kropotkin

I did not compromise with outdated european traditions, as i belong to the generation of the sixties.

I will not compromise with outdated thai traditions.

Nothing wrong with traditions in general, lots wrong with outdated traditions.

I see no contradiction between

- be responsable for your own life

- expect society (government?) to organise solidarity

Get a job, and pay for your expenses - but if you are handicapped / sick / out of work without your fault / ,,,, rely on solidarity.

You may call that socialism, i call it civilization.

Oh, and back to topic ......

This means that farang do NOT have to take care of poor thai families, let them take care of themselves, but also let them rely on a decent social system.

Ranting, i know, i started in the sixties and will never stop.

Most Thais only earn about 6000baht a month. obviously the professionals will earn more but in general its about 300baht a day.Does that put things in prospective for you .

a mia noi will expect to earn more, especially if her employer is farang.

Normal wages for a full time unskilled job are 6.000.

I am talking Baht.

I am talking per month.

Russians are a race?

New to me.

"No, it isn't" What isn't?

Kingdom, guillotine, ... what are you talking about?

And if you google libertarianism you might come accross kropotkin there......

and of course no handouts, especially not to banks......

If poor thais want a slice of the cake, they should address their government, not individual foreigners.

That is how we Europeans escaped from our 19th century too.

No, it isn't my socialist Comrade.

Asking for government handouts without flinching is a late 20th century phenomenon in a select range of nations. And they all are starting to suffer from too heavy of an cost now...

Who mentioned handouts?

And since i think you are not too much into socialism, how about a government that enforces the free market, by abolishing monopolies?

This is my opinion on the matter.

I live in thailand - 3 years now.

Twice my wife and i visited my family in Europe together, twice i went alone.

My family expected TOKEN gifts: clothes, fruit,....

And that is what they got,

Let me stop you right there - there is no comparison between families in the west and here, unless you happen to be married into a BKK family of reasonable wealth and kids that was schooled in the US etc.

We might not like it, but it is the truth.

So take it from there.

If poor thais want a slice of the cake, they should address their government, not individual foreigners.

That is how we Europeans escaped from our 19th century too.

Thanks Boksida for your very thorough albeit somewhat disappointing information. As to the photos - is this the source of the Chao Phraya river - I have never seen such a flow from an artesian well before. Back in Michigan I had some really small ones 2 inch or so that only put out about a gallon a minute. I guess I will have to do some further research. I do remember it mentioned that there were some in Buri Ram as mentioned in previous post but maybe just rumor. Thanks again.

Kropotkin:

We just had an artesian well made for us.

Chanthaburi though.

Actually,.....2..... since the first one struck rock.

All done by hand (amazing!)

About 1,5 meter diameter.

Congratulations Kropotkin, I envy you. Again, a meter and a half well is greatly more than I was envisioning. What kind of flow do you get and how deep may I ask?

3.5 meters deep.

flow: more then enough for my wife and I plus vegetable garden and some rambutan / durian trees

we use a pump (3.000 baht) and stock the water 4 meters high in a 1.000 liter tank.

I am in Canbodia with Thai national at present. For 14 day stay Thai national proceeds directly to immigration and no fee is required but this cannot be extended. If longer stay is planned then secure a visa prior to travel which allows 60 days stay.

Enjoy

thanks for the information!

1000bht a month is not enough to feed and cloth the kid let alone pay for school fees.

Agreed. My Thai friend spends more on his dog.

1.000 is not very much, agreed.

but the OP did donate (towards) a house to MIL.

perhaps MIL could send receipts to show the cost of school etc?

One can have different opinions about sinsod, but talking about selling a 13 year old is just NOT DONE,not even as a way to get more than 1.000 for school fees.

Do thai citizens need a visa / have to pay for visa on arrival for Kampuchea?

I have read both yes and no in TV.

Anyone with recent experience?

Thanks.

Yes.

eeuuuhhhhh

1. delta airlines visa site says thai do not need a visa for up to 2 weeks....

but i do not know if that information is recent - and it is not clear to me whether thai have to pay for a visa exemption on arrival

2. if thai need a visa / visa on arrival, could that be an e visa?

Unfortunately, i can not find the website of the Kampuchean embassy in BKK, sites with tourist information only talk about westerners, and the Kampuchea foreign affairs site (with info on e visa) is out.

We just had an artesian well made for us.

Chanthaburi though.

Actually,.....2..... since the first one struck rock.

All done by hand (amazing!)

About 1,5 meter diameter.

Price: 1.000 baht per meter, plus 3.000 for concrete if needed - we did not need concrete since the soil is hard sandstone.

Do thai citizens need a visa / have to pay for visa on arrival for Kampuchea?

I have read both yes and no in TV.

Anyone with recent experience?

Thanks.

Money for merit making?

Surely, that is a joke?

This is my opinion on the matter.

I live in thailand - 3 years now.

Twice my wife and i visited my family in Europe together, twice i went alone.

My family expected TOKEN gifts: clothes, fruit,....

And that is what they got,

My family was happy with that, I was happy with that.

I do not see why things should be different, if we lived in Europe, and we would visit Thailand.

And to the posters that claim the OP does not trust his wife with money.

Spending money without thinking about tomorrow IS very thai.

My wife is very europeanised, but when she goes to the market with 500 baht, she spends 500 baht, when she goes with 1.000 baht, she spends 1.000 baht.

Of course there are golddiggers, but in most (?) cases, there is no bad intention. The result would be the same however.

It is a way of life.

My wife has her own credit card..... coupled on MY bankaccount that i follow through internet banking.

I can block the card.

She is aware of that.

I hope I will never have to do such a thing.

My wife got bankrupted before - lost her bussiness - that was the evil brother's doing (with the support of their father....).

That will not happen with OUR money...

Showing off is a bad habit - i hated it when i lived in europe, i am not going to like it now that i live in thailand.

Maybe OP's wife told her family that she is rich now.

Or the family just simply assumes so.

And therefore the family expects money / expensive gifts.

In that case the OP should support his wife in facing a difficult situation - but he should not give in.

Hey, how would that do for "buddhist thought of the day"?

Are you older than your MIL, and if so, for how much did she sell her daughter to you?

Do include sinsod AND future payments.

Not about selling.

But how would you know, as you are not Thai, or belong to other cultures/countries where they practice dowry.

Still you mock it.

Arrogant or ignorant?

Moving on,

Im much (20+ years) younger than my MIL.

I know of some friends/colleagues who are older, and that never seem to be a problem/issue at all.

Arrogant or ignorant?

Try humanist.

I do not go for that "it is their culture, so it is right" stuff.

Would you have your daughters circumsized if you married a Somali?

It IS their culture, you know.

Ghosts, Karma and other supernatural "things" are common in Thailand. (Up to this very day.) = My wifes older daughter works in a major bank in Bangkok. Everytime a major business decision has to be made, a "Ghost-Expert" or "Ghost-Buster" (depending on the situation) will be hired to give his input. Normal procedure !

This procedure does not stop at the banking (business) level but goes much higher.

This happens in the year 2011. But: Eighter one accepts this as a farang and finds a certain humor in it, or he lives in the wrong country. TIT !

Cheers.

There is hope!

My wife used to believe that kind of nonsense.

After 3 years with me, she has now developed a Monty Python type sense of humour.

She actually came up with some statements that took Europeans centuries to formulate.

In the airplane: hey, where are those angels?

Or: The difference between many marriages and prostitution is long term/short term (being an optimist, i hope she was not referring to her and me 555).

Or: When bad karaoke singing woke us up in the middle of the night: ghosts! i hear ghosts!

Or: at the Magic Golden Rock in Kitchakut mountains, where people were using mirrors to see magic numbers under it: why you not bring mirror? You no love me?

The expression "manager" as a reference to "the big monk", is hers too.

Need i say that i consider myself lucky?

Power corrupts.

Sometimes the powerless rise.

That is the opportunety for new ones to grab power.

Then everything changes, but everything remains the same.

Same story everywhere in the world.

Let's wait a few more centuries, some day people WILL understand (or perish....)

The enemy is not the others, the enemy is POWER.

Hello everybody.

What is thai gold?

Different from plain gold?

And gold baht means?

I heart the expression before, but what does it mean?

Recently the general manager of the local wat died (locals refered to him as the big monk).

Nice guy actually, he once offered me tea (i am the only farang in this area), he ran a Lourdes style operation in the mountains of Kitchakut.

Anyway.

Soon as he died, magic numbers started to circulate, based on the day and hour of his death.

If i were religious, i would scream "blasphemy".

If i had not lived in thailand for 2 years, i would scream "disrespect".

No, i did not scream.

We have just finished building a one bedroom bungalow, 8m x 8m.

1 single room of 8m x 4m with a 2m square corner missing that is a western toilet/shower room. A pretty large room plenty of room for a king sized bed, sofa and TV plus my desk.

1 kitchen/dining room - 4m x 4m galley style with enough room for a 6 seater dining table. Western fittings with double sink.

1 balcony 4m x4m.

Total cost around 200k Baht.

I have two tips for people who are looking to build a cheap abode in Thailand.

1. Cheap roofing, forget about looks, some of the coated metal roofing (not sure what it is called) is inexpensive and low maintenance. A bit noisy when it rains heavy but you get used to it.

2. Drop the fancy corners, curves and other cosmetics. Thai builders like building in squares, with support posts in easy places. Our small bungalow has 9 of these, and the positioning of these drove the overall floor layout.

I'll post some pictures when I work out how too!

Next year once rainy season has settled the landfill we will build a three bedroom place following the same principals, estimated cost around 400k Baht.

I am looking forward to comparing the pics of our bungalows.

And also trying to work out how to post pics.

Especially after just being told i am a troll.... (i posted in the wrong forum....) .....oops......

Thanks all for the replies'

Can you tell me: What do all buddhists have in common?

Next i will be able to decide whether that can apply to me.

Or to search in a different direction.

Why don't you just tell us what you want to achieve in life and we'll tell you if Buddhism can help you? What is it you want a short cut to?

i think you misunderstood what i said about shortcut.

my fault.

I meant, i do not want to go searching for what could be the fundamentals of buddhism, surely these fundamentals must have been described before,

If i can read them - and if they are written in layman's terms - i can make up my mind about them.

And what i want to achieve in life?

I have about 10 years left.

I want to find peace with myself, i think that is difficult but theoretically possible.

Maybe also peace with the world - but i doubt that i will ever accept the unjustice in the world, be it international politics or the unjustice done to my next door neighbours.

And that is exactly my dilemma towards the little i know about buddhism:

Buddhism to me seems to have valuable teachings about inner peace, (detaching one self from materialism) but at the same time buddhism seems to accept all the wrong (social injustice) in the world.

And living in a buddhist country, i see so very few good examples of real (?) buddhism.