AZBill

A real patriotic bunch! Hope they never need to fight a real war or they are in big trouble if this is the fiber of the typical Thai male! I'm starting to understand why there are so many lady boys! It's their ticket out of service..

Buy her a Thai Airways ticket. Thai Airways staff will always help her, in her own lingo. Any problems arise, her lingo. Any help needed, her lingo. Why would you ever consider any other airline than Thai Airways to book your Thai girlfriend's first ever flight ? To make it aseasy and comfortable a trip for her ? It has never been a question to any of the GENTLEMEN who are reading and commenting this forum !

Absolutely agree! Do your lovely a favor and send her via Thai Airways even if it cost a few more bucks! She will appreciate it and you can feel secure that she will be taken care of.

To some extent you could make the same arguments about the US government as well. Our representitives are either wealthy and want to protect it on the backs of the people, or we get those who want to become wealthy and powerful at the taxpayers' expense. It is ironic that we put the most selfish, corrupt and egocentric people in as guardians of the public trust. They are undoubtedly the worst kind of people we could possibly have in these positions. Of course there are exceptions like Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Ronald Reagan in our country who were true patriots, and there are others, but they are few and far between. The best we can do is have a system that allows us to get rid of the bad apples. Legitimate elections are required of course and that is the true power of the US Republic, as is our tripartite system of government and the concept of limited federal power. Thailand may appear to have some of these things in place, but in reality they do not. A coupe in the US would be impossible but a very real threat in Thailand. Of course we have those that try to corrupt the election system like ACORN in the last election, but we hold those people to account and they are now on trial for election fraud. It's just business as usual in Thailand and anyone who questions the veracity of elections are dealt with harshly. Term limits are a must. In the US we only have them for our President but lawmakers should also be subject to term limits to prevent empire building at the expense of the taxpayers. We see this just as clearly in the US as in Thailand but we still do nothing about it because as long as a representitive or senator is bringing home the bacon to his state or district, the voters care very little about what shenanigans he may be involved in at the federal level, and the longer they keep him in office, the more power he gets and the more benefits that come back to the locals. There is, however, a line that cannot be crossed in the US. That line does not seem so clear in Thailand. Our police in the US are trusted and are highly regarded. We have our bad apples but we do not tolerate them, and bribery is not in most policemen's vocabulary and will get you thrown in jail if you tried to offer one. The police in Thailand are some of the most corrupt in the world and an embarrasment to your country. But again, you do nothing and accept it as business as usual. Systems and laws are useless if the citizenry does not hold their representitives responsible to that system or look the other way. You fear the power of your military being used against your own people. Again, those in charge of the military must be held to account by the people. A people united and committed against tyranny are far more powerful than the military as our revolution against England proved. Until Thailand as a country embraces the rule of law and puts that principal above any individual or group, very little progess will ever be made. You may be able to copy our DVDs and CDs, but you can't just simply try to copy our government and the character of our people! This one you need to create on your own. I'd love to see it happen!

"No mister 3 eyed fish very ok - sap sap you eat no problem"

Are native speakers with no Thai abilities really the answer? Complete immersion seems a bit much to handle for a population of students that are that far behind the rest of the world and not the sharpest knives in the drawer to begin with.

Creative they are!!! Very inventive scams all over Thailand.

Explaining? You're kidding? You must know what it is - certain people need their corruption money and such a project will facilitate that. My god man - where have you been?????

You mean all these well dressed Bangkok Thais with their trendy this and thats are all show and no dough? Of course we Westerners already know that but it's nice to see the Thais admit they aren't worth didly (even the white ones) in articles like this when they are usually bending over backwards to show they have something. They will always come begging to the rich farang when they need money - just like a poor redheaded stepchild. Of course we know they are use to begging for it and have no pride. Do you Thais ever wonder why we Westerners don't dress up and flaunt material things like you? It's quite simple really. We know what we have, don't need to show it off, and don't need to prove anything to anyone or care what others think, especially a bunch of third world wanna-bes! I'm sure we'll give you some money. We are always charitable to those who don't have anything.

Neither. Just self-serving and pathetic!

Like it or not English is the global language for the developed world. My wife learned to speak it on her own through hard study and practice Learning English expanded her world significantly, and it made all the difference in her opportunities. When we travel to other countries she can usually communicate through English as a common language and certainly made her adjustment to living in America much easier. Learning English does not threaten Thailand other than giving the people more opportunities, which the oppressive elite may not want. But when has the government ever cared about its people?

Totally bought it. Nothing the Thai government would do would suprise me ! Not really funny though and I'm sure it freaked out a bunch of people..

Its good if its an initiative that is collectively done by all Asean Countries and also other Asian Nations. But along with that, as Nations get more protective, Asian Immigration should also start to match those of the West , where its tougher to migrate and even to get simply a tourist visa these days or being treated like a criminal upon arrival in airports in the US.

Asian countries should also accord the same treatments to citizens of these countries.

Another issue that the Thai government should also control is foreign ownership of properties in Thailand especially condominiums. At the moment, condominium prices are beginning to be out of reach of middle class working thais as lots of local greedy developers are only targetting foreigners. Many of these foreigners especially not only Westerners but Singaporean Chinese, Taiwanese, Middle Easterns and Indians buy them as investments and then rent them out without paying taxes. (maybe another source for the local taxation department). A lot of foreign real estate companies are also to be blamed for the increase in rices as their greed is causing problems for local thais. Look at some of the interesting fthai acebook pages and this is what Thais now want as agendas for the politicians to address in their coming election campaigns.

Its not an issue of zenophobia but rather , the local sshould be accorded priviliges first. Unlik the West, where migartaion standards are high, here in Thailand, you get bums from the Britain and US, without even a tertairy education coming here to teach English or start up some illegal web-based operations from their home.

It's no accident the standards for Thais immigrating to the US are high. We have no respect for your terrible education system or your shoddy work ethic and most of you will in fact become a true burden in our country as statistics have shown unless it's a Thai woman with a farang husband who will take care of her in a way you are not capable of doing!..

I knew that the Thai politicians are stupid but that they are so stupid I never imagined........

I always imagined they were this stupid. Their ignorance and stupidity is on display every day in this backward country. First, to all the Thia numb nuts in Parliament, if you are really concerned about the retirement amount, just raise it for men who marry Thai nationals you idiots! It's a pitence to us anyway! The fact is, it just bugs the heck out of you that your women prefer farang of any age over your little shrink-wrapped package! You want to remain free to treat your women like crap and have them do all the work you are all to lazy or stupid (likely both) to do so you have time to play with little boys and ladyboys in your local brothels, drink your days away and gamble away what little baht you do have from whatever scam you were running . As far as the little fatherless bastards that might be created by an old farang who keels over before it's grown, I suspect the geezer will have provided for the wife and child much better than any Thai man is capable of doing. Also here is a heads up for you brain dead little MP droids, just because you all believe 400,000 or 800,000 is alot of money, to most farang of retirement age it is absolutely nothing, and I seriously doubt any farang ever married a Thai girl of any age with this thought in mind. So I guess it will still be perfectly ok for these impotent little lilliputions to cheat on their wives with these young girls or marry them themselves and abuse them. Thailand is a country on the decline in a big way and this will be another huge step towards its demise. Other than your women, you have little else to offer us and you will learn this lesson the hard way.

Hopefully they get some actual qualified teachers with degrees in education and english instead of all these people who take a 4 week TEFL class and pretend to be english teachers so they can play tourist for a year!

The Thais are not evolved enough as a nation to make any kind of meaningful reform. They are entrenched in their old ways of corruption and the blind acceptance of it. Until saving face becomes less important than facing problems in an enlightened and direct manner Thailand will continue to be a 3rd world also ran with little significance to the rest of the civilized world.

Serious downsides to loading up on this stuff. Studies have shown it seriously impedes good judgment, promotes permiscuity and may actually make you less attractive to women (scientific studies show women actually prefer males with more feminized faces who are able to provide something more than sperm). Scientists have shown that while the drive to make it to the top is higher in high T guys, lower T men actually make it to the top more often than high T guys because lower T guys are better thinkers and have better judgment . Most high T guys end up in blue collar jobs which obviously do not equate to any kind of status. If you're only wanting to take them to increase your libido or are having erection problems, then just try Cialis or Viagra instead.

By the time you screw around at the airport you could drive there!

I don't mind CA. I've flown them over 30 times. I often get upgraded to business class. The FAs are a bit high strung and the food could be better but still a great value from the US.

Haha! 80% of Thais can't count to 10! What would you expect from such a backward society! They have a better chance of getting cancer from cell phones than from nuclear radiation, but ask them whether they will give up their cell phones! Despite all the problems in Japan the world powers are not going to be giving up nuclear power.

I use skype. It works great! Need an internet connection. Free to those you call if they also have it.

I' waiting to see a headline thet reads "Thai sentenced for beating farang"

Oh gee, another farang wannabe in Bangkok without the wallet to back it up! There's a reason Atlanta is so cheap! No one wants to live there! Stop complaining and live within your means. Easy to do in Bangkok! See all you Thai readers - not all farang rich!

So the Thai army has no access to other types of weapons? When I was in the US military and covert operations were undertaken we certainly didn't use standard issue M-16s at the time! This is all a coverup. Do you really think the government is going to come out and say the killed a foriegn journalist? Esrecially this government that lies every time its lips move!

A long war necessarily means he lives past next week. Not likely to happen. Dead piece of crap walking!

Blah blah blah blah! Do these guys ever shut up?