Just now, SteveK said:

So Chiang Mai is officially dead, but that's no surprise, after seeing a few temples it's quite a boring place. I certainly won't be going back there.

 

Now they've killed off the major draw of Pattaya. and it seems like nobody wants to go there anymore.

 

Which place are they going to destroy next? Phuket? Samui?

 

chiang mai used to be a buzzing town night life wise but they really did a number on that place with the 12pm closing - totally killed it

 

will be a shame if the same fate has happened to pattaya as CM never recovered

 

RIP Bubbles nights ????

 

 

I will give you my take on it in Pattaya

i first came here 12 years ago , I am a working class lad with a very good job in oil and gas.All my mates have normal jobs,brickies , plasterer etc

when I first came there was 12 of us ,slowly over the years I ended up living here ,

but only 2 of my best mates are coming out in the new year the others cannot afford it

and I have paid for their flights.

it is simply too expensive for the average Brit to come here,they used to come 3 times a year now it is only once and I think after this trip when they realise everything is too expensive they will not come again,the only time I will see them is I will have to go to the uk.

1 minute ago, SteveK said:

 

 

Which place are they going to destroy next? Phuket? Samui?

They are both already floundering

Police checks on Sukhumvit Road 3 nights ago at 1am. Every car and taxi with farang stopped.  Body searches.  Plus have to show passport.  No original passport then 5k fine or trip to police station.  I think they were also urine testing.  Who needs this <deleted>. The chap I was just visiting.  He is not coming back.  If Thailand has not become expensive enough nobody needs these disrespectful goons extorting money when one heads out for a beer. The good times have been over for a while and the Thais can enjoy the crash that's coming.

57 minutes ago, Homburg said:

How Thailand gets its arrival numbers:  I was on a TG flight from UK.  The lady in the adjoining seat was booked on TG through to Australia & was changing planes in Swampy. Her bags were checked through to Oz and she had her boarding card for the connecting flight, but she had been told (by TG) that she had to pass through immigration at Swampy, so she counted as a tourist arrival, even though she was only a transit passenger. 

That just can't be true.  She would pass through transit security, but not immigration, unless she chose to do so.  Such rules are governed by international treaties  not by the whim of the Thais. 

TAT and many here on TV talk about how much people from different nations spend for each day. That number is worth nothing if you not also include how long the stay is. Secondly, only idiots go to a place, wherever it is, to spend as much as possible. So  the right thing to do is not to call them (us) Sheap Charlies, instead you should think, what can we offer that make the tourist spend more and hopefully come back again. 

15 minutes ago, sugarloaf80 said:

Police checks on Sukhumvit Road 3 nights ago at 1am. Every car and taxi with farang stopped.  Body searches.  Plus have to show passport.  No original passport then 5k fine or trip to police station.  I think they were also urine testing.  Who needs this <deleted>. The chap I was just visiting.  He is not coming back.  If Thailand has not become expensive enough nobody needs these disrespectful goons extorting money when one heads out for a beer. The good times have been over for a while and the Thais can enjoy the crash that's coming.

where do people like you get this tosh? You do not have to produce your passport and a 5K fine for not doing so is pure nonsense. Body searches, rubbish. 

re, where do the girls go, i know 2 who went to Malaysia, we keep in touch, they are doing realy good, Mum put deposit on a Mercedes soon , ha ha, one is coming back for a *REST* next week, i will hook up and have a chat, 

A number of derogatory troll posts and replies have been removed. 

30 minutes ago, murraynz said:

it would bring huge wealth to the area..but i think the authorites know that thai people are "problem gamblers"...

On that note, I think I read somewhere (someone can correct me if I am wrong) that Cambodians are not allowed in Casinos in their own country?

21 minutes ago, sugarloaf80 said:

Police checks on Sukhumvit Road 3 nights ago at 1am. Every car and taxi with farang stopped.  Body searches.  Plus have to show passport.  No original passport then 5k fine or trip to police station.

Thank you for the info, I've never eared about that new scam !

Another reason for expats to stay at home at night, even in a taxi now you can have problems !?

8 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

That just can't be true.  She would pass through transit security, but not immigration, unless she chose to do so.  Such rules are governed by international treaties  not by the whim of the Thais. 

What she was told is not true, but it was what she was told.  She borrowed my pen to complete her immigration form.  These things ARE governed by international treaties, but if you are told that you have to go through immigration (and back out again!) what are you going to do? Refuse and risk being barred from your flight because you didn't do as you were told? 

25 minutes ago, sugarloaf80 said:

Police checks on Sukhumvit Road 3 nights ago at 1am. Every car and taxi with farang stopped.  Body searches.  Plus have to show passport.  No original passport then 5k fine or trip to police station.  I think they were also urine testing.  Who needs this <deleted>. The chap I was just visiting.  He is not coming back.  If Thailand has not become expensive enough nobody needs these disrespectful goons extorting money when one heads out for a beer. The good times have been over for a while and the Thais can enjoy the crash that's coming.

This just sounds horrible to me. I live literally on the last stop of the train in Bangkok. Very few tourists. Only Farang I see are teachers. And it is very very different. When I do go downtown, I am often struck by the difference in people. Out here there is literally no one ever hustling me, or bothering me about anything ever at all.

2 hours ago, Homburg said:

Then the BIB drove past and saw a water bottle on my table.  They stopped and came into the restaurant just to make sure that it really was water in the bottle!

Friend of mine, this in Udon, has a Thai wife who owns a popular Thai eatery. On the last Buddha day the 'authorities' dropped by and said she couldn't have the big Chang-branded awnings on display. She pointed out that these were red and white ones advertising Chang soda water and not green and gold ones touting their beer. "No," they insisted, 'Chang is beer. Cannot!" She's quite well off, well spoken and educated overseas but even she knew that she was dealing with ignorant jobsworths here and it would be more trouble than it's worth so she took the awnings down. However, she's quietly been in touch with ThaiBev to let them know.

Another troll post has been removed. 

You reap what you sow...SOM...NOM...NAAA.......:)

In a real "family resort" it's just right that everybody is in bed at 10 p.m.
The government got what they were asking for.
Maybe the ghosts will get more and spend some millions after 10 p.m.

1 hour ago, JMSIII said:

So true.   I watch as the Thai's have been increasingly more rude, some even arrogant.  The attitude of some of the Thai girls is, that their you know what doesn't stink, and every western farang wants them...

 

Then throw in that they openly ridicule us in Thai, think we are stupid, and can only think about how much money they can get from us...   I was in 7-11 last week when two very pretty, very sexy, European women walked in, and the Thai girls working there immediately started looking at each other giggling, making quiet comments in Thai.  After the two politely made their purchase, and walked out, the Thai girls started laughing out loud saying all kind of things in Thai.  The 7-11 is next to LK Royal Suite on Soi Buakhao.  The two European women quietly walked in, got what they wanted and left.

 

I think the Thai gov't and the Thai people have become so comfortable in thinking that we will always be here spending the most money, that they are seemingly willing to bite the hand that feeds them....

 

Yes, this is not all Thais, but then numbers just seem to keep growing..

 

Lets be honest, the Thai's have brought this upon themselves.

 

 

While  I agree with these three reasons I have to weigh in on this They have also scared away a lot of retirees and treated them badly 1000s have left and more will The shot themselves in the foot with this one  No foresight at all on it

4 hours ago, Spellforce said:

All those (DUI) checkpoints have ruined the place for expats and without the expats the beer bar scene has died.

 

I don't think the DUI checkpoints have ruined it for expats, the checkpoints help keep people from drinking and driving.

Until two years ago, I lived in central Pattaya and walked to the bars, or took the baht bus or motorcycle taxis.

One guy I would see frequently in the bars drove his motorcycle to the bar, but when he left, he hired 2 motorcycle taxis: one to drive him home on his bike and the second to bring back the first!

 

3 minutes ago, JHacker said:

I don't think the DUI checkpoints have ruined it for expats, the checkpoints help keep people from drinking and driving.

Until two years ago, I lived in central Pattaya and walked to the bars, or took the baht bus or motorcycle taxis.

One guy I would see frequently in the bars drove his motorcycle to the bar, but when he left, he hired 2 motorcycle taxis: one to drive him home on his bike and the second to bring back the first!

 

 

just out of interest how much does it cost for a motorbike taxi at say 2am? because on koh samui it would 100s of baht

 

 

2 minutes ago, JHacker said:

I don't think the DUI checkpoints have ruined it for expats, the checkpoints help keep people from drinking and driving.

Until two years ago, I lived in central Pattaya and walked to the bars, or took the baht bus or motorcycle taxis.

One guy I would see frequently in the bars drove his motorcycle to the bar, but when he left, he hired 2 motorcycle taxis: one to drive him home on his bike and the second to bring back the first!

 

You forgot all the healthy expats who are living in the dark side, they dont want to cross Sukhumvit on the back of a motorbike taxi (Grab doesn't work after midnigtht).

Those locals are good spenders and all stay at home now.

26 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

where do people like you get this tosh? You do not have to produce your passport and a 5K fine for not doing so is pure nonsense. Body searches, rubbish. 

They made it an offence not to carry your passport or a photo copy of it several years ago. We all hurried off to the nearest photo shop and got copies made just in case. I got mine done in the shop in Bhukaow near Hellfire Crossing. I still have it.

 

I've never heard of that regulation being lifted.

 

Anyway you would not get very far with the Thai plod not producing your passport when ordered to.

 

A friend of mine spent a week in the jail for working in his cafe until he coughed up the 30K baht they demanded. His 'work' consisted of sitting at his PC browsing the internet.

 

When the Thai police tell you to do something you do it unless you're a half wit.

 

Wait till you fall foul of them.

I went to Laos 2-3 years ago, every tourist attraction in Vientiane only had locals and 1-2 foreigners, same situation in Vang Vieng (minus blue lagoon 1), went again last week tourists were EVERYWHERE, by the hundreds. How can Laos be doing so well with tourism and Thai isn't? ????

On the bus overheard backpackers complaining how Thailand is expensive and how they'd rather go on an adventure in Vietnam, some even said they'd prefer to be in Laos... 

I think Thailand is the country everyone's been to, it's not exotic anymore it doesn't impress or interest your friends like Vietnam, Cambodia or another country does.  

Was to be expected. The Chinese locusts replaced the original punter population and now they have moved on, leaving behind a wasteland. Somnamnaa, idiots.

6 minutes ago, yogi100 said:

They made it an offence not to carry your passport or a photo copy of it several years ago.

Or some scans inside your smartphone. Reading that "news" i've just uploaded my last passport's stamp.

 

PS: also added my TM30 just in case...

3 hours ago, atyclb said:

me too

I have long enjoyed your posts as your mind is nearly as warped as mine is! So I am curious to know your choice of destination in Vietnam?

 

As for the Thais, they have shot themselves in their own foot and the story has spread worldwide.

4 hours ago, SteveK said:

I'd bet that it's the ridiculous over-valuation of the Thai baht which has been the number one contributor here. Visitors can overlook Thailand's foibles when things are so cheap. When things cost more than in your home country, or more importantly than in places like Bali, Mexico, Portugal or even Spain, is it any wonder people are choosing to go elsewhere? It's the Norwegians I feel most sorry for, 12 years ago I met some in Pattaya and they kept talking about how ridiculously cheap everything was for them. Now very few to be seen in Thailand.

Good points all.   The degree to which I sympathize with this situation is clearly shown below.

13 minutes ago, GeorgeCross said:

 

just out of interest how much does it cost for a motorbike taxi at say 2am? because on koh samui it would 100s of baht

 

 

Probably about 70 baht each bike unless it was out of town.

 

A chum of mine told me how expensive transport is in Samui. 

He's just sold his house and is back in the UK after 8 years and is unlikely to ever return.

 

He felt sorry for the Thai people he'd got to know while he was there. Some of 'em are very concerned about the future. The ones with any sense that is.

59 minutes ago, sugarloaf80 said:

Police checks on Sukhumvit Road 3 nights ago at 1am. Every car and taxi with farang stopped...... nobody needs these disrespectful goons extorting money when one heads out for a beer. 

How did the thread get taken over by drunk drivers complaining. Who goes out driving after midnight looking to have "a beer", if they have not already had a few.

 

The best bar girls have been picked by 7-8 pm, so best get her and yes - be in bed by 11PM.