brewsterbudgen

Strange question. My wife is 30 years younger than me, and our son is 8 years old. If my son was my daughter, no, it wouldn't feel like I was dating my daughter. I don't date 8 year olds.

It's incorrect but 'safe', advice. Thailand does not have a 6-month validity rule as has already been pointed out, but many airlines either don't know this or have their own rules! I went through this in detail with the UK Embassy who were insisting my son needed a new passport or wouldn't be allowed to enter Thailand, as he had 4 months remaining. Fortunately I took advice from this Forum and he was admitted without issue.

Is it better to send the Life cert via DHL or similar?

You can't sell alcohol but you can drink it.

Not universally popular on this Forum, but WRLife tend to be cheaper than most. https://www.wrlife.net/

Because she entered on a UK passport. Easy enough to leave on the UK passport, pay the fine and re-enter on her Thai passport. Lesson learned.

If only they did!

Pests.

Succession has just concluded. I don't think I've ever watched a more engrossing, better scripted, better acted, better shot and better scored TV drama series. The ending was superb (no spoilers). The Sopranos, Mad Men, Better Call Saul, The Wire and Ten Feet Under run it close, but Succession comes out on top.

"They" (whoever they are) haven't said there is no prostitution - the authorities are just trying to prevent soliciting in public areas. It's nothing new - there have been crackdowns on Beach Road soliciting forever, and they're obviously continuing. Quite why it merits publicity in the local media, I have no idea.

Yes, funny how the streetwalkers manage to disappear immediately before the "after dark patrol" comes along!

Indeed. The most recent Act (as far as I know) was the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act, B.E. 2539 (1996), but this didn't repeal the aforementioned Entertainment Places Act 1966.

No. That misquote was in regard to there being no prostitution on Walking Street, which technically was correct (apart from the odd streetwalker) as the act of paying for sex doesn't (normally) happen in the Walking Street bars/clubs/gogos.

Why would they do that? They're trying to stop soliciting on the street. Most bars and gogos operate legally under the Entertainment Places Act. Here's some reading for you: The Entertainment Places Act of 1966 It was not until 1966 that the act of Service Establishments was passed which made it possible for Thai women to render "special services." This is done, for example, by establishing such places as massage parlors where men come and look at women, who are sitting separated by a glass wall, and can pick and choose who they want. The women come to the men's hotel room and 'massage' them, but, in reality do more than that. It is usually left for the customer to decide what kind of "special service" he really wants, and because of that, they are able to participate in this industry without any legal action being taken against them. While the existence of prostitution is legally suppressed and deformalized, entertainment places (pimping) became formalized to protect owners and customers. This shift of emphasis made it impossible to enact anti-prostitution legislation, except in the case of street soliciting. It also drove women into entertainment places. Since having these two acts passed as legislation, it has become much more feasible for both women and entertainment establishments to render sexual services, under the guise that only "special services" will be performed. It has become a lot easier for business owners to operate their companies because the owners can employ prostitutes as special services girls' under the conditions of the labor code governing service establishments And ultimately, the female employees end up turning their 'services' into prostitution, rather than only "massaging" a customer. Raids on brothels and other lucrative sex businesses are highly publicized when successful, but are very random and irregular. Even in those few cases, the owners are likely to pay off the police and other government officials to avoid being prosecuted. According to the Thailand Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1997, which was released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, "brothels operate with the protection of local government representatives and police." Even corrupt Thai police and other government officials participate in this lucrative industry and facilitate the opportunities for prostitution to continue, without enforcing the laws which they are representative of. ANOTHER REPORT ON The Entertainment Places Act of 1966 says: This Act was designed to pave the way for brothels to be legalized in the guise of massage parlours, bars, night-clubs, tea-houses etc. It was enacted at a time when the Government sought to increase state revenue from the "Rest and Recreation" activities of the US armed forces stationed in Vietnam. The Act defines the various kinds of "Entertainment Places" and allows such places to operate only under a license to be obtained from local police stations. The use of licensed establishments for prostitution is illegal. The Act sets 18 years as the minimum age for women to work in such establishments but the penalty for employing under-age women in only baht 2,000. [Caye, 1995: 2] REFERENCE Caye, Jasmine, 1995. Preliminary Survey on Regional Child Trafficking for Prostitution in Thailand. Commissioned by UNICEF-EAPRO August-November.

Maybe, and I'm fine with them outside, but inside they sh*t everywhere and are a nuisance.

It took over 14 days from "Pending" to "Approved" for my last report, so definitely some glitches in the system.

Maybe he's Chinese-Thai and isn't a foreigner?

Sounds like a thug. Hopefully, he'll be caught.

As does bashing them with a broom!

Seriously? I guess you must have underlying health issues. You have my sympathy.

Give it around 20 years until most cars are autonomous/AI driven.

The schools are desperate but you, as a parent, need to be satisfied with your choice. Visiting the schools, meeting the staff, looking in on some lessons, checking out the facilities is crucial.

Apply to as many as you can and also visit as many as possible. Ignore what they might say, they're desperate for top-dollar paying students.

Rinse and repeat on a monthly or weekly basis for the next 30 years...

To get your kid a UK passport, the key document you'll need to produce is your 'long-form' birth certificate to prove that you're British Otherwise Than By Descent, so, unless you have this with you in Thailand, it's something you need to organise. Once you have it, you apply via HMPO at the VFS offices in Bangkok or Chiang Mai. It's quite straightforward as long as you have the required paperwork.