NorthernRyland

That's 100% correct. I badly want to move out of CM but I need to figure out what to do with my wife who has a career here. At least one thing you can do is live in an area where there are as few cars as possible. These days it's damn near impossible to go anywhere in CM without entering on to some busy roads. Not saying it's safe anywhere but less cars = less chances.

the look they give you just kills me. In that guys mind he thinks he should be able to do anything he wants and have the world revolve around him. I really struggle to see Thai people as my equal after I have these experiences. That's what racism feels like I don't like it at all.

The one thing you can't defend against is a car going the wrong way on the road down a blind curve where you can't seem them until it's too late. The amount of times this happens in the mountains here blows my mind. In fact, the hill tribe that transport vegetables are the #1 most dangerous fools on the road in Thailand. I see these people come off the road so many times but they never learn. It's such a shame because the mountains here are beautiful and my favorite place to ride.

I should't be calling people names, sorry about that. Nonetheless I'm being serious, not here to bash Thai's for the fun of it.

to be fair it's much safer than it looks and the stats include the idiots that are weaving in an out of traffic and people that pull into roads without looking etc.... that's not saying much though.

this goes all ways in Thailand. Unless you're in a tank you will get abused. Having said that the number of cyclists that are dicks is astounding. The only defense I have is that the feeling of almost getting hit when you're on a bike is visceral so people tend to lash out easier.

I've seen appalling behavior from foreigners also. They know better but for some reason they feel like "when in Rome".

I hate Thai police so much I can't tell you. About 5 years ago up from where I live a 16 year old kid on a motorbike got decapitated by a tractor trailer. Any thinking person could tell you it's not safe to have massive trucks driving 90k/hour past markets but apparently there is no one smart enough in Thailand to figure this out. The police are the only ones who have the authority to do anything about this madness yet they do literal nothing. If the villagers decided to take the matters in to their own hands and punish the dangerous drivers then the police would intervene and put THEM in jail. Worse than useless.

I always warn people about this because I was on the same track myself. If I was back in the US I would have been forced to find a job and be earning good money as a result but Thailand lets you cheat your way around this. There's a YouTube vlogger in CM called "walk about Wayne" and he seems like he's on that track. Barely getting by in Thailand when you're nearly 50 is crazy. Even if he gets a good job tomorrow there's not enough years left in his life to make up the loss. Good luck to the man, he's gonna need it.

I felt the need to rant after the sad story of the forum member being killed on his bike today and it was not appropriate to post it there. I'm a road cyclists and motorcyclist in Chiang Mai with over 15 years experience riding the roads here so I've seen just about everything. It's nigh impossible to have a single day where you don't see or experience something shocking and appalling in regards to how the locals drive. Just today I had a guy decide he couldn't wait 2 seconds for me to go by and decided to turn into the road anyways, nearly resulting in a collision (I had to unclip my shoes even in case I had to dismount). Yelled at the guy and he starred back at me with a brain dead look. After that I'm biking up a mountain road and some women decides as a truck is passing in the other lane that this is the best time to pass me and gets with inches of me while we're both going at very slow speeds up a 12% grade. I easily could have swerved 10 inches and that would have been enough to cause a collision. The experience of driving in Thailand (removed) Watching them navigate an intersection without a light is another really sad display <remmoved> It shouldn't feel like a jungle survival game doing something so simple but here we are. I like to joke that I wasn't a racist... until I moved to Thailand. You may know how I feel. Anyways the point I wanted to get off my chest is that these <removed>will absolutely get you killed out of sheer stupidity and selfishness and the sad part is they're <removed>to even understand what they're doing. I love riding in Thailand and ironically it's the best part of the country for me but eventually if you're on the road long enough they will ******* kill you.

then you didn't set your goals high enough or your imagination is lacking.

They can't tell a Russian from a German but if you pry around enough you'll find they don't care much for Indians, Arabs or anyone else that's browner than they are.

what I mean is that some tourist is going to read the sign and then speak the name they read to a Thai person. Everyone can read the sign which is good but then you can't speak the name to Thais. Why not just call it the full proper name then? "Eastern moon temple" (or whatever). Now it makes 100% sense to foreigners but Thais are totally confused. Now good way to solve this really, all choices are compromises.

that would be good for the reader but does the average Thai person even know what east/west means after 12 years of English lessons? I actually seriously doubt this. So you can read the sign then but not speak the name to others.

what's wrong with ahk? If it's Awg you'll get a strong discernible "g" sound which will confuse Thais. Listen to how it actually sounds: https://translate.google.com/?sl=en&tl=th&text=out &op=translate

they never even bother to ask native speakers.

yeah but he's gone rogue and doesn't hold any power in government.

People have been saying this for years but it's missing the point. The bottom line is the upper class and elites drink alcohol and they don't smoke weed. Generally the people who smoke are a different economic and social class entirely. If the elites start smoking casually like they drink the laws will change. It's as simple as that.

I wish it was only dual-pricing, try more like 10x.

Wait, you think Thai builders are withholding all their excellent building skills because we haven't stroked their precious ego enough? Dude they literally don't know any better or are too lazy or drunk.

Really sums it up well. Can't squeeze blood from a stone.

How do these things keep happening to the sex tourism capital world of the world?

what do you mean, good ol' RamenRaven is a pillar of the community

This is why they're so desperate for immigrants. It's tax cattle. SS is a Ponzi scheme which is paid for based on current taxation and is going to be drastically cut as the current generation is slowly replaced by low-wage immigrants from the 3rd world. It's seriously f'd.

"it's not stolen because you could have chosen to kill yourself so it was really your choice in the end"