Andrew65

I've now been living for over 3 years in the UK, after 20 years in Thailand. One thing I'd say is that Thai women tend to have better figures than farang women

I can speak a smattering of Thai, some useful phrases, numbers etc. I know someone who has spent 16 years living in Thailand and his entire vocabulary consists of sawadee khap. His attitude being, it's much easier for him if the Thais learn to speak English. One thing being, especially in later years, I never hung-out with Thai people, also, I never worked in Thailand.

OK, thanks. I no longer live in Thailand, not for 3 1/2 years now, so no longer an issue. (If I win the lottery, I'll be back!????).

I lived in Thailand for almost 20 years. I also visited the Philippines, which I would say rivals Thailand where beautiful women is concerned. (Another thing being, they're more likely to speak English to a reasonable standard, one thing that lets Thailand down. My impression was that amongst ordinary people, the standard of English speaking is better in Cambodia than in Thailand).

That was what I was saying in my other comment. In many ways we have to jump through similar hoops to get a credit card in Thailand as we do in many other countries. One thing with my latest Bangkok Bank debit card is that it's Union Pay (Chinese), not Visa or Mastercard. Many western banks ATM's don't accept Union Pay cards, although that's no longer an issue for me.

I lived in Thailand for nearly 20 years. I had no bank account, no address, and no means of income in the UK. This meant that I had no credit rating (foreign bank accounts don't count towards a UK credit rating). I'm guessing that you have a few of the things I mentioned? Or you held those cards before you moved to Thailand? Your circumstances would be different to mine. (Also, because I had lived outside the UK for more than 5 years, and not insured a car anywhere, my car insurance cost 3 times more. One insurance company wouldn't offer insurance at all, because I had lived for more than 5 years outside the UK).

The difference between debit and credit cards is that a debit card doesn't involve debt, whilst a credit card does. When I lived in Thailand I had an offshore account with Citibank in Singapore. If I wanted a credit card they would hold double the credit limit as surety.

You can pay for tickets with a debit card, which is easy to get.

Why not just do this kind of thing all the time? Not just during public holidays.

What credible external threats does Thailand really have?

The UK gvt did this recently, by 5p/litre. That saves me about £2,50 off an £80 diesel bill, so, not a big deal (in the UK around 60% of fuel cost is tax). In the few days before this happened the price had risen by 6p/litre at a station that I drive by every day, , so you could see no benefit at all.

Not that uncommon in Thailand????

When I got my Bangkok Bank account 20 years ago, the only big deal was getting stuff from the British Embassy, but it was still a pain in the a*s. I haven't lived in Thailand for 3 years now, but will always have that account, to save possibly going through that hassle again

Probably 7 years ago a old friend said that many girls got men on the internet/chat etc, rather than in bars or walking the streets. He's a very wealthy guy who used to have girls a couple of times a day, so he was 'experienced' in such things.

Maybe playing with her phone meant filming her whilst she drowned? Seeing how some people are with mobile phones, not beyond the realms of possibility?!

Hitler just knew what most other politicians know!????

"investment middleman" AKA a financial adviser,

To one expert, the fact that Bernie Madoff was guaranteeing 12% was obviously a scam.

I've known that for a very long time (duh). I learnt about such things when working in Saudi Arabia. 'Bad' alcohol = methanol 'Good' alcohol = ethanol There's a flame test for it. As I learnt in chemistry at school, a yellow flame is a 'dirty' flame, a blue flame is a 'clean' flame.

Yes, it can turn into methanol (toxic) rather than ethanol when making spirits (the blue flame test).

Lets see how long it takes before someone goes blind or dies from drinking bad home made alcohol!?

Probably another man who ALWAYS causes problems when he drinks. I had an old friend in Thailand with whom another mutual friend would refuse to go drinking with, for that reason. Mind you, the mutual friend would become seriously obnoxious if he got drunk, but only when drunk on whisky, any other alcohol he was ok.

I'm suspecting "pilot-intervention" as the cause. There's a very good/interesting documentary about Egyptair 990.

"If the crash doesn't kill the pilot, the inquiry will".

We had/have similar rules on alcohol advertising in the UK. No one under 25 can be shown to be drinking. There was a voluntary ban on advertising spirits for many years.