fbran

My ex has been in the UK (with short quarterly trips back to Thailand) now, unmarried, for 15 months straight - with no hassles. I am not sure what visa. Her boyfriend will not get married, so it is definitely not a fiance visa - nor is it a holiday visa. It is something like a UK "Domestic Partner" law that she falls under.

The cost of living in Thailand is very low (aided by the lack of a welfare state and its corresponding bloated bureaucracies) so they don’t have to spend much.

I would hope that each country can determine this question for themselves without being bullied by the US or other Western countries.

I'm going to disagree here a bit. The fires from the countryside start toward the end of January, and the constant smog starts in February and goes through May. So basically, you are looking at 3-4 months of very bad air. Chiang Rai is a great place, but this situation is one of its drawbacks. I echo the above comment: go somewhere else during this time frame if you can.

The smoke doesn't start until the second half of January. It will be there, for sure.

Thanks for the update!

I get fed up with Western hubris & arrogance – some of which is unfortunately on display in Thailand. There is sort of this narrative in the West about how we are so superior and advanced and how we need to impose those supposedly superior values on the rest of the world. When I am in Thailand, I see what total bullshit this notion is.

Things always look a lot different after a cheap blow job, don't they?

It never ceases to amaze me the amount of Western garbage floating around Thailand these days. You would think that if the West were so Utopian, they would find be able to find a home for such trash in their own societies.

I get fed up with Western hubris & arrogance – some of which is unfortunately on display in Thailand. There is sort of this narrative in the West about how we are so superior and advanced and how we need to impose those supposedly superior values on the rest of the world. When I am in Thailand, I see what total bullshit this notion is.

My guess is Citibank has locked down your ATM card. I had a similar problem with an ATM card that was working fine for several weeks in Thailand and then all of sudden stopped working. I phoned my bank and sure enough they had inappropriately locked it down. Call Citibank and find out.

When I first traveled to Thailand in the early ‘90’s, the exchange rate was locked at 25:1 (Baht to Dollar), so I have no complaints. Really, based on economics, the exchange rate now should be something like 20:1 or 15:1. Thailand is a great value for the money for Americans.

Frank

Hello. Excuse me if this has already been discussed, but I was wondering if you have considered having forums specific to one's home country. For instance, "Americans in Thailand" or "Australians in Thailand", "Germans in Thailand", etc.? I'm not necessarily saying you should do it, as there may be technical or other good reasons for not doing so. Just something to consider.

Thanks,

Frank

NATO is an organization steeped in hubris and arrogance that shouldn’t exist anymore.

Could you be more specific about where you are talking about?

chiang mai –

Though I probably would have worded it a bit differently, your original post is very good. Nobody in Thailand – or most of the world for that matter – believes that men & women are the same. Here in the US, the question as to whether men & women are the same is confused, to say the least.

I don’t care if an individual here or in Thailand believes that men and women are the same. What concerns me is when the West believes that its values are superior and it needs to impose those values on other countries via war, propaganda, or economic sanctions.

Despite the views of some, the West is no Utopia – even with respect to gender relations.

Frank

Iminthailand –

Your logic is faulty. It starts right from the beginning:

“If a somewhat educated man goes to a small town in the hills in Kentucky where finishing High school is an accomplishment he will be treated the same as a somewhat educated man that dates the village girls from thailand.”

If some beauty exists in a small town in Kentucky, then that beauty will be married or paired off by the time any “somewhat educated man” rolls into town. So no, the man will not be “quite popular” in this situation. Furthermore, almost no foreigner walks into a small Thai village and starts dating Thai women. The foreigner may meet Thai women from a small village in Bangkok, Pattaya, or Phuket – and start dating them there. So the proper analogy would be for the girl from the small town in Kentucky migrating to say New York City for a job as a cocktail waitress. If this woman is young and attractive, she will be far more desirable than an ugly woman of the same age who grew up in a wealthy family in San Francisco and is now working for a hedge fund in New York City – no matter how “cultured and educated” the woman is.

Basically, you are taking the Western female point of view. Your post implies that Western women just want to find men with a comparable socio-economic background. Any American man would know this is nonsense, as most American women prefer someone who earns more than they do.

Your Western, social engineering philosophy that only people from similar socio-economic backgrounds should marry and that female beauty is primarily based on how cultured and educated women are goes nowhere in Thailand – and thank God for that.

In general, I can safely say that I will never marry a Western woman. If that bothers anyone, then too bad.

Frank

Works great! Thank you!

Hello. I was wondering if we could have an RSS feed for the Chiang Rai forum.

Thanks.

Frank

I shipped some bicycle parts via US Mail and got clobbered by customs' fees. I don't remember the exact figure, but 30% sounds about right. Important computer data should be sent via mail only if the data is encrypted. Otherwise, jackr's idea is a good one.

Frank

I'll have to check out the Hilton at Karon, but I'm going to second the recommendation for the gym at Royal Phuket City in downtown Phuket. It is by far the best gym I have been to in Thailand. It has a wide range of equipment, is fairly large, and has air-con all the time.

The Patong Gym is barely passable. Great location & reasonable rates, but it rarely has the air-con on, is rather cramped for all the stuff it has in there, and has mediocre equipment. Plus, I probably won't forget them spraying WD-40 on the bars as if it is appropriate cleaning fluid.

Frank

I'll disagree here a little here. I think the area east of Chiang Rai to Phayamengrai (which includes Wiang Chai) has a lot of potential to take off in the future and in fact it is almost inevitable with the new bridge going in at Chiang Khong (to Laos). Wiang Chai is much more of a suburb than is Mae Chan, as it is much closer to Chiang Rai and is almost (not quite) part of the Chiang Rai urban area. In the end, it really is personal taste how much you want to be off the beaten path and away from Chiang Rai.

Frank

Hello Jai. Thanks for the response. I'd like to add that I have a lot of respect for Thaivisa and don't want to end up in the "Doghouse". So I will need some time to formulate my thoughts and get it into the word processor. Its days (or weeks) away from being posted, but I will let you know before I post.

Thanks

fbran

I would like to begin a discussion on this important subject somewhere on these forums, as I believe this issue will affect many people on this board at some point in the future. However, I know this is a radioactive issue, so I don't want to start something that goes against the rules.