thaibeachlovers

3 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

Please tell me that you're not going to try and debate the difference between an estimate of ABOUT 21% in 2018 and a Wiki. entry that cites 17.7% dated 2016, a difference of 0.7% and one that is supposedly "a lot lower"!

?????????????The difference between 17.7 and 21 is not 0.7.

5 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

Please tell me that you're not going to try and debate the difference between an estimate of ABOUT 21% in 2018 and a Wiki. entry that cites 17.7% dated 2016, a difference of 0.7% and one that is supposedly "a lot lower"!

Sigh. 17.7 is the TOP estimate, not THE estimate. 9% is a huge difference. In the middle, is still a lot lower.

BTW, no one knows how much ''tourism" actually contributes as so much is in the "black economy" and beach hawkers etc do not declare their earnings.

Should all the suckers sending their BG "girlfriends" a monthly allowance be included?

7 hours ago, JamJar said:

 

 

You can, but you take the risk of the bus you want to get on being full.

You can simply book it on the spot.

 

Tip: They have an iPad at hand if you ask nicely.

I could not book it at the airport last time I wanted to. There was no one to book it with.

I took the other bus service.

18 hours ago, Banana7 said:

I was going to central Pattaya, not Jomtien. 

 

To take the regular bus service (120b) from the airport, still doesn't get me to the condo. When I looked at 14:30 in the airport, that bus's next departure was at 17:30.

 

To go from the Pattaya bus station to the condo with a suitcase, one has to deal with the baht bus mafia. To get a reasonable price for the baht bus, one has to wait until the bus is full, and then it may go to multiple places before it gets to where one wants to go. So it will cost another 30-60 minutes to get to the condo. Alternatively, one could get an exclusive baht bus, costing at least 150b or more, which will depart immediately. The MC taxis charged 80b-100b per person with a small suitcase, most can't/won't handle a full size (30" -22Kg.) suitcase.

 

Bell Bus costs over 200 baht, including transfer to condo, so using regular bus and the baht bus is not 150 baht more than the Bell Bus price. I'm a cheap Charley, and would sit in a baht bus till it was full, but if you won't do that it's your choice to pay extra.

Used to take over 4 hours to go from Bkk to Pattaya, so even spending 30-60 minutes in a baht bus is still faster.

20 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

Most what is more than 50%?

 

Presumably, you think most countries with a tourist industry employ over 50% of the workforce in that sector, in which case I have to ask, on which planet!

 

Direct tourism represents about 21% of Thailands GDP, 15% of the workforce seems proportionate to me, especially since much larger percentages are employed in agriculture and services.

Wikipedia says

Estimates of tourism receipts directly contributing to the Thai GDP of 12 trillion baht range from 9 percent (one trillion baht) (2013) to 17.7 percent (2.53 trillion baht) in 2016.

That's a lot lower than your 21%.

On ‎2‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 12:35 AM, highfive said:

When I went to Koh Samui I rented a scooter, even though I never rode a motorbike in my life. This was one of the most stupid decisions I made in my life, or seriously the most stupid one, because it could have gotten me killed. Around one hour after I rented it... I crashed it into a truck parked at the side of the road.

 

Now, everything I read on this forum would make me think that the person I crashed into would want a lot of money from me, that the shop I rented from would want a lot of money from me. But what really happened was that the truck I crashed into was carrying some local workers, and they all just really wanted to help me, they wanted to make sure I was okay. They gave me water, they gave me plasters etc. They were all really worried.

 

Of course, after what I read I thought I will need to pay them for the damage I caused. I told them I was okay, I'm not very hurt and I will pay for damages, just tell me how much. But they all said "no no, nothing, no pay, you okay? you okay? bleeding? you okay?". I was really shocked how caring and friendly they were. After I crashed I wanted to return my motorbike, and again, I was expecting to pay some heavy fees or the loss of my entire deposit (10000 baht because I didnt leave my passport with them). But what actually happened was that the owner of the shop picked me up, and gave me 80% of my deposit back along with the rental fee. I don't know if I was just lucky, but what happened to me seems to contradict what most of you say.

You were just lucky, is all.

When I went to Koh Samui I rented a scooter, even though I never rode a motorbike in my life. This was one of the most stupid decisions I made in my life, or seriously the most stupid one, because it could have gotten me killed. Around one hour after I rented it... I crashed it into a truck parked at the side of the road.

Had you actually needed hospital treatment it could have bankrupted you too, as your travel insurance probably didn't cover you riding without a licence in your home country.

On ‎2‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 12:50 AM, siamcrut said:

You should have insisted on those scratched fender and plastic panel. You paid for them so take them with you.

 

 

 

Quite right too. What actually happens is they do nothing and use the same dings to scam the next person that rents the bike.

On ‎2‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 1:17 PM, RickG16 said:

OK - show me the push bikes which have mirrors and indicators. 

WHAT!

My push bike had mirrors and people signal with their arms on a push bike.

On ‎1‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 10:35 PM, HooHaa said:

Remarkably helpful advice for a weekend at the beach.

Even more helpful advice is don't rent m'bikes from crooks. You can't tell the difference between a crook and a non crook, so don't rent m'bikes from anyone.

Either use local transport or walk. Tao is small enough to walk around. I did it.

Although I've hear of it before, I didn't think it will happen to me.

Oh my my my, how many times have we heard that! If it wasn't for that illogical thinking there wouldn't be any m'bike scammers.

There have been tales of Thailand's m'bike scammers since they started renting m'bikes, which is decades, yet people still do.

On ‎2‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 11:43 AM, gearbox said:

A lot of useful feedback, thanks everyone! I might get a cheap tesco/BigC bike, and if cycling is OK then get a Trek bike. 

 

In regards to dogs I'll do a bit more research, looks like something like this may help:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Halt-Dog-Repellent-1-5-118464/dp/B000E4Q7BS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

LOL. IMO, a waste of money where soi dogs are concerned. A rock is free and works by just pretending to throw it.

There are no "safe spaces" where soi dogs will not try to bite you. However, they are easily dissuaded from trying by carrying a length of that blue plastic water pipe, at least a meter long, and when one tries it on wave it at them and they will run away. I made a holster for mine from a wider piece of water pipe and wired it to my front forks.

I had a lot of dogs try it on when I made my daily ride, so when one tried it on, I chased it back to it's lair, and it usually never tried it on with me again. I was never able to get close enough to actually hit one, but across the nose would be the best place, to disable it.

I also carried some good sized rocks or bits of concrete in a basket on the front of the bike. Just threatening them with that works too. I never actually threw one in case it hit a kid or something like that.

It's amazing how many of those aggressive dogs are actually owned though. I sometimes pursued a dog right back to where it hid behind it's owner. They just laughed though, because they don't care if their mutt bites other people.

19 hours ago, Neilly said:

If you pass #1 of PoorSuckers list below and wish to hire a bike I would suggest you bring your own helmet (you won't get anything worth using from any of the rental companies)...no motorcycle license and/or limited experience then forget it

 

 

The helmet I bought in Thailand was good enough to save my life, and no helmet will save anyone run down by a truck or having a go to woah in 0.1 seconds against an immovable object.

Frankly, anyone never ridden bikes before is an idiot if they think they can arrive in a foreign country, rent a bike and have happy trails. Even if they just get injured, without a bike licence in their own country their travel insurance probably won't cover them in LOS.

Obviously, most people that rent bikes never have an accident, or there wouldn't be any bikes left to rent, but it's just luck, for the most part.

I passed ( in a resort 4x4 ) a family on Phangan that had rented bikes for all 4 and decided to go on the road to Than Sadet ( long time ago when it was just mud- could still be for all I know ). The rest of them were gathered around mum that had skidded into the undergrowth. They hadn't even got 10 meters down the mud. Meanwhile, a Thai family of 4 passed by on one small m'bike.

Elsewhere, in Had Rin, the sight of young farang tourists bandaged up was not uncommon, as they had crashed their rented bikes going over the ( sealed ) hill just before Rin beach.

Unless things have changed a lot, I don't see why it is necessary to rent a bike anyway. I just used the local songtheaws and walked, and always enjoyed my stays. Be different if I was an expat living there, obviously.

PS, given that it is normal practice to have to hand over the passport to rent a bike, and local bike renters don't have damage insurance worth a pile of poo, one is stupid to do so, IMO, for all the logical reasons.

22 hours ago, Get Real said:

Good! Get rid of the junkie or pusher. What ever he might be. He break the law and should be deported or jailed. Gives more room for the real people that wants to do things the right way.

Agreed, for being an idiot that thinks the law doesn't apply to him in LOS. 

Still, he won't be the last foreigner that gets done for being an idiot.

Personally, I think it should be legalised, as far too much effort by law enforcement is put into something that is less dangerous than alcohol. They should be concentrating on actually bad stuff.

11 hours ago, davethailand said:

Agreed, he also knew exactly what he was saying.

:)

I wish he hadn't though, as the wowsers in the UK government will now be thinking of ways they can stop British going to LOS for fun.

It's as if they don't have more important things to occupy themselves with.

1 minute ago, jvs said:

Most of those 42 Thousand Americans that died because of drugs have themselves to blame.How many of the victims of shootings have asked to be shot???

and why were they using drugs in the first place?

28 minutes ago, Gecko123 said:

I totally advocate tighter gun controls. The point of my post was that those who want to defend the second amendment to their dying breath need to consider the scope of the social problems driving these mass shootings. This is more than just a handful of people who feel socially marginalized and isolated. It's more like a silent epidemic. Unfettered access to guns may sound good on paper (the Constitution), but from a public safety standpoint the costs seem to be mounting ever higher.

Seems to me this is the classic case of public frenzy over a problem because it is an emotional one. I'm not saying that it shouldn't be taken seriously- it should, but in 2016 opioids killed over 42 THOUSAND Americans and there isn't anywhere near the debate about that than school shootings which in comparison killed hardly any people.

That isn't saying that school shootings are not horrific, but it's obvious that the US has some deep seated and truly awful problems that are not being dealt with and that comes down to congress not doing it's job. Time for them to get off their idle backsides, stop the partisan rhetoric and start working for their constituents.

27 minutes ago, jak2002003 said:

But if the guns were much harder to get then surely you can see that the number of mass shootings and gun crime would naturally decline?

 

Criminals are always going to find a way to commit a crime... so in your view we should just legalise all weapons and let them get on with it?

 

The sad fact seems to be that most Americans love guns more than children.  

 

 

Not at all, but armed guards patrolling schools would deter the potential offenders.

The number of school shootings this year are 19, and the number of weapons out there are in the multi millions. It takes but one gun to make 20.

Leaving schools undefended is tantamount to welcoming in the shooters.

3 hours ago, i claudius said:

My main complaint about so many tv series these days is that they try to be so pc and diverse. Why do so many couples have to be gay, mixed race, or same sex married with children etc etc .it just seems its only done to pacify the minority groups .And please before anyone starts the old homophobe,racist rants .you know who you are dont bother because i could not care less what people want out of their lives i just dont want it rammed down my throat all the time

Sent from my [device_name] using http://Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Just a thought, but it might be because those are the people actually paying to see movies now. Few of my friends ever go to movies any more, but that could be because they are just too expensive now ( one reason I like living in LOS- cheap movies ).

On ‎1‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 11:07 AM, dick dasterdly said:

Couldn't agree more about the bloody music!

 

I find it necessary to watch films with the remote control in hand, to keep turning the volume up and down....

 

I'm also convinced that the (film) actors frequently speak as quietly as possible nowadays, basically whispering.  It could be that I'm going deaf, but I can hear the actors just fine in old movies and sometimes it's obvious (from the tone/'catches' in voice) that they are often (and for no good reason)  keeping their voice as quiet as possible!

Another thing that bugs me about films now is that they seem to make them in darkness so I can hardly make out what they are doing half the time. Then there are the colours they use, which are horrid game show electronic colours. Probably because most of the film is made in front of a green screen and the surroundings are CGI.

Remember when the credits lasted about 3 minutes, while now they take about 15 minutes to scroll through the seemingly thousands of computer operators that it took to make the movie?

Not that a computer generated film is always bad. I loved the Valerian film ( and the heroine wasn't half bad looking either ).

3 hours ago, i claudius said:

My main complaint about so many tv series these days is that they try to be so pc and diverse. Why do so many couples have to be gay, mixed race, or same sex married with children etc etc .it just seems its only done to pacify the minority groups .And please before anyone starts the old homophobe,racist rants .you know who you are dont bother because i could not care less what people want out of their lives i just dont want it rammed down my throat all the time

Sent from my [device_name] using http://Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

LOL. They've been using the "token ( choose ethnicity )" since the 70s at least and probably before. What is changing though, is the advent of the "kick ass" woman which is epitomised by Shaw in Person of Interest. In fact, it's changed to the extent that men are the minor characters as all the clever intelligent characters are female. Sometimes it works, as in Hunger Games, but then they get big headed and think they are great in everything, which is a mistake, as in Passengers.

Seems to me that women are now either total sluts, or superheroes ( what happened to "heroine" ). It's got to the extent that it's nice to see a show where a female is just a normal woman.

Certainly, more "gay" characters than in the past. Depp in Pirates was as queenie as it gets. However, some of the male characters we get these days are so wimpy I just want to punch their heads in for the entire movie. The ones I really hate though, are the smart arse guys that treat women like trash, but never has a problem getting the wet dream to "lub you long time". Perhaps that's because wet dream women really do throw themselves at smart arse guys that treat women like trash. Strange world we live in.

6 hours ago, Happyman58 said:

Yep  But another problem for Thai ladies is there are lots and lots of them in Bangkok They either take a farang who seem to be disappearing more than ever now because of all the bad vibes they are hearing about Thai ladies or they take a Thai man who usually dont have a job and drink lots of grog so life will be a struggle for them. So they stay single But hope is on the horizon The Us army is in town and they can sponge off them for a while .Amazing what they believe when the soldier says " I love you honey " and get all the sex they want and then disappear back to their wives in the states prob leaving Thai lady behind with a big belly So the life circle goes on 

I'd volunteer to be a "friend with benefits", but I wouldn't qualify for those women because I don't have the body of Adonis or the wallet of Getty to give them the lifestyle they seem to think they are entitled to, being female.

1 minute ago, transam said:

I ended up in hospital, so my word(s) are apt...

Great way to go out though.

26 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

It's clear to me that a lot of people are still not getting the concept. I thought my last post with food examples would have done that job, but apparently not.

 

Thinking about this some more, I'll give some personal examples that might illustrate the concept even further. 

 

Seeking pleasure is part of human nature so for something that is very pleasurable, most people would  usually at least WISH to repeat the experience, if possible. 

 

I suppose for the type of feeling I'm talking about, there is at least some or even lots of pleasure BUT there is something about the experience (or multiple things) that override the normal desire to repeat.

 

So here are a few personal examples --

 

A few years back I tried an Italian dessert I'd never tried before. It's kind of a candied nutty chocolate loaf type thing. I forget the Italian name. Eating it was pure pleasure. But I decided then, I never want it again. Why? Too much sugar, too many calories. It's not that I have rejected all sweet desserts for life (most everyone at least occasionally "needs" some ice cream) but this one, that was it.

 

Songkran in Chiang Mai on a water truck. It was the ultimate Songkran experience. I gave it as good as I got. It was for me a light version of running with the bulls. I had a blast. I'll never forget it. I also got a small wound and an infection that made me ill for weeks. But even at the end of the event, I figured, that was it. No more Songkran water playing for me in CM or anywhere!

 

This one's a bit more strange. Went to a German restaurant new to me. Ordered a boring sounding meat and noodles dish. It was actually probably the first time I've ordered that specific dish anywhere, and definitely at that restaurant. The culinary level was poor. It was too salty. It didn't taste authentic. But I got real pleasure eating it. Eating fat, salt, meat, and starch is pleasurable to most people and I'm the same. So I can't say I hated the experience at all. But I realized then no interest in ever ordering that specific dish, there or anywhere.

 

A perhaps more common food experience applies to adventurous eaters that are always trying new foods, dishes, and restaurants. Sometimes you hate the new thing, sometimes you love it, sometimes you get pleasure out of trying the new thing but realize it's really not to your taste enough to want to ever eat it again and you know that right away.

 

 

I can see that your passion is food, but I doubt many of us get orgasmic about it, and I certainly don't think food is a good example, sex on the other hand..................

12 minutes ago, transam said:

Knee-trembler..

Nah, I'd love to have another knee trembler, but if I did it would probably be the last thing I ever did.

7 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Your word doesn't fit the concept at all.

It's just your personal specific example.

I'm looking for a word or phrase that describes the feeling for ALL specific examples.

I don't think it exists though. 

That would because it doesn't exist. I know what you mean though, but who doesn't want to do something they enjoyed again, unless it was sex that was so good it almost killed one.