theblether

Many things can be true at the same time. No decent Thai man wants a woman with the scent of the sex trade. Also, farangs are universally a laughing stock among Thai men, they can't believe who we wrestle with. However, you made a different and more valid point. The arrival of the younger expatriate generation has increased competition for young Thai men. It's not unusual to see middle-class girls dating and marrying stable younger farangs. That is starting to annoy some younger Thai men as their general xenophobia mixes with sexual jealousy. All of these relationships that I am aware of are thriving. One friend has just given birth to her second baby, she lives near The Somme, France. I can't think of any relationships that have broken up but neither do I have a drone pursuing pals across the world. So, no - Thai men are content to allow farangs wrestle with the sex trade "belle's" And, yes - they don't like having their better ladies stolen away.

The only figure I am aware of is the average Mountain Family would gather 15-25,000 baht worth of Hot Thep each season. To put that in perspective, most of the families involved have a cash income of less than 36,000 baht per year otherwise. So you're looking at an income boost of around 50% of their cash income. That money has multifarious social impacts, arriving around Songkran is always welcome, but some families borrow on the strength of their Hot Thep crop. The idea of surrendering that cash is unimaginable.

I forgot to mention, I know oil & gas engineers who are looking for solutions on a hobby basis. There are serious people of many nationalities keen to see an end to the burning, or at least to reduce the worst of vagaries.

I'll not get into the usual sugarcane/commercial burning arguments - they have been done to death. Burning is essential for safety reasons in the mountains. One thing people miss/don't know, don't understand is that municipalities end out teams to burn road verges etc. In the mountains, bad enough on main routes such as CM-Pai, the roads in the interior are tight, dangerous and often dreadful condition. One friend was killed as she was washed over a cliff edge in her SUV. With rapid foliage growth, many of these roads are reduced to effective single lane status. If the fire load is allowed to build the villagers would be cut off in the case of a wildfire or similar. Helicopters, which I see overhead many days during the burning season, would struggle to rescue people due to the terrain. So routine defensive burning is essential and is practised by the villagers and authorities. Well before the attack on Hot Thep, authorities need to get a grip on open field stubble burning, whatever the crop. They are the open goal awaiting action. The mountains can wait.

No chance. You can't control the growth of wild mushrooms. The Mountain People, esp the poorest, rely upon the money. They literally will not give up the crop as the financial impact would be too severe. The last time there was a shortage the price went mental. Introducing it as black market item will cause carnage and, if anything, encourage more burning. You'd end up with the police organizing distribution and creaming profit. The only way to destroy the Hot Thep market is to produce it on greenhouse/farmed environments. I know one mushroom grower who has tried to do so for years ( the first person to do will be a Thai baht billionaire ) and it's driving him nuts.

Dante's special place in hell for the hypocrite comes to mind. One of the holier-than-thou members that polluted this forum years ago had to return to the UK because his council discovered he was sub-letting his central London flat and earning £900 a month profit. There will be a mass collapse of ars*s when the new taxation regime demands people on retirement visas validate their income. The last time it came close the UK gov refused to disclose personal financial information ( quite right ). This time round the Thai gov will merely ask if the individual is in receipt of a UK based pension. You'll then witness the pitiful sight of the Wearie Willie rats deserting the sinking ship, esp when the Thai gov says "by the way, this is his/her eighth renewal."

I have to commend the OP, this is an all too rare example of standing by a red line issue. The marriage is dead. Walk away, don't look back and I wish you a long and successful retirement.

Pricing - do your own research - the prices I have paid or seen pals pay range from 80,000 baht ( in my case ) to 310,000 baht paid by an American friend. It depends on your grade of hospital, personal medical needs, length of stay etc. You live in Thailand, put in the hard miles and find out for yourself.

This is the correct way of doing it, drive around then get the Thai national to ask in the local mom and pop store, or village eatery, not in your presence. Jungle drums will start. The last time I was on the periphery of this the land, with a good aspect, that attracted the Thai nationals attention was 650,000 baht a rai. Drumbeat brought an offer of land with the same aspect for 450,000 and the deal was done. In fact, 2.3 rai was purchased at that base rate.

I still see it now but the one that repulses me are the frogs on a stick. Even worse, deep fried whole frog, with the oil seeping out across the plate. Horrendous.

Who remembers the visa tightening regime re overstay around nine years ago? When automatic bans for overstay were issued. At the time the Thai gov gave people a grace period to sort out their visa status before the policy took effect. One Mae Hong Son resident declared an overstay of twenty-two years at the airport, left for London, and returned with a valid visa. TWENTY TWO YEARS. I know someone personally who is twenty-nine years in Laos without a visa, and he hasn't owned a valid passport for twenty-one years. Go with the assumption that a guy who knows he has an arrest warrant in the UK will do anything but draw the attention of UK authorities. Further assume that he knows the risk of overstay but figures every day is a bonus until caught. The only question is why return now? One of my mates surrendered after skipping court ( convicted in absence and sentenced to eight years, drugs and firearms ). Relatively young, he surrendered as he got sick of looking over his shoulder every day. What annoyed me was that he only served an additional four months for skipping before trial. These people are criminal, they don't think live the way we do. So growling about "passport renewals" and the like is foolish. You assume he had a passport at all.

*The ignoramus have spoken. Fixed it for you.

I've lived there, Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara. It was Mexicans that informed me of the Tex-Mex issue. Maybe you should go over and correct them , huh?

Only an ignoramus who hasn't travelled the length of themselves believes UK food is the worst in the world. In a straight culinary fight of top class chefs using the best ingredients I'd group the following ten as the best - not in order. UK, USA, Australia, China, France, Italy, India, Thailand, Greece, Portugal - special mention, Japan Most overrated - Morocco, Mexico, Thai street food Mexican food confuses people. A lot of times they think they are eating Mexican when its actually Tex-Mex, which is American. And the Mexicans need to apologize for the avocado craze, what a catastrophe, all those bearded halfwits wandering around comparing avocado toast recipes. ps - most important PEOPLE'S as a n originator of the food that developed to feed the world? Easily Native Americans.

I know several cases where the mesh caused ongoing pain. The "take him to England" line was absurd. One the main complaints is cold weather pain. Also, these days I wouldn't like to guess how long you'd wait on a repair, north of six months would be a good estimate. I have one friend who had his mesh replaced after two years, in his case it was straightforward. You'd may as well go to the referral then weigh up the options. I'm always apprehensive about general anaesthetics, though I did find recovery from my two hernia operations to be straightforward. I'd be living with it unless it was debilitating, but for gawds sake, take England out of the equation.

I agree with this. Some foods such as venison, game birds, blue cheese etc have a brief period where their taste and your palette collide. The same goes with fermented fish, there's some I can tolerate and others are culinary catastrophes - the type of tase once it enters your mouth it never leaves your mind. For American members, that's how I feel about Chitlins. 33 years later and I'm still scarred.

Got to be honest, a lot of Thai food is off-the-scale dreadful. All these breathless-in-wonder vloggers spouting utter drivel about how good the street food is do my head in. No sane person travels 10,000 km to eat entrails on a stick, reconstituted cancer-causing chicken and pork balls, deep fried cr*p, diabetic-coma inducing sugar dished, washed down with gallons of msg. The fried chicken is spew-worthy, they can't even fry an egg with cremating the thing - the list goes on. Now, to be fair, restaurant quality Thai food can be different class - but the street food> Dear me, give it a rest.

Nonsense again. The tax applies to UK airports, the "further you are from Heathrow the higher the APD cost" line is just laughable. Also, every single airline provider provides a breakdown of the fair and tax before you book the ticket. If you can't be bothered reading the "sneaky" tax which is in black and white and in front of your nose then that's up to you.

Nonsense - Thai domestic flyers have seen an increase of 30%. International passengers have seen an increase of 4%. It's the Thai domestic market that has been relatively hammered.

The busiest and most profitable supermarkets in the UK restock all day every day. And here we have a bunch of retail "experts" spouting about "Thai logic" and related drivel. You are making yourselves look so stupid its beyond belief. By the way, watch out for the new fashion hitting Thai supermarkets. Several previously 24 hour supermarkets are closing at night as they figure there's no profit ( fair enough ). They also can't get the staff. Some 7/elevens are closing overnight. I never thought I'd see that day.

I've done both several times. I'd do MHS - Pai, fish cave near MHS, MHS, long neck village, usually elephants on the road down that way, Mae Sariang, cut inland to Doi Inthanon then home down the Mae Wang valley. Road to Fang is boring, go via Phrao, catch the sticky waterfall on the way down, Tha Ton, teacup temple, go up Doi Lang to the best moo katter place in Northern Thailand. Doi Mae Salong, early in the morning be at the Golden Horse Temple, before 8am, see the monks ride back from collecting alms, Doi Tung, Chiang Saen, Opium museum, and if you can be in Chiang Saen on a Saturday night there's an excellent night market overlooking the river.

The majority of Thais in Taiwan work in factories and agriculture. There are occasional arrests in connection with prostitution but its nothing like the scale in South Korea and Hong Kong ( among others ).

US law forbids engaging in sexual activity in a foreign country with under 18 year old's. US law enforcement has a presence and is active in Thailand. This guy will have to answer to US authorities.

The easiest way to spot fake reviews is by looking at the dates. If there's a cluster over a short time span it's usually fake. That applies to both good and bad reviews.

You're only proving my point. You clearly don't understand the concept of the village bike. If I had wanted to describe her as a hooker, I would have called her a hooker. I made a specific point of calling her a gik ( do you know what that is? ) and the village bike. When you don't know what you are talking about, don't talk.