News from Thailand – February 17, 2015
This page contains a selection from the Thai news. We list headlines from major news sources including: Bangkok Post, The Nation, ThaiPBS, MCOT, etc.
There is a web link behind the news items. When you click on it you can read the full article at the English source.
News from Thailand – February 17, 2015
The Nation opens with the news that exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin is willing to talk about reconciliation, but Prayut is not. Thaksin did set the condition that he then talks to someone who has political power (he will be referring to Prayut?). However, the army chief feels nothing for that. He says that as a state official he cannot just speak to a 'fugitive', then he would be breaking the law: http://goo.gl/cfndp9
Bangkok Post today headlines Prayut's appeal to remain calm over the questionable energy auction. Hundreds of protesters lined up at Government House yesterday to hand over an open letter to Prime Minister Prayut. The auction of gas and oil fields in Thailand is sensitive, a previously announced auction has therefore been postponed. In addition to calmness, the prime minister also asks to make haste because the current energy sources are only sufficient for a period of 5 to 10 years and new sources must therefore be found quickly: http://goo.gl/xVk4kk
– Thousands of Chinese tourists in Thailand receive a 'tourist manual' during their stay during the New Year holidays, which tells them how to behave. Especially in Chiang Mai, people fear the thousands of Chinese who will flood the city. The city in the north is very popular and about 100.000 tourists from China are expected during the Chinese New Year. The manual states, among other things, that they are not allowed to touch works of art in museums, that they are not allowed to relieve themselves in public and that they must behave normally on the road. The residents of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai complain bitterly about the Chinese tourists who, among other things, appear to defecate in the canals, have caused several traffic accidents and cause problems at tourist attractions: http://goo.gl/ftIVnM
– The beach chair soap on Phuket threatens to get out of hand now that more and more tourists are posting negative messages on social media. Some of them are so angry that they have vowed never to go on holiday to Thailand again. The mayor of Patong is therefore calling for a compromise after several incidents this week on Patong Beach. The police asks tourists who bring their own beach chairs to remove them, in accordance with the new policy. Chief Inspector of police Akanit Danpitaksat told Phuket Gazette that the tourists reacted very angrily to the request of the police who are only carrying out hateful duties. Some even burst into tears: http://goo.gl/Y3JPEQ
– The economy in Thailand is in the doldrums. In 2014, economic growth slowed to the lowest level in three years. This slowdown is said to be due to the political instability over the past year: http://goo.gl/0wrQmL
– You can read more current news on the Twitter feed of Thailandblog.nl: twitter.com/thailand_blog
The economy still needs to get into much tougher weather.
Hopefully they learn a bit from that.
Thai think they can milk foreigners as much as they want.
Improper behavior is really no longer an exception.
In department stores, staff chat all day long and look at you funny if you want to be helped.
They have no more manners except for a few.
Too bad the land of smiles has become the land of annoyance, very very unfortunate.
Definitely stay away from now on.
Believe it or not, they don't care.
Wasn't it clear enough that they don't talk to you in department stores?
They're really not going to tell you. "No have", nothing more.
Just translate. no have = please go away with your weird behavior and your unintelligible english.
I have been coming to Thailand for over 25 years and have never been robbed or scammed…until a few weeks ago in Koh Samui at the Holiday Guesthouse; the stay was pleasant until the last day; just before we were to leave (we had packed everything) we locked the door and walked to a shop; the taxi came, we took the boat and when I arrived in Bangkok I noticed that 10 notes of 50 euros had disappeared (the perpetrator had left 9 in it, so it was not immediately noticeable). filed a report, the police visited, but of course there was denial. Later on I noticed that my new IPhone 6 had also been taken out of the box at the bottom of my backpack.
A sobering experience and my faith in the Thai has taken a dent.
Please…. this would have happened to you 40 years ago! I was already warned about scammers and pickpockets and thieves. I was also robbed and cheated.
Moreover, this can happen anywhere in the world.
Of course a bad experience, but to say "my trust in the Thai"... a bit naive!
If you say: I have lost confidence in the staff of the Holiday Guesthouse on Koh Samui… then you are already on the right track… and even more: among all the undoubtedly honest employees there was one (maybe two) black sheep….
Well Sjaak it's my first time 🙂 ... it also says it has suffered a dent …….. so it's not too bad and in the Netherlands I have already lost more than 30 bicycles and there has also been a break-in so……………… ………..but it was a nasty thing and still something of more than 1000 euros
Following on from Phuket's beach chair story.
Now about Pattaya. Went (had) to do some shopping at Foodland in Pattaya Klang again today.
I can simply buy sandwich fillings and meat there that another store does not have or where the quality is.
the price and customer friendliness is not my thing. Haven't been in ages (I have a big freezer)
and back to the crossing place where you can normally turn right towards Sattahip.
Crossing closed for work. Mandatory left. The first U turn was (a bit exaggerated) 190 Km traffic jam. Then just drive in the wrong direction. Into Pattaya Nua and all back roads that also know to drive to the beach road via Soi 2.
Soi 2 was now a large Hotel where there used to be a bar complex. Along the beach road back to my hometown. The boulevard was no longer what it used to be. The beautiful row of palms had largely disappeared.
I looked at the beach (wasn't much left either) and looked at empty spaces. People sit on the beach on a towel. The few places where someone could sit on a beach chair and under an umbrella were so overcrowded that everyone was on each other's lips.
Where have the times gone, when you could drink a beer in a bar complex and play a game of pool billiards and not have to worry that someone put something in your drink and just straight from Soi 2 lie in a beach chair.
Thailand is no longer Thailand.
That's my experience. I have lived here for 10 years and before that I was a holiday maker in this country.
Cor van Kampen.
I'll keep it short
I live 60 km from Nongkhai, last month my brother and his wife came to visit us.
It was great fun, but they also wanted to take a day trip to Laos.
My wife was the guide and I stayed at home.
Back at the Border v
Vientanne/Nongkhai wanted my brother to go into the duty-free shop.
He bought cigarettes, 6 cartons…two per person that is allowed.
Once across the border in the 7 eleven, about two hundred meters across the border and thus in Thailand, my brother asks if my wife would like to get him a coffee in the 7 eleven.
Of course my wife says and gives her two slippers to my brother to arrange the coffee.
My brother is immediately arrested by three police officers for smuggling cigarettes.
After all, he had four slippers in his bag when…..in short 19000 bath poorer and lost the cigarettes.
Nice those Thai police in Nongkhai.
He will also never come to Thailand again!
Much has already been written about the ban on beach chair rental on the beaches of Phuket, and the associated annoyance among many tourists.
Many are of the opinion that we as guests should not complain, and therefore should accept Thai law, although it is incomprehensible to many.
There are even those who find it almost arrogant when we as tourists try to state our wishes, because in their opinion the Thai does what they want.
The fact that even the mayor of Patong is now asking for a compromise is a sign to me that these protests are being considered.
I therefore do not find it arrogant at all if a tourist, who leaves a lot of money behind in this country, and is therefore an important factor for the Thai economy, occasionally expresses his opinion, and does not join all those tourists who swallow everything, and spend good money.
First no more beach chairs to rent on the beach. Then you buy them yourself or through the illegal rental where a stretcher costs 200 bath. Then again, large parasols can be rented out with only a mat and the illegal stretchers therefore also disappear from the picture. Next time a few beach chairs in the rental, and then you can no longer take your own beach chair to the beach because the police have to confiscate it?!?
So no more beach holidays in Thailand for the time being
I wouldn't want to give them a living tourists who get robbed on arrival or in their hotel in Belgium or even worse just check the newspapers.
You also stand in a traffic jam there when you drive back home from work, the rush hour lasts there from 7 am to 18 pm.
Was in Pattya for a few days this week, I also find it incomprehensible that no chairs are allowed on the beach on Wednesday, but that is Thailand, a bit unpredictable, then I will go shopping for a day or something else, I will certainly not worry about it, I can lie on my lame ..... 6 days a week if I want.
What I regret is the indifference sometimes rudeness of many Thais, the smile and willingness to help has disappeared for many, especially in Pattaya and parts of Bangkok.
My girlfriend who owns her own company is amazed at how rude some people are, but all this must have a reason, maybe a language barrier or tired of those sometimes clumsy farangs.
I stay here at least 7 months a year, all this will not change my mood here, although I get a very good feeling every time I meet a friendly Thai and believe me they are still there.
Dear reader
I was 2 weeks back at sisakhet at a National Park they had increased the entry for foreigners from 100 baht to 400 baht we arrived at 15.30 pm and it closed at 18,00 pm.
so we didn't go I just forgot to take a picture of the sign with this elevation.
But Thailand will learn a lot 1 million less Russians and Europeans 15 percent less for their currency !!!
Viet Nam is also very nice
Happy day Peter Yai