Luke's 4K post: How to GTFO! (And into Thailand)

[bluechinagroup]

If you guys would just admit the attraction of Thailand is you'll go broke slower you could all stop with the nonsense about greater freedoms.

+1 rep. Thailand is in fact LESS FREE than the United States. The only huge benefit you get is cost of living and you get to work from the beach. It's great for keyboard cowboys who make a living doing SEO stuff.

But if you want true business and personal freedom, you should come to Hong Kong. The cost of living is high in HK, but your income is tax free. If you're balling it hard, it's easy to benefit from HK.

And shit I can come to Thailand anytime I want. It's like a 2 hour flight to goto Koh Samui.

 

[lukep]

Unlike Thailand, Hong Kong has true freedom. No internet censorship, 0% income taxes on non HK income, freedom of speech and the right to protest is guaranteed in the HK constitution.

HK has the rule of law unlike Thailand and one of the cleanest governments in Asia.

Agreed, from what I've read and seen. However HK doesn't have many things Thailand does have like ultra-cheap food and a servant class to give me the life of luxury I'm looking for.

It's also ranked the freest economy in the world by the libertarian think tank Heritage Foundation.

Index of Economic: Promoting Economic Opportunity and Prosperity

Thailand isn't even in the top ten.

But the US IS??? OMG! Canada, Switzerland, Ireland and other socialist countries too??? LIST AUTOMATICALLY DISCREDITED.

I generally like the Heritage foundation but somehow they just are NOT comparring actual freedom on that list, only Economic freedom, which I'm still not that sure about given their choices.

That list is just retarded. Perhaps the author isn't familiar with the US foreign policy. Nor the NDAA. Nor ACTA. I bet they consider the US a Democracy in their rankings, too.

Those wondering about mosquitos, yes you will be fucking eaten alive in some areas. I stayed right at the beach for a few weeks and despite spraying myself I had about 10 bites a night and had to often wake up to respray myself. Very uncomfortable.

Sounds like you got a shitty hotel/bungalow there dude, try staying in an Amari or Weston next time. :thumbsup:

I have an idea. Get it through your thick skulls that an MFA farm is not a solid long-term business plan, make some real money, and then you won't have to move to Thailand lol. If I was going to leave SoCal Thailand would be about the last place in the fucking world I would move to.

LOL; that was like two seperate trollings in one reply. You're a real peice of work, you know that?

PS: I left SoCal for Kansas, so since I'm leaving Kansas for BKK, you need to move a couple more times before you can talk, K bro?

The best way to get apartments is to go here Thailand Real Estate & Property Forum (. You talk to the owner directly and skip the agents.

Awesome tip. Will investigate.

I lived near Paragon last year and now I'm going to try to get a place near Terminal 21.

Why do you prefer T21 to the Paragon?

The only logical reason to move to thailand would be because its so cheap.

Actually there are many logical reasons to move there, such as Medical treatment reasons, professional reasons, or you just like the chicks. So your argument is completely invalid from the start, trollboy.

You don't need to move to thailand to get "freedom".

So you think that a libertarian like me just visited BKK one day, looked around ab bit, & said "hey, I think I'm more free here than back home" and decided to move without any further thought? Don't be a fool. Like Mark said, move there for a year or so before you argue... Otherwise your opinion isn't even an educated opinion.

If you want freedom go buy a plot of land in the middle of no fucking where U.S.A.

Your definition of freedom leaves so much to be desired that I refuse to take in anything else you say.

Jesus. How can you get through life with such a fucked up set of values?

THIS guy?

They don't love him for his wardrobe, just his acts of goodness. -Something I don't expect any americans to understand.

So you think police corruption is a good thing?

As discussed in other threads, in the Thai's case, yes. The system has its' advantages, and the disadvantages aren't as bad as our disadvantages.

This place IS utopia. No doubt.

And who said it was supposed to be utopia? It's just better than the shithole 2nd-world country I live in now.

Over 110,000 sites have been blocked according to Wikipedia.

They're just some websites, man! Look at the bigger picture here.

Unless your livelihood comes from producing porn or if it involves simply visiting websites from normal countries, where porn is legal.

Alright, porn Producers; Thailand is not for you, despite all of the Thai porn out there, stay out! It's just an illusion.

Thailand's censorship is worse than SOPA would have ever been.

Prove it.

This site kind of does that: Thailand vs. United States Economic Freedom Chart

Interesting source. I noticed a few of those Thailand IS ahead of the United states on, and those are what you feel more day to day.

Worse though, it doesn't make any mention of how bad it is in america. Keep in mind that the particular problem we americans are facing is something that IS NOT PUBLICIZED, and yet is happening at a faster and faster pace.

Do you honestly think that takes into account the whole petrodollar-defense forign policy, our total corporation control over the government, or the rigged elections and so on that we have to live with here? I don't think so. It would be extremely hard to quanitfy on one of those graphs. At least they'd have to be accepted as truth by the mainstream media & public first.

Some people are thankful for what Obama's done. Does that mean that no one should be allowed to criticize him?

LOL; no comparrison at all. The only way it could be possible for such a law to come in place here is for the government to draft that law... Meanwhile, the King is seperate from the Thai government.

"A foreigner in Thailand is unable to carry a firearm, without express permission, which is very rarely granted. For a Thai citizen, they must show themselves to be good members of the community, show cause for issuance of the licence..."

Again, as stated above multiple times; there are Thai laws that simply aren't enforced.

I'd like to know what freedoms you have in Thailand that you don't have in the US.

That would be a big list. Let me just say this general statement for now: When you can suddenly afford lots of servants, your time becomes free at the very least.

Good luck doing that somewhere with a high minimum wage like the USA.

If you're live in Thailand, hire 3 hot girls to pose fully nude with you and a sign that says "Wickedfire, I guess you were right about Thailand"

I wholeheartedly agree with this man's fine suggestion... C'mon Mark, Matt, or Mr_Doodles51! I know one of the three of you happen to have the chicks stashed in the basement already... Let's see 'em! Dr_Ngo? Maybe you brought over some Thai chicks with you?

Thailand is in fact LESS FREE than the United States. The only huge benefit you get is cost of living and you get to work from the beach. It's great for keyboard cowboys who make a living doing SEO stuff.

Although I agree with the last part of what you said, I just can't place American freedoms in the same ballpark with Thai freedoms at all.

Why do you think it's less free? Perhaps you've been away from the states too long and don't know all of the evil shit that's been happening here since Obama took office?

Why'd you move to HK in the first place?

 

[bluechinagroup]

Agreed, from what I've read and seen. However HK doesn't have many things Thailand does have like ultra-cheap food and a servant class to give me the life of luxury I'm looking for.

HK has both cheap food (If you aren't a dumbass tourist) and it has cheap domestic helpers, if you're into that sort of thing. However property is extremely expensive...though if you're a property owner it's very nice. So personally I don't mind the high property costs. It's a great place to be a land lord.

Also you're right, Heritage doesn't rank personal freedoms. Thankfully HK is well known for having high personal freedoms, and not just economic freedoms. HK people are famous for their protests.

But yeah I moved to HK because I was tired of the regulatory bullshit back home. That was a while ago too. Now it's pretty clear it's 100 times worse on every level. But if people can send a text message saying something against the Thai king and then goto prison for it, it seems to indicate that Thailand isn't that far off from the US as far as police state tactics go since they're clearly monitoring communications without a warrant. It's just appears to be more of a pleasant place due to its tropical and exotic characteristics.

Also unlike Thailand, in HK I have the right to vote and a HK passport lets you travel Visa free everywhere in the EU, Canada, and elsewhere. In Thailand, you'll never get this because you're forever going to be a foreigner in a foreign land.

Are you currently living in Thailand?

 

[bluechinagroup]

Also in Thailand as a foreigner you can't even own property. At best you can lease it only. That's anything but libertarian! In Hong Kong anyone can own property, which is partly why it's so expensive!

Admit it luke, you sold out your libertarian values over a ladyboy! I'm kidding!!! But you can't tell me with a straight face that Thailand is more "libertarian" than the US. It's just a great laid back place where you can live really cheap and be accepted for being obsessed with ladyboys. And that's totally ok! It's still better than the US in that regard. But if you factor in freedoms......eh well then I'm not so sure. Quality of life is another matter, as long as you don't get mixed up with the legal system over there. The legal system in HK is another big one. It's truly a first class legal system, and there are no civil asset forfeiture laws.

 

[geomark]

^ Need a GTFO and into Hong Kong thread, please.

The inability to get a Thai passport despite living here long term is the only serious downside in my personal first hand experience (as opposed to something I read about or saw on the internet).

 

[Aznxmtg]

Japan's porn industry regulation will never make sense with me. They have ALL kind of nasty stuff, but they censor the parts... mhmm?

 

[m0rtal]

Yeah I meant dengue fever instead of malaria my bad. Thanks for the responses, got one more. How about them dogs? Ever get attacked by dogs?

 

[Kiopa_Matt]

Ok, let's end this little argument.

Smell that freedom! Per-capita, the US has 715 people in jail, where Thailand it's 315. So either the US is full of criminal lowlifes, or your freedom isn't quite as high as you think.

And if you're from the US, you're not allowed to use the corruption argument, because you guys are the absolute masters of corruption. The rest of the world stands in total awe, as they watch the amount of corruption within the US govt. No nation in the entire world does corruption better than the US.

 

[bluechinagroup]

^ Need a GTFO and into Hong Kong thread, please..

I'm simply providing a good alternative to Thailand. As well as pointing out some things people gloss over when they're talking about Thailand.

Besides you can always gain citizenship in HK, and then live it up in Thailand with your HK passport and tax free earnings. Best of both worlds.

 

[productionhead]

Sorry, I like America.

You floggers do what you want.

 

[bluechinagroup]

Ok, let's end this little argument.

Smell that freedom! Per-capita, the US has 715 people in jail, where Thailand it's 315. So either the US is full of criminal lowlifes, or your freedom isn't quite as high as you think.

That really depends on whether or not Thailand is accurately reporting its statistics. Also Thai prisons are extremely brutal and do not meet EU standards. Though honestly, neither do US prisons and I suspect the incarceration rate in the US is much higher than Thailand.

 

[geomark]

That really depends on whether or not Thailand is accurately reporting its statistics. Also Thai prisons are extremely brutal and do not meet EU standards. Though honestly, neither do US prisons and I suspect the incarceration rate in the US is much higher than Thailand.

The explosion of the US for-profit prison-industrial complex combined with so many new capricious laws should be a concern for anyone residing in the US.

But make no mistake, you don't want to go to prison in Thailand. Something like 30% of people who are incarcerated for long periods die in prison due to disease and injuries. It's because the prisons provide almost no medical care or basics for them. If you don't have someone on the outside who will hire a doctor to come see you in the prison then you are on your own and may die of an easily curable disease. About half of those who survive come out with a permanent disability of some kind due to poor nutrition or lack of treatment of injuries.

So even if you are just visiting Thailand as a tourist it pays to know what things they will jail you for. Favorite stupid thing foreigners do is drugs - the Thais really don't like that. If you get locked up for personal use the King will usually pardon you and send you home. If you have quantities then you may very well die a slow death in prison.

Added: ib4 some idiot says they will never go to Thailand because they want to do mass quantities of drugs without risk of jail

 

[geomark]

I'm simply providing a good alternative to Thailand. As well as pointing out some things people gloss over when they're talking about Thailand.

Besides you can always gain citizenship in HK, and then live it up in Thailand with your HK passport and tax free earnings. Best of both worlds.

But seriously, how about at least short version of how you do it?

 

[Tommy Chong]

Your definition of freedom leaves so much to be desired that I refuse to take in anything else you say.

It sounds like your sole definition of freedom is where ever you can live the longest on a given amount of cash.

They don't love him for his wardrobe, just his acts of goodness. -Something I don't expect any americans to understand.

Thai's can't act like they dislike him. They would go to jail. If you clicked on any of the links I linked to, you'd see many examples of this.

And who said it was supposed to be utopia? It's just better than the shithole 2nd-world country I live in now.

I'd choose to live in the US over Thailand even if Thailand was so cheap they paid me to live there.

They're just some websites, man! Look at the bigger picture here.

Lol, WTF? You know this is a forum full of webmasters, right? Most people here make their money from these websites. That kinda makes this a huge issue.

Prove it.

Thailand censors anything they want. Sopa would have only censored websites considered to be involved in piracy. I'm sure WickedFire will be blocked in Thailand very soon as well now that the king's name has been mentioned in this thread.

Worse though, it doesn't make any mention of how bad it is in america. Keep in mind that the particular problem we americans are facing is something that IS NOT PUBLICIZED, and yet is happening at a faster and faster pace.

You can't be serious. Thai's censor everything. They control the media much more than what you see in the US.

Do you honestly think that takes into account the whole petrodollar-defense forign policy, our total corporation control over the government, or the rigged elections and so on that we have to live with here? I don't think so. It would be extremely hard to quanitfy on one of those graphs. At least they'd have to be accepted as truth by the mainstream media & public first.

Who gives a fuck about any of that when you're comparing it to a country that will arrest you if you post a picture of their king beneath a picture of someone else.

Why do you think it's less free?

Here are a few quotes from Wikipedia since it seems like you won't click to read it yourself.

From: Bhumibol Adulyadej - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Suwicha Thakor was arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison, later commuted to 10, for posting a picture on an internet web board that was deemed insulting to Bhumibol, in violating Article 112 of the Criminal Code and violating the Computer Crime Act of 2007. The CCA was passed by the military junta that followed 2006 coup; Suwicha's conviction was the first time that it had been successfully used to prosecute lèse majesté.[177][178]

Other insults to Bhumibol's image that have resulted in arrests for lèse majesté include placing photographs of anybody above photographs of the king on websites and not standing while the Royal Anthem is played at cinemas.

In 2009, Daranee "Da Torpedo" Chanchoengsilpakul was sentenced to 18 years in prison without suspension for "intending to insult" Bhumibol and Sirikit at a political protest.[142] She did not actually mention the monarchs in her speech (she criticized, among other things, the "ruling class"), however, the court ruled that the prosecution "brought evidence that makes it possible to interpret that the defendant meant the King and Queen Sirikit."[143] Social critic Sulak Sivaraksa has been charged several times with lèse majesté, but has always been acquitted.

During his 2005 birthday speech, Bhumibol invited criticism; a widespread barrage of criticisms resulted, followed by a sharp rise in lese majeste prosecutions. "Actually, I must also be criticised. I am not afraid if the criticism concerns what I do wrong, because then I know. Because if you say the king cannot be criticised, it means that the king is not human", he claimed. "If the king can do no wrong, it is akin to looking down upon him because the king is not being treated as a human being. But the king can do wrong."[8] Lese majeste cases rose from five or six a year pre-2005 to 478 in 2010.[150]

Calls to reform the lese majeste laws have themselves resulted in charges with lèse majesté.[151] Political scientist Giles Ungpakorn noted that "the lèse majesté laws are not really designed to protect the institution of the monarchy. In the past the laws have been used to protect governments, to protect military coups. This whole [royal] image is created to bolster a conservative elite well beyond the walls of the palace."[152]

In 2011 an American citizen, Joe Gordon (Lerpong Wichaikhammat), was arrested on charges he insulted the country's monarchy, in part by posting a link on his blog to a banned book about the ailing king. He is also suspected of translating, from English into Thai, portions of The King Never Smiles – and posting them online along with articles he wrote that allegedly defame the royal family.[153] "I want President Obama and Hillary Clinton to intervene on on my behalf," he is quoted as saying.[154] On 9 December 2011, a court in Thailand sentenced Joe Gordon to two and a half years in prison for defaming the country's royal family by translating excerpts of a locally banned biography of the king and posting them online.

During the government of Abhisit Vejjajiva, numerous people were charged with insulting Bhumibol using body language.

From: Internet censorship in Thailand - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Some web pages from BBC One, BBC Two, CNN, Yahoo! News, the Post-Intelligencer newspaper (Seattle, USA), and The Age newspaper (Melbourne, Australia) dealing with Thai political content are blocked. More recently, all international coverage of Thaksin-in-exile has been blocked, including interviews with the deposed PM.

Internet webboards and discussion forums such as Midnight University,[17] Prachatai.com[18] and Pantip.com have all been blocked, making reasonable political discussion very difficult. Prachatai and Pantip have chosen to self-censor, closely monitoring each discussion, in order to remain unblocked.

video sharing sites such as Camfrog have recently been blocked on the grounds that people were "behaving indecently" on webcams; the block was later reversed when it was discovered that Camfrog provided a principal means of communication for the handicapped, elderly and shut-ins. Other video sharing sites such as Metacafe remain blocked however.

The entire video upload website, YouTube, has been blocked several times, including a complete ban between 4 April and 31 August 2007 due to a video which was considered to be offensive to the monarchy; YouTube's parent company, Google, was reported to have agreed to assist MICT in blocking individual videos, thus making the rest legal to display in Thailand. The YouTube site block persisted for nearly five months, despite the fact that the video challenged by MICT was voluntary deleted by the user who posted it.

Although the independent biography of Thailand's King Bhumibhol Adulyadej, The King Never Smiles[24] by Paul Handley was published in July 2006, websites concerning the book had been blocked as far back as November 2005. As no advance reading copies or excerpts were made available, these sites were censored based on the book's title alone. All sites with links to sales of the book are still blocked, including Yale University Press, Amazon, Amazon UK, and many others.

Accessing the Wikipedia article on Bhumibol Adulyadej from Thailand on 10 October 2008, led to a w3.mict.go.th announcement: "Under Construction The site you are trying to view does not currently have a default page. It may be in the process of being upgraded and configured." The link is now redirected to:
The page was prohibited because of the court order. It could have an effect on or be against the security of the Kingdom, public order or good morals.

Thai: ท่านไม่สามารถเข้าชม web page ที่ต้องการ เนืองจาก มีคำสั่งศาลให้ปิดกั้น หรือ มีลักษณะเข้าข่ายที่อาจกระทบต่อความมั่นคงแห่งราชอาณาจักร หรืออาจขัดต่อความสงบเรียบร้อยหรือศีลธรรมอันดีของประชาชน
—Super Broadband Network Co., Ltd., sbn.co.th/prohibit.html

The blocking of the King of Thailand's Wikipedia page may be due to content regarding the king's succession that the Thai Government views unappealing or illegal under its lèse majesté laws. The fake error message seen in Thailand when attempting to view the king's Wikipedia page can be seen on YouTube.[26]
The article on Thai-baht banknotes has had all images removed.

Ok, let's end this little argument.

Smell that freedom! Per-capita, the US has 715 people in jail, where Thailand it's 315. So either the US is full of criminal lowlifes, or your freedom isn't quite as high as you think.

LOL. You can't argue using manipulated data. Thailand is literally one of the last countries I would ever step foot on.

 

[geomark]

LOL. You can't argue using manipulated data. Thailand is literally one of the last countries I would ever step foot on.

Excellent. Now we are getting somewhere. Only a few more thousand gay webmasters that need to sign up to never coming here. Day is getting brighter.

 

[erifdekciw]

Luke you've gone off the deep end.

Btw whats the longest you've ever stayed in Thailand? I'm guessing no longer than a year. And why aren't you living there now? Your in the US so why aren't you in Thailand since its so amazing? Oh yea because your like those people who talk about moving to canada if a certain president is elected but never do. Guaranteed you will still be living in America 5 years from now rambling on about how your finally going to GTFO.

 

[igl00]

ill bump coz its great guide.
too hot for me there tho.

 

[geomark]

Luke you've gone off the deep end.

Btw whats the longest you've ever stayed in Thailand? I'm guessing no longer than a year. And why aren't you living there now? Your in the US so why aren't you in Thailand since its so amazing? Oh yea because your like those people who talk about moving to canada if a certain president is elected but never do. Guaranteed you will still be living in America 5 years from now rambling on about how your finally going to GTFO.

Once is excusable as a typo, but three times in one post just reeks of educational issues...it's "you're" not "your". </grammar nazi>

ill bump coz its great guide.
too hot for me there tho.

Last week it was 38C, damn hot. This week had some rain and this morning was 20C with a breeze, a little chilly actually. YMMV depending on where you live.

 

[erifdekciw]

Once is excusable as a typo, but three times in one post just reeks of educational issues...it's "you're" not "your". </grammar nazi>

Damn my whole argument is forfeit now because of my grammar.

 

[Beach Affiliate]

Damn my whole argument is forfeit now because of my grammar.

No dis-Putin that!

Fucking LOL. I fucking kill me.