anon8

mrukman, in a word, no.

it takes few months to realize farangs are not loved. Another few to realize some of the smiles are fake, some more time and situations to realize EVERYTHING you thought you knew was crap, and another year to fully understand that, yes, as you walk by you are hated for no reason at all, other than race.

People come here for years, but only for few weeks at the time, they firmly believe they are loved by Thais. So this is in no way a reason for drop in tourism numbers, it just isn't.

by your numbers:

1 Fed up of being ripped off - No, they have no idea. And what is 'being ripped off' anyway? Tourist pay more than locals in most big tourist spots in the world. And with all the 'rip offs' Thailand is still dirt cheap. Don't think so? Go to London for a weekend! Cold? Stay a week in Singapore! I do every now and then and to me being 'ripped off' by BKK metered taxi driver is no big deal. MBK to Silom is 55b metered, 100b 'meter no work' So? I used to get out the cab, now I give 100b because it makes no difference, Oh, what about the princeple, you ask? I say this Thailand, it is amazing and a thousand free, fake smiles.

2 fleeced of my hard earned cash as soon as i land in swampy - Please see 1.

3 Hated by the majority of the locals - tourist never feel unwelcome here, 2-3 weeks is not enough. But the true feelings of locals towards a random farang is the only thing here that is truly disturbing. I can see where the hate comes from, years of being mistreated in a bar, yelled at 7-11, punching in 1-2 -call codes for illiterate customers, that does not make Thais love us. that and many other things. Still, if I am simply walking by and I sense a hatred, I feel I have not deserved. This hatred is THE only thing that gets to me.. enough that I need to be out of here part of the year. If only Malaysia was little less boring..

4 scammed at every opportunity - small 100 baht tuk tuk rounds? jewelry thing? Giant ponzy schemes?

5 Double charged because im farrang - most tourist take it as a local custom, even at farang price the cost is still discount discount. The moral aspect of it? There are no morals here.

No, none of this has large enough affect on tourism numbers. It is annoying to us, people who are tryin g to feel at home here, a very difficult if not impossible task

after reading posts here I want to repeat one thing:

it is NOT strong Thai baht (or weak Pound) that keeps tourists from coming. Thailand is still very, very cheap for most visitors.

it is NOT that people have discovered neighboring countrys to be more appealing.. Vietnam? Cambodia? Laos? People, please!! Have you been there? I mean, have you traveled in Vietnam lately and you really feel it is a nicer place in any, ANY way??

it is not the Reds, Yellows, Blues. 2 week holiday maker does not know about this stuff, it simply does not affect them. They know worlds troubled spots, and Thai is clearly not considered one of them..

this is probably not typical, but,

Estonia, Eastern Europe, regained independence only in 1991 but MASSIVE growth of economy in the past 5 years.. and many visitors to Thailand.

Not this year. Most of my friends who come every year are skipping. Simple, some have lost jobs, most are scared of loosing job. They have no clue about Thai politics, NONE, they know about airport disaster last year, everybody does since it was all over BBC and CNN, but they consider it one time thing, and they are probably right.

it is just really tough back there right now. Same goes for most of Scandinavia. in Oct 2008 for a period of 1 week there were real fears that SwedBank, largest bank in Sweden was about to collapse.

this past week has been unusually hot in Pattaya, Wed temp was 34. Dec of 2008 was much cooler.

oh, few posts above.. I simply can't take seriously a statement about the city of ChiangMai having temp -6C, ever. AFTER the ice age, of course

I visited that prison in last year (to bail out a friend) .It struck me as not beinga hard one to do time in. Certainly no worse than most countries, and easier than what I see on lockdown on Nat Geo (USA prisons)

you bailed out a friend. you were not actually IN jail? But that particular jail did seem alright to you? This confirms what everybody knows: Thailand is amazing, has thousand smiles.. and Thai jails are nice!

Mystery indeed.. with ghosts and everything

agreed, jjonz's sentence structure just defeated a lonely Estonian

/quote

user: timbothaivisa

Wonder if she was a planning a 'Kill Bill' special - that would have wrapped up a loose end & put a ghost to rest..

/end quote

I get it now! the 'Kill Bill' angel! I wonder if she was planning to ride the same yellow superbike as in part 2.. or opt for new green Kawasaki Ninja.

I'd go for the Kawa!

so much for the recent 'Visa Crackdown', oh, wait, I guess hers wasn't back to back

Still, return to country where you were sentenced to DEATH.. what's in her mind? What loose ends? To inquire about HM Kings pardon details? Some paperwork did not add up? Claim the Tax Refund for those Louise Vuitton sunglasses she forgot about in 93?

???

that kid is cool. And famous, too, deservedly. Jon Stewart of The Daily Show covered his story, Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report as well

so, nobody knows nothing, other than pain in or around arse area?

Strange strange strange..

The place certainly looks and feels as it run by the same young men who are loitering outside the establishment.

The pain? it could not have possibly started at that place, comrade Loquent!? We are talking about the Man Club, correct? Formerly known as Scandic (colorful Scandic banner is still on the wall, so breathtakingly beautiful that new owners had no heart to take it down)

I'm curious about the pain because.. how can anybody be so desperate as to hire services in THAT place.. notice that I use the word 'place' instead of far more appropriate words like 'dive', 'dump'.. mmm.. 'hole'

Which takes us back to the question.. how owns that 'place', please? The boys themselves, as LLC?

Hi, fellow members!

Does anybody happen to know the background of the massage place in soi BoyzTown, Pattaya, just off of 2. Road, on the right hand side. Would like to talk to the owner of

this place.

Man Massage is the newest name for the place, used go by name of Scandic Massage..

It has changed names and owners through the years. It is across from Toy Boy and Le Cafe Royal.

Any info would be great! Thanks, guys!

understood, i only sayd 'of course, animatic' in agreement with his last post about Thailand and political nuance.

I should have quoted him, but I CANT stand quotes, I simply CAN'T, kilometers and kilometers of endless quotes.. and look where it got me, quite off center

To be clear, I was posting on topic: "Desperate Thaksin May Go For Broke, ANALYSIS"

animatic, yes, of course.

this sounds very, very cynical, but..

say, you do want to get this T problem over, once and for all.. can't be done quietly, that is understood.

How would you go about it?

War with Cambodia? Perhaps, but only as the last resort. Close his bank account and effectivly cripple the guy? Naturally! You might want to have all conditions in place for 'perfect storm' because mister T will be very upset reading his next bank statement. So you do it close to the biggest State event of the year. in June Martial Law may seem out of place and too strong of a response, many would find. In Dec everybody agrees, Martial Law is necessary to save the State

/quote..

animatic: Guess no one in the courts thought that far ahead... /end quote/

You think the courts timing is coincidental? Fully knowing what the verdict will be, they timed it well, I'd say

insane acceleration, Opel takes off like a superbike

yes, INTJ, Countach, of course.. what was I thinking! and if it is a a replica, all the better, I will not loose sleep at night. Would love to hear that air cooled Beetle engine growl

my prediction for Dec 2009

court will find Thaksin assets now belong to Kingdom

Dec will be bloody, much worse than April

current gov and PM will stand cos most of the mil and police force will side with current gov

why: T's timing. He always takes up too much at the time. Beginning of Dec is no time to flex muscles, even the North of this country will know an insult when they see one. Next month will be the end of T

Diablo in Pattaya. bad quality pics, taken with mobile at night

I still prefere a 16 year old Toyota Crown, or a 20 year old Mercedes Benz 500 SEL or a similar BMW what ever, with full options than one of those new, in my opinion, plastic toys. Sorry to say that.

agreed.

20 year old big Benz is far better car than brand new (small) Japanese car. With Thai gas prices so low, driving a 5 litre German makes sense here.

What strikes me as odd, small Japanese cars are considered COOL here, that is something that I never notice while in Europe. Especially Jazz, I often hear approving comments from my younger Thai friends when brand new, 'tuned' Jazz blasts by... same goes for Jaris, City..

still, driving a big, alltough much older German is a pleasure.. and after 10 years the Germans stop 'ageing'.. so unless you really become bored with the car you can keep for years and years without a need to upgrade, 560 SEL and SEC probably best examples

you may hate christmas, neverdie, and so do I and millions of other shoppers. But as the title says, Christmas Craze Arrived Early, so apparantly we all storm bkk's shopping centers, in our millions. Correction, BILLIONS, that fact was established in my earlyer post.

walked trough CentralWorld mall and Zen. Millions of shoppers everywhere, millions, I tell you.

As for the usual Thai Christmas discounts, I asked the girl if 'can discount'.. Yes, she sayd, 5%. Amazing value, that..

I must say there were some people outside CentralWorld at Chang beer tent and some young couples taking pictures at the big Christmas tree. No, not millions. Billions.

FBN, how is this a good advice? If a OP asks for a med to relax on a flight and reply from user 'hanno' is " Don't do it, I did and it made me feel horrible "

what is horrible? what med did he take? horrible as in 'not sleepy' or horrible as in having suicidal thoughts on airplane?

to OP: go see a doctor in bkk and ask for anti anxiety med. xanax is available but as prescription only. It may have side effects, like feeling drowsy. 'feeling horrible' is not one of side effects

took Champix for a week, stopped on 8th day, kept on taking Ch for another 2 weeks, then stopped Ch, still have some left in a 50 tablet box.

it's now 5 weeks without a single cigarette. I was a smoker for 15y, 2-3 packs a day. I quite 5 weeks ago. Still can't believe I pulled it off.. No more head aches, no back pain.

Pan Pacific 5000b walk in last night

BSJ, the tail light on this BM is a disaster. Could be on purpose, just to distract from those shark thingys

Ducati 988S, possibly the most beautiful bike in the world

people who ride them.. don't know anybody. But they are very cool, I'm sure of that. Every time this bike happens to pass by I always turn my head and put one hand in a pocket