DonniePeverley

I am confused as to geographically how Thailand becomes a hub ? Is it to connect passengers from Europe? If so, the only logistically place it serves as a decent connection is Australia. But what other region? China, perhaps - but it's not a great connection from Thailand. But most of all if you want to be a major hub you certainly need a big national carrier that brings passengers into Thailand, then connects onwards. Thai Airways has barely shown that. The Middle eastern carriers have the perfect middle ground from Europe to Asia geographically and with Emirates and Qatar have two of the biggest airlines, and with a connection service that is second to none. Furthermore, Bangkok for example, has two airports - that are quite a distance apart. If you were flying in from Europe and then heading onwards to China, more than likely you would have to go Don Muang airport which once again makes it an iffy choice. Do they plan on upgrading Suvarnabhumi ? Dubai has recently announced planned to build a massive huge multi billion dollar airport, with multiple runways, and one huge hub. That is some ten years away. Does Thailand have similar plans? Furthermore, if you did really want to connect in SE Asia, then Singapore with it's top notch airport would be a better fit.

Have you bought property before? How do you know the seller actually owns the property? How do you plan on transfering funds whilst ensuring you get your property? Whose going to register the property? This isn't renting.

Come on lads .. if you are making a serious investment in a property you aren't going to rely on Charlie Beefcake from Soi Bukhao to help you with the paperwork. You will need a qualified legal representative to do this for you.

For me, i hand over cash. Cashier counts it in the machine. Then counts it manually. Then turns the notes over and counts again. Then back into the machine for another check. Then a manual check on each note to look for marks. Then back into the machine. Then just for safety another manual count. And just to be extra sure another manual count. And let's just do another machine count one more time. Oh go on, another machine count. This is just time consuming. There was a place next door, who were given a slight marginally lower rate, but she just counted it once in the machine and i was on my way.

Why do they have to count the money 4-5 times ?

One thing Bangkok got rite was investing in infrustructure - particular the BTS and then MRT. But originally to have the foresight to invest in the BTS changed everything. For tourism, visitors, and business - to have that BTS line was just next level to get out of the Bangkok traffic and able to do things quicker. I fail to understand why the likes of Philipines, Vietnam can't just concentrate on a small area and build a good transport project.

There's a simple solution that i saw in China. EVERY TAXI DRIVER must have a camera fitted in their vehicle that records. In case of dispute any local enforcement can easily check the camera to see what went on. In the US Uber already require drivers to have cameras, and there should be no reason why a small cheap camera could not be installed in every taxi in Thailand. If drivers fail to have them installed or TURNED OFF then they face harsh penalties. Taxi drivers in Bangkok really do take the biscuit, and they're not pushing it by simply hiding their ID's - which is actually a dangerous step.

When you condo becomes 95% occupied by Russians, who chose to ignore rules (Eg no short term letting, no drinking or smoking by the pool, keeping noise down at night, etc) you will know about 'bad neighbours'.

I was going to buy a condo in Bangkok. Everything seemed perfect with this brand new shiny condo. However, last minute i changed my mind and just rented it. Great decision. For the first year condo was run well, those in charge were on top of everything. However it is now becoming over run with airbnb/short term rentals. They are now sending emails in Russian and Chinese. Those in charge seem powerless or have no will to stop this. It's essentially now just a hotel with huge turnover of guests in and out. I'll be out of here when my tennancy runs out.

You then have to hope whoever is stealing your electric is in his property and has appliances on.

I am slightly confused as to your point. How do you plan on stopping 'continuous' infections?

We've had it cleaned twice in 6 months ! It's a new condo too.

In the past i've made posts querrying why my electricity bill was often coming at 7000 baht a month. Before i arrived in Thailand i was constantly fed the narrative 'Thailand so cheap' nonsense by influencers so the reality was disappointing. Well i got some answers (sort of) today by one of the agents of the property - and it all boils down to my air conditioning system. For clarification i do stay in a lovely condo. You see this air conditioning system is built into the ceiling/wall, as a decorative feature - so you have no actual physical box in your room. An example would be the system you see in a decent hotel. These i was told look very lovely, but cost much more to run. And yes they certainly do !!! Secondly i querried why even when my ambient room temperature is met the system continues to blow air into my room. I was told because this system will continue to run air into your room as an automatic feature (with no ability to turn this option off), even if the temperature is met - albeit the fans out door will not be running when temperature is met. The agent wasn't fully sure why this was, and proceeded to do more research on it as it didn't make any sense to him either. Anyways, there you have an explanation as to why my electricity bills are so expensive. I have the worlds most beautiful air conditioning system, without an ugly box in the room, albeit an absolute scandal to run.

What steps have been taken to stop this ?

Are there any plans for infrustructure spending on roads, new transport methods in these tourists zones? Will Phuket get some form of light tram system of sorts? Pattaya ? What about a proper rail link to Pattaya from Bangkok ?

Do not risk this.

600 Baht will have no effect. Built it into the ticket. Secondly, they must reinstate visa fees for Chinese and Indians.

Firstly they are not expats. They are immigrants. Secondly, most of these pensioners are Brexit voting, so they have to carry some consequences rather than thinking they are untouchable.

Is that 80 million a year or 80 million with 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027 ? If they are aiming for 80 million a YEAR that would be a disgrace. They can barely cope at the moment with 40 million a year. EDIT - just seen they are actually aiming for 80 million tourists a year !!!!!!!! WOW. That is nuts

How much more BOOST do they need? They already have over 40 million tourists a year ?!

Perhaps alcohol was involved and she forgot her part in the incident. She can't hit someone then got annoyed when hit back.

There's loads of them in Thailand pretending to be Russians.

Pattaya now has many domestic tourists - that once would never venture there.

Something surely needs to be done about the Chinese busses. They need route organising, so they can't just go down a tite soi and block everything in it's path.

Utterly ridiculous statement. New Zealand gave visa free travel to Thailand many years ago, and was packed full of Thai's who would not go back. For example, if the USA gave free visa travel to Thailand, you would see an exodus in Thailand on mass .