Merylhighground

7 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

Track me all you want, why should I care, I'm not doing anything illegal or even remotely dodgy, where's the beef!

Well aren't you a saint. Why not have the police move into the spare room...? 

18 minutes ago, Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere said:

Here is a better solution: Just kick out ALL foreigners and bar ALL foreigners from coming here. That should collapse the economy, eliminate  corruption, and raise the price of Mama Noodles. 

They're working on it. The writing has been on the wall since the mid 2000s. Step by step they will be squeezing people without the skills or money to 'benefit' Thailand right out of there with few exceptions....

I don't think anyone has got to Pattaya 'for the beach' since the 1970s to be honest.

Sure, largely (unplanned) developments built in the hope of a fast buck to appeal to whatever tourism sector is in the ascendancy that year, is always going to be a mess so one can blame the 'money men' for that. 

Pattaya, for me is one of the few places in Thailand which retains a degree of what made me fall for the country in the first place; namely there is still a sense of 'sanuk' to be found there, people still with time for other folks, a happy-go-lucky feeling, good bargains to be found, especially in hotels and a overall a genuine holiday town atmosphere. Certainly the infrastructure could be improved but getting around, if you're OK on motorcycle taxis, is still easy.

It always makes me chuckle when I see/hear/read folks in Thailand who are probably scraping by on a paltry pension or pitiful TEFL 'salary'  making sneering disparaging comments towards 'backpackers' who on returning to the real world will more than likely embark on/return to careers the sneerers could only dream of having done....

2 minutes ago, tropo said:

Don't forget that it is assumed that an expat needs to spend 65K minimum per month or 800K per year, which is less than I spend. The average tourist doesn't stay here for a month, but I reckon I spend at least as much as they do. I'm guessing the average tourist in Thailand is a budget traveller.

That's as maybe but then maybe you are one of the few of us 'true expats' in the sense that we are on an international salary and all the trimmings so to spend more than the average tourist, especially with housing allowances, school fees etc isn't that difficult especially when it's all laid on. I think the previous poster was referring to those 'expats' scraping by on an ever dwindling pension and ever reducing TEFL salaries...

I hope this doesn't degenenerate into another knob-waving 'this is how much I spend a month' thread....

4 minutes ago, peterb17 said:

Hate to say is this anything different than happens in Europe? 

 

In London they estimate you are captured by up to 600 cameras everyday- face recognition. 

 

The car tax system now works on number plate recognition - where ever you drive - it is flagged up if you do not have tax, insurance , checks for older cars . 

 

Mobiles can  be analyzed to the second. 

 

Thailand is just catching up 

 

It's a bit scary- but if you are just going about everyday life and have nothing to hide - I really do not care . 

Maybe, but in London such surveillance isn't limited/aimed at foreigners exclusively, indeed in London foreigners enjoy the same rights as the locals, they may get a fair trial in the case of being prosecuted, are unlikely to become the victim of a shakedown by a mafia posing as a police force I could go on and on as to why your comparison falls on it's botty....

On 24/07/2016 at 3:18 PM, johnnygimbo said:

You are one hell of a snob, just who are you to condemn "cheap" farang pensioners for eating in a shopping mall food court?

He isn't a snob, just a fantasist who struggles with life in Thailand so much that he can't even get a seat/table at said food court even with an umbrella.....and has to post about his failure to do so here.....hence his anger at said pensioners....

5 minutes ago, walkoff said:

Yes, this has become considerably more concerning. I have been here quite awhile and like many others, have supported families  and raised children to use their heads. The government is concerned about all of us visitors who legitimately reside here along with the folks who still dodge the system. Please follow behind us, use the SIM to see what time we go to school, bring home, take to the doc, go to Lotus or Makro and unbelievably see when we go out to see friends. A bit cynical, yes but for this to come out immediately after a success for the existing government tells me and my Thai wife that the priorities are skewed. Certainly there are "guests" who make things difficult for all but you really ought to consider watching your own folks, enforcing laws that exist already, better support for your public servants(RTP), stop throwing the "image" at us when the morning Thai news can clearly see the real image. The crap that goes on on the roads, damaged egos, awe a personality because they are on  soap, and most of all letting folks skate on proper punishment. I don't have to name or cite individuals because they have been in the BP with no followup and seemingly fade into the woodwork.

Before any of you  all say "leave if you don't like it", "next flight is .....", you are not immune to the changes in Thailand simply because you are not Thai. The cliche of "if you haven't done anything wrong , what's the worry(in so many words)" is not a free pass anymore. Not going anywhere, too much invested here both financially and physically and I will be forthright that my income stretches a good bit more here.

Excellent post sir. The unthinking halfwits who over use such terms as 'if you don't like it here...'' etc are those who think they will be immune to such moves as they have miraculously managed to knock up some Thai lass (something no foreigner has ever managed to do ever)... and are somehow 'Thaier than Thou' accordingly. Well sadly for these types it's going to be wake up time....and rather funny watching them react in fury at the 'unfairness of it all'....

5 minutes ago, yardrunner said:

But this is under the overview of the general so what has it to do with Thaskin

The General doesn't know his arse from his elbow which is why he makes a prat out of himself and his nation on a daily basis. This is merely a culmination of a series of 'populist' nationalistic policies implemented with supreme incompetence and lack of aforethought by tinpot regime after tinpot regime over the last decade, originating with  the Thaksin Wobblebottom 'government' to get shut of them pesky foreigners once and for all.....no original thought from the Gen was required as applies to his day to day running/screwing up of the nation....

If it weren't so tragic and potentially damaging it would be funny......

2 minutes ago, JustNo said:

Considering Thailand bases its economy and thus future on us 'troublesome' farang, one would assume that they would stop treating us ALL like subhuman, criminal animals. 

Thailand has hedged it's future economic bets already with China pal!  

As I said earlier, it's going to get far, far worse...if you aren't rich enough or have the skills to meet future government criteria the best you're going to have in Thailand is a two week/one month annual holiday/'come spend all your money here' visa.

Crying that you are wed to a Thai or have 'Thai' children isn't going to help one jot. 

Sadly if you don't have the cash or skills to be a perceived benefit to the nation, time to get wifey a visa/citizenship for your home nation and cut......

We are just starting to see the fruit of the what the Thaksin regime's crackdowns in the mid 2000s aimed at....

Isn't it funny....The hoops for the 'good guys' are going to get higher and hotter week in, week out until there's no one left, apart from those with whatever skills or finances, deemed by whatever half-witted monkeys are in charge, to be of possible benefit to the country....

There is Heavy Weather for foreigners ahead my hearties....hold on tight to 'tee rak' while you can because you may not have much chance apart from your annual permitted  two weeks 'holiday/savings spending period'. 

The warning signs have been in the air for the last decade since Thaksin the pickpocket's imbecile regime began shifting the visa/residency goalposts every week, before you start blaming Juntas etc.

Now might be a good time for looking into getting your Thai loved ones back to your country of origin if you want to see them on a regular basis....

1987: Getting smacked full in the face by the 'Bangkok Blast' of pollution, noise, heat, humidity, vehicle drivers (of every description), possibly even a hint of incense (though that may have added itself over the years) as I left Don Muang and the way my driver just dragged me to the car...

Then looking down over BKK impressed by the then blooming cityscape and at multiple lanes of solid traffic inching it's way home in the evening rush hour from the calm comfort of my hotel room as I prepared for my first ever night out in BKK, thinking 'Well here you are in chaosland my lad.....' 

Even then I had a voice at the back of my mind saying 'turn around lad, go back,  if you walk forward you won't be able to fight against it...that'll be it for life as soon as you step out of those doors....'' 

Thankfully, the several G and T's I'd had booted that voice to the oblivion.....

Sensationalist claptrap, utterly (deliberately) blurring the lines between the 'domestic' and 'tourist' sex trade with the usual ham-fisted, amateur-like imbecility of the Western media when dealing with this topic.

The blatant 'do-gooder' Christian agenda doesn't help promote the truth nor offer any solutions to the 'problem'. 

46 minutes ago, Berty100 said:

And the problem with this is that most Thais crawl over the floor if they are confronted by someone in uniform, even if it is the postman.

And the postie probably thinks he runs the place too......

Another pillock in a uniform thinking he's God.....I hope he gets hauled over the coals for this 'abuse' of his (assumed) authoritah.....

3 minutes ago, Monkeyrobot said:

60 million ? Should of done a runner after 20. 

He really should have. He'd have been sitting pretty on a nice little nest egg on a beach somewhere instead of some grim prison cell with nothing. One hopes for his sake that he had the brains to salt a little away for a 'rainy day' 

Though one also hopes that his victims get their money back and he rots for a good while.....

Sounds dreadful! Good Luck! 

You can rest assured that whoever complained probably stayed their hand until they learned they were 'pesky foreigners'. Had they been Thai, they'd still be ripping it up tonight unchecked.....

Can't see many 'Motorcycles' there either...

Still I can't hear much difference between a bunch of kids on holiday from International School to those laughable 'gangs' of mid-life crisis jokers playing at 'Hell's Angels' in Pattaya either when they run by in the middle of the night.....

"Had they been Thai, they'd still be ripping it up tonight unchecked....."

So where do all the impounded Thai owned motorbikes come from?

It sounds like the same "logic" when people complain that the police never arrest Thais. So who exactly is it that's got the prisons over-flowing?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/932536-70-bike-racers-arrested-after-being-chased-by-police-and-soldiers-to-dead-end-on-rama-3/page-2?hl=%2Bpolice+%2Bmotorbikes#entry10973094

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/930789-officials-crack-down-on-illegal-street-racing-in-surin/?hl=%2Bpolice+%2Bmotorbikes

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/926385-pattaya-teenagers-caught-red-handed-stealing-motorbikes-to-order/?hl=%2Bpolice+%2Bmotorbikes

And here comes the Apologist Supreme with his faux Thai name and his utter ignorance off all things Thai...with no argument to make,.

Yes, had they had have been Thai no one would have called the police. That dek wairn have been pinched elsewhere shows that Thais are getting fed up. That such have been allowed to roam free for ages in other parts of Thailand shows you know nothing about Thailand or don't/can't follow Thai language media.

^ Spot on!

We have a neighbour who is an IO in Samut Prakan Immi office.

We saw her once out on a raid at Bang Phli market (more on the building site for the condo they were building at the time) where they seemed to have made quite a haul once they had them all lined up along the kerb on their haunches.

When she came to chat to the wife at our table, she bemoaned the fact that while they would all be taken back to Cambodia the following day, most would be back on the job by the following Monday and indeed so it seemed....She always said afterwards, such raids were nothing more than 'public shows of power'.

The delay is while they find a Buddhist Monk who isn't corrupt, perverted or a villain/gangster hiding in saffron....

also just read Old Crocs post in immigration forum looks like the Thais dont want Expats anymore.

they are just going to far with all there forms and such. Thailand is becoming less attractive by the day.

its same old same old punish the good guys because they can,t get the bad guys.

So much for all the 'Good guys in, Bad guys out' Immigration nonsense earlier in the year eh? What that really meant was; 'People we can make jump through increasingly difficult hoops year after year in, those who scoff at the system, out'....

I can't agree that Thailand doesn't want 'expats' any more, having just signed a pleasant, shiny new 5 year contract starting in October .

What they really don't want are people with no discernible skills or income which could be of benefit the nation or those scraping by on increasingly diminishing pensions, TEFL earnings or digital nomads 'living the dream' exploiting rapidly closing loopholes in visa regulations, living on cheap noodles, or boiler room scum etc.

I agree they are going to make things more difficult while they flush out the chaff from the wheat.

Soon the only Westerners/foreigners in Thailand will be those on their annual 2/4 week permitted holiday visits, the only foreigners there full time will be those with the desired or perceived skills or incomes deemed to be of 'benefit' to the nation.

To be honest I'll miss folks....many of them are my pals...'good guys or bad, well to do or not...'

I saw some symptoms of this before we came home for our leave.

I saw things I never thought I'd see;

Namely, Suk Soi 4 (Nana Tai) almost utterly bereft of life on a Friday night, something unimaginable from the 'golden years' of the mid 1990s to the early/late 2000s when you could hardly get a seat in most bars in that area on a Friday evening/night.

Also taking the 'naughty boys bus' to Pattaya from Ekkamai one Friday and possibly being the only 'naughty boy' on it...

Times they are changing, my friend and not necessarily for the better.....

Having read some of this thread if whores are selling sex for 2500 baht an hour to foreigners they will kill it off all by themselves, good job too.

Spot on.

That is very much the consensus between my 'monger' pals.

For many years I regularly had around 30-40 visitors a year, mainly pals from home who would stop in BKK for a few days en-route to Pattaya or even linger in BKK a while, but now they just zip right through to the Pips or Cambodia, sometimes stopping for a day or two in BKK to 'break the journey'.

When I ask why they are making so short a stay, the reply is always the same.

One Aussie pal tells me he can get a night of booze and nookie at home for way, way less than he can in Bangkok nowadays.

Long, long gone are the days when a good night out followed by a 'good night in' could be had for 100GBP (6-7000THB).

Is that a good or a bad thing?

I'm not going to pontificate though I'll say some of the best nights I've had out in Thailand have been in these 'nefarious' areas, some of the best people I've known in Thailand I've met in such areas, plus I spent many of my formative years in Thailand in such areas so I have a great affection for them.

While some of the 'culture vulture illuminati' like to sneer at such affection as it doesn't share the same imagined sophistication as their 'HiSo' night clubs/jazz clubs/wine bars etc, for me, and I'm sure for many they were a great 'nursery' to expat life in Thailand if you will.

I'm sure that one day the Politically Correct hypocritical puritans will 'get their way' and see the likes of Nana Plaza, Patpong, Soi Cowboy etc. be the focus of yet another 'crackdown' . Though you can rest assured that when the 'scene' overspills into the mainstream, the screams for such places to be returned to their former glory will be heard from all corners from these 'pillars of society' who don't like their 'cultural evenings' disturbed by having 'fat old blokes with younger Thai women' in their eyeline as they listen to Ambient house jazz while sipping their chilled sancerre and oysters....

It's a pointless debate really for due to the huge sums of money involved at all levels, the macro economy (not too mention the 'untouchable' high level people who do very well out of the scene) it is going nowhere. Close the 'traditional areas' down and new ones will spring up overnight, like in a cartoon where a character is trying to put out a fire and a new one pops up....

40 rich families and the police still arrested them.

No new paradigm needed, they're not rich Thai families....makes all the difference....had they have been rich Thai kids they'd have been allowed to kill a few people before going through the tough process of avoiding justice or facing up to their crimes....from a prostitute filled, luxury Singapore hotel suite...

You can rest assured that whoever complained probably stayed their hand until they learned they were 'pesky foreigners'. Had they been Thai, they'd still be ripping it up tonight unchecked.....

Can't see many 'Motorcycles' there either...

Still I can't hear much difference between a bunch of kids on holiday from International School to those laughable 'gangs' of mid-life crisis jokers playing at 'Hell's Angels' in Pattaya either when they run by in the middle of the night.....

There is a world of difference between 'complaining' or 'explaining what you require'. As long as you explain in a clear, polite way I can't see what the problem is. You obviously already have skills in the vernacular so maybe an explanation in Thai would also demonstrate you are beyond the 'Gor Gai Kor Kwai' level and give them a pointer....

Perhaps because he doesn't want to speak the kind of rough, coarse Thai the average bar skank does.

Hey come on now! I'm sure we've all been truly impressed at some point by some vest wearing Bar Rat squawking at the top of his voice the atonal snippets of 'Thai' he's picked up from the lasses....