BangkokReady

I wondered if maybe it was an advert when I saw the video on Facebook. They made it look so cool.

Horrible situation, but it's more an indictment on the society than the age of getting married.

They seem a lot happier than this girl and there's only a 6 year age-gap here. Do you seriously think most Thais marry out of love?

The finger had melted? I didn't realise they did that.

Cognitive dissonance. It is essential to his psychology that Thais are the good guys and foreigners are the bad guys. Therefore, his subconscious mind bends the truth and distorts the facts to prevent a Thai from ever being in the wrong, even if it means the most illogical and trivial are dreamt up or blown out of proportion. It simply has to be that the foreigner did something wrong and all Thais involved are completely innocent. His mind will not allow any other outcome to present itself. It's sadly a very common occurrence amongst the Thai apologists here. Edit: This also answers the question @peterrabbit just asked.

I have no issue with it at all. However, I simply do not believe that you will ever be considered "Thai". Perhaps it is you who has the issue with this? If people with one Thai parent, born and raised in Thailand, with "Thai" genes and Thai ancestry, but with one non-Thai parent, are considered to only be "half Thai", what hope does a British White man with no Thai ancestry, not born or raised in Thailand, who simply gained Thai citizenship later in life? You seem to like bringing up examples and trying to create analogies using other countries, but as they are very different places to Thailand, they don't work.

I don't think that Thai people call other Asians "farang". Also, a Westerner who has gained Thai citizenship will likely still be classified as a "farang".

Is this linked to the practice of lying and delaying people where someone either doesn't want to do something difficult or demanding, or they don't want to have to say "no" to someone?

I'm glad you feel that way, but he will always be a foreigner with Thai citizenship. He will never be "Thai".

Doesn't it seem reasonable, if in a life-threatening situation, to simply go to the nearest hospital to your location, but expect to pay if you are not a citizen, rather than carefully having to seek out a private hospital because government hospitals will refuse to treat you?

Sure.

You said "I am Thai". I'm not hijacking anything. I just wanted to clarify as it is relevant to the argument you were making.

I'm not sure what you mean. You are a foreigner with Thai citizenship, not a Thai.

In a situation where someone is saying "As a Thai...", but you suspect that they are not Thai, but a foreigner with Thai citizenship, the fact of their parents being Thai or not are a quick and easy way of confirming. So very relevant.

Ah, I understand. You have Thai citizenship. I thought you meant you were actually Thai. Do you believe that if you were in the situation that the OP found themselves in you would have been given the medicine? Or would they still say "the boss says we cannot give it to a farang"? Obviously even with citizenship, they will still view you as a "farang".

Are your parents Thai?

If you make it a daily thing with a routine, it might give you something to focus your mind on a little also. Hopefully the sleep should come naturally after plenty exercised and fresh air. Have you heard of "mindfulness"? Look it up if not. It's quite a good method for clearing your mind and relaxing, especially if you're a worrier/over-thinker.

Nice to see. I hope all the money goes to the right place.

One of the hardest things to get used to in Thailand is the attitude that the customer is always wrong and whatever the seller/provider of service says goes. Zero customer protection and monopoly (enforced by mafia) is the norm. It's so bizarre that they won't just fix the thing. I guess buying and selling gold is so prevalent that the actual sentimental value of an item is nil. But, as you say, why not make it the right weight?!! It must have been the right weight to start with! No advice to give you as I know nothing about this, but damn I would be annoyed by this. It's probably one of those all too common situations in Thailand where there is no rule but people just don't want to do the work or risk going against the flow. I would keep trying and consider sending gf alone, in case seeing a foreigner makes them see Baht signs.

I think China shares the same problem as Thailand does. They both want to develop past their reliance on income from abroad (China manufacturing and Thailand tourism), but this is not something that anyone can "will" to happen.

Sorry to hear about that. That all sounds really scary. Thank goodness there were some friendly locals to help you get to the hospital! Bit of a random idea, but have you thought about rather than focussing on the sleep issue, trying to focus on your health in general? So join a gym, exercise, eat healthy, drink lots of water, and cut out anything bad?

Gee, I wonder why these people who are paid directly in cash are keeping that money at home? ????

So he put around 60 coins in a piggybank per day (if 10B coins)? That's a lot of coins. Something fishy about this.

Should probably have "tentatively in a few areas" on the end of that sentence.

What do you do when you cannot sleep? Do you just lay there or get up again? Apparently if you cannot sleep, after a while you should get up and do something like read a book for a while to kind of reset the sleep hormones. What time are you waking up? Should be the same time every morning. If you start waking later, this can disrupt sleep more.