Swiss1960

As not yet living in Thailand and not yet fluent enough to watch Thai TV, Thaivisa it's one of the best sources of information I found for myself, either for local news (i.e. Pattaya for me), for general news, information about buying condominioums, info about retirement procedures, or then all the Thailand news flashes I can get... and I learned how to judge the information I find for usefulness...so it's a really good source of learning

and then of course their is the fun in some of the posts...

That is what I tell people when they ask me where I get information from and in general, there is no head shacking at all, not even with my friends in Thailand.

You must be joking, man.... but on the other hand, if you can affort 20'000 Baht / month jokes for the next 20 years or so to come... up to you...

They're annoying but eventually you just learn to ignore them and keep walking.

If they touch me however it's a different matter, I usually get angry enough that they end up walking away from ME, not the other way round.

You are right... so if their is enough space, I make sure I cross them with enough distance... but difficult for example on beach road walkway in Pattaya... that's when they try to grab your hand or get hold of your arm to stop them... that's when they get a slap on their hand for touching me...

I guess it must be part of their job description that they have to harass every single farang walking past... and definitely will not stop doing it if you respond with a simple "no thanks"... I remember one situation where I was carrying the clothes from my favorite tailor and still they tried to grab me and sell me more things... how stupid can they be... so I assume they might be afraid to be watched by their boss and would be punished / fired / loose salary if they don't annoy every single person passing the shop...

Just keep on trying hard...

Are you feeling better now???

But of course you are right, those mostly Indian tailors are a pain in the ass... and specially those who try to grab you hand to stop you from walking past and try to even draw you into the shop... I slapped few hands during the last years and always shouted pretty loud "don't you try to steal my watch..."

Positive effect is that from that moment on, they always remember my face for the length of my holiday and never again bother me when I walk past their shop again...

From what I have seen over the years in Switzerland, at the beginning there were gay pride demonstrations with growing amount of people who had a clear political message against discrimination and for acceptance of their personal lifestyle... and for me, the growing amount of people who joined these demonstrations clearly showed that their was a huge value not only for achieving more civil rights, but mainly for giving other people the strenght to say "you are not alone, join is in the fight"...

Now however, as their has been huge progress with regards to acceptance and civil rights (in Switzerland), there are maybe 5-10% of the people joining the gay pride showse who still have a political message... for the rest, it's just a day out having fun, dressed in extravagant clothes and loads of drag queens marching in those parades. And that might be detrimental to the gay and lesbian community, as spectators very often will say "look how crazy these homosexuals behave" and those spectators will have no clue about where these gay pride parades actually came from...

There was a time when the pictures on the wall were a picture of the king cut from a newspaper and assorted filmstars cut from magazines. Thee Thailand I remember then was much cheaper and probably nicer too. Once I could open a tin of baked beans eat half out of the can and the other half in the morning...now I have to have plates and cutlery that match.

It has been quite a change for me too. I now have a dining room table with 6 matching chairs. Matching curtains, matching placemats, wooden holders for everything. The little lady knows I grew up on a sailboat and she bought lamps that are hand painted lighthouses and prints of square rigged sailing ships. When I first got here no one had a refigerator and on TV was Felix the cat in black and white. Now I watch Monday night football with the dog in the morning with espresso and fresh baked croissants .

Sounds all very nice... except that you found out that their is no such thing as free-sex... sooner or later, the bill will be presented

tststs... when I was in my 30ies I did not need the advice of strangers on the Internet to find fun... I just went there, explored the location on my own and had many more impressions than when you would just follow some single advices...

and... there is no such thing as a "free" girl... now way or another, you will pay for her

Well, there are different thoughts you can have about that issue...

- first is whether you find it funny or not (I find it just plain stupid)

- second is whether you really think it is about free speach when you know how much you violate other peoples belives

- third is about responsibility when you know that you are probably causing uproar and terrorism in parts of the world

But of course, there ARE people with political agendas who publish (and redistribute) such stupid articles because they WANT to create uproad in order to fingerpoint afterwards...

First, you need to deal with all the legal issues of ownership and being allowed to work in your own business... basically, as owner of a bar, you are not even allowed to clean the tables without a work permit...

Second, you need to have a clear business plan... do you want to open a beer bar or a high-end restaurant? Do you have the know-how for such a business?

Third, you need to be ready and willing to work 7 days a week in your own business and treat yourself like a slave to keep it up and deal with all the hassle with staff not showing up for work the day after you paid their salary...

If you think you can manage all this - yes, you can have highly successful foreign-owned and managed businesses, but the only ones I have ever seen are high-end restaurants or pubs like Bruno's or Mulligans (both in Pattaya), so far I have never seen a successful foreign-owned beer-bar / girlie-bar.

I guess you will know that you found a safe place, if the tattooist has no problems showing you how he does sterilize his equipment and furthermore, can show you where he gets his ink from and might even have certificates of safety for those inks (i.e. tested for lead and other poisonous ingredients and tested to be anti-allergic).

Neeranam:

You try to sneak away from what you clearly wrote: "There are going to be a a lot more (katoeys) in urban areas than rural areas, which could be said about all mental disorders." You clearly imply that for you, katoey equals mental disorder, which is not anymore todays medical view. Of course there can be mental issues, but these are only a secondary problem and definitely not the main issue.

Conquent: It might sound cruel / insensitive to say this, but you also be thinking about how you want to leave this world once it is time... basic options are any kind of (assisted) suicide, seeking palliative care or then go to a hospital for the full medical treatments they will try on you...

And that then brings the financial question back... for what ever you will choose, you will need funding, as your UK insurance will not cover the cost beforehand, you will need to pay cash in advance for any treatment in Thailand and probably not have the time nor care about reimbursment from your UK insurance..

Thus, if you decide to spend all money for fun, it might only leave you with one option, since you clearly outlined that you have nobody left to help you other than the lady you are seeking...

I don't need to know what mental disorders are. I asked what you meant by writing, "There are approximately 300,000 ladyboys in thailand. There are going to be a a lot more in urban areas than rural areas, which could be said about all mental disorders." What did you mean to imply by writing "which could be said about all mental disorders?" Not wiki, you.

More mental disorder in rural areas than urban.Do you teach kindergarten by any chance?

The question is why you felt the need to introduce the term "mental disorder" and pointing it towards all katoeys... I have seen and met more drunken (s)expats looking for barfights to which I would attribute that mental condition than I have seen and met ladyboys...

20 percent is far too high.

There are approximately 300,000 ladyboys in thailand. There are going to be a a lot more in urban areas than rural areas, which could be said about all mental disorders.

Fortunately, there are lots of activities in the medical field to de-classify gender disorder from being a mental disorder to being a "normal" medical disorder of the body / the hormones. While IDC-10 still uses that classification, some health organisation (I think UK NHS was one of the first) have already changed that. Even further, the highest German court has decided that transgender people are allowed to have the gender changed in their papers even without a full sex-change operation.

I know that it will still take years to come in order to change the thinking of people, but at least the legal and medical side seems to make progress towards not seing transgender people being mentally ill...

Sorry to hear that, conquent, have seen my father die from lung cancer and thus, have an idea what might be in front of you. However, answering your question is difficult, as their is information missing:

What do you want to do in Thailand, are you seeking fun life or lay low in country side or just lay on beach?

What medical attention do you need now and in the future?

Is there anybody in the UK you can trust with the task of repatriating your body or would it be an idea to be burried in Thailand?

Most of all, the question of medical attention is key and you might post that question in the health forum, i.e. about specialized clinics / doctors (once you decided about the are you want to go) or (what my father choose to do) questions about palliative care when you want to omit being in a hospital bed... the health forum might be the best place for that kind of questions.

All the best to you!

too many cheap jokes here... so i try to bring in some serious thoughts, as the thread is in general and not in farang area...

So my first advice to all of you is, if you are seriously interested in what ever questions about Katoeys / Ladyboys, go out and talk with them.... and if they feel that you are really interested and not only trying to satisfy a morbid curiosity, they will answer all your questions... and I am speaking from experience

Second is that - not in general but from those ladyboys I did meet and learn to know over time - is that the age the same way every person ages... according to what is in their genes...

Some ladyboys are lucky to be naturally feminine, don't need to take loads of hormones and don't need loads of cosmetic surgery... and they will age pretty feminine and still look like older women tend to look... but others, who had all kind of (mostly cheep) surgeries and took loads of hormone, will have health and mental issues and tend to age very bad... and yes, suicide is unfortunately not unknown then...

But is it different from normal women? Look at some pics of celebs in their 50ies / 60ies and look how their surgeries tend to start make them look like zombies... they - as some Katoeys - did everything money can buy in order to look perfect while young... and I am sure most of them - same as the Katoeys - now really regret what they did in their past...

15,000 baht is more than double the normal rate. Most lawyers, such as the Lawyer House on North Pattaya Road who specialise in property transfers, charge 7,000 to 8,000 baht.

Who you use also has a considerable effect on how much transfer tax you pay, as some lawyers will declare the full sales price (and pay the full tax due) while others who know the system (and the staff!) declare a considerably lower amount (the minimum acceptable according to the official land/house value tables) and pay a considerably lower amount of transfer tax.

This is NOT just "a few thousand baht" but can be tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of baht.

Yeaaaahhh... but you will get yourself in trouble if you either want to get the full amount ouf of Thailand or use it for buying something else... you will lack prove of where it came from and can't use it... so you will only be able to use the undeclared amount for personal spending within Thailand... as long as you can live with that...

all the best to the woman for a speedy recovery!

What I don't get is why you people here have to speculate about why it happend or who (nationality) did it, why does that matter???

fact is that this is a horrible crime and no woman should ever be beaten at all

personal thought is that what ever nationality the criminal who beat her up has, he should get his *** cut off...

I think you have a point, submaniac, there are people on here that post some not very sensitive and sometimes offending comments about Thai in general and probably, their could be more reporting to mods for deletion (you can do this, you know that) and other people (like me) could object more and more clearly and not just ignore those comments.

However, from the things I see on TV, it is still a small minority of people who post such negative views and thus, you might currently be in a very sensitive mood and overrate those comments?

Also, I believe that if their would be a similar website for Thai in foreign countries, we might see similar offending comments from the Thai about the people living in that country, so I guess it is not only one-sided... I have not always been treated nicely by Thai people when I am in my favorite country, but I personally do not take those negative experiences for a general rant.

Just one example: I am Farang in your country and I do not mind being called farang... but I do realize that probably 50% of the Thai who call me farang do so with a very negative tone... shall I now condemn all Thais or should I say (as I do) ok, those 50% are less than 0.0000000001% of the Thai population, so let's not generalize and just ignore...

Maybe you should think the same about those posters with very negative attitude towards Thailand and the Thai population.

May I hijack the thread for a minute? Recently changed from Marlboro to American Spirit back home... and I have no idea whether I can find that new brand anywhere in Thailand? Since the change, I have not been back to the LoS and thus would appreciate to learn whether I should take my own stock with me or whether I can find that brand anyplace. Thanks

Way too many speculations from way too many posters without having any facts... the "physical altercation" could have been with the owner of a car rental who claimed damages that have been there before the rental... we all know about that kind of scams and blackmails...

Fact is that warrants can be put out without your knowledge... justified or not... whether for physical altercations or other reasons... and when you leave the country before the warrant can be served, you will never learn about it until you enter the country again... happend to me in France with an outstanding speeding bill (which was pretty high...) and my car plate was in the French police system... was taken out one year later when I tried to pass the french border again...

So th OP's question is pretty valid from my point of view: Can I and how can I find out if there is a (justified or unjustified) warrant outstanding on my name BEFORE I return to Thailand?

well, I would suggest to the Mods that you need a break... maybe a long one... as this is not and hopefully will never become a NSA dating website...

go to craigslist and put your ad, but keep your dreams out of ThaiVisa...