jingjai9

I know many of my friends become interested in gardening as they get older. It passes time and is not overly strenuous plus you can get satisfaction by seeing the results from the time you spend.

Nikmar, Thank you for mentioning the motorcycle helmet issue. I have many foreign friends who have children and they feel the same as you. They do not want their children on motorcycles until the are at least 16. No matter how liberal a person may be regarding the age for driving motorcycles or wearing helmets, I cannot excuse small children standing on motorcycles. I think this custom dates back to when a very high percentage of Thai people used motorcycles as the family's main mode of transport.

I want to know if any of you in this forum have problems over the philosophy of raising children in a bi-cultural household. I have a very happy marriage and the only conflicts I encounter with my wife occur when making decisions over raising a two and a half year old child. The biggest example being when I, the foreigner in the relationship, think my wife lets the baby play with dangerous objects such as scissors or sharp objects. I have seen other children here in Thailand even play with knives while the adults sit around seemingly unaffected. I take the potentially dangerous objects away from the child (sometimes doing so excitedly). My wife tells me I am afraid of everything and that the child will never know how to handle things in life if I am so overly protective. I keep things from the toddler as a means of preventing an accident, but to my wife I am a "scare-dee cat". I try to prevent an accident waiting to happen while my wife perhaps leaves it all up to karma. Not sure about this but it is a conclusion I have reached. The above is one example. I would be interested to know if any of you experience stress in their family relationship due to disagreements over what is best for the child. I am not really talking about the Thai educational system or outside issues as much as what goes on in the home during the course of a normal day. I know married people or co-inhabitants from the same country or culture have child rearing disputes but what I am talking about is a bit different. Finally. another area of conflict is the amount of candy, sweets and junk food the little one eats on any given day. Would love to know what members here have to say.

I am not bored but want to be informed. I do not feel informed watching the usual broadcasts from CNN, or BBC. Two informative websites I use that present informed, intelligent reports are: Democracy Now (The war and peace report) at Democracynow.org The reports are verifiable with credible guests. The Chris Hedges Report on The Real News Network. Chris Hedges is a former Pulitzer Prize wining journalist. He was a war correspondent for nearly 20 years with The New York Times and covered wars and political conflicts in the Middle East, Central and South America as well as eastern Europe during the fall of the Soviet Union. This is an very informative show that updates about once a week. Chris Hedges is also the author of more than 10 highly acclaimed books.

Probably developing a network of "designated drivers" would work best. This takes the responsibility off owners of entertainment establishments using devices to check sobriety or those endless police crackdowns in an attempt to stop a problem. If patrons of bars could easily call a grab driver or any other transport company to drive them home, it would create new jobs, spark "entrepreneurship" and perhaps keep the roads safer and keep the police raids on bars to a minimum. Of course there are a lot of holes in such a proposal, but perhaps far less than other methods of combating public intoxication and drunk driving. Some problems that could ensue from using designated drivers are: pugnacious, criminal drivers, disputes about the fee to drive a drunken customer and a tourist too drunk to competently tell the driver where he is going. In spite of its drawbacks, a designated driver system may provide more hope as a solution than asking bar owners to administer sobriety tests or having the police lurking outside bars doing spot checks at 4:30 in the morning. I understand countries in Europe have designated drivers systems in place so there would be other places Thailand could research in working out a system. I think we owe it to bar owners to really try to keep the 4 a.m. closing in place for a long time, not only in tourist areas but throughout Thailand. As previously proposed by the government - leave it up to each province to decide on a closing time. Remember, it was the bar owners and entertainment establishments that had to bite the bullet for almost two years due to the COVID lockdowns.

One reason that so many people in this part of the world like K-Pop could be the singers and players look like them. It must be refreshing after so many years of following western entertainers. Many young girls from ages 12 to 16 or 17 love to do the dances on K-Pop videos they watch on You tube. Then they can upload them onto Tik Tok.

I have been looking for a good body shop here in Udon. I am thinking about replacing parts of my suspension system and painting my car as well. I want to keep the same color on the car. Can you recommend a body shop that you know has a good reputation? These are four areas of importance to me: Can do a competent job Have been in business for at least 3 years or more Is reliable in finishing jobs on time Does a thorough job. I had been using a body shop here in Udon. The people were nice and reliable as well. However, they were not thorough. would appreciate any help. Thank you

Thanks for all the replies. This is some good information for making a choice. The jokes and other comments add some spice to the posts.

I want to buy a vacuum cleaner for my home as the old brooms are not good enough. I owned a vacuum in the past but you could not change the bags and the vacuum became dirty on the inside. Also, the suction was less than adequate. Perhaps I bought a machine that was too cheap for what I expected from it. Can anyone suggest a good brand of vacuum that will do an adequate cleaning of the floors inside the house, the window sills, and the interior of my car? Adequate means remove all dust from surface of floors and corners, etc. I do not want to vacuum to find dust remaining on the floors when I finish. I want to pick up the dust, not merely stir it around. How much should I spend and what brands are recommended? Have vacuum cleaners improved over the last decade here in Thailand?

I think this is a good line of thinking. If each province designates areas for night entertainment at least there is a chance that this activity will stay in an area where children and families do not walk. Corruption is another topic. If they have entertainment areas, you can see the physical change. Many cities around the world have red light districts. It is easier on the police to manage. Local authorities know their areas and can make better decisions than legislators in Bangkok.

Who is paying for Thaksin's medical care? Are his facilities usual for a person in custody? Just asking.

I wish the Thai government the best of luck with a new emergency system. Maybe it could inspire the US government. Thailand does not have the second amendment issue that people in the US grapple with endlessly. So perhaps the number of shootings can be kept to a minimum in Thailand.

I share the frustration of many expats who feel rejected upon reading a message that says , "Thais only". We must remember that Thailand is not a country of refuge. Public schools do not offer TSL (Thai as a second language) classes to foreign students. It is hard for foreigners to achieve Thai citizenship and babies born in Thailand who do not have a Thai parent cannot easily apply for citizenship. In recent years, Thailand has embraced wealthy foreigners more and more with the lure of special visas and investment opportunities. Foreigners living in Thailand are viewed as business opportunities period. The world has changed and everything these days has been monetized. If you marry a Thai or retire in Thailand, you must have money in their bank. About 15 years ago the price for a Thai visa increased from 500 to 1900 baht. There are agents, who for a substantial fee can get you a visa. The government here is in the process of taxing foreign income. If you are not Thai, you can run into some serious expenses in the Thai medical system. The list goes on and on. It is not fair, but it was never meant to be fair. You can arguably call it racism or xenophobia, but I incontrovertibly call it - reality and we must deal with it. Until the present political environment around the world develops a new sentiment, you can expect more of the same. The system of rules and regulations designed by the government for foreigners staying in Thailand is designed to maximize a source of revenue for Thai businesses and government. I think it is ugly. As one post opined here, and I paraphrase: other countries should impose similar restrictions on Thais the same as the Thai government does. I know years ago, in the US many Thai restaurants hired Thai students attending universities as employees. Many of the students were not eligible to work and often the Thai owners exploited this by paying low wages. There are possibly thousands of illegal Thai workers within the US. I am curious if the same thing could apply to the Thai massage parlors around the world as well. I do not see any changes in this system as long as the disparity between the rich and poor continues to grow around the world. Greed is the creed. I would guess perhaps Thailand is not as bad as some other countries.

What I do not like about the countryside in Thailand is the poor infrastructure; it can be bothersome to navigate roads with holes and more holes, pass dilapidated or unpainted houses and see dry, parched yards with no life, or walk in villages or stroll along country roads with buffalo feces abound. I find this to be the norm in rural areas around Thailand. Experiencing this on a daily basis can be depressing. Also, I do not feel as if I can walk freely in rural areas as I never know if I will encounter a dog protecting its turf. Some people carry sticks for protection to ward off aggressive canines. To me this is the Thai equivalent of arming yourself in America if you drive or walk through rough neighborhoods (cars are susceptible to car jackings). I know people in America who keep guns in their cars because they commute to work and pass through rough neighborhoods. They are afraid of problems if they are forced to sit in their cars during a long traffic light or traffic jams. Neither situation sounds relaxing and the former certainly does not conform to a positive image of the pastoral life. I post this as this may be one aspect of rural life that is not often articulated. Yes, there are many wonders of nature, but there are many other considerations. I do not wish to demean life in the country as many people are quite happy living a rural life. I merely want to share my sensibility concerning rural life in Thailand. Perhaps it is cheaper, but there are non-monetary costs for people who share my sentiment.

One force I did not appreciate in the 60's - 90's and beyond was the transformation of hippies to yuppies and then guppies (greedy boomers) who transformed many of our countries around the world into the bifurcated or two-class system we find ourselves living in presently. We could label the two classes as the greedy and the needy. the middle class is being hollowed out. It is the baby boomer generation which I am a member of that lead many nations in many parts of the world presently. The billionaire class that heads the tech giants, banks and telecommunication companies are in this generation. Not in recent memory have the salaries of the CEO's of the giant corporations been at a higher ratio to the rank and file workers; in some companies the ratio is 300:1. For every dollar the workers earn, the CEO's get 300 or more. The music was so cool oh yeah, I personally loved it. But I cannot accept the idea that "our music was the coolest of all" in the 60's and 70's. The 1930's with the Harlem Renaissance was equal to the 60's, We must be realistic and leave our egos at the door. What kind of world are we the people from the 60's to the 80's leaving to our children and grandchildren. We wanted to change the world and we sure did, but can we be proud? We did many good things but the mistakes are huge. "We have not inherited the world from our parents. We have borrowed it from our children." I appreciated the 60s and 70s, but saw it slipping away in the 80s and 90s and now I stand here in the 2020s shaking my head with a tear in my eye.

How high up do you have to be before mosquitoes are not a problem?

I think this is good. Many people love Thaksin so reducing the sentence makes sense. On the other hand, it is quite unlikely he did nothing wrong so some incarceration time is in order. Due to his advanced age, the full term would be too long.

thank you all so much for the posts - very informative.

I want to learn about Prachuap Khiri Khan Capitol City. I do not hear much about it. I have visited some travel sites as well as Wikipedia, but have not really been able to answer all of my questions such as: Is there an expat Community? Are home or condo rentals expensive? What is the lifestyle like for residents? I read one comment where it is said the Prachuap Khiri Khan capitol city is small and you have to entertain yourself if you stay there for any period of time. Any information about this area would be appreciated from anyone who has visited there for a long period of time or lives there permanently. I know about Hua Hin. I am interested in the the Capitol city area. What are the pros and cons of the Capitol City. I know there is no shortage of monkeys. Thank you I have gained much useful information from the ASEANOW forums.

Is there any set standard for the length of yellow lights at intersections? I live in Udon and I have observed for many years that when the light changes from green to red, the length of time the yellow light is displayed varies. At some intersections the yellow light appears for perhaps a second or two, while at other intersections the yellow light is displayed a bit longer. One intersection is very informative. When the light goes from green to red, the yellow light is displayed for a count of 3-2-1 and then red appears. The variation of yellow lights at intersections must have some influence on the rate of accidents or people running red lights. Finally, the short duration yellow lights can be experienced at intersections with high volumes of traffic. Does this inconsistency exist in other areas as well?

I have seen more than 2 or 3 western women get insulted when a farang man has a wife more than 15 years his junior. When you reside in Thailand over a period of time you see that the May -December marriages are not unusual, but unfortunately in many cases the cultural of age difference is not transferrable westward. Some men display a cocky demeanor sporting a younger wife as a trophy and this is no doubt a turn-off to the folks back home. Many in the west do not stop and think that if a man in his 60s or late 50s retires in Thailand, finding a woman 15 to 20 years younger is desirable. As one ages in the west finding a suitable partner is difficult for those who are not wealthy. You can move to Thailand, live comfortably on a limited income and find a good partner. I have seen many older western men happy with a Thai wife over age 35 but very few with wives between 20 and 28. Also, if your family lives in the west and you tell them you have a younger wife and post a picture, that may spark a negative reaction. I think it might be different if your children actually meet the younger spouse. One thing I have learned from my students who have a foreign parent is that the young Thai/western children who are born from Dad's second or third marriage in Thailand are often ignored by the older western children from the previous marriage when they meet.

The last paragraph of the abbreviated story: The scale of Thailand’s drug epidemic and perhaps an insight into the public’s concerns over the free availability of marijuana in the kingdom can be seen from two violent incidents in the past two days involving a 14-year-old in Nong Bua Lamphu and a 36-year-old perpetrator in Krabi. Reporting the news or editorializing? Can you tell??????

Over the years I have read many news stories here on ASEANNOW/Thai visa where the police conduct raids on entertainment establishments and discover underage workers. Is it my imagination or do most of the arrests for underage workers take place in Karaoke clubs? Do Karaoke clubs cater to a particular type of clientele? Just asking.

I recently applied for a marriage visa. When I applied I learned that I would not receive my visa immediately and instead got a one month stamp. This was due to the fact that the immigration police still needed to visa my house. That was OK. Within one week two immigration police officers came to my house and secured the necessary information, affidavit from neighbor, photos etc. and got all the information. So far so good. Today a friend of mine who is going through the same process went to the Immigration office after the police visit and told me immigration gave them only a three month visa and the reason for this is not known. Evidently they did not ask or they did not want to share what happened. Does anyone in ASEANOW land know why immigration would only stamp a marriage visa for three-months? I never heard of this and now I am wondering if I will get the same thing when I report to immigration again when my one month stamp expires at the beginning of July. Anything I can learn here would be much appreciated. Thank you

I had hernia surgery at the Military Hospital in Udon Thani in August of 2016. It went very well and I did not have a private room. I got the mesh. I work here in Thailand so the bill was 11,500 baht. They required me to pay a 15,000 dollar deposit when I was admitted and the difference was returned to me at the time of my discharge. I was there two nights. The staff were sweethearts. They treated me very well.