OneMoreFarang

I can confirm that one. I tried to make a U-turn with my bike and I waited for the traffic. A guy with a shiny new red forza decided he wanted to do that faster. So he made a U-turn next to me. And then he scrapped his bike against the front axle of my bike. I saw some paint on the metal axle, no problem. He had a good visible scratch on his shiny new bike. He complained. I told him it's his fault. He insisted we go to the next police booth. When we arrived there, maybe 500m away from the place where it happened, the Thai guy told the police and obviously he blamed me. I told the police officer in Thai what happened and that I don't think I am guilty in any way. The police officer decided I am innocent and sent us away. That was obviously only a small incident. But I guess a paint job or new plastic part for that bike would have cost a couple of thousand THB. So, it was good that the police officer confirmed that I didn't do anything wrong.

How many "stop and then look to see if it's clear to move"? In my experience they just move. And often they have no mirrors or only use them to check their makeup.

I don't agree. It seems to me that most of them just think different than many of us do. Some examples: People riding the wrong way in a one-way street: For Thais that is normal and expected behavior. Many farangs are surprised when they see people riding in the wrong direction - because this is not what we expected. Thais expect it, and this is why most of the time this is no problem if only Thais are on the streets. Zebra crossings, or any street crossings: Thais are used to the fact that the stronger one will win. Cars make sure they watch out for trucks. Motorcycle riders look out for cars and trucks. And pedestrians are the weakest and they look out for anything moving. And with Thais that works most of the time. They don't just walk only because there is a green light. They look out for anything dangerous moving and they only walk if no danger is in sight. I rode with my big bike slowly in a small soi. Behind me was a motorcycle taxi. At some stage I had to brake. I did, and the motorcycle rider behind me "crashed" against my bike. It wasn't fast and nobody was hurt. Then that motorcycle taxi rider complained that I was braking hard. Like: Your bike has very good brakes, my bike has weak brakes. You should have braked only a little because you knew I was behind you. So much about that logic. But I am sure many Thais will understand this and act accordingly. All in all, I still think it would be better if everybody would know and obey the official rules. But I accept that Thais are used to other, not so official rules. And they get along like that most of the time. So are they brain dead? Or are they just used to reality and live according to reality and not according to some rules nobody obeys?

It seems there are no regulations in Thailand that safety glass must be used - even in places where there is a considerable risk of accidents.

Somehow I like to hear the other side of that story.

Really? Maybe she should think again if she is ready to be a doctor. Imagine if she sees someone with knife wounds. She will be totally stressed out and unable to work. And probably she will need at least a month to recover from the trauma. I still think the Swiss guy should be punished. But please stay with the facts. He kicked her, she had nothing broken and wasn't admitted to a hospital. Most of us would have forgotten that kick latest on the next day.

But then, what is the point of knowing the laws if the laws are not applied? I guess many Thais know from a couple of cases when others had accidents and xyz happened. Was that according to the law? Or was that just the way it is? It would be nice if the laws and reality match. But it seems that is seldom the case. So what is more important, knowing the theoretical laws or knowing reality?

Dear Bob even hookers have a hard time looking up to you. It doesn't matter if you find successful women intimidating. They won't even notice you if you are standing right in front of them.

Would it make the roads safer? With some slow bikes, probably. But on some streets with 3 lanes people often park in the left lane. If motorcycles would ride in the left lane, then they would have to change all the time to the middle lane and back again because all of those parked cars. Is such situations I opt for staying in a lane which is not full of parked cars.

When I was young one of our neighbors had such a thing. I didn't like it. And the neighbor was always wearing a hat in the car. It seemed that was somehow part of driving in that car. To be fair, I liked the one from Fantomas

Yes But we men can still be fair. If I would separate from her, after nay years, without her doing something bad, I would feel obliged to make sure she will continue to have the basics like shelter and food for some time - until she works herself again or has a new bf. That is only fair. But I wouldn't feel obliged to provide her with luxury housing and king crabs. I think the crazy thing about divorce laws is that if a poor person marries a "rich" person that then he is responsible to keep her rich. Crazy!

They do, does it really matter why (once they beat a woman already)? Obviously, it would be nice if that would never happen, or if aggressive men would learn to control themselves before they beat anybody. But in real life that simply won't happen. There are bad guys out there. There is little we can do about that.

My gf mentioned it often enough. But after a couple of years not so often anymore.

Basically, you are right. But it seems in real life these accidents happen not as often as one would think they happen. I rider motorcycle in Bangkok for 25 years. I had lots of idiots around me. But never an accident like that, not even a close call. Obviously, that doesn't mean it couldn't happen today or tomorrow. But it seems it does not really happen that often.

Sure, good advice is good advice. But is nobody cares, then it doesn't matter. And that is unfortunately mostly the situation in Thailand.

I am sure there are happy children with gay couples and also unhappy children with heterosexual couples. But in general children who grew up with only one parent have a lot more problems. Children need a father and a mother to learn from both - at least that is the best-case scenario. I am not advertising to take away children from parents who have them already. I just don't want that children will be adopted into situations where it is obvious from the start that the conditions are not the way they should be.

Sure, you can pick the right grandma and fall in love with her. But in general, we all collect more and more baggage when we get older. We are more stubborn and don't want to change. Two old people who are stubborn in their own ways are a real challenge. If one of them is still malleable that makes the situation a lot easier.

And does this have any relationship with reality in Thailand?

I was the first boyfriend of my girlfriend. She didn't have any baggage. In the unlikely case that she wouldn't be around anymore I would look again for young and innocent without baggage. In Thailand this is possible. Why get an old woman when you can have a pretty cute girl?

You could go to the police and complain...

I worked once on such a piece of s$#$ together with a friend who was a car mechanic. We both had several moments when we didn't really know if we should laugh or cry.

There is an easy solution. Don't marry! That has lot of advantages. You can obviously still have a longtime girlfriend.

Really? Since when it is tradition to return the money? I know it happens, but it sure is no tradition.

What a great choice, a wife with two grandchildren...

IMHO that should be the only comment here. I find it amazing that this kind of project is discussed in a Thai farang forum. Obviously, it's good that we have a specialist like Crossy on this board. But I thought this forum is more for questions how to wire a washing machine or something like that. Above is about a lot of power. It's deadly when done wrong. This is why I think the only answer should be: Find a competent sparky.