MisterTee

Is selling postcards begging or working without a permit?

Lots of people sell postcards and trinkets, not all are Thai nationals.

Julie M you could have said that you would rather her not sit down.

Yes, I could have. That would have been awkward as well. She was carrying a small child and possibly needed a break. I think I handled it quite well vs. saying "No, I rather you not sit here."

You couldn't have handled it any better.

You didn't let her dupe you, yet you didn't needlessly hurt her feelings.

I have difficulty understanding why he was released without charge. The flight attendant deserved more respect from the law even if the facts were a little exagerated,

We'll never fully know. You can be sure that substantial compensation was settled and accepted by the flight attendant.

No, you can't be sure that there was compensation payed to the flight attendent.

That's just what you want to believe. Speculation based on ignorant predjudice.

Thailand is unique and the good things it has aren't transferable.

I'll give a little insight shall I? I was duped out of 14m in my first years here. No matter how bright one is, there's always a way.

I got married... bought 2 large houses (in her name of course), a new Audi, (in her name of course), and this was AFTER she had had our BABY... yes baby. Married with baby, together 2 years. I thought I had a great life. I was working in China, earning well as a consultant. I was flying back and forth every 8 weeks. Into year 3, I flew back to Thailand, went home........ and... somebody I didn't know answered my door. She had sold both houses, emptied our JOINT bank account, and done a runner with my kid.

All my hard work and savings..... yes, I too went into a depression, but I never for once thought of suicide. I decided to make a comeback and get off my ass and fight on.

I did, and eventually met a fine woman, highly educated, as I waited and chose very carefully. Married 7 years now.... nice new home and new car, wife's a lecturer at Uni.

It is easy to be duped; my ex had it planned for 3 whole goddarned years..... including baby... to entice me to depart with my savings.

However, suicide was not an option for me. It's a shame for some, who just can't face such a loss. Don't, please, take the proverbial out of this young man; it can happen to anybody, especially if well planned!

I am sorry to contradict you on this - but no. Well planned or not, it really cannot happen to anybody. For starters, the day I buy a property here I would make damn certain that it requires both signatures on the sale document. If that is not possible, I simply wouldn't do it. I have been married and divorced here, a joint account was, is and always will be totally out of the question.

As for my divorce and settlement, it cost me the grand total of 45 baht. We had a child too, but I obtained full custody.

All of this while living here permanently, 12 months a year. If I was working abroad? Absolutely zero chance of me trusting any Thai girl, no matter how plausible, no matter how apparently genuine her feelings for me.

There is a reason why it does not happen to everybody.

Good post.

Only the fools rush in... and a lot of the farangs here are just that.

You've got to give it to these bar girls. They can run rings around even educated farangs. Obviously Western education isn't much use out in the real world.

Running an elephant breeding center. Come on, how could anyone fall for that one?

Oxford offers no degrees in StreetSmarts.

Best comment on the thread.

No, Oxford doesn't give degrees in street-smarts, but places like Thailand do.

That's why we're here... earning our post-graduate degrees.

Never take your own life. Come out fighting and never ever give up.

Exactly, and never get even, always get ahead.

...and there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Very sad

Very sad indeed.

What a waste of a young life.

Whatever drove him to excessive drinking doesn't justify the loss of his life.

RIP young man, hope you find calm and tranquillity where you have gone now.

Sad indeed, the loss of a large sum of money has driven many people to their death. It must be a horrible situation when you realize you lost a lot of money, especially through fraud, but you just have to deal with it and move on with your life.

I see some of my friends in the US that lost large sums in the 2008 real estate crash still struggling with it mentally. Thinking about it constantly, it is so much negative thinking it seems to have a bad effect on their physical and mental health. For some it is just too much grief to handle, RIP.

Detachment is the answer to their problems.

"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." As Rhett Butler said to Scarlett O'Hara.

Elephant breeding program, a fool and his money are soon departed.

They were lucky to get together in the first place.

If you want to live here for several months of the year you have to acclimatise and get used to it. By acclimatise i don't mean living in an aircon' world as that will never get you sorted. Live with fans if you must have cooler air and with as few clothes as possible indoors and around your place. I live in shorts and nothing else and only dress properly when i go out.

''Winter'' doesn't really kick off until mid-November, when temperatures fall especially at night.

Yes, I use the a/c no more than about 5 to 10 days of the year and then mainly in the bedroom at night when the heat and humidity are far worse than now ... and I stay in Pattaya, not in chilly Chiang Mai. Although the a/c may be refreshing once in awhile, I would hate to be in such a wonderful climate and then waste it by hiding in a refrigerated cave, which is what it feels like when I close all the windows and balcony doors. One reason I chose Pattaya over Chiang Mai is that the 4 or 5 times I've visited Chiang Mai it always seemed cold and rainy.

Install a ceiling fan or two. Have one fan that can be shifted about and that should be all you need 90% of time.

"...hiding in a refrigerated cave..."

Memorable phrase! Made my day... more or less.

@David48 - typical Thaivisa member talking about something they know absolutely NOTHING about

Halloween is a fantastic holiday - go to all your neighbors, get candy, treat the kids in your neighborhood, and overall just build a strong community and bond

It was brilliant to spend time with all of our neighbors, pass out candy to local neighborhood kids, and just overall have a great time as a neighborhood

Its clear you have no idea what you are talking about - idiot

Anybody who didn't grow up in the USA in the 1950s and 60s should be excused from understanding what a wonderful experience it was for all of us who did.

Halloween like so many other aspects of American life started to become truly creepy when cases of weirdos putting double edged razor blades in apples and poisoned treats changed everything.

Whatever the origins were as All Souls Day in Europe, we made it truly our own, and it was great fun while it lasted.

Alot of the residents in our village got very pissed off when the new head monk of the temple started cranking up the volume at 4am.

They organised a small delegation to talk to him about it and the noise was turned down to a more acceptable level.

Life can be very pleasant in Thailand if you do things the Thai way, and don't interfere with their religion or politics.

On behalf of all the MAS posters who commented on my posts,I would like to say a big thank you.You just confirmed my original opinion of you.I will leave it up to you to work it out.

Chill out Elmer... it's just a forum.

Why does Chalerm even make these statements? "Chalerm believes there are only two scenarios that could lead to a Pheu Thai defeat: Thaksin dies or quits politics."

Didn't Thaksin assert that he was finished with politics? Or, is was this a lie?

Scenario #1 might be seen as desirable by many of the players in this game.

If prostitution is the oldest profession, begging is the second oldest.

Nobody's gonna stop it.

^^^ Visitors don't know where it is.

While it'd be nice to see, can't help thinking Thailand could promote other cultures more often, to both honour their visitors a bit and to reciprocate. For instance, there are all sorts of Thai-centric events held in countries around the world, but nary a sliver of reciprocation here. I guess a lot of it comes down to the general populace not being very worldly or caring much for anyone else, but still...

What wrong turn led you to Thailand?

Not many consumer rights laws here in Thailand... Caveat Emptor.

The rats are always the first to leave a sinking ship.

^^^

Nancy your situation reminds me of a Thai horror movie my partner dragged me to a few years ago...

A guy strangles his girlfriend in a fit of passion... After remorse wears off he realizes he has to get rid of the body... So what does he do?... He lugs the body up to the condo rooftop and chucks her into the water tank!... Out of sight out of mind I guess he thought...

Well!... The Lady in 602 finds a pink fingernail in her sink while brushing her teeth... Then the fun begins for all the residents... And culminates with a shower scene with the very dense boyfriend...

So the water Dept gave no public reason for the abrupt water shutdown?...

Nancy... Best you wear a shower cap the next few days...

Maybe this is why they keep the door to the rooftop locked!

Either that, or it is to keep the farangs from jumping to their death.

Pathetic.

It shows the level of hatred that drunken sex-tourists have generated here.

Trouble is,

There has always been a lot of hookers working Airport Plaza and KSK.

Security has been keeping the hookers out of Maya and Festival.

Keep the pros out, and there will be less problems of this sort.

These creeps aren't looking for professional prostitutes... they're looking for innocent girls in their teens.

Wake up.

Might be caused by the General's anti corruption campaign. If the lines are not allowed to be corrupted by dubious Internet throttling practices carried out by the ISPs they then become clogged with overloaded traffic. Basically it's the same either way. Slow service.

That's an explanation that only a Red Shirt zealot could come up with.

Some good news for a change.

On topic or off, this thread has been quite entertaining!

Thanks to everybody for participating with such enthusiasm. Especially femi fan for her spirited defence of personal liberty and the right to make our own choices and decisions as long as they don't harm others.

She fought the good fight against a verbose, authoritarian bully who tried to impose the familiar big-government arguments promoting mindless conformity and unquestioning obedience to ridiculous and extortionate laws.

That's just idiocy, regardless of any other name you want to give it.

This topic started with my mistaken notion that there were fewer police checkpoints in Chiang Mai following the imposition of martial law.

Numerous posts disabused me of that idea very quickly.

My next inquiry was about other dubious police activities, and whether or not the Thai Army had curtailed them, and if so, to what extent?

Total silence on that one. Either the members don't know, or they're not telling.

The subsequent replies, although not without interest, became a debate about laws and how they can be used, and abused, to affect the everyday life of Chiang Mai people.

The civil-libertarians will never change their views; nor will the control-freaks who think that social stability depends on strict conformity, and zero-tolerance of anything they see as aberrant behaviour.

But to return to the original question: Is the Thai Army having any positive effect on preventing extortion by public officials?

Anybody know?