SparklingCascades

I took my grandma to Bangkok Pattaya hospital some days back (she lives at our Rayong villa and I came to the South to spend time with her). They started by checking 'vital signs', I think its called. The blood pressure was read on one of their automatic machines. It seemed wrong so my grandma asked me to tell them to do a reading using the old-fashioned manual pump. A nurse told me that they did not have one as the hospital has modernised. My grandma would have none of it and insisted that they find one :-) The nurse arrived 5 minutes later with the traditional Blood Pr reader. The B.P reading was very different to the automatic machine. Confused we asked which reading do we believe. The nurse said that it may help to do one more reading on the automatic machine and so we did one - only to have a third very different reading. When I insisted for an explanation the nurse said that all the moving around could affect one's pressure. I agreed but pointed out that the 3 sets of numbers were not even close. She grinned and that was it.

Am at a loss to understand how reliable the auto-machines are at Bangkok Pattaya or if they are serviced.....Sitting in the waiting room was an Arab gentleman who had seen the situation unfold. He said that he has the same problem. The first reading alarmed him so they did another which was very different but comforting as it showed he had no pressure. He sat there confused not knowing which reading to believe. Bangkok Pattaya is getting to be a shame with even the basics, if even half the stories I hear are to be believed !!

Don't we already drive on the left and right sides ie: when not driving straight down the center of streets ?

There's never an excuse for violence. The Thai guys need to be locked up & worse.

Pattaya attracts the worst quality of Thai people - often rejects, druggies, jailbirds, wife-bashers.... from the wilds of Esaan, Buriram, Surin.....

All looking to put the squeeze on Pattaya's 'unique' farangs.

Pattaya - in lots of cases - also attracts the worst quality of farang from wherever - loners, addicts, drunks, dropouts, escapists, violent bikie-types.......

The Brit went in search of trouble and found it. Maybe he needed a learning moment.

I can see people treating the new rules the same way other driving & traffic laws are treated.

In Thailand there's a rule for everything but only 1 in every 1000 rules get enforced.

Well they don't have that many options the road was build many years ago and whom would have expected that it turned into a major holiday resort.

The empty land you see here and there on Beach Road are prime beach front land and is worth 10's mill bath pr rai so don't expect that a parking lot will be made there.

Hotel - condo - shopping center most likely, so more people will go there and create even more chaos, sad but true.

With more Central Festival-types, more Hilton-types, more Royal Gardens & Mike/Avenue types planned for Beach Rd, do the girlie dives on this stretch continue the steady hop into Soi Buakhao or maybe even Sattahip - given both sites are at the back of nowhere. The farmhands who take care of grandpa will love Sattahip - remind them of the emptiness of Esaan and Nakhon Nowhere. Watch for a casino before 2020 on Beach Rd. Hopefully, a much needed beach & sidewalk clean-up to match the rest.

Farmhands chase "lunchbox" and not "Grey Goose" may be the moral of the story.

Farang, throwing lots of cash & often whats left of the mind on high-mileage, heavy-duty prostitutes in Thailand. Beggars belief.

More chapters belonging to 'A fool in Paradise' or maybe 'Private Dancer'.

I am told that investing in condo's off-plan in Thailand (and Pattaya) has mixed success. Much depends on track record of developer and buyer skill negotiating a 'tight' agreement. Negotiating power increases if buyer is buying bulk eg. Japanese who bought 40% of studio's in an upcoming development.

Of course there are times when projects can get stuck on ice or rouble like in Siberia.

Reading the posts, some of the advise seems very amateur and casino-syle. Makes my stomach turn to read it, since people should not be advising a course of action - unless they are practicing attorneys-at-law in family law in Thailand or have dealt with an exactly similar situation themselves recently.

I am told that there are 3 or 4 Thai legal firms who are partnered with law firms in Australia, a kind of pool-sharing of knowledge to deal with grey areas like someone living in Australia and needing to navigate the Thai system or a Thai business wishing to do something in Aust etc...Your best bet is to consult one of these firms who have a feet in each country and skilled resources to get a proper fix-it solution; one which is legally binding on all - esp. if you are dealing with a Pattaya mama.

What do we pay these useless police for? If I went to police, don't think I'd ever accept them replying that they can do nothing. They would'nt hear the last of it if they replied that way. As for Pattaya; being a brothel maybe its got different house rules, moreso in the WS ghetto.

Much ado about nothing.

Accordng to law he can be incarcerated by Immigration pending prosecution and could face a prison sentence for overstay in addition to the 20k fine but in practice Immigration just charges them the 20k fine on the spot and off they go. I don't think Immigration would relish the paperwork, hassle and bad publicity of detaining him when they can take the line of least resistance and send him on his way with a fine. If he can't the fine though they will imprison him. I don't see any advantage in turning himself into Immigration beforehand, as suggested by Mario, since there is already a clear cut procedure for an on the spot maximum fine at the airport. Going to Immigration before that only tempts them to detain him until his flight his due to depart.

This story is a sad illustration of what is likely to happen to a lot of retirees who come out to the land of milk and honey in their late 50s or early 60s without sufficient planning and thought about what they are going to do in their 70s without health insurance and with declining real value of pensions.

Pension? wot's that? Thought it was a place in which people lived not something on which people lived?

The gentleman need to put together money for fine and buy one-way ticket out; preferably for travel late on-the-day of paying the fine or for travel on the day after paying fine. Take a receipt from Immigration for money paid. Make sure receipt is stamped, signed and passport is properly stamped, signed.

To do this - visit an Immigration Office along with a friend (not farang drinking buddies or farang-chasing g.f) as one needs a solid witness when paying a 'large' fine in cash.

DO NOT PAY 'big' fines at the airport when one is alone in front of a policeman. Have been cases of cash vanishing before the eyes and the hapless farang returns to prison to 'pay again' some other day.

So many things are 'make believe' in Thailand, that the Chinese felt one more 'make believe' item from Thailand hardly matters.

Farang visiting Thailand should'nt be complaining about fake honey esp. if they bought one with a bar fine.

Sorry for the passengers. The driver got what he richly deserved. Thailand the 'road death capital of Asia'.

If ur concerned about 'jail' and 'Thai courts' once you've left on your overseas trip why not just stay away from T/land? Not like they extradite drunks for DUI. Am not sure why people get all worried about being black-listed for entry to T/land. This may be a candy store for grandpas but its not enough to fret over. As a Thai I cannot understand farang who repeatedly post their fears of being black-listed esp. when there are no family ties here. So many other countries to visit / live-in / enjoy.......about 195 others, I think. Get over it.

Make some babies. You'll never be bored again.

Strange way of doing business esp. for a Thai family with some business experience even if its only in dodgy Pattaya.

If my understanding is correct - Tenant turns up with approx USD 3k in Baht notes to sign pre-agreed contract. The tenant (a farang/Dane) is suddenly informed that the new price is USD 1,200- approx higher. He agrees to sudden rent rise and goes off to fetch added USD 1,200-, in Baht notes. I wish my family had more tenants like this who agree to a 30% rent rise on the spur of a moment - even after contracts are drawn up.

The home-owner (a Thai lady) has guards hanging around her office and a volatile husband - like a Thai gangster movie et a femme fatale. With trembling hands the lady starts to count the THB. The tenant has a sharp Nordic sixth sense and (like a good detective) spots her trembling hands. (He thinks: its the ol' trembling hands trick as Maxwell Smart once said). On impulse, the clever Dane interrupts to insist Thai lady first sign contract. Following an exchange of words the counting of notes resumes and the contract signing must wait till the cash is counted. The Dane/tenant is upset at this. He switches on his iphone to video the scene; making it clear that he trusts nobody and is having it all on video. At this tensions reach breaking point.

A couple of minutes with the video pass before the farang is punched for being rude, at a business meeting. He jumps to escape his attackers and injures himself. The guards and hubby land on top of him.

Now both sides feel that THB 420,000 is too little, considering all the grief its caused. Too late.

There's never any excuse for violence so on that score the farang wins. For the rest, it raises lots of questions for both sides.

This topic reminds me of the old saying about averages and generalities... "If you have one foot in boiling water and one foot in a bucket of ice then the law of averages says you should be comfortable."

It doesn't have to be either-or. It is easy enough to point out the obvious faults in any country... even one like Canada which ranks up there as one of the best destination places in the world. I see terrible waste in Canada and corruption is common at every level. I see environmental problems that government officials won't do anything about because some large corporation is pulling their strings. The same is obviously true of Thailand and complaining about it is just normal, even if it doesn't do any good.

Well said. Love the analogy. Being able to love a country, live in a country whilst criticizing its corruption, dirt, traffic jams.......is important - if we hope to move to the next step of making even a small impact. In the family business I criticize my parents over some practices. This does not mean that I don't love them or don't love the business. Its the same with people who criticize Thailand - whether farang or Thai or mixed; cos' this debate goes beyond race.

We are not debating race but the negatives (and positives) of this country. There's one thing worse than farang who are blinded by negatives and its farang apologists. Only people with some sense of balance in their world-view can hope to influence opinions or to be respected.

I complain about Cambodia & Laos but we continue to run businesses there, I complain about Hua Hin but can't resist the family compound there, I complain about Bangkok traffic and worse but continue to live here...So when farangs complain about Thailand its cos' a part of them is tied to the place, hence they cannot bear to see Thailand continue a process of slow decay - with 000 police, corrupt govt, garbage piled high on streets, no road rules.......(think I've covered some of the main ones on behalf of my farang friends).

Many Thais like me who studied in Spore or Hkg, Taiwan, Japan......and returned share the sentiment of complaining farang. People hope that somewhere someone will listen to the complain or curse even if its only little TV. Others simply want to vent. Each to their own. The question 'why live here' is therefore quite stupid. Its like asking a man who regularly vents about his dislike for bad smells "Why do you shit"?. After all its something normal people do, some more often than others. The question "Why do you live here" is quite idiotic. What Thailand does not need is "apologists" and definitely not farang ones.

Are you really Thai? Surely, you can't be that naive. Farangs on TV don't usually provide constructive criticism about the Thais and Thailand. They usually complain to insult and criticize the Thais. Why is there corruption in Thailand? Because ALL Thais are dishonest, morally corrupt, greedy, and untrustworthy. Why are the roads dangerous? Because ALL Thais are stupid, selfish, reckless, and can't be expected to police themselves. Why have so many farang men been fleeced by Thai women? Because ALL Thai women are lying, conniving, lazy, and evil.

Farangs will meet one or two bad Thais and conclude that ALL Thais are that way. This includes YOU. Unless you have some sort of bright wording tattooed on your forehead that says "westerner in a Thai body."

I don´t know what's worse, stereotyping farangs or Thai apologists... really...

hahahaha. So correct. Critical farangs and Thai apologists with the truth maybe somewhere in-between. Being part-Thai and part-farang means its hard to be offended or even bothered with what people think.

Does not pay to go dutch in Thailand.

"Anti road accident campaign" means 299.5 deaths on our roads instead of 300 during the 3 - 5 days of Songkran.

Pattaya is a brothel and so men pay.

For a girl to hang out for FREE one needs to be of 'natural' interest to her. Have something in common. Otherwise the only common denominator becomes the baht. No money, no honey.

Some might add that having a nice car helps, also making time to cluck around, do restaurants/outings/beach scene, maybe even a nice house (can't say I have one but I have my space in my parents villa), get-together's with other friends, definitely a nice gym-toned body..........My farang friends say that in Thailand run of the mill middle-aged men usually pay either in cash or when taking a live-in partner Try not to sound like a cheap-charlie.

Reading some of these posts makes me wonder if our immigration & visa systems really benefit the Thais longer term or deliver short term gain for long term pain. Seems easier for me to go live elsewhere - like Spore or HKG - than try to change this country. Leave Thailand to the high-class farang we see posting on this site and come visit for one week each year.