[Samwise]

Very cool pictures, starbase. I wonder why the English is so large on the marquees.

[starbase]

I wonder why the English is so large on the marquees.

Well tourism is 6% of the economy, which, due to a number of setbacks, might only grow 2% or 3% this year, when it's been used to growing 4-6%. So take away 6% and it's -4% (recession!!!) Not to mention that area (Khao Sarn Rd.) is almost exclusively for tourists, so spoken and written English is everywhere.

So foreign money is very important, and Thais are true experts at greasing the skids, especially when they want to help you give them something! That can be both quite clever or sinister, depending on the sort of Thais you're dealing with, and as with all places which have humans in them, there are really good and really bad people here in Thailand.