MeHere

It is not a tradition. It is a scam on foreigners.

If that is case, then explain why Thai men pay a sinsod

Thai men do not pay a sindod. None that I know of, nor any expats. Perhaps I live in a different society to you where the brides parents always pay fpr the wedding.

P,S I have been here a long time

I don't know where you live, but most, (not all) Thai men that I know of have paid a sinsod to marry their Thai or Thai-Chinese wife... Some of those got the money back, some did not.

Just last year an actress married a very wealthy businessman and he paid a sinsod to her parents to the tune of around 100MTHB

I bought my latest laptop (Dell M4700) from ebay still with 2 years international warranty and a friend hand carried it in... Best laptop and price I've ever had!

And then there was that Hong Kong billionaire who was killed last year from a bottle of fake Dom. Too much pressure in the bottle. The cork hit him in the temple and killed him. It was sold to him at a super high end hotel in Hong Kong.

Oh my! Killed by fake champagne!!! <deleted> will we hear about next???!!!

OTOH methinks one should point any bottle away from oneself before opening it...

Good it didn't hit the poor geezer in the eye... At least he didn't suffer! RIP

Some of the answers here are just plain pathetic, and some are just out and out lies.

It makes me think that the guys that answer like this got the el cheapo version (read hooker, low class, gold digger type; maybe akin to trailer trash in my neck of the woods) instead of a real wife or they didn't get nothing at all but sitting around drinking themselves into lonely oblivion... Good luck with that!

Discuss it with your girl and come to a mutual agreement if it comes up at all...

I will pay ~300kthb when I marry, the parents will take care of the wedding costs. That's nothing compared to a western wedding. diamond ring, and marrying a much older fatter smellier feminist.

A friend of mine that married into a much richer family than I put 1mthb down at the alter which was all returned in the end.

It's different depending on many circumstances.

I'm also about to marry, and my wife and I discussed this. We agreed to 300kthb, and that's fine by me.

She's proved that she isn't a greedy money grubber in the 4 years we've been together, and actually she's super lovely. I met her when she was 27, and she has no kids and was never married. She's actually put herself through university all on her own and pays back a student loan about 15kthb per year. She's been my anchor since we've been together, and I consider myself super lucky to find such a wonderful woman to be my partner.

Her parents are from Surin... Mom can't work due to a physical condition, and Dad's a construction worker off season and a rice farmer on season... Needless to say, they are quite poor, but raised her to be positive, lovely, and with integrity.

I have no problem whatsoever putting a dowry up when we marry... it helps her parents out immensely, and they are super lovely people who just want their kids to be happy and do better.

<snip>…..oh, and seafood.

Yeah great seafood... the oysters from King's put me in the hospital for a day

Not sure how they can do this given that the US still has a moratorium on adoptions from Cambodia. There are talks about lifting it but AFAIK hasn't happened yet.

But isn't she British?

No, she's American. She's Jon Voight's daughter

So the banks are issuing hand guns to there security guards now....

I have never seen a guard with a gun.

All the guards that fill the ATMs with money carry guns, but they seem much more professional than the typical bank 'security' guards.

RIP Starman... a sad day for sure

I often play his albums while driving... my wife doesn't like it much, she's Thai :-(

I told her that he passed, she didn't know who he was until she saw it on the news...

Then I saw the news that Thairat mistakenly reported that David Bowie wrote 'It's My Life'. SMH

I don't know how someone could justify working here at all at even 50 or 60k, unless they were financially independent.

I live in the area, so it's great to see so much careful planning and forward thinking is being applied.

I live in this area too and although the traffic is still pretty bad on Paholyothin, it's much better than I thought it would be. Drivers seem unusually courteous right around soi 35 where the 4 lanes are force merged down to 2 lanes.

I've developed my technique dubbed 'buss surfing' where I use the bold buses and vans to merge left.

I think a big problem here and other 'developing' nations is the lack of standards and planning on the roadways that leads to right-of-way confusion (for humans for now), extreme traffic jams, and bottlenecks. Before they can implement an automated system, they would need to adjust the roadway systems to follow a set of standards.

Right now, it's the wild wild east... just try and follow road lanes, especially when coming to intersections, toll booths, roundabouts, and other areas where traffic merges and exits... it's a complete nightmare and none of them are following any known or unknown standard besides pandemonium.

Sometimes I'm not sure what some of these lane makers' doing the planning are smoking, but it must be strong! SMH

"If I stopped looking after myself, everything that I have worked for — all the investment I have made to keep myself white — would disappear," says the 35-year-old starlet. "New stars would replace me, I would fade away."

So, all that investment in your skin color and it all boils down to your looks only, not your talent, what a waste.

Materialistic superficial shallow people. Keep perpetuating it.

Smart boy... somehow I doubt that this incident will wipe the sh1t eating grin off that mug

what a terrible and lonely way to go... RIP old man

Where's the 12 ways to enjoy island living? Let's see:

• Eating at expensive restaurants (island living? really?)
• Shopping at Jung Ceylon (island living? really?)
• Golfing (island living? really?)
• Sailing (island living? ok, maybe off island living)
• Walking and hanging on beaches (wow! there's one example!)
• Living in a condo (island living? really?)
• Eating chinese food (island living? really?)
• Buying pearls right off the farm (island living? really?)
• Zip Lines to nowhere (island living? really?)
• Going to western style nightclubs (island living? really?)

Looks like merely a marketing exercise to show where to blow a lot of cash. Not much ado about island living... Sad.

Fantastic trip and video!

Interesting to follow the web address at the bottom of the calendars...chitpas.com

Chitpas Tant Kridakon... another hi-so surely in touch with the masses

To the OP (or anyone else for that matter) do you know what the actual statistical risks of catching gonorrhea are

1) in general

2) even if the bargirl actually has the infection

This would be useful.

Is it not also true that the dose of antiibiotics required to clear gonorrhea is less than required to sort out an ear infection.

The first time I caught 'something' was when I was 17 years old... she wasn't a 'bar girl', just a girl, but I suspect she was at least pretty well experienced, given the circumstances and the overall (great but short) experience. I can say that this was extremely painful :-S

The next time I caught something was here in BKK last year, 37 years later at 54 years old, after a very long list of mostly unprotected sex with bar girls for six years while living here and also beforehand many hundreds of short to medium length relationships. This time it was quite uncomfortable, but not nearly as painful as my first time... Not sure if it was a different STD, or if I had just built up callouses over the years.

I consider myself very lucky.

all I want is a link to the video... can't find the damn thing anywhere :-S

Stayed in a hotel in Pattaya & when l booked out they said that they would refund the 500 Baht deposit when l produced the receipt.

l did so & the TWO receptionists looked very disappointed. One gave the 500 Baht to the other(instead of to me)& the other girl asked me if she could keep the 500Baht.

When l insisted on the money, she reluctantly passed it over & asked again if l could "give it to her".

Positive that they were hoping that l'd misplaced the receipt.

Plenty of cheek.

This is one of the things I dislike so much here. I feel not one ounce of pity for these beggars

So many times I'm asked for a tip, for no reason other than them just being there, or asking. I just answer with another question and grin "Why?"

They often say it jokingly, but I know deep down inside they mean it. One reason they have no money is because the lazy slags sit around on their asses waiting for their money ship to sail in.

What makes them expect that they should get any money for nothing whatsoever?

If you carry your Original Passport on you, and you are here legally, you will not experience any problems. I can't see anything less confusing that this.

The US has a Passport Card that is able to be used for travelling to outside the continental US to places like Mexico, Canada, and the islands around her. I'm finding it an excellent ID to use for most occasions like this, even though it's not the passport (even a different number) I entered the Kingdom with.

I carry mine in my wallet as well as my Thai driving license and a photo of my visa/stamps, this has seemed to be fine for the few times I've been asked for it and it's eliminated the risk of losing my original.

As I said I asked a simple question was there many exhibitors selling bike parts !!!!!

Fortunately some members took the time to read what I asked and answered my question ,many thanks to them

Why dont you start a forum topic about bike parking in bangkok im sure there would many people happy to discuss such an Interesting subject

Regards nick

Actually, your first question was if it's worth going. People answered according to their experience, DELETED

Interesting is the 'pricing chart' at the corner of asoke and soi cowboy, although I don't know the prices exactly, but it is still open for huge interpretation/abuse:

• There is a 40thb or so price from there to Sukh.soi 24 (1.2km)
• There is no pricing to the other direction (towards Nana)
• Price to sukh.soi 8 (800m) has been typically 40thb, although I am sometimes charged 50thb and once even 60thb, after arguing for some seconds that I never paid more than 50thb, it was apparent I just wasn't gonna win
• During the day, I usually pay 60thb to sukh.soi4 (1.2km), but at night, the price often goes up to 80thb, which is just highway robbery IMO

Not sure how the prices are calculated, but these guys need to be brought in line cuz it's the wild wild east in this sector