Kenny202

Yeah since found out that is the day your license first issued, was a brain fart

Not sure if I am having a brain melt here or not but just checked my drivers license and says commenced 2015 and expires 2027? I remember the first one was for one year and always thought the second one you got was 5 years? How did I get a 12 year driving license or is that the norm?

Is this guy for real? Zero social skills and zero self awareness

NE Thailand, Isaan. Don't really see the need for the question girls or boys but since you asked 2 x 7yo boys

Yeah agree. Mate of mine uses a huge coil berley bomb thing, huge sinker and 3 way hook.....with cake lol. Massive rod and reel too. Just in a very small pond. He does catch fish though but not really my idea of fun

Was a very keen fisherman in Australia but mainly ocean and salt water river fishing. Mostly towards the end of my time there generally used soft plastics. have had a few cracks here in rivers...even a fish farm with zero result. Too be honest not terribly interested in catching Carp and Catfish....considered rubbish fish / pests back home, but I would like to introduce the kids to fishing. Last time I went with a friend and he was using cake for bait! and actually catching fish. Horrible looking rig too, huge sinker.....berley cage etc. I always prefer to fish light if possible. The place I will be taking them fishing is a pay fishing park thing. Mostly Catfish and Carp and the like I imagine. Can anyone suggest a rig, bait to use. Floats? Bottom type rig? Baits? General rule back home early morning / evening best time as the fish are more apt to explore etc without the sun overhead. Does that apply here? Any help much appreciated

Yeah that's probably good advice wait for things to settle down. The girl I was talking to seemed like all she wanted to do was get me off the phone with no result, and when she transferred me to the "you need wait 1.5 hour queue" to get rid of me....man....smacks of dealing with Colonial Mutual Superannuation....Like a law unto themselves. Reminds me of dealing with dodgy insurance companies in the 70s

OMG what a hassle! Had a U bank (National bank subsidiary) for more than 12 years. Always been difficult as they don't issue accounts to people living overseas. I was told when I moved to Thailand that was ok as I already had an account. As they wont make contact with anything but an Australian phone number I had maintained a number in Oz for 6 or 7 years but then they changed their outdated system of sending an SMS every time you wanted to transfer money so last couple of years I let the Ox number go. Were no problems could transfer to my Aust bank and everything was fine. About 4 months ago they changed their system, their app and when i tried to log on they sent a message saying my password was not strong enough for the new system and I need to reset it....but to reset it they send SMS confirmation info to your phone, not email or anything else. i sent them a message through their internal system and got a reply back this morning, after 2 months....No info, thanks for reaching out, please call which I did. 30 mins in a queue before answering, then a robotic like moron on the other end. Confirmed all the secret questions, address etc and she still couldn't do anything. She said she would transfer me onto the people who handle the new system accounts which she did and I get a message.....1.5 hour wait time to speak to someone, you can wait or call back later lol. And we think procedures and systems difficult in Thailand? Anyone else had any luck sorting this issue out? Luckily atm I don't have any serious money in my account but have done in the past. Everything was fine until they changed everything including my password without warning, which after having the same password for 12 years is utterly ridiculous

Can anyone recommend a down to earth lawyer / firm in Australia? Preferably old school, not money hungry LA law style sharks. Just for basic stuff....wills etc. Prefer Brisbane or Sydney but have no fixed abode there so not really that important. Prefer someone contactable by email as correspondence will be from Thailand Please feel free to PM me.

Looking at a couple of second hand canopies for my pick up. My preference would be the higher, courier type "Cityboy" mainly due to more cargo area and bigger windows / better visibility but have been told they are noisy in the wind and can be a problem driving into mall parking / low ceiling height areas etc. He also has a normal Carryboy lower profile one, same height as the cab roof. Is there any truth to Cityboys being noisier and height issues? Anyone had one? Appreciate any advice

Absolutely ridiculous lol. It wouldnt be the best beach in Chon buri. When I first came here dumb and unsuspecting went for a swim. Apart from the weird cloudy foamy water I was swimming with plastic bags and toilet paper. Had a nasty ear infection for a week and scratching my skin for days. Felt like i had swum in a Cesspool ????????

Maybe US knows he's full of shet and his missiles couldn't hit the side of a barn with a handful of rice? Still, can't see why they cant take him out personally. I don't think even China support Nth Korea do they?

I wonder what's stopping them from blowing this idiot to the hereafter? History has shown tolerating these sort of meglomaniac bullies only leads to disaster in the future

I read a story just this morning saying the police werent going to name and shame nationalities anymore? The headlines here are like the three stooges. Total waste of time reading Thai news

I lived with my first one back home for 2 years. Travelled to other countries. She fell back into the same old (bad) habits almost the moment we came here to live. I'm not saying for a moment the way we live in the west in golden handcuffs is better than living modestly in a Thai village, in fact I loved it. Its the gambling, infidelity, drunkenness, lack of care for children I couldn't cop. I realised after 5 years living with me in she had learnt nothing and zero growth. 2 months after separating with me she was penniless and back working in a bar. Which seems to be a cycle many repeat. I of course the one that bore all the financial losses. Most of course would say what would you expect from a whore? And you would be correct

In reality probably not, but I am talking about the decision of living with / marrying one....not short time performance lol. Not always but odds are not in favor of a good life outcome with any sex worker

If your future wife is reasonable and she can deal with parents (and other family members) like this, you might be on a winner. The ones that are the problem are the ones that want you to "loan" everyone that asks to save her the perceived embarrassment of refusal or just wants to avoid confrontation and your money is the solution. The villagers will all be baiting her up...you have farang and if you not loan them money you kie neow (tight a$$) or husband kie nok (bird shet), not have money. You need a wife can see through this and strong enough to say no. Word to the wise also. Not sure on your circumstances but would strongly recommend not living in the home village for at least 2 or 3 years until you get the lay of the land. Not sure on your girl background etc but a lot of temptations and history re gambling, old boy friends etc and you wont even know. People walking in and out day and night...particularly meal times. Family members "borrowing" things without asking. She will probably be keen to build a home there but stand on your digs and put a bit of distance between you and them before you scope things out, at least initially

Blunt but unfortunately true appraisal. Done it myself without the sinsot. We initially get sucked in by the "no have choi, need support family" line, and the knight in shining armor comes to the rescue. No different to marrying a hopeless junkie hooker back home, buying her a home in her name, throwing money at her family and thinking "what could go wrong" ???????? lol. And the thai parents of these girls you just gave $xxxxx of dollars to must be thinking we are as stupid as a hookers parents sitting in a trailer park back home would ????????

Well certainly been here long enough to know that isn't the case as far as all Thais including rural /!village Thais are concerned, and sorry if read that way, but these particular people certainly seem to fit into that category. I know families here put kids through uni farming a bit of rice and selling bbq chicken. Or working 15 hours a day on construction sites. Totally in awe of them and some of the loyalist people I have known....anywhere

Brother, without purposely trying to be a naysayer, I think anyone has any experience here (and not just bitter hardened old guys who have already been rinsed) would tell you this is not a good way to start a relationship and normally the actions of the parents will have much bearing on your future and possibly it's demise. Ask yourself how is your missus handling it all? Is she keeping them in check or acting as "Millie in the middle"? ie she doesn't or says she doesn't agree, but is going along silently? Essentially they are trying to rob you. I assume they are not wealthy people? Next thing the old man will want to "manage" the build of your house. He'll need 400k baht to get the land cleared and build started. 2 months later....ooops, builder took off with the money no where to be seen....need another 400k. Use your common sense and don't try and justify it to yourself as Thai culture. People with hardly a pot to pess in demanding 250k, 60% of which they will skim and gamble away in a month or two... and the rest to pess up against the wall on a shindig for all the local drunks is just ridiculous.

I don't think anyone from the west would really feel comfortable about it, irrespective of how they put a nice face on it. I'd be cringing during the negotiations, particularly demonstrating my worth to penniless drunks. As far as proving wealth and ability to support the daughter...(who grew up wiping her a$$ barehanded) surely a glimpse at your bank book should suffice. Maybe a letter from the bank aka immigration lol. Anyway, it's the way it's done here (sometimes). Everything here seems to start and end with money.

There is culture and then there are greedy predators, praying on a good hearted soul who wants to fit in with the culture. What you pay for a Western wedding in neither here nor there. No one likes to get ripped off or treated like an idiot. It doesn't matter if its a deliberate overcharge of 10 baht at the cashier of 7/11. The request for huge sums of money like this is a test....and will set the scene for the remaining relationship with your inlaws which will ultimately effect your marriage

Correct

It will after she takes the house and everything else he owns and he's left penniless in a 1500 baht a month "loom"

All due respect, and I do respect you as a very level headed poster here but really what you are talking about is a defacto type thing which IS recognized in many countries in the world the same as that of a marriage....certainly in Australia where I come from. There are no "common law / defacto" laws here at all and a village wedding is only a ceremony. May bolster a case in some other way but the woman will have no recourse on the guys property at all, nor will she be entitled to alimony claims. the common law thing I have been through with a lawyer.