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The Death of the Full Moon Party
- howlgarnish 6y agoThe 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.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/thailand-foreign-tourists-delay-phuket-china-guangzhou-13230416 https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/thailand-foreign-t...
- dejv 6y agoAfter 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.
- howlgarnish 6y ago"Long" here is a 90-day visa renewable twice, so max 270 days. So no, they definitely don't want people to migrate permanently.
- Scoundreller 6y agoI think renewable might mean you can add another 90 days WITHOUT having to leave. When you hit the border and return, it might be considered a 'new' application. 'Inland' renewability is a big deal if you technically have to 14d quarantine whenever entering the country.
- wdqwfdqwfqwf 6y agoUnpopular opinion: If you're a "digital nomad", you're not a tourist. You're working.
- howlgarnish 6y agoThat's true by definition? But you're probably not displacing jobs for the locals, which is the typical justification for why it's hard for foreigners to get local work permits.
- wdqwfdqwfqwf 6y ago"by definition" always depends on the definition. Tax laws, immigration, I'd say all our reality isn't updated to "people working remotely". If you detach your job from your (real) environment, this introduces all kinds of issues. You don't pay the share to one of the societies you're embedded into, like taxes. You'd have to be registered as workforce - which you're not, if you're a tourist.
- lmm 6y agoThe rationale I've seen is that you're contributing less (risk-adjusted) to the country's economy than either a tourist (who would be spending more) or someone on a work visa (who would have a stable job and be paying local taxes) would.
- Mediterraneo10 6y agoThe belief that DNs necessarily pay less than tourists is largely based on stereotypes. In order to be able to focus on work, DNs tend to look for full apartment rentals, often in relatively upscale places where fast and reliable internet is guaranteed. In many countries that means they are already paying less than ordinary backpackers who are staying in hostel accommodation.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- toomanybeersies 6y ago> But you're probably not displacing jobs for the locals That's incredibly arrogant and patronising, you're absolutely displacing jobs from locals, who could also working remotely for a foreign company
- tim333 6y agoThey 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.
- sho 6y agoYou can get away with this twice. Once you hit 180 days in the last year you'll face some probing questions as to exactly what you're doing, and you better have a good answer or they'll simply deny re-entry. With this being Thailand, of course there's going to be some wriggle room and variation depending on who you get, but it's a pretty high risk roll of the dice.
- envy2 6y agoIt's always been fairly easy to just get a multiple entry "Non-B" visa instead of relying on visa waiver, and then no questions asked.
- im3w1l 6y agoI'm thinking the real benefit of allowing people to stay given they do visa runs, is that it's a way of setting expectations. If you want to kick out someone who has lived in the country for a long time, you don't get as much resistance, since you were upfront about their stay being precarious. Also I guess it makes it easy to do selective enforcement against troublesome people.
- dannyr 6y agoDifferent situation now because instead of being overrun by tourists, they don't have many and the country relies heavily on tourism for revenue.
- tim333 6y agoThere were a lot of terms and conditions attached when I last saw the plan. I was in Thailand Mar-Jun and if it was just a 14 day quarantine and then you are free to go where you want I might go back but I read "Applicants for the visa will have to book a hotel or private accommodation for the full 90 days in order to qualify." I'm not surprised that not many people fit with that. I read somewhere they have had 50 applicants total.
- postcynical 6y agoI 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 tourist or other visas and would rent apartments, and not stay in hotel rooms.
- goblin89 6y ago> Most of the people interested in this already live in Thailand (but got stuck abroad unable to return) on tourist or other visas and would rent apartments, and not stay in hotel rooms. Am in a similar predicament with my “base” in Hong Kong. It is very frustrating.
- WildGreenLeave 6y agoI do have some Thai friends, and a few pinoys who work in Thailand so I am familiar with the rules and quarantaine process. You are right about those rules, but ordering Grab Food is possible. You can also register 2 'family members' (aren't checked) that are able to bring you stuff. And of course with a bit of monetary courage you are pretty much free to bring them whatever they want.
- WildGreenLeave 6y agoI considered trying to apply for this STV (Special Tourist Visa) but was put off by the private plane or a chartered plane. But then someone told me that the chartered plane is arranged by the Thai embassy from the country where you are staying. It doesn't change much of the situation of course, but they don't expect you to arrange a charter flight yourself.
- camillomiller 6y agoThis is very good news. Full moon parties are not the stuff of legend, but rather the lowest point of party tourism in Thailand. Although I think that, give it 5 years, something similar will pop-up somewhere in SEA.
- baxtr 6y agoMaybe. Maybe not. Love Parade died out too with no replacement
- pantalaimon 6y agoZug der Liebe does exist. (Well not this year obviously)
- kenneth 6y agoZürich Street Parade is almost as big, and equally fun. 1M attendees over 1 day in a city of 400k. It's insanity. Loved going a few years.
- contingencies 6y agoI agree. Unfortunately, equivalents already exist in many places: Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan... with Vietnam well on the way.
- dannyr 6y agoIn the Philippines, Boracay used to be a party destination but the govt banned parties last year.
- Scoundreller 6y agoOr this one in Laos that got shutdown. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/07/vang-vieng-laos-party-town https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/07/vang-vieng-lao...
- abrkn 6y agoI've been living on Koh Phangan since March. AMA
- sefrost 6y agoWhat have all the Western Scuba instructors been up to during the pandemic?
- abrkn 6y agoI haven't spoken to any on Koh Phangan. On Koh Tao (an hour away with boat) they are broke and there's no work. I would guess the situation is the same for diving instructors on Koh Phangan.
- Uberphallus 6y agoI have the feeling that half of the foreigners are broke as they rely on tourism, the other half are doing fine as they're working remotely, how accurate is my assessment?
- ToFab123 6y ago7 year Koh Phangan resident here. 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.
- C0MRADE 6y agoAre Eden / Guys Bar open?
- kasperni 6y agoAsking the important questions...
- RickJWagner 6y agoWow. 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.
- junon 6y agoContrary to popular belief, not all parties are held in order to find ephemeral sexual mates.
- toper-centage 6y agoAlso, gay guys exist and party quite a lot.