richard_smith237

But this ‘ideology’ we all have is a somewhat over simplified dumbing down of the issue at hand. Why don’t the police do their job properly in the first place ? They’re not paid enough ? Why not ? not enough government funds ? no enough tax paid ? Government buying Submarines ? Or... can’t do there job as locals will rise up and complain at police stations ? It will cause bad publicity, station bosses will be told to calm down their efforts ? Once the surface is scratched... How would any of us deal with these issues ? We’d fail pretty quickly... How would we get 230,000 police officers across the nation to change their attitudes over night ? Ultimately, there needs to be a whole cultural shift towards road safety... If the nation could somehow be convinced they’d catch Covid-19 by driving / riding poorly the death toll and accident rate would plummet....

It is for this reason that I sometimes see my attempts at communication with waitresses returning the wrong item !! Quite long ago I realised it wasn’t a case of my poor Thai, it was a case that the person with whom I am speaking is not a ‘central Thai speaker, they are from Isaan, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam etc and their Thai is about as good as mine.... (or worse). I also realised that when ordering, my Wife also encounters exactly the same issues and the order which I perfectly understood was obviously not understood by the waitress. When I (we) ask the waitress to repeat our order we hear the different accent, identify the difference and ask for conformation of the order.. At this stage we realise we are dealing with someone who can hardly understand us or someone who was hardly listening in the first place and wrote down or remembered what they thought we wanted, not what we had actually ordered. I suspect this puts some foreigners off trying to communicate in Thai. In busier tourist areas, particularly Phuket, I have found that sticking to English keeps things much simpler, my Wife even orders in English now in such areas... its just easier all around unless we are dealing with someone who presents as ’switched on’ and isn’t going to allowed their ears to be fooled by their eyes !...

Which one is it ??... no one was pointing...

Oh no.... here we go again....

How can you blame the parents if they themselves have no idea its dangerous. I agree... Given the parents the education so they can make informed decisions. Teach todays parents and children about road safety.... Todays Children will be tomorrow’s parents who can then pass on that knowledge of road safety along with continued education and TV campaigns etc... When nothing is done, when there are no attempts to educate people its unfair to blame the uneducated.... Should parents be self taught about road safety ?... perhaps they are more mature and know a little more, but do they really ??? What about TV campaigns at prime time.. i.e. 1 min at each commercial break on TV... just a start. Education reform - insist schools teach children road safety. We may not stop 15 year olds riding bikes - we can teach them to do so more safety. We may not stop 13 and 14 year olds riding bikes, but we can do more to stop them and / or teach them to ride more carefully and safety. We will not stop every incident, but inroads can be made to make improvements.

The issue of course is that when the child's motorcycle is confiscated Somchai complains to Nattawut the PhuYai Baan and they go to the Police station together.... Nattawut points out how the child can no longer get to school.... the police conceded and return the bike... This happens over and over again, so often that the police ultimately give up..... .... Somchai's child and 2 others die 4 weeks later when they hit a lorry at a cross roads..... Somchai, Nattawut and society in general complain to the Police that they didn’t do enough to stop under-age children riding motorcycle.... We read the report on Asean-now... ’Netizens upset as another 3 school children killed on Thai roads’...

I'm not so sure... Around March we will see some prominent police force figure announced that people cannot ride in the flat-bed of a pickup.... those who do will be charged. There will be public outcry, someone else in the police force will overturn the decision / announcement and announced that its ok, for now... Notice how its all gone very quiet about the ’seatbelt law’ (seatbelts in all back seats)... ??? what about those in the flat bed pick-ups ??... Its too much hassle, too many people complain. So what happens.... The laws are in place... but people are not stopped from braking them. But, when they do and people get upset, the response is ’there was a law’....

They're doing what the public want them to do. They applaud giving kids jumping jacks and press-ups instead of fines and motorcycle confiscation. If they started arresting kids and parents and crushing their bikes, the public would soon kick up a fuss and say it's too harsh. Agree with both comments... The Police enable these incidents through lack of enforcement. The Police are apathetic towards enforcement because it takes too much effort and causes too much conflict.

But ultimately, IF you do all that and then come to a stop and the person riding towards you has still not noticed and hit you.... well... then what ???? These incidents will always happen - but they happen more frequently in Thailand because there are so many motorcyclists, so many without helmets, so many young, so many who are not trained, parents don’t understand safety or pass it on to their children, police don’t enforce safety, the general attitudes towards safety are extremely slack.... so many factors... But to add to your ‘if I was faced with’ comment... I have been faced with.... I family (of 3) riding down the pavement.. swerved off the pavement onto the main road along which I was riding my motorcycle, and road straight towards me... I stopped and hit my horn, I couldn’t swerve because I hadn’t checked my blindspot recently and didn’t want to get cleaned out by passing vehicle..... Of course, this was all my fault... the rider of the motorcycle an apparent father of one and husband of another looked at me quite angrily.... I clearly should not have been riding in the correct direction on the correct side of the road !!!!.... He possibly never realised what he did was wrong or dangerous, he has probability risked the lives of is wife and child numerous times since...... Sadly, there are simply so many on the roads who are not trained or educated.... this costs lives of many innocents. The one single thing that nearly every School child will grow up and do is use their own transport, in Thailand, the UK or any other nation. This absence of road safety awareness is a huge failing in so many societies. Why aren’t children taught about road safety here in Thailand ? why aren’t they in the UK ??? Learning to drive / ride safety is far far more useful to any person as a life skill than being able to draw a flower etc... I’m not suggesting ‘life skills (including driving / riding) should replace other subjects, but it most certainly should be in every curriculum globe wide.

Its not a private drive way. While the land on which a supermarket is placed may be privately owned, it is a public space, in this case this was a public-road.

Exactly that, its quick and easy.... (this is how we make transfers etc.. when owing others or receiving money for football subs / games etc).... BUT... sometimes when the other party receives the QR Code Image their phone doesn’t recognise it as a QR code and they are stuck in the situation of ‘having a QR Code, but not being able to scan it on their Phone Banking App’..... This is usually an issue with how tech savvy the other party is. Our phone banking Apps are able to select an ‘image’ (i.e. the image of the QR code we have just received)... but some people don’t know this so get stuck... its a not really a steep learning curve, its just developing tech. The other option of course is ‘PromptPay’ which is very simple and simple involves knowing the other parties phone number.

Anyone with a 200 Thai word vocabulary already has a 1000 word vocabulary, they just have to work on the tone !!!! ????

Some valid points here.... With anything I consider wholly important.... i.e. seeking a medical opinion etc I will only converse with a doctor whose English is excellent, my Thai may never be good enough for that.... A plateau has been reached whereby significant effort needs to be made to step beyond 'conversation-casual’ to ‘professional business’... and when dealing with anything or anyone at a ‘professional business’ level their English is usually fluent. The exception here would be dealing with the police - but at a checkpoint etc my Thai is good enough to argue, object to their BS etc !! (although getting stopped is a very rare occasion these days). That said, there are so many times when speaking with local labourers, the Amphur office staff, the local juristic staff, security guards, delivery staff, etc etc is all useful....

Why would you want to converse with a Thai that probably left school at age 12. They don't know anything, they've never been anywhere, their IQ is 10 points below ours ........ 'this food is very spicy' is about as interesting as a conversation with a Thai can get. Thats your projection and perhaps a facet of the life you live and the circles within which you mix (or rather don’t mix). There are plenty of people to speak Thai with, from the very simple conversations with the local noodle seller or taxi driver... yes, about spicy food or the weather etc.... to more in-depth conversations about family life, friends, visiting places, to football debates etc with guys I play football with, or guys in other teams I play against in tournaments etc (football usually ends up with a few beers after)....

Japan... Awesome... You can stay in a Ryokan near Mt Fuju..... Bullet Train to various other cities including Kyoto Explore Tokyo, interesting streets and cafe’s... to temples. Some good museums (unfortunately TeamLab Borderless is closing this month). The Crazyness of Harajuku (Take<deleted>a st) and Shinjuku... Outside of Thailand I think Japan is one of the best food destinations in the world... just rocking up to any hole in the wall foodshop or walking into any restaurant and blindly ordering returns some outstanding experiences....

I won’t judge other expats and foreigners here for not being able to speak Thai. But, I will judge other expats and foreigners who live here if their attitude is ‘why bother? and they refuse to even try the basics’ .... There are so many dismissive excuses people will use to avoid admitting there is an underlying laziness or lack of intelligence or combination of both... For me, the reason I’m not better at Thai than I am is that I’m lazy and not smart enough with languages... I should be wholly fluent by now and I’m not. The reason I’m not is that I’ve never had any formal training. The reason I’ve never had any formal training is that I travel too much, but thats just an excuse.... the reality is that when I here I want to enjoy my time here not attend class or lessons etc.. I’ve been very fortunate that I have picked up Thai to a level whereby I can get by in most situations, hold conversations etc.... but I struggle when conversations become more advanced.

Bangkok Bank App: To pay with QR coded: 3 Taps: 1) Tap on App to open it (face recognition) 2) Tap on Scan and scan the QR code - (key in amount if its not automatic) 3) Tap on Confirm after confirming amount and vendor Done To Receive with QR code: 4 Taps Tap on App to open it (face recognition) Tap on Scan Tap on ‘scan’ icon (top right corner) Tap on Receive with QR code and your QR code will come onto the screen.

IF you are a member of Thailand Elite (which comes with a visa.... 600,000 baht for 5 years up to 2 Million Baht for 20 years)..... you will arrange for your arrival service and onward AOT transfer via phone or e-mail to the Thai Elite Member Service contact centre.

Where does it say an automated gate? It says counters open in various aisles, with more desks for Thais than foreigners erm.... If the photo of an ‘automatic gate’ wasn’t enough of a giveaway... there is also the article itself....

You've never once seem the bill rung up.. and someone is ready with their phone to point and pay???... hmmm... never... hmm... sounds like BS argumentative confirmation bias to me... The issues you describe are with people who are just slow at everything... These same people get home, then start looking for their keys in their bag. These same people get to their car, then start looking for their keys. These same people wait at the check out, then start looking for their purse or wallet after the cashier has told them how much... These same characters consume time everywhere they go no matter what payment option they would choose - I agree that because of their unfamiliarity with the QR system they are slower... But the QR payment is not slower for me and many of my friends who use it because we are not bumbling fools... we know there is about to be a QR code that we need to scan... its simple and quick when you are used to it.

Really, You've studied this? I can only tell you anecdotely that they Thais with QR codes are always slower. Facts are facts. Facts are facts ????... You have no facts, just anecdote, as do I. I often pay with QR code, my friends pay with QR code, we do so at the restaurant, pub, supermarket. The reason we do so is that its simpler and quicker. Now... IF some people are slower, those same people are probably slower at a lot of other things because they are less familiar with the technology. Then you have people who are for whatever reasons looking become upset at change and look for any issue to confirm their bias. QR payment is quicker for those who use it frequently and are organised and prepared - mostly young people familiar with the tech: Its point camera, scan, hit confirm, done. But.. it is slower if someone is inefficient or not so familiar with the tech... If they are going wait until the cashier has finished ringing everything up, then dig their phone out of their pockets, then open the app, then put in their code (or use face ID), then select payment, then select payment by QR code etc.... Some people are just inefficient... And its the boomer’s who complain about this stuff.... the older generation who struggle with, dislike and do not see the ‘point in change’... we’ve seen some of this ‘boomer attitude’ in this thread so far.

Yes... thats exactly my point... You missed it or disagree with it. Why were todays parents not educated on road safety yesterday ??.... the ‘system’ has let them both down. The ‘system’ as we are calling it is also letting down future generations of children down by not educating tomorrows parents today.

OMG! This is an admission that airport safety is sub-standard.....???? Not really... For years Suvarnabumi airport already has a ‘boarding pass / passport’ check to stop non-passengers entering the secure area - the only change is that there will also be automated gates for this.

So... who was checking that she had undergone training?, had a full licence to ride a motorcycle?, who ensured that there was training and road safety education available in the first place? The system or absence thereof most definitely let this young girl and many others down. The system let this young girls parents down, if there is no available training, no effective policing and if this young girls father himself was unaware of the dangers and risks because he himself had no road safety training then I’d argue he too was let down by the ’system’... It could be argued that the vast majority of Thailands road users are let down by the system and those who ’should’ be better placed to ensure greater road safety and education - the ’system’ i.e. those in positions of decision making power are failing the people because they do not care.

The Indian guy is claiming... “no touch, I did not touch”... Meanwhile the screeching woman is saying “you no eat for free”.... Did the Indian man take some food from the street stall ? Did the Indian touch some food at the street stall but not take it ? Did the lady simply think the Indian man took food and was mistaken ? The Indian guy seems very adamant he did nothing. The lady seems very adamant he did. Either way, the Thai’s were way too eager to turn this accusation into aggression. This is where the police need to be around to de-escalate any situation such as this. Too many situations such as this in places such as Pattaya turn into someone getting their head stamped on or horiffic and completely unnecessary injuries when locals have seemed hungry to escalate something simple into violence.