RogueLeader

Protect freedom of speech but the moment they step out of line. Close them down and arrest all of them

That's satire, that is. Chris Morris sweats for hours to produce comedy of this quality.

Sleep easy, Thailand. Your government is in control.

I honestly don't get it...

When the government wants to clamp down on visas everyone complains that its not fair - now they are opening it up - what happens - you bunch of whining useless pricks KEEP ON COMPLAINING!

What the hell do you want?

Extending visas to open it up to whoever wants to stay as long as they need up to a reasonable time - maybe 3 months, maybe more - would be good for some and not affect others - but for <deleted> sake stop complaining that they didn't do exactly what YOU want - whatever that might be - and accept that a blanket policy is just that - it has to cater to as many variations as possible, so it may very well allow people to stay longer than they need, but for others it will be just right - jeeesus H christ!

What a vile contribution!

Obscene abuse towards other posters in the first sentence and gratuitous blasphemy in the last.

Does this forum have moderators or not? If so why don't they do their job?

Anyhow the principle complaint is that the whole thing is meaningless since European tourist visa holders already get 60 days on arrival, plus the 30 day extension if needed.

I agree that the post was obscene, and I will add juvenile and crude to the mix.

The moderators do a good job considering the volume of posts. Nothing is perfect, as far as I know, and one instance does not paint the overall picture of the whole.

It seems "Greer's" post has disappeared and perhaps he too.

A most entertaining display of pearl-clutching.

Of course, to really get revenues back to pre-2008 levels TAT are going to need to stimulate demand. Seeing the EU-US governments' failure to do this, I can't see their effrorts meeting with much success.

I can't see many Chinese or Russian tourists paying $18 for a pint of Guinness, $25 for a hotel breakfast or $30 for a 10-minute taxi ride.

What often happens at the moment with extended tourists is that they use their 30-day stay, visa-hop to Cambodia or Malaysia, stay a while or travel onwards to Vietnam, Laos or Indonesia and possibly return to Thailand to fly home.

This is a smart, cynical move - it'll keep the wallets inside Thailand spilling out the baht and divert them from the competition.

It's very Thai and very 21st Century.

Does anyone have a score card with the number of crack downs currently running?

Do they really think that the things outlined here are actually going to have much effect on the hard core drinkers here in Thailand, that's going to be a long up hill battle.

They have time and resources. This is going to happen.

I think you're right Rogue Leader. There are moves to drop visa requirements for Chinese and Taiwanese tourists right now. Do the Chinese come to Thailand for sex? Do they have bars in tourist spots? Just interested.

 

If they do, they do it as part of organised tours - much less danger of money being spent outside the leisure interests of Thailand's moneyed elite. Much easier to control.

Seriously, if you're not planning on activating your emergency escape plan, start thinking about it now. Every farang in Thailand has an emergency escape fund and plan, right?

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I think the Junta is going to start clamping down harder on foreigners.  I get the feeling we are not welcome in the new Thailand.

 

 

 

Did you ever go to Burma in the late 80s or 90s?  It wasn't uncommon to have an armed solider follow you EVERYWHERE you went and wait outside of wherever you were, even your hotel. It was creepy.

 

No doubt the Thai junta has been reading the Burmese playbook. While these rules have been on the books for a while, you can bet your bottom things are going to get much, much worse for foreigners here. No where has military rule ever worked out for the better of the people.

 

 

And the country will fall further into the pits!!    They need the foreign income.

The Chinese will provide it. Chinese tourists don't ask questions (they're trained from birth) don't do unpredictable things and don't move around outside tour groups.

Thailand will do just fine without Europe.

 

 

is it just me or do others detect a "trend" here?

 

Yes.

"Come here, stay in expensive hotels, empty your pockets as quickly as possible without moving around too much then go home and stop bothering us."

No farang in their right mind would marry a girl within 30 days (or less) of knowing them just to get a non-imm visa.

Fortunately for Thailand, there are a lot of farang in anything other than their right mind.

Well take away the drugs, hookers, fakes,

Yeah, do that and then you have shut down 75% of the business, hotel and other rip off's in BKK, Pattaya, Phuket, etc,

No one left but serious tourists and back packers.

Sounds good to me.

It's deeply sad and worrying to see people celebrating a military overthrow of a democratically (yes, however fragile and flawed the process it is at least more just than rule by might) because it removed people with whom they disagree, or even more despicably, because they think it'll improve their business revenue.

Criticise Thailand and its democracy all you like, but consider that when you act and speak in such craven, destructive, spiteful self-interest that you might be part of the problem, not the solution.

It removed corrupt crooks from governing. Now we finally see a cleanup of Thailand. Have you seen the PTP do anything not in the best interest of their pockets ?.

Remember this started by wanting to get dear leader back and adding him to an amnesty bill that would have gotten normal reds out of jail. Now they are still in jail and the PTP is overthrown all because of their convicted criminal leader.

They even gave him a passport.. all they did was in the best interest of the PTP their nepotism brought them down. Had they played by the rules instead of thinking we have a mandate so we can do what we want they would still be here.

So you should think hard and put the blame where it should be.. at the PTP.

I am dancing and celebrating that all those red cheerleaders like you are crying their eyes out. While I might not agree with everything the Junta does they are a 200% improvement over the PTP.

I think most foreigners here would prefer to live under a Junta as under the PTP (unless they play by the rules). Not that it makes much difference for us as we cant vote anyway.

I hope the PTP learns from this and accepts the rules and checks and balances. Then I have no problem with them in charge.

But I think a lot of them aren't coming back because of corruption chargers.

We will see.. and posts like your put a smile on my face knowing there are still a lot of red farangs with high blood pressure.

Where does it say that I'm a 'red farang'? I'm not even sure what that means. Where does it say that I have high blood pressure?

I don't really care about the petty yellow-red politicking. What I do care about is guests in a country cheerleading the takeover of a military dictatorship. It's easier to destroy something than to improve it, and it takes no courage, especially when egged on by a mob.

It's deeply sad and worrying to see people celebrating a military overthrow of a democratically (yes, however fragile and flawed the process it is at least more just than rule by might) because it removed people with whom they disagree, or even more despicably, because they think it'll improve their business revenue.

Criticise Thailand and its democracy all you like, but consider that when you act and speak in such craven, destructive, spiteful self-interest that you might be part of the problem, not the solution.

When the Junta has finished its role here , please do the same with the Australian politicians,

Be careful what you wish for. Especially when you're wishing that a military dictatorship would take a western democracy by force.

It could even be expired and you would still be admitted into the UK, with the caveat as Mario2008 pointed out that there could be an issue if you were not flying direct.

And in any case, it would only matter if you were expecting to clear customs and immigration in that country: you don't have to worry if you're just transiting in a connecting flight.

...I have always wondered why tomboys are allowed to explicitly touch grope and kiss in public......

"Tomboys"

Is it 1948 already?

My take on the whole matter is that they have let foreign visitors get away with these visa runs for years. The government knew the visa runs were being used to get around the legal requirements in place but like many things in Thailand they just did not address the matter. Well, with the increase in violence in many of the tourist areas among less desirable "tourists" they have decided enough is enough. They know that there are now many more foreigners working illegally, scamming, and involved in all sorts of activity which no society wants. (After all that should be reserved for the Thais.) They now want to put the breaks on it. Not difficult to see why if you read this web site. I say it's about time. These less than desirable "tourists" give the legitimate tourist a bad name.

Yeah, that makes sense. Because people come to Thailand because if the rigid restrictions, the strict adherence to rules and a pervasive nanny state.

Oh, wait, what? They don't?

Haha.

'Bangkok' giving a fig about the ecosystem. Wake me when I've finished dreaming.

'Bangkok' is not a person. The Thai person who's responsible for the well-being of Lumpini-park probably does give a fig.

That's not what the article said though, is it?

It's a good thing that Thailand has strict gun control laws which prevent this sort of thing.

What Thailand has is selective, lax enforcement due to corruption. It doesn't matter how many laws you make, if you can't enforce them, they might as well not be there.