Latest developments and discussion of recent events in the Ukraine War

[chillibilly]

...there was an article/forum in the Bangkok Post website about how Thais accept corruption. This tragedy was based on corruption, wasn't it? It seems that the "corruption" that is rooted in everything is surfacing more and more... the airport duty free scam; the scams with the "taxi drivers" at the airport; the condo scams; and now this - a local disagreement on property rights between gangs. (Can't one go to the city courthouse and legally find out who owns the property? -LOL)

[Grey11]

Wait until this gets in the Western Press !!

Very, very seldom does any thing that happens in Thailand get reported in the U.S. media outside of Los Angeles and New York City. Most Americans know almost nothing about Thailand. Probably 90% of Americans have never heard of Phuket until you say: "that's where the sunami hit." The somewhat put Thailand on the map of a few Americans. The vast majority of Americans know about and vacation in Mexico & Hawaii. Many times when I visit Thailand I wish I could meet and American or two that wasn't from the West or East Coast, just an average American.

[HakimKlunker]

Could it be that this is a misunderstood tourist attraction promotion only? Cowboy show on the beach. Sounds like fun (heh heh)

[geriatrickid]

All the scams, ripoffs and violence won't discourage the typical junketeer. They'll still come if the price is right and the girls/boys are available. These incidents in and of themselves are small events, easily explained away by most visitors. The it can't or won't happen to me logic. How many people remember the New Years fire and loss of life in Bangkok? TV was filled with the fire code's a sham thread for a month and then the thread died and yet unsafe clubs and malls are filled with foreign visitors. Remember the fellow murdered in Patong over the condo development that went wrong? Forgotten within a week. Kit that was murdered at his restaurant? Forgotten within a week. The muggings on the road to Karon? Long forgotten as I saw single bike drivers venturing forth in the wee hours a couple weeks ago. Oblivious to the risks.

What is needed is another watershed moment, something like the airport closures or a significant loss of life before anything happens. Thailand has had an incredible knack of walking the fine line between the type of chaos that scares off tourists and events that can be ignored.

I think, that sooner rather than later, the tourist industry trade is going to drop the horeshoe up its ass. As it is, foreign investors have been bypassing Thailand for Vietnam. I can think of one Pharma company exec that laughed at me when I asked why the MNE decided on Vietnam and not Thailand to invest its millions. He said: You've been in both countries and you're asking me this question? We're there to work, to build, not to lose our investment. I got the point.

[thurien]

I suppose a shoot-out on Patong beach sums up these measures after the success of Pattaya

hush hush?

not a word of all this sofar in BKK Post nor NATION (unless published yesterday already which I did not check)

[mouse]

Who in there right minds would want to holiday with there family in a resort ( ha ha) where the mafia run the roost and curruption and scams are the norm.......

Well we will definitely not spend our vacation there as we had planned for us and the three children. I suspect this may be commonplace soon with the economics and all.

[Rango]

Another blow for the tourism industry ,

Right now a lot of Scandinavians start their vacation to Thailand , and most of them goto Phuket.

Maybe not for long.

Maybe that because the tourism industry in Thailand is really starting to blow...

[ryladie99]

Soon to be the hottest selling item in Patong

No self respecting tourist will be seen without one.

This is nothing comparing with the city of Oakland, California or the State of Chicago in America. People here get kill everyday and no one makes any big deal about it. Come on do not make it worst. Thai people already went to so much pain and agony. Give them break and I am sure the polices will do their jobs. Tourists in Patong are having their great time and it is a business life line for the Thai. I am sure the authority knows what to do next.This is my take and opinion. ....P>S>

By the way, you can buy a bullet proof and feel free to walk around. Meanwhile, a phone call to police chief will do the good deed. Let's make your difference in our community.

[moskito]

This is nothing comparing with the city of Oakland, California or the State of Chicago in America.

I am sure it is the same in GODS COUNTRY !! But dont always forget, my fellow USAmericans, most of the worlds people from "normal" countrys doesnt

agree with the worlds police country USAmerica. They are everywhere in the world playing the good police, (as long as there is a catch in it) only in their own country they can not take care to make it safe.

USAmerica is not standard for the rest of the world. Not for western Europe, not for England nor for Australia. Some of us came here because it WAS safe. Kapitalism and avarice made Thailand like it is now.....

[Brewsta]

Another blow for the tourism industry ,

Right now a lot of Scandinavians start their vacation to Thailand , and most of them goto Phuket.

Maybe not for long.

Australians already are very wary of Phuket, British wary because of the airport extortion case, then Danish just the other day.

It seems Thailand seems to make some kind of negative news on monthly basis where the main story is about either extortion of foreigners or how unsafe the country is.

Keep it up Thailand!

Oh come on. Thailand is as safe as most places in the world if not safer. Wait a year or two until the depression has bitten into every urban centre in the world and then you'll see what trouble is ! Stop moaning about Thailand and enjoy the amusing posts earlier in this thread.

Agreed - 10 years based in LOS and I believe you're safer here than in many of the LoonyToon cities of the world...

Insanity of gun-crime in Manchester, Nottingham (gun crime capital of England, apparently), London, New York, Toronto, DC, not to mention Marseilles, Kosovo, most Italian cities and many more certainly make LOS look pedestrian in nature....

On my regular trips back to the West, these events don't even get a mention..... go figure..... LOS - Love it or Leave.

regards,

Brewsta

[moskito]

Very, very seldom does any thing that happens in Thailand get reported in the U.S. media outside of Los Angeles and New York City. Most Americans know almost nothing about Thailand. Probably 90% of Americans have never heard of Phuket until you say

unfortunately it is so so true and it is absolutely pathetic. I have been a couple of month in US, nice lukewarm people there but nothing behind. A collegue told me when he learned I was living in Thailand....OH GREAT, I was planning to visit it too on a planned trip to England, isnt Thailand the neighboring country??

US news are the same like Thainews, not much from other countrys except Iran, Afghanistan and sure Israel, thats it. US is the world, what happend outside US not important. Same politics like in Thailand, keep people stupid and they dont demand answers.

I know its not an US thread here but really wonder how our US members deal with the topic. Maybe it is because there are very few Americans coming to Thailand as normal tourists....and not on NAVY ships.....wanna see the US press if some Americans get shot in bright daylight on Phuket.

anyway, best is there is an ASEAN meeting going on where Mrs Clinton is too......good to see at least the Mafia gives a s........ of all the Security on the island

[nookiebear]

Another blow for the tourism industry ,

Right now a lot of Scandinavians start their vacation to Thailand , and most of them goto Phuket.

Maybe not for long.

They certainly are good at shooting themselves in the foot..............

[nookiebear]

With all what is happening in Phuket why go there at all. Pattaya is starting to lok like paradise comperid to Phuket.

As it has been for the last 5 years

I would say a couple of years more than that!!!!!!!!!!!

[Brewsta]

Very, very seldom does any thing that happens in Thailand get reported in the U.S. media outside of Los Angeles and New York City. Most Americans know almost nothing about Thailand. Probably 90% of Americans have never heard of Phuket until you say

unfortunately it is so so true and it is absolutely pathetic. I have been a couple of month in US, nice lukewarm people there but nothing behind. A collegue told me when he learned I was living in Thailand....OH GREAT, I was planning to visit it too on a planned trip to England, isnt Thailand the neighboring country??

US news are the same like Thainews, not much from other countrys except Iran, Afghanistan and sure Israel, thats it. US is the world, what happend outside US not important. Same politics like in Thailand, keep people stupid and they dont demand answers.

I know its not an US thread here but really wonder how our US members deal with the topic. Maybe it is because there are very few Americans coming to Thailand as normal tourists....and not on NAVY ships.....wanna see the US press if some Americans get shot in bright daylight on Phuket.

anyway, best is there is an ASEAN meeting going on where Mrs Clinton is too......good to see at least the Mafia gives a s........ of all the Security on the island

Careful now - if HillyBilly Clinton learns where Thailand is, she will prob threaten to 'nuke us' vis-a-vis Iran, etc....

4 years in US & Canada highlighted to me that most (maybe not all) of the locals barely know where China is on a map, let alone our little slice of paradise....long may that continue....

up here in ChiangMai, we (thankfully) seem to have fewer (reported?) attacks on furrin' visitors.....

Walk safe and zip up your Flakkie Jacket anyway - does wonders for the tan-line )

rgdz,

Brewsta

[lensta]

Soon to be the hottest selling item in Patong

No self respecting tourist will be seen without one.

This is nothing comparing with the city of Oakland, California or the State of Chicago in America. People here get kill everyday and no one makes any big deal about it. Come on do not make it worst. Thai people already went to so much pain and agony. Give them break and I am sure the polices will do their jobs. Tourists in Patong are having their great time and it is a business life line for the Thai. I am sure the authority knows what to do next.This is my take and opinion. ....P>S>

By the way, you can buy a bullet proof and feel free to walk around. Meanwhile, a phone call to police chief will do the good deed. Let's make your difference in our community.

"The police will do their jobs, a phone call to the police chief??" Please tell me you are just being sarcastic!!!!

[ratcatcher]

I am stunned. 75 posts on this thread and not one mention of the C word. Where are you Scott?

People died, Thai people not farangs and no-one has mentioned C O N D O L E N C E S . Amazing.

[Geppis72]

With all what is happening in Phuket why go there at all. Pattaya is starting to lok like paradise comperid to Phuket.

SAMUI lovely SAMUI !!

Family welcome,

Yes not such good infrastructures as Pattaya and Phuket but tropical charming atmosphere can not be find anymore over there,

still, and ever....

[brahmburgers]

And looking at other country's how often do you hear of day time gun gang wars in the city center?

I think it wouldn't take long to find a few news stories of much the same thing and then of course you forget the recent bombings in Jakarta. My point is: stop knocking Thailand at every opportunity, despite today events its still quite safe.

Looked at in a Thailand-wide perspective, consider that an average of about 3 dozen people die on Thai roads every day.

Looked at in a worldwide perspective, the shoot out in Patong is not such a big deal (unless you're connected with the injured/dead people involved). Someone mentioned Greece as being safe. Uh, I recall hearing Greece had weeks of sustained rioting recently. Mexican cities have dozens of macabre murders every day. Several countries have sustained armed conflicts: Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iraq, N.Ireland, south Russia, western half of China, most of Africa, half of Latin America (including Colombia) come to mind. Ok, maybe N.Ireland has quieted down in recent years. No place is 100% safe. Reminds me of the joke about the guy who finally found a way to quit smoking - he took up chewing on toothpicks instead. Unfortunately, he died from Dutch Elm disease.

This would barely make the news in Oakland, California!

True, but who plans a vacation to visit Oakland ?

Jerry Brown.

Edited July 22, 2009 by brahmburgers

[grantbkk]

All the scams, ripoffs and violence won't discourage the typical junketeer. They'll still come if the price is right and the girls/boys are available. These incidents in and of themselves are small events, easily explained away by most visitors. The it can't or won't happen to me logic. How many people remember the New Years fire and loss of life in Bangkok? TV was filled with the fire code's a sham thread for a month and then the thread died and yet unsafe clubs and malls are filled with foreign visitors. Remember the fellow murdered in Patong over the condo development that went wrong? Forgotten within a week. Kit that was murdered at his restaurant? Forgotten within a week. The muggings on the road to Karon? Long forgotten as I saw single bike drivers venturing forth in the wee hours a couple weeks ago. Oblivious to the risks.

What is needed is another watershed moment, something like the airport closures or a significant loss of life before anything happens. Thailand has had an incredible knack of walking the fine line between the type of chaos that scares off tourists and events that can be ignored.

I think, that sooner rather than later, the tourist industry trade is going to drop the horeshoe up its ass. As it is, foreign investors have been bypassing Thailand for Vietnam. I can think of one Pharma company exec that laughed at me when I asked why the MNE decided on Vietnam and not Thailand to invest its millions. He said: You've been in both countries and you're asking me this question? We're there to work, to build, not to lose our investment. I got the point.

Like 'geriatrickid' I'm expecting the other shoe to drop soon on the Thai tourism industry. This incident is not a watershed moment that will affect tourism very much. Thai on Thai does not generate headlines nor is it any kind of deterrent in the world we live in today. The bar mat incident unfortunately is the stuff of legends and is truly more important to tourists.

[christcourt]

Beautiful day to day in Phuket went for a nice walk at Cape Lam Promthep great wind not hot some people flying remote controlled gliders in the wind it was fun to watch. Sea had some nice surf today. Watched my granddaughters playing tonight at home and enjoyed the evening. Life is what you make it!

As long as it's not in the middle of a "shootout" on one of the Best promoted Tourist beaches in Thailand!!

Seems thailand has shot itself in the foot yet again to promote "The land of sun and smiles".

I hope this is a one off but I doubt it.......

[handydog]

Soon to be the hottest selling item in Patong

No self respecting tourist will be seen without one.

This is nothing comparing with the city of Oakland, California or the State of Chicago in America. People here get kill everyday and no one makes any big deal about it. Come on do not make it worst. Thai people already went to so much pain and agony. Give them break and I am sure the polices will do their jobs. Tourists in Patong are having their great time and it is a business life line for the Thai. I am sure the authority knows what to do next.This is my take and opinion. ....P>S>

By the way, you can buy a bullet proof and feel free to walk around. Meanwhile, a phone call to police chief will do the good deed. Let's make your difference in our community.

"The police will do their jobs, a phone call to the police chief??" Please tell me you are just being sarcastic!!!!

Why dont all the ex CIA, FBI, SAS and all you other secret-super heros that have retired to LOS get together and form a farang posse to sort out the gang wars here?

From the amount of BS you guys spurt forth, it would seem that there are hundreds of you in pattaya and phuket...... or is it you only work undercover after a few beers?

Grow up, shut up and go back where you came from.

[sangfroid]

name='hardy1943' post='2886745' date='2009-07-22 03:14:46'name='onomataho' post='2886735' date='2009-07-22 03:04:17']This would barely make the news in Oakland, California! True, but who plans a vacation to visit Oakland ?

Jerry Brown.

This happened in Sydney recently.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,2...069-661,00.html

[charmonman]

I remember reading an article about Thailand in 1986 or 1987 just before my first trip as a backpacker about all the various dangers in Thailand - dodgy taxi drivers, muggers, drugs. When I actually got here I was impressed by how friendly and safe it was. So much has changed over 22 years but I guess the bad press hasn't.

[Atmos]

'wary of Phuket' ?

where in the world would you say is 'safe'?

I'm leaving New Zealand next week to return to live in Phuket - NZ's 'image' as safe is media-managed, we have more than our share of murder, robbery and rape - the latter two crimes especially involving tourists who come here expecting some kind of safe paradise.

I'm not a fan of Patong, not my style, but I certainly feel safer there than in Wellington or Auckland. Karon is the place!

[Nickel]

I am stunned. 75 posts on this thread and not one mention of the C word. Where are you Scott?

People died, Thai people not farangs and no-one has mentioned C O N D O L E N C E S . Amazing.

A lot more than 75 posts now and still no 'C O N D O L E N C E S'. Thugs, gangsters have a shoot out in public endangering innocent people and end up getting shot. Pity they didn't ALL get shot DEAD!. 'Condolences? To who? Come off it, how soft are you?

[christcourt]

This is nothing comparing with the city of Oakland, California or the State of Chicago in America.

I am sure it is the same in GODS COUNTRY !! But dont always forget, my fellow USAmericans, most of the worlds people from "normal" countrys doesnt

agree with the worlds police country USAmerica. They are everywhere in the world playing the good police, (as long as there is a catch in it) only in their own country they can not take care to make it safe.

USAmerica is not standard for the rest of the world. Not for western Europe, not for England nor for Australia. Some of us came here because it WAS safe. Kapitalism and avarice made Thailand like it is now.....

You are full of ****** and get your Facts right. You are neither from Europe or America or your English would of been better. This is about Thailand of which most of us hopefully come for a "Happy Holiday" and for Some to stay. This is about coming to Thailand to have "happy memories" and good stories to tell. NOT bloodshed and rape on Tourist Beaches in Phuket and Poisonings in Phi Phi plus scams at the Main Airport and so on and so on. Seems this will again affect the Tourist Trade come October time and the Thai Government seems powerless to do anything with the gangs as it is powerless to stop Corruption through the police force. There will be more before it gets better [Hopefully!!]

[ReeBkk]

Oh come on. Thailand is as safe as most places in the world if not safer. Wait a year or two until the depression has bitten into every urban centre in the world and then you'll see what trouble is ! Stop moaning about Thailand and enjoy the amusing posts earlier in this thread.

Finally some sense! You think thailand was this safe 10 years ago? I can tell you first hand that it wasn't and I'm sure many of you on here would agree.

People have always known what Thailand is like, Amazing right? But 'with the pro's there are always con's'...Nevertheless, it's not going to stop people coming here to reap the obvious benefits this country has to offer. * edited spelling *

And if you think Thailand is danerous, lol, search out the polls recently conducted on violent crimes in the UK = the most violent country in Europe, more dangerous than Johannesburg, SA, and all of the US. I think the study focused on how many violent crimes per population.

[SoftWater]

Oh come on. Thailand is as safe as most places in the world if not safer. Wait a year or two until the depression has bitten into every urban centre in the world and then you'll see what trouble is ! Stop moaning about Thailand and enjoy the amusing posts earlier in this thread.

I couldn't agree more. Why is everyone talking about tourism here? This had nothing to do with tourists. OK, it happened in a tourist spot, but for once the police (were reported as) doing their job properly, so if anything its probably good PR for safety. Did any of those posters who dissed the security crackdown above think that maybe that was the reason the police were there so quick?

If you're worried about KingPower scams, then don't go into their overpriced store anyway. From the cases that I've read, all of the people caught in this scam were victims of their own greed (noticing but not saying that something extra had been put in their bag) or stupidity (stepping outside the store without paying - this would get you into trouble in any store in Britian, too). I'm not condoning what happened to them as a result, but if people were more honest or used their common sense they wouldn't be scammed in the first place.

Thailand has still got to be one of the best value-for-money holidays going; and if they close the airport due to protests, just think what a great excuse you've got for the boss for spending an extra week on the beach when you get back to work a week late!

[fxe1200]

With all what is happening in Phuket why go there at all. Pattaya is starting to lok like paradise comperid to Phuket.

Just wait and see, may be Koh Lanta is by far the healthier option. As far as I know, Pattaya is being taken over by three Russian gangs already.

[Jimjim]

Careful now - if HillyBilly Clinton learns where Thailand is, she will prob threaten to 'nuke us' vis-a-vis Iran, etc....

Brewsta

You do realize Hillary Clinton arrived in Thailand just yesterday for the Asean summit, yes?