ROFL

I think its pretty obvious that survey is crap.

Ching Mai? lol

Wonder who was buying Full page 4 color that month.

With the help of the search function and a small amount of effort we might discover that there are two sides to this story.

Too often those that defend Thailand as Ambrosia are the self same people who rant about the life they had elsewhere. (Particularly about women elsewhere, but that's the stuff of another post)

That begs the question, is their life so good in Thailand or is it simply good in contrast with their background?

We have to accept that some people really never have enjoyed life before they came to Thailand.

Sad really.

Good point.

I like both places most of the time, but some of the time....

Name a country with nicer police than here. Better still someone start a poll...

Walt Disney World.

I met a nice policeman at the border. I had gone through the line and then noticed they had only given me one month when it should have been 3. I walked back smiling and apologizing and he took a look at my passport, gave me a smile, a pat on the back and led me to the window.

Now I did get a finger waving from the girl at the counter as she handed my passport back to me.

Has anyone here ever been called up for one of these "polls"? I never have and nobody I know has ever mentioned being called by Mr. Gallup.

They might not like Canadians but they sure do appreciate us Yanks!

Yeah, I'm the "Belle of the Ball" wherever I go in Isaan. They all still seem to hate George W., but the connection never spills over to me.

Yeah they love the Yanks, especially California Yanks like me. I think they think its because they assume Im friends with Brad Pitt because Im "from" LA.

Back on topic......

Another generalisation about the Thai people. Of course many Thais will not be the slightest bit interested in polictics, especially US politics! But how many? Well probably no one has the faintest idea, outside of the people they have met, which I am guessing for most of us no matter how much time we have spent Thailand, is a TINY fraction of the population. So rather speculate about what Thais know of US politics, let's find some FACTS about what US citizens know about US politics...

Here is an interesting quote from a Boston.com article titled The ignorant American voter:

"Gallup found in January 2000 that while 66 percent of the public could name the host of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" only 6 percent knew the name of the speaker of the House. Last year, a Polling Company survey found that 58 percent of Americans could not name a single federal Cabinet department."

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...american_voter/

I guess there are ignorant people everywhere!

YEAH! another America Barometer post!

Let me guess when your maid screws up your ironing she says...have you ever seen an American iron?

You bought corn in Thailand?

So because they have out of date stock, they should be allowed to re label it as fresh??

Maybe shoot some steroids and a little food coloring in?

Fresh as new!

Then they could sell it at McDonalds!

To only dumb Farang though...

Thats odd, when I walk by McDonalds the line is always 99% "stupid?" Thais.

. While described as the 77th province of Thailand (actually, Los Angeles already holds this status).

This is going to confuse some Thais who Ive told LA is considered the 77th province of Thailand.

Does it now become the 78th? or 77.1

I guess thais will put up with pirate copies as long as its not ripping off other thais... if only the government worked around the same ideas....

Which is why they never visit the pharmacies.

Funny I remember a Thai official warning about signing the FTA but probably wont hear a peep out of him about this.

Well Im not sure about the rest of you but I have never witnessed any type of piracy in Thailand,

Wow, have you ever walked down ANY street downtown?

Pirated shirts, shoes, dvd's, the list is too long.

Sounds like you have a lot of work to do, let us know what kind of response you get from "Peter Pan" the pirate killer.

Im safe where ever I am in the world

You're just asking for trouble, if I were you Id knock on some wood, or burn something, or whatever it is you do to balance your KARMA because your in debt.

I’ve been in business more than 7 years now in Pattaya and Phuket….and I’ve been pissed off so many times that I can’t even count’em!

Maybe the term “pissed off” is a bit too harsh….but let me explain what I mean:

You have a property or a business for sale.

You advertise this in different spaces, either online or in print media.

You get tons of responses….and here the “problems” start:

Many responses are from curious “farangs” with dreams in their eyes but no money in their pockets to actually purchase your offer. “Time wasters” to use a well-known term.

I bet we all know them…and I bet we all hate them! Am I wrong?

These time wasters all pretend they’re interested, and maybe they really are, but how on earth will they ever pay for your property/business!! They very well know they don’t have the money, so why the h… waste the time of serious foreign business men who just try to make an honest living? Why the h… make the business man think that he “has a sale” and then just “disappear”….in other words….they often make the foreign business man think they has a sale and then they just stop replying to your phone calls, emails and SMS messages…like they’ve vanished from the surface of the earth!

As a professional business man you know very well the importance of follow up emails, SMS messages or phone calls…

You do some follow up…. But in most cases you get no response at all…

When you get response you can’t help thinking that you now “have a sale”.

At least you hope so! Even the toughest business man with many years of experience can’t help feeling kind of excited each time he gets a positive response even though he very well ###### know that this is possible just another dammed time waster…..!

Back to my question: What is wrong with foreigners in Thailand?

Why do they keep pissing you off?

Yes….why??

I have often wondered why!!

There might be a simple explanation, but so far I’m still waiting for the answer!

Some answers could be:

- The guy is lonely? He just needs someone to talk to!

- The guy is just dreaming? “If I had the money I could buy this property/business!”

- The guy is envious? “Why does everyone except me have a property/business?” So it’s maybe only a kind of “revenge”…? “Make the life of those lucky bastards with properties/businesses a h_e_l_l…..” ????

- The guy is simply lying to himself? “I take a look at this property/business because I know I’ll get the money to buy it soon…”….

- The guy is just a simple looser? The only way he can get some “content” in his life is to make other people feel like losers!? A saying goes: “Do to others as you want them to do to you!” . But those losers change the context: “If you’re a looser, make others feel like losers, too!”

Bet there are many of you who’ve been in contact with time wasters…what is your best bet? Why do people act like this?

I have met all of the above mentioned time wasters….if any of you time wasters read this please let us all know why you act like this!? Thanks in advance! I don’t expect any responses!

But one thing I want to tell all of you time wasters! “Keep away from me! I have better things to do!”

Wow, welcome to the real world, this has nothing to do with Thailand.

Get a real estate agent and let them qualify the buyers, if you dont want to pay the commission that quit the boo hoo hooo, one way or another you gotta pay.

As a As a

professional business man

I do think foreigner shouldnt be allowed to buuy and own land in thailand, but ones who are married to Thais should.

Why not?

“More importantly if you're dying from a car wreck you wont be thrown in a pick up truck or stuck in the back of a mini van ambulance in traffic that wont yield.”

No question about it. Bouncing around in an ambulance in the US would be more comfortable than bouncing around in the back of a compact pickup in Thailand. On the other hand, “if you’re dying from a car wreck” there’s no guarantee of getting to hospital alive in the USA either.

In the USA cars pull over to the side of the road to let Ambulances threw, its the law.

The emergency services(paramedics) are the best in the world, some might say they have to be.

Guess thats why Thais with money and folks with money from countries world wide fly to THAILAND for surgery, and not the USA.

In 2005, nearly 1.3 million foreigners came to Thailand for medical treatment with over 400,000 treated at Bumrungrad Hospital.

The majority of them were for plastic surgery.

The US sounds like a completly ****** up place,when billions maybe trillions are spent on the military when it refuses to spend money on offering free health care to its citizens.I'm from the UK,ok the health care is not perfect but at least there is some kind of safety net.

I agree, the USA spends way too much on global security. I for one would love to see countries like Japan provide for their own defense, but then again Asia’s economy would suffer as countries like Japan, Korea, and Taiwan have to fund their own armies.

Who knows perhaps the next time there’s a Tsunami the USA will say "call Australia" our Navy’s busy providing floating health care to AMERICANS.

Check your device manager, you may have conflicts.

Connect it, then go to control panel, system, hardware tab, device manager and look for yellow exclamation...post a screenshot if you can even if you dont have yellow flags.

tell them that you read email at work and that the IT guy sent out a warning about them because they often carry virus or something similar.

I noticed that you didn't mention how much you pay for your excellent insurance. For what that premium costs per year I COULD have open heart surgery here.

No you couldnt,

Toral said standard open-heart surgery here runs on average $7,500

saw a quote on thaivisa quoting 10,000 to 16,000.

A lot cheaper than in the states.

I believe you will need to re-examine your 'low-cost of living' destinations. All the freelance writers I know in Thailand are suffering economic hardship - writers fees are not keeping up with the high rate of inflation, further incurred by the sharp rise in oil prices. In fact, many freelancers are heading back to the west - for more sustainable income - as thay cannot maintain a decent career/ lifestyle in SE Asia any longer.

Thought you might like this, I know how you like to dance

Looks like Ian has some moves,

Just to make a point I figured Id play sherlock just this one time,

Ian Mount

Thames 2220 1º Buenos Aires C1425FIF Argentina

+ 1 917 438 6972: US

+54 911 5966 1843: Argentina cell

ian (at) alumni (dot) amherst (dot) edu

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Various Publications, Freelance Journalist (1992 to Present).

· Since March 2003: NPR, Time, The Wall Street Journal, New York, The New York Times, Maxim, Inc. (including January and November 2004 cover stories), Fortune Small Business, Fast Company, Gridskipper.com, Time Out New York and Business 2.0. Previously: The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New Orleans Times-Picayune and others. Also fiction in Eratica, The Allegheny Review, Schuylkill and The Amherst Review.

Business 2.0, Senior Writer (March 2000 to March 2003).

· Wrote news, investigative, profile and investing stories for 550,000 circulation Time Inc. business and technology monthly, including two cover stories and numerous features.

· Covered Internet, software and other high-tech businesses.

· Promoted from Staff Writer to Senior Writer in April 2001.

SmartMoney.com, Reporter (March 1999 to March 2000).

· Wrote an average of three news, investing and commentary articles each week for Hearst/Dow Jones personal finance and investing website.

· Primarily covered Internet business. Also covered energy, retail and other sectors.

Philadelphia Inquirer, Editorial Assistant (November 1997 to March 1999).

· Wrote business, lifestyle and real estate articles for metro daily.

· Performed computer assisted reporting for large investigative projects on political candidate donation patterns and school performance.

· Designed and created graphics for publication.

Temple University, Writing Mentor (September 1995 to July 1997).

· Trained and supervised graduate student teaching assistants in freshman writing program.

· Designed curriculum and taught college writing to native speakers and ESL students.

· Promoted from Instructor to Writing Mentor in September 1996.

EDUCATION

Temple University, MA, 1997.

· Creative Writing/English major. Advised on short story collection thesis by David Bradley, author of PEN/Faulkner-winning The Chaneysville Incident

· Full teaching assistantship scholarship.

· Cumulative average: 3.97

Amherst College, BA, magna cum laude, 1992.

· English major, with coursework in political science, neuroscience and visual arts. Novella thesis.

· Cumulative average: A-

OTHER SKILLS AND AWARDS

· Experienced with WordPerfect, Excel, Word, Photoshop, Illustrator and Quark.

· Highly proficient in verbal and written Spanish.

· Writer’s residency at Ucross Foundation (September 2001).

Nice job KD, you mad a fool of yourself.

I bought some SEA MONKEYS with my X-RAY Glasses when I was a kid and they didnt look like this when I got em!

and the glasses didnt work either.

Well im not married yet so maybe things will change after that, but not likey

You may be on to something there. Perhaps the "folks" are more polite because the "deal" hasn’t been closed yet and they don’t want to do anything to muck it up.

I’m half joking....but the more I think about some of my friends relationships before and after marriage there may be some truth to it.