Potter

Wouldn't surprise me if he has a buyer, who may or may not know you have paid upfront. If you have proper recipts, rental contract, etc, you should be protected.

cv

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A buyer or in desperate need of money might be the fact. Of course as with all other businesses. Get a lawyer to help with the paper work when you are in doubt with anything. How much are we talking about - a monthly rent of 1,200 baht ?

Get papers on it all. Get the tambian baan for such a long lease. Or simply just find an other place to live that gives you the papers you are entitled to.

My advice: Turn it around, say that your mommy is now requesting money from her family, too, and that its a custom in your country. See what happens. 

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My girlfriend has brought this subject up several times. One time (a couple of years ago) she brought it up while her mother was visiting. I was also asked what I thought about "x" amount of baht.

I told them it was kind of hard for me to understand. In my home country/culture it was the parents that paid the celebrations and gave presents to the newly married couple. I was sorry that our 2 cultures are so different in this matter. And I really liked her daughter a lot. I promised whether being married or not, I will always love her and take care of her. Of course we didn't need to decide anything soon. Today we are still not married.

Thailand is a big country. What is expected in one part may be way different from what is expected in an other part of the country. Most people that get married are not millionares. When agreeing with a price it should also be clear who will get the gold and money as well as who is paying for the party. Also as some people have said, it also matters if the lady has been married before (who wants to pay for a used lady with babies, the thais will say).

An other consideration to make is that if you do pay a lot, then at other times where money is needed, you will again be expected to pay a lot. This could be a funeral, family accident, investment or other cases where there is a need for money. Most westerners come from a rich culture. Most got some kind of social security. In Thailand the families take care of who ever are in the families. The entire social structure is way different from western countries. If somebody gets an accident family members will go out and sell their private gold to help each other.

Not so long ago I read in the thai news papers all written in thai language. 2 movie stars are going to be married with each other. The price will be 40 million baht. The more money one has got - the more money will be asked for. Most forreigners are believed to have a lot of money.

Unless the family has got a lot of money you should expect that they will always come back and ask for more. That is one way or the other. If a thai has money, why would the thai want to marry a forreigner would some thai people say. I have heard that sentence in thai.

Old William Shakespeare got the saying "to be or not to be". In Thailand the verb to be does not exist. However sayings they do have. The saying is: "You want or you don't want". It applies to so unbelievable many situations.

Good Luck to You all!

I think this would be the dumbest taxi driver in town.  Someone tough enough could've just walked off and fool him around.  He is just gambling.

But looking at it at a different angle, you could also see how hard it is for poor people to make a living.  C'est la vie!

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It is harder for a taxi driver to make his money now that the oil has gotten as expensive as it is. That the taxi driver tries for a rip off is nothing new. It happens to all of us. When it happens pay what you think is fair and a little ekstra. After all, we do not want the thais to hate us. Next time be 100% sure to check either the taxi meter or kilometers.

It is not Tabian baan. It is Tambian Baan. It is pronounced Tarmbiarn Baarn.

So now I’m “half Thai” and have less than 5 years to go to get my Thai passport.

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For how long will you be allowed to keep your original passport when actually having gotten PR ?

There are disadvantages when having a Thai passport.

I've read that to understand the Thai mindset you have to be familiar with the Thai National Anthem.  Does anyone know what it translates into English?

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For a translation of the Thai National Anthem, simply make a google search combined with translation. I found this link http://www.thaichicago.net/clate/anthem.html

Just checking before my trip. There were rumors that Burma would close the border. Still open?

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Friday was still open for both Thais and forreigners. Some were asked to show money - others were not.

Thanks,

I will get my Tambian Ban next week.

What papers are actually needed to get a thai driving license for car and motorbike. And what would need to be done.

(I have got no driving license)

Thanks