steveromagnino

well the mall group alledgedly pay for positive press, hence many stories do not make it to press. It is interesting to note that the news program breaking the story expressly pointed out that they could not be silenced.

Consider it similar to other scandals...however regarding deaths, the only death I am aware of is 1 construction worker. There have been multiple injuries of which the child falling is one; for ANY mall the issue of someone or something falling over the rail is a big deal, and there is not much that can be done to stop it (witness the alleged suicides in many of the suburban shopping malls with kids leaping off the rail)... however in this case the understanding of most is that the rail was missing completely, and had been blocked off with a few plants in pots. hardly secure, but not much worse than some of the other things I saw in my walk through recently (exposed wiring, sharp corners, etc etc)_.

'Nuff respect to the watch experts out there; yes paragon does indeed have a pretty decent range of watches including most of the hand built ones... regarding value going up, Rolex collectables maybe good, but most of the appreciation is in the limited edition watches from the smaller manufacturers AFAIK.... For that market, Thailand is a MAJOR player worldwide..people have to spend their cash on something>!

Granted it's only a side view of the man, but I do detect a family resemblance to this guy here:

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brilliant!

Actually, the older sister is pretty hot; however the younger one looks just like her dad.

I don't think that makes her that attractive...but if you wanted to sleep with a female version of the T...well she would be it.

Thanks for your comments.

By the way, the first few days our customers at the Siam Paragon have been 45% Thai, 35% Hong Kong, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese,Singaporean and only 20% Farang.  Versus on Lower Sukhumvit it is 90% Farang, 5% Thai and 5% Japanese.

Different Worlds!

www.sunbeltasia.com

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Absolutely! Interesting details.....

I'd further guess that your product (guessing here....Subway?) already has a bit of a western skew, since for the most part my Thai friends aren't so keen on bread?

Do you have bi-lingual speakers? Do you do hallal?

correction

fresh fish, steam cooked then pick out the bones...

bplah tu

bplah chon

bplah lomah

ok, not the last one then.

not fresh uncooked, as cat doesn't like it....

Unfortunately, most Thais I know, do like Thaksin, and know nothing about his family's assets, or don't care, just as the Brits didn't care about Mr. Thatcher accumulating wealth trailing behind his wife.

No difference here at all...

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Sadly, most Thais I know don't like him, and don't do that much about it....

Same as most of my NZ friends who dont like Helen Clark...but then again they all live overseas now so I guess that at least did something! (my friends live overseas, not Helen Clark, there is only one of her thank goodness). (and she is not anywhere near here). (I hope).

Isn't Thatcher's son involved in summat in the Africa?

I knew it was a scam when.... Yorkie said I had to buy him a drink first

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She knew is was a scam when...

- he said he would love her in the morning

- the check is in the mail

What about a Montessori school, if they have one in Bangkok.

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religious schools often good, including the 7th Day Adventist school where the fees are not nearly as expensive as NIST etc (most of the those fancy private schools aren't that good anyway). (he said, not ever having enough money to go himself )

You can acheive a lot at home as well; take kids through homework, teach them other subjects; I'd say school is about 50% of the education at most; cannot expect a kid to get by on just that.

Where I grew up young age schools were so bad, that most of what I learned was definitely not at school but from my parents... I guess that explains a lot

Lots of good books and chance to teach about other things too, like share market, soccer foot ball management etc etc

I have been told that the Thai wife owns the land, but the farang husband can own the house they build on land, the wife then will sign a 30 year lease to the farang husband. Is this true ?

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almost correct. actually there is even the ability to own the house outright, although of course you would need access to the land too, hence the lease for the land (which cannot be owned).

Can we use the words foreigner instead? Because the reality is that the law was instigated for ALL foreign devils especially the yellow peril, not just the white ones?

In my opinion, Thailand is a poor choice for shopping for imported goods that shopping centers like this focus on. The facilities are nice, but the prices tend to be double what you pay for the identical product in your own country. And because this type stuff is so expensive to begin with, you'll never make it up by from the occasional bargain on a 100 baht thai craft.

Well, you have your opinion... but since this is MY industry I will answer several points raised by other posters, and offer my view on your comment :

- Shopping tours are extremely attractive for countries where things are not 'twice as expensive' or not even available - notably China, Japan, Korea, Middle East India, Russia. There are MANY tourists coming here to Thailand with shopping as a primary/high priority - for some shopping malls the percentage of Thai fashion sold to foreigners is 70%+ (this is the higher end stuff, Greyhound, Stretsis, etc; not crummy knock offs or mass market brands like Jaspal). For some international brands (e.g. Gucci) foreigners make up 60%+ of their market. The high spending tourists here in Thailand, for retail anyway, are not like the majority of the posters on this board in that they do not speak English, they do not have white skin, and the high spenders are probably not going to MBK LOL. Shopping is a legitimate interest for visitors to Thailand; it attracts massive spending already and Paragon will enhance that

- While China is fast developing, and certainly developments like 3 on the Bund and so on in SHanghai etc are on par with ANYTHING in the world, Chinese are discovering travel, and they also are discovering more than that.... HK retail is bursting at the seams coping with Chinese buying there - partly due to price, partly due to range, partly due to the chance to travel and shop. I see little reason for that to stop; Paragon and other malls including Central World will be looking at this continuing trend closely. Also bear in mind it is a massive country; getting to 3 on the Bund in Shanghai or Beijing could well be further for some than getting to Paragon.... plus how would they get to see a cabaret show there?!

- Some brands pursue a price leadership or regional strategy, making Thailand quite cost effective e.g. Zegna. On sale periods are also very important; this June period Thailand was on sale prior to other markets, creating cost parity with price leaders HK and Singapore. Additinoally, ranges may vary from country to country. Luxury brand buyers have to deal with both price and scacity; particularly for the Japanese buyer, coming to Thailand (or somewhere else) may be the only way to get hold of a particular bag. For non luxury buyers this concept may be difficult to comprehend; why would the brand simply not stock that in every store? That is not how marketing for luxury brands work, and restriction of supply is actually one of the key attributes for staying 'luxury'. For watches, Thailand carries only 5% tax. And it also has massive range and a lot of deal hungry retailers who will discount up to 45+% on certain watches. When the watch a collector wants is 1m baht, well they will fly to pick it up, sure.

- Thai fashion is popular in the region, and fairly well promoted in Singapore, HK and so on; to the point we DO see enough people coming from these countries to buy the stuff in sufficient quantities to be 'statistically significant'

- To be more competitive, Gaysorn and THe Mall Group have both announced duty free schemes launching in 2006, with the approval of the customs dept; will see if it gets implemented, but I'd but both schemes at above 75% likely... the maximum general price difference is about 25-35% above SIngapore and HK for brands who keep constant margin pricing; this would reduce that and create price parity

- Paragon is primarily mid market, similar to Emporium; the central piece is the dept store which targets both middle market Thais and foreigners. Emporium is positioned as luxury but really is mostly mid market as well through the dept store; marketing vs. actual - two different concepts. Therefore, its success will depend on many things, but luxury only makes up a fairly small part of their total square footage

- farang are mostly low spenders on apparel in Thailand (based on TAT stats and every mall survey and consulting job I've done here); most of the high end malls are targeting Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, SE Asian countries, Middle Easterners, Indians in about that order. Virtually none of the brands consider the entire European population + Australian + American to be high spenders; one of the only exceptions is Armani. And yes, I am taking out the Middle Easterners, who arguably could be considered farang, but are not generally done so by Thais. I assume this is because the ones who buy luxury buy the goods in their own country; and while Thailand attracts quite a decent number of luxury buying Asian customers it tends to attract western mid-lower level customers; fewer of whom are luxury brand buyers. And of course the growth in luxury is in Asia, ME, India, and that isn't only because of more stores opening.... Therefore, sizing issue is less relevant, and certainly anyone who shops in MBK is most certainly probably not going to be very interested in what goes on at Paragon! MBK is cheap knock offs and sport apparel stuff; based on what I see the majority of tourist westerners wearing here, I'd say that MBK is about right for most western tourists. The issue of sizing has been raised; for some Thai brands they claim (for whatever reason) that if cut bigger (particularly women's stuff) the shape is wrong, so they are happy to stay smaller size only. That's up to them. I can think of several women's brands like Pucci that only suit women with decent figures - they also choose to offer SOME larger sizes up to maybe a size 16 I'd guess; luxury doesn't mean it needs to fit everyone.... however I totally agree for mass market brands...let's hope the dept store figures that out if they haven't already

- Having been there I would say that Paragon is definitely not yet attracting the luxury buyers - it looked extremely mass on the opening period with lots of gawkers and not too many shoppers; but anyway let's bear in mind that there is a lot of foreign money invested in the project too (via the brands); a lot of thought has gone into this project, and as Heng notes, the return for the investors of the development itself is almost assured with long term leases...hardly stupid

- Regarding Thai crafts; same as MBK there are the 100 baht elephants and then there is the nice furniture, silks, and so on which are 10,000b etc etc.... can't get by in a mall selling the same stuff as Jatujact; so expect to see a few steps above that I think

- Incidentally the local Thai market? There are 1m people in BKK with household incomes of about 70,000b or more a month; Paragon won't even be aiming that high.... there are certainly lots of locals going to be going there; my guess is they will be pulled mostly from the other high traffic malls (it takes a lot of people to get 100,000 visitors a day) - Siam Discovery, Siam Square, Emporium, Central World could be quite quiet for a while......

And regarding watches....

- Gazza: smart hi so Thai dude might be running circles around you; the true watch investors can maintain surprisingly good returns on their hobby; I suspect your 200 baht watch will always be around 200 baht. No question though, they both do the same job...same same Porsche vs. Lada.. although actually most hand wound movements stop spinning if you don't wind them up - 8 days is the best I think with a pannarai...so not sure whether your 200b watch is the porsche or the lada?!!

And 90% of Thai's don't give a sh1t !!

Almost anywhere else in the world this would kick up hel_l, topple the government, evoke enquiries.............But TIT ! !

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It's worse, they like him. Even the fact that the King doesnt like him don't make them change their minds.

Maybe there's no alternative...

shame!

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Be careful of what 'facts' you think you know; ain't your place to decide who our King likes or doesn't like.

And who exactly likes Thaksin? Plenty of people who do not... could use the same argument:

americans like Bush

English like Blair

French like Chirac (or whatever his name is)

Kiwis like Clark....

Kind of doesn't really explain the concept of democracy so well does it....ok, majority of Thais voted for him in the last election...that is a phrase I can agree with....

As for this alledged 90% of Thai people??? Evidence please - haven't seen a 90% approval rating of late.....

What is it that is so repulsive?>

- that he is making so much money

- that he is not deregulating the industry promptly enough or instigating mechanisms to ensure a fair market

- that he has transferred shares to his kids (this is possible worldwide, although often done using a trust structure)

- that you didn't buy AIS and SHIN stocks

- that there is no civil unrest

- that his family is alledgedly not paying tax (I am sure that dividends are tax paid, so proceeds from share ownership via dividends would most likely be tax paid; capital gains do not apply)

- that the daughter is suddenly super rich

I am curious which is the worst of the above; certainly I have issues, but I would never have thought the issue of transfering to kids would have been the one to raise.... mystified as to why THIS is why people are talking>?

i just don't think that money is always the number one thing thai girls are looking for. they are as human as the rest of us, and they want a happy relationship in the end as well.

i guess your point was that money makes them happy, but i really haven't noticed this among thai women, except the occasional BG or middle class golddigger.

i would say it is more a combination of money and good heart they are looking for.

I agree - they are looking for some sucker that doesn't play around on them at the massage parlour every day.

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Who are you implying would be spending their time at the massage parlour? Based on the conduct of the 100+ farang I know here and the countless Thai men here in BKK....well I'd have to say that the jury would be out as to who is the less faithful....

Or have you got some interesting theory to add to this?

don't know but please let us/me know if you have seen it.

Would like to know how it looks like

Hi all,

I'm really into going to Ocean World but don't want to for fears it is in the same state as  Siam Paragon - open, but barely finished. I forsee empty tanks.

Has anyone been, how is it? Worth seeing, or should I wait?

Thanks!

Neph.

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1 big 7 ft shark

1 sea lion

Lots of people (Thai and foreign) who look like they can't afford the stuff in Paragon, walking around taking photos...and not buying.

But well worth a look (for the aqueeriam and also for the nice food court and dept store all of which are pretty much complete). rest of the place is a work in progress for the next 3-4 months; major brands won't get in cruz collections and jump straight to da Spring Summer in March is da plan.

very cute indeed!

My cocker spaniel in NZ lived until 18 years, and my cat here seems pretty strong although young.

In both cases, I think the dietary thing is fairly important...varied diet and not too much dry biscuit/aharn med stuff... 'cause even though the big MNE companies selling the stuff claim it has lots of protein, much of the protein is often from vegetable sources, and I think that the animal digestive tract is different, so they cannot absorb this so easily.

That's also why with the cheap stuff, the animal does huge amounts of stuff sometimes....

So.....

Varied diet is important; for cat some proper fish (fresh) and pick out bones sometimes, or let them eat (as they get older the bones can be tough on their stomact); sometimes tuna or canned fish, sometimes aharn med. but mostly my cat won't eat canned cat food, and it looks like really low grade fish.

Actually, one of the other business units here at work is dog and fish food; the margins are so big mostly because the ingredients are all the junk bits, topped up with corn stuff.... and we are making it for the top companies, so that;s even more reason not to buy (except that then my boss will not be as rich!).

Actually my cocker was internally bleeding at age 13, and my mum wanted to put her down. But with some change in diet (not letting her chew bones too much and also giving her some more vegetable and rice) it stopped the bleeding and improved her digestion. Cocker spaniels are prone to cysts, but she had them removed at age 8 and again at 15. Then she was going blind, and also was deaf, but she still was happy in life until age 18, when she went very thin, could not eat anymore, and couldn't walk or control bladder....so my mum put her down...still sad for that day.....

Is this the KFC daughter? 

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I think it was McDonalds daughter, and that was the one that looks exactly like him, Ong Ing I think....

I'm not leaving unless they kick me out

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Based on your avatar and that obvious flagrant disregard for water conservation, I'd be watching myself if I were you

My comment regarding whites; well certainly non-whites get it too, but since the comments are mostly about farang, well one does have to consider that farangs are white so...... and what you are talking about is farang vs. farang racism.... hmmmm; well I take your point, although probably it isn't race so much as xenophobia.

Yep, for the most part there has been terrible racism directed towards people of same colour with different beliefs; Dutch, Polish and others got it a lot in NZ a while back...but I have (in talking to my Dutch and Polish friends) got the impression that living there long enough many were able to blend in; language skills improved and people started to look to some other group to blame for their problems - pacific Islanders, Maori, Asians, etc. Based on the abuse an Asian gets in Auckland it is fair to say that for at least some Asians the idea that they can ever feel like a 'genuine' New Zealander is not really any different to the liklihood that a farang can feel like a 'genuine' Thai. they will always be a visitor. And based on beatings/intimidation through school (that are still widely documented to the point they introduced guardian schemes), ongoing abuse in the streets, skinheads in Christchurch and the popularity of a political party whose main policy is restriction of Asian immigration; well in NZ at least it certainly is a sizeable group who have a problem and do not like immigrants. This I would not describe as a 'norm' for equal treatment; certainly illegal but nonetheless there. Additionally, while not spoken about, any job interview can easily choose applicants on a wide range of factors, and having seen how the companies I worked for recruited, selection based on last name was commonplace in the first round getting to who would get an interview. There is a reason why so many immigrants in NZ get disallusioned and return home; it ain't that easy to fit in and get a job.

And that's the price you pay for looking/sounding different. Difference is here that people on this forum (farang primarily based on the responses in this thread) expect different, like we will all be happy families. Doesn't happen here. Doesn't happen there.

Try being Indian in either place; would be worse than Thai or white for sure.

Cannot speak for the rest of the world, haven't lived there. HOwever most western societies that welcome immigrants so much with open arms you say?...well based on Ali G, the KKK, racist chants at football, Asian youths getting beat up, the riots in France, gang issues in Australia..well there may well be many people who are very very fair to all races, but there are a fair few who are not.

So what? The world isn't fair. That';s the best attitude, after all we're all rich compared to the majority of the planet. Who cares you don't fit in completely? I'd say Farang get it pretty good here for some things depending on how much effort they've made to understand how things work here.

just see that your banned...was that because of the above post? maybe a bit harsh...but then again...

The smiths? I wasn't aware that whining and bollocking on about the meaninglessness of existance with a poofy fringey haircut and wearing pretentious clothes and wearing Doctor Marten shoes was the essence of punk?

Or am I missing something?

Sorry, should have made myself clearer. It is not just for use in Central that is just where I tend to spend a lot of time. I have seen the sign on cameras etc. in the independant retailer too. Aeon or Eon is the one I recall best. It is pale blue and kind of ethereal (that doesn;t make sense) the wording is on a kind of swirly bluey purply background. Hopeless at description.

By the way, I know about the central card, I checked out the print on the application form 12% interest. Which is lower than the UK obviously, but I really want very very very low interest (and the moon on a stick!)

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AFAIK Aeon is a private financing company simply to Quikcash or Ezybuy, so they have a card. Not sure but pretty sure they have a website. If you are not Thai, you may not be eligible for the card. I suspect it might not be a credit card in itself, check out on their website.

These sorts of cards are for the lower income groups, adn therefore have high levels of carry over balances, hence they can actually offer 0%, knowing that the person will end up paying late, and thus incurrnig charges.

A normal credit card may be ok, some cards have 0% extended payment plans which the retailer absorbs the cost for; that is another way. Again though, this is for locally issued cards only for the most part (except for some AMEX) and if you are a foreigner then you might find it hard to get a card.

Going back to the original poster why why why...answers abound

- imbalance of men to women in Thailand (road toll, monks, gay population)

- cultural expectation and desire to have children is quite strong

- some issue of women going for easy money (not just farang, but also Japanese, Korean, etc)

- some groups believe that westerners/Japanese/etc etc are better than Thai men

- some fall in love and the person happens to be not Thai

If demanded, I would guess that group number 3 far outnumbers group number 4, but that most foreigners spending a decent amount of time here would tend to end up with the last group. But overall I'd say most Thai people are perfectly happy to marry Thai and aren't looking outside their group; although of course the final group are part of that majority.

Group number 4 is fairly small IMHO, and the line given is often the result of the desire to tell people what they want to hear (and also to repeat what they want to believe) hence...@I do not like Thai men because.....@

Funnily enough most often heard in bars, and places of ill repute... yet when asked more questions...well many have a Thai boyfriend or partner somewhere in the background....kind of undoes the point a bit..... Then you have certain socialites who could not land a quality guy anymore and end up with foreigners, but again they are highly visible but definitely in the minority.

Based on my personal experience as a 1/2 Thai growing up in a western country.... the vast majority of Thai women married to westerners and remotely close to my age seemed remarkably keen to cheat on their partners with me or other Thais there... not the ideal proof that 'foreigners are better, and so wonderful'

Actually, a fair few of the foreigners I know with Thai partners here have the same issue - attraction/getting married is one thing, but keeping things going is hard without a shared cultural base.....

Punk is not music it's just a way of letting everybody know you're pi##ed off at the world. I'll listen to death metal all day before i even start at punk. But ok....name a couple of good punk songs that will make me change my mind. And please non of those sex pistol crap bands. 

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Dead Kennedies

- Kill the Poor

- Holiday in Cambodia

Most of the rest is pants, especially the Sex Pistols, although then again since I am of that age where they were doing their swindle before me was old enuff to appreciate, well maybe I just didne understan?

If they had been colonised things would have been so different.

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You mean like Philipines, India and Malaysia?

Or maybe the colonising force could have just wiped out the locals and taken over, like Australia.

If only........

Can we get back on subject here without all this drivel about punk?

Now...about that drum and bass

Real drum and bass:

- Ed Rush & Optical

- Grooverider/Codename John

- Anyone from Brazil, Australia, or also Brixton, Skunthorp and other assorted English places who makes DnB

Posuer drum and bass:

- Spice Girls If you Want to be my lover

- Anyone American who claims to be D and the B. Except anyone who is actually good.

Real Jungle:

-Tarantula, Pendulum

- Uprising, Artificial Intelligence

Loser Jungle:

- The area around Laem Da Kong on the other side of the road behind the railway, where it is hard to get to, and without a map, there is a danger of getting lost

King of the Rollaz

- Doc Scott, Goldie and the whole Metalheadz crew

King of the Anthill Idiots

- Mc Skibbidee (who is the worst MC ever) and anyone who sounds like him (which is most of them - where is the skill in saying yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo X 400000 times + inserting shout outs to my crew/your crew/crewcut etc)

Regarding punk, wasn't the sex pistols just a way for Macolm MacLaren to make his movie the Rock and Roll Swindle or something about how to cash in on all that moolah with a pretty inept bunch of musicians (who were also remarkably clever regarding societeee and that sort of malarky)....can someone explain what that was all about? I be well young innit, and not aware of dis info.

I was on the phone and sai, "hold on speak with my wife" "raw sakroo kui gab mia noi"

is this ok?

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Since the original post doesn't comment on who was on the other end of the line, and given that it was tongue in cheek anyway, I think this debate on meea vs. paraya vs. fairn is somewhat academic.

Todd Tongdee was the guy you mean; I think he is still doing stuff with the Nation; had some decent Thai skills although Peter and Byron of soap opera fame are probably better and more fluent than either of them within the confines of a soap opera (e.g. no business language etc).

Regarding Senor Biggs, the analogy of the 'talking bear' is not really so much the case as that Andrew was already from a media background; saw a gap in the market and promoted himself, when countless other farang who spoke Thai at a similar level had not done the same. As the first (that I can think of) he had some first mover advantage that he has been able to preserve through hard work, connections and efforts. His command of Thai, while not perfect is awesome. There are a limited number of places for Thai speaking english teachers; and he occupies the main one.

Listening to Thai people speak, currently I'd say the use of paraya in non formal situations would be uncommon. Not at a farang could not say it, just less likely to hear a Thai person say it. I certainly change the way I speak english depending who I am with; and I do the same with Thai. This is out of respect to the people around me - I would not choose to say paraya korng kaphrajao to someone upcountry, because I know at least a few might think I was trying to show off using a language they are fairly unused to hearing. Fairn pom would be already quite polite and well enough. Ditto for my friends of similar age.

On the other hand, that is exactly what I would say or similar (and be expected to say) when introducing my wife (if I had one) to my boss's Khunying mum.

Without speaking gutter Thai, there is plenty of room for a foreigner to adapt their Thai language depending on context, particularly relating to age of the person we are talking with. Never keen to hear the goo mueng stuff from foreigners...

raw sakroo kui gab mia noi >>>> raw sakroo poot gub mia pom or fairn pom or best of all raw sakroo poot gup Khun Bui (if that is her name?!) dee gua krub.

Certainly polite enough; breuksah is probably not quite appropriate unless it is a bank or someone ringing to consult or discuss on some matter...?

I'd say try the opposite approach of speaking more slowly and clearly.

Sip  [pause] eit

Sip  [pause]  bpairt

Does remind me of the person who was adamant that Jimi Hendrix was a gay rights activist because he chose to hear the lyrics:

'scuse me while I kiss this guy,

Purple haze all around......

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classic stuff... there is some website full of all the lines people mishear when singing songs...

I don't understand this need to protect land from foreign ownership. Can someone explain it to me? Are the Thais frightened that someone is going to buy up all of Thailand and take it home with them?

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Well since much of Thailand is involved in agricultural work, one of the theories is that rich foreigners could currently afford to come in here, and buy large pieces of farm land; driving up the prices of the land, and therefore also driving up costs to rent the land. Because of the current massive price difference between say buying a rai of land in USA/Australia or Thailand, a foreigner could perhaps arguably buy 10,000 rai in Isaan, then not allow anyone to use any of it. This would not make much economic sense, but certainly would be possible. 10,000 rai might provide employment for a village; and suddenly their means of income would be gone.

NOt saying it is right, but it is the concern of some people. There is already a shortage of land, so the idea of keeping it for Thai people is why the rules were put there and they remain. Originally much of these restrictions were actually anti Chinese, it is only the meea farang issue that seems to have brought it to the forefront again.

Of course, the way Chinese got around it back then was by becoming Thai citizens. Why this remains too difficult for other foreigners is confusing to me.

That other countries allow or don't allow is up to them and provides no indication on whether it is good or not. For instance, in New Zealand, the economy has been funded by immigration and FDI; however the current climate is one of concern by many as trophy properties on the coastline and in beautiful areas are being bought by absentee landlords (e.g. Shania Twain) at inflated prices thus pricing locals out of the market. Additionally, the increase in investment by foreigners (mostly Australian) has allegedly priced low income NZers out of the housing market, and now forces them to rent. In response to this, purchases of significant amounts of land now require approval of the government.

Of course, on the flip side, all that money theoretically ends up in a more productive part of the economy as the gullible foreigner overpays for the land....leaving that money to be invested in something more profitable.....

At least for NZ there are a ton of national parks and systems in place to retain ownership of strategic land parcels. Whether Thailand is ready to start wholesale selling of land without these checks and balances in place is another issue.

I think that the restrictions on foreign ownership will remain for a long time....the reason being that foreign owned stakes in Thai businesses are not subject to the pressures of internal Thai politics and thus are not subject to the control of the Thai political establishment.

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Yes I agree, although let's also bear in mind that many Thai Chinese business families like to have control. Therefore, much of the sharemarket is listed 30% of the company and so on... this means that whether you allow foreign ownership or not, the control firmly rests with the other 70% non listed shareholder. After 1997/98 where some families lost control to debt holders, and got cleaned out (e.g. Phayathai Hospitals) I think that the future is even more likely that listing is just quick cash without giving up control.

And what companies choose to do is up to them; supporting the govt or otherwise. But mostly I'd say the issue of govt/political interference as per Picnic alledgedly is less common, more likely it is the Thai Oil,PTT, Thai Airways, BKK Express Way situation - more regularatory and market place issues than the parties leaning on companies.... is that your opinion?