nickstav

9 minutes ago, Penicillin said:

Taxi drivers are all (fake) smiles and good cheer ...until you catch them trying to scam you , then they turn very very aggressive and ugly.

I've had some very nice taxi drivers who didn't try to scam me. I've had some who spoke good English and we had a nice conversation during the trip. And I've had some bad taxi drivers, very bad. I try not to lump everybody into one pile.

I'm sorry, but I disagree on some of your points. Yes, restaurants often have menus in Thai and menus in English. When I go to a restaurant with my girlfriend they give me an English menu and she gets the Thai menu. The prices on both are the same. Can it happen that they have higher prices on the English menu? Sure, but I don't think this is the norm. Mostly I just drink local beers in a restaurant, so I'm not worried that they're substituting my Leo with Heinekin, but it could happen that some bar could be putting Pipers in JW bottles, but again, choose to believe this is not the norm. A devoted JW drinker could probably tell the difference. Yes, there are rigged meters and not just in Thailand. As for long routes, just plug in your destination on your phone app and you can follow along to see if you're being taken for a ride. If you let a tuk tuk take advantage of you like you've described then you deserve it (even if a newbie tourist).

13 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

To an average Thai, a farang paying over and above the stated/expected price of a product or service means the person has so much money he can freely give it away. 

 

Even rich Thais, especially Chinese Thais, guard every Baht and rarely give away more money than a stated cost. 

 

- Thais negotiate stated prices down

 

- Farangs often don't negotiate the stated price and rather pay it plus more free money 

 

Thais find this funny and don't respect us for helping them. In fact, they loose respect for us thinking we are idiots. 

If you are in a restaurant the price of your meal is on the menu.

If you are in a bar the drink prices are posted.

If you take a taxi with meter running the price is right in front of you.

If you take a tuk tuk, and you're not a newbie, you ask the price before you get in.

So how do they inflate the prices???

35 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

I started with a similar mindset long ago but now I never tip anyone here. 

It's not part of Thai culture to tip and we Farangs tipping for everything inflates prices for us and makes us targets for the Thai.

Tips are appreciated. I always tip restaurant servers and bar staff. I usually tip taxi drivers and sometime tuk tuk driver. It is not part of some European's culture to tip, because restaurant workers and bartenders, etc. are paid a decent wage in Europe (so I've been told by my European friends). Many waitresses here only get 200-300 baht a day. I disagree that tipping inflates prices.

8 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

The high baht is a popular excuse, on the part of authorities who will not, can not, and do not take responsibility for anything that is wrong with the nation. That is part of the problem with the army.

 

The neighbors are making a real effort, improving, progressing, and creating a better environment for tourism. While here in Thailand, the environment is one of stagnation, regression, a total lack of vision, xenophobia, fear of foreigners, confused and muddled visa policy, and a baht that is far stronger than it needs to be, should be, or deserves to be. 

 

No effort is being made to address tourist safety, or public safety in general. No effort is being made to address traffic safety and the horrendous amount of bus, mini-van, car, truck, and motorbike accidents on the road. No effort is being made to improve the highway patrol, or even get those incompetent clowns to patrol the highways, and pull people over for reckless driving. No effort is being made to address the understaffed immigration counters at DM, or Swampy. No effort is being made to tackle corruption on the part of the RTP franchisees. Quite the opposite. They are being deliberately protected. No effort is being made to address the myriad of environmental issues Thailand faces, whether it be the water quality, the air quality, the burning by farmers, the plastic epidemic, the extreme lack of trash cans throughout the nation, and a vast host of other issues. And finally, no effort is being made to reform the tourism ministry, separate it from the sports ministry (hair brained to the extreme), or improve the TAT. Nothing. 

 

The army is doing nothing, to benefit the people, or tourists. Absolutely nothing. Perhaps even less than zero. And on top of that, they are liars, so anything in the way of stats, or information coming from this administration is probably false. Perhaps the name should be changed from the Thai Army to the Nothing men. Of course tourism is dropping. Why would it not be dropping? 

Good post, but you could have just stopped at "no effort" 555

11 hours ago, moe666 said:

CM has an uptick in tourist mostly the summer students on a 5 week tour of southeast asia. A few days in every country on the way to the next country, about 3 to 5 days in CM then off to BKK. Chinese tourist seem to be picking up as well see them mostly in the old city mucking up the roads. We went to a eatery in the old city and a chinese guest cut the bill payment a bit as the staff went running to the front after the issue was found but long gone

Backpackers are big spenders. Order a water and ask for the free wifi password. Nurse the water for a couple of hours.

Are they gonna start tracking down all the sweet young Thai girls on Bigo? Much better stuff.

Uh...a friend told me.

2 hours ago, NoBrainer said:

Fewer Tourists are coming to Thailand because it is full of Indians, Chinese & Arabs, not to mention a pretty big African brigade.

If Western Tourists wanted to mingle with those people, then they would visit their respective countries (which they do not, in any significant numbers).

 

It should be real easy for Thailand to fix this.

 

Make a list of the top 100 countries, and rate them on a scale of how rich or poor they are. Thailand will be somewhere in the middle.

 

Any country deemed Richer than Thailand, should have it's tourists welcomed with open arms, and have easy visas and free movement. Those are the tourists Thailand should be attracting.

 

Any countries deemed poorer than Thailand should have very stringent Visa Requirements, as most of the people coming from poorer countries are not tourists, they are coming here for economic gain, to work illegally or engage in other scams & crime.

 

They are not real tourists.

 

You see, it is actually simple math, it would take a year or two to implement and but the results would be nothing short of revolutionary, and take Thailand's tourist industry to the next level.

 

But as I often see here, the simple solutions are overlooked as common sense is not in abundance.

I see problems with this on several levels, not the least of which is the rating of people. I know you said countries, but it boils down to rating people. How would you rate them, based on average yearly income per person, the country's GDP? Either way you're not going to keep out some of the "undesirables" you mentioned, Chinese, Arabs, as well as some other Southeast Asian countries (Malaysia). What if other countries followed suit? How many Thais go to other countries to work, or study, or just try to experience the outside world?

57 minutes ago, Nong Khai Man said:

But this guy DID Show a LOT Of Shops & Even what he said was a Nearly New Mall on the Main road out of HH Closed Down as there was very LITTLE Business !! The Camera Doesn't LIE !!

The camera shows only what you point it at!!

1 hour ago, Nong Khai Man said:

There is a Blogger on Youtube who posted a Video.....He Called it ...Hua-Hin ( The DYING City ) Says it ALL...

I watched the video. The whole video. It says nothing. Total BS. First, it's more than 2 years old and was shot during low season. Two years ago during high season HH was hopping. He shows one small vacant shopping center, not a mall, that by the way is now occupied and one vacant storefront. Things are bad here now like everywhere else, but Hua Hin is not dying and I doubt it will. At least half of all visitors to HH are Thais that come down from Bangkok, easy trip, and they're not going to stop coming. It is a great place for expats to live. Everything is easily accessible.  Sure, the face of tourism here is changing, just like everywhere else, but dying...give me a break.

11 minutes ago, from the home of CC said:

Wife works at the mall and she also says it's busier in this off season, mostly Chinese. Many Chinese don't go drinking in bar girl bars or eat in restaurants on soi 94. One thing I have noticed is not as many foreigners sitting in front of 7/11's drinking beers so that's one plus. 

My girlfriend works at Market Village. She works solely on commission. Her cut was a little down from the last few months, but still not bad. But that's because at least half their customers, high and low season, are Thais.

I would like to see another survey question Scott, with a simple yes or no to reply to: Do you think that medical marijuana tourism, that only includes CBD based medicines that don't get you high, will give a big boost to the tourist industry?

I don't

3 hours ago, mok199 said:

I met a woman last night who can make a swan from a drinking straw.!

Did she make it with her hands?

1 hour ago, mac1970 said:

10 days in Hua Hin few weeks back. Most quiet low season I have seen as long as I remember. Daytime no people at all, only in BP and Village. Night Market really quiet most of days (not really many Chinese tour groups). Talked with few ladies in bars, one went back home after one month staying in HH, as no customers, another one had one customer in month and bars generally had very few customers. Barbershop lady near beach said that only old customers who stay long term. Driver who took us here and there, did not have any other customers in 10 days. Shared hotel with few Chinese and the owner looked like there is no tomorrow. But I like quiet HH, so fine for me even if not good for local business for sure. 

One dynamic about Hua Hin that may not apply to a lot of other places is that a lot of Farang own condos and houses here, but do not live here full time. They are snowbirds that spend the entire winter here golfing and going to the beach. In my previous post I said that the restaurants were hurting, but the bars in my area, which is one of the known expat areas here are doing ok. Most of the bar patrons in my area are expats. The bars in the main tourist area, Soi Bintabaht, are not doing so good. I love Hua Hin in the low season, but surely not good for local business.

4 minutes ago, geronimo said:

Let's imagine, for a moment, what Thailand would be like if they went the whole hog and weed was everywhere,

 

 

Violent crime rates would plummet, as would road fatalities (stoned people always drive far too slowly)

 

The noodle stalls would always be crowded, as the new ingredient really hits home.

 

There would be no domestic disputes, just happy people who live and let live.

 

All banking staff would have a clue what they are doing (nothing has changed there)

 

Teachers would forget what they are supposed to be teaching ..... (could be worse)

 

Hookers wouldn't want paying ......

 

The cops would pull you over, then ask you why you stopped them!

 

The fast food and dessert industries would grow exponentially

 

Thailand would become known as "The land of smiles"

 

No one would bother to complain about anything ..... The list is endless ......

Yo Geronimo, pass some of that s**t you be tokin over here. It must be good.

12 hours ago, up-country_sinclair said:

If/when do people think it could be legalized for recreational use?

 

Asking for a friend.  ????

Tell your friend, 555, it will be legalized for recreational use when they don't get the financial returns they expect from the medicinal market and/or they realize they can get an even greater financial return from a recreational market. It's all about the money.

All joking aside, the mistreatment of animals, all animals, is the shame of humanity (which I have a very low opinion of). Regarding the elephants in Thailand, all those places that offer elephant rides should be closed down and every effort should be taken to preserve these magnificent animals.