Ajaan

As far as I know if any one walks into your home uninvited then you can end them in self defense of your life and home.

Please can some one tell me if this is correct because if this had been me he would be dead by now.

Other than the fact that he would not be able to do it again to me or someone else he also would not be able to talk about it.

I think your talking about the USA...Texas...where its shoot first and then ask questions later (if the poor sob can talk).

Not just texas. there are many states in the USA that allow you to kill an intruder.

In Florida we have what is called, The Stand Your Ground Law.

Yeah, it's a convenient excuse for white racists to kill black people and then walk free from their crime.

I AM in my home country (5 1/2 years now, after living 6 years in Thailand), and no, I do not feel "comfortable".

I have to say, I never did feel 100% comfortable here, especially as an adult (I'm from the US); there are so many things about the ways that many, many Americans see the world and act that have never felt right to me...so I've always been something of an oddball, haha.

After living in Thailand, though, I truly hate it here. I'me resolved to stick it out here until retirement, though (the reason I came back, to take a job that I mostly like, and is very much in my field...it doesn't pay great, but the retirement benefits are quite decent)...another 11-13 years at this point.

What I most miss about Thailand/why I have trouble adjusting to life back here:

-respect for older people

-the way Thais--for the most part--go out of their way to avoid conflict and to maintain harmony in social interaction

-the willingness of many women to consider and pursue a relationship with a man over 40 (as opposed to being pretty much invisible as one here)...and I'm not talking bar girls here

-the way life is so social, lived on the street, face-to-face, out-of-doors (I'm talking about just about any Bangkok neighborhood here, well off the main thoroughfares/tourist areas)

-the fairly unregulated way life can be lived

-the excellent transportation systems (especially within Bangkok)

-the weather (and I live in a part of the US with no real "winter"...still, anything below 20 C. cuts through to my bones), excepting of course March-April, which I don't think anyone in their right minds could "miss"!

-Thais' love of sanuk

-how cheaply life can be lived, with regard to everyday needs, and how convenient it is to do so many things (have keys made, have your shoes fixed, buy a decent, inexpensive meal, etc.)

-how cheap it is to go out on the town...seriously, the nights I had out in Thailand for a few hundred USD would cost me up to ten thousand USD in the US, and could only be accomplished in a very few locations here, haha

-cheap, well-working cellphone providers (trust me, the US is in the stone age in this regard, and SO expensive)

Those are the main ones that come to mind. Sure, there are things I like about life in the West that I missed while in Thailand: the ease of buying cheap electronic hardware, the ease of buying just about anything on amazon.com, good coffee/cafes, fast internet, ease of walking in a city (I walk an average of 12 km per day)...but to me, the good things about Thailand FAR outweigh the bad.

I think I may have drink this or something similar at a wedding once, it was made with rice and fermented in some big eatern jar type thing

Have to say not seen them around BKK though, which are reputable vendors, may have a check

That is sato, it's different from the yadong OP is talking about. Whereas Yadong is a hard liquor with herbs soaked into it, sato is more like a rice wine. If made well, it can be kind of tasty. Never seen it in BKK except for the "Siam Sato" they sell in 7-11, which doesn't taste much like the real thing and is honestly only good for cooking.

Street vendors on foot sell sato in many Bangkok neighborhoods, in containers that look like they originally held gasoline or kerosene! It does have a pleasant flavor, and a kick, but just one glass and I can feel the hangover headache beginning already, haha...so I've never dared have more than one. Too sweet for me as well.

Very popular with bar girls (especially gogo girls) who take a shot between dancing turns.

The friend I mentioned in an earlier post, whom I would drink two baengs (fifths) of yaa dong with several times a week on Sukh soi 3/1 about a decade ago, needed the fortification to go and do her job, finding customers at the soi 7 Biergarten, bless her heart. If I were in her place, I would need at least that much... BTW, she always insisted on alternating paying...if I paid last time, she HAD to pay this time, etc. I know, we're talking 120 baht, but still...

Don't know soi 3/1 to be a 'Ya Dong' area, but the soi between Soi 5 and Soi 7 is a popular hangout for girls to have a drink.

The 3/1 spot dates back 9-10 years ago, which I explained in my earlier post. Completely transformed now.

The amazing--and wonderful--thing about DM (and one of the reasons I sorely missed it as an airport before the budget carriers went back there, post-Swampy) is that you have the OPTION of a freaking 7-11!! How many airports in the world can you say that about?

The other great thing about DM is the fact that you walk over the footbridge and you're in an actual Bangkok neighborhood. Again, with airports worldwide moving farther and farther from cities, that's something to really be appreciated. When they finally extend rapid transit out there it'll be perfect...

TBF thais are a very unsophisticated people . They are so easily taken by the likes of thaksin and his cronies.

It's not hard to second guess them..poor little darlings!

A bit like Brits with Blair and the Yanks with Bush then? Blair reelected twice and Bush once after all the lies they sold to there voters.

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Exactly! Or for those who like to bitch about how Thais are "so violent," what about UK football hooligans, and Americans killing tens of thousands of each other every year with handguns? Every country is just as pathetic--and just as wonderful--as the next. Xenophobia and racism is so stupid and baseless.

What a load of crap...

Haha...you're going to have to be a bit more specific when you're trolling...er, sorry, responding to a post with multiple quotes in it...just what are you saying is a "load of crap"?

If I was a Thai, I would hate Farangs because they think they know how Thais feel, they think they know what Thais would do in all given circumstances, they think they know what Thai's would say in all given circumstances. Just like this silly post.

TBF thais are a very unsophisticated people . They are so easily taken by the likes of thaksin and his cronies.

It's not hard to second guess them..poor little darlings!

A bit like Brits with Blair and the Yanks with Bush then? Blair reelected twice and Bush once after all the lies they sold to there voters.

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Exactly! Or for those who like to bitch about how Thais are "so violent," what about UK football hooligans, and Americans killing tens of thousands of each other every year with handguns? Every country is just as pathetic--and just as wonderful--as the next. Xenophobia and racism is so stupid and baseless.

The tour company may want to have more control over their passengers than they would have if your wife and son were along to translate.

For what purpose though? I even offered to pay more for my wife and stepson as the price for me was so low.

Control and most likely stealing, possibly drugging the passengers via the free cokes offered...as another poster said, this is made much more problematic with Thais on board. Farangs are much easier to manipulate and control.

Sek Loso.

I had an "encounter" with a 50 y.o. TG when I was 47...but yeah, plenty of Thai women my own age or only slightly younger, too. I'll take experience and maturity any day over whatever it is that the majority of the farang creeps seem to be looking for...

Thai women age VERY well, this age discrepancy thing should not be surprising (but yeah, I get it, most farangs want women the age of their daughters, blech, whatever...)...it is amusing that over in the "Ladies in Thailand Forum" (groooaaaan), they have a thread titled something like, "Thai women don't age well"...hahahaha...yeah, they WISH...!!

When I started holidaying in Thailand 12-13 years ago, I had to pay 500 THB to EXIT the country at Don Mueang as then was. However this charge was discontinued about 10 years ago and absorbed into airline ticket prices as I recall.

So if they were seriously thinking about introducing a 500 THB charge to ENTER the country which might now be absorbed into airline ticket prices as the previous poster has suggested, then we appear to be talking about a double whammy. Just what the Thai tourist industry needs in these politically troubled times here, I think!

It was still charged at Swampy 2007 as l recall.

You could be right...but it was changed shortly after.

Yes, I forgot about that. They even had vending machines you could use (as well as cashiers) and you couldn't get into the Immigrations area without the receipt. I was about to say it couldn't have been that long ago, but on second thought you're probably right. I think the last time I left through Don Meuang must have been about 7 or 8 years ago.

Definitely recall only paying the exit charge at Don Mueang and never at Suvarnabhumi.

But those doing land crossings would still have to pay cash presumably. For the serial border runners that would make it just a bit more costly.

Might eventually prove a sufficient inducement for these serial border runners to obtain "proper" extensions of stay within Thailand (or else find pastures new to graze if they don't meet the appropriate requirements), though, hopefully!!

By the time Suvarnabhumi had opened, if memory serves, the exit charge had been raised to 750 and tacked onto airline ticket prices.

Those behaviors represent men in general.

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thuuk tong na khrap!

OP, you do realize that you've perfectly described a good portion of the posters on Thai Visa (with respect to their behavior on the forum), don't you?!

4 times a week..i find with some its four times or more a DAY!

This is me front side, this is me right side, this is me left side.

..the scary thing is, some guys do it too! But its mainly the girls.

Thailand is very image conscious and looks obsessed..so its not really surprising.

I read recently about Siam Paragon being the most photographed site on Istagram.

Beating historical monuments such as Angkor Wat or the Taj Mahal.

..not because Siam Paragon is being photographed, but because of the selfies and photos people have taken IN Siam Paragon.

Mind boggling really..

Yeah, I was going to say the same thing...4 times a WEEK is slacking off, haha. But really, I'm friends with about 500 people on FB, maybe about 30% are Thai, 15% are Khmer, the rest "farang"...and I gotta say, every group is just as guilty of incessant selfies as the other. I would say it's more of an age thing; the people in their early-to-late-20s seem to do it the most (I guess teenagers do too, but my only teenaged FB friends are a few nieces!).

What about all the Thai/Chinese who were protesting?

They are Thai citizens. This guy is a foreigner.

I hope they do the same to all the farang douchebags who have joined in the protests as well.

Under those circumstances (housing paid for, etc.), you could live in most countries in the West for that! You'll live like kings in Thailand!

Really wonderful actor. Loved him in all his many facets, from Boogie Nights to Synecdoche, NY to Red Dragon (which, by total coincidence, is showing on TV right now), and beyond...

There's an older Amercian guy living in my condo, it's a small condo only 31 units. I often saw this guy in the lobby and car park and would say 'Good morning' or 'Good evening' and never receive a response or acknowledgement. One morning coming out of the elevator I made my usual greeting whilst walking my son to the car, again no response. I turned around on my heel and walked back 'Don't you ever say hello or anything to anyone? It's really quite rude'. The old boy became really flustered and didn't say much except for 'sorry'. However each time I see him now he always replies if I speak to him.

You sound like a really annoying person, honestly. A bit self-righteous.

Exactly. If the person does not want to talk to you, respect their wishes and move on!! Really, the world will still keep on turning, I guarantee it. @fredKroket, you sound like a passive-aggressive jerk, looking for trouble more than a return "hello"!

<snip>

On a side note, I once had a friend from the U.S. South (Arkansas) where greeting everyone was a duty and a return greeting was expected. If however, someone did not return his 'hello', he would literally do an about face and follow them saying 'hello! Hello! HELLO!".

Oh, c'mon, that's just plain obnoxious! If people clearly do not want to talk to you, deal with it!

Why not fly direct to Vientiane?

If your GF has a passport, use it.

Flying BKK to Vientiane (on Lao Airlines--the only airline that flies the route, AFAIK) is about 2x the price of Nok or AirAsia to Udon...6k RT vs. 3k RT (per person)!! That's why.

You don't give enough (any!) information about your career for anyone to give an accurate answer to your question. But just speaking of similarities of the languages you listed to English and Thai, I don't think knowledge of Thai will help particularly with any of those; knowledge of English would certainly be helpful in learning German.

There are always at least two sides to every story:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/27/the-woody-allen-allegations-not-so-fast.html