Thailand is the land of smiles? With the growing list of violent attacks you have to be having a laugh
Simon Calder

Two Burmese barmen were found guilty of murdering the British students, while in the French case, five Cambodian fishermen are under arrest

LONDON: -- “Thailand remains one of the safest countries in the world, with a surprisingly low crime rate” - so says the Tourism Authority of, you guessed it, Thailand.

The Foreign Office travel advice tells a different story. It warns of “vicious, unprovoked attacks by individuals and gangs in Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao” - three islands in the Gulf of Thailand that are popular with foreign tourists.

The suspects are foreign; two Burmese barmen were found guilty of murdering the British students, while in the French case, five Cambodian fishermen are under arrest. In both cases the suspects were taken to the scene of the crime, for a macabre and chaotic “reconstruction” of the attacks.

Full story: http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/thailand-tourism-is-the-land-of-smiles-with-the-growing-list-of-violent-attacks-hannah-witheridge-a6903826.html

-- INDEPENDENT 2016-03-02

Disinformation is the norm. Nothing new here.

Sure, it's the "Land Of Over 40 Different Types Of Thai Smiles" - one for every emotion known to mankind..

From benign to lethal..

And you wonder why Thailand is now getting closer to China and Russia and becoming less interested in improving relationships with the West, when foreign media publishes a second grade piece of journalism that damns the entire country. I mean, what does that article actually say and why is it newsworthy, a short piece that reminds everyone that nowhere in the world is 100% safe, sad.

And you wonder why Thailand is now getting closer to China and Russia and becoming less interested in improving relationships with the West, when foreign media publishes a second grade piece of journalism that damns the entire country. I mean, what does that article actually say and why is it newsworthy, a short piece that reminds everyone that nowhere in the world is 100% safe, sad.

really ? is it click baiting ? by the way , does this vid remind you something ? it is called "murder in paradize" ! enjoy !

http://video.toggle.sg/en/series/undercover-asia-s3/ep7/377702

http://images.toggle.sg/images/01031601421170_640X360.JPG

And you wonder why Thailand is now getting closer to China and Russia and becoming less interested in improving relationships with the West, when foreign media publishes a second grade piece of journalism that damns the entire country. I mean, what does that article actually say and why is it newsworthy, a short piece that reminds everyone that nowhere in the world is 100% safe, sad.

really ? is it baiting ? by the way , does this vid remind you something ?

http://video.toggle.sg/en/series/undercover-asia-s3/ep7/377702

http://images.toggle.sg/images/01031601421170_640X360.JPG

Call it what you will, it's simple not an article that's worthy of a national UK broadsheet, it doesn't say anything, it's not newsworthy, it's a page filler. If you want to write and publish a serious piece on the subject then fine, something that is balanced and actually says something, the posted article is neither balanced, factual nor informative.

I look around and think.......

where all those beautiful smiles have gone?

Miss them everyday

“Thailand remains one of the safest countries in the world, with a surprisingly low crime rate” - so says the Tourism Authority of, you guessed it, Thailand.

This is the reason it has made the press: Because of the blatant lies and B/S coming from TAT.

No matter if you like it or not, sadly, Thailand is not a safe place in general, if you can walk down a street in a popular tourist area with out getting robbed or killed, as in the case of the Australian lady who was stabbed in the heart for her handbag, just to mention one of hundreds of similar cases, then its not a safe place, for tourists.

When I lived in Thailand, I witnessed a young girl and her friends get gunned down, because the girl refused to have per-arranged marriage, my neighbor was stabbed in the neck by a bar girl because he wouldn't buy her a drink.

The only people smiling, where the perps.

In my experience most Thais a racist, religious zealots who are only interested in your money, not all but most.

Its not a safe place to visit and no one will ever guarantee your safety when in Thailand, the only thing that is nice in Thailand is the weather and the natural scenery

I've only had three or four minor incidents with Thais in the last ten years

In each case, they NEVER smiled at all. Not one out of those over-forty smiles.

I resolved the issues in varying ways - but not by shouting or getting angry. Oh no.

But you don't wimp out either. There's a fine line.

When you're by yourself and a crowd gathers around to support the Thai and beat the shiiiit out of you

In pack mentality fashion..

No matter if you like it or not, sadly, Thailand is not a safe place in general, if you can walk down a street in a popular tourist area with out getting robbed or killed, as in the case of the Australian lady who was stabbed in the heart for her handbag, just to mention one of hundreds of similar cases, then its not a safe place, for tourists.

When I lived in Thailand, I witnessed a young girl and her friends get gunned down, because the girl refused to have per-arranged marriage, my neighbor was stabbed in the neck by a bar girl because he wouldn't buy her a drink.

The only people smiling, where the perps.

In my experience most Thais a racist, religious zealots who are only interested in your money, not all but most.

Its not a safe place to visit and no one will ever guarantee your safety when in Thailand, the only thing that is nice in Thailand is the weather and the natural scenery

"walk down a street in a popular tourist area with out getting robbed or killed", it's clear from what you wrote that you've never ever lived in Thailand and I doubt that your holiday here was longer than two weeks because what you know and understand about the country is absolutely zero!

One could even go out on a limb and suggest that the term "Land Of Smiles" is a Veritable Paradox of Herculean Proportions - like Thailand itself

Go to Koh Phi Phi for example ( actually, please don't..heh heh.. ) and walk around

Pretty soon you'll see fit Burmese laborers carrying heavy loads in the hot sun (making what is tantamount to slave-labour wages), passing you on the right side of the pathway..

Just as a random Thai lady on your left, in the overly-expensive massage place, simultaneously yells out at you..

"You want Massage?"

"I'll pass.."

No matter if you like it or not, sadly, Thailand is not a safe place in general, if you can walk down a street in a popular tourist area with out getting robbed or killed, as in the case of the Australian lady who was stabbed in the heart for her handbag, just to mention one of hundreds of similar cases, then its not a safe place, for tourists.

When I lived in Thailand, I witnessed a young girl and her friends get gunned down, because the girl refused to have per-arranged marriage, my neighbor was stabbed in the neck by a bar girl because he wouldn't buy her a drink.

The only people smiling, where the perps.

In my experience most Thais a racist, religious zealots who are only interested in your money, not all but most.

Its not a safe place to visit and no one will ever guarantee your safety when in Thailand, the only thing that is nice in Thailand is the weather and the natural scenery

"walk down a street in a popular tourist area with out getting robbed or killed", it's clear from what you wrote that you've never ever lived in Thailand and I doubt that your holiday here was longer than two weeks because what you know and understand about the country is absolutely zero!

@chiangmai : at the opposite, you must have a very long experience of living in a small village lost in the middle of the ricefields without putting a foot out of your home after the sunset

And you wonder why Thailand is now getting closer to China and Russia and becoming less interested in improving relationships with the West, when foreign media publishes a second grade piece of journalism that damns the entire country. I mean, what does that article actually say and why is it newsworthy, a short piece that reminds everyone that nowhere in the world is 100% safe, sad.

Yes the truth often hurts!

No matter if you like it or not, sadly, Thailand is not a safe place in general, if you can walk down a street in a popular tourist area with out getting robbed or killed, as in the case of the Australian lady who was stabbed in the heart for her handbag, just to mention one of hundreds of similar cases, then its not a safe place, for tourists.

When I lived in Thailand, I witnessed a young girl and her friends get gunned down, because the girl refused to have per-arranged marriage, my neighbor was stabbed in the neck by a bar girl because he wouldn't buy her a drink.

The only people smiling, where the perps.

In my experience most Thais a racist, religious zealots who are only interested in your money, not all but most.

Its not a safe place to visit and no one will ever guarantee your safety when in Thailand, the only thing that is nice in Thailand is the weather and the natural scenery

"walk down a street in a popular tourist area with out getting robbed or killed", it's clear from what you wrote that you've never ever lived in Thailand and I doubt that your holiday here was longer than two weeks because what you know and understand about the country is absolutely zero!

@chiangmai : at the opposite, you must have a very long experience of leaving in a small village lost in the middle of the ricefields without putting a foot outside after the sunset

I have twelve years experience of living here, I live in the middle of some very beautiful rice fields and I go out after dark frequently. But I also lived in Patong for four years, just off Nanai and a stones throw from Bangla.

Personally I see Thais smile to me all the time. It happens whenever they try to sell something to me or when I am paying for something. Other than that, if you watch them walking by or driving past or standing somewhere, they never smile.

Simon Calder who has written this piece must be one of those lazy supposedly freelance story tellers that peddle in sensationalism the world over where english speaking tourists travel for a cheaper , warmer holidays and excursions, filling in spaces in newspapers and more over getting them to sell is a disapearing fact of life,

Get on any train or bus here and smile at 99.99 of locals you will get one back , jump on a tube in England all eyes are in books or magazines or the dying newspapers, Sydney is the same, New York gez don't look at anyone let alone smile , (stalker or crazy mother ucker) ,

If a smile is given it is returned how ever bashful , has been my experience and will continue to be until i am smoke in the WAT.

If writing garbage gets you paid ,well i am sure most of all T, V, F readers would be able to pen the same deliquent soap opera crap,

Simon Calder is, aparently, highly rated as a travel writer and apart from his column is a regular on the BBC's Travel Show and occasionally news broadcasts.

Well i did not know that, but can say that the BBC standard of reporting has spiralled so far down wards, I am happy to be have been able to switch news channels that actually have some content.

well , leeneeds, you have been able to switch news channels , BUT NOT TV forum news

Alas you are so right , and i enjoy the banter from the forum good bad and indifferent, some content lights up my day, and i guess like you some times wish the censor was removed ,

40 years ago Thailand was the land of smiles. Thainess has modernized itself.

We have to ask, is it our foreign influence, is it modern technology, or the frustration of being Thai in the new age.

40 years ago Thailand was the land of smiles. Thainess has modernized itself.

We have to ask, is it our foreign influence, is it modern technology, or the frustration of being Thai in the new age.

Absolutely agree, it was when I first came here! (A little less than 40 years ago)

You can still get the nice smiles but a few of them hide something!

First you must learn to smile as you kill, if you want to be like the folks on the hill.

Personally I see Thais smile to me all the time. It happens whenever they try to sell something to me or when I am paying for something. Other than that, if you watch them walking by or driving past or standing somewhere, they never smile.

Just show them money....BIG MONEY = BIG SMILE.

Doubt the average Thai has much to look forward to. Don't know many happy Thais personally. Most are struggling.

As others have said, Simon Calder is a respected travel writer. This article however, is not his finest work and is utter crap.

Doubt the average Thai has much to look forward to. Don't know many happy Thais personally. Most are struggling. Those who lean towards violence would be more easily provoked in bad times.

The Land of Why's is safe.

And you wonder why Thailand is now getting closer to China and Russia and becoming less interested in improving relationships with the West, when foreign media publishes a second grade piece of journalism that damns the entire country. I mean, what does that article actually say and why is it newsworthy, a short piece that reminds everyone that nowhere in the world is 100% safe, sad.

Simon Calder is a highly respected travel writer. You may not like what he writes, but he is a true professional.

First you must learn to smile as you kill, if you want to be like the folks on the hill.

Quoting John Lennon?He was not singing about Thailand though .

Land of Smiles?

Initially on the surface but it's a sham as the veneer is very thin and the Violence is just waiting for a chance.

Sure, it's the "Land Of Over 40 Different Types Of Thai Smiles" - one for every emotion known to mankind..

From benign to lethal..

Sir, you very fun-nee na

Most Thais must be HUGE Seinfeld fans as I quote from the great George Costanza "Its not a lie if you believe it" - This is prevalent in every aspect of their society.