Evacuating tourists

The British Govt. has refused to organise charter flights from Thailand for its huge number of stranded people.

The second special flight arranged by the Australians will be touching down in Australia soon. Several other European Govts. have arranged charter flights.

A Brit. Gov. spokesman said that they are keeping a sharp eye on developments in Thailand. The Foreign Office spoke with the Thai Ambassador last Friday.

Around 20,000 tourists have made it to the Chon Buri airport to try to get flights. Mostly without success.

How many years do you think it will take Thailand to recover from this? Two? Three?

The British Govt. has refused to organise charter flights from Thailand for its huge number of stranded people.

The second special flight arranged by the Australians will be touching down in Australia soon. Several other European Govts. have arranged charter flights.

A Brit. Gov. spokesman said that they are keeping a sharp eye on developments in Thailand. The Foreign Office spoke with the Thai Ambassador last Friday.

Around 20,000 tourists have made it to the Chon Buri airport to try to get flights. Mostly without success.

How many years do you think it will take Thailand to recover from this? Two? Three?

How long is a piece of string? Recovering from what is happening now will be nothing in comparison to having to recover from what is very shortly going to follow. Mark my words, as they will probably make a lot more sense to you in the very near future, than no doubt the sense they make to you at present.


Cheers,


George.

[Beachlover]

What's worse is that Thailand is in the middle of an extremely competitive region.... countries around them are eager to pick up the balls they drop... Thailand's neighbours are rubbing their hands in glee at the chaos, hoping to nab all the foreign investment, tourism and other globalisation benefits from Thailand.

The cost to Thailand will be huge. I have no doubt that neighbouring countries are being eyed by tourists in a new light. Buddha help them if they fall ill though in places like Cambodia.

One reality is that there are going to be thousands of Thais out of work if this hasn't already happened.

I'd like to be a fly on the wall of the the office of the Pattaya mayor. Having bravely stamped out several popular tourist needs, he must be wondering now if the city is going to go down the drain. And how are our virtuous police going to survive without all those bribes?

I'd like to be a fly on the wall of the the office of the Pattaya mayor.

I will have a word with Buddha on your behalf when I go to Temple in the morning and see what I can do, perhaps he will let you come back as one next time around. http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk216/ThaiRakThai/big-grin.gif


Cheers,


George.

For a moment I thought you meant me coming back as mayor!

For a moment I thought you meant me coming back as mayor!

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk216/ThaiRakThai/lol.gif Buddha forbid Dek Wat, I think the only chance you would ever have of that happening, is if Pattaya Players put on a production of Dick Whittington and cast you, in the title role. http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk216/ThaiRakThai/wink_smile.gif


Cheers Dek Wat,



George.

Ah well. So much for that aspiration!

[gearguy]

Malaysia and Vietnam could be the winners here for western tourists.

Malaysia and Vietnam could be the winners here for western tourists.

That may or may not turn out to be true gearguy, but in the case of both of those destinations, in my opinion the tourist wouldn't be winning an awful lot, would they? In Malaysia's case especially, who the fuck would want to go there now, after the recent news that the Colonel is very soon going to be taking up residence there? http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk216/ThaiRakThai/whistling-1.gif


Cheers,


George.

One reality is that there are going to be thousands of Thais out of work if this hasn't already happened.

It has. There are.

Malaysia is becoming increasingly Islamist, with quite ridiculous censures.


England's "Daily Telegraph" site:

Sharia law already operates in some Malaysian states and is occasionally applied to non-Muslims, as in July when Islamic officials forcibly separated a Hindu-Muslim couple with six children after 21 years of marriage.

The majority ethnic Malays are defined as Muslim by law and forbidden from converting.

Racial tensions are already high due to official discrimination in favour of Malays, who enjoy better employment opportunities, preferential loans and lower house prices.

Dr Mohd Hatta, of the Islamic Party, welcomed the latest proposal in principle, but said: "The chief justice should be enforcing laws, not making them."

Meanwhile, dissent is increasingly harshly repressed. Journalists and bloggers say they are tailed by police and their phones are tapped.

Vietnam has a reputation as a scam factory, second only to Nigeria's.

Thailand, if it can sort it's problems, will still represent the best regional bang for the tourist buck.

Thailand, if it can sort it's problems, will still represent the best regional bang for the tourist buck.

IF - as in "if pigs could fly" or "if you had a brain cell you'd be dangerous"?

My apologies for my error in my previous post.

This is what I meant to post.

"Thailand, if it can sort its problems, will still represent the best regional bang for the tourist buck."

Before this degenerates into accusations of the grammar police, my point had nothing to with its or it's but referred to the rather laughable suggestion that if Thailand had no problems it would be the prime regional tourist destination - exactly the same could be said for any country: Malaysia if it were not Muslim, Sri Lanka if there were no Tamil Tigers, Mauritius if it were more convenient, the Seychelles if ... etc, etc.