jingjai9

What do you expect? For years she has been told time and time again how great and special she is around the world. I guess these comments are a part of her growing pains and coming of age. That's life. Let's see how she handles it with humility or pomp?

Thanks so much

I want to get a check up and an prescription for new glasses. I live in Amphur Muang area of Udon Thani. Thanks

Some of the criticisms in the article were made at one time or another by RFK Jr. He continuously gets blasted and is often corned into making rapid responses to his comments as he attempts to defend his perspective causing him to blurt out statements that make him look bad. Perhaps he is on the right track in many areas, but is often misquoted and misunderstood. He gets in his own way by over explaining and it is easy to get lost while he is making his point. He would do much better with a spokesperson and I do not mean his boss.

With the rise in syphilis and COVID cases, it looks like they will have to package condoms and masks together.

I am glad my information is not relevant to the situation today. It is great that Cambodia is safer than before. Thanks for the effort and information

Already by 2010, the situation had improved considerably and since around 2013 or 14, PP could be described as being safe overall (some occasional stories of dodgy happenings along the riverfront very late at night but these seem to be decreasing). Unfortunately, that first trip to Siem Reap in 2003, I was the victim of a scam and theft. I was a naive young traveler back then. I hired a taxi to take me to Angkor Wat for US$10 for half a day on my first day. There I met an unlicensed guide, who tried to charge me a whopping US$30 a day! Now I did try to get rid of him, but he was quite insistent. I paid him maybe half and then he threatened me, telling me I needed to pay the rest. I was running out of money and there were no ATMs in Cambodia at the time, so no way of me getting access to any more funds until I was back in Bangkok. I told him to come past my hotel at 11am on my last day (I left at 8am) and by that time I was already on the plane. I checked in my backpack, containing my camera. In an ironic twist, when I got to Bangkok, my camera with all my photos was missing from my bag. I think I made a report, and my insurance did pay me back. I don't know whether the theft happened at Siem Reap airport or Bangkok airport. Somehow, I suspect the former, but I'll never know for sure. In 2011 I think it was, my motorcycle helmet, which I received from the motorcycle rental shop, was stolen from my dirt bike while parked in the underground parking lot of the Paragon Mall in Phnom Penh (a Thai owned mini-mall, that has long since gone out of business). They had a supermarket and Thai owned businesses such as Black Canyon. I didn't secure the helmet, so partially my fault, but the guard clearly didn't do his job. I then had to buy a similar helmet to replace the one that was stolen, for US$12. However, I will say that these days, security and safety in Cambodia has VASTLY improved. I wouldn't necessarily walk around the unlit slum areas of Phnom Penh at night (nor would I do that in Bangkok) but I have never felt threatened or had anything untoward happen again since 2011. Bangkok overall remains quite safe but is probably slightly less safe than it was in 2004. What I mean by that is, the vast increase in tourists and expats since then, including many dodgy ones such as Nigerian drug dealers, who frequent Sukhumvit Soi 11, Chinese gangsters, Eastern European ATM skimmers and badly behaved foreigners in general, is what might make things feel a little less safe, particularly in the back alleys of lower Sukhumvit very late at night. You're still quite safe in well-lit areas and most Thai areas at any time of day or night. I wouldn't walk down Soi 11 after midnight with all them Nigerian drug dealers there. Without them, it would be safe, but it's them making it unsafe now. In any case, foreign government travel advisories usually have Thailand as "Exercise increased caution" while Cambodia is now firmly in the "Exercise normal precautions" category. Basically, any increased recommendation of viligence in Cambodia pertains to Sihanoukville due to all the Chinese gangsters (although the online gambling ban sent most of them home just before Covid and thus the city is now MUCH safer than it was during the bad old 2017-2019 days), crazy traffic, lack of medical care in the countryside and warnings of unexploded mines, mainly along the northern border with Thailand as well as of course, recent skirmishes with Thailand. There may be some mention of the nightclub scenario you refer to, but to be honest, similar things can and do happen in Thailand in dodgy nightlife zones. I'd also advise against westerners hanging out in Thai bars, where you might quickly find yourself unwelcome or subject to a scam, especially if you don't speak Thai. Westerners need to stick to bars made for westerners. Government warnings about Thailand, aside from the above, also advise caution along the borderline with Cambodia, again, particularly between Buri Ram and the Lao border, near Chong Bok where the recent skirmish between Thailand and Cambodia occurred, due to the presence of land mines that extend up to 1-3km inside Thai territory along much of the northern border, border clashes as well as similar problems along the Burmese border due to insurgent activity on the Burmese side. Clashes between drug smugglers and Thai security forces are another issue in northern Thailand, which governments warn their citizens of. Then of course the southern insurgency (something that is no longer an issue in Cambodia since roughly 1998) and lots of problems, mainly between tourists and locals or among one another, in nightlife zones such as Bangla road in Phuket, Soi 6 and walking street in Pattaya, as well as a myriad of scams in many tourist areas.

I Think stories like this will really boost the incentive for Thailand to push through a casino bill. Also, I wonder if Cambodia is any safer nowadays? I recall when I went there years ago the tourist literature said, to be held up or robbed in Cambodia was not unusual. I also remember the manager of my hotel in Phenom Penh warning me that if I wanted a Tuk Tuk type vehicle to take me to bars, I should hire one that sits in front of the hotel and not flag one down at random. I think I stayed at the Outback if memory serves.There were stories that drivers would set you up so their friends could rob you. There was also a bar named Heart of Darkness where a handful of local, more wealthy young Cambodians whose fathers were government workers would frequent. They would wait for the foreigners to get good and drunk and then toy with them with guns. This was the feeling traveling in Cambodia in 2004- 2005. Would like to hear if things have changed. I also recall the bars staying open 24 hours a day.

I would like to know the name of the restaurant.

Vietnam bars and clubs closer earlier and they do not have the number of bargirls Thailand employs. When I was there they did not know how to treat tourists and they were endlessly overcharging foreigners with a smile as they did it. That was years ago and i assume that situation has improved. If Vietnam is threatening Thailand as THE place to go for tourists in southeast Asia, perhaps Thailand will have to take a look inward and reflect. If tourists are flocking to Vietnam, which does not have open bars until 4 in the morning and troops of sex workers, this could suggest Vietnam will get the cream of the crop from Thailand's tourism industry while the rowdies and sex tourists will perhaps make up a larger percentage visitors.

Satire or no satire, whether or not Trump is angel or evil will be argued by the opposing sides of the divided house. However, what is most likely to happen is power will pass from oligarchs on one side of the culture wars to oligarchs on the other side of the culture wars - out with Soros and in with Musk. So it goes.

I think many adults are addicted to smartphones as well as kids. This invention has certainly changed human behavior. Many critics of smartphones tell us companies like Apple and Facebook created their product with the intent of keeping users engaged for as long as possible, in other words addiction was a goal. Also, critics opine that the profit motive is the reason social media apps are free - the user is the product because their data is collected and sold. Other critics such as academics and journalists have testified to legislative investigators that the US government influences social media companies to ban users or minimize the visibility of users who it deems as inflammatory. Also, can anyone explain why user agreements for apps are so long and appear to be written deliberately wordy and confusing? I have had many of my students over the years tell me at their homes cellphone use is not allowed during meals. However, when I follow that up by asking, "Do your parents use their phones during meals?" More than 50% of the time the answer is yes. These smartphone devices and the social media they deliver have changed human behavior PERIOD! More for the good or bad ?????????????????????

I think this is an accurate account of the situation. When you think how many tourists come to Thailand each year and then figure the time they spend here is free time so they are out and about. Next, how many of them speak Thai and how many are schooled in Thai culture? I think more than a few tourists get consumed by the the party atmosphere and then anything goes. People probably get more intoxicated than usual and find it harder to contain themselves. One problem I have experienced is that when drinking in Thailand with a few people at a table, the staff keep topping off the beer glasses and if you are talking and having fun, it becomes difficult to enumerate how much you have had to drink. I think in some western countries the bar owners would be held complicit. Next factor is how many mishaps other countries that are tourist destinations have and then extrapolate whether or not the incidents reported in ASEANOW are are unusually high for the volume of people that cross the Thai border each year. I enjoy reading ASEANOW but I must question a matter of sensationalism at work. I recently answered a survey upon request by ASEANOW and I commented that there were too many crime stories. That is why I find Jesimps post to be (if you don't mind a Yank borrowing a Brit/Aussie phrase) SPOT ON.

Could we actually be seeing a faint trace of democracy here or will the billionaire class squash this too?

May I ask, how much did it cost for one person?