Scouse123

The latter. Yep, Agree with that, I have met loads of decent fun loving Aussies and a few idiots, it's the same with my people and countrymen.

Cops will be round looking for their %%%

Middle of a field with a tinfoil hat on?

That's why I won't go to Aussieland, people like him.

Nothing to add but my agreement.

What happened to the US kid and that horse, that's what I want to know about. Last I heard, he had "proposed marriage" to save a scandal.

Well, his underlings were involved by all accounts in the gambling saga and he is by association, as they were his staff. The PM hasn't done anything to help or hinder from what I can see. There are certainly major players grouping and determined to see the back of him. It's a messy business when sharks start eating sharks

I don't care one way or the other, but it looks like his goose is well and truly cooked and he is lashing out and blaming anybody but himself. He knows the game, he's been an active participant for long enough. He forgot the first rule of the RTP,' If you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas ' It's not the first time he has resurrected his career, but it could be the final nail in the coffin this time.

The Problem with the current and previous governments is they harp on about quality tourists but they don't provide a quality destination in all its forms. They provide a nickel-and-dime service but want to quote gold-standard dollar pricing structures for everything, it just does not wash. Then to justify silly ill thought out, knee-jerk policies they quote what other countries in the region do whose tourists do not resemble Thailands. Thailand is not Singapore, Bhutan, Vietnam, or Malaysia which attract a very different clientele.

I was in Pattaya full-time from the early nineties till the first decade of the 2000s and the place was fun. Very few Russians, Chinese but only organised flag-waving coach tours, not the massive influx there is now. There was an Arab quarter, but they kept themselves to themselves. Big-spending Westerners, loads of guys working offshore with plenty of cash, well-heeled guys from all over the globe. It was fun, it was exciting, and there weren't all the big mafia killings and extreme violence that seemed to have crept in back then, Pattaya was a big little town. The fun has gone out of it and it no longer holds the ' mystique ' of bygone days. The internet explosion didn't help much.

Older Western women from the UK are heading to The Gambia, Kenya, Tunisia etc and it ain't for the beaches.

I don't smoke but I thought cigs were cheap enough in Thailand, not the 12/13 GBP I hear about in the UK. Booze, well Red wine is a better deal in Cambodia. But for accommodation, Thailand wins for variety and value for money, electricity Thailand wins price-wise, Healthcare is Thailand and so are fresh fruits and vegetables.

Think you have summed it up well tbh.

He was earning plenty but he knew what was going on and when he'd had enough, that was it. He could afford it, but he gave her enough rope and she hung herself.

I remember many years ago in Pattaya chatting with a bar girl I knew very well down there who had been dating a guy from the UK who worked offshore and was wealthy. I knew him and he was a pleasant lad, but nobody's fool. They had just broken up and she was sitting in the bar glum-faced, so I asked what had happened. She went on to tell me she had asked for a new motorbike and he bought one, then after a while there was the farm plus animals which he provided for, ( a lie of course was that project, to extract cash) then there was the obligatory pick-up, which he paid for again. Eventually, when he asked to see the items mentioned above, they weren't there. She had either scammed and pawned them or simply had the money and spent it. So they broke up. She blamed him for the breakup because she said when she asked the first time, he gave, so then she asked again and he gave, so then she said, she just couldn't stop asking! And that is similar to what we have here in Thailand at present, they are trying to balance books obviously through 9 or 10 years of mismanagement and turning to the obvious cash cow, the tourists.

I agree with you and plenty on here missing the point with comments of " it's only 300 baht" Do members recall that we'll add something to the ticket for all the new biometrics at the airport which enhances arrivals and departures, well did it? Then there was the add-on for those that weren't insured and it was to pay for the hospitals, as Thailand was fed up allegedly, with these people who couldn't pay or had inadequate medical insurance, so we'll just put another ' add on ' in there to cover this. Then there was an argument about an add-on or price increase for tourists to keep and maintain the national parks in good order as tourist attractions because obviously, only foreigners litter and such in these places. And the list continues until somebody says ' enough is enough ' and they decide with their feet to seek new places. This is the strategy of the Thais in government, who haven't the faintest idea about the tourist on the ground and will milk the cow until it's dry and then bleat where have all the tourists gone blaming everything else from Climate change to the Global economy. They will blame anything except their dumb policies. The government here float these ideas and waits and sees what the blowback is before coming out and saying what their proposals are, so they can blame some Somchai ' who wasn't authorised to speak ' if it goes belly up. Are you people not surprised why it is hazy with no government announcement regarding their plans on taxation for people here over 180 days, they are seeing where the land lies, so they can back-peddle quickly if they hit significant resistance. Lastly, comparing Pattaya Thailand to Bhutan is like comparing Liverpool to Monte Carlo.

The report makes little sense in the real world. Sure, the whole purpose of the real banknotes backed up by photocopies is to prove selling not possession to use. In the drug world, there used to be in Thailand, Pure possession ( this has now been removed and replaced) Possession to use, Possession to sell, ( having a quantity larger than what they believe is for personal use) and Possession to sell and caught in the act of selling which is the most severe. A few years ago, they changed what quantities you needed to have to fall into the different categories, but the picture clearly shows they have him banged to rights on the most serious charge. Sometimes, the culprit can ' buy his way out of one of the selling charges ' before he goes to court, meaning he is charged with possession to sell and not caught in the act of selling. That gets a lower sentence. But ecstasy is Class A, and Cocaine used to be Class B. The Cocaine is marginal, and the ecstasy is a small amount, however still Class A or Class 1. The money and photocopies can be a problem ( shakedown!)

The RTP doesn't recognize entrapment in these cases.

You are spot on. It is the method used to prove he was selling the drugs which carries a far more severe sentence as opposed to buying to use. I don't think he needs to worry about work permits where he is going.

So I guess he's not in the above pic then?

I went home as I only live around the corner and they told me to return in the afternoon. I did that and I was the only one there. I then did the colour blindness and reaction tests, paid, got licence and went home. I got my licence there and then, but I could see a pile of documents and licences on their desk where they had told locals to collect their licences the day after. I honestly didn't get it either about the 300 baht and the video, but happy to give it a miss.

I used to have the same view, but they are not when you get to know them. They are reserved. Vietnamese have a wicked sense of humour. They don't suffer fools gladly.

He won't, They don't divulge parentage to test tubers!

Are you still drinking that coffee in your free use of an internet cafe so you can post rubbish like this? I think they should post a time limit, so you can't sit there all day posting crap and telling them you are a digital nomad.

Because they don't want to bump into people like you.