Gecko123

Article mentions that the interviews were conducted face-to-face. "How you like Thailand?" is used universally as a conversation starter among Thais interacting with foreigners. Most tourists quickly learn that any response other than a super-enthusiastic "I LOVE Thailand!!!!" is usually met with crestfallen disappointment and that giving nuanced feedback is not generally very well received. This would be especially true if the interviewer was wearing any type of official uniform. It would be interesting to see if the responses solicited by Western interviewers were more candid. With that said, had I been interviewed, I probably would have given high marks, except perhaps at the airport. Am also left wondering what item #13 "Thai People Services" encompasses.

Many people mistakenly believe that all property purchased during the marriage is automatically marital property, and if you get a divorce, all that property has to be split 50/50. This is 100% untrue! This misunderstanding (shared by many Thai lawyers) comes from how the law is worded. The law defines marital property as anything which the couple "gets" or "obtains" during the marriage. The verb is actually "dai" or "ได้" But what exactly "gets" or "obtains" means isn't immediately clear. In a nutshell, under Thai marital property law, "gets" or "obtains" means property which the couple has earned or gained through productive endeavor or means. It absolutely and unequivocally does NOT automatically mean anything purchased during the marriage. The marital property law actually contains two definitions; one for "marital property" and one for "personal property belonging to one spouse." and in order to understand how marriage property law works in Thailand, you have to understand the definition of both "marital property" and "personal property." Personal property is defined in Section 1471 of the civil code. It reads: Sin Suan Tua ( personal property) consists of: (1) property belonging to either spouse before marriage; (2) property for personal use, dress or ornament suitable for station in life, or tools necessary for carrying on the profession of either spouse; (3) property acquired by either spouse during marriage through a will or gift; (4) Khongman (engagement gifts given to one spouse) Section 1472 As regards the Sin Suan Tua, if it has been exchanged to other property, other property has been brought or money has been acquired from selling it, such other property or the money acquired shall be Sin Suan Tua. (This sentence means that if you take money you owned before marriage and purchase property with that money (be it a house, land, car, or whatever) during the marriage, and subsequently get a divorce, that property belongs to you.) Where the Sin Sua Tua has been totally or partly destroyed but replaced by other property or money, such other property or money shall be Sin Suan Tua. The law also states that in the case of doubt as to whether a property is Sin Somros or not it shall be presumed to be Sin Somros. ======== So if the OP is using money (or assets) that he can demonstrate he owned prior to the marriage to purchase real estate, and he wants to protect his personal assets he would be far better off buying a condo and registering it in his own name. If he buys land and a house, the land will either have to be registered in his wife's name (which greatly complicates the liquidation of the asset in the event of divorce) or he can attempt to set up some type of userfruct or corporate entity to protect himself, but in practical terms, he'll probably get tangled up in endless legal headaches trying to assert his marital property rights in the event of a divorce, and there's a strong probability that he'll end up having to walk away from the property in full without recovering a cent. The myth that everything purchased during a marriage has to be automatically split 50/50 gets circulated over and over again on this forum, and I stopped trying to educate people on this a while ago. But... today being Christmas, thought I'd give it one last try. I hope this is beneficial.

Link to full KhaoSod article: https://www.khaosod.co.th/lifestyle/news_6769877 Google translation of above article: A 20-year-old woman meets a 77-year-old uncle online, plans to marry even though she's never met in person. A 20-year-old Myanmar woman meets a 77-year-old British uncle online. They are now planning to get married, although they have never met in person before. David, 77, from Bath, England, and Jo, 20, from Myanmar, have been in a relationship for over 18 months and are now planning a wedding. which the two have never met in real life Both of them get to know each other through dating sites. At the time, Jo was looking for a young man who would be able to support the cost of her studies. Retired man David looks for a lover to talk to when lonely. Initially, she created a profile by pretending to be a student living in London. But in fact, she lives in Myanmar. He chose to look only for young women living in England. Thus, the couple came to know each other. David had been married in the 1980s but had no children. He then remained celibate for decades. So he tried to go to dating sites to find people to meet. and agreed to choose Joe because she looked special than the others. both warm and cute. After a few weeks of talking David begins to ask Joe about life in London. Under a lot of pressure, she confessed that she was actually in Myanmar. because they talk to each other every day It produces a bond and love. So distance is not a problem. “Burma culture and her Buddhism It's very interesting to me. So she said she wasn't in England. It didn't make any difference to me,” David said. It's now more than a year. David and Joe still talk every day. Even though the time difference between them was six hours. “David is both a mentor. friends and family I can talk to him about anything. Although our time zones are very different. But we talk for hours every day. I don't care about his age. He cares about me, that's important.” However, the two have never met in real life once. because the situation in Myanmar is not very good. But they hope to be able to meet face to face and get married soon when Joe can get a visa and passport to leave the country. Link to KhaoSod Facebook page which has Thai language reader reaction to above article: https://mobile.facebook.com/khaosod/posts/6943569928993240?locale=th_TH&_rdc=1&_rdr&refsrc=deprecated&_se_imp=051doXSsAnJGAjbIV To be honest, I was rather surprised by the Thai language reader reactions, as I was expecting them to be far more negative. Some comments were along the lines of "it's about money", "she'll be a widow soon" "goes against nature" but there were also many comments along the lines of "awwwwww", "lucky her" "smart/clever girl", "good luck", "true love", "wish it was me in her shoes." My favorite comment though came from Alipreeya Prapuntayolin who wrote the rhyming verse: อีกห่อย ก็สบาย แม่หม้าย ผัวตาย which translates to: "In a little while I'll be fine. I'll be a widow and my husband will be dead."

You're talking to me as if my concern was with societal approval. My concern is with the societal COSTS, not societal approval. If you had bothered to read beyond the first sentence of my post you would know this.

I would argue society has an interest in whether it works out or not. If he sinks his life savings into building a house, and things don't work out, and he returns to the UK penniless, he's either out on the street homeless or being cared for by some tax payer-funded social service. Either way, society has to pick up the tab. If he kicks the bucket while she's still pregnant with his kid, society suffers when the nuclear family breaks down, with increased risk that the kid will get in trouble with the law down the road. Obviously, if either one of them ends up murdering or severely injuring the other, society has to pick up the tab for incarceration, loss of economic potential, rehabilitation, etc. Furthermore, the ingrained mentality that a girl can "always go turn a few tricks down in Pattaya" undermines academic achievement and work ethics in village communities. To the extent that a comparatively wealthy foreigner can tempt a village girl into entering into a largely mercenary marriage in preference to marrying someone from the local community, or away from furthering her education or otherwise endeavoring to improve her earning potential this has an impact on the social fabric which shouldn't be swept under the rug. The clichéd pseudo-libertarian battle cries of "age is just a number", "live-and-let-live", "who are we to judge?", and "77 year-olds have needs too" are all just attempts to rationalize away and turn a blind eye to the cultural and societal damage these relationships more often than not cause.

Do some of you imagine that this marriage will be socially acceptable either in her village or his home town of Bath? They'll be laughing stocks. If the money spigot isn't turned wide open or she doesn't respond on demand to his romantic overtures it's gonna end in tears or worse. I wonder what Burmese 20-something men in her village have to say about all this. Sorry, but I don't see this type of relationship as healthy from a social fabric standpoint. Her likely interest in exploiting him financially is just as damaging as his likely interest in exploiting her sexually, and two unhealthy motives do not somehow cancel one another out and make for a healthy relationship.

It's not that the corona virus has paired up with the HIV virus or anything like that. Scientists believe that the high number of mutations in Omicron probably took place in someone with a compromised immune system, possibly someone with HIV. https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/new-covid-variant-b-1-1529-with-unusual-mutations-focus-of-who-meet-2624534

Cops made the right call. Multi-car pile up waiting to happen. Hellacious set of boobies.

You seem to be working both sides of the aisle, gejohesch. I have this uneasy feeling that you're talking about me in the above comment, even though you've responded favorably to most of my posts, and you, yourself, have admitted having doubts about whether the robbery took place. You can argue that anybody who expressed skepticism or advocated a cautious approach is "a cynical loser" who "probably can't string 10 Thai words together" and is "just projecting their negative and/or mediocre experiences onto the situation" if you wish. But you might be interested to know that I have an equally strong suspicion that some of the people who reflexively leap to the defense of Thai women, and take great offense at any suggestion that their character or moral fiber may not be above reproach, might be equally clueless about what's going on around them because they can't speak Thai, and have zero social engagement in the local community. I studied Thai for 9 years before moving here 18 years ago. I can't get into the specifics of my personal situation here, but I believe I have had a fairly unique opportunity to integrate into my village and understand what's going on around me beyond what most foreigners experience. Of course, my perceptions have been colored to a certain degree by personal experiences, but during my almost two decades in Thailand, and (hard to believe) 36 years since I first came here, there's been an awful lot of confirmation that a potential for deception exists that one can choose to ignore at one's own peril. I don't consider myself to be particularly cynical at all, just street smart. If my views seem jaded to some, all I can say is that most Thai men that I know would probably agree with much of what I said on this thread. 555.

The fact that you weren't in town while this robbery took place does raise some questions such as how long you have been out of town, and whether you are away on business frequently or for prolonged periods of time while your wife is in Thailand on her own. The significance of this should be obvious: idle hands, and all that. You portrayed your marriage as very solid and happy, but I'm wonder if you're away from Thailand or separated from her for periods of time how confident you can be that nothing's going on while you're not around. You also made a comment about guys who 'can barely say 10 words in Thai' which kind of implied that your Thai was at least half-decent. But if you're in and out of Thailand frequently, it's pretty hard to build and maintain language skills. During the pandemic I think everyone's foreign language skills have deteriorated because no one wants to engage in conversation, and everyone's wearing a N-95 mask. Could you read a typed police report if you needed to? I've seen more than a few marriages over the last 20 years living in Thailand where a significant language barrier persists for years and years into the marriage, and let's just say, everything's not always as hunky dory as the hubby imagines. Just one last thing. In going back over your earlier posts, you described where you live as a "relatively peaceful little town." You don't really say just small it is, but in my opinion, the smaller the town, the less likely it is that an armed robbery like that would occur, because the more likely it is that the perpetrators were from the surrounding area. Because everyone knows everyone in a small town, and outsiders draw attention, even wearing masks, they could potentially be identified just by their height, build, clothing, voice, or getaway vehicle. I live in a small village, official population maybe 4500 people, but the number actually living here at any time is probably closer to 2000. I absolutely cannot imagine an armed robbery at an ATM taking place here.

@gejohesch I think that traditional attire could mark someone as having wealth, especially if they wore that type of attire everyday. I see that attire at weddings and special events, but almost never in every day life. That attire is signaling that she does not do farm labor, and I can imagine that some farm laborers might suspect that she might think she was better than them, and be jealous or resent her because of this. This rainy season saw a lot of flooding in many parts of Thailand, including Isaan, and I've noticed in my area in Central Thailand that a lot of farmers did not plant a late rainy season crop which they usually do, plus a lot of crops were damaged in the floods and had to be harvested prematurely and at a loss. That has cut down on the demand for farm labor, and hurt farm incomes. Some people in the tourism sector probably went back to the family farm hoping it would just be temporary until the tourism trade picked up. The combination of the flooding, fewer late season crops and a poor start to the tourist season might be driving some people to the brink. I don't know how big a town you live in, but unless it's a major city, it probably wouldn't take long for your wife to become recognized by sight as being married to a foreigner, and some people might rationalize mugging her because she had a presumably affluent husband to fall back on. Just as the guidebooks recommend tourists not to flaunt their wealth, your wife might want to tone down the elegance of her attire a bit in order to stand out less. My guess is that might be a hard sell, but I'm sure she will agree that her personal safety should take precedence over fashion.

@gejoheschall valid counter points, although I would give Thai criminals more credit for weighing the risk/reward equation fairly carefully whenever possible. Can you think of any reason your wife might have been singled out or targeted? For example, her attire, the vehicle she drove to the ATM, or if there was a general perception in the community that she/you were particularly wealthy? P.S. I'm just asking rhetorically, no need to answer if you'd rather not.

You have struck the bar girl vs hi-so theme many times in the past but I believe what I wrote is applicable on a broad cultural level rather than limited to any particular socioeconomic group.

@gejohesch I'd be down at the bank looking at the ATM camera footage right now if I were you. What's the hold up? (no pun intended). And what about the key question about where the funds in her account came from? Is there any moral hazard (a reason for her to assume you would replace the funds if they were lost or stolen)? I'm sorry to anyone who after reading this thinks I am a cynical monster, but I really am not. Let's just say that despite a life time of studying human nature and the human heart, in regards to a Thai woman's capacity to engage in histrionics, likay, intrigue, and, if necessary, bald-faced lying when circumstances demand deception be engaged in, I do not feel I have even begun to fully plumb the depths or scratch the surface of that capacity. That may sound like a horribly misogynistic comment, but it is absolutely not meant to be. There is just simply a cultural blind spot or a failure of Western men's emotional vocabulary which makes it very difficult to read and interpret what's going on in the heart and mind of a Thai woman when she finds the truth is too difficult to deal with. Of course I don't know what's going on in this situation, and I am not implying in any way that I think your wife is not telling the truth. But, nevertheless, I would be cautious about relying solely on ordinary perceptions, judgment, and intuition in situations like these.

It's an unusual crime for Thailand (armed robbery at an ATM) with an improbable victim (Thai female in rural Thailand with unknown bank balances), committed by an unusual three-person (two males, one female) armed robbery team.

Just mulling this over some more... It's just a very poor choice of a target unless you know the target and know they have a substantial balance. But how would anybody know this in advance? Just because a Thai woman is married to a foreigner doesn't mean that she has a hefty bank balance; the husband might control everything. Plus you're using a gun out on the street out in the open, so if anybody happens to approach or pass by or observe you from across the street while the withdrawals are being completed, there's a risk the victim could cry out, or alert people that a robbery was taking place. Wearing masks are going to attract attention, and there's a risk that your getaway vehicle could be identified, photographed, or captured on CCTV camera. Risk of getting caught: fairly high; risk of low payoff: fairly high as well. I can think of a lot of stick up targets which would probably be easier and yield a better payoff: gas stations, 7-11's, isolated restaurants, even trying to rob the bank itself. The poor choice of target suggests to me a lack of preparation and planning, perhaps driven by desperation, possibly a drug addiction. But, then, why a three person team? Maybe one person to do the stick-up, and a second to drive the getaway car, but three people? That seems to complicate things, especially the getaway. Three people could get on a motorcycle, but kind of slows you down a bit, doesn't it? And a woman was involved, presumably a girlfriend or wife? Entirely possible, but sounds unusual to me.

Rather improbable crime due to random nature of victim, uncertainty about funds available, not to mention CCTV cameras at the ATM. Many Thais in rural areas have next to nothing in their accounts. What time of day did this supposedly occur? If bank CCTV footage confirms presence of the three individuals, police can oftentimes fairly easily trace where they went after the crime by checking other CCTV cameras in the area. OP says account belonged to wife, but was the OP the source of the funds in the account? Not trying to sow seeds of doubt in OP's mind, but possibility that story is concocted shouldn't be ruled out until ATM footage shows otherwise. Possible motives for concocting story include hidden gambling debts. Armed robbery of a customer at an ATM would be aggressively investigated by the police. The bank would also have an interest in this case and want it to be thoroughly investigated as well.

double post in error

I believe JVS is correct. Check rest of body, especially between paws. Thai word for tick is เห็บตัว. (heb tua). There's a shot or pill that can offer protection. https://www.ivethospital.com/content/21444/เห็บตัวเล็กๆ-ก็ทำให้ถึงแก่ชีวิตได้

It's basically been smooth sailing at my immigration office for the past 18 years, except for one run-in a few years back with a new immigration manager who jacked me around over a bank confirmation letter. The letter was supposed to be valid for five days after the bank issued it, but immigration said they counted the day the letter was issued as if one day had already passed the moment the letter was issued, so in reality the letter was only valid for four days. So when I showed up on the fifth day, they told me I would have to go back to the bank. They initially told me all I would have to do was update my passbook which I did and returned to immigration. They then told me that 'no, no, no' you need to get a new confirmation letter, which necessitated another trip back to the bank. That's despite the 800K having clearly been on deposit for eight years. When I muttered something about this being a waste of time, I was screamed at by the new manager. Maybe it was because all the running back and forth had seriously thrown my shopping schedule off, or maybe it was because my blood sugar was low after the long drive to immigration, but it was nevertheless a traumatizing experience, and I empathize with the OP. Even though that manager has long since left, I've since adopted a 'man-of-few-words' approach to dealing with immigration. I'm happy to report that all of my subsequent visits have gone smoothly. My contribution to the economy is a pittance compared to what it used to be, especially in the past two years during the pandemic. There doesn't seem to be anything to spend money on. It's a no travel, no durable goods, very little driving life style. Need for new clothes is minimal. Some of my farmer neighbors in my economically depressed village are probably outspending me. 555. I'm spending a tiny fraction of what I could be spending, not just because of the pandemic, but because there's so many set asides for possible contingencies: possible increase in requirements for funds on deposit, possible medical insurance requirements, the possibility of being forced to repatriate because immigration requirements change. The proverbial Plan B is always close at hand. The government does seem to enjoy keeping expats on tenterhooks about what might be coming down the pike. They don't seem to realize that the more uncertain the future is, the more people cut back on their spending. Economics 101. Surprised they don't seem to get this. My final comment is to ask if anybody else has noticed that the number of foreigners arrested for overstay or for outstanding arrest warrants seems to have dropped off to almost nothing. I'm still convinced that the number of serious visa overstays, or foreign criminals using Thailand as a home base or to hide out was never anywhere as substantial as the government claimed it was. I think the expat community was exploited for domestic political gain. It is endlessly ironic to me that the pandemic, which collapsed the tourism industry, followed so closely on the heels of all the roundups and security sweeps which the government claimed were designed to rid the country of unwelcome foreign elements. They now appear to be left with a dispirited expat community largely left sheltering in place, and a tourism sector which, at a minimum, is going to take years to recover. That's pretty ironic in my book.

Whatever the reason being given for denying the claim, your agent should be able to explain the insurance company's reasoning, AND direct you to the clause in the contract being used to justify the denial of coverage. The agent isn't just there to sell you the policy. He's supposed to serve as an interface between the client and the insurance company when problems like this arise.

While, historically, I agree with you that there has been a lot of Thai bashing on this forum which I certainly don't think I have ever been guilty of, during the pandemic I have seen very little "Thai bashing" or "negativity" about Thailand on the forum. What there has been is an enormous amount of well-justified frustration about changing immigration laws, uncertainty about future medical insurance requirements, lack of access to vaccines, inability to travel, restrictions and reporting requirements for inter-province travel or international travel, the attitude of the government towards the expat community, and the government's growing cozy relationship with the CCP, etc., etc. If people want to dismiss that as "negativity" I guess they can, but from where I come from that's called "reality" not "negativity." Here's a compilation of what I consider to be self-congratulatory and self-aggrandizing comments made on this thread. There only purpose is to make the person making the comment feel better about themselves. These comments are actually quite negative and express a lot of hostility. They have little to do with being a more positive person, or loving Thailand more than the next guy. It's all about ego. @Mike Teavee "I couldn't help noticing there's a lot of negativity around living in Thailand. @OneMoreFarang"Surround yourself with other positive people." @1FinickyOne"Did you ever notice that people with happy in their name never really are?" @Davemax49 "Just ignore all the negative comments about living here. People are upset about there own personal lives and their bad choices." @Iforbach"sad trollies" @4MyEgo "Negativity is for those who can't get over it." @Stefanix"There will be many deniers making jokes (which are not really funny) and telling us how bad Thailand is." I never said anyone needs a reason to be happy or to justify that they're happy. I do understand better that there's a need for people to self-affirm that their choice to live in Thailand was the right one for them, and I promise the next time one of these threads pop up, I'll do my best to steer clear of it. I absolutely do not see myself as a negative person, and I appreciate more than most what Thailand has to offer. My pointing out that most of the reasons cited on this thread for "loving" Thailand were rather mundane, and that people rarely cited Thai people as a reason for loving Thailand was done in the hopes of triggering some reflection about the true depth of appreciation and the underlying motives behind posting on this and similar threads.

I have carefully gone through all the posts on this thread, which in retrospect I found to be remarkably lightweight in substance. I'm sticking to my guns that self-congratulation or attempts to feel superior at the expense of anyone who has ever voiced frustration or dissatisfaction about Thailand, irregardless of the legitimacy of the complaint, is a big driver behind these threads. It's like a me-too happiness steeple-chase which everyone scrambles to join in on, and there's never any shortage of contemptuous remarks directed at this supposed silent majority of "negative thinkers." Not backing off that assessment one bit. Contrary to what you claim there were only two posters: @FarmersLife (culture, people) and @Robertson468 (people, country) who mentioned anything besides cost of living or the weather as things they liked about Thailand. 473geo did recount how people had helped him adjust to village life and navigate the visa process, but this was later on in the thread. You're conflating appreciation for Thailand's low cost of living with an appreciation of minimalist living when there is little to no correlation between the two. Obviously, someone can appreciate a lower cost of living at the same time as leading the more lavish lifestyle which the lower cost of living allows.

Very touchy subject

To be fair, I said it was probably going to become more expensive. It currently costs me 18 baht to send my 90 day report by registered mail. If EMS costs 34 baht, that's an 89% increase in the mailing costs.