Keith67

No woman would be willing to play second or third fiddle for any guy unless she considered that there is going to be many benefits in the relationship for her. Or in other words, she would expect to be financially supported and gain some investments.

Maybe my wife would accept a situation where I had a part time girlfriend on the go, but no way would she so understanding if this meant cutting my financial support for her and having to share with another woman.

Believe realistic, the luxury of having a minor wife or several women on the go is out of the question for the average guys, and is really a reserved as a rich man’s privilege, whether this practice is part of a culture or not.

A truly western approach to a thai situation, absolute BS but truly western. Before you rant and rave about how long you have been here, how

you have the correct visa to be called an expat or how if people do not have excessive amounts of financial support then you would not welcome them here, take a trip to a Thai village and ask around once the people get to know and trust you, you will find out everybody knows who has a "gik" or "mai noi" in the village although not so many millionairs in local villages mainly farm workers or local trades men so maybe not your cup of tea but they still have their "mai noi".

It is nice to know someone is reading and noting my posts and that I have a fan.

But I`m a little bit upset, because you failed to mentioned that my son is a policeman in Chiang Mai.

Next time please pay more attention to my comments, otherwise I`ll start thinking you don`t like me.

I neither suggested i was a fan nor a critic, i simply

pointed to the few comments i had noticed of yours over the last couple of days,

whilst being songkran i have found myself reading a few extra topics on TV as

opposed to going outside so be doused with a bucket of suspicious looking

water. As for your son being a policeman in Chiang Mai, this would have been no

relevance to the other demeaning comments you make about the worth of others,

so no need to mention it if i had known.

B20k a month is not an unreasonable amount to live on in the villages if your main expenses are already paid for i.e. house built and paid for, car bought and paid for, my bills in the village are exceptionally low in comparison to tourist areas:

• Elec TV all day, computer 5-6 hrs a day plus lights and fans (my choice don't like aircon) B500 per/mth
• Water - all uses including washing car and motorbike and water the garden B65 - 80 per/mth
• no rent
• fuel for car and motorbike B1 - 2000 p/mth
• Food - weekly trip to the big supermarket in town and local market shopping B10 - 12000 p/mth

Based on these main expenses it would leave around B5000 p/mth for things i have forgotten. It is possible if it was needed, my expenses in the village are low i don't scrimp and check all the prices of everything when i buy them but some months i only spend B25 - 30k, if i leave the village and go and stay in Bangkok or elsewhere for a month as my escape from village life then cost go up, rent alone for me in Bangkok is B17k a month although i don't spend time in the girly areas we do eat in nice places and a few drinks would mean yes B40K would be not be enough.

Many of the thai guy's don't have to worry about anywhere near B40k per month because the salary that the rich farangs are paying their "sister" usually helps no end.

From what i see on here there is a 4 way split of types of forum members:

• The retired devision with money
• The working devision with an income through work
• The holiday tourist
• The ones settled here maybe not rich but getting by.

Now the way i percieve these are,

The retired with money think everyone to be a little beneath them probably spills from a high ranking position within their workplace.

The working devision are happy to be here and make the most of every minute of it, as do the ones settled here but not wealthy.

The holiday tourist or the 2 week millionaire as they are called here they just think everone is a cheap charlie and screw the world their enjoying themselves.

None of the above mentioned is right or wrong but is how i percieve some on here but not all.......

There you have it the allegations of the previous pope
abusing children pale into insignificance compared to this heinous crime.

No woman would be willing to play second or third fiddle for any guy unless she considered that there is going to be many benefits in the relationship for her. Or in other words, she would expect to be financially supported and gain some investments.

Maybe my wife would accept a situation where I had a part time girlfriend on the go, but no way would she so understanding if this meant cutting my financial support for her and having to share with another woman.

Believe realistic, the luxury of having a minor wife or several women on the go is out of the question for the average guys, and is really a reserved as a rich man’s privilege, whether this practice is part of a culture or not.

A truly western approach to a thai situation, absolute BS but truly western. Before you rant and rave about how long you have been here, how

you have the correct visa to be called an expat or how if people do not have excessive amounts of financial support then you would not welcome them here, take a trip to a Thai village and ask around once the people get to know and trust you, you will find out everybody knows who has a "gik" or "mai noi" in the village although not so many millionairs in local villages mainly farm workers or local trades men so maybe not your cup of tea but they still have their "mai noi".

I really do not see the point in using Tiger Woods as an objective in your post and feel it would have been much better without referring to him.

Yes, there are those who have tried and failed here. They have lost everything and one I know lives on a small pension after losing house, family and everything both in his home country and here. He is very bitter and twisted as are some posters. The man in question is derided by others because he is always so grumpy and miserable. Yet he made his own bed and made his own mistakes.

We can learn from these people if we listen to their stories, but we do not need it continually ramming down our throats either in person or on a forum to the point where we no longer want to hear it.

Most of us who come to Thailand with expectations of being the 1 who can change the format of life, in arrive with what we think at the time to be large sums of money and stay with ideas of being able to generate an affordable income in some way to sustain a lifestyle that you would struggle to achieve with a good paying job in the western world, i arrived in Thailand 9 years ago at the grand old age of 35, a bank account full of money and a head full of good ideas, not too long after the reality that the ideas couldn't possibly work and had been tried many many times before so the bank balance soon took a pounding into submission, so 4 years later 2 choices were the option, tighten my belt to the point i couldn't breathe and live a life of misery and bitterness to any person with more than i had, or start again move away for a while re-build and return with a long term plan and less big ideas. The latter has worked extremely well for me, some excellent investment advice at the right time and with some good fortune along the way. Jealousy and bitterness are a choice not a pre-requisite of life.

If you're dealing with women who aren't already willing to go along with the idea:

"The one who has two wives loses his soul, the one who has two houses loses his mind."

-- Eric Rohmer, "Les Nuits de la pleine lune" (1964)

The trick is to know that this is what you want while you have no attachments, and make it clear to any potential teeraks from the beginning that such an arrangement is part of the deal.

It's important to have explicit and mutually agreed guidelines in place for what the boundaries are, who gets to know what at what level of detail, the fact that advance commitments of time, money energy and affection will be adhered to despite the comings and goings of other partners and so on.

In my experience the two models that work well are one main "mia luang" who is the primary long-term rock, while the others are expendable temporary arrangements, or all members of the group are equally the latter, trying not to give preferential treatment to anyone.

Most people don't find it worth the trouble, only those who hold sexual pleasure as pretty much the top priority in life. And it isn't any easier to arrange here than back in farangland if you are trying to establish meaningful relationships as well, pretty much have to keep it on a P2P basis, which for most means dealing with pretty dodgy characters.

Obviously what's good for the goose is good for the gander, and the #1 bottom line law has to be no deception no lying all 'round.

In your opinion a good time to broach this subject would be when?

• On meeting you partner for the first time,
• After moving in together with the family,
• After building your first home together
• During negitiations for the amout paid as a sin sot prior to marriage.

Idealistically maybe the right thing to do but i don't remember anyone saying in the village they and their husband had discussions prior to marriage and agreed he could bang anything that moved so it's OK.

Seen this many many times in the village, a funny story was a friend of my wife asked me to go for a drink at a bar he knew lots of girls he said and nobody will know, i made an excuse not to go and said the inevitable next time, 2 days later the same guy is limping around the village after a motorbike accident on his way home from the said bar, he explained he was riding along the dark lane and the next thing he knew he woke up in hspital, the story is, the wife found the bar and a branch from a nearby tree the same night.

Don't the staff get paid? Why tip at all. I don't expect special treatment. I expect them to do their job.

I once checked into a hotel and 3 people were hovering to 'assist' me and my one bag to my room. I told them not to take my bag, I can carry it myself. They insisted on taking it, all 3 of them going to my room.

Get into the room and the guy holds his hand out for a tip, I shook his hand. He and his 2 assistants were not impressed.

Of course when I needed something they weren't at all keen to help me. I then got the manager and told him the staff were not doing their job. The manager gave them a bollocking.

Since when do staff only do their job if they receive a tip.

All I expect is for staff to actually do the job they get paid to do.

Your senario is however a little different, you stated clearly you would carry your own bag so if they insist on taking it yes it is done at their own inconvenience, as i said tips are most certainly optional, the downside to the hotel industry worldwide is low salaries for staff as hoteliers be them large chains or singly owned know staff recieve tips from most guests and take this into account when deciding upon salary rates, a few years ago in the UK i heard a story of the government trying to tax employees of some of the leisure industries based on an anual amount recieved in tips, it would also include tour bus drivers and coach drivers i don't know what happened in the end.

If she borrowed the money and agreed to the interest, what's the big deal? She should make good on the debt. If she is your GF and not just another sausage-casing why not just square the debt and be done with it?

I just got this fantastic idea! You said 60,000B ($2000) is no big deal to you. Well it is to me and it would really help me out of a bind. You would be a hero in our family forever and many many thanks in advance. I don't even want her to know I posted about this so I am giving you my bank info Daniel Tyler, acc # 980-6-57204-1 Krung Thai Bank. Man your the greatest, thank the lord for big fish.

Sincerely

Daniel

Read The Post.

He never said Baht 60,000.- is "no big deal" - he said the girlfriend took the Loan and agreed to the interest rate, implying that it's too late to bleat now about an unfair Interest rate.

Patrick

Also he was corrected on page 1 for that comment....

DLock, on 12 Apr 2013 - 15:59, said:

5% per month is not unusual.

Extortionate, but not unusual.

Don't get involved. This is very normal for Thai's...and don't even consider paying it back on her behalf.

Pay it back on her behalf if you want - why not?

We only know a fraction of the story, so saying pay it off or not pay it off is irrelevant.

The OP has disappeared so I guess we will never know.

But giving Thai's the easy way out is like giving them approval to do it again. They don't learn.

Sorry to disappear, I just have so many irons in the fire right now. I already have Mogandave paying it for me. He is a super cool guy and I don't want to waist my friends money so please tell me why I should not just pay the dept and be done with it? I really appreciate your posts, especially when you guys don't even know me.

If you pay back the debt if full that is the end of it, the only down

side is if you g/f sees this as your weakness, make it clear it is a 1

off occurance, if you dont pay in full i doubt very much you will

recieve the papers your g/f put up as collaterol. Even the village

lenders are not alone when it comes to non-payment.

2% monthly comes to 27% APR if principle isn't paid down.

So it seems the 5% monthly/80% APR figure is the "de facto" limit, below which isn't actually prosecuted in practice even though it's in theory illegal.

These loans are not your run of the mill bank loans, the monthly or weekly payments do not incude any reduction in the amount borrowed, you borrow B10,000 pay B500 per month for 5 years the amount you now owe is B10,000.

My dear friend TaninThai,

I appreciate your concern for my kids and their future, and believe me they already are well aware of my addictions, they've been to hundreds of 12-step meetings and I'm sure one day will realise they wouldn't even be on this lovely planet if it weren't for that particular part of reality.

Somehow we all manage to muddle through don't we.

Jai yen yen nah? I don't think your getting all worked up is going to do anyone any good, least of all yourself.

Take care now,

Your friend in love,

FunFon

Did you have to stand and say "hi everyone my name is funfon and i'm addicted to having sex with young girls"?

Just curious......

Just a bit of fun Morden, don't take offense please, I did cite my "sources" previously

No problem.

I am genuinely curious about this market. Your WAG is possibly accurate enough. The bikers are into small loans to people with no valuable assets. The need to borrow THB10,000 paints the picture. That must swing the proportion of the total their way, people with assets being less numerous.

We see several bikers turn up daily to the food stalls across the road from my wife's restaurant. The borrowers aren't happy to see them. One day, an old lady there couldn't pay. A call was made and the lender turned up in an old BMW and issued threats. By next morning, the old lady had disappeared. That part of the private lending market is nasty.

Usually B10-20,000 is the initial loan but the way people get into trouble is, they make regular payments and a trust is built more money is then offered and regularly taken increasing the daily payment, this continues until non-payment is inevitable, remember these bikers only see their customers for very short periods so do not really have any idea of the financial stability of the borrower.

khunPer, on 14 Apr 2013 - 16:10, said:

However, maximum interest rate on private loans is by law 15% pro annum. Banks and registered loan providers can charge more, around 25% p.a. or more is normal.

-

While the other guy says 5% per month is allowed (APR=80), so which is it?

15% p.a. by law – ask any Thai lawyer

If you take a local villiage loan agreement to the police because they are charging you 20% per anum you will probably get laughed out of the station, go to a local police station in a town or villiage out of a tourist area and ask them what the legal rate is, they will tell you B5 per B100 borrowed, trust me i've done it.

I remember a few years ago in Phuket 4 navy ships from the US and the UK arrived at the same time they considered it to large a number to allow them all leave at the same time, so each ship was given a time and day they could go ashore 2 ships per day spread over 4 days, that worked quite well.

In reality nothing will ever get done about this problem in Phuket, tuk tuk drivers will continue to flout the law and police will continue to turn the other cheek, if there is a war and it turns into a blood bath we can only hope that the tuk tuk mafia are illrpepared and lose in exceptional number and then they can possibly be overturned once and for all.

khunPer, on 14 Apr 2013 - 16:10, said:

However, maximum interest rate on private loans is by law 15% pro annum. Banks and registered loan providers can charge more, around 25% p.a. or more is normal.

-

While the other guy says 5% per month is allowed (APR=80), so which is it?

It is all of them depending on where the loan comes from and who, for instance a bank will have to justify bank rates and charges whereas a motorbike lender or local lended do not, they have only to keep in mind the limit set by the law which is 5% per month for this kind of loan agreement.

I just showed this topic to my wife an told her to read mainly the posts from FunFon she sat and read them for about 30 mins then stood up walked to the door where she turned looked at me and said "i hope his landlady cuts off his b*lls with a rusty unsharp knife" maybe another post for the cute little things thai girls say thread......

lol

Is it not possible that the girl is telling the truth, that the guy genuinely cares for her and is just looking for some advice about what the options are!

Why does everyone assume its a gambling debt and that she is up to no good and he's stupid??

Of course it is and i have tried to give him that advise, it is also possible that she is telling the truth which means she will be able to produce some kind of paperwork to prove this also. The 2 questions i have for the op are:

If she has been paying this loan for 4 years how is it paid, and why has he only just found out about it?

What does he intend to do about it i.e. Pay the loan for her?

Many massage courses can be completed in 30mins or 1hr sessions with good results and happy outcome if you know where to go.....

Sorry about that couldn't resist though.

Keith67, on 14 Apr 2013 - 12:10, said:

the lagal rate in Thailand is B5 per B100 borrowed

-

Is that quoted in the law as per month?

If so, that's 80% per year if the principle isn't paid off . . .

Yes it's a monthly rate but also remember the reality is more likely to be B7-10 per B100 borrowed. A used car tent will quote interest as sometimes higher than this and the rates will be stated on the parperwork due to this being a different type of agreement, The OP if he is really concerned needs first to find who she borrowed the money from and also what the agreement is and not the agreement on paper the agreement in reality, but that is easier said than done as she will not want to come accross as stupid for agreeing to it in the first place.