SCOTT FITZGERSLD

12 hours ago, federico said:

The only thing I could say  :  I would never exchange my uneducated isan Thai wife for any educated over qualified woman from anywhere in the world. Married 7 years now, and no regrets about a lack of conversation on the current economic climate...

My first farang wife was of this kind, and man, she gave me hard hard times...

i aggree . my first wife was very educated german, daugther of two university proffesors, and i remember her with horror and shock, so cold and mean compare to a sweet jai dee na rak uneducated isarn woman.

4 Times in my life i got fake USD note, and i could not tell until i tried to change it.

anyway the point here is the amount - just 300 USD and it was enought for 

police here to arrest him for few weeks !!!

i could understans if he came to change 1000-2000 USD in fake notes, but 200-300 can

happan to anyone...photos of the 3 fake notes were published in the media and i could

not tell they are fake.

also police in cambodia could not tell that 7 milion USD they cought in a thai car were fake  :

https://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/advanced/437397/thailand-growing-source-of-counterfeit-dollars

11 hours ago, Berkshire said:

To the OP, I'd say about 99% of the time, these "communication problems" between farang/Thai have NOTHING to do with education, shared interest, or even culture.  It's simply the language problem.  If you're not fluent in her language and/or she's not fluent in yours, you will have communication problems. 

 

I will say that back in the USA, we have many, many couples who speak the same language, are roughly the same ages, same level of education, shared culture/values/beliefs, etc., etc., and still end up divorcing.  So what does that tell you? 

i respectfully disaggree. i think that in thailand there is a serious communication problems which origin from 

different ways of thinking. foreigners, especially americans, don't even start to realise where they at when

dealing with a thai girlfriend, and when they do, it is too late.

for example, i went one day to visit a friend of mine who won a restaurant . he showed me a couple, thai young woman and american man, who were sitting and talking for hours, and asked me what do i think of them.

i told him they look fine together, and seem to have great conversation. the girl was smiling and noding in all the right places, and the man was taklking and loughting and talking.

my frientold me yes, they look like that, only problem is, that the thai woman , who is working for me as a waitress, can't speak english !! you see, some of those thai young woman can sit in front of you for years, listening

to all you have to say, without understanding even one single word, and you will not notice cause you are so busy with...what you have to say !!!

HA HA  what a lawyer...he planned each scream and facial expression, while making sure 

his friend films all as evidence, so he can sue them later.

16 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

You do realize that Penang does not issue tourist visas to anyone that have an overstay stamp.

This started a couple of months ago, so everyone telling an overstay stamp has no implications are living in the past. 

THAT'S very helpfull, thanks.

Son (may i call you son? cause i'm a real troll), education is not the number of years you studied or 

the degrees you hold. education is something else.

look at donald trump. he never read books and his wife was a nude model and they

get alone just fine.

I know some well educated foreigners who married not so educated thai woman and  are

still happy after all those years, but what's common to all the success stories is that

they were focused around their work and business, and not

each other.

To put It in other words, the more time you will spend with your thai partner, the less chance

you have to survive together. and the more time you / she will spend in work, and work you like - the better

your relationships will be.

ohh and one more thing - make sure your woman is a real woman, or in other words, not a ladyboy.

Truth is that new risks are being added to the tourist list in thailand all the time..

One new risk  is being detained for possesion of  counterfeit money notes, even in small amount.

in a recent case, a tourist in koh samui was arrested cause a money exchange told

him that 300 USD notes he gave them are fake notes.

The police arrested him for weeks , demanding he will admit that he brought those fake notes with him,

he said he did not know they are fake and he got them from an exchange in his country.

It is a very brutal treatment of a tourist who is only a suspect, and not in a serious crime.

it could happan to anyone. how can you tell few fakes note from  thousands of notes

you might be carrying with you?

and add to that recent news about thailand as a growing source of counterfeit USD notes (bangkok post),

and you'll get one more risk to worry about while in thailand.

is one day overstay a problem? 

for example, visa extention expires on 20, and i leave on 21 - will i have

to pay any fine or get stamp in passport?

21 hours ago, madusa said:

It sounds like you are performing a crocodile show. You put your hand in the open mouth of the crocodile the crocodile just wouldn't bite. And what you did? You hit him on the top of his head. So the crocodile bit you. Then you came and told us this funny story.  Many people would find it funny that you should offer a loan when it wasn't asked for or even desire.

If a bank ask me to take a loan without collateral, the first question I would ask the bank would be "how much loan could I take, US$50 million possible?" 

you are right business wise. but that was not just business, but also romance.

i wanted to see if i can trust that woman.

i was not sure what she wants, if she is after me or my money or what.

i even explained to her that i give her this amount to see if i can trust her,

and if she will return it to me as we aggree, i can trust her more hence give her more.

yet she chose to disapear after i made it clear to her that she must pay back the amount aggreed.

and as i mentioned, it is not that she is desperate, she has money and property and even

family in the UK that send her money every month.

still, i don't understand why she did it. why did she stay in contact if it's not for the money,

and if for the money than she lost even more, cause she could cheat me out of more.

i guess it is, as someone mentioned here, all about pride and superiority.

i knew someone in a similar situation. after trying anything, she found an old chinese doctor who asked for 150,000 baht to help her. after payment, he pressed on her belly in few strategic points, and it turned out it was all GAZ - she literally flew UP in the sky like a balloon that released air pressure !!

I decided to stop riding motorbikes after few ALLMOST ACCIDENTS that could crash my life in a split of a second. 

one of the most amazing happaned in chinag mai. i was riding in a scenic countryside road, the road was empty , there was no traffic sign of any kind. and than...vooooshhh...i felt like something sped behind my back. i stopped to see what is was, and it was a car that allmost ran over me...the car driver also stopped, surprised to discover me. he had a stop sign but did not budder to stop. i believe that he just did not see me. this happans sometimes - car drivers just do not see motorbikes !!  i was very lucky that day...just one split second seperated between me and colin's situation...

14 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

It was at 25 baht to the dollar before 1997 when they devalued the baht. The high was about 60 or 70 baht back then. It hovered around 40 baht for a few years after that.

It was as high as 36 baht a couple of years ago.

 

 

THB  was at 25 to the USD for decades, until it crashed in 1997.

it was 35 just 2 years ago, and spiked to 29 for few weeks in 2013. 

the reason for the 30-32 range is to help USD exports after the 2009 crisis.

now that the US had recovered, emerging markets currencies , including THB, are

expected to weaken. 

the trend is going for devaluation of emerging countries currencies.

brazilian real, for example, lost 12% over the past few months.

argentinian and south african currency also lost to the USD .

predictions for the thai baht is to get to 34 by 2019.

might be even lower, 35-36 easily.

14 hours ago, JAZZDOG said:

Of course not

YOU can get any type of visa stamp on your passport,  

if you only hand over an envelope  with the right amount.

but  there is no assurance that it will be a real visa stamp.

which means, you can walk around for years proud and happy with the FAKE  visa stamp

in your passport, 

but one day, when you will want to leave the country, 

you might discover, with the help of an airport immigration officer,

that it was a FAKE stamp.

and than, guess who will have to sit in jail and pay hefty fines?

You guessed right - YOU !!!

On 6/9/2018 at 1:46 AM, moe666 said:

No not at historic heights, then you are talking any where between 40 to 50 baht to the dollar. At present around 32 or so a bit more than a few years ago when it got down to 26, 27, or 28 to the dollar

few years ago the thai baht was 26, 27, or 28?

this must be many many years ago, cause no chart show those prices.

thai baht now is at ALL TIME HIGH, and by all times i mean the highest point in

the past 15 years.

from here thai baht can only get worse, cause that is the trend in many other developing economies, like

brazil , south africa and argentina.

On 6/9/2018 at 12:29 PM, Destiny1990 said:

Probably u was unaware that the chick u been dating and who borrowed ur money then never gave it back to u was some kind of a bar girl.

Sorry to tell u this devastating news.?

are you sure about it? do you know her?

sorry to tell you, but not all thai woman are bar girls.

acctually, the vast majoroty of thai woman are not bar girls,

and you propably can't realise it 

cause the only woman who even look at you are bar girls. 

11 hours ago, Sir Dude said:

Sorry, but anyone who wants to invest that kind of money and is listening to a Thai general...is either stupid or greedy. In either case, he has got what he deserved. Why did he think he was special and that it wouldn't happen to him...not as if there aren't enough cautionary tales around. The old adage "Don't spend anything here that you can't afford to throw up into the air and walk away from..." still holds true as there are no laws that can be relied on due to the corrupt/influential and rich being able to do as they want.  Thailand is a plutocracy.....away has been, is now...and will be for a long time.

THERE are many things they dont tell you here. nobody comes and invest a million dollar just like that.

it might be that the thai senior has family ties to the singaporeans. 

many chinese families who rule SE asia are connected accross the region.

maybe that is why he was introduced to that thai

and from there the road to take his money was easier.

your case sounds familiar to the case in the link here, maybe you should have a talk with that guy : 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-20/russian-oligarch-ordered-to-hand-over-superyacht-divorce-deal/9679120

12 hours ago, KiwiKiwi said:

Most unusual story..

 

Thais, all being good buddhists, are normally straight as an arrow. 

 

Sorry. Not to be unsympathetic, but this is a very common scenario - as you probably now know.

 

But be of good cheer. 3 tonnes of manure dumped in the driveway is often a good signal that you're not impressed.

i am not that naive, and my ex- girlfriend was not so dishonest.

the case here is different. i was in long term relationships with her, and

tried to prove to her again and again that money is not a problem.

but - i tried to explain to her  - i can't just give her money like that.

that's because i am not an ATM. and even if i was an ATM , than she

has to come to see me sometimes face to face.

but she was too lazy even for that.

there is only one saying i can think about to explain her thinking: 

STOLEN WATER ARE SWEATER.

she did'nt want just to get money from me - she wanted to cheat it from me,

cause stealing is much more fun !!!

12 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

Bargirls see ur loan as a gift so its a misunderstanding only.

bargirls? no idiot, she was not a bar girl. maybe your mama is.

in thailand there are many single moms. some say too many.

a senior worker in my embassy said once that all the woman he deals with in thailand, are

single, divorced, or single moms.

anyway, what i wanted to tell you is that many of those single moms don't get child support.

i allways thought it has something to do with poverty or failure  of the justice system to go

after the fathers, but after talking with some thai single moms i understood from them 

that they prefer to give up the money from papa cause they don;t want to sea or hear from him again.

in other words, they refuse any financial arrangement with the father of their children, weather

he was their husband or just a boyfriend, cuase they don't want him to see the children never ever.

it might be some kind of revenge or rage or a woman thing.

so in your case, you might want to get an a legal written aggreement that will clarify

to your wife when and how you see the children.

10 hours ago, JAZZDOG said:

You have some serious issues with Aussies. Where are you from? It might enlighten us to the source of your bitterness.

I Do not have any problem with Aussies. what i mean is that the thai police

are so motivated and efficient in this case, cause there is a rich country farang (i.e. white ) involved.

they won't be so motivated if he was from a poor country or if, as mentioned here, the attackers

were thai who work at the bar.

it might even be possible that they got a call from the australian embassy, asking to investigate the case,

and there is nothing wrong with that. maybe other third world countries won;t care much about their citizens.

10 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

Weird when local barstaff are attacking tourists always the cctv isn’t working on that day but now a foreigner is attacking another foreigner and cctv seems to be fine..

that's because the other foreigner is an australian.

a rich neighbour farang country.

if he was an indian than the CCTV would not work again.