LucMee

with a penknife

It always pains me to read these stories by these poor schmucks who fly in with dreams and fantasies that are unreasonable to begin with. And while I try not to generalize... It seems like the vast majority of these guys get bit hard and deep enough very early in these "relationships" that they ought to be awakened to the realities of the situation way, way before they loose their shirts.

As usual... The OP makes lots of statements that indicate that he's a bit simpleminded from the git go... It sounds like girlfriend tried to keep him at arms length early on and that he just kept charging ahead... I expect that she ultimately figured... "What the heck?... I might as well get what he seems so determined to give away before someone else does."

"

Then he takes abuse and keeps crawling on his belly... He wasn't opportunity knocking.... He was kicking the door in! Reads to me like she sure gave him ample opportunity to to skedaddle well before he got to the point of transferring money and shipping goods. It seems like he was running away from something in the states...

I've known lots and lots of Issan women and almost married one before I ended up with a Chaing Mai girl... In Fact... My Issan lady couldn't have kids and insisted that I marry the younger lady... Then she stayed on as my mia noi for over seven years... Real Monster ...Huh?

Granted... There are some sly ones... and even more opportunistic ones... But I can't say that I've run into the "Evil Witches" that this guy is yowping about.

When I lived in BKK... I fixed up lots of guys w/ B/G's ... A few of those hook ups are going on 20 years... With Issan girls no less!

Over the years... My standard advice to friends who've gotten divorced and wanted to run over and get themselves a sweet little thing has been...

"If you think with the little head... Any woman anywhere is capable of burning you to the ground."

And before anyone gets any idea that it's been all roses and sunshine from my little Chaing Mai flower... After 22 years together and over 10 years in the states... She's assimilated into just as big of a pain in the ass as any of her american or european sisters... She's just aging a little better.

I was not a believer in reincarnation and had my doubts about Deja vu... I've been all around the world and never felt a strong connection to any one point.

Until I stopped on Okinawa.

I was driving through a little village just north of Nago and I was compelled to take a turn that was not in my plans... I knew I was HOME! I stopped in front of a little old house that I just knew I'd lived in... Strangest thing that has ever happened to me in a life full of strange things.

There's a whole lot more to the story as I have since met the people who've lived in that house since before the war... But suffice to say that there are enough details to leave coincidence in the bin.

So... Count me in as a believer.

My Cardinal Rule is:

18 to 80... Blind, Crippled or Crazy!

My Great Gran, Gran And My Mom would whack the bejesus out of us if we were caught sweeping the house after dark... To this day I raise the roof if it happens in my house.... But this is one the wife doesn't subscribe to.. So she'll do it now and then... Mainly to get my goat!

But none of our beds can have the head to the west.... She's got to rub talcum powder on my face before I take a business trip... And she can get pretty crazy about ghosts.... Any unusual happenings are usually attributed to some departed relative or another. Plus she's always planting some "lucky" plant in the yard.

My parents had a run of bad luck once and the wife had a monk over who wouldn't enter the house but had us bring all of the house plants outside and pronounced that several of them were planted in dirt from a graveyard... Funny thing was that even though we didn't confirm the graveyard thing... My mom was shocked that the monk picked only plants that she'd gotten from some neighbor around six months before.

Needless to say.. Those plants went straight to the bin... nice pots and all.

She's mellowed a bit over the years .. But slips back into it pretty easily whenever she gets back from visiting the in laws.

We were waiting for a car to pick up some weekend guests. My GF was out front when it came and when she came into the lobby she said "You have a good car for the trip, it's a Won Wo."

My friend and I just stared at each other, then went outside to see the Volvo that had arrived.

Since I know the Thai alphabet I was able to understand why she said it that way but it was still hilarious at the time.

The first time my new wife came to the States was in '87... My mother had just gotten a new Volvo which my wife pronounced "WoWo"... Everybody... Aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers were tickled to pieces... Ultimately...My whole family took to calling all Volvos by that term.

My 19 y.o. is the latest proud owner of the WoWo and has been calling it that since he could talk... The wife meantime has evolved and now pronounces the name of the make... "Wolwo".

I have been searching high and low for a Mastif breeder in Thailand via the internet and have yet to find one.

I am looking for a Mastiff male puppy or Bull Mastiff male puppy ( Pure Bred Only )

Does anyone know of such a breeder in Thailand or anywhere near-by?

I have been breeding quality English Mastiffs for 12 years... My in laws are having us ship over 2 pups with our next litter... Probably in April... We've already got the import paperwork started and would only need to change the number listed if you are interested... We had a fantastic Xmas sale this past year... You can see samples of our pups and our adults HERE ... But... I'm afraid that we won't be repeating those prices again any time soon.

But if you're interested... let me know...

Also... Thought I'd mention that we've bred for extreme heat tolerance as our dogs need to tolerate 110ºF (44ºC) heat on a regular basis. A lot of Mastiffs don't do well in high heat conditions.

I have been breeding quality English Mastiffs for 12 years... My in laws are having us ship over 2 pups with our next litter... Probably in April... We've already got the import paperwork started and would only need to change the number listed if you are interested... We had a fantastic Xmas sale this past year... You can see samples of our pups and our adults http: //home.earthlink.net/~clonga/Photos.html ... But... I'm afraid that we won't be repeating those prices again any time soon.

But if you're interested... let me know...

Also... Thought I'd mention that we've bred for extreme heat tolerance as our dogs need to tolerate 110ºF (44ºC) heat on a regular basis. A lot of Mastiffs don't do well in high heat conditions.

I think speaking broken English is a bad habit to get in to as like someone else said the Thais would never learn. I hope to learn to speak Thai someday and I wouldn't want to be spoken to in bad Thai!

It actually amazes me how my friend here will be talking to me normally and then when he speaks to his girlfriend he immediately switches to speaking in that stupid baby talk. I actually find it a bit embarrassing when friends do it around me with Thais who speak really good English, just because they have gotten in to the habit of always speaking like that.

It's hard not to sometimes though, when a lot of people around me speak like it.

After 20 years I still speak Tinglish with the wife and immediately switch to (what passes for) proper english with my kids and other family. I've even developed a funny accent that people say sounds Jamaican when I'm having long conversations with the Mrs.... What's really funny though, is that she can still switch off any and all ability to understand english if it suits her! And when she gets excited or upset she resorts to the funniest pidgin... And this is a woman who sits and does dozens of word puzzles in english in her spare time!

A Firnd of ours had a domestic incident. To assert his authority he decked her, she decked him. He woke up 10 minutes later knowing just exactly who the boss is.

Hear , Hear!!

My wife and I bark at each other all the time... But in 20 years it's never come to blows because I know that she could kick the snot out of me in a fair fight ... And she knows that I won't fight fair... And with that arrangement... Some days I'm the dog... Some days I'm the hydrant. The USA and USSR actually were on to something with M.utual A.ssured D.estruction

Whether we do it with our fists or with words or deeds... The dominance game is played out in all of our relationships... I suspect that the OP would have saved himself a ton of trouble had he immediately asserted himself at the first incidence of serious violence... It would have established a real boundary for her. Whether it's cats or crackheads or crazies... A definite pecking order is generally established in most relationships. Even in prisons and asylums... Those that make it clear that they are not victim material are rarely harrassed beyond the initial dominance squabble.

It seems that even though the female in question is unbalanced... She obviously knows and follows some limits because she seems to have enough sense not to go around attacking other folks around her... Seems to me that the lady is egged on by the OP's passivity. This lady's looking for some signal that he's tough enough for her liking.

Well... As you didn't klunk her when you had the chance... Your only hopes for respite at this point is to do one of the following:

1. Shock the living bejesus out of her the next time she comes at you by grabbing her and tossing her as far as you possibly can (preferably out the door) all the while yelling at the top of your lungs that you'll kill her dead the next time she comes near you... She may come back at you just to make sure... Then... toss her further!! But from my read ...You don't have it in you.

2. Leave!! It strikes me that you're a bit of a glutton for punishment for all of the stuff you've put up with... Have you seriously questioned your own mental status? Honestly... Who but a person that somehow felt that they "deserved" that sort of abuse would make themself readily available to it?.. Seriously... You sound like a lot of the battered women that come into where I work... "I need to be there for The Kids!" ... "He really doesn't mean it".... " But I Love Him!!"

Keep hanging around! She's already seriously hurt you by your own admission... She will kill you at some point!!... She doesn't seem to be crazy enough to hurt the kids as badly as she's willing to hurt you... That in itself tells me that a big part of what's going on is you being an enabler to her. Get away! And get yourself a sit down with a counselor yourself.

Just my 2¢ worth... But I see some very similar stuff on a regular basis... And I can assure you... That in the very rare instances that the bully is stood up to decisively... They overwhelmingly tend to back off... But why does it happen so rarely?... Because the world is full of enablers... This poster is very worried for your life...

Do Something!!

Here's Hoping His Majesty recovers and lives to serve Thailand for many years to come.

The more I read of this thread ...The more I am convinced that this is a load of horsefeathers!!

Either the OP is a spineless git or a half assed fiction writer. OP keeps coming up with excuses and dodges.

Just in case you are the former... Call the cops the very next time she steps out of line in your presence!

If you are the latter... Congrats! You got some attention... Now go away!

I think Trink has a good writing style and surely a wealth of memories to pass on.

I enjoyed reading "Nite Owl" right up to the end - boringly repetitive? yes! - but like an old pair of slippers reasuringly so!

He even responded to an E-mail in print...........and it wasn't a nice e-mail

And he isn't a nice man either.

He's a venomous, condescending, self indulgent old git, who, even though spending a major part of his life in Thailand, never bothered to learn the lingo.

His column was an institution though, and absolutely unique. Even though it was badly written in the later years, it should have been kept up.

he was just as insufferable in his younger days - maybe more so, as he was a bit more of a 'star' then.

People tend to forget that if it wasn't for Trink there would be no Soi Cowboy - indeed it was Trink who gave the Soi it's name after the first bar that opened there, by an American called Cowboy. In those days all the action was down in Patpong and Trink used to plug Soi Cowboy, week after week, month after month, and eventually the place slowly started to take off with more bars opening. I reckon it was a good few years before Soi Cowboy started to match and even surpass the business in Patpong, and Trink never ceased his overt plugging of the soi he had named.

I think it's a bit of a reach to give ol' Trinky Winky credit for SC... The old boy plugged the Soi because it was quid pro quo. I remember him as an old trout who was beginning to smell a bit "fishy" and whose star was waning back in the mid 80's.

He got his fair share of "Credit" in the Soi Cowboy places... But I knew Cowboy... And he wouldn't take kindly to your giving Mr. Trink the credit for the street that bears his name.

I admit that I was a loyal reader of the Nite Owl until it went away... It was a beloved link of mine to the LOS after I left. But even in the 80's the old boy was a bit of a faded diva... And well he played the part!

But...credit where it's due... The old boy is/was an expat institution and anyone who was around in the pre aids days was probably inspired by his exploits and ramblings to go out and make some "history" of their own.

Confucious he say " There is native and there's native. But each to their own".

Not Confucious ? Well whoever.........

Must dash. ....Off to the Wat.

LuckyD... Are you coming around to the "Dark Side"?... You're beginning to sound almost conciliatory

My agreement with the wife is that we will return to Thailand permanently when my beard goes completely grey. A couple more years!

We save most of her salary and I bank 10 -15 % and we'll rent out the paid for house in the U.S. to cover expenses in a medium size town in the NW. I don't get back to LOS as near as much as I'd like these days because mama says I transform into some sort of lecherous beast when I'm let loose anywhere near BG's ... She figures I'll mellow with old age.

But for the past 20 years... I've never dreamed of living anywhere else. I've lived all around the Pacific Rim and I keep coming back to LOS.

I can't imagine having to leave without the prospect of coming back.

I can't say when I've had such a good laugh reading 22 pages of posts... I've been commenting back and forth to the wife of 20 years on some of the posts... We had a few good chuckles. I'll be retiring to either Lamphun or Lampang in a couple of years and that's as small a town as I'm willing to do. I have always tried to learn as much of the language in any country I've lived in. But I doubt that I'll ever speak Thai as well as a bright 4 year old. I've never found it to be an obstacle in dealing with the locals. I've found that most rural Thais I've met will in fact laugh at a farang's attempts at assimilation... But you know pretty quick when you've offended someone in the village you live in... Besides... If your Thai mate is worth 2 baht... He or She should be constantly schooling you... After all ...They lose face if you do by association.

My intention is to live very close to medium size town Thai style as possible for a couple of reasons... 1 being that it's a lot less of a strain on the bank account... and 2 being that I rather enjoy that level of lifestyle. I've done the Hi-So Bangkok thing and the Standard Bangkok thing and the Pattaya lowlife and the Phuket paradisian as well as the Northwest and Issan villager... My decision to become a solid middle of the roader is based on my need for some of the western necessities without the compression and high blood pressure of city life.

I've got a good friend who lives (way) outside of Khon Kaen and has gone about as native as I've ever seen over the last 20 years... He's happy as a tick on a dogs ear. He says it's like riding a bike when he pops into Seattle every 5 years or so. I also know lots of guys who've been in the villages since Vietnam and by and large they grouse about all the wannabes they're seeing these days.

All my rambling aside... I guess I'm saying that the OP's opinion of his "friend" is a bit wrongheaded but It sounds like the guy is happy for now. I'd suggest the OP stick to where he's most comfortable. I'd also venture the opinion that the village guy will outlast the OP in LOS. I sure wouldn't want to have to depend on my sister in law to tell me what my wife/gf is saying or thinking.

A directly localised version, with You Know Who instead of the indian (since he does important work in related fields) would be so shockingly powerfull that it would far out-match the original indian ad.

Amen Brother!

There has been a French woman con artsit about for years - has a kid with her and the story is she was robbed and only needs money for departure tax and taxi to airport.

This is BKK though and much younger

We have sent her to the Tourist police as there is nothing that we can do for her. Evidently she caught a baht bus to look for her hotel and was unable to pay the fare and the driver took her ring. I hope this work out fine in the end!

Looks like she's already been robbed if she lost her ring to ride a baht bus

FAMOSA ... Guatemala.... YECCHHH!!!

Well... It'll be a few more years until I can retire pemanently to the LOS. But I'm sure not mad at a fella who's earned it and can live in BKK in style. I remember waking up every morning during my last extended stay in LOS saying ... "It's GOOD to be the king!"

Go for the gusto Cork!!

Might be my fault... I was stuck in SLC for a few months and the only way I had to shut em up was to tell em stories of the years I spent in LOS... Lot's of em tried real hard to get the really gritty detyails out of me.  Maybe i piqued some adventurous spirits to take a first hand look. 

Yes, I’m sure you were the inspiration for their missionary work in Thailand?

I'd say it'd be really hard to resist the girls if'n you'd never been outside of UT.  I'd a loved to sit there and watch temptation pull on the sanctimonious little wretches!

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Well, I guess we all get our pleasure from different things? Why did you consider them to be sanctimonious? Any members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints that I have met have seemed genuinely pious and devoted to the practice of their religion? (Sanctimonious means a hypocritical devotion.) And why did you consider them to be “wretches”? Were they really profoundly unhappy or otherwise despicable or vile? (I must admit that, based on just a little bit of reading, I do find the LDS thing a bit creepy and weird. But who am I to judge them as individuals? I think most modern countries, including Thailand, allow for individuals to choose and practice religion as they see fit, and I am a strong believer in the freedom of religion even though I may be a non-‘practicer’.)

I've spent quite a bit of time in Utah lately and i have definately been the victim and target of a large quantity of sanctimonious - ness. And i would not have used the word wretches without feeling a strong sense of unhappiness from quite a few of the people that tow the line because "it's the right thing to do" ... I feel no compunction about passing my own personal "judgement" on individuals or groups I've had some time to be exposed to. Of course I would never expect anyone else to hold with my opinion of any one or group. I do however see some danger in groups that profess to have the answer to mine and everyones else's salvation. History is full of accounts of great evil done in the name of religion. Indeed... Humanity has performed some of its greatest feats of inventiveness and ingenuity in devising ways to exterminate people of the "wrong" religious persuasion. I've always found the Thais to be among the most tolerant of religious freedoms. I'm not sure the people of LOS would have the savvy to put a stop to the juggernaught that these big organized religeous groups can become in a fertile environment.

But..what am I worried about?... The Thais have played the game of "master of the middle" for a long time now. Then again... I've got some friends who've had ex B/G's go churchy on them... Not a pretty sight.

A friend of mine saw a group on Soi Cowboy. He said they were mostly young farang men. He said the girls were trying to drag them in one of the bars. LOL!

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Yep...that's been going on now for >30 years.

Ever since the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormans) started sending Missionaries to LOS. - they must like getting dragged into those bars, eh?

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Might be my fault... I was stuck in SLC for a few months and the only way I had to shut em up was to tell em stories of the years I spent in LOS... Lot's of em tried real hard to get the really gritty detyails out of me. Maybe i piqued some adventurous spirits to take a first hand look.

I'd say it'd be really hard to resist the girls if'n you'd never been outside of UT. I'd a loved to sit there and watch temptation pull on the sanctimonious little wretches!

There is a very simple answer to this one, my mom was in the same situation.

All that matters is whether Mom's U.S. visa is multiple entry or not.

If she has a single-entry visa (e.g. most tourist visas), once she exits the U.S., she cannot come back, it would be considered another entry. If she has a multiple entry, say K-4, then she can go and come back as she pleases for the duration of the visa.

U.S. immigration is strict to the point of being obnoxious -- don't try your luck.

Of course, she can always re-enter the U.S. from Mexico outside of a border crossing for a small coyote fee and a not-so-small risk...

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This is something I'll check... The old girl leaves in a couple of weeks. Thanks for the info. Of course I'll pass on the coyote fees... They're higher than a R/T ticket between BKK & PHX!!

... No info on the net regarding Thai citizens in Mexico. 

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http://www.delta.com/planning_reservations...ation/index.jsp

This site provided by Delto Airlines is excellent for finding out who needs visas for visiting different countries.

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I went to the Delta site... Good info... Bookmarked it. Thanks

This is my first post - Thai wife of 20 years - Lived in LOS on & off for years.. Years ago. Any way Mom in law came over on a 6 month visa. We live 40 miles from Mexico. I've searched for info on what we need to do to go to Mexico for a day trip. No info on the net regarding Thai citizens in Mexico. The wife has a green card and we usually just walk across and back with no problem. Mom in law has her passport with the visa in it. I asked the border guards on my last trip down there and they told me to "take my chances".

I don't want the old girl to get hung up in Mexico trying to get back to Arizona (She cooks for me!) Does anybody have any experience taking a Thai across the U.S. border into Mexico? Or maybe someone knows of the visa requirements between Mexico and Thailand? I know Mexicans can go to Thailand for 30 days no problem... But does it work the other way around?

Don't tell me to ask the local gendarmie... I know enough not to give those nice fellas a heads up that a money making opportunity is in their midst.

Any info will be greatly appreciated.