FalangBaa

Our experience after 3 weeks in Bangkok is that the biggest problem is taxi drivers cherry picking fares - it can take 3 to 5 attempts to get a driver to take us where we want to go. Of the guys that do accept our fare, we have not yet experienced anything except friendliness and good manners. Of course the fact that my wife speaks Thai helps and the son and heir is a source of constant interest. No one has asked to go 'off meter' and all have seemed happy with the 20-30 baht tip on top of the meter fare.

Why are you tipping on top of the taxi fare? Are you mad? Tipping taxi drivers is absolutely not required in Thailand.

If that price is per day, it's a bit high, and if it's per month, it's definitely too low. Therefore I hope you meant per week.

Not a stupid idea at all. It's a brilliant idea. Thai women will know you're made of money and will be all over you like flies on a t**d.

thank you all again!

haha no offence taken - yes i am a major worry wort, but i have to counterbalance my husbands laid back carefree atitude!!

i think youre right bocceball1, board at first,and of hopefully the people he will work with will be able to give us loads of advice

Krisb - will you be at home all day too ill check it out once im there.

Now i just need to work out if its financially viable.............

Air pollution is terrible (even by Bangkok standards!) in the area around Perfect Place. It's very near the intersection of two major expressways. Plus, apartments there go for 50,000, so I don't think you'll be able to afford it on a teacher's salary. I know a couple of teachers in Bangkok and they're living in "rooms" in the 5,000 - 10,000 range. You will find very few non-Thais, if any, living in Perfect Place. It doesn't really live up to its name, but then again in Bangkok what does?

"Police stated that the suspect admitted that he did use a hard object to beat her to death"

This has to be the stupidest statement I have ever read.

Could he have used a soft object to beat her to death?

Den

It's as opposed to a sharp object. Often it's called a blunt object rather than a hard object.

Read Schopenhauer's tract: "On Women!"

Extract:

"Nature has made it the calling of the young, strong, and handsome men to look after the propagation of the human race; so that the species may not degenerate. This is the firm will of Nature, and it finds its expression in the passions of women.

This law surpasses all others in both age and power.

Woe then to the man who sets up rights and interests in such a way as to make them stand in the way of it; for whatever he may do or say, they will, at the first significant onset, be unmercifully annihilated. For the secret, unformulated, nay, unconscious but innate moral of woman is:

We are justified in deceiving those who, because they care a little for us,—that is to say for the individual,—imagine they have obtained rights over the species. The constitution, and consequently the welfare of the species, have been put into our hands and entrusted to our care through the medium of the next generation which proceeds from us; let us fulfil our duties conscientiously.

But women are by no means conscious of this leading principle in abstracto, they are only conscious of it in concreto, and have no other way of expressing it than in the manner in which they act when the opportunity arrives.

So that their conscience does not trouble them so much as we imagine, for in the darkest depths of their hearts they are conscious that in violating their duty towards the individual they have all the better fulfilled it towards the species, whose claim upon them is infinitely greater."

(A fuller explanation of this matter may be found in vol. ii., ch. 44, in my chief work, Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung.)

5 Baht is an infinitesimally small price to pay to personally experience this trait in full flood.

I now firmly believe that Schopenhauer's treatise "On Women" should be required reading for every bar girl before commencing her employment.

Bangkok is definitely THE place if you want English teaching work, and salaries are higher. Teaching work is very thin on the ground in Phuket, plus the apartment you rent in Phuket is likely to be double the price of Bangkok for a similar size and quality of room. Food will also generally cost you double in Phuket, which is far and away the most expensive place in Thailand. Who told you Phuket would be a good place to find teaching work in Thailand? Also, you really need to fly down with Air Asia. For a few hundred baht more, you're guaranteed to arrive alive plus you'll arrive almost 1 day earlier to start your search.

I would not use AA again I obeject to companies that are set up only to rip people off look for a better airline to travel with

AirAsia is the fastest growing airline in the world. There are obviously a lot of idiots out there who enjoy being ripped off. Masochists.

Just so you know, it never actually gets that cold in Bangkok in the winter. Only had to put my thermal pyjamas on once when the night dropped down to 13 C in January. Coats, hats, sweaters, gloves and scarves are almost never needed in Bangkok.

Have made many a spermiogram in Nana Plaza over the years. Recommend you try there (serious answer).

By "genuine" girls, do you mean non-ladyboys, or girls who are only interested in you for your personality and intellect, not for your looks or the contents of your wallet? LOL.

I'm sure he's not Norwegian. "Mack London" isn't a Norwegian name at all, and he doesn't even look Scandinavian.

Nana Hotel soi 4. Granny will love it, since most of the gentlemen staying there will be her age.

--- Want to take the GF to "best restaurant in town"

Assuming your GF is Thai, she'll probably get more enjoyment from a 30-baht noodle soup on the street corner. I have yet meet a Thai woman who can appreciate anything more sophisticated than Sizzler. Sizzler and MK are "real swanky" restaurants to them.

--- really what I'm interested in from street food

I told you, just take her and the extended family for noodle soup. If you really want to impress, order it with "double meat" for an extra 15 baht.

Best to go in drag, preferably with 6-inch stiletto heels, a skintight gold lamé dress and an off-the-shoulder feather boa with sequins on it. Then they'll know you're here for the ladyboys and will feel confident opening an account for you, knowing you're here for the long haul and will likely be transferring a lot of money from your home country.

India (e.g. Chennai - nice southern city) or Colombo, Sri Lanka to avoid the Arab states. Alternatively, Turkey (Istanbul or Ankara) or Tel Aviv (Israel) are also nice places to break your journey back to the UK. Of those, Tel Aviv is definitely the most relaxing - apart from the Maldives, but they aren't really many hours from Thailand.

A quick search of Skyscanner shows plenty of Qatar flights from Heathrow to Bangkok and back with 1-2 hour stops each way for £430-460 on many days in November, returning late Jan/Feb. Why anyone would even pay £50 LESS to go with Air India as opposed to Qatar is beyond me.

Maybe you're thinking of the Green Falang Kee Neow Hotel? Or perhaps the "Grand Inn Come". There are no hotels near the airport with Green in their name.

I recommend that you get so drunk before you even land at Calcutta that you don't even notice anything. They don't call it the Black Hole for nothing. Worst airport in India in the ugliest city in Asia.

Realizing your whole life up to now has been a dream after waking up to find yourself in a Kabul prison serving a life sentence without your luxury Phuket condo and 25-year-old girlfriend.

There's no such thing as a "safe investment" in Thailand. That's equivalent to investing in the Wild West. As as a foreigner in Thailand, you have virtually no rights at all. Besides, if you have 10 million pounds (or is it dollars?) to invest, you'd be better off looking at Singapore or investing in a Western country.

I fly in and out of BKK no less than 50 times a year

Wow, you must spend an awful lot of time on planes and hanging around in airports or travelling to and from airports... How's your health? I once flew about 20 long hauls in a 2-month period and I felt all the time in the air was affecting my health considerably. Do you mind me being nosy and asking what you do that requires you to fly in and out of BKK at least 50 times a year?

Bangkok is not the worst offender in this regard. That distinction definitely goes to Phubket.