NorthernRyland

Thai's are in general extremely oblivious to their surroundings when in public. It's like they're in a little bubble and the outside world doesn't exist outside of it. Many accidents can be avoided if you just pay more attention and consider your actions more.

This is same circumstance that killed a group of cyclists in CM some years ago. Riding in the early morning hours when it's still nearly dark and riding in groups. Maybe they were going around a curve while taking up the entire lane and the driver didn't have time to react as they were speeding/drunk/dumb etc...

This is how dogs cross the road. They slowly creep out and play it sneaky like if no one can see them they won't get hit. I see Thai people do this same move every day. I've almost hit people myself because it's not clear if they're going to run across or just sit there. It's all so tiresome.

This stupid game of frogger Thai people play when crossing the road. It's so obviously dangerous but they never learn. Just wait until the road is clear and then RUN across the entire damn road until you reach safety. Anything else is just lazy. If you're in the middle of the road then cars need to negotiate your next move and if anyone makes a wrong choice then you get seriously injured or die. Besides he hit and run is the motorbike even at fault here? He had the right of way and now some people are just standing in the middle of the road and he didn't know how to respond.

ah yes but Thailand doesn't even know how to regulate or enforce in the first place so I don't see how this will make any difference.

More inflation on the heels of a massive inflationary period.

Legalized bribery. Vote for guy who gives you free money.

uh no? I mean Thai's can get guns easily yet they aren't killing themselves at massive rates like some American cities. Seems pretty obviously true to me.

The only thing that saves Thailand here is that their population isn't that violent.

They have no feasible system in place to collect these taxes. If you earn income you are required to pay taxes at the end of the year but before then the money has not been taxed, yet you could transfer it into your Thai bank or withdrawal from an ATM. The only solution will be to have foreigners declare their foreign income spent in Thailand and then prove tax receipts to see if that money was actually taxed as they said. The process will be retroactive on operate on the last tax year before the point in which you declare (probably at immigration or when applying for new visas). Unless they open a whole new tax office for foreigners this is going to fall on immigration and apply to people with tourist visas even. Imagine the insanity. Once they realize this is unenforceable given their lazy and incompetent workforce the whole scheme will fall apart and be ignored.

interesting I wonder if it was ethnically motivated.

Wife is watching the Thai news right now and they said the shooter was behaving like another country which is known for these kinds of acts. I wonder which one that may be... ????

I've seen Pai overrun with them and particular parts of Chiang Mai but if you live in the northern part of the city (CM) where I live you very really see them anywhere except maybe a 7-11 at a gas station. My other house in Samoeng (tiny little town in the mountains) has no Chinese (for now). I only know about my little part of the country but there are clear tourist heavy destinations they go to and the rest of the areas are completely normal. I'm sure other expats can report the same thing. Simple rule is just avoid major tourist locations and life is normal.

there was that one rich mixed race Asian kid that went on the shooting because he couldn't get girls and the media started using the term with everyone for some reason. Makes no sense most of the time.

Sure they can. "He watched too many American movies and listened to American hip-hop artists. Foreigners are ruining the culture of Thailand." See it's easy.

Just because the government puts out the idea of purely legal citizenship doesn't we need to accept it as true or just. The nation state is relatively new concept anyways and if you ask me it's tearing at the seams due to internal conflicts. Not saying to mistreat anyone but I'm lying about these things anymore.

Hey I'm doing my best here

Thailand has finally arrived.

There are specific destinations which are on their radar so once you know where those are it's pretty easy to avoid them, which you should, like the plague!

actually now that I see that picture maybe they were right. Look at the nice clothes those people have on compared to the sweatpants and oversized t-shirt the average American is wearing today (because they're fat slobs). Those people probably didn't say <deleted> and <deleted> 5 times in every sentence either. In every major American city there are people completely destroyed on drugs dying a slow death living on the streets. Not saying it was weed but whatever bad things they thought were going to happen clearly already did.

Most hilarious thing I read in a while. ????

it was 20? damn. worse than I remember.

good question. I have no idea. Some years ago a drunk driver ran over about 5 cyclists in San Sai area as they were doing their morning ride in the early hours. These were middle aged Thai people that were probably going very slow and in a group occupying the whole lane so when a car went around the bend he couldn't see them. People die in my home state of Colorado more often than you would think and I see lots of dangerous things happening there too. Drivers are much more careful but the rules are strict so no one is driving defensively as they should and mistakes happen.

The reason Thailand is not now or ever probably going to be an England or Japan is because the people are not "engaged" properly in society, to put it broadly. Notice how they behave with each other at an intersection with no light. Do these look like people who could work together and be productive? Watch how people dodge soi dogs that the owner won't keep in their yard. Not only are the owners oblivious to their fellow citizen but the people are indifferent and uninterested in fixing the problem. The list goes on and on. Adults talk out their problems and find solutions but I all too often see them pushing and shoving their way through things without fully engaging. Not communicating, cutting corners (figuratively and literally), ignore problems instead of confronting them etc.. etc... Until they can sort those cultural issues out it won't matter how many fancy iPhone they import or how big and shiny their malls are because they're all window dressing over the real nature of the people. (respect for building the malls though even if they were taught by foreigners initially)