spidermike007

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.

The nation was cursed with a terribly poor genetic gene pool. It is that simple.

Crikey, it was only a few weeks ago that I felt that a ThaiVisa thread had hit a new low and I was expecting that new low to hold its own for at least a few months. But then this post just pulled the bar even further downwards into the neo-shahib moral morass. Yet I doubt we will see blatantly racists posts like the above deleted by George's minions. Once again George...Chaiyo!

Not so sure an observation about the general level of intelligence of most Thai people can be construed as racist. Harsh yes. Racist, no. I love the Thai people. They have many wonderful qualities. But generally speaking, intelligence is not amongst them.

Yes, Thai politics is a form of comedy. They make assurances, and pronouncements, and they are more hollow than the Carlsbad Caverns. Chalerm need to go back onto his medications. He is a delusional man. Fortunately, there are only about 10 people in Thailand who listen to what he says. And they are all family. He is a pimp, and a whore. And he has zero credibility. Overseas, they laugh at the Thai government. Ynigluck was basically laughed out of Davos recently. The reason you never hear anything about Thailand in the news overseas, is due largely to the fact that the government has zero credibility. A drug free Issan? Funny stuff. Would make for a great stand up comedy routine. One can only hope "Chalerm the germ" goes into comedy, after being ousted from politics, once and for all.

Yes, no doubt they were not wearing seat belts. Not that it would have made a difference at 150KPH. They were probably drunk, and it is easier for the authorities to just say they fell asleep. The authorities are used to making things up. That is their MO. The bar is set so low for the driving tests here, and they teach nothing in the way of driving etiquette. When I am on the highways here I am astounded at the number and frequency of goombah moves that other drivers make. Very little concern for their own safety, and the safety others. The only surprise here is that more people are not killed on the highway.

Do not concern yourselves in the slightest way. Pronouncements like this one are always forgotten within weeks. They will tire of this task quickly. Besides, customs already has a license to steal. Relax, little will chance. The only things that truly change here (read progress) are higher prices, and more difficult visa policy. But, we love the place nonetheless, right?

As regards all the generalizations about Thai people on this thread, a little story. Years ago I was managing a small resort on Samui and we had continuing problems with the pool being cloudy.Our manintenance guys couldn't fix it despite having maintained the same pool for a couple of years, and I didn't have any experience maintaining pools despite having completed several years of college chemistry classes. We brought in a small Thai company to help us and they had it sparkling in short order. Turns out the two principals both had degrees in chemical engineering. I think less talk about national characteristics and more awareness of specific individual knowledge would help these kinds of 'discussions'. I am also guilty of saying things like, "Thai people........" and will try to do better myself.

Being married to a Thai, and living in Thailand, which I do still like ( though the gloss has pretty much worn off ) I'd really like to be able to say it's about <specific individual knowledge> rather than <national characteristics >, but having been exposed to local ( "national" ) characteristics far more than before getting married, i have to admit that i can never go into the town ( not a tourist in sight ) without mind boggling instances of utter stupidity being in evidence all about me. Even as I write this, I can see a continual stream of idiot m'bike riders exhibiting a total lack of any sense of self preservation or sense.

If it wasn't so sad, it'd be funny, in a pathetic way.

The nation was cursed with a terribly poor genetic gene pool. It is that simple. Having traveled here for over 30 years, and lived here for over 6 years, there is simply no other plausible explanation. The lack of colonization does make them more stubborn than their neighbors. The nationalization taught to them by their leaders over the past 30 years or so, has contributed to an incredible degree of narrow mindedness. The educational system seem to stifle any creativity, and individual thinking. Thais are very, very rarely able to think outside the box. There are exceptions of course. I have seen some. But, on the average, the number of nearly brain dead individuals in this country is astounding.

All we can hope for is that this insect gets life in prison. Then he can experience the joys of rape. Anal. From his good looking buddies. His entire family should be fined, and disgraced in public. A deterrent should be created to discourage this kind of nonsense.

One more season of flooding, without an effective plan in place, and we will see multi-nationals start to exit Thailand in earnest. They will only tolerate the plant closures, damage, and production interruptions for so long, without a solution. Does the resident genius have one? Hope so. She says she does.

Not sure why so many refer to her as fine. She looks like a 44 year old mom to me. What is hot a out that?

Some very good points made here. Especially the ones about the inability of the Thai people to see clearly, and make a rational decision when money is involved.

This is a very good point. I will give an illustration of this. For many years, my friend and I have discussed the fact that the average Thai, was possibly not blessed with particularly high quality genetic brain stock. Some nations, such as the Indians, the Germans, and the Chinese were. The Thais, I do not think so. Think of when was the last time a Thai person won a Nobel peace prize, or a Pulitzer prize, or any other international measure of creativity, or intelligence. I realize this is a terribly politically incorrect thing to insinuate, but the writing is on the wall. Just the other day I went to retrieve a motorbike that I had reserved for a friend of mine, from a bike shop. Turns out he did not hold the bike for us, as we showed up too late in the day. That was after I had left a deposit for it. I asked for the deposit back, and the guy started screaming at me. Very emotional. I have rented from him many times in the past, and planned to continue using him for years to come. I explained that to him, and asked him if he was prepared to sacrifice the years of patronage, for a measly 400 baht? He did not even hear me. The thought of parting with 400 baht today was paramount to him. The future meant nothing. He went nearly hysterical when I requested he give me my deposit back. Is this an intelligent business mind? How many like this have you run into? Where are the brilliant minds? Are they only at the universities? I am a businessman. I will do anything to keep a customer happy, and maintain my excellent reputation. I have given $6,000 cash refunds to make a customer happy. So, I cannot understand when someone like this is willing to sacrifice a good customer, for $13. Beyond my level of comprehension completely.

“He has been maintaining pools for 20 years. Today, he just did something wrong. It was just an accident,” he said.

This is the best statement about Thai mentality given by a Thai.

The rule worldwide when handling chemicals: Chemicals INTO the WATER.

NEVER Water into the Chemical.

Reason for this rule: when putting water into the chemical there is not enough water for cooling and if the heat created in the mixing gets high enough there can be an explosion.

Typical Thai, for 20-years puts chemical into the water and then one day has a hair crosswise up its ass and puts water into the chemical.

Had similar encounter the other day with a building maintenance employee, 18-years does a fine job then the other day a door would not open. The door had a door closer. The obvious procedure, disconnect the articulating rods and see if the door closer arm can be moved. Simple isn’t it. After 18-years to this Thai all of a sudden it was not that simple. He took out his Power Screwdriver and rattled away trying to tighten the (ALREADY100% THIGHT) Reeden Prince Head screws holding the door closer onto the door with a Philips Head screwdriver and in the process rounded all the heads. He tried, door still did not open. Picked up his tools, walked away, and told the secretary in the office “cannot be fixed”. Over and out. So the job was left for me the owner to do.

Disconnected the articulating rods, tried to move the arm, would not move, piston inside cylinder jammed. Simple, install new door closer.

But it was not that simple because all the screw heads had been rounded. Screws of High Tensile steel, difficult to drill out. Had to drill away the aluminum body of the door closer around the screw heads.

I’m really at 85 getting a bit too old for having to fix the ####ps of Thais. Seriously looking for a buyer or buyers for the properties so I can throw my clothes in my satchel and move on. From previous living there Dalath in Vietnam sounds appealing, Maybe Baguio in Philippines or Bandung, Indonesia, the Indonesians did find out by now that the Dutch weren’t so bad after all.

Yes, I have seen this happen on countless occasions. I was traveling recently, and stayed at a hotel on Samui. Misplaced my room keys. They sent up a maintenance guy. He fooled around with the door, and after 30 minutes could not get it open. I gave him some suggestions. It seemed to me that instead of trying to force the lock open, you could see that if you just eased something into the crack, and coaxed the lever up, it would open. He would not listen. How could a fareng know how to open a door? They sent up other maintenance people, and nobody could open it. Finally, one 18 year old kid with a sparkle in his eyes, and intelligence behind those eyes, walked over, looked at the door and the lock, did exactly what I was suggesting (without me saying anything), and pronto, it was open in 3 minutes. All of the other guys were laughing, and just shaking their heads. But, do you think they learned anything? Will they be more open minded next time? Of course not. My friend refers to the closed minded people, who are unwilling to learn, change, progress, or develop their lives, as the buffalo people.

Children doing a mans job. The level of technical expertise in Thailand is scary. So many people are doing jobs they are not qualified for, or do not understand. I was speaking to someone the other day, who was referring to the lack of expertise when it comes to getting a question answered about wine, at a restaurant in a 5 star hotel. They are charging 300 baht per glass, and the only details they understood was that there were two kinds of wine in the world. Red and white. Only the GM of the hotel had any detailed knowledge about varietals. How about water management? When the US Marine Corp offered early last year to teach the Thai engineers about water management techniques they were told that Thailand will never suffer major floods, as they had a lot of experts in water management. How much longer can Thailand keep up this charade? People are going to notice this sooner of later, right?

You do realize that Thailand is a developing (third-world) country, right? If you want wine expertise, go to Europe.

You completely missed my point. If one is paying 10,000 baht per night, at a major five star hotel, one expects an international standard. If I was staying in a bungalow for 500 baht per night, I would not. It is about standards. It is not about being in the 3rd world. If I were staying at a major 5 star hotel in Mexico, Hanoi, Bombay, etc, I would have access to wine experts.

I've occasionally worked with the Thai Army as a consultant/technical adviser on some US made trucks over the past 10 years.

They've had this equipment for over 20 years. Their level of expertise is at the bottom of the barrel.

Basically they NEVER EVER change or check the oil, so eventually the engine seizes up. They then proceed to remove every single part of the truck, to "re-build" it, when all it needed was a new engine.

I love the country & without fail, everyone I've worked with are the nicest of nice people, but when I try to show them a way that is 100 times more efficient to do something, I get a smile & they just keep on doing what they were doing before.

I often say that it was a kind of curse, that Thailand was never colonized. I know that is a very incorrect thing to say. I realize it could offend a lot of Thai people. But, if you compare Thailand to Malaysia, Indonesia, India, and many other countries that were colonized, you see how much more open minded those people are, than the Thais, who are very, very stubborn, and closed minded people. Their way is the correct way, and it is nearly impossible that another way, or especially a fareng way, could be more efficient, better, or more effective, than their way. It is not a productive way. How Thailand became the worlds 22nd largest economy, despite this mindset, is a testament to the Thai spirit.