58 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

1. Lowering luxury taxes to attract wealthy tourists who like to spend while in vacation and can get the identical item elsewhere for 60% less. 

2. Lowering wine taxes for affluent tourists, who are used to consuming a bottle every night with dinner and may pay $100 for that bottle at home and are completely unwilling to pay $600 if they can even find that same bottle here. 

3. Cleaning up the air and the waters.

4. Making the highways safer and beefing up the highway patrol so they actually pull over reckless drivers.

4. Allowing more private air travel, and helicopter travel making it far easier to move around.

5. Getting serious about high-speed trains and alternatives to the totally choked and extremely hazardous highways. 

6. Dealing effectively with the taxi scammers.

7. Dealing with the many other scammers. 

8. Getting serious about public safety and better monitoring of boats and ferries. 

9. Figuring out a way to keep crime in Pattaya out of the news. Perhaps by bringing the crime committed against tourists under control. 

 

I could go on and on. 

Thanks. TLDNR.🙃🙃

1 hour ago, newbee2022 said:

I agree with you if you would not make exceptions. Many visitors are like

"mix of tourists, brokies and tattooed petty criminals. They all dress like sh*t and smell like cigarettes and sour sweat."

No matter, where they are coming from.

 

Indeed and agreed.

 

It's just the UK scrum tend to be the real bottom dwellers on lower Sukhumvit. The worst tattoos, most tattooed, biggest smokers (always the cheapest and worst smelling cigarettes), the loudest and worst manners. Of course, this is a generalization it's not ALL Brits. I'm not moralizing, just observing. 

 

Americans and Aussies have their share of the inked disease legion on their bodies as well.

 

How do you say I'm a product of the lower classes without saying it? This lot are the poster children of poor life choices.

 

**So sad to see attractive women with ugly tattoos 

And bob smith reincarnates as.............................

 

3 hours ago, mikebell said:

Commonly referred to as 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf'.  It is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 210 in the Perry Index and has no bearing on the story you are trying to ridicule.

Oh! Good morning, Professor Mike. I knew that. Have children, have the book. Yes, it was very much bearing in that, as if referred to that with too many lies, you become a person nobody believe in. Like same with the illusion of trying to make people believe that 6 career criminals should confide in one person on this board. 😂

55 minutes ago, TonmaiYai said:

 

Indeed and agreed.

 

It's just the UK scrum tend to be the real bottom dwellers on lower Sukhumvit. The worst tattoos, most tattooed, biggest smokers (always the cheapest and worst smelling cigarettes), the loudest and worst manners. Of course, this is a generalization it's not ALL Brits. I'm not moralizing, just observing. 

 

Americans and Aussies have their share of the inked disease legion on their bodies as well.

 

How do you say I'm a product of the lower classes without saying it? This lot are the poster children of poor life choices.

 

**So sad to see attractive women with ugly tattoos 

How true. ❤️

Just the tip of the iceberg. People in thailand for more then a short holiday have all kinds of problems. Otherwise, they would be living well back in their home countries.

3 minutes ago, Mark1969 said:

Just the tip of the iceberg. People in thailand for more then a short holiday have all kinds of problems. Otherwise, they would be living well back in their home countries.

What a bunch of idiocy. What about those that have moved here and made a professional life? If you really dont have a clue you shouldn't speak up. Most of my friends are like me. Long term residents. Put my kids through good schools here, they went on to graduate from the UC system in California, one working for Space X now, the other owns her own media consultancy firm. They are 27 and firmly set in America, but we happily remain here. 

The underbelly of Thailand lies with the Thai government run by one of the most corrupt politicians in Thailand's history, Anutin. Anutin's Party engaged in money laundering and voter fraud to win its Senate seats. The Thai election commission did nothing to prevent these illegal Senate candidates from assuming positions in the Senate. 

Allah be praised 

My belly is raised !

40 minutes ago, marin said:

What a bunch of idiocy. What about those that have moved here and made a professional life? If you really dont have a clue you shouldn't speak up. Most of my friends are like me. Long term residents. Put my kids through good schools here, they went on to graduate from the UC system in California, one working for Space X now, the other owns her own media consultancy firm. They are 27 and firmly set in America, but we happily remain here. 

Why did you move here initially?

9 minutes ago, Mark1969 said:

Why did you move here initially?

I have been in the hospitality business for many years and was offered a job running a hotel and restaurant on Samui way back in 1988. 

2 hours ago, marin said:

What a bunch of idiocy. What about those that have moved here and made a professional life? If you really dont have a clue you shouldn't speak up. Most of my friends are like me. Long term residents. Put my kids through good schools here, they went on to graduate from the UC system in California, one working for Space X now, the other owns her own media consultancy firm. They are 27 and firmly set in America, but we happily remain here. 

 

that's the exception not the rule!

7 hours ago, TonmaiYai said:

 

I'm always blinkered when I see neck and especially face and especially full facial tattoos. Like WTF. .why? Why let this scum in your country? They obviously don't have money and advertising their criminality on their faces ffs

Anyone with a neck or face tattoo should be denied entry.   

If my assumptions are correct about the number of bad actors having increased rather than decreased over the years, then the next question is how and why?

 

The only answer that makes sense to me is looser visa requirements, particularly for Chinese and Russians. As for the West African criminal element, I would presume many of them are getting in with fake passports from East African countries or South Africa. In my view, this could all easily be reduced and clamped down on, but it isn’t.

 

So it seemingly comes back to corruption. I’m not bashing anyone, just pointing out what feels like obvious facts. The large scam centers tied to human trafficking along the Burmese and Cambodian borders with Thailand are run by organized Chinese criminal groups. The reason they thrive so close to Thailand is because Thailand provides access to utilities, infrastructure, and services they need to operate. At the very least, more could be done to shut them down too. Instead, the local law enforcement efforts so far look more like optics meant to pacify the media when the subject heats up in the news, rather than any real, tangible action.

 

There also appears to be more, and in larger quantities, illicit drugs in circulation than in the past, much of it now made from cheap and easy-to-source synthetic chemicals produced in China. A lot of this is likely being processed and manufactured into drugs in Burma before making its way into Thailand. That flow has clearly made Thailand an increasingly attractive base for traffickers.

 

Maybe it’s impossible to point to one root cause, but there is clearly a shift in the situation, and it seems to have gotten worse. Nothing serious appears to be happening to turn things around either.

 

Whether this will hurt foreign investment, tourism, or other aspects of Thailand’s economy and long-term stability is hard to say, but from where I stand, it does feel like things are moving in the wrong direction.

1 hour ago, Mike_Hunt said:

Anyone with a neck or face tattoo should be denied entry.   

 

Yes. Indeed. These people are literally billboards for anti social behavior. The men very possibly having served jail / prison time. Absolutely. Perhaps produce income verification of US150k per annum showing stability and a job.

 

I'm mortified when I see an attractive Thai woman with a neck tattoo. Person that did that to her should be jailed. 

1 hour ago, NorthernRyland said:

 

that's the exception not the rule!

 

Lots of Thai kids doing amazing things. Just need a teacher mentor that cares and good parents. 

9 hours ago, BritManToo said:

When I first came to Thailand in 2009 my first expat pals were 4 Brit bank robbers spending their downtime in Chiang Mai. A Brit distributor of cocaine in London, and a Scots distributor of cocaine and heroin in Europe. These were real serious criminals.

Names, addresses, photos and phone numbers or it didn't happen. 😂 

44 minutes ago, Harry Tuchas said:

The only answer that makes sense to me is looser visa requirements,

 

Have you seen social media advertising Thailand as some party place where anything goes? It's no longer word of mouth and people can plan their entire trip online so the bar to entry is lower than ever before. People who would never think of leaving the country now see a clear path forward and that's what I think is driving all these crazy people.

3 hours ago, marin said:

I have been in the hospitality business for many years and was offered a job running a hotel and restaurant on Samui way back in 1988. 

Exception, not a norm.

47 minutes ago, Harry Tuchas said:

There also appears to be more, and in larger quantities, illicit drugs in circulation than in the past, much of it now made from cheap and easy-to-source synthetic chemicals produced in China. A lot of this is likely being processed and manufactured into drugs in Burma before making its way into Thailand. That flow has clearly made Thailand an increasingly attractive base for traffickers.

Can’t argue with that. Back in the day, producing class one narcotics in Southeast Asia meant acres of farmland and a serious setup to process the harvest into China White. It took resources, risk, and investment. Now all it takes is a few sacks of cheap chemicals from China and a shophouse tucked away in a quiet Myanmar soi. Mix it up, push it out, and with a few mules crossing into Thailand you’ve got yourself a booming business. Bob’s your uncle. And there seems to be little law enforcement to discourage it, so the trade will likely keep growing and flourishing rather than get any better anytime soon.

8 hours ago, emptypockets said:

What are the dozen good reasons?

Perhaps if we can leave the prejudices out , people may get offended,

3 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

Perhaps if we can leave the prejudices out , people may get offended,

That comment makes no sense.

 

People are free to feel offended if they so wish.

10 hours ago, BritManToo said:

When I first came to Thailand in 2009 my first expat pals were 4 Brit bank robbers spending their downtime in Chiang Mai. A Brit distributor of cocaine in London, and a Scots distributor of cocaine and heroin in Europe.

These were real serious criminals.

 

Now it's all tattooed thuggish Russians/Brits/Aussies, poor Chinese and Poor Indian tourists.

But not very quite about what they were doing for a living if you know all that info, or were you also in hiding?

8 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

it feels like the fact that the nation was never colonized was a leading factor in this hubris 

 

 

No, never colonized, but both Japanese and Americans have had forces in country WW2. Little known factoid 

6 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

Perhaps if we can leave the prejudices out , people may get offended,

 

Everyone so easily offended these days despite their personal opinions and antics. Irony that borders gaslighting 

 

BOO

10 hours ago, Harry Tuchas said:

After many years here, I can’t help but feel like the number of rough and dodgy characters in Thailand has grown. With the influx of Russians and Chinese, plus the ease of buying cheap cannabis and the temptation to traffic it out, the place feels heavier with criminals than it used to.

 

That happens in every place I've ever lived.  The longer I lived there, the more I'd learn about what's really going on.  And has been going on for decades, long before I arrived.

 

11 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

1. Lowering luxury taxes to attract wealthy tourists who like to spend while in vacation and can get the identical item elsewhere for 60% less. 

2. Lowering wine taxes for affluent tourists, who are used to consuming a bottle every night with dinner and may pay $100 for that bottle at home and are completely unwilling to pay $600 if they can even find that same bottle here. 

3. Cleaning up the air and the waters.

4. Making the highways safer and beefing up the highway patrol so they actually pull over reckless drivers.

4. Allowing more private air travel, and helicopter travel making it far easier to move around.

5. Getting serious about high-speed trains and alternatives to the totally choked and extremely hazardous highways. 

6. Dealing effectively with the taxi scammers.

7. Dealing with the many other scammers. 

8. Getting serious about public safety and better monitoring of boats and ferries. 

9. Figuring out a way to keep crime in Pattaya out of the news. Perhaps by bringing the crime committed against tourists under control. 

 

I could go on and on. 

10 Sidewalks.   Have you been to Chiang Mai?  They put four-foot electrical boxes in the middle of the sidewalks.   I've also seen this in Pattaya. 

11 Crosswalk safety.   Drivers do not respect the zebra crossings.   They will run you over. 

4 hours ago, TonmaiYai said:

No, never colonized, but both Japanese and Americans have had forces in country WW2. Little known factoid 

 

There's a rather famous bridge in Pai (northern Thailand) which the Japanese built during WWII.

 

9 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

 

There's a rather famous bridge in Pai (northern Thailand) which the Japanese built during WWII.

 

 

Thailand never defended itself from outside aggression that I'm aware of...never really challenged so the notion it was never conquered is dubious 

 

It appears it was easier for Japanese to manage Thailand as a vassal state, with cooperation than to fight another nation - at least at that time. I'm certain if they won the war in East Asia they'd have come back to conquer. 

 

They didn't want to bother with Cambodia and even to lesser extent Vietnam.

 

Burma was another story and a jewel in British empire's crown.

14 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

 

Have you seen social media advertising Thailand as some party place where anything goes? It's no longer word of mouth and people can plan their entire trip online so the bar to entry is lower than ever before. People who would never think of leaving the country now see a clear path forward and that's what I think is driving all these crazy people.

 

I think this is very true and for farang a large part of its problem. No longer is it just respite from western harpies, the barrier to entry is non existent. It's become a visit to Spain or Mexico for the 20 somethings and the new in place to *live* for the 30-40s. Live means exist as long as your money, smarts and tourist visas hold out.

 

TikTok morons often say they live or have moved here - but simply exist on tourist visa, no plan. Well under 50. 

 

As dodgy as Thailand was 30 years ago I recall Cambodia raised eyebrows of many a Thai tourist and expat alike. Vietnam 92-98 as well, but tbh Vietnam always safe bc of Communist police state