraction because most of those women were just plain scary. (The better looking ones end up in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. The "OK" looking ones end up in Budapest or Amsterdam. The scary ones end up in India or SE Asia.) And think about it. YOU go to Thailand because you like "exotic" flavours that aren't readily available (or as cheap) back home. Well, a lot of Thais - and Japanese and Koreans and Chinese - also like "exotic" flavours and to them, white (and black) girls are "exotic". That is also why you often see a lot of (equally scary) Nigerians trolling those areas and for the same reason. And it used to be, back between 2004-2010ish, that every 3-4 months there'd be an article in the Pattaya Mail (and on ThaiVisa) about the police "rounding up" a crew of Uzbeki hookers, charging them and then deporting them. It happened so often and such regular intervals that it became apparent it was a scam. (I was forced to actually do a post once listing all the news articles over the previous 2 years because some infantile, intellectually challenged, inbred mouth breather called me a liar when I commented on yet another story about yet another "round-up" and sure enough, over the previous 2 years there'd been a story every 3-4 months.) My theory was that the pimps would bring in a fresh batch of hookers and take their passports. In the beginning they'd be good earners, hoping to "buy back" their passports and return airfare quickly. But then they'd start earning less (or keeping more for themselves), maybe when they realized they'd been screwed (literally). And when they weren't earning enough to make it worthwhile, the pimp(s) would notify "someone" at Soi 9 and suddenly there'd be another round-up and the "old crew" would be locked up and deported. And a couple days later a new crew would be on the streets. It's almost funny that there are enough of them that they have "territories" and try to defend them. And the police obviously know what is going on - and obviously look the other way. I guess it's not "that time" of the year (yet) for another round-up.

This article literally has nothing to do with the topic. Mistake with a copy/paste perhaps ?