flyingdoc

In researching this topic for my forthcoming book, 'Teardrops in Siam', it is not quite such a clear cut issue as it might seem !

I have talked to girls from Isaan, who have looked me in the eye and asked why I should consider their trade immoral, when they are in fact now able to look after their families back home who would otherwise be struggling on $2 per day, and in doing good for them, they should be earning merits at the Temple !

The main objection amongst Thais that I have encountered, is when they see a 'farang' who is not only far older than the Thai girl he is going out with, but is grossly unattractive and would never be able to find a girlfriend back home in his own country, but can effectively 'buy' the company of one here!

As one of your correspondents said, it is comparatively easy to judge the class of Thai girl who is going out with a 'farang', and know straight away whether she is a bar girl or ex-bar girl. Those who are not, can be counted amongst some of the most conservative women you can find anywhere!. Some genuinely seek out 'farangs' as they are fed up with the 'butterfly' mentality of some Thai men !

Knowing the risk and severe disruption that can be caused every year at this time, coupled with the misery to all families within its path, I fail to understand how successive governments fail to tackle the problem so regularly? Is it only corruption, or are they too proud to call in experts from countries such as Holland, where they really do know what they are doing?

I never realised that buying a Lottery ticket in Thailand was quite so precarious !

Altering a ticket and claiming the jackpot prize, seems beyond comprehension, but I suppose some people will try anything?!!

Prizes should be more akin to those in the U.K. and sold more openly, then there would be something worth winning !

Power lines are always a hazard when flying low level.

However, it does seem somewhat bizarre to be caught out by them when inspecting them in broad daylight, but then it takes some good flying to bring the helicopter down in an emergency landing in safety.

Wonder if the machine can be recovered and ever work again?

Could we possibly have some coherent facts, before passing judgment?

Is it a steel beam sticking out across the highway, or is it a steel girder which is part of a bridge?

The Thai approach sounds eminently more sensible and realistic than in the U.K, where tenants can often play footloose and free with contracts and liabilities in many ways, and now in the case of socially funded tenants, money is being paid direct to the tenant rather than the landlord, so may never reach its proper destination!

Seems to me eminently sensible to have the same Bank dealing with funds both in the U.K and in LOS !

That way not only can the origin be proved, but any Thai regulations can be explained or checked on in the U.K., before transmitting funds.

Surely the question would not arise, unless we had a work permit?!!

It is amazing just how class conscious Thais are. I thought it was confined mainly to the U.K, but it certainly isn't.

In one case, I met a Thai shop owner who sported a lovely pedigree Chihuahua. I was amazed to find another shop owner just 2 shops away, who also had a similar dog. I aske them how they got on with each other, and was amazed to learn that not only did they not know each other, but the better class one clearly had no intention of getting to know the other either! Just one tiny example, but a significant pointer. Thais who are considered wealthy in Thailand, would not be so classified in the U.K or USA, yet those really wealthy ones just acquire more properties and vehicles quietly without much song and dance, and educate their children in Europe or the U.S, and clearly they are competing on an open market, and certainly would be Upper Middle Class at least, by any standards!

As a single individual, perhaps Thailand does not need any of us !

However, I would like to think that some of us have made a slight difference to the country, and contributed in some small way

as a 'farang' to the economy and tourist industry. I work in Anti-aging Medicine (AAM), and if there is any way a better quality of life can be broadcast, then it can only be for the better, particularly in a country where there is not a National Health Service. Longevity is not important per se, but pushing back the age at which dependency and / or debilitation sets in, is important everywhere, especially in Thailand.

Why not wait until the official Air Accident Reports for all these recent accidents, before jumping to conclusions?

These are prepared without emotion or bias, and are based on factual findings.

Whilst on the subject of things aeronautical, can anyone enlighten me to the latest news from Kan AIr's recent building of an Airport half way up a mountainside on Koh Phangan? It was meant to be opening up for business this year?!!

It is far more important to get unroadworthy cars, trucks and buses off the road, than declaring an age limit.

Why not introduce an actual realistic MOT Test, as in the U.K, after 3 years old, then any vehicles which fail, may not be used on the roads any longer?

My last so-called MOT was a farce, testing only the windscreen washers, then 2 days later I collect my Road Fund licence, and attach it to my windscreen ! Useless! I may have a conscience about my vehicle, and keep it properly, but many others don't !

Cam we at least be given some basic facts?

What food?

Where did it come from?

Who were supplying it?

My sympathy goes out to those affected.

I fly very often from London to BKK, including EVA.

It is not remotely worth taking that chance.

There are invariably long queues at Immigration, particularly at that time of day, then you have got to wait for your luggage, then get up from Level 2 to Level 4 and check in. Almost an impossibility! Remember the flight times given in the schedule are the times to landing, NOT the time you arrive at the pier and can start getting off the aircraft. Don't take the risk. No way !

I thought this particular scam was exhausted 50 years ago, but it seems that there is a never ending market for this sort of duplicity.

The problem is not with this sort of ludicrous scam, but the more sophisticated ones that emanate from West Africa. In Nigeria in some so called Colleges, Fraud is actually taught as a subject, with illustrations and templates for converting real life accidents into ones tailored for that student's individual requirements. References to the actual plane, car or truck crash are given, and they are real. Rarely are all the victim's actual names given, so new ones are slotted in to suit. The accident was genuine with good Press coverage, but the parties are not. Most of these are now caught under Section 419 Fraud, but little is done about it locally. The unwitting victim in the West could even find himself prosecuted for abetting a scam!

I feel greatly for you. I was married to a U/K based Psychiatrist for many years, but now specialize in Anti-aging Medicine (AAM), based largely on the Chicago A4M model. However, quality of life does come within our remit, and if money is not plentiful, I could get some recommendations from the Medical staff at Thammasat University in BKK, and they would be very sympathetic to your plight and financial circumstances. It may be that involving Beta Glucan in weaning off dependancy drugs, could play a valuable part in this.

Contact me if I can help?

Thailand is indeed a fascinating and very diverse country.

However it is NOT a Third World country as many think, but a Developing Country, and will be joining the forthcoming ASEAN Community in full, in just over a year's time!

Compared to the West and in particular the U.K, it is relatively class-less. There are rich and there are poor.

Some families in Isaan are living on under $2 per day, then you can go into the new fabulous shopping Malls in Bangkok (BKK), and other cities, and you will find goods there to exhaust any shopaholic! Take Terminal 21 for instance, in BKK.

Thailand is far more conservative than most Westerners believe. Don't be fooled by T.V and other reports that Thailand is a Land of Smiles catering for every whim of the foreigner (farang), and that sex is available everywhere. This is only true of a small minority, though well publicized in the Press, in hot spots like Phuket, Pattaya and other tourist resorts. There they certainly equate farangs = ATM machines, so beware !

To answer your question, you should first get a good but easy to read guidebook. Learn a little about the Thai countryside, culture and outlook on life. If you want to pre-book any hotels in advance, I would always advise securing any accommodation by lodging credit card details only, NOT paying in full in advance ! That way you can always amend your booking on arrival, or change to a more or less expensive room. Hotels are so plentiful, you can always always rely on last minute or on the spot accommodation, if you prefer to look first.

Bangkok is a vibrant City at all times, but it may present a culture shock in the first instance to the uninitiated. Don't visit without reading something up first. Travel is cheap, and if you are on a budget, buses are plentiful to every corner of Thailand, and I am happy to take overnight coaches down to Samui, for instance, some 700 km South by road, and often referred to as the 'Jewel in the Crown' of Thai tourism. Next to Samui, is Koh Phangan, the home of the monthly Full Moon Parties, if that kind of thing attracts! Up North you have the fascinating areas of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai plus the Golden Triangle, with hill tribes, the mighty Mekong River and lots of elephants !

Lastly, I have trawled relentlessly through all the recent Thai Visa Forum notices, and failed to find the Post I am looking for, by a young traveller who slated almost everything in Thailand, and had to 'make do' on a budget of $20,000 for 3 weeks !!. I have been wanting to reply for weeks, and cannot contain myself any longer. He was dissatisfied with his $300 per night hotel in BKK, disliked Samui but slated nearby Koh Phangan mercilessly, and deprecated Krabi, Koh Lanta and Phi Phi. Poor rich boy indeed! I am a research doctor in Anti-aging Medicine (AAM), and have been coming to Thailand for 27 years, and to Koh Samui for 16 years. I have stayed in excellent brand new hotels near the Airport at Suvarnabhumi for 1,000 baht per night, travelled in luxury a/c coaches overnight to Samui, with meal and drink, full reclining seats and blankets provided for 850 baht, and had fabulous meals out in a plethora of restaurants all over Thailand for 500 - 1,000 baht, though it is possible to eat well for far less!

Koh Phangan is a lovely Island and deserves exploration. Why otherwise, are the ferries always packed to capacity, and not just for Full Moon parties, when speedboats usually cater for visitors rather than the conventional ferries anyway?

He complained that he got people to do planning for him. Why the hell didn't he do it himself? He might have learned something about the country, and not presented such a jaundiced view of what is one of the most fascinating countries and cultures in the world!

This is always a difficult area.

I have worked with my Manager in the Anti-aging field of Medicine in the U.K for 15 years now. We have no written contract, no exclusivity, yet neither of us would dream of letting the other down.

However, that is rare, and however friendly one might be in Thailand, it is always worth getting a legal contract drawn up. It does not imply that you are distrusting, but purely sensible. You can always alleviate any queries by saying that it is primarily for their benefit, and that should allay any worries.

The two major problems I have found in Thailand are:

1. Without a contract, personal agreements can be misunderstood at best, and broken at the drop of a hat, at worst, if money is involved..

2. More seriously, I have found that in one or two cases, even with a written contract, it is sometimes assumed that this is only a bargaining point, and the real negotiations take place after that! Truly a horrifying scenario for the Western mind !

Lastly, one contributor made an eminently sensible suggestion, that in this case where greed has certainly taken over, don't cry over 'split milk' and lose everything -= offer to cut the owner / policeman in on a 50- 50 %, with a business plan, showing just how profitable it will be over the next 5 years, and woo them on to the idea, rather than just lose everything, and have your wife crying over it. Many things in Thailand re legal matters and property may end up 'sticking in the gullet' and require compromise, but then you are not living in the West, and suing anyone would be expensive and impracticable! Adapt and win through, is the name of the game!

I had high hopes for Yingluck when she first came to power, but she is tarnishing her image now by reports of extravagant expenditure, and a certain intransigence when it comes to vital decisions on matters like flood defences.

Your other commentators are absolutely right. Thailand is NOT a Third World country, but a fast developing country, who have just realised, albeit belatedly, that they will be joining ASEAN in just over a year's time, and there is no way that inaction or delayed action can be contemplated now, when flooding is so bad North of Bangkok. Thailand is a major world contributor to the world's food and car markets, and we just cannot have a repetition of the situation 2 years ago, when major industrial complexes around BKK were out of action for several months, losing $ billions through lost production. When a major Pharmaceutical Company with whom I deal, moved to their brand new palatial premises just before the last flooding, I suggested that they incorporated a helipad ! They smiled but did nothing. When their key staff could not even get to them except by boat, maybe they thought it was not such a bad idea after all.

Yingluck must act fast, and decisively. She must be prepared to come down hard on those who illegally break down flood defences and barriers in their own area, and then flood vast areas downstream just to pass on the problem, which then becomes magnified exponentially.

I must admit that suggesting repelling water or even encouraging its flow seawards or in any other direction, by the use of boat propellors, does sound ludicrous, even to the least informed observer! What next?

I agree with Jeeze that foam insulation can be used in cavity walls, but this is clearly not the case here. Lucky this was the only apartment found to be defective, or is the only one detected so far ?

This time it does not appear to be the van driver's fault.

One of the other contributing factors at night , when so many of the accidents happen, is the 'soft light' policy adopted in Thailand.

In Europe most people driving without adequate headlights could easily end up being prosecuted. It is frankly dangerous, and bright lighting should now be made compulsory. Is this a non-confrontational dim lighting policy gone mad?

I don't think this was solely money based. It was a deep-rooted resentment against a farang custom of not wanting to support their whole family, take them all out for meals and generally lavish attention and munifence around.

I first met her family some time ago, when they wanted to get involved in the supplemental healthcare industry, and distribute one or two of my Anti-aging medical (AAM) products in Thailand. I flew into Don Mueang from Samui via the Suratthani route. They met me, and astonishingly put me up in a 5* hotel, then drove me out to dinner at a lovely restaurant some way out of BKK, at which no fewer than 16 members of the family were there to greet me. The next morning they insisted on collecting me and driving me to Suvarnabhumi for my flight back to the U.K. I admit that it was my deep regret that I could not repay like for like, as my self funded research in AAM and certain aspects of cancer, means that I could never repay hospitality on that scale!

Very interesting topic and wide variety of replies.

I had a Thai g/f, literally as a friend. We hung out together at the gym, travelling around, shared driving, until her family had a car accident in BKK. They were not properly insured and after the loss of the car, could not get to work. She asked to borrow my car which was all the way down on Samui. I drove it up, met her on the outskirts of BKK, so she could drive the last few miles into the centre. Then erupted out of nowhere, the most incredible one-sided tirade about farangs and their meanness in not helping Thais who were less well off than they were, and ended up with her driving into a hotel car park, hailing a taxi and disappearing into the night. This was all brought about by my running out of cash to pay for the last round of petrol, and she was forced to phone a member of her family in order to draw cash. I was left in a city which I did not know well, could not read the road signs, did not even know what part of the City I was actually in! I only had a few baht until my flight home. My credit card had been blocked on the eve of my departure from London when I queried a transaction I did not recognise, and it turned out indeed to be fraudulent, but it prevented me from drawing any cash whilst out in Thailand for a month !

I had some credit on my phone, called up someone I scarcely knew, and they came out and rescued me, apologised for the unforgivable behaviour of one of their countrymen, put me up, paid for meals and delivered me to Suvarnabhumi. and even stored my car safely for 2 months until I returned !

Unbelievably, after 6 months, I heard from the originall g/f as if nothing whatever had happened, and she would love to meet up again and resume our friendship. I am NOT talking about a bar girl here, but someone from a family who are far better off than me, and their car was one I could never possiby have afforded back in the U.K !