191–200 of 294 posts
I mean, it's reasonable if it is true defamation. I'm not sure how Thailand's legal system is structured, I think in a lot of places it would be unusual for a defamation case to result in arrest except for contempt of court. Not that I generally have high hopes for Thailand's judicial independence from private and political interests, so who knows.
I'm not surprised. I had some crazy experiences in Thailand. Once the floor dropped out in our bungalow, as I was stepping on it. Sheer luck that I didn't fall through and cut myself open on the exposed building material. Trying to explain this to the owner and they accused us of breaking the floor and wanted to charge for it. Another time we wanted them to order a cab for us but they insisted we use their limo servi…
It goes both ways... I had similar experiences in Thailand, but I also saw a lot of terrible behaviour from tourists - trashing rooms, causing disturbances late at night, trying to trick/scam or just nickle-and-dime the locals . Thailand seems to attract a particularly hard-partying demographic from Australia, UK and Germany in particular that gives other tourists a bad reputation - who are then treated with a lot of…
Some of the most revolting tourist behavior I've seen is along these lines.
Like being at a cenote in Mexico and a tourist with her three kids is livid at the clerk that she has to pay 100 pesos for her family (that price! Arguing with the 16yo kid at the front gate who is nervously looking around for an adult to help. Then she got in an argument with us in line.
Some people feel untouchable when they're abroad, and they expect every place in the world to be the same as their little suburb. We need to stop making these people.
Thailand is the country where the price made their pet dog a high ranking member of the military. I present to you: Air Chief Marshal Fufu! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fufu_(dog)
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While truth is still a defense, in the UK the burden of proof is on the defendant; this means that if you are accused of libel or slander in the UK, you have to prove that what you said is true in order to defend yourself. This can be very difficult; for example, how would your PROVE a hotel clerk said certain things to you? In the US, the burden of proof is on the person suing for libel; they have to prove that what…
I’ll note that the UK has notoriously terrible defamation laws. They’re so bad that Congress passed a law to make defamation rulings from the UK unenforceable in America, just to stop the libel tourism.
In Thailand they take drugs super seriously and they can blackmail you easily this way.
On the other hand you see all kind of scumbags from western countries traveling there thinking they could do whatever they please with total disrespect for the locals and the country.
Without more data, I bet this is the second case. If the online reviews are false the Hotel is in their right to accuse him of defamation.
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Do Italians appreciate tourists in Italy angrily raising their voices and waving their arms around at them because the tourist didn't bother learning the language? That's what the other poster seems to be describing, rather than lively chit chat among friends.
How many places can a person reasonably travel to if they have to be conversational in the local language first?
And to save any more missing the point stereotypes about Italians or New Yorkers waving their hands at each other in completely different contexts:
A stranger angrily waving their hands and unintelligibly shouting things at you would be frowned upon in any culture.
And that this has to be explained - again - to some people is unbelievable.
I actually wasn't sure if the original post wasn't just a parody of the archetypal ignorant English-speaker abroad, since it's such a staple of comedy.
Judging by the downvotes though, HN is absolutely crawling with similarly entitled egotists who blame other people for their own chronic laziness and ignorance when they condescend to grace other countries with their presence.
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It goes both ways... I had similar experiences in Thailand, but I also saw a lot of terrible behaviour from tourists - trashing rooms, causing disturbances late at night, trying to trick/scam or just nickle-and-dime the locals . Thailand seems to attract a particularly hard-partying demographic from Australia, UK and Germany in particular that gives other tourists a bad reputation - who are then treated with a lot of…
> or just nickle-and-dime the locals Some of the most revolting tourist behavior I've seen is along these lines. Like being at a cenote in Mexico and a tourist with her three kids is livid at the clerk that she has to pay 100 pesos for her family ( that price! Arguing with the 16yo kid at the front gate who is nervously looking around for an adult to help. Then she got in an argument with us in line. Some people feel…
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Sounds like a good reason to never go there as a tourist, actually. And no, that is clearly not what they’re trying to communicate (although the actual goal remains unclear). If the premise was “don’t write a review, they’re corrupt and will spuriously jail you”, then they wouldn’t offer the hotel chain the benefit of the doubt.
One of the most visited countries in the world. We are all well aware of the reputation they have for sex tourism so anyone going there really needs to embrace the idea that Thailand isn’t quite the same as a typical western country. I have no great interest in going (I live in Taiwan and the average review I hear for a family vacation isn’t very flattering) but if I were I would be really careful. Most people woeful…
You don’t need to be an idiot for you trip to go bad. I used a local transportation. When getting off a Chinese tourist had lost is wallet in it. A local just took it for himself while the tourist was still in sight. The scene went too fast for me to do anything but I felt bad for the guy who will likely get charged on credit card, lost all his cash and probably ID too.
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I would not be surprised one bit if Singapore punished being a dick with N lashes in a public square.
I've lived in Singapore and they have a strong legal system, they don't just punish you for "being a dick". They do have a lot of strict laws, however.
I was actually there when this was going on earlier this year. Could have easily been me. They just picked on these poor people to make an example of them because they faced a backlash from locals (many of whom did similar things in other areas)
I have traveled to Thailand several times, and once the taxi driver put drugs on my luggage. He was crony with the guard at the airport who was very surprised when he could not find the small cocaine bags the driver has put there(and I had thrown away). In Thailand they take drugs super seriously and they can blackmail you easily this way. On the other hand you see all kind of scumbags from western countries travelin…
How exactly does a Taxi driver coordinate with guards? At what point did you discover the scheme? You were nearly blackmailed and just threw away the evidence?
How does the Airport guard blackmail you? How goes he expect to get paid? Why go through this and not just blackmail the actual legitimate drug users?