spidermike007

4 hours ago, pookondee said:

I've been both a repeat & long stay tourist to Thailand, but of course with this Covid nonsense i am relegated to "potential" tourist, stuck in my own country.

 

The points you made are a quite fair, but here are a few to add from my perspective:

 

1. The memories of many years wondering/worrying about whatever new silly visa crackdown/changes/conditions will come next.

And that's beside the threat of being detained at he airport with

"you come Thailand to much" every time one comes and goes.

 

2. I have a very hard time believing some of the infection rates, and number of deaths are LESS than Australia.

 

Enough said, but i suppose, in typical Tourism of Thailand fashion,

this means i should be lining up and begging to come to Thailand.

everyones "dream destination"

lol...to funny.

 

3. I am prepared to pay extra for flights, even extra surcharges for testing and disease management...

But people talking Covid doctors letters, US$100k insurance..

all completely pointless in my case.

No way, its just to much monkey business.

 

4. Consider the points above, then consider the complete arrogance of the army government who continually and openly shเte on tourists and "farangs" who seem to get the blame for just about everything bar the soi dog having pups..

 

The thing now is this:

People have been away from Thailand long enough to wake up to the truth and see what's really been going on.

Folks eyes will be even more opened to all the nonsense we have had to put up with in the past.

 

Also, id say a few will be thinking that our own countries are not such bad places to be after all.

At least they are actually helping us throughout this, not just treating us with contempt, like a sub-human guavas..to be milked.

 

Yet they think people are gonna come flocking. lol

Nup-not this time.

Tell em they are DREAMIN.

 

All good points, and all true. Tourism is going to take a very long time to return to Thailand in any significant numbers, and it is likely it will NEVER return to its former levels. Which is a great things for us ex-pats, but a tragic thing for millions of Thais.

One would hope that some of the astonishing degree of hubris, arrogance, xenophobia and recklessness, displayed by the administration, immigration and the TAT, in the past, might be tempered by all of this, and in turn create some humility and perspective. One can dream. 

Back in the day, the Western tourists brought real money into the country, and in exchange, were treated with utter and complete disregard, scammed, disrespected, and abused. Eventually, most said no more. Thailand thought the country was something very special, and that nobody would ever say no, or find alternative places to visit. The fact is that there are countless other spots, many in this region, that offer better service, more expertise in food and beverage (especially wine service and selection at fair prices, which rich tourists demand), reasonable import duties to sustain a luxury goods market, better training, and far better english skills. Thailand simply lost sight of the big picture, and had very little vision, with regard to big spending tourists, who need to be catered to, instead of scorned. Many of those tourists wrote off Thailand long ago. And now, the very group that Thailand targets, are the ones hardest hit by Covid. 

You make your bed, and then you have to lie in it. You pay little regard to people, who are supporting your nation, and eventually you pay the price for your foolishness, and fake national pride. 

The Trump administration has been deeply humiliated by their historically inept response to Covid. With the US nearing 2 million cases, the nation that prided itself on being so great, has been outed as being incompetent, inefficient, unaware, unwise, top heavy, and utterly incapable of dealing with a national emergency. It has left Trump naked, and ashamed, though he would never admit to such. So, they put their typical M.O. to work, and deflect, obfuscate, lie and engage in charades. 

The rioting and protests have served as a double whammy. They demonstrate just how unhappy, malcontent, bitter, disenfranchised, and disappointed the American people really are, with Trump, with the system, and with racism. If you want to blame anyone, it is more likely that right wing extremist groups instigated the riots, which would play right into Trumps hands. He has likely fantasized of being a heavy handed despot, and ruling his subjects with an iron fist, like some of the men he admires so much. And it is likely he has dreamed of being a wartime president. He has said as much. It would help him to address some of the deep seated inadequacies he has carried around for the past 50 years, over his five draft deferments, that he used to avoid service, at the one time in his life his nation called upon him. 

I think Barr has earned no credibility, as one of the worst AG's, in the nations history. So, anything he says will, and should be treated with a great deal of suspicion. First hew said foreign groups had nothing to do with influencing the election. Now, he says foreign groups influenced the rioting. Make up your mind. You seem very confused. 

2 hours ago, DrTuner said:

I was there in February when this was still starting, even with some people around it looked depressed. Just a concrete ghetto in what is supposed to be a beach resort.

 

Felt bad with memories from a more relaxed place from 13y ago replaced by these. Same story all over, overbuilding and mass tourism from China destroyed all the charm. RIP.

I moved there about 15 years ago. It was like a paradise. Over the years it became very over developed and the improvements they made were minimal. It started feeling like that old dishrag in the kitchen of a diner that had not been replaced for a long time. Rung out. Dirty. Abused. One of the major issues and obstacles Samui has faced for a long time is a great lack of local pride. It shows big time. Hard to hide it. 

Way over built. Now, the developers and speculators who always professed that real estate curves only go up are going to have to contend with a major reckoning. This applies to all of Thailand. I see countless buildings under construction in Hua Hin, Pattaya, Bangkok and Samui. I had been predicting a major reset and high vacancy long before Covid came along. Now? 

All  12 categories should be opened immediately. No need to even wait until July 1st. Covid is gone. Deal with it. Accept it. 

Though the sad truth, is that many cannot afford to open, as there is no tourism. What would a Pattaya Go Go bar open to? Have you seen what the place looks like? Here are some images of Samui taken this week. Looks like a bomb zone. Mostly abandoned, or shuttered shop and restaurants. Most cannot afford to re-open, and it could be a year before any real quantities of international tourists return. 

13 hours ago, Heppinger said:

Your ignoring the elephant in the room, this elephant wrote the rules of the game long before there was even Americans or Chinese.  World order was decided 75 years ago.  If world power was really still there for the taking then a strong, healthy, united and nationalistic population would be needed to protect it. America would not have allowed the subversion and degradation of it's culture over the last 60 years to take place.  Yes China will be the manufacturing center of the new world, as was the plan since kissinger and nixon visited in the early 70's.  Though China won't have any real military power, enough for internal use, that's all they need.  Globalists run the world, and china has just one of many seats at the table.  It should be painfully obvious by now that Governments, democratic or communist, don't care to much for their people, so why would they care about nations?  Think you will find power broker's from both the US and China have more in common with each other then they do with their working class.  

I think you are speaking alot of truth there. It is obvious few governments care about their people. I consider mine, the US government to be the enemy. The recent events have shown that to be the case. Our interests, as non wealthy US citizens mean less than zero to them. 

Apirat ordered the transfer of the stadium’s manager, Maj General Rachit Arunrungsee. This is literally only as far as they were willing to go, for a boxing event that was hugely responsible for the initial spread of this virus. First of all, he should be arrested, prosecuted for malfeasance and jailed. Second, someone major in the administration like the hapless Prawit, should share in the blame, be dismissed immediately, and be shamed and ostracized in a major way.

These guys just do not see how they appear to the public. Always protecting their own. They will pay the price for this above the law behavior, eventually. The army is more and more despised by the day here. 

The most preposterous, ridiculous, arrogant, inane, and idiotic aspects of the economic projections, that many have been making about the recovery, is that it is all based on less than zero. There is no experience in re-starting a major economy because it has never been done, in a deliberate manner. Never in world history. So, how do you develop an effective computer model, or projection based on sheer nothingness? Of course it is going to be worse that projected. Just the very thought that you know how this is going to turn out is inane. The variables are nearly infinite. The "ramp up" will be infinitely harder than previously presumed, the joblessness higher, tourism more greatly decimated, and the unemployment rate will remain high for a long time to come. Possibly years to come. 

Here are a few images of Chaweng Beach on Koh Samui taken yesterday by a friend of mine. It is not only a ghost town, the place is all torn up, and roads are decrepit, and countless stores have closed permanently. Since the island thrives primarily on international tourists (Thais have never considered Samui a destination, due to the local piracy), who knows how long it will be before it even resembles an attractive, or thriving place to visit?

The most preposterous, ridiculous, arrogant, inane, and idiotic aspects of the economic projections, that many have been making about the recovery, is that it is all based on less than zero. There is no experience in re-starting a major economy because it has never been done, in a deliberate manner. Never in world history. So, how do you develop an effective computer model, or projection based on sheer nothingness? Of course it is going to be worse that projected. Just the very thought that you know how this is going to turn out is inane. The variables are nearly infinite. The "ramp up" will be infinitely harder than previously presumed, the joblessness higher, tourism more greatly decimated, and the unemployment rate will remain high for a long time to come. Possibly years to come. 

Here are a few images of Chaweng Beach on Koh Samui taken yesterday by a friend of mine. It is not only a ghost town, the place is all torn up, and roads are decrepit, and countless stores have closed permanently. Since the island thrives primarily on international tourists (Thais have never considered Samui a destination, due to the local piracy), who knows how long it will be before it even resembles an attractive, or thriving place to visit?

This is great news. Now, the question is, will they be convicted and sentenced, where they will be afforded the opportunity to make alot of new friends in prison, and perhaps be subjected to "a knee every now and then"? 

11 hours ago, Mick501 said:

So in your rational level headed opinion, white supremacists have put aside their hatred to hang out with black folk and go looting.   Guess in your level headed opinion this must be a good thing for race relations to have that bonding experience.  

Quite the contrary. This theory suggests they made a highly coordinate attempt to start multiple riots, looting and mayhem. All they required was a spark. Then the empty suit white fools simply disappear. They had no interest whatsoever in mixing with people who they consider vastly inferior to them. 

40 minutes ago, phkauf said:

Khan was a Mongol. Definitely NOT Han Chinese, which is by far the dominant ethnic group in China and that of the ruling Emperors until the Mongols invaded. Fact: the Great Wall of China was built to stop the Mongols. 

And yes, China was dominant during this period, but when it was ruled by Non-Han Chinese. 

 

Someone's been drinking Emperor Xi's Kool-Aid a little too much lately.

There you go again. Contrary to the common perception of China being historically isolated and weak, many Chinese dynasties were very powerful and have had a profound impact on global history. Yes, it is true that during the Ming Dynasty, China ships conducted multiple voyages of exploration (1405-1433) before abruptly stopping. But this hardly dented the enormous economic and political influence China wielded for most of its history in East, Southeast, and Central Asia. Although the people of these regions pursued their own interests as best as they could, China was always the major power to be dealt with.

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/chinas-3-most-powerful-dynasties-12726

13 hours ago, Heppinger said:

Perhaps this was the objective all along a step towards the rebuilding of an ancient kingdom to its former glory from the Nile to the Euphrates.

One of the basic tenets of the neocons, was to destroy an area so thoroughly, that you completely erase any traces of it's ancient past, and rebuild it from scratch (essentially in your own image). That is why they let the museum in Baghdad, one of the most significant Mesopotamian museums in history to be looted to the extent they did. All it would have taken is having one tank parked out front. Instead the Golden Harp of Samaria was looted (perhaps it is currently in one of Cheney's mansions?) along with over 6,000 other works, many of them priceless. In the meantime, all care was taken to preserve the oil ministry building. 

Who knows what China has in mind? I do believe they will not stop until they achieve world domination, and I do believe it will happen. Nobody knows how long it will take, but one thing is for certain. The Chinese, unlike the Americans, are in this for the long game. 

40 minutes ago, phkauf said:

A history lesson would be useful. For all the dominance China supposedly had during this time, they were remarkably absent from most of S.E. Asia during this time frame. The Khmer and Burmese were the great powers in the region. The Chinese got kicked out of Vietnam in 938 AD, so maybe you are thinking the centuries before that. Japan dominated the northern Asian region during most of this time as well with control of Korea and Manchuria. China was mostly at war with itself during the period you mention and at constant threat of invasion. For all the supposed dominance of China, they folded pretty quickly when confronted by the Western powers in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Since the US has only been in existence for less than 250 years, you do have a point that China may have been around longer. I'll grant you that much as accurate.

Perhaps it is open to interpretation whether or not the Golden clans were Chinese. Most consider Genghis Khan and his sons  to have been Chinese. And considering that they ruled over 12 million square miles of land and his empire stretched from Costantinople to the Korea, that was a rather impressive Chinese achievement. 

I was never a fan of Bush Jr. nor his fake and incredibly destructive and corrosive wars, but he is sounding like a dignified, elegant and wise man, compared to Trump, at this state, who remains defiantly, and astoundingly tone deaf, to the needs of Americans outside of his base of support. It appears as if he wants to declare war on younger, activist Americans, who are for the most part peacefully demonstrating, in the streets of cities, both small and large, across the nation. What is actually going on, and who actually started all of this rioting, which plays right into Trump's self imagined strongman image. 

There are alot of alternative views, from the ones promoted by the feds, who I, and millions of level headed Americans distrust to a stunning extent. Talk about political bias. As if they do not have one? Look at who they report to. This is just one possible scenario. We just do not know. But, to take the federal government at face value is a dangerous thing to do, at this point in time. They have very little credibility. Sure the media was quick to catch some black looters, running out of the stores. But, what started the looting? Once it starts, young, poor and frustrated people are more than likely to just say "what the hell, this looks like fun".

The demographics of a largely white, young, and destructive group fit more with a movement known as accelerationists than Black Lives Matter. The accelerationists, if you have never heard the term, are an extreme subset of white nationalism whose goal is to bring about chaos and destruction. The basic tenet of accelerationism argues that since Western governments are inherently corrupt, the best (and only) thing supremacists can do is to accelerate the end of society by sowing chaos and aggravating political tensions. “Accelerationist ideas have been cited in mass shooters’ manifestos — explicitly, in the case of the New Zealand killer — and are frequently referenced in white supremacist web forums and chat rooms,” Zack Beauchamp explained.

https://www.justsecurity.org/70497/far-right-infiltrators-and-agitators-in-george-floyd-protests-indicators-of-white-supremacists/

After the massive failure in response to Covid, and now this, Trump really should resign now, and admit he is in way too far over his head, rather than run for re-election. And Mnuchin should finally be arrested. Conway, Pompeo, Esper, and the other grossly incompetent members of the administration should also quit in disgrace, and admit they simply failed the American people, on a historic and monumental level.