Xonax

Are these officials really alive ????  saying it will hurt Thailands image.... It is them that is harming Thailands image by talking Shizen, and or not stopping the sales of millions of them. I do admit you have to search hard to find a seller .   All this adverse publicity is in favour of ugly Gaga, and mega company Rolex.  Scams and the Bib + corrupt officials are hurting Thailands image----really we can't call them officials, as most of them are there to line their own pockets, not for giving Thailand a fresh transparent start.

Rest Inn Peace

A British Furniture Shop owner from Jomtien, who is currently on-bail relating to two drugs offences has been arrested for a third time on suspicion of selling drugs.

There is just no helping some people.......muppet.

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In a country filled with illegal copies including Gaga's albums on every single corner, and over 50% of computers running on illegal software, who is the ignorant one

I find it rather fascinating with Thai mentality, after all they have no problem insulting Westerners in more ways than one, no problem being racist, no problem being totally contradicting and yet get offended by the comments which are not only humorous but in fact a reality and facts.

Fake goods are sold on every corner with no problems at all, so which part of that truth they find offensive?

More sophisticated in what? in some areas sure, but in most its nothing but copy cats

Maybe Lady Gaga was being sarcastic in light of the deep root thievery of people who steal everything they can get their hands on - particularly copyrighted music.  Maybe she was mocking Thailand.  Maybe she has a darn good point.  Maybe if more Thais mocked Thailand, Thailand wouldn't be mocked by the rest of the world as a cheap place to vacation, a cheap place to get laid, a cheap place to buy illegal stuff, just a plain cheap place.

Thais with their head in the sand again, one walk round MBK or Pantip will show the array of counterfeit good here, if they don't want this reputation then do something about it rather than take money from the people selling it to allow them to sell it.

Perhaps I'm mistaken but I suspect her publicity machine has generated this somewhat ironic comment with a deeper and clever message regarding the abundance of pirated goods (also pirated copies of her music) - A clever and publicity drawing attack on the authorities for permitting counterfeit and copy rights infringement to exist to such a degree.

If some people are getting offended by this then they really need to learn to accept criticism and the realities of Thailand's tolerance of illegal activity.

I would say that this knee jerk reaction to her tweet is in and of itself a part of the problem here in Thailand.  All to often the solution here is ignoring a problem...or pretending that something obvious doesn't exist.  It's all about the ridiculous concept of "saving face" at all costs, and sadly only adds to the problems here, that the international community is well aware of....whether some Thai citizens want to accept that or not to "save face" is irrelevant.

Fake watches are sold here in Thailand and that's a fact. Maybe if DJ Suharit Siamwalla feels so strongly about this, he should campaign to stop fake merchandise being sold in Thailand. He is a DJ after all, so he would have a lot of clout and influence.

How brave and loyal some of these nationalists are when it comes to sticking up for their country and people. Just say good things all the time, and never address the real issues which would actually help this country and these people you love so much. Hypocrisy and ignorance and its very best.

its always funny to see how serious Thais become when an international icon is talking about the TRUTH ....and nothing than the TRUTH ...oh my goodness ..how shocking ..... I will boycott the concert ...bla bla bla .....if you dont want any one to talk about fake rolex or other watches ..clean your pavement ... intellectual properties here means nothing .Thais for sure have NO sense of humor. so we cannot talk about prostitution ? fake Gucci shirts ? and illegal music CDs ? LOL what a joke .....

LMAO!!  Score one for the home team.  Great comment.  I'm starting to admire Gaga now.

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What is worse for Thailand's image is ... all the stuff that happens in Thailand like the sizzling illegal goods trade that has been going on long enough (say the past 2 decades) that it is world renowned.  Thank goodness she didn't mention anything about the sex trade or this little country would have been up in arms.  They are so overly sensitive here about image.  Here's a tip: if you are worried about your image, then CLEAN IT UP.

These comments would tend to come from two kinds of Thai people.  

1) the moneyed, English-speaking, partially foreign educated Thais who MUST refuse to believe that Thailand is still in the dark ages so that they can justify their position in what they want to believe is a modern, fair, competitive and open society.  They certainly do live in a Thailand completely different form most of the other population.

2) the terribly educated but deeply nationalistic Somchai who probably can't tell you one important recent event about any country outside of Thailand that doesn't involve consumerism.  This Somchai is very deeply proud of most anything Thai and seems to find it very difficult to find anything in the Kingdom to criticize.

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Actually, no, you are not, and, if you actually knew what most of the world thinks of you, you might REALLY be upset.

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"She came to our home, but instead of admiring us she insulted us,"

Well, it is what it is.  

BTS website says about the (old) SmartPass

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So the 30 Baht issuing fee is lost, but the (hidden? see point 3.) travelling deposit will be refunded, I assume.

In the case of Furbie, he had an expired SmartPass (older than 5 yrs), which is not eligible for the free swap according to the website. So his 30 Baht issuing fee was lost anyway because the card was expired - this was unrelated to the RabbitCard - and it seems he got his deposit refunded (the 30 Baht 'hidden' deposit included?) according to point 5.

If however, his card was still valid but it was longer than 2 years after the last refill, then according to the conditions above, he shouldn't have gotten any refund of deposit and balance. But he would have been eligible for the free swap.

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OK, so they waver you the issuing fee of 50 Baht, but you still have to pay the 50 Baht deposit - which should actually be only 20 Baht because you get the 'hidden' travel deposit of the old card refunded (if this is actually true - can't confirm this) - Plus 100 Baht minimum topup.
The 50 Baht should be refundable if you return the card within its validity period, and the 100 Baht can be used for traveling on the BTS or buying junk food.

I understand that you are not happy about the forced top-up of 100 Baht if you are a vivid 30-day pass rider.

What I also find disturbing is that with this new card the customer cannot decide whether to use the standard fare / deposit for a trip or one of the 30-day pass rides. The system will *always* deduct 'rides' first, and then deposit.
So if a customer travels one station that might actually cost him 25 Baht (15 rides/30 days) instead of 15 Baht.

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Haha, I am definitely not one of them. Otherwise I wouldn't bother to write this awkwardly detailed post.

What I don't get is this "refundable deposit" wording. On the smartpasses, we put in a "refundable deposit", when would you get this refund, for what reason? I guess it doesn't matter, it is only 50 or 30 baht or something, but a deposit is something you will get back. Is it that if we tun these rabbit passes in then to them they give the 50 baht back? Can you turn it in a day before it expires? Hardly worth discussing, just generally curious I guess -- it is probably just a way for them to get an extra 50 baht per pass.

Finlaco, on 2012-05-03 11:34:58, said:

They transferred my deposit and very small remaining balance (on my old SmartPass) to my new orange colored Rabbit card, but I needed to also pay in B60 to top up my Rabbit card to a minimum amount of B100..

.it took only a few minutes (the lady at the window seemed like a newbie and an older supervisor was guiding her)

Trajan

When u said 'I just traded my BTS SmartPass valued stored card for a Rabbit card (quick swap of cards at a BTS station window)', are u sure that’s 100% right?  My understanding is that it’s not a swap, rather u loose the deposit on your current BTS card and need to pay a new deposit THB50 for the Rabbitcard.

So was it a quick swap or did u need to pay a new deposit?

Thanks