MrNatural

I am impressed to read that you manage to enjoy your golf games and at the same time get so much insight with social reality in Thailand thanks to your caddies. Well, my point is that mass tourism as we knew it in Thailand before the covid has no future. Between 2014 and 2019, the number of arrivals in thailand grew from 25 millions to 39 millions. I visited Krabi in 2019 and it was already unbearable. I found on wikipedia a forecast probably pre-covid of 80 millions of visitors in 2030. That is ridiculous. So yes, at this level I wish we get rid of mass tourism as it was evolving in Thailand. Also, during this period, and every year since 2014, inequalities grow in Thailand. So is mass tourism as we were seeing it a source of social progress or any progress whatsoever ? That would deserve more thinking than "governments" have shown and will probably show in SE Asia and particularly in Thailand. If I can make an exception to my wish, I don't mind golfers come back to Thailand. They stay in golf resorts and have fun in their golf courses and I have no interaction with them of any sort, which is fine for me. That could help your caddies to reach their amazing 9-10 000 bahts income and heal your broken heart.

As this obvious click bait thread generates endless and clueless conjectures, i just realize I could not care less. I don't miss the herds of tourists or backpackers (if there is a difference). They are annoying, unaesthetic and have no positive impact other than spending their money. Keeping visitors to the low numbers we have today is quite relaxing actually

It is not just a question of import/not import. My experience is that prices vary for everything in thailand. You can find a decent iced americano for 40-45B but most fancy shop will sell around 100 or more the same thai coffee. Also went to Esso to fill the car. They dont sell the basic B7 diesel they have at Ptt but some premium diesel 3B more expensive. So yes it takes time to look at all these things. But it is worth it. Even the happy hours and the promotions on foodpanda. We talk about big differences in prices here Specifically for the vegetables, even in the street there are some differences. One day Mrs Natural comes back from a day at the temple with loads of superfresh vegetables producers came to sell as there was a big party. Prices were down 30 to 50% compared to local market. For the more rare items, I had noticed that I started to find more exotic veggies in my Makro in Bangkok. Fennel, zucchini, eggplants, jerusalem artichokes, romanesco, all at thai prices. But since the pandemic, it is not so frequent. They still have avocados at 45B and cherries 3 times cheaper than villa market or gourmet mmall

Getting wise when you get old is similar to being bald and receiving a comb.

The story was on TV. Extremely poor family in remote area so it was a real sacrifice for them to send 5000 THB but the boy needed the phone to study. As the boy did not receive his phone he felt very bad for him and his parents. That story makes me sick myself so I can't imagine how he could feel. Actually, the parents went to TV reporters as police wouldn't bother investigate and apparently it worked. Just a(nother) very sad story in the end. P.S. : thanks to the medical experts here, I still can have a good laugh thanks to you all.