sendintheclowns

I miss it...but that was back, during the annals of Grocer Ted and Heathco.

Is there an online edition to subscribe to?

'Twas an honest mistake - (familiar?). Now, try to write anything on FB about this and you're likely to get sued for defamation.

that's why we moved from Phuket to Khanom, long long time ago.

23 minutes ago, ThailandLOS said:

 

You might want to check out Lazada. They were acquired by Alibaba last year and share a lot of the products. I recall seeing olympic bars in their assortment a while ago.

Lazada is useful; no delivery charges (with restrictions, for some districts). Several payment options, including COD. Also had no trouble returning an item; they picked it up promptly, without a charge.

have Thais always been this off-the-wall hotheaded? I asked a Thai 'lady' to follow the queuing  rules at Tops. Both she and her husband close to attacked me, chased me around the underground parking. Luckily, my wife kept saying, get int he car get in the car and lock the doors'. Banging on my car window, ironically, the man said ''you not tell Thais what to do - you bad farang go home, I have travel agency, know only good farang''.

Thank God I have a sensible wife, I have a really short fuse. Go figure.

19 hours ago, alocacoc said:

LPG. They will all explode. Only a question if time.

 

 

so will the whole world, only a question of time.

sets the mark for DT Junior.

2 hours ago, maoro2013 said:

What is the logic behind reducing the number of vans?

 

I don't think that is the answer, maybe cutting them totally would work, but reducing!!

agreed. There is no logic to reducing the number of vans. Less vans = packing even more Thais, like sardines. Every week, you get these announcements, most of which are plain laughable.

1 hour ago, Ace of Pop said:

That Entitled Generation of Kids justify Thailands love of Border Runs ,90 day Apple to Head Master,showing money in bank to some youngster in an office, Pictures of yer bloody house of all things .if you flew to Asia years ago it was on Private funds ,not Welfare Handouts taken working folk via Taxation.Good Ridance to the parasites,let tax money go to those with industrial injuries,and Military hurt defending the freedom those idle bums abuse


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

how to spell: write this 100 times:

''I will WEAR  black''....

''good RIDDANCE to the parasites''

your post just about makes me want to throw up.

RIP...when i was young, i thought I had 9 lives. now i know it was 8 chances and 1 life. its always a terrible loss for a family to lose a son or daughter, so young.

<http://bobdylan.com/songs/everything-broken/>

I guess he was here......

I can see the Gulf from my property - we have had huge waves, really high seas, on and off, this past month. It's the Monsoon, for gosh sakes. Unless its a calm day, there are no fishing boats out there. This Thai tourist company should have its licence suspended. The tourists who decided to go out - well they have a long, long way to go to get to Thai 4.0 .

21 hours ago, alant said:

"What is evident, however, is that other Thai beach destinations like Krabi and Khao Lak, as well as some locations in Vietnam, are honing up to take on local destinations in an evolving tourism market, so competition ‘is heating up out there’,” 

Well I never...

if you can't do it - lecture others

3 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

A shorter season due to a change in the market? What nonsense. The entire country is suffering from a declining tourism industry. And that will not change. It is a permanent declining trend. For a hundred valid reasons. As I stated previously:

 

I have a friend who recently stayed on Samui. He stayed at a resort that has 54 rooms. Normally, they are 100% booked, from about Dec. 20th, to about January 5th. This year, they only had 22 rooms filled. They are down 60% for the peak season. Many resorts are experiencing similarly alarming numbers. These hotels counted on the government to support them, when they spend millions on their properties, and the government has let them down, once again. They continue to drop the ball, at every opportunity. 

 

They trot out these projections, every time they get scared, and see the numbers dropping. Who was it that said, if you tell the people something often enough, eventually they will believe it? Well, not us. We are not buying your simpleton lies. Tourism is declining by the day. Perhaps 50 years from now, in a hospitality industry class at a university here, they will discuss how Thailand lost the golden egg of Western tourism. Those tourists, unlike most Chinese tourists, spent anywhere from $100 a day, to over $1,000 a day. They brought real money into the country, and in exchange, were treated with utter and complete disregard, scammed, disrespected, and abused. Eventually, most said no more. Thailand thought the country was something very special, and that nobody would ever say no, or find alternative places to visit. The fact is that there are countless other spots, that offer better service, more expertise in food and beverage (especially wine), reasonable import duties to sustain a luxury goods market, better training, and far better english skills. Thailand simply lost sight of the big picture, and had very little vision, with regard to big spending tourists, who need to be catered to, instead of scorned.  

 

The real solution is about encouraging tourists, and ex-pats, from countries that spend real money, to come here and visit. That message seems to have gotten lost, in the fervor to court the Chinese tourists, many of whom do not spend much money at all here. So, what happened? The Western tourists started to decline in number, and the genius minds at the TAT decided it was time to "lure" the Chinese. They came. But, they did not spend much money. Hotels, restaurants, gift shops, jewelers, galleries, spas, massage shops, bars, and countless other businesses suffered, and will continue to suffer from this extreme myopia, on the part of the officials in charge of tourism. Oh well. Can't say they were not warned. 

 

The neighbors are trying too hard, and making too much effort, and investing money. Thailand is not. Though this topic relates mostly to tourism, in a way it pertains to ex-pats living here too. And I too am considering other spots. Currently the top spot under consideration seems to be Spain. So much culture, great wine, alot of fascinating places to visit nearby, reasonable real estate, a language I speak, and a reasonable standard of living. The other spots in this region offer too much similar nonsense, and bad infrastructure. Too many "so called leaders" in this region too, who lack creative juice, nor do they care one iota for their people. And the really hot weather, which seems to be getting hotter, and drier, is not all that appealing, as I get older. Thailand is making no steps whatsoever, to improve upon itself. On alot of levels, it feels like it is either standing still, or more than likely going backwards. Frankly, the biggest draw at the moment is being close to my wife's family, the food, the relatively pleasant people, and the weakening of the baht. But, I dislike the government, and the level of ignorance being perpetrated by the fabulously inferior educational system here does not appear to bode well for the future of the place. I also despise the practice of face, and the staggering level of cowardice that accompanies that weak, pathetic quality. 

 

It is a real shame, as I find most Thai people to be quite lovely, friendly, warm, helpful and fun to be around. There are many aspects of life here, that I truly enjoy. I am sure many feel the same way. Just wish the country was not moving backwards, and was instead moving forward under the leadership of progressive minds, and due to a system of meritocracy, and forward looking vision. A nice dream indeed. Moving the country forward? I think not. 

It is a pity that it is already 2017, otherwise I'd vote yours the wisest post of 2016. :) My wife and I, who retired here 23 years ago, relate to much of what you describe. We are unhappy about the deterioration of all that was so attractive. We moved away from a touristic centre, 10 years ago, for those same reasons. The people in the countryside are still unspolied; in part (ironically) because of the small numbers of foreign tourists and retirees. What is working, is that domestic tourists are starting to discover their own natural heritage. Foreign eco-tourists are discovering and enjoying the slow pace of life.  Unfortunately, native Thais are only starting to learn about resource management (garbage, clean beaches, not overpricing nor 2tier pricing, and so on) but they are learning. The one worry is that TAT has arrived. thanks for your lengthy post. It should be required reading for everyone in the tourist business, esp. on Phuket.

21 hours ago, hellstens said:

The LPG is more safe than Gasoline.

If the Vans gastank explode, there will be nothing left of the Van,

as you see the Back of the Vas is not damage, it would be gone if the tank explode. It is more truly it is gasoline who burned 

So logically no problem with the LPG.

RIP all people who lose there life 

Thanks for clarifying, Hellstens. I have LPG in my SUV. Don't know why there's an assumption that it causes death. I drive, always assuming someone else is going to hit me (especially since they travel on the wrong side of the highway.

RIP to all those lost in this horrible accident - I can not imagine how many families have been affected.

It is due to bad driving, overloaded transport, negligent drivers...the list is endless, the carnage is terrible and the solutions offered will NOT work, unless people are subject to annual (dramatically improved) licensing renewals. Maybe the wrong time to point the finger - but highway police are not equipped, nor motivated to monitor who is licensed to drive minivans, overloaded pickups, etc.

Agreed - come on Mr. Prime Minister!! Stop talking kap about Thai 4.0 and fix the problems at your doorstep, please.

On 28/12/2016 at 10:36 AM, jak2002003 said:

If you have always wanted to own land then you must know you can never do that in Thailand as a farang. 

 

How exactly are you and your wife treated as second class citizens?  I have mostly found I am treated better than most Thai people and Thais seem to think 'normal' farangs are a class above them.. being very polite and helpful.  Of course there are frustrating legal things.. like filling in stupid forms so often... but in the grand scale of things it only takes a few minutes of your time and its no big deal.

 

It sounds like you have decided you don't like it here already and so I advise you to go to another country and buy land like you want to.

 

We are a western couple also... but we rent the land we live on.  I find the good things here far outweigh the bad things....  it was the other way around in the UK!!!! 

Don't take things so seriously. My purpose was not to seek your advice (to go to another country); I was playing devil's advocate, looking for a range of experiences and opinions. You also appear to have missed my followup post. We've been here since mid 1990's.  We care very much about our Thai friends and Thailand's wellbeing. It is just that we see an erosion of what made it so attractive in 1993. The social values are disappearing, so are the easygoing attitudes about what westerners could do to secure one's residence for a lifetime. You may be comfortable to rent the land. But how do you rely on the landowner to not 'bump' your rental to force you to leave that house you renovated or built? Do you have a right of way registered (just cost us 200k).? are you protected if the landlord dies?

Somewhat off topic; there are many horror stories about Thai families tearing apart over land rights.

 As far as reporting by and monitoring of westerners,  well time will tell.

Again, the best of wishes to all at TV for a peaceful New Year.

I nominate the DarmaKarma guy for a reprise role, as Sir Alexander Dane,  Galaxy Quest)

''By Grabthar's hammer, by the suns of Worvan, you shall be avenged. ... I have one job on this lousy ship, it's *stupid*, but I'm gonna do it! ''

44 minutes ago, meatboy said:

i bet they had a right knee's up last night,i wonder who led the first song OH THE HOKEY POKEY.

Right!! except the DarmaKarma guy is ruining the musical chairs game, by refusing to give up his chair.

we all know how Thais are browbeaten at school to not complain. after decades of inertia, it is good to see Thais started complaining publicly about corruption. Foolish, but brave fellow. what posters are missing is the ripple effect, on social media, for otherThais to express themselves.

road rage, school rage, whats next in the Land of Smiles.?

in the weekend coming up to such a sad anniversary as that of the tsunami, one would think the unsavory types who post such crappy witticisms would give it a break. RIP a FAMILY has lost someone, idiots.

51 minutes ago, MalandLee said:

Samaritans do exist here, it it VERY good that you post what you did, we ALL need reminding that people such as this exist, from time to time.

HOTLINES: SAMARITANS

Bangkok:
(02) 713-6793 (THAI)
12 noon - 22:00 hrs, 7 days/week
(02) 713-6791 (ENGLISH)
24 hours/day, 7 days/week

Chiang Mai:
(053) 225-977/8 (THAI)
19.00 - 22.00 hrs
(Mon, Tues, Thurs, Sat)

Good one....this info should be posted as a permanent TV forum headline. What surprises me is that his embassy did not refer him to at least one or more support groups. Isnt that their business? All embassies say that ''their main job is to represent their respective governments and to offer assistance to visiting citizens. Long stay - you're out of luck, a 3rd class citizen. RIP to this poor man and sympathy to any family he left behind.