Transcript of the above video: 

I thought of making this video because this article that I read - which I'll get to here in a moment - basically intersects two major issues we've seen over the past couple of years, especially since the reopening, since COVID. I have got to be honest with you, foreigners seem different than during COVID and the tourists especially are, let's just say I think it rattled a lot of people's cages going through the whole COVID experience, I'll just put it that way. 

That said, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: 'Buy here, or don't get back on the bus,' tour group told. Quoting directly: "A Chinese tour guide has been recorded forcing a group of Chinese tourists travelling in Thailand to purchase goods at a store he recommended, or they would not be allowed back on the bus." My first reaction when reading this article was, "oh so is China going to try to push Chinese Police on the Thai streets again on the basis that everything is "unsafe" down here because one of their own nationals came down here and started basically trying to, I don't know, strong arm their own people into buying souvenirs off of a bus, illegally by the way, as we will get into here in a moment; he is a foreigner so he shouldn't be operating in the tourism sector to begin with. But I'm just waiting for that other shoe to drop when we hear "oh we need our own police down there on the streets to deal with that." I mean do you see the insane dialectic sort of problem - reaction - solution of all of this where Chinese nationals come to Thailand, do all kinds of chaotic heinous stuff, and then the State responds from China, “well, we will send Police down there!” It's ridiculous. That said, quoting further: "A video of the incident was recorded by a tourist on the bus and shared on Monday on a Facebook page posting news about Thai tourism." If you go to the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, there are links and stuff in there, you can get to the source material. 

Quoting further: "It showed a man believed to be a Chinese guide addressing the tour group in standard Chinese. Translated, he said they would be stopping at a tax-free shop, and people who failed to buy anything there would not be allowed back on the bus. When some tourists expressed their disagreement, he warned them about not being able to return to China." I mean what, like, okay, so what are you, Snakehead now? You're the trafficker? You're going to keep them from going to China unless they buy a box of mooncakes or something? I mean what is that? Quoting further: "The clip was widely shared drawing many responses, including from Registered Thai guides asking authorities to investigate the incident and the apparently illegal tour guide." 

Yeah, as we have discussed in other videos, tour guides, one of the heavily restricted occupations here in Thailand. Those folks who are cited as being an illegal tour guide will oftentimes be detained and deported because it's heavily restricted; tour guides is on the list of restricted occupations. TAT, the Tourism Authority of Thailand keeps a sharp eye on that. As you can see these tour guides chimed in on it; something to be well aware of. 

That said, quoting further: "On Tuesday, Tourism and Sports Minister Atthakorn Sirilathayakorn said he was aware of the report, and it was being taken seriously." Yeah, I don't doubt it. I expect there will be some kind of ramifications for this if there haven’t already been. That being said, this is another example of folks that just flout the restricted occupations on Thai work down here in Thailand. Then on top of that, I have to imagine this person would not have acted this way back in China. I could be wrong, but it seems like another example of "foreigners behaving badly" in ways that they wouldn't behave back in their home country; again one man's opinion. That being said, it is kind of an interesting situation that unfolded there and yet again I have to wonder if the Chinese are going to say, "hey, we can solve this big problem by you putting our Police on your streets", which people know my position on that.

That being said, it's interesting the way this may unfold. I may actually keep folks updated on this depending on if there's anything further of note in the Press regarding this case. That being said, we will certainly be keeping you updated on this situation on this channel as the situation evolves.