We will give you a shit load of money and we will record it in 30 minutes.
COVID is over. Time to ruin tourism again! 
Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book)
I see what they did there.
Once these places get on those apps you will go there and every single person will be a Taiwanese , HKer or Chinese in the place, itâs bizarre.
Mostly mainlanders though. I really hope the ban on mainland tourists stay in place in Taiwan. Itâs nice to be able to bike past Lotus Pond without buses full of obnoxious and loud idiots clogging up the paths.
It would be great to have a balance wouldnât it. Their sheer numbers and the low budget mass market tourism they promoted here was awful.
Vendors could certainly do with a business boost in Kaohsiung and they seem absolutely incapable of changing their business models in many cases.
I suspect Tourism numbers in south Taiwan are way down on previous years, not all bad of course when you want a cheap place to stay on weekdays.
One nice thing (maybe the only nice thing) about the COVID travel ban was hotels were dirt cheap. Even the Regent or Hyatt in Taipei were like less than 100 USD a night at times. Not anymore though. Back to ridiculous rates like 250-300 a night.
Hotels in Kaohsiung are going up in price too. Probably would be even worse if/when the China ban is lifted.
Xiemu! 
Meanwhile in Shenzhen . . .
Guy
Or robot whale-sharks!
Maybe itâs robotic so they can mount lasers on it.
Thereâs got to be something else underlying this, either money or politics or both. Perhaps a local EV competitor?
The article mentions a tipoff from the Thai police, but itâs hard to believe theyâd notice a random western tourist taking drugs who happened to be a prominent VW exec working in China (unless theyâd been asked to, or China just made it up).
Starting this year, anyone who goes out on the streets dressed as Halloween monsters will be banned by the Shanghai police.
x.com
They do seem determined to make the PRC the Peopleâs Republic of No Fun. 
I wonder how long this anti-fun micro-management approach can continue . . .
Guy
Iâm not sure how true this is tbh. I saw a few things on Reddit, but it wasnât really clear how much was factual and how much wasnâtâŚ
Why would they tip off China for a legal activity in Thailand. Disgruntled girlfriend, wife, colleague is more likely.
The same could happen in Taiwan by the way although you would probably not be deported.
Halloween is dangerous 
My all time favorite news article about Halloween in Taiwan
Taipei MRT just announced that if your costume is too âscaryâ they can deny transport⌠So not just China.
Smoking legal weed in another country
Halloween costumes
At least we still have forumosa
⌠for nowâŚ