Douggie Style

Graceless Fawn I admire your passionate defence of Filipino integrity, (and certainly your avatar) however after reading the forum I can see no substantial evidence of any racism or slight towards Filipinos.

What I read was generally only conjecture and opinion, which by nature is subjective, and not intended to be factual pronouncements. I assume this is self evident to most readers?

It may be you have come across implied or actual racism before and therefore assumed the thread was going that way, made the further connection and rightly then got upset.

However this would be an error on your behalf, and is quite unfair to what the posters have actually intended and written.

Exactly, unless one of the rats rolls over...

the black background on Stickman gives me a headache.

both sites need a better index/search engine

(hope they read this!)

a lot of Thai police get training overseas...the links go both ways...long history of it. FBI, Interpol etc etc

well reasoned Qualtrough!

Which leads me to my crime theory of the minute >

The subconscious, instinctive mind (not sure what it is called but the one that used to keep us safe in the jungle) is over represented in our personal safety decisions (because primitive fear generally overrules the purely rational mind) and so overestimates the risks.

Looking at it strictly with the rational mind, Thai crime it is not that unpredictable and therefore necessarily dangerous (excluding the wild unpredictable element), identify the patterns, move safely between the seams.

I admit, this sounds like pyschobabble parc. its late, the point is fear often seems to overrule a more rigorous rational approach.

Anyways, assuming the main point is to avoid your child becoming violent later, thinking back the toys and gadgets didn’t have much effect on us (we used everything up to real bows and arrows) and actually was a very creative, exciting experience but the violent movies and TV shows absolutely did....

I find this post contradicting its own self. Sorry for the critism by the way. Why is it those toys not have much effect on us and the violent movies have? Aren't they more or less the same? Kids should grow up to or be led to understand gradually that those things are fiction and not to be inmitaed in my opinion. My point is: why hide anything?

What we should give them is the ability to analysis. And this is done by listening to what they think about the things they see and through discussions.

no worries, fire away, at least you didn't threaten me!

I like your 'Kids should grow up to or be led to understand gradually that those things are fiction and not to be inmitaed in my opinion.'.

to be honest I am quite open on the subject as not sure either way if playing with guns does lead to violent tendencies, the comments above are just what I can remember from my own point of reference, so convince me!

BTW do you think it depends more on the context & kid involved than guns per se?

'Oh, by the way I tried calling the hotel about 5 times over the course of the day and the line was always busy.'

Well after recovering from the floor (not used to getting a decent reply!), it just isn't your day is it?

PS: if you do discover the holy grail of getting a Thai email (or any) to reply please let us know!

I believe we attract people on the same wavelength.

so find out who you are and what you believe in, and work on improving yourself and the rest will follow...

well, whatever way you say good bye, you have to live with it for a long time and those 20 years of memories won't be that easy to forget, it's not like wiping a hard disk, so give it the respect it deserves even if it causes short term pain.

Great topic, as a parent instructive, and a source of free psychotherapy… reminiscing on all those horrible things we did.

Anyways, assuming the main point is to avoid your child becoming violent later, thinking back the toys and gadgets didn’t have much effect on us (we used everything up to real bows and arrows) and actually was a very creative, exciting experience but the violent movies and TV shows absolutely did....

I don't see why the issue needs to become so polarised.

Most people have some fundamental interest in personal security, part of the human psyche, fairly self evident from the abundance of crime reporting which sustains our media.

Therefore it is natural to want to discuss and read about crime in a country you are interested in, is it going up or down, dangerous spots and so on, it feeds back into our need to be safe and/or how to take precautions. Discussing crime here has value.

In contrast, crime is often sensationalised and a good dose of street smarts will probably significantly lower your chances of being exposed to crime wherever you are. In short crime is partly predictable and avoidable.

I cannot prove that, other than by gut common sense. Which is how I understand the posters 'defending' Thailand's security, as meaning, it is not a universal random bogey man but something that can (to a degree) be managed- raw statistics do not necessarily relate proportionally back to the danger an individual tourist faces, when taking into account all the other factors as mentioned above.

To me, the frightening crime is that which APPEARS to be without rhyme or reason and therefore is unable to be managed.

well Hurricane51 in my experience that is the kind of email that won't get answered because it is more detail orientated than sales orientated.

Of course sales are made from simple queries but again in my experience the Thai's may be inclined to immediately classify you as a time waster and just ignore it.

This perception probably develops from experience>>example in a typical day we get a hel_l of a lot of email queries (over 100 per each staff), from all over the world, a lot of it is junk or leads to a never ending series of further questions (some cultures are quite notorius for the bulk enquiry email) and the sale goes elsewhere...plus the phone is running constantly, via the headphones. so as a practical matter the emails that are likely to be a 'hot' lead ( eg a follow up to a call) will get answered first.

Now this is possibly not the way a lot of farangs do business and it is probably worthwhile to answer the email to build a relationship but as you implied you are a farang dealling with a Thai business so the prevailing business dynamic takes it's own course. Obviously if farangs made up the bulk of their buisiness they would have to adapt or fail.

Our staff all have at least bachelors (most have Masters taken in English) and read/answer emails fluently in either english or Thai.

As an experiment try asking about price first (or something to imply you are a buyer) then add a detail question in last, see how you go....

I have had similar experiences with doctors, long after becoming very cynical I stumbled upon a local GP who has an entirely different attitude.

He will say he doesn't know (rarely), doesn't like to prescribe, thoroughly believes in alternative treatments, provides links and information for your own research and takes how ever long he needs per session.

Our last session we spoke mostly about Buddhist philosophy and his research into traditional Vietnamese herbs!

Keep shopping around, don't give up and don't take second rate.

PS: Red capsicum is supposed to be a good immune system booster, drink it with beetroot & carrot if nothing else it will give you a healthy 'glow'.

ThaiPauly, I greatly commend you for your efforts, it is humbling to see people jumping in to help, especially where they have no connection or reason, apart from sharing the same human condition (and to those who also posted suggestions).

However...with respect... from past experience jumping in, it can be wise to reserve judgement on the other party until you find out all the facts.

Obviously where a child is involved that is the first concern.

I am sorry I cannot help otherwise.....

Is the peak oil theory valid?

A recent rebuttal, from the petroleum industry, stated that the peak oil theory was based only on current reserves (those being mined/developed) and not the total reserves.

They claimed total reserves are around 2-3 times the total of all petroleum ever produced to date, and there is still plenty to go around.

It seems strange that something so important is unsettled.

Any opinions?

(Chownahs post above noted)

Well has any of you out there going thro the same situaion has me?!.......

.....

I realy thought this place is truly paradise.

Life was never better until she started talking about babys.

So I sat down one day and scratched my head until I came up with a master plan.

So we both sat down together and started to have a right good chat on the subject.

I thought I had convinced her it would be best if we bought a house first and had a good lump in the bank for the kids schooling befor we whent down that road.

At the time she seemed to agree with me.

I also said I wonted a kid with her but at the stage where we can provide a perfect start for the baby.

.....

Hey Thai_pitbull, your post is a bit ambiguous, do you really want a baby, just going along with it to keep her happy or unsure?

I have read most of the views on this thread, some are very interesting and (intellectually !) stimulating, others a laugh, others a bit disturbing, thanks for the good read.

sounds like they were never really in to you..try deodorant?

ok that was cheeky, sorry.

As my pop used to say, look right, speak right, smell right...you'll be right.

Bloemfontein, South Africa...jeez I'm smart

(Not!...the name came up when I put the cursor on the graphic!)

Some very insighful advice from maizefarmer & fruitbatt,

I get the sense you are fairly relaxed and tolerant but just like to know what the bottom line is (apologies if this is wrong and you are a highly strung concert pianist).

Therefore IMHO it is a wise idea to get her fully checked out with one of the PI's. This may bring up trust issues, but that may be the lesser of any potential downside. Looking for enlightenment on her motives on a forum is very imprecise and you get the whole gamut of respondents all relating it back to their experiences.

Even if her motives are not as pure as the driven snow it doesn't mean you can't have a funky relationship.

Interesting post, you should post more often!

The King was born on a Monday so therefore his designated colour is yellow and the reason nearly everyone you see is wearing the colour!

My question is - who decided on the colours for each day of the week and why those colours!?

Cheers

Playschool and Thursday was the Arch window (my favourite)

I can't believe this thread has gone so far without 'greng jai' being mentioned (or maybe I just missed it). Certain 'lies' are said purely out of consideration, as the Thai person believes it will upset you less than the truth . . . .

G

For sure, but is the underlying reason for not upsetting you purely respect for your feelings or self protection or a little or each or it varies case by case? (not meaning to sound overly cynical but I do wonder if a substantial reason is a form of self protection learnt and passed on )

On another point how do you reconcile the social 'greng jai' with the Thai business ethics?

(yes I am being a pain, there is not much else on TV, rather bland lately, it should be renamed the TV dinner forum)

Democracy is a process; it takes time and does not always go forward but ebbs and flows. Lets not forget most western democracies have been unstable and had democratic crisis in their recent past.

Democracy needs both the structure and the spirit to work.

The spirit comes from individuals. A strong democracy rests on individual values probably more so than the structures.

There is a lot of cynicism in some of the posts along the lines of same same.

Granted Thai politics is a real cess pit, however I feel there is a bit of a democratic shift in values going on in the younger, educated, Internet savvy and other segments.

Frankly it is too murky to predict, you would be brave to make predictions without being thoroughly embedded or having good sources of info (such as this forum hahahaha)

Douggie Style - Post 62

What an interesting post! I had never looked at culture and 'truth' in this way.

So, which culture do you prefer to live in, and why?

Hey Laulen!

Apologies, will send you a PM later tonight...

cheers

Self interest, but I guess you already know that right