Tour sleight of hand

Postbag

Published: 8 Jun 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

Re: ''Northern provinces launch tourism initiative'' (Life, June 6).

I am a Malaysian, and recently I was on a short holiday in Chiang Mai and decided to visit the long-neck village. What disappointed me was the 500-baht entrance fee. It was expensive and not stated in any day tour package offered by the local tour agencies.

I believe the practice by the tour agencies is to keep ''silent'' if the customer does not inquire about it before buying the tour, and then spring on them the ''surprise 500 baht'' entrance fee on arrival.

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snap
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Discussion 7 : 09 Jun 2012 at 01.187
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With regards to discussion five. Unfortunately it doesn't bother them. They now realise that there's russia, india, singapore and the middle east arriving in droves and they couldn't care less. Sad really.
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mphilips
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Discussion 6 : 08 Jun 2012 at 21.326
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Thai parents generally believe that their share of the responsibility for their kids education begins and ends with the payment of fees. They also generally believe, and may not be entirely incorrect, that the name of the school you attended on your resume is of far more importance than any grade you might also have written there.

Success in Thailand depends solely on your family connections, and/or how much you can pay the right people. Fortunately, the other countries in ASEAN don't care whether your school pretended it was a Christian school or not, or whether you had long hair or a short bob, and people will hopefully start to see that you can actually get on even if your dad doesn't know someone who knows someone.
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tu-whit
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Discussion 5 : 08 Jun 2012 at 11.245
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I realy don't know why we keep shooting ourselves in the foot. Don't those in charge realise that greed will turn tourists away from visiting this beautiful country?
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bkk-farang
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Discussion 4 : 08 Jun 2012 at 09.154
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As usual a good letter from Burin Kantabutra.
Yes, it’s overdue that the educational institutions in this country work to higher their standards and not lower them more and more. Even after 10 years in Thailand I am sometimes surprised how little people know who have university degrees from Thailand. His is not just about general knowledge but often also about subject which they studied for years.

I also agree with Dom Dunn, good point!
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kena
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Discussion 3 : 08 Jun 2012 at 08.473
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What Mr. Chia and others may not know: Long Neck Karen don't hail from anywhere near C.Mai. Organizers get local hill tribe girls to stick metal rings on their necks, and then set them out to be gawked at - like animals in a zoo. You didn't miss anything Robert, and you saved some baht.
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dao
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Discussion 2 : 08 Jun 2012 at 08.122
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Two letters from foreigners who know they are being ripped off and they tell their friends and so on .If one treated others as their mother the world would be a much different place .Would you rip off your mother ?
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whatajoke
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Discussion 1 : 08 Jun 2012 at 07.031
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Perhaps a website naming and shaming all establishments with dual pricing would do the trick, any takers? Richard Barrow perhaps, he's brilliant at keeping tourists informed of this sort of thing.
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Tour sleight of hand | Bangkok Post: opinion