Mot Dang

I don't believe it. Full stop.

The infrastructure behind the bar and entertainment industry in Pattaya is enormous. Take away the bars and the bar girls, hundreds of thousands of tourists will not come to Pattaya. The speed with which this would happen will be directly proportional to the speed at which the bars are closed. Think of the number of service industry's that will go under. Just to name a few, the restaurants, the ice suppliers, the fresh food suppliers, shops, the booze and soft drink suppliers. Hundreds upon hundreds of people indirectly employed by the entertainment industry. Hotels will be emptier than they are now.

Who will benefit ? The scuba dive industry, kite surfing, para gliding, speed boat, and jet ski industry. Who are they ? Those industries that have been in the news quiet recently. Right ? And who will replace the fleeing Pattaya tourist. If you think the Chinese invasion has already started, you haven't seen nothing yet baby. It has already been reported about current negotiations to increase Chinese tourism 3 fold next year alone. Worried about losing "Thainess" (sorry about bringing that up), this invasion will be a death knock.

This is another ill conceived plan. Pattaya can be cleaned up without eradicating the bar and entertainment industry. The police just have to have a well directed imagination,

Prostitution in China is widespread, pretty much every Hotel you stay in offers a "Service". So having no bars girls wouldnt stop the Chinese from coming to Pattaya. I'd say many long term ex-pats have settled down and stay in Pattaya because it is familiar and Farang Friendly , not for the bar girs

The people who will not come are the two week holidayers with 3 Grand in their pocket to spend on beer and birds. I wouldnt miss them but I reckon Bar owners , Retaurant owners and guest house owners will

In your haste you have misunderstood what I meant. By saying Doors were always held open for you, and you reciprocated I was inferring that in those days doors were held open for you, but now they are not. It is one of my pet hates. And by saying that I wake up we are 30 years on, I can assure you I am more awake of what is happening in Thailand than a newbie like you ever will be. Wake up stop being so critical, haven't you anything constructive or original to say. Show us intelligently what you know of is happening to Thai culture.

I'll tell you what "Thainess" was to me when I arrived in the Kingdom in 1980, 3 to 4 years before the first "Amazing Thailand" campaign. On observation, there wasn't much difference in attitude between the rural Thai and the city Thai. They were equally charming. Thais were always smiling, walk down the back streets of Chang Mai for an early morning walk whilst the small Mum and Dad shop keeper was opening up, they always greeted you with a smile and a sawadii krup/ka. Come out onto Silom Rd at 5:00pm and the masses of office girls smiled when they saw a falang. They weren't in a hurry, you weren't walked off the foot path. Taxi drivers were more interested in talking to you than bellyaching about politics. Doors were always held open for you, and you reciprocated. Children bowed deeply to their elders and were seen but not heard. Never would a child remain seated in a train or bus if an old person stood. Nor would they push past.

You felt welcome because they wanted you to be comfortable, rather than how much money you could be parted from. When I arrived I threw myself into the culture, the religion, the history. Was I then trying to find Thainess before it became trendy ? I found it in their kindness, their openness, their respect for others, their respect for themselves and how they are reviewed by others. Loss of face was highly guarded and protected by good manners.

Don't get me wrong I don't want to return to a utopia (if there ever was one), and certainly today I love the Thais as much as I ever did.

To give an example of what Thainess is, when my wife was a young adult her mother gave her the advice "walk like an elephant". This always puzzled me. But what it meant (if you observe an elephant walking), an elephant walks very quietly, it sways gently, it knows exactly where its putting its feet and doesn't hurry. A Thai women walking like that is the most beautiful creature on this planet.

Wake upMot, we are 30 years further. Now it is me holding doors open. Thais slam it right in your face.

Note to TAT boys: Careful with this word "Thainess". It's getting a bit worn thin now and has always come over as a bit pompous. Yes, being Thai is unique. Beautiful culture, beautiful people. But no more unique than other cultures around the world. A word of caution, in the last 30 years Thai culture has been turned on its head. Thais are losing their Thainess rapidly. The most striking examples, (1) loss of respect for community, others, the elderly, other road users. (2) Greed and corruption, they run hand in hand. Greed can be expressed in so many ways, mostly indirectly. Now days a bunch of school girls will walk you off the footpath without batting an eyelid, even the Thai elderly. The "Thai Smile" is not as prevalent as it used to be. That is what I miss most.

Please Mr. TAT concentrate on preserving Thai culture, not serving a fake edition of it up on a platter for tourist consumption. And remember who the tourist of the future will be, for they don't give a damn.

Just now talking to my wife, she tells be that striking a child in Thailand has been illegal for a long time. This would have been a "better" article if these type of facts are given.

In the early 60's, in Sydney, I was canned all the way through my first 3 years of high school. Mainly due to minor oversights/mistakes, such as forgetting homework, being late, talking in class etc. So did a lot of other students. We weren't bad kids, we grew up to be decent citizens. Corporal punishment was the norm in those days. Minor infringements "3 cuts of the cane", and for more serious, "6 cuts of the best". Unless some real damage was done, no use talking to parents, it was the norm. It was not classed as "assault" by the cops, unless some damage was done. There was one teacher who always did the caning, the Deputy Headmaster. He was a sadistic bastard, always had a grin on his face. We called him "The Bug", because of the same shit-brown suit he wore everyday for 10 years. I hated him and still do 50 years later. Thank God Australian kids don't have to put up with these assaults anymore with the outlawing of corporal punishment. I would have kneecapped any teacher who canned my son when he was in school.

Some people may comment that corporal punishment should be reintroduced in Western countries. Pig's bum. The issues rebel (and normal) kids have these days would not be corrected by canning. The issues would be compounded and made worse. Parents/teachers/governments/social workers should consider the influence of drugs, domestic violence, constant mental bombardment from violent computer games and movies, before canning (for any infringement). Violence has become acceptable in many weak minds.

More money than brains. Where would they be without their rich daddies ? No skills, no brains.

What a revelation !!

I am truly shocked. You can understand why the authorities did not know of these immoral deeds, it is so clandestine. The investigation must have been grueling. All those late night stake-outs to catch the perps. Someone's name has to go up on the rose-wood panel in the police station for inspiration.

Arguing over 10 baht, stupid. Look in the bottom of my sock draw and you may find enough change for a 100 pieces of watermelon, at Turkish prices. The Turk got off cheaply, a kidney costs more.

I don't believe it, this guy is saying openly that it is alright to break the law in employing Russian tour guides. I would be pretty sure that these Russians do not have work permits. TIT

The locusts are landing !

Someone asked the questions how the Thais feel about this! From the those I have spoken to the average Thai is not happy about it at all. They have seen how the Chinese behave, loud, rude, insulting - and the way they eat, no respect for Thai culture. They don't know anything about Thai culture before they get here. They are not interested. They are China's newly educated, the "new rich". First generation away from the farmer, the little shop owner. Unlike Westerners they have never traveled before (and I'm not talking about the great Chinese explorers of history), their fathers haven't, their grandfathers haven't.

For those of us who have lived in the Kingdom for more than 20 years (me, 34 years), we have seen the marked negative changes to Thai culture and behaviors, primarily due to the "Amazing Thailand" misguided adventure. Thais recently have expressed that they are concerned about retaining "Thainess", well, if anything is going to do it this invasion certainly will do it.

Here's two observations that I made in the early 1980's when I lived in Sukhumvit 19.

Even in the early 80's there were children selling roses, flower offerings for the car and an assortment of tat around Soi Cowboy and the Soi Asoke intersection. You got to know their faces because you saw them every day, all hours. One day I was walking down the block where Terminal 21 is now and saw a bunch of these kids (dressed in their rags) waiting by the side of the road. It was about 10:00pm. What happened next changed my view forever. Along came a nice Mercedes, into which they all tumbled. The well-healed guy behind the wheel (not a Thai, not a falang) barked orders to them.

Around the same time I used to hang around Soi Cowboy and got to know a Thai kid (10 to 15yo maybe), whose turf was Cowboy, selling roses. I knew his family were not well off, but the parents were determined to educate their children and needed the money. I occasionally bought a bunch off him, for a girl who caught my attention, or maybe just feeling "I just wanted to help". In 2014 I still see him in Soi 22 selling roses, sometimes I buy sometimes I don't. We have a chat and I shout him a beer. What do his kids do? They have a flower shop somewhere in the area. He would not let his kids onto the street, saying "too dangerous now !".

#1 brubakertx, I don't know what nationality you are, but you are far too hung up on the word "white". The longer you stay in Thailand, on a personal point of view, the less relevant the word becomes. And true expats know that. I don't think your spiel is the real deal.

_{I have bought or been given more than 400 rip-off DVDs over the past 10 years. Almost always they are bad copies. You see I'm a movie nutter, and I like quality, which you very rarely get with rip-offs. If I don't like the movie I'll toss it, if I like it I'll go buy a legit copy, these days a Blu-ray copy. I wont pay the full price for a movie that I may not like. If I didn't buy the counterfeit copy I probably may not have bought the legit copy. The way I look at it I'm giving Hollywood moguls their just dues plus putting a bit of money in the pocket of some poor Thai who have to put up with the whining of righteous wealthy falang (some who don't live in Thailand anyway).}

_{I think marketeers have a name for what I do. "Buying on spec" ?, or something like that.}

They may not have an amphetamine base. But first of all, are the indicated actions (that is loosing weight) actually occurring. Like a lot of this dieting crap sold in Thailand and in the West, they don't work. At best with some individuals it could be a placebo effect. Or a laxative effect. They could have a mixture of Chinese herbs in them, which can be bloody dangerous. Some herbs contain actives brewed in nature's kitchen that are not fully understood. I.e. no research or quality testing has been performed. Some contain weird opiate like compounds. At worst some are definitely carcinogenic.

With Chinese medicines the Thai FDA basically only requires the species of plants contained, to be on the label. And possibly content. Whereas ethical pharmaceutical products have to be labelled with a product name, the known pharmaceutical active names (as per the Thai pharmacopeia), content, manufacturer, batch number and expiry date.

As most of us known, a hell of a lot of crap (some very dangerous crap) is sold on the street in Thailand, and some do make it into legit pharmacies. And this includes the counterfeit Viagra, Cialis etc.

Don't get me wrong I am not anti-Chinese medicine, some have very legitimate pharmacological uses.

I should know, I have by performing GMP audits on pharmaceutical manufactures for more than 20 years. Both in Thailand, SEA and the west.

But then again the tablets could contain an amphetamine base or derivative. You would have to be stupid to take them, just like the counterfeit Viagra, Cialis etc.

This guy is like a bad penny, he just wont go away. At first reading the article I thought "great an end in sight". But then I read will "launch "a people's operation" to oust the government on May 14". So It's not the final war. Like a dozen previous declarations of finality, he's still got his damn foot in the door.

I have lived in the north pan-handle of the Buriram province for 32 years. When I first went to my wife's village I used to accompany my father-in-law out into the bush/jungle to gather small quantities of herbal drugs. He only took what he needed to make the medicines that he learnt during many years in the monkhood. Between then and now the Chinese traders (coming up from Bangkok and living in the Nong Song Hong area) have wiped it all out. Nothing left. Ripped up, cut down for profit. And no one can do a thing about it.

Khun Pracha just found out "Karma is a bitch".

I certainly support the distribution of a flu vaccine, but having a biotechnology manufacturing process increased on such a huge scale to supply the intended market scares me. Increasing the scale of a manufacturing process introduces immense process validation issues. Made by a local Thai company, or worse, made in China ? Not for me thank you.

I am beginning to think that the current monetary losses caused by k. Suthep and his followers will far outweigh those of Thaksin's past "plundering". Not including the belittlement of Thailand's reputation on the world stage.

I have never been to the place, for much the same reason I have not been to the two floating markets in Bangkok, crowds of tourists. But I'm curious, do Japanese or Korean tourists pay the "falang" fee of 200 baht to get in ?