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jimster
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Posts posted by jimster
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On 8/1/2018 at 4:13 PM, Ralf61 said:
As far as I know, Laos does not allow transit traffic to China, and on my way to Luang Prabang by van I learned why...
Sure it does. It's China that doesn't allow foreign registrations in (except Lao ones driven as far as Jinghong).
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The draft needs to end. No way my male children (who are Thai citizens) will be soldiers. Speaking of which I heard it's quite easy to avoid the draft. Anyone know what needs to be done? Pay a fine? This is Thailand after all.
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10 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:
He turned around and saw a man trying to swim ashore but he disappeared about 50 metres from the bank . then turned back and carried on fishing??
So the male model survived the fall but died due to drowning? Tragic...but goes to show that Thailand urgently needs to teach it's citizens to swim. I find it embarrassing that in a country with so much ocean so few people can swim. Thais always comment on how well I swim - I'm like...it's normal. Don't they teach you that in school?
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On 7/16/2018 at 10:40 AM, mike324 said:
There are lots of runners there too, but more in South Korea and Japan because salaries there are a lot higher, and there are no fines for being caught and sent back for South Korea, not sure about Japan.
Taiwan is extending it because their tourism sector is benefiting greatly from Thai tourist. Taiwan is a "new" popular travel destination for Koreans (because of a tv show) and Thai this past 2 years (for thais because of visa free travel).
The ironic thing is that Taiwanese who visits Thailand still needs a visa due to pressure from China.
Well they get a visa on arrival. Same thing, just they have to pay money for it.
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On 7/15/2018 at 11:25 AM, yellowboat said:
Interesting that Thais are not illegally working there as they have been reportedly doing in South Korea. Perhaps the Taiwanese may want to overhaul their economy, not to attract illegal migrants, but to keep up South Korea. ?
Other than the economy, Taiwan is a wonderful place. Fake news is dealt with by laws, due process, and not by a military strongman .
"Fake news"? What are you on about? Completely irrelevant to this topic. But while we're on the subject, "fake news" is a euphemism for anything the government doesn't like. In reality, mainstream media is the biggest purveyor of fake news. They're just scared of losing the narrative hence why anything they don't like is called "fake news".
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7 hours ago, 1337markus said:
So the government law that was relaxed for Songkran last year allows 5 or 6 in the back of a pickup truck has gone. Seems another useless law that no one follows.
There was never a law to ban people from the back of pickups (or limit their numbers), just a proposal for one. It hasn't been implemented so far and shouldn't be, in my opinion. Workers in the back of pickups don't cause accidents - stupid drivers do. By your logic, passengers riding inside cars should be banned to, if too many of them get injured in accidents.
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23 hours ago, JennaBurrows said:
The problem with China is that it's own country is a dump. Polluted, void of any natural attractions, void of any man made attractions, ugly communist cities. The President even bemoans the gentrication that occurred during the 90's that tore the heartbeat and culture out of many Chinese cities.
In America, many American don't want a passport and you can understand why at times. There are so many attractions and things to see that you don't have to leave the place. You have New York, Disney, Universal Studios, Vegas, Miami, San Francisco - and many many more unique places.
China has Macau which is quite frankly shit, and only now is it attempting to build some man made attractions like Disneyland.
It's no wonder it's population has no choice to leave the country for a holiday.
You're mostly right but there are some stunning places in China - mostly in Yunnan and other western provinces with low populations - Tibet, parts of Xinjiang, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia and western Sichuan come to mind.
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9 minutes ago, WinterGael said:You do make a lot of good points, but I think you are a little off on some assertions. Thailand as a tourist destination is still very well publicised in Canada, yet this is a common complaint I hear from friends in family with regard to coming to Thailand again. Its becoming too expensive, its not as friendly as it used to be, too many tourists now. But its also true that the Thai government is catering to the Chinese, primarily because the Chinese have a lot of spending power now, more so than your average westerner. That said, a lot of my friends and family are heading to cheaper destinations in southeast Asia. Also, most have been here once or twice already, and now are looking for other destinations. And this is something to think about, perhaps more so by the Thai government. My niece and her husband have been her multiple times, yet have no plans of coming back. They say that in the last 12 years they have seen Thailand change too much and don't like the changes. I think many on here can relate to that. I missed the "good old days," so don't know about the changes, but it seems many back in Canada do. My mother asked why I would want to live in a country like this? It seems that everyone my mom has talked to that has been here has not recommended it as a tourist destination, let alone a place to live. That is a huge change from years ago, and I think it's that form of first hand accounts of modern Thailand from expats and tourists that is causing the drop in western presence in the country.
The Chinese are also going to these other destinations and are being courted by those governments. Chinese are arriving in massive numbers in Bali, Indonesia and may one day start to eclipse the Aussie arrivals. They are also flooding into Hong Kong (yes, technically a part of China, but managed almost as a separate country), Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam (despite the not so good government to government relations), Laos and Cambodia. The only difference is there are fewer Chinese tourists (and foreign arrivals overall) into these countries as compared to Thailand.
Maybe some people don't like the changes they perceive happening in Thailand, but I don't think they're unique to this country. Someone who knows Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam etc. well will have similar things to say. And as someone who knows these countries well, it's not at all rosy in any of these places either. Some people just like bashing Thailand and then pretending that neighboring countries are vastly different when they are almost exactly the same in many ways.
I'm pretty sure there are a multitude of factors relating to why it appears that western tourists aren't coming to Thailand as much anymore. However, according to official statistics there are more westerners coming here than in decades past. The main difference is there is no longer the monopoly from westerners that you used to have - back in the 80s the whole world was poor except the west and Japan, hence why people from these countries could holiday in Thailand when no one else could afford to. Now the west is not doing so well economically anymore and westerners don't have the spending power of the past. In fact, virtually every single westerner I know who is living in, or has been to Thailand is NOT a free spending tourist that drops money like it's water but is, or appears to be on a rather restricted budget. They are not staying at 5 star hotels, but rather in 1000 Baht a night places. Cheap hostels are full of western backpackers, while 5-star hotels have Chinese, Japanese, other Asian, Arab and only the occasional western guests.
Too many Chinese tourists, pollution, concerns about getting ripped off and just wanting to see something new are also factors, but economic factors are probably the single most significant reason why westerners are not coming to Thailand as much anymore (if that's to be believed). I can still see plenty of western tourists in Khao San road, the islands, Chiang Mai, the airports, even in shopping malls like Paragon and MBK. Just that now Arabs, Chinese, Indians, Russians are coming in even bigger numbers...
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35 minutes ago, zydeco said:
They'll put up a special lane for the Nigerians before they make one for us.
Nah...the other guy was right - if there were enough Americans dying in a tragedy (or insert any nationality here) the Thais might consider making a special lane for that nationality. In terms of numbers, Russians actually have a serious shot at being given a special lane (nearly 2 million? arrivals last year) though they have some way to go before they get anywhere near the Chinese arrival numbers (9-10 million). The problem is westerners are becoming poorer and can't afford trips to Thailand anymore like they used to - their economies suck, their cost of living is skyrocketing, they have fewer jobs than they used to have and fewer holidays too. They are more likely to holiday closer to home, if they can afford it.
Nigerians? LOL. The Thais hate them. If it wasn't for the fact they'd be criticized for being "racist" Thailand would be more than happy to deport every Nigerian from here and stop issuing visas to Nigerians altogether.
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40 minutes ago, Dick Crank said:
the more i think about the chinese issue the more it looks like a great match for thai tourism
the chinese stay in groups, kind of stay in indoor venues like hotels and restaurants and karaokes and do group tour stuff. they dont seem to wander around the streets wanting to be seen and cause havoc like western tourists do or stick around too long.
thats exactly what the thai want is just the money flowing in with minimal problems and minimal "colonization"
Some Chinese tourists wreck havoc just as some western tourists do (you probably haven't seen the videos of Chinese tourists threatening to bomb an Air Asia flight from Bangkok to China or the one where Chinese tourists break into a "joyous" national anthem to protest their flight delay at Don Muang). I don't recall any westerners behaving in such an uncouth fashion recently.
Many Chinese tourists travel independently. Drop the generalizations please. Only thing that we can generalize on is that western tourists very rarely travel in groups and that it's not difficult to find them in tourist areas; however, rarely do they travel in a group larger than a family.
In Laos Chinese tourists come as "tourists" and then end up staying and opening a Chinese restaurant, even in the middle of nowhere with no guaranteed customer base - they are actually colonizing the place. If it weren't for Thailand's protectionist policies that require 4 Thai workers for every foreigner employed and 49% maximum foreign ownership, Chinese would be owning everything in Thailand, plastering Chinese language billboards all over the Thai countryside like they are doing in Laos. Westerners on the other hand, aren't doing jack in Laos - it's only the Chinese that are opening businesses everywhere.
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17 hours ago, overherebc said:
To use an old expression 'well heeled' tourists from the west are now rare in Thailand.
Many other destinations make it their business to attract them. Sadly, Thailand has not quite got a hadle on that.
There might be an oasis here and there that almost makes it.
When they go out for dinner at night they expect waiters etc to know what's on the menu and if presented with a wine menu they assume all the wines on the list will be available.
Anyway it's all been said on TV before.
Were they ever common in the first place? For years I've only seen Chinese, Russians (who look like westerners but technically are not), Indians, Vietnamese, Malaysians and other Asian tourists. Westerners exist, but they don't come in droves...most are backpackers or other cheap tourists. One simply doesn't see westerners spending it up staying in 5-star hotels...a few elderly European visitors might, but there aren't that many of those.
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4 hours ago, koimiloi said:
Those guys outside my hotel were staff of the other hotels on the street, not tourists. As the street I stayed on was practically deserted at night, they were hanging outside doing nothing.
I've heard that sometimes when Thais smile, they don't actually mean it. I've had Thais try to scam me and they were smiling in a way that was obviously not friendly. In my experience, Thais are in the middle, more easygoing than Japanese and much more polite than the Chinese, but not as polite as Taiwanese or friendly as Vietnamese.
I didn't mean to imply all Thais dislike tourists but that it seems a lot do. I've met a few very polite and friendly Thais too.Not as friendly as Vietnamese? Vietnamese are rude as heck, and while there are friendly people there too, rarely does a Vietnamese person smile at a stranger like Thais (and Cambodians and Burmese) do.
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On 8/1/2018 at 8:10 AM, cmsally said:
Herein lies yours answer. (above)
You obviously know little about the history,politics and economics of Thailand.
Getting back to tourism specifically, a lot of the workers these days are just low salaried employees. Many of the owner operated businesses have disappeared.
If you come across one of the owner operated/family businesses that are still "hands on", you will see the difference.
Plenty of family/owner operated businesses in Thailand, but unsurprisingly, these will tend to be located in upcountry towns and cities, not in large cities like Bangkok. They haven't necessarily disappeared, only relocated or were never to be found in some places to begin with.
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On 8/3/2018 at 4:24 PM, koimiloi said:
Oh dear, maybe I should get cosmetic surgery, which ironically Thailand is good at. Seriously speaking, maybe I might have that 'sort of face' but I've traveled to many countries in Asia without encountering as much arrogance and passive hostility like in Thailand. Considering I didn't know those guys outside my hotel and didn't say anything to them, I don't see how my personality has anything to do with it.
The people in Venice are begging for less tourists. In my experience, people in Paris or Rome act indifferent to visitors.
According to the Thai government itself, tourism accounted for almost 18% of income.
http://investvine.com/thailands-dependence-tourism-reaches-critical-dimensions/
"Economy-wise, Thailand’s reliance on tourism is unhealthy as it seems to be the only organic growth driver for the country under the current military administration, the only other (non-organic) being public project spending. And it is also confined to a few regions, mainly Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chonburi and the southern islands, which means that distribution of tourism income is highly disproportionate and does neither contribute to rural development nor balance nationwide incomes."
https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/tourism-made-whopping-17-thailands-income-last-year/
By the way, is that woman on the left in the photo Thai? Damn, she's stunning.Are you sure those guys outside your hotel were Thai and not Chinese, Indonesian or something else?
I am very good at identifying who's what nationality and in tourist areas there are lots of tourists and most are Asian. Many could pass for Thai at first glance, but look a bit closer and it becomes apparent they aren't. Even if you don't speak/understand Thai. Also, no Thai wears a singlet and very short shorts, but Asian tourists do.
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On 7/31/2018 at 3:49 PM, morrobay said:
Sure Thais make things , that is from foreigners setting up manufacturing and production for export. Without FDI and tourism in Thailand take a look at Laos. And by the way even Stevie Wonder could see that Thais dislike foreigners.
Laos is also heavily reliant on tourism, otherwise it's got mining, resource extraction such as logging and hydropower. Most countries in SE Asia are heavily reliant on tourism, this includes Singapore.
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12 hours ago, spidermike007 said:
I hear hotels in Burma need a special license to rent their rooms to outsiders. Now that is really dumb. I just would not trust myself while being interrogated by a highly ignorant butthead military or police fool. I think I would end up insulting his mother or his manhood and get locked up in a filthy jail. Would rather avoid putting myself in that suituation. Besides having been there twice, I feel like I have seen as much as I need to see. Too many other places to explore, that do not have such ignorant, blood thirsty, racist, nasty, insular governments or armies. No thanks.
Fair enough. You make some good points. Yes indeed a special license is needed to rent rooms to foreigners. In the aftermath of the tourism boom, there weren't enough rooms to keep up with demand so many hotels around Myanmar, mostly cheaper ones, that were able to host foreigners in the first couple of years since tourism started booming in 2011 are now "Burmese only" since last year or this year. Did these hotels not have "foreigner licenses" to begin with or were they revoked? Strange thing...why not fix this problem before letting in the hordes of tourists? Now you've got a situation where a backpacker who traveled to Myanmar in 2013 and stayed at xx hotel in Myawaddy or Hpa-an or wherever comes back in 2018 to see the country again, wants to stay at the same place and is told "sorry sir, no foreigners". "But i stayed here back in 2013!" "Not anymore sir, only Burmese now!"
Seems very backward to me, rather than just eliminating the ridiculous law governing licenses for foreigners.
However, Myanmar/Burma is not the only country that does this. Vietnam has a similar law, though unlike in Myanmar, it applies to very few hotels. The vast majority can accept foreigners, including those in rural and regional areas. Ditto for China, although there it depends on the city/town/region. In some towns/cities, practically all hotels accept foreigners, in others, like those rarely visited by foreigners and in sensitive areas, almost none do.
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15 hours ago, bkk6060 said:
Not strange at all.
When Chinese travel they like to keep big cash on their person. Especially the older ones.
Not anymore - if you took in what I wrote you would have understood that China is racing towards a cashless society. I know a number of individuals in China that haven't carried a single Yuan in their pockets for 2-3 years now because they pay for everything by mobile phone. Therefore, it seems strange that all of a sudden Chinese travelers would line their pockets with 100 Yuan notes they haven't seen in 3 years. 5-10 years ago, yes, but now no.
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45 minutes ago, melvinmelvin said:
Right you are. But it is not only elevation and the proximity to the sea that represents problems.
Thailand has some challenges that you don't have in London nor the Netherlands ie upstream dams, big dams.
Why these dams? What are they used for?
A host of usages;
water retention to avoid nearby flooding
water retention to avoid downstream flooding
reservoir for drinking water
recreational purposes
fish farming
irrigation for rice
irrigation for vegetables
irrigation for fruits
reservoir for communal water
some hydropower
and to top it off I would guess more ......
note, these purposes do not have compatible needs for water in volume and time
how to manage a huge dam to best serve a host of incompatible wishes?
ain't no simple task - that's probably why they screw up on this one - in practice, this is not possible
what is the main challenge you face when you manage a huge dam?
that is to predict next year's consumption and next year's weather
will it rain a lot next year? yes? OK can drain the dam
will it not rain a lot next year? OK must be careful and not tap down the dam
having huge dams with water used for different purposes is not good for peace of mind
Thailand's climate is quite different to the Netherlands/UK. In these two countries, it rains all the time, all year round but generally it's light rain all day long, that kind of thing. In Bangkok it hardly rains at all for 6 months of the year and the for other 6 months it's a couple of hours a day at most, with some days seeing no rain at all. However, when it does rain it can rain very heavily. The same is true of other parts of Thailand - hence the need for these dams as otherwise there's no water for the dry season, which can be without a drop of rain for months, in some places.
There are big challenges for Bangkok, but nothing is impossible. Following what the UK/Netherlands do for flood mitigation would be a step in the right direction. I should note however that flooding is not a problem in Bangkok every year - yes, localized flooding will occur after every significant rain event. But with the exception of anomalies like the 2011 floods you don't experience days or week long floods. Those occur upcountry next to rivers, for example along the Mekong and Moei rivers where continuous rainfall occurs. Those areas (like Mae Sot, Mukdahan, Nong Khai etc.) have an urgent need to mitigate the enormous flooding problem they encounter nearly every rainy season, because every year it's always the same story - the Mekong has broken it's banks and Mukdahan is underwater.
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7 hours ago, sandyf said:
If it were only that easy. This is current requirement but have to say not seen passport on previous bookings.
Please bring along all of the following documentation prior to collecting your vehicle:
Driving licence
Please note: UK customers will need to provide both parts of their driving licence - the photo-card and the separate paper counterpart.Major credit card
Please note: If you have been issued with a voucher you will still be required to leave a deposit on your credit card. Cash / Cheques and Debit cards are usually not acceptable.Reservation confirmation details
Passport plus one other form of indentification, eg, utility bill
It will not always be necessary to produce additional indentification. However, we recommend that you are fully prepared to avoid disappointment.https://www.budget.co.uk/help-and-advice/car-hire/collecting-your-vehicle
Geez. What else do they need, a police record, a photograph of your residence? With such erroneous requirements, I'm surprised anyone is eligible to hire a car in the UK.
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On 5/11/2018 at 8:35 AM, theguyfromanotherforum said:
It's your own fault for opening a startup in a third world country. What did you expect?
Lessons learned? Obviously not, since you insist on doing business in a third world country.
However, I really do appreciate your honest post. This will be a lesson to many smart people reading in the future. I learned a lot of things before from Thai Visa before moving to Thailand by reading about other people getting burned, so fortunately I did not.
You're ignoring the fact that most western countries have mass immigration of workers from "third world" countries. These people will bring with them their culture and working styles when they move to the west. It's a myth that immigrants assimilate to western culture and leave their cultures behind. Particularly if you're living in a big western city, such as Sydney, Los Angeles or London, chances are a majority of your workforce could be from non-western countries, which in a sense makes them more difficult to manage than Thai workers, which, as long as you know what their culture is like is easier because all of them are the same. Whereas in the west, there'll be Ahmed from Iraq, Janet from England, Morris from Brazil, Julio from Peru and Chang from China. The one thing that you can rely upon in the west however, no matter the demographics is the law. It will be on your side.
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On 5/11/2018 at 8:13 AM, blackcab said:
Someone once said to me that you're not a real manager until you've managed in Thailand.
They were right. This country gives you so many more skills than what you learn from a Western country.
OP - I'm in the fire them instantly and pay them severance camp. Of course the Thai way would be to humiliate them in front of everyone else and wait for them to quit.
Of course if you have a fingerprint time clock and CCTV as proof then if they don't turn up for work for 3 consecutive work days without a reason (medical certificate, etc.) then you can fire them without any severence pay...
You can also use LINE to punch in/punch out. The time the message was sent being the times the worker arrives/leaves work. 4 years ago I was working for a Thai employer who used that system.
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On 7/29/2018 at 2:27 PM, phuketrichard said:
Boats stopped end of dec 2015, was lucky as was able to travel Dawei-Myeik- Kwathoung on the public boats before they ceased running.
Bus on a good day Kwathoung-Myeik is over 14 hours ;-( ( vs what was a 7 hour fast boat ride)
I see. Well even if there were still boats, they wouldn't be running during the rainy season anyway as there is an almost complete shutdown of activity on the entire Myanmar coast during the wet season. Most beach side hotels are closed and it's not difficult to understand why - when the rain starts around late May or early June, it literally doesn't stop until early October. It's not like in Thailand where you have a couple of showers and then the sun starts shining again.
The Kawthoung-Thanintharyi section of the Kawthoung-Myeik highway is reportedly in quite poor condition with some sections being dirt, thus they can become almost impassable during the rainy season. So until they upgrade that highway, traveling to these parts of southern Myanmar during the rainy season is quite a bad idea. Flying might work, but flights aren't daily and frequently get cancelled due to weather this time of year.
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4 hours ago, AdamTheFarang said:
The GPS tracking and compulsory insurance.....enough said.
Neither has happened yet but if they do, you're right that would be scary, especially the former. I also read in the Bangkok Post an article from last November pertaining to GPS tracking of foreign cars entering the Kingdom starting in a few years time. However, I doubt that the deadline of the end of this year for the start of charging foreign cars for entry using an RFID chip (like Malaysia has confirmed it has/will do soon) will be met. I don't doubt that this plan could be rolled out in the next 10 years or so though.
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On 8/3/2018 at 4:08 PM, melvinmelvin said:
you need a course in statistics and sampling, 1400 is quite adequate
1400 out of 250,000 is not adequate enough. Imagine asking 14 people out of 2500 and then telling your audience they represent the views of the other 2486 people. It's not a large enough sample size. If there were only 2000 expats in total living in Thailand, then of course 1400 would be more than adequate. Not sure where you went to school, but it looks like you that needs a refresher course in statistics.
Phayao applauds upgrade of border ‘gateway to Indochina’
in Chiang Rai
Posted · Edited by jimster
I went to China recently crossing the border at Boten/Mohan. Didn't notice any Chinese manufacturing firms lining the highway, but plenty of trucks (Thai/Chinese) the latter hauling construction materials, the former mostly participating in Thai-China trade. Lots of Chinese owned businesses, mainly in agricultural related projects, lots of hydropower and otherwise restaurants. Strange that Chinese restaurants with Chinese signs are all over rural areas of northern Laos - imagine if that happened in Thailand!
The border crossing at Boten is a mess - you want a high clearance 4x4 otherwise you are going to destroy your undercarriage. Lots of naive Chinese driving sedans and the like into Laos not knowing the terrible road conditions there.