StayinThailand2much

Good riddance, Thailand. Mafia structures, scams, verbal abuse, and treated badly... I recently shifted a good part of my stock market investments to SE Asia; i.e. Vietnam.

Binge-watching "30 Rock" and "Frasier" for the 10th time, checking "Asean Now" every three minutes for the latest news, checking Covid news every two minutes, planning my 2022 holidays in Australia and New Zealand in detail, in between having 13 meals a day (not counting snacks)...

I tell you what, when I lived in China, even some Chinese people there told me about the bad reputation and behaviour of Chinese abroad. And I heard, when travelling to both, Hong Kong, and New Zealand, how unpopular mainland Chinese are because of their rudeness, and because of not following rules in the countries they travel to (e.g. driving on the wrong side on purpose).

The Indians aren't ready yet, and the Chinese aren't allowed to travel abroad ...

Soon it will look like China's megacities; dozens of 30-storey high-rise buildings, but mostly deserted ...

The smaller hotels were struggling for years, long before the arrival of the virus, but definitely for the past five years, and the five-star hotels (e.g. on Phuket) put, as you correctly mentioned, 'all their eggs into the Chinese basket'. - The Chinese hordes, IMHO, will be among the last to return to Thailand. But, how do they say again in this country: "Som nam na"...

Or wearing only a hula-skirt and a flower garland, she'd become an instant hit in Hawaii, Tahiti, and beyond...

None from me. Pass!

Record exports, low imports, and sitting on 280 billion US$ foreign currency reserves. (1/8 of China's huge reserves, so way more per capita than China!) Rich country, but poor people...

Hotels close in Thailand? Meh...

Or perhaps Korean, which would explain her desire to have a career in Korea. Did she have Korean citizenship or language skills before she went there?

Even better, a Thai artist in a Thai dress... How exciting!

By accident I came across one of the protests earlier this year, with some participants I met on the skywalk nearby making anti-foreigner comments... But yes, I know enough younger and older Thais who just see them as 'mob' ( I am quoting them). And while I was shocked at what happened in Hong Kong (a city I learned to love, and who's people I morally support), I would never compare those protesters in Bangkok to them, and I just see them as a nuisance, like many Thais do.

Put her in a Thai dress (check), let her sing Morlam songs, and say she 'loves Thai food', and she could easily be elected to be the new prime minister, never mind not being a Thai citizen, not speaking a word of Thai, or not knowing anything about Thai politics...

I will never understand how obsessed Thais are with their own country, culture, food, language, and fashion, and not a teeny bit curious about the rest of the world. Since I can remember, I always wanted to know about other countries and cultures, soaking up every little piece of foreign news, books about faraway countries, and documentaries about other cultures, but maybe that's just me...

They spoke Cantonese, the common language in Hong Kong. Besides, I wouldn't compare Hong Kong with Thailand.

Ah, somebody has been watching "30 Rock", taking Jack Donaghy's advice as real-world business acumen... Will they copy the slogan: "We have a magic horse"? Also, will the prime minister strive to be a succesfull business leader such as Kathy Geiss? Stay tuned...

Pretty meaningless paragraph without actual numbers, but rather a vague '46% wanted to travel to Thailand alongside other destinations' - So, how many of those 46% actually wanted to travel to Thailand? Maybe 50% wanted to travel to the U.A.E., 47% to the Maldives, and just 3% to Thailand... Also, what country in the world, besides Thailand, favours tourists that come for only 7 days? Oh yes, must be the quality tourists that mostly come for the cheap shopping at Big C (as mentioned by an Indian tourist to Bangkok on "Living English" on ABC Australia). That can easily be done in one or two days...

Certainly true. We are, and always will be, only visitors in this country (or cheap day labourers in the case of Cambodians, etc.). Tourists or day labourers without rights don't join political protests. Besides, having met some of those youngsters who took part in a demo, I realised what racist a******* they are, so no sympathy from me for their cause.

If the (white?) Thailand Covid Vaccine Passport and the yellow International Vaccine Certificate are 'the same in Thailand', why can't they give one just the latter one? Why not provide people with a standardised document rather than something 'the Thai way'? What could possibly go wrong abroad when presenting this specific and unique document at the border? Is it all to be able to charge those 50 baht?

Say no more.... Was it two or three years ago, when there was news about Chinese tour guides in Thailand introducing Thailand as "China's colony" to their compatriots? Nothing to add here.

Wasn't that when new Covid cases started to rise towards 20,000 a day?? It's nice to know that Thailand, once more, is the 'Hub of Misinformation'...

True, literally. Just go to a Chinese supermarket; pickpockets everywhere. And don't leave your apartment unattended for 5 weeks; they will empty it all out! If you buy anything in/from China you'll realise how easily it breaks. But one thing they are good at: nationalism!

That's meaningless. Private enterprises (and even billionaires) in China are at the mercy of the government (see Jack Ma, Alibaba, Tencent & Co) ...

I lived 2.5 years in China (until 2017). I only paid in cash.