PingRoundTheWorld

I'm confused by your logic: they won't weed out troublemakers because they want the income they get from them - so they should ban entire countries and the income they get from them?

And then they cry "why are the tourists not coming". No - you didn't over do it - you did too little and now the baht is artificially strong which impedes tourism and exports.

Temporary nonsense. Trump's economic policies might not benefit nor be favorable with other countries governments and financial institutions, but they are favorable for (the future of) the American economy, and that includes (foreign and domestic) investors. I expect record growth in the coming quarters for American exporters. As for the US Dollar being replaced by any other currencies - dream on. Ain't happening anytime soon.

Pretty sure VAT is supposed to be included in the price displayed on the menu, if it wasn't she was completely right. If the menu did display the final price correctly however, STAH.

There's a word for someone who hates an entire country based solely on where they come from: racist. These Russians don't represent all Russians, either: the problem is Thailand is not vetting which tourists can come and who to reject - they're letting all in, easily. There should be at minimum a visa requirement with proof of financial resources and more scrutiny given to young people's applications as they're more likely to get into trouble and/or work illegally. But they won't do it of course.

Just one case, which begs the question: why aren't authorities doing more to enforce and remove kids from the streets in the middle of the night and make sure they go to school? There are many many being forced to beg, steal, sell, or just loitering. If they don't meet their quotas they suffer physical abuse. There's a particular family(?) that loiters around Asoke, the parents sitting down on the sidewalk eating while they send the children after random passerbys. One time I was in a taxi nearby and one kid failed to get anything from a couple of passerbys, when he got back to the family the dad smacked him so hard I could hear it loudly across the street in a closed car. The saddest thing about this is that these kids don't get an education and don't know anything else - so they're likely to be the parents using their kids as slave labor when they grow up.

These days you can't find a decent condo in Bangkok for less than 15k/mo. They aren't going to live in Isaan. Pattaya Jomtien can still be had for 7k, but anyone that has to worry about the rent probably shouldn't come (for their own sake - Thailand sucks if you can't afford it).

If they run out of money then they won't qualify for the visa anyway. 500k in the bank and a steady income. Most likely the problems are because they simply don't qualify for the visa so embacies are struggling to verify that they do instead of flat out rejecting them. The visa was intended to bring money into Thailand, not to provide an easy visa for people who won't spend much. But you know they will. It's just a matter of time. Thailand tends to flip-flop on things like this once they realize them (which takes a year or two).

Thanks for wasting our time. This isn't news.

I was there around 2018-2019. Did not feel threatened in any way, but Heart of Darkness seemed like a gay club. Pontoon was actually pretty good but AFAIK closed down during Covid. Not sure if/what clubs they have going now.

Please! 🙏

Best news I read in a while. Win-win-win: Thailand gets rid of these pests, Chinese cheap charlies get more bang for their buck, Cambodia gets much needed cash. Let Thailand get back to attracting higher spending western tourists.

What a mess of a family... Son becomes daughter, adopts child (poor child!), he adopts another daughter, and ladyboy's boyfriend moves in and shares a room with the adopted daughter? wtf?

Nobody who works at soi 6 is 37 years old. Next.

You forgot her mother, her sister, her aunt, and her friends who constantly need a "loan" but are never there when she needs one.

It's costing the government nothing if it's increased demand that wouldn't exist if the taxes remained. In fact the government IS getting extra revenue from sales and income tax on the profits from those sales. And what social costs? That's nonsense- people just switched from cheaper local alternatives to better wine - which is a good thing. Those who would drink and drive would do it with wine or whiskey (if anything wine is safer), and youths?? youths aren't going to get wild on wine - LOL!

I think casinos at designated areas outside of the main cities may be ok. Maybe even creating a special zone as a gambling and entertainment area. But placing it in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, etc will only serve to increase the wrong kind of tourists, traffic, rents, and basically make things worse for anyone actually living there Thais and expats alike. Tourist areas are already too packed - wouldn't hurt to create a new one specifically for that. The issues of gambling accesibility and addiction are moot because Thais already have ample local access to illegal gambling operations. If anything making it legal and administered by established large scale operators like MGM will probably decrease illegal activities while making profits taxable. As long as they keep operations clean and avoid corruption and bribery. This being Thailand....I'm not so optimistic about that. P.S. Online gambling should be legalized. No reason not to.

I was in Patpong a couple of times recently - it's GREAT compared to Cowboy and Nana. Few guys, many young fresh girls who are cheerful and eager. Much better than pre-Covid IMO.

Good luck spending your next few years in prison for carrying an illegal firearm. This is Thailand, not Texas.

She's lying again. One of two things happened: 1. She lost it gambling, pawned or sold her engagement ring and lost that too. 2. It got stolen or given to her Thai boyfriend. Keep this in mind when you rent a girlfriend, boys, she doesn't love you and there's a good chance she has a Thai boyfriend. These girls are broken and will give him all their cash and then cry to you that they can't pay their bills. If no amount is ever enough - she's giving it to a guy.

Very little chance of that happening, unfortunately. It's a cash cow AND seen as protecting local industry. There's simply no political incentive for them to do it. Tourists will pay the inflated prices anyway.

Another day, another ****. Alcohol-induced traffic accidents have nothing to do with manufacturers or distributors. If someone wants to drink and drive they will no matter how few brewers there are. The real problem is that people aren't educated enough about the danger of drunk driving and the fact it is rarely enforced by police. Start enforcing it and taking licenses away and miraculously drunk driving incidents will shrink significantly. It's no coincidence that drunk driving is much more common in Thailand than other countries - lack of enforcement. Anyway, welcome change. I don't drink beer so this won't affect me - but smaller brewers deserve a chance, though I'm sure they'll still face further headwings by the industry giants.

Have you not watched the video? The ladyboys were throwing bottles around all over the place. More likely the guy was hit by friendly fire.

Even in their own version of the events the ladyboys were wrong by not refunding the "deposit" (wtf?? who pays a deposit for a beach road w****??). 3000 is way overpriced too unless "she" was going to take on multiple guys which is probably what was agreed upon initially. The more likely version of events is that she took the 1000, then tried to add on another ladyboy for extra cash at which point the tourists changed their minds, and instead of refunding the "deposit" she turned to violence. Beach road ladyboys are insane and routinely involved in violence against foreigners. New story every time involving the same groups - and that's just what makes the headlines with countless episodes that don't. It's a mystery why police aren't doing more to clear them out for the safety of tourists.

As usual: "English" and "French" when all involved are probably rival Middle Eastern or African (Muslim) gang members. They take over Phuket every high season and terrorize it like they own the place, and nobody does nothing.