justlook

For my money, the most prestigious hotel in Bangkok is the Peninsula. Located on the other side of the river, it has the most incredible view of the skyline. Transport is not an issue, as you catch the hotel's luxury ferry across the river to a hospitality lounge located on the ground floor of a building opposite (between the Oriental and the Shangri-La). There you can take one of the hotel's limousines or a taxi. I have stayed at the other four big riverside hotels (Oriental, Shangri-La, Royal Orchid Sheraton and Anantara Resort) and they don't match the "Pen". It has a wonderful pool area, fabulous service and is pure class. If you can't afford to stay (rates start at around 350 US dollars)t, then try the riverside buffet dinner or the afternoon tea in the lounge.

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Surely the "illegal tourist bus worker" wasn't a Thai? Must be one of those nasty illegals.

Is there anyone who realises how bad this looks for Thailand? Are these the actions of a wonderful country welcoming tourists with smiles and gracious hospitality? Or are these further signs of a horribly corrupt system that is getting nastier and nastier as the tourist numbers decline?

I really don't want to see the day that Thais look at their empty resorts and beaches and say: "What happened....?"

Please, please, please will somebody realise that tourists are not forced to come to Thailand, there are plenty of other destinations waiting to take over from what used to be the BEST holiday destination in the world.

Please, Mr Prime Minister, take action now. A good start would be enforcing the ban on jet-skis. With that one move, one of your big problems will be gone. You can do it. If the officials can drag out some obscure law about filiming in Thailand, they can apply the law on jet-skis. This is the perfect opportunity, I am sure the Thai people will give you their full support. BAN THEM NOW!!

To understand these statistics. the key question that needs to be asked is how many of the illegal taxis and guides arrested were soliciting ARRIVING customers. From what I could see, all the authorities did was target the unregistered limousines and cars from hotels and other drivers from Pattaya and Bangkok who were DROPPING OFF passengers ie easy targets and a fairly honest bunch.

Of course, the real thugs targetting the ARRIVING passengers are not touched. An arriving passenger is a golden goose - who wants a departing customer who has already discovered the pricing and currency in Thailand? You need to get them "fresh" to really rip them off.

The crackdown is a joke - everyone in the airport is in on the scam. Similarly, have you ever tried to find the "cheap" river taxi on the Chao Praya river in Bangkok? Every single person you ask, be they an official selling the ferry tickets, to the flower sellers , to the police, will guide you to the long-tails waiting to give you a private tour of the river at an inflated price (to pay off everyone in the chain).

Come on, Thailand, all this corruption is hurting the country more than you can imagine. And its like a slap in the face to those who their work diligently and honestly.