marstons

I read most of the posts here, i think people (many of them) are not aware it is different culture before they arrive in Thailand. Most of them didnt visit before and look pictures and videos, speak with cute Thai lady and decide to go to Thailand marry there and stay long time. Fact is you cannot change culture since you are visitor and not somebody who is allowed to change something. If Sin sod is part of Thai culture ( and i dont see nothing bad in Sin sod because it is different everything from western countries, somebody must take care for family after marriage it is simple thing) i have nothing against it. I see many people say i will not pay this i will not pay that, no trust family no trust wife, i mean why you want marry with that lady in first place? And many say i want pay 30 baht for marriage 500 baht for suit and thats it. come on do you pay in western country for marriage 50 euros LOL last marriage i went for my friend it costed 20.000 euro ONLY marriage and it is not considered as expensiva marriage, many farang come and say i dont want pay "dowry" i see that big disrespect for Thai culture, would you like somebody come to your country and want change culture, something that is happening for hundred of years i think you wouldnt like. Many people want have beautiful Thai lady but not think that Thais are connected with family and culture too much. Many of them come barely to survive and want to stay there because life is cheap, girls are cheap. Funny people really. I have Thai girlfriend and her parents passed away but when we marry it should be still about that she say we will have money together from that, i will give to her it doesnt matter, i not want marry in some shithole pay 30 baht and thats it. Many of you want marry because of visa, and cheap life, but dont want accept culture. I really dont understand most of people here who post all that.

So how many other of their cultures do they hang onto, certainly not the precepts of Buddhism. What our culture? When i married it had to be at the Ampour office like it or not and it was not a shit hole. Shorts and shirt, not about the money.

1. I undertake the training rule to abstain from killing. Pāṇātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. 2. I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking what is not given. Adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. 3. I undertake the training rule to avoid sexual misconduct. Kāmesumicchācāra veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. 4. I undertake the training rule to abstain from false speech. Musāvādā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. 5. I undertake the training rule to abstain from fermented drink that causes heedlessness. Surāmerayamajjapamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.^[6]

English tradition is we do not have Sin Sod, so we had English style agreement 0 baht. It does not always have to go the Thai tradition way, It seems the only Thai tradition they want. After that its all farang style. So it would be a no from me, if its an issue with her then its not a marriage for the right reasons anyway.

I did go through all the visa crap and expense to ILR stage and she earned enough in UK to buy her own new house etc.

 

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So that's two traps she's firmly set foot in . . . going somewhere that wasn't agreed to and not knowing the basics about rice.

 

A serious "PM" or "leader" really needs to be a bit more aware of what they are doing and the world around them.

From what I read in other newspapers she informed the junta she would go to Singapore.  A serious member of TV really needs to be a bit more aware of what they are saying here.   But that seem usually here open mouth insert foot.

 

It's OK Mango Bob, no one here takes you seriously so when you open your mouth and insert your foot, we just laugh quietly at you from behind the screen.

 

One of the "conditions" to her leaving Thailand was "Yingluck must inform the Thai authorities of her whereabouts through overseas embassies while travelling." and "In her plan submitted to the junta, she said she would visit France, United Kingdom and the United States."

 

She was given permission to visit France (specifically Paris) to visit her brother for his birthday celebrations . . . Singapore was not mentioned on the itinerary nor was it agreed to.

 

And the about it just accept it, no choice, great at ripping down beach shacks and buying favour with  extra days holiday costing the country billions. They never fought a war and are not going to start one with Yingluck, she got more balls than them. She will come and go as she pleases.

There an area just outside of Perth with quite a few of Thai brothels, bet they all had a reason to return but did not, hence the rigorous testing.

Usual Thai efficiency there are plenty of empty parking bays for aircraft and it is no where near what it could be. They cant even be bothered to take down the old Terminal 1 Terminal 2 and domestic signs around the airport. As is the norm its will become chaotic in no time. meanwhile neighbouring countries build low cost airports and they run efficiently.

One of Swampy's biggest problems is runway closures for repairs up to 200+ per year, reducing capacity.

Cant blame Thaskin for swamppy the land was bought in the early 70's and he did finally get it built, apparently with a lot of contacts going to friends etc.

Just for info if you drive and do finally manage to find an open car park be aware its not a pay on exit its a pay inside the airport so dont go with your ticket to pay on exit. Again still many car park signs but most closed.

What would've happened during those floods if DMK were the only airport?

They would have protected it better and diverted the water else where, since it was of no importance why bother.

Mobi's

Tales from a Barfly

One thing is for sure – win, lose or draw life is never dull when running bar on the Darkside, and hardly a day goes by when there isn't an incident of one kind or another to get the juices going.

I have written often about a certain ‘resident drunken’ – the German gentleman, the self-styled ‘Mr Ting-Tong.’ As with most continental Europeans, Mr Ting Tong does speak some English – albeit very slowly and very precisely, but with pretty good pronunciation.

His most commonly used English phrase when he is at Mobi's is “You! Mobi! Very good man!” which he repeats loudly, while shaking my hand vigorously.

The problem is that apart from telling me that I am ‘very good man’ the rest of his English never makes the slightest sense to me or anyone else who he is talking to. The only way that either I or the staff can communicate with him is in Thai, with a generous smattering of Issan thrown in for good measure.

Many is the time that I have spoken to him in Thai /Issan and he has responded in the same tongue and the girls have sat around laughing their heads off!

Hopefully using modicum of gentle humour, I have described on a number of occasions about Mr Ting-Tong’s efforts to defy his highly intoxicated condition and drive home on his motorcycle.

I have received a lot of flak from those who protested that we were wrong in allowing the girls to assist him onto his bike.

I tried to explain that whether or not the girls assisted him, he would still succeed in driving away under his own steam, but it might have taken him a little longer.

After due consideration, I have concluded that my critics were right and I was wrong.

While we can do nothing to stop drunks driving home - except to offer to drive them which we do quite often - we should not in any way assist them with their efforts. As someone pointed out, how would we feel if we helped him onto his bike and he had a bad accident?

So a few nights ago, I took matters in hand and told the girls not to help him as he tried to kick-start his bike. I explained to them that their actions may have bad consequences and they all immediately understood and desisted.

It took him quite a while to start his bike – maybe around 10 minutes, but in the end he got it going and off he wobbled on his dangerous way home.

Five minutes later he was back again. Why, I know not. He was very angry and kept swearing obscenities in German and English under his breath.

He wandered in and out of the bar for quite a while before, once more sitting astride his machine and taking another 10 minutes to keep the bike’s engine running, (every time he put it in gear he stalled it), and off he went for a second and final time….

*

Then there was the bar owner who came by late the other night with the utterly convincing story of how he had just been to his bar, (which he jointly owned with his estranged wife), and the wife’s new Thai boyfriend had put a gun to his head, whereupon he beat a hasty retreat…

A few days later he made another attempt to go to his bar and was beaten up by his wife who slashed his head with a broken glass.

I think he is slowly coming to the conclusion that if he continues to try and get his share out of the bar, he might end up on mortuary slab – or more likely, in Mabprachan Lake in a bin bag.

*

Some days we have a good crowd in and other days, we can go an hour or more without a single customer. It seems to be the way of bars on the Darkside, and during the three months we have been trading there is no discernible pattern as to what days are good and what days are bad. It varies widely from day to day, week to week, month to month

Sometimes, I will be sitting tat Mobi's, late in the evening on a day when we have been doing very meagre business and suddenly the bar is packed with late night revellers, who often stay until the small hours.

I have learnt never to write a day off until we are well past midnight, as you never know who might turn up at the last minute and spend a 'bucket load' of money.

There is one valued customer who specialises in late night arrivals and always keeps us going well past the ‘witching hour’ and spends a fair amount of money.

I will call him Frank.

Frank is one of life’s characters, by any standards, and he always is full of fun and life and he soon has us and the girls in fits of laughter with his jokes and zany behaviour.

Luckily for us, he also one of life’s genial drunks, and the drunker he gets, the more genial he becomes.

Frank loves 80’s music, and the first time he came by, he insisted on me downloading a load of 80’s video song tracks from You Tube. As I played them, he would sing along in a loud voice as remarkably, he knew all the words of every single song.

Frank always ‘rings the bell’ several times, and after all the ladies have received their drinks, he refuses to let them come over and '

'clink' glasses with him.

He doesn't want any fuss, and just wants to make everyone happy and put a bit of cash in their pockets.

The next time Frank dropped by I was prepared. I had downloaded all the songs he had requested on his previous visit and had added a few of my own which I thought might appeal to him.

Fortunately I got it spot on and he loved the new ones along with the old ones we had played before.

On two occasions Frank has asked me to play the long version of Michael Jackson’s 'Thriller' which, for those who haven’t seen it, it is a brilliant 15 minute video. It is very, VERY scary, especially when played in almost total darkness on ‘The Darkside’, next to a spooky, ethereal lake…

And were they sacred…. And did they scream….

Frank loves getting the girls involved in dancing and singing and tries to teach them the choruses of the songs so that they can join in with him.

On one particular night, it was very late, and all our lights were off, but the party was still in full swing. I put on a video track that some of you may know called “Matchstalk Cats and Dogs”, which is about the famous Lancashire artist, W.S. Lowrie.

The song has a great marching tempo with a very catchy and rousing chorus. In less than a minute, he had all the girls singing, and for those of you who know the song, he even got them ‘counter-signing’ ‘Ally ally oo, alley all oo’ against the main melody line. Magic.

It was an amazing accomplishment – no doubt fuelled on both sides by copious amounts of alcohol and great time was had by one and all.

Frank always orders a take-away chicken curry with chips, and he always stays for at least an hour after the food has been delivered to his table.

‘Frank, your chips will be cold!’ I would say.

‘Ee lad, don’ you worry abeet that. I’ll just chuck the hot curry over the chips and they will taste jest greeeet!’

Frank – we love you……

*

Last night started quietly, with my ever present and very loyal, daily group of nearby residents, (thank you gentlemen – you know who you are); but as sometimes happens, as the night wore on, the customers kept coming and coming.

There was one gentleman from California who stayed all evening and chalked up a very generous bill. He had heard about Mobi’s from my blog and had decided to drop by and liked what he found.

Then there were a couple from Ireland, who come to holiday in Pattaya every year, and like the Canadian, had read about Mobi’s on my blog and decided to seek us out.

Then there was a third gentleman, who was very complementary about our bar vis a vis nearby bars, and it was very kind of him to say that. He spent the evening working his way through Mobi’s bar list, as he said his favourite activity was having a different drink, every time he ordered….

And so it went on… topped by a couple of long-time residents who I have known for years, and who I rediscovered a few days ago when they popped by for a late late nightcap. Once again we were able to catch up on old times and mutual acquaintances.

Every single customer was a pleasure to talk to and I have to say, whether or not we go broke, running this bar is anything but boring.

*

Finally, very late in the evening, the girls all suddenly rushed out of the bar to the other side of the road near to the lake.

What on earth????

There had been a minor accident – a farang and a Thai girl had fallen off a motorcycle.

Neither of them were hurt and the girl was very angry. As the man tried to get up, the girl kept screaming at him and beating him on his back.

The girls returned to the bar and left the warring couple to it.

The shouting continued for a while, but eventually, the couple got back on the bike and drove away.

Never try to get in between a belligerent Thai woman and her equally angry farang boyfriend.

No good will ever come of it and you will get no thanks…

More ‘Barfly Tales’ soon…..

Having witnessed the whole event the first time the girls did assist him onto his bike and gave him a wobbley push off, as you say he returned and then started with the F Words to the staff, he was then left alone to kick away on on his bike a while before going off. Best option then he maybe have an accident and be unfit to drive for a while.Maybe you missed the first assisted push off.

Guy opposite Kiss restuarant on SSCC repairs fridges etc he may be able to fix and he is not far away. Collinbournes auction house often have freezers in that sell cheap.

Glad to hear it was not the neighbours tapping into your electric.

This is how they can end up, not a family pet a gift put in my garden. Vet on Pattaya Tai put him down for 2000 baht. Also lost my pet dog, long horrible ending all night and she had been vaccinated. Recovery rate according to vet is about 50% and i have seen some the dogs at Maparachan live through it but lot of discharge from nose and eyes. family pets its distressing also for me not good to see soi dogs go out that way either. these particular one's live near no houses and its a closed off road.

It so happens that the person who is providing the music is a very good singer. Singer John?!?!

He also has some nice places available for rent as well as being a very talented DJ and singer. Not bad kareoke if Singer John is running the show.

 

'Terror tunnels', 'Rockets' 'wipe off map'

Perfectly good reasons for putting a stop to Hamas terrorism. Thanks for pointing them out.

 

No country on earth would allow a terrorist group to fire thousands of rockets at them, tunnel under their border and call for their destruction while targeting civilians on a regular basis. The civilian death toll is mostly on Hamas. 

 

so do you think the 150+ children killed by Israel are Hamas? USA tried to bomb the tunnels in Vietnam and that one failed as well. Isreal is prity much protected by drone system and casualties extremely light. Go for Hamas not women and kids.

 

As far as I know all the Kodak photo shops do this. Prices vary from shop to shop but 200B seems expensive to me.

 

200 baht expensive? 

 

He takes a copy of your passport face sheet and visa page, Photoshops them down to the right size, inserts a photo of the passport cover appropriate for your country, arranges them to fit on a business card, prints it front and back, then laminates.

 

All for the equivalent of $6 USD...doesn't sound expensive to me.  I now do my own based on how he did our first ones, and then get them laminated at MailBoxes. Easier for me that way.

 

According to PCEC, these cards are accepted by the local police as meeting the ID requirements.

 

 

 

 

Paid 20 baht yesterday passport  photo page 1 side visa other side. Laminated. kodak shop near Banglamung post office. 

Got stuck behind one myself few months ago, bit of a shock as i assumed it had just landed in the road, one never knows here.

Check that next door is not tapping into your lines anywhere ?

Yes, that has occurred to me. Not quite sure how to check, but will try to look into it.

I somehow doubt it - for a number of reasons - not least of which, the owners are decent folk and I can't see their staff even bothering.

Also i don't think he is that fussed about a few thousand baht. They happily share the internet with you so as you say nice folk and owners OK. You got lucky with them they don't even play any music.

My two Cents....

 

I hope the crackdown will force the schools which have been refusing to help get WP's for their teachers into doing so.

 

I think it should be degree or TEFL. Those people who always argue "Thailand needs qualified teachers" are demanding we have a B.Ed. and teaching license. It's not needed to teach English speaking and listening.

 

The wage is not the issue into getting "qualified" teachers. Those who say no one would work for $1000 per month or $6 an hour, remember it's 6 times the minimum wage. In Canada that is like $60 an hour! I put half of my 30k baht in the bank every month. I live better in Thailand on $1K than I did on $4.5k.

 

Those who blame bad, unqualified foreign teachers for Thailand's poor English ability, have never seen a Thai classroom.

 

 

 

I would imagine it would be of a better standard than a Philippine classroom where there is a will to learn English and they come out of it speaking almost fluent English. From what teachers tell me there is little interest from students to learn another language here.

OP you don't sound your writing about the Darkside, thats East Pattaya. Loads of westerners in condos near where you are talking about try soi arunothai pattaya near Big C. Lots down there.

Always used Enterprise no problems, as its only been for a few days took their insurance. Free taxi home when returning if not returning to airport car park but may be hit with a one way charge. If you don't take their insurance they do take a charge of your credit card, if the car is returned OK card is refunded.

As an ex insurance employee, very large international company, No licence for driver no insurance cover irrespective who is driving or has licence. Simple as that, some will tell you otherwise but not correct. An licence from your 'home' country is only valued for three months use in Thailand and must be accompanied by an International Driving Permit ( No such thing as licence) or certified Thai translation which is accepted more than the IDP.

Not correct, IDP is not required in Thailand provided the home DL is in English and has photo. certified Thai translation is not required.

Sorry you are wrong, what happens and what should happen are two entirely different things. Technically as per Thai law a home driving licence is NOT acceptable on it's own. Check the law.

Please don't start this discussion here again.

This discussion has been held here many times, and the result is always the same: home license is valid, provided in English and with photo. IDP is not required, but can be helpful sometimes.

Having work with the police and at times traffic police they said they only accepted Thai or IDP end of. From the horses mouth or as they saw it. My insurance AXA take photos copies of licence (Thai) of me and named driver nothing else is legal in their eyes. So the police and insurance companies view things differently to you. I know who's version of the law I would go with.

http://thailand.angloinfo.com/transport/driving-licences/

"If the driver is not a tourist or visitor but is a resident with a non-immigrant visa, then it is necessary to have a Thai driver's licence. However, those with a foreign licence as described above or an International Drivers Licence are excused from doing the practical driving test when applying for a Thai driving license."

Mobi’s Update

After spending the early morning at the cop shop and then welcoming our three newcomers to Mobi’s in the afternoon, we settled in for what I assumed would be a slow-ish Tuesday.

After all, Monday was a pretty slow day - although it was not in any way a disaster - but what with one thing or another, I wasn’t expecting too much.

But as a good bar-owner friend told me, it’s becoming almost impossible to predict day by day how a bar’s business will do. On some weeks, Thursday will be a ‘off day’, and the next week, it will be a Monday, and so on. Sometimes, weekends can be slow, and then the very next weekend the bar will do a roaring trade.

There is little rhyme or reason to it, and we just have to ‘ride’ with the highs and lows if we don’t want to go completely round the bend.

And so it was with yesterday – Tuesday. At no time yesterday could I describe the bar as being close to full, but the customers kept coming and going all evening - right up to closing time and beyond - and when we totted up our day’s takings, we had had one of best trading days ever!

It was quite remarkable….

Our three newbie distaff staff, all straight out of a Nong Khai village and all of whom had never been near any kind of place of entertainment in their lives, were soon in the thick of it, keeping our numerous customers happy.

Yesterday, Singha John was conspicuous by his absence, but I am not counting my chickens just yet awhile. We’ll see if he returns to the scene of his disgraceful behaviour, and if so, what he decides to do about it.

Will he let it go and sit quietly and continue in his quest to double the profits of Boon Rawd Brewery ?

Or will he seek revenge as he has threatened to do?

If he does, he may live to rue the day.

Anyway, it’s onwards and upwards, and what with one thing and another, I am starting to feel quietly confident about the future of Mobi’s.

Many of our new customers are paying return visits, and we are continuing to receive compliments on our three main priorities: Service, Music and Food.

On top of this, we have created a pleasant ambience, in which you can indulge inlively and intelligent conversation with like-minded drinkers.

Or you can simply sit with your partner or friend(s); or indeed come by yourself and watch “the world of Mobi’s” go on around you.

For the football fans, The EPL is beckoning on the horizon, and there will more news on this soon, including a few special ‘fun’ promotions to whet your footballing and drinking appetites….

With the bar next door due for a total revamp and modernisation could be turning into a a good strip of bars in the area as Pattaya is extremely quite. All good stuff for the lake.

I'm hoping that when she gets to the airport with her 20 or so bags, they are thoroughly checked. I doubt she's coming back.

Yeap bit like the monk with his own Lear jet who left with millions in the bank.Corruption every where.

http://privatejetdaily.com/201306183786/latest/controversial-youtube-video-shows-monks-traveling-lavishly-in-a-private-jet.html

She will be back, someday has to elections and they will have finger in the pie. The Junta cannot be seen to stop freedom of movement to an ousted democratic leader other wise would be seen as the new Myanmar. Sure the Junta doing a great job domestically but the outside world not so impressed.

I have to clarify: I am not worried about divorce as it is her property /land anyway. What worries me if she dies before me and the dreaded family leaches come and kick me out. Her immediate family are OK (mom, dad and brother) but extended family are hard core leaches. The one advantage I have is we are long distance away from the family.

Lease the house off your wife for 30 years then its your for 30 years, put a succession clause with the land registry that if you die first house reverts back reverts to her. She wont mind as your married and there for she should have no objection. If she dies first leaches can swivel.

BTV worst internet supplier I ever used True way better.

Where in Pattaya is wild and crazy now days? would love to know where. Its sedate and tame IMHO now days