BangkokReady

Failure to stop, PIT manoeuvre or stinger, window smashed, dragged from car, stretched out on the pavement, arrested, taken to the station for drug and alcohol tests, in court for multiple charges in a number of days. But think of how much face would have been lost, or how much trouble the police would be in if she had powerful friends! Amazing Thailand!

Sure, but they're more likely to want to know about travel in the West or Harry Potter. ????

Laos is awesome. I can't wait to go back once things get a bit more stable. Sure. I had an interesting taxi ride where I asked the taxi driver about the music he was playing and mentioned Carabao. He seemed very excited. I love to learn Thai history and culture when I can. It certainly helps to engage with people. Haha. Well, actually, I despise football, so I would probably just humour him and pretend to like Man U, Liverpool or Arsenal, as I have had to do previously, but I get your point. I enjoy a good impromptu language exchange.

Hmmm, I'm not sure that's an accurate summary. I'll "ELI5" it for you: "Age-gap relationships appear common in Thailand between Thai girl and foreigner, they may not have too many issues when both parties are relatively young, but, as both parties age, the physical differences may become more pronounced. How do people imagine that will play out, particularly in regards to sex and faithfulness? For example, 20 something and 40 something might be ok, but what about when they get to 50 something and 70 something?"

I'm sure if we're talking high class wealthy guy back home, age is hardly even a question. They would have their pick in any SEA country. I believe Thailand is actually in the minority in SEA in their attitude to all but the most hiso foreigners. Yeah, there's some sort of link between SEA and Paris. Sort of territorialy and ideologically. I'm getting the colour red for some reason. ????

Sure, women clearly think differently about these things than men do and status is a big one for women. It's a shame that Westerners are not held at the same level of esteem in Thailand as they are in Vietnam, although they don't have the same, ahem, "type" of foreigner really going there. That being said, there are still some Thais who seem to look up to foreigners. Whether that's just because they think they are rich, admire their White skin and pointy noses, or value the opinion of a well travelled and Western educated foreigner, who knows? Certainly Things like being an expert, being seen as being well cultured or high class can happen to a foreigner. And these things can persevere through age. Although it is still possible that people's opinion of someone can change over time. They may still become disillusioned. It all sounds quite promising though. All i need to do now I gain some status or amass some wealth.

I haven't, but I probably will do now.

Hardly surprising, given two years of anti-foreigner narratives pushed by all and sundry. "You made me poor while you are still rich." - right message, wrong target

Hopefully this isn't going to be a common thing as tourists slowly start to return to Thailand. I can see why some Thais are envious and resentful of foreign people whom they perceive as having weathered covid a lot better than them financially, but physical attacks are never OK. They really need to turn their anger towards the people that actually caused their problems. (Obviously this is precisely why foreigners are blamed for covid.)

Apparently it shows some bouncers attacking some tourists.

And crazy bouncers that will beat someone nearly to death, possibly disabling them, simply for acting in a way they dislike.

I meant when they reach that age. I.e. the woman likes the guy when he's 40 and she's 20. He is still fairly attractive, although showing some age, and there are other things that she finds attractive as well. It might even be OK when he is 50 or 60. But then when they get to say 50 and 70, how does she feel then? Will she stay, or will she find someone new? I suppose, personally, this is a potential pitfall in dating someone a lot younger than you if you consider the relationship to not be solely financial. It might be OK now, but what about the future? Obviously women's biology is on the side of the male, as men tend to be attractive longer than women, but it's still a reasonable concern.

Sure, it's clear that women can find things other than looks to be a turn on. Money, power, physical prowess/aggression, these seem to transcend physical appearance. Women even pursue powerful men. Women are obviously very different to men when it comes to attraction. Women seem to change how attractive they find a guy when they find out other things about him that make him "high status". This is rarely the case with men. If we see a woman with a plain or even unattractive guy, but the man has money, a powerful job, is very confident/dominant/violent, people accept it. It seems like the effect of the difference in age is almost unique in this regard. I think the question remains that while a twenty year old might find a forty year old attractive (for various reasons), maybe thirty and fifty, but what about forty and sixty or fifty and seventy? Will this attraction suddenly fade in a way that it wouldn't if the ages were similar as the couple ages?

That was my first thought. Maybe thinking he's going to meet a hot girl just to get him to the location? Definitely sounds like there is more to it. Don't get involved with any girl unless you're 100% sure she's single. These girls are dangerous.

My take on it is that a big part of it is consumerism. Keeping people separated and each having a single house, single car, etc., means more money is being spent. Forcing people to buy insurance, pension, etc., means that money is in the hands of the banks rather than going straight to the parents. So consumer culture is all about hyper-individualisation where people only really think about themselves and what they independently have. One thing you notice in "the West" is that living with elderly parents, or still living with your parents in your twenties, is considered something you should be embarrassed and avoid. Older people are viewed as being kind of gross/uncool and should be locked away somewhere, while young people are out partying and worrying about what their friends will think about their new kitchen when they next come round for a dinner party. I'm not saying that no "Western" people care for their elderly, and I know it's probably a bigger issue in English speaking countries, but you just don't see the three generations out together in the same numbers back home as you do in Thailand. Thailand/Asia being poorer is a factor also, with no social safety net. Young people are likely to need a lot of support from their parents until they are well into adulthood, and this means that the family has a say in what they do. In "the West" young people depend on their parents slightly less, so have a little more freedom. I don't feel there is anything wrong with it, as long as taxes stay low, but I think that both genders of children should be made to contribute. There seems to be a thing in Thailand where sometimes only the girl has to help the family and even the male child can live off the female child.

It's a website and they want people to click, which I would have done if it mentioned Thais in the headline or not.

I'm sharing my opinion just like you are yours. Your opinion is no more valid that anyone else's.

Something up with these headlines. I can't quite seem to put my finger on it... ????

It's weird. I don't particularly like Songkran, but in terms of the activities going on, even now, there are way more Thais doing this than foreigners. If the foreigners are riff-raff, then surely the Thais are too? Or is there some way that if Thais do this it's OK, but if foreigners do it they're the lowest of the low? I suspect the latter is the case in these people's heads.

I don't consider myself to be above anyone, based on race or nationality. If there is an individual whose actions I want to discuss or condemn (or even celebrate), Thai or foreign, I will do so, as is the nature of most online forums. While I would agree for more serious matters, like underage sex, rape, murder, hard drug use, drinking and driving, etc., I think something like joining in with a gang of locals on a party street throwing some water around is fine. You are entitled to disagree with that, of course. Legally, they are as culpable as the locals. Morally, I don't see anything to really object to.

I don't understand why there are any homeless in Thailand if anyone who doesn't want to work and would rather indulge in drink or drugs all day can simply become a monk. Is there a waiting list? This would be true if he wasn't pretending to be a monk so that probably fairly poor people were unknowingly funding his habit...

The locals being involved is absolutely relevant. It completely nullifies your second sentence here. Just think about what you have written for a second. It doesn't matter if the locals started it but you're wondering why the foreigners broke the rules? Seriously? If the locals are involved, if the locals took part and maybe even started and encouraged it, then it isn't foreigners putting themselves above locals in their choosing not to follow the regulations. The way your comment reads is like the foreigners came along, saw all the locals peacefully following the regulations, wearing masks, social distancing, not drinking, and then just ripped off their masks and started a water fight completely separate to the locals in the vicinity. Do you actually believe that?

And that's at 44 years of age! If I shot and killed anyone, I don't think I could face my mother or any of my family ever again.

Or, perhaps... they are members of the public? They walk among us...

Just ordinary guys. Ordinary guys involved in a violent sport linked to illegal gambling, who carry guns, and solve their problems by murdering people. Just ordinary Thai guys... ????