Whatever

I have lived in both places and I would say there is a lot less going on in Yoso than Chaing Mai. I live (from time to time) in a place called Maha Chana Chai which is in between Yoso and Ubon and there is not much to do there, but that's half it's appeal. I would say you definitely need transport - a car or jeep as the best place to go for a night out and western food (Tesco/Big C/restaurants) will be Ubon, which is an hours drive. Even then you won't bump into many Fereng. And even if you do they might not be that friendly as mentioned before. That could be about being the "only gay in the village" and it could be a something to do with getting away from white people. Personally I'll speak to people that say hello to me. I went to a Thai style night club that had a kinda rock concert on (which I must say was brilliant). I think I saw 3 other fereng in there and I spoke to all of them. I chatted to some for about an hour and it is interesting hearing other peoples story. It certainly won't be like going to Bubble where half the people in there are tourists and travellers. So if you want to get away from that crowd Yoso is certainly a good place to go.

I would say that you can make your own fun and involve yourself in rural life as much or as little as you want. Get a satilite, some books and DVDs from Bangkok when you pass through, a decent size fridge, a nice TV and you can kick back and relax and get on with whatever you want to. Internet connection might be very slow like in my village - 16.8bpm (I think my phone in the UK is faster) 3bt/hr with TOT or have broadband beamed through satalite prbably 500k for 1200bt/month. Personally I like playing on the playstation and games on the PC and when I move more permantly I will be buying a pool table and setting up a bar in my house. (for personal use not a business)

With regards to the land - I know what you are talking about and you can pick up some bargains but it's doultfull you'll make money or break even. Selling the land on would probably be the only money spinner, but then there's finding a buyer. From my experience a bit of land that costs 30k will only make you 5-7k a year, or roughly something like that. Look into the rubber idea before you go rushing in. Remember that the land will be floaded for a long time and you may find that you have to raise the land abovew the fload.

Good luck anyway.

If my misses asks me to to help any of her friends I tell her that they have to learn how to speak English first. She then tells all of them that whenever they ask and so it doesn't come to me any more. I just don't understand how you could marry someone you cant have a conversation with.

If one of her village mates learnt how to speak english then i would definitely help them read between the lines (with these emails) and maybe even vet then on arrival and go for a beer with them see what they like and what they're after. better i hepled and did that than letting them go it alone and have them find the wrong guy. Plus you don't want an idiot joining your village. and if you met up with him you could explain what he has in store for him and he might find its not for him.

Lite Beer,

Is "not disagree" a double negative and so your saying you agree and that why they're saying fink about it!!!

"If you can't even raise a dowry how do you expect to look after my daughter?"

I think 200K seems the going rate for a fareng marrying a Thai as that is what we 'showed'. They gave me 70K back which I spent on some house improvements for them, and they paid for the food and drink at the wedding. I certainly didn't feel like I was being ripped off or that I was buying my wife, which I think is a ridiculus analagy. I felt like I was following a tradition and fitting into part of my wife's culture. I felt like I was giving my wife's family pride and respect and I didn't mind doing it or feel resentful at all. It especially made my misses happy and because I love her that makes me happy.

In Thailand the dowry is not a purchase situation - how much for your daughter - altho go to a poor enough family... For most Thais it is a show of wealth from a particular suiter. It is a show that he can take care of the daughter. It is also peace of mind for the father and shows a willing to help the daughter's family which is deep rooted in Thai culture.

My wife's brother want's to get engaged and the family have mentioned 90,000bt and 2bt gold, now he's got to decide if he loves her enough to part with that sort of money.

It is also about class as well. If someone can't find the money to marry someone then may be he is trying to marry out of his class and should look else where.

We got married in the village and did the budist thing and I quite enjoyed it, altho it was abit of an early start for me (6am). It was a shame that I didn't have my friends and family around me but it certainly saved me money in the long run. The cost of a wedding in the UK can be upwards of 10K pounds (about 650K). The way I look at things mine cost me 3K pounds.

If a dowry has been mentioned then what you have to aske yourself is how much you love her and how much you can afford? Come up with a figure in your mind that you are happy with and put it to the womans family. If her family are financially secure you could ask them if you can just 'show' a load of money at the wedding and then say to them that you would like to use that money to start yor married life together.

Anyway Chok Dee mate (Good luck)

Maybe they're really worried and highly educated about the pitfalls of skin cancer.

Or it could be that they don't want second degree burns and they can't afford suntan lotion.

I'd go for factor 40 if I was working on a boat in the sun all day. Mind you I am fair skinned

I geuss what I'm trying to say is:

Westerner tan their skin to make themselves look more attractive

Thais try to lightern their skin to make themselves look more sucessful

In My Opinion

I wouldn't equate tanned skin with being weathly in western society; holidays ain't that expensive nowadays, especially with low cost flights. Also more workers get paid holiday so it's not a sign that you can afford to have time off. And then there's the Spanish, Italians, Greeks etc that are already olive skinned and also tanning salons. No, to Western women being tanned is all about making themselves more attractive and goes hand in hand with doing their hair, make up dressing in nice clothes etc. If I see a nice tanned woman standing next to a pastie looking white one I know who I'd go for. It also makes women look more healthy rather than ill.

As for the Thais white envy, I'd say firstly it was the "not wanting to look like a poor farmer" but also to do with looking like a fareng. Also its more to do with looking Japanese rather than Chinese. Most poor Thai people's only contact with European, US and Japanese is seeing them spend sh!t loads of money on whatever they like clothes, food entertainmenta and that equals sucess (and not that we live in a b'stard country where the sun never comes out but have a good exchange rate).

I think that alot of the men that come to Thailand looking for women do it because they find their tanned and olive skin attractive. I wonder if things will tern full circle and Thais will start loving their tanned skin because farengs do and to be fareng is to be sucessful.

I wonder if most fareng were tanned whether the Thai people would be so bothered about being white?

PS My Thai wife now sits in the isaan sun tanning herself (not for too long admittadly) because she thinks it makes her more look attractive in the UK - Go figure

Thanks to everyone who has replied.

To be honest I have already brought some land - or should I say I have paid for the land.

We have two children already (3 and 1 years old) we really want the land to be in their name does anyone know what age they have to be?

Someone (who has just built their own house up north) has jsut told me that now that my wife and I are leagally married she has lost her right to own land. Is this true does any one know a bit more about the subject?

Cheers

My family and I are goiing to Thailand soon (9th Nov) and I'm wondering what visa to get my two girls. They are 10months and 2 and a half, their mum is Thai but they were both born in England and have GB passports. My wife and the girls will be staying with her parents for 64 days. The embassy says they need a visa so I was wondering which one I need.

Multipe entry will give them 60 days but then I will need to do a visa run or risk being charged for going over. (is that right?)

Non-imagrant "0" visa would give me 90 days and is the proper one to get as they are staying with family, but is evidence needed? will it take longer to get. Plus it's about £20 more each.

Which visa should I go for?

Plus I will be travelling with them but I will be leaving after a week to go back to work. I will then go and pick them up and stay for another 3 weeks just after xmas. Do I need to get a visa at all (as long as I have the relavant flights) or do I need a multiple entry visa as I as going and coming back?

Any help or comments with any of this are thankfully received.

Cheers

My wife and I would like to have her brother come over and visit us for a holiday and I wondered what I have to do to get him a visa

He has a job in Issan as a mechanic but he is not part of a rich family

I don't mind standing as guarantor, paying for the visa and flights I just ned to know what I have to do and how easy or hard its going to be...

Thanks for any help with this issue.

BTW are granite floors really expensive?

You guys are pretty good. The total area is 453msq which is just over 3mil when multiplied by 7000. I have been told by my wife's family that it would be 2.4mil as an estimate but I naturally assumed that they would go low to start with. I think I'm going to try and keep the costs down by only having 3 bathrooms instead of 5 cutting the plumbing and material costs down. I think I will be alright just as long as costs don't escalate above 3m.

Its not completely remote, 20mins and you're in Yasothon - quite a big town. Big houses are around, maybe not in this style but there are some nice houses. As for the house being an embarresment. I think quite the opposite. I wouldn't be surprised to see people driving into the village to have a look - just as long as we dont get pestered by people wanting to come in - there will be no problem with being embarresed to live in a nice house.

Thanks for your imput guys

I recently stayed with my wife's family for a month, I brought a pc and, although it took some time, I got myself linked up to the intenet. "Yes !", I thought "i've done it" - only to find that the speed was running at 16kb/s - normal dial up in the UK is 56k and I am now used to 8Meg broadband. Man it was so slow I had to play freecell everything I clicked on a link. 16kb/s!! My phone is quicker than that what is going on? Admittadly they do live in the middle of nowhere but they have a land line. They are an hour away from Ubon Rathathani. Near Yasolthon.

So what do I do about getting a faster conection?

I heard that HBO was setting up broadband all over Thailand is this true? I heard they were doing it didtrict by district. When will the whole of Thailand be covered? (Coz they had an HBO dish).

I also saw a thread about ASDL or something like that. Can anyone shed any light on the subject for me.

Cheers

I am currently thinking about building this house on my wife's parents land. We will be knocking their house down, leveling the land (about 30m x 30m) and employing builders to construct this house. I was just wondering if someone could give me a ball park figure of how much they think it will cost me.

Hopefully we are going to get an architect to make up the plans, then get a local builder to give us a price on how much to build it, then we are going to pay for the materials on top of that. Don't include the pool just yet, I'm going to have the house built first and see where we stand. I will be living there while the build is going on and will be overseeing everything.

Am I going about things the right way?

I have been given rough figures I just wondered what other people thought - or if anyone else had had a house like this built and how much it ended up costing. It will be built in a little village in the middle of nowhere but an hour from Ubon Ratchathani.

Any thoughts or tips would be welcome...

My wife and I have two children (girls) - both born in the UK and have UK passports. My wife is Thai and I am British. We are planning to go to my wife's parents house in Isaan for a month and then I want to go back to the Uk and leave the girls in thailand for a few more months. My question is - Can my children stay in Thailand for as long as they want or do they need a Thai Passport. And if they need a Thai passport can they get one in Thailand or do they need to apply in the UK for one. If they stay too long on their UK passports will they get charged when they leave for overstay or are they alright if they are staying with their mother?

What are the ages of the children ?

One is 2 years old and one is 4 months

My wife and I have two children (girls) - both born in the UK and have UK passports. My wife is Thai and I am British. We are planning to go to my wife's parents house in Isaan for a month and then I want to go back to the Uk and leave the girls in thailand for a few more months. My question is - Can my children stay in Thailand for as long as they want or do they need a Thai Passport. And if they need a Thai passport can they get one in Thailand or do they need to apply in the UK for one. If they stay too long on their UK passports will they get charged when they leave for overstay or are they alright if they are staying with their mother?

Are you sure the guy arrested wasn't Gary Glitter of "You wanna be in my gang" fame. I hear he's in Thailand chasing little children. Does anyone know what happen to him. I think even the Thais don't want him and he's had to go to Cambodia for his evil kiddy fiddlin'. I reackon the governments don't take the passports off these guys coz they wan them to leave their country and then they're someone elses problem.

I say kill their sexual appietite and castrate them. Publically cut their testicles off and feed them to some stray dogs. That should put a few people off doing it or coming here to do it.

I just wondered if anyone could tell me why they don't farm sheep in Isaan. Lamb is tasty meat, I'm sure there'd be a market for it.

Sorry I'm going to take this thread back to where Begs and other people where championing the bar girl for scamming the poster. And Begs was going on about how EXPLOITED bar girls were and how sick it was to see an older guy with a beautiful young woman.

Yes the poor exploited bar girls, so oppressed and taken advantage of. Such a hard life, they deserve so much more!! Hooray!! that the nasty evil jonny forgeiner has fallen in love with her and been scammed out of all his money, he had it coming to him. What does he think he was doing?!? Thinking he could be happy!! It serves him right.

Yes the bar girls in Thailand are so exploited by ferang coming here just to have sex with them. The bastard fareng taking advantage of the poor girl's situation, making her sleep with him.... Hold on, wait a minute. Is that really the case. Do they have a choice in this matter? Well yes they don't have to work bar, they could get a normal job, hmmm... but that doesn't pay as good as sleeping with a kind old gentlemen who treat women with respect and care. I reckon if you're worried so much about the poor exploited bar girls maybe you should do some charity work for them - maybe set up a fund raiser so they don't have to sleep with ferang - call it "bar-girls-in-need", have it on telly and get the rest of Thailand to donate money so these girls can go out everynight have a good time and then not have to sleep with a ferang at the end off the night. Maybe you should call Amnesty International and tell them of the exploitation that is going on here - maybe they could write a letter to some one and free these oppressed women.

No. Personally I think you've got it all wrong. These women aren't exploited by ferang who come here looking for companionship or/and a good time. On the most part I think if you ask one of these girl they will tell you that they are treated 10 times better by ferang than their own Thai men, who are notorious for beating women and cheating on them. No these girls are working because of the basic law of economics - supply and demand. That and the fact that their government lets them - maybe it's the nasty gov that are the exploiters, I'm sure alot of money made from Massage Parlours, GoGo bars and the like, goes straight to government officials and police to keep the whole thing running smoothly. Maybe if the police stopped taking this money and enforced the law and stopped these girls from working then they wouldn't be so exploited. But then what would happen.

Lets think about what would happen if people didn't come to Thailand to have sex with all it's beautiful women. I would say quite a high percentage of the people who come to Thailand are here coz they can get laid really easily and they don't only spend their hard earnt money on the girls, they stay in hotels, go to restaurants, use takis and tuk-tuks, they holiday on the beaches, etc. If that went so would all those jobs and all that money. The consequence of this would be that people would starve and this country would suffer. And that's the simple fact.

Lets have a look at who the real exploiters are. Is it the peope who negociate a price and then gladely pay it when a service has been given. Doesn't sound like exploitation to me. Lets look at the people who are ending up with the money that is made from this business. We've talked about the corrupt police and gov officials but the real exploiters are the fathers and parents that don't mind their children sleeping around as long as they send money home to them. Many of these men then use that money to gamble, drink and sleep with young women themselves. They are sent to Bkk and Pattaya by their parents and provide for their family out of a sense of duty, now that sounds like exploitation. When have you ever heard of a bar girl saving all her hard earnt money and setting up a business and making a life for herself. No, the money she makes is being sent home, often to feed her family and in some cases to keep them alive. Are ferang exploiting that fact? Maybe, but these girls could get a proper job and still send enough money home to feed their family. Most of these girls choose to live the life they live - they prefer it, it's easy money and I'm sure it can be really good fun sometimes, I know I wouldn't mind being paid to screw women (I think that's just me though), chat to them and go out and party every night. None of the ferang are forcing these girl to do what they do and none of them are profiting from it either. That doesn't sound like exploitation to me.

As for older men with younger women and women here only being with a ferang for his money, that maybe the case. But I think women can love someone that is not on a par with them assetically, they can love them for other reasons. Does the gorgeous girl always have to be with the handsome adonis, does the fat guy have to be with the fat girl, does the ugly bald guy have to be banging some minger? Not in Thailand, alot of women here go deeper than the way someone looks (deep into their pockets ha ha). They might want a man that is caring and sensitive, someone who is going to be faithful and not going to cheat on them. They also want someone who is going to be able to provide for them and mean that they live a better life, help their family, start a family of their own and know that her children will have a better life than she did. Love can be based on these things aswell. So what if he's not that good looking, fat or old, that's not everything to some people. So what if society says this looks rediculous, what's it got to do with you why two people are together, unless of course that is your jealousy seaping thru. "Argh!! How come that gorgeous girl's with that ugly bastard, she should be with me, I'm much better looking that him!! She must only be with him coz he's got loads of money, that explains it. That makes me feel better."

I personally don't see why anyone, who's good and honest, should deserve to be scammed and duped out of their hard earnt money, in this country or any other, and saying good for the poor exploited bar girl is rediculous. So a guy has a younger partner and therefore deserves to be strung along for 4 years, love someone and care for them, only to find out she was only doing it for the money. That's as bad as blackmail, extorsion and corruption. It's called deception and unfortunately it's very hard to prove. The only thing that could be done about it is to warn people that it goes on, what to look for, things to check and then hope that your not the sucker that's being taken for a ride. Maybe we should do a "Bar Girl Awareness Day" and provide free Private Investigators to all ferang that are thinking about tieing the knot with an ex hooker. Maybe rely on a bit of common sense and don't (as someone has already said) give any more money than you can afford to lose, because it could be you being exploited.

I went to a mail order bride company that also did marriages and visas. I have been with my wife for a year and a half and did not use them for an introduction. They said that they had a 100% sucess rate and so I thought that I would go with them as I do not want to be spending 19500 on getting a 2 year settlement visa and be rejected. I ended up paying 12000bt (she asked for 16000bt) to the girl and kinda regret doing it now. My relationship is totally genuine and this company haven't really done anything that I couldn't do myself. My wife is now pregnant and I need these people even less now that is the case. Basically I wanted the whole thing garenteed and fast. Once we applied the embassy gave us a date nearly three months later!!! What a waste of 12,000bt!!

If you need piece of mind (like I did) then by all means pay the money and they will walk you through each step and make sure you have all the docs you are required and advise you on certain things for the interview (nothing you can't get off this board or others). To tell you the truth once we'd give the girl the money she really didn't seem to care too much and seems to have done the bare minimun. I'm hoping it's because we have a really strong case and she doesn't feel she needs to do much.

Personally I'd say do it all your self if you have a strong case - go to these people if you have a weak relationship with your persptive bride or are generally lazy or need piece of mind that you have everything in order and correct.

Good luck with your application. My interview is on the 31st August and I will be livid if it is rejected!!

A search onYahoo will reveal all the marriage visa people but the one I used is found at:

http://www.thaino1.co.uk/thailand_living/u...8725409029.6349

my wife has just received 2 year settlement visa for uk.

we got married at amphur in bangkok apr 20th,we filed for visa 21st june and it

was granted 10 days later!.

The embassy was more interested in 4 years phone contacts than money in bank,

my wife said the old photos also helped ( you can not be any younger, greyer or thinner lets be honest)

I am going for a 2 year settlement visa for the UK - We got married on the 21Apr and applied - they gave us the interview date of the 31st August and I'm living in Isaan waiting for it to happen at the moment. We have photos, going back to April last year, , holidays in Phuket, Samui, Samed, Isaan wedding, emails etc. She even pregnant right now!! How come you got your so quick?

Should I ring the embassy and get them to bring forward the date as I would like to get back home and start earning some money as soon as I can, instead of spend every penny I have buying cows and air con.

Does the fact that she's pregnant practically garentee a visa - not that we need that we are a very genuine couple - 31 and 24, just wondered. I just want to get on with things instead of doing nothing.

It turns out that we have to wait 2 months - on a waiting list - to get a phone line connected. Which isn't much help for me as I'm only here for 5 weeks. We have put our name down so her parents can call us when we, eventually leave Thailand and go to the UK. For now I can can connect my pc in the local internet/gaming shop, which is slow but at least I can still keep in touch with things.

I'll finish by saying I didn't leave England coz I was getting laid by gorgeous women every night...

Read it properly - he left England because he wasn't getting laid in the UK but is getting laid now because he is in Thailand - a place where it is hard to find a virgin because they give it up so easily here. Hence the joke.

Do you understand now or can't you read the queens english?