I’m nearly done with a masters degree in international public policy, and I’ve spent a not insignificant time in Southeast Asia. I don’t really know much about Thai politics, other than it’s quite chaotic and they keep having coups.
YMMV.
(I can get some policy recommendations for you and have a nice powerpoint presentation on them ready in the next couple days, though.)
The throwing of blood was gross.
You’re totally not getting the “average man on the street” perspective here - I’m a well read American whose job involves tons of periodicals, and I can tell you:
Most Americans won’t know #2, and many won’t even know #1.
:dubious: OK! And I recall many or even most Americans conflating Thailand and Taiwan! I thought that the huge and chaotic “demonstration” in Bangkok would have been a headline item and led to some commentary, but I guess I was mistaken.
I don’t want to prolong this discussion either but …
No. You were vague about “price gouging” and the KFC/Subway example, now retracted, is the only example you’ve offered. You’re “if any” suggests that you’ve already dismissed the Ripley’s example; I won’t bother you with more.
U.S.A. has a favored status in Thailand so Americans have ownership rights other foreigners do not have. My mention of America was based partly on familiarity. I know not if you’ll deign to offer any examples of “price gouging” but, to mention America again, many examples will be very similar to the policy of Las Vegas venues which give discounts to those with Nevada driver’s licenses.
I didn’t say “tourist” vs “tourist”; I said “foreigner” vs “foreigner”. The expat community is huge. Your emphasis on “tourist” suggests that your 3 visits were all to tourist resorts; I probably wouldn’t have responded to your message at all if you’d replaced “Thais” with “Thais who operate against tourists in tourists resorts”, as perhaps you should have.
No - I think Tiger Woods probably had sex with somebody, or didn’t have sex with somebody, that day. 
Really, I’ve been reading the newspapers assiduously lately because of this election we were in locally - nothing. Think I saw something about Thailand from the New York Times, but not the local paper.
ETA - My dad never gets confused because he thinks Taiwan is still called Formosa.
To forestall a superfluous rejoinder, no one actually thought you claimed KFC or Subway “price gouged.” (However, your comment made no sense whatsoever unless you had the highly peculiar notion that I thought KFC or Subway price gouged! But let’s move on.)
I apologize for the almost-sarcastic repetition of KFC/Subway. It was just meant to call attention to the fact that the whole sub-thread concerned “price gouging in Thailand” for which you’ve still offered zero examples.
(By the way, I knew of at least one Westerner-owned go-go bar in Pattaya several years ago that required its female personnel to eat barbituates! We’ll need to start a new thread if you want to continue this, but I hope that example will help you understand why Westerners whingeing about mistreatment by Thais can be annoying.)
Maybe this is in reference to the “tourist price” phenomena that visitors often experience for the first time when shopping. That is what I thought, and that was why I said that tourists are free to say no if they feel that prices are too high.
I’m just glad that I was able to get two porcelain veneer laminates for $240 USD each (US cost = $1400 each). I spent less on the dental work + plane ticket + hotel than I would have spent in the USA on just the office visit. How’s that for price gouging!
Damned price gouging Thai bastards!
How was the dentist? Would you recommend his or her work? Want to start a thread to recount the experience? I’m looking at some major dental and was considering doing the same this summer.
I’ll reply if you start one.
Your salary in America is 5 to 10 times higher than a Thai persons salary with the same job, so of course prices in Thailand are lower.
If you knew that you paid 2 or 3 times as much as a Thai person paid for the exact same services would you consider that price gouging since you paid more only because you are a foreigner ?
I live in China, and there are dozens of places outside my school where you can get a huge meal for only 60 to 75 cents. Sounds really cheap until you learn that the Chinese teachers only earn about US$300 a month.
A Chinese person can get their teeth cleaned by a dentist here for about $7, I was quoted $22. China is not Thailand, but the same price gouging happens in both countries.
America is one of the most expensive countries in the world, it is foolish, IMHO, to compare prices in America to prices in third world countries.
You are all wrong, and you are all correct. That about sums it up as best I can.
I don’t.
Sorry? :dubious:
… think about Thai politics?
When I spend my two seconds per day glancing at Google News headlines, a quick glance at “Bombings in Bangkok” looks just like “Bombings in Baghdad”!
I was afraid the 15-second news flash on Thailand was “popular uprising against dictatorship of the elite”; some of us consider the reality almost opposite to that.
But I guess U.S. news channels can’t even spare 15 seconds for Bangkok. Otherwise viewers might have to remain in doubt about the hair-color of Tiger bimbo #12.
shrug Get used to it. Major news here rarely makes it into the West, especially not the US. We may as well be Mars to many people.
My understanding is that Americans have the same ownership rights that other foreigners have in Thailand. Do you have any sites that states otherwise ?
Anything that shows that Americans will not get screwed over as bad as other foreigners ?
So, currents events such as those mentioned in the press and also by Siam Sam just continue to support my opinions of Thailand.
I see no reason whatsoever for Americans to pay attention to this stuff, as it doesn’t seem to have any connection (so far) to the Tea Party movement, and Sara Palin hasn’t been asked to speak at any of the rallies (yet).
From American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand website two clicks got me to some pdfs, excerpted here, but I was unable to devise a one-click URL 
:
Neither of these cites proves that other nationalities lack the special “amity” but that is well known (at least among the relatively few foreigners that know of the “amity” at all!)
And I, septimus, disclaim all responsibility for Thais screwing you over, American or not! 
That’s only for business purposes. Foreigner individuals cannot own land, be they Americans or others. They can own condo units, but no more than 49% of the units – or floor space? – in a building can be foreign-owned.
That’s really correct. Worse stuff than what’s going on here happens in Burma every day, but how much of that gets into the American press? If that doesn’t make it, hard to see why our troubles would.