Spilornis

1 hour ago, Georgealbert said:

The ban was introduced to protect Thai bus operators’ business. Songkhla Province implemented the rule to favor local companies, ensuring Thai buses continue to carry tourists from Malaysia within southern Thailand, instead of losing them to foreign buses.

Sounds reasonable given that Malaysia has done much the same and has severely restricted Singapore buses from entering Malaysia.

Completely different to Europe where it's common to see UK buses in Europe and vice versa even though their steering wheels and passenger exits are on the "wrong" side.

Having crossed the Thai border in my car a few times it's certainly harder getting your car in out than oneself

The average holiday period for working couples these days is a week. Often less

From Europe why would you come to Thailand. One day to Bangkok and one more day to your destination island/resort.

Thailand competes with so many destinations closer to Europe. Turkey and Egypt for example not to mention Spain and Greece.

From USA the competition is Mexico and the Caribbean not to mention that from the East coast Europe is much closer than Thailand.

American retirees who have more time are a massive market but what does Thailand do to attract this crowd who I like to call bubble tourists. (bubble in the sense that they fear independent travel).

9 hours ago, CygnusX1 said:

Yes, people who’ve never been to India have no idea of the incessant, eternal, never, ever ceasing blaring of horns there. Drove me crazy after just a week in that country. Thailand’s wonderful in comparison, noisy motorbikes aren’t pleasant, but they don’t even come close to the insanity inducing car horns in India.

Indian horn use is considered good driving in the sense that it signals awareness to other drivers.

I agree though it makes me mad with the over use of horns

One of the joys of Asia is the barber shave. Each country has its slight variant.

They are all great but perhaps my favourite is Bangladesh and Kolkata which both share Bengali history. What makes it special is the use of a crystal when the shave is complete to rub all over your face. While the crystal is room temperature its interaction with your skin is such that it feels that your face is being rubbed by a block of ice.

Can't say I love the ear cleaning in Vietnam.

Such joy for around US$1 or 2

In India where the prices to national monuments and museums is around ten times the price of local entry the foreigner tickets are highly regulated and tracked to avoid re-use. The usual means is electronic scanning of a QR code.

FYI the usual admission charge for a foreigner is around 200 baht  with the Taj Mahal being 400 baht.

My main gripe is that it is the same price (200 baht) for the "lesser" places which means you quite often give them a miss.

A weekly ticket for say 1000 baht would be great but imagine the fraud. (Then again some countries mange tickets like this with potos on the tickets etc

17 hours ago, Patong2021 said:

 

Did you consider the  population that is involved?

China population- 1,411,000,000 est.

China's Middle Class - 500-700 million people

China's wealthy est. - 6,000,000+ People have assets of USD $1million or more, 814 billionaires, 100,000+ people with assets in excess of USD$30million

 

The Chinese economy would need to be totally collapsed for its people to no longer have the money to take holidays. Even if only 10% of its middle class people  are left with the money to afford a holiday, that is still a pool of 50-60 million people.  The people who have money in China are still going to have money at the end of the Trump escapade.

 

 

 

What you say is true and often quoted for both China and India. What is not often analysed is what the Chinese/Indian middle class want from a tourist destination.

From what I read domestic tourism in China and India is going strongly (prior to Trump's tariffs at least).

One thought that strikes me re Chinese tourism is that they have become used to an "internet environment" including payment systems that is completely Chinese. Perhaps Thailand needs to include that environment if it hasn't done so already.

Also there's the dreaded influencers who are enormous in shaping Chinese short term habits.

At the end of the day I think the wealthier tourist just wants to feel safe, comfortable and welcome

43 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

I must do some research on my new retirement destination 

 

I'm so excited now ,

Mumbai looks ok , my friend suggested a City called Delhi 

 

I am now watching YouTube though,  there's a City for expats called GOA 

 

It looks nice on YouTube but may be too expensive for me

 

 

Kerala or Karnataka is where most expats go.

Kerala has a significant Christian community and is known locally as Gods own country.

Easy to get a five year visa allowing you to stay 180 days each calendar year.

India's not for everyone but have a visit by all means

Understand the local weather. 50 degrees in summer is common in many parts including Delhi. Air quality can be very bad.

Although India is not much bigger than Thailand as a landmass  it's enormous when you're there

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

a verdict without hearing the other party anda decision as always against the non Thai party

Normal for an ex parte injunction.

May even have been that Nestle didn't want to submit to the jurisdiction preferring to enforce the foreign arbitration order in its favour.

Jurisdictional fights are the norm if you have enough money

1 hour ago, johnnybangkok said:

Ok. One last time for those that are REALLY not getting this despite having it pointed out to them numerous times - it's not about tariffs - it's about trade deficits.

Agree

Vietnam offered to drop all tariffs on US goods and were immediately told US wants a lot more

The method of how they calculated to trade imbalances has been well publicised.

Childish in its simplicity but it is as follows.

10% tariffs was the default level which was imposed even on countries such as Australia which has a trade deficit favouring USA.

For the rest it is explained as follows:

"There was no explanation given for how each country’s “tariffs charged to the USA” were calculated. Boffins on the outside quickly worked it out: the number is just the 2024 US trade deficit with that country divided by the US’s imports from that country.

For example, in 2024, the US trade deficit with China was $US295.4 billion ($469 billion). US imports from China were $US438.9 billion. Dividing the deficit by the imports equals 67 per cent, which is the exact figure shown next to “tariffs charged to the USA” on Trump’s chart.

It’s the same for Thailand, Indonesia, the European Union, the Philippines, Israel, Japan and every other country this masthead has checked so far. "

You then divide by two for today's tariff imposition

Look behind the mirror and one easily sees that this is not about relative tariffs. It's more about what concessions USA can derive from each country. These deals will be done on a one by one basis and could include so much more than restrictions on the importation of goods.

So ask yourself what does USA want from Thailand?

I have no idea but it could be an airforce base or it could be delinking from China in some key way. It could also be allowing restriction free importation of pork.

My feeling is that Vietnam will be one of the first to do a "deal". At 47% tariff and 40% of its export market being to USA, Vietnam cannot withstand the pain for long.

The unknown is of course China. Will they do a "deal." If so one doesn't have to be too smart to understand what Uncle Sam will be asking for.

Of course China will blink last hoping that US consumers raise merry hell when they see all those Home Depot prices going up.

Welcome to the world of chaos. It's not pretty

23 hours ago, madmitch said:

SIngapore have a similar system now. Works fine...but that is Singapore, not Thailand 😉

The Singapore form even remembers your details from previous visits plus a very easy drop down menu for your hotel.

Of the ones in use it's certainly the fastest.

A bit of autofill does wonders

40 minutes ago, Hardcastle P said:

No one mentioned the reference to the noise impact ,f1 is renowned for the noise, thats part of the pull of the sport. I think the would be Thai promoters need to take a long hard look at what they can expect, may be formula EV is more their sport.

They are relatively quiet these days. A few years back they increased the noise level because the fans complained that the cars were too quiet

3 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

 

F1 has a 2 week window between races,  The European races are more important as that iw where they have a larger base.  

 

Right now the only track that is F1 approved is Buriram and there is no way Thaksin will allow that to happen.  

 

The only thing that has been granted by F1 is for Thailand to go ahead with invetigating if it could hold it.  Looking at what it brings to the city and is there a surface that the F! will authorize,  They also need sponsors to pony up the 36 million at least that is needed

Quite a few are one week. Melbourne/Shanghai... one week. Austria and Britain is another. Imola, Monaco, Spain .. three races in three weeks, USA and Mexico plus there 's a few more

The European races don't pay anywhere near the fees paid by Asia. Italy having two F1 races is not the norm.

Las Vegas pay nothing as F1 is trying to expand the US market.

Liberty has changed F1 beyond all recognition

19 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

The other question becomes which track is gong to lose F1 we know they are in love with North America so those races are out Singapore is a hit, so who gets the axe?

 

There's a week between China and Japan that is free plus the option of extending the season further

If an existing F1 is cancelled it will be in Europe. Don't forget they will be keen to return to Sochi in Russia if that becomes possible.

The drivers talk of Singapore as being the most physically draining due to the humidity. I expect Bangkok would be the same.

Unfortunately Singapore has positioned itself as the networking/must see race for South East Asia. Will the "money" people also come to Thailand. Probably not but you will get a lot of F1 tourists happy to pay US$1k a day for a good seating package

2 hours ago, ronster said:

Meeting all the safety standards will be time consuming and expensive , getting the road surface in acceptable condition will be more time and money and then add traffic chaos for days .

Just imagine a massive hole appears in the street as a pile of cars scream towards it , not to mention I guess they will have to cull or round up all stray animals in the area .

Singapore frequently has monitor lizards crossing the track. Las Vegas had "loose" man covers sucked up due to the incredible down force of the F1 cars.

Just part of the theatre

Thailand missed its chance pre covid.

Expansion races if any will be in USA.

Outside USA the rights payments and other F1 demands (eg. all paddock club revenue to F1 promoter) are just too high for many countries.

Some of the European races are vulnerable simply on a revenue basis

Multiple motor bike and van travellers have crossed Iran without incident Youtube is full of them.

I suspect they flew a drone or got too near a military facility.

Or could it have been this.... (dumb to say the least)

"Lindsday was conducting a research project during their journey, asking people what constitutes a "good life". She was due to present her findings at a conference in Brisbane in July.

Their final social media updates painted a positive picture of their experiences in Iran. One post showed Lindsay meeting with a religious leader at the Madrasa Naseriyeh in Isfahan."

https://www.gbnews.com/news/british-couple-detained-iran-distressing-situation

The A 320 Neo is the most in demand aircraft in the world. My guess is 2028 at the earliest for delivery.

The range has the potential to revolutionise medium distance flights (six hours) by eliminating hubs

The form is the norm these days but in Thailand's case it's also the precursor to the tourist fee.

Let's hop the website/app is more friendly than some others. Indonesia is a pain to say the least.

Also would be useful if you could opt to retain info for your next visit or dare I say if Countries had common questions that you could prefill before their "special local" questions