kmart

The question of art imitating reality or vice versa usually arises when discussing violence in society. Should we blame the television, etc?

Dunno, but there is a load of soaps on tv where people do nothing but scream and bitch / fight with each other, in between showing off their status symbol cars; watches; phones; clothes; etc.

_This I gleaned from my recent trip home to the UK. Even bleedin "Coronation St" is just a series of screaming matches these days, seemingly.

Thai tv is probably even worse...

Thailand can be frustrating at times. I still have big problems with road manners and driving here, btw. However, most expats would tell you that working with the Thais can be very rewarding and that the large majority are hard-working, honest, and responsible people. Getting to know the language is a must if you are to be staying here a long time. As is knowing local customs and traits.

Working with Thais is, imho; a whole lot less frustrating than working with most other nationalities around this region, or even most places in the world. If you can lead by example and be patient / well-mannered, your Thai staff will always go the extra yard in return.

Actually living here can be a major source of frustration for expats and retirees alike; but you have to keep some perspective and your temper alike. At the same time never put up with shoddy service or being conned; just try to do it in a calm manner.

in bangkok they sell amulets which appear to be the stump new antlers of deer as magic charms

the price on these is fairly high, so they thais think they are potent.

they are sold at the Buddha market by the river across the street from Wat Mahathat.

Does anyone know the story about these?

sarpesius

Unless you really know what you are doing you should stay away from the markets around Wat Mahatat. The place is well known for having massive amounts of fakes and over priced amulets.

I bought some great knuckledusters there once. And a big <deleted> off Rambo knife too!

Who says Buddhism is for p^ssies?

Single mother with no work or income has a car, not likely, it is her lazy boyfriends and the sister

is helping her accumulate a income for the both and playing you also. Maybe the sister has said nothing

and is being used for the story line. These girls, boyfriends can be really stupid smart when it comes to

living on the side off a farang.

You notice how the sister who probably does not work already has a house and maybe the car is hers

also. Soon as she can figure out how to keep an income from her D.C. marriage she will dump him and move onto another.

Gold diggers with no morals and unbelievable lies.

She does have an income from grooming pets and trainer dogs for show. Her home was given to her by her parents, and is very small. There is a room downstairs which has a refrigerator, a tv, a computer, and a chesterfield. Upstairs, there is one small bedroom, a bathroom and a room for washing clothes. Her other needs, and those of her son, have been supplied by the sister in Washington, who now thinks, because I am the boyfriend, that I should be footing the bill for everything. My girlfriend does not agree with that assessment, nor do I.

Sample of her work?

Lovely.

A bit, easy way to make poor happy in any country = give them free stuff. Healthcare, loans, money, cows, trees, taxis, whatever. Toss in booze, lottery, prostitution for kicks. Clamp down on crime, or at least pretend to, and look tough. Poor people like that.

Post Of The Week.

Nice one, steve.

Makes perfect sense in light of Thailand's unofficial motto... "Our Sh*t Doesn't Stink"

Sounds like a great tourism blurb! Have you informed the TAT yet?

The soporific Bangkok Post is so bland these days that sometimes I wish they'd ask Trink to come back.

Perhaps not.

Noddy Goes To Toytown. (maybe this should be in the Pattaya forum?)

Kmart, I thought I was really quite morbid and sick for thinking the same thing as you. I have seldom seen metal piping in Thailand; usually it is just that blue pvc stuff. I think it would be rather difficult to beat a 14 year old kid to death with a piece of that.

Also, it would seem that if he had metal piping a few hits in anger could have killed the kid, whereas an extreme beating with plastic pipe might indicate a different degree of intent.

It might have been a scaffolding pole / offcut. Metal piping is the same here in the industrial sector as it is in any country in the world.

Beating someone to death with a light, bouncy pvc pipe indicates a level of sadistic will that I find quite unimaginable.

Why not just send her an extra ATM card and your pin code? That way, she can withdraw what she needs every month (day) and you don't have to wrestle with the big questions about honesty and expectations, and she can stop sending you the same old lies about needing ridiculous sums of money (though I admit the car racing was one I never heard – you should send her the money for that just for the originality of it). It will save both you and her a lot of time – she can clean you out faster, you can discover that she will disappear as soon as the money does.

Too be clear – unless she is your mia luang or mia noi, don't giver her money. If you live overseas, never give her money unless she is your wife. I hope that clears up the Thai custom for you.

Furbie, I'll join you down at Bira for race day. Maybe she can take us out for a night in Pattaya. recon she'd have plenty of friends in that neck of the woods.

You mean the "pit crew?"

If I were to alone on this island; at least 25% of my dvd stash would have to be of an "adult" nature.

I wonder what its like watching "Its A Wonderful Life" on a beach..?

Dr Strangelove is in there.

Anything with Steve McQueen

All Sam Peckinpah's stuff.

And Clint Eastwood's.

My "World At War" boxed set. 'Natch.

And more porno, probably.

As an engineer, one of my concerns with this story is the sizing; matl; and schedule of piping that Dad used...?

I wonder if Michael Schumacher ever had to call overseas for financial aid...?

What are the odds that she is being honest/legit,.. 10% ?

There is a long standing Thai tradition of scamming Farangs.

They consider us lowlifes, crass, stupid, rich, Barbarians, deserving to be fleeced.

These girls troll until a sucker comes along, then lie, lie, lie. No shame.

Chances are, she and her boyfriend are laughing their as*s off every time they go to the ATM.

Getting drunk, gambling and sleeping in till 2PM every day.

If they had an opportunity, they would take it all, leave you broke.

Has anyone ever accused you of being cynical, Skipper?

That is however, the BG manifesto. Sometimes its difficult to be cynical enough in LOS.

Hey, I went to a seminar on positive thinking but the teacher sucked and they served shittty coffee.

More refugees from the nanny-state coming soon! Hope someone else is watching the cctv monitors in their place

"I feel like Thai people never really accepted me", "I feel like my daddy never really accepted me for who I really was". These are heart-wrnching emotions. I suggest you get your daddy and 65 million Thai people to sit in a circle with you in the middle chanting "we love you, we love you, you are amazing!" Then shed some tears and hug each one of them, pay the therapist and move on with your life.

Let's have a big group hug and sing "Kumbaya My Lord".

Some real sensitive souls on here, eh? Perhaps LOS isn't for you, after all?

I'm going to be singing that annoyingly catchy "Ghostbusters" theme tune all day now.

Never seen an actual ghost yet though.

What are the odds that she is being honest/legit,.. 10% ?

There is a long standing Thai tradition of scamming Farangs.

They consider us lowlifes, crass, stupid, rich, Barbarians, deserving to be fleeced.

These girls troll until a sucker comes along, then lie, lie, lie. No shame.

Chances are, she and her boyfriend are laughing their as*s off every time they go to the ATM.

Getting drunk, gambling and sleeping in till 2PM every day.

If they had an opportunity, they would take it all, leave you broke.

Has anyone ever accused you of being cynical, Skipper?

That is however, the BG manifesto. Sometimes its difficult to be cynical enough in LOS.

"Witnesses said"? Why the hel_l didn't they help?

Would you? How?

Honestly? Yes, I'm pretty sure I would. I've put myself in many stupid situations in my life because I've been incensed about something. To my detriment, I can be an "act first, think later" person. How? I'm not sure not having been there. At the very least, by phoning the police, probably by doing something that would be considered "stupid" though. We're talking "witnesses", plural. I can't see how together they couldn't have done something, even causing some form of commotion to attract interest to the situation or distract the father.

Without meaning to sound racist, I've seen Thais in a crisis. I've been witness to two road accidents, the only farang, & I've run over & tried to give medical assistance & been screaming at people to get an ambulance & nobody has helped. They just stand around watching like it's a bl**dy soap opera! I can just imagine them standing around watching this lad getting beaten to death & doing nothing!

Sorry I thought you were there!

Been there and done that. The phenomenon of Thais standing around gawking whilst doing nothing is called "Thai mung" (means to "gather around" apparently).

Its free entertainment to the fatalistic Buddhist mentality. They're just waiting for the "phu yai" to come and take charge....

This item is exactly one month too early!

It is a joke isn't it!

From start to finish. But let's not spoil it, eh?

Porn in Pattaya? Isn't that a bit redundant?

Yeah, go figure....

All quiet on the Eastern Front then, libya?

Darwin in motion.

Whilst I bow to your undoubted superior knowledge of the workings of the Capitalist machine the point that irritates me is knowing that a garment is produced using low cost labour in SE Asia for something like $3-5 and then, through the wonders of marketing, by having this "all powerful" brand name added it suddenly retails for $50 or more in the shops. This is not a fair maximising of profits to my mind and is evidenced by the obscene profits that are made by the owners of the brands. Communism wasn't a viable alternative but with every new company announcing it's profits in the billions each week it seems to me that Capitalism isn't much of a system either. annoyed.gif Just because it's the law doesn't make it right!

Just think how much your trainers would cost if adults had to make them? Little kid's fingers don't snag conveyor belts or profits. Welcome to the 21st Century!

Anything that comes supplied with coloured pencils or crayons.

Failing that, stuff by Irvine Welsh; Bill Bryson; Stephen King; Orhan Pamuk; Elmore Leonard; Yann Martel; etc has passed under my nose recently.

Has anyone mentioned Stephen Leather, yet? "Private Dancer" is one book that should be compulsory reading for any newbie to LOS. His other stuff ain't bad either.

I'm not sure it's appropriate to 'out' people as dodgy fathers like this, particularly when they don't have a comeback. It's these kind of posts that attract unwanted legal actions.

Back to the OP or, more particularly, the underlying notion (expressed elsewhere) that Thai men contibute nothing to their kids - what an ignorant assertion, based on observing a miniscule proportion of the population rather than Thailand as a whole. It says more about the people making those assertions, to be honest.

My company donates alms to several orphanages around the Maptaphut and Rayong area. Its simply heartbreaking to see the enormous number of kids in these institutions. I've talked to the directors and the kids at these places and their parents are usually not deceased; just errant. The kids have just been dumped like stray dogs, because the parents have found new partners / run away from bad debt, etc.

There is seemingly a growing culture of neglect and irresponsibility in Thailand, that your average joe might describe as "freedom". Migration of labour is a big contributary factor as well.

Btw, these places are only partly govt. funded, and need donations from private sources to survive.

Depressingly, the education given is only rudimentary, and according to the director; the majority of the kids only go onto poorly paid jobs and prostitution.