frogz

I recently had to evacuate the condo where I am currently living due to the floods and my wife and myself decided to check into a hotel down town for a couple of days. We had heard that a lot of the hotels were offering a reduced room rate for people who had to escape the floods. The hotel we wanted to stay in was full so we went to another hotel near her shop in Pratunam. We were told that the room was reduced to 900 THB a night for flood evacuees. This was expensive but a good price as the hotel rooms were quite expensive normally. The receptionist then informed us that, because I was a farang, we would have to pay 2000 THB a night. My wife and her friend explained that I was an ESL teacher in Thailand, that I lived in Thailand, that we were married, that I paid tax and had a work permit and also that I was affected by the floods. No go. The price was 900 THB if you were Thai and 2000 THB if you were a farang.

I have experienced prejudice before when paying more than Thai nationals to enter tourists attractions. I have presented ID and so on, but this is piece meal. Some places give you a reduced price and other places don't. This is a different situation. I wasn't able to return home and I was pretty angry that I was not offered the same price for a room as a Thai national. A rich Thai person, who earns far more than me, would get a reduced rate to stay at the same hotel simply because that person is Thai. We are both victims of the same disaster afterall.

My suggestion is, if you find yourself in the same situation, let a Thai friend book you into the room at the reduced flood rate and make yourself scarce until they get the key.

Another example of profitering I encountered was a car park. They had put the price up to make as much money as they could from people parking in their car park overnight by charging 300 THB a day. They have since increased that to 700 THB. That's aimed at everyone regardless of if they are Thai or a farang. A disgrace!

I recently had to evacuate the condo where I am currently living due to the floods and my wife and myself decided to check into a hotel down town for a couple of days. We had heard that a lot of the hotels were offering a reduced room rate for people who had to escape the floods. The hotel we wanted to stay in was full so we went to another hotel near her shop in Pratunam. We were told that the room was reduced to 900 THB a night for flood evacuees. This was expensive but a good price as the hotel rooms were quite expensive normally. The receptionist then informed us that, because I was a farang, we would have to pay 2000 THB a night. My wife and her friend explained that I was an ESL teacher in Thailand, that I lived in Thailand, that we were married, that I paid tax and had a work permit and also that I was affected by the floods. No go. The price was 900 THB if you were Thai and 2000 THB if you were a farang.

I have experienced prejudice before when paying more than Thai nationals to enter tourists attractions. I have presented ID and so on, but this is piece meal. Some places give you a reduced price and other places don't. This is a different situation. I wasn't able to return home and I was pretty angry that I was not offered the same price for a room as a Thai national. A rich Thai person, who earns far more than me, would get a reduced rate to stay at the same hotel simply because that person is Thai. We are both victims of the same disaster afterall.

My suggestion is, if you find yourself in the same situation, let a Thai friend book you into the room at the reduced flood rate and make yourself scarce until they get the key.

Another example of profitering I encountered was a car park. They had put the price up to make as much money as they could from people parking in their car park overnight by charging 300 THB a day. They have since increased that to 700 THB. That's aimed at everyone regardless of if they are Thai or a farang. A disgrace!

I was thinking about the long term affects. Most of the rice has gone from the supermarkets and I believe this year's crops have been affected by the flooding. As the biggest exporter of rice in the region there are going to be far more people affected by these floods than just people in Thailand. The price of food will obviously rise around the region and Thailand will have to import rice to feed the people. This means a rise in food prices which will impact on the rice famers that have been the worse affected.

The floods may be gone in four to six weeks but the affects will be with us for sometime to come I feel.

"Researchers agree flood crisis to hit economy hard

Seetalayajit Sabayjai

The Nation

Both local and international research houses predict that the floods will cause substantial damage to the Thai economy this year."

Presumably all these folks have graduate degrees in stating the bleeding obvious?

Yeah, like so much "news" these days. Close you eyes and make something up vague and general then present it in pompous or somber tones with good inflection and you've got modern TV news.

It's so bad it is beyond insulting to everyone's intelligence. Probably more in the ludicrous but maybe almost into the insipid category.

Your avatar is extremely annoying and is hypnotizing me. Change it na krap!

Watched an advert recently on TV with a young girl in Singapore asking questions at the zoo, 'Daddy, Daddy...Why is he so tall'. - about a giraffe, 'Daddy...Daddy...Why is his nose so long?' - about an elephant. Clearly the young girl was brought up in Singapore but I suspect her father is Thai and went through the Thai education system. He hasn't got a clue how to answer his inquizative daughter because he hasn't been taught to think critically and ask questions.

So basically, if you're 16 years old and kill nine people doing something illegal - driving without a licence - you can get off scott free if you cry a little bit, bung the grieving families a few quid and go to a few meets with a councillor. Amazing Thailand. After saying that, a friend of mine saw a woman in her 90s get away with basically killing one of his children and seriously injuring another in the States. The woman reversed over the kids and drove of down the road with one of the children trapped underneath the car. She got away with it because the road wasn't a public highway. The fact that she was completely incompetent and should have had her licence revoked years before didn't even enter the equation. The woman showed absolutely no remorse whatsoever and was only concerned about keeping her licence.Seems people can get away with killing people no matter where in the world.

To promote sex? Don't you thing Thailand have enough sex already?

The museum isn't promoting sex. It is educating people about sex. I don't think sex needs to be promoted but people do need to be educated on preventing unwanted pregnancy and protection against STD and HIV. Teenagers will always have sex as it's natural instinct. Keep it safe.

Bad news.....I had already purchased my bozo the clown outfit for this friday

i know just bought a red liverpool top. think had better put that back in the cupbaord

I was going to wear my City top, which is blue, but after Thaksin owning the club...? It may start of blue when I leave the house but be red on my return if things turn nasty.

Let's hope they won't turn nasty.

Living in the UK I was used to paying national insurance every month for welfare. The problems come when you try and get any of the money back and that's because of people defrauding the system.

I think a welfare system is good idea for Thailand. Paying a little more tax to save someone's life is only a humane thing to do.

Carlsberg?

Oh yes, a nice cool pint of Carlsberg...Mmmm.

Again, it is shameful that the US-Navy advertises so openly that the main reason for them to come to Thailand is Rest & Recreation.

In normal diplomatic wording it should have been called a courtesy visit from the US-Navy to Thailand.

According to my wife and father in law, and myself, the Vietnam era is long gone, and the US should behave like any respectful state.

Advertising the R&R so blatantly is very degrading for the Thai people.

R & R is Rest & Recreation. What's the problem with that? It's a euphemism...or at least was. You can change it to CV or Courtesy Visit but it still amounts to the same thing. It is only a question of time before Courtesy Visit becomes a euphemism for drunken debauchery anyway because, at the end of the day, that's what it is.

If certain States were not so accommodating with provision for naval R & R, there would not be a problem.

I live on Cha Am/Hua Hin boundary close to the Dusit Thani where the conference will take place. The security is just to make sure Red Shirts, Yellow Shirts, Green Shirts, Blue Shirts or whatever don't even think about it.

Your holiday will be fine but take you passport with you when you leave the hotel. Have a nice time in our lovely city.

Totally agree. Absolutely. Cha Am and Hua Hin are great places to visit and I don't think all the extra security will be a problem. Maybe a few traffic jams but that would be about it.

I simply cannot support these plans to regulate vice.

Why would you even want to?

When Prohibition is doing such a great job at controlling it.

I think if you regulate the industry, that will result in people actually coming to Thailand purely for the sex industry!

A lot of people do come to Thailand purely for the sex industry. It's a shame but it happens. In the UK I remember a programme called Sin Cities. This promoted places for sex tourists basically and Thailand was regularly featured.

Is'nt it just incredible what the 'family friendly' lovers are doing to this country. Since the last ten years, and especially the so calles war on drugs, Thailand has been changing from an exiting, free travelling destination with lots of place for beach parties and backpackers, into a boring 'family destination' meaning; attracting tourists who are welcome to spent all their money in some resort, in two weeks, and then get out! And what about the explosion of beer bars on Koh Phangan and Samui since that time, are they so family friendly then ?? I would say, after all this time in thailand, that there are enough family 'friendly' places in Thailand already with beaches taken over by private resorts, let places like Koh Phangan and Koh Tao be the same as they were before ( for Samui it's too late already ) and let the people spend some money on a drink and a party if they want to, instead of spending all their money in some horrible resort and never return to Thailand again!

Removed statement.Rooo.

Have you been to Koh Chang recently? It seems that the market is turning to cater for families there too. There seems to be a lot more resort building and the backpacker havens seem to be declining. I guess families are bigger spenders than travelling backpackers and the dollar rules. It's also a lot easier getting the families in with the airport at Trat. Isn't it supposed to be a national park?

Anyway, I predict more expensive resort building and no more sun seeking backpackers in the years to comer.

Whatever the circumstances this is nothing but an unmitigated deeply sad tragedy. Blame and calls of incompetence add nothing so why bother to make them. The only thing to express here is profound regret that one so young was taken, regardless of how.

Deepest sympathy to the family who will face weeks and months of soul searching and loss.

It is a tradgedy and I'm sure that everybodys' thoughts are with the family but I also feel that it is important to find out why accidents like this happen so that they can be prevented in the future. If there is blame and incompetence, then I'm sure the family would also like to know exactly what happened. If there is blame, the people responisble should be held accountable for this sad tradgedy. That is why people are making these calls. Tradgedy, yes, but what caused it and can it be prevented in the future.

These farang have some nerve to slander the King's good name. I hope all of these farang receive the full 15 year prison sentence for their actions here.

What a **** idiot, Jakraphob and Veera didn't say anything to slander the King at the FCCT - go watch the **** video on YouTube.

If you wanna see a real lese-majeste speech search YouTube for 'Giles Ungpakorn SOAS'. Idiots at MICT haven't blocked that too!

I just watch it from outside Thailand.

Very GOOD stuff.

I am not sure if this clip is block in Thailand.

This guy is a Republican, and by that alone, should get 15 years sentence in Thailand.

No one in Thailand can be a Republican.

Is that true? No one in Thailand can be a Republican? Is that the law? If so, I wasn't aware of that.

Doesn't seem like the whole world is one big theatrical set, an illusion of paint, mirrors, glitter and effects? And all the while there are the puppeters behind the facades, off stage, plucking on strings to make the things that they want happen.

I am not so sure if these girls are 100% innocent.

Are you kidding ?

These girls would have been manipulated for someone else's profit, would have been very young, totally naive and not had a clue about what was to happen to them. How the hel_l do you think trafficers operate ?

I'm sorry but I failed to read that the girls were very young, totally naive and didn't have a clue in the article. There simply is not that much information. They could have been thirty years of age and working as prostitutes all their adult lives as far as we know from the article. Assumptions are being made. As for human trafficing of sex workers, it should be stopped whether the victims are naive or experienced professionals.

Internal Security Act

Does it mean Phuket can be declared "state of emergency" like Bangkok a few month ago?

What IS the Internal Security Act?

I hope it's 'detention without trail' and any trouble makers can stay behind bars indefinately!

Although I agree with the government taking measures to protect delegates coming to Thailand from other countries, I do feel that this is another example of the current government suppressing the right for certain disgruntled parties from expressing themselves on a world stage. It's funny that the Internal Security Act - whatever that is - or similar measures weren't used when the airports were beseiged. I still haven't seen 'detention without trail' and those trouble makers put behind bars indefinately and never will.

As someone has already stated, these confrences should be held in a private place with a 1KM security zone. Better still, hold them in another country and save yourself the controversy.

This seems like something that was supposed to be a quick fix to get the tourist numbers back up and hasn't been properly thought through. The reimbursement idea seems to be a spur of the moment response occuring to someone at the moment of being questioned about how the change will affect consulates.

If the Thai government are losing money because there is a lack of tourists, where are they going to get the money to reimburse the consulates? From the huge amounts of tourists coming to Thailand on free visas? The tourists aren't coming because of the credit crunch (amongst other things: Civil unrest, tax on beer, H1N1 etc, etc).

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

An old friend of mine will be coming over and stay with us in our house for a few day. Do I have to report him to the Police?

And what kind of suspicious behavior should I report?

- Not chasing girls?

- Not drinking "lao"?

- Driving politely?

- Giving a big tip?

If he talks into his shoe and speaks in foreign tongues, that would be a clue...

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If Thailand has problems, and Thailand wishes to address them in certain ways.

I think it is fair to let them.

All countries that I know of, is trying to keep track of

their foreigners..

Glegolo

I agree. I remember going to Egypt...some years ago so this may have changed....but every time we booked into a hotel in a different town we had to register with the police. This basically involved the hotel taking our details and sending the police the relevant information. It was no big deal.

Maybe some people do have something to hide...?

So the railways will be privatized to 'improve organisation and solve debt problems.' What about the quality service and quality of trains? Will they be improved? I think it's a bit unfair for prices to be increased if the passengers aren't getting a better service. Why should they be expected to pay more for the same service when they know the cash will be paying off debts and any future profits going to share holders and fat cat managers ?

It seems train services do need improving generally across the country. It seems that it is actually quicker to go by bus between cities in Thailand than use the train. I'm not sure how the rest of Asia compares but that does seem a little bit unusual.

If we can have an efficient BTS/MRT service in the capital, why can't there be fast and efficient train services between the provinces?

Increase the fairs but improve the service...seems fair.

Yes but, if you clean these places and close these places and then allow people in after five days, what's to say that someone may have contracted the virus in the five day period and then bring it back into the venue?

so now we all get paranoid about a bit of flu, in Pattaya??

Don't think to many people are paranoid mate and it's not this virus we have to worry about at the moment

But if and when it mutates and possibly mixes with H5N1 (endemic in Asia)

doubt that it will mix but agree H5N1 could mutate but I am not a virologist so wouldnt really know but as pointed out it is the general grasp of terminology and fear (or lack of grasp) that often creates the problem. How many people in the world died from malaria today and did it make the global headlines as did the flu status in australia?

Well said! Millions of people die of malaria but that seems to be less important than people catching the flu. 141 have died of this flu so far. A child dies every thirty seconds of malaria. About 1 to 1.5 million people a year worldwide. If malaria became widespread an affected rich nations, I'm sure more money would be used to irradicate the disease.

Who cares? This swine flu is one of the least harmful, and least dangerous flus that the world has seen in the last 100 years. So far

only a tiny fraction of people have been infected, and have died, as happens with the "normal" flus that are more common. There

is absolutely nothing to fear. This flu will subside within a couple more months, and alot of embarrassed people will be running around

wondering why they got so excited about nothing.

Yes you are right! I feel it was the World Health Organization that caused this panic, just to see how the world would react to a viral pandemic, just a test run to see if all was efficient around the world, it is all a bunch of BS.

Who cares? I guess those people have lost family and friends because of the virus. The point is that this flu - and other strains of flu - have the potential to wipe out thousands of people. I know it seems like a case of cry wolf, but what's the alternative? Sit back and let a potentially lethal virus spread around the globe? Better to be safe than sorry and I think the WHO have done an excellent job at keeping the general public informed of the situation. It's the media who have blown everything out of proportion. There the ones spreading the BS.