Stevemercer

Thai women often seem to have the perception that western men are more likely to be faithful than Thai men. Maybe it is because ferang husbands, on average, are older and therefore less likely to play around.

Most Thai women understand that men are no better than dogs, sniffing after everything. Many are all bark and no action. Some really are no better than dogs. Others are able to show some discretion.

The things a Thai woman cannot tolerate (whether a wife, main noi or girlfriend) are:

• a man giving gifts (gold or money) to another lady (money that should go to her).
• gossip/talking behind her back and her being the last to know about her unfaithful man.
• Loss of face due to the above.

A Thai woman cannot understand why her man would want to have sex with a girl who is socially inferior to her. That is big loss of face.

If her man strays, gossips will often use that against a Thai woman, implying that it was all somehow her fault. This is loss of face again.

Many unsophisticated Thai women naively believe that if a man has sex with her it must be because he loves her. This is because she tells herself that she is having sex because she thinks she is in love. All this is huge loss of faith for a Thai wife.

Many Thai women don't seem to care whether or not a man is married. They just act on the spur of their immediate feelings and have no regard for long term consequences.

Have you posted on CraigsList (Bangkok)?

6 hours ago, GarryP said:

I will probably be retiring to Kalasin in a few years. About 80 kms from the provincial capital. My only concern will be keeping myself occupied.  Can't stand watching tv all day. I always need to be doing something or I get bored so will probably do a lot of cycling  and fishing.  May only sedentary activity is reading. Retirement scares me.  

If you are retiring on a sizeable allotment, there will be enough to keep you busy for a few years (planting and maintaining trees, landscaping trees and ponds etc). I still enjoy cycling 30 - 100 km three times a week. I've got plenty of different fish in my dams. You can stock all those exotics you see in TV shows like 'River Monsters' and 'Extreme Fishing' and indulge in a bit of fishing, or just fish-watching.

Thailand has few import laws and you can keep all sorts of exotic pets if you are into that sort of thing. You can even earn a bit of pocket money selling any babies (from the exotic pets).

One advantage in living in Isan is that the locals aren't habituated so much to tourists and you still get the rock star treatment.

It sounds like you would be living on a rural property rather than in the township itself? If that is the case it is more whether you want to retire to a 'hobby farm' lifestyle rather than a large town?

I live the 'hobby farm' retired lifestyle on the edge of a township near Mahasarakham. The lifestyle suits me and we can get all of our day to day needs from the town. So we have the benefit of living a rural lifestyle, but only 2 km from conveniences. It would be the same in Roi Et.

Roi Et is prosperous compared to other regional centres like Kalisin and Mahasarakham. But if you like shopping and variety, you will need to go to Khon Kaen. We live 35 km from Khon Kaen so it is not too far for a day/night out.

Even Khon Kaen is nothing like Bangkok or other tourist cities. It is 99% Thai with a few blocks near the major hotels dedicated to farang.

I've got about 6000 km on my bike.

It runs well and is comfortable, probably better then when new as it has run in. The economy is pretty good at just over 30 km/litre. The 13 litre tank lasts 400 km. The bike's tank and engine (mat black) still look good. The bike is comfortable at 100 km/hr on the highway and is solid with good visibility. The riding position is slightly laid back which suits me. It looks pretty cool to watching Thai's when you stretch the arms right out and lean back.

Mine sometimes stalls when cold, but starts again easily enough. 

On the negative side, there is rust appearing on the front mudguard, wheel rims and some other areas. 

I rode the bike through some flooded streets a few months back (about 30 cm deep) and the engine stalled and refused to start. Water had gotten into the switch on the side stand (there is a cut-off if you try to start the bike with the kick stand down). Anyway, after about half an hour it dried sufficiently to start. Back home I cleaned it out and sealed off the switch.

I took the bike in for its 4,000 km service a few weeks ago. When I next used the bike the neutral light would not go on and the bike would not start unless I pulled the clutch in. The neutral light sometimes comes back on. I wonder if the mechanic somehow changed the gear lever action. Obviously you don't need the light to tell when you are in neutral, but it won't start in neutral if the light is not showing (you then have to pull the clutch in to start the bike).

In summary, a potential weakness is the automatic cut-off that does not allow you to start the bike unless the side stand is up or it is not in neutral (with the light on). You can still start the bike in any gear with the clutch pulled in (except in the circumstances I described above). I'm tempted to rip out all the switches to avoid getting stranded somewhere.

I'm getting better at kick starting the bike, but it's still hit and miss.

It's funny how no Thai person understands if you say 'Seven Eleven' shop. But say 'Seven' shop and everyone understands.

7 hours ago, oyster said:

The dollar weakens and it's HIS fault?

No, the Baht is appreciating much more than other Asian currencies (e.g Thailand's export competitors) giving Thailand's competitors a boost.

The current Governor will be fired before the year is out. Why does he keep talking the Baht up? Most countries talk their currency down when they want to stop it rising (e'g. by speculating on future  interest rate cuts even though they never happen). It's pretty easy to  make short term investors nervous and pull their money.

But this guy keeps talking up the Baht. He obviously wants it to keep going up which might be counter to Thailand's best interests. 

I reckon the average Thai woman is more mature, being burdened down with kids and the practicalities of life.

But I think most behave like teenagers.

1 hour ago, KKr said:

surely someone who has this kind of problem has enough sense to go visit a Medical Doctor instead of TV.
Trollpost I'd say.
And my take of the itching is an allergy.
Recommendation: Try a different GF or a different TV!

My wife always tells me to go see a doctor when I have some complaint, but what is a doctor going to do? Save it for a real emergency.

 It's like calling the police if something has been stolen from you. What's the point. What are they going to do? Save it for a real emergency.

It's just the way it is. If a guy is wearing his colours and you want to take the piss...go for it. But you are taking on the whole motorcycle club.

If you want to dob in a member to the cops, go for it, but make sure you watch your back for the rest of your life. 

35 minutes ago, RandolphGB said:

Biker gangs are pathetic. Grown men prancing about in leather jackets showing off their motorbikes. Don't these people ever grow up? Get jobs, families, responsibilities?  Complete losers. One on one I'm sure anyone could fight them.

 

 

There is a big difference between a 'biker gang' and an incorporated Motorcycle Club (MC).

The whole point of being in a MC, and getting your colours, is that you join a brotherhood. Part of the creed is you take on an individual biker, you take on the whole MC. That has always been the way.

If you beat up a MC member, one on one, you have to be prepared to fight all members of the club. If you're not, well, just stay out of it.

I reckon the OP has a point. 

Why don't motorbikes have adjustable seats - forwards/backward and up/down at the very least. That way you could get the seating position and reach to the handlebars perfect. Just a centimetre either way would be sufficient for most riders to tailor the perfect individual fit.

Why can't you adjust the handlebars to rotate them a little further or back, again to get the perfect individual setup. It should be easy to just add/subtract shims if you want to adjust the height. Similarly with the footpegs.

Most pushbikes have almost infinite adjustment so you can tailor the setup exactly right for your individual preferences. Furthermore, the adjustment mechanisms don't need specialist tools. Why do motorbikes have to lock you into the one seating position unless you get expensive upgrades?

If she survived Australian roads, cycling in Thailand will be a doddle. Best wishes for safe and happy journeys.

If you read the articles it seems straight forward. The Nigerian' girlfriend's car was seen leaving the house where the woman was shot after the incident. Neighbours state that the man often goes driving around the neighbourhood at night time.

I replaced my progressive eye-wear about one year ago and it was much cheaper than Australia ($150 vs $650). However, this was in Mahasarakham. My prescription is rather complicated with both eyes being different and with powerful lenses needed.

However, it took 3 times to get it right. The first two times the guy doing the cutting didn't use the right focal point resulting in double vision. The third time they got it right. They didn't charge for the 2 sets of lenses they screwed up.

The mower above is an Asgate, presumably made in China. I've had one for a couple of years mowing about 3,000 square metres, half of which is coarse grass/weeds (sometimes up to half a metre high if I let it go for a few weeks this time of year). The engine seems pretty good. So far I have gone through 4 new wheel bearing sets, and a new pull starter. I got some new wheels (which come with the required double bearing set) because I think these will go sooner or later. At least parts are easy to order and fairly cheap.

Maybe I need to start a new thread, but has anyone seen a ride-on mower in Thailand? In Australia, a new one starts at 25,000, but I haven't seen any in Thailand to date.

Isan is a nice place to live and settle into a community because the people are so nice and it is relatively cheap. However, just traveling around as a tourist, without hanging around enough to get immersed in the lifestyle, could be a bit tedious. There are better parts of Thailand to tour.

I've got some sympathy for the teachers. It is an increasingly tough gig. Their conditions have been going downhill under the present government while their work hours are going up. Most are expected to be on call 12 hours a week, seven days a week.

Discipline is increasing as a problem because kids are spoilt at home home and the teachers have to take up the slack. Plus, every kid has a mobile phone and social media is used against the teachers.

When I was at school we used to get Saturday or Sunday detentions for minor infractions. Most teachers had a lump of two by four for classroom discipline. I never forget the time the headmaster set the dogs loose on our whole class because some kid sneezed. Once I got caned 12 times because my shirt was the wrong regulation blue colour.

Kids these days have got it easy! A whack on the head for wearing the wrong uniform? In my day we'd get a whack on the head just for breathing too heavily in class. I had so many whacks by the end of the day I could barely see. Then my parents would whack me when I got home again. Aaah, the good old days.

Out here in the provinces, it usual to buy a bottle of beer (100 Baht at bar/karaoke prices) and the girl(s) will drink it with you. I never buy them a separate drink. If you go late at night some of the girls might already be pissed and you can take advantage of that.

At the end of the evening you pay your beer tab and give a separate tip to the girls. Maybe 100 Baht if you have just been drinking with her: 200 Baht if you have also been dancing with her and mutual flirting; and maybe 300 Baht if you really like the girl, things have got hot and heavy, and maybe you wouldn't mind spending more time with her. 

One of our new toilets was smelly. It ended up being the vent pipe. Wasps had built a nest in it. I poked it out and ran some water down the vent and the smell disappeared.

I don't know what Thai men think about crying, but Thai women are absolutely amazed, impressed and sympathetic if a man turn on the water works (and assuming it is genuine). 

I think it is just another case of 'Thainese' as explained by the motto below:

'Do as I say, not as I do'