dhream

Being a Kiwi some think that this is all second nature to us, but if youre here to do an adrenaline rush type of thing then you might be a little disappointed.

Possibly the safest bungy jump would be at the XCentre out in Mae Rim. Ian (a fellow kiwi) runs the place with his Thai wife. Dont worry you wont get a chance to hesitate...you will jump, possibly with a slight shove. Its all good equipment there and no accidents have been recorded in the 3 years Ive been here.

Then there are zip lines, that have been in operation for a few years. Ive been watching these for a while and have yet to partake. My advise would be to go and look first. Safety is not always at the forefront. Then once you have seen first hand you can make a decision. It is a fun activity but be careful of crowds.

On the other hand, a holiday doesnt have to be all hype. A 24 to 48 hr break out on Mae Nat dam (Close to Mae Tang) is a very good break too. You can take your own booze and spend time on a floating house/restaurant and truely relax. No cellphone or internet coverage. Watewr is warm and normally they will have a high diving platform on their rig. The main rule for these places is the more the merrier. A boat will take you out and bring you back. Great experience.

If you want to know more then let me know.

One caution is he says he is a foodie. There are weight restrictions on some of those attractions. I would also like to mention the Segway just up the street to the next corner from McDonalds on the moat. Looks interesting.

You're not paying attention, again, John, are You? JASMINE sends HER regards...

You guys should not knock it until you have tried it.

Admittedly parts of Manila are an armpit,but so are parts of Pattaya That said Manila is easily avoided.

Fly into one of the other international gateways such Cebu, Iloilo or Clark for a warm welcome from very friendly English speaking people.

Plenty of pristine beaches with NO hawkers or headaches,. Yes, for you cheap Charlies the fast food restaurants all offer

low quality food,( you can blame their past colonial masters - the Americans for introducing that) but if you search there are plenty of local restaurants serving good quality food.

For those of you looking for girls, Yes, there are cheap and most provide an excellent girlfriend type experience.

For those of you resident in CM, have you ever wondered why there is an increasing number of resident westerners living there with a Filipino wife?

I understand there are some westerners here with PI wives, and on that note, it's not so much that they have Pinay wives that is telling, but the fact that they choose to stay here, even with Pinay wives!

To compare the virtues of wives based on nationality alone is... not a comparison worth making.

Oh yes I seen on TV how the Christianity epidemic is running rampid in the Philippines. It truly is amazing. I bet Emperor Constantine never expected his creation to have lasted so long and have such an impact on the word hundreds of centuries later.

God save us from religion!

They drive on the wrong ( American ) side of the road. Too freaking hot. Haven't been there; however, if the food is as bad as other posters say, not interested.

Like Thailand, the Philippines has its share of horror stories about women. Lang Hancock is the most famous example.

Setting aside the fact that almost all of Europe drives on the Right...

It's not notably hotter than Thailand, but the food is shocking considering they were colonised by Spain first...

Also unlike here, you have to lock absolutely everything up, your 'guests' will even steal your aftershave from your wet pack, happened to me, and it's the only place that's ever happened.

I was in a Hong Kong bar at Xmas (Fog Bar in the upmarket part of Kowloon, not a dive) and the Pinay staff tried to rip me off with the Happy Hour menu, not once, but twice, even AFTER i'd rather graciously pointed out their 'error'. When I left, one of the girls tried to sell me a 'massage' no, not her, she thrust a brochure under my nose like the tuk tuks do in Sukhumvit Soi 7 etc. Classy!

I have Filipino friends raised elsewhere, and even they have complained about being scammed 'back home'. It's such a shame, if they could see far enough to clean up their act, they'd be a powerhouse of tourism. Not to mention a wealthy nation, they certainly have the natural resources, which is why they will likely end up being a slave colony to the Chinese a hundred years from now. America simply does not have the tactical resources to prevent that, in the long term.

Anyway everybody,

Thank you all so much for your opinions and views on the Philippines. I am still going yo visit for the experience but I think I will completely miss Manila and fly into Clark and take it from there.

I have only seen Manila but slipperylobster confirmed that all the negatives mentioned are found everywhere.

I also have a friend who visits both Pattaya and the AC annually in high season, he swears by Angeles, BTW I don't think you can fly from BKK to CRK anymore, or he would do it!

Bear in mind he is well cashed up, and has a seriously good time as he takes several girls at once!

But, even he admits the ride from MNL to Angeles is a nightmare of haggling and unnecessary bullshit from the driver.

He likes they speak English, and claims the Pinays are more fun than TGs. My milage in that regard, has varied (Manila only).

Anyway, stay safe, personally, I'm in no hurry to go back.

It always amazes me to hear about the Philippines, the poverty and despair. Makes me wonder why that country adamantly clings to a strict no birth control or abortion policy to curb the poverty. The Pope (Francis) did advise that country, in his latest tour of that country, not to "breed like rabbits", but the clergy and corresponding legal system refuses to alter laws prohibiting abortion or birth control.

Yes and woe betide you there if you say you don't like kids! They'll drop you fast!

Actually one way to ditch a clingy Pinay chick is just tell her you don't want kids! or that you have a vasectomy (if you actually did have a vasectomy.)

Another nasty little 'Catholic-based' law all foreigners would do well to keep front of mind is; that you can go to JAIL for adultery.

Naturally, there is a blackmailing scam to go along with this, whereby the foreign 'mark' is set up to have a 'chance meeting' in a mall with a hot horny wife who is so neglected sexually, she must have sex NOW!

Well, guess who then 'catches' them in the act? The cuckolded 'husband'! The usual trip to an ATM will of course keep it all out of police hands, it's a festering scamhole.

! I could go on.....and on........and on!

Please do

That's what we are here for

Wearing sunglasses when peeling onions, posting letters in rubbish bins.

My second disaster came home one day complaining about the HK Chinese being racist (pretty accurate but her justification was way off). Basically she had read in a local Filipino magazine that a maid had been fired and she thought it was unfair. I stupidly asked her to translate the article and was told of a maid who worked for a single Chinese lady who had an Alsatian dog that always went to greet the owner when she came home, but one day did not. On looking around the flat she found the maid and dog in the maid's room in 'flagrante delecto'; something which I would have thought provided fairly reasonable grounds for dismissal. But the story didn't end there! I was then regaled with a description of mating dogs that spend some considerable time connected after the act and that the Alsatian could not be removed from the maid. Considering the size differential and the fact that it is the female dog that clings on, incredulity was mounting. But this soon turned to great amusement as the article went on to describe the maid and Alsatian being taken to the nearest hospital where the dog's penis was cut off and he died of blood loss, shock; or perhaps shame. My skepticism was demonstrated as I imagined a gurney being wheeled into casualty with a sheet over the two lovers but an Alsatian's tail sticking out one end and I proceeded to laugh myself onto the floor. Apparently the maid was fired because the dog died and this was ample demonstration of racism!!

I still like the Philippines and the people there but I'm just a serial optimist.

I also imagine, as you said, that a human vagina would not 'cling' to a dog's erect 'bulb', but whatever, sounds like a version of the urban legend Perth birthday girl, who was caught with her dog by surprise party guests. Given their national english daily is as professional as a church newsletter, I'd imagine the story is a mis reported urban legend, but it was fun reading it.

The murder rate by gunshot is far lower than in Thailand.

UNODC, which is a very credible source, ranks the overall homicide rate of the Philippines as #70 in the world. They put Thailand at #104. The Philippines has always seemed more risky to me, though it's probably not as dangerous as it feels. As always, your real risk depends mainly on behaving yourself and not acting like a knob. Things can get very rough very quickly in the Philippines if you treat people badly.

As for reasons to go . . . well, better mountain climbing and better bars. Those are the two reasons I go there. Though to be fair, the people are very nice. And seeing the scruffiness and sleaze will probably give you a new appreciation for Thailand.

Interesting that with all the guns and armed guards, in the PI any non-citizen is legally unable to buy or possess a gun.

But looking at the irreversible bloody mess the USA has got itself into with its domestic 'arms race', why would you want to? Best just not go.

I have a legit visa. I am not a criminal. There are thousands like me here in Thailand. But when did it become a crime to be a tourist?

Getting fined for overstaying in a country. Getting banned from said country for overstaying.... then on the other hand... Mass tourist advertising.

Spending millions of bucks on it.

Come and have fun, have a great stay, spend your hard earned cash on tourist tat, eat wonderful Thai food, drink Thai beer, when you go please come back again soon....Why ?

Why the hell would you ? If you are under threat of being frisked because you went out and had fun in a Disco ? Gatherings of 5 and more is a crime... lets go out on the town with our mates as long as its only you and 3 others...

Thai Visa is full of holier than everyone posters with an overblown attitude that only they belong here and all tourists are unwashed criminal scum. How did they come to be in Thailand in the first place?...I guess, yadda yadda

1. You don't need to read the news, and if you don't, how will not knowing affect You? It won't. Ignorance is bliss.

2. Their country their laws, whinging won't alter that, obey or find somewhere you can live with the laws.

3. They were actually doing their jobs for once, you're still unhappy, actually, I wish they'd implement a US style background check on tourists, and expats, it didn't stop the Qantas jumbos arriving in LAX chock a block.

4. If the crappy development is really ruining life for you there are hundreds of Thai coastal towns that will welcome you genuinely. Or more genuinely than Crappaya.

Cheaper too, but you'll have to maybe byo girly, still...

5. I have looked seriously into LOS alternatives myself. While it's far from perfect, currently, the alternatives still can't match what this place offers. Try being grateful for what you have, millions of men live in cold grey industrial hell-holes, with their hand and porn for company.

Peace out.

I know its hard, but try to think. There are far far easier and smarter ways to do someone in and access their loot without risking getting dragged over a balcony with your victim. While it's not impossible it remains improbable, even homicidal maniacs, particularly homicidal maniacs, want the deed done with as little stress as possible, tourist-tossing is just not gonna be your whack of choice. You guys watch Scarface far too mutt. Or maybe too mutt nose candy while Browsing? Keep it up, you're all hilarious.

Don't mistake reporters comments for the official police report. While no BiB apologist, the comments here reveal an astonishing misperception of what sets a suicide apart from a murder.

If you sherlocks think it's easy to toss a grown young man over a bloody balcony, without them raising all kinds of hell, in a packed resort city, you're a tinfoil hat wearing idiot, you lot wouldn't know where to begin in a homicide, if you actually had to get off your cable-addled ass and act, so spare us the Z cars theories.

This prrsons English written language is very good if they are in fact from Serbia

Believe it or not, but schools in Serbia are much better than in Thailand.

The Soviets had big plans, they made sure English was a subject you failed at your peril. If we were half as smart we'd have insisted our kids learned either Russian, or Mandarin. If I had kids here now, it would be Mandarin for them, as well as Thai,and English, guaranteed income for life.

Looks like the cast of Brooklyn Nine-Nine are on the case here at Thai Visa again as ever, relentless crime fighters who rarely sleep, and barely think, wait... What?

RIP to a mere kid, sad that we can't leave the speculation aside in these cases.

Its always the usual suspects who treat every farang death as murder most foul, and seemingly a personal threat to their own safety.

Unless there was very good reason, there's no reason for the BiB, as hapless a shower as they are, to cover up every other 'murder' it makes no sense, and they'd be totally crap at it in most cases anyway. See Koh Tao for what happens when it really is a murder. Certain people on this thread are retired farang law enforcement, and use experience, not CSI scripts, to draw intelligent conclusions from the few facts the public are given.

We found no signs of a struggle on the body or any indication that the house had been ransacked. We believe that he slipped and hit his head.

So if he slipped and hit his head wouldn't there be a inflamed area or red bump or marked ?

where was his thai gf ? and his mobile ?

I stopped counting these slipped, fell, heart attack, accidental, digested myth stories months ago ............

I agree every day its a foreigner getting murdered. I stopped believing the slip and falls and leapers

suicides

all that garbage years ago. All lies. If its true this is the mist accident prone place ever known to man.

There is nothing at all unusual about these deaths in most cases. For one, logical assumption on your worst case scenario assumes either an astonishing number of gangland hits by extremely gifted executioners, or a crazed Balcony-tossing serial killer whose into old sexpats is loose.

About 450 people in the US alone die each year falling...

Out Of Bed! This is no joke, see www.oddee.com bizarre deaths. RIP to him I hope he went out thinking happy thoughts, he's in a better place now, heck anywhere is a better place than being alone and drunk in pattaya.

If you sincerely believe in your claims, you could get rich as a PI getting the 'truth' for the relatives he likely never had.

There are a vast number of tortured souls and a vast number of people on God knows what designer drugs they likely brought with them, shit you don't even know about, see bluelight.ru for the mind boggling menu. plus booze, plus Xmas, plus despair, Pattaya is for the most part, not your everyday family man bolthole. Crazy accidents are bound to be rife in such a crucible, this stuff rarely happens in Chiang Mai, for example, different tourist niche, by and large, and happier expats, by and large.

when will this jet ski shit stop finally? Nobody needs these stinking toys. And how many accidents must happen to stop that business. Use section 44, man!

Have you ever tried one? It is freaking great..........

I have, but confess it's not so great for people dealing with the noise, always blown ashore, and swimmers gettin brained by clowns thinking they're the maritime version of Evil Kenievel. Sydney Harbour outlawed them for good reason.

Confucius say, his holiday Finnish.

More about that dangerous primate Here:

https://www.google.co.th/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2015/03/11/clarkson-to-be-released-back-into-the-wild-2/&ved=0ahUKEwjO88T5mpPKAhXMc44KHWDYBH0QFggYMAA&usg=AFQjCNFq29msNS7wrb18jLRgIPE-9iccTA&sig2=X6CLRazMsjY0CyDJpZ0sAw

If the BiB ever go on x hamster etc, they'd have to shut down 95% of all the hotels and resorts in the land of smiles for the camera.

Who would want sex in a stinky washroom? How low can you go.

If you do it in an airplane washroom, you'd be surprised, that's 35,000 ft and x inches to er, play with.

What about them BJ bars on Soi 6 etc that have been hoovering pine Forever? Oh wait, no video on YouTube to tarnish the spirtiual image of Pattaya. carry on ladies, Ker-chingg!

In fairness to my young friend here, I've fallen three times since I've been here as an expat, never as a long long standing (Hurr!) tourist. One time I was very drunk. 12 big Beers! The other 2, not focused on the crappy terrain that passes for carpark and mall public areas. So far no stitches...

Just the one Bang? The numbers really are down this season...

That's why I long ago nicknamed the RTA/NCPO...

TANKS R US

Traffic will kill this Golden Goose. Chiang Mai is becoming a visctim of it's own success, with substantial parts of the city untouchable in regards to road development.

Bad as the traffic is now, I predict the city will be gridlocked by 2020.

Easily solved, city tolls, like everywhere else is doing, the locals are notorious tightwads, especially the luxury car set, they'll stay away, unless of course, they scam that system too. This time in 20 years google cars will be global. No dildo driver. Just a smart little e car.