Kerryd

I think the owners of the bar are going to be upset - as they are going to have to buy larger brown envelopes in the future !

Remember - he was taken to the hospital after less than a day in jail because of "insomnia" and a little "tingle" in the tip of on finger. I have a little "tingle" in the tips of two fingers right now. Maybe I should go to the hospital as well ? Get a comfy bed in a special suite with a private bathroom and catered meals and no smelly "peasants" to deal with. And let us not forget - this is Thailand - where even murderers can apply (and pay) for bail and be released to fight their cases (assuming they can afford it of course). Just like the father of some certain Mayors and MPs did some years ago after he was jailed for arranging the murder of a political rival. But was released on bail after being charged in a land fraud case and promptly disappeared. (Without anyone trying too hard to find him it seems.) He finally "gave himself up" after developing a medical condition. (I think he also went to one of those "special suites" at the same hospital that Thaksin is currently in.)

Seems odd a]that the CCTV would be that selective that it only showed the end of what happened and not how the woman (and man) ended up in that position.

Lol - he claims that "for some reason" they wanted to look at his phone and then wouldn't give it back, which lead to the altercation. And at the police station the "transgenders" reportedly intimidated a reporter into not filming them and wanted to press charges against the tourist for assault. However the police determined that both sides had mutually agreed to fight and the police could charge and fine both sides so the transgenders decided not to press charges and left the police station. The tourist refused to go to the hospital to have his injuries looked at and was returned to his hotel. An NO, why on earth would ANYONE think "he should have known better" ? He might have been in the country for a day or two on the only trip he's ever made outside of his home country. Just like I'm sure none of you had any clue what Thailand - and Pattaya in particular - was really like until after you got here. And if you met someone at a bar on your first night and they told you to take a stroll on Beach Road at night - you'd have probably thought you had just landed in heaven - until you found out most of those "girls" had a lot more "down below" than you did. I used to walk from Soi 7 to Walking Street in evenings. Friends of mine had a band that played in a bar on the top (#2 road) end of the soi and when their gig ended I'd walk down to Beach Road and then to Walking Street. (Helped sober me up a bit.) Used to pass all manner of katoeys and freelancers. Never had a single problem. But then again, I wasn't stopping and gawking and trying to haggle any of them into lowering their prices (or going back to my hotel room where my 5 friends were waiting). And I wasn't flashing enough gold to buy everyone in my home village a new cow. But you can bet a lot of people on their first trip here wouldn't have a clue about the "dos and don'ts" and the "where not to go after midnight unless you are looking for something a little (or a lot) different".

It's possible a lot of them could have Diplomatic Passports. Canada and the UAE had a minor tiff years ago when we were in Afghanistan. We used to get a 90 day "visa exemption" stamp every time we entered Dubai. But the UAE wanted Canada to provide Diplomatic Passports to members of their royal family. 3,000 members of their royal family in fact. As every nephew, cousin and third cousin twice removed is apparently a member of the royal family. Canada said no and for a short period the UAE restricted our travel (until "someone" talked to "someone" and suddenly they relented and allowed normal travel again). But they only gave us 30 Day exemption stamps after that. No big deal for most of us as we usually didn't stay more than a day anyways. So if certain Arab countries did the same thing with Thailand, then yeah, there could be dozens/hundreds of youths in the country on Diplomatic Passports. We also have "satellite" families in Canada where rich Chinese, mostly from Hong Kong, arrange Permanent Residence or even Citizenship in Canada (about as easy these days as opening a bank account is for most people). Once they get a Canadian passport, they can pretty much bring their entire families over, who all get Canadian citizenship as well it seems. Then the parents go back to Hong Kong to continue making money while leaving the safe in Canada. So we end up with a bunch of filthy rich Asians (like the TV show but not as fake) racing around like it's Hong Kong Drift - and that was years before the first Fast & Furious movie came out. Reading the news about them street racing in Richmond and other places was pretty much as common as reading the news here about the Arab scooter gangs recently.

I wouldn't put much stock in whether or not they were wearing turbans. Just like all the Muslims that come here and do things they'd be lashed and imprisoned for "back home". (Or all the ones who wear their regular religious clothing on the plane when departing their home country but are wearing "western" style clothes when they arrive at their destination. I've heard that is especially popular around Ramadan in some places.) And in some places, Sikhs don't wear turbans at all and do cut their hair (and don't carry a kirpin). One former Premier of British Columbia (who was only in office for a very short time) was a Sikh and he had short hair and no turban and apparently no one (Sikh or otherwise) had any problem with it. (His party was going to get trounced in the next election so their appointed him as their leader, hoping his race and colour would help them win at least a couple seats. It didn't. They got slaughtered as the opposition won 75 of the 77 seats available.) And of course, not much different than all the meek, law abiding citizens from your home countries that lead normal, law-abiding lives - until they go on holiday and act like total (scousers/<deleted>/@holes/etc, etc). It seems a lot of people come here (to Pattaya) and suddenly think that the "rules" just don't apply anymore, especially to them ! But it can be entertaining at times. Like watching two old geezers in their 70s fighting in a beer bar because each bought one of the girls a drink and thought that meant they "owned" her.

Let's put it this way. A Canadian criminal (Michael Karas) travelled to Thailand using "stolen" ID in 1995. A year later he murdered the woman he'd been living with, dismembered her body and threw the pieces in a local (Pattaya) swamp. He then hopped on a plane (still using that "stolen" ID) and flew back to Canada before the authorities had identified him as the killer. He was arrested in Canada (for violating his probation) and sent back to prison. Thailand requested his extradition. He confessed to some robberies he'd done that the police had listed as "cold cases". That added a few years to his sentence but eventually he was extradited back to Thailand. He was tried and convicted and sent to Bang Kwan prison for life. (As per normal in Thailand, no public record of his trial or what sentence he was actually given at the time. However, if I recall from older stories, it would have been a death sentence for murdering the woman and another death sentence for mutilating her face and dismembering her body. However, 5 years to the day later, his lawyer and some loser reporter at a Canadian newspaper (the Toronto Sun) concocted a story about how he shouldn't have been convicted of murder. They argued it should have been manslaughter at best. (They ignored that he'd mutilated her face to try and prevent identification as well as forgetting to mention he'd dismembered her body and threw it into a swamp.) They claimed he'd been in prison for "half a decade" already - because that sounded worse than "5 years". Karas and his lawyer wanted Canada to approve his transfer back to Canada and decided that he should be released immediately upon arrival. The Liberal "Public Safety Minister" (Ralph Goodale) rubber-stamped the transfer, as he'd done with every single transfer that crossed his desk while in office. Despite having been personally informed of who Karas was, his criminal record before going to Thailand and what exactly he'd been convicted of. He had a flunkly from Corrections Canada inform me that Karas' case would be reviewed and he would be under "proper supervision" (ect ect, I still have their letter on file). Less than 1 year later he was arrested in Winnipeg (Manitoba) for a string of bank robberies he'd done in Ontario. It seems that he was transferred (in secret) back to Canada within days of the transfer request being submitted and approved. He was then released, free and clear, within weeks of being back in Canada. And he immediately resumed his previous career of robbing banks. (Seems he was given about 15 years in prison for those robberies. So he got more time in Canada for robbing a couple of banks than he did in Thailand for murdering, mutilating and dismembering a young woman.) Keep in mind that whenever a foreigner receives a death penalty sentence in Thailand, it is usually immediately commuted to a Life sentence at the trial or when the next Royal Pardon is given. So if Spain has a Prisoner Transfer agreement with Thailand, they could apply for a transfer, probably 5 years after conviction. As long as Thailand and Spain (and the prisoner) agree, he'd be sent home "to serve the remainder of his sentence". What happens after he arrives in his home country is up to the Corrections system there. (In many cases of prisoner transfers, the felon may be released upon arrival as their crime may warrant a lighter sentence - or no conviction at all - in their home countries. As well, "home" justice systems may be more sympathetic and easier to $$$$, er, I mean, "sway" when it comes to sentences handed to one of their citizens for something they did in a foreign country.)

Lol - like increasing the amount needed for a Retirement Visa/Extension to 1.2 mil will somehow deter "criminals" from entering the country or staying here. All it would do is make things harder for the honest people, which make up the majority of the expats in the country (despite what some barstool proppers like to pretend). And consider how many of the criminals don't have visas or valid passports to begin with. And if an "agent" can somehow get around the 400k in the bank all year, then I suspect they'd be able to get around any other new requirement as well. Changing the rules won't solve a thing. If anything, it will just mean that there'll be even more criminals as they won't care about the rules anyways but the ordinary, honest expats will be forced to leave.

It's all in the linked article.

Can't say too much because Thailand has no "free speech" laws. Quite the opposite in fact. Even if you speak the truth about someone, backed up with facts and indisputable evidence, you can still be sued for defamation. That and the lese majesty laws have kept most of the rich from facing any real punishment for their deeds for decades. And the mighty military government has done nothing to change that. Then again, by the time you reach General rank, you are more likely to be a part of the problem and not the solution to it so it pretty much was to be expected that they wouldn't actually change anything anyways.

Funny because in 2019 the number of "arrivals" was nearly 40 million. Now they are saying it was only 10 million "tourists" ? I guess the other 30 million "arrivals" were Thais coming back from holidays in other countries.

So glad Immigration Officials never pay attention to any of these threads. I remember people bragging about having stayed in Thailand for years using "border runs and 30 day Exemption stamps". Then Thailand clamped down on 30 Day stamps and limited them to 3 per year. Then people were bragging about how they could use agents to get around the "800k in the bank method" by the agent depositing 800k in your account long enough for you to get the bank letter and bankbook update and then transferring the money back. So Immigration tightened the rules that the money had to be in the account for 3 months before applying. Then people bragged how they were able to get around that so Immigration changed the rules again and now you have to keep 400k in the account all year and the other 400k has to be in there 3 months before your Extension application and 3 months after. I suspect it won't be long before they announce another crackdown and tighten the rules again.

Makes you wonder what took him so long to realize he'd forgotten his "bag of valuables" if it was that important. And by identifying the nationality of the passenger it certain cut down on the number of "just another privileged American" or "soused Brit" posts, didn't it ?

Like everything else, I suspect this will blow over and 4-6 weeks from now no one will remember anything about it. Just like everytime there is a nightclub or condo fire and they "clamp down" on safety regulations and make all manner of announcements and then a month later you see not a single thing has changed and most have no idea what you are talking about. I'd suggest though that certain people who tend to be a wee bit "over-tattooed" may want to cover up a bit when they go to Immigration for their next extension. The biggest problem most Harley riding foreigners will face is if their club is one of the "poser" clubs that wear the 1% patch even though they aren't "outlaw" gangsters. Like Burapha Bike Club. The ones who host the annual Burapa Bike Week event every year. They sport the 1% patch though I doubt anyone considers them to be the same as the Bandidos, Hells Angels or Outlaws. But I suspect the BiB might not know the difference and might paint everyone with the same brush. But when you think about it, when was the last time you saw a "biker" at Immigration ? You know, riding up on his Harley, wearing his 1% vest and flashing his tats. I don't recall seeing anyone that stood out as a "biker" anytime I've ever gone to Immigration. And I suspect that any of them that are worried about it will just use an agent. It never fails that you see a couple of them every time you go there - and not just for the "90 Day" reporting either. (Note: Did my last extension about 6 weeks ago. Gave my paperwork to the girl at the table outside where they also take the 90 day report passports. She gave me a slip - #800. First up ! Stood in line for a bit until the doors opened. It was about 08:31 when she waved me to the counter. Checked my papers, took the fee, took my photo, gave me my ticket and I left. Outside I looked at my watch. 08:36. 5(ish) minutes and 1,900 baht. Went back the next day, picked up the passport, went outside and did the 90 Day report. 20 minutes later I was on my way home. I usually do a concurrent activity when I have to go to Jomtien so I stopped at a friend's bar for lunch then stopped at Foodland on the way home. It's really not hard at all.

Apparently it only applies to foreigners who ride Harleys. So if you ride a "big" Kawasaki, Honda, Triumph, BMW, Suzuki or other "big bike" you should be OK to continue doing whatever as only Harley riders do bad things it seems. It's hilarious. An element of the Big Bike community is doing a nazi-style "register or your extension will be denied " propaganda blitz, tell all foreign bikers to "register" their clubs with that organization (which is a civilian association and not a part of the police department). And telling them if they don't register then the next time they go for an extension it will be denied. Which smacks of BS as I'm pretty sure that would require a General Order/Law to be created, approved and posted in the Royal Gazette before they could just start denying Extensions of stay just because you have a "1%" patch on a vest. Oh and of course, Thai members of clubs, even real "1%ers" are of course exempt. No need to register or anything. However, it seems a lot of them are starting to learn what the "1%" patch actually means. There are even members of the Bandidos who think it just means they are in the "top 1%" of all clubs in the country.

The previous article said something about a land deal on Koh Samui worth around 700 million baht. It was noted in the previous thread that the victim had been involved in shady business before (namely being the "customer" of a Thai pimp that had supplied him with an underaged girl).

One of the first lessons I learned in Thailand. Never be worth more dead than you are alive. 2nd thing I learned was that 9 out of 10 foreigners in this country can barely afford to live here and they would dearly love to have your money in their pocket. And will come up with all manner of scams and "tear jerking" stories to try and get your money into their pocket. Sheesh, my 74 year old buddy was scammed out of 10,000 last year by a "friend" (he met in a bar of course) who claimed he'd been arrested for overstaying and had to pay the police 10,000 baht or he'd be arrested and deported. Of course he would pay it back right away once he got his passport back (blah blah blah). Even had my buddy meet him at Immigration to hand over the money (to him, not the police). And my buddy swore it was legit - because the guy was "his friend". And then I asked if the guy had paid him back. No. I asked when the last time he saw him. That day at Immigration. Even then he didn't want to believe the guy had just scammed him. I told him the guy was probably still in Pattaya, just drinking in a different bar in a different part of town for awhile. And I never lend money to any of my Thai friends either. Do it once and instantly you go from friend to ATM machine. The difference is, if they owe you too much then suddenly you are worth more to them dead than you are alive.

No big surprise. 15-20 years ago it was almost routine that every 3-4 months there'd be a news article about the BiB rounding up a horde of Uzbek prostitues working on Walking Street and deport them. It happen so often it was a joke. After I mentioned it in one article, someone who thought they knew everything called me a liar so I went back over the previous 2 years of news articles and linked every single story and sure enough, it was pretty much one ever 3.5 months on average. I had a theory that the pimps would recruit a batch of women, bring them here, take their passports and put them on the street. For the first few weeks they'd work their butts off (literally) but then the money flow would slow down. Perhaps as the girls started pocketing more of their earnings. Suddenly there'd be a story about the police doing a round-up and deporting another lot of them. I'm sure the pimp(s) would give "someone" a nudge when it was time to get rid of the old girls. That way the pimps didn't have to pay the return airfare for the girls and they could sell their passports as well. The Uzbek girls used to get a lot of customers as well, even the rather "large" ones. Because most of them were just as "white" as your average Brit - and they spoke better English than the local girls. A lot of the old gits in the bars couldn't speak 2 words of Thai and would end up sitting alone and sad in the bars. I used to watch the Uzbeki girls walk down the street peering into each beer bar for those old guys. (Friend of mine used to run the Lucky Stars bars across from the Marine Disco. Used to sit in there and watch the street. It was far more entertaining than any of those "reality" shows on TV.) They'd go down the street and mark potential customers and on their way back up the street if the geezer was still at the bar, one girl would peel off and slide up next to him. As soon as she started speaking English it was like someone turned on a spotlight as the old guy would sit up and start talking to the woman. The Africans (Nigerians) preferred to just stand on the sidewalks near closed shops or places that someone wouldn't try to chase them away from. Never saw them try to go into a bar (not unless they had a "customer"). Probably the same idea with them. Some pimp brings them in and when they've "gone stale" he gives the BiB a call and they round the girls up and get rid of them.

Making, possessing and distributing porn is a crime in Thailand regardless of what you think about their laws. Go find a "safe place" and cry your eyes out if that's a problem for you. Section 287 of the Thai Penal Code: “Whoever (1) for the purpose of trade of trade or by trade, for public distribution or exhibition, makes, produces, possesses, brings or causes to be brought into the kingdom, sends or causes to be sent out of the kingdom, brings or causes to bring, or spreads by any means whatever, any document, drawing, print, painting, printed matter, picture, poster, symbol, photograph, cinematograph film, audio or video tape or any other thing which is obscene, (2) carries on trade, or takes part or participates in the trade concerning the aforesaid obscene material or thing, distributes or exhibits to the public, or hires out such material or thing; (3) in order to assist the circulation or trading of the aforesaid obscene material or thing, advertises or spreads the news by any means whatsoever that there is a person committing the act which is an offence according to this Section, or advertises or spreads the news that the aforesaid obscene material or thing may be obtained from any person or by any means, shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding three years or fine not exceeding six thousand baht, or both.” Bring porn into the country or making it in the country is illegal, as is sending it out (as in by mail or in luggage or electronically). This apparently applies to things like "OnlyFans" type of sites if the "content" was created in Thailand. And then there is the Computer Crime Act. According to an article in the Thaiger from 2021: If an individual puts into a computer system where any computer data includes lewd appearance/obscenity/pornography and computer data that the general public may access under Section 14 (4) of the Computer Crime Act, shall be liable to imprisonment for not more than 5 years or a fine of not more than 100,000 baht, or both. For the purpose of trading, importing, producing, distributing pornography one shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to a fine of not exceeding 60,000 baht or to both according to the Criminal Code Section 287. There have been numerous articles on ThaiVisa over the years about people being busted for making or possessing porn in Thailand. Some people who seem to have their heads permanently positioned in their own nether regions seem to think that because there are go-go bars and prostitues in Thailand that must mean anything goes. Others have that same old lame idea that "gee, that wouldn't be a problem "back home". They still have the absurd notion that the laws from their home country somehow apply in Thailand as well. Guess again. Some years ago there was an incident in Pattaya that really hilighted the issue. Some foreigner (Brit or American) hired a woman from Beach Road to let him film them having sex. I think he agreed to pay her 3,000 baht. But when they were finished he gave her only 1000 and tossed her out of the room. She got her boyfriend and went back to the room where the boyfriend proceeded to beat the crap out of the foreigner. The cops came, heard the story - and arrested the foreigner ! Because not only did he record himself having sex with the woman (basically making a porno) - he also had other videos on his laptop of him having sex with other women. And from the news article - the woman (who had admitted to engaging in prostitution) and the "boyfriend" never got charged at all !

Funny how Interpol has no problem enforcing Red Notices for Euro citizens but can't seem to figure out how to enforce ones for Thais. And remember, Asean Now is headquartered in the mecca of press and individual freedoms known as Hong Kong. Where they closed the last "free press" newspaper years ago and passed laws that allow them to monitor and censor all media outlets operating in Hong Kong. Maybe why they didn't mention groups 3, 4 and 5 as they were South Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese ?

They also work in a circuit around the city. For example, the legless woman that sits near the P72 bar (or in that general area) or the guy with the gimpy leg that sits a couple hundred meters away, will stay there for a few hours and then be gone. Only to reappear on Soi 7, or Soi Buakhao, or Beach Road. Where they'll sit for a couple hours before that spot is "refreshed" by moving the old beggar to a new location and a "new" beggar to the old spot. I've encounted the same beggars on Walking Street, Soi 7 and the Soi Buakhao market in the same day. And like all beggars, buskers and con artists, they always clean out their begging bowl after getting a few donations, leaving a couple small coins in it to make people think that no one has given them anything. And you know what ? I do give them the odd 20 when I see them. Because I can't imagine how sucky their life must be or what my life would be like if I ended up like them for some reason. Even "back home" your life would suck donkey balls if you lost your legs or were crippled in some other way. I see Thai girls often do the same, drop some loose change or a small bill in their cup, to earn "merit". No amount of "merit" is going to help me but a tiny amount of money might help them. Pretty sure they aren't sleeping outside during the day or starving for food. And yeah, I don't doubt they make a fair bit of money on good days. Spending 12+ hours a day sitting in one spot or another, hoping people will give you some loose change because you know the gov't isn't going to help you one little bit. More likely to rob you and throw you in jail than show any support or compassion. If they are old enough they might get a measly 600 baht a month from the gov't. Most Westerners would have probably taken the one-way ticket to never-never land within weeks if they had to live like those beggars do. But don't feel guilty about not giving them anything either ! Like Mickeymous says, they usually make quite a bit as it is. And I'm sure all the Indian and Chinese tourists (that Thailand wants to replace the "Westerners" ) are more than making up for any shortage of donations that may happen from having fewer high-spending "white" people in the country.

LoL - those "beggars" have been doing that for generations. I remember back in '93 when I'd be sitting at a beer bar and feel a tug on my pant leg and there'd be a little kid, always a girl, maybe what, 7 or 8 years old ? She'd have a little plastic basket with a strap around her neck and the basket would be full of chewing gum and cigarette lighters. And it wouldn't matter if it was 8 pm or 2 am, they'd still be going from bar to bar to bar. I noticed though that "mom" was always close by, usually holding a clutch of wrapped roses and keeping an eye on the kid(s). I guess the only real difference in the last 30 years is that for 29 of them, the authorities always said they were Cambodian, not Vietnamese. Long way for some Cong to go to beg on the streets of Pattaya. Especially when Vietnam get's it's fair share of foreign tourists already. Loved the part where it say "has ruined the city’s reputation" ! Not the garbage. Not the continuous tearing up of the streets and sidewalks or the crappy sidewalks that are never repaired, or the traffic, or the annual flooding, or the thieving ladyboys, or the corruption. Nope. It's the small number of "Vietnamese" beggars selling flowers and candy to tourists that have ruined Pattaya's reputation !

It's FAR more likely that a couple of the girls were giving him some "intimate" attention and asking for drinks and he was agreeing. Like 99.99% of the guys who go to go-go bars do. (The other 00.01% being the jaded "repeat" tourists and expats who know the game.) Then when he saw the bill and realized he was expected to pay for all those drinks, he balked. Or he rang the bell, not knowing what it meant. And you know what a lot of people are like when they start drinking. After 3-4 beers their eyes start to glaze over and their self-control (and attitude) go right out the window. And most of them hardly ever check their bills when they get another drink. Sheesh, I've seen guys hand their ATM card and PIN number to a waitress to get her to go get money from a nearby ATM because they were too lazy to go themselves (or were worried that the girl they were schmoozing would be on someone else's lap by the time they got back). I've been going to go-go bars in Thailand since 1993 and I've spent a sh*tload of money in them over the years and only once did I ever have an issue with a drink or bill. But then again, I kept track of my bills, was friendly with the staff and never got so drunk that I could barely stand or was puking in the streets. When I was making "war zone money", a 4,500 baht bar bill in a go-go was a "quiet" night. And I drank Jack Daniels pretty much exclusively. Mostly so I could smell it when they brought me a fresh drink. Once, in the New Living Dolls go-go, my second or third drink arrived, I sniffed it, gave it a tiny sip, sniffed again. One of the dancers asked what was wrong and I told her I didn't think that was Jack Daniels. She sniffed it, took the "bin" out of the cup, saw that it said "Jack coke" and went straight to the bar and had them make me a new one. Sure enough, she comes back, I take a sniff and there was that JD smell. And in the last 30 years, that was the only time it ever happened. I've gone to go-gos where the drinks were way above average price. Had a drink, looked at the bill, paid it and left. But a lot of people don't do that. Remember the news article about the Thai woman bar "owner" (or manager) who got into an altercation with a customer who refused to pay for his beer because "it was more expensive than 7-11" ? That is, seriously, what a lot of foreigners seem to think. That if they go into a go-go and buy a beer (or whatever) that it should be the same price as if they'd bought it from 7-11 or maybe at worst, from a beer bar. And then they go off the handle because they think they are being ripped off. Especially if they are those kind who have control issues after a couple beers. And you know more than a few of them can get quite belligerent. And more than a few of them are outright racists and the more they drink the more that shows. I'd say that 99% of the problems that happen in the bars in Pattaya (and elsewhere) are because of something the "customer" has done, not something the bar or it's staff have done. Think about it. If they were all padding bills and ripping off customers every single night in every single bar - like a lot of people here seem to think happens - they wouldn't be in business long and the news feeds would be overflowing with reports of customers being robbed and beaten. But around here, someone propping up a bar stool hears a story that someone else is telling someone about how someone said that someone knew a guy that had a friend who said that he worked with a guy who claimed he'd been ripped off on a bar bill. And then stool propper decides that ALL bars do that to ALL foreigners and he passes the story on to someone else (and so on and so on). Next time you hear someone say "a friend of mine said he was ripped off" - ask them their friend's name. Make a bet with yourself that they won't remember his name. Or when it supposedly happened. Or what bar. Here's an example. When I was working in a camp outside of Kabul (Afghanistan) between '03-'06, I started renting a place in Pattaya as I was tired of living in a hotel for a month at a time. Someone would ask "where do you live" or whatever and I'd say Pattaya or Thailand. Suddenly, someone would pipe up with "Oh yeah, I've heard about that place. A friend of mine went there once. Yeah, he said he rented a house right on the beach. Hired one woman to do the cleaning and laundry and another one to do the cooking and both were sleeping with him and he was only paying $75 a month for them and the rent !" Seriously. I had THREE people tell me the exact same story in the span of maybe 1 1/2 years. And when they finished their story I'd tell them that the Vietnam War ended like 30 years ago and they'd look at me with a dumb look on their faces. Until I explained that there was NO way anyone was doing all that for that little unless it was back when the war was going on. Then ask them the name of their friend. Or how old he was. Naturally, they can't remember. Just that they'd "heard" the story somewhere. Like the stories about how every bank in the country rips off every foreign customer the second they put any money in the bank. Because there was ONE story about ONE foreigner who had his money ripped off by corrupt teller 20 years ago. I have a friend who refused to open a Thai bank account because he'd heard stories (in the bars) about how people were always being ripped off and having their money stolen by corrupt bank staff. And then I told him how much I had in the banks and how long it had been there and how not a satang had gone missing in over 20 years. But because he'd heard someone in a bar telling a story about someone else (ect ect) he too thought it was a daily occurrence. (He did open an account and in the 4 or 5 years since has never had his money stolen by corrupt bank staff.) Shocker. You pay more attention to stories that involve other foreigners, especially if they are the same nationality. Those stories are the ones you are more likely to remember - and pass on to your friends and "bar mates". And they, because it involved a fellow countryman and was told to them by a fellow countryman (who would never lie or exaggerate of course), will pass it on to others (and so on and so on). And 20 years from now people will hear those stories being told in bars by people who swear it happened to "a friend" of theirs. Whose name they can't recall of course.

Evolution. Normally they'd have numerous pictures of the foreigner and not only note his nationality but post "face page" photos of his passport and include his full mailing address in the article. It's just a "wording" thing. Back home, normally when you buy a business you get the land it sits on as well. In places like Soi Buakhao and Walking Street for example, you can buy the business/structure but rarely the land. (Too expensive.) This is likely a case where someone has rented land from a Thai owner and put a "salon" on it. That person "owns" "Fon's Nail Salon" and sells it to (foreign guy's teerak) who changes it to "Nan's Nail Salon" (or whatever). Maybe she realizes the rent (for the land the business is sitting on) is too high and income too low and "sells" it to someone else and takes off. Foreign guy hasn't seen teerak for a couple of days, shows up at her business to find it under new ownership. Realises he's been conned and throws a fit. In Pattaya, we call that "Tuesday". (As in, just another day in paradise.) I was chatting with friends one time about some "businesses" across the street from us. Little single floor, narrow, ramshackle shops on a patch of barren ground. Hair and massage and clothing shops mostly. Apprently, before the covid crisis, those little places were paying 25,000 a month each in "rent" to whoever owned that land. (I think the rent was dropped during the crisis when a lot of places had to close.) That gives you an indication of what it costs to do business there, not including the other "costs" which can be pretty steep as well.

RIP. Ubon Joe always had the best and most accurate information on Visas and Extensions and no doubt helped thousands of people during his time on this forum. He was always the person I turned to when I had a question and I remember he was always polite and well mannered no matter how many times he was asked the exact same questions over and over again. A sad loss for his family and for expats everywhere in Thailand.