CarlBkk

I thought the reasons for the vastly different gender relationships was obvious.

Western females' preferred partner is one of very masculine features, a leader, maybe even tough or rugged. Asian males don't often fit this description. Physically, Western females prefer Western male facial features and when you do see Western women with a completely different race....it's very seldom SE Asian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese...but rather African. Again, the most masculine.

From the other perspective, SE Asian men prefer their own race physically. They are already less masculine than their Western counterparts and therefore prefer to "lead" over a much more feminine woman...so their ideal partner would be submissive, physically small and have young/cute features. Although they may find some Western girls who fit this category and who might be attractive for them, personality-wise the SE Asian equivalent is likely to be less assertive and confident, and therefore less threatening to his role in a relationship.

A good number of Western men, on the other hand, strive to find the most attractive, feminine and easy-going partner they can. More and more seem to be turning to SE Asia where this type of partner is more likely to be found and available (given the ratio of women to men, and their position in a male-led society). SE Asian women are open to responsible men with some financial security, placing less importance (definitely less their Western females) to physical attributes and age.

I've seen VERY few "attractive" Western females with "attractive" smart Thai men, but I do see some. The last was in Emporium where the Thai Chinese male (assumed studied/worked abroad) had a very attractive early 30s feminine Western female. Neither talked over dinner and looked glum, but maybe it was a bad day.

You can see a few younger girls with dark Thai men which looks like a holiday fling or possibly the girl being new to the country. Occasionally I've seen an old couple (60+) of kind-looking Thai man with respectably-dressed Western woman...even holding hands, which is endearing and bucks the trend.

I would love to buy some Thai ground coffee while in the UK, but so far there is NOWHERE to find it. Anyone know? Especially looking for the superb Aroma brand commonly found in Tops, Paragon, Emporium etc.

High Society in this thread is defined correctly but unfortunately the majority of normal Thais DO call celebs "hi-so" because of the basic attributes of wealth, fame, respect, admiration and snootiness. They misuse the term and put people into the hi-so category who don't belong.

High Society in the UK aren't rich footballers, but the "old" money and family names linked to Royalty.

High Society young folk in Thailand aren't always as demure, understated and polite as you may think - there is a club called the "Bangkok Billionnaires Boys Club" for the types that Samran mention. Big family names, regular Tatler photos, white shirt and black suit at all times....but also frequent Thonglor in their convoy of Lambo toys and entertain impressed young girls at top restaurants any weeknight they wish.

I can't help you with your decision, no-one can, but what I will ask is have you actually warned her that her temper will force you away before long? Have you asked her if she could manage by herself? Maybe then something will click and she'll think for herself on how to manage her life. If young Thai students in the UK can do it....she can after 4 years. My assumption is that you've babied her and she's lazy to do things herself. If you don't hand information to her on a plate and just tell her how to find out, she might have started being more proactive about daily life in the UK...but at this stage you might want to make sure you set her up with everything she'll need and ask her to do things (like pay some bills, go into the bank, pay by card, renew insurance, search bus timetables etc.) so she gets in practice.

Country Thai women are ever so gentle on the outside but have hot tempers on the inside. The very "Thai" ones have the face thing about never saying sorry or admitting they're wrong. Most give the silent treatment instead of nagging and spoiling for a fight...but in most women it's short-lived (i.e, they come out of it quickly and return to normal). The more westernised metropolitan and emotionally mature girls CAN say sorry and don't have the temper. A generalisation yes, but one which I've experienced.

and the reason is, yes...because they have a lot of money and show it.

The best burger I had recently (last week) was at Home Run Bar and Grill. Angus beef, no bs fillers and cooked to my liking.

Gotta counter that one James...I went to Home Run after a recommendation and was completely underwhelmed. What a soul-less place with such a basic menu of fried trash that anyone not wanting dollops of fatty food will make a run for it. Ok, sports bars = burgers and general American/Australian fried stuff, but I was expected good things from the burger...especially at European prices. I just had the normal one (250+ baht or something) and it was absolutely dry and nothing special. Not worth the lengthy walk down the soi to find.

Triple O (now gone), Greyhound and most other places I've had burgers at can better it. You had the Angus, which is better than a normal beef burger, but Burger King do one which is already fine.

Burgers are comfort food...something to eat when nothing else is around or you're in a rush or you've been eating salad and cous cous for the last week and don't feel guilty anymore. Going to a high class restaurant like Hyde & Seek and ordering a $10 burger just seems a waste of the occasion to me. 1800 aint what it used to be....prices are going up sharpish as the Thais fall for the marketing hype and long food names which sound posh. Last week I was up for trying Hyde & Seek but it was closed...so I went to Long Table and paid an absolute fortune for gritty fake service and ok food. Wagyu was nice, but 3500...£80...dam_n.

For some other brands in the same price bracket that Powerbuy doesn't stock, make sure you check out independant hi-fi dealer Piyanas (also online) which has a nice new shop in Paradise Park shopping centre on Srinakarin Road.

Donut42today. Firstly, I would find it risky allowing any 6 year old girl to travel back on their own with motorbike drivers. I see children of 11+ doing so, but 6 years old.....no. Just had to get that out of the way.

Your wife has two choices: social justice, by telling his colleagues what has gone on...which he'll deny....and so you won't know if anything happens. The said driver may even blame you. Or, do things the right way and go to the police immediately. She should dress smart and go with a senior family member just to guarantee the police treat the case as seriously as possible. Should she wish, she could also inform the driver's colleagues of what has gone on and what she is doing about it. It is then up to them what will happen but there IS a risk that the driver will run away.

I normally hate people or myself using "contacts" in this country to get things done, but for this case if you want extra punch someone close to me has a senior police contact in the south of Trang that I can ask someone to explain your case to and then provide him with your wife's contact details. He may be able to ensure progress. Send me a private message if you want to.

Asoke junction is the main place for stopping foreigners in taxis (I've seen groups of foreign girls searched and groups of Japanese). Basic unthoughtthrough orders from above "find out of foreigners are going out with drugs. They often travel from Silom to Sukhumvit, so check at Asoke". How many foreigners carry drugs with them in taxis? How many have been caught? Complete waste of police time (again) and another way to alienate tourists and expats.

It's the age-old arguments that even professionals and writers have given up arguing about.

Analog sounds more lifelike, despite it's cracks and pops, than digital. The music can involve you more IF it's a good recording and IF the equipment is excellent.

But..

Modernday high-end digital players can sound more and more analog...which means they have a "warmth" to their sound whilst providing every nuance of detail. Still....get a good recording on vinyl and play it on a top SME, get the same track on CD and play through a top Wadia and see which you like more. I'm betting that for myself, I'd like both and just admit that their sound is slightly "different" but neither is better. Maybe after living with each for a few months I could decide.

However, for convenience sake AND the recent improvements in components and value for money of digital players, I'd go digital.

I can't help you with the settings because I've never tried altering them, although the type of headphones will make a big difference to the sound quality. Which ones do you have? I purchases Everyman headphones on the Skype website which I found to have excellent quality when listening to mp3s. It also depends on what you consider to be good quality sound - many wouldn't even consider mp3 to be in that category, so for the best you can get through a PC it is:

download your music in lossless format. Using more space, but maximising the detail within it.

bypass the DAC in your PC by buying an external DAC on ebay. $300 very well spent. Connect the DAC to the PC and then your headphones to the DAC.

Alternatively, if you already have a good hi-fi system....buy a Squeezebox online (very highly regarded for about $300) and connect it to your PC. The music files are then transferred wirelessly to your hi-fi system, using it's DAC. Then just plug your headphones into the amp.

Whichever one suits you.

I haven't seen the Uniqute around but I have seen Meridian's system at Paragon which looks fabulous. I would have to discount Cyrus on looks alone :-) In fact my father recently bought Cyrus CD/DAC, ATC amp and ATC floorstanders. It sounds very unimpressive although it might be to do with room acoustics (wood floor, wood beams, arched ceiling, lots of windows).

I'm sorry to hear that, and I can completely imagine that happening. Same type of thing has happened to me with suppliers being rude to gf but then nicely fake with me (to get a sale). It doesn't work that way. Pichet is very Chinese. What I mean is he's raw business...not customer service, so I'd imagine he acted quickly to get the dist. license to make money without trying hard. I only talked with him once I knew I couldn't take a liking to him as I could with several of the enthusiasts I met in Amarin or Fortune. There are some dealers who use you and you have to use them....and that means know what you want to buy, and if you can screw them down to the lowest price then you're happy and they're happy with minimum of niceties.

If you want the better customer experience you have to bypass these dealers at the first sign of rudeness, but I understand ther is NO other place to demo Ushers without going to Malaysia or Singapore...where in actual fact, the trip might well be worth it: often cheaper and you can carry back as luggage allowance!

I'd love to know exactly what words he used with your gf though. I highly recommend you follow through with your threat of contacting Usher after that, and copy a letter to him too just to prove that you, as a foreign customer, don't take that bull and that you expect basic professionalim and manners. There are other dealers here who would make a far better job with Usher. It may just make him stop and think before he speaks rudely and dismisses customers before he sees them.

If KS & Son are the Usher dealer then go to their new huge showroom in Paragon. At the back is a listening room. Nice folks.

Nope, KS don't deal in Usher.

But for Naughtybad....call up Audiocom in English, the owner is fluent.

You need to walk down soi 81 opposite Tesco Lotus. You've got KV Mansion first and then Pornpanasap. Both good. On the other side there are several Thai-named places with appear cheaper. Keep walking further down and there is a bigger place on your left where many foreigners stay too. It takes a walk to find them, but they're all good value if you stay for a 1 year.

The only change I see is this:

10-15 years ago foreigners were a novelty and even Mr Average was considered Mr Celeb and eligible by the non-English speaking girls.

Now we're part of the furniture. Isan is full of us buying up houses and allowing our wife to be envied with her tacky gold and new car. In the cities we're still eligible for another reason....as girls are becoming more open-minded, independant and westernised, they're very much open to Western relationships. Definitely seen an increase in that.

Are girls becoming choosier? They are with Western men because every year there are more of us to choose from. For those who go for Thai men, no. Female to Male ratio is still as high as it was which is why if the girl isn't a real khun noo she'll be quite content with the safe fat geek from the office despite appearing to be 4 leagues up. As the Thai guys/girls get richer they keep it in their own group where money and snobbery rules who you date. If you're a goodlooking rich Thai guy you're able to play around until your nob falls off without ever coming across a natural, independant, intelligent and down-to-earth lady. It's a cruel world.

Let her be indecisive about other matters, but not when crossing a main roadway.

Sorry to be blunt, but countryfolk care little about safety and death and are the more superstitious, putting things down to karma instead of common sense, risk and chance. I call that backward thinking. Not all Thais are like that. Many girls will be way more safety conscious than a foreign guy and have the way of thinking to actually feel regret, emotion and even the ability to LEARN from their wrong decision.

Liability springs to mind. If I'd nearly been killed and my girl didn't seem to give two hoots, I'd seriously be re-evaluating my choice of partner and wonder what's coming further down the road.

Another vote for Wat Mahabut where the very famous ghost of Nong Nak is said to reside. When you get a murder or suicide in a house in Thailand it is VERY hard to sell on to a Thai. There are many which are empty and overgrown and you can walk right in and stay in them if you wish.

If your friends really want a test, they can obtain a "gooman tong" and leave it in their room for a few days and see what happens. Gooman Tong are stillborn foetuses that are kept, cremated to a degree, and then "trapped" in a glass object by a rogue monk. Not only an upcountry tale, I know of one extremely famous hi-so person in Bangkok who keeps one in her office, hidden away, and strongly believes in its effect. Look after it, give it attention, and it's said to return the favour in good feeling, house protection and tranquility. Ignore it and expect some poltergeist activity, stress and bad luck.

As far as I know, no-one in the West has ever owned one and tested this heresay.

Indeed Warpspeed, nothing amazes me anymore here after 16 years. Seems like many of the locals will do anything to get their greedy hands on cash.

There's definitely something wrong with this money orientated culture

Hardly unique to Thailand is it ?

If you lived in the Philipines you would say the same thing but instead of Thais you would say The Filipinos, or Cambodians..or Vietnamese...or Brazilians... or Columbians...or Mexicans etc etc.

People cannot come to poorer countries to take advantage of their relative wealth just because the majority of the population is poor and expect everybody to be like The Citizens of Monaco/MonteCarlo where the vast majority are not poor, problems can arise.

That's why super rich people live in Monaco and not in Udon Thani.

No you're right, but it's when already financially stable or even quite well off people go way beyond decent ethics to get MORE that you can call it generally greedy. There's a lot of that.

I just found another shop that ONLY sells headphones...and good ones. Some quite expensive ones in there including Stax and Grado. It's on the 2nd floor of Exchange Tower...linked to the BTS Asok station. Go into Exchange from the station and go right to the back just beyond the restaurants and there is it. A very cool little shop indeed!

Never seen a farang bodyguard but I think it would look very cool to have one or three. Especially on a night out in Thonglor where they can pretend to be useful.

I have seen some Arab (women and men) with a Thai bodyguard though...wearing the mandarin collar silk outfit and who probably doubled as drivers.

When I first came to Thailand I went to RCA two or three times with some rich Indians and one Thai fellow, who had a bodyguard. When I tried to leave the group the bodyguard made it quite clear that I wasn't going to go past him...despite being a "friend" of his employer. Too weird. Had to make a run for it in the other direction due to newbie paranoia. Those were the days of Taurus, Morgan, Phuture, NASA where you'd see many more youngsters with bodyguards, more guns and more "incidents" involving them.

That's a lovely looking speaker. Don't rely too heavily on getting email replies from businesses here in Thailand - there have been too many times when I've wanted to do business and I had no reply...only to find that there email address is on the card only to "look good" and they don't consider email important. I'd call if I were you.

I've compared Usher prices in Taiwan, HK and Thailand and really buying from Thailand is worth it. The freight and tax on import makes that quite clear. The Chinese owner at Audio Com is also very negotiable on price ;-)

Hi Carl,

Did they have any of the larger floorstanding Usher loudspeakers on demo?

Unfortunately I couldn't make it as I was working.

They did have2 pairs of Usher on demo. One was a floorstander (which wasn't being used while i was in the room) and the other a standmount with highly visible vertical grills running down the speaker and the stand. Looked interesting, but I had no time to hang around while they were playing softly softly music, so couldn't form an opinion.

Anyone visit the hi-fi show this year? It consisted of 2 floors of the Windsor Suites plus 5 or 6 larger demo rooms on the ground floor (KS Sons, Audio Excellence etc.).

A few interesting things for me and some good % discounts and show offers. Not a whole lot though. Hi-Fi Centre is nearly empty now with dealers looking for new places to rent. Deco 2000 have closed down their shop at Amarin....and not sure where they're going. It seems like despite the rich plainly getting richer in Thailand, the hi-fi market is diminishing. That said, KS Sons seem to be holding strong. McIntosh is very popular with the rich (aided by strong American marketing) and their new Kharma speakers have been selling well at over 300,000 baht per pair. Their beige demo models at the show were their last pair.

First pic is of Antique Sound Lab valve amps driving the sloping red speakers (A8 I think the brand was). Playing a demo CD I found the sound to lack realism in voice and to be quite 1 dimensional. For money involved I'd expect more. The room was a good size too.

Second system was Emm Labs CD player through the lovely Pass Labs monoblocks with Kharma (Dutch) loudspeakers. Sounded good, but again as with shows..unless they play a type of music you actually like and can appreciate at a volume you'd normally put it at, it's hard to really assess it. Even better, some tracks that you know pretty well in your own system.

A McIntosh all-in-one mini system! How cool. Speakers were small but weighed a tonne.

The Aura Premier all-in-one system that I've seen in the press but never in the shiny metal. It looks basic but has FM radio, MP3, USB, amp, CD. Got the award for the best mini in various press and sells in Thailand for 78,000 baht.

Also good to see the higher end Focal speakers there, especially the stunning Electra 1008 Be at a discounted 200,000 baht. From a dealer in Hi-Fi Centre (Piyanas do the lower end models). Unfortunately these weren't on proper demo so I couldn't hear what they could do. Usher were there also, again, not with the 718 Be that I wanted to hear (78,000 baht).

All in all, fine for a local free show. A lack of pretties though it must be said :-)

I learnt my lesson early on here by letting various locals get away with queue-jumping by not saying anything, looking around in disbelief that no-one else said anything and seeing them get served as if they've done nothing impolite.

Most frequent times are:

Taxi queue at On Nut (just as Andrew Biggs rightly points out in this week's Brunch mag). Just watch the (usually women) in a rush here skip the queue and try and jump in a cab. No-one blinks an eye. Saw a farang rant once and the posh family look at his as if he's a moron to publicly communicate they have no manners! However, the police there are getting wise to it and often stop the queuejumpers now.

7-11. If someone puts their stuff down next to mine that's fine. But if they get served first, that's a problem and I interject the cashier and await their response...which is always absolute silence and indifference. I learnt quickly you CANNOT rely on a cashier to do the right thing or get involved in a "who was first?" form of communication. You either ignore it or stop it.

MRT and BTS change booths. Happened twice and both young Thai male officeworkers (bucking the trend). Pushed right in while I'm at the desk and I quickly tell them who was next. They look confused and surprised, but don't argue. And amazingly....I don't get followed home and shot afterwards, as some posters would expect from making someone lose face.

I have to say, most times it's the lower classes who push in with no qualms...rough looking women going straight to the front of a BTS platform queue..as well as old Chinese in flip flops. Thais will give an annoyed look but that's all. It's left to foreigners to physically block them or convey verbally what they did was rude. Your average thai is often too nice for a public spat.