All Historical Sites and National Museums in Thailand are FREE! But…

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You may have heard of recent efforts by the military junta in Thailand of trying to “bring happiness back to the Thai people”. There have been things like free concerts, free haircuts, free movies and more recently, World Cup matches on free TV. Who said Thaksin’s populist policies wouldn’t work? Anyway, the latest idea is to make all historical sites and national museums across Thailand free. That is the good news. Unfortunately the bad news is that the announcement clearly said “For Thai nationals only”.  As if we didn’t need cheering up too.

What do you think? Do we deserve cheering up, or should things like this only be for the Thais?

12 thoughts on “All Historical Sites and National Museums in Thailand are FREE! But…

  • July 26, 2014 at 5:01 pm
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    I’m a foreigner but has managed to evade all the dual pricing policies thus far due to 3 factors:

    1) I’m Asian who originates from one of Thailand’s neighboring countries and as such if I were to keep my mouth shut or speak just a little bit of Thai I could pass off as a native convincingly

    2) I dress up exactly like the locals (T-shirts, tight jeans, sneakers) and not like a tourist (tank tops, shorts and flip-flops) to complete the Thai look

    3) I have a Thai gf who would handle all the talking in case a fee is needed to be paid and hence get local price

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  • June 13, 2014 at 1:24 pm
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    At least it ends dual pricing! 🙂

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  • June 13, 2014 at 11:11 am
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    In my experience if I show my Thai driving license I get the Thai prices anyway. I would be interested to see if this still stands.
    I would also be interested to see if the museums have exhibit explanations in English – many do have SOME exhibits in English. If limited, why would a tourist or expats want to go anyway.

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  • June 13, 2014 at 10:22 am
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    Aren’t we supposed to be already cheered up because we have danced with the Army ? 🙂
    On principal, sure this double pricing is unfair yes, but I have not found one museum I would go even for free here. So really it makes no difference. I guess we are just used to double standards here…

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    • June 13, 2014 at 10:28 am
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      There is a new 199 Baht Museum Pass for Bangkok that gives you free access to 20 museums. Worth checking this out. Details on ThaiTravelBlogs.com

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  • June 13, 2014 at 10:18 am
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    If there was still a constitution in force I would say treating people differently on the basis of ethnicity would be unconstitutional. But..

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  • June 12, 2014 at 11:21 pm
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    I’m ok with paying.

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  • June 12, 2014 at 11:03 pm
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    Well Richard, I don’t live in Thailand so I don’t know if I qualify to answer. But for me I am happy to keep paying. I think this is all about the Thai people and I would be happy to see them happy and united. They don’t have to agree on everything but respect the democracy enough to let it work. Of course then it have to work. Which is hard enough to believe even in a country that have had it for more than 200 years.

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      • June 13, 2014 at 10:18 am
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        I doubt any more people will go. It’s just another populist policy. Exactly what Thaksin was famous for.

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        • June 13, 2014 at 10:27 am
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          Will be interesting to see whether the free trains/buses policy continues to be extended, or even widened.

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