kwilco

how come?

either you don't understand or you can't explain your logic then....no surprise there

It isn't just with the "smoke' you can see...PM2.5 particles can only be seen with an electron microscope. THere has always been a "burning season" - but in the last decade the burning of biomass has dramatically increased due to pressure from the small CARTEL that runs the commodities markets in Thailand. The amount of traffic has increased exponentially and so has the output of industry - in particular the petro-chemical industroes. THe topography of Chiang Mai makes it much more susceptible that most places as does the topography of BKK. For several months of the year now, parts of northern THailand are virtually uninhabitable

One O level I suspect - and still knows nothing about history or racism. Lets ‘see if you can use you “logic” to explain why you are using 2 logical fallacies …. Appeal to Authority and secondly Credentials Fallacy?

QED - Not every post just the ones you read - I wonder why?

what a stupid comment

why is it the racists get so het up whenever racism is mentioned?

just waiting for someone to say "I can't be racist, I married one!"

my passport took 5 days from handing in BKK, and how your pension works depends on agreements with whichever county you are in.

THere is a course the problem with British imperialist based racism. THis applies to US and EU as well but the British as in "brits" and "gammons" are the worst. Their perception of Thailand is based on an innate feeling of superiority over Thai people or ALL S.East Asians. Sweeping generalisations: - Expressions like "they". "thais" "third world" "they hate us" "Bad drivers" "Somchai" all come from a basic distain for Thai people their customs and their culture. The response is that many Thai people politely ignore Brit expats and avoid doing any form of business with them. THen the exoats suffer from confirmation bias and so the circle continues.

There is the key. Western tourists are more "discerning" Thailand managed nearly 40 million tourists before Covid. They still haven't get to that level quite yet but their target is over that. Despite what some say about targeting "quality" tourists, Thailand is actively pursuing a policy of the lowest common denominator - bums on seats - it's a question of how many people you can fit onto a beach - buildings, aesthetics, infrastructure, natural resources simply don't matter - the burgeoning middle classes of China, India and Russia are nowhere near as concerned about those issues - they want hot weather a beach and booze. Thailand can provide that. On top of that flights from these countries are much shorter and cheaper than from Europe or the USA. As for living long term - retirees pensions in UK are less - th state pension is effectively half that of France and a third that of Germany. Thailand needs skilled workers from the west - engineers etc but they don't pay well and when it comes to healthcare, eventually they and retirees have to return home. As retirees get older they require more and more healthcare an the Thai industry just can't meet the needs of the chronically ill. Comprehensive healthcare for a retiree these days is between £5,000 and £10,000 p/a.

Of course whu would you want people living in your country who think they are hated by the locals. Why would they live here at all?

Because Brits and Westerners are no longer "bread and butter" get over it!

The type of pollution has changed.... it isn't just old diesel vehicles.... the pollution from surrounding industry and agriculture and various biomass burning gs has got considerably worse.

it is a classic problem that farangs have when they come to drive in Thailand - they simply don't understand Thai dul=ture and try to impose their own values on daily life.

You clearly don't have a grasp of either stats or the issues - I said "significant" I doubt if you can find statistics for people killed or injured whilst travelling in the rear of a pickup. Or understand why they are there. What do you think i'm Ignorant of? I'd say you are displaying a very basic ignorance of how to analyse raod safety - you are firmly in th "would have, should have ,could have" school of cognitive dissonance

a very glib response which shows a lack of understanding of the issues.

no it won't - not significantly and you are barking up the wrong tree.. .statistically between 75% and 80% of deaths are riders and passengers of 2-wheeled vehicle - 4-wheeled vehicles you are actually LESS likely to die than in the US.

pointing out single issues just shows a lack of appreciation of the road safety situation in Thailand. Do you seriously think that raomving passengers from the back of pickups will "cure" Thailand's raod safety ills? The truth is there needs to be a comprehensive understanding of the problems and a systematic holistic approach - piece meal bandaids don't work.

there are LESS fatalities

How is a reduction in accidents and deaths a surge??????

QED

and had death threats

Koh Tao has problems both of perception and reality – and the people on the island who are for one reason or another reluctant to look at th evidence. If anyone has doubts about KT, just look at the posts of frank83628 and you’ll get an idea of the weakness or rather total lack of the arguments of the denialists. Instead of arguing to the contrary they are reduced to attacking the message rather than the messenger. Every time they do this they weaken their position as they show they have nothing to say Whether their denials are because they are conned by the Chao Pho or they just too blinkered to get it or plain and simple cognitive bias I couldn’t say. Once they have started down the road of denial it’s hard to admit they are wrong….especially if they are intellectually challenged and can’t form an argument. or maybe they are just minions? Anyone applies critical thinking to Koh Tao will see there is something wrong there – it’s not unusual as it exists all over Thailand, however here it is pushing the envelope beyond. Defining what exactly is going on is more difficult.

If people are interested in getting more info on notorious Koh Yao, I'd suggst listening to The Curse of the Turtle - The True Story of Thailand’s “Backpacker Murders” by By: Suzanne Buchanan Narrated by: Eileen Buckley It's available on Audible and some other outlets too.