@Andreea *****

I'm not learning anything that isn't used nowadays. Hard enough to know, remember all of this. 🤣🤣

@Andreea *****

I wasn't wrong. Yes originally 32 but 28 used/teached nowadays. (Just like the 2 consonants ;) ) Even in our school there was 26. But here is the photo about my course material so you can see.

@Bruce ********

Very easy answer. Many people are not interested in learning a very hard language (I'm learning myself and after I speak 3 other languages Thai is crazy hard in many ways. And I'm not even talking about reading and writing, that's a different story. )

If you are not living in the rural part of the country where very few people can speak English, you can get very far with English. 99% of them live in areas that are full of expats and other long-term foreign people. So they can communicate in English/ their own language. So no much need to speak Thai.

A big part of the long-term foreign are old expats. I don't know because I'm only 40. But I guess when you are 60-70+, you have a really small motivation to learn a very hard, new language when you can live a comfortable life without it.

For me is easy. I always learning the language of the country where I'm living. I'm learning basic phrases in every country I'm visiting because I feel better myself if at least I can say Hello, Thank you, This is good, Very tasty, etc. in a local language. For me an extra motivation is my partner is Thai and her parents don't speak any English (They even speak Isaan, just to make my life more fun/harder 🤣 ) So I want to be able to speak with them even on a very basic level, but more than Hello and How are you. (I can do that already)

So before you start judging people, just think a little bit. Everyone has a different reason. Even if that's just laziness, an "I don't care attitude" is still their decision.

@Andreea *****

Reading and writing is fun. Like cracking the code 🤣🤣 Only 28 vowels, not 32. The 4 tone marks are not vowels. 😉 And my favourite Vowels can appear before, above, after, or below a consonant. 🤣 But it is a good feeling when you can read that signs/writing even you don't know what is mean.

The language itself is very logical and self-explanatory, but the 5 tones make your life hard. Without that will be an "easy" language to learn.

Depends on your needs and preferences. Some like mountains so move to the Chiang Mai area, someone like big cities so move to Bangkok, someone like islands so move to Koh Phangan/Samui/Chang, someone like the quiet, rural areas so move to Isaan, etc.... Noone can answer as long they don't know your needs and preferences... This is like a question how long is a piece of string...

Google is an amazing tool. Learn how to use... At least u can use the internet.... Good start...

Good is not free... I use Surfshark VPN it was around £45 for 25 or 26 months. Less than £2/month.

No

@Ron *****************

old data.. 7.6% in 2022 and before it was more than 11% so tourism is a significant part of Thailand's GDP.... Since the COVID few hundred businesses closed and are much more homeless than before...

One day isn't a problem. Pay 500 baht. It happened to me a few years ago. I booked the slow boat tour from Chiang Mai but i forget this is the tour which stops at the Thai side for one day... So we crossed the border the next day when my visa had already expired just one day. I apologize and explained what happened. I get the overstay stamp in my passport. And 10 days later I came back into Thailand without a problem and no problem since even I visited Thailand 7 or 8 times in the past 5 years.