Dual-pricing in Thailand: Is it time to do away with the ‘farang tax’?

[eddie61]

Wow, five pages of posts by people who most likely never go to national parks more than once or twice a year, if ever.

Good to see real issues like female circumcision and throwing homosexuals off rooftops in Iran haven't been forgotten about.

Well I suggest you start a thread about female circumcision or flat homos in Iran if that floats your boat.. This particular thread is about double pricing, in case your obviously limited reading skills did not lead you to that conclusion!

Edited October 10, 2015 by eddie61

[Froggybanrai]

I am a long term resident in Thailand, currently visiting Cordoba in Spain with my Miss and was rather surprised to see that sites free for me as a EU citizen were charging 0.30 for others... Kind of a revenge taken for so many years of dual pricing in LOS, except that those 120baths also came out my own pocket!

[Nakonamath]

It would be a good start. I know alot of friends who wont come back ever because they felt cheated and discriminated against. Nothing right about it and it sets the stage for nations rip of the visitor day....

Serious? What, did the 200 baht national park fee break their budget?

Hope they didn't go to Malaysia, Leos, Cambodia . . .

Never bothered me, more to worry about than a few dollars; as per post above, look at it as a discount to the Thai people

Some places its not only 200, many national parks its up to 500, to see the waterfall.

Several attractions have this fees, and personally, sure i dont give <deleted> all for 200, but when its free for thai, and 500 for me, because im, me. i can be without it, and i dont think that is what the goverment want in the end,

However, many, and i have had more good experiences than bad, Speaking thai, going with my kids / wife, or show Thai drivers license, have gotten me in, at low price 80% of my visits.

Still disagree with the 50baht thai 3-500 baht Foreigner pricing. we dont wear down the property more than thais do.....

If they argue for it, well let them pay 10x more when they come to Denmark and visit the zoo, why not. they must be rich enough to travel, so they can pay.

Don

[shirtlifter]

Wow, five pages of posts by people who most likely never go to national parks more than once or twice a year, if ever.

Good to see real issues like female circumcision and throwing homosexuals off rooftops in Iran haven't been forgotten about.

Well I suggest you start a thread about female circumcision or flat homos in Iran if that floats your boat.. This particular thread is about double pricing, in case your obviously limited reading skills did not lead you to that conclusion!

This site is running out of steam,this topic proves it and I am as guilty as everyone by posting,some meaningful posts are not allowed so we are left with the dross.

[bermannor]

Ah, I forgot, what drugs, party and feni is for Goa tourists and long term residents, seems to be nightlife, barfine and Singha for those who go to Thailand. Always enough money for that.

[bermannor]

shirtlifter, please, write more "meaningful" posts like

"Go back home and pay the extra everyday then you will have an argument,unless you are a quasi Thai".

[JoopJoop]

Dual-Pricing......I don't really care; I'm not that hard up but, if the worst happens following the Koh Tao murder trial, I'm out of here and I'll continue telling all that I know and meet never to come to this country.

[anotheruser]

Thai people pay a lot more than you think to enter national parks. Aside from taxes, the bribes they pay to encroach, poach and deflower the parks are astounding. Name any farang that has paid more than those people. We aren't talking 200 Baht now.

[speedtripler]

Dual-Pricing......I don't really care; I'm not that hard up but, if the worst happens following the Koh Tao murder trial, I'm out of here and I'll continue telling all that I know and meet never to come to this country.

You will move to another country if they are convicted?

you should pack your bags already because the loss of face to the police and govt if they have the wrong guys is too enormous at this stage ... I think even if they are innocent Thailand will find them guilty to close the case.....

Out of interest, which country would you move to?

[shirtlifter]

shirtlifter, please, write more "meaningful" posts like

"Go back home and pay the extra everyday then you will have an argument,unless you are a quasi Thai".

I don't think my intelligence can go that low as my brain can't come up with words of one syllable that your unfortunate limited intelligence can take onboard.I know I have wasted my time with this reply due to the limited reading ability of the poster,however we live in hope.

[gohmer]

This discussion has been going on forever. The dual pricing is wrong in all aspects, but what I don't understand is this; with the many coups, killings of foreigners falling off hotel balconies, crime, corruption, filth and garbage everywhere, unregulated chemicals sprayed/injected in all of the food, including the fresh food at the markets, the driving dangers, lack of proper criminal justice system, a significant percentage of the population disliking/hating/jealous of farang, dirty beaches, poor customer service, house prices higher than places in Europe and the US, and the constant complaining so many seem to do on these forums, while the F haven't you all moved back home. Are you wanted by the law, murderous ex-wife, or what??? It took me 7 years, but I am so glad I moved home. The arguement about the cost of living is totally bogus, unless you life in City of London, NYC, San Fran, or Moscow. I bought an almost new 4 bedroom, 3 bath house, extremely well built, with a resort style pool and spa for less money than the same place in Hua Hin or Chiang Mai, let along a nice neighborhood in BKK. Its in Southern California where the weather is summer every day. I'm 45 minutes to the beach, 1 hr to snow skiing, 1 hr to national parks, surrounded by great universities, entertainment, and the streets are all landscaped and parks everywhere. My internet is the SLOWES that Verizon sells in Temecula, CA, which is 50mb up and 50mb down for $35/mo. I have superfast cell service and when I buy a pair of shoes at REI for trail running and a month later they cause my toes to turn black, I can take them back and get a free pair a half size bigger. When you add up all of the amenities that countries like the UK and the US have, I don't get the point of living in Thailand, except for one, cheap, ignorant women. God you must be desperate. I came for work, yes I met a wife, but can't say any better than my American wife - just as cheap and ignorant, but that's another story. I left for all the other things. Now I have a great job, great home, safe, clean, and other than food, just as cheap. My advice, stop complaining about the two tier pricing and just go home. Problem solved!

[speedtripler]

This discussion has been going on forever. The dual pricing is wrong in all aspects, but what I don't understand is this; with the many coups, killings of foreigners falling off hotel balconies, crime, corruption, filth and garbage everywhere, unregulated chemicals sprayed/injected in all of the food, including the fresh food at the markets, the driving dangers, lack of proper criminal justice system, a significant percentage of the population disliking/hating/jealous of farang, dirty beaches, poor customer service, house prices higher than places in Europe and the US, and the constant complaining so many seem to do on these forums, while the F haven't you all moved back home. Are you wanted by the law, murderous ex-wife, or what??? It took me 7 years, but I am so glad I moved home. The arguement about the cost of living is totally bogus, unless you life in City of London, NYC, San Fran, or Moscow. I bought an almost new 4 bedroom, 3 bath house, extremely well built, with a resort style pool and spa for less money than the same place in Hua Hin or Chiang Mai, let along a nice neighborhood in BKK. Its in Southern California where the weather is summer every day. I'm 45 minutes to the beach, 1 hr to snow skiing, 1 hr to national parks, surrounded by great universities, entertainment, and the streets are all landscaped and parks everywhere. My internet is the SLOWES that Verizon sells in Temecula, CA, which is 50mb up and 50mb down for $35/mo. I have superfast cell service and when I buy a pair of shoes at REI for trail running and a month later they cause my toes to turn black, I can take them back and get a free pair a half size bigger. When you add up all of the amenities that countries like the UK and the US have, I don't get the point of living in Thailand, except for one, cheap, ignorant women. God you must be desperate. I came for work, yes I met a wife, but can't say any better than my American wife - just as cheap and ignorant, but that's another story. I left for all the other things. Now I have a great job, great home, safe, clean, and other than food, just as cheap. My advice, stop complaining about the two tier pricing and just go home. Problem solved!

Just because you or I maybe wealthy enough to afford a 10x price, doesn't make it fair or right...

Charge a rich Thai 10x in the West there would be uproar and legal proceedings...

[anotheruser]

The thing that is wrong about the pricing is that... none of it actually goes to any protection of the resource they are charging for. If you tell me I need to pay to upkeep the park then I expect to go into the islands and not see garbage and illegal dumping or fishing. I have an expectation of not seeing recent stumps from illegal logging. So you charge me ten times the amount to go in the coffers of the corrupt who do not do what they say with the money. I am sure many people would change their minds about this policy of pricing if it wasn't such a farce. Perhaps some transparency of where this money goes and the progress that it achieves would go a long ways towards good will to paying the fees.

Many parks in the USA have people who give well above the normal fees willingly to help conserve parks. You get the feeling if you give money to a natural area in Asia they would use the proceeds to build a hydro plant or widen the road to make it easier to extract whatever resource that particular park has.

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=illegal+logging+national+park+thailand&espv=2&biw=1100&bih=628&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMI1_LH88C4yAIV0ASOCh1dswXL

http://il6.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/5396504/thumb/1.jpg?i10c=img.resize(height:160)

Edited October 10, 2015 by anotheruser

[speedtripler]

The thing that is wrong about the pricing is that... none of it actually goes to any protection of the resource they are charging for. If you tell me I need to pay to upkeep the park then I expect to go into the islands and not see garbage and illegal dumping or fishing. I have an expectation of not seeing recent stumps from illegal logging. So you charge me ten times the amount to go in the coffers of the corrupt who do not do what they say with the money. I am sure many people would change their minds about this policy of pricing if it wasn't such a farce. Perhaps some transparency of where this money goes and the progress that it achieves would go a long ways towards good will to paying the fees.

Many parks in the USA have people who give well above the normal fees willingly to help conserve parks. You get the feeling if you give money to a natural area in Asia they would use the proceeds to build a hydro plant or widen the road to make it easier to extract whatever resource that particular park has.

Every Park is ridiculously overstaffed with security guards, maybe the cash pays for them...

Even the free parks in bkk are overloaded with uniforms like an army base

Probably they don't get paid a lot but it seems like they could cut back by about 75% and there would still be law and order in the park...

All I've ever seen them do is maybe ask someone to put out a cigarette or don't bring alcohol in

Basically, tasks that could be carried out by a signpost and most people would obey the rules...

[bangon04]

" It exists, arguably, because when Westerners started visiting Thailand in droves they were seen as rich, and perhaps because of that were deemed eligible for a little extra taxation."

The Japanese were/are apparently happy to pay extra for most things and were arguably the first to make the Thais think it was ok to gouge.

Or does it date from the US servicemen during the Vietnam era??

[Stargeezr]

I have seen this dual pricing since my first visit to Thailand many years ago.

I quit doing repeat visits to most parks, because of the increase rates, especially the

400 baht fee, when the locals, and Thai visitors pay so much less. Thailand will hopefully get away

from their corrupt practices some day in the future, but I am not going to hold my breath for this to happen

as I doubt if I will see it in my life time. I still enjoy my visits to the country, but it is a shame that

the tourists, visitors, and expats of other countries keep getting treated as only a money source.

Darn, I feel frustrated, so now I will have to go to Thailand and drink a few Changs to calm down.

[Walter Travolta]

2 questions . . .

1) What is so special about these parks? Are they not just nice areas of scenery that can be found all over Thailand?

2) Why do some people get irritated by the word 'farang'? Does it not simply mean white foreigner? My point is, that if a Thai person does not know your name, or your nationality, is it not just their way of describing you?

For example, if a new guy started at work and he was black, most people would describe him as the black guy until you got to know his name? If there were say 3 guys with the same name as him (let's say John), if you were talking about the new guy, most would say 'John, the black guy' or just 'the black guy'. No one would describe him as 'the one with the afro hair'!!

Same if in UK and John was Australian, Im sure most if not all would call him Aussie John? So, IMO, not a matter of skin colour. It's just a way that people use to distinguish who the topic of conversation is

My post is genuine, I do not know the answers. If anyone thinks by question 2 I am being racist by using a black guy as an example, I am certainly not. I am simply using an example to use in comparison in finding out why the word 'farang' is considered as a racist comment by some on TVF

Cheers

[bermannor]

shirtlifter, hope never dies.

And may be I can learn from your meaningful posts as Quasi Thai.

Have you tried how low your intelligence can drop or have you already reached the bottom?

"Go back home and pay the extra everyday then you will have an argument,unless you are a quasi Thai".

[anotheruser]

So why is illegal logging and poaching so common? The laws they enforce about alcohol and smoking do very little to protect the parks. Look at the state of the parks in Thailand. Koh Samed even charging like it is somehow a natural treasure is laughable with how polluted it is. You haven't seen the articles about what actually goes on? I am not talking about people throwing cigarette butts in Lumpini. Although they did manage to occupy that park, pollute it with sewage, and eat the lizards that lived there.

Go to the Everglades and kill an alligator, you will go to jail for real.

Edited October 10, 2015 by anotheruser

[1BADDAT]

This discussion has been going on forever. The dual pricing is wrong in all aspects, but what I don't understand is this; with the many coups, killings of foreigners falling off hotel balconies, crime, corruption, filth and garbage everywhere, unregulated chemicals sprayed/injected in all of the food, including the fresh food at the markets, the driving dangers, lack of proper criminal justice system, a significant percentage of the population disliking/hating/jealous of farang, dirty beaches, poor customer service, house prices higher than places in Europe and the US, and the constant complaining so many seem to do on these forums, while the F haven't you all moved back home. Are you wanted by the law, murderous ex-wife, or what??? It took me 7 years, but I am so glad I moved home. The arguement about the cost of living is totally bogus, unless you life in City of London, NYC, San Fran, or Moscow. I bought an almost new 4 bedroom, 3 bath house, extremely well built, with a resort style pool and spa for less money than the same place in Hua Hin or Chiang Mai, let along a nice neighborhood in BKK. Its in Southern California where the weather is summer every day. I'm 45 minutes to the beach, 1 hr to snow skiing, 1 hr to national parks, surrounded by great universities, entertainment, and the streets are all landscaped and parks everywhere. My internet is the SLOWES that Verizon sells in Temecula, CA, which is 50mb up and 50mb down for $35/mo. I have superfast cell service and when I buy a pair of shoes at REI for trail running and a month later they cause my toes to turn black, I can take them back and get a free pair a half size bigger. When you add up all of the amenities that countries like the UK and the US have, I don't get the point of living in Thailand, except for one, cheap, ignorant women. God you must be desperate. I came for work, yes I met a wife, but can't say any better than my American wife - just as cheap and ignorant, but that's another story. I left for all the other things. Now I have a great job, great home, safe, clean, and other than food, just as cheap. My advice, stop complaining about the two tier pricing and just go home. Problem solved!

if you had anything worth reading you have lost it in your ramble..paragraphs are your friend .

[anotheruser]

There is nothing lost due to the format and lack of paragraphs.

[laislica]

[bermannor]

Speedtripler, you really think so?

"Charge a rich Thai 10x in the West there would be uproar and legal proceedings..."

A Thai visitor and uproar in the West?

You live in phantasie land!

[bapoboy]

It's quite simple. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Would Thais like to be charged more for something simply because they are Thais ? Of course not, no one would like this. What Thais never grasp is that they get bad reputations for persistently doing bad things. Cut the silly stuff out and everyone's happy. As I said, beyond their understanding. They want to have their cake and eat it always at someone elses expense. Thainess.

I think the simple answer to this is that as a previous post mentioned that the average daily wage is 300 baht. Does it make any difference to me paying a little more, of course not, does it make a difference to a Thai getting a little more from us, I would hope so. I hope the little extra we pay gives a Thai a better life.

300 baht is the daily minimum wage.

when pay them more gives the thais sign is acceptabe to charge foreigners more then the local... it's not the"farang" (white man) job to give the thai extra Money,,,

don't be a fool in paradise don't feel sorry for them. ooooooh i feel sorr for my gf famly so i should buy a house,1 year later bye bye farang thanks foryour atm we dont need you more.....

paying more then the locals is only idiotic........

[anotheruser]

Help buy a park ranger a chain saw

[bermannor]

Speedttipler, please name us one park which you visited and give us the number of staff.

I will then verify it with a good friend of mine in the Department of Forestry.

If you can't, it's just your opinion but not fact.

[bermannor]

stargrazer9889, but you are aware that

"I feel frustrated, so now I will have to go to Thailand and drink a few Changs to calm down"

that you spent easily the Daly wage of an ordinary Thai, and that is the majority.

[Jimbolai]

Please let me know if I am mistaken, aside from Tourists, but regarding Foreigners who live here, do you not pay the Thai price if you show a Thai driving license or yellow book?

According to Nong Nooch you are mistaken. You Thai drivers license gets you nothing but the tourist rate.

[bermannor]

Waiter Travolta,
on www, there is a programme called GOOGLE. This is a so called search engine.

There you type in WIKIPEDIA or Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an online free-content encyclopedia.

Google will show you the link to it. It's something like www.wikipedia.com
There, you type in FARANG or farang or fAraNg (up to you) in the "search box". Don't forget to press the "Enter" key now.
And voila, you get the information.
You can get it in 9 different languages.
Or, you go back in this thread a couple of posts and you will find the link.
If you don't understand, ask again on this thread, TVMs will help you.

[bermannor]

bapoboy,

getting a higher salary as expat than the ordinary Thai is also idiotic!