bergan

54 minutes ago, Joe Mcseismic said:

Maybe you should get your dictionary out.

That was sarcasm, not irony.

I had my drunkonary out.

10 minutes ago, Russell17au said:

Na, that bloke is a Brit, unfortunately this clown is an Australian that should be sent back there and never be allowed to leave again.

I was only playing around, I know that wasn't the guy the OP is talking about. Put your irony glasses on and read my post over again.

2 minutes ago, Na Lee said:

Welkome to LOS (land of scans)....Som Nam Na......

Scanners are actually quite affordable here, yes. Som nam na!

1 hour ago, BestB said:

I realize i am about to become the most hated person on this thread BUT.

 

1. Your friend is liable for bike to be returned, even just to get security deposit

2. You have no idea if police looked or did not look or what they did or did not do

3. From your update and i quote "My friend had booked her Hotel in Kata for 6 nights but he said it was nothing like the images online and told the woman this. He stayed a couple of nights and said he was going back to Patong as it was a better Hotel."

 

Does sound like your friend is a d...k. I have no doubt in my mind he was one and how he approached it.

 

If your friend was all that bothered, he could have checked out, could have taken pics of the actual room and send it to the company where he booked to show the difference and ask for refund, if he booked direct, and paid with credit card, he could have sent pics to the bank and file for chargeback.

 

But instead he chose to belittle the owner and tell her how there are better hotels and how bad hers is. To make matters worse, he already was unsatisfied, so he goes ahead and rents an old bike from her?

 

Let me guess, her bikes were 50 baht cheaper than any other place?

 

4. You now accuse owner being a scammer, yet have no evidence to support this claim

5. You claim bike was returned but hidden, which is again, nothing but a speculation cocked up by you and your friend

 

You then go on beating your self in the chest like king kong claiming it is not over and you are someone in the position of power to "teach" them a lesson. Which i personally find ironic lots of talk and no action

 

You then go on belittling the owner of the hotel more, by saying she would be selling somtam by the time you finish with her, i would say it would be you who would be crying on a new thread.

 

But if to accept your rants and indications of owner involvement, has it crossed your mind, she may be better connected than you are? or may well be by far more well off than you are?

 

Well here is a piece of advice for you, do not beat your chest too hard or your friend may end up in the cells and banned for life. All owner has to do is file official report of theft by your friend and for police to file charges. Next step would be court, where he would be fined for theft, because he had already repaid, he would not be jailed, but thrown out and blacklisted.

 

What did your friend do wrong? he gave something which did not belong to him to someone else without owners permission. He had rental agreement with the owner, not someone else, nor was bike to be ridden or given to anyone else.

 

Let's not forget the initial mention of not shaming and naming, only to shame and name latter on. I can see an ugly liability lawsuit in the brewing here. Good thing the OP knows Thailand and how things works here though, I'm sure that will be very helpful when taken to court.

I'm also happy to learn that the OP's friend has been taught well by such a knowledgeable person. That's gonna be of huge help to his friend, whom I am pretty sure is this guy:

https://newsletter.thaivisa.com/l/LsvRPwWtF6j892XQEGskVe3g/37892DWM8fvbrEu6lBTpvk7Q/AD9W9wItDA6ICzAMDU0Ihw

It's a shame how class acts like that are treated this way in this country.

9 hours ago, connda said:

It's actually is a non-issue and nothing to worry about.  My first extension was based on marriage.  Immigration showed up on a day we weren't there.  They talked to the neighbors and the village head.  Considering I'm the only farang currently living in a 35 km long rural valley, I don't think it was difficult to determine that I lived there with my wife.  You could just about ask any of the 150 or so villagers in the area.  The last time I saw immigration was after the Erawan Center bomb attack.  I think every farang in Thailand got a visit.  However it was also one of those time where their racial profiling was about 100% off target.  Given our dogs greeted them at the gate with an unwelcome reception they didn't bother to come in. And the visitation party include a local cop who knows me, so I'm assuming they were where just putting a checkmark in the checkbox.  I changed over to a retirement extension this year simply because I got tired to filing out so much paperwork.  I haven't seen any immigration in our neighborhood and don't really expect to consider the I/Os at immigration know both my wife and myself on sight. 
So, nothing much to worry about.  Just a formality.

I had them come visit once in 11 years, and I am a business owner as well. They did seem eager to know about that part, I think mostly out of curiosity or politeness, but it was not the reason they were there. There were five of them, they sat down and had a bottle of water each, which we offered them voluntarily, they were very polite and friendly and they didn't ask for anything at all and went back to the office (or wherever they went). I'd normally be more worried about police than immigration, as long as everything is in order the Immigration officers will not ever be a problem. Police more often than not won't be either, but some of them walk around thinking they own the place/village they live in.

I'd say my encounter with Immigration officers coming to my house was an overall pleasant experience.

2 hours ago, Thainess said:

Actually, I'll tell you the real reason. It's because the majority of males aged under 30 are terribly insecure about their masculinity and position in society, due to feminism and identity politics among other things, and as a result they overcompensate by growing the beard to create an illusory feeling of the masculinity they sadly lack. I'm so glad I'm not a man under 30 in a western country these days.

Did it ever occur to you that many people with beards are actually very secure, but prioritize practicality over physical appearance? Or that their views on physical appearance are not the same as yours?

8 hours ago, Kurtf said:

When I was young lad the style was “CleanCut”. Today the style is “Grubby”. You can see it in the entertainers as well. The Sillouettes, the Marcel’s, all the singing groups were well dressed in beautiful suits and the ladies all wore dresses with crinolines. The decline in personal public appearance is closely related to the decline in morals. Truly pathetic.

The worst part of this is that you are not joking. In which world does letting your facial hair grow, either constantly or from time to time, have anything to do with your morals? Get over yourself, your post is truly pathetic.

39 minutes ago, greenbottle555 said:

There was a sign a few KM away at the rest stop that said something vague about stamping out or not tolerating child labor. It's clearly an issue in that region, else why put up a sign claiming to stamp out something that doesn't even exist...?

 

Do you have a better conclusion as to why sleepy children would be packed into a cattle truck and on the highway at 1 AM ?

There could be a vast multitude of reasons, I would advise caution when it comes to concluding with anything at all. There could have been a "moalam" in a village 10 kilometers away, and the youngest children allowed to attend preferred to go back together in the back of a cattle truck belonging to a family member of one or several of them.

I've seen a lot of weird stuff after living in a small village for quite some time starting almost a decade ago, never really heard of any of them being factory workers. I wouldn't rule it out as such, but jumping right to the conclusion that they were factory workers is ridiculous.

Why conclude with anything at all, when you know so little? All the information you have is an approximation of their age, the time of day and the type of vehicle they were in.

8 minutes ago, HAKAPALITA said:

I dont have a mindset, just an observer, with a strange Norway sense of funny. Your command of English is also unusually good.

Thank you for that! Norwegian here as well, by the way.

Just felt the need to comment and tell my story, so the OP isn't discouraged from giving it a try. It would be helpful to know more about the OPs situation, though, as it is a lot easier to learn the way I did if you live in a village where you are constantly surrounded by Thais and have very few foreigners to talk to. The best approach always depends on the circumstances and your situation, IMO. Apples and oranges, etc.

8 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Most of my Thai pals associates pull a gun and start shooting when they get drunk.

I would too, but I can't get a gun licence, so I have to make do with a sword.

 

Back on topic,

Never come between a man and his buffaloes!

I speak

7 hours ago, Lupatria said:

 

And here is one of the manyfold answers:

 

Alcohol intolerance, or alcohol intolerance refers to a disturbed metabolism of alcohol, which may be based on various causes. Among human groups of certain regions of the world (for example, up to 80% in some Asians), alcohol intolerance often has genetic causes.

The causes of alcohol intolerance can be manifold, but usually there is a mutated gene that ensures that insufficient amounts of the enzymes alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) or aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH) are expressed or that the enzymes are very inefficient and are more unstable.

 

In combination with the "little emperor syndrome", exaggerated self-appraisal, and a society where 66% of the female population accepts being beaten by their spouse (for the right reasons) this is what you get.

That still doesn't mean anything, though – I'm an alcoholic with an extremely high tolerance. I'm the most peaceful guy you'll ever meet. People with a low tolerance will normally drink less than I do, and be just as peaceful. When I get drunk, I never get violent or aggressive.

There is no empirical evidence proving that Thai people are more violent due to their low alcohol tolerance.

6 hours ago, poohy said:

Another Thaier than Thai apologist hes got 10 mins to walk to the check out, not climbing  bleeding Everest!

Why is it that people are called Thai apologists every time when they don't agree with, or offer an alternative theory about, the story behind someones complaints about Thais and Thai ways? It's a discussion forum, as such we should be open to other theories and opinions. No reason to dumb it down to a "Thai basher vs. Thai apologist" level.

There might be other factors in play than the ones described by the OP.  They all might have been laughing at something completely unrelated, though perceived by the OP as them laughing at him (hard to judge, as we weren't there) ... and they probably had shop rules to adhere to, no matter how stupid those rules are. Thai workers really are sticklers for rules, though, in many cases.

Any shop is in their right to refuse service, as long as they don't discriminate – actually, I think they might even be allowed to discriminate here.

35 minutes ago, MaxLee said:

You're wasting your time for nothing, dude, wanna bet?

You don't think there will be an election? The army didn't rewrite the laws for no reason. That being said, the army should always be above and able to command the army, not the other way around.

58 minutes ago, MaxLee said:

And I say, the whole point here is, this regime will never-ever-dever-Bever in our lifetimes hold any elections any time, wanna bet?

You're dead wrong. They will hold an election, as it doesn't matter who wins as long as Article 44 is still in play.

16 minutes ago, connda said:

He sounds like he's cut out for Singapore, well, if he like sterile.  Stay here long enough to see the junta's vision implemented then Thailand will truly be "As fun as an Army base but without the ambiance."  Singapore has been there for awhile.  Or maybe Hong Kong, although your friend will 'just be scraping by' on 200K quid in HK. 

There are no countries in the world where you will 'just be scraping by' on 200K quid a year. There are, however, countries where it will be less comfortable than others ?

On 9/6/2018 at 3:17 PM, janclaes47 said:

Well he was here 3 months ago, and maybe one day he will return, or be on a flight that makes a stopover in Thailand.

Yes, Elon Musk is commonly observed on commercial flights ?

10 hours ago, Petchou said:

I mean some foreigners are so dumb that their opinion doesn't really matter.   we see this every day.

Every country consists of people on both ends of the IQ, EQ and SQ scales, but as far as foreigners in Thailand goes I would say ignorance and a flawed sense of superiority (through deeper pockets) is a bigger problem. A bit of humble pie would go a long way in many cases.

In the case of this driver, it's highly likely that he is paid shit wages working for a company (as opposed to owning the minivan himself) and under pressure from his employer (or a desperate need to make more money) to get there and back as quickly as possible. Not that it would excuse his behavior in this case (nor his driving), but the current policies and wages putting a lot of people under tons of pressure, when the cost of living is rapidly increasing, certainly does explain how someone can easily go over the edge (and why they drive like this, the reward is often greater than the risk).

That being said, you often get what you pay for in this country. A packed minivan is a relatively cheap way to travel, but it comes with the risk of drivers like that.

3 minutes ago, JAZZDOG said:

Not just a Thai thing. My wife is Brazilian, just finally got her license a few years ago. I have driven 45 years, less tickets than you can count on one hand and at fault in no accidents. We drive mainly in Brazil which is as crazy as LOS except in Brazil the level of training is 10x higher. Although everyone in her family drives like rats on meth, the always got to be first or all is lost mentality, she constantly is on my ass about my driving. It does no good to tell her I have forgotten more than she knows about driving. Pisses my off she never says squat when we have to drive with family on suicide missions.

Good to know it's not just me. The biggest danger when I'm driving is the person in the seat next to me. I've actually pulled over before, telling her that she can drive herself and forget about asking me to drive her around in the future.

3 minutes ago, oldlakey said:

And plenty who sit on it

Especially when it's convenient to "not take sides", so things can escalate and they can take control as a result.

1 minute ago, stanleycoin said:

Mate , don't sell yourself so cheap.  i will help you.  

Zero charisma.

Never know when to laugh at a joke.

Bad hair cuts

ABBA.

Bad breath.

Brown Cheese.

I feel somewhat whole again, but Brown cheese is no joke (joking about G35 is punishable by death in Norway).

4 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

OK, so lets see, what I have learned from all these bashing threads.....

 

Thais have no honour, are uncivilized, childish and lazy

Indians are cheap rapists who smell

Africans are scammers

Americans are loud, obnoxious, overbearing ignorant louts

Aussies are the same as above but they drink more

Brits are arrogant, rascist drunks

Germans are the same, only they are more orderly

Chinese are ethnocentric, rude, moneygrubbing cheaters who seek to dominate the world

So are the Jews

Armenians too but they have given up on world domination

Russians are misanthropic stupid violent criminal alcoholics with hot women

Japanese are big spending polite rascist perverts

So are the Koreans

Burmese are...burmese, you burned our capital

French are cheese eating surrender monkeys

Arabs are dirty violent cheats

Israelis are arrogant violent cheats

 

 

 

I left out Swiss, Danes and Swedes because they are almost OK. 

 

PLEASE NOTE PC POLICE THAT THE FOREGOING IS SUPPOSED TO BE IRONICAL

 

Now that we have that settled....

 

 

 

What about us Norwegians? We're drunks too, I feel left out.