Blumpie

Oh those foreign cheeky devils!  

Be on guard!  

Population decline is a huge problem for inflation and for getting services.  It can spiral things out of control in a big hurry.

The thing that makes me chuckle is that this has been on people's radar for nearly 40 years and first world nations have been actively increasing immigration to cope with the shortfall.  Less people, less taxes, less businesses, etc etc etc.  

AS usual, poorly run nations, like poorly run companies end up at the back of the line.  Companies end up bankrupt and Thailand,, if it continues to act like a third world nation in a broad sense, will continue on its slide downward to third world status.  

This is what corruption does.  It's a cancer.  People who have no business being in places where they should don't look out for anything other than short term selfish gains.

23 hours ago, Neeranam said:

My racism? They are maybe the most racist in Asia! 

The way things are:  With the history of wars in the asia pacific region it is not enough to apologize for something.  You must wait three generations for it to pass before they are forgiven.

ITs the way things are, will always be, forever and ever amen.  At least for our lives.

To want something different is impossible, its in them from an early age.

It's the way they are brought up.  So if one wants to chuck racism card around, the entire continent of asia is racist then.  I'm sure they have their own opinions of north america trying to make a living and not feeling at all welcome for no reason.  

It's all about perception.  The nattering of some assumedly white guy telling the world how it is and how it should be is irrelevant to how things are.

On 2/22/2024 at 5:10 PM, spidermike007 said:

If this is the case, it is best to simply boycott South Korea entirely. It is not like they offer entirely unique sights. You don't want us? OK. No problem. See ya. 

There is nothing interesting in South Korea anyways.  

If you want culture Japan is far more interesting and not much more expensive.  

7 hours ago, hotchilli said:

So why are the projected numbers not coming from China?

Financially they have serious problems in China.  And with Chinese they are hard working and take fiscal responsibility very seriously.  That's why you won't see them spending opulently on a vacation when they are not doing well.  They tend to hunker down and thats what they are doing.

Like it or not, tourism means something much different to this board.  An expat coming for six months is not the same as a tourist spending a week blowing their load of cash.  You would have to be stupid not to go after those people and that's what everyone wants.  

Of course watching poorly educated fools try to figure this all out is good fodder for us who watch the industry, but they will learn very very very slowly.  The result of all these broken promises will be a sense of apathy from the ocean that they serve (the people) only deepening.  It's the way things go in corrupt countries and little is ever done about it.  

Not my problem.

On 2/12/2024 at 6:55 AM, uttradit said:

Life always ends in death

Indeed it does.

So why be worried?

Do you want your last ten years suffering with diabetes, amputated limbs, heart attack suffering from panic attacks, dementia not knowing anybody or what is going on, stroke being in bed hardly able to eat or live a somewhat normal healthy life?

The choice is yours.  

You would be surprised how many end up like that and you never hear about them because they are disabled and miserable.  

And by the way, I hope everyone noticed how quickly they denied her claim?  It takes them roughly six seconds to scan a police report and see what was involved and understand that she was riding something she wasn't covered for.

This case is very rare for me, I don't have the time of day for nitwits as most don't here either, but she probably was being careless about her vacation and this cost her huge.  

I hope she recovers and things go well for her.

On 2/4/2024 at 9:09 PM, JackGats said:

What's the deal with scooters/motorbikes accidents? I don't mean the semantics. I mean would insurances routinely reject claims if an accident is a motorbike accident? How can you be covered then?

Quite simply, your insurance will state up to what is covered.  Furthermore if you are not licensed in your home country (on vacation in Thailand) you are breaking the law and NOT COVERED by insurance.  

Make no mistake, not understanding your insurance limitations will leave you out in the rain like a dog.  Do not go outside the bounds for any reason ever.  

These types of articles are great for learning, and its nice to see one where some half-wit didn't have any medical insurance at all and went to the hospital with a broken beer bottle crashed over his head with a 100k medical bill.  

13 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

It is forbidden to make a fire outside, no burning is allowed nowadays and the fines are 100k for ones who do it, told my Thai partner. If you see someone making fire you can report it and you get a reward of 4000 THB. This morning we saw on 3 spots that Thai people were burning leaves and branches. Thai people told that if you call the police they don't come and so no fine and no rewards. So they said, why should we bother if someone is making a fire.   If you want to solve the problem, come in action instead making rules and do nothing anymore. Indeed not the tourists will stay away , but local population have live in the dirt air and probably get sick , which cost a lot of money. But who cares in fact??  

This is very typical of a corrupt society and unfortunately something that one must endure when living in a country that has a high corruption index.  

If you aren't playing ball with the authorities they will come and fine you and leave the others alone.  Expect it.  

10 minutes ago, Sydebolle said:

The hub of all hubs - how comforting. But, before you apply for this position, you might want to clean up your tremendously bureaucratic immigration act and inch from 1'380'417 BC to the 21st century. Air travel, no TM6, border crossing TM6 mandatory (in some cases), the confusion with the nose-poking officers is evident. English, politeness and a smile would really help as this is the first direct face-to-face contact with the dirty farang, alien, khaek, jeck and whatever the semi-divine call the tourists. Latter should actually just dump their cash and valuables in a drum, best not even leaving the aircraft and bugger off again ;-) 

Some last week's impression of the qualification to be come the hub-of-all-hubs ....:
 

Theres the "let's catch a cold or flu" line in Thailand.  

Have a great vacation!  ACHOOO!!

Bwahahahaha this story regurgitated again?  

I'll be anything you waunt.... 

Anything?

Anyteeng.... 

Whats wrong, it's a tourist destination and its supposed to be full now.  Oh lord say it isn't so!!!  Who saw this coming?  I know several blind stray dogs on a soi that saw it...

But yet Chinese wash their feet in sinks and spit all over the place and nothings really said. 

It's simple, tourists are all stupid. Send one person to politely remind them of Thai societal norms.  Making a big deal out of it makes tourism look bad.  Most tourists dont behave in this manner.  

I'm happy not being high but make no judgements to those who smoke it.  No more than those that get drunk.  

The most preposterous thing I ever read was people touting that tourism was going to go ballistic because marijuana was legal.  No place on earth has had this happen.  I know people years ago went to Amsterdam, bla bla bla but with marijuana being so widely accepted it will never be a tourist draw.  And I do mean ever.

On a recent trip the cannibis stores on every corner were somewhat ridiculous in SE Asian style.  Trashy and third world looking.  It suits Thailand in a way, and I wonder how the government even allowed them to advertise like that.  

1 hour ago, mikebell said:

Scandalous waste of money funded by taxing the dwindling numbers of retirees as they prepare to take their 800K to more sympathetic climes.

I often wonder how hard is it to get your money out of Thailand.  Understandably you have to have an amount invested there to get your visas, but to leave... 

Thailand is simply dead in the water without mass tourism.  They got addicted to the cheap candy available to them and now with Chinas tourism numbers in the dump and high airline fees, costs, and general PITA travel conditions the numbers in for 2023 and 2024 will be a shadow of its former self.  

To me their numbers of how many they want is nothing short of madness and insanity.  I cant see 30 million tourists a year going there.  

4 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

 

Oh 

Theres only so many pineapples that will grow.  

Im not going to read through four pages of drivel which reminds me of my drivel which is excruciating to read... god I do go on and the wine, oh it talks.  Oh how it does talk...

They only put import duties on it because big brother China wanted them to.  When you tell your dog to do something they do it.  Bark bark bark.

Oh the wine, oh how it does talk!

7 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

Many Chinese feel that Thailand is not safe. Reports of rape, robbery and murder in Thailand are widely reported in lurid detail in China. This is of far more importance to most Chinese than what the TAT describes as 'wanting high-quality tours and authentic local experiences'.

The media there is controlled somewhat by the government and encouraged.  They don't want their citizens travelling - would rather have them stay at home.

China, hell, all nations enjoy control of their citizens one way or another.  If they practice it is up for debate.  Media is a great way to accomplish this.  Just pull up CNN or Fox news and get the left or rights view on things.  Obscured to maximize clicks and readership solely.  

And I am sorry to pick on those two news sources.  They are low hanging fruit in a world of examples.  

20 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Most people stating the obvious here like they’re the first to think of it. 🙄

Of course they’re just searches, but if you’re interested in the relative harmony of the place and availability of accommodation/transport, this should still make one slightly nervous. Eventually they’ll pile back in en-masse. 

Thats the entire nature of platorms at large. 

I've written since the pandemic that Chinese would not be coming back to Thailand much to everyone's surprise while they were screaming about the sky falling, saying that it would get inundated again.  

They will come back in the next few years, but you need to be patient for it and expect that big brother will be putting a valve on the open faucet and restricting flow in one way or another.  

That is if China's economy starts to fire again.  It is not now, and financially Chinese have some serious problems.  They aren't getting rich on chinese stocks- the government continuously kicks companies in the balls who do well.  

On 1/4/2024 at 10:58 PM, BenStark said:

 

That are the searches. How about the actual bookings?

Everybody looks this time of year.  IT's winter, it's cold, where do I want to go?  Here, there, what are airfares, prices, accommodation prices, etc.  

Entirely normal and are they booking?  Of course hardly any.  

Any bit of good news to keep the kids in Thailand happy even if it's not reality.

44 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Again the discussion continues with quantity over quality, which does not necessarily boost revenues for the people in the industry. I guess the goons and charge will never understand that concept, it's far too intellectual and far too abstract. 

When China finally rebounds some years from now they will be ahead of the curve, that being quantity over quality.