1 hour ago, craigt3365 said:

But they were hiring foreign guides illegally, right?  A violation of the law.

yea was just joking. for some reason it is only ever the foreigners at fault despite it being the responsibility of the employer having to supply the work permit. suppose it is seen as better to take the money from the foreigner than it is to take it from a thai. getting involved with work permits is a nightmare, even if you are doing everything correctly in thailand. getting a good accountant/lawyer is the best way to go about it.

7 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

And what about the people who were hiring them?

the liability of the employers is mentioned to be 100k per employee. personally  this punishment is not serious enough to be a defective deterrent.

48 minutes ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

yea was just joking. for some reason it is only ever the foreigners at fault despite it being the responsibility of the employer having to supply the work permit. suppose it is seen as better to take the money from the foreigner than it is to take it from a thai. getting involved with work permits is a nightmare, even if you are doing everything correctly in thailand. getting a good accountant/lawyer is the best way to go about it.

simply put they were doing the jobs they were not authorized to do. this is an offence. tackling the problem is another issue.

52 minutes ago, greenchair said:

Just start beating up on the Chinese and see what happens to tourism. 

One thing we all know, the Chinese take care of their own. 

the chinese can take care of their own but in thailand they should not be doing jobs reserved for the thais. the government stand is pretty clear. violation of that is an offence punishable with legal provisions.

1 hour ago, lemonjelly said:

You're missing the point; there's obviously not enough Chinese fluent local tour guides, those arrested speak Thai, they're not "stealing jobs" from the Thai as the number of local guides cannot meet demand...... How about leaving them be? 

you go to be kidding. if the local operators are serious get the Thais to attend mandarin classes to be able to speak the language. you do not have to master the language.

56 minutes ago, greenchair said:

Just start beating up on the Chinese and see what happens to tourism. 

One thing we all know, the Chinese take care of their own. 

 

Not when there's money involved. 

 

1 hour ago, HiSoLowSoNoSo said:

5 years in the slammer for working as a illegal tour guide!!!

 

Jaywalking is probably as serious crime from where I come from.  

please tell me where do you get 5 years jail for jaywalking?

6 minutes ago, sahibji said:

you go to be kidding. if the local operators are serious get the Thais to attend mandarin classes to be able to speak the language. you do not have to master the language.

With the Thai penchant for polyglotism, what could go wrong?

 I'm sure they'll pick it up in no time at all.

This all stems from jealous unemployed and almost unemployable Thai tour guides.

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3 hours ago, HiSoLowSoNoSo said:

5 years in the slammer for working as a illegal tour guide!!!

 

Jaywalking is probably as serious crime from where I come from.  

please tell me where do you get 5 years jail for jaywalking?

 

Exactly nowhere, think that you did not understand what I tried to explain.  From where I come from the cops don't even fine you for Jaywalking, and they would not throw an illegal tourguide in jail for 5  years either (they would probably explain politely to him or her that a work permit is needed in the future to help foreign tourist with the lingo).

Are there so few Chinese speaking Thai guides because, the companies bring their own and don't hire local? A year ago, a Thai acquaintance (he speaks Chinese) was going to send his sister to language school to learn Chinese so she might become a guide. He was told to save his money; the Chinese tour companies did not hire locals.

I keep wondering how many from Lao, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Burma, etc, that work construction on all the buildings in BKK and elsewhere here.....

Let's hope this makes big headlines in China.

Pesky Chinese. Bpama. Farang. Kaek. Negro. Eskimo. Thailand no need alien. 555

 

Had a guide forced upon me once. Visiting a national park. Guide spoke the following words of english: Elephant (1) Go (2) Eat (3) Rice (4) Tip (5) Thank (6) You! (7). The leaflet was in thai only too. Great visit! 55555555 Of course at 10x price of locals (entrance not the guide though!)...

 

I spent 2 hours translating the questions from other farangs who actually wanted to get some info. The Thai in our group couldnt be bothered asking questions. They ate and took selfies. 5555555

1 hour ago, Jeffkp said:

Are there so few Chinese speaking Thai guides because, the companies bring their own and don't hire local? A year ago, a Thai acquaintance (he speaks Chinese) was going to send his sister to language school to learn Chinese so she might become a guide. He was told to save his money; the Chinese tour companies did not hire locals.

 

The local attitude isnt appreciated by the chinese. The chinese know what they are doing. They dont trust the thai (ethos). Whether this is fair or not is another story. 

6 hours ago, lemonjelly said:

With the Thai penchant for polyglotism, what could go wrong?

 I'm sure they'll pick it up in no time at all.

True!

Meamwhile:

"HEY!YOU!WHERE YOU GO!?"

Just now, Mook23 said:

 

The local attitude isnt appreciated by the chinese. The chinese know what they are doing. They dont trust the thai (ethos). Whether this is fair or not is another story. 

 

This follows a pattern of how Chinese companies operate around the world. There are numerous examples from Africa. The Chinese agree to build (for example) a railroad; come in and use only Chinese businesses and Chinese contractors. The only locals are the ditch diggers...

Sure. Their money. Their rules. I have yet to discover a nation NOT bending to Chinese money. The chinese laugh with Thailand and SEA which they consider their backyard or in case of laos and northern burma: unofficial provinces. They dont trust the Thailandman and they look down on them. It's actually very similar as how thailandman looks down on khmen (sic), kaek and bpama... do i agree? Nope. Do i care? Nope....

No need to give a jail sentence at all. Maximum fine, and deportation. 10 year blacklist.

Yes they were working illegally but it is not like they killed someone in a motor vehicle

accident and the standard outcome of that is 2k baht fine and a suspended 2 year

sentence. Just my opinion.

2 hours ago, Jeffkp said:

Are there so few Chinese speaking Thai guides because, the companies bring their own and don't hire local? A year ago, a Thai acquaintance (he speaks Chinese) was going to send his sister to language school to learn Chinese so she might become a guide. He was told to save his money; the Chinese tour companies did not hire locals.

The tour companies often hire a Thai guide to accompany the tour group to fulfil the spirit of the

law although the Thai guides still don't like this as there is a loss of face just being window dressing

and more important they loose control of where the group stops and they don't get their kickbacks.

This is where the real money is. The pay from the guide company is just chump change compared to

the kickbacks.

I have two thai (daughters) 7 yrs they received Chinese lessons at school.

result crap same as there English.  

There must be 1000's of Chinese living and working in Bangkok as teachers and guides etc, I don't think more than 50% of them have  work permits.   But they probably deserved it. 

 

 

I don't understand the argument that Thais cannot be good guides for the Chinese. Sure there will be some who are poor at it, and others who are good. Let natural selection take its course.

 

As for this episode having an impact on the number of chinese tourists... well we can only hope.

Those millions of Burmese, etc, workers 'might' be doing jobs reserved for Thais? Funny how one day you are not falling foul of the law, and the next day you are? Begs the question: what do employers do when there isnt enough Thais to do the jobs?