chang1

Russia was a democracy. Yeltsin got pushed out and Putin took over. Like chano cha he was popular. Putin used his popularity to gradually change laws which happened without opposition. Then he made it harder to protest which ended up with him starting the invasion which is killing thousands and will end with Russia being totally defeated and its economy in tatters. Maybe if a few more people had stood up to him earlier Russia would be in a much better position and not despised by every decent country in the world. This guy is a hero standing up for Thais who can not speak out for themselves. He has more balls than 90% of posters here put together. When would you protest? If Thailand invades Cambodia and forced your Thai family to fight in a pointless war maybe you would think a little bit of resistance might have been a good idea. Countries can turn into a dictatorship in small steps. Not that Thailand would ever change voting procedures or impose harsh laws restricting opposition or removing opposition leaders or have laws restricting free speech or laws that stop people telling the truth about their leaders or monarchy, so nothing really to protest about here.

Rather off topic but here goes. Putin didn't want NATO on his doorstep so why is he trying to move his doorstep to Nato countries? Putin is doing a land grab pure and simple. Same as the ccp wants to do with Taiwan and the South China Sea. If Thailand doesn't care about the ccp land grabs, why would other countries care if China invades Thailand? Appeasing aggressors only makes for worse problems later on - just ask Germans how being in putins pocket feels now?

Getting rid of face masks would help. They really spoil interactions with Thais as smiles are important to tourists.

Exactly - some people come for temples and some come for fun. After 4 weeks sorting out the house in Ubon I have booked a week in Patong. My wife can go look at temples while me and my 8 year old can have fun in Hooters but I doubt we will be out till 4am.

Is this for real or sarcasm? "Great idea" - How will raising prices attract tourists? "but call it a local discount. Not another racist dual pricing scheme disguised as fair nationalism" - What difference does it make what you call it? it is still the same. "Foreign visitors are visa exempt or have tourist visas. Thais are Thais." - So why should Thais get a better deal than tourists? "Persons with PR, Non-O(a) , work permits, and student visa, etc. should be afforded the discount tariff." - Why? "Thailand Elite is a program "to attract wealthy foreigners" maybe they should pay more." - So you expect wealthy people to pay a high price for their visa and then pay higher prices when they get to Thailand? Prices should be controlled by supply and demand. Right now there is far too much supply for the amount of tourists. If nothing else changes, which seems the case, then the best way to attract tourists is lower prices not higher. The cost of flights is going through the roof making long haul flights a big deterrent to travel. People will put value for money of a destination a much higher priority. I know several people who are not travelling at all just because of the flights. So jacking up prices now is just plain dumb. “This is to maintain our standards of rates and services for foreign tourists, which affects the perception of country’s tourism brand,” Ms Traisuree said. - The perception is a cheap destination with poor standards and all this will do is change the perception to an expensive destination with poor standards. Where does the extra money go to? That doesn't get explained.

How long before 7-11s have bedrooms?