Keith67

did the boyfriend not report the kidnapping of his girlfriend ?

she was gone a long time

hope if found guilty he will face the full extend of the law

and share some space with guys he put in there

Report it to who?.... the police? numb nuts

Why is he the numb nuts?

Your the one who must be thinking he was wearing his police uniform driving the taxi.......

Henry, i have a similar story to yours it goes like this;

My nissan navara that i had had for just over 5 years, a car i loved and gave anything it needed, best oil and genuine filter when it was serviced, the best fuel that was available to run it on, the best new tyres when they were getting worn, and if anything was to break again only genuine parts.

Then one day i went out and it wouldn't start, it wouldn't do what i requested of it, it refused, it tried but only cane out with a feable whine.

What did i do take it back to the garage and spend more money in the hope things would change?

No i sold it and bought a new mogel and guess what i love this car even more now.

It is grotesquely unpardonable that people here can seriously suggest doing a runner after an accident.

To do so is to lose all sense of responsibility, conscience and common humanity.

Shame on all who do and yes, I have been involved in several accidents.

As one member did say it can sometimes be life threatening to get out and try and do the right thing, i think that most were not suggesting doing a runner but keep goin to the nearest police station and report the accident there.

To integrate into the community you need to be Thai. Learning the language is not relevant to that concept.

Learning Thai has other advantages when outside the main tourist areas, but it also has many disadvantages.

It won't stop them calling you the "f" word either.

Yes, and that I find disrespectful.

The less use of the F - word, the better, the greater chance we will be integrated and fully respected.

or just learn the Thai for the F-word it's not difficult just listen to them speak it's the word that is used several times in each sentence.

So you want to be intergrated and fully respected, are you going to move into a small house in the village with your wife, wifes sisters and brothers their chilren your wifes mother and father and their parents, get up at 5am to cook the sticky rice and food to take to the farn while you prepare the land to grow the crops so you earn enough money to provide food for the family, then go sit and drink thai wiskey before coming home and going to sleep ready to get up the next morning and start again, all this with no air conditioning in the heat just an old fan.

Good luck on your intergration attempts.

Henry, if i were you when your g/f or her family members introduce new family members or new friends to you, forget the wai just hold your hand out for a good old fashioned handshake and say "hi i'm the farang". When your g/f questions why you did that, you have the golden opportunity to explain how she and her family have shown little respect for you for 5 years so why should you make any efforet to show any more respect to them.

If she makes excuses for them or fails to see the problem, your only option "Leave".

He should not "wai" anyway. It's a complex Thai hierarchical system and he is not Thai.

And they should not call him farang after 5 years but they do, the wai is commonly used in all areas by all nationalities not only Thai but usually at the request of a Thai.

So just out of curiosity how should a Thai and a falang greet each other, as if what you say is correct a falang should not wai to a Thai as he/she is not Thai, two falangs meeting for the first time would usually give a handshake but as the Thai is not falang he/she should not use the handshake.

Henry, if i were you when your g/f or her family members introduce new family members or new friends to you, forget the wai just hold your hand out for a good old fashioned handshake and say "hi i'm the farang". When your g/f questions why you did that, you have the golden opportunity to explain how she and her family have shown little respect for you for 5 years so why should you make any efforet to show any more respect to them.

If she makes excuses for them or fails to see the problem, your only option "Leave".

My retired parents who have full lives playing golf, cookery classes, history club, charity work, religious stuff, bowling, visiting friends, dinners out, opera, movies, bingo, etc. They couldn't of course do this if they couldn't speak the language.

When I retire I want a similar full life and speaking the language of the country I choose to retire in is essential. I wouldn't choose a country where I couldn't or wouldn't learn. Sounds like a nightmare.

Italian Opera.

Many of the traditional operas were sung in Neapolitan, so most Italians (and everyone else) can't understand the language, but they still attend.

Neopolitan is only a dialect of Italian 85% of the language is still the same it's just a few words that are changed, the same as many different dialect in Thailand they all understand virtualy all of what is said.

My ex-wife learnt Italian at school in Milan, her father was born in Naples so spoke Neopolitan, but they could still comunicate and hold conversations with each other and family members when we visited Italy.

I understand your problem.

I have lived in Don Meuang for the past six years and even now, when I tell someone where I live, I sometimes get a blank look back. Pronunciation has to be spot on, otherwise you might as well be talking Swahili.

That's a ridiculous statement. It clearly wasn't a misunderstanding, the evil cabbie was trying to rip off the foreigner because that's what all Thais do, don't cha know? He asked for the airport and got taken to........the airport. Obvious conspiracy, obvious scam. Detestable Thais.

Honestly reading some of those comments makes me almost pity the posters.

You are absolutely correct in that in Thai, if your pronunciation is a little off, they genuinely don't understand you. Why do people on this site see conspiracies and rip-offs everywhere when often they clearly don't exist?

This is an annoying aspect of learning the language, i learnt Thai many years ago and for the most time it works well for me, now if i go into a 7/11 or any other shop for a packet of cigs i ask for SMS red in Thai always with a blank stare back at me, my wife says exactly the same as i did and they go straight and get them. It can only be the accent, i know what i am saying is correct but they still do not understand it. My wife also says if she hears someone from England speak she can understand them but if their from Australia she finds it difficult.

But instead of reviving the old Don Muang airport to try and compete with Suvarnabhumi, how about something a bit "radical" by Thai standards? How about ending the primate city dominance and offering more flights directly to Phuket, Chiang Mai and U-Tapao? There are millions of passengers that would prefer to travel directly to these cities rather than be forced by Air Asia (which dominates traffic at Don Muang) and THAI Airways International (which accounts for a significant share of traffic at Suvarnabhumi) to always land at Bangkok first before going onto other destinations.

They already do this, but there should be more. When Suvarnabhumi was first built, I flew to Thailand via Chiang Mai to avoid all of the negative points outlined on ThaiVisa (King Power, toilets, baggage, general unpleasantness).

I can fly from Chicago to Chiang Mai with only one stop in Seoul with Korean Air. I just checked on their website. No need to transit through Bangkok.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Mai_International_Airport

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phuket_International_Airport

Anyways, I agree that it would be nice if more international airlines flew into Chiang Mai and Phuket (not so much U-Tapao since a new terminal would be desperately needed)

Part of the problem with this is the introduction of the A380, many airlines have replaced some smaller aircraft with these and they are only able to land at certain major airports. A full A380 to Bangkok with tourists and transit passengers or a half full flight to Chiang Mai, Phuket or Pattaya with only tourists for that specific area.

Tell her as she has threatened to goto the police and cry rape he has since contacted his solicitor back home who will be flying over in a couple of days to handle his case, explain he will need to speak to her boss at the supermarket and family friends in her village to find if this is an isolated incident or a regular occurance from her, if an isolated incident he will have to goto court to get an order for her to goto hospital for a full medical and mental assesmaent, after the finding of the medical and mental assessment also the results of the visit to her village and boss are returned they will be better informed as to what course of legal action should be persued.

As she is only 18 the thought of someone going to question her boss and friends of her family should be enough for you sorry your friend never to see her again.

Also, is it me or does his way of posting remind anyone of funfon?

It is illegal for a vet in Thailand to put a dog to sleep and the penalties are really harsh, this was the response i got when my old dog was really sick and i took it to the vets, after i sat with the vet for nearly an hour explaining that it was more cruel to let the dog suffer he decided to make a couple of phone calls and then gave me an address and said take her there and wait for him, When i got there it was his storage yard in the moddle of nowhere, he gave her the drug and she went to sleep, we sat and talked and he explained how most vets understood the need sometimes to put animals to sleep but were too frightened of the consequenses.

I'm not sure whether face book ethic's committee would like this, I noticed comments into this drunk driving problem , I would like to get a little more serious, so that they get the message , 1st offence vehicle confiscated also for 6 months, 2nd offence 12mths, 3rd forever and given to a charity if it is 1 to 5 years old and in good condition, hit em where it hurts.

Probably would not work here as most cars are financed, the way Thais work is if they don't have the car they don't pay for it, the finance company after about 4-5mths of non payment come to take the car away but it's not there, they then file a report and walk away and virtually nothing is done about it, in the village over the last 9yrs at least 7 as i know of have sold their pick up's with no book and just not paid the finance for it.

Keith 67, Please believe it. It is true. It used to be fairly common in Taiwan, also, twenty or thirty years ago. Mostly, in Taiwan, it was the gravel truck drivers who would reverse over the victim after an accident. The reasoning is that if the victim dies, one only owes one lump sum payment. But if the victim is crippled, then the compensation goes on for the life of the victim to pay for support, lost wages, and continuing medical care. Taiwan has really cleaned up its act in recent years and the laws have become extremely strict when it comes to drunk driving, speeding, reckless driving, overweight trucks, and the use of uppers by truck drivers.

But please believe it, Keith, it is very easy to reverse over the victim at night when no one is watching, or even in the day time. Sounds heartless, doesn't it Keith? Maybe we were born onto the wrong planet? Don't you think?

I think you are correctdifferent planet indeed, could you imagine what kind of treatment you would recieve in the west for this kind of act?

Although i was speaking to a Thai guy in the village yesterday and he told me a story that happened in Bangkok:

A truck driver involved in an accident with a student then reversed over her and drove away and left her to die alone although he was seen and caught a day or two later. His family sent comiserations to her family and agreed to meet them to pay for their sons wrong doing, a few days later the truck driver and his family arrived at the house of his victims family with in excess of B500,000 as the payment, the father accepted the money put it in a draw and took out a loaded gun from the same draw and shot the truck driver dead with the comment "sorry" handed back the money and declared they were even.

The father of the girl got a suspended sentance from the court due to the circumstances.

In most of the west killing somebody intentially with any motor vehicle is a murder charge.

I found this today seems it is the same in China too.

Several of the hit-and-kill cases have involved children, including a horrifying one of a man in an Audi in Jiangsu province running over a 3-year-old four times.

Chinese netizens, typically appalled at the incidents, point to underlying problems with China’s medical care, insurance and legal systems. In short, it’s cheaper to kill someone in China than be responsible for a lifetime of medical costs.

Victims’ families generally can’t bring costly lawsuits against the perpetrators, but rather must rely on a carefully proscribed compensation formula when someone is killed. The driver is typically responsible for medical costs, rather than an insurance company, if the victim lives.

A driver might have to pay $40,000-$50,000 for running over someone and killing them, but paying medical bills for a seriously injured person

for months on end can easily and quickly outpace the price of death.

Try to look at it this way, how would you feel about foreigners coming to your home country and never learning to speak your language. More importantly how well would they fit in if they do not even attempt to learn the language. In my opinion, if you live in a foreign country, you need to learn as much of the native language as possible. Anything less is rude, disrespectful and will cause problems down the road.

Also I suspect that it will also turn you into one of the TV posters that always has a negative outlook, and many issues, but this is just an opinion.

Irrelevant arguments the post's about foreigners living in the UK, Europe, America and many other western countries and not speaking the language due to the fact, if a problem arises for foreigners in a western country an interpreter is brought in and usually at the tax payers’ expense, this includes benefit claims and many other legal instances, as there is no benefit system here and no real legal rights for expats Thais tend not to complain in the same way, if Thailand’s tax Baht was being used to subsidise your living in their country and not learning the language there would be a far greater number of Thais with the attitude of the westerners.

Some of the younger guy's that come here as said come with very little finances and the reason for this in my opinion is largely down to some of the expat investors here, they go back to their home country and for fear of the "i told you so's" generally make out their move here to invest has paid massive dividends, the younger blokes hear this and think they can do the same plus live in a land where women are plenty and the lifestyle would far outweigh the one they have now.

The reality only sinks in when they get here and have been here a month or 2 and see what it's really like, their finance disappear at an alarming rate and desperation starts to sink in, the inevitable happens they meet some guy who tells them he has a plan but needs 10 investors at 300K each and he will pay commission for all investors they find, they go out to find complete strangers to earn a living from not even knowing what might happen to the guy they get the money from.

All in all though if a guy has a business plan and want's to discuss it in a bar where girls are dancing half naked on the bar in front of you it's a scam, and that goes for any business offer made in any bar. I couldn't imagine Richard Branson or Stelios offering investment opportunities to anyone in a bar environment could you?

Possibly to do with the tourist element i don't know, i have not looked in tourist areas here either, in the village they all eat it raw if the meat is minced, if the meat is just sliced then yes they cook it first.

When it's sliced it's 'Nam Tok" (I think).

I've seen it raw too, many times especially liver...

Nam Tok is when they slice the meat and then BAR-B-Q it before mixing.

I've been told the lime juice 'cooks' the meat....anyone???

Can't see that to be honest lime juice is the last ingredient to go in then it's mixed for about 30secs and then put on a plate and served, so not enough time really.

Larb is a really tasty dish and i eat it alot, do you eat it cooked or raw, and with or without blood?

I've been to Laos many,many times as Larb is a Lao dish and I've never seen it advertised raw on any menu anywhere in Vientiane!

Possibly to do with the tourist element i don't know, i have not looked in tourist areas here either, in the village they all eat it raw if the meat is minced, if the meat is just sliced then yes they cook it first.

A pay off would not be offered for the offence you stated as a far larger sum of money would be gained through the legal chanels, i.e. payments to the family plus fines and the fact a conviction for a more serious crime was achieved.

Tell me, have you ever been to Thailand ?

Only for the last 9 years and you?

Ok so you want to prove me wrong i can live with being wrong, how many farangs do you know that have killed someone whilst driving under the influence and paid a bribe to get off scott free.

And now your turn to be honest.

I gave you the oportunity of your life on this topic to prove me wrong, you could have shown all the members on here that what you say is perfectly justified and correct, you could have made a point to all the corruption haters but instead, you just sat back and said nothing, can only assume "google" didn't come through for you this time, ah well better luck next time.

Any further debate should be avoided without proof if you are going to question anything somebody says.

At least Naam although sometimes harsh and critical of members and topics seems to be able to back up his opinions and comments.

Do you cook it for yourself too?

No but I was thinking this morning that I should be learning some of the basic dishes, I would imagine it's relatively easy to make.

Very easy, rice powder, minced pork, spring oniions, dried chilli powder, fish sauce, the pork flavouring you get in the green and white packets and lemon is all you need, fry off the mince leave a little juice in the pan, chop and add spring onions, add about 2 tbl spoons fish sauce, i tea spoon chilli powder and rice powder, a sprinkle of pork flavour and about 1/4 squeezed lemon and then mix it all together but do not re-heat or it will dry out, it's also a case of try it and decide what you need to add more of for your taste. Remember too much fish sauce or pork flavour willmake it taste salty.

yep i like it as well only always ask them to leave the rice powder out it goes not well with my plastic teeth

if you grind it with a coffee grinder it's more of a powder than the locals make, they just use the pestal and morter which results in bigger pieces and yes very hard.

What's this rice powder you're on about?

It's basically pre cooked sticky rice ground into a powder, easy to do yourself but you'll need a coffee grinder to avoid bigger hard bits..

Toast the rice in a frying pan dry until it is medium brown in colour, put it into the coffee grinder and grind until a powder, you can do loads at a time, as long as you keep it dry it will last forever.

I was told by a local police officer over songkran they have many problems with truck drivers when it comes to accidents, apparently it is better for a truck driver to kill someone rather then badly hurt them, financially that is, he said he has known cases where a truck involved in an accident with a pedestrian has actually reversed over them to kill them to save money, i couldn't believe this has anyone heard this kind of thing before?

They use the really small bulbs, usually crushed once and thrown in whole.

Seen it made a few times in the village and never seen them use garlic, may have to try that, i sometimes use the small red onions too,

I enjoy those little crunchy bits..

thats the rice powder hopefully.

I don't file a tax return here so they can misappropriate as many tax dollars as they like...

I do however occasionally get robbed by the BiB.

So my only dislike is for corruption that affects MY bottom line.

The gabillion dollar stuff can go on full steam...I couldn't care less as long as it does not cost me a dime...

If Thai or Farang tax payer here are unhappy about it they can carry the flag of revolution...

I will be out surfing...

Why do you think the baht is so strong, industry is booming through corruption and exchange rates are being affected so it's costing everybody money in some sense including you.