somchai jones

they should be bitching about being called "farung" since the correct word is "farang"

Depends what phonetics you use I guess, I've seen a couple of variants, but who cares as long everyone knows what's meant.

Thais would probably bother less about being called "Asians" than "Chings", the latter would mean "chinese", right?

Again good post. As there is no 'official' standard transliteration from Thai to Roman script, although 'farang' is the most widely used transliteration, 'farung' is not incorrect.

'Manufactured outrage to create stories and hype and website traffic. A handful of people made comments on twitter, oh noes! 99% of Thais don't give a $%#@ what she said. No one is boycotting. No one is protesting her like they did in other countries. No one cares. The only thing most Thais would think is that it is very strange for a rich celebrity to want to buy a fake watch, as that is something for poor people. Most Thais wouldn't understand how it could be a novelty item for a rich foreigner.'

Couldn't have put it better myself. It's actually quite amusing (if a little tirmsome) to watch all the usual suspects (the bitter twisted folk that hate living here but haven't got the balls to leave) react to the Thai Visa spin. Good for generating web traffic but making the site's content very predictable these days.

What I find quite amusing (if a little tiresome) are the the people who

1) often fail to admit that the country they live in has all manner of problems that they have no control over

2) make the infantile assumption that anyone who lives in Thailand and who doesn't like or levels criticism against certain aspects of Thailand is somehow unable to leave or wants to leave or is silly enough to actually believe that if they live in a place, they should be happy and/or accepting of everything that goes on around them

3) people who are predisposed to an (often quite self-serving) philosophy which encourages them to interpret negative things in a society (so long as they are not directly and negatively impacted) as positive or which encourages them to be indifferent at every opportunity because they know that being truly aware of what's going on around them is much more challenging to deal with. Some people call these kinds of people 'selfish cowards' -- although I don't, of course.

It's certainly much easier to sit back in a nice condo with a nice job or perhaps in healthy retirement and try to interpret crappy things in Thailand as being OK. While looking out of my 15th floor condo window, observing a row of street vendors baking in the sun slaving away for what, under proper circumstances of mental health, I would call meager, I think to myself --

"Look at those wonderful street vendors happily working away in their traditional ways earning a good living. They certainly do look happier than the people exploiting them. Yeah, now I feel better about the whole thing. Let me put some ice in my imported craft ale and relax a bit. Maybe later I'll go down and buy a meal for 30 baht. Not sure why they are always look at me funny when I walk over with my constant (if condescending) smile. I want them to feel that we are equals; that's why I do it."

Oh, in fact, it's not a whole lot different from the Hi-So Thais who spend so much energy convincing themselves that they live in the same Thailand as their Thai servants. Same same.

** If one looks around the web, one will find all manner of stories by different agencies covering this very story. I've seen several, and I find no significant spin in the TV one.

Well written reply and some points you make are certainly valid, however, your arguement is misplaced in response to my post because it needn't go as deep as that my friend.

I still (after reading this thread) stand fastly by my assertion that Thai visa these days has more than its fair share of bitter, twisted folk that really need to leave Thailand because they obviously aren't able to adapt.

I'm all in favour of having sensible discussions about the rights and wrongs of my adopted homeland (and often do). However, I don't consider the vast majority of the posts that I read from the 'moaners' that I'm referring to as sensible. I consider the majority of them infantile (to quote an adjective you used in your post)........

Thais for sure have NO sense of humor.

Nonsense. Most Thais have a very healthy sense of humor. It just tends to have certain blind spots. (And judging by some of the silly outrage I see posted on these forums sometimes, they're not the only ones.)

And yes, as someone suggested, check out Twitter in Thai. Plenty of Thais are having a laugh over this as well.

Absolutely. If some of the 'moaners' learned Thai many of their misconceptions might become clear to them......

This made me crack up! But yeah, The way some Thais react is no different from westerners biatching and moaning about being called "farung" and such. Human nature I guess, though some (Thais and farungs) do have a sense of humor and find can have a good laugh.

Thank you! A sensible post.......at last.

Maybe Lady Gaga was being sarcastic in light of the deep root thievery of people who steal everything they can get their hands on - particularly copyrighted music. Maybe she was mocking Thailand. Maybe she has a darn good point. Maybe if more Thais mocked Thailand, Thailand wouldn't be mocked by the rest of the world as a cheap place to vacation, a cheap place to get laid, a cheap place to buy illegal stuff, just a plain cheap place.

As was equally the case with anyone who took offense at Lady GaGa's comment, you're reading far too much into this. P.S. isn't 'the rest of the world' somewhat of a generalisation................

'Manufactured outrage to create stories and hype and website traffic. A handful of people made comments on twitter, oh noes! 99% of Thais don't give a $%#@ what she said. No one is boycotting. No one is protesting her like they did in other countries. No one cares. The only thing most Thais would think is that it is very strange for a rich celebrity to want to buy a fake watch, as that is something for poor people. Most Thais wouldn't understand how it could be a novelty item for a rich foreigner.'

Couldn't have put it better myself. It's actually quite amusing (if a little tirmsome) to watch all the usual suspects (the bitter twisted folk that hate living here but haven't got the balls to leave) react to the Thai Visa spin. Good for generating web traffic but making the site's content very predictable these days.

Hi folks

My current visa (non O) expires start of March and I'm going to get an ed visa next.

Apart from not having to do border runs every 3 months (which I actually quite enjoy) I'm keen on studying Thai.

Can anyone (that's been through the process) recomend a good school in Cha-am (where I'm based) or Hua Hin where they felt the lessons were well taught and the visa application process was smooth.

Any helpful replies much appreciated.

It seems this report raises questions more than it gives answers. If i were going to rate the generosity of a country it would have to take into account things like % of disposable income, good Samaritan type behavior, what stays in the community, what stays in the country, and what is earmarked for outside the country, just to name a few things the story does not talk much about, and certainly has no statistics on.

I will say, when I go to the local fresh markets and hear the blind singer making "music" I often see little old ladies throwing a few baht in the cup. Also when a friend of mine and I were out on a bicycle ride on a country road, and he punctured, before he had his tool kit undone a couple of brothers from a nearby house came out to offer assistance. Another time I was walking home at dusk one Sunday afternoon after puncturing, and a young man by the name of "Dam", stopped and asked me how far I had to go. I told him about 10km, next thing I know he has flagged down a motorcyclist, turned him in the opposite direction and is loading me and my bicycle on the back and we go 4-5 km to find a shop that will repair my inner tube. I could smell the whiskey from the back of the guy. :-) Dam stayed until the I was back on my bike and on my way home. Thank you Dam.

So in my experience, I have seen and experienced lots of Thai generosity.

Very true - good post.

I have also experienced help with punctured motorbike tyres and also with my car. In the case of the car, 2 guys who were passing by gave me 30 mins of their time and refused to take any money for this.

Some of the kindness I've experienced here over the years from people who don't have a pot to piss in has been truly wonderful.

Predictable as ever, the bitter twisted folk answer in their droves. As for the guy that immediately related the topic to a hand job, that's not charity fella......you're paying for it........sad......

Thus, Thailand needs prosperity before it indulges in trendy notions like 'social justice'.

The above comment highlights perfectly the smug attitutude of the so called intellegentsia. A convenient get out clause one might say.

Social justice should be a right for all not a 'trendy notion'.

To the OP - you mentioned that you didn't like traffic and wanted a 'bicycle friendly' place - if bad traffic is a mojor concern, don't even consider Hua Hin and if you do ever ride a bicyle there be very careful.

I can just see it now, BILLIONS of students around the world linning up for a Thai education.

Why not? Well, at least for university education.

You don't need to know anything to get into a Thai uni and you certainly won't know anything when you come out, but you will have the paper and an official transcript, though more credible degrees and transcripts are readily obtainable at Kao Sarn Road.

Degrees for sale been available from certain unscrupulous United States 'universities' for years....

I looked on the ncyclopedia for top educational establishments and this is what I came up with:

The Pattaya School of Adult Entertainment.

The Ladies of E S A N Academy for the studies of Financial Wealth, its origins and and how to re distribute it.Advancesd scholars could see the results in hours!

Bangkok 7-11 University.

Chon Buri College of advanced Massage Techniques.

The Phuket University of Life and social skills. Meet friends you did not know you had and spend a small fortune.

The Sukumvit Escort School for people new to the Kingdom.

Perhaps widening your group of Thai friends or adding a bit of variety to the circles in which you move may be a good idea.

It is very good to know that the best education that money can buy is right here in Thailand and very cheap at that. Why waste your money sending your children to places like Oxford when the elite education system with the finest educators is all right here in the world education HUB called Thailand.

'Hub for international education' is an often used term these days.

Foreign students generate enormous revenue, both in tuition fees for the universities where they study and in spending for the countries in which the universities are based.

Countries such as UK, US and Australia have been reaping the benefits of foreign student revenue for years.

ASEAN countries such as Malaysia and Singapore have been successful as regional 'hubs' for several years already.

A number of Thai uniattracts foreign students already from surrounding countries and when the phrase a 'hub of international education' is used as a target for Thailand, realistically it is really referring to 'becoming a country that can attract an increasing amount of foreign students from neighbouring countries'.

As for the international schools, the foreign students that study there are almost invariably children of ex pats or foreigners working in Thailand.

I've visited some good ones in and around Bangkok. Harrow was particularly impressive.

Hi folks

Lived in Samui and the shore fisihng was very poor. Only very small fish from beach or rocks. A bit better in my kayak fising over the reef for squid or beyond the reef in deeper water.

Now in Cha-am. Long pier to fish from but again very poor shore fishing.

Considering a trip to Phuket soon as it's many years since I've been. Just wondering if anyone knows of any decent spots to fish from the shore or if indeed there are any?

How sadly predictable that a topic on one country's aid to another is yet again met with smug, patronising posts bashing Thailand.

Oh well, that's Thaivisa these days....

*shrug* as offensive as it is to us westerners, I'm pretty sure the kids meant no harm... Is there anything in Thai history that they could relate to, a local ethnic cleansing of some kind, to help explain what a sick bunch of people was running Germany at the time? Closest thing I can think of is a bunch of foreigners parading around in ancient Burmese military uniforms? Let's try that someday

Anyway, the holocaust must be a completely foreign concept, Nazis are bad guys like they see in the movies and that funny looking Hitler dude is the Big Boss that the American soldiers had to defeat... So they really have no way of grasping the horribleness of it all... Yes, the teachers should have known better, that's for sure, but this is just a cultural misunderstanding, not something meant to be offensive...

Which is fine until you try explaining its just a cultural misunderstanding when a tourist accidentally raises the sole of his foot to an overreacting Thai.

How would you 'accidentally' raise your foot?

In all the years I've been here, never seen this scenario.

Shock horror....those nasty Thais are at it again!

Surely it's obvious that these kids were doing this for the comic value in their ignorance? A poor choice of costume in my opinion for obvious reasons.

However, Allo, Allo - one of the most popular British sitcoms ever, was still running up until 1992 and had a reunion special episode as late as 2007.

It parodied Nazi officers occupying France and showed them in full Nazi regalia.

Also, anyone remember when Prince Harry turned up at a fancy dress party in 2005 dressed as a Nazi wearing a swastika armband?

Whislt there was initial outrage at his conduct, after he apologised for his gaffe, the general concensus was that the exhuberance and ignorance of his youth was to blame.

My point? Whilst I totally disagree with the choice of costumes that the students made, I certainly am not rushing forward to condemn them as evil.

Also, I'm not rushing forward to use this event as another excuse to slam Thailand.

The Daily Mail readers amongst the ex-pat populace here will do no doubt though. Oh well.....

'Brown, while seated with his hands tied behind him, was then allegedly hit by one of the police officers questioning him.'

I really hope this is true.

Drunken <deleted>.

From a previous post -

'I think part of the issue might be an expectation from us to be looked up to.'

Just about somes it up.

I've given up getting irritated with the comments that I hear from the 'ignorants' that incessantly slate the locals in the country they've emigrated to (i.e. Thailand) and then in the next sentence blame their perceived home country's 'downfall' on the influx of immigrants there.........happens in conversation here boringly regularly and increasingly frequently on Thai visa.

How sad.........

You know something seriously wrong with Thailand - expats retire there to get away from crime in Aussie/ USA pommy land etc / all the crap etc =- what a race of dickheads where they murder thier own meal tickets !!!!! and nobody is safe ''land of smiles and she'll be right '' ok when does it all get cleaned up ! i seen all the red shirts there when i stayed last year for awhile - what a scaremongering lot of crap that was '' red shirts about as dangerous as a stone garden gnome ! yet they shut down towns ohh gosh!!!! in one way i see violence there as a lot of crap! then you see some expat 25 murdered by Thais for what ??? they don't steal his loot or credit card = then whats the purpose ? since when did a Thai man ever give 2 tosse's what a westerner did ??

Something seriously wrong here Thais must be dumb eh ?

(1 Thailand without westerner - like a rolls royce with no motor - no dollars to drive it - so you look after 'your meal ticket ( dickheads - you dont kill it ) as without him you got a big percentage of nothing = tis fact ! ( they cant count eh ) everything is a quid these days sad but true -so you dont kill it -------what the way the world is!!! down to its last 2 cents ! what do Thais do ''doh we ''not want ferlang'' --thats ok we'd rather eat grass = dickheads ! you cant have the $$$ without the man sorry it don't work that way ---you embrace his money, he's the boss and you embrace his ways ! - thats the law of the jungle !

Yes thats the shot'' now Thailand scare's away the Swede tourists thats the way eh !----------iriots''''' you embrace the dollars'' --------------hellloooo))))) you don't chase it away ! i mean who cares what he did ? whats the worst he could have done -slept with 4 tarts in a week - no crime in that ! He'd not be stealing---- nothing there you'd risk jail for !!!! lol ----------

Nothing in Thailand where a Thai could justify murder ! if you read travel brochures - and believe them!! then nothing happens in Thailand as to what we read here today hmm--- somebody is telling fibs !

But hey Thais gottu wake up my friends western man unless its paedephile well in Thailand he should never be upset by anybody because i mean 90% westerners living there doing the Thais a favour ! most get robbed for the favour ?- be me if i was a Thai id be to scared to say ''boo '' to western guy '' let alone attack it - maybe they are just total nut cases -thats easy fixed just lock em all up , or bump em off ----------i mean who's going to miss them !

Hm strange place with a lot to learn -about - who's paying your way in life !----------old analogie applies man with the $$$$ makes the rules!! the rest bow the head and follow !

stevo52

??? Better start taking the medication again, Stevo. ???

'Dollar is already on a comeback with the debt crisis avoided (so far anyway).'

Very much depends on whether US has its credit rating downgraded which is still possible even with the deal.

'And besides, when Thais travel they travel with farang so that means more farang going back home doesn't it?'

What about the 1000's of Thai students that travel to US, Australia, UK, etc??

'Pheu Thai at work now trying to do more stories on Thai and less on farang.'

???? Nothing to do with Pheu Thai, it's basically a crudely disguised advertorial promoting football travel packages.

'We all know that Thais are terrible, cheap travelers, so I don't think 1000 Thais traveling overseas will break the Thai Banks.'

All those middle class Thais sporting Harrods bags and bottles of JW Black wandering around Heathrow Airport must be a figment of my imagination then.

I would suspect he was released on bail.

Oh, that's ok then..............?

Did I say that?? jeez you people need to stop reading between the lines and making up what you think other people are saying.

And just as an FYI, to all those referring to him as a "cold blooded killer" Actually, no. He lost his temper and killed the man in a fit of uncontrolled rage.

By definition, a cold blooded killer feels no emotion whatsoever:

cold-blood·ed

adj.

a. Lacking feeling or emotion: a cold-blooded killer.

b. Executed without feeling or emotion

Again before anyone decides this is some kind of justification, it is not. It is more simple facts.

Firstly, many thanks for the legal lesson. Superfluous in this case though as I have made no reference to the state of the murderer's mind anywhere in my very short post.

Secondly, thanks for including me in your collective term - 'you people'. Does the 'you people' refer to the group of posters on an open forum that don't share your point of view or just those that irritate you?

Thirdly to explain my short post, I find it absolutely wrong that a man who has taken a knife in his car and then stabbed someone with it multiple times until he killed them is then let out on bail. Whether premeditated or not, he deserves to be locked away for a very long time without having the priveledge of bail.

I also made no reference to country in my post. There have been judgements made in my own native country many times that have made me feel sick. This judgement in Thailand also makes me feel sick. I'm not arguing technical legalities or pedantics here, I'm expressing my view that in my opinion a murderer who has taken a lethal weapon in his possesion and then used it to murder should not be granted bail. You may not agree with my opinion but hey, this is an open forum right where we are ALL allowed to give opinions.

I would suspect he was released on bail.

Oh, that's ok then..............?

I didn't go to any bars over the weekend but had dinner Friday night and Saturday night in two different restaurants in Cha-am - both selling alcohol openly.