DaveinAsia

Sorry to open up this topic again but I wanted to know if I will need a letter of consent written by our child's mother to travel if I am married to the mother and the child is legit, I'm the father on the birth certificate.

Thanks for any help.

The clone of Andre the Giant in plain clothes seems like he's doing a skull buster on the 'poor bloke', 555

Keeping up appearances.....perhaps they just love posing for photographers

He looks like quite a simpleton. It's always the desperate and broken people going to these measures just for that f-in money. Mad mad world.

Some of the commenters on this thread are pathetic. This Australian man is helping to fight underage prostitution in Thailand and all you can do is throw popcorn at him from the stands? Shame on you. In 15 years they have saved 1,300 girls from a life of enslavement. That's 1,300 more girls than you or I have saved.

For those who asked why he doesn't stay in Sydney. Don't kid yourself, it's not as bad an issue in Sydney. Extreme poverty is rare, and the police are not corrupt. Secondly, an Australian can live in Thailand on his savings and perform charitable work. You can not live off the same level of savings in Sydney.

For those who asked why he picked Thailand. The article stated that it was an incident in Thailand that triggered his decision. Last time I checked, you can only be in one place at a time? Of course, I'm sure you would have checked the Destiny Rescue website and probably just missed that the charity provides help all over the place right? http://www.destinyrescue.org

The keyboard warriors on this forum should put down their Singha's and take a long hard look at their own lives. There's a big different between cynicism and looking for self validation from the Internet. Time to grow up boys.

It's not only the farang keyboard warriors these days. The Thai ministry of information has quite a few trolls on the forum these days. Their job is to sabotage any negativity about TH. Turn it around to make the farang look like an idiot. Their English skills are quite good so it could seem you are dealing with a non-native speaker, perhaps a German, Turk or Brazilian if you know what I mean. Besides the ministries trolls there are also quite a few independent Thai nationalists who scroll the forum looking for farang 'truth seekers' to attack

I agree with you to a certain point, but generally English language skills of Thai trolls are lacking at some point, and having taught English specially to Thais, I know the common mistakes they make, and I can generally identify a Thai writer as opposed to a non-English writer from a different nationality. But not everybody can.

I know exactly what you mean and I can identify them too but they get help from native speakers

The other day one was attacking me, first in quite good English but later when he/she became agitated the mistakes became more frequent.

Anything is possible here and remember that English writing skills of Asians are usually better than their speaking skills because the Asian teachers hammer the grammar into them relentlessly.

Some of the commenters on this thread are pathetic. This Australian man is helping to fight underage prostitution in Thailand and all you can do is throw popcorn at him from the stands? Shame on you. In 15 years they have saved 1,300 girls from a life of enslavement. That's 1,300 more girls than you or I have saved.

For those who asked why he doesn't stay in Sydney. Don't kid yourself, it's not as bad an issue in Sydney. Extreme poverty is rare, and the police are not corrupt. Secondly, an Australian can live in Thailand on his savings and perform charitable work. You can not live off the same level of savings in Sydney.

For those who asked why he picked Thailand. The article stated that it was an incident in Thailand that triggered his decision. Last time I checked, you can only be in one place at a time? Of course, I'm sure you would have checked the Destiny Rescue website and probably just missed that the charity provides help all over the place right? http://www.destinyrescue.org

The keyboard warriors on this forum should put down their Singha's and take a long hard look at their own lives. There's a big different between cynicism and looking for self validation from the Internet. Time to grow up boys.

It's not only the farang keyboard warriors these days. The Thai ministry of information has quite a few trolls on the forum these days. Their job is to sabotage any negativity about TH. Turn it around to make the farang look like an idiot. Their English skills are quite good so it could seem you are dealing with a non-native speaker, perhaps a German, Turk or Brazilian if you know what I mean. Besides the ministries trolls there are also quite a few independent Thai nationalists who scroll the forum looking for farang 'truth seekers' to attack

Just wondering how selling kids to prostitution rings buys good merit

Does anyone know what percentage prostitution is of Thai GDP?

The racist gang has lost all control here.

Have a look here and see the proud trophy hunter >>> http://www.theguardian.com/environment/cecil-the-lion

(just one recent incident)

No racist dare open their mouth on this type actions that are happening rampantly - NOT by poor Asians, but by the very rich elite of the West.

They kill for 'sport' - that is justified! Whale hunting. Killing of fox etc etc

The disgusting things the Rich, the powerful & the developed people do are all justified in some way.

If humans cant treat their own kind fairly, how can they treat animals well?

Some so called 'animal lovers' and human rights activists are a perfect example of the hypocrisy that exists in this world today - and they definitely are not from Asia.

Anyone who kills/eats endangered animals is a retard, Asian or farang. Especially the Chinese/SE Asian trade in tigers, shark fins, elephant and rhino tusks causes many more deaths of endangered species. That's just a fact. These wealthy disgusting farangs who travel to Africa to shoot wildlife are just as despicable as Asians who eat tiger or shark fin soup

I can just picture the Thai teaching English to the Thai students. But really, how much English will actually be spoken during these classes?

Around 36% I read somewhere

I must admit I didn't read ALL the replies, but from the few I did, I guess most respondents are English teachers....

I also admit I didn't do nor intend to do any research on the subject, but just my thoughts and observations:

1. Thailand is NOT the only country in the world that has its own language - I am not going to list all those countries

2. Thai people are NOT the only people who are not proficient in English - I had difficulties communicating in English in France and Germany, and I am not talking science talk - I am talking about asking driving direction in Germany or direction to the right train platform in France... In both places not in a small remote village, but in BIG cities, and not only elderly people, I was actually trying to ask young people who seemed to be students. BTW - the only person in the French train station who was able to answer my question was the toilets attendant!!! Even in the US of A - it's getting harder and harder to get around if you don't speak Spanish...

3. I am pretty sure that in MOST countries in the world, the foreign language teachers (be it English or any other) are locals, and not imported teachers.

4. I don't think that in the 10 or so years that foreign English have been widely employed all over the country, the level of English of the Thai students has improved to actually support the idea that foreign teachers are any better than the Thai teachers - now I can already imagine some of the TV members' responses to this like "the students are not listening to us" or "they are not interested" or "the school administrations / regulations / local teachers / janitors restrict our success"

Face it. This is Thailand. The official language is Thai. All documents are and will probably ALWAYS be in Thai. There are about 65 million Thais. Not all of them, not even most of them will ever NEED to interact in any other language. The ASEAN threat that Thais are going to lose their jobs if they can't master English? B******it. There have been import / export in Thailand for years. Who ever need to, find the way to communicate.

Well said! Maybe they are realizing here now that English is not as necessary as they thought back in the day when they thought it was. I think the computer craze and introduction of the net sent many countries on a paranoia trip believing that they all needed to learn English very well, because the net and computer language was all in English but as time went by and automatic translators made their appearance on the net and keyboards with Thai script were made, it became clear that English in Thailand is only needed around foreigners and only about 5% of Thais are engaged with foreigners in one way or another. 95% of Thais don't really need English, unless they want to listen to some quality Irish/English music of course or perhaps a Hollywood flick, but it seems that Lady Gaga and Deuce Bigalow don't need too much understanding of our language anyway, 55555.

I agree that 95% of Thais will never need to speak English.

But why limit students choices for the future?

More and more, the better English speakers will be getting the best jobs.

With that comes travel opportunities and an ability to connect to the outside world for both learning and entertainment.

That is not even the point!

With argumentation like that, you could erase 90% of the curriculum, because 95% will never need anything that will be taught in school!

I had hundreds of Math- lessons, I never understood what a "cosinus" actually is and I never ever needed it in my life!

I never neede even 1% of the Chemistry, Physics or Biology- classes I sat through.

But these things gave me a basic understanding of the world around me.

I do not -like my Thai wife- think that a blanket protects you from lightning...outside of the room...!

You are right! 90% of the curriculum should be cancelled and instead kids should be taught things that are useful for life, like meditation, gardening, creating, yoga, etc.

90% of what we are taught is useless data that we will never use in our lives and unlike you said will give us a clearer perception of the world around us.

Education now is based on spitting out kids to fill up jobs instead of focusing on their talents, that's why the world is such a messed up place. Of course I am just dreaming and it's utopia for the moment but honestly, the school system and education globally is based on Old World thinking. It's outdated. Time for a gigantic evolutionary jump in thinking, break away from that indoctrination

I must admit I didn't read ALL the replies, but from the few I did, I guess most respondents are English teachers....

I also admit I didn't do nor intend to do any research on the subject, but just my thoughts and observations:

1. Thailand is NOT the only country in the world that has its own language - I am not going to list all those countries

2. Thai people are NOT the only people who are not proficient in English - I had difficulties communicating in English in France and Germany, and I am not talking science talk - I am talking about asking driving direction in Germany or direction to the right train platform in France... In both places not in a small remote village, but in BIG cities, and not only elderly people, I was actually trying to ask young people who seemed to be students. BTW - the only person in the French train station who was able to answer my question was the toilets attendant!!! Even in the US of A - it's getting harder and harder to get around if you don't speak Spanish...

3. I am pretty sure that in MOST countries in the world, the foreign language teachers (be it English or any other) are locals, and not imported teachers.

4. I don't think that in the 10 or so years that foreign English have been widely employed all over the country, the level of English of the Thai students has improved to actually support the idea that foreign teachers are any better than the Thai teachers - now I can already imagine some of the TV members' responses to this like "the students are not listening to us" or "they are not interested" or "the school administrations / regulations / local teachers / janitors restrict our success"

Face it. This is Thailand. The official language is Thai. All documents are and will probably ALWAYS be in Thai. There are about 65 million Thais. Not all of them, not even most of them will ever NEED to interact in any other language. The ASEAN threat that Thais are going to lose their jobs if they can't master English? B******it. There have been import / export in Thailand for years. Who ever need to, find the way to communicate.

Well said! Maybe they are realizing here now that English is not as necessary as they thought back in the day when they thought it was. I think the computer craze and introduction of the net sent many countries on a paranoia trip believing that they all needed to learn English very well, because the net and computer language was all in English but as time went by and automatic translators made their appearance on the net and keyboards with Thai script were made, it became clear that English in Thailand is only needed around foreigners and only about 5% of Thais are engaged with foreigners in one way or another. 95% of Thais don't really need English, unless they want to listen to some quality Irish/English music of course or perhaps a Hollywood flick, but it seems that Lady Gaga and Deuce Bigalow don't need too much understanding of our language anyway, 55555.

The funny thing as well is they think they are going to save money by not hiring native English speakers. Well I guess that means most schools with a MEP program will have to shutdown their "cash cow" as parents will not pay the money schools demand for non-native speakers. A double shot in the foot!!

Of course schools with an MEP program will continue with their farang teachers. They are only talking about slashing foreign English teachers in the lower government schools. I guess after trying to teach the kids English for 20 years without success they are throwing in the towel. Perhaps they see it as a waste of money

@ Timmy T

We can argue and fight about this story forever but it's useless. Obviously you are a Thai guy or otherwise a farang who really wants to be Thai who is very proud of TH and believes TH is the best, the strongest, etc, etc. That's your good right. All I am doing is trying to save these 4 guys from your firing squad. We will not find any agreement so best just to drop it. I am not wasting my time on you and your other radical friends anymore.

Just remember that TH is a Buddhist country and Buddhism talks about compassion, even for your worst enemies. I can't remember Buddha ever speaking about punishing people in a bad way. He also never mentioned that it's ok to be greedy, violent or unwelcoming. Buddha talks about forgiveness, love and compassion.
Do you want to know what's wrong with TH? People who say it's fine to throw these 4 kids in jail and also steal their money. That's the whole problem.

If you don't want these kind of visitors in TH stop mass tourism. I can guarantee you that this kind of stories are only going to get worse because there is no real plan or strategy. It's all about grabbing as much money as possible, right now. Who cares about tomorrow, right? When greed gets inside your heart you are lost. It's a fact. You can pray as much as you want and make merit another 5 lifetimes but greed is like selling your soul to the devil.

Look what money has done to this once majestic country? Everyone is completely absorbed by it. People murder for it and people even lie for the murderers because of money.

This is the wrong way.
When I came here in 98 I came here for the peacefulness and serenity. The image of temples, monks in the street, people smiling and wai-ing. It seemed like paradise to me. That's why I came here.
But then mass tourism arrived and all the consequences; greed, deceit, corruption, murder, etc, etc. Since then it's only went downhill.
Of course it's also 'progress'. TH can't stay the same it was forever but I thing that all this 'progress' just went a little bit too fast without any real plan and we are starting to see the effects of this ill-management now.

Agree with me or not, it doesn't matter to me. I just know that hanging 4 kids from a billboard is not the right punishment.Breaking into a fruitshop and afterwards fighting with the owner is wrong and stupid but it is not a terrible crime because I can see the real crime that goes on every day here. Not only in TH, but globally. The rich are using the poor and the divide between people is only getting more and more. Violence and greed can never be justified

Yeah, they really looked beat up!! Have another look at the pics.

now you can determine physical condition by photo? lol

people can beat or even kill each other without touching each other's face.

Dave's the kind of guy who would tell a young girl who's just been gang-raped "but you don't look like you've been raped to me." His IQ and EQ are way below acceptable levels.

For all the morality you are pretending to display here it turns out that you are a scumbag yourself. Who would make something like this up about someone just to get their own back? Making a comparison between a young girl being gang-raped and these idiots who are trying to squeeze some cash out of 4 silly farang kids is really low class. Only someone with a very low IQ themselves. Do you have some evidence to prove this ridiculous statement? 555. And all this because you and a few other scumbags want to hang the 4 kids high for breaking into a fruit shop and afterwards have a drunken fight with the owner and his helper. Sad old men. The morality knights

Because of these 'bad farangs' this country was pulled out of the agricultural age into the modern age.

because of bad farangs Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos were sent back to stoneage. In Vietnam bad farangs killed 6 millions of innocent civillians and contaminated the soil. and Thailand avoided this fate because it managed to keep bad farangs out.

every place which white man conquested is spolied now. Local population hates Europeans ( except those where colonizers in pith helmets managed to massacre all or almost all the local population, like US or Australia) That's why scum like you tend to come to Thailand. Not the whole world is spoiled yet! this should be fixed!

Stop biting the hand that feeds you. The murdering, raping, robbing and scamming of farangs and tourists has to stop or TH can go back to fishing and growing rice(very racist again)

what a blatant white superiority lie! proving my previous diagnosis - racism. pure example of racism for the International Bureau of Weights and Measures

but at least you confessed you are racist.

people like you are too primitive to understand their own ugliness. Karma will teach you, sooner or later. believe it or not.

Let me give you a history lesson Timmy the Twister.

It was the Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese Army who killed most of the Vietnamese civilians and not those bad farangs. The bad farangs also killed many of them and indeed contaminated the soil with their chemicals, very true, but don't try and twist history too, that's just wrong. Thailand managed to keep the bad farangs out? Thailand was entertaining those bad farangs who were bombing the hell out of Viet Nam in Pattaya. The money factor again. Or should I say greed?

Nothing racist about telling the truth. Thailand is where it is now because of foreign investments and foreign tourism. That's just an economic fact. You can read it online. Tourism makes a larger contribution to Thailand's economy (about 8.5% of GDP). Of course TH also exports a lot of seafood and rice but it's a small amount of the GDP. About 60% of all money that is made in TH comes from foreign investment; cars, electronics. If all those ugly foreigners were to leave tomorrow TH would be in big trouble. It's just a fact, not my fabrication. nor racism as you claim.

Don't start about Karma because then I will need to write a whole book here.

I never stole, cheated, hurt or did anything wrong to deserve bad karma coming my way. My soul is clean. All I am doing is proving to you that if these 4 kids were Thai kids we wouldn't even be having this argument. You and others want them to go to jail and squeeze all the money out of them and still you wont admit that you are the racist. All I am doing is protecting these 4 kids from a pack of hungry wolves

Goodnight

Your argument is not an argument. You twist peoples words to make your case, that's why your name is Timmy T. And then you think that is the absolute truth.

I am probably the least racist person you will ever meet but still you managed to make me into a racist. This is not arguing, this is called fabricating.

These guys are in the news because they are 4 'very bad farangs' who did what? Break open a gate of a fruitshop? 555! And you talk about them as if they are big time criminals. You are an idiot, plain and simple. They are 4 drunk kids who were having fun. Because of these 'bad farangs' this country was pulled out of the agricultural age into the modern age.

Stop biting the hand that feeds you. The murdering, raping, robbing and scamming of farangs and tourists has to stop or TH can go back to fishing and growing rice(very racist again)

I used your quotes to prove you are racist. and what is your answer? "no I am not"!

Hitler would answer the same (to avoid prosecution) if he would live nowdays... "I am not racist, I am just not betraying my fellow Germans!"

These guys are in the news because they are 4 'very bad farangs' who did what? Break open a gate of a fruitshop?

they intruded the private property, made a damage, beat the owner and a guy who was trying to help him.

They are 4 drunk kids who were having fun.

seems like you have fun the same way while drunk. Because of agressive alcoholics like you more and more Thais start to hate farangs.

Yeah, 4 drunk kids who were acting stupid and who should be fined 500-2000 Baht and that's it. How many Thai's are drunk on the roads everyday killing people? How many drunk Thais kill their wives? How many drunk Thais beat the hell out of people? How many drunk Thais rape innocent girls? Who cares that Thais will hate farangs more and more? Can it get any worse than it already is? You seem to forget that it's all those bad farangs who paid for your 21st century lifestyle. Yes, we call that biting the hand that feeds you.

I find it interesting how you are a racist yourself but in a sneaky way you try to twist it around again and make me a racist. 5555. I have traveled all over the world and have lived in many different countries and if one people are xenophobic and racist it's Thais. My wife is Thai and we have many Thai friends and they all admit that Thais are racist and xenophobic. What you people say about foreigners and especially about Africans, Chinese, Arabs and farangs is much more racist than any skinhead I know in the West.

Yes, the 4 young boys were wrong. Drunken stupidity but they are not the Koh Tao murderers nor rapists nor bank robbers nor scam artists nor drug sellers. They should be fined 2000 Baht each and spanked on their backsides. If you still want to hang them from a billboard on Silom you should have a very good look at yourself in the mirror because it seems to me that you are a bit sick in your head.

End of story.

55555! Says Private Eye Shady Chris. Sorry, but your lovely nonsense doesn't hold any ground. Perhaps your buddy Berkshire will like it for you so you don't feel alone.
Cheers. Time for a few beers

@Berkshire; what part don't you understand? Look at the pics again and tell me if they look as if they were beat up by 4 guys?
Thugs? 55555. It just depends on what your definition of thugs is. To me thugs are scum who murder, rape, rob and scam innocent tourists. To you thugs are 4 young guys who were drunk and acting stupid. The BiB and the 2 guys who are out to scam them out of their money are not thugs of course, are they? 5555

Case closed. Go and annoy some other old fart at your local pisser

Timmy Twister

any more arguments?

Your argument is not an argument. You twist peoples words to make your case, that's why your name is Timmy T. And then you think that is the absolute truth.

I am probably the least racist person you will ever meet but still you managed to make me into a racist. This is not arguing, this is called fabricating.

These guys are in the news because they are 4 'very bad farangs' who did what? Break open a gate of a fruitshop? 555! And you talk about them as if they are big time criminals. You are an idiot, plain and simple. They are 4 drunk kids who were having fun. Because of these 'bad farangs' this country was pulled out of the agricultural age into the modern age.

Stop biting the hand that feeds you. The murdering, raping, robbing and scamming of farangs and tourists has to stop or TH can go back to fishing and growing rice(very racist again)

What??? Talk about fabricating. These four drunk kids beat up one old guy. And when a good samaritan tried to intervene, they beat him up too. Is that your idea of "4 drunk kids just having fun?" Well let's hope four young drunk kids decide to have some "fun" with you, and right soon.

Yeah, they really looked beat up!! Have another look at the pics. And then have a look at the Aussie bloke who was beaten up by the taxi driver yesterday.

You apologists make me sick.

If Thai law would be used honestly these guys would get a 500 - 2000 Baht fine each and be sent on their way but as always they make the story 10 times worse so that it's justified to scam much more money out of the scared farangs. Wake up pls

Timmy Twister

any more arguments?

Your argument is not an argument. You twist peoples words to make your case, that's why your name is Timmy T. And then you think that is the absolute truth.

I am probably the least racist person you will ever meet but still you managed to make me into a racist. This is not arguing, this is called fabricating.

These guys are in the news because they are 4 'very bad farangs' who did what? Break open a gate of a fruitshop? 555! And you talk about them as if they are big time criminals. You are an idiot, plain and simple. They are 4 drunk kids who were having fun. Because of these 'bad farangs' this country was pulled out of the agricultural age into the modern age.

Stop biting the hand that feeds you. The murdering, raping, robbing and scamming of farangs and tourists has to stop or TH can go back to fishing and growing rice(very racist again)

Timmy Twister

He was departing...otherwise..why would he have left something in a cab and got out,then banged another cab with his fist!

Yes, we figured that out already. Thanks.

It still doesn't fix the hole the Aussie guy has in his head.

The driver shouldn't be driving taxis but tractors

Same old, same old, just another scam to shake some money out of the farangs pockets. The damage is probably some improvised door/gate worth a few 100 baht but they will squeeze 50k out of each of them(putting the fear of a visit to Bang Kwang can do that to tourists). The shop owner will get 10k at the most and the rest will be divided under the cops in question. 555. Welcome to the Machine

how funny is that in any situatation so many TVF bitter daddies blame Thais! typical archaic moral: members of my tribe are always right, members of other tribes are always wrong

no surprise you was not able to fit in your own societies!

50K? not enough!

If it would depend on me I would squeeze them for 100K (in benefit of the shop owner of course)+ 5 years in jail. did a mistake - do the pay.

Thailand does not need people like this.

I blame the greedy scamming scum, yes you are right.

If they were Thai they'd get off with a slap on the wrist and a 500 baht fine.

Where I'm from this is called racism.

Nothing to do with bitterness, more with justice and not betraying my fellow farangs.

You on the other hand are one of those guys who thinks that he is part of this culture and society but the truth is very different.

They don't like you just like they don't like these 4 guys. All the same to them. Wake up. What a pitiful life to lead; being an apologist for people who can't stand your guts, 555

Same old, same old, just another scam to shake some money out of the farangs pockets. The damage is probably some improvised door/gate worth a few 100 baht but they will squeeze 50k out of each of them(putting the fear of a visit to Bang Kwang can do that to tourists). The shop owner will get 10k at the most and the rest will be divided under the cops in question. 555. Welcome to the Machine

The boys should apologize profusely and offer any restitution. No fine. No jail. Isn't that how justice is meted out in Thailand?

Only for Thais