DavidSL

I've had FB for 6-7 years. I have a total of 20 friends, and they are either family, or people I personally know closely. That's it.

Me too J1V. My list is down to 9 immediate family, and I only have these on because they are all either interstate or overseas.

Well done guys. I know this isn't a competition but I have a Facebook account and have 4 friends, daughter, son and two others in the UK. Don't have a smartphone either. Yet, I bet you are like me and live perfectly normal lives.

It's very possible to live perfectly normal lives with Facebook and a smartphone! I actually can't believe this needs to be said!

Facebook isn't to blame, the people are to blame. Just like a forum designed to help expats and potential expats in the LOS has attracted some of the worst human beings I've ever seen, Facebook, too, attracts a bunch of idiots. If Facebook didn't exist, another site would exist, and so would the same problems. People are bad, cruel and insane, and when you give them more reasons to be, more bad, cruel and insane acts will occur.

It's all about self-regulation. I find the whole Facebook thing pretty absurd. I laugh when friends use it as an outlet for their whining or sharing what they did during the day. OK, so I also like it, because I feel in touch with them more often. But I use it for what it is, a tool to keep in contact with friends, and occasionally, like when on holiday, share some photos or something.

A smartphone is nearly essential in this day and age, but that's another argument.

This is a sad story. Especially since the husband knew he was wrong but simply couldn't control his rage.

Hey all,

I'm back in Thailand for a holiday after nearly 2 years of leaving. I was working here as a teacher for 3 years and loved every minute of my life here but started to miss my family and friends, as well as my Country. I originally came here for a wedding, and the groom had lived here for 8 years, and I pretty much took over his job as he moved home (on his recommendation). My life here was simple, laid back and pretty calm, really. I had regular weekends away, went out every night for dinner, and enjoyed the simple life that suited me perfectly. I was always criticised on this by the groom who insisted I should be going crazy in the big bad city, getting drunk and having wild nights out, but that's never been me, and Thailand has always suited me fine for the laid back side of life.

But really I wanted to get a feel for what everyone's lives are like here? Have you managed to forge a 'normal' routine, or are you enjoying the more wild side of a Country with a lot of freedom?

Coming back for a holiday I can't help but think back to my happy life here!

I'm not into the Nana scene, I don't drink beer and paying women who don't want to sleep with me but need the money is pretty abhorent to me, but these guys aren't doing any harm by sitting there drinking a few beers and watching the World go by. It's easy to judge people based on their appearance and God knows I've done it more than a few times here, but it's a habit I'm slowly learning to break. Tattoos, vest, shorts, beer bottle in hand, these are the signs of a typical Nana goer - and yet, so what? People need physical contact, people want acceptance, people go to the places they find happiness.

I don't approve of Nana in the least, but at the same time, it exists for a reason. These guys seem to be having a good enough time, anyway.

Man, this video mellowed me out!

One of our Soi dogs has been in the local vets for the past week - we're lucky enough that one of the vets there lived in our condo for a long time so knows the dog and has been looking after her for free. We pay for her food and care, but the stay is 'on the house'. That said, me and my girlfriend would happily pay for her stay as well - our soi dogs are friendly, lovely creatures and have become our adopted pets, really. They know us and are happy and bouncy when we walk down the road, and always greet us when we come home. Honestly, in my opinion, nothing beats having a pet who welcomes you home, happy and smiling.

Truth is, this is a pretty hard place to be as an animal lover. There are so many cruel people here that just don't care about animals that it becomes really disheartening when you're left to take care of them. We are very lucky, though - as most of the people we know here seem to really care about our soi dogs and help them when needed.

The dog we took to the vets has lost her eyesight which is really sad to watch - we had to take her in the hopes that something can be done. We'll be bringing her back to the soi perhaps this weekend, but I'm really worried how she's going to fare. But we're really trying to her, and like the OP said, money really becomes no object when it's an animal you care about.

To answer the OPs question, I don't know how vets work here - but the clinic round the corner from us seems pretty much like you'd find in England. The vet I spoke to acknowledged that if dogs don't get better then, 'Well...', without saying it, but others have first hand experience so I don't know. It's not something I even want to think about, but I'd advise taking a picture of the dog and going to the clinic first, and seeing what they advise.

No mention of MBK?

I hated MBK when I first went there, but it offers a lot for bargain hunters.

OP - If you head to Siam station on the BTS you'll have more than enough shopping to last you a day. You can walk to MBK (or take the other train to National Stadium), which links to SIAM SQUARE (basically a huge market with a LOT of shops mixed with stalls) or the skywalk to SIAM DISCOVERY (you can go through to either Discovery or Siam Square depending on the exit you take), the latter of which links to SIAM CENTER (which has just been renovated to some American-like fashionable monstrosity - I'm not a fan) which then will take you to SIAM PARAGON, a huge, overpriced mall for those whose tastes are a little more ostentatious (but it is a really great mall for the restaurants and Kinokuniya bookstore!). After all that, if you're still not satisfied, take the skywalk or walk along the pavement to CENTRAL WORLD - another huge, mix of expensive and reasonable shops for you to peruse, with more restaurants than you'll ever need to dine in.

Honestly, Siam is one of my favourite places to go on weekends in the city.

Ask your girlfriend...oh wait...

Says the guy with a quote from 'The Batman' under his post...

I didn't know that Ultraman was Thai! I assumed he was a Japanese creation.

I don't know of any Thai comics/manga myself, but as a comic lover I had to chime in to this thread, if only to say... urm... nothing in particular.

Plenty of <6000 baht rooms around,

eat thai food at mom & pop shop, or buy take away

skip ladydrinks & paid female companionship,

skip being white knight as well,

yes, go-go was my biggest expense, by far !

plenty of <2000 Baht rooms around.

I rent a complete house for 6000 Baht

And what area would they be?

This reads to me as a, 'Yeah, but not where I'D wanna live!' response. If so, might I suggest you look around a bit more. I know of one fellow living in a 30,000 a month condo in Ari surrounded by nothing but more condos - no restaurants, no 7-11, no where good to eat except a couple of upmarket over-priced bakeries. Therefore, if your suggestion is that, 'more money means better living' then you haven't even begun to assimilate here.

Of course, I could be imagining all this, and you were actually asking for the location so that you might seek one out.

The same thing went through my mind, 'Maybe it's a copy of the Japanese version or something', but it appeared to be official, though after some research perhaps not completely. The back of the box was sparse, just a few photos and a couple of lines of text. It was mostly blank space, which is unusual for the rear of a game box. I checked online, and it appears the official release is chock full of details about the game, all the licensing details and so on. This means that the boxes they had, whilst actual games, were obviously early copies of the game perhaps meant for demoing in stores, or perhaps even sent out for review (unlikely, but still). The fact that they are factory sealed confuses me the most.

Anyway, didn't pick one up. Will wait for the official release to find out how much people are enjoying it. But yeah, pretty confused about this one.

I would ask, 'How is this possible?' but obviously the law is a lot looser here. However, I today, whilst browsing for PS3 games, came across several shops in a couple of very well-known shopping malls selling copies of 'Ni No Kuni' - a game not due for release in America until Monday, and Europe the 1st Feb. Now fair enough, you might think, they just have the game a couple of days early, but I'm talking about a region 2 (European) release. I'm surprised these shops even have a copy yet let alone are able to sell them nearly 2 weeks before it is released. So how is this? I would have bought myself a copy to be honest, but for some reason I honestly don't trust these copies just because it seems too early for them to have any at all, let alone the UK release which has been set back for some reason.

How is it possible? Let me be clear, these weren't from China (well, they probably were but had no Chinese language and were clearly marked with a Union Jack to indicate the region) and they were sealed factory copies. It really amazes me how they get away with this, but more so how they even have any copies to begin with. Is this common in Thailand?

I'm a complete geek, for sure. But I was always a geek. I can't stand people who think being a geek is all about being trendy and hip just because it's 'safe' to be different nowadays.

Being a nerd, geek or dork is all the same, it just depends where you are. You're a nerd next to a bunch of bikers, for example, a dork next to sports players and playboys, and a geek next to 'cool' hipsters. There is no difference.

I've always wondered why there aren't secret geek meetings happening in the comics corner of Kinokuniya in Siam Paragon. Any time I see other Westerners in there we just end up ignoring each other.

To sum up: being a geek is a lot more fun.

That is indeed the story I am being given. My boss has explained that immigration have said that because hers is a small language school (I am the only teacher in her employ now) that I am required to apply for a new visa every 3 months. Larger schools apparently have their own means to apply for visas on behalf of their teachers, and therefore larger schools are able to obtain visas for a year. It makes zero sense to me, though - how many school terms require a teacher for just 3 months?

Where it really fails to make sense, though, is how this all happened. You see, upon receiving my extension form the officer knew nothing of who I was or who my boss was. She did not look through ANY paperwork. She literally looked at the form, saw 365 days and said, 'No, you can only apply for a 90 day extension'. She did not ask where I was working or for whom, and she made no request for any information. She didn't even look at my passport. It was literally, 'You can only extend for 90 days' as if she would say that to everyone.

I really think something is wrong here.

Firstly, apologies for the unclear title. I am indeed talking about the extension of stay for my visa - not my work permit. I applied for a non-immigrant 'B' visa which I recieved last year. I'm not sure if perhaps I need to get a new 'B' visa as honestly that's not something I had considered until now.

For the last year I've been working here and doing the 90 day reporting with no problems.

Again, this is not about my work permit. I've received my work permit already for a year. This is at immigration where the following happened: me and my boss walked over to the desk we were called to and my boss explains that I am here to extend my stay. We hand over the form, she looks it over, sees I've applied for a year and says, 'No, you cannot apply for a year extension anymore, only 90 days'. She walks off to hand the form over to another officer whom I've dealt with before. He's not all that friendly but he was pretty good to me last year so I just have to let him deal with it. He tells my boss that it has indeed changed, and I can no longer apply for a yearly extension any longer. No more 90 day reporting, I now have to re-apply every 90 days for another extension.

On reflection, maybe I need to get a new 'B' visa. Or perhaps they were just doing it for a kick, but I doubt that. I know immigration can be tricky here, but I doubt they'd get away with 'toying' with people for too long.

DavidSL, at which immigration office did this occur?

Maybe it's good to tell us what kind of work you're doing without getting to much into detail and where the immigration office is located.

From my experience, they used to extend my stay pending the extension of my WP with 2 or 3 months.

I paid THB 1,900 for the one extension and as soon as the approval for the Immigration in Bangkok returned they extended my stay up to the full year......for free!

It was tricky for me to get my visa sorted last year, but it was only tricky in terms of paperwork. After all the nonsense and management throwing their weight around, I got my stamp for a year, 5 October 2011 to 5 October 2012.

I'm teaching English. This all occurred in the Samut Prakan branch, Paknam.

Maybe they just don't like you and thought it would be fun to give you some grief. But, what probably happened is that it just got "lost in translation".

Yeah, but I doubt that, I'm so dam_n likeable! Seriously, though, I really think this is nonsense. As for it being 'lost in translation' I got my stamp for three months clearly on my passport, and my boss (who is fluent in English) was doing the translating.

I imagine your salary is not enough for the yearly extension of permission to stay for work permit holders.

Please state your declared salary.

Again, my title was misleading. This is about my extension of stay, and I'm earning the same I was last year when I was issued with the year, so that would make no sense. I'm pretty sure this isn't about money, well, not the money I'm earning, anyway.

Hey all,

Today I went with my employer to our local visa office to apply for (what we thought) another year for me to work here. We had all the documents, everything was in order (though I know that rarely means a smooth ride in any immigration office in the World). I was expecting some kind of hiccup, because quite frankly the immigration system is ludicrously bad, but I wasn't prepared for what I was told.

Basically, I've been told we are no longer allowed to apply for a years stay on a work permit. Now, instead of the easy 90-day reporting procedure (which I have never had a problem with and have never been late for) we are to re-apply for the same visa again, every 90 days. The office told me that I have to come in before my 90 days are up and re-apply not only to stay in Thailand to work (despite my work permit going for 1 year) but also pay the 1900 baht fee to do so.

Now I was furious, but I'm not stupid, (or man) enough to take on any police officers so I didn't say anything about it and made sure I got my 90 days. But I spoke to my boss and my girlfriend called a gentleman who runs a Thai visa run company, and they both said that this is the new rule.

So in short, apparently now 90 days is the limit on a B-visa, and you now have to pay 4 times the amount to stay in the Country for a year, in 3-month installments.

Is this for real, or am I being given nonsense stories from my local immigration?

Those gifts can very well be taken as a big insult, indeed. Mai pen rai. You get the gifts back insulted and so are insulted back.

Serves you right. Deal with it.

How does it serve them right? This is kindness shown by a Westerner to a Thai. I, too, had no idea that giving a gift to a Thai could be seen as an insult, though with explanation I do understand why it can be construed this way. But to tell the OP it serves him and his girlfriend right for being nice is ridiculous, not to mention showing a certain impoliteness that perhaps you've not noticed from living here too long (or not long enough).

OP, I'm as confused as you are on this one, though it looks like one of those times where our culture and Thai culture are at completely opposite ends of the spectrum. Whilst our cultures are very different, it's rare to find situations like this where neither side can comprehend the other - there's usually at least some common human understanding grounding the differences. This is a strange one.

Thanks for all the replies, it's good to see I'm not alone, but interesting to hear other people's points of view. I'm certainly not suggesting clubbing can't be fun, because I know that some genuinely get excited to go for a night out clubbing, but I'm the complete opposite. I dread it, and look forward to the taxi ride home. It really isn't my scene, and whilst I appreciate others liking it, loving the music or the drinking or whatever, it's not for me. I love music, but loud, thumping music for 4 or 5 hours is ridiculous. That most people NEED to drink to go clubbing, and that the drinks are so expensive just adds to my reasons not to bother. I could honestly make one glass of coke last for a few hours if I wanted, why bother filling my stomach with carbonated fluids when I plan to dance? If you start drinking in a club it can become a bit endless. I have had better nights clubbing sober than drunk - dancing all night and not feeling sick is a good thing, and I do see the enjoyment when it's a good night. But it's a weird thing, clubbing, and perhaps I grew up in the wrong area of England to fully appreciate it.

That said, I didn't see any trouble. There were idiots about, but no one was really causing any problems. Apart from the two morons trying to 'pull' my friend's fiance whilst he was about. But like a lot of you have said, maybe she should have put a stop to it as well.

Do you like it? Do you go? Do you care?

The other night I went out in Patpong, to a club that was hosting a night of 'funky disco' blah blah blah. The club was nice, the area was a dive, but to be expected. I'm not a clubber, I don't really drink, and I'm what you might call 'boring' if you don't know me outside of going out to the pub. I don't really dig the whole clubbing scene, and here it seems no different. The club was good, the crowd seemed OK, but a couple of English (I assume) idiots really made me feel like I was at home. First, they just came in dancing around, staring at a couple of women I know (friends of the girlfriend) and not really taking their eyes off of them. I know one of these women's fiance, and when these guys started chatting her up he wasn't bothered about it and let her get on with it. The guy soon found out she had a fiance, even shook his hand, but rather than let it go at that kept after her all night.

Onto an 'after party' and he's sitting with her outside the doors (she's collecting money) still trying it on whilst the fiance is inside DJing. Tosser, complete and utter tosser. He was a typical western poser, in the club acting like the biggest man in town because he knows that it's easy to get a girl in Bangkok.

OK, so perhaps this isn't really a comment on the whole night out (which I was thoroughly bored throughout) but rather the kind of people you see when you go to these places, but it did make me wonder what others feel about clubbing here. I find it boring, I'd rather be at home watching a movie, to be honest. The friend I went with was so bored at the club that he decided to drink to alleviate the boredom, but rather than go home he was actually keen to go to the after party, despite being bored out of his mind.

The way I see it, if you need to drink to enjoy something, then it probably really isn't that fun. If you go out aiming to get drunk, then you're more boring than any one else.

I'm not against drinking, nor going out. In fact, many of my good friends love getting drunk and going clubbing. I've never really enjoyed it, but I do like to know what people feel about it?

Whatever!

Please don't misunderstand me, there are rarely ever meant to be any actual personal insults in my posts, and if any of it is true, I'm sorry to hear that. The anonymity of the Internet makes it easy for the old back-and-forth sniping between strangers, but I don't know you and was only reacting to your words. I certainly didn't actually think you have a handle on my life, or know what you are talking about when it comes to my relationships, and nor do I think that I know anything about you. It is often too easy to insult each other in threads like these and not really consider the consequences. If I offended you more than just a passing annoyance, I apologise. I often react to digs about myself in the same manner, sometimes deservedly, sometimes not. I do not wish to be one of those who makes enemies on this forum unless it is for good reason, and I certainly haven't set out to here. But my stance on this topic still stands, and my personal experience does have some relevance. That said, no real personal offense was meant except to stir up a little debate. Apologies.

I feel nothing but sympathy for those people, I really do, but judging by the fact that you are here and have the audacity to criticise (and lightly insult) me

Count the insults you made in your posts, then count the insults I made in my posts.

What's wrong with you?

My insults were smarter?

I don't understand the question.

For the poster who mentioned that many girls have been purchased in bars, I feel is presumptuous and unnecessary, and even if this is so, some of those relationships have proven to work.

That was me, and I believe if you read my post again you might pick up on a point I was trying to make. I don't for one second think everyone (but I do presume by the attitude of some that there are a few) here has a wife or girlfriend purchased from a bar. But I do see some attitudes here that reflect a resentment towards Thai women that can only be had from bad experiences. Some bad experiences may well come from 'nice, normal girls', but lets face it, we all know there are a few unsavoury characters on here prowling the bars occasionally, and I'd wager that many bad experiences also come from bad decisions that have been made by a gentleman's second brain. My comment was certainly meant to stir up outrage, that's for sure - when you've got a thread full of people saying 'seems fine to me, mate, it's your life innit and she's only gonna come at ya with a kitchen knife and kill you if you tell her to 'er face' - with absolutely NO ONE up until that point saying it's a little bit off (read: messed up), then I feel a little outrage from those people is deserved. My point is simple, bad experiences may be had for many reasons, but that's no reason to act like a wimp because you feel comparing a girlfriend to any other girl is justified. We don't know the OP's reasons, but anyone saying it is justified to run away from her without knowing any real reason for doing so is being nothing but judgemental upon an entire race of people.

Do I think you all bought your wives or girlfriends? Some of you probably did and then ran away, but that's OK in this thread, right?

You clearly haven't had many relationships. Things aren't really like mommy told you. Ending a relationship anywhere is messy because usually only one of the couple wants it to end. In Thailand where rule of law doesn't happen and 'suicides' of foreigners are common, ending it face to face is just plain silly.

Oh and also in Thailand, everyone buys their wife and girlfriend, usually from the lady's parents, sometimes just from her. It's the tradition, it's still widely practiced, even among educated, half-Chinese where the price is higher.

You found a girl you didn't have to buy, good for you, but it isn't the norm.

Is that really how you talk to people around here?

Truth is, my relationship list is short. I've had a couple of 'meaningful' relationships, and a few more 'encounters'. I don't know how to count relationships, because going by your reply it would include the purchase of a woman for money, and no, I've never done that. Would relationships to you be the meaningful exchange of emotions over a prolonged period of time, or just sex? Or would it be holding hands with a woman who is interested in you because you have white skin and money? I don't know what you value in a relationship, so I'm going to assume that you are a man who has a wealth of experience and can bring more to the table than I can in wisdom when it comes to leaving in the middle of the night without a goodbye.

I'll be honest, if I ever get to the point where I consider it the norm to run out on a woman in the middle of the night because I'm afraid of the consequences, I'll consider myself a man with a wealth of relationships behind me allowing me to make these bold choices. Or maybe, just maybe, I might be a bit of an asshol_e who perhaps should have not gotten into this relationship in the first place.

No, I haven't been in any relationships where I've felt like I'm going to be murdered, or where I've wanted to commit suicide. I feel nothing but sympathy for those people, I really do, but judging by the fact that you are here and have the audacity to criticise (and lightly insult) me over whether or not it is OK to run out on a woman who by the sounds of it hasn't given the OP a hard time, then I'd assume that neither have you. If you had, you might be spending the time posting with a bit more wisdom and explaining why (because so far no one has) it would be a good idea to slink off without a goodbye. I can't imagine you have any good reasons, though I do see a wealth of xenophobic ones littered throughout this thread.

I'm not deviating from my 'past bad decisions reflecting future feelings' view at this point.

Thanks Scott, I appreciate that. I think added to the stress is the fact that the school is in an unknown area and I'm not even 100% if I have the job or not (waiting for a phonecall!), so that's making me feel a little on edge about starting something new. Good to know that it isn't much different from what I've had to do before!

I despise almost everything about the UK.

The blatant greed and materialism of it's holidays like Christmas, Easter, Mothers day, Fathers day.

And it's overly moralistic and judgmental capitalist society.

All people in the UK care about is themselves, how much their house is worth and how many holidays a year they can have.

Thatcher's Britain, the country of ME ME ME.

I've dumped the lot.

I don't disagree that Britain is a broken Country/society at all, and I certainly moved away because I feel worn down by Western society, but I can't go without protecting our Country somewhat.

'The blatant greed and materialism of it's holidays like Christmas, Easter, Mothers day, Fathers day.'

This is both true and not. There are plenty of people who HATE every holiday season, but the cynics make the holidays just as bad as those who 'buy into it'. Father's Day and Mother's Day for me are two days on the calendar that remind us to thank our parents for being our parents. Easter and Christmas are religious holidays deeply ingrained in our history, that have become more about spending money than anything else, but for many the traditions are still there. Christmas is my favourite time of the year, and not because I am in any way religious. I love the atmosphere, I love the cold, dark nights lit by the glow of the tree and decorations around the house. I love the music, I love the movies, I love being around people who also share my enjoyment of it. Sure, you might hate these holidays for real, but if you're just being cynical, you are part of the reason the holidays are no longer like they used to be.

'All people in the UK care about is themselves, how much their house is worth and how many holidays a year they can have.'

Won't argue with this. We live in a horrible society right now. I don't miss people's attitudes in England. I don't miss dreading going to work every day, and I don't miss seeing public arguments and nastiness every week (maybe I'm exaggerating a little).

But I do miss home. And I do miss my traditions. I miss it most around Christmas time, which is why I'm taking a two week holiday home for Christmas this year.