sfbandung

It's been sugested already, but that's her stuff, not his. Zoom in the pics from PDN, it all looks like girl's stuff, and why would he take his own luggage to the police station?

Do love the way so many people give it the big 1 on here and pretend their sposes are not ex hookers and her indoors is whiter than white, I guess normal Thai women really do love 60+ year old fat old men.xxxx

You make a huge assumption about the people here and their spouses. Mine is four years younger than me and was never a sex worker -- or anything remotely close to it. Solid upper-middle class background (just like me).

There are lots of us out here.

I totaly agree with you mine is highly educated, younger, has her own home and highly respested by me and the community

My wife was "working" when I met her. It makes no difference whatsoever what a girl's background is. She is either good or bad. Do you two blokes look down your nose at every current or ex sex worker in Thailand (and everywhere else for that matter)? Because it sure sounds like it.

Plenty of the girls are jaded, often with very good reason, and plenty of the visiting farangs are either profoundly naive, or complete ar5eholes who think that because a woman has been forced to take whatever "work" is on offer that she is garbage and deserves to be treated as such.

For the record then my wife is also well educated, has her own home, and is highly respected by me and the community. And she also worked for a while as a hooker.

I too rushed on line to see what this meant. But it doesn't sound like it's changing anything.

You can always buy booze whenever you want with very little effort.

Our black market neighbours in the village don't check their watch when we send one of the kids over to grab a couple of Leos. How many laws are we breaking there?

Unfortunate for the women involved, but it's nice to see the boot on the other foot for once.

Agreed. When they are many lovestruck expats losing their life savings every day in Thailand thinking they are supporting the love of their life and being left with nothing, it's kinda hard to feel sorry for this one anonymous woman (is she does exist) who lost nothing and the other women in the rumoured other cases.

Any Expat over the age of 45 that has or is in the process of losing their life savings because they are LOVESTRUCK .... deserves it! IMHO

Couldn't agree with you more.

After reading 7 pages of thread I can't believe the endless repeats of the following:

Comparisons of Thailand to Germany, UK, US. Utterly ridiculous. You can't compare them on any level. Compare to another impoverished Asian country, if you must.

People taking the story at face value when lots of it makes no sense. Who hit who? The drunk missus. The copper who seems to know the whole story but maintains there were no (coherent) witnesses. Except him it seems.

The usual plethora of Thai bashing that is unrelated to this post. There is clearly a very big problem with Tuk Tuks in Phuket. There seems to be a regular crew hanging around however. who wheel out the same "Thailand is crap" comments. I've tried to get on top of the moderating rules. But early on is a post by (why bother naming them) some fool who suggests if we stay away from Thailand they will have to "eat their young". I mean really.

It seems it was an argument amount a relatively (to a westerner) small amount of money. I've lived in a third world country for nearly twenty years. Arguing with a local about small money until it gets really aggro is crazy. Just pay and don't do it again. Complain yes, and this forum is a good place to discuss it. But winding up with life threatening injuries over a couple of bucks is senseless.

Don't come the "principle" of the matter or right and wrong. Take care of yourself. This is a poor country where (like virtually all poor countries) the rule of law does not necessarily apply.

Thailand is value-for-money, compared with Vietnam or Cambodia or Laos ? It takes a 'Miracle Thailand' to turn expensive into value-for-money !

I don't know what happened to my post! It was eloquent.

But basically you can compare Thailand with Malaysia, or Singapore or maybe Vietnam or to a lesser extent Cambodia. But not Laos. It might be cheap but that's it.

I guess we haven't learned our lesson about blaming Thais for every farang murder that occurs in Thailand.

indeed - three high-profile Phuket farang murders have involved an Englishman, an Italian, and two from Sweden.

But . . . the conspiracy theorists would have them all being set-ups by corrupt police blah blah blah . . . Thais to blame etc ad nauseum

...and the Kiwi killed by a Syrian in Pattaya.

I've made mention before about the level of Thai bashing that goes on here.

Still surprises me but this exchange is refreshing. That Kiwi and the Syrian, what a bloody sordid tale that was. And I love how the police parade them out and have a press conference!

The Thai bashing going on here is unbelievable.

I have a couple of questions to the detractors:

If you live in Thailand but feel the need to rubbish the place and the people endlessly then why do you stay?

If you don't live in Thailand and are not in a relationship with a Thai then why are you here in this forum rubbishing a place and people you know nothing about?

If you have married a beautiful woman 20 or more years younger than you and you think it's because you are a great person then why couldn't you jag a young beauty in your home country?

I am married to a Thai lady 19 years my junior, we presently live in another 3rd world country where I am working at present. I've lived here for nearly 20 years and have seen plenty of blokes who fall hopelessly in love with young girls and then suffer emotionally or financially or both. There is no doubt the vast majority of these types of relationships (ones with a substantial age difference) are based initially on the lady wanting out of a desperate situation, either abject poverty or being subject to routine bashings. Not because they find old men attractive. This happens in all 3rd world countries, it is not unqiue to Thailand. Many of these relationships fail and many prosper. Young blokes have an excuse for being naive, older men don't. Accept the fact that the lady is with you to escape and try to make it work. Most older blokes can tell very quickly, certainly inside a year, if they're being had.

Where I live there is a fairly small Thai community (30 - 40 ladies) comprised almost exclusively of women who were "working" in Thailand and subsequently married a farang client who offered them a permanent way out. They are a highly principled group and their husbands (like myself) are the happiest they have ever been. There are few exceptions. Perhaps it should be pointed out though that these men all have many years of 3rd world country experience.

LIfe is what you make it. Be a realist and be careful. If you're not happy then do something about it, don't sit and bitch and try to make everyone around you miserable too.

If you screwed up, it's your fault, no one else's.

Emm. 'If you screwed up its your fault, no one elses." First of all this is a typical story of what can happen in Thailand. It is certainly not written to bring all the Thai bashers out of the wood-work, but that is something of an inevitability, because of the number of bitter people out there.

The point is, even though Mr.Stanyer made mistakes, he thought (1) Thai law would protect him and he would at least get 50 per cent of the assets from his marriage back and (2) he could rely on the honesty of lawyers one of whom he had known for 25 years.

No one could have anticipated that documents could be altered and the perpretrators could to easily get away with it. Or is it your assertion that he should have anticipated that, which is fair enough.

Those who read the story of Colin Vard in Phuket who lost not one but SIX properties will have known this could only have been by using false papers and sorting out senior police, legal, and land officers figures.

If you meant to say however if you screwed up its your own fault because dishonesty is going to hit you in the face at every level in Thailand, then that would be a more accurate assessment.

It may be that your group of 'highly principled' ex-pat husbands and Thai wives (most of whom you say were former working girls) are living happily because they are indeed in a foreign third world country and the inevitable few do not have the wherewithal to do anything else.

I certainly know of many marriages, which while apparently successful abroad, ended up with the husband being cleaned up when he returned to Thailand with his wife.

Hi Andrew,

With respect, I think you misunderstood where I was coming from. Probably my fault as I was replying primarily to the thread as opposed to the post. The level of invective directed at Thailand and Thai people in general bothered me. This despite several interventions by the moderator.

This bloke's situation speaks for itself. But I must say that after three children the demise of the relationship must have happened over a long period of time, or the scam had an incredibly long gestation period. I made very specific mention of prior "working girls" because the vast majority of this type of relationship had their origins exactly there. And in my (limited) experience they tend mostly to have happy endings. Unfortunately bad news makes better press.

That said however, there are disasters everywhere. My main point was that there seems to be quite a number of people in the virtual "here" that have an intense dislike for the country and its people. And I'll say it again, if you really hate it, leave. And if you really dislike Thailand in general why be a part of this forum?

In the community where I live it is true that most of the men (and women) are happy. Perhaps we live in a fool's paradise. It may be that you have a valid point that once back domiciled in Thailand it will all change. But for now I love my wife and her family and I have never been happier. I'm not advocating against the protection of assets belonging to a union being split evenly in the event of a demise, or in support of the deliberate actions of government (or otherwise) officials to assist in the gaining of financial advantage unfairly.

Sometimes it works is all. And it seemed to need saying here.

Cheers,

Steve

The Thai bashing going on here is unbelievable.

I have a couple of questions to the detractors:

If you live in Thailand but feel the need to rubbish the place and the people endlessly then why do you stay?

If you don't live in Thailand and are not in a relationship with a Thai then why are you here in this forum rubbishing a place and people you know nothing about?

If you have married a beautiful woman 20 or more years younger than you and you think it's because you are a great person then why couldn't you jag a young beauty in your home country?

I am married to a Thai lady 19 years my junior, we presently live in another 3rd world country where I am working at present. I've lived here for nearly 20 years and have seen plenty of blokes who fall hopelessly in love with young girls and then suffer emotionally or financially or both. There is no doubt the vast majority of these types of relationships (ones with a substantial age difference) are based initially on the lady wanting out of a desperate situation, either abject poverty or being subject to routine bashings. Not because they find old men attractive. This happens in all 3rd world countries, it is not unqiue to Thailand. Many of these relationships fail and many prosper. Young blokes have an excuse for being naive, older men don't. Accept the fact that the lady is with you to escape and try to make it work. Most older blokes can tell very quickly, certainly inside a year, if they're being had.

Where I live there is a fairly small Thai community (30 - 40 ladies) comprised almost exclusively of women who were "working" in Thailand and subsequently married a farang client who offered them a permanent way out. They are a highly principled group and their husbands (like myself) are the happiest they have ever been. There are few exceptions. Perhaps it should be pointed out though that these men all have many years of 3rd world country experience.

LIfe is what you make it. Be a realist and be careful. If you're not happy then do something about it, don't sit and bitch and try to make everyone around you miserable too.

If you screwed up, it's your fault, no one else's.

A recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report has pegged the number of female prostitutes in the country at 2 lakh.

can someone enlighten me? how much is 2 lakh.?

thaisabai

200,000

Oops, just noticed the 10 other pages of comments! I remind myself again to make sure I have read the thread to the end before commenting!

My two baht's worth:

The sex trade is alive and well in every corner of the globe. It's just more alive here for several reasons covered well above. More regulation will see the participants (men, women, and punters) at less risk of harm. That's all I see as important. It will never go away and nor should it. And why be ashamed of it?

What a ridiculous article. A nothing story, with nothing stats, about a very important issue. As with all relatively poor societies, gambling does enormous damage.

Can they ban village card games? Thankfully my missus doesn't like it (her father is rabidly anti gambling) but it's up there with the number one complaint I hear from farangs married to Thais. My sister in law wound up with nothing after her drip husband lost everything and ultimately had to run away to hide from his debts. I wonder what the relationship bust up numbers are there?

I know, education, not legislation, is the answer.

Amateurish treatment of the topic however by fluff articles like this certainly don't help.

Fortunately, there are many who understand that Thaksin's hidden agenda is a global one, where a group of global power brokers, supported by the likes of Robert Amsterdam and his cohorts, are looking at a revolution on a worldwide scale. Thailand is a key component of their struggle for world domination. Many countries, including leading politicians in Europe are fully cognitive of their agenda. The present Government's actions on behalf of Thaksin will be an embarrassment to those countries concerned, but they will all be placed in an invidious position by these requests. The global march is on and we should be fearing not only for the future of Thailand, but for the world as a whole. Thaksin, by the way, is only a bit player in this scenario, there are other manipulative figures more powerful and than he.

Are you for real? Been reading a few too many conspiracy sites I think.

And poor old Udon Thani? Not to mention my other provincial brethren. When do we get the wonders of 3G?

ive used my cat 3g weeks ago in ban dung and its fast so its working fine in your area.

Thanks for that. A DTAC dongle?

My mobile never seems to get 3G when I'm there, about 5 minutes from Ban Dung.

And poor old Udon Thani? Not to mention my other provincial brethren. When do we get the wonders of 3G?

Most of the editorial comment from The Nation seems vociferously anti Thaksin.

Is there a pedigree there I'm unaware of? Who owns it?

In fairness to the Nation they were one of the last newspapers willing to say negative things about TRT when TRT were at the height of their power and had "requested" other free organs not publish anti-government stuff. As a result the Nation had its advertising crushed by government influence. It isnt a bad thing to have a newspaper that has an anti-angle and the standard of journalism isnt really any better in other newspapers. It is just a matter of what bias you have.

By the way, right now I disagree with most of the Nation comment and editorial. However, it is good than can say what they want to say and hopefully will be able to in the future. A variety of different opinions and biases is no bad thing in a world where everyone has a bias and opinion and there is no such thing as an objective media source. Good luck to the red and yellow media too as an alternative to the blow with the wind organs

Hear, hear!

Without a free press we're on a very bad road to nowhere.

Most of the editorial comment from The Nation seems vociferously anti Thaksin.

Is there a pedigree there I'm unaware of? Who owns it?

I think it goes back to the first two Thaksin/TRT-governments, when he tried very hard to control the media, only to write positive-stories about his government. Reporters would get fired, people would get 1-Billion-Baht law-suits slapped on them, advertising would be withdrawn, it was all fairly clumsy & obvious. Not that the press has ever been all-that-free, before or after, IME.

This explains the jokes on TV, about his Good-Question/Bad-Question Cross/Tick hand-signs, or about Billion-Baht law-suits, you might not 'get' the references if you weren't here at the time.

Hopefully the rise of the internet might make this sort of manipulation less-successful nowadays ? And sometime someone might look at reforming the LM-law. One can only hope !

That's interesting. There hasn't been any talk of filtering the internet has there?

I asked a long term resident what the best source of news was and he said here. So far I enjoy the vigorous debates, does get a tad heated at times though!

Are we allowed to talk about the LM law? I don't want to get into trouble with the moderators.

Most of the editorial comment from The Nation seems vociferously anti Thaksin.

Is there a pedigree there I'm unaware of? Who owns it?

"journalists" working for The Nation are mostly kids freshly out of school. Those kids have been brainwashed for years by their extremist professors, what can you expect from them ?

Working for the english press is just an entry job, there is no future there. If you really want to know what's going on in Thailand, you have to read the Thai press or watch the Thai TV

Unfortunately my command of Thai, though improving, is not yet up to following the news telecasts. And I fear a year or so away from being able to read it effectively.

Most of the editorial comment from The Nation seems vociferously anti Thaksin.

Is there a pedigree there I'm unaware of? Who owns it?

Swedish prison 2011.

And check this out:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3261698,00.html

Is it just me? But from the start of this story (including the ridiculous 12 Thai men story when it was first reported) it just doesn't add up. These guys don't seem to have protested their innocence at all, which is pretty rare considering the consequences of being found guilty.

Someone mentioned in another thread that it looked like these guys are taking the fall under instructions from their superiors.

I have a feeling there is much more to this than meets the eye.

There is no conflict of interest - Thailand's interests aren't even considered.

Ha ha.

This Surapong bloke seems more in Thaksin's pocket than Yingluck.

"The master will come, and he has promised to make me immortal!" Renfield in Dracula (1992)

Funny again!

Is it just the translation? But he comes across as almost child like in the comments he makes.Surapong I mean.

There is no conflict of interest - Thailand's interests aren't even considered.

Ha ha.

This Surapong bloke seems more in Thaksin's pocket than Yingluck.

Funny how we get emotional about some creatures and not others. A pig can be just as loyal and intelligent as a dog, in fact we are so close to them we can use their body parts (esp heart valves) in humans. But we eat loads of them.

You can eat a cow, but not a whale. A rabbit but not a dog.

How many of the rabid protesters here will sit down to a steak or tom yam kai tonight?

We are carnivores (ok strictly speaking omnivores) it's what we do. I'm all for the humane treatment of all animals, including those grown for food.

But unless you're vegan (no, you can't be a vege and still eat those poor sea creatures) the outcries are simply hypocritical.

You can only speak for yourself about this. I get emotional about any animal getting mistreated and I know lots of other people who do as well. And, it isn't just animals. Any time I see a weaker person getting mistreated, or children, it's the same thing. Domestic animals and children etc. are completely dependant on our mercy and we have a responsibility to take good care of them. It boggles my mind that I would even need to explain that to anyone.

Respectfully CMD you missed my point. I made it clear that I believe in the ethical treatment off all animals regardless of whether we eat them or not. People get emotional about which ones we eat, which as I said, unless you're vegan, makes no sense.

I'm a bit of a drip I'll admit, but the tone of some of the invective here is a bit spooky.

Surely there are laws and due process and if everyone respects them, and the subsequent decisions made by the judiciary, then at least we avoid anarchy. Some people won't be happy sure, but we won't have blood flowing in the streets.

Why don't more people advocate that course of action?

Funny how we get emotional about some creatures and not others. A pig can be just as loyal and intelligent as a dog, in fact we are so close to them we can use their body parts (esp heart valves) in humans. But we eat loads of them.

You can eat a cow, but not a whale. A rabbit but not a dog.

How many of the rabid protesters here will sit down to a steak or tom yam kai tonight?

We are carnivores (ok strictly speaking omnivores) it's what we do. I'm all for the humane treatment of all animals, including those grown for food.

But unless you're vegan (no, you can't be a vege and still eat those poor sea creatures) the outcries are simply hypocritical.

Everyone loves Skytrain. Well I do.

I haven't used the airport service though. Heard mixed reviews, and it isn't cheap.

It certainly is cheap when you consider the alternative of committing suicide in a 100 mph. taxi.

Ha ha. Very true. Our record (in a taxi) is Sukhumvit (Sheraton Grande) to the airport in 20 minutes. Most of that doing 120kmh in the stopping lane. It was bloody terrifying.