dgoz

And I spent two of the worst years of my life in Vietnam back in the late '60's. I won't be back. I'll hunker down here in Bangkok and ride out any storm.

umm, the war's over buddy. Safe to come out.

I am leaving tomorrow and will no longer be spending my 100k baht/month which I have done for ~2years.

Another broke Farang bites the dust, see ya....

Hardly broke, the guy spends 100k a month!

That's about 20 Thai salaries. He's obviously keeping a lot of Thais employed just by being here.

The Thais just cannot see that all these Farangs leaving (with their large bank accounts) will hurt Thailand. I knew Thais were short sighted but it's getting comical.

My advice , learn to speak Thai in Thailand and you will be able to communicate with Thai people, amazing what the results will be.

Ok, so what you're saying is if you want to visit Thailand or do business here you'd better learn Thai.

That just about somes up Thailand now.

I've traveled and done business in dozens of countries. As international trade and travel have boomed in the last decade it is quite clear to most nations that English is the international language and needed to be spoken and understood by anyone who wants to do international trade, especially tourism.

In a few years the Thais may (or may not) realise this.

I am no expert - but here is my half penny worth

A friend from Malta who before has come twice a year, this time says he is not coming again -- Pattaya dead.

Another went on a visa run to Cambodia -- people more friendly than Pattaya -- he is going there in future.

A very large Short Time Bar which before was always crowded with golfers in the afternoon -- for the last three weeks has only had three or four customers and many of the girls are saying they are going homeat the end of the month

Many rooms for rent which I cannot remember seeing in this area at theis time of year before.

A Thai owned food business -- the owner says they he is not getting the customers that he had before -- he reckons his takings down by 60% -- He wants to sell as he is unable to continue paying the rent -- Bars that four months agao were for sale at 3 million now priced at half than but still no buyers

aah, I hate to say I told you so but ........

The above comment mirrors what I've been saying (and getting flamed for) for months.

On the other hand, Cambodia and Vietnam's tourism industries are thriving, as is the inflow of foreign capital to their markets.

It's simple; Thailand has shot itself in the foot. It doesn't need Farangs?

As we know, once a place goes cold and your competitors pick up the ball and run with it (in this case VN,Cambo & Malaysia) it takes a very long time, if at all, to recover.

I personally think it is a very good thing as it means death isn't hidden away but something in the post for everyone. In the case of the 18 month old baby this morning it emphasised how dangerous it is to leave a child unattended. The baby chocked on a toy. I would imagine that some of you would disagree with me.

I agree with you but not because I want or need to see dead bodies but because I am totally against one of the most dangerous things in any society; censorship.

Well at least you won't have to worry about that because nobody ever gets scammed in Cambodia.

In fact, other than putting almost a fifth of their population to death once, the country has a sterling reputation.

Once again you're attacking my comments about Thailand, but, typically, you're shooting the messenger.

I am only replying to these threads, not starting them. Ever wonder why more than 50% of topics posted on this forum is of a negative experience in Thailand?

As for your comments about Cambodia killing their own people, that was a one-off incident by a lunatic that ended some 28 years ago. But if that is the only negative you can come up with about the place it goes to show.

Did you see the 7 minute special on BBC world recently about "Sihanoukville, the rising star of South East Asia"?

OMG! What do you say to something like that?

Welcome to Thailand, where the 500 baht (10 euro!) fee for taking someone to hospital is more important than someones life.

This morning I caught a taxi from Suk Soi 15 to Suvannabhumi Airport, using meter and paying tolls of 65 baht. About 300 meters from airport terminal building, the taxi conks out on highway. Luckily we got onto shoulder lane, out of main traffic, and a motorcycle policeman came by to help. Taxi driver couldn't get motor restarted. So I hopped out of taxi, paid driver baht 200 for the 185 showing on the meter. And began trying to flag any empty taxi on way to terminal.

Luckily, or so I thought, a private car with single driver stops, and offers me a ride. I hop in and off we go. First thing, driver says is, "This is limousine service." I said, "Thank you for picking me up." 15 seconds later, we reach the departure level of the terminal, and the driver pulls out this card, and wants baht 600 for picking me up. I said, "Jing jing? Only song roi meter (200 meters)" and offer him baht 40 for what a taxi would have cost to go the 2 - 300 meters.

Then I just got out of the cab, extended the two 20 baht notes to him, and of course he took them.

I can understand Thais wanting to earn a living, but something like what the driver wanted shows to me, a lack of human decency. I think it's indicative of Thais who are trying to make a living off of foreigners and visitors to Thailand.

dont worry about it mate as he did not try and kill you.

just think how much the dude earns ( which is bugger all ) and he was just testing you to see if you were silly enough to give him the coin.

not a problem, and just have a little giggle to yourself.

thank you very much.

Yeah but when you're subject to this type of rip-off, scamming, insulting behaviour day after day after day just because of the colour of your skin and the shape of your nose it does get a little annoying.

LOS?

Just your average day doing business in Pattaya.

The same old story thread after thread.

Read through this board and get the message. Thais don't like foreigners and don't want you in Thailand. I lived there for 2 years and still have to go back from time to time.(unfortunately).

Aren't you in Cambodia yet?

Yes. And loving it.

Good article!

“This is the worst time for foreigners in recent memory. Thais have every right to turn away ruffians, but the people in charge now don’t seem to understand that without foreign knowhow this country is going to have a very hard time."

No <deleted> Sherlock.

Not exactly stating something we don't already know.

Hearing this, I do not feel too comfortable on the back of a motorcycle with someone who might hate my guts for reasons unknown.

The same old story thread after thread.

Read through this board and get the message. Thais don't like foreigners and don't want you in Thailand. I lived there for 2 years and still have to go back from time to time.(unfortunately).

Personally, I would never take a motorcycle taxi for this reason. There are other ways to get around (and cheaper).

Makes me wonder if the guy was Muslim as are many in the south.

Really? You have some strange thought processes then...

Perhaps, but would it really be that strange a notion?

It's got nothing to do with Muslims. It's the Thai people.

Nationalism and xenophobia are the national pasttimes.

My mate visited me in hospital last night and said that it was only 1 friend of the guy that jumped in, the rest were farang haters.

Potential tourists beware. This is not an isolated incident.

Things are sooooo much better in Cambodia then? The country that murdered 25% of its own population....

aah, the Khmer Rouge were defeated 28 years ago.

But, be careful if you're a Jew. Don't go to Germany. I hear they're doing some awful stuff to Jews there. Although, I also haven't been keeping up with the news lately so this might have stopped. But don't go just to be on the safe side.

My mate visited me in hospital last night and said that it was only 1 friend of the guy that jumped in, the rest were farang haters.

Potential tourists beware. This is not an isolated incident.

Does Thailand scare you so much dgoz? You need to muster up a set up balls mate.

I'm a lover not a fighter.

That's why I left Thailand.

Do the new wave of family tourists also need to "muster up some balls" to travel to Thailand?

I'm afraid the answer is "yes they do".

I like the highly professional ads from that highly professional organization called Sophon Cable TV.

In their ad they state that they are "Quickly for Installation".

They also have a problem with changing DVDs half way through the movie. Sometimes the "technician" has to restart the computer. It's funny to hear the Windows start up music blaring out of the TV. It's not so funny when it's a late night movie and he's fallen asleep, leaving you to watch a blue sceen and to imagine what might of happened in the second half of the movie.

My mate visited me in hospital last night and said that it was only 1 friend of the guy that jumped in, the rest were farang haters.

Potential tourists beware. This is not an isolated incident.

Be prepared for a lot more of these incidents.

Thai Nationalism/Xenophobia is increasing at disturbing levels. You can feel it just walking around. You can see it in the news. You can read about it in the papers. You can hear about it from your friends.

*** The only people still pushing Thailand on this forum are those with a vested interest in the Tourism industry there, and thus, trying to protect their diminishing investments from going under. Don't be fooled.

I've only recently got out, moved to Sihanoukville. You can feel the relaxed atmosphere as soon as you arrive.

What a relief.

I quite like those scam emails. I like to play along with it for a few weeks and get their hopes up by pretending to be a rich philanthropist and then pull the plug at the last minute.

Buffalo under 5 years fly free!

Phuketti is pretty much spot on with her comments.

A good response and well said.

Thailand is only good for one thing and one thing only. We can't mention what they are on this forum but just let me say that they're young, firm and from Isaan way.

I enjoyed this place when I was single but I was wearing "P" coloured glasses and/or beer goggles.

But after being in a steady relationship here for more than a year the real Thailand has reared it's ugly head. Basically it's what Phuketti said.

For anyone who's planning on moving/investing/working here I strongly advise you to read her response carefully.

I'm also out of here very soon.

It sounds like the Thai ex-boyfriend decided to kill the child because it was a Farang. I don't think he would have done this if it was a 100% Thai child.

This is a disgraceful hate crime which unfortunately is on the rise in this country.

As has been asked many times on this forum, can we have a section that can track results of these cases?

Let's see, what we know so far from the news is that a woman was seriously injured and her luk-kreung child was killled, possibly by her Thai ex-boyfriend. From that little bit of info Sherlock Holmes here lets us know that:

1. The child was killed because he was part farang;

2. The child would not have been killed if he was 100% Thai;

3. This is evidence of another 'hate crime' in Thailand.

Not sure if you have plans to continue in the crime solving business or not, but if I were you I wouldn't quit my day job just yet.

Well if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck ............. it's usually a duck.

Let's keep an eye on this case and see if I'm right.

It's important that these people are caught and made an example of so hopefully a terrible crime like this wont happen again.

We don't hear too much about what happens to these criminals (who are doing this sort of thing in Thailand on a daily basis). Perhaps if there was more coverage of the trial/punishments it would be a deterrent.

Wrong section buddy.

You want > Jokes - puzzles and riddles - make my day

It sounds like the Thai ex-boyfriend decided to kill the child because it was a Farang. I don't think he would have done this if it was a 100% Thai child.

This is a disgraceful hate crime which unfortunately is on the rise in this country.

As has been asked many times on this forum, can we have a section that can track results of these cases?

In general most of the Thai lady drivers I see are glued to their mobile phones when driving and dont have too much time to look at whats going on around them

what's the law concerning the use of mobile phones while driving in Thailand ?

The Thai road laws are the simplest in the world.

Thai and Farang involved in accident, Farang is at fault and pays compensation to Thai and tea money to BiB.

Simple.

What don't you understand?