Chou Anou

14 hours ago, jeab1980 said:

Lets face it we all or should all take this blogger with a pinch of salt and a laxative.

Indeed...Barrow is a total hack, and has been for years.

16 minutes ago, 11223344 said:

She doesn't seem young, or pretty... I think they fit each other

She's 47; she was 35 and he was 58 when they got married.

25 minutes ago, reenatinnakor said:

See a lot of old fat guys with pretty young girls. Which is very strange.

Not really...and certainly not limited to Thailand 

Years ago, I was renting an apartment around On Nut (Sukhumvit soi 81). Basic but comfortable little place with aircon and fridge for 3,500 a month. I knew the building had a laundry service, but I had never used it, instead doing all my own washing by hand.  I was going to a conference in the US for several days and thought I would take the opportunity to have them wash all my towels and get them really clean for a change, haha.  So I dropped the towels off--several were still wet--and said I needed them in about 4 days.  When I got back from my conference, 5 days later, I went to the laundry to pick them up...they hadn't washed them yet, and in fact they were in a pile together on the floor, still wet (and quite moldy at this point).  The laundry guy said, "oh, you said you didn't need them for a while..."  

5 hours ago, Shroud said:

 

It's actually the best advice you can provide nowadays, and once immigration stops you with no cash-baht in your pockets because there won't be any ATM that will withdraw and convert your foreign reserves past immigration. I understood the question as if he was concerned about the issue of parading 20k on the assumption that immigration throws the towel on him.

I don't think you read Ubon Joe's post (#9 in this thread).  Any convertible currency will be accepted.  It does not have to be baht.

17 minutes ago, rogeroc said:

Sure, as long as child is on the parents lap

 Look, either offer your seat to someone or don't.  You don't get to impose rules or conditions on your "generosity."

I always offer to give up my seat on the Skytrain to the elderly or pregnant women, and to parent/child combos where the child is, say, 6 or younger.  I have a new awareness of the latter due to lots of crowded Skytrain rides with my girlfriend and her grandson, starting when he was 2+...it's really tough traveling with small children, and I appreciate Thais offering seats to us when they see us struggling (and there's always someone who does).

13 minutes ago, lkv said:

Too much drama and we need to look at the facts.

 

Out of the three reports circulating on this forum (four actually, last one was closed by a mod), one is to my belief genuine and three are made up by new users with a low number of posts, for the purpose of fear mongering connected to promoting paid visa options.

 

THANK YOU.  When I pointed this out on one of those threads (i.e. the fact that the OP had a low post count), I was mocked.  People here really do love to get their panties all in a bunch over obviously [to me] unsubstantiated rumors.

believe more than, say, 30% of what I read on Thaivisa.com 

14 hours ago, phuketrichard said:

will it be a holiday at all?  will bars close?  alcohol sales?

It's been a good 10 years or so since bars have closed on Dec. 5, so I highly doubt they will close them on July 28.

9 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

There could be more to this story than has been revealed.

 

Precisely.  One must always take this into account, especially when reading a post made by someone with such a low post count.  No offense, OP, just something for everyone to keep in mind.

This is the exact same thread someone started a couple months ago in this forum. Probably by the same poster, too lazy to check. 

29 minutes ago, sunny17 said:

Ok fine - please tell me whats a decent livable salary in BANGKOK -

 

but from all the answers so far, I am guessing that 20k baht per month will enable one to "exist" and to "live" you need 30k or more

A Thai living on 20k (or even 30k) a month and YOU doing so is most certainly NOT the same thing, especially if you don't speak near-fluent Thai.  I highly, highly, doubt you would be happy living as an "average" Thai person does (in terms of food, general comfort level, modes of transportation, level of health care, etc.), even if you did have the requisite cultural and linguistic skills.  Figures on paper are one thing, day-to-day reality is something altogether different.

My take on it is, if you're making a serious attempt at speaking Thai with Thai people, you should wai.  However, one never wais social inferiors (sounds harsh, but I'm speaking from a Thai world view), and one never initiates a wai with a younger person...whether to return the wai a younger person gives to you depends on the social context and your relationship with them.  Years ago I was told by my then-girlfriend never to return the wais of her (middle school) children to me, but simply to acknowledge them with a nod.  However, a friend who is a professor at Chula always returns the wais of her students (which of course they must initiate)...that's what I mean by relationship and context.  And in the present day, I always return the wai of my 4 year old Thai grandson (really my girlfriend's grandson--different girlfriend!), but then everyone in the family does (and we sometimes initiate it with him), since we're still at the stage of trying to teach him proper Thai social behavior.

Depending on the situation, wai-ing a police officer or others in an official capacity who are in a position to make your life either easier or harder in the next few minutes is always a good idea!  I certainly don't wai cops as a matter of practice, though.  Context, folks.

One NEVER wais service staff (including sex workers), though...every time I see a farang do that, I want to scream.  And I never, ever wai hanging portraits or statues, Hindu or Buddhist.

Again, if you don't speak Thai and have no intention of learning (which I imagine describes the majority of the "grumpy farang" variety of Thaivisa members, haha), then I agree that you don't need to bother with it.  However, if you seriously want to speak Thai and you don't wai appropriately, then no matter how good your tones or pronunciation, you're not really speaking the language properly.

I love Thailand, I consider myself very loyal to it, and it's probably where I'll live out the last years of my life.  I am not, however, loyal to the fascist military regime ruling it or the "yellow shirted" elite who look down on and mistreat the poor majority.

I hate when people, male or female, Thai or farang, make that gesture.  In my experience, when guys do it, they're most likely total douchebag <deleted>s.  When women do it, they're, shall we say, usually "all talk and no action," haha.

4 minutes ago, observer90210 said:

Very sensible and useful recommendations, dear fellow poster!...Learning to speak fluently as you say is quite a lenghty process.

 

In the meantime, I always use a google translator in my phone and tweak out the phrase required in Thai. Some locals giggle but it remains friendly...nevertheless, it definately helps to get a buck less here and there, and more important they appreciate and respect the try.

 

Numbers are bit more tricky for non Thai speakers.. as you need to guess the figure and input the number in our usual indo-arab figures, in order to get the thai picture and guess if it's correct...guess it's good to start to learn the thai numbers first and it won't be such a big deal from 0 to 9!!

 

I like your non colonial approach to the whole issue. One could not abide more by the fact that the farangs, those who are the loud, drunk, arrogant, crude or impolite types,  tend to give a disastrous image for all of us and leaves a bad check for the farang expat communities. 

Thanks.  Yes, I realize the language thing is a tall order, but hey, if one is going to live somewhere...plus, for the most part (yes, I know there are exceptions), Thais appreciate an earnest effort on the part of foreigners to speak their language...it really does go a long way.

1) Accept that as a newbie, you WILL sometimes pay "farang prices"

2) Keep things in perspective...50 baht is $1.47 USD, 500 baht is $14.70 USD, etc...i.e. don't lose it over getting "taken" for a tiny amount of cash

3) LEARN TO SPEAK THAI (yes, I know it's a slow process and an ongoing project, but if you're going to live in Thailand, begin as soon as you arrive)...knowing how to speak Thai well will not save you from paying "farang prices" on all things, but it will help with a lot of them

4) Always be polite and respectful when dealing with Thais in money matters.  And please don't say, "but they're not always polite and respectful, wah-wah, blah blah..."  You are a foreigner.  And you have a reputation as a farang (aggressive, crude, loud, quick to lose your temper) that it's YOUR responsibility to overcome.  

5) Learn the "real" prices of things so you can bargain accordingly, and be able to "choose your battles" (getting overcharged 50 baht is a lot different than getting overcharged 5,000 baht, etc.)

6) LEARN TO SPEAK THAI.  And make sure it's polite, and formal when necessary--not just "bar girl Thai"

7) Learn to accept the things (admission to state parks, temples, etc.) that you're just not going to be able to "pay the Thai price" for

8) LEARN TO READ THAI.  This will help more than you know, because sometimes prices are posted differently in English and Thai.  And trust me, if they see you've gone to the effort to learn to read Thai in order to know the Thai price, they will be impressed, and give you the Thai price (as long as you're not loud and arrogant about it...see item number 4)

Yes, it is a sad fact of life indeed that the dullard "officers" at Immigration and customs checkpoints have so much power in determining who enters and who does not, and how people entering a country are treated.  In the US, anyway (and I'll bet it's similar across the world), these cretins are pulled from low-IQ sector of society.  It's likely most of them have never traveled internationally themselves, and cannot speak a second language (okay--those last two attributes describe probably the majority of Americans, haha--but still).  They tend to be rather slow-witted, most likely are racist, and I'd imagine, probably religious too, and probably own guns...as I said, not very smart people.  I'm betting most are Trump supporters.

Here's an example of their "analytical skills" in action: I have long hair.  After continually being profiled and pulled out for a luggage search returning from Southeast Asia (of course, they suspected I had drugs), numerous times, I finally got the bright idea to put my hair in a ponytail going through immigration.  Guess what?  They never profiled me for a luggage search again.  They're told to look for long hair on males, and if that same long hair is pulled into a ponytail, well, they don't see any long hair, so I couldn't possibly be carrying drugs.  If I were in the habit of giving advice to actual drug smugglers, I'd say, "get your hair cut short, they'll never bother you."  Idiots.

https://hbr.org/2017/06/uber-cant-be-fixed-its-time-for-regulators-to-shut-it-down

3 minutes ago, JamJar said:

Actually, what no one has told you is that there is no fine if you leave on the 22nd by air.

Also it is not a problem for someone else to buy the ticket for you.

 

Don't panic. :)

This is true, the first late day if you're leaving by air is a "grace day" and you're not fined.  However, I'm pretty sure that all airlines worldwide (certainly all of them leaving the US, and Thailand, which I can speak to from my experience) require that you show the credit card used to purchase the ticket at check-in.  This is for international flights only, not domestic.

Let me get this straight...the "nanny state" as you so colorfully quote tired conservative language, is bad, but you living off your wife's higher salary is good?  Okay, gotcha.

5 hours ago, colinneil said:

Maybe you are not interested in what others think.

In my opinion not a good idea taking your wife away from her family.

At the end of the day they are family, you are the husband.

In Thailand, family comes first above and before all others, you are the farang husband.

She can get rid of you, but not her blood relations, be very careful.

Haha, of course he's "interested in what others think"...he posted his personal problems on a notorious forum like Thaivisa for all to dissect and criticize! 

"Went to take Grandmother to the hospital, was able to wear Aunt's clothes (possibly, "she was able to wear the clothes that Aunt gave her), tell Uncle Mark."  

Probably just an innocent, mundane message taken out of context.

One would need a LOT more background information on the message in order to decode it more than that.  For instance, who knows who those kinship terms refer to?  When my girlfriend's daughter had a child, the pronouns used to refer to everyone in the family were redefined from the grandchild's perspective...my girlfriend is now "grandma," her son (who's older than the daughter who gave birth) is "older uncle," etc...one would have to know the family referred to in the message and their relationships to even begin to figure out who is being discussed here.  

If you're going to live in a Thai family in Thailand, you really should learn the language.

14 minutes ago, Get Real said:

Still sounds mysterious! I didn´t mean to borrow 25K for Thais at your place. I said that after 8 yeaqrs in Thailand you must know some foreigners that are will ing to help you if you are so trustworthy.

However. read above @Jeab1980. I do think that´s the best chance you have and the way to tackle this problem.

The OP sounds like an exceptional individual indeed.  So far, we've established that he's pretty much the only farang in Thailand who:

-has no farang friends who could loan him 25k

-has no ATM card

-apparently has no debit or credit card either (which, if he did, he could easily get a cash advance on the card at most banks with his passport)