spidermike007

Tens of thousands have left. I cannot provide proof of this but a dear friend of mine is very close to one of the top foreign attorneys in Bangkok, and he said that over the last 5 years he doesn't have enough time in the day to handle all the appointments that are booked by foreigners leaving Thailand and working to create some sort of legal disposition of their assets here. I am happy here. But many are not.

I completely agree. As a centrist dem, who is an American Jew, it is incredible how much flack I get for "not going along with the program". Being critical of Israel, their policies and now their extremism, is not encouraged, nor is it even permissible in some circles. I will not apologize for being critical of policy that generates hatred, war, the killing of thousands of innocent women and children, the disruption of the world economy, and prevents peace or a peaceful solution. And no, I do not support Hamas, for those who abhor rejection of Israeli extremism. I despise them and wish them dead. OK?

Funny. Guess you asked for it. Nearly every time I see someone complaining, or observing a shortfall within Thailand, some guy, who has not taken the time to think things through, nor to devote any focus or effort to a reasonable reply, says something like "Perhaps Thailand is not for you", or maybe you should leave, or I am concerned about you, or the top prize, "if you do not like it here, go back to your own country". Hard to even respond to such inane statements. Why? Because I have some issues with the place? The nature of a discerning mind, is to have issues. Though absolute contentment must be a beautiful state of mind, it is not something most of us are blessed with, in case you have not noticed. The fact that I complain, does not mean I do not love Thailand, nor most of it's people. I do. I love my life here. I have a very good life here. But, I do have some complaints, and there are some things I would love to see improved. I should leave because of that? Please. Next time you make a post, try to devote at least two moments of thought to it.

I have always found the Viet people to be a bit like cold fish. Not particularly fun to be around. With the Thais, many are fun and playful, and have light hearts, which I cannot get enough of. Many of us live very good lives here. Some of us have been fortunate enough to find an outstanding woman, who is delightful to be around, on a daily basis, always has our back, and is fun, smart, and lovely. For me, that likelihood of finding that back in the US, would be very low. Especially one who is younger, and quite pretty. So, that is a big factor for me. The second factor is just the quality of life. Sure, I miss alot of the culture back home. The theatre, independent film (which I can download here with no issues at all, and a super fast 1 gbps fiber optic connection, at under 700 baht per month!), stand up comedy, live jazz, etc. But I have a lovely home that I rent, for about 10% of what I would pay in California, I live very well on an income which is not huge, have access to great health care, at a tiny fraction of what it costs in the US, and do not have to put up with alot of the aggravation that I had to when I lived back there. It is a very personal choice. I have friends who seem to be dropping like flies. I could be dead next year. You just don't know. I am not extravagant, but I live very, very well. A nice house, a new car every few years, new motorbikes for my gal and I every few years, a great art collection, plenty of good wine in the wine cooler, a new 77" OLED TV, a world class home theatre, plenty of international travel, etc. For me, it is a great lifestyle, that I could only dream of in the US. Well worth the expense and very easy to justify. Life is way too short. I have never been a person of extreme thrift. To each his own. I used to have more issues than I do now. I worked on my attitude, which was getting in the way of appreciating Thailand for what it is, and was clouding my experience here. Used to stress over stupid stuff, as you can see from some of my past posts. Used to allow the politics to make me angry. Now it is not something I take seriously, just something I comment on, without anger or an emotional investment. Yes, I complain online. So what? It is a healthy form of venting. Now, I just tend to laugh it off. Spent some real time back in the US recently, and it allowed some clarity and perspective, that I am very grateful for. Now, I just chuckle at most of the nonsense. Water off a duck's back, so to speak.

No. I will buy an American or European made product over a Chinese product, every single opportunity I get. Not only are they higher quality, but I get to deny the subsidized Chinese factories, and the heinous CCP. Call it whatever you like. Makes no difference to me. Never been particularly concerned with criticism, nor name calling. Why? Closer ties to China are not a good idea. They are up to no good. Their intentions are heinous. Their desire for power and dominnance knows no bounds. They cannot and should not be trusted. They are NOT a reliable ally, and are not a good or trustworthy world power. They are only one step above Russia, on the trust scale. Worldwide slavery, and organ harvesting? No thanks Xi. Perhaps the Chinese should educate themselves on what their own government is doing to the minorities in the West, and Falun Gong members. Falun Gong practitioners across China are subject to widespread surveillance, arbitrary detention, imprisonment, and torture, and they are at a high risk of extrajudicial execution. The party-state invests hundreds of millions of dollars annually in the campaign to crush Falun Gong, while simultaneously engaging in exploitative and lucrative forms of abuse against practitioners, including extortion and prison labor. https://freedomhouse.org/report/2017/battle-china-spirit-falun-gong-religious-freedom The Chinese government has imprisoned more than one million people since 2017 and subjected those not detained to intense surveillance, religious restrictions, forced labor, and forced sterilizations. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-xinjiang-uyghurs-muslims-repression-genocide-human-rights

Perhaps the issue is not spending real money, on a high quality charger? Devices like this are meant to tackle a variety of jobs. Worth the 4,000 baht.

I cannot wait for the rains. Not only is the heat worse than usual, but the air is horrendous. The rains will come to our rescue, hopefully. It is a bandaid, but it will be some relief.

The 2%. LOL. Never thought I would be part of the 2% I guess I made it by attrition!

Well from what I've seen there are some spots north of where you are that are quite beautiful, have the advantage of being on the Andaman, and have very little congestion. Granted you would not have access to some of the conveniences that you haven't in Patong, but the few times I've been there it's hard for me to wrap my mind around wanting to live in that town. It's just so congested and so chock full of low class tourists, frankly I don't see the appeal. But different strokes, right?

And I agree, less vehicles that are polluting the air the better, so getting vehicles that are old poorly maintained diesels off the road is a good thing. However we are experiencing a crisis at the moment with the air quality and by all accounts the government does not seem to be doing anything productive to improve it, nor to prevent it. They are completely unwilling to stand up to Big Agra which is a huge part of the problem. The burning of sugar, rice, and corn, if controlled, would go a long way toward improving the air quality here. And would save lives.

A very spot on analysis, people with money do want a better experience than what Thailand has to offer. Granted there are very high-end villas here and there are very high-end hotels here, but for the most part the concierge services are lacking, the sommelier service is horrific, the selection of fine wines (nearly every wealthy tourist drinks a good bottle per day) is horrific, the price of the fine wines is stupid, it's very difficult for a wealthy person to hire a helicopter or private plane to fly from one part of the country to another, the highways are completely choked with small trucks due to successive administrations ignoring the issue of cargo movement for seven decades, and the air quality stinks. I could go on look. I'm still living here, I love it here, but I have a lot of issues and if I were a tourist with money, Thailand would not be my first choice as a destination.

Well the natural gas vehicles were put into the fleet quite some time ago and obviously the BTS and the MRT are making a contribution to cleaner air. Beyond that, please list the accomplishments of either the current administration or the Prayuth Administration when it comes to cleaning up the air, and the environment I'm anxious to hear them.

It does indeed sound like a nightmare, the bottom line is choosing quantity over quality is never a good idea unless you're selling $2 items at a swap meet. Thailand has completely lost sight of the game and their policies are the exact opposite of what one would describe his visionary and wise.

Well Israel does have one of the largest lobbies in America, so that is certainly a deterrent to a refusal to go along with their horrendous policies. And as you say there are other factors at work, but the bottom line is that we should not be supporting the extremist policies in Israel. It is simply not wise, nor is it visionary.

I don't trust Chinese cars, and I don't like supporting Chinese companies, nor the Chinese government. So I have multiple reasons to never buy a Chinese car. Not gonna happen.

Thailand has been facing a decline in Western tourists for a decade now. There are a dozen good reasons why Westerners don't visit Thailand as much as they used to. I was recently in Phuket and I would estimate the population of foreigners was 40% Russian, 20% Arab, 20% Malaysian and Chinese, 15% Indian, and about 2% Westerners and a sprinkling of some others. It was a low end crowd. The sad truth is that Thailand is not doing anything to improve itself they are making absolutely no effort to tackle air quality environmental issues traffic congestion or any other problems plaguing the nation. It seems to be a combination of sloth lack of vision and extreme arrogance.

You take an absolute incompetent with no talent in the field of leadership, you make him an unelected prime minister of Thailand, you then add in the task of foreign minister of which he has zero talent and zero experience, and then you consider adding in the task of Defense Minister of which the man knows nothing, and what would the result be? Just a cauldron of confusion and conflicting interests, corruption and a horrific outcome. Anything this man touches turns to crap, he's shown that already as a failed PM. Why on earth would he be given an additional appointment? More filthy politics. More backward, regressive movement. Thailand is really losing its place in the world.

The least they can do is call him and his creepy father out by name. The officials here are above the law. Any and all laws. Such a sham.

Is there a less relevant organization in the nation? Who cares what they think? They made an error by appointing him as president. Just as the government made an error by appointing this creep as chief of immigration, and then deputy chief of the RTP, where he is guilty by association. Lock him up!

Only cowards and man rodents go after children. This creep crossed a line, where he has self revoked the right to consume oxygen. The world would be a better place without him. Even his mother would likely not miss him, after her enormous failure in raising him.

Israel is at great risk of becoming completely isolated from the rest of the world. Their remaining support seems to be waning by the day and for Nations like the US it's becoming harder and harder to support them, and more and more costly politically. Netanyahu's fealty to homicidal extremists (the utra orthodox) is not helping on any level.

Prior to my last trip late last year I hadn't been there in 10 years, and it really felt like it had declined significantly. Especially the nightlife which was utterly pathetic. There was really no appeal to the place other than the Andaman, which is fantastic, but it's just not enough. And now with the Russian takeover, it's just one more reason never to go again.

Phuket is a disaster, it is horrific at this point in time. I was just there several months ago and I couldn't wait to leave. If they keep going with the development Phuket's going to be another Bali within the next 10 years. Bali has become like Midtown Manhattan at rush hour, the whole Southeast third of the island is an absolute abomination.

I believe the Italian-Thai Development (ITD) Plc. is currently building the Rama 2 project leading out of Bangkok southbound. This overhead highway seems to have been under construction already for the last 10 or 15 years and considering that they're only a kilometer 36 it looks like they might have 10 to 30 years to go. So this company obviously needs help, they are moving very slowly, the project is a disaster with constant construction going on, both in and out of Bangkok. It's actually quite an abomination.

Xi is a modern day Mao, though at least he is not murdering his people by the millions, nor causing massive famines. The man is very dangerous, Chinese politics are super toxic and the last thing Thailand wants to do is being indebted to these guys, who appear to want to take over the entire Pacific region if not the world. The irony is that Thailand desperately needs help with its railways, as it's making very little progress and what progress it is making is taking forever. They spent 70 years ignoring the fact that the nation desperately needed rail transport for cargo and it has resulted in some of the most choked highways in Southeast Asia, with trucks of all sizes constantly clogging both lanes. Getting on the highway here is just no fun at all.