peterbkk9

In many parts of Bangkok, the foot path is 2-3 meters wide but with street vendors on both sides (sometimes selling sex toys), there is barely just enough room for 1 pedestrian to walk through.

I understand street vendors have to make a living. But couldn't the BMA regulate this and maybe allow street vendors just on 1 side?

I think Siriporn must answer guest complaints for her husband's Garden Phuket Hotel.

One management comment to a guest's complaint about the service at the hotel reads as follows from tripadvisor

23 June 2013

thank you for your review.

we have had some problem with some staff who didn t care enough about his job, the problem has been solve since...

but the main thing that you should blame is that thailand is not an english speaking country and skills from staff anywhere ( hotel, restaurant, shops) you go in thailand is usually limited, specially when people speak with an accent from manchester like yours. you can not blame thailand for not speaking english or you should go in an english speaking country for your holidays, or adapt to where you go and learn the basic.

our photos are done by a professional, maybe you didn t have the " glamourized" mood that day or didn t get the right day for sunset, we have some amazing sunset most of the time , i guess you were not "lucky".

:

Maybe she did, maybe not. But I find this management comment to a guest's complaint quite arrogant.

"maybe you didn t have the " glamourized" mood that day..." <deleted>??

When number of tourists visiting Thailand will start to decrease, they will start wondering what they have done wrong...

When the whole country, the whole economy, will really start suffering of Thailand ripping off reputation, and I am really talking about the whole thing, not only the tourism industry, I mean the whole figures.. When it will be obviously too late.. Then, maybe (only speculation) they will start to look deeper into the problem, which is not less than the Thai attitude with the non-Thais printed so deep in Thai minds... So normal to suck money off foreigners, so fair to be unfair with them.. So Thai.

The more the monkey goes high in the tree, the more he shows his ass!

"... When it will be obviously too late.. Then, maybe (only speculation) they will start to look deeper into the problem"

Even then, I don't think so. They will blame it on something else, on some external event, but they will never, not in a million years, think they are responsible / accountable for anything

See, the attitude of the passport authority lady is so typical. The Thai way: blaming the consul for the bad publicity instead of focusing on the issue itself.

Embassies should issue travel warnings against renting jet skis. Stop using them. Put the scammers out of business.

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1300675/turbulence-hits-two-hong-kong-bound-planes-injuring-30

An article from the SCMP this morning .

Too funny;

She was angry that the airline staff had not taken better care of them after they were admitted to hospital. "At least they should move us to a private hospital," she said. "In Bangkok we never went to government hospitals."Most of the injured were taken to Princess Margaret Hospital in Kwai Chung, while some went to Yan Chai Hospital in Tsuen Wan, Caritas Medical Centre in Lai Chi Kok and Kwong Wah Hospital in Yau Ma Tei.

Dumb, ignorant woman. Princes Margaret is as good as any private hospital in BKK. In a crisis you go wherever you can go.

Indeed. And if she had her seat belt on this would not have happened in the first place

Wishing a quick recovery to the crew.

As for the passengers, I bet those injured did not fasten their seat belts. This is beyond me. I don't feel sorry for them.

As usual they react after an accident happens. Is there a Thai word for "proactive"?

There might be some very short term actions undertaken by the authorities at this time. But in 2-3 weeks from now you wont hear about it anymore and it will be back to the same situation. This is the Thai way. Nothing will ever change. They don't have what it takes. It is hopeless (I mean it)

In response to a post from "livingthedreamonthebeach", I used to work in a multinational aerospace company in Thailand and yes, there are good pilots here.

Blanket bashing is easy. I myself also often make negative comments about Thailand, but I try to stick to the facts.

I personally have never understood having the Thai air force. Who are they going to do air strikes on,

Cambodia ????

Neutral States like Austria,Switzerland or Sweden have an air-force.

To have an air-force doesn't mean you HAVE to strike on something. There are enough other scenarios where you may need an air-force, including securing the sovereignty over the airspace.

Treaty of Amity 1966

Thailand has something better than their current air force. They have a treaty with America that says basically

America will open a can of whoop ass on any country that attacks Thailand. So all these goofy expenditures

on military hardware is simply a way to enrich the 1700 military generals here in Thailand.

1. the blimp that cannot fly

2. mind boggling attempt to get a submarine.

3. the fabulous aircraft carrier that has no planes that can fly, and I read recently it is incapable of making headway

The taxpayer's money is being wasted. It is not a budget problem.

They probably don't need submarines or an aircraft carrier, but F18s that can fly. And get rid of the old aircraft and Vietnam war era helicopters.

I personally have never understood having the Thai air force. Who are they going to do air strikes on,

Cambodia ????

I don't see the reason why Thailand should not have an air force. Other ASEAN countries do

I used to be a ROP Gold card member and enjoyed travelling on THAI.

Not anymore sadly.

Having brand new, nicely decorated A380 alone wont be enough to attract and most importantly retain loyal customers.

It is very Thai that when the business is good, you become lazy, you become a bit arrogant and contemptuous, and stop putting genuine efforts.

Behind their smiles I just have the feeling that hostesses could not care less about the service. Just doing their shift

Tickets are relatively expensive also but I would be ok to continue flying THAI if the service was there.

Also <deleted> with these senior government officials who get these free first class tickets / upgrades?? Get them out!!!

The girl in red looks cute and she has nice legs

To be fair, not to know what is a Google Map car when you are a middle aged farmer living in a remote village in Northern Thailand...

I would not call that stupid as some readers do. I don't understand what is the big deal.

There are however many stupid things you see on a daily basis such as tailgating at high speed, not giving way to emergency vehicles, entering cross yellow lines while the exit is not clear...etc..

There is a very long list of more important problems in this country, with more risk impact. I don't understand how they prioritize issues

I am disgusted. I am making plans to leave this country by the end of the year.

I flew Thai Orient once. I had the words "Metal Fatigue" ringing in my head for the whole trip. Never again, I would rather walk.

"Metal fatigue" are the words that come to my mind indeed. Many of their planes are 25+ years old. I never flew Orient Thai.

On the other hand, I feel totally safe with Thai Airways, Nokair, Bangkok Airways. These are good, reliable airlines.

"The TAT, in turn, has moved to capture this high-end segment. Based on the results of a 30,000-person survey, the Authority elected to focus on attracting wealthy visitors by touting Thailand’s possibilities as a destination for golf, wedding or eco-tourism."

Well ok, start by getting rid of sex toys vendors along Sukhumvit Road and other main avenues. This is low class.

And start cleaning the beaches of all the garbage and red bull bottles all over the place

Thais show their true color when something goes wrong.

It is all smiles when they need money from you but when anything goes wrong you are on your own.

There is no respect, no consideration. It is all fake.

Am I exaggerating? Am I?????

Thainess?

The country is totally messed up. But still they treat foreigners with contempt, thinking they are the best. Thainess is the last thing the world needs.

<deleted> since when did the police have authority over ambos in a life and death situation? I have attended numerous serious incidents and accidents and we definitely can not give orders to ambo's. An ambulance attending a life threatening situation can park anywhere it bloody well likes as human life takes priority over everything. Who cares if traffic is held up if it saves a life. What the BIB should have been was diverting traffic down another route ( if possible) even if it is 1km back down the road.

I would hate to be in this coppers shoes if it was in Australia as he would be in a pile of poop and facing internal disciplinary action and lets not forget a coronial inquiry where he could be found to have contributed to the death and the civil action that may come after. If it was an Aussie ambo the copper would have been told to pull his head in and to F off.

Why O why do so many expats always quote if this was in my country; it is not.

My apologies I didn't mean to upset anyone. I realise Thailand is not like other countries but does that mean they shouldn't show a certain degree of professionalism and all the emergency services work together for one goal? I love Thailand but it has it's faults. Again my deepest apologies and I request the moderators delete my comments as some have found them upsetting.

As residents in this country we have the right to have our opinion an judgement.

On the topic of giving way to emergency vehicles which was raised on this thread:

Thai drivers generally don't give way to emergency vehicles.

They are seated comfortably in their vehicles pretending not to hear anything and/or ignoring the sirens.

i have seen this many times and this is a fact.

And no "cultural aspect" can justify this behaviour. Oh you can say "this is thailand" and so on, but the bottom line is that this is simply not acceptable.

The word that comes to my mind: Horrifying. Just horrifying.

Never, not in a million years will any of these drivers admit they were driving a bit too fast.

It was the rain's fault.

This isolated incident is bad image for the airline; which is sad because other AI pilots are certainly very professional.

I flew Air India to Paris last month and was very satisfied. And will fly again.

Just ignore the problem and it will go away

"Huge influx of foreign tourists."

Thailand has been working hard for that. Obviously they must be doing something right, things dont happen by accident.

Probably contributing to this is the general trend that Thai people care more about their environment.

You hardly see any garbage on the beaches anymore. The air, the rivers are noticeably cleaner (have you visited klong saen saeb in Bangkok recently?)

Not to mention the government's recent measures: total ban on ivory trade, ban on asbestos and strict regulation and enforcement on the use of pesticides, the replanting of thousands of acres of forest and so on...)

and the dismantling last week by the police forces of the phuket taxi mafia, the airport taxi scams and the pattaya jet ski scam (among others).

May be i am cynical, but i am writing what comes to my mind at this minute

This is good news.

Other countries should do the same. As some readers suggested, the transition should be gradual.

It is technically unfeasible for example to displace all the road signs overnight.

I myself will start driving on the right hand side starting today.