sambum

Yes, it's a while ago! I took early retirement in 2004, and had been here 2 or 3 times before that! And "glory days" is a pretty apt description. When Immigration Officers in uniform invited you into their office and asked "And what can I do for you today?' while offering you a lollipop from the jar on their desk! And I'm NOT joking!

"........families, children and normal people" Pattaya has always been a destination renowned for one thing, and it is not the temples! As far as your comment is concerned, I don't think "normal people" is a very good choice of words! And if I were taking my family to Thailand on holiday, I can think of a few better "family orientated" destinations than Pattaya - no matter what the Pattaya "bureaucracy" says!

Yup! "No such thing as bad publicity"! ( P.T.Barnum)

It seems that a bonus of being a Prime Minister is that you can alter the law to suit your own agenda! Recently in Australia, Former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been censured by the nation's parliament for giving himself secret powers while in office. Apparently, Mr Morrison had become joint minister for health, finance, treasury, home affairs and resources in the two years before he lost power in May, unbeknown to most ministers who were unaware they were sharing portfolios with Mr Morrison.

Quite agree - nowhere is perfect, but if you are prepared to put up with its shortcomings, Thailand is a good place to be. However regarding "the much improved financial situation", I feel I must point out that when I first came here, I was getting 73 baht for my British pound - now it's almost half that, hovering in the low 40's and has been for a while. Plus (like every where else) the price of goods - especially food has gone up considerably. (The main thing I can recall was that a pack of pomelo slices used to cost 35 baht in Tesco Lotus - now it's more than double that - just one example that I can remember) Thailand is certainly not as cheap a place to live as it used to be by a long shot, but still a far better option than a lot of places. For instance, the cost of living in the UK has rocketed out of control - especially utility prices, and the Government is in a worse mess than I can ever remember with a recent PM lasting a mere 50 days in office (a worldwide record) due to her incompetent policies. So, like many other expats that I know, I will continue to moan about the shortcomings of Thailand - the Government policies, the blatant law breaking on the roads, the double pricing in entry fees to public attractions, the "anti farang" attitudes of some Government ministers, the pedantic requirements from Immigration and a myriad of other concerns, but one thing's for sure - it beats the hell out of working for a living in a cold wet country like I came from!

I'm always dubious about these "polls". Like you, I do not know anyone that has ever been asked to participate in these "Do you like Thailand" type of polls. Makes you wonder where they get their respondents from? Certainly doesn't appear to be the average Joe/expat.

When I lived in the UK I had neighbours like that, especially the 2 teenage children. Rather than talk face to face they would shout from one end of the garden to the other in that twiny sort of childish voice that could be heard from 2 or 3 houses either side - "Mam,(rising up at the end), Tommy won't let me have my headphones back!" (Like a spoiled 4 or 5 year old spoiled brat) The parents were as bad for tolerating it, because they used to shout back down the garden at them. Spoiled many a peaceful lazy Sunday afternoon!

I am in the same situation as you! I am married to a Thai wife, and all that that entails! And on the subject of who contributes more to the Thai economy is also a sore subject with me. I contribute considerably more than half a million baht every year to the economy - how many tourists can say that?. Throughout the Covid epidemic that has got to have been a lifeline for many small Thai businesses, without which no doubt a lot of them would have "gone under". And I still get called "Alien" on my visa application! On the other hand, a tourist will probably spend much more on a 4 week holiday than I spend in a month, and that is what the Departments like TAT want - to boost their (made up?) figures. However, getting back on topic, a (typical) tourist's day probably consists of getting up (lateish, because a holiday also includes "lie ins"), having breakfast, and then either heading to the beach, or renting a scooter and seeing a bit of the surrounding area (depending on location - obviously if they are in Bangkok it will probably involve shopping at some stage!) And then back to the hotel for a "bit of a kip", then a S**T, shave and shower, and out for a meal/dinner! By the time you've had dinner (which will probably finish at 9 'ish,) you are THEN ready to PARTY! And after you've had one or two drinks, you just want it to go ON and ON and ON! After all, you're on holiday, right? (P.S. I can remember going to a "Coffee Bar" called Thermae in Bangkok many years ago that used to be open 'til all hours, and was frequented by the girls from the bars who hadn't been lucky enough to get bar fined at their "regular job"!) So, the reason they want to extend the drinking hours is obvious - MONEY!!!!

"It also omitted any factual link to support the statement the level of drunkenness went down." Dr Christopher Clayson was put in charge of a Committee in 1972 whose findings led to a change in the law in 1976. The following is an excerpt from an interview with Dr Clayson in 2003 by Professor Martin Plant, who was Associate Editor for M.C.A. (Medical Council on Alcohol) "M.P.: One thing that appears to have improved is the officially recorded level of drunkenness. In the year that your report was published, nearly 12 000 people were convicted of drunkenness offences. These have declined to about 700 people a year." "Your post omitted to mention clubs and bars in Scotland close at 2 am, not the 4 am that is being opposed (proposed?) here." The last I heard was that some clubs in Edinburgh were licensed to be open until 3 a.m., and from another review by a team led by Sheriff Principal Gordon Nicholson, concluded with "One of the major recommendations includes abolishing opening hours, which would in theory allow alcohol to be sold 24 hours a day." "People need an extra 2 hours to get legless? How pathetic is that?" Personally, I usually get my drinking done between 6.30 p,m. and 10.30 p.m., but I am long since retired (19 years) and do not "party" any more! However, if I was a twenty something single here on holiday, I would like the opportunity to drink until the early hours if I wanted to! I think that the point being made is that the Tourist Industry is desperate to attract the type of holidaymaker that will spend money, and the young singles will do that.

"..........the data from 2.1 million test results........." Now that's a survey! Not "out of 1234 polled, 95% of people thought that "****in" was doing a good job"

"..........should not be deprived of a good night's sleep." Would you like to have a word with the owners whose dogs incessant barking and howling deprive me of a good night's sleep?

Exactly - it says as much in the post:- It says as much in the post:- "The good people who get up early in the mourning to go to work......"

"Only alcoholics drink during those hours." Garbage!

A few years ago in the UK, they increased the drinking hours in Scotland. The Scots had a reputation for a high level of drunkenness, so most people thought (me included) that this would make the situation even worse, but in actual fact the level of drunkenness went DOWN. The reason being that people only have a certain amount of cash to spend on booze, and when you increase the drinking hours they have to make that cash last a bit longer. So the "binge drinking" went down, people spent longer consuming the same amount of alcohol, and the level of drunkenness went down - Simples!

Oh, yes, I feel much safer now that this despicable and dangerous criminal mastermind has been apprehended! ???? Surprised that the "pointing finger" hasn't been used to show which is the "bad guy"!

"Colonel Suphraprik said this was all part of keeping Thailand safe and both Thais and foreign lawbreakers were on his radar." How's about having a blitz on people with guns without a licence? Oh, sorry - too dangerous - better stick to tourists on overstay enjoying themselves - that'll "keep Thailand safe"!

There's a difference between "like an escort" and dressing "attractively"!

Of course FIFA want a share of the profits if Thailand are "passing on" the signals to other countries and charging them for it! It's a bit like the "no sub letting" clause a mate of mine got hit with a few years ago, here in Thailand. He had paid cash up front for a 10 year lease on a bungalow, but he travelled frequently for months at a a time, and every time he went away, he was getting burgled. So he asked me to look after/move in to his property while he was away, and although no cash changed hands, the landlord demanded 5k a month from me, estimated as 25% of the rental value.

"Big players whose interests will be protected......" Like - I wonder who? ????

"..............unidentified Caucasian male foreigner........." "backed up by police" (If he was her boyfriend, surely she would know what Nationality he was?) Something fishy!

Of course! Simples! - they think that the louder/better their P.A. system is, the more customers it will attract. You and I know that is not the case, and the empty seats bear witness to that, but "Thai anti logic" is hard to understand sometimes! The same applies to empty bars charging sky high prices for drink. I once asked why, and I got the answer "Because we don't have many customers"! Doh! Just take it from there!

Quite right about where you live in the UK. My next door neighbour's house was empty as she was away for the weekend and the burglar alarm went off at about 2 a.m., so I phoned the Police. Their reaction? "Can you check and see if there is any signs of a break in, or see if there are any intruders?" I replied "Is that not your job?" (I wasn't about to put my health at risk!) and put the phone down. As I had given them the address, they attended the scene about 2 hours later to switch off the alarm, by which time any "intruders" will have been long gone!

No baht at stake!

Welcome to Thailand's judicial/regulatory system!

Why do they need him to stay in power? Last I heard he was going to try for the top job, but the guy who has the top job doesn't want to go?