PingRoundTheWorld

It's quite amazing how they don't understand this. I remember pre-Covid on our vacations in Pattaya, me and my friends made it a point to visit the 100 baht drinks bars and the ones who had 2-for-1 specials every night, while mostly avoiding the bars that were double priced (or more). It's not that 100 baht extra will kill us, but if we drink 10+ drinks each the difference adds up fast. Also it helped that the cheaper bars were always full and lively while the expensive ones were struggling to get customers in...

Was the price not clearly displayed on the menu, or did you not bother to look? 55 baht is a little high and personally I might think twice before ordering if I saw that price and maybe opt for a water instead, but I wouldn't go as far as calling it greedy. You can always vote with your wallet and just not buy.

Are they sure it's monkey pox and not an STD????? Joking aside, my friend recently nearly died from Syphilis complications, which he acquired in Phuket. There's some scary **** out there.

What's this about?? If the TM6 is suspended how exactly are they going to make sure? stop tourists on the street and demand papers? That always makes me feel welcome...

Huh? What crime? He left her alone for 2 years with the bike, and came back as a surprise without even letting her know he's coming. There is nothing criminal about her using a bike he essentially gave her. Yes, she needs to give it back, but between that and "she's a criminal" there's quite a few leaps.

Leaves her for 2 years and expects to come back to everything fine? sorry mate but that's not how females work, Pattaya or not. Anything more than a couple of weeks and that pillow is not the only thing she'll be riding. He could've come back to Thailand a year ago, even earlier with quarantine. Why only now??

Did they even check CCTV?? I mean, it's pretty suspicious that there is a beer bottle AND whiskey, and a guy who's clearly trying to get laid isn't likely to be drinking alone in his room in the middle of the night when he can just walk down for some company.

Did it though? Sounds more like he made it up to gain some fame. The whole story sounds suspect - why would someone drug him just to leave him on the pavement? usually when guys are drugged it's in their hotel room because the girl (or "girl") wants to rob them - not randomly outside. I'm making assumptions here, but how would a Thai guy much smaller than a Scandinavian dude pick him up and carry him? Sounds physically difficult if not impossible. And let's not even start with him starting to take the pills on his own (what does that even mean?) or how he got free (and alive!), or why this was never reported to law enforcement.

More likely she covered a gambling debt or another stupid decision with a loan so she doesn't have to tell her husband. Well, now he knows....

While I do agree loan sharks are parasites, I doubt it's small business owners or innocent poor people who are their main clientele. More likely gambling addicts and people with poor self-control. I've seen some girls take loans for the stupidest, unnecessary reasons, and pay insane rates on those loans (1k a month on a 10k loan, for example, and I'm sure there are worse out there).

Every once in a while I read such articles where a person almost died of a food allergy at a restaurant (not just in Thailand) - and they always make a big deal about how the restaurant is at fault - but this begs the question: if you are deathly allergic to anything why on earth would you trust your life in the hands of complete strangers? Sorry to blame the victim, but if I had such allergies I would never let anyone else cook for me unless I'm 100% sure I know what went in the dish. Even getting my girlfriend to stop putting things like garlic (it causes diarrhea) in dishes has been mostly unsuccessful, so trusting strangers is just nuts (pun intended)...

Just another way the government and media failed them completely - wave after wave of "the tourists are coming" to spark their hopes, while in reality the millions promised are nowhere to be seen. Sadly though this translates to a distorted market where landlords sit on empty condos expecting to be paid premium rent, while the few renters are unwilling to pay those rents. In my condo I rented a unit for 15k a few months back (and even that is severely overpriced) - now I see ads for same size units for 18-20k. The only real change in demand between now and then is that now there is much *less* demand due to Russian tourists gone. In my previous condo the situation is reversed - the unit I used to pay 15k for is now being offered for 7-8k - it took them a couple hard years to realize no one is renting, but now they're finally down to reality. The kicker though is that even though Bangkok condo rent is down 30-50% - condo prices have only gone slightly down (if at all) - yields are terrible if you want to invest (why would you?). Generally I would prefer stocks and real estate to gold because the former two are producing yields, gold doesn't, but in Thailand there's a ton of reasons why you shouldn't buy, especially right now. Unless some miracle happens, Thai real estate is due for at least a 50% correction IMHO. With rising interest rates and empty units, landlords will eventually be forced to come down to reality and sell.

Ohh <deleted>. Nobody cares about mango and sticky rice. Tourists want nightlife that goes on until morning and doesn't get shut down by the fun police at midnight. They want no face masks, no restrictions, and definitely no Thai Pass or insurance requirement. They're doing the best they can to make tourists' experience bad, and then wonder why they're not coming. I mean come on - it's not rocket science - nightlife has been shut down for over a year - Thailand is a really poor experience now compared to what it was pre-Covid. I think they're still under the illusion that people actually come for the beaches and temples - some do, but many many come for the nightlife and craziness that used to be Thailand - take that away and there's really no reason to come for many. Thailand's real "soft power" that brings tourists is not mango and sticky rice - it's women and nightlife.

How a gf acts totally depends on you. Treat her too good - she'll get bored, put no effort, cheat on you, eventually leave you. Give her some drama (cheat on her, don't come home a night or ten, etc) - she'll go out of her way to please you in every way. Funny enough this works exactly the same with working girls as it does with non-WG. They are all women after all. This thread kinda got off topic. Wish there were more actual recommendations for places outside Thailand a singe (or not) man could have some fun. On the cheaper end I can think of Phnom Penh, Angeles City, Subic Bay. Dubai has a ton of women of course but it's definitely not a budget option.

Rent isn't directly correlated to inflation in the short term. Over the long term yes, but in the short term rent is dictated by demand - you may want to charge more, but if the tenant has other, cheaper options then they'll just move. 2000 baht a month is 24000 baht additional on a yearly contract - that's enough to make a tenant move if they find something cheaper. Personally I would move on principle because a landlord that arbitrarily raises the prices like that for no real reason is a bad landlord and who knows what else they'll nickel and dime me for later on.

The only ones booking 1-day stays would be expats and others who have a permanent accommodation in Thailand already. Actual tourists would probably book at least a few days as it's a hassle to move around hotels, and they'll likely pick a hotel they're already happy with if most hotels are SHA+ (and they will have to be if they want to survive). I think this is a non-issue, but even if they were to get a large number of 1-night stays - that's still better than rooms sitting empty. And it could easily be accounted for by increasing nightly prices and giving discounts for longer stays. Also don't forget that those guests who book 1 night wouldn't even sleep in the room - they'll check out immediately after the negative result, allowing the hotel plenty of time to prepare the room for next day.

I was thinking just that - even if this isn't what actually happened - the fact that if he dies or goes to jail the wife would get the house and probably much more (any known savings/investments, life insurance if there is, etc) is alarming - to say the least. If on the other hand he didn't buy the house (only rented), didn't marry her, and all assets were kept out of Thailand - her motivation would be to keep him as safe as possible. But to sum it up, as you said - if she knows you're worth much more to her alive and well than.. uhh.. not.. chances are you'll remain that way.

Personally I'd move and lose all contact with him. I actually moved countries when I broke up with my bipolar schizophrenic ex-gf a few years back. Our first month together she was fine, but the next couple of months went downhill fast. After she started getting violent and attacked me a couple of times, threatened to throw herself off the balcony if I left her, and even pulled up a knife (which I quickly disarmed) I figured the only way to get out of this was to cut all contact - so I went on an overseas vacation and never came back (to her). And of course she also had a psycho criminal ex-bf who was stalking her and threatening me. I got out of the situation pretty quickly, but I'm sure had I stayed I would've ended up either badly hurt or in jail.

I think the crime started earlier than that - buying a house and marrying the type of woman who'd bang other men behind his back. She's obviously exactly the type of woman who'd ruin his life, one way or another.

Are security cams legal in Thailand? (I assume yes). In this case it would've made a world of difference in proving his innocence (or guilt). Sadly even if he is innocent - his chances of walking away from this are slim. In a normal country if a man walks into your property with a loaded gun it's pretty much self-defense by default, but TIT and he's a foreigner.

So basically the idea is to do nothing, and somehow magically a million digital nomads - who can work anywhere - will come to Thailand where they can't even have a drink (or work) legally. Yes, I'm sure that's going to happen. If they drop restrictions, open nightlife, and introduce easy-to-get remote work visas - maybe they'll get some numbers (but not a million). But that would require logic and action, so yeah nah won't happen.

There's one problem with your theory - it's completely wrong. Most hotels in the sandbox program aren't overpriced or expensive - on the contrary - you can book a jacuzzi room minutes walk distance to everything for 800 baht. 4 star hotels for under 1000 baht. If you really want to "splurge" then 5 star hotels are 2000-3000 baht. Nice article, but the big hotel owners aren't getting (more) rich - they're probably losing money just like everyone else. The real problem isn't big hotels - the real problem is government restrictions - and until those are largely gone there will not be any sort of major tourism. Drop the COE process, open up nightlife with no restrictions, lose the masks outdoors (it helps nothing except pretending you're doing something), and maybe - just maybe - you'll see some actual tourism and money flowing in. And I say this as someone who actually visited the 'box. It's time to open up everything.

I feel SO much safer with the twitchy guy at the end worried about my safety. Seriously - go to hell yourselves - families coming to Thailand is OVER. The Chinese and Indians aren't coming. The ONLY demographics that may travel in current conditions are single men (and women) and young couples - most of which enjoy a good night out. Regardless of how anyone feels about drinking - it's just facts - nobody is going to travel halfway across the world to be told they can't even go out at night. Phuket got ~40,000 visitors in 3 months - what was it in 2019? more like 3 million? and they were expecting 300,000 thousand. As long as nightlife is shut down they'll keep getting miserable numbers as no one wants to be where the party's NOT at. Open nightlife completely, check ID and vaccination or covid test at the entrance to venues. Done..

Nightmare how exactly? Yes it's a bummer that nightlife is shut - they should reopen it fully to vaccinated customers - but restaurants are open, can order grab at any time, daytime activities are open if you're into day stuff, and the main tourism trade (girls...) is booming. My only complaint (not really..) is I'm not single to enjoy it.????

They absolutely did check for Mor Chana in Phuket airport. Nobody checked or mentioned Thailand Plus. As for the requirement to have a smart phone - boring - smart phones are so cheap and readily available these days that it's the least of your worries in the whole COE process. 99.9% of tourists who'd travel these days have one already anyway. I can't really think of anyone I know who doesn't, actually.