ourmanflint

<no comment>

I assume this has been asked before hence your reticence... which I completely understand. I'm not attacking anyone in Thailand or anywhere who has grown up with Buddhism as the all encompassing religion of their country, but as foreigners who weren't born into the buddhist tradition I wanted to know if you got involved in Buddhism because you were in Thailand and you therefore became involved in the religion of buddhism, or you were just attracted to the philosophy of Buddhism, from reading and studying etc.

Ever since I was 21 , which was a lifetime ago, I have called myself a buddhist when people ask what religion I am, though I am always keen to stress that Buddhism is a philosophy NOT a religion. That is how I see it!!

Now, Thailand has a Buddhist "religion", full blown, and after reading many of the posts on this forum, I have come to wonder wether, you too consider yourselves part of the religion of Buddhism or are you more akin to the philosophy?

To me there is a huge difference, the religion of buddhism is full of the nonsense that most organised religions develop through time, rituals, miracles and such! None of which have anything remotely to do with the teachings of Buddha. I see these as the consequence of the weakness of "man" who when trying to grasp the very simple, end up by making it more and more complex, why we do it is beyond me, but we do!

So which side of the line do you stand... or do you even see the line???

Excellent stuff... nearly wet my pants a few times... so funny!!!

I can never get tired of the gaping chasm that is "what women want" and "what they will take"... classic!! I don't think the behaviour of this guy is anything new, it's not even a "Thai guy" thing .... it's a guy thing wherever there are a sufficiency of women who are naive enough to believe whatever a guy says to get into their pants....

any guy anywhere can fake it for as long as he wants to!!! ( that's a secret by the way... don't tell anyone) to get whatever he wants to...

NB: please feel free to replace "guy" with "girl" at any point.... the result is the same

embrace life.... but

don't cling too tight though it hurts!!!

A bit off topic.... well not really!!! but do Thais kiss the same way we do... mouth to mouth.. I thought I read somewhere they kiss differently... or am i imagining it.. sometimes I just can't decide if I have made something up or not.... I think it's old age!

you can't really do it, unless you have a proper dessicator containing anhydrous calcium chloride or similar! Best to do as suggested and buy more... it's cheap!!

Whoa there fella...

where did that come from...? Stay away from the mushrooms old boy they're dangerous!!

why?

Hmmm.... well if it opens one tourists eyes to the reality that you have to take responsibilty for yourself when travelling in "paradise", then it id definitely a very good thing! Thailand isn't always the land of smiles as is often said and people do need to be more educated about the negative side of being in the islands.

Just not really sure how you see it related to Thailand is all. Malaysia, is, after all, a different country with a very different culture.

It was because I have read often here that similar things are taboo throughout Thailand as well, whilst not actually being illegal, they certainly seem to be frowned on! Not holding hands and it seems any public displays of affection have been cited often as being the "thai way". From my own limited personal experience, I don't recall seeing many thais holding hands apart from boys and men funnily enough!

So a couple of things come to mind, one being the Thai attitude to the many farang walking around holding hands and kissing ( much more on the islands especially after a big party), and wether you all as residents have stopped behaving in such a manner to "fit in" as it where....

and if so why???? After all this is not quite the same as going topless ( which is why I named the thread Culture Clash Pt2 ) is it? I suppose I just didn't understand the way many people thought on that other thread, in essence saying that as farangs we have to fit in in every way and respect the Thai way of life. I just can't agree that we should have to, I think that incoming minority cultures, just as they have all over the world, can have a beneficial effect on a society in some small ways by bringing with them their own customs and manners, I'm not advocating wholesale culture overhaul here, but I think by keeping some of our more liberal views and practices such as being young and love, and being able to show that to all and sundry without fear of societies disproval, we can have some small beneficial effect.

No takers..... I guess I must be out on my own on this one then!! It wouldn't be the first time and I t will not be the last!!

Maybe after I've been in the sun for a while I'd be chilled out enough that this kind of thing wouldn't upset me..... but I really doubt it!!

adios!!

Congrats Udon!!!

Caesars persoanal Guard was the Praetorian guard!!!

Pretoria .. SA

sorry guys been at work all day...

Nearly there old Croc....Harare is getting hot!!!

Hint: Could Caesars personal guard have lived here ???

Click on the posters name in any post... then in upper right hand side of their profile page there is a profile options button, you can select posts here...

Don't look at mine though... very boring!!!

Cheers Tywais... same problem here with right click etc!

I never ever set my camera to auto except at night with flash attached etc... If you are going to use auto, don't use program use AE ( aperture priority) or S ( shutter priority) I would recommend AE as you can set the depth of field you want, then let the camera pick shutter speed, which in sunny Thailand is 95% fast enough.

It's not in the Americas!!!

Cool!!

So where are we now then!?

some great photos here.... Edd.. amazing Mekhong Catfish(?) and Donna love the pic of your friend "superman"

Keep it up

It's Seattle I Think!!

And That's Mount Rainier!!

All you PC "neanderthals" will now courtesy of Apple to able to load Windows ~XP onto a fantastic, slick superfast Mac.... coming to a store near you!! Released yesterday Apple Bootcamp allows users to dual boot either Windows or Mac OSX.

I thought I'd post this here as there was such an excellent thread on "toplessness" ie `'Culture Clash I"...

http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=41250

PUTRAJAYA: The local government has the power to establish by-laws to prosecute citizens who behave in a disorderly manner in public, the Federal Court ruled Tuesday.

Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, together with Federal Court judges Datuk Alauddin Sheriff and Datuk Richard Malanjum, unanimously held that the Datuk Bandar of Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) was correct to charge two students for behaving indecently by hugging and kissing at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre Park.

The court ruled that Section 8(1) of the Park By-Laws, the section invoked by the Datuk Bandar to punish persons caught behaving indecently in public was constitutional.

Following the ruling, two students, Ooi Kean Thong, 24, and Siow Ai Wei, 22, will have to defend themselves against the charge levelled against them at the Kuala Lumpur City Hall Court.

Their case is fixed for mention on June 1. Both had pleaded not guilty to committing the offence at the park at 5.20pm on Aug 2, 2003. If convicted, they could be fined not exceeding RM2,000 or jailed up to a year, or both.

Ahmad Fairuz said the (Federal) court's answer to constitutional question referred to them, whether Section 8(1) is ultra vires the Local Government Act 1976 and infringed Article 5(1) of the Federal Constitutional (relating to freedom of life) was in the negative.

The two students had challenged the validity of Section 8(1) contending that the Local Government Act 1976 which is the parent act governing local authorities did not empower the Datuk Bandar to make local by-laws on matters of decency.

They alleged that they were given a summons because they refused to bribe the enforcement officers. In January last year, the two officers pleaded not guilty to corruption charges in the Sessions Court and their case is pending.

Counsel S. Selvam, for the students, submitted Tuesday that Datuk Bandar had failed to take into consideration the fact that Malaysia was a multiracial country and that the act of hugging and kissing was an expression of love which should be encouraged.

"The students should be given freedom to live but there was serious infringement by the Datuk Bandar of the two students' fundamental liberty and constitutional rights," he said.

Ahmad Fairuz said: "So, they should be given freedom to live as they like? The constitution allows all citizens to do that (hugging and kissing) even by the roadside, in public park?

"In England, those acts are acceptable to the people in that country but is kissing and hugging acceptable to Malaysian citizens?. Is the act according to the morality of the Asian people?"

Selvam replied that there was nothing wrong with hugging and kissing because it was an act to express their love. He said that the Datuk Bandar had created a law which was prejudicial and caused hardship to both students and this was unfair.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Manoj Kurup argued that it should be left to the trial judge to decide whether the act of hugging and kissing was a disorderly behaviour.

He said there was no need to have specific words in the act to legislate by-laws for a specific purpose. - Bernama

So regarding many peoples opinion that as tourists we should just accept "Asian customs", don't you think that we can have a beneficial impact in some very specific areas, this being one of them! Or do you think that Kissing & Hugging in public is an inappropriate act??

Being young and in love is one of the most magical things that can happen in a persons life, to legislate against what is our natural and normal behaviour is crazy...... I personally think these laws and customs are nonsensical, falsely modest and serve no use whatsoever.... but maybe I'm weird!!!

yeah !! There used to be a regular bangkok-samui ferry circa 1993..

shame it's gone really!!

thanks..

like anywhere there are the festivals the local tourist authority promotes, and then there are the local festivals which don't seem big enough to promote.. it's these I'm looking for.

But thanks for the link I'm sure it will be useful.

I do resent the fact that there are dozens if not hundreds of farang in this country that are arrogant and ignorant

They come here throwing money around like it's growing from their arse...These are so often the same farang that complain about Thai people not being able to speak proper English. And boasting about how great Farangland is...

The same pioneers who convinced Thailand they needed to build highways and fill in their 'ancient' klongs with concrete to accomodate more cars as to keep up with the modern world. I could go on and on...but I don't want to get side-tracked.

That has to be by far the most unbelievable statement I've ever read on this board. Have you ever traveled anywhere else in the world? Come on, just look at any major city, anywhere in the world and compare that same city to what it was like 50 years ago. Almost without exception there will be no comparison. All over the world people love money and love modern societies and want tp build modern cities and a decent infrastructure. Some places are doing a better job of it than others, but nearly everyone in the world is doing it. It is not the farangs who are "spoiling" Thailand, it's the Thais who want to create for themselves a modern society and get all the creature comforts that come with it. The effect that the expat farangs have on Thai society is miniscule at best.

As societies and their economies evolve, many times they eventually come to the point where they realize they've gone too far and then spend an exhorbitant amount of money to restore some of their past glory and culture. I wouldn't be surprised if that happens sometime in the future with Thailand as well. I cannot argue with you that perhaps filling in the klongs, etc. might be short-sighted and some Thais will later regret what they've done. But for a farang to blame it on other farangs is just rediculous. That's the type of thinking that I'd expect from some uneducated Thai...blame it all on the farangs.

My god... if Greens statements are "unbelievable" then yours are just plain naive... of course it is the west through the WTO and World Bank who are insisting that all these countries develop their infrastructure as a condition of the loans they recieve. Yes we as farangs are not to blame as individuals, but our governments certainly are!! especially the USA through the world bank. I suggest you catch up with what's really going on!!

Aside from that, I think the general tone of those that have, is just as bad if not worse than poor greenwanderer who seems pretty content!! I personally couldn't care less how much you earn or spend as long as you're happy, it's a positive note for me in the process of moving over to BKK, that there are those high income packages available, and comforting that like Green.. I will have to survive on about 40k until I get sorted, at least I know I will be pretty happy about that choice. People with money all over the world always feel threatened by someone "lower down" questioning their spending.... it seems you're all a little too scared of losing what you have, at least that's how it comes across.

I've got to ask..... just to prove my earlier point really!!

So.. has what you want from a man changed since participating on this thread?... has anything we men have said " brought you to your senses"

Or are you going to be even more rigorous in sticking to what you want ??? Maybe we even made you add a few things to what you want list!!

Or maybe you just know what you certainly don't want...

Ciao bella bambinas!!

(cheesy grin)