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30th October 2008, 02:16 AM
|  | Travelforum On The Brain | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Esarn
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"If the attraction is one that is Govt (taxpayer) funded, then I see no problem with it. Thai's should not have to pay the same as they are already part funding the operation."
Shanek, I have paid taxation in Thailand (probably more than the average Thai as well) for a quarter of a century. I explain this to the people at national parks and historical sites and it makes no difference.
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30th October 2008, 05:29 AM
| | Travelforum Addict | | Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Kata + Rawai, Phuket
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Shanek, I have paid taxation in Thailand (probably more than the average Thai as well) for a quarter of a century. I explain this to the people at national parks and historical sites and it makes no difference.
| By showing them my Thai drivers License or work permit, I have never paid more than the Thais for a national park etc.
And I am caucasian.
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30th October 2008, 08:10 AM
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have also done that, thai driver license and house registration/tabian book, whatever it's called, use to work most of the time. last time i tried they said no, small park by shore in prachuap khiri khan, drove about 40 kms to it, then just turned around and drove back. nothing there to see that i don't already see for free, think he wanted 200 baht and this was like 2pm when they close in few hours. decided then, never again, as the thai fee is sometimes overcharging you. the parks don't offer anything you don't see on the way, or close by. can't imagine anything really worth a side trip, if not on the way.
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30th October 2008, 01:32 PM
|  | Travelforum On The Brain | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Esarn
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Yep, same here, Thai Drivers License and WP used to work, but last time I ran into this was about 5 months ago at Pimai Historical Park and they said I needed to show a Thai citizen ID card (Bat Pachachon)
I turned away, Thai missus went in for a short while to look around. I just refuse to play the game. If every farang did the same then their racist pricing would disappear overnight.
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5th November 2008, 03:16 AM
|  | Travelforum Regular | | Join Date: May 2007 Location: Pattaya city
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Well, I understand how you feel,
I understand as a thai like me, our income is completely different from foriegners. So, that's why most of Tourism entry is different.
So far we pay the same prices of Entrance when ever we visited foreigner country's.
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5th November 2008, 09:24 AM
| | Travelforum Newbie | | Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Chiang Mai
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Originally Posted by songchai Well, I understand how you feel,
I understand as a thai like me, our income is completely different from foriegners. So, that's why most of Tourism entry is different.
So far we pay the same prices of Entrance when ever we visited foreigner country's. | That makes sense to me, Songchai. Quite understand.
An aside - it reminds me of the anti-pirated DVD argument. The bona fide legal originals cost next to nothing to produce, with an enormous profit margin for the producers, and are then put on sale in Thailand at a similar price to the one we might expect to pay in Europe. So in real terms the Thais would have to cough up 6 or 7 times the European price (taking the average income here into account). Which for most Thais is impossible. So I understand why the market exists, and is tolerated to an extent...
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5th November 2008, 09:59 AM
|  | Travelforum On The Brain | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Esarn
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It always amuses me how people see this issue in black and white: all farang are rich; all Thai are poor. Therefore farang can pay more.
I see plenty of Thais living in big double-storied houses in housing estates all over the country but all I can afford to rent (forget about buying) is a single room flat. I see plenty of Thais driving Benz, BMW, Volvo cars but all I can afford to drive is a 15 year old Nissan bomb. I see plenty of Thais splashing it up in flash restaurants with plates of food and bottles all over the table but I eat 30-40-50 Bt dishes in night markets.
This notion that Thais have that Farang are rich is based on seeing us on holiday, staying in flash resorts and shopping madly. What they don't see is how these same people live between holidays - saving, going without, shopping carefully, turning lights off and cutting care engines to save money...
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Last edited by BobMac; 5th November 2008 at 10:11 AM.
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5th November 2008, 10:54 AM
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Originally Posted by BobMac It always amuses me how people see this issue in black and white: all farang are rich; all Thai are poor. Therefore farang can pay more.
I see plenty of Thais living in big double-storied houses in housing estates all over the country but all I can afford to rent (forget about buying) is a single room flat. I see plenty of Thais driving Benz, BMW, Volvo cars but all I can afford to drive is a 15 year old Nissan bomb. I see plenty of Thais splashing it up in flash restaurants with plates of food and bottles all over the table but I eat 30-40-50 Bt dishes in night markets.
This notion that Thais have that Farang are rich is based on seeing us on holiday, staying in flash resorts and shopping madly. What they don't see is how these same people live between holidays - saving, going without, shopping carefully, turning lights off and cutting care engines to save money... | Um the only person seeing things in black and white is you, going by the above! No one suggested that there aren't shades of grey, and certainly no one suggested that there aren't plenty of rich Thais (and 'relatively' poor farangs). The point was that mean earnings, taking the population as a whole and not the privileged minority you refer to, are a fraction of those of the average farang visiting Thailand, and even of those living in Thailand. And when I say "average farang", I acknowledge that some are not as well off as others, of course. That goes without saying (or it should).
Last edited by Wedders; 5th November 2008 at 11:10 AM.
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5th November 2008, 12:12 PM
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I wasn't refering to a "privileged minority", my comments included the enormous and rapidly increasing middle class in Thailand, which should also go without saying.
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5th November 2008, 12:22 PM
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If they represented more than a privileged minority, they would have won the last election, and wouldn't today be seeking constitional changes that remove certain voting rights from the rural and urban poor - they wouldn't need to, would they.
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