Yeah, I went through there 15 years ago and that's exactly what I saw. I couldn't believe how much action there was going on. So they stay mostly in the south, that's what I thought.
If you think drugs are rife in Thailand, go to Cambodia. You can't walk more than 5 meters in Phnom Penh by the riverside without someone offering you something -and that's on a good day.
It should be a clampdown in pickpockets who are Khmer, target tourists, that use public transport and have funny markings and English pickpockets that don't use the BTS much also.
I think they are acting out of self-interest rather than the good of the nation. Rightly or wrongly they just want to get what they want, that's what this is really about.
He's not the first to pull that off, there was a more famous one than that, Netflix made a show about him even. Some Israeli guy if I remember rightly.
Yeah but that's not quite the same. The Thai government is just trying to offer what protection it can to its citizens. That in itself is commendable even if its not perhaps the best way to go about it.
I think that is the right way forwards yes. They could do things like show proof of funds, say 5000 baht, before being allowed entry or something like that. Dress code also, try and keep it all above board somehow.