geisha

So do I . I’m often traveling far and still need cash as most of the places I go to hardly use cards or phones outside the main cities . I also don’t want to be part of a world where everything is digital. Doctors starting to do it now, complicated. Banks are closing everywhere , scam calls and scam sites abound, millions of people loosing their life savings . AI is going to become popular which will open doors to more rip offs and misery. I’ll stick to my cash, I do have cards , I use them for expensive bills/ items hotels flights. When the electricity goes off , the card terminal fails, I’m ok.

All numbers etc leading to bank accounts ? Not illegal ?

Sorry to say but it’s usually drink or drugs involved . Also, sounds like mostly tourists/long stayer, not so many expats.

We wouldn’t put up with foreigners/ tourists or locals behaving like animals in our own country would we? It’s true things are getting well out of hand in Phuket, and maybe other areas too ? News seems to be focusing on Phuket. I believe that foreign proven criminals should be sent home. No wasting money locking them up, deport with a big red stamp in their passport. Id love to know what is the reason so many come here to thieve/ deal / be violent ?

I’m sorry, but that gave me a laugh ! What the hell is happening ?

Aha ! That explains your avid interest . I will still wait to see what the PM does about this. Always innocent until proved guilty for me and I honestly he has tread on someone’s toes

Definitely, unless you like to dance to Carabao.

He has not been arrested, and if he was guilty he would have left the country long ago. He’s not stupid.

Even if the couple had broken up 4 months before her holiday ?

Gosh , you seem to know everything about him ? You ought to help out in this investigation! Sounds like a personal grudge to me against all police , or a case of putting all your eggs in the same basket.

From what was published last week , the PM halted all investigations and warrants and handed over the case to the NACC ! Rather strange that certain police stations are going against this order ? I wonder how this is possible?

Great advert tho ,for the time .

Bali has been ruined by mass tourism and the awful Russians behaving like they’ve taken over. They’ve practically ruined Phuket too. Most are cheap Charly’s , they reserve the front rows of the beach chairs in Phuket , seen it myself, pay in advance of course , not that I’d sit there, all my Thai friends there are disgusted by their behavior. Gone are the old days of the friendly farang buying everyone a beer at sunset.

You are denying the fact that the pavements are crumbling ? That the infrastructure is catastrophic? That the sea water is filthy ?

I’m in a mixed mind. I agree the world would be better without , and that there are a lot of problems with drugs. I honestly believe the legalization of cannabis was very badly thought out, and it sent a very bad message to the whole world !! The last few years ,IMO, has had a rise in a huge amount of thugs/ thieves/ dealers and crazies on big bikes. Thailand has the reputation that anything and everything goes. Where some western places like Amsterdam handles it properly and quite strictly, it still attracts people wanting a cannabis cafe. Added to the age old reputation for prostitution, Thailand is now considered a drugs haven.

I’ve got most of their books still.

Also stayed at the Rajah , if I remember correctly it had a large forecourt with Taylor shops and a popular travel agency . Was the Dynesty opposite ?

Of course not ! The Thai men use the beach ! All those lines of waiting taxis and tuc tucs, just a few meters to the beach to have a pee right where your children are playing in the sand tomorrow morning !!! That’s why I never use the beach. My pool is cleaner.

The Atlanta was my hotel for my first visits to Bangkok. I was younger and felt safe there. Fantastic building, 1 st pool in Bangko I think ? Loved the map room, the restaurant was fantastic, some of the best authentic Thai food I ever had. Lots of journalists stayed there and I met really interesting characters. Later in my professional life, I based my restaurant menus on the Atlanta ones. I still have the cut outs and the menus which I copied by hand. Still have them. My menus are still going strong today although I retired a few years ago and sold up after 35 years , So the Atlanta menu lives on.

Often the buggies are used by passenger assistance airport service. You or your insurance apply for this before the flight stating your medical needs. I unfortunately had use of it once . Very good service. As for Fast track companies, they’ve been around forever. I used them years ago. Very good service, I used their limo too to make it all easier. Of course Fast Track, whether the airport legal one or the advertised one, does not make baggage arrival faster !!!! Different service altogether . It’s a service which needs a complete reorganization, it’s much too long. I rarely wait more than 10/15 mins in Heathrow or Paris.

Of course many tourists ( and non tourists) need a place for more than a month. Too expensive to stay in a hotel for this amount of time, and not all condos will do short term rent .Also, people like the added extras such as a small kitchen/ pool/ internet/ international TV channels. That’s where Airbnb can offer many options. I would défi keep the law as it is , illegal under 30 days . There are so many small hotels and chain hotels like Accors Ibis for cheap short stays. Airbnb notices should be posted on main entrances visibly, and checked up by the authorities regularly. .

I bought the BP due to Trink and Post Box , which was good in those days. Yes, Trink was one of a kind, entertaining and representative of the 80s for me. Bangkok was so different then, exciting, interesting. I looked forward to his stories and the house maid from Yasathon . Some of the comical ones I’d cut out and send to a friend back home , in the days we wrote letters. I still love Bangkok , I’d live there if it was breathable.

Centara or Center point Terminal 21. Should be lively.

Hi, if I had to eat, I’d sit across the road from a nice restaurant, there’s a few on Beach road Jomtien, there’s Akvavit / great food, and further down towards the night market there’s a great restaurant too, does good pizzas , it’s a hotel with big restau , they do Elvis shows nights on weekends. They might even deliver to the beach if you buy all the drinks from the lounger staff. l think it’s Soi 8 corner beach side.

This taking over by certain nationals in Phuket is not just since a year. On Kata beach a good few years back, much before Covid, the Thais burnt down Russian signs and shop fronts ! They had already moved in ! Slowly in the beginning they have bought up all the cheaper condos, and since the war in Ukraine started they’ve really taken off. I was there visiting Thai friends and did they have stories to tell. Phuket is ruined! Exploding cost of living, condos, restaurants dishing out any old rubbish as there are too many customers, they can’t manage ! Shocked me . Everyone knows what they are doing, illegal taxis, illegal rentals to their own kind, property , you name it. I escaped back to Bangkok , and breathed a sigh of relief . My visits in the future will be a few days to visit my Thai friends , I have only one good western friend , all the others have long left .