ArtVandelay

A lot of them watch movies like Hangover II and The Beach believe it shows how the real Thailand is. We Americans get most of our information about other cultures from Hollywood these days . . . ever since the dumbing down began.

It could be making the situation worse. Geography also is a culprit. A similar effect to Chiang Mai happens to New Delhi, India every winter due to a naturally occurring temperature inversion. Air flowing over the Himalayan mountains to the north descends towards the south and as this air falls, it heats up (since compression is occuring due to higher pressure at lower levels), forming a "ceiling" of warmer air layer above cooler air blanketing the ground. This polluted ground air can no longer rise and get carried away by faster-moving air in the upper atmosphere.

If a 50% increase in lung cancer deaths in a decade doesn't inspire a clean up there, then I don't know what will. Air pollution has got to be worse for children, whose lungs are still developing.

How is this possible? * cheap airfare

I wonder what the odds are that alcohol was somehow involved . . .

Social media and the Internet are only the latest in a long line of societal disruptors throughout history. * In the 1500's, it was the printing press (allowed for the Reformation which brought on the 30-years war in Europe). * In the 1800's, it was the telegraph. Rapid spread of information accelerated the US into Civil War, while a similar thing happened in Europe (1840's). * In the 1920's, the latest technology was radio. The Nazis used it effectively to brainwash an entire nation into WWII. Now, it's the Internet. Vladimir Putin used it effectively to give us Donald Trump. We probably should brace ourselves.

50 baht is less than $2 . . .

For most Thais, Thailand is not so cheap to live. As a foreigner with dollars, pounds, etc, it's easy to forget this.

I wasn't off the boat 5 minutes on Koh Tao before I was offered a motorbike for 150B a day. When I first went there in 2010 there were two places to rent a motorbike. Now, nearly every hotel and travel agency seems to rent them on the island. I did rent one for a day and then decided I didn't want to contribute to the traffic and so walked the rest of my time there. I might not go back again.

I'm sure the song will appeal to the kind of foreigner who visits for two weeks and returns home believing they've seen "the real Thailand." Almost feel sorry for them.

I called one taxi driver that took me to Swampy (and succeeded in ripping me off around 200 baht) "jai dam" just as I closed the door. I could tell by the expression on his face that he understood what I said (despite my accent). Maybe he lost a little sleep over it.

Whenever I feel like going back to Pattaya, all I need to do is read another story like this.

Sometimes "justice" isn't 3 hots and a cot . . . . . . . the rest of someone's life.

I'm on Koh Tao right now and I've never seen so many tourists crammed into one tiny island. Been coming here for 8 years and this is the first time I'm not renting a motorbike. Too dangerous, too many places renting them now, and too many people who would never even think of getting on a motorbike back home plunking their 200B down and clogging the main drag.

"The island was on one of the major trading routes between India and China, and was frequently mentioned in foreign ships' logs of Portuguese, French, Dutch, and English traders, but was never colonised by a European power. It formerly derived its wealth from tin and rubber and now from tourism." * Wikipedia (is never wrong, is it?) . . .