HauptmannUK

Agree. A lot of Western guys in Thailand are lonely or have emotional problems, low self-esteem etc. They are vulnerable and easily preyed upon by these women.

Thai sugar intake is huge. Years ago it was a rare thing to encounter an obese Thai person - nowadays its common.

I've been visiting, working and living in Thailand on and off for several decades and this is almost a standard script for many of the relationships between a Western male and a Thai lady. You'll probably find a few addictions behind these demands for money (alcohol, yaba, gambling etc) - brothers, sisters etc. Its very unlikely its all being spent on wholesome activities - but I think you know that? I am baffled why the guys continually pay out. Its not always to poor women either, sometimes the more affluent women with 'proper' jobs are worse because they have proportionately higher expectations. Anyway, there are plenty of decent, attractive, women out there who won't take advantage. Look for one of them.

If you're using an Android device you could try YouTube Vanced.

Apparently about 2000 bends on that road. Vans and pickups driven by the usual suicide jockeys...

To be clear, non-emergency treatment IS chargeable for non-residents. Only emergency treatment is free. The reality is that the vast majority of doctors don't have the time or inclination to determine if their patients should be charged or not, so you may well get minor routine treatment free. If its major non-emergency treatment (e.g. a course of radiotherapy, maternity services, a major op) then you will more than likely be checked for eligibility. Having no registered GP would be a red flag. My daughter worked in Birmingham Heartlands A&E for a time. Its not far from Birmingham Airport and they'd get people arriving straight from the airport still with their luggage, often quite ill (cancer etc) expecting treatment. From places like Nigeria... Obviously a difficult situation and rather politically sensitive. They also had patients from overseas trying to pass themselves off as a UK-resident relative - but date of birth and medical history would be wrong. And be assured that illegal immigrants DO present themselves for NHS treatment. They walk into GP surgeries and hospitals asking for treatment and they do receive treatment. An issue for doctors (BMA) is whether they become part of UK immigration enforcement. The majority (including my daughter) don't want to get involved.

Yes emergency treatment is freely available to anyone presenting themselves to the NHS, even illegal immigrants. My comments were really relating to ongoing non-emergency treatment - if the patient is not 'resident' in the UK then its chargeable.

Ok. And what percentage of the many tourists pouring into Thailand do you think are actually aware that prostitution is illegal ?

You asked how people in the UK opened bank accounts.....

In the UK we DO NOT have ID cards. And many people (especially young people) do not have a driving licence. If they look young they MAY be asked for some proof of age - often a college or university ID card.

Surprisingly in the UK we don't have ID cards and many people don't drive. Those individuals use things like utility bills, electoral register etc.

An asinine comparison.

Many countries do not have ID cards and many people don't drive.

Your post doesn't make sense. And you don't seem too sure on the law yourself. He would need to know the Thai law to know he was breaking it. If I was to go into a bar and barfine a girl (bar employee) out of the bar I would expect her to be 'legal' - however old she looked (within reason, obviously). Its the bar's responsibility to vet their employees, not the customers...

If he went to a bar and barfined a girl then the bar is culpable, not him. Any customer would expect that the bar employees to be 'legal'. You cannot expect a foreigner to know Thai law on age of consent (which is 16 in UK). A foreign tourist may not know that Thai people carry ID cards, and in fact an ID card cannot be relied upon because they are so often borrowed or faked. Age is difficult to judge, its ridiculous to say that he should have known they were underage from their appearance - a 16 year old could look 19, and vice versa.

Answers to two points raise in this thread.... 1. The UK state pension is classed as a benefit. Benefit fraud is committed when you deliberately claim benefits you are not entitled to. E.g. by providing false information or by not reporting a change in circumstance. So if you don't inform DWP you are living overseas then you are definitely committing benefit fraud. HOWEVER the laws covering benefit fraud (specifically Social Security Administration Act 1992) EXCLUDE the state pension as a 'Sanctionable Benefit'. This means that if you commit state pension fraud your pension cannot be stopped or reduced. Your pension will simply be adjusted back to the correct 'frozen' level going forward. You will not have to pay anything back. Theoretically, if you go back to UK you could face a court case and fine (in the range £250 - £5000) but in practise that is extremely unlikely to happen because the cost of action would be far greater than the fine income and DWP have much bigger fish to fry. Putting 'forgetful' OAPs through court is not something DWP would want to be seen doing. At the moment I spend just under 180 days per year in Thailand and don't yet receive the state pension anyway. However if I were to relocate to Thailand I WOULD NOT inform DWP since I feel that the freezing of pensions is unjust and immoral. Especially since nationals of any country can enter the UK and claim Pension Credit (up to about the same amount as a full state pension), plus Housing Benefit and a range of other benefits without having ever paid a penny of UK tax or NI. 2. On the subject of NHS care.. My daughter is a doctor in a UK hospital. In general the medical staff are far too busy to worry about eligibility for treatment. If you turn up speaking with a UK accent of some sort and can quote a NI or NHS number then you are unlikely to face a problem. Obviously don't start talking about your life in Thailand. The government are pressuring the NHS to get tough with 'overseas patients' so larger hospitals may have an 'Overseas Patient Team' - but they are really looking for foreign passport holders who arrive at a UK airport and take a taxi straight to a local hospital (it happens more often than you think - and these people are often seriously ill). Back in 2018 I assisted a sick expat return to the UK. He arrived immediately at a hospital A&E with about a year's worth of Thai hospital notes. He was immediately admitted and treated, with excellent care. The Overseas Patient Team did visit him after a few days but his sister was able to show them his UK passport and a rental contract for a bedsit and they were satisfied with that.

Some years ago I had the misfortune to work in Russia for an extended period. I even picked up some of the language, to a conversational level. A few of the Russians I worked with were incredibly intelligent, cultured and polite. However I found that 98% of the general population were barbarians. Its a society, for the most part, without any social graces. Pushing and shoving is the norm. Obscenities and vulgar language are the norm - even little old ladies use extreme vulgarities in the street. Road rage is off the clock. Russians are always ready to jump out of their cars and start fighting. Another thing to keep in mind is that the overwhelming proportion of Russians in Thailand support Putin. Russians love a strong leader and Putin has wide support.

Given he's a lawyer this could easily turn ugly. Do you have any evidence to back up your negative review (photos, witness statement from cleaners etc)? In any event you are going to need your own lawyer.... I make a point of never leaving a bad review in Thailand, but rather 'damning with faint praise'. e.g. give 4 or 5 stars, "They were such a lovely family. It took us five hours to clean up after they left". Leave the reader to read between the lines.

Almost no Indians know how to swim (I think Indian government estimate is 0.5%) even though it has a long coastline. There are frequent drownings in India and usually nobody amongst onlookers is able to help. Its generally only rich Indians who know how to swim.

Says in the linked article that they have travel insurance covering up to £13200. Seems strange, I've never heard of such a low limit.

Its been reported that he admitted it.

Given that Thailand is a huge backpacking destination it seems to me that they cause relatively few problems. Its not like the guy was wandering around with a knife or threatening people or (as far as we know) selling drugs. If you don't want to give, then don't. Just ignore him. Its not like they is any shortage of Thai beggars and scammers - and don't forget that during Covid a lot of foreigners were helping out starving Thais.... On this theme, the wife and I were having a drink outside Amazon on Jomtien Beach Road last night when we were approached by a middle-aged Asian guy. He was begging money for food. He was cleanly dressed and spoke pretty good English. He said he was Chinese, from Cangzhou near Beijing, and had run out of money. I didn't entirely believe his story but he was so polite that I reached into my pocket are gave him about ฿10 in coins. He had a slight look of disappointment on his face, but thanked me with a wai and went on his way. Be interesting to know if anyone else has encountered this chap.

Like many news reports in this forum the story is so confusing and lacking vital information that its really quite impossible to come to any conclusion. Bit like the story with they guy forcing tourists to buy beer at knifepoint..

Anyway, the title is a misnomer. There was no knife 'duel' - a duel would require both combatants to have a knife and in this case there was only one knife. A better title would be, 'Wife slashes her hand while fighting with husband over a knife'.

Absolute nonsense. Knife crime in the UK is very low by international standards and death by stabbing in the UK is almost the lowest of any country in the world and well below Thailand, US, Australia, France, Germany...etc. https://wisevoter.com/country-rankings/stabbing-deaths-by-country/ When stabbings do occur in the UK they are nearly always between gangs of youths (usually know to each other). They get well-reported of course.