BritManToo

Well if that is what is spoken in Ayutthaya then thats what it is then, why is this significant ?

It's because the usual blowhards like to put white guys down for not learning their partners language.

And they don't even know most Thais don't speak 'Thai' as a first language.

Or didn't you notice the three posters trying to put you down for not learning Thai?

Ive no idea what "central Thai" is. My partner was born and raised in Ayutthaya.

I suspect her first language will Central Thai or a regional variation of Laos.

Depending on the social status of her parents. If they were rural farmers it could be village Laos.

Central Thai is the first language of people born and raised in metropolitan Bangkok, and the language taught in all Thai language schools. It's also the language used in Thai high schools all over the country, so generally their second language.

when I met my missus 8 years ago she could speak zero English and I could speak zero Thai somehow we made it work and here we are now happily married and she can now speak fluent English.

And how is your Thai?

average at best as there really has been no need for me to master it and if it was not for the fact I work with Thai's then I would not know any at all.

Firstly, yes, I can accept it might be polite to learn your partner's first language, but that would probably be some rural village language only spoken by a few thousand people in the world, not (Central) Thai. Generally, Central Thai is not the first language of a foreigner's partner.

Secondly, English is an extremely useful language to know in many places around the world.

And finally, few of us will be able to live in Thailand forever, as Thai citizens, but our partners may well have the opportunity to live in our home English speaking countries, as citizens, if they can speak English well enough. (In the UK they need to pass an English test)

>>It is surprising however poster "anto" had no idea that at least some of the ladies there are available for "take away", <<......not so surprising as i never got a sales pitch there .I am well used to sales pitches having lived down in Pattaya before .I did wonder about the rather butch LB there who has tried to give me the eye on occasion lol .

If a bar runs a 'bar fine' system, then it's a hooker bar.

Straight bars don't do bar fines.

Here in Thailand, when a card game gets raided it's front page stuff that merits 15 pages of comments.

The Police are not going to pass up the chance to show that they are on top of things. Raids get reported... often before they even happen.

So why didn't this one, as you make it seem as if it's a regular Saturday night event? Certainly if it happened OFTEN we'd hear about it OFTEN. In Chiang Mai, if it happens ONCE, we hear about it often...

I've been present twice at card games in CM that were raided, everyone rounded up and taken to the police station.

Held or bailed and then in court the next day, I wasn't included because I don't play cards, they just collected the people at the table.

Neither event was ever reported anywhere in the news. I assumed it's so common that it wasn't newsworthy.

As I've only ever been to about 10 games, I can't really comment on the frequency of the raids.

My ad supported Kindle certainly receives the new ads in Thailand.

A new load arrived over wifi this morning.

she could have fallen back into the trap of becoming a high-class call-girl or a mia noi to an old hi-so or army general and remained forever in the Thai sex mill.

So you genuinely think Harold isn't a 'customer'.

As far as I can see, it's the same game, but with a more limited client list.

Not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with that.

I'm sure he knows what he's buying and at a bargain price compared to similar American purchases.

I know some expats in the Philippines that think Pattaya is actually representative of Thailand.

lol

I think Pattaya is representative of Thailand too.

It's just a bit more 'in yer face' than most of the other areas.

But I'm only a tourist, what do I know?

Excuse me for not addressing that. I guess you are privy to secrete information that no one else receives. How many different bars are giving these envelopes each month? Which ones are they?

As far as I know, every bar in CM donates to the police every month, Thai bar and foreigner bar, or else they don't open. The size of the donation seems to vary depending on the 'iffyness' of each bar's operations.

I believe most business have to pay up, certainly hotels, restaurants and guest houses are included in the monthly collections.

Are you suggesting that bars in your home country never get raided by police checking ID's, looking for under-age drinkers?

I've not been in many 'expat bars' in Thailand where anyone could be thought to be under age.

Number one Bar on Soi one ,just 50 meters off L.K.R .,has excellent Western and Thai food in a nice clean building .(unlike Gecko ) ..Belgian owned with many Continental beers available .

You take your friends to a 'hooker bar'?

Don't know if you can read john,but he has already done that.The gf didn't know it was going to cost 18k.

Just wondering how the doctor knew the Thai lady could pay 18k cash, it's not the norm for most Thais.

And usually the doctors don't rack up a bill, until they are sure the victim patient can pay it.

The clinic near me charges 80bht per person, per visit, usually including the generic meds.

If they presented anyone with a bill for 18k, it wouldn't be paid.

As for your comment that you are not bothered that your country may have further serious problems from uncontrolled immigration, check out my post 46. As I think you are off completely different stock than me.

I don't live in England much any more, I'm more concerned about France, Spain and Thailand.

But my money is sourced in GBP, which does concern me.

Happy to have Muslims running the UK, they can't do any worse than the current crop of entitled Public schoolboys.

thankfully they failed in the 90's when again they talked of economic ruin,if we did not join the Euro.

It cost us in the region of 20% of our money when Britain failed to join the Euro.

Not sure if that's counted as economic ruin, but it's certainly moving in that direction.

GBP = 1.56E when Euro first created, GBP = 1.28E today, a 22% loss for British people.

I'd rather Brussels was in control of the UK than the current government.

At least Brussels isn't trying to sell off everything to the private sector.

NHS, school land, Land Registry, all public land, public roads, all up for grabs now.

I don't care all that much about Muslims et al moving to the UK, but I do care about losing my money.

Skype doesn't work well for me either, I can't connect reliably to someone in the same room.

So I moved to Facebook Messenger video calls, easy to use and none of the Skype connection problems.

It's hardly a minor thing, it's on par with walking up to someone you don't know at a bus stop and exposing yourself,

No, it's more on a par to jogging along a road with no shirt on, just your running shorts.

Considered poor form in Thailand, but not an offence.

Mainstream Thai hooker, mainstream Thai gang member, mainstream Thai religious male.

Not sure it's going, or ever been, mainstream with any other Thai nationals.

Only my ideas on Thais with tattoos, different foreign cultures look at them in different ways.

I think a relaxed stance, exactly in between amused and bemused is best.

By all means follow directions,

I don't speak any Thai, and I can't understand any English spoken by Thais.

You'd be amazed how quickly Thai officials want to get rid of me.

I'm as cooperative as someone who has no idea can be.

If I could only understand their directions, I would be more than pleased to follow them.

('I'm sorry I don't understand what you want', my own version of 'arai na')

I always leave Thai people to sort their own medical problems, on their own, using their own money.

It isn't my business, they don't listen to my advice, let them sort it out on their own.

They have free medical and cheap clinics.

I don't.

If you hadn't been there, you wouldn't have been asked to pay.

Not to mention there's always the risk the gf conspired with the doctor to scam you.

(bill him 18k and we'll split 50/50, some girls are really crafty with the various bill splitting scams)

Never put money in the outstretched hand, pay all invoices, properly itemized, to the billing company by yourself.

I'm sure this wasn't the case with you, but I don't like to think such thoughts, so better I'm never involved.

I would have thought the most likely cause of death would be drowning while out for a holiday swim.

Most of those dying in the sea (that weren't run down by a boat or jetski) are accidental.

I go swimming alone all the time (not in Thailand as it's too dirty for me), but in the UK, France and Spain, car park by a beach, walk down, have a swim.

I'm certainly not contemplating suicide, ever.

How hard can it be to Google an answer:

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/feb/24/uk-trade-exports-imports

We asked 'WHAT' and you answered 'WHERE', two different questions, then if we follow your link it reveals a story from 2011, but this year is 2016. Is a report from 5 years ago valid today? I think not.

If we assume the data is still valid, it suggests the biggest export is cars, but these aren't actually made in Britain, but assembled in Britain from foreign sourced parts. Some may think this a cynical exercise to avoid import duty.

Leaving the second major export oil products, but again this report was from 2011, and the price of oil worldwide is very different today. The Middle East aren't in the EU but they still manage to sell oil there.

Bringing me back to my original question, what does Britain actually export today?

And will being in the EU actually affect any of those exports?

UK pound is over 50 again today.

Up and down it goes.

Oh dear, no insurance and broke, details here, https://www.gofundme.com/xkw9x9v3

So when Harold is 81 or 82, he'll have a teenager on his hands. He's going to be a wonderful male role model for the child.

I don't think many multi-millionaires interact all that much with their children.

Servants, nanny, boarding school, etc.

As Winnie says, these raids are about extortion and not about the law.

The police on the spot will say anything they think they can get away with in order to extort money from the foreigner.

The more timid, submissive or fearful you appear to be, the more forceful their effort will be to extort money from you.