poskat

you know what the US is accusing the Thai companies of being is true, otherwise they would just say, sure take a look, we are clean.

its the same as when you ask to look at your GF's phone/chats and she doesnt want to show you, you know she is up to no good...

thailand's soft power is as ephemeral as the dreamed of high quality tourists.

to give you an idea of how thailand is perceived internationally, my aunt in the usa recently asked me if thailand had cable tv.

Basically, thailand is known for getting laid and going to the beach.

"The spokesman also said that the next normal is very different when it comes to the shape of tourism - it's far more about small groups, families and FIT - fully independent travellers."

I dont think that TAT or any government agency really has much say in what the makeup of future tourists will be.

If they could really control this, the private jets full of the elusive high quality tourists would have been crowding the local airport's runways years ago.

8 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

I'm starting to ridicule the Thais I know who still do this. They know it's stupid but they feel some sense of greater duty to the mission.

the problem here is that none of them are willing to go first and buck the crowd.

one person see without a mask is considered out of the flow

two or three w/o one is a new trend that's ok to do...

I think that the good old degenerate tourism is what thailand needs right now, not this word salad tourism they are pushing here

tourists should just wear masks if they want to. If the 100,000s of tourists they keep saying are/will  be coming dont wear one, what are they going to do? arrest/fine them all?

that would make for some good social media posts

unfortunately, the bureaucrats' fear of losing face from making a decision/relaxing restrictions that results in any uptick in cases is so great that it overpowers their mental ability to make rational fact-based decisions. Their thinking is over powered by "but what if...?" of possibility rather than decisions based on probability.

that results in their being willing to only move the line a millimeter forward and then waiting to see what happens over an excessively long period before considering another mm move.

"Thailand’s mango and sticky rice has been in the international spotlight ever since young Thai rapper Milli – Danupa Kanateerakul devoured the Thai dessert during her live performance at Coachella"

this is sheer delusion, and just projection of the obsession that grips thailand anytime a thai is mentioned for anything outside of thailand. In reality, the fact that such a trivial thing is so talked about in thailand shows how trivial thailand is on the world stage, beaches and hookers excluded, of course.

The last thing the world needs is "having thai culture and society reflected on a global scale"

Ah, the well known and effective defense strategy, "It wasnt my fault, I had urges"

ok, off to the temple with you then...

I was offended by the tourist’s rude and demeaning insults and took out a prop/stunt gun. I didn’t want to hurt the tourist, only scare him and make him feel bad for insulting someone just trying to do their job.”

clearly a normal reaction

welcome to "Amazing Thailand" and its world-famous hospitality

this would be funnier if it was a story about having to get the police/medics to unstick his nose from the steering wheel after sticking his nose to deep in the bag and then leaning on the steering wheel to enjoy the rush.

On 4/23/2022 at 7:21 AM, wombat said:

The guard gets busted but it's the prisoner that gets transferred?

What am I missing here?

its to protect the prisoner from reprisals from the other guards

The problem, to me, seems to be the disconnect from these rankings with the reality we see in thailand. If the thai universities really have programs that are of such superior quality, why arent we seeing the thai outperforming other places in these fields. One has a high rank in performing arts, yet we dont really see examples of good acting in thai movies or tv shows, and I never heard anyone talk about thai performers in other disciplines being talked about out in the real, i.e., non-thailand world.

In fact, I was just talking on friday with a thai colleague about the "best in thialand" when it is compared with the rest of the world. he agreed the the chasm between them was wide.

Furthermore, top 50 worldwide programs should be attracting international students to them, while the reality is that top students in thailand become international students.

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

On the days I worked, I got done at 1430 hrs.  Showered, hop the

train to South St or other area, Philly, PA, USA, and happy hrs started

1630 ish till 2000 hrs.  That was good for couple times a week.

 

 

meet me on south street...

The fact that thais are going crazy about her being one of the acts at a music festival and that she had a thai snack, which would be so very trivial in most countries, just shows how trivial thailand is on the world stage.

unfortunately, most of the people watching at coachella though she was from taiwan

I had just moved to BKK in Feb 2010, living and working in siam square. So I saw the full progression of it from a happy festival atmosphere into a barbed wired, bamboo spiked encampment when walking though it on my way to work.

I lived inside the "red zone" and when the government was making martial law rumblings, got a bus to pattaya. a few days later, the army moved in and chaos ensued. when i got back to bkk a week later, the burned buildings were still on display.