it is what it is

people who can not speak English why blame others for your own failing? if you're going to live here the least you can do is learn the language? the rest of it sounds pretty horrendous.

years ago i was doing some work at the ministry of transport, at the time there had been a spate of fatal van accidents and there was a public outcry to do something about it. i asked some civil servants what the minister had done, they replied he had told van drivers to drive more carefully. i suggested it may take more than that to solve the problem. they were adamant that because the minister had told the van drivers what to do the problem was solved and required no further action. it was an interesting and depressing insight to the hierarchical, non challenging culture here.

sounds like the tourists are going to love it

maybe because, like me, they date educated women with decent jobs, condos and cars, who don't need to send money to their families... just saying, not all foreigners target, date and marry the low class, low educated women here

dear OP, please let us know which country you come from, i would love to visit a place that has zero racial profiling

two sides to every story

victim blaming. dumb comment.

how do you know she was a tourist?

like many of the mad and dangerous traffic traits here it's basically down to laziness and lack of attention.

normal working day, thank goodness.

many years ago i was in a band, my mate had a neighbour with a dog that barked all day when left alone. we got fed up so recorded the noise of the dog barking. at night, once the owner had returned, we rigged up a PA and played the recording back at him. two days later problem solved. ok, back to the present. the experiences above show the need to research where you're going to live, any country can have noisy neighbors bit it's more difficult to deal with when you're the outsider. make sure you know the building your moving into, the type of people there, the way its managed. my building has a good mix of middle class thai and foreign UN workers, it's well managed. anyone making a noise or being anti-social gets one warning and after that they're out. it's a wonderfully calm, considerate, friendly and quiet place to live, right in the middle of bangkok.

you also need appropriately trained mechanics/technicians to repair and service these vehicles, old school mechanics just don't have the knowledge, there will be a time lag as skill sets are brought up to speed.

Chinese tourist arrivals in Thailand are set to be lower than forecast in 2023, according to estimates by the Thai tourism bureau. what data was the forecast based on? anyone can come up with a figure, the question is; is it an achievable objective? they could have forecast 2.5 million tourists and would have exceeded forecast! they probably need to look at their data modelling.

This documentary is currently blocked in Thailand. there's non so blind as those who don't want to see.

would be interested to know what he/his school uses?

very sad, many years ago, a younger me visited koh samui, rented a motorcycle (no helmet) and went climbing up a waterfall i found, i slipped and fell, badly banging and hurting my leg/knee. the young believe they are indestructible, they take risks, i certainly did. but boy, have i had an amazing life. RIP young man

Surprised there was just the slap, no retaliation and no hair pulling which seems to be the ladies favoured fight tactic here. mate, not only in thailand.

get him off the road. it's lucky he didn't injure or kill an innocent person. there is no excuse for drinking and driving.

sounds like dreadful seats, not a dreadful car. i dated a major japanese brand car designer here for a while, many cars are designed for a local market, interiors based on human modelling of the local population, therefore it doesn't surprise a westerner might be uncomfortable in the seat of a thai market car. this is not always the case but shows the importance of researching and test driving before purchasing a car.

agree. there was a panorama programme about EVs on the bbc recently, basically showing the practicalities of owning one. it all seemed a massive hassle. i'm not against them, but the current products are far from meeting my requirements, i.e. having an easy life

good points, there are multiple ways immigration could identify and track over stayers, if they wanted to/could be bothered to...

obviously. duty is simply the tax, nothing to do with other mark ups in price/profit margins

blimey, i'm getting over 5% in the uk, no strings...

RIP Shane. an english guy btw. saw the pouges, back in the day, at the town and country clup in north london, not a big fan of the music but the gig was a full on experience. favourite pogues song 'tuesday morning' sans shane. he was a force of nature though.