geisha

They are building condos and villas on all the hills available. We saw what happened last year when there was a landslide from Big Buddha right down to Kata beach!! The Phuket authorities are making hundreds of millions of Baht by permitting this sacrilege to carry on, because that’s what it is, the destruction of the country side and hills, displacing of Thai families, exploding the foreign population and allowing all sorts of criminals, thugs and wasters to take over . As long as the $s keep rolling in , no one cares. My Thai friends who were born there and had their livelihoods taken away from them, moved away in the 80s and 90s to Phuket Town. Which is now suffocating in traffic fumes and traffic jams never ending. Makes me sick.

I believe you, but it’s not plastered over all the daily news rags is it. Thailand has a bad reputation and it is luring bad tourists .

It’s nothing to do with the men , attractive /rich/ young/ , Thai women will always choose a rich Thai man over a rich foreigner. As for all the idiots who turn up in Pattaya or Phuket , it’s because they’ve heard of all the hookers, cannabis , bars and clubs, they come for the Thai reputation. No point in them going to Malaysia or Bali is there.

No it is not. Thaksin was a very successful businessman before he went into politics. He always was generous to the poor , and he was the only one . He did a lot to help-Phuket families after the Tsunami and also when the bird flu stopped all farms working. He personally gave a huge show on Bangla rd and encouraged everyone to eat chicken, giving it away to Thais for free. He had all hotels and restaurants present on Soi Bangla , and that’s when we saw how poor the Phuket people really were, they walked to get there when the buses were full, they came from everywhere in the hills around. He did some bad actions with the drug smugglers, but otherwise he was loved. I don’t see many Thai politicians helping the poor, not then, not now.

If you buy your bottle Duty Free, which is after check in, that’s allowed . Not if you buy it in any outside shop. That’s how it works elsewhere. Normally it would be sold to you in a duty free bag. Duty free is not in your checked in luggage I’d you have any. Just carry it with your hand luggage.

There was water shortage when I was there from 1984!! Trucks all day long. Population has risen immensely. Waste water is pumped into the sea. Waste mountains are growing. The island is drowning in greed.

They’re getting it ready for the war museum.

And I thought it was sorted !

Exactly. These added on nationalities will earn 10 times more a month in Dubai or Saudi. My nephew is project manager for a huge Dubai company and he has a fantastic crew. His crew all go through training before starting .

Not everything done in the US is welcome everywhere. Nobody needs a gun here. If someone breaks into your house do you just shoot them ? Kids have guns here too ! You are promoting violence .

From what I read this morning, all the villagers helped this poor man. Immigration have taken him to a resort for the night and will accompany him on the beginning of his journey home. I thank all the villagers, he was obviously a good man. They have shown compassion. All the man’s family who are involved in drugs are going to a rehabilitation center. Drugs ruin so many .

I wanted to fly Qatar in February. Apparently they were the worlds best long haul,according to Conde Naste or similar. So I looked on TripAdvisor and another flight review and the were hundreds of bad reviews. I don’t understand so many bad reviews and still get first place ?? What am I not understanding ? So next time I’m flying Emirates which I’m used to , and flies to my local airport,Nice.

Rubbish, I live here and have worked all my life with Cambodians and Thais. Have never heard a word. Maybe happened once or twice in all of France and then embellished,

Let’s hope family are contacted and can pay his one way ticket home at least. One way can’t cost much. He really needs to get home, no matter what. If not, hopefully a friend or two could open a go fund me in his name. I had a neighbour in jomtien, beautiful big condo , pool etc near the beach.Hed completely lost his mind and sometimes sat in the pool for hours in the sun. Talked to himself, thin as a rake. I did ask about him but the office didn’t seem to care. Never saw a visitor. Then one day he was gone. I don’t think he died, maybe hospitalized. I have a lot of compassion for people like this, no one deserves to be old, ill and abandoned. Not everyone marries a bar girl either. Sometimes it’s just very bad luck.

I love to go to the movies, but not Thai which I find juvenile slap stick. I like the comfort and usually take a lie down with blanket, great. I saw Conclave which was marvelous and the Bob Dylan film, A Complete Unknown. The theaters were empty. I think it’s the price that puts people off. For me it’s a night out with a good meal after. I’d go every week if they showed better films . The only Thai film that I remember and all seem to love, even outside Thailand, is ONG Bak.

Question. When something like this happens and the perpetrator is Thai and the foreigners hurt are in hospital through no fault of their own, who pays for the hospital and repatriation ?

Opposite tukcom and outside friendship. We’re 4 police trucks with half a dozen police, evenings around 8pm. I often eat further up at the vegetarian restaurant, I never saw them stop one car or motorbike in the few days they were there. What were they doing ?

Thais have often offered me fruits to taste. If I like that fruit, I’ll try and buy, even if it’s a small amount. Thais in general are kind. As are foreigners.

The right lane is for those turning right. The middle one is for those who « might » turn right. And the left one is for those that are sure they want to go straight on. Clear as mud.

Maybe he escaped a call center and they were chasing him ?

Saying what not many will say. If three certain countries went elsewhere, then Thailand would have more success in sustainable tourism.

Japan is a super fascinating country, lovely people , very polite , lots of food choice, lots to do there, super clean, and marvelous transport. I find the country mesmerizing and hope to go again early April for the Cherry blossom season.

I love Koh Chang and feel sorry about your recent troubles due to the chaos of border fighting which is certainly a no no for attracting tourists. As a long time visitor of Koh Chang , I think I have stayed in every upmarket hotel from White Sands to Kai Bee. Mostly the latter. I will say that the hotels have gone a bit over the top with their rates in the last 2 years. I do admit that it’s not only a problem in KChang, but the island is difficult to get to and for me a car with private driver there and back to Bangkok starts to add up. The flight option doesn’t save time . Another problem is that I have also noticed that the main villages there are being a bit neglected, with trash . It was much cleaner when there were less tourists. When you pay more, you expect more.

Not only the rich. There are probably hundreds of thousands of Thais living abroad , and all the workers in UAE , etc.

From reading reports the Cambodian army started moving forward towards the border since February. Long before the famous telephone call that was probably a set up by Hun Sen.I doubt we will ever hear the truth behind it.