Horton Jones

"Tourism rebounds" is a lot different than "Tourism EXPECTED to rebound." I am so tired of these idiotic, misleading headlines. If it's a quote from the article that is one thing, but it's not. Who is writing your headlines? Interns? Retired farmers from South Alabama? Ex-pat steelworkers from Manchester? If you're this far off in your summary headline, how can I trust anything else you write? No wonder I hardly look at Thai visa anymore. You need to be more factual, not more sensational. Or change your name to "Thailand Enquirer."

I realize this Thaivisa report originated with Thai PBS, but I must point out: IT IS NOT "HAZE". It is SMOG, or it is AIR POLLUTION. And while the Prime Minister General and others are calling it dangerous, the Tourism sector is downplaying it,,,, "haze", how utterly ridiculous, shame on them.

I've been sitting at the computer in silence, head down, thinking hard, "What can I write that will summarise this situation and be helpful to all concerned, Thai and Westerner? I've come up with this: Thailand gets among the lowest marks for English speaking ability not only in ASEAN, but among other countries worldwide. Such a time as this is NOT a time to debate quality or degreed qualifications for English teachers. It IS a time when MORE TEACHERS ARE NEEDED; desperately. There needs to be a special "Teachers Visa" and, along with a background check, it needs to be easy to obtain. The Thai's need to adapt their cultural mentality of requiring degrees for this and that, and simply require a TEFL certificate. FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS they need to quickly raise the English proficiency of students, tourism professionals, and business people. I find hope in today's edict from the General. There can be a perfect marriage on the near horizon: A "teacher's Visa" that is easy to obtain, thus helping (English speaking) ex-pats live here legally and worry-free, while creating an influx of teachers to RAISE the English abilities of the lovely and intelligent Thai people. I offer a small file of my artwork titled, "The Burden" to possibly inspire people to help make life easier for each other, not more difficult.

This is absolutely incomprehensible.... of course it's not true.... it would be too easy, eh?! What I know from a few years living (legally) in Thailand is that the "fine line" between helping the Farang, being polite, accommodating -- dare I say welcoming, encouraging -- and the opposite... terse edicts, hard-lined policies, multi-layed, Thai-centric immigration laws and policies MUST BE HELD. Watch for clarification in the coming days. This is by far a too friendly and helpful statement; it shall not last. Thai government and immigration are tightening, restricting. A friend of mine, who runs a small but wonderful children's home with his wife, plus goes off teaching English in schools every day, speaks fluent Thai... spent TWENTY hours over three days last week just to get his blasted Visa renewed. Can you imagine? This is how they treat an amazing, dedicated Farang and his family?? To quote U2: HOW LONG? HOW LONG? HOW LONG TO SING THIS SONG?

I suppose if the adopting, biological parents can afford to, the solution is to bring the pregnant Thai woman out of the country to have the child. Hmmm, will pregnant women soon be stopped and interrogated by police or military at airports, suspected of being a surrogate??

1) The LONG overstay crackdown does make sense. But surely there will be "grace" (for which the Thai's are at times known for) period for those who for some situation miss by a few days?

2) 20,000b fine or JAIL for not carrying a passport on you? For non tourists who live here properly, seems rather ridiculous. What is next, a yellow star to wear on one's arm?

3) The way I understand it, the HOST (hotel or landlord) is the one responsible for registering the place a foreigner stays. Has this changed? Maybe someday they'll hand you a micro-chip in a card (or, "this won't hurt a bit!", snip it under your skin) and then they can track foreigners wherever they go! (Oops, I've just given a welcomed idea?)

4) As one who has lived in northern Thailand for four years, I've basically seen a friendly attitude from the police and military. Hardly ever been stopped at the many police checkpoints, the exception being a few occasions when I had an Asian person with me. They see a Farang? Wave 'em through and "have a nice day".  Basically has seemed like we have some "Puyai" status, nice! 

5) Thailand is quite behind the region, which is quite behind other regions, in English language fluency. I have met school kids who can seemingly only repeat, "I am fine, and you?" and I've even met University graduates with whom I can have only a halting conversation with, and then ask, "What was your major at Uni.?"  ENGLISH of course! So... why is this? One huge reason is lack of NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKING TEACHERS.  So, what is this BS about advanced degrees needed? At this point they need any farang passing a background check with lips that can move! Don't they realize anyone with an advanced degree from the West would be making only 20% here of what they could make back home, and also less than surrounding Asean countries? As long as there is a background check, they need to OPEN the gates, not restrict them!

6) In spite of the apparently insatiable need for bureaucracy, bureaucrats, office workers, long lines and reams of paperwork, I still hold out that Thailand is a gracious place, the land of Smile (and Happiness, too, woohoo!), and that these issues will settle down to once again make visiting or living in Thailand a great experience for foreigners. With todays fast-travelling news via websites, social media, and word-of-mouth, one could say there is potential for a marked (and monetary) decrease in visitors -- and international respect -- if this tightening goes too far.

Goes to show that rainstorms can be spotty and dangerous in Thailand. Here in Chiang Mai, it hardly rained at all. So it's easy to say this headline is indeed sensationalist and overblown. However, it sounds like there was a large amount of rain in SOME areas... and who could predict where those will be. As much as I hate to admit it, maybe there is some good from these overly dire warnings... storm squalls can indeed cause problems. And yet, I agree that often these warnings seem overblown. TIT!

maybe they should also warn not to burn forests anymore, big cause of mudslides

Didn't you hear? Two years ago an impressive group of Thai scholars and researches concluded that landslides and flood were caused by TRIBAL PEOPLE planting crops in the hill country. It's not the RAIN of course.

A map would be nice, showing the location and path of the storm cell. Or perhaps a link to such a thing. Thanks.

To the Editor: Bomb "ROCKS "the capital?? IS THIS A TABLOID, IS THAT THE IDEA? As a former photojournalist in the newspaper business, I find this word usage inflammatory and irresponsible. It was a small grenade, leaving a little dent in the cement, damaging some tyres, and NO injuries. Don't tell me it was a 'psychological" rocking of the capital, I don't buy that either. In these trying times of heightened tensions and divergent political viewpoints, I suggest more MODERATION in the choice of verbs in your headlines.

This is very nice, but I'm still waiting for my conversion kit for left-hand drive on my truck from last year, sheesh!

"It's no coincidence the Taliban use the Toyota Hilux. They are bullet proof (not literally) so to speak." Hahaha, QUOTE of the week! Thanks for making me laugh. Would make a great quote for your guests when you pick them up: "I bought this Toyota because the Taliban uses them. They're bulletbroof so to speak. Well, not really. Uh, I mean we won't have to worry about that. We're not going anywhere near the protests. Welcome to Thailand!"

Hmmm, with this secondary anti-governemt group also becoming a huge, critical issue, one would think the Amazing Thaksin would make it go away with his vast financial resources. Ironic that this potential death-knell to the gov't is not so much political, as being from the poor farmers and of a financial/business nature!

The Lanna Kingdom has deep historical roots, you might be wise to pay attention. Perhaps the new version would work better with Laos and Burma than the smug Bangkokians do.

The cold snap coincides with the protesting, eh? Well there you go... extreme demands by protesters lead to extreme weather conditions. And they say this will hurt the rice harvest. Be careful everyone, "You reap what you sow."

Thank God he had a friend with him, and one who could help a bit, kudos to that young man! The main concern I have for you is the psychological paranoia this attack may generate for your son, especially if it was truly random and surprising. Is he now going to worry about every motorbike overtaking him while he rides a bike or walks? (Perhaps only at night.) As one post pointed out, IF this were somehow provoked, either by "party talk", or perhaps by some inane gesture or look, then the lad may actually be better off psychologically, because it wasn't "random from behind", and there was actually a triggering action, albeit inadvertent. Don't know if you'll get the real truth out of a 17 year old with his teenage buddy, but it's an important question about truly random or not. Fortunately, he probably knows the answer in his heart. I just hope that he's not emotionally scarred from this, raising up pain whenever he looks at his facial scars or rides a bike at night. It's a tough, tough situation and my prayers are with you.

You'd think some of these countries would study Panama... well-known for wanting to ENCOURAGE foreign retirees and part-timers. In Panama, one can not only OWN property, but there are even incentives, like no property taxes for 20 years! Also, there is a special card that entitles the ex-pat to discounts on lots of purchases: 15% at many restaurants, and up to 40% on rental cars, hotels, shopping, bus and plane travel, etc. A foreigner is also allowed to import a car FREE of tax/duty every two years. Health care is good there, with many doctors being trained in USA since they owned the canal for so many years. One can only dream "The Land of Smiles" might actually study other countries and see how to make things better here... whether that is democratic and election reform, or how they treat foreigners who want to live here. Like I said, it's purely a dream... the skeptics among you saying Thailand will never set aside pride to study foreigners. But Rama V did it well, maybe there is still hope. But meanwhile, MYANMAR could vault, leap way ahead of Thailand by adopting a more Panama-style relationship to foreigners. Otherwise, maybe I'll brush up on my Spanish language and pay another visit to my Panama friends.

WOW! This is awesome! I thought I was the only one with the idea to call it "The Rai". I have a mild hearing loss, and as a resident of Chiang MAI, I sometimes have a difficult time telling if the speaker (whether Thai or Farang) says MAI or RAI... it's just TOO similar. Because Thai's as a whole are so fond of nicknames, I thought it would be good to have a nickname for Chiang Rai.... yes, I thought of "The Rai" about a year ago... swear I never heard it called that until reading this today. I think it has a classy ring to it, and there are others: The Hague, The Big Apple, KL, LA, SanFran, BKK, etc. I don't know Chiang Rai well, but it does have some charm in a great mountain area of northern Thailand. I say, keep going on that nickname!

Two things are for sure about these attempts to overthrow the government: 1) I was here three years ago when the red shirts were protesting... these current protesters win the award for less peaceful, more violent, less patient, and more (inappropriately) ambitious. And 2) The leaders appear to be much better at propaganda with today's declared "victory." And the government itself should win another award for propaganda, announcing they are assuring other countries of their patience and restraint! I would hope that "other countries" are calling for order and control, not patience. It will be a sham, er, I mean a shame, if the government changes now. It will indeed show, like many western posts on this forum are saying, that Thai's are unwilling/unable to back true Democracy. Oh, by the way, Happy Birthday to all those born this month of December.

The current government is "ruining the country"? Any comments on that? I live in Chiang Mai,,, things are pretty good here, a lot of construction, people seem happy as they work and are out and about, new cars and new motorbikes are on the streets. Isn't this just political power grabbing? Don't you think the opposition "yellow" were just waiting for a big mistake (the amnesty bill) by the Yingluck government? WHAT, really, are "the people" upset about? Seems like these protesters are just party loyalists following their leader; minions. I hope there is discussion amongst the supposedly educated sector of the country about the following: taking over buildings, shutting down commerce, lighting busses on fire is NOT DEMOCRACY. In much of the west, inciting riots by words, even within "free speech", is indeed illegal. Announcing you are ordering your followers to take over government buildings is NOT democracy, it is dictatorial, an frankly, A LOT scarier than a businessman/politician involved with money corruption. Other countries need to start lecturing these people, not just come here for their holidays. Maybe the Thai's will respond to international shaming.

Ha, finally a bit of positive change on this old-world game of border crossings as opposed to the more rational (is there a word for that in Thai, I doubt it) idea of simply going to an office and paying a fee. My non-B has just expired and I was about to organise my every-two-weeks trip from Chiang Mai to Mae Sai. Now.... getting 30 days like 5 years ago, GREAT NEWS! However, I recall that the one good thing about the 14-day "walk" rule was that it was unlimited, whereas the old 30 day walk had a limit to it, either 2x or 3x. I would appreciate any news on how many times one can use the 30 day visa... it may be limited again.