PingRoundTheWorld

Also true- taxes on imported alcohol are around 400% in Thailand. Huge cost difference for imports. Either Thai rice farms will simply close, or they will have to increase their prices to a point it will no longer be competitive vs Vietnamese/Cambodian rice which will cost much less. Of course the government can "fix" this with tariffs on imported rice, but that effectively means inflation/higher cost of living AND rice exports will suffer anyway because other countries will choose cheaper alternatives.

OK - and how much do hard drinks/cocktails and bottles cost? that's what matters for nightlife establishments. If you're comparing a Thai beer bar to a UK bar/restaurant, how much extra does the UK bar make on food that the Thai beer bar isn't? (not to mention many of the beer bar workers rely on lady drinks and other "alternative" sources of revenue which evens things out too) Yes, but now her choice would be ONLY slinglin' hoi, because there won't be any available factory/farming jobs, because there'll be fewer factory/farm jobs overall. Since you don't seem to get it, here's a list of why there will be fewer jobs open: 1. Many businesses will simply close - if a business now spends 30k a day employing 100 employees and makes 50k a day in revenue, doubling it's labor cost to 60k means the business will shut down, period. 2. More employers will choose to hire under the table and/or hire illegal workers below minimum wage. 3. Some employers will invest in automation, robotics, machinery, and other means that reduce employee count. If it costs 30k a day to employ 100 people and 50k a day to finance a machine that'll do the same job - if you increase labor cost to 60k a day they'll choose the machine. It's really economics 101 - supply and demand and equilibrium - when you mess with the labor market on the scale of doubling the lower end of salaries the direct and immediate result will always be massive job shortage and unemployment. We're not talking a moderate 10-20% increase here (which is warranted and should be fine) - we are talking a 100% increase from today to tomorrow which is guaranteed to whack some businesses and jobs out of existence. That really is the stupid thing with all social justice warriers who demand minimum wage increases - instead of going for a moderate approach like 10% per year increase for X years, they want the whole cake upfront 50-100% immediate increase - that's not something the market is prepared for or able to deal with. Hello unemployment.

End result: massive unemployment. Unless absolutely necessary, businesses will not hire anyone. Sure- they still need to run the business, but they'll just make 50 people do the same work done today by 100. Don't like it? good luck trying to find another job elsewhere as there'll be a tsunami of job seekers due to massive layoffs. Essentially they'll keep only very productive employees and lay off everyone else. I'm actually not sure about inflation - on one hand it will cost more to produce the same products - and that *always* gets rolled over to consumers - but on the other hand there'll be so many people unemployed and in poverty that purchasing power overall will probably go down, limiting the ability to increase prices. Bottom line: economic disaster. Another consuqeuence: things like prostitution and other under-the-table professions will flourish because if now her choice is factory/farm or sell herself - now it won't be a choice at all.

I don't know about you, but last I've been to a bar in my home country a vodka & coke was the equivalent of 730 baht, and you're expected to tip at least 10-15%. In Thailand a cheap vodka bottle (Smirnoff) at an upscale nightclub is 3000 baht everything included, in my home country I was quoted 9600 baht - not including mixers or service charge (15%). I also remember in Japan when we got a table at a nightclub it was 60,000 yen for 2 hours with 2 bottles, plus mixers and service charge 75,000 yen (19,000 baht) - and they literally kicked us off the table after 2 hours! Pricing for nightlife in developed countries is extremely expensive to the point it's funny that you think it's comparable to Thailand. 150 baht beer drinkers are the smallest revenue source for a nightclub - it's heavier drinkers and bottles that actually keep the lights on and what you need to compare.

Yes, because so many tourists - especially on Khao San road - actually drive. Right. This has nothing to do with drunk driving, probably more to do with the fact raising the time limit will make brown envelopes thinner. 99% of tourists don't drive, and for those who do it's quite easy to set up roadblocks right outside tourist areas and prevent them from driving drunk.

Pretty sure that a large percentage of young Thais drink because of this government....

The concept of drunk tourists who don't drive causing more traffic accidents still eludes me. Do what they want with Thai nightlife venues, but at least let the tourist-oriented ones open late. They're going to drink anyway - the only question is whether it's in a safe establishment with proper fire exits, or in a hole-in-the-wall overcrowded with no safety protocols and nice donations to hardworking BIB. It's actually quite ridiculous how in Phuket everything is open until 4am and some later, yet in Bangkok proper clubs close 2am. You'd think the larger city would have better nightlife, but TiT.

I knew someone would bring that up - it's not the same thing. Walking street and Beach road don't have a large community of innocent ladyboys just standing around. In 99% of cases a ladyboy standing around those areas is looking for customers or other trouble. This isn't profiling because of their gender - it's profiling because of what they're doing.

Considering the disproportionally large number of crimes committed by ladyboys in proportion to their population in Pattaya, and the fact they've gotten more bold/shameless about it lately - some profiling it actually warranted. Seems like they just stopped them for questioning and identification rather than arrest them, so no harm done and hopefully may make some of them think twice before robbing another tourist, at least in the near future. Gotta love the "allegedly" part in the title, though, as if there was a doubt.

And do what exactly??? What is it you think the host owes you? just check in to a hotel for one night like a normal person and go to immigration in the morning. You won't even be charged overstay for one day, and if you are charged it's only 500 baht per day. The possible overstay is actually your fault for not going to extend your landing stamp sooner - why wait for the last minute? Understandable if you didn't know about TM30, but probably 99% of Airbnb's operate illegally and therefore won't report TM30 - they had you sign a blank rental contract just in case authorities came looking for one later on (which they probably won't but I guess they're covering their ***). And it's not just Airbnb hosts - even landlords for regular rental contracts will usually not report TM30 either because why bother? if anyone gets the fine it'll be you - not them.

At least from what I observed, usually it's the kids who are expected to take care of the parents, not the other way around. Complete opposite from western countries, but it is what it is.

Sadly enough- those guys' wives don't cheat on them, usually. It's always the nice guys who take care of their families that get done for by crappy wives. No good deed goes unpunished.

Recently saw a viral video where a woman tells her man she doesn't trust his friends, then to prove it she calls his friend who claims the guy is with him at that moment - and she proudly proclaims "point proven!". And here I am thinking "who the **** let's their woman have the phone numbers of his friends?!? No good can come out of that". Similarly I'm here thinking "who the **** let's his woman handle his money?!? No good can come out of that". Even if there wasn't a "relative" involved - the money would get spent very quickly in her hands. Terrible idea all around.

Yes, because so many people live in soi cowboy, Patpong, Bangla road.... If you want to stay home and do nothing then just (don't) do it. Other people want to have fun and not be told to go to sleep at 2am, or worse- have to go to unlicensed illegal venues that pose a fire hazard, among other hazards. They're not eliminating after hours partying by closing at 2am - they're just forcing it underground with all negative implications resulting from this. Let the clubs open late and everyone will be safer (except those who will get less brown envelopes, of course).

And that right there is the difference in mentality - "Criticism is UNACCEPTABLE". Who cares if other countries have long lines too? be better! The issue isn't that so many people are coming - we're still far below 2019 levels - the issue is poor planning OR lack of care OR just laziness in not opening all available booths. We can and WILL criticize that.

Just another example of how Asians completely misunderstand Halloween. No, it's not "let's all dress in happy PC costumes" day, and it's certainly not "let's all dress as slutty as we can and take photos" day - though I have to say I approve of the latter, even if it isn't what Halloween is about. ????

What do you expect them to get for using drugs? it's not like they were selling or distributing. Assuming it's their first (caught) offense then suspended sentences are appropriate. If they get caught again I'm sure they'll throw the book at them though.

Really not sure who you're talking to where, but I rarely ever see any talking about fighting, and I stay away from the rare ones who do. Sounds like you need to sort out your own problems.

I usually do $1000 transfers so that's definitely not the issue. And we're talking a popular bank (Capital One) so it's very odd that they claim to not be able to direct debit it after being able to for years. I think the move to Plaid messed things up.

I know exactly who you're talking about. They were starting trouble and fights every night all winter, but the venues do not dare kick them out for whatever reason (connected? or just perception as big spenders?). Funny enough speaking with one venue manager it seems like they aren't actually big spenders - they complained that these guys would buy 150k worth of bottles on their first night in town - but then keep checking out the same bottles over and over and spending next to nothing for a month. That averages out to only 5000 baht a night - between a group of 5-10 guys.

OK. After watching the video it looks like the wife completely made up her side of the story. You can see in the video that Frenchie was actually knocked down (first second) and a bystander tries to pull the Thai away but he pushes him away because he wants to continue fighting. Clearly he wanted the fight and probably started it. Frenchie even tried to walk away after the first time he knocked Thai down, but he attacked him again so he had to finish the job. Seems more like self-defense than "unprovoked attack". It's disgusting that Thai media is going with the wife's story completely ignoring what actually happened. Unfortunately for them, the Porsche and the swagger will only play against them in this case as it's easier to portray them as ruthless shady thugs. Whether that's true or not is another question, but the video suggests otherwise.

That's probably what happened. Unlikely they really thought "they needed directions". Thai guy shouldn't have stopped for a fight, Frenchies shouldn't have knocked him out. I'm sure they didn't mean to nearly kill him, but the problem with fights is that you can't control the outcome. Most likely French mafia either vacationing in Thailand or escaping legal reach in France. Thailand does not have an extradition agreement with France, so you get some real shady characters sometimes with lots of money to wave around and a talent for causing trouble. It would be quite ironic if they end up spending jail time then deported to face more charges back home.

I've been using Wire (and TransferWise) for years now, it used to arrive in seconds or minutes every time - no problems until a couple months ago when all of a sudden every transfer says "in seconds" then before completion switches to 5 business days which is ridiculous. This is US banks (tried 2 different ones). When contacting Wise support I was told that "we do not have a direct debit agreement with that bank so there is a delay". This is for an account that worked fine for years, mind you. Something definitely changed/broken on their end, but not sure what. A "workaround" I found was to use debit card to pay, which processes in 30 minutes - but the fee is double. Are there any alternatives to Wise that operate similarly with low rates? I'm tired of paying double fees every time now.

No kidding. He has "bad guy" written all over him, quite literally. I'll never understand why (some) Thai women think it's a good idea to date or even talk to guys like this - don't they understand it will end badly? or they just think "it won't happen to me"? And to all the tattoo-fan crowd - this isn't some nice guy who grew up in a good area and just likes tattoos - when Thai guys have these kind of tattoos it usually means gang, jail experience, etc. The issue isn't that they have tattoos - it's the type of tattoos and reason they got them.