Phuket Acts To Clean Up Jet-ski Woes

[HOOD Robin]

Notice to all foreigners planning a Thailand Holiday.

Why take chances. Protect yourself...

come to Chiang Mai...... not a jet ski in sight...

No don't come to chiangmai we don't want all you tourists up here spoiling our beatiful part of Thailand. Don't have the problems that they have in all the major tourist areas can live peacefully here. If all the tourists pour in then it will ruin the place and become another shit hole like Pattaya full of bars and prostitutes and scammers.

Hahahaha... good joke ! Are you gonna say that there are no bars and hookers in Chiang Mai ?

Why it has the highest level of HIV'ers in Thailand ?

PS : i have to admit i like the place ( but this has nothing to do with your argument my friend...)

[saintofsilence]

Produce a booklet of known scams of thailand for all Tourists this would give employement to hundreds more people and allow more scammers to make money from the booklet.

Only problem is you would need to set aside 1 day to read it and there would be not be enough paper available .

Or just a web site scams of Thailand should only be 10000 pages or so to flick thru.

[George4]

As Tod says It’s certainly entertaining, in a mindless sort of way"

Nothing in that programme surprised me except for how badly it was made.

What did the idiots expect when they made it? Three cheers from the Thai Authourities?

These would be experts on what goes on in Thailand couldn't see what was coming which I find comical.

Wonder how many baht they handed out to people for a bit of overacting? or permission to make the thing

Would like to see the brainboxes try and buy their way out of this one.

[mrtoad]

I think The Thai authorities have every right to look into it. Why just because our own societies are full of scummy second rate programs, negatively harming our societies and creating unnecessary fear, should Thailand follow suit. It looked staged to me. As for the fights, I think it is more of a damning indication of how revolting some tourists are than anything else. They are guests here and they behave like retards. Those in prison are in there for a reason. They have broken the law.

By the way there are 5,000 foreign prisoners in UK prisons ! Kind of dwarfs the hundred or so here !

The high season is upon Thailand and we are in the world’s worst recession ever in history. People are losing their homes, businesses are going bust and there are fewer jobs. This is the real world. Do you not think it was highly irresponsible and selfish beyond belief that someone should make such a program at this time ? We do not live in an adolescent TV world where no one takes responsibility. How self centered, self indulgent and naive can a human being be. This is garbage television for idiots. In 10 years I have never had a problem in Thailand. I stand side by side with Thailand 100%. Yes they do have problems but does it need spitefully spreading all over the globe; just before holiday season. How clever that is ? What moron thought it was a good idea ?

Try looking at our own countries and if you don’t like it here go home. The poor Thai’s must be so sick of foreigners moaning all the time. Why are you here if you want to criticize it all the time ? I hear so much moaning and criticizing in Thailand but are we not guests here.

The Thai’s know their country is not perfect. No country is; but is it polite to come here as a guest and just moan and criticize ? This is what is so screwed up in Western society and the Brits are the worst. Moaning, negative and unnecessary sensationalism......garbage for garnage minds.... I am English and I am ashamed of my own nationality. Look at the effluent on the program fighting and acting like spoilt retards……..Thank god I live in Thailand. I love the country. This is pathetic garbage TV for idiots who do not have the intelligence to watch something well researched, well thought out and positive. The good far outweighs the bad here. I am so sick of all the moaning whining selfish people who do nothing but moan. Go home. The makers of the film are probably kids who like to sensationalize and read comics. Average reading age of most UK papers is below 15 so guess they don't even know what they did. Thank god most English people are actually quite nice. Shame the bad ones get TV time.

Has to be the biggest bit of drivel that I have read in a few weeks on this forum. Your whole post reeks of being an apologist for corruption. As for all the usual "go home" and "guest" quotes - it's rather lame. I don't think that anyone is disagreeing about the idiotic behaviour of some of the tourists that arrive here in Thailand, and also depicted in the show - but you can't honestly say that the scams that are going on are also acceptable. Thailand continues to portray itself as a democracy, it is nothing of the sort . By making an issue out of this program, they are only going to draw more and more people into watch it. I'm pretty sure that the filming has been completed, and the full series will be broadcast irrespective of what the moronic authorities think should happen.

Also cut the BS out about the Brits, from my recollection of the show - the moronic behaviour has been evenly spread out between Brits, Americans and Aussies so far.

[Hanimal]

Imaginary Headline from the Future

Thai Film Crew Arrested in the UK for Filming Murder of Thai Tourist on the Motorway.

Bloomters

A Thai film crew was arrested by British police today for filming the grisly murder of a Thai tourist on the M4 motorway. The film crew were driving west when they spotted a car on the side of the motorway where a Thai was being beaten up in an act of "road rage" by a British youth. They stopped and began to film the murder and were promptly arrested 10 minutes later under Britain's archaic laws forbidding parking on motorways.

"This is another typical attempt by the British authorities to prevent foreigners from seeing what they don't want to be seen," stated an anonymous member of Brtain's notorious britvisa.com website.

"The Brits appear to think they can make the whole thing go away by arresting the film crew," noted another anonymous member of britvisa.com.

A spokesperson for the police was quoted as saying that the traffic laws of the UK are there for everyone and that it remains illegal to park on a motorway.

"The British laws are only applied to foreigners. How naive to thnk this law was implemented for a reason," noted another anonymus britvisa.com poster.

[Sturbuc]

I just wonder what will happen to a returning tourist if she/he has published such a scam abroad....

Edited September 18, 2009 by Sturbuc

[LivinLOS]

Well, in the states, right now the hot news is that of a 20 and 25 year old went into an "ACORN" branch with a hidden camera and asked about getting government paid help with buying a house to host their "Prostitution biz, complete with underage girls from south america". The managers of the offices (they went to four offices throughout the states), wanted to help them, no one threw them out. Then the videos got posted on the internet, and now the company ACORN is under total fire, it has been getting millions of government money.... The people that broke the story, no charges.... The crooked government is finally cutting off funding to this company, they have no choice, the country now sees the corruption,, well, we saw it before, but now "they" have to do something about it. ITS ON THE INTERNET!

Ahhhhhh, America, you can compare it to finally putting on clean socks and shoes after wearing flip flops for three months in thailand.

Here is the site, if you were wondering... biggovernment . com

Is there a moderator to keep people on topic? What on earth does a political issue in another country have to do with this topic?

Erm because it shows how 'hidden camera' shows make scoops all the time.. This one with huge million dollar ramifications.. and the production company is not targeted !!

You can see the parallels I assume ??

[LivinLOS]

I think this is good news.

The jet ski incident was obviously a set up. Yes JJ seemed to be "typecast" and I have no doubt hes ripped people off with Jet Skis many times but this was clearly exaggerated.

You dont know JJ do you ?? Thats exactly how he is.. Exactly !!

This is the ego of the beach rd gangs.. They can do what they like.. The police wont ever go against them..

Jimmy was just playing up his bad boy image and ego..

[christcourt]

Notice to all foreigners planning a Thailand Holiday.

Why take chances. Protect yourself...

come to Chiang Mai...... not a jet ski in sight...

No don't come to chiangmai we don't want all you tourists up here spoiling our beatiful part of Thailand. Don't have the problems that they have in all the major tourist areas can live peacefully here. If all the tourists pour in then it will ruin the place and become another shit hole like Pattaya full of bars and prostitutes and scammers.

Marsteel - I AGREE 100%!! Their drunk, bar hopping, prostitute searching, trouble making asses are NOT wanted in the most beautiful city in Thailand, where the REAL Thai people are truly wonderful. That's not to say life here is perfect, but it's a hel_l of a lot better than anything you can find down south, that's for sure!

I like the Sand, Sea, and Islands around Thailand. I'm a kinda "waterbaby" that likes the warm waters, I'm not a "tree monkey" that enjoys the tree's and mountains that's Changmai. All to our own so to speak, and I'm not a troublemaker, Prostitute searcher, Drunken person that you think most of us are. So do me a favour and engage brain before pressing Computer Keys. Thankyou

[HOOD Robin]

>>Tourist Police chief Adis Ngamjitsuksri has conceded the extortion of tourists was a problem which the police alone could not stamp out.

Of course not, why would the police want to cut off this big income source?

If they really wanted to stamp out this scam why not give all tourists a leaflet on arrival at Phuket Samui etc airports informing them of a scam with jet skis? Any tourist with half a brain would not touch a jet ski with a barge pole. In a couple of months, no business, problem disappears! Why are the easiest solutions the hardest to understand???

ANSWER : Very good idea but, like already said, police (and others ) will never allow to cut off one of their extra incomes....

[mickyboy]

These documentaries are just a hyped up mainly excauated load of nonsense.

Take a look on Utube at the uncut interviews and scenes. It`s obvious that most of it is semi staged, plus the bar fights and street yob sagas, you’ll find these in any British towns after the pub and club animal chunking out times. Also the story about the young girl facing drug charges and her loser boyfriend. I was hoping she would have gone down for a least a year as an example to those who think Thailand is a soft touch.

That JJ who during an interview admitted that he is not a full Thai, but half Dutch, is wallowing in all the fame and is always guaranteed to put on a good show in front of the cameras.

It`s all done for gaining high viewer ratings, profit and entertainment at the expense of the Thais, damaging the already badly hit tourist industries and Thailand’s image around the world.

I am sure that for the Thais and the ex-pats that helped create and produce this rubbish are looking at a very grim future career wise in Thailand and perhaps even deportation for the Farang police who participated in this without official approval.

Apart from the jet-ski incident (lets leave it to the side for now), what in the episode did you not truly agree with was shown as correct as any other episode of cops etc?

I saw nothing wrong with the farang police voluntary. And the girl with the drugs etc...overall the show portrayed the tourists in a bad light, kinda like how cops portray the poor in a bad light, since they do most of the bad things.

whats really damageing thailand is the now so many drunken english guy who have now swapped patpong pattaya and patong for the costa brave spain was in khoasan rd in march and saw at least 4 incidents in one weekend fighting 1 stabing and arguments between brits and thais or brits with other brits and thiis thing with guys about 40 ish wearing football shirt as they do in spain just bitching for trouble drunk anyway back again to loook to open a bussiness with the wife look at phuket this time done up north why i dont know maybe im a fool but beer bars wont be for me and i do check out your classified adds very helpfull

[skorchio]

Could Black Sheep Productions do a documentary on the authorities handling of the first documentary?

Great comedy value!

haha, classic idea!! And maybe before they release that, they could also make the Part 3 set in the future, the predicted reaction to Part 2, where they all get banged up......

[Chunkton]

>>Tourist Police chief Adis Ngamjitsuksri has conceded the extortion of tourists was a problem which the police alone could not stamp out.

Of course not, why would the police want to cut off this big income source?

If they really wanted to stamp out this scam why not give all tourists a leaflet on arrival at Phuket Samui etc airports informing them of a scam with jet skis? Any tourist with half a brain would not touch a jet ski with a barge pole. In a couple of months, no business, problem disappears! Why are the easiest solutions the hardest to understand???

When I first came to Thailand in '87 the hotel in Pattaya had brochures in the rooms warning guests to not rent jet skis because of the scams. I was a little disappointed as the water was cleaner back then, but followed the hotel advice. I assumed hotels in both Pattaya and Phuket would still be doing this as a service to their guests. In fact back then hotels were very helpful in warning you about all sorts of scams.

[halfluke]

Hi guys,

I watched the first part and half of the second one on YouTube... and anyone who is not blind can see that's staged from A to Z.

That doesn't mean that such things don't happen in Thailand, probably they do, but JJ, the marines, the girl and his boyfriend, they were clearly ACTING, it was anything but real.

This proves once again how almost everything you see on TV is false, and it's artificially made to push some intentional meaning.

R.I.P to this bu****it please, the only way to judge something is to personally test it, or be there.

[andyww]

I have looked critaclly at this, and in further research it appears the producer was already known to the MP as he was explaining the scams to the film guy who was also following the off duty soldiers around Phuket.

The producer had recieved a phone call after interviewing JJ about the jet ski business and related problems, the call came from JJ to come to his workshop as an incidence had taken place and was about to to resolved, JJ even arranged a motorcycle and sidecar for the film crew of 2 people to get them to his place, you can also see one of the soldiers say hello to the producer as he sees him again, when they arrive.

Nobody was paid and none of this was stage managed or scripted, JJ's ego did it all, the MP could have done better but at the end of the day his boys had already been warned about the jet ski scams and chose to ride them full stop.

Only 2 or 3 people know the truth as to wether the jet ski really damaged or not, the soldier seems willing to pay, if he was larking around close to one of his mates on the jet ski and the vehicles touched or collided, he has only himself to blame, but the damage could have been old and pushed back into place therefore hiding the split, until the convinient low speed collision.

Yes JJ is a crook, it doesnt cost anywhere near that to repair a jet ski, i would like to see his face and reaction if somebody tried charging him even 20000 to repair it.

BTW you can buy jetski from cheangghon for 100000 bht!

It seems a shame the producer didnt dot is i's and cross his t's when it cam down to the small print of film making here in thailand as it made for some good viewing.

That was exactly my take on this episode. I cant understand why people think this was staged. It was "played up" for sure but was a real scamming incident.

Some people may wonder why JJ invited cameras to film him scamming customers. Allow me to explain:

He has been operating this scam for years, with 100% success, and as such he would be so accomplished in his lies that he would almost start to believe them himself. This is normal for a con-artist. So, he had full confidence that the film crew and every single viewer of the film would accept that he was telling the truth, that the boats were damaged and the money he was demanding was the real cost of repair.

He became the victim of his own self-confidence. This is in fact how most con-artists end up. They become so cocky after running scams for such a long time that they start to believe their own lies.

Its the ultimate act of bravado, perpetrating a scam in fromt of a camera, but he overlooked the fact that the viwers are not the normal kind of "left brain at home" tourists he is used to dealing with, but people sat in their living rooms watching on TV at home.

The interest generated by this program would not have escaped the mainstream TV channels in the UK. It was made by an independent production company and they will be free to sell to other stations. Channel 4 would be my bet, or maybe BBC3.

[webfact]

>>Tourist Police chief Adis Ngamjitsuksri has conceded the extortion of tourists was a problem which the police alone could not stamp out.

Of course not, why would the police want to cut off this big income source?

If they really wanted to stamp out this scam why not give all tourists a leaflet on arrival at Phuket Samui etc airports informing them of a scam with jet skis? Any tourist with half a brain would not touch a jet ski with a barge pole. In a couple of months, no business, problem disappears! Why are the easiest solutions the hardest to understand???

When I first came to Thailand in '87 the hotel in Pattaya had brochures in the rooms warning guests to not rent jet skis because of the scams. I was a little disappointed as the water was cleaner back then, but followed the hotel advice. I assumed hotels in both Pattaya and Phuket would still be doing this as a service to their guests. In fact back then hotels were very helpful in warning you about all sorts of scams.

Yup I remember that. Down in Pattaya they warned about renting jet skis. That was back in 87 !!!

Edited September 18, 2009 by webfact

[mrukman]

How many of you on T/V know what Mai Pen Rai means. This is implanted in thais at birth. If your sat in a bar and a car crashes into the bar and injures you its your fault for sitting in the bar. This is the attitude of your bog standard thai's way of thinking. Feed them what you want them to hear and they will believe it. That is why some posters on here are trying to defend the thai way of thinking. (mai pen rai) in action. Let us not be in any doubt falangs are thought of for 1 thing only nothing more nothing less. The thai mind set is they (the falang) have money full stop. If someone is caught stealing from a falang its accepted as the norm. To the non believers who i presume are thai in here why do you still believe the program was staged, you have been told everyone who took part were told and made to sign a document to participate in the program even JJ phoned the producer and arranged transport he admitted this but yet you still think it was set up. Why are the jet ski opperators from phuket having a meeting today, if it was not for Big Trouble do you honestly think they would all be having a meeting to disguss the DAMAGE that has been caused by those themselves. Even the governor in the early stages admitted these scams were damaging the reputation of Phuket however no doubt a word in his ear and his attitude was changed. What is disgracefull in all this is the attitude shown by a goverment that takes no action when a group shuts down both airports and costs them billions in lost revenue yet when a company outside thailand films and shows the kind of theft against tourists they the gov't are quick to defend there action and blame everything on outsiders.

Edited September 18, 2009 by mrukman

[christcourt]

Imaginary Headline from the Future

Thai Film Crew Arrested in the UK for Filming Murder of Thai Tourist on the Motorway.

Bloomters

A Thai film crew was arrested by British police today for filming the grisly murder of a Thai tourist on the M4 motorway. The film crew were driving west when they spotted a car on the side of the motorway where a Thai was being beaten up in an act of "road rage" by a British youth. They stopped and began to film the murder and were promptly arrested 10 minutes later under Britain's archaic laws forbidding parking on motorways.

"This is another typical attempt by the British authorities to prevent foreigners from seeing what they don't want to be seen," stated an anonymous member of Brtain's notorious britvisa.com website.

"The Brits appear to think they can make the whole thing go away by arresting the film crew," noted another anonymous member of britvisa.com.

A spokesperson for the police was quoted as saying that the traffic laws of the UK are there for everyone and that it remains illegal to park on a motorway.

"The British laws are only applied to foreigners. How naive to thnk this law was implemented for a reason," noted another anonymus britvisa.com poster.

LOL!!! Nice one when can we see the film then !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Try this--NEWS FLASH--Starting 1st November all International tourists coming to LOS Thailand are to have their Mobile Camera Phones and Camera's with Video Confiscated and Returned to them on exiting Thailand say a spokes person for Thai Tourist Board.

All Expat's having the same equipment are to have the Video Function Disconnected by a police IT expert at their local station and returned to them. This will ensure a HAPPY THAILAND SCAM FREE TOURIST COUNTRY [unquote].

[Chunkton]

Notice to all foreigners planning a Thailand Holiday.

Why take chances. Protect yourself...

come to Chiang Mai...... not a jet ski in sight...

No don't come to chiangmai we don't want all you tourists up here spoiling our beatiful part of Thailand. Don't have the problems that they have in all the major tourist areas can live peacefully here. If all the tourists pour in then it will ruin the place and become another shit hole like Pattaya full of bars and prostitutes and scammers.

"your beautiful part of Thailand " My arse ! Chiang Mai is 'lifting' pall & is rampant with all of the problems you label other "major tourist areas" added to that it's smelly ! I'm sure your message that Chiang Mai isn't interested in encouraging more tourists to visit is shared by everyone . You narrow minded Dope !

Might one hazard a guess that you live in Pattaya?

[ingvar]

News from September 19, 2010:

A NGO has filed formal complaints with Police at Bangkok Muang Police Station against a number of Thai Television Soap Opera shows and related TV stations.

National Police Commissioner General Sukhumband Matrvartikhul said in a press conference:

"A NGO have filed complaints agains a number of broadcast networks for tarnishing The Thai National Image and trying to portray Thai people in a bad way".

An anonymous source within the department said that the complaints related to the repeated scenes of violence, rape and beatings of women in Thai TV series that portray Thai people, especially upper middle class, as savage and primitive people prone to fighting, beating and abuse of fellow family members and servants.

[mrukman]

Best 1 so far at the meeting in Phuket this morning have a guess who turned up along with the other jet ski scammers. If this was not a seriouse issue you would have thought he would have been ostrasized out of Patong for what he did, but no he was at the meeting, would have liked to have been a fly on the wall. Lets wait for the bullshit escuse and there answear as to how they can salvage whats left ha ha .

[brucehosking]

I think The Thai authorities have every right to look into it. Why just because our own societies are full of scummy second rate programs, negatively harming our societies and creating unnecessary fear, should Thailand follow suit. It looked staged to me. As for the fights, I think it is more of a damning indication of how revolting some tourists are than anything else. They are guests here and they behave like retards. Those in prison are in there for a reason. They have broken the law.

By the way there are 5,000 foreign prisoners in UK prisons ! Kind of dwarfs the hundred or so here !

The high season is upon Thailand and we are in the world's worst recession ever in history. People are losing their homes, businesses are going bust and there are fewer jobs. This is the real world. Do you not think it was highly irresponsible and selfish beyond belief that someone should make such a program at this time ? We do not live in an adolescent TV world where no one takes responsibility. How self centered, self indulgent and naive can a human being be. This is garbage television for idiots. In 10 years I have never had a problem in Thailand. I stand side by side with Thailand 100%. Yes they do have problems but does it need spitefully spreading all over the globe; just before holiday season. How clever that is ? What moron thought it was a good idea ?

Try looking at our own countries and if you don't like it here go home. The poor Thai's must be so sick of foreigners moaning all the time. Why are you here if you want to criticize it all the time ? I hear so much moaning and criticizing in Thailand but are we not guests here.

The Thai's know their country is not perfect. No country is; but is it polite to come here as a guest and just moan and criticize ? This is what is so screwed up in Western society and the Brits are the worst. Moaning, negative and unnecessary sensationalism......garbage for garnage minds.... I am English and I am ashamed of my own nationality. Look at the effluent on the program fighting and acting like spoilt retards……..Thank god I live in Thailand. I love the country. This is pathetic garbage TV for idiots who do not have the intelligence to watch something well researched, well thought out and positive. The good far outweighs the bad here. I am so sick of all the moaning whining selfish people who do nothing but moan. Go home. The makers of the film are probably kids who like to sensationalize and read comics. Average reading age of most UK papers is below 15 so guess they don't even know what they did. Thank god most English people are actually quite nice. Shame the bad ones get TV time.

Watching that documentary reminded me of FOX news from the states. I laughed my ass off all the way through it. The useless backbackers on holiday with no money, the cool sound effects....love the children playing sound bites as they mention the paedophile..... the snappy visuals and drama...haha the idiot cop crapping on about Yabba like its the evil of the world and you can't get that anywhere but Thailand....give me a break...all I saw were a bunch of drunk idiots - and I see that in every city I have been to.....I had a great time in thailand for 6 months with my Thai wife...we'll be going back soon. She has cool friends and we saw some great places. We even got ripped off a couple of times.....and she is Thai....those dam_n power boats to koh samet........hmmmmmm what ever...its still cheap and great fun....just do your research before you go.....remember the tourists being charged by the tour operator in Sydney to go on Bondi beach....yeah its everywhere....

[jpolten]

People are still arguing about if the jet ski scene was staged or not,do you think it matters anymore?????,people around the world are seeing this Doc and

if people believe it or not is going to be bad for Thailands tourism!!

Someone mentioned that scams happen all around the world,this is true of course....but most countries have a good police force that are not involved in

the scams and are there to help people (locals and tourists) and enforce the law!!

Scams have been around in Thailand for a long long time,and a lot are backed up by the police!I don't think they will ever stamp this out,its deep rooted and maybe impossible to remove,maybe the TAT should print a (YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED A-Z SCAM LEAFLET) and give to all touching down at swampy,

then its up to the tourist to use their common sense!

Against what some people here think,i would like to see a lot more tourist police, but not sitting on their arse's on walking street!!! dealing with them would be easier than the Thai cops....

[alstaxi]

Jet ski video maker faces prosecution

Police admit extortion of tourists hard to stop

PHUKET: -- A Thai video production company involved in the filming of alleged extortion of foreigners by a Phuket jet ski operator is to be prosecuted for sending the recordings abroad for broadcasting without permission.

Wanasiri Morakul, director of the Thailand Film Office which comes under the Tourism and Sports Ministry, yesterday said police had traced the tapes to a company called Black Sheep Productions.

She said the managers of the company, which had produced the Big Trouble In Thailand series for Bravo All News station in England, admitted to holding the copyright for the recordings.

More here http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2404...ces-prosecution

-- Bangkok Post 2009-09-18

Police admit extortion of tourists, and its hard for them to stop. The headline was missing puctuation and a word or two.

[LivinLOS]

Jet ski video maker faces prosecution

Police admit extortion of tourists hard to stop

PHUKET: -- A Thai video production company involved in the filming of alleged extortion of foreigners by a Phuket jet ski operator is to be prosecuted for sending the recordings abroad for broadcasting without permission.

Wanasiri Morakul, director of the Thailand Film Office which comes under the Tourism and Sports Ministry, yesterday said police had traced the tapes to a company called Black Sheep Productions.

She said the managers of the company, which had produced the Big Trouble In Thailand series for Bravo All News station in England, admitted to holding the copyright for the recordings.

More here http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2404...ces-prosecution

-- Bangkok Post 2009-09-18

Police admit extortion of tourists, and its hard for them to stop. The headline was missing puctuation and a word or two.

Police admit its hard to stop..

Perhaps a 12 step program !!! Hi my name is Somchai and its been 2 days since I last took a backhander.

[Ga-gai]

Would be great if the same production company could make a documentary of the King Power scams at the airport. I agreed with the rest here that it is wrong to prosecute someone who reveals crimes and bad behavior. But that is the Thai mentality.

Just try walk in to a small village and tell someone that he or she had been doing something wrong. You could get killed for that. It's all about keeping the face. I had an issue myself with a relative to my wife. The relative had made something bad and I then went to talk to his mother about the issue. Instead of having an understanding talk about the issue, she went just mad and start shouting at me saying that I was telling lies. She even started this behavior before I was finished telling her what exactly had happened. No matter what I were about to say, that boy haven't done anything wrong and I was just a big liar. So I left before I risked getting stabbed with a knife or worse.

But that is just the way it is. I even have problems om confronting my wife with things that doesn't work or is not so good. I could easily bring up almost the same kind of drama between me and her, if I'm not careful. This is quite the opposite of what I've been learned from childhood, on how to handle these kind of situations. I've learned that I just can't confront these people like I would to a sound and healthy westerner. It doesn't work that way. This whole society is founded on people keeping the face against each other, in order to keep their positions in the society. You can easily notice that the most bitching or unfriendly people you meet here, are those who have no or a very low position in the society but want others to believe the opposite. Also add a big amount jealousy to it all, and you get the picture.

[jackr]

You all seem to forget that many Thai people do indeed have a superiority complex, they think that they know all the answers, all the time, never need help or advice from a foreigner, in fact many think that Thailand would be much better off if foreigners were banned from entering.

So, isn't it great if you are an xenophobic Thai person?

I blame it all on crap TV and the fact they weren't colonized

Phuket is digging itself into a deeper and deeper hole.. They are allowing an anything goes attitude to ripping of tourists and its getting suddenly much worse. Its not just the jetskis or just any one segment.. Its the attitude of a whole town that fair means or foul you can lie cheat and steal and the police will back you up for a cut.

I say evacuate all the good guys, dustoff and nuke from orbit

I like the idea of making the beaches jet-ski-free, though, as mentioned by previous poster, but there are just too many scoundrels on the take for that to happen.

[harleyclarkey]

Why don't Thais understand that extorting from foreign visitors hurts themselves badly?"

They don't and never will. It is selfish, uncontrollable, insatiable greed. You can see from the way the country is run that Thais are all for themselves alone. It is endemic and will never change. It is now too deep rooted.

Look at the total lack of any government social welfare, support, homeless shelters, etc. And this is for their own! Now what will they think of scabby foreigners who have the neck to come and pollute their beautiful, wonderful paradise with their dirty presence?? And the ones that have chosen, over countless other countries, to live here??

O yes. Now we remember. They keep the country afloat with their money....maybe we'll put up with them as long as it suits us. But we'll take whatever we can get out of them by fair means or foul. Doesn't matter which.

Edited September 18, 2009 by harleyclarkey

[stuck]

It's a new media law in french called:

Les Media Jeste

Edited September 18, 2009 by stuck

[harleyclarkey]

It's a new media law in french called:

Le Media Jeste

Shhhhhh!!