JensenZ

15 minutes ago, AreYouGerman said:

 

You should add a disclaimer that you got divorced from a Filipina with whom you stayed 30+ years together. That might help people understand the bias against the Phillipines.

Not 30+ years, it was 20 years. This didn't end up with a bad divorce. I picked a very good one.

I'm too old for her, so I let her go. She wants children, I don't. I knew it would come down to this in the end and I'm ok with it. She still has some child-bearing years left so she needs to get on with it. We are still friends.

This has nothing to do with any bias but everything to do with what I learned from her family and community over a long period of time. I have deep knowledge of what goes on behind the scenes with her friends, cousins and everyone else in her community. Many live abroad. You'll never discover what really goes on, and even if you do, it'll probably be too late. You seem to know more, so good luck to you.

Before this one, I made a number of bad relationship choices. I can't count how many Filipinos I've "dated". I could write a book about my mistakes there in my newbie years, and I started older than you are now.

23 hours ago, freedomnow said:

Were they kind of neck-and-neck around 2000 but Bangkok has moved far ahead on urban development ?

I remeber visiting both around that time, and it seemed they were not much different.

No, not even close. I first visited Thailand in 2005 after 5 years full-time in the Philippines. I went back, packed my bags and never looked back.

3 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

Correct. The actual cost generally is: Cost + Freight + Tax 1 + Tax 2 = Landed Cost

(Cost + Freight) X Duty  =  Tax 1

(Cost + Freight + Tax 1) X VAT = Tax 2

 

 

But there still will be no duty on anything imported under 1500 baht, so only about 100 baht tax at the limit. It won't change the cost of anything over 1500, as they are technically liable for duty and tax from 1501 baht.

9 minutes ago, sambum said:

 

Yes, in certain circumstances - like trying to collect taxes on monies that have already been taxed?

(Which may or may not be just hearsay!)

In this case, imported items under 1500 baht have not been taxed.  

I frequently buy products from iHerb. It is duty and tax-free if it's below 1500 baht, but I often order much higher, from 2000 to 3000 baht and haven't had to pay tax. I've only been hit with duty and tax on 2 parcels in over 10 years. They let most slip through, but when they stop a parcel, you have to pay tax on the full amount (including shipping), not just the amount over the 1500 baht limit.

A 7% tax on a 1500 parcel is peanuts, but when I have to pay tax and duty I need to make a 16km round trip to the mail centre where they hold the parcel for payment. Can you imagine the back log of parcels awaiting tax payment at mail centres around the country?

1 hour ago, Jackbenimble said:

they're not sought after because of their English..........it's because they're cheap. Their spoken English in general is quite good but their grammar and spelling is atrocious. 

YOU must be from Philippines to suggest filipinos speak better English than English people lol. 

I'm not from the Philippines, but I have lived there for many years.

Let's not start on English grammar. It's impossible to solve. No one can agree on sentence structure. There are more exceptions than rules in English. Grammar (and spelling) Nazis are a dime a dozen on most forums.

It's not about how good their English grammar (or spelling) is, but how well they are understood in conversational English.

Let's take some examples of English dialects that many English speakers (as a first or second language) around the world would have trouble with:

Geordie, Scouse, Brummie, Cockney, Welsh, Yorkshire, Irish, Scottish, Cheshire, Estuary English, Indian English, South African English...

Put them in a call centre and see how well they are understood in OTHER countries. American English and its Filipino English derivative are generally the most easily understood dialects.

You'll note I mentioned Indian English. There would be an endless availability of cheaply hired Indian English speakers, but no one can understand them. The same goes for English speakers in other "cheap labour" countries.

3 hours ago, digger70 said:

Isn't it Always about the Money. (greed)

They will keep on looking to find ways to skin the people about their money being that the natives or foreigners.

What I do see are long queues at the mail centres; of people picking up parcels that were previously delivered, to pay 100 baht or less.

2 hours ago, BritScot said:

  Trash and sewage kills reefs/corals. Dead coral is white.

Yes, dead coral is white, but bleached coral is not dead.

What is coral bleaching?

When corals are under stress, they expel the microscopic algae that live in their tissues. Without these algae, corals' tissues become transparent, exposing their white skeleton. This is called coral bleaching. Bleached corals are not dead, but are more at risk of starvation and disease.

Coral Bleaching

9 hours ago, AreYouGerman said:

 

This is what he told them and you believed but the reality could be a daily visit to his local girlie bar.

I didn't believe a word of his story. I would be more likely to believe some "girlie" reported him. It seems likely they were searching for him.

23 minutes ago, Robert Paulson said:

If anyone actually wants to help fix the ocean or coral or whatever the hell else, start with trash and plastics 

How will the removal of some trash and plastic lower water temperatures in a huge body of water? An increase of just 1C can cause these bleaching events. It is no surprise considering how hot it has been throughout April and May.

Just now, Hummin said:

They are more fertile, and often pregnant after first visit.

 

Philippines is great, Dumaguette is a great place to settle and have as base. 

 

 

I suppose that I've lived in Thailand since 2006 points to the fact that I have no interest in living in the Philippines again or even having a relationship with a Filipino. I have visited Dumaguette a number of times in the past and never liked it or understood the attraction for it, other than there being a university there, I suppose. I went there on scuba diving trips.

If I had to find a place to resettle there, the choice would be difficult, but at least I would need to be somewhere central in a big city. I've lived in provinces (Cavite, Leyte) and wouldn't want to do that again.

24 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

Met a 75 year old guy from Philippines in my home country.

He escaped the country.

He had a power grab issue with the local mayor and the mayor put a price on his head.

Place must have been totally lawless way back when.

It hasn't changed since "way back then". Wealthy clans still run the show in the deep provinces. Everyone is on the take - police, lawyers, judges, mayors. The central federal government has little penetration or control when you leave the big cities.

Summary executions are common all over the country. Some provinces are worse than others, but provinces like Samar, or the far North of Luzon can be particularly brutal.

22 minutes ago, AreYouGerman said:

 

You think I would ask her if she's a virgin? In Facebook messenger? As a Christian? A fundamental Christian female? Okay. We live in a different world!

 

Anyway. Nice that you enjoyed your life at a time when there weren't any phones! In my youth we also didn't have any phones (or just those cool Nokias) and it was amazing to actually interact with girls back then. Poor boys nowadays are completely left out of it as their female counterparts are chasing some randommale  underwear model in some other part of the world.

I don't know - it was you who brought up the virgin topic. I do live in a different world. I'm in my 60s and don't spend time on Messenger chatting to girls... in fact, I just divorced a Filipino last year after 13 years of marriage and 20 years together. My time of dating young girls is long past.

Most Filipinos are Christian, but by birth and tradition more than faith, so corrupting them wouldn't be difficult.

Back about 20 - 25 years ago, in bars, the virgins would wear tags to indicate they couldn't/wouldn't go out on bar fines, but apparently, it was a scam and most were fake virgins looking for big payments.

42 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Food overall is much better in Thailand.

Hotels are cheaper in Thailand.

 

That depends on who is eating it. Filipinos prefer their food over Thai food. It also should be noted that their food varies a lot from island to island.  

I prefer Thai food overall, but that doesn't make it better. Most of the time I eat Western food. The advantage in Thailand is they do Western cuisines better here.

10 minutes ago, stoner said:

 

wasn't it like 90 percent of japan was bombed in ww2. manila should look like tokyo by now. 

The comparison is not even close, Japan was an advanced empire at the time, and the Philippines was a group of disconnected islands. I thought you were interested in a comparison between Thailand and the Philippines. As I suggested, to draw a more valid comparison, compare the Philippines vs Indonesia.  

On 5/7/2024 at 10:37 AM, Upnotover said:

People who want to travel regularly away from where they live buy cars.  

And in Pattaya, most of those people who own cars also own motorcycles. All my neighbours own both and use their motorcycles more often than their cars. It's worth noting that petrol is now roughly the price of milk.

9 hours ago, HappyExpat57 said:

No WAY in hell could this article have been written by a human.

I concur, absolutely. The extensive overuse of adverbs and adjectives is ridiculously redundant and extremely annoying in a rather feeble attempt to turn this extremely, very dull and boring non-event into an epic, fantastic saga that we might possibly care something about.

The solution is simple: post armed security guards at the entrance of all of Thailand's Pattaya eateries.

On 5/2/2024 at 3:42 AM, richard_smith237 said:

The Barbra Streisand effect.....     

... the unintended consequence of attempts to hide, remove, or censor information, where the effort instead increases public awareness...

 

Thailand is great at this....  No one would have heard of this guy, now they push him further into the public eye.

 

Should authorities also punish themselves for making his videos reach a greater audience ???

 

 

The juvenile minds of those in authority seeking 'revenge' rather than whats best for the country again.... Also, if the guy's criticism are genuine and valid... listen to them, act upon them.... 

 

They would be advised to consider how much this YouTuber will trash Thailand if he leaves voluntarily after their warning/threat A young guy his age will hardly spend the rest of his life in Thailand. You can find videos trashing every country on Earth.