MrWorldwide

How fat is too fat ? I have a simple rule here, and it has nothing to do with BMI - if I cant sit in an economy class seat on most airlines without the person next to me 'overflowing' into my space, they are overweight. I dont care if its an Olympic weightlifter, shotputter or whatever - I'm well over 6' tall and I know aht pizza tastes like, but I can keep my bulk within the confines of those tiny seats. 7' tall Danes and others should be shelling out for the Premium Economy and Business Class seats, and serious fatties should be paying for same or *two* economy seats. I just dont see why the rest of us should be wedged into an even tinier space by someone with zero impulse control or a glandular problem.

As for the Thai perception, they have their own problem brewing with overweight, indulged kids - the younger generation also seems to be taller than their parents. Stuffed if I know where they are buying their clothes - even in MBK, I often struggle to find anything above a 'medium' size on pants or shirts. When I do find larger sizes, its often in cargo pants/shorts - for some reason, Thais seem to assume that Western fashion reached its zenith sometime in the late 90s, and anything beyond the cargo pant is a needless extravagance.

(fwiw, I do know where Rajah Tailors moved to - I just dont want to go there for a pair of jeans or a t-shirt)

Fantastic to see a positive outcome on TV - congratulations.

Ultimately, even if everything in that tabloid article WAS true, there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. I'd also like to alert 'authorities' to the rampant corruption within the Thai Police force, but who would give a crap ? If its not the Russians in Pattaya, its the Chinese-Thais in Bangkok - we all love a good conspiracy, I guess, but I have no more control over this than I have over the Lebanese gangs in Sydney. I can vote with my feet - sure - but I only know of one country where the Russian mafia has been given the heave-ho, and I base that purely on hearsay.

The story goes that the Russians (I know they arent ALL Russians, but bear with me) sent men into Romania to strongarm the local crime bosses into submission - I believe this allegedly occurred somewhere in the 90s. Each of the men was returned to their next of kin - at least their heads were - neatly packed in cardboard boxes. The story goes that the Russians lost interest in Romania from that point on.

Whether its a bar story or not, two things stood out for me :

- would Romanians sleep any more soundly knowing that their homegrown psycopaths were still calling the shots on the crime front ?

- any country wanting to rid themselves of the Russian mafia - or any such group - needs to send a message (ok, ok) that anyone rocking up to their country uninvited will be leaving very quickly

As long as there is enough money crossing enough palms in Pattaya, I suspect that it will be business as usual - I'd like to think that any foreign organised criminals entrenched in Pattaya are bright enough to realise that any changes to the facade are going to adversely affect their interests. If anything raises my hackles, its the thought that the cops are getting even more tea money to ignore criminals, but none of that is particularly new. For me, the canary in the cage will be the day I go to Soi 6 and find it overrun with Chinese and Russian tourists - Walking St and surrounds might as well be in Bangkok for all I care.

Maybe unrelated to the OP....but IMO Soi Cowboy should be bulldozed anyway!

Just as well we have morals crusaders like yourself on TV - I dont know how I'd live my life without your guidance.......

Most of us love Thailand for the fact that it is NOT a nanny state : once that changes, it would be almost impossible to change it back. Think long and hard before you ask the Thai to start bulldozing nightlife precincts.

Actually I usually like and admire your responses on TV Mr.Worldwide. But when it comes to soi Cowboy I have to disagree. In fact I partake regularly in the the nightlife precincts all over Thailand. However my experiences on soi Cowboy have always been less then desirable. In fact completely opposite from similar style precincts just a few blocks away. My money has never been well spent there, as it has in other nightlife areas. Maybe it's a personal thing with me, but I'll always pass on soi Cowboy when seeking some extracurricular fun. I have heard similar experiences from many others that have gone there as well. It just isn't what it used to be.

By no means do I want the edgy side of Thailands adult nightlife to go away. But aside from the Chinese and Japanese businessmen....I doubt soi Cowboy would really be missed much.

Cowboy is an institution - I dont spend a lot of time there either, but bulldozing it would be the thin edge of the wedge. Stickman and his sycophantic horde like to trot out the possibility from time to time, but I sincerely hope it never happens ? Wa. Square was something else again - clearly well past its prime - but there is still life in Cowboy IMO, even if many of the bars seem to have moved to a pricing policy that defies logic. TiT, I guess.

This kind of thing happens everywhere.

Thailand is the only place I have been offered child pornography in a well known shopping mall. I have seen young girls 'working' in Thailand and Cambodia but at least Cambodia, albeit with its limited resources and funding, is very visible about attempting to tackle the problem. There are adverts for child protection agencies all over the place and phone numbers to call.

Visible ? Sure. Genuine ? Er, no.

To stop the problem, you need to cross the border and ask the NGOs working the Mekong Delta how many Vietnamese kids are trafficked into Cambodia each year. Ask them what percentage of customers they estimate are non-Cambodian and what percentage are Cambodian men. Ask them why Hun Sen ignored a known problem until the pressure on his govt to do something got to the point where aid dollars were at stake. Finally, ask a Cambodian man if he knows where to find the brothels that the authorities seem to have so much trouble locating, except for the well-publicised raids that seem to go like clockwork. Any Barang fool who goes out there looking for something he knows is illegal only has himself to blame, but this wont be solved until the West starts to address the poverty and corruption at the heart of the problem, and change the attitudes of Cambodian men towards children.

Maybe unrelated to the OP....but IMO Soi Cowboy should be bulldozed anyway!

Just as well we have morals crusaders like yourself on TV - I dont know how I'd live my life without your guidance.......

Most of us love Thailand for the fact that it is NOT a nanny state : once that changes, it would be almost impossible to change it back. Think long and hard before you ask the Thai to start bulldozing nightlife precincts.

FWIW, and I'm no expert, I think many of us need something a little more active than reading and watching DVDs. That said, we are at the tail end of Summer here and the heat/humidity has really discouraged me in the afternoons, so that leaves mornings. For those of us who arent morning people, this presents a real challenge, but I guess that's all part of swapping old habits for new. The scales both motivate and mock me, but it's an interest that differs from my usual lethargic pursuits.

This will be a real challenge for me when I retire next year - even more free time and hot/humid days outside - but even Sukhumvit Rd in BKK can be an interesting walk first thing in the morning, before the stalls and foot traffic turn it into an obstacle course. Patts has the promenade along Beach Road - often chockers with walkers and runners from 7am on - and Hua Hin has miles of beachfront. It's all good.

Negative Potrayal Of Asia By Western Media

Seriously, does anyone who lives in Thailand really care?

Yup the OP "Mr Worldwide" cares. If he reads anything negative on Thailand he will start WHINGING and COMPLAINING.

1. Again, Asia doesnt begin and end at the Thai border - clearly, for some here, it does. I believe those folks are known as 'flat earthers'.

2. 'Whinging and Complaining' - yep, that's me all over. I log in as any one of a hundred other board members and bitch about Thai people, the strength of the baht, Farang who dont measure up to my high standards. poor Thais, Hi-So Thais, fat Thais and skinny Thais. Man, it seems that I must hate Thailand and its people - makes you wonder why a freak like me would even get on a plane headed for Bangkok, much less seriously consider living in a country like that. Thailand sucks, apparently.

The aim of this thread was to determine if other Western media viewed Asia in the same light as our Australian news editors (mostly negative), and it would seem that they do. As others have pointed out, its simply that 'bad news sells', although I will accept that there is a component of 'cautionary tale' inherent in the stories about Aussies dying from dodgy cocktails in Indonesia. If you don't see a point to a thread, is there really any point posting in said thread ? If I can ignore the 'frying pan' thread, surely you can ignore this one ?

I've struck up conversations with these "Nigerian drug dealers and pimps" a few times at the lunch counter at Foodland.

Turns out not a single one of them was from Nigeria. They were from Mali, Senegal, and Ghana.

Are you sure you guys can tell who is Nigerian and who is not? Or are all Africans "Nigerian" to you?

Also, each claimed to be here buying clothing at Bobae and Pratunam to take back home to sell -- and spoke about details of their business that led me to believe they were telling the truth.

Seems that there is more than a little racism at play here when all the dark denizens are classified as Nigerian pimps, drug dealers, and con artists.

If you've never had one of the West Africans hanging around Soi Arab try to sell you drugs, consider yourself very lucky. Personally, I dont care which of the banana republics they are from - none of the countries you list is what I would consider 'politically stable' - they are clearly thrilled with the fact that their collective appearance along that strip of Suk causes fear and loathing. On the racism call - guilty your honor : much happier to see South Africans in Oz than anyone from West Africa, regardless of color. I also want to swap our white trash for more educated folk from SE Asia, but sadly it isnt going to happen.

Glad to see you are not ashamed of your ancestors past deeds

The Australian government was for years

I assume that you are hashing together two grievances

- the transportation of Irish and English convicts to Australia, often for very minor offences (the British routinely hanged people for serious crime)

- the treatment of aboriginal people by European settlers and their descendants

As worthy as those topics may be for discussion, I don't see what relevance either has to this thread. If you want to impugn Australians by virtue of our 'convict heritage' or treatment of Aboriginals, please start another thread.

I think we need to differentiate between governments which are sensitive to criticism and the general attitude of the citizens of a given country towards criticism of their country from outside. Easy to play on nationalism to tell your people that any criticism of your government is effectively criticism of their beloved country. Mahatir had a reputation as a master manipulator - that gets harder when your critics live in another country and are protected by a completely different set of laws. Like all tyrants, he didnt enjoy hearing from anyone who wasnt marching to the beat of his drum - we have politicians like that here, but they don't have their opponents jailed via trumped up sodomy charges. No, not even in Queensland ...

That said, I don't jump into a cab in someone else's country and launch into a diatribe about all the things that I believe are wrong with their government - most cabbies will happily tell you for themselves what THEY think needs to change. About the only places where that hasn't happened IME is Singapore and southern China, but in the latter case there was a major language issue. Sillypore is, apparently, the only country on earth with a perfect crop of politicians who do everything right

The topic of this thread is Negative potrayal of Asia by Western Media. I said to google, Tiger Economy to get an example of portrayal of Asia by the media. My point was and is that with the exception of Thai Visa, Thailand has been getting good financial press for quite some time.

My interest in Asia doesnt begin and end with Thailand, but given that the forum is 'ThaiVisa', I accept that I am in the minority. The 'Tiger' economies proved to be a double-edged sword on their last outing, and I suspect that many of the same folk who are currently wirting positive stories will quickly turn their hands to 'I told you so !' autopsies when things go south. C'est La Vie - I just hope any meltdown isnt accompanied by rioting, but that's a topic for another thread. And, yes, I accept that is a very negative prognosis.

At the risk of potentially trivialising this thread, I had my first beer in 12 months a week or so ago, and was surprised by how uneventful the experience was - have had no desire to buy another. I'm convinced that alcohol tastes much better in Asia than it does here in Oz, and the company is usually much better too. Never been much of a drinker - one decent hangover here and I can go for months without another beer - but I seem to put away a hell of a lot of beer when I'm in Thailand.

The problem with the area and indeed most of the country are the often fat, past their prime, often rude and arrogant know-it-all, sloppy dressing, previously failed White Westerners who run prostitution houses, traffic drugs into the country, run illegal businesses, spread disease through the sex trade, sexually abuse minors, drink to excess and who were the original and still perpetuators of the very negative image Thais (and non-Thais around the world) have of White Westerners in Thailand. I see them nearly everywhere, looking down their noses at a poor people; poor people in a mostly poor country who by virtue of their lack of luck weren't so lucky to hit the birth lottery.

Are you of african persuasion by chance ?

I suspect that he is of the sarcastic persuasion, and that would be fine if we were talking about Nigerian students and tourists simply enjoying their time together on Soi Arab and surrounds, but that simply isnt the case. Unlike the majority of the Arab population in that area, these guys and gals clearly enjoy the fact that they can engage in criminal activity right in front of the cops who are supposed to be keeping track of such activities. If they tried the same thing in Oz they would be questioned - other than sporadic reports of a raid here and there on Stickman, I've seen no mention of these people being asked for their passports.

The cheapest way to live thread has been done before. I can do it on 200-300 Baht without accommodation.

I was nowhere near the cheapest. Of course there will be some consternation on a thread like this but I wouldn't be happy with a budget lower than stated previously.

Come to Thailand and live on a shoestring? Yeah...possible.. Desireable? No.....not in my opinion.

There is your health to consider as well as that of family and friends you will end up leaning on eventually.

That said I admire their nonchalance and wish I had the same lazy attitude. I really do.

Trust me - it wouldnt matter WHAT figure you came up with, someone would always tell you they live in Thailand free - growing their own vegatables and drinking their own urine, presumably. It's like the hansum men who are getting 'free sex' - endless free sex - with no mention of the fact that they are creating a new generation of Thai women who want nothing to do with Farang or, worse, view them purely as a walking ATM. The human condition seems to demand that I can always find something that sets me apart from you, something that defines me as an incredibly intelligent and wealthy human being in the midst of foolish scoundrels who have wasted their money on cheap booze and cheaper women. Lord Buddha, please save us from ourselves.

I am a weekend warrior, Majic - my opinion means nothing here - but I believe that all of the major news agencies should have a man on the ground in each of the big cities of Asia. Not the archetypal journo who spends most his time in a bar somewhere either - professionals who actually give a shit about the countries they've been tasked to report on. Such people, believe it or not, do actually exist .....

The ABC's Foreign Correspendent and SBS' Dateline teams are brilliant at filing reports where the reporter doesnt look like some bozo who has just flown in from Melbourne to stand around outside a jail waiting for them to drag some hapless Australian drug trafficker out for a photo op ....

Way slower - think Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall : gorgeous but not overly bright. Its a curse

Negative comments about Thailand in the Western Media? what else are people who have been robbed by Jet Ski Scams,Tuk Tuk scams,Rapes,Thefts,Paying Bribes,and accidents not their fault,and double pricing,going back home to tell their people about?.... A wonderful time in Thailand?

Reputations are always earned Positive or Negative! welcome to freedom of speech in the Western World!

I'm not going to document the madness on the streets of our cities here - I'll leave that to the tabloid media - but have you ever read any of the exposes of the way Chinese tourists are treated on group tours here in Oz ? Shepherded from one overpriced business to another, told not to talk to any Australian (particularly the Police) as they are ALL racist and will try to rob you, plonked in cheap hotels that they have paid 4-star prices for - you get the picture.

There are scum in every country - the real crime in places like Patong Beach is that the Police dont seem to give a shit (or are paid specifically to ignore scams). Where are the stories about the cab driver who returns thousands of baht to the rightful owner ? The unexpected warmth of Thais outside the big cities / tourist traps ? Or the night I found myself comforting a German man who had been knocked off his motorbike in Patts and the hi-so Thai kiddies responsible were right there trying to get an ambulance - we couldnt move him from the busy street for fear of injuring his spine, but no-one honked their horns or carried on like pork chops. Transfer that scene to Sydney and I wonder how he would have fared ?

Nope - like the majority of BMs here, all we get is a jaded recital of the evils of Thailand. I'm more than happy to start a thread dedicated to Australian misdeeds but who the hell wants to read that shit ? Much easier to demonise a country with more than double the population where a large proportion of the population lives on something in the order of $10 a day, assuming their employer didnt fire them when the minimum wage was introduced. We can rant about the boys in brown, or the military, or the mai pen rai attitude, but how many of us honestly went to Thailand on that first trip thinking 'Man, this country is absolutely perfect !'. It's an amusement park sited next to a sewage treatment plant (yes, I know that's a schoolboy analogy for something else found in Thailand..) - your choice re which of the two you'd prefer to concentrate on.

All up, the explanation that 'bad news sells' makes more sense than any other response I've seen to this thread, but I can now sit back and wait for the flames re my 'Thai apologist' stance. Bring it on, bitches.

Does 'eating Pad Thai for 30bt' or living in Nakhon Nowhere for decades necessarily put someone in the same boat as the Farang singled out in the (long forgotten) OP at the top of this thread ? Suddenly anyone who isnt living a 5-star life seems to have popped into the crosshairs of several board members. I may not agree with everything a certain BM has had to say in his last few rants, but I can see where he is coming from - its the same attitude that allows many of us to sling shit at backpackers for living on roti and taking a hideous bus trip the length of Thailand just to save a few baht on a plane fare. While I don't have any particular desire to slum it, I like to think that I can live reasonably economically when the situation calls for it - those of you who don't have to entertain that possibility should just be happy that you have so much money stashed away. My sister and her husband are self-funded retirees, not yet 70, and I look at how frugally they live so that they can afford a weekend away with their caravan (for example) : if that is as good as it gets back here in Oz, I will happily take that 30-baht Pad Thai on a rickety stool in Nakhon Nowhere ....

(for those who got hung up on the 6K baht per day figure, please let it go - what ultimately matters is keeping the 'entertainment' component of one's life in balance with your health and wellbeing - physical, mental and financial)

If people in the West don't think much of Asia, why are they so very determined, to keep buying cheap Asian-manufactured goods at Wal-Mart/Asda/Tesco etc ?

The question you should be asking is why has the American public allowed Wal-Mart to rape your country, reducing employees and customers alike to the kind of people that the Nouveau Riche in Shanghai and Beijing would cross the street to avoid. I see plane loads of Australians carrying fake designer bags and wearing 'Boss' t-shirts that cost them all of 150 baht while Asians are paying ridiculous prices for the real thing. I dont want to take this thread any further off track, but any time you want to talk audio and the Asian Century, its a discussion I'm more than willing to have.

Indonesia has long been regarded with suspicion by Australian news editors...

Just a brief and somewhat tangential comment: it is, as you say, not without cause and I also know from some friends in the Australian military senior ranks that it is not just newspaper editors who regard them that way...

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa ap

OK - I served in the Australian Army for 4 years and our standard enemy on exercises was usually the fictional nation of 'Kameria' to our near north : it didnt take Einstein to realise that Kameria was Indonesia. For a country we supposedly fear, we train their officer corps at Duntroon, including the Kopassus officers ultimately responsible for atrocities in Aceh, West Papua and East Timor (according to Wikipedia, that training ceased in 1999 after events in East Timor). The TNI is a law unto itself, openly threatening Indonesian journalists (on camera, no less) sent to cover the fighting in Aceh when they questioned the Army's version of events after finding bodies in a ditch. Unlike Australia, where the armed forces serve the duly elected government, certain Asian nations (no names..) have a history of military coups, and Indonesia is one of them. I have the utmost respect for SBY and his efforts since coming to power, but that wont last forever. Hopefully, the next government will be democratically elected, but the threat of another outcome is always there. That said, would they really attempt a fullscale invasion of Australia ? I doubt it, at least not in the immediate future, but they might want to make a claim on disputed resources in the north - mineral and fishing rights, for example.

All of that, IMO, pales into insignificance when you look at other countries in the region - a territorial spat between Australia and Indonesia would be a blip compared to the US and Japan confronting China. Here's hoping it all remains the stuff of paperback novels.

kevvy - ignore the troll, mate - the rest of us have.

I guess the Western Union is why lots of Farang dregs hang around Nana as well....

Er, no - they are there for the beer and the whores, usually in that order

Probably the oddest development on Soi 4, IMO, has been the appearance of Farang women in the bars, and I still laugh when I see a Farang family dashing down Soi 4 - presumably on their way to a poorly chosen hotel further down the Soi - with their kids hands firmly pressed into their own. As one of the few here who will admit to having stayed at the Nana Hotel, I can only imagine how many nights a family has to stay at that particular hotel before they realise where their thrifty ways have landed them.

For all that, it remains one of the quietest hotels I've ever stayed in - stark contrast to a 4-star in Sillypore where I could have gleefully strangled everyone in the adjoining room and another in Johor which seemed to cater to the Malay family market. The Nana may be a dump, but its my kind of dump - we can speculate on the DNA on those bedspreads and pillows, but that's a game you don't want to play in any hotel ....

I stopped totally booking any flights with Air Asia, specially Bangkok - Kuala Lumpur.

I missed a flight three months ago to KL by coming 10 minutes late. OK, it was my fault but a last minute meeting with my CEO was a priority.

AA offered me to buy a new ticket at 5000 Baht but I noticed I could fly on Lufthansa for 3980 Baht and I took that flight.

I'm sorry, but I completely fail to see how any of that was Air Asia's fault. I guarantee you that Lufthansa have their own rules re anyone rocking up 10 minutes late for checkin, and it wouldn't matter if you had a meeting with Angela Merkel herself ....

I didn't actually said it was Air Asia fault so not sure what are you trying to tell me. BKK - KL has a lot of other airlines that serve this route.

I'm trying to tell you that your earlier post made zero sense to me in terms of the topic. You missed a flight with Air Asia by failing to make their deadline, booked with Lufthansa and havent been back to AA since - hardly the stuff of criminal negligence on the part of AA .....

diddums - mate, I think you are better than that. The people we are talking about arent simply 'Nigerians' - they are pimps and drug pushers, simple as that.