duchovny

How much is an Elephant?

Well i have to agree with the OP its not a load of "twaddle". I was not impressed at all with my first visit to PP 3 months ago. When i arrived at the airport there were plenty of ppl trying to rip me off for my taxi to town.

When you arrive at PP, there is a desk that gives you a voucher anywhere downtown in a decent taxi for $9 that you pay to the driver upon arrival at your hotel. Where's the rip-off?

If you want to carry your luggage all the way out to the main road and wait, you might be lucky enough to get someone to take you downtown for $7 or $8, a saving of a massive $1-2.

Are you English by any chance?

Been in South East Asia for 12 years have you dumbell? You must have spent most of it looking in the other direction then. Phnom Penh stinks, there are no garbage bins and foul smelling rubbish is strewn all over the 'pavements'. Walk out of your shoe box and have a look right now. As Robroy above states. Open your eyes sunshine.

Self contradiction? <deleted> are you talking about. Suggest you buy yourself a dictionary.

I've spent a lot of time in Cambodia in the last 5 years and completely disagree.

Phnom Penh is a clharming, vibrant city and is being gentrified at a very fast rate. The change there in a few years is truly amazing.

For me personally, I prefer Sihanoukville which is also moving ahead in leaps and bounds, but some prefer PP.

You sound like one of these struggling Thailand business owners desperately trying to cling on to your customers and not see them go to a far better place, Cambodia, by deriding the place with false claims. That happens a lot on this forum. Also, when it comes to arguments about prices and cost of living, Cambodia is cheaper, I've lived in both countries.

And as for the people, well, never have I come across a more xenophobic people than the Thais. I simply couldn't take that shit anymore and left the country. It's not the case in Cambodia.

The best area of Phnom Penh is Boeung Keng Kang (BKK1) and surrounds. The river side is an over-rated touristy place.

Another nail in the thailand tourism coffin.

Fewer drunks in Pattaya or Patong or Nana is bad for business ?

It is if you're in the business of selling alcohol, which many here are.

Then again, if you're silly enough to still be involved in a tourism biz in Thailand........

probably one of those time share guys between jobs

Sihanoukville, Cambodia ..... and loving it.

I stopped going to Thailand a couple of years ago in favour of Cambodia. Best decision I ever made. Cambodia's a great place, just like Thailand 10 years ago.

I wont even fly through BKK any more, too risky, you don't know when they'll do something really stupid like closing down the airport. They really don't have any respect for tourists in Thailand, neither do they know the importance of them to their faltering economy.

Now I fly to Phnom Penh via Singapore, KL or saigon, just to be on the safe side.

She laughed and said, dont worry we are good to customers...

It would have been more like "dont worry we are good to customer "

Aah Thailand. You've done it again.

Is there no end to the stupidity and the self destruction by these people of their tourism industry?

Does bkk have a place for showering?

Just on a normal cattle class ticket.

Global economic downturn my ass.

Thailand's tourism associated problems are mainly from their own stupidity and ignorance.

Did they really think the millions of people who were inconvenienced by the yellow/red shirts in Dec 08 and on other occasions would return? There are other tourist destinations, not that the arrogant Thais know that.

On top of that you have the bad attitude of the Thais now. LOS it aint.

sum num naa, it's not gonna get any better. Now that those tourists that used to come to Thailand out of habit have discovered other venues, such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia, they probably wont be too bothered about not going back to Thailand.

With all the current uncertainties: poor exchange rates, rising prices, high crime, anti farang centiment, police shakedowns, road chaos, poor service, agressive Thais, constant change in visa regs, uncertainty if you have any rights to your house - even if you bought it in your wifes name, etc. etc. etc. - - - -

Are you close to throwing in the towel?

What you say is unfortunately an accurate account of life in Thailand now. I moved on a couple of years ago to Cambodia and thoroughly enjoy it.

I've also taken finasteride for a similar amount of time and it's helped keep my noggin hairy. I also use minoxidil at night.

I've heard about Dutasteride, apparently it is better but I'm not sure why. Maybe google can answer that.

Is the OP already taking Dutasteride? How is it better?

HI all only for mat she will face jail ?

Wow. What a post

For me, the relevance of this post is not whether the lady actually committed an offence or not, it's more to do with the Australian (and no doubt soon to be international) perception of justice in action in Phuket, and the broader context of Thailand. I would also anticipate a lot more 'horror' stories of treatment in Thailand surfacing, through blogs etc. Will it influence the decision of (particularly Australian) tourists to visit Thailand, I think undoubtably. The hotel and bar owners in Bali must be smiling this morning.

Exactly right.

This incident is receiving massive press coverage. Anyone watching it would be too scared to go to Thailand. The main issue for the general public is that you can be thrown into a filthy Thai jail without a trial for a trivial offence. This has happened to a 36 year old mother, not some Jordy lager lout. It's now obvious that everyone's in danger of upsetting an inferiority complexed Thai cop and getting thrown in jail. (not that you can blame them for having inferiority complexes; ugly, dumb, bad teeth, small penis, no personality)

We all go on holidays and get a bit drunk and sometimes play-up. But we don't expect to be thrown in jail for small misdemeanors. Thailand tourism will suffer for this. That's the issue no matter who thinks whom is to blame.

I'm not a big salt eater, but i sweat a lot when I'm in SE Asia.

Should i be increasing my salt intake to compensate for this?

I sometimes take those satchels of electrolytes. They seem to be good.

The bar is obviously owned by an influential Thai - policeman or politician.Would a Farang owned Bar have undercover cops working in it? Would the police care if a Farang owned bar got ripped off? Certainly not, because the police are looking to do just that - rip off the Farang owned bar themselves by searching for unauthentic music on the computer or Thai CD's etc or absolutely any other "law" they can make up to extort baht from the owner. (yes, I've owned a Bar in Thailand so I'm talking from first hand experience)

So,this is some Thai scumbags bar and they are putting a tourist in jail for stealing a towel. I suggest you avoid this bar if you're ever in Phuket and tell everyone that you know to avoid it as well.

Did you read the story ??

Its the ozzie bar on Bangla.. Steve.. Who I am sure doesnt want this publicity or hassle.. This is in the Thai polices hands.

Lets face it.. Drunk ozzie shielas.. Acting up while abroad.. Got caught nicking stuff and now thinks its terrible that has has to go to court.. Shes out on bail..

That's even worse.Un-Australian.

It's a bar mat for christ sake.

Boycott the place.

I listened to the radio interview with the lawyer and the bar mat in this case is the mat they put the glasses on while filling them. The type that retains liquid spills due to the deep pattern in the rubber.

Also in the interview the women who supossedly put the mat in her bag filed statements from Australia. Call me cynical, but if they're not willing to go back to Thailand and help it doesn't count for a lot. Oh note it's a different audio than mentioned above at the same website.

What? Go back and also be jailed in a filthy cell for owning up to a prank about a bar mat that the bars get for free anyway off of the beer companies?

From the reactions in the Aussie press, there wont be many aussies going to Phuket at all in the future.

And now that this story is gathering pace in the international press you can say that about everyone else. And it will spill over to all areas. People see the problem as Thailand, not just Phuket.

RIP tourism Thailand. 55555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555

My reason for being here: An endless supply of Beautiful, Young Thai Ladies.

And if you are nice and honest to them and treat them with respect, they will not cost you hardly any money at all to have fun with. (oh, and don't let them know/think you have much money.)

I am 38 and handsome, but I still could not get the same age/beauty women back in the States. Even if I could, if people saw me with a 20 y.o. girl, society would frown on it.

And the beauty is that I know as I get older these lovely ladies will still be here.

These reasons alone are enough for me to put up with any problems (and there are not that many really) with living in Thailand.

I Skype with my mother and father everyday so I don't feel too far away from them. Also, I know that within the next 20 years my parents will pass and I will receive a good amount of inheritance and will be able to stop working. I fly home once a year to visit them too.

But, basically, the availability of women here is 100% my reason for being here.

Christ you must be an ugly bastard. Seriously, you're only 38 years old and the '100%' reason for you being here is because of the availability of cheap prostitutes way into your dotage?

Not really. Unfortunately I have to go back to Australia periodically and to be honest, the young girls 18-30 are built like Elephants and have a bad attitude to boot. I wouldn't even waste my time talking to them. I see good looking guys in their 20s-30s trying hard and getting knocked back by these Whales and think "boys, get your ass to Asia and nail some quality".

100% right lukeskywalker

But on saying that, there is far better quality in Cambodia than there is in Thailand.

And now, it seems the Thais are throwing people in jail for stealing a towel from the bar, it's definitely time to try somewhere else.

So Thailand is a place where you will be thrown into a filthy, small jail cell with 3 others if you so much as take a bar towel from a bar?

I though Singapore was bad. Time to visit somewhere else.

The bar is obviously owned by an influential Thai - policeman or politician.Would a Farang owned Bar have undercover cops working in it? Would the police care if a Farang owned bar got ripped off? Certainly not, because the police are looking to do just that - rip off the Farang owned bar themselves by searching for unauthentic music on the computer or Thai CD's etc or absolutely any other "law" they can make up to extort baht from the owner. (yes, I've owned a Bar in Thailand so I'm talking from first hand experience)

So,this is some Thai scumbags bar and they are putting a tourist in jail for stealing a towel. I suggest you avoid this bar if you're ever in Phuket and tell everyone that you know to avoid it as well.

She still thinks she's right all the time and says 'F*** you!' and other abuse whenever she disagrees with me (our daughter started saying it too, at age 2! though it was said as 'P*** you!' which was almost cute...)

I never met a woman like that anywhere else.

Try Soi Cowboy again.

Nick has called the police and even contacted the Bangkok Governer but nothing has been done.

These are the people who are behind the scams. Is this Nick guy naive or what?

it's just that the good times are really great, but the bad times really suck!

She can only be an angel or a devil. There is no middle... those are her words..

I wonder sometimes if she has some mental issues..

After a few years of marriage the % of devil becomes more and more, especially when the sex becomes less frequent and less adventurous.

I'd say get the fuc_k out of Dodge, asap.

It's been my experience that in the open bars in Pattaya (not the closed door go-go bars) the woman are mostly over weight, not all that attractive and on the downward side of 30 or even 40. The ones in the go-go bars are younger and prettier, but a whole LOT more expensive... and so are the drinks. I guess you just get what you pay for... EVERYWHERE. If you are over 40 anywhere else in the world just try hooking up with some young attractive gal in her twenties. I ain't gonna happen! In Pattaya it might... if you have enough money.

Disagree completely.

In Cambodia, the only girls in the biz are 18-25 and beautiful. After 25 they don't get a look in.

(and it's half price of Thailand)