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Not everyone who arrives in Thailand comes for the sun, food, and weather. Some come to do much more malicious purposes.

It's been a long time since I sent a message here! Being busy with work and more with FB. Most of my friends from here before, I see now on FB. I got a little bit bored with it (like I was bored with TF a few years back ;-)) , especially the abundance of adds was killing me. Also the mass of useless post (does everyone has to know you're at MBK now?). I also blocked all games in FB. I decided to have a look on TF and here am I. I'm following very closely the flood in Thailand because I'm very worried about some friends that lives there. Until now everyone is safe. I feel with all Thais who lost their houses and income and those who died. I changed some pictures and put new ones from April - May 2001, when I was there. I'll be back in December and I'm staying in SE Asia for five weeks. I'll go to Cambodia (my first time) for a few weeks and the rest I'll stay in Chiang Mai and some days in BKK of course. Hope to see some of you there.

A collection of news stories about Thailand's visa and immigration requirements.

I spouted off some nonsense about this on Facebook awhile back but I thought I might expand on my thoughts about Thailand's constant efforts to declare itself a "hub" of some sort. I sorta get why government officials (and even business leaders) do it. Making grand announcements gets your name in the newspapers. But at what point does it become cliche or even worthy of mocking? Here is a list of things Thai government officials and-or business leaders have claimed that Thailand was/is going to become the hub of. DPM Prajin reaffirms plan to establish Thailand as aviation hub in ASEAN Thailand seen as regional hub for nurses, accountants Hua Hin to become tech hub for space exploration Energy Ministry touts Thailand as electric vehicle hub Thailand pushing to become ASEAN’s Education Hub Public health and tourism ministries promote Thailand as medical tourism hub Thailand: Medical hub of ASEAN for plastic surgery MOT to support Thailand as Logistic Hub of ASEAN Thailand poised to become GMS hub, NZ envoy says ICT minister hopeful country will be Asean digital hub within three years Thailand to become ASEAN food hub Thailand has potential to become digital innovation hub NRC: Thailand to be solar roof and electric vehicle center for Asean State touts hub for cars of the future Thailand's robot revolution is rising Bangkok set to be China's rail hub Thailand will serve as funding hub Thailand as a festival hub Thailand needs promotion as Asean hub, link to markets Bid to create Thai biotech-hub gathers steam 'Thailand could become financial hub' rivalling Singapore, Malaysia Thailand ready to become Southeast Asian coin minting hub Thailand has potential to be regional vaccine hub Thailand could be major e-learning hub in region Bangkok as UN hub in Asia Pacific Thailand expected to become 'Halal hub' Thailand as an Asean fashion hub Better planning needed to create Asean ethanol hub Geez, is there anything Thailand can't become the hub of? If Thailand manage to accomplish even half of their goals they would be the most dominate country in the entire region.

As the issue of foreigner injuries and deaths seems to come up quite frequently, we'll try to keep track of news stories in this thread.

Now that Pokemon Go is available in Thailand it is only a matter of time before stories begin rolling in about death, injuries, and random acts of stupidity resulting from people playing the game. I mean, what could go wrong with a game where players can lure other players to locations and where staring into your phone while ignoring everything else going on around you? This discussion thread is being devoted to capturing those news stories. Catch them all!

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha on Wednesday told the media to stop pestering him with questions about last week’s bomb attacks in southern provinces and progress of investigation into the violence. Full story

According to an article in the Bangkok Post, Thailand’s Minister of Tourism and Sports (MOTS), Kobkarn Wattanawarangun, has said the government will produce a booklet for master Pokémon players telling them how to excel at the game. She also claims to be in talks with the maker of the game to put more rare Pokémon, pokéstops, and gyms in Thailand in order to help encourage tourism. She even went so far as to say that she hopes the ministry’s efforts can help tourists forget about the recent bombings in Hua Hin and Phuket. I know a lot of people are thinking, “Hey, I was going to go to the Maldives this winter but, I gotta catch ‘em all so let’s go to Thailand instead.” But before you book your flight to Thailand it should be pointed out that: a) You can request all you want but it doesn’t mean you’re going to get it. I’m sure a lot of places would like to boost their tourism by piggybacking on the Pokémon craze but ultimately the game developer is the one who decides. And at this point they have not agreed to any of MOTS’ requests. Until the people responsible for putting bombs in tourist areas are caught, it seems inappropriate (some might even say self serving and irresponsible) to promote large groups of people gathering in one place. What better target for terrorists than groups of Pokémon Go players all gathered in one location trying to catch a rare Pokémon. c) Is this really the best the Thai government can come up with to boost tourism? Do they really expect people to travel thousands of miles to Thailand to play a Japanese game that can be played nearly everywhere else in the world? d) This last one may come as a surprise to some but the Thai government has a tendency to contradict itself. While Kobkarn is asking Pokémon Go creator, Niantic to add rare Pokémon in Thailand, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) is also asking Niantic to restrict certain locations from their game so people do not go to those areas. The NBTC has even threatened an outright ban of the game unless Niantic cooperates with their no-go zone demands. Obviously Kobkarn is just doing her job but she doesn’t need to announce every idea she has. MOTS could have rolled this out without telling the press it was designed to restore confidence in Thailand. Because, really, it does nothing to restore confidence. It’s a distraction. It’s an attempt to create noise so people forget about a very real problem that hasn’t been resolved yet. And it’s not even a good distraction. It sounds silly and sure to have near zero impact on people’s perceptions of Thailand or their willingness to visit Thailand. View full article

Apparently nobody has informed the Thai tourist police in Phuket that farang tourists in Thailand are quickly becoming as rare as Pikachu in Pokemon Go. As a result of police decided that it would be a good idea to track down a tourist through her tour company after seeing photos of her at Wat Chalong wearing a dress that had become somewhat see-through due to rain. She was ordered to report to the police station at 9pm where she was then told that her dress at the temple was inappropriate and was made to wai and apologize to the templet staff and the people of Phuket for disrespecting the temple. Now, I'm usually the first person to throw some stink eye at tourists who show up at temples in bikinis or other inappropriate dress but nobody at the tour company (run by Thais who should presumably know the dress code) or at the temple deemed her dress too provocative to enter the temple. Only when photos circulated online did people start to get in a huff about her dress, so I don't think we can point to the tourist has having had any intention of being disrespectful. Here's a photo of the woman so you can form your own opinion. It's unclear as to why the police felt it necessary to summon her to the police station for a reprimand and forced apology rather than simply warn the tour operator and the temple staff to do a better job at informing tourists of the dress code for religious sites. Better yet, the person who took the photos could have politely told her that dress was showing a little too much in the back and suggest that she borrow a sarong to cover herself so as not to offend anyone. At a time when TAT, the tourism authority of Thailand, puts out almost daily press releases touting their ideas for luring "quality tourists" to come to Thailand, it seems counter-productive to be inconveniencing and publicly shaming tourists in the media for what appears to be nothing more than a minor tourist faux pas. View full article

You’re the 51 year old mayor of a northeastern town in Thailand and a reporter from a local newspaper reporter writes a story about a ceremony you held to celebrate your engagement to a teenager. Do you: a) Apologize to your constituents for making a morally questionable decision. Hope the story goes unnoticed and keep your head down until any backlash blows over c) Summon all reporters to your office and lecture them on respecting your privacy and then have your staff strip down naked the reporter who covered the story and humiliate him so he knows how you feel. If you answered anything other than C, you obviously do not have what it takes to be in politics. According to Khao Sod, mayor Premsak Piayura was so angry at having his engagement to a teenage girl made public (even though he held a private ceremony) that he reprimanded all local reporters and then asked the reporter who had actually published the story to stay behind where he was stripped naked by the mayor's staff and asked, "Are you embarrassed when someone violates your privacy like this?" Full story here. EDIT: Later versions of the story seem to indicate the reporter was only stripped to his underwear and not fully naked. View full article

A new study by The Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) seems to indicate that Thais lie to pollsters. According to the study, only 3% of Thais consume alcohol and 80% claim to exercise regularly. Those numbers seem blatantly at odds with both the reality seen everyday in the country as well as other reports. For instance, here is a 2014 ThaiPBS story which reports that Thailand is the top alcohol-consuming country in the ASEAN region. The Center for Alcohol Studies indicated that 31.5% of Thais consumed alcohol regularly. To believe that alcohol consumption dropped from 31.5% to 3% in two years beggars belief. Even a complete prohibition on alcohol wouldn’t drive the number so low so fast. Combined with the fact that in 2015 the World Health Organization attributed 26% of all traffic fatalities in Thailand to alcohol leaves one wondering how The Thai Health Promotion Foundation had the testicles necessary to publish such a load of rubbish. View full article

Khaosod English ran an interesting story about digital nomads in Thailand. Thailand, as the article points out, is consistently voted as a top spot for folks who have chosen a lifestyle that enables them to work from anywhere in the world. While the author, Sasiwan Mokkhasen, hit all of the common hot buttons pertaining to the digital nomad lifestyle, I have to give some kudos for also pointing out that digital nomadism isn’t always all that it’s cracked up to be. First off, no country really “gets” digital nomadism. Few countries have visa or other laws that specifically address people who are technically working from a country but have no real business presence in that country. How do you separate between someone who is in Chiang Mai on two week vacation and answers a few emails from their co-workers back home with someone who has an online business and is creating websites for American clients while enjoying a latte at a Starbucks on Sukhumvit? Ultimately, it would probably be in Thailand’s best interest to better understand the needs of this new type of traveler. Not only because they are long-term travelers who will benefit many of the businesses they frequent while in the country but, more importantly, Thailand is sorely in need of certain types of expertise that many of these digital nomads can introduce to Thailand. If there was a better system in place, perhaps some of these digital nomads would train and hire people in Thailand. Presumably, some of the people they hire would then learn skills that they could then go out market in the Thai economy. And few digital nomads stay nomadic for life. Many eventually settle into one location that they call their home base. Making it easier for them to live in Thailand and hire local talent would have a mutually beneficial effect for Thais and nomads. Perhaps one day Thailand, through partnering with foreigners, can actually incubate the technology hub that it has been promised for the last couple of decades. Keep in mind, we’re not talking about people starting up businesses in Thailand selling to Thais or to farangs living in Thailand so this has no impact on the local competitive environment. However, there is a darker side to the digital nomad lifestyle that Sasiwan touches on and probably needs additional exploration. While the digital nomad lifestyle sounds romantically adventurous, so do a lot of things, for awhile. It’s one thing to be 27 and running a website that brings in $1,000 USD a month which lets you live as you wish in some developing countries but those same people might have different aspirations when they are 37, 47, or 57 years old. Likewise, keeping one’s skills sharp is not as easy to do in a developing country as it is where staying competitive is mandatory. Many digital nomads are heavily involved in technology and the speed of change in technology is only increasing. It wasn’t too long ago that being able to use a spreadsheet was considered a marketable skill that people got paid a decent salary to do. Today, it’s doubtful you could even graduate grade school without that skill. Even for things less tech-centric like online marketing, what worked in SEO two years ago might not work today. Your eCommerce site might get 10 new, better financed, competitors in six months. And the non-tech folks are also at risk. Ten years ago, a nomadic journalist could make a good living but as more and more people have decided to become digital nomads, there’s more competition and it drives the prices for content down. A good business network is also problematic for digital nomads. Relationships often go stale after awhile and you need to keep replenishing your network with new blood. That’s hard to do if you’re relying on programming jobs from Europe and you haven’t been back to Europe in five years. We all like to say that email, Skype, Facebook, etc have made the world a smaller place but sometimes you need to get out there and press flesh. As many people rely on living on developing world costs while receiving first-world pay, that could become problematic if their network starts to become too heavily dominated with local contacts who can only afford to pay local prices for their services. Obviously most of these challenges have solutions. Learning new skills can be done easily online. Networks can be refreshed. But it’s not quite as glamorous as many people imagine. It’s not exactly the image that most people have of sitting on a beach sipping a cocktail with a laptop spitting out cash like an ATM. It’s a lot of hard work, a lot of hustle, and a lot of self discipline. It was good to finally see an article that had a more realistic and complete picture of what digital nomadism is about. View full article

According to ThaiPBS, the random body parts found in the Chao Phraya river all seemingly belong to one person and that person seems to be a European farang. Based on other farang deaths in Thailand, somewhat surprised this one wasn't labeled a suicide.

Hi Everyone. I am travelling to Bangkok in November and am staying in SEA for 6months. My plan is to follow the typical tourist path (up through Laos, Cambodia and vietnam). I have many friends who have travelled around the area, and have shared many stories. But, I am always open to suggestions. Does anyone have any particular advice as to where I should go along the way? popular spots? brilliant sights etc.? Im 21 years old, travelling on my own but very eager to meet new people.

Female teens around the world suffer from body image insecurity and eating disorders, but the motives might have some regional differences. So why do Thai girls feel insecure about their bodies and adopt insane methods to lose weight? A top public health official has identified a foreign social evil that’s responsible for robbing Thai teens of their confidence: Japanese anime. Thai teenagers are obsessed with the unrealistic skinny bodies they see in Japanese anime, so they use dangerous diet pills and get addicted to coffee and tea, according to Prapon Angtrakul, deputy secretary general of the Food and Drugs Administration. The FDA seems to think Thai teens look to Sailor Moon and Chobits for role models, despite the abundance of silicon-stuffed actresses and stick-figure fashion models in local media. Rest of the story is here: http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2014/02/17/fda-blames-japanese-anime-thai-teens-obsession-body-image

A group of farmers from Thailand’s western region yesterday took their plight to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport, carrying donation boxes, and posters expressing their hardship to inbound tourists after the caretaker government did not pay for their rice. The donation box reads “Absorbing Farmers’ Tears”. Farmers waited for foreign tourists emerging out the airport’s departure lounge and gave them token made from rice straws tied with flag color ribbon as a gesture of welcoming. Some tourists also dropped donation in the boxes and some also greeted them with sympathy. Their leader Thongchai Kanchananukul from Kanchanaburi province said their arrival to the airport was to show foreign visitors how farmers have suffered from the caretaker government’s rice-pledging scheme and unpaid payment for their rice for up to six months now. Farmers were treated nicely by airport staff and police with understanding and did not try to stop them from annoying visitors. They all returned in several pickup cars after a half an hour campaign http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/farmers-seek-sympathy-tourists/

According to research by Euromonitor, Thailand ranks 4th in the world in per capita alcohol consumption. I'm sure I've helped those stats at some point. :-) http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2014/02/07/thailand-4th-liquor-drinking

I always love overhearing little snippets of conversations. Here are some of the favorite things I've overheard in Thailand or ran across on the interwebs. . . . What are yours?

Does anyone else here trade Thai stocks? I've started to get into it this year, and am starting to enjoy it. I do mostly medium term trades, but have been doing a bit of day trading related to the Japanese crisis. Anyway, I'd like to share a couple of medium term stocks that I really like so far (despite recent declines in share value). AJ - a plastic packaging company, which opened at 25 baht per share this morning. They have really strong fundamentals, and had a high earnings report released last month. India also passed a law which banned a type of plastic packaging that AJ doesn't make. Should be a good year. DEMCO - Opened at 4.68 baht per share this morning. I see up to 100% returns on this one with risk around -25%. I bought into them in January as they have been recently awarded with multi-billion baht wind and solar energy projects, and are working on a few more large ones as well. On top of that, the Japanese disaster will hopefully give the Thai govt. a knee jerk reaction into approving more of these safe energy projects. Other interesting stocks are PTT, KBANK, MAJOR, THAI No, I don't have anything to do with these companies, and don't go investing your life savings in these since I'm no expert. I really just wanted to see if there is anyone else on here playing in the SET. Thoughts?