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While I've never been to the US, they are too prone to: rightiousness, piousness, vindictiveness, spite and vengence for me to risk it, I believe that tipping is demanded is demanded in that country no matter the quality of the service.

Why would I tip staff in a wealthy country and not tip staff in a less well-off country ? This isn't really about the country I'm in or the nature of the service I get. It's about me and whether I'm willing to recognise being treated with respect and generosity by another. In a service based relationship, one way of illustrating this recognition is leaving a tip.

I would not leave a tip unless I can afford it, but would give as much as I could in other kind; such as a genuinely thankful response.

Tipping in Thailand is kinda funny for me. I do tip in my home country and the other countries I've visited, but usually only for staff I 'guess' are usually poorly paid, and who I feel have done me good. These 'pay guesses' include most service staff, whether in a building or on the side of the road.

I've wondered about 7-11 staff a few times, but haven't left a tip yet. I've had wonderful and terrible service in those shops. I always feel appreciative when I feel well treated by 7-11 staff and as a consequence of this thread, have decided to tip staff in these stores from now on. When I tip, I do it because I can afford to. It is one way that illustrates how I care for and consider others.

However, it takes all kinds of alien nationals to populate the Soi's of Thailand and thankfully, the staff of the 7-11's don't need us all to be generous or considerate in return for good service, for them to survive.

Thrash em I reckon...<deleted> smokers deserve to be thrashed for being so smoky and burny and rubbishy...blowin their smoke around and tossing their garbage onto the ground where I'm gonna have to look at their decaying cigarette butts for the next 10,000 years.

Bastards I say...set em on fire...nail them to the nearest cross and...and...okay, okay...this is an emotional issue.

It's funny that in actual terms, a right is something that is outlined in a piece of legislation somewhere, yet smokers the world over commonly offer the trite retort "I have a right to smoke" While I am just expected to swallow the suggestion that there is a legal tool in place protecting their determination to produce smoke, to significantly impose upon a biological need of mine, I am considered a pain in the arse when I ask to be directed to the source of this right to smoke.

Life is conditional my smokey friends...It is conditional upon many things in a web of hierarchies...at the top are things we need to do...breathe, eat, blink, sleep, tell others where to go...these things don't need legal tools such as rights, they cannot be chosen or preferred or disregarded...rights are created toward things we have autonomy over - this is why the principle of responsibility is so important in rights/legal arguments...if you have mens rea then take your smoking habeus corpus and pollute areas where others are not affected.

Yeah, I think I am ready for youse smokers to retort your phlemy bile all over me...

Let me make one final point. People have sometimes replied to my posts saying they cannot understand a syllable I post...your admission of not being able to understand is not evidence that my diatribes do not make sense...your admission is information about your cognitive functioning, not my post...

While you smoke and be damned, I write and be damned...actually, I will not be damned because I live in a Goddessless world and there ain't no damnation that I know of, other than smokey market-places.

Oh hel_l no.

Drop the attempts at political correctness Thailand. It doesn't suit you.

I'll respect this smoking ban about as much as I respect any smoking ban.

You selfish bastard. I remember the time when one of your kind was in the crowded, hot market that is JJ, and when my wife walked past she happened to brush past one of your stinking smoker friends, burning not just a hole in her dress, but also her leg. The perp that did this, well all he could do was walk away.

Its not just the extra added unpleasant smell that smoking adds to the mix, it is the danger of someone getting burned, or their clothes being damaged. Please dont let the fact that there are children there too, and guess what, their eyes are somewhat in the line of fire too (pun intended), to receive a cigarette to the eyes or face.

So if any one of you smokers is so callous to believe that you have a right to smoke in such a confined area as JJ, and that you have the right to wave a smoldering pseudo weapon around in such a place, then you had better not run into me!!!!!!!

The smoking ban in JJ should be reinforced with more than a 2000b fine, but for the damages that a smoker causes to another when contact is made with the cigarette itself.

Jezus ! What a life and afterlife that guy has had. His didn't have a father in the way we normal people do - what would Sigismund have said about this ? Probably have

suggested that the guy had very good reasons to become focuses on anal, genital and digital stuff...

His step dad was, so it seems, an accommodating cuckold. If, as the myth goes, Mary became an adultress, yet remained a virgin in cuckolding her husband, did

Joseph ever get any ?

If Mary was an honest woman and if adultory was a Judean state crime and if god did state that a breach of honesty was a religious crime too, shouldn't Mary have gone to the

authorities and declared her crime ? She did not and Jezus is therefore also the son of a criminal family.

I don't know what kind of life forms Jezus preferred to have sex with but with the kind in family dynamics he grew up in I'd not be surprised that he had a few

strange ideas on what was acceptable to do. And by strange I do not mean sex within one's own species !

Remember, he was a social rebel, perhaps he was a sexual rebel too, whatever that may have meant in Judea 2000 years ago.

If he was open-minded sexually, it's a very good thing that Liviticus didn't get his hands on him (see 18:22 and 20:13 http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_bibh3.htm)

I don't know what to think of regarding Jezus, the records clearly state the man existed - but as an earlier poster suggested - the godist agents and promoters of the religion

that carries his name have completely taken over and I definitely do not like them or the interests they push...but I'm reluctant to pass this onto the man...

Thank you.

I will arrive in BKK in late October for 5-weeks of training. I have an approved Non-Imm B, Multi - Entry Visa. I got the multi entry as I might take some weekend trips out of Thailand.

When I arrive in Bkk, do I need to register my address or some such ?

Thanks

Thanks for the thread.

I'm in my early 50's and plan to move to Thailand in the next year or two. If Thailand suits me, I'll settle there. I'm learning the language and will continue to work for a living.

I hope to have opportunities to meet single Thai women too. I'd love to be involved with children, my own or another's, so long as the former partner is clearly separated.

I'm thinking that 38-years is the youngest my partner should be: to have similar interests and engergy levels, to not be too young when I'm 65, to not be wanting more children in 10-years time.

I've wondered myself whether opportunities will arise, and just how they may do so. Like I said, I'm learning the language and have solid foundation in speaking, listening, reading and writing Thai.

Thanks to all of the replies to this thread - they have given me plenty of food for thought.

This may seem trivial and petty, but it does seem to influence conditions offered when applying for jobs in Thailand. In other countries Republic of Ireland is usually listed when indicating native English speakers, but it is never listed in Thailand. Many teachers are not even aware that Ireland is a native English speaking country. In most schools where I have worked it is the western teachers who are responsible for drafting advertisements so I wonder why this omission. Is it a type of snobbery? Even South Africa is often listed despite the fact that many there do not speak English.

Irish have a very thick accent. This might be the problem. Apparently, Canadians have the easiest accent to understand.

This is misanthropic misinformation - the accent from the Mansfield Park tribes in Sth Australia are the easiest English language accents to understand - well, for me in anyway.

Unless you're a Northern Irish person, I'd guess that you might not want to be called an English anything ! ! !

Perhaps your arse doesn't like travelling.

I've had minor bouts of the runs. I'm very careful with water and food. I only use bottled water; washing teeth (included rinsing tooth brush), no ice ever; I always eat at the food stalls in the street cause I can see the condition of: the food before its cooked, the utensils and the cook (I consider good personal hygiene on the cook an imperative). If a particular food stall works for me, I become a regular.

On my first visits to Thailand, when the runs happened, I thought I'd only eat in restaurants because I didn't trust the food stall sellers, a friend asked me what the state of the kitchens in the restaurants was like - I don't eat in em any more - It's not about the Thai's, I hope, its about the heat and how the heat affects food if preparation areas are not looked after.

I don't know about chillis causing angry <deleted>...but the older I am getting, there are an increasing list of foods I can't eat because they affect my belly.

What about a butt-plug...it'd need to be a good fit though...

Oh, you know, the visa rules in my home country and here in Britian, where I live now, are far more demanding then Thailand's rules.

In Australia, forget just arriving on a plane.

In the UK, unless your from the EU, which makes you a conditional citizen of the UK, you must get a visa. Getting these visas is no simple matter - some of the Thai people I know here have to prove, in part by paying for expensive language courses, that they are here for legitimate purposes.

I'm not sure about the US, but I do know they've tightened up lately.

It saddens and surprises me that I regularly hear from some disgruntled Australian's, Briton's and American's that the Thai's are 'so bad' to us.

It is problematic that the visa laws do cause such inconvenience, but we 'can' get into Thailand, all of us!

Many Thai's cannot get into my country at all, not for any reason.

How welcoming is your country to Thai's?

Are you really benefiting Thailand by being there, as some suggest, or are you self-seeking benefits, but using the 'I'm benefiting Thailand' cliche in misrepresented, but, self-serving cliches?

etr

I am an American that crossed from France to the UK. I get 6 months automatically. I didn't aply for any visa nor am I a resident of the EU. You may have other points but your argument about the UK border policy just isn't true

Exactly,

apples and oranges comparison. Is it harder to get in to the US but really if you get in you can stay a while. The Thai people I know who are not rich (but not super poor) have got visa to come here and stayed 3 months, no border runs.

Then there are the those farang in TH that have some kind of self righteous complex and are filled with hatred they need to take it out on those who don't have a work permit.

What makes you so angry?

Most people doing border runs don't work but do spend their money everyday in real places, mom and pop shops, haircut places, food stalls etc, not some multi national hotel.

Ask the Thai people at these places if they want the farang to leave?

and the very few who do work illegally are usually teachers. But I guess you don't want poorer Thei kids to be able to speak with native speakers?

As for paying taxes, whenever you buy things you are paying taxes.

Most farang will take very little from the gov't, they don't have kids in govt school, don't use govt hospitals, don't use social services. How exactly are these people a drain on society?

But I guess if having some kinda of boogie man to hate gets you off...'

Well, except for the 'boogie man' point at the end, I do agree with all of your other points. Those most affected by these visa changes, I expect, would overwhelmingly come from the visitor group that provides little profit to the multinationals, but a great deal of daily income to the local, small businesses.

Well stated, except for that 'boogie man' bit...

Oh, you know, the visa rules in my home country and here in Britian, where I live now, are far more demanding then Thailand's rules.

In Australia, forget just arriving on a plane.

In the UK, unless your from the EU, which makes you a conditional citizen of the UK, you must get a visa. Getting these visas is no simple matter - some of the Thai people I know here have to prove, in part by paying for expensive language courses, that they are here for legitimate purposes.

I'm not sure about the US, but I do know they've tightened up lately.

It saddens and surprises me that I regularly hear from some disgruntled Australian's, Briton's and American's that the Thai's are 'so bad' to us.

It is problematic that the visa laws do cause such inconvenience, but we 'can' get into Thailand, all of us!

Many Thai's cannot get into my country at all, not for any reason.

How welcoming is your country to Thai's?

Are you really benefiting Thailand by being there, as some suggest, or are you self-seeking benefits, but using the 'I'm benefiting Thailand' cliche in misrepresented, but, self-serving cliches?

etr

I am an American that crossed from France to the UK. I get 6 months automatically. I didn't aply for any visa nor am I a resident of the EU. You may have other points but your argument about the UK border policy just isn't true

My main point was how your country treats Thai's trying to enter.

Nit-picking a mistaken point of mine has not provided any suggestion of how your country treats Thai applicants and if the Thai's treat your applications, or arrivals without papers differently to your government.

etr

Oh, you know, the visa rules in my home country and here in Britian, where I live now, are far more demanding then Thailand's rules.

In Australia, forget just arriving on a plane.

In the UK, unless your from the EU, which makes you a conditional citizen of the UK, you must get a visa. Getting these visas is no simple matter - some of the Thai people I know here have to prove, in part by paying for expensive language courses, that they are here for legitimate purposes.

I'm not sure about the US, but I do know they've tightened up lately.

It saddens and surprises me that I regularly hear from some disgruntled Australian's, Briton's and American's that the Thai's are 'so bad' to us.

It is problematic that the visa laws do cause such inconvenience, but we 'can' get into Thailand, all of us!

Many Thai's cannot get into my country at all, not for any reason.

How welcoming is your country to Thai's?

Are you really benefiting Thailand by being there, as some suggest, or are you self-seeking benefits, but using the 'I'm benefiting Thailand' cliche in misrepresented, but, self-serving cliches?

etr

Im just waiting for all the thai defenders coming over the hill shouting " oh this can happen in the USA UK etc blah blah blah !

I'll save you the wait. Yes it could happen anywhere else.

but it's about a million times more likely to happen on a tourist bus from Bangkok to Suratthani than on a tourist bus from Bristol to Penzance.

Gee, your conclusion seems to be in the same genre as "the middle of nowhere". It does appear (sic) to be an illusory form of calculation - are you an Illusionary?.

It goes without saying that the expression 'a million times more likely to happen than...' is not to be taken literally. Illusionary is an Adjective. One cannot be an 'Illusionary'.

Well, one may not be able to be an illusionary within English grammar, but what if the Illusionary had poor English grammatical knowledge, like me? Of if they were using Cyrillic, Australian Aboriginal or Summarian grammar rules?

I understand statements like ' a million times more likely...' to be arguments based upon fallacies, the intention of such an argument is to inflame the emotions of the reader/audience, not to inform them of factual data to enable them to react reasonably.

Why can't one be an adjective exactly, isn't an adjective a noun or sorts, and aren't nouns used to identify people...wouldn't I be a 'Genghis' if I were named Genghis?

missionary, apothecary, illusionary, reactionary, revolutionary...???

If one who produces apoths is an apothecary, why isn't one who produces illusions an illusionary?

Im just waiting for all the thai defenders coming over the hill shouting " oh this can happen in the USA UK etc blah blah blah !

I'll save you the wait. Yes it could happen anywhere else.

but it's about a million times more likely to happen on a tourist bus from Bangkok to Suratthani than on a tourist bus from Bristol to Penzance.

Gee, your conclusion seems to be in the same genre as "the middle of nowhere". It does appear (sic) to be an illusory form of calculation - are you an Illusionary?.

but it's about a million times lot more likely to happen on a tourist bus from Bangkok to Suratthani than on a tourist bus from Bristol to Penzance.

I understand this to be your conclusion, but for those of us who aren't too good at math and statistics and stuff, you know, the kind of data you've used, can you show us the calculations you've used to reach your specific conclusion.

I'm flumoxed at which reference points you'd use to declare anywhere "the middle of nowhere"

Would they be geographical, emotional, metaphorical, illusory or what?

Thai thieves, oh my Goddess!!! How dare any Thai person act just like persons everywhere else...I'm really shocked and am not going to eat any somtam today to show my disgust...

I love galloping on my high horse...

I'll show those somtam thieves from nowhere!!!

For me personally, it has really depended upon what I'm hoping to do with my money.

According to Warren Buffet, the time to buy is when the markets are ruled by fear. While I'm not really a buyer, Buffet's bank manage and I realise he knows more about the markets and currencies then I do. And he is buying, but I don't know where.

I currently earn pounds, but expect I'll use my money in the future in Oz Dollars or Baht.

the pound has gained in value against the Oz, so my pounds remain good value for me.

fear driven investors are selling pound, and thus it's market value has fallen, but the fear will subside - and if you're wondering about where a currency will go, you will need to gamble to some degree on fear levels, and this can be a very tricky thing to do.

One of the UK's biggest export earner's, tourism, will begin to benefit from the cheap pound, tourism may grow, and with it tourist spending - Tomorrow Labor will announce massive borrowings designed to 'pump-prime' the economy, they will be borrowing pounds -

All of the above will increase the demand for the pound, and at least in the short term, this increased demand will affect the value of the pound.

As a saver, I'm ecstatic with the fall in housing prices, but not so happy with the fall in interest rates.

Because of the instability of the currency markets, I'm sitting tight.

I've been hearing that the Thai government have been propping up the Baht. This is not unusual at all for government's to do...the Aust'n's,amongst many others, are doing the same.

But how far will the Thai dollar reserves go? 100 million sounds like a lot, but for how long? Reports yesterday stated that Thailand's major export markets have slowed and demand for Thai products has fallen significantly. As demand for a country's products falls, demand for its currency falls and this falling demand affects that currency's value.

I don't know about statements like ' a currency is over/under valued' Because you can only get currency value from the level of market demand - the demand sets the value. If demand falls/rises, this is what sets the value.

Fantastic...thank you all very much...

I need to increase my ability to eat spicy food, because, here it comes, I'm allergic to garlic...so, If I can expand the amount of chilli and spices I can eat, my allergy won't get in the way too much when I move to Thailand...

I've been ferreting around with the local food vendors in Bangkok and and getting very effective avoiding garlic poisoned foods.

Milk/yoghurt/sweets and sweet drinks/fruit juice - very easy to combine with my meals...eating in Thailand is one of the main reasons I love being there so much...I do feel like my experience there is limited with my anti-spices/chilli bearing food hole.

Thanks again...

Perhaps there is no solution to this one.

I cannot eat food that is even a little spicy. My mouth feels like I'm eating fire.

This happens with boring frequency in Thailand and I'd like to find ways of alleviating this reaction in ways that don't involve staying out of Thailand.

I've asked around for ideas on remedies for this burning mouth - eat a sweet - drink a hot drink -

Do you have any other remedies I can add to this small group?

I love being in Thailand and intend to move there soon, so finding ways of adapting to the local world is very important.

With these types of remedies, I hope to acclimatize my mouth, to raise its sensitivity to spices.

Thanks

etr

I find that when my head is not thinking, when it's just helping to keep me balanced and such, I can see more things and hear more clearly taste more stuff and smell more and, well...I do like using these other sensory media.

I found that when I only used my thinking, that I was living in my idea of the world. I don't like to do that anymore, I prefer to use my eyes and ears and nose and tongue and teeth and fingers and such to be in a more actual contact with the world itself, not my opinion of it.

Over the last 5-years, I've been able to learn how to allow my head to be without ongoing thought, except when I need to think...and guess what, on most days, I don't 'need' to think very much when I'm walking, or in the shower, or having a dump, or listening to others speaking, or eating tasty food, or listening to the dogs barking, or in the traffic, or breathing and the like.

Now that I rely less on my opinion of the world and more on this richer sensorial engagement with it, I'm less critical of the world, I whinge and bitch about it less and generally find it a more enjoyable way to live.

Edward the Magnificent!!!

Great skill you've developed E the M.

You said it took about 5 years.

How much time did you spend practicing?

What type of practice did you involve yourself in?

Sorry about the delay...

Well, I began to learn to focus on one thing at a time...I learnt to only look when I'm looking...etc...I'm sorry for sounding simplistic...but that's how it's become...

Initially, I used my breathe to train my attention...I found really quickly, that if I'm not paying attention to my thinking, it winds down really quickly...lots of practice using my breathe to take my attention into my body...and I found that it's really okay to be in my body...

My mind was trained as a problem solver...I can't be bothered trying to solve things too much anymore...solve feelings, no way...solve what I'm having for dinner in six hours time, no way...solve why you said what you said last week, no way...I'd prefer to look at trees now, or listen to the traffic...

listening to the traffic doesn't generate resentment, criticism, judgement, ridicule, sarcasm, hatred...these things only happen when I think...they are all thinking things, so...when something upsets me...in the past, i'd try to resolve that upset somehow...and often end up in one of the thinking things above...but I've learnt that if a thing is upsetting me and I focus on it, even to try and resolve it, it upsets me...so I don't focus on those things anymore, I use another of my senses when I'm emotional...my eyes, ears, tongue etc...

etr

The verdict cannot be appealed under the law governing the court's division.

See Paragraph 5 :- http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/10/22...cs_30086596.php

I thunk I'd read he had the right of appeal, but if the Nation's quote is true, and I'm usually very suspicious of this populist rag, my bender is very close by

indeedidly eedily!! (Flander, N, Circa 1999).

While he remains having the right of appeal, and I believe he will appeal - but his wife won't, he may not remain a convicted criminal...I am very interested at the narrowness of the court margin...5 to 4 is not very convincing, regardless of how people feel about him...hopefully even a corrupt legal system won't convict or aquitt anyone on the basis of emotions, feelings or opinion...if the evidence is strong, there is a chance, even in a corrupt system...but if the evidence is not strong, the nature of the system is irrelevant...

I'm very happy with this verdict, but will await the appeal decision before I go on any kind of bender in celebration...

What kind of democracy do you all want if not the majority vote. I understand this is a very thin model of democracy, but it is the model that most western countries have too.

As an Australian, I won't comment on the International crimes perpetrated by the governments of some nations, but will outline those perpetrated by my country.

Let me begin by stating that I don't like the recent and current Thai regimes either.

However, in spite of what I believe is rampant corruption, has Thailand illegally invaded any countries lately like Australia has? And is Thailand currently continuing to kill or support the killing of foreign civilians in this illegal invasion like Australia is?

Sure the recent Thai regimes are, in my opinion, thieves. But how many people have they killed in comparison to Australian government forces in the last 5-years? Remember Siv X...what about the Australian concentration camps on Christmas Island and in the outback?

The illegal Thai coup of 2006 was more abhorant to me than Thaksin because it illegally overuled the majority wishes - when I speak to Thai's from the Nth, they continue to believe Thaskin is worth voting for...

I don't understand the media coverage being given to the PAD...It is noted above that the Thai voters legitimised over 300 lower house seats out of a few over 400. This election was fairly recent.

How representative is the PAD...I'm not interested in how you feel about their intentions, how many Thai's does the PAD actually represent?

In Australia recently, we had a far right government. While I would never vote for this type of political party, I accepted them as my government because the majority of my countrymen wanted them...

If I want my vote and therefore my right to self determine within the current political system to be respected when I am in the majority, to ensure my right to such an outcome, I have an inseparable responsibility to respect others having the same right to have their vote respected and accepted as valid, regardless of anything else.

At the present moment, the majority of the Thai voting public want the current regime. As I understand it, a coup is illegal in Thailand - if we want Thailand to have a different type of regime, surely the best way to go about it is through free and fair elections. Yes, I know, the majority of Thai's will just vote for the same party again!

But it is their country, and the system of democracy they have is majority rule. What do you suggest happens to the wishes of the majority?

I believe the western medial in Thailand is unfairly purporting the PAD to be more representative than the PAD actually is and if that is the case, the western media in Thailand is undermining the democratic process and the democratic rights of the voters who voted in the majority at the last elections.

I look forward to being corrected where my opinion is incorrect or misinformed and where it is sound and defensible.

Phew!!!

etr

I find that when my head is not thinking, when it's just helping to keep me balanced and such, I can see more things and hear more clearly taste more stuff and smell more and, well...I do like using these other sensory media.

I found that when I only used my thinking, that I was living in my idea of the world. I don't like to do that anymore, I prefer to use my eyes and ears and nose and tongue and teeth and fingers and such to be in a more actual contact with the world itself, not my opinion of it.

Over the last 5-years, I've been able to learn how to allow my head to be without ongoing thought, except when I need to think...and guess what, on most days, I don't 'need' to think very much when I'm walking, or in the shower, or having a dump, or listening to others speaking, or eating tasty food, or listening to the dogs barking, or in the traffic, or breathing and the like.

Now that I rely less on my opinion of the world and more on this richer sensorial engagement with it, I'm less critical of the world, I whinge and bitch about it less and generally find it a more enjoyable way to live.

Edward the Magnificent!!!