Shaunduhpostman

If it is all down to a general pattern in the culture in which one must deny anything unpleasant could ever happen, while driving or otherwise, that to think about it let alone talk about or base one's actions on possible negative outcomes for fear of invoking such outcomes, then the situation is worse than the article writer ever thought it was. I think it is down to a 3 monkey's stance in life of see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil, the notion that by ignoring what is unpleasant it all goes away. 

That said, you have to admire how Thais get on with happily living their lives in a hopeless tornado of tragedy and chaos and are seemingly content with it. It is really a non-starter to talk with most Thais I know about safety or cultivating an attitude of foresight. Its like someone who drinks heavily all the time and chuckles that he enjoys his drinks, he's not going to get off the sauce anytime soon if ever.

We are all rather bored of the crocodile tears about road deaths tho, I'd like to see stats of how many people die in the hospital after going in for minor surgery or other minor problems stemming from road accidents. I wonder if the same recklessness that we see on the road going on in the hospitals is well known to the survey takers and that that is why we only get the numbers dead at the site of the accident. Perhaps that is what is alluded to by saying its worse than we think, that too many doctors make victims with minor injuries into science projects, and too many others are so incompetent and careless that people die of relatively minor wounds and other injuries they got from their various crashes .

Really tho, dying on the roads here is probably better than being creamed and living in some atrocious semi-livng state, helpless and unable to work or live and simply there as a cash cow for the medical industry.

Its all so boring and I am sorry to probably be even more boring droning on and on and on about this perpetually recycled story about the tragedy of the state of Thai safety which is going to be with Thailand as long as there are people here.

I wouldn't hold my breath on this one. Laws need to be vague, and contradictory or even, as they are complaining about, outmoded so that there is maximum flexibility in "interpretreting" them. 

I admire his Thai cultural and language skills, he has to be commended on his talent for tapping the Thai desire to relate to foreigners who have the same, sorry to say, white trash interests and values and make loads of money. To quote the late great soul singer James Brown I couldn't "stand myself" and do the same.

But therein lies the problem, innit? You are not supposed to be able to relate to anyone here in Tieland and get popular. You are s'posed tuh be like uh fockin eedjit and either leave quickly or leave quickly and maybe come back later or leave and send all your money to Noi in Udon and shet the <deleted> up, not post wildly popular videos that may or may not be taken the piss.

The promoters probably see her as vulnerable because of Uncle P.'s disapproval of her and thus an easy mark. No matter that they likely did not refund people's money to them, no one will bat an eye, Lamyai is down so she deserves more stomps and kicks. Nice bunch of people.

1 hour ago, scottiejohn said:

So does Amazon and many dodgy sites!

 

A 'South Seas Bubble' on the way?

 

So you don't really know how it works or how to get your 'money' back when it all goes wrong.

 

I love the faith you guys have in this huge Con.

To venture a few hundred dollars in something that you are interested in such as cybercurrencies is hardly getting conned. I don't recall what exactly the terms were at Localbitcoins, of course I was well aware I could have been ripped off by the site the seller or a hacker, but the same could happen to you via a conventional wire transfer from abroad to Thailand. I think you are rather overstating the relative risks.

I have ordered books from Amazon to ship to Thailand for several years, books that will never appear in any shop in Asia, ever. They are always delivered as promised and at prices most western published books go for in Thailand, so again,  it can be godsend. It isn't any dodgier than anything else on internet and sometimes internet is our only option in Thailand.

Local Bitcoins is the site I have used, tho its been about a year. Sorry to read a post that someone was hacked. I don't know, I just use it to locate a seller make arrangements, receive the coin and send it on. They seem to do a good enough job with securing the site to do at least that. If I am not mistaken, if you have a problem  you can easily contact their ownership which is in Scandanavia somewhere, I believe. They seem to be a much used and smooth running site.

Also, even if Bitcoin is still hovering at the top of its range 1 bitcoin/$2520 U.S. it has its uses. If you just buy enough for what you need them for it can be worth it.

And if you want to spend time and really sweat it out, you can trade it for any of many other relatively viable cybercurrencies which are on upswings relative to Bitcoin. You can also shortsell on many cybercurrency exchanges. The Poloniex exchange works pretty well for me, Bitrex is another exchange that seems to be good. You can also find the charts of the exchanges on the free charts website Tradingview which lets you plug in all kinds of analysis indicators and algorithms. Not for everyone and you could more easily see your initial investment dwindle as Bitcoin seems to have nowhere to go but down currently. If you'd bought them a year or so ago they would have gone up 500% or so in that time. Your only regret would then have been that you couldn't have bought enough of them.

At least if the Thai authorities want to protect their interests at all costs, tourists ought to be able to make informed decisions about whether to visit Ko Tao or not and not to have to suddenly find themselves on the wrong end of a garden hoe attack for perhaps little else than having been impolite or whatever. You cannot depend on the foreign media entirely to stay informed, these stories soon lose the interest of the mass media if they haven't already. So, travel guides such as Lonely Planet I think have a certain duty to keep people aware of certain problems a potential holiday destination might pose to people's lives. Particularly these kind of "paradise" islands where because of cultural programming we get in the west, people slip into this kind of helpless booze guzzling bliss state when they get to an idyllic beach and it would seem they become more vulnerable than usual. It goes without saying one has to be cautious when going to a foreign country and of course you have to have a minimum of good judgement and street savvy never hurt either all that is on you the tourist. Still, I think it could help if people were also given  a heads up on certain places like Ko Tao where it is clear there is some degree more of a threat than the average place you are going to visit.

Yesterday I was at Kinokuniya Phrom Pong branch in Bangkok and had a look at the Lonely Planet Thai Islands guide, which is geared to people who want to visit any of the Thai islands, Phuket, Samui, Ko Tao, Ko Pha Ngan etc. I did not look at the general remarks at the beginning of the guide, but going through the Ko Tao section there is no mention at all of any of the murders and disappearances. I also skimmed quickly through the Ko Tao bars and nightlife section and saw no mention of any danger that one ought to be aware of. I am not saying the warnings are not there, I did not read through the whole guide cover to cover  but spending 10-15 minutes actively looking for mention of any warnings in the guide I didn't find them if they were there at all. So, to me, that raises the question, would anyone coming to Thailand for the first time with probably little else that these guidebooks to rely on have any idea that they ought to take precautions when visiting Ko Tao or any of the islands? People tend to use these guides as reference books and go at them piecemeal as needed.It seems that some of these attacks have begun in bars yet there is no mention of the problem or a note in the nightlife section that one out to take extra precautions and have a plan to deal with locals who look like they present trouble. Checking the web version of Ko Tao under dangers and annoyances, the most threatening thing you are made to be aware of is the presence of mosquitoes. You are given the impression, maybe correctly, that Ko Tao is a booming and still up and coming resort which is one of many fantastic options if you want to come to Thailand,  it is almost presented in this guide like it is some flawless jewel. I am not going to say that Ko Tao or the Thai islands are not still very nice places and that probably most people have a wonderful time when they visit just that I think by this time there should be mention in Lonely Planet and other guides of the ongoing murders and violence at the hands of locals that tourists are encountering in the islands, and that essentially locals are given the green light to do these things, so such problems are far from going away and may be increasing.

I wonder if because she was Russian that she didn't get the word. If you speak/read English well at least you have a fairly good chance of reading or hearing about the problem on Ko Tao and avoiding the place.

You'd hope that Lonely Planet would start warning people off, especially since it seems to be the backpackers who keep getting snuffed. Seems Lonely Planet could really be a big help if they just stopped listing Ko Tao and put a page up in lieu saying that for now the authorities are allowing tourists to be murdered with impunity and without any serious investigation and that it is best to stay away and boycott the situation. At the very least they need to have a warning posted in their next edition with the known facts of all the cases of murders and and scandals surrounding investigations etc. and then tourists can make an informed decision whether or not to visit.

As tho  prostitution has been permitted all along and the bars have always been open till dawn. Who is kidding who?

 The Dutch and the Thai authorities it would seem are endangering us all through their neglect of this case. Shame on them both. Anyone who is in a position to recover any funds lost to the shop owner is obligated to do so if this situation is to be rectified, the people who have organized this conspiracy, if it turns out there is one,  should be named and punished not the victim. Fund movements can easily be traced, is this case not important enough for such a thing to investigated?  

Ditto to many of the comments above, this is about tightening the screws on the bars in terms of getting more money. It won't mean that many bars will be replaced with knick knack shops or what have you. I would bet even with their licenses revoked they could continue given they paid the authorities off. The 6 pm opening times could also be ignored but the fines would be another corrosive element. I can see that this would all lead to a gradual erosion of Pattaya the party zone, but there is nothing drastic being suggested by 6 pm closing times and no more new licenses. You have to wonder how many places actually have licenses anyway. You also have to wonder if the police really understand that they are in danger of killing their golden laying goose with each added layer of fines and hassles. Fewer bars will leave them fewer places to collect "fines" from.

"Pongsit Chaichutpornsuk, executive vice president and head of Siam Commercial Bank’s Fraud Management Division, said that Thailand was the sixth worst country hit by skimming."

And of course that wouldn't have anything to do with how dedicated Thai banks are to protecting the accounts of their customers either, would it? Does not continuig to use long outmoded ATM technologies beg the very people you are complaining about to flock here from all over the world, Pongsit? Do you care? Why comment?

Her dancing is rather standard to the point of being banal. I wish he'd criticized her for being boring. But...well..you know..we are not dealing with Mr. Hip here unless maybe its Mr. Hip Card your Siam Commerical bank ATM card. I do like her hips tho...

A lot wrong with this article. It makes it sound like the country is under some kind of seige: 

"Responsible military units in the capital say the junta has plenty of measures to assure safety and security for tourists. 

“We have enough surveillance cameras in public places and security officials are working in many locations to closely monitor groups of people who have the potential to create trouble,” said Chalermphon Srisawat, commander of the Second Cavalry Division.

The military has also engaged with hotels where foreign guests mostly stay to take care of safety and security, he said. 

Hotel operators are required to submit their guest lists to authorities, he said."

And Colombia is the worst even worse than say Somalia or Syria to visit? Rather ridiculous.

I for one cheer her on for her proactive response, even if one can't imagine that she stands much of chance against a Thai doctor or the Thai medical establishment if it eventually comes to that. They probably told her she had HIV because they wanted to sell her the drugs which she likely could hardly afford. It is totally disgusting but par for the course. What she must have went through thinking she was HIV positive just so someone could make a sale or go on saving face by no having to say to patients, "HIV tests are 100% accurate, you might want to get tested a second time or get a second opinion."  That said, I am sure that already she is helping raise awareness regarding the hazard and danger even to people's very life  that Thailand the medical tourism hub presents to the world. However I feel sorry for people of every stripe in any country who go to doctors naively thinking they have the answers or are even concerned with getting them. It seems Suthida fell into that by simply accepting the diagnosis she was initially given. In my 55 years of surviving predatory doctors in the states who nearly killed me when I was still a child revolving around my problems with asthma I have come to understand that it is all about their making money off of your problems and you have to have your wits about you, ask questions and get them to be as clear about what vague things they are saying to you about your condition and nail them them to the wall. Too many doctors are just trying to play you. It is an outrage to me that there is scarcely any sentiment to be heard round the world about the atrocity that is so many doctors and medical establishments. It is your body your health your money and even your life at stake and unfortunately many doctors everywhere are well backed up by power structures so that they can smugly sit up there and do and think otherwise, that it is all about their income their convenience and their career etc. Make you into an HIV pariah, let you go through your childhood in and out of emergency rooms when a puff of non-prescription asthma medicine such as Bronch Aid solves the problem yeah, no skin off my teeth I just made 50 bucks off of you. My parents were told that it was bad for a childs hormone balance to take asthma medicine. Interesting that it was always the same doctor working in the emergency room when I was 75% through deaths door and then given massive amounts of adrenaline which is not nice. But like my parents It is too bad there was not even the notion that one ought to get second opinions in this woman Suthida's mind.  She like me has had to learn that the hard way. I would not expect anything else though in Thailand because the culture considers any kind of questioning and probing of the most superficial kind to be anathema. You don't even question your superiors such as doctors, even in your mind. But getting second opinions etc and with a modicum of common sense you'll see there is much wrong with half the diagnoses and treatments you are given by at least half of the Thai doctors. But go to many doctors and you can eventually get things worked out. Unfortunately many Thais and I would bet expats don't and simply take the doctors dianoses that there is nothing wrong with them when there is or that they need to have their foot amputated or eye removed when there is nothing wrong with either of those as I have. It doesn't matter if you are not a cheap charlie, what you get is not improved doctors and treatment but doctors with better English skills and modern facilities and slick brochures. Of course there is nothing wrong with those and it helps but if the doctor is some kind entitled psycopath with a medical degree then what does it matter that you understand whatever line he is giving you to suit him/herself  and his/her needs alone. The assumption seems to run with many and in the past it did with me that there were significantly better doctors for ten times the cost at the premium level health facilities. Its just better marketing mostly and the same culture of disregard for human life, same sense that one only need do the bare minimum or even less so as to be sabai sabai that Suthida would have seen in Roi Et. The culture does not go away just because you step through doors at the modern facilities of wherever, take your pick in Bangkok, and dig deep into your wallet for much more expensive treatment. In a way it is more dangerous to go to the upmarket places charging top dollar as you will be more prone to not question the results because of the seemingly professional seemingly caring environment which given the predatory streak that some doctors represent  it clearly is not. I am gratfeul to the many medical professionals whom you can eventually get help from but that doesn't mean anyone is an ingrate a whiner etc because they speak out against whole leagues of frankly dangerous and exploitative opportunists. Go Suthida, the doctors in this country need to be reigned in. I am so fed up with going for treatment and having doctors opening me up while laughing and yucking it up hardly even paying attention to what they are doing, it must be so unsanook to take your job seriously so fed up with "we will get back to you with the results" and you never hear from them again. "Oh kor tort, that doctor he transferred to another hospital. Sorry we no have the result about your condition." 

What the Thais don't yet keep concealed, that most of the rest of the ruling class clans around the world do keep a tighter lid on: they are  murderous, blameless etc by definition ie, they wouldn't be who they are today if they weren't psychopathic, mass murdering control freaks who are beyond the law or who are the law.

ie the Clintons, the Bushes, The Kochs, the British Royal Family,  the the <deleted> Kennedies, the Rockefellers, the Du Ponts, the George Soroses, the worst and smartest of them make sure we don't know their names.

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

You are way to cynical .

OK, in which way will the Thai leaders benefit form closing bars at the legal time ?

 

So what do you think whoever is closing the bars has in mind if not themselves? 

As to how it could possibly benefit them, off the top of my head, they would likely benefit by getting bars etc to put more money in the brown envelopes. If anything these tightened enforcements never last. You tighten the thumb screws by enforcing earlier closures for awhile and then ask for higher "fees". I imagine its possible they might also do it to cut off funds flowing from the bars into the hands of their political enemies. But I'm just someone who reads news reports I am not an insider I don't know. Maybe your right maybe the cops actually really care, I'm sorry I was cynical.

To me the worst thing is that the enforced closing times are  likely happening only because one or a couple of people who have the means to affect the change will personally benefit. I don't believe for a second any public relations boloney about how they are doing it protect the youth or to help straighten the country out or protect Thailand from the wrong kind of tourist or terrorists etc. Things just don't work that way here or anywhere in the world for that matter, selfishness reigns and particularly among those in what would be leadership positions. I also think they well know tourists won't like it and the less tourists the less people there are being nosy and looking around and squawking to the rest of the world about whats going on in Thailand. Did the SLORC in Myanmar want tourists? They certainly didn't come off that way.

That the cops declared Soi 6 in Pattaya to be free of prostitution a few months back tells you right there that even the relatively hard line sounding crackdown that took place was/is not a serious attempt to shut things down.

However, I suppose it is possible that the foreign sex tourist industry would shut it self down by becoming too expensive, nasty, not lucrative enough for anyone to be bothered anymore etc. Many moan about how it is no longer any fun, Pattaya, Soi Cowboy etc don't seem to be as popular as they once were and are increasingly becoming more normal tourist fun zones. Many of the girls no longer offer sex services, the ubiquitous coyote girls are just there to grab drinks and tips without doing much else. That scenario would be unthinkable at the height of Thailand's sex tourism days back in the 90's. So it seems things are already morphing away from Thailand as a sex tourism provider.

 Tho I have never been to New Orleans, it seems to me that once upon a time certain neighborhoods were similar to say Walking street in Pattaya. But today those same areas, I think Bourbon Street, are these kind of drinking and carousing Disneylands that look fun enough and sort of look like Walking Street minus the gogo bars. 

Still tho,  what happened to New Orleans was undoubtedly a gradual process and New Orleans still seems to have a lingering reputation despite a century having passed since it was a huge red light town permeated with brothels. Tho for me, its reputation as the birthplace of jazz and its annual giant week long blues festival is way more of a draw than the reputation of say Storyville or the Vieux Carre which I think were once these massive redlight districts. Problem with Thailand is that it simply doesn't have such an awesome heritage to replace the salacious allure factor as the main draw it currently enjoys.

Everything changes and all things come to an end, so I would say yes eventually Thailand will shed it's reputation and the industry will morph in some other direction perhaps catering more to Asian rather than European culture based tourists, or perhaps there will some massive historical sea change such as a massive war fought in Asia which would have an impact. Of course even if they successfully shut everything down today, it would be decades before the rest of the world wrapped its head around what had happened. There will always be money to be made even if it is selling say Walking Street as the once upon a time red light zone filled with wax museums and flashy neon drinkerias and boogaloo parlours. So to make a short answer long, yes it will eventually change, I think a better question would be how long will it take or what do you think would cause the shedding of its reputation or "image"?

What happened to the food stall apocalypse the BMA was crowing about a month ago? Which then makes you wonder if they will actually conduct dishwashing classes and put food hawkers through more red tape. And only Chinatown and Khao San Road, all this for hawkers from just two areas? Another poorly written article or is that what they are going to do just deal with two areas. Why doesn't the BMA just send someone around collecting 1000 baht "fees" and call it good as it doesn't seem there's enough interest to actually do what they threatened a month ago.

"The internationally recognised areas of Yaowarat and Khao San Road were targeted for cleanliness, safety and order improvement following news that Bangkok City was named the finest street food destination in the world by CNN for the second year earlier this year. "

So then because the street food areas are rated best in the world by CNN, you "target" those areas for a shakeup. A well known pattern in Thai life, those who succeed are punished.

There will be no end of hassles, quirks introduced by by staff, awful communication at any bank in Tealand. After 18 years here the variations of problems sometimes serious, are never ending, such as their sudden without notice blocking you from accessing your money from abroad days after staff explicitly tell you you can get money from your account at an ATM in Singapore, don't worry. The you must open an account at our branch seems to be a stock response to anything any employee doesn't want to do. Luckily, as a holder of a marriage non-O, I don't hav eto show proof of funds, so its all my own problem that I don't just haul off and put the money in an account abroad.

It is the same out in my village, no vendors who would be cleaning up. Even my own dogs don't shit in our yard, I have seen them doing it in the nearby woods, tho.

The best plausible explanation I have for it is that the dogs are simply so hungry that they gobble up poo that they find in places such as the sois or even the villages. THo to be honest I can't say as I have seen this aside from my own dogs penchant for a few months last year of raiding people's garbage and bringing home soiled disposable diapers. Horrible but hilarious to watch one of our mutts one afternoon proudly prancing back home with a giant pamper's load in her jaws head held high and wagging it from side to side every so often. They wouldn't and still won't touch commercial dog food with a ten foot pole, which might say something about dog food either canned or dry. 

 Their gracious and generous decision to allow us rights violators to continue clicking like despite our  rights abuse records on facebook et al  is truly wonderfull and I say thank you thank you thank you most forgiving and honorable sirs for giving us a second chance. I apologize if in fact I too have violated people's rights which I know you will without fail fight everyday and work so hard to uphold for the nation. Now I feel so ashamed because I may have clicked on something that violated someones rights. Please forgive me. I didn't know until now. Now that I know what is right and wrong I shall, like you, stay on the straight and narrow never to click on something inappropriate which of course is crystal clear now thanks to your recent in depth public statement. Where would we be without the beacon of integrity and morality that is the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society guiding our nation through this stormy and treacherous time?

Sorry to hear that Google and Youtube have gone so far as to delete urls, not surprising I suppose considering the surge in the way in which the media now often bald facedly operates as a stooge of various governments and agencies as a defacto propaganda arm. Of course you have the choice to dig around and find your own content on internet but it would make sense that that too is on the way out. That said, I find it hard to believe they are deleting urls, seems it would be more likely they are blocking access from Thai based devices.

Sorry to read that only 15,000 protested. Says a lot about the way the protests were organized. Trumps environmental schtick is of more concern to Americans than that. I doubt there are very many who like the fact that he is seemingly dismantling the national park system, to take one example. It almost seems worse that they did have the protest,  as it only advertises how apparently impotent the environmental cause is to people like Trump. I would guess this might even encourage him to do more harm to the environment.