Hope dies last...

[swissie]

In my corner of "Rural Thailand", a large number of Ladies, that before used to work in Tourist-Hub's year round, have returned home during this "low season". It must be really slow.

Since they know, that I know that they are not working as Maids, Supermarket Cashiers, Hotel Receptionists etc, sometimes some of them seek my company for a little chat. (they know, that I don't gossip around.)

Their main concern seems to be: "Why is it not like before"? = "The New Tourists are not like the Old Tourists, they not want to give money very much". I usually reply, that things are not the same in Europe, and Farangs can have "Fun" very close to Europe for almost the same price these days and not need to sit in an airplane for 10 hours anymore. They usually do not quite understand the meaning of this and it's implications.

Another concern: Family debt is higher than ever before. So their hopes are pinned on the next high season. I don't have the guts to tell them that the next High Season will reflect the one(s) before.

But hope dies last.........

I often wonder, what will the future be for them, if the "Entertainment / Hostess" business goes from bad to worse. (A good part of them can not read or write Thai properly).

Cheers.

[lovelomsak]

Back to the rice paddy for them. the factories are closing too. So little chance of getting work there.

[KhunBENQ]

The rice paddys are dead and dry in many parts of the country (like here).

A terribly bad harvest ahead.

Will become worse and worse for many.

Only chance is the escape from Thailand to make money "overseas" be it legal or not.

[DILLIGAD]

This could have been posted every year for the last 20"ish years, me thinks.

[Enoon]

"No problem, boyfriend go rob local farang, maybe nice mr swissie, he got good money"

"Cheers"

[NickJ]

Who cares.....

[puchooay]

This is not an old thing, as one poster has said. It is relatively new. Amongst other things, one of the reasons is that word gets around of all of the scams. One other reason, as someone had mentioned, is cost. Why would tourist come to Thailand and pay as much for a restaurant meal and a beer as they would at home?

[Naam]

This is not an old thing, as one poster has said. It is relatively new. Amongst other things, one of the reasons is that word gets around of all of the scams. One other reason, as someone had mentioned, is cost. Why would tourist come to Thailand and pay as much for a restaurant meal and a beer as they would at home?

because tourists don't visit Thailand for restaurant meals and beer

[MaeJoMTB]

Why would tourist come to Thailand and pay as much for a restaurant meal and a beer as they would at home?

Because the Issan hooker (from the OP) he takes home, after dinner and the beer, costs 1/10 the price of a western girl and is 10x more attractive (not to mention 1/2 the age and 1/2 the weight).

[puchooay]

Why would tourist come to Thailand and pay as much for a restaurant meal and a beer as they would at home?

Because the Issan hooker (from the OP) he takes home, after dinner and the beer, costs 1/10 the price of a western girl and is 10x more attractive (not to mention 1/2 the age and 1/2 the weight).

Does it have to be an Issan hooker? I think not. Your fractions also seem to be out.

Most tourists don't come here for food and beer? Really?

The reason the ladies have no work is simply cost. What can be had else where is becoming cheaper and safer from scams.

I don't frequent such areas but hear what goes on from some that do.

[Suradit69]

sometimes some of them seek my company for a little chat. (they know, that I don't gossip around.)

And everyone aside from you assumes these ladies are supermarket cashiers. Right. Now pull the other one.

Your availability to chat (but never gossip) with all and sundry undoubtedly makes you the Mother Teresa of "rural Thailand."

(A good part of them can not read or write Thai properly).

Which bits do you consider the good part?

A lot of people do struggle with their native languages I guess.

[peterrabbit]

The quieter it gets the higher the prices which leads to less business which makes it even more quieter. Its inevitable that its all going to end in tears. When you have 40m+ desperate starving people then you know it can only end in Bastille Day. Its so sad that Thailand's poor have been so let down by their political leaders for so long.

[gk10002000]

I remember on several of my trips when I would go to Pattaya and right at the start of high season I would see literally baht busses or plain old pick up trucks arriving with about one dozen "new" girls in each. Things have changed a lot in the last 10 years. Prices in Thailand are up, people in western countries are a bit more cautious with their money as retirement looms or job security is a bit less.

[AlexRRR]

Why would tourist come to Thailand and pay as much for a restaurant meal and a beer as they would at home?

Because the Issan hooker (from the OP) he takes home, after dinner and the beer, costs 1/10 the price of a western girl and is 10x more attractive (not to mention 1/2 the age and 1/2 the weight).

Does it have to be an Issan hooker? I think not. Your fractions also seem to be out.

Most tourists don't come here for food and beer? Really?

The reason the ladies have no work is simply cost. What can be had else where is becoming cheaper and safer from scams.

I don't frequent such areas but hear what goes on from some that do.

Your talking about sex tourists, single males, usually middle to low income.

World wide slow down over 7 years only now just beginning to slowly come out of it.

Supply and demand as in any business, too many girls for the clients on offer pure and simple.

As the Buddha said nothing stays the same, there will be good times followed by bad times followed by good times etc etc..

[Cam Khao]

Pure market forces in play.

The value of any product is price + quality + service.

Here, price is up, quality is down, service is down, which means that Thailand as a product, has lost value.

[Jessi]

Many workers are returning to the village not all of them are hookers some are factory workers that have lost their jobs

due to the market downturn.

A lot seem to be getting into the clutches of the "Loan Sharks"

One woman my wife knows has 5 loan sharks call in to her small food stall to collect every day.

She had a long talk the other day with Mrs Jessi as she is now getting worried because her repayments are 40,000B a month.

Yesterday she packed up & headed for Phuket to make her fortune. She is 40 YO, over weight, ugly and cant speak English, all

I can do is wish her good luck.

I told Mrs Jessi about a year ago that the economy would get bad in Korat and that crime will rise. Now there are a lot of

bags & gold chains being snacked, last Sunday there was one in the Soi where I live and this will get a lot worse as more people loose their jobs and have no money for the high life they are use to or to buy their drugs.

About 1 year ago Mrs Jessi wanted to open a shop and some of the ones we looked at were wanting between 1 & 3 years rent key money

Guess what they are still empty.

The economy is not looking good for Thailand and there will be many more returning to the village at least they have family there and some kind of security

but NO rice farming to speak of.

[puukao]

You farang need to bring over more money!!!! do you not care about your fellow human!!!!>!>!>!>!???!?!!

oh, forget it....don't worry....i'll bring over an extra 100 baht......

then i will buy restaurant there, condo, house, car, motorbike, elite visa..

or just rent for 4000 baht no aircon and go to 7-11 for dinner

[Cam Khao]

I think just looking around in Isan it's quite obvious that things are getting bad on many levels. Even us farang don't seem to be around in the numbers we used to be.

I don't go out to play in the daytime often, but yesterday I decided to make a day of it. I visited most of the faarang places in Surin between 2pm and 4pm, it looked like this:

Farang Connection: 3 customers.

Sports Bar: 0 customers.

Oasis: Closed.

Green Mango: 0 customers.

Norbies: 0 customers.

Leks: 0 customers.

A few years back there would always be a few people everywhere, yesterday it was a ghost town.

[Jessi]

In the section where I live in Korat, I rent a house from a Thai family that own 50 houses in this one Soi.

The owner told me last week that 20 of the houses are empty, they mainly target Falang customers for long term tenants.

The rents are not expensive ranging from 8,000B to 11,000B. Its a good central location.

I am seeing less falangs around Korat I think many have moved on because of visa problems and getting fed up with the B/S coming out of the government.

[ttthailand]

The good times ended years ago, prices now up, crime up, niceness level down. It took a little time for westerners to figure it out but many are now looking at other countries for their winter home or holiday.

Chinese are the new kids on the block and they will chase away most of the remaining western tourists. They will however bring in enough to satisfy the numbers and the decision makers. The little businesses will suffer but it is their own faults for not taking better care of their guests.

Times change, local people change, countries change and tourists change their minds and discover new places to spend their holidays.

[Naam]

The good times ended years ago...

no they did not end. if you are not an American but financially well-off and living in Thailand any price increase or Thai Baht appeciation is compensated over and over and over² by the income tax savings. crime rates in other countries are high too. who the eff cares for niceness?

[Jip99]

Pure market forces in play.

The value of any product is price + quality + service.

Here, price is up, quality is down, service is down, which means that Thailand as a product, has lost value.

Perfectly true with supply and demand being the major factor.

Reduced numbers of tourists vs an over-supply of product should make for for a competitive situation with advantages for the consumer.

Not in Thailand. No effort to improve the quality of the service and, with numbers down, prices should edge down rather than remain static - or even increase.

[meatboy]

Pure market forces in play.

The value of any product is price + quality + service.

Here, price is up, quality is down, service is down, which means that Thailand as a product, has lost value.

Perfectly true with supply and demand being the major factor.

Reduced numbers of tourists vs an over-supply of product should make for for a competitive situation with advantages for the consumer.

Not in Thailand. No effort to improve the quality of the service and, with numbers down, prices should edge down rather than remain static - or even increase.

see honda are advertising 0% interest on 5models with 25% deposit and payments over 48months.

sign of the times.

[petermik]

Pure market forces in play.

The value of any product is price + quality + service.

Here, price is up, quality is down, service is down, which means that Thailand as a product, has lost value.

Perfectly true with supply and demand being the major factor.

Reduced numbers of tourists vs an over-supply of product should make for for a competitive situation with advantages for the consumer.

Not in Thailand. No effort to improve the quality of the service and, with numbers down, prices should edge down rather than remain static - or even increase.

see honda are advertising 0% interest on 5models with 25% deposit and payments over 48months.

sign of the times.

Do Honda require a barfine on any of these models

[bushmill]

Why would tourist come to Thailand and pay as much for a restaurant meal and a beer as they would at home?

Because the Issan hooker (from the OP) he takes home, after dinner and the beer, costs 1/10 the price of a western girl and is 10x more attractive (not to mention 1/2 the age and 1/2 the weight).

But now you have an increasing numbers of tourists ( farangs ) in Laos, Vietnam, Cambodscha and Myanmar. Most of this places are cheaper and easier ( Visa ) as Thailand. Thailand is down for theie politicle situation and mant restrictions and the habit of cheating / overprizing the people.

[Jip99]

Pure market forces in play.

The value of any product is price + quality + service.

Here, price is up, quality is down, service is down, which means that Thailand as a product, has lost value.

Perfectly true with supply and demand being the major factor.

Reduced numbers of tourists vs an over-supply of product should make for for a competitive situation with advantages for the consumer.

Not in Thailand. No effort to improve the quality of the service and, with numbers down, prices should edge down rather than remain static - or even increase.

see honda are advertising 0% interest on 5models with 25% deposit and payments over 48months.

sign of the times.

Four years ago I bought a Ford Ranger on 0% finance with a 10% deposit.

Nothing new about trying to move metal with discounted terms - usually those terms are not available when you really want to buy.

[TPI]

The quieter it gets the higher the prices which leads to less business which makes it even more quieter. Its inevitable that its all going to end in tears. When you have 40m+ desperate starving people then you know it can only end in Bastille Day. Its so sad that Thailand's poor have been so let down by their political leaders for so long.

Agreed Mr Rabbit, the strange quirk in Thai mentality that thinks ...."the fewer customers, the more I charge". It's very strange and quite illogical, look in the markets! Even Thai airways suffers from the same blinkered thinking! The end result, not soon i hope, will be another July 14 episode but messier by far......som nom na!!

[swissie]

sometimes some of them seek my company for a little chat. (they know, that I don't gossip around.)

And everyone aside from you assumes these ladies are supermarket cashiers. Right. Now pull the other one.

Your availability to chat (but never gossip) with all and sundry undoubtedly makes you the Mother Teresa of "rural Thailand."

(A good part of them can not read or write Thai properly).

Which bits do you consider the good part?

A lot of people do struggle with their native languages I guess.

I don't see myself as the mother Theresa of rural Thailand. I am just surrounded by Thai's that have to struggle from day to day.

Among those "little people". a consensus seems to emerge: "Thaksin wasn't any less corrupt than all his predecessors before, but at least some crumbs fell of the big Bangkok dining table in our favor." These days, the newly built roads during that time can not be maintained anymore because "little money coming from Bangkok anymore". (The crumbs have stopped falling off the big Bangkok dining table).

They also seem to have understood, that the current government is mainly interested in restoring pre-Thaksin times, where the 50 most influential Family-Clans ruled Thailand.

The "little people" may be uneducated, but not necessarily dumb.

Are we sitting on a sleeping volcano? I'd say yes. Problem is, if the volcano erupts, the Thai Police/Military will have other priorities than protecting the lives and property of some Farangs living somewhere in the sticks.

Cheers..

[mankondang]

Thank you for telling all of us all of this....so consoling to read that, "you don't gossip around".

[Shiver]

With a friend in Phuket a couple of months ago, he pulled over the car to a local bar. He's much more outgoing than I, and I was in the passenger seat cringing while he was talking quite comfortably to one of the girls who walked over. He asked "how much for 1 night?", she said 3000 baht. He said so 2000 baht?, she said Yes, so for 2 nights 3000 baht, she said yes. Left me perplexed. It's quiet down there, but less so that up here in Isaan. It was just a test of course to gauge the area, and I wouldn't take one of these girls, but it gives you an idea of price jacking due to lack of business, and lack of mathematical skills or negotiation tactics. I think some would settle for a decent meal in their belly if you're not completely obnoxious.

I did get a massage with no happy ending required. Cost me 1500 baht in the end. I couldn't get her to leave after the event, and have been receiving phone calls a couple of times a day ever since (even though I don't know how she got my number). She wants to come and live with me, take care and bum bum. The desperation is palpable. No way.