Boarn

How do you define mandate? To me mandate means disallowing one to live a normal life without vaccination, or different requirements for people vaccinated or not. Mandate in this instance does not mean forcing vaccination. By putting being vaccinated as a pre requisite to the enjoyment of certain things, it's not a hard push to assume many will think there must be some ulterior motive at hand.

I was merely arguing that it by mandating vaccines and prohibiting those unvaccinated from living a normal life, you are bound to get more misinformation coming out as the mandates are perceived in different ways by different people.

This is not anti vax, it's anti coercion. Mandating a vaccine for one to be able to go about their lives in a normal way is where I have a problem. The vaccine should be fully optional and no hinderances should be placed on those that choose against it. I personally have no issue with the vaccine, however what made me think twice before getting it was the principal of the matter. Don't force me to get it and threaten me with not being able to do certain things, allow me to make up my own mind. I did make up my own mind in this case but it was very hard to get it in a way which made me feel I was not submitting to government tyranny.

When I moved here in 2005 the list of positives would be so much longer, I am in too deep here now.

India is a destination for, not a source of tourists.

Positives; 1. It's not England. 2. It's not PC. 3. It has no woke culture. 4. Feel more free in some cases, eg I can drive my car how I want to drive it, I can say what i want Negatives; 1. Food 2. Heat 3. People, making noise with no regard to neighbors 4. People, burning everything 5. Burning season 6. Immigration 7. Over development 8. Moving goalposts 9. Thailand is cheap is a lie, only cheap if you want to live like a Thai and not enjoy proper food, drink and entertainment 10. Ever changing landscape 11. All my favorite venues are no longer there 12. The Chinese 13. Nice cars are too expensive 14. The Indians 15. Imbecilic government schemes 16. Developing country means how you find it won't be how you experience it a few years later 17. Prices of fun To name but a few.

16 years ago I arrived, remember going for a walk to witness the coup taking Taksin out, everything looked the same on the streets apart from the odd military vehicle, was rather disappointed not to see anything more extreme. Don't care for the politics in any way, who ever it is they're not going to make it a mission to bring prices in Lower Sukhumvit back to where they should be so I don't care.

One of my biggest hates of Thailand is the different land ownership documents. All land should have the same titles, the government should not own any land, and there should be rules as what you cam build and where.

These peoples opinions are medieval at best, while you can't condone the act, saying such lunacy is an offense to all reasonable people.

I'm not complaining about house prices, or prices of essentials. Everything you NEED in Thailand is still relatively cheap, this is not my issue. It's everything you WANT or that I want that has gone up by such unusual proportions that has spoilt it for me. When I moved I rented for 4,500 a month, a single room, was never there apart from to sleep, the same place is now 4,500 a month, went to check the last time I was in Bangkok. In pound terms it has gone up but let's forget that for now. The BTS ride from Prakanong to Nana is 33 now I think, can't remember what it was back then I think 25 or something. A fair increase. A meal in a mall, eg MK I used to spend 500, now maybe 650 for similar things, a fair increase. But a meal in a restaurant in lower Sukhumvit, I used to spend 200 to 300, the same thing now would be 1000 plus. Something wrong here. A beer in a bar from 60 to 80 baht depending on place, not happy hour. The same places, those that have not been torn down for a new condo, go from 120 to 250++ a beer. Again something wrong here. In simple Baht terms the increases would be a hit, but increases and Baht strength has blown things way out of proportion. Theres also a certain American franchise on Soi 4 that has absolutely no place in Thailand in my opinion, the smaller single owed, run down, gritty places were where the thrills could be had.

OK I rounded it up its actually 800 and a bit for the dark orange cheddar cheese in the 2.2kg bag, cant remember the actual price but it's not what I would consider quality cheese. The NZ mainland is indeed better however I'd be using 100 baht of cheese on every meal.

Great post, for me when I moved here at 16 in 2005 with basically no money (maybe my version of no money may differ from that of a Thais), I could spend 1000 pounds a month which at the time was 75k baht or there about's I spent until 2008 nearly every day in lower Sukhumvit, eating only Western food and basically living it up. You can't do that anymore. In pound terms you would need probably 5000 a month to live the same lifestyle now. A 5x increase in GBP terms. I now have to resort to cooking most of my own food, substituting mince beef for mince pork for bulk lasagne and chili con carne with beef flavored oxo cubes. 1000 baht for a 2.2kg bag of poor quality cheddar cheese from makro has to be made to do. I left Bangkok and wish I have never seen the place. Bangkok gave me all I wanted on a pittance, I was sold a lie and will never forgive. I would not be here if I was not already set in. If I arrived here now and saw it as it is now I would not move here. But there you are. To me Thailand was Lower Sukhumvit, and yes the odd trip to Koh Samet every month, yet this place has been ruined as well. As an off road motorcycle enthusiast they basically paved all the roads and ruined it, not been back since 2014. But to quote, yes going out every night is very expensive now, and those that find out now are OK and not set in. For those of us who built lives on the expectation that Bangkok would not become so expensive (normal inflation is fine and to be expected) its a life wasted.

The thing is for Thailand it actually is, more than outrageous in fact, defeats the whole purpose of the country, for me anyway. The ability to live for pocket change made do for all the nonsense.

I read lots of posts that are obviously meant as sarcastic and find them very amusing, try to do the same myself yet so many replies from others seem to take them seriously. Only just joined the forum and it's very difficult to have a laugh when people don't seem to understand what is serious and what is not.

Yes I know, these vile cretins should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, how dare they! I'm very happy to see the police concentrate on making sure they catch the worse of the worse.......

Criminals! How dare they try to have a good time!

Koh Samet turned from paradise to hell on earth. Ever since they paved the roads it was ruined. When I first went it was amazing, Kawasaki 250 ridden over the nearly in-passable roads, turned up for a last time to discover it had been paved, dreadful deeds, should be illegal! Not been back since and no intention to, sick and perverted ruination. Just yearning for the old times a bit at the moment!

Yes it is, you put up with all the <deleted> that goes along with living in Thailand because it is cheap, when it's not longer cheap it makes you question the purpose of the place. Fish and chips, peas and curry sauce.... one forgoes these delights because Thailand is cheap and you can be entertained on the cheap, well you could be...

Harsh haha, abuse is maybe the wrong word.

To clear up the confusion for people that don't seem to understand how things have changed for the worse. Let's imagine there are 20 levels to life for example. In 2005 as a UK expat I arrived with pretty much nothing and was already at level 10, whereas run of the mill Thais were at level 1. People at level 6, or 7 could have a great time all the time. In 2021 I would say I am at level 13, reasonable house and car paid for and an OK salary, however the same Thai is now up at level 9, a lot closer in the scheme of things and having a good time all the time would require one to be up at level 15 or higher. I have progressed but the the state of development here has caught up more than one would have forseen, this is the issue I'm talking about.

The lie that Thailand was a cheap country for fun??

Not true, the thrill was the price and what people would do for basically nothing, they won't anymore.

Yes I bet they were, sadly I was not born until the late eighties, I wish nothing more than to experience a day in Bangkok back then.

Haha, farang ghetto. You move to a country usually in good faith, what's the point in moving if after a few years what you moved for doesn't exist. If I wasn't so entrenched I would be here, pre 2008 lower Sukhumvit was the best place ever, I now live in the countryside, still has some real Thailand left, this is no ghetto, well no farang ghetto.

This isn't the fix though, paying more in Thailand for things that were cheap doesn't fix the feeling or the thrill. It's easy to pay more money but I find the more I spend the less I enjoy the experience, I found the thrill I got was the price being so cheap. This is regardless of how much money you have. The last time I was out in Bangkok for the night I was 20k out of pocket, yes it was a good time but I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it cost 5k like it used to.