SURVEY: What are your biggest issues in Thailand?

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Living in Thailand is not without its issues and at ASEAN NOW we are keen to understand your biggest issues!   Please do take our short survey to let us know your views.

 

Click HERE

 

 

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[ThailandRyan]

The biggest issue are the motoring laws that are broken and un-enforced daily which cause issues of indescribable magnitude.

[worgeordie]

My only real issue here is drivers,that's it ,and it's

not improving as more and more come onto the

roads.

regards Worgeordie

[473geo]

Misleading, I don't have 'issues' but appreciate having information supplied on Thai visa to negate the 'issues' perhaps its just me but 'topics' of interest are way different to 'issues'

[Bangkokhatter]

Survey should read what items interest you the most so we can send some marketing bumf.

[spidermike007]

I used to have more issues than I do now. I worked on my attitude, which was getting in the way of appreciating Thailand for what it is, and was clouding my experience here. Used to stress over stupid stuff, as you can see from some of my past posts. Used to allow the politics to make me angry. Now it is not something I take seriously, just something I comment on, without anger or an emotional investment. Now, I just tend to laugh it off. Spent some real time back in the US recently, and it allowed some clarity and perspective, that I am very grateful for. Now, I just chuckle at most of the nonsense. Water off a duck's back, so to speak. 

[Toscano]

For me and I believe many Ex Pat retirees living in Thailand , it is the need to apply for visa extension every year and report every 90 days . I'm British , before coming to live in Thailand I lived in Italy . After the first 3 months one has to apply for residency , if granted one is given 5 years before reporting again to extend . All being well one will be granted permission to stay in perpetuity . It is a pity the same doesn't apply in Thailand .   

[Suradit69]

Quote

we are keen to understand your biggest issues

In order to better focus the pot stirring efforts and generate clicks

[TropicalGuy]

9 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

I used to have more issues than I do now. I worked on my attitude, which was getting in the way of appreciating Thailand for what it is, and was clouding my experience here. Used to stress over stupid stuff, as you can see from some of my past posts. Used to allow the politics to make me angry. Now it is not something I take seriously, just something I comment on, without anger or an emotional investment. Now, I just tend to laugh it off. Spent some real time back in the US recently, and it allowed some clarity and perspective, that I am very grateful for. Now, I just chuckle at most of the nonsense. Water off a duck's back, so to speak. 

Exactly.

My Reasons for being here in order:- 

SAFE- WARM- CHEAP - HEALTH- FRIENDLY - FAMILY - FLEXIBLE - TROPICAL- SIMPLE. 

NOT Here for :-

Culture- Food- Govt.-Politics - Sense - People - Traffic

[kingstonkid]

Corruption is probably one of the biggest issues.  

 

Also the lack of personal responsibility.

[freedomnow]

Dangerous roads, currency exchange now to ££££ vs 2006 or so, endless changes to rules of immigration law/policy dialing flip-flopping,  lack of uniformity of rule application and information given to us by immi., pollution in March-April in Chiang Mai, perceived hostility to long-stay foreigners from the top/immigration, endless traffic stops/shake-down attempts on motorbike....risks of getting my balls grabbed by trannies on the road....(no necklace = 2nd choice for them)

 

'bout it.

Edited May 19, 2022 by freedomnow

[PJ71]

10 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

Corruption is probably one of the biggest issues.  

 

Also the lack of personal responsibility.

Pls tell us how corruption effects your daily life here.

 

You don't think corruption happens in every single country on the planet?

[vandeventer]

21 minutes ago, Toscano said:

For me and I believe many Ex Pat retirees living in Thailand , it is the need to apply for visa extension every year and report every 90 days . I'm British , before coming to live in Thailand I lived in Italy . After the first 3 months one has to apply for residency , if granted one is given 5 years before reporting again to extend . All being well one will be granted permission to stay in perpetuity . It is a pity the same doesn't apply in Thailand .   

Yes going for a new extension on the visa every year is one. Their driving could be a lot better, tell me how far can you drive without saying a swearword? I am getting better as I can go almost 50 ft now.. But the biggest thing is boredom. Kind of miss the sports and the things I did  back home 

[richard_smith237]

2 minutes ago, PJ71 said:

Pls tell us how corruption effects your daily life here.

 

You don't think corruption happens in every single country on the planet?

Not directly... However, corruption invades every facet of our lives here. 

 

Try and cross a road at a crossing ?....  the underlying reason its far more dangerous in Thailand than many of our home nations is borne out of corruption and the knock-on effect... lazy policing, untrained road users etc etc... 

 

 

IF you don’t think corruption impacts your daily life its because you haven’t considered the issue properly, corruption in Thailand just impacts us at a level we accept, it's the norm, we accept it as the way society works. Corruption in Thailand is endemic. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guderian]

The lack of a formal retirement programme, which means you have no right to live here beyond your current extension of stay, no matter how much you may have spent on property or how many children you may have. It's not really been an issue in the past, but I can see in the future that health insurance requirements to get another extension of stay may change, meaning that some people, especially the older ones, may no longer be able to stay here as they won;t be able to afford the astronomical cost of a health policy once you're over 80 years. The other concern is that as Thailand slowly grows richer I think it's inevitable we'll find all manner of rules and regulations tightened up, perhaps making it more difficult to live the way that we have been used to doing. I suspect it's also likely that the current resentment of foreigners which sometimes surfaces among the wealthier section of the population (our current Health Minister is a prime example of this) will become more common and more pronounced. As with Singapore and Taiwan, say, this won't prevent us from living here, but it will make it more difficult and expensive to do so.

[PJ71]

2 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Try and cross a road at a crossing ?....  the underlying reason its far more dangerous in Thailand than many of our home nations is borne out of corruption and the knock-on effect... lazy policing, untrained road users etc etc... 

LOL.

 

I've seen multiple places where pedestrian overpasses were put in, people still choose to cross the road - too lazy to go up the stairs.

 

3 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

IF you don’t think corruption impacts your daily life its because you haven’t considered the issue properly

Again - LOL.

 

I drove to the gym this morning and trained, where was the corruption there?

 

I actually forgot to take money and the very friendly guy said no problem, pay next time.

 

I think you're taking things a bit seriously.

[SymS]

Pollution (garbage along the street) and excessive advertisement in cities.

[Amusements]

Lack of rubbish bins in busy areas.
Roundabouts.
Not being able to do any type of work on a retirement visa. I bet there are a lot skilled people on retirement.
 

[zzaa09]

Much too many disconnected Farang. 

 

 

[aussiexpat]

This survey is way off. More like a marketing strategy to find where to focus news stories

 

How about real issues:

(1) having to wear a mask everywhere, even on an open beach 200 metres from the nearest person

 

(2) having Thailand pretend to close all the bars because they are high covid risk, but then allow same bars to open with a nice brown envelope donation. Bars and GoGo's are not formally allowed to be open only to allow these donations to continue...not a covid health risk in sight

 

(3) the mockery of covid extensions making immigration lines ridiculous. No tourists now but when 39 million entered in 2019 I could get a 30 day extension or TM30 in less than 20 minutes...now an extension could take 3-4 hours of lining up outside in the heat, only to get a come back tomorrow

 

(4) and of course the complete insurance scam of the century where Thailand is the only country to demand covid specified insurance. To do an O-A retirement visa in Australia Canberra embassy says they require 400k baht health insurance and still requires US$100k covid insurance for the entire year to get the O-A visa...major issue you'd think when limit is now US$10,000 and most say 30 days insurance is enough

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by aussiexpat

[KhunLA]

Foreigners complaining about everything, when they chose to come here voluntarily.

 

OK, I'll play along ... dumping whatever in the seas, though certainly not just a Thai issue.  Every country does it, so not really an issue with Thailand.   Would like to go to the surf, and not worry about an ear infection.

[G Rex]

The requirement to do Visa extensions & 90 day reporting - and the almost impossibility of becoming a true 'Permanent resident' here is one of my biggest annoyances.

On a local level, I hate election times, when we are bombarded with multiple 'speakered-up' vehicles broadcasting catchy tunes & telling the people who to vote for! They travel slowly, and we can her some from at least 1 km away.

I see others comment about the driving - and I agree that many people drive here - but have no idea how to drive.  On the other hand , the lack of any enforcement means that I can do anything I want when I am driving - that's a win in my book!  Anarchy for all..

[multatuli]

27 minutes ago, PJ71 said:

Pls tell us how corruption effects your daily life here.

 

You don't think corruption happens in every single country on the planet?

No

[multatuli]

Health insurance at very steep prices, home insurance with ridiculous flood cover; the eternal 90 days process; quality of food (nothing is controlled)

[gamb00ler]

30 minutes ago, PJ71 said:

Pls tell us how corruption effects your daily life here.

Funding that should have gone to public works goes to private enrichment.

[spidermike007]

43 minutes ago, TropicalGuy said:

Exactly.

My Reasons for being here in order:- 

SAFE- WARM- CHEAP - HEALTH- FRIENDLY - FAMILY - FLEXIBLE - TROPICAL- SIMPLE. 

NOT Here for :-

Culture- Food- Govt.-Politics - Sense - People - Traffic

Agree. With most of that. But I do like alot of Thai people. Mostly women. LOL. I find many to be light-hearted, kind, goofy, humorous, and fun to be around. 

 

And I love the food. The good stuff. There is plenty of that if you like spicy, know where to look, or are fortunate to have a woman who is a gourmet chef at home! 

[Deli]

The complete mai pen rai attitude of most of the people.

[PJ71]

11 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

Funding that should have gone to public works goes to private enrichment.

pls give axample of how this effects you personally.

[ChrisKC]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

I used to have more issues than I do now. I worked on my attitude, which was getting in the way of appreciating Thailand for what it is, and was clouding my experience here. Used to stress over stupid stuff, as you can see from some of my past posts. Used to allow the politics to make me angry. Now it is not something I take seriously, just something I comment on, without anger or an emotional investment. Now, I just tend to laugh it off. Spent some real time back in the US recently, and it allowed some clarity and perspective, that I am very grateful for. Now, I just chuckle at most of the nonsense. Water off a duck's back, so to speak. 

Good for you, Mike! if matters (issues) are outside of your control, then best be stoical about them and not allow them affect your stress levels. I address "issues" on this forum and while I continue to have strong views on the politics and the corruption and the scams and the Thai driver attitudes and, and, and... I maintain outward calm and inner peace. In any event, I am not actually affected much because I can have no influence enough to make a difference. When I address an issue about anything, I have my "moan" and then it slips form my attention.

 

Like you, I am more appreciative of what is good in my life and what are thought of as "issues" are for others to get stressed about.

 

it doesn't ever take me long to realise that wherever I am in the world, there will be issues that I would need to deal with or accept.

[RichardColeman]

For me currently there are 3.

 

1. I need go back to the Uk every 9 months ish, so current Thai entry/exit covid nonsense.

 

2. The baht, which seems to go up against ALL logic on occasion.

 

3. Lunacy policies that do not allow spouses to have 'simple' indefinite leave to remain - no matter HOW long you have been married to someone, and being forced to get yearly visas