StayinThailand2much

Does Google Trends include China? Google Search says: "Insights that are validated “worldwide” do not include the following countries: China, Iran, and North Korea..." - Guess, TAT story writers don't know that...

The frequent attempts of luring Kazakh tourists always makes me chuckle. Do they even know at the TAT how small this market of (potential) Thailand travellers is, or where Kazakhstan actually is? - Why not charter a jumbo jet once a year to fly all the Kazakhs who want to travel to Thailand for free?

And they were never even in power... - Amazing Thailand!

They wouldn't complain if a foreigner gave a Thai free food...

Wonder, why Xi is in a hurry...

If they were light-skinned, it probably wouldn't have made waves, as light-skinned people are good people with high social status*... *Beware: sarcasm!

Something's missing... So, did the drug dealers get stamped in at an airport without being present, i.e. did they arrive by private plane?

Interesting! Language like in South Africa 50 years ago...

Haven't they always been involved? One just needs to venture down Walking Street... Lots of Russians promoting the Russian go-gos. All promoters with work permits, I'm sure.

Weird story! Why do Korean and Russian tourists have a brawl about the price of massage services? Do (male) tourists in Pattaya offer each other massage services these days?

Sorry, but, on the rare occasion that I visit a bar, I don't want to pay for some bubbly half-full mix-drink for some 'lady', who, nowadays, won't even sit with me for 10 minutes, despite of the lady drink. Such an entrance fee would only encourage me to visit like 'never', instead of 'seldom', meaning the bar would lose the sale of a few beers too...

"Axe hangs over Thailand’s reform movement as Move Forward faces judgment day" Who else thinks that they might get 'terminated'?

Yes, and to stay in SE Asia, none of the countries developed other cities for economic or cultural reasons, but instead only a few did so due to random other reasons, such as... - (mostly) because of the danger of severe flooding (Indonesia) - because of megalomania of ruling generals (Myanmar), and - because of separate political development over decades (Vietnam).

It basically depends on how much you offer the lady, but there are reports that nowadays some ladies won't leave the bar with anyone, as a few make as much as 147,000 baht (source: Stickman) from only their salaries, bonuses, and lady drinks. - This is like 10x the average salary in Thailand, and, I suspect, most have a boyfriend and husband waiting at home, so why should they bother. Of course, if one offers outrageous sums, one or the other may still be tempted, which might explain the inflation in P4P prices in recent years...

I couldn't sleep at night; 100k plus the girls' salaries, utilities, losses due to people helping themselves from the till, brown envelopes, etc., etc. - That's a helluva drinks to sell! Hope, his bar is popular...

If so, will they automatically stop the scams after they've recouped their losses? LOL

Some do. But many excel at only one, very easy, service (with disproportionately high income). Also, I wonder if Thai is the language at the casino, or whether staff don't need to speak (English or Chinese)...

I wanted to say 'me too', but then remembered how much accommodation is in Hong Kong; Macau is probably not much cheaper in this regard...

Maybe. However, running a shop/bar, whatever, that can't be a good long-term strategy, esp. in the internet age. But who knows, perhaps those bar owners want to sell off their business anyway, so they take now whatever they can get...

Well, after all, it's not really tourists Thailand wants to host, but about the money they want to get their hands on. Unfortunately, for Thailand, the money only arrives together with the pesky tourists...

That's like saying: "I just bought a lottery ticket... I will be rich soon!"

Some of those chicks sell so many lady drinks per night (up to 40!) that they don't even go with customers anymore.

Agreed. It always bothered me in a bar, how many lady drinks would actually end up on my bill, so I didn't order. Better less female company than having to worry about getting scammed, as I always knew exactly what I had ordered for myself.

Stickman, in his weekly column, has reported similar practices in recent weeks, as have his readers, with bar owners often turning a blind eye it seems. Who will accept such crap? Do they care about regular customers, or have they gone native; i.e. scamming as much out of everyone while they can, not bothering whether they will ever return?

Seconded. Most dishes' flavours are overpowered by the large amount of chillies, garlic, and glutamate used. It tastes mostly like 'chilli' and "burns" the stomach... Maybe it's like Chinese food; being delicious when prepared in America, but not in Asia... (I like Asian food, but more along the lines of Japanese, Malay, and Indonesian, with a few select dishes from other SE Asian countries.)