spidermike007

Muslims find everything thats not muslim racist and offensive.

What's the Thai term for 'retard'?

Goombah. A thin skinned man who lets anything, and everything bother him. The opposite of "water of a ducks back". A constipated man, who is doing everything he can to make sure his life is not fulfilling.

Fareng simply means Westerner. It does not apply to other Asians. Only to Westerners, who look different than Thais, or other Asians. I do not consider it derogatory, though some may intend it that way. It is a reference to "outsiders", but even if you lived in Thailand your whole life, you are always going to be an outsider. To me, it means very little. I run into a lot of very kind hearted, warm Thais, and the fareng reference has something to do with the fact that Thailand was never colonized, and we are very foreign to them.

Hmmmm. So typical of the Thai senate. Lets acknowledge the problem. But, no way we are going to actually create a solution, or do anything about it. As a matter of fact, we will be sure to forget about this problem, by tomorrow. Having lived in Samui for many years, I can tell you many, many of these problems exist in Samui too. Some are worse. Has anybody, done anything, on any level? No. I hear many of these problems exist in Pattaya, and Hua Hin also. Has anything been done there? Very little. So, stop blabbing, and stop discussing, unless you are potent enough of a force to actually do something. Earn your salary, for God's sake!

I have been told some rather interesting news lately, by two well informed, and very well connected sources. They are both farengs, but own a lot of land and restaurants on Koh Samui. One of my sources tells me the paperwork has already been signed for a new airport in the Don Sak area, and that construction may start this year. It will be a major airport, that intends to compete with Phuket airport, in terms of the number of flights, destinations served, etc. Apparently this has been in the works for some time, and was spearheaded by wise politicians who have been opposed to Central Government policy with regard to the Bangkok Airways Samui cartel. If anyone has anymore info, please post it here, so that we can be better informed on this topic, which is of great interest. We all know that in order for Samui to sustain it's growth, a new airport with 5 to 10 times the number of flights the current one handles, is necessary. Of course that would lead to competitive fares, which Samui needs so desperately. Billions have been invested in hotels on Samui, and those guests that the hotels are expecting cannot be served exclusively by Bangkok Airways (the Boutique Bandits).

The second point is that unlike what I have been reading on the recent (Samui residents demand a new airport) post, Bangkok Airways DOES NOT OWN the land the airport was built on. My sources tell me that BA leased the land from the Thai government in 1988, for 24 years. So, later this year that lease is up for renewal. I have no idea what the status of the lease is, at this point. Many of us are expecting business as usual, but there must be some responsible people in the government (is that possible?) that are thinking renewal may not be a good idea. Apparently they built the new terminal with the hopes and expectations of renewal, but no promises were made (that were legally binding anyway). Please post your comments with any info you may have about both of these topics.

Thailand is in a transition from a patriarchal context to a society where people become self-aware. Unfortunately those high up there in the administration cannot avoid the patriarchal tendency of perceiving the population as "innocent" and as "victims of foreign systems".

People who are in positions of responsibility should be more imaginative and avoid lapsing into obsolete speech.

Totally agree with you.

Imaginative? Creative? When was the last time you saw an expression of that, in the LOS? When? Thailand has many wonderful qualities. But imagination, and creativity are not amongst them. Anywhere. Ever.

I'd like to know if they ever followed up with the salaeng that may or may not have been parked illegally that was struck. Quite often these illegal vehicles don't have sufficient lighting, if they have lighting at all.

Such senseless loss of life could be avoided if only Phuket officials practiced safety process applied in other major holiday destinations around the world. Clearly Phuket officials need to ensure police enforce safety standards through vehicle compliance and operator usage. Unsafe, unregistered vehicles are driven by food vendors anywhere anytime and parked anywhere. If Phuket officials are not prepared to adopt the sane safety standards which are applied elsewhere and certainly in BKK they should at least conduct a campaign at Phuket airport advising tourists of the dangers and death statistics associated with motor bike accidents in Phuket and therefore recommend that tourists consider using taxis or car hire. The problem lies with Phuket officials and not with the police, public or tourists.

YES I believe the Tourism Department should discourage foreigners from driving in Thailand... The roads are full of clowns, trapeze artists and circus people. - Amazing Thailand! The police or officials blind folded or slow in acting. These side cars are death traps.

You are asking the tourism department to provide a service to tourists. They have never done that, in their history. All they do is promote tourism, and issue false press releases. They do not, and will not provide actual services to tourists. And since the central government is paying their expenses, why on earth would they ever say anything that may scare a tourist into doing something safe? It is only the death of foreigners after all, that we are talking about here. How important is that, in relation to the profits for the industry?

Well yours might not but I do know that Larry Cunningham does...and if being called out at 3/4 am in the morning to identify, then notify relevant authorities in Bangkok that their son/daughter is not coming home alive is not caring...then you are a bigger tosspot than I thought!!What a stupid ignorant statement by someone who hasn't got a clue!!

Larry Cunningham has been unusually outspoken for a consulate representative (based on recent history). He has issued warnings reported widely in the Australian media about the seedier side of Phuket and has also spoken up more than once to Thai officials. It might be beating his head against the wall but at least he is saying something. I'm sure it doesn't help his standing in Phuket amongst certain self interested groups.

Not sure it is about caring or not. I think there are some very well intentioned honorary consuls, and ambassadors here. But, what are they up against? A system that has zero interest or intention to change. Neither the central government, the state govt., the local govt. in Phuket, Samui, or Pattaya ( the scam capitals of thailand), the TAT, or the AOT have any interest in changing anything. The police are totally incompetent. They are bought and paid for whores. There are in my estimate less than 100 real police in the kingdom, who care about justice, and are unwilling to be bought and paid for. Where are those guys? Why doesn't anyone in power care, or why won't anyone put their ass on the line to improve their country? This is just another example of the paradox that exists with the proudest country I have ever been in, that has absolutely zero pride in doing a good job, providing a good product, or service, or making sure that tourists go home happy, content, and wanting to return to the LOS. If any rocket scientist amongst us can figure this one out, please let us know.

Part of the reason for so much teen pregnancy here, is the lax attitude of the parents towards it. If there were more severe consequences, perhaps it would not happen as much. So many women I have met (especially from Issan), just do not consider it a big deal to have a kid. I think they want to get pregnant. They romanticize having a kid to the point where they may be going out of their way to get pregnant. Also, with the families willingness to take care of their child, it is just not a big deal. I will get pregnant, have a kid, my boyfriend or husband will leave me (it is the last thing in the world he wanted!), then I will leave my kid with the folks, while I figure out a way of earning the money I cannot possibly earn in my hometown. It is this kind of mentality that contributes to teen pregnancy.

Thailand intellectual never stop to amusing me

What intellectual power? When was the last time a Thai journalist won a pulitzer prize? How about a Thai scientist winning a Nobel Peace Prize? How about a Thai doctor being the top surgeon in a major hospital outside of Thailand? How about a Thai politician being prized for his diplomatic skills? How about a Thai engineer coming up with brilliant water management policy, or a Thai educator coming up with an ingenious system for learning? What about a Thai police detective cracking a major crime ring? If just does not happen here. How about a Thai worker having pride in the work that they perform? For a people that are so proud, they have a terribly small amount of pride in their work. One would expect the opposite. In order to consider yourself the best, don't you have to be able to take pride in how good a job you perform? There is a profoundly limited amount of excellence in the kingdom.

And as far as the noise pollution goes, that is a fight that will never be won. My sense of it, is that the Thai people do not hear noise. Or if they do, it just does not bother them. Also, I am convinced they are pathologically afraid of silence. It may allow them to hear the inner voice, and perhaps they do not like what they hear? Not sure, but to try to find peace and quite in thailand, is like trying to find a salmon run in central Africa, or a gold mine in Samui, or a pack of black bears in Chiang Mai. It just is not there.

It's my understanding, from news reports of this scam over the years, that the question of insurance is a red herring; tourists have generally not damaged the jetskis they rented in any way but continue to be intimidated and threatened, their money extorted, through bogus claims of damage. In most cases the said scratches, dents etc were already there when the jetski was rented.

This smacks of the usual obfuscation tactics, so well know in Thailand, to cover up criminal activity.

Absolutely spot on. You hit the nail on the head. Phuket Vice Governor Sommai Prijasilpa and Phuket Provincial Police Commander Chonasit Wattanavrangkul, are cowards. They are unwilling to face the issues. They are too timid to tackle the culprits. They would rather go on keeping their heads in the sand, than do what is needed to address the issues. There are a hundred different solutions to these issues. Excuses are a mere attempt to placate the ambassador, and they are inadequate. Time for someone in power to take a stand against the mafia cretons. Thailand continues to receive black eyes on a daily basis. Unless the place is shamed to an extraordinary degree by the international press, nothing will ever change. Too much money is being made on these scams, and the police are partners in the scams.

Very, very small men like Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobumrung file defamation suits. Real men are not too affected by slander, and realize that when they are major goombahs, like this circus buffoon is, that people are going to slander you. This tiny man has such thin skin, everything bothers him. His self esteem is so low, that this kind of nonsense is necessary for him. Hopefully, he will disappear from politics, and do the entire country a favor. We would all like to see him disappear from our lives.

From what I have been able to determine, much of the power of the baht comes from offshore currency flows. Right now the SET is at 1146! That means billions of dollars coming into the stock market, and it drives up the value of the baht. That seems to be the single largest determining factor, though other accounts are factored into the equation. Not sure why the SET is so high, but there appears to be a lot of foreign speculation on it.

It is extremely irresponsible to take a child on a motorcycle without a helmet in my opinion. In most of your home countries If your child died as a result of not wearing a helmet, when it was the law to do so, you would be guilty of manslaughter.

Manslaughter. What is that? We have never heard the term in Thailand. What could that possibly mean? You mean I was responsible for something bad happening? How is that possible? I am an angel. I never do a bad thing. Nobody in my country do a bad thing. You speaking of fareng. They do bad thing many times.

I live on Koh Samui. The unofficial statistics are an average of 60 deaths per month, from motorcycle accidents. Many are farengs, who either do not know how to drive, drive while drinking, or are simply unprepared for how bizarre, aggressive, and dangerously both the farengs, and locals drive here. Never seen anything like it. They are on a small tropical island, so what the hell is the hurry? They do not see it that way. Yes, I agree that the head is a soft organ, and cannot compete with concrete or asphalt for durability. A helmet is the way to go. I bought an index helmet for 1500 baht, that is pretty decent. Certainly not an Arai, but who is going to spend 15,000 baht on a helmet here? The normal soft shells here are crap, so I would go with at least a decent Index dragon, or something similar, as a minimum precaution. I never leave the house without it. I have been riding for nearly 40 years, but I do not trust the other drivers here, to make the right decision. I often get cut off by drivers merging into traffic, right in front of me. I look behind me, and there is nobody. They simply could have waited 2 more seconds, and shown some courtesy, and there would be no risk to anybody. But, did they do that? No. Never expect common sense, or reasoning on the Thai roads. I have spoken to the nurses at the local hospitals, and they say 90% of the deaths here are from head injuries.

One thing they could do is start to offer decent fares. The lowest fare I have seen is about 8,000 baht round trip. All airlines flying in and out of the Samui airport charge extortionate rates, and they all follow the lead of the local mafia airline, Bangkok Airways.

If the rains happen again like last year, and the promised flood management solutions are found to not be in place, resulting in massive flooding again, the multinational companies will start to relocate their factories in earnest. This will devastate the thai economy. These factories employ millions. With the thai GDP being 70% from exports, how much of that export figure is from multinationals manufacturing within thailand? It was reported recently that of 38 companies with plants here, 16 were searching for alternative locations due to the flooding. What if this happens again? Will any stay? Yinglucks ass is on the line here, and so is thailands.

I was recently assaulted. The thai folks that helped me deal with it, all asked if I had retaliated after, which Inhad not. The thai goombah was forced to pay me afterwards, and he lost considerable face, which was nice. They all agreed, that as a fareng, there are few ways to get away with assaulting, or retaliating against a thai. However, all agreed that if you are threatened or attacked at your home, or on your property, you could get away with nearly anything. Likewise, if you assaulted or threatened someone on their property, they could get away with more, than if they were off their property. An important distinction to remember as a fareng living in LOS.

There is a time and a place for snide comments and gutter press tabloid news....

Here and now would be a great time to pull in the likes of "The Sun" to have a good rant about the new costa del crime or Fuk-it as it has been called.

Burma will open...

Tourism will displace...

Phuket will become... what..? a sad retirement town... for who...?

What a shame the gutter press aren't here

Thailand has had a good run of luck with foreign investment and tourism, and like all runs of luck it won't last forever. Myanmar will pull the rug right from under them and the Thais will have nobody to blame for this but themselves - after all the proof will be in the pudding, i.e. visible visitor/investment feedback in thousands of online websites and blogs. No denying the voices of millions. And the general message will be 'Myanmar is better because the Burmese don't steal and lie like the Thais, they genuinely like foreigners, the beaches and islands are cleaner, it's cheaper, you can own a business without having being forced to give 51% of your business to a slimy local and the place isn't run by the mafia'. My point being that the all the scams of Phuket, Samui etc that are being left to run unattended because the powers to be secretly <deleted>*kng hate farang and are making a cut out of our misery will destroy the country in a few years.

When is the last time you spent time in Burma (I refuse to call it myanmar, as that is a tribute to the junta)? What makes you think the government has any intention on following through on it's promises. Burma is better than Thailand? The people are more honest? So far, no control has been given to the people. The generals are the biggest drug dealers in the region. They have little or no press freedoms. Thousands are still in prison, because they protested in the streets during the saffron revolt in 2007. Elections have been voided left and right. Where do you get your information from? What kind of mushrooms are you taking? Yes, Thailand has many serious issues, but it will be a long time till the junta who claim they are now a civilian government demonstrates they are serious about giving up power. They are making billions off the country, and I suspect they do not want to walk away from that, anytime soon.

The first three issues mentioned below ('overpriced...services') are so fundamental to protecting utterly uncompetitive Thai business (look at True Corp for an excellent example of this phenomenon) and ripping of Thai AND foreign consumers for the benefit of a tiny minority, that I can't see how quaint meetings between foreign diplomats and Thai government officials could even begin to solve anything. If Thailand were capable of solving any of its problems and enforcing its own laws, it would have done so already. The scams and other pitfalls that act as parasitic infections on Thailand's reputation and image are so often perpetrated by the very people who are supposed to be stopping them, that I can't help but just break up laughing when I read these. This is just another opportunity for Thailand to 'explain' to foreigners and 'restore confidence' in how everything in Thailand is fine and the tourism industry is doing great.

"The most common rip-off schemes that tourists face include overpriced products and services, low-quality products, low-standard services and exaggerated damage claims on broken items, said the report."

It's not that they aren't capable of solving their problems - they don't want to.

If I was the police chief in Phuket then jet ski's would be illegal, taxis and tuk tuks would have to use meters and any scum that's misbehaving would receive a public flogging with a cat o nine tails!

Well, it might be time to elect a fareng, as mayor of Phuket, and Samui. Someone who speaks fluent Thai. Someone who cannot be bought and sold. Someone who has a concept of what ethics, and morality is, and who has a sense of what would benefit the travelers, and ex-pats living in Thailand. I know this is a pipe dream. For a fareng to ever assume a position of power here, the local Thais would have to admit that a problem exists, and that they were incapable of fixing it. Hell would freeze over before that happens. But, it is pleasant to dream sometimes. Did you want to run for mayor?

I used to travel a lot and maybe I've started to take the CM airport for granted, but it is Waaaay more convenient and user friendly than almost any other airport I could name. I live 5 minutes from the airport, yet I never hear a single jet take off or land. I can depart on a domestic flight with a 30 minute check in. About an hour for an international flight. I arrived once on an international flight originating in the USA and changing planes in Taipei. I went through a two hour shakedown in the states over the contents of my luggage, with blue lights flashing and a goon squad rushing in with rubber gloves and "swabs" to check the contents of my luggage. After the Homeland Security goons were finished (breaking my luggage BTW) I was thouroughly sickened and happy to be on my way back home. The only comment the Thai customs had about the contents of my luggage when I arived was "Aroi, mak mak". Count your blessings.

I could not agree more. Not necessarily about the Chiang Mai airport, since I have not used it for a couple of years. But, about traveling in Thailand in general. I find most of the airports here to be very pleasant, including Suvarnabhumi, which I like a lot. Samui is great too. Pleasant, easy to use, efficient, and the security is not too intrusive. Flying in the US now is a nightmare. The TSA has been given way too much power, and they do not discriminate properly. There is no contribution to "national security", when an 80 year old grandmother gets felt up, or strip searched. When was the last time a Jewish 80 year old woman has committed any act that threatens the nation in any way, other than laying guilt on her grandchildren? That does not happen in Thailand, as far as I know. Plus the airport food is better, and less expensive!

A total of 10,000 copies of the travel guidebook will be made available. To get a free copy, visit the TAT head office on New Petchburi Road and show your identification card at the registration counter, or download an electronic version at www.tatbangkok.com.

Anyone who tried and found the electronic version? I can' find it on either the Thai or English pages

( http://tatbangkok.com/th/index.php or http://tatbangkok.com/en/index.php )

I found e-mags on the TAT Bangkok sites at http://www.tatbangkok.com/E-MAG-TAT_2 & http://www.tatbangkok.com/TAT50_E-MAG - seems strange though that both e-mags are available in Thai language only!

Can we assume from this that TAT Bangkok don't want to encourage foreign visitors!?!?

No, that would not be a correct assumption. But, you can assume a total, and complete lack of competency, on the part of every single employee at the TAT. It is the Thai way. Why hire competent people? The farengs are stupid people, and why should we go out of our way to attract them? They will come anyway, despite any problems we are having here. Everything in Thailand is fine. Everyone wants to come here because we are so nice, and the place is so lovely, and the hotels are so cheap, and the food is so good. No political problems can change that. No flooding can change that. No tourist scams can change that fact. Why should our government be concerned that anything negative happening here will discourage tourism? Why should be devote any capital to the pursuit of tourism?

The bottom line is simply that if the personal revenue generating company known as the phuket police has any interest in pursuing crimes like this, they would go down dramatically. If these pigs were locked up, for an extended stretch, do you not think word would get around. But, the problem is that there is no money in this. The "toy police" (imitation law enforcement agency) would have to spend hours on this, and they would not receive any tea money. What a terrible thing that would be. Actual law enforcement by a group that is so brain dead, as to be near retards.

Many interesting points made here. First of all, $200 per day average, is way out of line, and simply a number the tourism minister threw out there, after reading a report on tourism. No scientific basis, on any level. Secondarily, many, many hotel operators, and restaurant people, and store owners I speak with here complain that business is down. It seems busy now, but year on year, it seems the levels are down. I have no faith in the ministry's quotes of 19 million arrivals. They could be referring to flocks or birds, cargo planes, transit passengers, business arrivals, or who knows what else. They have zero credibility, and there is ample reason for that. Lastly, I do not believe that tourism makes up only 6% of the economy, which is something they would love us to believe. I do not buy it. When you combine airlines, hotels, restaurants, retail, bus operators, mini van services, etc., etc., etc., there is no way it is that low.