Link to the video: https://x.com/oohs00/status/2080401399041683532?s=46

A viral video of a Thai passenger asking a group of young Italian tourists to lower their voices on the BTS has sparked a wider conversation about courtesy on public transport in Bangkok.

In the clip, the group can be heard speaking loudly inside a train carriage. After one person tries to block her camera, the Thai woman asks them to keep their voices down. A young woman in the group says they are discussing where to go next, and the passenger replies that talking is fine, but should be done at a normal volume.

She tells them that people in Thailand do not usually shout or scream on public transport.

The exchange escalates when one tourist responds: “Then sorry for bringing money to your country,” drawing laughter from others in the group. The Thai woman calls the remark bad manners, while others tell her to “shut up” and demand to know what her problem is. The group later gets off at the next station.

The footage has drawn strong reactions online, particularly over the suggestion that spending money as a visitor excuses disrespectful behaviour.

There may be no expectation of complete silence on the BTS, but many Bangkok commuters do keep conversations low and avoid drawing attention in a crowded carriage, especially late at night.

Was her response over the top, or are you glad she said what other passengers may have been thinking?

Link to the news piece: https://www.khaosodenglish.com/life/2026/07/24/viral-bts-clash-between-thai-commuter-foreign-student-group-draws-millions-of-views/

Rules:

1) Name only one thing.

2) Answer only if you're a foreigner.

3) Answer only if you're an expat. Meaning you have LIVED (not stayed) in Thailand.

4) It can't be other expats/foreigners related.

5) Comment even if it's already been mentioned.

6) Don't be bitter about this post.

Shoot!

This incident happened at 5 AM this morning in Samsen area of Bangkok. This man personally called out the residents and rescued a disabled person outside before the firefighters arrived. The resident across the road took a video clip of this.

The identity of this man remains unknown. Many Thai netizens have called for local authority to seek him out, honour and award him. Some even mentioning offering a lifetime resident visa or a citizenship if he would like one.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1C394G9WZm/

Phones left unattended at Central train station and the owners aren’t even around here

The new merch line is so cool! I wish we had gotten one of the big ones as well. *The pin is from a vendor with a huge wall of pins at Chatuchak, sorry I don't remember what lane it was in*

Patong police arrested a 25-year-old American man at Suvarnabhumi Airport after he allegedly assaulted a jet ski attendant in Phuket and attempted to leave Thailand. The arrest followed an incident on 7 July, when the victim, Nattawut Dech-iam, who works as a jet ski attendant, rented out two jet skis to the American tourist.

After the watercraft were returned, the attendant allegedly discovered that both jet skis had been damaged. He approached the tourist to seek compensation, but the man reportedly refused to pay and walked away toward Bangla Road.

Edit for more context: The attendant followed him to Soi Sea Dragon, where the suspect allegedly punched and assaulted him, causing injuries, before fleeing the scene.

Video of the incident quickly circulated on social media, drawing widespread public attention.

Sometimes it is accompanied by white dog. I was travelling from udon thani to bangkok with my bike and i thought i was lost because kept seeing same dogs. Anyone else noticed this phenomen?

Whenever I see one of these pickups I change my lane right away, especially on country side. Their slowest speed is like 140 km/ph

Ok so my parents are currently in Phuket and completely bamboozled (my mum wants to see this guy again or get information)

They walked out of a shop and some gentleman greeted them, and said he knew my mum's name and date of birth etc , then wrote it all down and showed her the paper, all correct.

Then asked if they believed in god etc, then continued on to correctly guess both their parents names, dates of birth, my brother's name, my son's name and other bits and pieces all correctly (and its only them on the holiday in Phuket)

Usually my dad is a skeptic and stuff but even he was amazed

So now my mum hasn't stopped thinking about this man all day and wants to see him again if anyone knows anything or who he is, please help out

With so much happening in the world right now, I think it'd be interesting to see how it impacts the number of foreign arrivals to Thailand.

*International transfer passengers are not included in the statistics.

Highlights

- Interestingly, the total number is actually up by 2% from last year, largely due to the return of Chinese tourists (38% increase from March last year).

- 95% drop in arrivals from Iran and 40% drop compared to the same time last year.

- 20% drop from the Middle East compared to last year, with the largest drop of around 80% from Iraq and Qatar. 76% rise from Oman and 7% from Saudi Arabia.

- 25% drop from Southern Europe. About 20% drop from Italy and Spain.

- 6% drop from Western Europe. The Netherlands saw the largest drop of 15%. France, Germany saw 2-5% drop.

- 4% drop from central/ eastern Europe. 20% drop from the Czech republic. 6% drop from Russia. There has been some crazy growth (200-300% growth) in the number of Russian tourists to Vietnam recently, so I think we will see a continuous drop in Russian tourists to Thailand in the years to come.

- 2% drop from the Americas. Very little change in arrivals from the U.S. and Canada, but significant drop from Latin America.

- Up 9% from North Europe compared to last year, with almost 47% and 20% higher from Sweden and Norway respectively. The U.K., the largest group of western visitors, was included in this group, up 5%.

- Up 8.5% from South Asia. 10% rise from India.

- Up 8.5% from Oceania (Australia and NZ)

- We continue to see a significant drop in the number of South Korean and Vietnamese tourists. I think this reflects the wider, longer-term trend unrelated to the recent event.

Source: https://www.mots.go.th/news/category/817

A video of the Hua Hin assault was shared on the Facebook page, อยากดังเดี๋ยวจัดให้ รีเทริน์ part 7, July 27. The page claimed the Qatari attacked Thai people and damaged property following his violent episode.

The footage showed the man leaving the cannabis shop before punching the first victim, a man wearing a black T-shirt. He then struck another man who appeared to be trying to calm the situation. The foreigner then approached two people on a motorcycle and punched the rider.

The video further showed the foreigner walking towards the entrance of the alley, taking a bouquet of flowers from a woman in a wheelchair and punching her in the face, causing her to fall from the chair.

Khaosod reported that 5 people were injured in the incident.

Read here.

The Thai passport has fallen to 99th place in a new global passport ranking, slipping from 91st a year earlier. The report highlights changes in international travel access for Thai passport holders and compares Thailand’s standing with other countries worldwide. The latest ranking offers a snapshot of Thailand’s travel mobility and the relative strength of the Thai passport for visa-free and visa-on-arrival access.

Read more.

We've all heard a lot about the declining number of tourists to Thailand. The significant drop in Chinese tourists are often reported to be the main culprit, but we often also see comments from other tourists about how they too now skip Thailand for other countries in the region.

I was interested to see the actual statistics on this, so I looked it up and here it is. I'm only sharing the YOY change here. The overall number in later months most likely will show further reduction since the 5-month average is being pulled up by the high number in Jan before the decline. The % change in May most likely will continue for an extended period.

Note that the the statistics only include visitors who stay at least one night.

You can look it up yourself if you're interested in more details. Apologies for the missing heading. I did this on my phone, so I couldn't really do much configuring.

https://www.mots.go.th/images/v2022_1750146184006TWF5LTIwMjVQLnhsc3g=.xlsx

Please don't ask me why Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are under Eastern Europe here. I guess they just want to lump them with Russia.

I went to school with a Jamesbond. No space in between.

I also knew a brother and sister named Neung and Sahm (1 and 3). They did not have a third sibling.

Man was it horrible. A tooth extraction, it took almost 2h. I did the mistake of making them believe I didn't speak thai and after they slandered me a little I thought it best to keep that going 😅 so it was so enjoyable having the face covered by a cloth while they're like "1h in what are we going to do, its not coming out! I cant even twist it a little! His jaw must be so tired by now... Farang have so long roots! Serves him right for not take better care (they actually som nam na'd me D:).. and look he smokes too....YOO OK SIR? Only little bit more sir - Mmkhay.. - i dont know... Lets take another xray. Look, Three roots!.. maybe we have to smash it and drill all the roots out..? Have to hurry, drugs about to wear off.. he's going to be in a lot of pain later too....OKAY SIR? ALMOST SIR - ...... - OK get the bigger drill.. grind down the jaw a little so can get grip...i think only one patient today..my fingers hurt grabs and twists and pulls until cracks snapples and pops"

All the time I was just thinking "well at least its cheap".. if your tooth comes right out its only 700 baht...

Though if it takes 2h, with extra sedation it was 2000+..apparently.. size of the crater i expected them to sow it but that wasnt included.. guess i'll just have a hole down to the jawbone for a few weeks.. any point to putting the remnants under my pillow tonight or does the tooth fairy skip Thailand just like Santa ?

The last 3 months the delivery on Lazada has become progressively worse for me in bangkok. Not sure whats happening but it cant be good for their business.

The last three orders all went from a promised day or two out to 5 days before i received them.
That was in line with the past few months where I have seen increasing “Delivery attempted but failed due to parcel overload notifications”  and it was the same this time.  I believe that this supposed attempted delivery also pushes out the on time guarantee date

The on time guarantee claim is another story, seemingly intentionally infuriating to work out or claim. I never bothered in the past but the last month the delivery times have gotten worse and worse and i used to think it was automated you get the refund. But apparently not.  In fact after 30 minutes today I gave up trying to claim it.
Surely it should be automated , it's a guarantee, yeah?

Today i hopped back  on Lazada and checked a delivery date for the item i received today, from the same seller  and they are now an estimated 8- 10 days delivery!!! (previously 1-2 days)

I checked the same seller on shoppee and they had next day delivery for the same item
Even more humiliating for me was the price of the item was at least 20% cheaper on shopee , and thats BEFORE a discount coupon!

Wtf?

Anyway, i have shifted fully to shoppee as from today

I think this can be a cautionary tale for many.

Taken form a FB post on Bangkok Community Help page run by Greg Lange https://www.facebook.com/share/16mbKXvEd6/

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝘽𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙠𝙤𝙠 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙚𝙡.

Rick is sharp, thoughtful, and kind — even though his body has started giving out. He gave us permission to share his story and these photos so others don’t try what he just did.

We first met Rick on April 26. He stepped inside, looked around, and thought about staying. But then he said, “I’ll be alright. Just take me to Silom. My friend is there.” Rick has lived in Thailand for 30 years on a retirement visa. His business collapsed, and he ran out of money.

Seventeen days later, we got the call: Rick was ready to come back.

When we showed him a photo from that day, he smiled and remembered Ammy. He told us about life on the street — how Thai people were generous, buying him food, even offering to pay hospital bills. But he never accepted, not wanting to take advantage.

About ten days ago, a motorcycle hit him. He has diabetes, and that’s when things started to unravel. A nurse wrapped his feet right there on the sidewalk. He said sleeping on the pavement at 78 years old was breaking him down.

Earlier that day, Thai officials didn’t know who to call or what to do. Then, around 6 p.m., Rick mentioned “Bangkok Community Help.” We were there 20 minutes later. Now they know — if someone’s in need, they call us.

We had to gently lift him — he couldn’t walk. The team gave him a sponge bath, and he just kept saying how happy he was to have a warm bed again. He asked for some books to read — we told him we’d bring some today. He smiled again. We said good night.

Today we’ll ask the clinic next door to check his legs. He still refuses the hospital.

We’re in contact with the American Embassy 24/7, and they’re seeing what they can do. But for now — thanks to your support and Citi Foundation — Rick has a bed, a hot meal, and peace of mind.

𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙬𝙚 𝙙𝙤 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙙𝙤. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙩’𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 78-𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧-𝙤𝙡𝙙.

More Updates:

The hospital care is being covered by the U.S. Embassy—that was the condition for him that he must return.

The family were shocked. They said he was extremely wealthy and couldn’t believe it was all gone. Rick said he trusted the wrong person with a property deal but didn’t want to go into details. So many things led up to where he is today.

Farang living in Bangkok for a long, long time. I speak some Thai, but am far from fluent. I live in 'central Bangkok' but not in a touristy area. Posting this under a throw-away account, just to share the data for you to do with what you will.

To pre-empt some typical responses: "You don't understand Thailand" ... as much as any farang can. "Who cares about a few baht extra" ... many people do. "If you don't like it, don't use Grab" ... well, I know what's going on so it's fine. "If you don't like it, go home" ... this is home. "You're so stingy" ... not particularly. "Dude, you have way too much time on your hands" ... it took me an hour. "Do you own a taxi company or something?" ... I do not. "I take motocy taxis, they are so cheap!" ... great, not the topic here. "Who cares!" ... well, judging by how fierce some of the taxi-related posts get, quite a few people! We'll see, I guess.

Taxi's aren't so bad

I'm posting this because the constant badgering of taxi drivers here has always surprised me. Sure, there are incidents. But for the most part my experience is perfectly okay. So I started collecting actual data a few months ago.

From 65 rides booked through Grab:

• Charged more than the meter + 20 baht: 3 times (Grab refunded the difference)
• Driver asked to pay direct and cancel the booking: 2 times, declined, driver canceled, got another
• Driver asked before pickup to take the motorway: 1 time, declined, driver canceled, got another
• Grab app suggested tolls would be charged before the ride commenced: 5 times, sent a message to not take the tollway, accepted by drivers each time
• Zero incidents once taxi arrived: 61 times (95%)
• Took GrabCar because no taxi was available: 1 time

Taxis taken without the Grab app:

• Flagged a taxi down myself ~10 times. In the touristy areas this can be a challenge and requires some persistence. I went off-meter 0 of the 10 times. On average it took me ~5 minutes to find a taxi willing to go on the meter.
• Took a taxi from the airport queue 5 times. Got refused a metered fare once, told the driver to return me to the airport, he turned on the meter. All was well.

Anecdotally, I can completely relate to the things I read on here about taxi experiences. I've had all those same things happen to me. But the absolute vast majority of the times I take a taxi, it's perfectly fine.

Grab lies

In the app, taxis look like they are about the same price "and maybe more" than a GrabCar. This started in the middle of 2022. Before then, their estimates were about right. And this has always bugged me, and honestly I started collecting data to prove to myself I was right.

From 64 taxi rides booked through Grab:

• GrabCar looks like it's 5% below the midpoint of their taxi estimate
• GrabCar actually works out 30% above actually paid taxi fares (incl booking fee)
• GrabCar fare would have been cheaper than what I ended up paying for the taxi 23% of the time

Grab wildly overestimates taxi fares:

• Actually paid taxi fares were below even the minimum of their estimate 48% of the time.
• Actually paid taxi fares were within their estimated range 48% of the time (median decidedly towards the lower end)
• Actually paid taxi fares were above the top of their estimated range twice.

I couldn't live without Grab. I use it every day to order food, their express service, to book taxis, etc. I love the app. But I do think they're disingenuous in their taxi estimates. I get it, it makes their higher-margin GrabCar product look better. But I don't like the deception.