richard_smith237

Seems my comment may have been misunderstood - I'm not suggesting there was no need to wear a helmet (a helmet should be worn at all times)... my point was to highlight that with sensible riding and not pulling across the road in that manner the accident would not have occured.

Yes You're still struggling with this I see...

Absolutely astonishing... I've no idea what goes through the mind of drivers like this - firstly pulling how, how are they even looking. And then after making the huge mistake of pulling out and nearly cause and accident, instead of speeding up, they slow and stop... Minddumbingly dumb. I recall my Father in Law dropping me off at a BTS in Sukhumvit - we got to the BTS station and he was a little unsure where to pull up next to the steps / escalator - so he just stopped in the central lane !!!... I had to tell him that he can't just stop in the middle of the road - he actually has to pull to the side... Sadly - its clear that some drivers are going about their business in an absolute blur.

How common is this ??? (rhetorical) - I see so many videos online of motorcyclists just 'drifting across from the left to the right across lanes of traffic... not looking and hoping the no one will 'wipe them out'... ... It seems astonishing, almost as if, if they don't look, there is nothing coming... ... its a very odd mentality, one completely devoid of any self preservation whatsoever. Lucky lady - wearing a helmet, but really, she didn't need a helmet, she just needed to ride sensibly.

A very odd response - did you even bother to watch the video and comprehend what is being discussed ?

What kind of brainless idiot does this ???? Answered....

What kind of brainless idiot does this ????

It's a photo of my former bosses wife, I think she was about 25 at the time, and had already recorded the TV series, "Adventures of a call girl" with plenty of nudity, as was her appearance in "Penny Dreadful". You're using a photo of your former bosses wife.... erm.... that doesn't exactly score a winning point either !! & that photo predates these TV series... Anyway - no biggie, just highlighting that your avatar is open to criticism in the same manner as that you have criticised... Anyway - I agree... She was quite the fox.

But we ain't using a gay fantasy figure as our avatars! No... but with that accusation you think you've scored a winning point while using a photo of a teenage Billie Piper... ... a tad noncey !!!

No.... he wants Thailands road rules... . Thailand has always had perfectly decent road regulations and rules - the issue is they are not followed, then people like you come along without any idea and accuse someone of wanting to change the rules - thats rather dim. Additionally - people who care about Thailand want to see improvements here, because the impact of such road behavior and the additional traffic it causes has a significant impact on Thailands economy to the tune of 11 Billion Baht per year (US$320 per year)... ... on top of which is the increase in costs of around 5.9 Billion Baht (US$172 million) per year due to additional fuel use while stalled in congestion. Its 'big picture thinking' so some will struggle to understand this impact and argue at a dumbed down simplistic level - "stop trying to change Thailand, it was like this before we got here".... A study by the Kasikorn Research Center estimated that in 2016, Bangkok's traffic jams resulted in an annual opportunity cost of approximately 11 billion baht, or about 60 million baht per day. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1082948/study-bangkok-traffic-jams-cost-b11bn?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Lets face it... there are both foreigners and Thai's who drive like selfish idiots with complete disregard for their own safety, the safety of those around them and have no respect for road rules. Fortunately Thailand is far better than many other places I've been to - but the ineffective policing here enables a level of selfishness on the road that could easily be eradicated. Dealing with the outright dangerous idiots is harder. As road users we see both, the selfish ayholes and the outright dangerous idiots - but I do believe it is a minority of users, otherwise we'd be in a lot more accidents. I think driving here requires a certain degree of adoptation, but that does not mean adopting to breaking the rules in the same manner some of the dangerous fools do - but it does mean adapting to a certain degree of assertiveness on the road and this was exampled by the video posted above - Lordgrinz didnt fold or give way to someone trying to force their way though the traffic in such an antisocial manner. But... there are also plenty of other 'passively idiotic' traits that cause so much issue on the road. - the inability to give way, when two cars are approaching and there is an obstacle, one car should slow and allow the other to pass, instead, neither gives way and its actually slower for both cars to squeeze through the tiny gap. This highlights a lack of thinking towards the 'greater good'. Another is the manner in which people park, or rather abandon their vehicles - they leave just enough space for a vehicle to pass, but that vehicle has to slow right down to walking pace... This happens at a market on our soi, the bikes all park outside, and leave 'just enough space'... Its quite a skill, leaving just enough CM's for a car to squeeze through so the bike is not fully blocking the road, but it forces all traffic to come to a near standstill - such selfishness turns a 3-5m journey up the road into a 15m journey sometimes, just because someone can't be bothered to park their bike properly, and the police do nothing. Thus: Selfishness and stupidity - the biggest causes of traffic here, obviously combined with poor road planning. What we see in the video is decent road planning - just a combination of both selfishness and stupidity of the Songthaew driver and when this is multiplied to 1% of the traffic it has significant impact on the remaining road users.

You mean, if the small minority if idiots on the roads followed the rules like everyone else, then the whole of the nation would be just like the UK ???... I don't think so. Making things safer etc is not going to turn Thailand into the West - its still going to be Thailand, just with less dangerous stuff around.

Nice one... you held your path I dont know what makes these guys drive the way they do... they're just moronic... so utterly brainless. The annoying part is the inconvenience they cause when they hit someone - or, through some brainless sense of loss of face they get angry because you drove normally and they couldn't cut you off... total twits... ... I find the Pickup based company box-truck drivers much worse though... Wife was driving yesterday... One next to us on our left, another next to us on our right (we were in the middle lane) both wanted to join the middle lane and slowly edged towards us, but wife had nowhere to go... they were getting closer and closer, forcing her to brake when all they had to do was slow and tuck in behind... Ok - so most drivers on the roads here are perfectly decent - but that is overwhelmed by a very visible minority of outright fools driving with complete stupidity.

An official at the border control is going peeved... his going to miss out on his cut..

Perhaps I took the wrong interpretation from your comment - it seemed you were implying that you are unable to differentiate between the 'genuinely married couples' and the 'P4P temporary arrangement'... Given your time here - all the dynamics and types of relationship should be quite obvious to identify - particularly in Bangkok...

Maybe, maybe not I always presume mixed couples are not married unless I can just tell by their mannerisms that they have been together forever and are married. You may not have been here long enough to identify the 'normal behavior'.... Thais are adept at it... Foreigners who spent time at here are adept at it... Spotting the following relationships.. - Monger + Ho (stick out like a sore thumb and look quite out of place in a normal setting) - Foreigner + Occupational Farang hunter (stands out - she's over selling her status) - Foreigner + Regular Woman (also obvious because they look so normal together). Obviously there are lots between those and the 'spectrum is far more faceted'... but those are the basics and newbies may struggle to tell one from the other.

Rubbish - as its used as a public thoroughfare it can be classified as a public thoroughfare and the road laws then apply. But of course, there is more to this story - those at the heart of the very decision to 'transfer the ownership' to the municipality are are also at the very heart of the municipality - driving the decision to buy the road, driving the resistance against selling the road... ultimately, driving up the price'... A child can see how predicable all this is... Just pedestrianise the whole thing !!! - but who is in charge of policing ? they very people involved in the first place - this is all just theatre... the level of corruption wholly transparent.

This highlights the hypocrisy of the protestors in the West - they only protest anti-Israel causes. As of November 25, 2024, the Middle East is experiencing several ongoing conflicts, each with significant humanitarian impacts. Below lists these conflicts and their reported death tolls... There have been no Marches through the streets of any major city in protest against Assad or the Houthi.. yet a million have died... 1. Israel-Hamas Conflict - Duration: Since October 7, 2023 - Death Toll: Over 44,000 Palestinians and approximately 1,200 Israelis have been killed. 2. Israel-Hezbollah Conflict - Duration: Since October 2023 - Death Toll: Over 3,500 people in Lebanon have been killed due to Israeli strikes. 3. Syrian Civil War - Duration: Ongoing since 2011 - Death Toll: Estimates vary but are placed at 617,910 course of the conflict - 90% of which were committed by pro-Assad forces. 4. Yemen Conflict - Duration: Ongoing since 2014 - Death Toll: Estimates suggest 377,000 fatalities, including combatants and civilians. 5. Iraq Insurgency - Duration: Since 2017 (end of Daiesh / ISIS) - Death Toll: 16,298 individual, includes militants, Iraqi security forces, foreign military personnel, and civiliansTens of thousands have been killed in various insurgent attacks and military operations.

On my last Thai Airways flight - I asked for a neat Whisky... I didn't recognise any of the Brands of whisky they were carrying... (in Eco).

Some rather hypocritical sentiment which clings on to semantics... ... It's patently obvious that 'harmless' in this context means without long term or life threatening effects... ... And that is a very standard expectation for anyone who consumes alcohol in any social setting... Though, perhaps with the exception of yourself and one other poster who it appears claim you can guarantee with 100% assuredness that whatever you are drinking is 100% genuine and unadulterated 100% of the time... Even with the abundance of bootlegged booze in and around Thailand you are careful enough and skilful enough to be able to avoid anything fake 100% of the time... and that self belief permits you to pass sanctimonious judgement.

Personal perspective: None... I don't think an educated woman who's open minded is going to suffer the affliction of excessive 'superstitions'... but then there are events just as Loi Krathong and various other Thai and Buddhist traditions that may be included, but the same can be said of our Western traditions... A meeting of cultures not adoption into another. Wife has an unhealthy fear of gecko's and I quite like them - if we find one in our house its quite the scene, I sometimes think she might throw her 25000 baht phone at it rather that let it get as close as 2m from her !!! A couple of situations. Mother In Law came to us with an 'ideal time and date' to place the ring (wedding)... It was about 5am on a Friday morning. I just said no, its not going to happen - the wedding is going to be on Saturday xx when my family are over from the the UK.... MiL came back with... OK 5:47am on Saturday xx... Again, I said no, I will not wake up that early and I don't want my Wife to wake up that early then spend all day and be absolutely exhausted by evening at the wedding party which she is supposed to enjoy. We will do the Ring Ceremony at 5pm, just before the wedding party... She saw another Monk with that Timing and that time as also auspicious !!! Another time - Wife was unwell and looking a little worse. I took her to hospital, her blood tests were not good. It turns out she'd been taking some Chinese medicine her mother had given her !!!... Mother in law got a bo!!ocking not to give my Wife anything... Wife agreed and understood - none of that cr@p again. House warming - I wanted no part of it. Wife did it while I was away from work. We don't have a spirt house - but we have a buddha positioned out of the way that my Wife puts garlands on from time to time. Most 'cultural quirks' are insignificant and nothing worth bothering with... harmless differences in the way things are done. When I do 'stand up' its my way, my Wife understands my logic processes... and if I'm very firm on something, there is a very strong reason and we can discuss it later. I've even said, even if its a a difference between what her parents expect and what I expect, she may not understand it, but I have a reason - I can explain that reason later, and it may not be something that matters now, but it could matter a few years from now. i.e. her parents are welcome any time, but they used to turn up out of the blue (when we were going out for dinner or two a friends place etc)... this would be awkward, as they thought we were rude for leaving, and we had to explain that we had plans already..... sometimes we could not accomodate them.... they finally learned, just talk to us earlier, so a) they don't have a wasted trip across town, or b) we can include them in our plans... So usually we bring them to us to which ever restaurant we are going, or they come over to our friends house with us, and this is the norm as others bring their in-laws over to our house when we are hosting - the parents have become good friends too !!!

Yes I am (comparing my relationship here to relationships back in the UK) because thats how it is... Thats also how it is for the vast majority of my friends here... there isn't a great deal of difference from relationships in the West because we haven't dated poverty stricken females who are with us primarily for security... (if that were so, my Wife would have left me already for a loaded owner of a a major shopping mall chain etc !!!)... The Wives of many of my friends could also have ended up with far weather Thai men.... They were just educated enough and independent enough to make choices based on genuine feelings, which aren't dependent on financial security - Of course, if we 'men' were pigheaded, bigoted, chauvinistic, misogynistic slobs we would not have got a look in... This whole idea seems hard for some to understand as they can only project from their own exposure which in reality is extremely limited... or they may say something stupid such as "Give me a salt of the earth hard working gal over a pasty white snob any day"... but in reality, thats just dumb defensiveness becasue they knew they never stood a chance in the first place, perhaps some guys are so out of touch with this reality they are simply blind to the reality outside of their own. My relationship is by no means an exception - I meet foreigners every day who are in relationships with women and wives who were born into their own means, who's s are successful in their own right etc. I think that when discussing such subjects, a lot of the narative on this forum is written by a very vocal number of people who are simply incapable of viewing life in Thailand beyond their own limited experiences... stuck within their own 'box' they just make things up to justify their situation or try and poke ridicule at situations they can't achieve... ... If they are only going to 'certain areas' - they will not be exposed to the others side.... If is of course difficult to discuss these issues evenly in such topics because reverse snobbery takes effect... ... how many times have we read that someone is accused to lying if they state their significant other is an 'over-seas Masters educated Thai lady from a well off family'.... or they are accused of boasting or showing off while another posts they 'dragged their woman from the fields and put her through uni' etc... the narrative becomes distorted, competitive almost... In reality; cross cultural relationships between all aspects and 'strata' of society exist here... and many of them are between successful couples - they myth that wealthy or women some may term as hi-so will not date a westerner is a complete myth (some wont, some will, just like women from any other strata of Thai society).

I don't think arguing the narrative of Guys like 'Brit and Yagoda' as virtue signalling - its simply arguing that their perspective is one facet towards the fringes of the spectrum of experiences... ... There are many experiences... some more horrific than theirs, and many much much better.... thats not a virtue signal, thats basic common sense in understanding that their experiences are not representative of the whole, so when they spread their narrative as a generalisation, it must be countered with 'other facts'....

I came here when I was 22 with work.... so it was natural I ended up dating and marrying a Thai lady - thats just probability. There were never any issues meeting or dating women in the UK before that late teens and early 20's as a student - life was fun, plenty of girlfriends... meeting the right woman in the UK would have just been a matter of time there as it was here. Hasn't seemed to have bothered nearly all my friends who are all married, and seem very happily so. One divorced (very early one - we could see his mistake from the offset). One never got married (but they've been together for 30 years with kids. So... not being 'wanted' is your thing... You're projecting your failures on everyone else again. And... as yo mentioned 'one did, one didn't' [fail] - you admit to paying one a salary... our idea of a successful relationship differs - though if you are both happy, thats great.... you are clearly have no hangups about someone being with you for the money - good for you.

I think that is an individual facet to each family and the culture within which they exist. I have seen Western guys married a Thai lady of 'solid means' - the husband is placed on a pedestal and respected - life is good, they be able to 'leap frog' the lower pegs of the social hierarchial ladder so to speak... ... Not that it matters... but because of 'who' they have married, their status (the Western male) has been elevated from a local perspective... and I've seen this numerous time. Clearly exposure varies... I thing much of the issues surrounding success is the education and socio-economic status of who we meet and also our own status, how we behave, interact, how respectful we are... it works both ways for a relationship to develop a winning long term mutual respect... .... Some women are just byatches... and some men are just ayholes - and if either or a combination is in any relationship, its doomed.