BangkokReady

I think we're hard wired to assess everyone we encounter. A quick up and down checking how fertile a woman is and how much of a physical threat a man is. Do our eyes linger more on the woman? For sure. Just don't break your neck to stare at her as you walk past or have a "phworr" look on your face. Also, we take in masses of information both consciously and unconsciously, with our direct gaze and our peripheral vision. The idea that we would be walking along and everyone near us is just a shapeless grey blob unless you consciously and deliberately focus in on them is pretty ridiculous.

Absolutely. That or the website should be paying him something. Unless they do, in which case it is well deserved. Are you on the staff @ubonjoe?

What?

I think you can use @ to tag someone by username in your comment: @JimmyJ, that way they should get a notification.

The first and last time, I'm sure. ????

Can you be a little more condescending and negative? It feels like there's some slight ambiguity around how bitter you are.

I'm not sure what you think this brings to the conversation. Obviously they're going to use a model on promotional material. If you believe the model on the ad banner or sign up page is the girl you're going to get on the website, you shouldn't be using them at all, possibly you shouldn't be using the internet.

I believe there is research to show that vaccination reduces spread.

Indeed. A lot of people seem to only consider people working directly with tourists as being effected, but there's a massive knock-on effect due to lack of foreign people. Things have been relaxed quite a lot lately, but my experience is that only malls and more expensive eateries are very busy, because their customers have money to spend. The places that would have been occupied with the working class and poor are still looking pretty empty.

What is a blue roofed cave?

It's not just the authorities that carry some blame, Thai society as a whole does. We know what would happen if there was some sort of crack down, people would object and say the police are being too harsh. If they started issuing heavy fines to the parents and crushing bikes, it would solve the problem pretty swiftly, but Thai people prefer jumping jacks and push-ups then "on your way now kiddo" as it's a more "Thai" way of dealing with the problem. No civilians are reporting kids without helmets or children obviously too young to ride, or more than two on a bike, they aren't even cautioning them. Society plays its part in this.

Great news. Now if we could just get rid of the insurance for those who are already residing in Thailand.

I assume they don't have an accurate record of their population, but it seems kind of weird to not acknowledge this in some way.

Interesting. And you accumulated them while teaching English in Thailand? If I have the numbers right, you started when you were 24. Did you just work as many hours as you could? Or was there some external source of money, inheritance, etc.?

I see. In that case, I suppose rather than saying "Vietnam era GI’s leaving a “legacy of sex culture”", which implies that a sex culture which wasn't present before was created and left by the GIs, Chuwit should have said something along the lines of "Vietnam era GIs left a new kind of sex culture aimed at foreign clientele in the form of Ap-Op-Nuat (or soapy massage)", which would clearly explain that GIs did not create a sex culture, rather they prompted a change in what was already there. Probably Chuwit couldn't put it like that, as he has to toe the line and effectively deny the long established sex industry that caters to Thai men. Easy to see how people would end up objecting to the content of the article in these circumstances.

In what world is a guy saying that foreigners left a legacy of sex culture not a Thai person blaming foreigners for said sex culture? Anyone who objected the contents of that "article" was quite right to. It was a blatant lie. If anyone is imagining anything or overreacting, it's you.

How were you planning to fund your retirement?

Russel Crowe is a good actor and has been in some amazing films, a few are my personal favorites. He's clearly enjoying his time in Thailand, which is great to see. The police officer did a really great thing and dealt with the situation he found himself in a very positive and peaceful way. Two decent chaps enjoying a pleasant moment together. I'm enjoying seeing/hearing about Crowe's time in Thailand. It seems, to me, to be a generally positive thing. It feels like maybe people have become a little entrenched in the doom and gloom of the last couple of years. Maybe it's a good time to stop, take a step back, look around, and smell the roses. Life moves pretty fast, or so I'm told.

Quite a sad indictment of the Thai education system. In the West, although things are getting a little silly these days, it's not unusual to find an academic giving sound advice, choosing to focus on the real root of the problem without any kind of scheming or self-promotion, simply the desire to help society improve. Here we have someone who claims to be educated, who probably wants to be seen as working for the betterment of his society, yet through either ignorance or malice (neither are acceptable given his position), ignores pretty much the main reason for the high number of deaths on Thai roads; the way Thai people drive.

If that's your stance, go for it. Personally, I see a difference in behavior, values, beliefs, culture, social rules, and so on, but perhaps I'm overthinking it.

Are you suggesting there is little difference between the behavior of people in SEA and in the West?

Very interesting, thanks for writing. It's amazing how many people probably have a reasonably interesting biography inside them, waiting to be written down. Although, as time goes on, I do wonder what the children of today could write about.

Very true. Our Western notions of taking people at their word, assuming people won't do something incredibly stupid and blatantly doomed to failure based solely on what they want in the moment, respecting the law, worrying about what people think of us, being generally honest, treating others as we wish to be treated, being governed by an inner conscience rather than an outer face saving need, doing the "right" thing, not wanting to be perceived as dishonest and double-crossing, and so on, really put us at a disadvantage in SEA. It's so comical, and not a little pathetic, when you get the ignorant "noble savage" do-gooders who come to somewhere like Thailand and express pity over what they perceive as the "evil White man" taking advantage of the poor down trodden locals.

Not quite. It was good for two or three years after that.

Sounds like a more accurate description would be something like: "over time, 10% of Thailand's long established sex industry adapted itself a little to target the foreign market".