GeorgeCross

4 hours ago, zaZa9 said:

then wonder what they do for toilet facilities...

they're taking the direct route now rather than through a cistern a couple of pipes and an outflow 

online tv offerings are far far better now. cable and satellite tv services are dinosaurs

24 minutes ago, AhFarangJa said:

So a family of say, three, can pay 3.000 Baht ( less 3 Baht ) to travel for a minimum of four hours round trip, and spend a whopping 2 1/2 hours in H.H.......not counting time to Disembark, and embark......Harldy time for a decent seafood meal....

6000 baht (less 6 baht) - don't forget the return fare!

"The Labor Department advised all Thais thinking of doing any kind of work in Malaysia or other countries in ASEAN to get the relevant documentation."

4 local workers and 2M baht capital?

or we could just give the tourists what they want.. native speakers..

nothing free about trade with Thailand. import tariffs on nearly every good i can think of

the US should reply in kind

"no have" second only to "can not" in essential english phrases to know in tourist Thailand

58 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

 

The comparison should be, using TAT's own figures:

 

1 x tourist x (average) 5  days at THB 5,200 baht average spend = THB 26,000, vs,

 

1 x resident retiree x 30 days at THB 55,000 baht per month.

 

Game set and match, coffin dodgers.

 

jeez, could you imagine 30 million expats living here.. 

1 minute ago, FunkyDunky58 said:

Great idea to improve the 'quality' of the tourist, but for this to happen, you need to improve the quality of the destination. Improve the roads. Improve the behaviours of road users. Do something about taxi drivers ripping off passengers. Do something about violent Thai young men. Do something about lady boy bashing and robbing tourists. Do something about dual pricing. Do something about Thai people leaving rubbish everywhere thats a tourist destination. Do something about the Soi dogs roaming everywhere. Do something about the ugly dirty street vendors. Oh, wait. There's way too much doing when all Thai authorities seem capable of is Talk. Pathetic.

sounds like work.. can't they just build another mall?

2017 shaping as intriguing year for Thai Japanese auto industry

seems to me that a lot of the western market are renting villas or condos on a weekly or monthly basis rather than staying in hotels and staying in them much more than going out and hitting restaurants. the demographics have also changed i'm seeing many more young families and multi-generational families than single guys/groups. what i've noticed in Hua Hin is that on xmas and new year nights it was packed out everywhere i went but then all week its been quiet. so thats it, peak season over, i thought.. but no last night (saturday) it was full out again everywhere. so the tourists are here (confirming the data above) but where did these western tourists go all week? i doubt they flew home and a new influx just arrived so i have to assume its much more likely they stayed in their villas all week, cooking at home, enjoying time with their families and generally saving money and maybe feeling safer. then they are "picking" their nights out. bear in mind the weather has been good here all week, not great but definitely not like the south, dry nights etc

maybe we have a new class of tourist.. "zero baht farang"! able to get here but poorer.. book flights abroad, book villas abroad, shop at makro 

edit: i should mention in between xmas and new years eve it was dead in town as well

lets see how big of a success it is after the "free" period.. 

"Sansern said that after delays due to bad weather the ferry set off on Thursday for Hua Hin with 198 on board and completed the journey in two and a half hours. This, he said, represented half the time of a normal road journey between the eastern and western resorts"

so it took 50% longer than advertised and this is a success? 

i suppose it arrived..

12 minutes ago, seancbk said:

The State railway of Thailand recently spent 176 Billion Baht on 115 new train cars.   

That might be more than the budget for a Police salary increase but it's certainly not 895 Billion that you mention.   

Bear in mind also any increase in Police salaries isn't a one off expenditure like buying new trains, it is an ongoing cost that will only increase year on year as salaries rise.

 

895bn is how much the gov has just announced it is releasing to spend on infrastructure projects this year alone.

they have the money they are just not willing to spend it on the RTP 

2 hours ago, seancbk said:

entry level salaries for police with no university education was 6,800 baht (2012). In June 2015, the Bangkok Post reported that, "Thai police officers are paid around 14,760 baht per month (6,800–8,340 baht for entry level) and have to buy their own guns and even office supplies."  He posits that one reason salaries are so low is that the sheer number of officers is staggering, roughly 250,000. This means that an increase of 5,000 baht in every cop's monthly salary would cost the government a politically untenable 15 billion baht annually.

 

Source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Thai_Police
 

and yet 895bn baht for a new train set or two is not a problem 

grandads shooting kids 

On 1/1/2017 at 2:13 PM, PETERTHEEATER said:

Of course

Of course not......all rhetoric....

well seems i was a little early unfortunately for those living on that strip.. all the posters have now changed (to almost begging to be saved) as apparently 45 day demolition notices were handed out a week or so back  

source: wife translated the story from channel 3 news

they do realize that only about 0.01% of tech startups actually succeed right?

53 minutes ago, LivinginKata said:

Many of the above posts are correct. Phuket has long time lost it's exotic and cheap slogan for short stay western tourists. It's fine for us long stay types who know the ropes, but it's rip off for the visitors.

 

Folks have so many new(er) places to give a try ...

 

the meme when i arrived a decade ago was "what we lost on the flight we made up on the stay" 

now with the baht where it is and inflation doubling prices as well Thailand is forced to compete for long haulers on its merits.

its a hard sell

theres that phrase again "Thailand is no longer the bargain destination it used to be"

TAT are you LISTENING?

it seems raising prices and expecting to attract quality is NOT working..

tourists have finally arrived in Hua Hin over the last week, which all though pleasant right now, is a shame for Hua Hin as over the last decade i'd considered it one of the last remaining places that still had a "high season" that ran from October to March.

This year it's looking like it's joined the ranks of 2 week high seasons as well 

oh well can't say you wasn't warned Thailand..

1 hour ago, Goingmad said:

Do you not think the USA watches Americans ??

i dont know, maybe we can discuss on americanvisa.com

thailand the "10 yard car" of tropical paradises 

just been down there and it looks like business as usual. no sign of any demolition or clean up going on at all

whats next? stop and search on departure? 10K fine for each Superdry t-shirt without a valid reciept? idiocy