Maggusoil

You could say that being gullible is the other side of the coin to trusting other people. I've heard many 'experts' say that the reasons for why northern european countries, and likely many smaller american towns, are so succesful and with little crime is because people there trust each other.

When I believe I can trust my neighbor is when I can stop building a huge wall and instead build something more productive.

The ability to trust others and therefore work together is to some degree a prerequisite for functioning society. Some people don't get that and would rather stuff their face today from swindling someone instead of eating well for the rest of their lives.

Perhaps the poor are poor because they have poor morals.

Very interesting.

I filled in for a friend who had a radio music/ talk show, just the once and the subject I chose to discuss on air, was whether or not people thought we had a trusting society. (At that time in Australia) It was pretty interesting. My honest perception after spending about 4 years in Thailand over a period of about 7, is there is less trust here.

I think two factors effect this trust quotient. Poverty and population density as in cities.

A girl phoned in to the show who was somewhat notorious for having been put up the duff by Bob Dylan. She was definitely on the negative. Judging by the number of single mothers in Thailand and in particular the Philippines, I have not been surprised by attitudes some of them have to their own kind. Seriously off.

Very gullible I think!

Just few personal experiences..in 2 years of single life in Chiang Mai..

1) On my first date ever in Thailand, a 42yo hair salon owner took me to a shopping mall for me to buy for her a 6000THB/cellular ...

.

2) On a first date a 43yo police officer shows me a brochure of new houses for sale in Chiang Mai..over 3 million bath.... saying "if you buy for me today we get married tomorrow"

3) On a first date with a 60yo active school principal, she said that she was looking for an older guy to get married, and to take care...if its will paid the 1 million debt she had....

4) On my first date with a 32yo, she asked for a 25000THB "loan" to buy merchandise for the opening of a restaurant she supposedly was opening that week...

5) On my first date, a 41yo told me that she will be my "exclusive" gik if I give her 20000THB/month.....I called her later to see if I can have another date. She responded that she already got a farang willing to pay her...and do not have time for me...that week.

6) On my first date with a 60yo retired government employee, she said that nothing was left of her retirement money and she was broke, and need a husband to pay her debts, her home mortgage, and her car loan....

My list for "favors" requests in second an third dates is too long to post here.

In compensation..I have a long list of nice dates too....and I am a "Cheap Charlie". Some still good friends, just friends.

I am married with a wonderful woman now.

By the way...I love Thailand!

Love it!

I can see you there smiling away as they poured their stupid "hearts" out to you. It is really great when you know the game and play along!

Me? Had many the same and also played along. I also has some genuinely lovely middle calss women with good jobs but that spark just wasn't there for me to commit full term.

I am a lucky guy now with the best woman a guy could ever find...and she's not Thai! Go to Mauritius for some truly lovely women.

Nice. I have a very good friend with a wife he met in Mauritius surfing. They've been married a long time now . . very happy

Google it

Greed, fear and illegal thuggery.

Phuket has been descending for some time. IF the police do nothing about this, the Island is in deep trouble!

What a shame for everybody else.

Capitalism at its shiny best, infecting the insects.

My preponderance is, when the coup that has seemed inevitable for some time now eventuates, what and who will the Military hand

government back to. . .

People talk about civil war, which is at present an exaggeration of the so-called divisions in Thai society, which are brief, albeit bloody, skirmishes between determined politicians and well paid rental crowds.

If the police and army were more determined to actually control meetings and demonstrations, the paid thugs could not lead us down this path.

There seems to be a provocation in the media towards a violent solution, between members of the public. This is a disingenuous analysis, when the public are really caught between untenable choices. Their problem is not with each other but with both sides of government.

When I was thinking about buying a large jointly owned property with my de-facto/mother of our daughter, "wife", my accountant coupled a 30 year 'lease' with a "loan', which I would make to her to jointly 'buy' the property.

With fairly high interest. This loan is forgiven on a monthly basis, but appears on the "papers", so it cannot be sold, or acquired by anyone else without the loan being paid off.

Sounds complicated and she didn't like it, however, I thought it quite a good way to solve a problem.

If you're a bit older like me and can't afford yet "another" mistake, I think its a good option.

If they don't like it enough, then I wouldn't bother.

Its just like any pre-nup.

I gave her the house we live in so there's no argument, about that at least.

She can kick me out anytime. I'll just go and live somewhere else.

I am glad marriage is something I will never contemplate again.

Well, at least with sex-workers world wide, you know 'roughly' what you are getting.

It is fairly straight forward and I have known, and known of, a fair number of farang

women, who have set themselves up in business from the "gold mine they're sitting on."

As Charlie Sheen once famously said.

"I don't pay girls for sex, I pay them to leave in the morning."

The day you want one to be available again the next night, that's when you have to be careful.

I never was. No regrets. . .

Interesting comment on the care and compassion rooted in the primitive belief that such handicaps are the result of ones previous incarnations and actions that the Thais show for their own handicapped people that

Well done Mr.Derek Clarkson.. It takes a foreigner yet again to act in a compassionate manner whilst the authorities ignore the plight of the disabled

. . . .. interesting comment, and she fits right in with your folk lore there . . .

Profile-raising fake story.

40 stitches on her eyebrow not really seems fake to me .

40 stitches. Blimey she must have huge eyebrows!

I hope she feels better soon.

Sent from my XT1032 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Come on, she's an actress, she's got to have proper surgery . . . very fine with an invisible scar, that is just normal stuff, for beautiful thespians.

And as far as I know, foreign currency accounts are costly in terms of fees and lot of hassle to open?

Not worth for a pensioner I guess.

Well KB I'm a pensioner and I opened an FCD account without any hassle with the SCB

and when I do change any money I get a better than in bank advertised rate and the fees

are standard rates for foreign currency accounts.

thank you for this

and . . .

FCD =

SCB = the curse of forums initials for dummies like me

You could also open a foreign currency deposit account in AUD and transfer you funds

into this in AUD and you can choose when to change your money when and if the exchange

rate is favourable for you.

That's great, never thought of that when I was transferring larger amounts Thanks for that

Just backing up: always transfer in your home currency (AUD), NEVER in THB.

And of course: the fewer transfers, the better.

You did not mention the amounts, but every transfer carries a substantial fixed cost (independent from the amount).

E.g. all Thai banks are obliged to deduct 0,25% of the incoming amount after conversion, with a minimum of 500 and a maximum of 1000 Baht.

So every transfer looses 500 Baht just from that.

Kind of a "tax".

And sure your Aussie bank will also have fixed costs involved.

If you have the "right" bank and/or the right debit/credit card (preferably VISA based), you will do much better with ATM withdrawls (even when there is 150 Baht transaction fee) in Thailand.

Best change Bank

Here is what the Bangkok Bank charges for incoming currency

"An additional international fee of 0.25% of the transferred amount will be deducted by Bangkok Bank Thailand before crediting funds to recipient account (minimum 200Bt, maximum 500Bt)."

Ref

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/DailyBanking/TransferingFunds/TransferringIntoThailand/ReceivingFundsfromUK/Pages/ReceivingFundsfromUK.aspx

Edit

Spelling !

thanks for this

Just backing up: always transfer in your home currency (AUD), NEVER in THB.

And of course: the fewer transfers, the better.

You did not mention the amounts, but every transfer carries a substantial fixed cost (independent from the amount).

E.g. all Thai banks are obliged to deduct 0,25% of the incoming amount after conversion, with a minimum of 500 and a maximum of 1000 Baht.

So every transfer looses 500 Baht just from that.

Kind of a "tax".

And sure your Aussie bank will also have fixed costs involved.

If you have the "right" bank and/or the right debit/credit card (preferably VISA based), you will do much better with ATM withdrawls (even when there is 150 Baht transaction fee) in Thailand.

Yes, I was unaware of this extra deduction that's interesting.. . . thanks for that

Always convert in Thailand, rates can be compared at the "TT" rate on the respective bank websites.

You might also want to check this out

http://www.ozforex.com.au/personal/transfer-money

Thank you, I have since joined OZforex and they are doing pretty well the best transfer rates and exchange rates also comparable with the best

Make sure you are sending AUD and having your Thai bank do the conversion

Yes, I already do this thank you. . .

had to go to phuket on business a couple of years ago, why anyone would go there for a holiday amazes me.

Good point. The reality is that the quality of the tourists changes. The higher end, with higher expectations stop coming.

I know friends of mine have stopped going there. . . and they just look for newer dumber markets. . .

The police have been told by the court they are not allowed to use force.. This is what happens and will get worse. RIP little one.

It's got nothing to do with that.

Thanks for clearing that up then.

An expert on the Thai Matrix

I wonder who is sponsoring violent attacks on anti government rallies. The government?

They know when you leave and when you return, or visa versa.

I have been transferring money to Thailand on a monthly or fortnightly basis for 7 years.

Mostly using St George Bank (in Australia) and the Krung Thai bank where I and my lady have accounts.

St George Bank in Australia quote their own rate, but it seems they apply another rate at the Thai end.

This is not a fee, but the amount they put in the receiver's account.

Occasionally I notice that the exchange rate has differed so markedly from the daily fluctuation I have taken

the Western Union option, as it ends up cheaper for smaller amounts.

Quite large amounts of money seem to disappear in this exchange.

Last time I looked western union was offering a significantly better rate.

Does anyone have any experience in using different banks for this exercise and are any of them better than others?

I don't think she is even a Thai citizen. She can't speak Thai and grew up in the U.K. and got to the Olympics just because of her looks and tenuous connection to Thailand, it is really disrespectful that she was allowed to compete with real atheletes who have trained a better part of their lives to achieve this goal.

Whatever one's background, just to get in to the Olympics is a considerable feat isn't it?

Your description seems to fit other WELL KNOWN important "Thai" people in this country.

Far more important than this

'existance' is certainly the right choice of word.

I prefer a 'life' myself, down here in glorious Pattaya.

PP

Never been to either of them, but whatever, you know, 'life' which is our own, is what we make of it wherever we are. One of our locals in the far, far, far nor'east of Eastarn!, is from England. Whenever i hear him complaining about "anything', I say

"better than living in Manchester though, isn't it?"

That shuts him up.

I had been to Thai several times, but when I met my first real locals, who took me to their "home", a second hand timber and corrugated iron, laborer's dormitory, in the then, new, Bangkok power station's building site, I got a great introduction to their creativity and hospitality.

Without a stove, or fridge, and ingredients from the local market in plastic bags with fresh herbs, they produced a 17 course meal. I bought the beer and paid for the tobacco. Not a bad trade.

I have never eaten so much in years. It was so delicious. Every time I started to feel uncomfortable from the hard floor or heat, water was produced, or a pillow, or a fan as if they anticipated my feelings. It was an interesting experience and one I won't forget.

The Thai people have unique qualities, and I believe you can experience it everywhere in this fantastic country.

I love Thailand and think Nok Air and the way they decorate the exterior of their aeroplanes is a good indication of where they are coming from.

Hilarious. It makes me very sad that they have become victims to a certain extent of their own kind in this current political foment.

You need a dose of reality, and see the dark side where life is so cheap, cops so bent along with half of the population, yes there are good Thais but as a farang you will find you are viewed as simply a money sorce.

This is a very good point, however this money thing is not unique to Thailand. No way. Wait till someone in your family dies who has a bit of money and see who you "think" your family was.. .

Just see how stupid is the law enforcement in Thailand. Try doing this in Singapore and he would learn his lesson the very hard way!

Singapore surely leads the world in discipline. Perhaps a good place for B&D freaks?! Will this lead us off topic?

Anyway I agree, hand me the cane!! I know a good ex-B&D mistress in Australia looking for a job in her dotage.

And those dumb Muppet's behind think its a joke !

Well they ARE smiling. The fine is a joke. The offence is fraud. Sure the amounts are trivial but how about some

points for tastelessness