BradinAsia

I quite enjoy seeing the wealth spread around. I see the import of educating the spouse and hope it extends to the children. People seem to think we actually own things, but we are just care givers whilst we are alive. Letting go is a good thing in many ways. Want nothing and you will have everything.

Really, a wealthy man is not really a man with wealth.

But we earn the right to become care givers over our possessions either by hard work as previously mentioned, by strong arming those that have earnt through hard work, or stealing and/or begging for those possessions that have earnt them through hard work. All three are prevalent in the modern world, but only one of them is the honest approach. This is the core of the Sin Sot argument and what the payment is actually used for.

As the law currently stands in Thailand the groom could not legally claim to "own" any of the land for which he purchased, though he could own the townhouses (but not the land they stand on), he may very well have been gifted the gold and cash back, or it may have been given to "the family" to provide for them.. a la funding members of the family who do not wish to work and see your white Farang face much like a Charles Schwaub bank card to fund their "Leo lifestyle".

When looking to marry it is important to realise you are marrying the family too, and that if the family is not willing to meet you halfway you will need to walk away from your loved one if she will not walk way from her family. That is, unless you want to become a slave to someone too broken to shape their own prosperity, or a farmer being herded by the sheep.

Thanks so much for all your expert pontification. Now we can all sleep better

since you have so clearly revealed to us all the secrets of Thai culture and

farang-Thai relationships.

Excuse me while I go barf.

Hahaha. You're so funny. What are you, like, thirteen years old? Probably endowed with as much depth as a puddle after a Bangkok rain. And I'm sure everyone on TV is prejudiced except you. You "hyper-generalize" about TV members hyper-generalizing, but then, give your level of sophistication, I would expect that that went right over your head.

Hmmm... a very weak non-sensical retort.

I'm probably old enough to be your daddy.

And wise enough to see through your bs.

Wow and my wife wanted nothing just me, good luck to them both i am sure he know's what he is doing and sounds like just a fraction of his wealth.

And fair play to him funding her education and encouraging her to study, most Thai girls would just sit back and count the cash and probably mees up along the way, he has waited over 9 years and i am sure he knows he can trust her now.

What is your statistic "most Thai girls" based on? Your own prejudiced observations of the gutter dwellers that surround you? TV has far too many hyper-generalising racists who don't even realise that's what they are... "I'm just stating the facts as I skew them, mate!", he said to the an on the next barstool... My Thai wife and those of most of my friends have all followed the education path, and were delighted to do so. Those who sat around and did nothing were the exception. I guess my friends have better judgment when it comes to women than the people you know.

Either you only know and associate with wealthy Bangkok Thais or you're just full of it. The average salary in Thailand is ~13000THB, the last I checked. About half of Thai students drop out after they meet the mandatory minimum years of school (up to about 15 years of age). About half those remaining will attend college and less than half of those that attend college will finish with a college degree. Thailand is poor country. There is a reason for that.

>Those who sat around and did nothing were the exception.

The idea of doing "nothing" can be interpreted in a number of different ways, but if you've ever lived in Thailand, you know that things like professional development and qualifications have absolutely nothing to do how, why, where, and when Thais get jobs and what their job responsibilities are. Most professional Thais spend their days chatting with friends on social networking sites or simply over the cubicle walls, eating street food, and waiting to check out. This is readily observable and patently obvious to anyone who has ever lived and worked in the Kingdom (I did for five years). I hate posts like this, not because your heart is in the wrong place, but because you end up blatently misrepresenting facts which are empirically obvious (i.e. I can see it right in front of me every time I step out of the office or the front door of my condo and walk to Tesco Lotus) all in the name of trying to keep people from bad-mouthing Thais. Maybe Thais don't deserve the reputation that the have, but I'd venture to say that stereotypes exist for a reason. It's not like someone just spontaneously decided one day that Americans are culturally insensitive, or the French are rude, or the Japanese ethnically insular and the half of humanity bought into it willy-nilly. Thai women have a reputation, and foreign men are advised to tread lightly for a reason. Do you disagree?

Let me guess... you have an advanced degree in Stereotyping.

Hope this is not off-topic but...

The Pizza Company at Central Airport Plaza has really great pan pizza at a very reasonable price?

Even the 199 baht size was more than two of us could eat... and delicious.

It was really more than two of you could eat?

Nah.......c'mon you're kidding right?.........Really?

I believe it. Even half a slice would be more than I could eat of that vile stuff.

I used to hated it but then I think they have improved the thin crust recipe. It's chewy and flavorfull and the cheese crust is crispy on the outside and the inside soft. My number one is still De Stefano but I prefer pizza company than the Duke's.

What vile stuff? The Pizza Company makes great pizza.

" No woman is worth more than a fiver unless you are in love with her. Than she costs you everything you've got..." W. S. MAUGHAM.

The effect of inflation is staggering!

At 1,500 baht a barfine, with one a day, 100 million baht is equal to 182 years of daily bar-fining.

This one's costing him over 13,000 baht a shag, at once a day, considering she's actually shaggable for the next 20 years.

Interesting how retired ho-mongers amuse themselves by sitting around calculating how many baht per shag.

I hope she makes good use of the qualifications.

Fair play to her, at least she didn't sit on the floor eating and gambling the last 9years away! ( or maybe that comes later?)

What a rubbish comment.

Why would you think she might turn to gambling after working 9 years to further her education?

Maybe not the stupidest post I've ever seen on TV, but probably ranks in the top three.

That means you and your friend only managed 3 slices of what, a 10" pizza?

Yes... my wife had one slice and I had two and were full.

We both don't like to overeat. Not a good feeling at all.

Please take a break from bashing Thais about stuff like this. Those of us old enough will remember the Aberfan disaster in 1966 when a build up of water caused the slide that killed 166 children and 28 adults. The images are still fresh in my mind. This happens all over not just Thailand. Please take a break and show some respect people..

You only need to look at the terrain and you can see (inappropriate comments removed) that it does not conform to good mining / quarrying practices let alone comply proven regulations in or of a developed country.

I remember Aberfan but that was almost 50 years ago and I am sure the Welsh have learned some lessons and implemented control measures to mitigate against a reoccurrence.

But Thais wouldn't know if Aberfan was on the moon so they cannot learn any lessons from the event.

And Aberfan was a disaster waiting to happen. Rain falls from the sky everywhere in the world and Wales is no exception.

But they (authorities here) don't want to learn the lessons, take the hard decisions and they remain solely motivated by money and kickbacks so why should we worry, let them get on with it.

Me I am only concerned with taking care of my own. A competent mining engineer, or a compliance inspector would not be welcomed "because they know it all"

Back off the Thai-bashing. Mining companies in many countries are notorious predators.

I was raised in West Virginia. In the mountains the only jobs were in the coal mines. Few

families that didn't have at least one member killed or maimed in the mines.

For 150 years the coal companies have denuded the mountains, caused serious soil erosion,

destroyed the natural environment, ignored safety standards and exploited the miners.

In places like China and South America it is even worse.

so was it a new mozzarella or cheeseless pizza told by the staff as claimed by ts? it still doesnt add up

on a note, ts should clear up if he was bullshlting about the pizza without cheese. great difference between different mozerella and a pizza without cheese

on the other hand if he was indeed served a pizza without cheese, i think the owner really own him one proper meal

damn . . pizza is serious business here

Hope this is not off-topic but...

The Pizza Company at Central Airport Plaza has really great pan pizza at a very reasonable price?

Even the 199 baht size was more than two of us could eat... and delicious.

It was really more than two of you could eat?

Nah.......c'mon you're kidding right?.........Really?

No, not kidding. We had to take half of it home.

My gawd, their pan pizza is about an inch thick.

You should go try it. I loved the veggie pizza.

Fabulous.

so was it a new mozzarella or cheeseless pizza told by the staff as claimed by ts? it still doesnt add up

on a note, ts should clear up if he was bullshlting about the pizza without cheese. great difference between different mozerella and a pizza without cheese

on the other hand if he was indeed served a pizza without cheese, i think the owner really own him one proper meal

damn . . pizza is serious business here

Hope this is not off-topic but...

The Pizza Company at Central Airport Plaza has really great pan pizza at a very reasonable price?

Even the 199 baht size was more than two of us could eat... and delicious.

Call me crazy but the sign says in Russian " Financial help to Russian Citizens without deposits or guarantees."

How exactly Thai's learned to read Russian and became Russian citizens?

Perhaps an unhappy gf decided to take over the biz

Lemoncake, you've got the gist of it, but a more accurate translation would be:

Urgent Financial Help

Without collateral and cosigners

For all citizens of Russia and former

Soviet Union countries

Good effort by theblether for painting a positive picture of Thailand.

Shame BradinAsia has to find a way to reduce its impact.

We all know Vietnamese get up early too. I've learned more about latitude on this thread than I ever did at school.

Theblether's post is indeed a breath of fresh air in the midst of a flood of smelly bias and prejudice.

I only strive to reduce the impact of the smelly rotten rubbish from all the dismal folks on this forum

whose views of the real Thailand are so obscured by deep prejudice.

I certainly try not to miss any opportunity to deplore that flood of rubbish.

Neither do I offer any apology for that.

If you go sit at Chiang Mai Gate at 5.00am and watch the market spring into life, you'll start to appreciate how hard working and industrious many Thais are, and how short sighted and plain stupid many of the comments we read on Thaivisa are.

Out of her bed at 4.00am every day to prepare the breakfast curry.......This Is Thailand.

Elderly vendors with the monks at 5.00am.............This Is Thailand

Working through the night for a living, the honest way..............This Is Thailand

Maybe if some of you would lay off the booze some nights and get out of your bed early you would see the real Thailand.

Excellent post.

Nothing like sobering up, opening your eyes, breathing deeply and seeing the real world in front of your eyes.

In the real world, all humans are human. And all have faults, that's the definition of human.

But no ethnic group has a monopoly on brains, virtue, morals, depravity or any other human quality.

Folks who care about their health would do well to restrict their intake of all types of potato chips and corn chips.

Limiting consumption to one serving per month is probably best. Many of the folks who sit around watching TV and

munching on chips every day become obese and eventually have quadruple bass-pass surgery.

Some healthy alternative which is also very tasty and satisfying -- assorted fresh fruit or fresh vegetables.

One bag a month?! Blimey. Bit extreme. You might get knocked down by a bus tomorrow.

Extreme how?

Knocked down by a bus or not, no reason to ever eat chips -- I don't eat even one bag in 5 years.

Why ruin my health when so many natural tasty snacks available that are healthy? Why clog my

arteries just to satisfy a bad habit? Just a matter of breaking bad habits and learning good ones.

Also, no soft drinks. Drink 100% fruit/vegetable juice, or better yet, eat the whole fruit. And drink

lots of plain water. Two beers at Christmas won't hurt, just to be sociable. No cigarettes ever.

Life is much happier, more peaceful and relaxing when you know you're not poisoning your body.

"extreme - yes" mostly its down to your genetics but if you want to be a dull boy that's ok too.

Ha ha ha...

Life is dull without eating chips? That's a good one.

Some think life is dull without smoking... or maybe snorting cocaine...

BradinAsia

I have witnessed the extraordinary capacity of children to acquire language.

My wife and I help a young Thai couple (who both need to work) by taking care of their baby daughter during the day. The little girl was only a few weeks old when we started to care for her six days a week. Whilst she is with us my wife speaks to the child in Thai and I talk to her using English.

The little girl is now 5 years old and is comfortably bi-lingual!

I have seen some amazing bi-lingual kids at an amazing young age.

Many years ago in Japan I met a little Japanese girl about 4 years old who was

totally fluent in Japanese and English. As I had been diligently studying Japanese

for several years, I was very impressed by this kid.

One day I decided to give her a vocabulary test.

I asked here a series of vocabulary questions in Japanese to test here English

vocabulary. After correctly answering a long list of questions, I finally stumped

her.

I asked her in Japanese how to say "grass" in English. She had never heard the

Japanese word, so she could not answer.

The reason she didn't know the word is that she had never seen grass. In 1964

Japan, in the city where we lived there was no grass, only dirt, mud and pavement.

This taught me that a child's fluency is strictly limited by their experience.

A year later, when I had finished teaching Japanese to the school teachers, guess what? The

Japanese kids had already become quite fluent in Japanese. The had no need for Japanese

speaking teachers.

You mean the kids had become quite fluent in English?

Russian lady moved into a house very close to me some 3 years ago with a 5 year old girl. Mother spoke both English and French but the little girl was Russian only. 4-5-6 months later they moved out because there is nothing here for kids and her daughter went to a French school in Lamai, Samui. Didn't see either of them for a good 4 months before we went out for dinner one night, little girl was chatting away to me in English like it was her mother tongue. Wonderful.

Same thing with the daughter of a very good friend of mine. Her and her Swiss BF split up some time ago but she was happy enough to let her daughter go to school in Switzerland last October/ beginning of November. Daughter and her father came back early last month and she now speaks English well and French very well. Wonderful.

Yes, sorry.

The kids had become fluent in English. Think one thing, type another -- pure senility.

Folks who care about their health would do well to restrict their intake of all types of potato chips and corn chips.

Limiting consumption to one serving per month is probably best. Many of the folks who sit around watching TV and

munching on chips every day become obese and eventually have quadruple bass-pass surgery.

Some healthy alternative which is also very tasty and satisfying -- assorted fresh fruit or fresh vegetables.

One bag a month?! Blimey. Bit extreme. You might get knocked down by a bus tomorrow.

Extreme how?

Knocked down by a bus or not, no reason to ever eat chips -- I don't eat even one bag in 5 years.

Why ruin my health when so many natural tasty snacks available that are healthy? Why clog my

arteries just to satisfy a bad habit? Just a matter of breaking bad habits and learning good ones.

Also, no soft drinks. Drink 100% fruit/vegetable juice, or better yet, eat the whole fruit. And drink

lots of plain water. Two beers at Christmas won't hurt, just to be sociable. No cigarettes ever.

Life is much happier, more peaceful and relaxing when you know you're not poisoning your body.

Don't be so quick to judge what is the right way to live and what is the wrong. Everyone is different. Just because the way you choose to live makes you happy... not having a packet of crisps for five years... binging on two whole beers at Christmas... doesn't mean that sort of existence will make other people feel the same happiness it brings you.

Very much agree with that...

I would not go to another country (France/Germany/China/Russia. etc) and EXPECT that their country CATER to me.It is the height of arrogance, stupidity, and ignorance.

I am their guest - therefore it is incumbent on me to act as a guest should and be as prepared as i can. Maybe even asking a native speaking friend to help me to understand the nuances within THEIR culture and country.

In the scheme of things I am not as important to them as they are to me. I thank them (and appreciate) for their courtesy and patience in dealing with me as I am the visitor I do not have the choice to pick or demand THEIR ACQUIESCENSE as it is THEIR culture i wish to visit and accept me.....

Expecting more than that based on MY importance is folly.....

When U.S. schools have a lot of Spanish speaking students, they try to hire bilingual teachers in order to deal with that particular population of students, because bilingualism is a skill that's helpful/required for those teachers to effectively do their job.

When Thai Immigration hires officers whose job it is all day long to speak and deal with mainly non-Thai speaking foreigners, they hire officers who only can speak Thai???? Now that's what I'd call FOLLY!

This may be a bit off-topic... if so, I apologize.

Re: "...hire bilingual teachers in order to deal with that particular population of students..."

The main problem is most uni-lingual folks have no clue about second language acquisition.

Thirty years ago, a local school district in Ohio was experiencing a large influx of Japanese

kids in the elementary schools. The school board decided to have their teachers learn basic

conversational Japanese to better deal with all these Japanese kids in their schools.

Of course, there was also the fact that the Japanese transplant firms (the employers of the

kids' parents) were heavily subsidizing the local school systems to enroll the kids.

It sounds reasonable enough, right?

So the school board paid me to teach conversational Japanese classes for all their elementary

teachers. I made a lot of money and had lots of fun doing it. The school board hired me because

I was the only person around willing and able to teach the classes.

It was a one year evening job (moon-lighting) and I loved it. Just one interesting catch to this story.

A year later, when I had finished teaching Japanese to the school teachers, guess what? The

Japanese kids had already become quite fluent in Japanese. The had no need for Japanese

speaking teachers.

When children 6-14 years old find themselves in a new language environment and are exposed to

the new language on a daily basis in the classroom and in the community, these kids will usually

become fluent in the new language within 6 months.

It just happens. No particular outside effort is necessary. Children's brains are hard-wired for

second language acquisition. All they need is exposure to the new language on a daily basis.

Six months flat will usually do it.

I just recalled another unique opportunity I had to teach English for 10 weeks to a group of 6

Brazilian kids. The parents wanted to prepare them to enter the U.S. school systems. The kids'

started with an English level of zero. At the end of 10 weeks they sounded like American kids.

Not quite totally fluent, but fully capable of entering the U.S. school system.

The second language acquisition ability of children is an amazing phenomenon, but it is real.

Read somewhere that a person who speaks three languages is tri-lingual, a person who speaks two is bi-lingual and a person who speaks only one language is generally English.

Let's just add a few more to your list of uni lingual people.

Let's try Americans, Australians, New Zealanders. I've omitted other British Isles residents and Irishmen as they may speak Gaelic, Welsh or Erse. Some South Africans, generally English speakers, are also capable of Afrikaans.

Huge numbers of English residents (citizens) don't speak English since they are from diverse ethnic backgrounds. South Western United States has millions of Hispanics who only speak Spanish.

I've also been here over 10 years and have learned basic conversational Thai, but I think the original post was actually commenting on the almost total lack of any English ability on behalf of Immigration officers outside Bangkok, Pattaya and maybe Phuket. There are few people who would have the courage to complain directly to an officer on their lack of English skill.

Even the Thai P.M. speaks beautiful English.

I am sure there are many on this board who are cunning linguists and capable of speaking in many languages, but the average person is lucky to be able to handle two.

"South Western United States has millions of Hispanics who only speak Spanish."

Extremely absurd.

The majority of those Hispanics are multiu-lingual. Many prefer to speak Spanish,

but the majority get along quite well in English when needed.

Anyone who has lived very long in the Southwest knows this.

Folks who care about their health would do well to restrict their intake of all types of potato chips and corn chips.

Limiting consumption to one serving per month is probably best. Many of the folks who sit around watching TV and

munching on chips every day become obese and eventually have quadruple bass-pass surgery.

Some healthy alternative which is also very tasty and satisfying -- assorted fresh fruit or fresh vegetables.

One bag a month?! Blimey. Bit extreme. You might get knocked down by a bus tomorrow.

Extreme how?

Knocked down by a bus or not, no reason to ever eat chips -- I don't eat even one bag in 5 years.

Why ruin my health when so many natural tasty snacks available that are healthy? Why clog my

arteries just to satisfy a bad habit? Just a matter of breaking bad habits and learning good ones.

Also, no soft drinks. Drink 100% fruit/vegetable juice, or better yet, eat the whole fruit. And drink

lots of plain water. Two beers at Christmas won't hurt, just to be sociable. No cigarettes ever.

Life is much happier, more peaceful and relaxing when you know you're not poisoning your body.

Some folks go over seas and expect everyone to speak English wherever they go. If they are

so all-fired obsessed with English maybe they would be happier staying home.

In my case, I decided at an early age to travel and discover the world --

- So, I studied Spanish and Latin in high school to give myself a good start.

- Studied Russian 1 year in Air Force language school, then went overseas in 1960.

- Studied Urdu and Pashto 18 months in Pakistan.

- Studied Japanese 4 years in Japan.

- In spare time over the next 35 years, studied German, Chinese, Korean, Sanskrit, Classical

Japanese, Classical Chinese, Thai and some Tagalog.

- During this time, worked 14 years as a technical translator (Chinese, Japanese, Russian)

- Also taught conversational Japanese for 8 years.

- Taught introduction to Chinese writing for the Air Force 5 years.

After 26 years living, studying, working in Asia, I can say the effort I put into language study has

greatly enriched the quality of my life.

But everyone has a different agenda. To each his own.

Folks who care about their health would do well to restrict their intake of all types of potato chips and corn chips.

Limiting consumption to one serving per month is probably best. Many of the folks who sit around watching TV and

munching on chips every day become obese and eventually have quadruple bass-pass surgery.

Some healthy alternative which is also very tasty and satisfying -- assorted fresh fruit or fresh vegetables.

You can read the lead up to the war on Wiki. It is far from simple as some seem to think. Then there's the little issue of 500 train cars of yellow cake (which Canada took), anthrax and more found in IQ. Still a mistake sure, based on bad intel. But heck, they were shooting at our jets daily in the no fly zone, makes you mad yeah ? I'd take an honest person over what we have now any day.

"I'd take an honest person over what we have now any day."

OMG, you surely don't mean that George Bush was an honest person.

He could be called many things, but please don't use the words "honest",

bright" or "good" in the same sentence with George Bush.

I chalk him up as a man of integrity and principles who was led to that position by power hungry (and evil) men who then used him to pursue their agenda(s).

Had it not been for Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, I think he would have done okay. Not the best, but certainly not the tragedy his time in office proved to be.

Sadly, it will take the USA 100 years to live down that legacy. And I don't know if we have 100 years.

He appointed all those guys and is responsible for allowing them to pursue their agendas. You can delegate authority but you can't delegate responsibility.

Sadly, I think you have it backwards. He did not appoint them as much as he was selected by them.

A bunch of un-electable neocons needed a conduit to pursue their agenda. For various reasons, none of them could possibly ever be elected president. They chose him and then put their power and money machines into motion to get him elected. (And, in fairness, name one politician that wouldn't have taken that ride, with the fare to be paid after the election)

They counted on his integrity and his loyalty to "the folks that brung him to the dance". In that respect, his loyalty and trust in them was what torpedoed his legacy- along with America's reputation and international standing.

I think the only one that was worth a bucket of spit was Colin Powell and he was brought down because he wouldn't play ball the way the hard core warmongers needed him to play ball. (If Powell ran in 2016, I'd vote for him)

I'm not defending W or the legacy he left behind. He was a disaster unprecedented in 20th century US history. But it's not as simple as most people like to think it is.

On a related topic, I'd like to see all of them stand for War Crimes charges, if only to show the world that NOBODY is above the law. Whether I'd like to see them actually convicted would depend on the evidence that would surface that won't be unsealed in my lifetime without such a trial.

Powell should have resigned rather than knowingly lie to the UN Security Council about WMD supposedly in Iraq. Powell knew he was lying. The French intelligence services and government knew Powell was lying. So did the Germans, the Russians, the PRC etc etc.

I remember before the 2000 election some boneheaded commentators said we'd be safe and secure with Powell in the Bush administration because all Powell (supposedly) would need to do is walk into the Oval Office and say, "You do that and I quit."

It turned out to be the other way around. Bush & Co called Powell into the Oval Office and said, "If you don't go along with us, you're fired." Powell kissed their ars, er, rings and lied, lied. lied.

Powell is not a neocon. It's straightforwardly a case of the man having no nads and no integrity. Powell was no general's general either. He was a political general.

Smoooootch!

Powell did not knowingly lie.

He repeatedly quizzed the heads of the intel organizations to be very sure

they stood behind the intelligence reports that he would be citing at the U.N.

He received those assurances and went with it. He was duped.

When he found out later that he had been duped he was deeply chagrined.

Powell was a man of integrity, working for an imbecile.