PingRoundTheWorld

Sukhumvit bars and clubs close at 2-3am currently. Anything you see at 6am is completely unrelated to nightlife venues - mostly street workers who were there (the street) all night, and will be there regardless of when bars close. If anything extended opening hours will get some people OFF the street and into those venues. And who made you the arbiter of "quality"? Night owls are more intelligent, more creative, and more successful than morning folk. Just because I prefer to start my night at 1am in a classy venue doesn't make me any less "quality" than some dude in a wife beater drinking in a beer bar from noon till he passes out. The majority of problems and incidents happen with people who start drinking early, not late.

Just let all clubs everywhere open as late as they want, and let patrons decide how late they want to party. You want tourists? start acting like it. Bangkok's nightlife has been dying a slow agonizing death ever since the wet blanket 2am rules were introduced. It's a shadow of it's former self - in 2019 you could go out at 5am and there were still venues open and fun to be had - now at 3am almost everything is closed - it's ridiculous. I personally know dozens of people who used to come to Thailand a few times a year, who stopped coming to Bangkok because it's incredibly boring now. Some of them go to Pattaya or Phuket instead, but many just don't come to Thailand at all anymore. I'm actually about to move to Pattaya because Bangkok nightlife has become so bad. Lost all hope it will ever be back to normal.

Idiots in charge. They want tourists money but doing everything they can to deter tourism. This government is quickly revealing itself to be even worse than the outgoing military government - Robbing Hood style all the way.

Typical Patong tuk tuk scum. Getting nasty over 100 baht like animals. The whole drive from sansabai to Kalim and back to 200 takes maybe 5 minutes - 400 baht for that? what a joke. They should sterilize Patong with fire.

They're looking for terrorists, not drug dealers. ????

The side of humanity. Hamas has again reminded the world that they're monsters, butchering women, children, and elderly, and taking hostage innocent people including foreign nationals and including Thais who have nothing to do with the conflict.

Clickbait idiotic headline. El Al has 1-2 flights a day into Thailand, carrying about 300-400 passengers each. 3 days after the war started at most there are about a thousand "refugees" - 90% of them had tickets and planned travel long before this conflict started. As far as other stupidity on this thread goes: no - Israel did not shut down the airport. Foreign airlines have been canceling flights - but that's their decision - not imposed by Israel. El Al also codeshares with Thai airlines. And no- you're not going to see a massive refugee situation a la Russia/Ukraine - Israelis for the most part are safe and leading a semi-normal lifestyle aside from the military and reservists fighting.

Exacly. He wasn't a billionaire. He just claims he was one to exaggerate the "fraud" when in reality he was probably a millionaire and she didn't steal anything - she just asked and he gave her a lot of money, and the rest he probably spent himself.

Beyond your comprehension indeed.. She's been his girlfriend for 18 years, she's 45... As far as the "fraud" allegations go - complete and utter bs - that she's a terrible person for pesuading him and accepting his gifts over the years is for sure, but that makes him an idiot - it doesn't make her a thief or a fraudster. The only "fraud" here is that he finally realized that now that he's out of money she's going to move on to the next victim. (and of course she was two-timing him throughout the years, and even better- he's the one who paid for her boyfriends' drinking and gambling) A hooker is never going to take care of you when the money runs out - she'll be out the door as soon as the well dries up. It doesn't matter how much she "loves you" and even if she does genuinely have feelings for you they're secondary to her nature - which is grab as much money as possible, as soon as possible. They don't understand that by going slow and steady they'll be set for life, but by sucking you dry you'll eventually get sick of it and kick them to the curb.

Supposedly the money will come from "more equal taxation". In reality it won't come because no one will comply with their money grab. Thais will just find creative ways around it, expats will either leave or find ways around it. As for the second question- you answered yourself.

High tech is just as much a matter of attitude and motivation and drive as it is a matter of education. I'm sure there are exemptions and some Thais who are driven, but for the most part I haven't seen the kind of drive that will push forward a high tech industry, and startups specifically. A few here and there - sure - but not an entire industry. A startup needs many things: seed capital, talented and experienced workforce, motivated founders with innovative ideas, favorable business and tax environment, etc. Thailand has some of those, but not in sufficient quantities IMHO. Becareful what you wish for though - a small high tech sector dragging up salaries, cost of living, and inequality is not necessarily a good thing. It will benefit a minority but make life harder for the rest of Thais.

I stated it as a more likely possibility than her story. Could be right, could be wrong - the point is there is a doubt and we shouldn't immediately assume a woman is telling the truth just because she claims she was a victim. Many complaints are false and it's just increasing in recent years (thank you Pound Me Too).

Exactly what I was thinking - they literally have metal detectors at every entrance - how was he able to enter with a gun?!

Neither of us were there, we don't know what happened. Which is kind of the point - there is no actual proof there was a rape, beyond her calling it that (while scorned from being kicked out in favor of another woman).

Reminds me of my ex who majored in English literature. I laughed the first time she told me - what the **** are you going to do with an English literature degree in Thailand? Completely useless. Since her English was pretty good she ended up working in 5 star hotels - but even they paid her less than 25k. Minimum 25k would mean the grand majority of graduates will go unemployed, while only the truly exceptional ones (or actually skilled i.e. IT etc.) will find entry-level jobs. And yes, I agree- end result is that anything that can be done by a high-school graduate will be shifted to them - what's the point of hiring college graduates if you need to pay them more and train them just the same. Not that this is a bad thing - might be actually positive as Thailand and Asian in general is still hung up on degree importance while developed countries have adapted to relying more on skill and experience. (an IT worker with a few years experience is far more productive than a fresh CS graduate)

No problem- the Thai baht will crash and burn, making Thai exports cheap as chips in foreign currency, even with the higher THB prices resulting from higher wages. Of course inflation will also rise and anything imported will cost an arm and a leg - but Srettha Hood will be fine.

You mean the same woman who was sleeping with him for months, got upset when he tried to instigate a threesome, had makeup sex with him, and then next day after the fact decided it was "rape" just because he kicked her out so he can bang the other woman? 100% that if he didn't kick her out and kicked out the other woman she wouldn't have backwards rationalized it as "rape". Reminds me of that one incident where a couple was filmed having sex in public (I think it was a bank or ATM booth), then when the footage went public she filed rape charges claiming it was against her will - even though the footage clearly shows she was a very willing participant. She was willing to destroy the man's life just because she felt bad about the negative publicity. Make no mistake- I am 100% against rape or any sort of violence against women. But I'm talking about real rape - women that use rape as a weapon to retaliate against a current bf or ex, or to avoid the moral consequences of their own depraved actions - are a slap in the face to real rape survivors.

On the contrary. With higher unemployment, higher inflation, tax burden on legit workers, and a weaker currency - there will be far, far more prostitution. The only questions is if there'll be tourists and expats remaining to be clients (though the majority of Thai prostitution is local).

The baht already plummeted almost 10% over the past couple of months. If he keeps at it this is just the beginning. Not that I'm complaining - cheaper everything for us.

What an idiot. With every day that passes he's proving more and more just how out of touch with reality he actually is. Just another billionaire populist playing Robin Hood steal from "the rich" (middle class) and give to "the poor" AKA vote buying. Upper-income country in 4 years is a total joke: Higher income means higher prices, and higher prices means less tourism. Who's going to fund those higher wages and taxes? it's gonna grow on trees? Tourists aren't going to come if Thailand prices itself out of the competition - it's already the most expensive destination in the region. It's tolerable now, but at higher prices many will just prefer to holiday in cheaper destinations. And let's not even dive into his delusional plan of taxing overseas income. The end result of his economic plans will be extreme unemployment, stagflation, and a significant decrease in quality of life for everyone. Luckily- none of this is going to happen as he's day-dreaming. Knee-jerk reversal in 3..2..1..

A drunk (smoker) tourist at 4AM. What could go wrong...

I think this is something a lot of people who don't suffer from overweight fail to understand - those of us who do need to be reminded that this is unhealthy and we should do something about it. The alternative is pretending like there is no problem and keep maintaining an unhealthy lifestyle until serious problems (diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, etc...) reveal themselves down the road - when it's already too late. I was way overdue on diet and excercise myself, but recent comments from people close to me did motivate me to start again. Out of curiosity I took a peek at the passenger's TikTok. I'm honestly not sure if it's a lady or a ladyboy, but she is most definitely morbidly obese, and doesn't seem to be bothered by this at all (on the contrary - it seems to be the theme of her TikTok). While this may gain her some followers, it will also shorten her lifespan. I doubt this encounter will make her realize she needs change - it seems like she's just using it as a chance to victimize herself, go viral, and gain followers - and surely plenty of "netizens" (people with no life) will encourage her to ignore his harsh words (and ignore the problem...). susu.

Or you take a break from Thailand for 180 days every few years and transfer a large amount that year, and repeat every few years. When there is a will, there is a way.

VAT and sales taxes are doing exactly the opposite of reducing inequality. They disproportionally affect low wage earners a lot more than high earners. If inequality is the issue they could start by actually enforcing taxation of the elites. But this isn't about the elites or inequality - it's about votes and handing out 10k to every Thai citizen. Robin hood except they're not going to be able to steal from the rich - it's the middle class (including foreigners) who they're going after. Handing out 10k to every citizen is not going to address inequality - it's just going to encourage inflation and do little else. What they fail to consider/realize is that unlike Thais, expats have a choice - I already get robbed for nearly half my income by my own government - if it comes down to it and they try to force the issues on tax residents then the solution is ugly but simple - stop being a tax resident. Thailand will lose the majority of it's expats, and particularly all of it's high earning expats. Good luck with the economy! P.S. I don't think this will actually happen - they can't be that stupid - but then again... maybe they can.

Like any other country, most Thai women prefer Thai men for love. Obvious reasons - familiar, shared culture, language, etc. There are some (many) who prefer falang or Asian men for love, there are also others who prefer Arab, black, and even those who prefer Indians. It really depends on the girl, her past experiences with men (good or bad), and what kind of interests she has (k-pop and k-drama vs American TV for example). Physically speaking a girl who likes tall/big is more likely to date falang than Asian, and a girl who hurts if your equipment is too large will prefer Asians... And then we go to the category of women who are interested in money, not love. They're going to pick whoever is most available to them and willing to spend the most. For example a fat girl would aim for Arab or Indian because statistically more of them prefer curves over skinny - minimizing her chances of wasting time and maximizing earning potential. A skinny girl wouldn't bother with them and go for Asian or falang. If you had to specifically compare the two I think when it comes down to it it's more about the money and who's willing to pay the most (hint: usually the Asians pay more or at least put on a good show of being big spenders). Last but not least- what was the saying? Koreans are 555 or something like that? 5 minutes, 5 inches, 5000... That's what the Insanity girls used to say when the club was still around. One night as I was walking on soi 11 heard a girl loudly announcing "you give me 5000!" to the Korean taking her home.