sfbandung

Firstly how is someone properly married and then only see their wife two or three times a year? I have a niece who behaves herself but I wonder why. She has a French partner who only comes to Thailand once a year.

My wife lives with me in Papua New Guinea because that's where my business is and a wife's place is with her husband. She wouldn't dream of leaving me here by myself and I have no desire to be on my own. That's what I call a regular marriage. We have a house at home and spend two or three months a year in Thailand. As time goes by this will increase but she'll always be with me. We love each other and want to be together.

I personally doubt the 80 to 90% stat. But the fact is that having a "wife" who you see a few times a year is bizarre. More bizarre than the fact that she then has a partner who is actually with her full time. Yeah, she's poor and they take the money and once or twice a year it's a bit silly. But who's the fool?

How did they get into the casino in the first place, I know the casino in question and you have to be Singaporean or permanent resident!

I know cos they turned me away :-(

You were probably trying to enter through the wrong entrance. There are separate entrances for foreigners and Singaporean residents.

She should have just left it alone. It was a nothing post on fb, now it is global news. Silly girl.

It must be serious if they have suspended the crew. Bloody hell.

"The owner of house told police that Mr Yoann had rented this house for a year. He had no job, instead living on family money and spending his time “hanging out”."

And this turn of phrase wasn't deliberate?

Why are people constantly shocked by stuff that happens in Phuket and Pattaya? Hardly your typical suburban locales with regular Mums and Dads going about their business.

It has been asked a few times and always perplexed me. Perhaps one of our Eastern European friends can enlighten me.

Why do Russians come to Thailand to see Russian ladies naked and pay to shag them? Surely there are plenty back home? They could save all that money on airfares.

My God. Pity me. I then followed on to read the other articles from pdn. I will never be the same.

You cannot be serious.

He doesn't look at all distressed by his predicament. And surely that can't be the parent of the victim? Just sitting there casually and not wringing his neck.

Is he in his pyjamas?

It's just so bizarre.

He gives his entire net worth (apart from the car and bike) to a chick he hasn't even shagged? 18M baht house? It would have to be Bangers unless it was on a 1000 rai block. Then does it again. What was the compo claim for? A brain injury?

I am sure you have better things to do than make up stuff and post it here, but you must admit it defies belief.

People referring to Private Dancer as if it shows how bad Thai ladies can be must have read a different version to the one I read. Idiot farang meets pretty prostitute, leaves her working in the bar and can't understand why she keeps shagging for money. Keeps crapping on about how happy he is when she wais him. Belts her one and gets taken out by the chick's sister. And he had the advantage of wealth and a good education. Not to mention the high quality individuals running the bars, particularly the one where "Joy" works. What a poor excuse for a human being. It is much more anti stupid-and-morally-bereft-Farangs than Thais doing what they have to do to survive.

I wonder what Stephen Leather's intention was?

"However, losses will be less severe should the gold price stop its downward spiral and start to increase."

Good to see the article was penned by a financial genius.

Thai national news is not worded for the benefit of geniuses, it's worded for mostly rural people who are quite the opposite and who don't have the benefit of a western education, you're a bright lad so you could have figured that one out, or perhaps not!

Never claimed to be a bright lad.

My father in law is a member of the "rural people" you speak of and if they are savvy about nothing else, they are very au fait with commodity prices. Perhaps I was being unjustly harsh but it did seem to be stating the obvious.

The Thai soaps have universal appeal. And language is no barrier as the story is always the same. Boy meets girl, boy (or girl) screws around, gets caught (usually at some private place like a shopping centre), lots of crying, unhappy mothers yelling at unrepentant offspring, some music, more crying, lots more crying, and everything works out in the end.

The end.

I haven't seen the movie and the worm eating scene sounds quite unique, but I bet the plot is basically the same. The poster even has the chick crying for Buddha's sake.

I think this was "advertorial". She paid the Nation reporter to do the story.

It was a bloody good investment. S/he is famous now.

And the police must have accepted the gender reassignment was successful adn that she is a woman. A bloke going topless is no problem and wouldn't have been charged ....

I believe those high numbers of casualties during a holiday season are unique in the world.

Indeed they are! Most countries with good highway infrastructure, strong driving laws enforcement, and skilled, capable ( I say that with some reluctance) drivers see holiday death tolls at a fraction of Thailand's during this and other holiday seasons. Most in this forum know why they're so high.

NOW...., ban all motor bike traffic (without exception!) during this time and the number would be cut by 65%+. Unfortunate that this is the single most common form of transportation here.

Why stop there?

Ban alcohol as well.

Ban everything. Sex. How dangerous is that? People dying of AIDS all the time. Ban Songkran, and Loy Kratong. Think of the fire risk. And drinking. And motorbikes. Pushbikes too. Ban walking. Some people walk around without looking where they are going and bump into innocent people. Swimming. Lots of people drown whilst swimming. Eating. The food poisoning numbers are horrific. Waking up. If everybody slept all the time then nobody would ever die.

And just after the switch from left to right hand driving. Amazing what April 1st can bring. Same stat here as that one. Better than half the replies taking it seriously ...

I only ploughed through 5 pages of replies and unless there is a vast amount of sarcasm out there more than half the replies are actually taking it seriously.

Fair dinkum. Next you'll be believing that the gorgeous woman in the ad for the dating site is really single and just waiting for you to whisk her away ...

This sounds like one of those rules where if everyone complied they would drown in paperwork. Our house is in my wife's name (please don't bombard me with how silly I am, our place in Oz is in my name) so technically every time we are in Thailand we should report that I am staying there. Which we don't do of course. This must be happening thousands of times every day.

Even the article says they are looking at hotels and guest houses, where it makes sense. If a (farang) mate comes round, has a drink and decides to stay in the spare room we are techincally required to report that? Madness.

Two Brits, a Dutchman, a Filipino and two Thais walk into a bar .....

And it isn't a joke. What is a joke is that anyone falls for these scams? Are there that many gullible idiots out there?

But the police won't get tough on them. They never get tough on anything they say they are going to get tough on.

YIngluck has just visited PNG (where I live with the Thai missus) and all the talk at the yacht club on Monday night was about what a honey she is. She certainly attracts attention.

But other than her looks can you tell me anything significant about her visit?

And that is the point - looks good, but that's all people remember about her.

Which is actually quite insulting and shallow when you think about it, that you are only remembered for your smile as opposed to your ability to do the job. Yet this is the card our venerable PM consistently plays.

I don't really take politics seriously. Being an Aussie I'd be pretty bloody depressed right now if I did. Australian politics at the moment makes Thai politics look like a picture of rational stability.

Yingluck inspires more respect from me than Julia Gillard. And to be shallow and insulting, as a bonus she is also much better looking ...

YIngluck has just visited PNG (where I live with the Thai missus) and all the talk at the yacht club on Monday night was about what a honey she is. She certainly attracts attention.

It really is depressing how almost every thread turns into a Thai bashing session. This is a scam, that's a scam, they are bad drivers, bad people, Thailand is crap. The opening reply is a thinly disguised slur on Thai women in general.

We only bought our car this year and missed out on the rebate which on the surface seemed a good idea. And my Thai wife is a good chick.

How many of the foreigners (note I'm not singling out any nationality) killed on the roads in Thailand are pissed idiots on motorbikes?

They do seem to be conflicting ambitions. Get the numbers up, keep the numbers down.

Comparisons with Europe are simply irrelevant. The allure of Thailand is its difference to Western culture.

As I keep saying to people, good weather + poverty + pretty girls = a vibrant prostitution industry. I don't see anything wrong with that as long as ALL the participants are willing and no one is being exploited. What I also say to people is that you can very easily avoid that side of Thailand and see a staggeringly beautiful place with genuinely nice people, great food and an intriguing culture and history. I recommended a flash hotel at Krabi to some friends who spent a week there with their kids. Hired long tail boats, went island hopping, wandering around and eating at nice little places at Ao Nang. They never saw a hooker or were scammed by anyone. They had a fantastic time and will speak highly of Thailand.

It's a great country.