lapd

What you've done so far,, sounds reasonable, considering she's actually TRYING to better her self,,, she's not asking you to fully support, "give" her $ to lay around the house,,, no,, just help her out.... How does she, resiprocate, try to, "pay" you back?.... do all house cleaning?, laundry?,,, etc?.,, it's at least something she can do to show, she appericiates your supporting her attempting to better herself,,,,, Mine is similar in the respect I pay ALL bills, food, rent, etc,, she has her own job, sends her own $ home to mommy,, NEVER asks me for a single baht,,, I have to stop her sometimes, 7AM,, on her hands and knees, cleaning the bathroom area, laundry, dishes,,, something,,, I try to stop her,, her answer?,,, "Honey I do because you do so much for us",,,, Yes,, ,she says,,, "US",,,,

One day tell her "honey, I lost my job/money/will (or whatever). Let's take the last remaining money I have left, move up to Issan, buy a rice farm, and live in a tin shack. We will have nothing but rice and love to keep us going and that's all we need." She will be gone by that afternoon.

Seriously, the only person you are kidding is yourself if you do not think that it's money #1. Maybe they like you, maybe they appreciate you, maybe they want to be with you...but it all starts (and ends) with the money! That is Thailand. Are there exceptions? Yes but they are much rarer than people think. Of course when someone has that one story it's the one you delusional guys cling to as proof it can happen. Usually those stories have some exceptional circumstances. Maybe she runs a successful business and doesn't need your money. Maybe her parents are rich (extremely rare...those girls families usually don't let them date farangs). Does that mean you cannot live happily ever after? Not not at all. As long as you get past this nonsense that it's not about the money first and foremost.

You're helping her out. The only mistake so far as I see it was sending the parents the money.

especially the princely sum of 5,000 Baht which the parents will use to build a new house, buy a pickup and squander the rest on beer

That's just willful ignorance. If you think it's going to end at that and he will NEVER send another baht you don't know a thing about Thailand or Farangs who seem to have no problem being treated like an ATM...lol!

It's so weird to me that people say stuff like "You've found a gem", or, "She sounds like the exception to the rule".

I mean, what is your perception of Thailand?

The large majority of Thai women are hard-working, highly capable (of being independent) individuals.

I am sitting in an office building full of thousands of them, right now.

I just showed a Thai (female) friend this thread and she was cracking up.

Thais find it hilarious that foreign men hang out in the red light districts of tourist areas and with very low class, uneducated Thais in general and then make assumptions about Thai people on that basis.

Just find a normal woman for crying out loud. Find a woman around your own age, with a decent education and who speaks a decent level of English and avoid the problems that come from dating hookers or those desperate for anyone with a wallet to support their family.

The main difference between the bargirls and regular Thai women is that regular Thai women are much more expensive!

I do like the look at the younger Russian women so I'll miss them. Added some variety to all the similar looking dark hair brown eyed Thais.

It makes sense that Google would make improvements to Android. But it still is horrendous on Chrome on my iPad, MacBook Pro, and Vaio Vista Home Professional.

For the iPad, I use a translator called TableTalk by sayHi. It uses a split screen, and you can flip one of those screens end-to-end, set it down on a table, and have a realtime talk with someone as the machine translates for you. It has to be online to do this, but the end result is amazing. It rarely makes errors, and most of those are actually correct in government Thai but not in Isaan Thai. Close enough, though.

It was a free app when I got it a couple of years ago, and they keep making upddates. The vocabulary is huge, and the grammar is almost always spot on, Thai-Engllish and English-Thai.

Google Translate does exactly the same thing. Flipping back and forth with a split screen so you can theoretically have a conversation. You can download the library so that it works offline but the audio portion only works while online. Think online has a much larger library which only makes sense.

That SayHi app is only available for iOS which I will never use. If they ever do something for Android I'll give it a try.

Not every Thai woman who can speak some degree of English is out to scam a foreign man. C'mon people!

Reality Check!

We are talking about a 30 year old Thai woman sleeping with a 55 year old white foreigner in Pattaya.

No no it must be true love. I know because all the saps in this thread told me so. What a wonderful resource this place is.

Seems to keep getting better. You speak the english word into it and it will output the Thai word in Thai script and also speak the Thai word. Seems to work quite well.

Often times I am trying to use an English word that a Thai does not understand which I don't know the Thai word for so out comes the phone and I just speak the word in english. If it's in a noisy area I just show them the phone and they read the Thai script. Very useful.

It also allows you to go the other way which I think is a relatively recent addition. Have not had much luck with that direction though. It could be my bad tone of the Thai words. Have not gotten a Thai to use it yet to see if it's more accurate when spoken properly.

In June 2015 the Ruble/baht exchange rate was around 0.961, and is now at around 0.859, more than a 10% drop.

Its likely that the Russian which are here didnt cancel their trip because of Draconian cancelation policies over there, and are now trying to spend even less to minimize the impact of this depreciation.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if the depreciation of the Ruble continues, and what will the impact on Pattaya would be.

It's at a 10+ year low right now. In 2004-2005 it was around 1.4. That's a rather large drop in 10 years.

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=RUB&to=THB&view=10Y

Yes, but 10 years ago Russian tourism in Pattaya was virtually non-existent.

Check the drop in other currencies from 2004 until present and you'll find they dropped even more.

I don't believe a 10% currency drop is enough on its own to deter Russian tourists. Let's wait until the start of the high season to see what happens.

The Ruble dropped more than the Pound and the USD. Requires basic math skills and 5 minutes at the above link.

Oh thank budda. Now the jetski operators can resume normal business and the police can resume collecting their tea money. Of course it never stopped anyways but now more certainty it will not stop.

I think that a deal has been closed, and this is why she came back from her overseas trip. She won't be prosecuted, and someone else will have to face the court.

She did that overseas trip so that if she actually decides to run she can do it again without raising suspicion.

It's easy to dislike an over supply of baht buses and all the vendors clogging up a lane of a street or whatever. You gotta remember that these people are in survival mode. It's not like the western world where there are safety nets. If these people don't get customers they don't eat and they can't just switch occupations when they have no education and it's all they know. So those are the sorts of things the Thai authorities have to consider.

A lot of these baht bus drivers literally live in them. You will see them parked and sleeping in the back.

The majority of Baht buses are not owned by the drivers, they only rent them, a lot of them are rented from police owners, so it stands to reason why they operate with little regard for the law, and why there is so much of an oversupply of them.

Parked and sleeping in the back is usually because they are too drunk or too spaced out to drive, not because they are forced to live in them.

I never said forced. Also you see the same with the guys who drive those big buses. They have their washed clothes hanging on the mirrors, and make shift beds. You see them right on beach road doing that sometimes.

The point is, these guys are not making much money. Pretty much just in survival mode like many other Thais. Trying to cover the absolute basics of existence. So you cannot try look at it through western eyes and expect to truly understand the situation.

It's easy to dislike an over supply of baht buses and all the vendors clogging up a lane of a street or whatever. You gotta remember that these people are in survival mode. It's not like the western world where there are safety nets. If these people don't get customers they don't eat and they can't just switch occupations when they have no education and it's all they know. So those are the sorts of things the Thai authorities have to consider.

A lot of these baht bus drivers literally live in them. You will see them parked and sleeping in the back.

Unfortunately by concentrating themselves in the prime areas they also cut their own throats as there is plenty of business to be had in other areas, 3rd Road for instance, where they would find numerous customers if they just provide a service there.

I would love to see baht buses on 3rd road. Maybe they want to keep that road clear and don't allow them? A route that goes from 2nd road to Klang to 3rd road to Pattaya Tai would be very convenient imho. Then beach road in the other direction.

Sounds like the thing they do at night at the stall on the corner of South Road and Soi Buakow. Makes a nice change from Thai-style chicken rice.

They do both Khao Man Gai and what I believe is Khao Mok Gai. Yellow curry rice and dark meat chicken right? 35 for small and 40baht for bigger portion of chicken. Always busy because it's the best imho. They start up in the evening after the store closes.

A lot of expats I see walking around that look like they could be homeless.. So just saying "homeless guy in south Pattaya" doesn't narrow it down unfortunately.

Russians are fun to watch (often eye candy city the men and the women) but when any ONE demographic dominates (as the Russians have in Pattaya/Jomtien) especially in high season, it makes the area less interesting. More diversity is always better. I am looking forward to increased Chinese presence ... as their FOOD is so much BETTER than Russian food (which is incredibly BORING).

Be careful what you wish for. You haven't seen rude till you've seen the Chinese tourists en masse in action. They make the Russians seem like the height of politeness. Seen them in action in Macau & Hong Kong acting like they own the places (which, er, actually they now do). Mass pushing plus plenty of spitting onto the streets. A most unpleasant combination.

I am hoping for more INDEPENDENT traveler Chinese tourism. I am really starting to see that A LOT MORE. I agree Chinese tour groups are scary!

And they take the whole street when they walk

The only thing that bothers me is those big diesel belching buses clogging up the streets.

It's easy to dislike an over supply of baht buses and all the vendors clogging up a lane of a street or whatever. You gotta remember that these people are in survival mode. It's not like the western world where there are safety nets. If these people don't get customers they don't eat and they can't just switch occupations when they have no education and it's all they know. So those are the sorts of things the Thai authorities have to consider.

A lot of these baht bus drivers literally live in them. You will see them parked and sleeping in the back.

In June 2015 the Ruble/baht exchange rate was around 0.961, and is now at around 0.859, more than a 10% drop.

Its likely that the Russian which are here didnt cancel their trip because of Draconian cancelation policies over there, and are now trying to spend even less to minimize the impact of this depreciation.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if the depreciation of the Ruble continues, and what will the impact on Pattaya would be.

It's at a 10+ year low right now. In 2004-2005 it was around 1.4. That's a rather large drop in 10 years.

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=RUB&to=THB&view=10Y

I think there will be much harsher sanctions soon. There is still a lot the NATO countries can do and not a lot Russia can do in response (economically) They can turn off the gas but that would arguably be worse for them then it would for Europe so would not be a very wise thing. Then again, Poots has not been making any wise decisions lately.

Well given Russia is practically openly invading Ukraine now additional international sanctions will inevitably follow. This will mean less Russian tourists and a bleak future for the many businesses who depend on their custom. Not good news for the many hotels who would be gearing up for the annual "friendly" invasion of Thailand. And of course 711s, restaurants, massage clinics etc etc. But, judging by many replies to this topic, many Pattaya expats will be happy.

Most Thais will take their business wherever they can get it but from what I hear Russians are not the best customers. They generally don't tip (or at least not much) and tend to treat the Thais badly from what I hear. So maybe they won't be missed as much as some people think.

Monday, September 01, 2014

Account opened with Bkk bank at 2nd road/soi 6. They asked for passport, residence certificate, 500 baht to open the account + 300 baht for the ATM card. *

2 female staff at desks 7 and 8 made a few comments that were impolite. Unexpected for 2 educated and trained employees.

*Must wait 2 weeks for online banking to be activated.

I have dealt with those girls there and they are very professional. Seems to be lots of farangs coming and going so they are definitely used to dealing with us. What exactly did they say that was impolite...(puzzled)? Was in there not too long ago and they actually pulled me ahead of the Thais with queue numbers before mine. So I always feel like I am getting the royal treatment when I am in there presumably just because I am farang.

Yes it takes a couple weeks for the online to get setup (has to be done in Bangkok) so I can confirm that one. I did not have to produce a residence certificate. They probably just used that to get your local address which you do need. They didn't do any checks on that address and they will never send anything there if you don't want them to as far as I know. I have it set up for everything to get sent to the bank if there ever is anything.

Talked with an expat friend the other day who has an account there. He also has a Kasikorn account. Says he thinks Bangkok bank 2nd road is better overall and does most of his banking there. He says that 2nd road branch was able to do things other branches could not (possibly only because the didn't know how). Can't remember what it was.

Why do you guys still even consider this bank when they are obviously running a scam? Why keep going around to different branches trying to find a person who will not try pull this scam? What's the appeal of Kasikorn? It's not like you don't have other banks to choose from with the same services and ATMs all over the place.

Bangkok Bank did not try run any scams or sell anything to me. Took maybe 20minutes to set up and I was out the door with my bank book. They have multiple branches around town and ATM's all over the place just like Kasikorn.