"So sorry"....most will not be back and no new one

[Wesley]

I agree with most of what has been said, as for me I will likely continue to go. I have been places and lived in places much more dangerous and survived. However, the people who value their lives more than a good time may feel very differently, especially people with families. For the single gay sex tourist I think likely they will be back sooner than the family style person looking for a good cheap vacation spot. Nevertheless, It like Bali, will take time to heal the image of a country known for being the land of Smiles. Just as much as I know, our own Smiles can at times get quite hard to get along with and I as well can get a bit hard to get along with when I believe I am right.

I would say the government made some huge strategic blunders. One not protecting the Airport was one of them. Getting them out, like any hostage situation is harder than keeping them out in the first placeтАж I feel sorry for the guys that eventually will l lose their jobs to a rice paddy. However, it was their Way of life before the tourist made money boys out of them out for what they felt was necessity.

All the Best!

Wes

There has been a ton of over-the-top whining about this episode. I mean, in comparison to places where tourists have been actually singled out for mass murder by terrorist squads (Bali, India, Egypt), the inconvenience posed by the closing of an airport for a week is, really, not so significant. We've lost at most maybe one tourist season.

[catawampuscat]

I am in agreement with the "short memory" theorists. Most people are in continual denial
and do not believe it can happen to them. Look at the tobacco smokers, if you want to
see denial in the flesh as well as the morbidly obese and the boozers..

Posting as one of the champions of the anti-tobacco smoking policies, it is not the major reason or
problem in the bars. It is a major irritant but so are hideous pushy mamasans, overly loud
music, uncomfortable seating for larger bodied men, and poor attitudes of some. The overuse
of red lighting is tired as are the 'black lights'. Grotesque farang ladymen and the masses
of ladyboys also add to the list.

But, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else and love the bars, the boys and the scene.
To sum it up, I can live with broken traffic lights, foul smelling cooking oils in my face,
hordes of motorbikers intent on hitting us, torrential flooding and mind numbing heat and humidity, dozens of smug, self absorbed boring farangs, cheats, scoundrals, con men
and flamboyant foolish men.

The negatives are always there but the positives so far outweigh the negatives, Thailand wins
every time..
What is a coup or two, when compared to the greatest time of our lives? Each of
us has to answer the question in their own way and for gay men who are past it, this is still
paradise, as long as you have baht in your pocket and don't believe you can buy love... :cat:

I am in agreement with the "short memory" theorists. Most people are in continual denial
and do not believe it can happen to them.

And, after all, when we're talking about it "happening to them", we're talking only about a relatively minor inconvenience -- not death by beheading or bomb attack. Let's get real here.

[catawampuscat]

[/quote] gra45
Wow well put Pissyboy LOL i am a large guy 104 kg but still losing weight and only need 1 seat lol but i totally agree with you ..your a man with the right words cant put it any better even if i tried and tried and tried ....i do care what going on in LOS so much as i think there a beautiful friendly natured lifestyle that are struggling and if i could it be my home one day ...As there is no paradise like this ..but saying that NZ south island is awesome for a tourist but not for what we need on the side...[/quote]

Is this the reincarnation of badboybilly or just another jerk. I know I am a troll magnet but
perhaps this bad imitation of bbb doesn't understand he is insulting with his pissyboy reference but nobody could be that stupid.. Hmm .. maybe it is bbb, and maybe just another asswipe loser. I would be happier if he didn't agree with me and this asswipe just made the IGNORE list.
My ignore list is now longer than hominterns (private joke).. :cat:

[francois]

I fear Soi 10 Tom is right. Thailand does look to the world now like a country out of control. The land of smiles is now the land of warring lunatics. The average tourist, who takes no interest in the political situation in the country they are visiting, now cannot avoid doing so. The government, palace, judiciary, army, and police are seen as corrupt, and unable or unwilling to intervene. That's the last place tourists want to visit, especially new tourists.
..

For me, Thailand is a country out of control. I will continue to visit but with trepidation.

[francois]

outweigh[/i] the negatives, Thailand wins
every time..
What is a coup or two, when compared to the greatest time of our lives? Each of
us has to answer the question in their own way and for gay men who are past it, this is still
paradise, as long as you have baht in your pocket and don't believe you can buy love... :cat:

Well spoken, catawampuscat! For me the greatest time of my life. Paradise on earth, if not in heaven.

[Hmmm]

I am in agreement with the "short memory" theorists. Most people are in continual denial
and do not believe it can happen to them.

And, after all, when we're talking about it "happening to them", we're talking only about a relatively minor inconvenience -- not death by beheading or bomb attack. Let's get real here.

True, but that's not the way it was reported in many parts of the world. The sensationalized picture they saw, of what was supposedly going on in the streets, was of shots fired and bombs thrown. It was rarely clearly explained that the tourists were far away and in little danger of being caught in the cross-fire.

And, after all, when we're talking about it "happening to them", we're talking only about a relatively minor inconvenience -- not death by beheading or bomb attack. Let's get real here.

I guess Chao na must be one of that handful of people who think it unlikely that violence will continue, or that some form of civil war will follow the event we are not allowed to mention. It was after all only Thais killing each other wasn't it.

[netrix]

It will take years for the family, senior citizen, and student backpacking tourist to return.

bullshit. it didn't take long for phuket and phi phi to see an even bigger
return in tourism in a short time following the tsunami, which was a
disaster of larger proportions covered much more heavily in the western
media.

i have buddies who backpack cambodia, thailand, and malaysia almost
every year and they could care less about this stuff. it makes for better
stories and maybe some cool photos. as for families and seniors...c'mon!
what percentage of thailand's tourism do you really think is senior
citizens and families?


thailand is resiliant, and people are lemmings with short memories.

Yes, it will hurt tourist traffic for a while. But, if the government can keep themselves out of the international news for even six months, the world will forget what happened here, and next year's tourist season will be as usual.

The oracle has spoken.

I agree oracle.