51–60 of 68 posts
Wow. A quick glance at the picture shows about a million guys and 4 girls, I think. I believe this party would have died of natural causes after a while. I can't imagine it would go on organically.
I've been living on Koh Phangan since March. AMA
What have all the Western Scuba instructors been up to during the pandemic?
Like the rest of us. From march to June the whole island just stayed at home in volunteer self-quarantine. Because of that Corona never arrived here and life is sort of returned to normal. Of course, no new people arrives, because the borders to Thailand are still closed, so it starts to be pretty empty with people on this island and most people are struggling.
For many months all beaches was closed so they have not been able to get into the water.
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Or this one in Laos that got shutdown. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/07/vang-vieng-lao...
I was there 2 years ago, its a beautiful place. One of my fav in Laos. Shame it will be remember in years to come by those incidents.
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Digital nomads? They're digital colonists. It's colonialism in everything but name.
I probably shouldn't, but I'll bite: how does a dude with a laptop in a beachside cafe implement "the policy of a country seeking to extend or retain its authority over other people or territories, generally with the aim of economic dominance"? They're likely not even paying taxes to their home country.
These days, rather than the Spanish Empire stripping South America of its gold and silver, it's individual workers emigrating to countries with a low cost of living to maximise their own personal wealth.
[1] https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/119#Smith_0206-02_185
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After years of being against all of those visa-runners and digital nomads of all kinds I am a bit skeptical of Thai goverment actually wanting long-stay tourists.
Unpopular opinion: If you're a "digital nomad", you're not a tourist. You're working.
I believe the smoke test for tourist status, as applied to digital nomads, is whether one’s customers/employer are companies with official representation in chosen country of residence. If not, they are (1) not stealing jobs from locals, and (2) actually boosting local economy, infusing it with cash earned overseas.
Possibly hinting at this are also recent programs in some countries[1] that in a way encourage “digital nomadism”, offering terms that are actually more beneficial compared to tourist status (e.g., longer stay times).
[0] Of course, this argument most likely won’t fly if the immigration officer is out to get you. IANAL.
[1] Georgia comes to mind
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I probably shouldn't, but I'll bite: how does a dude with a laptop in a beachside cafe implement "the policy of a country seeking to extend or retain its authority over other people or territories, generally with the aim of economic dominance"? They're likely not even paying taxes to their home country.
The aim of colonialism (at least according to Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations [1]) was to exploit the New World's resources in order to accumulate wealth. Extending authority over these territories was just a means to this end. These days, rather than the Spanish Empire stripping South America of its gold and silver, it's individual workers emigrating to countries with a low cost of living to maximise their own p…
How exactly does this "exploit the New World's resources" given they will probably get less infrastructure than in their country of origin?
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In theory yes, although you probably want to declare yourself as tourist in many countries, unless you want to have some fun with local authorities.
.. until they find out you've been working without a visa, which (while unlikely) will result in even more "fun". (I do side-eye people who refer to westerners working illegally in the non-west as "digital nomads" while referring to non-westerners doing the same in the west as "illegals")
Do digital nomads have employers?
The article mentions Thailand's plan to invite long-stay tourists willing to go through a 14-day quarantine on arrival. It was supposed to start this week, but was pushed back at last minute, officially because the arrangements were not ready but quite probably because they couldn't actually find enough interest. (In addition to the quarantine, you can only arrive by dedicated chartered aircraft!?) https://www.channe…
I think there could be enough interest if managed well, but unfortunately they make the process very complicated and then the quarantine is overly strict (you can't order food from outside, no alcohol, not allowed to open the windows) and other shenanigans like prebooking all hotels, wearing gps-wristbands. Most of the people interested in this already live in Thailand (but got stuck abroad unable to return) on touri…
Am in a similar predicament with my “base” in Hong Kong. It is very frustrating.
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After years of being against all of those visa-runners and digital nomads of all kinds I am a bit skeptical of Thai goverment actually wanting long-stay tourists.
They were actually quite tolerant of the visa runners. I used an organised service where they drove you to a park on the Myanmar border, you exited Thailand, 5 mins later re-entered Thailand, had a coffee then got the bus back. They could be like Europe and ban you for 90 days after you've been there for 90 days if they wanted to.
Also I guess it makes it easy to do selective enforcement against troublesome people.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
After years of being against all of those visa-runners and digital nomads of all kinds I am a bit skeptical of Thai goverment actually wanting long-stay tourists.
Unpopular opinion: If you're a "digital nomad", you're not a tourist. You're working.
I tried to fly there on a business visa but I wasn't able to get one because Thailand doesn't recognise a 'self employed' person as a business.