ZigM

The wish to think critically is there but Thais are taught to shut up and put up. To justify their lack of critical thinking and as not to challenge authorities, Thais have surrounded themselves with etiquette, rules, ways of thinking and slogans to signal that someone is going too far, for example: "You think too much". My wife says that all the time to me as well as: "Stop going back to the past". I recently told her that I am who I am because of my past and because I have analysed my past and my mistakes so that I don't make them again. After a lengthy debate, she broke down in tears and told me that for over a decade, she had tried to forget what her ex husband did to her. More recently, he has illegally rented out her secondary property and house to strangers without her consent. However, she will not challenge him or take any action because she wants to move forward. Yes, if you can't change a situation, moving forward is a great strategy, but she is still paying off his debt from over a decade ago because she did not open her mouth when they got divorced and now he's making money off of her land that does not belong to him. I love my wife. She's a hard working and honest Thai. But she's been conditioned like most Thais (but not all) to look the other way. Many cultures have similar but not quite as invasive thinking. For example, when my mean brother stole, hid or broke my toys, and I wanted to hit him, my mother would say to me in German: "Der Kluegere gibt nach" [Engl. the intelligent person gives in]. I actually lived almost half my life with that thinking controlling my actions until I decided in my late twenties to throw off the shackles that my German mother had imposed upon me. If someone abuses me, why should I look the other way? The bible also regurgitates similar crap about presenting the other cheek. That just gives a-holes like my brother and my wife's ex-husband reason to continue the abuse. I remember my brother grinning every time my mother let loose that phrase because it was a ticket for him to continue the abuse. I wished my wife would listen, or read, this story. So, there's nothing magical, serene or wonderful about Thais. They are human beings with the same frailties and societal issues as any other culture. My step children are definitely not traditional Thai, and my two biological Thai children from a previous marriage, want nothing to do with Thailand as they have sampled other more advanced societies where self-imposed ignorance is no longer seen as good. I am sure Thais will wake up one day.

Sorry, I'm a bit late to this topic. In 2014, my then wife wanted to gut our Thai holiday home and renovate it as it was vandalised. She flew to Thailand 6 weeks before I did to look for a qualified builder. I let her do the talking because she's Thai - I'm not. Also, I knew that if the builder saw me, a 'farang', the price would quadruple. My then wife engaged a family consisting of an old dude who walked around in undies and had no shirt, his senior wife and young son. Let's skip to the meat: they convinced my wife to destroy the beautiful parquetry and replace it with tiles. OK, that was her wish except that they did not use tile glue. They used ordinary cement to hold the tiles in place temporarily and then flushed the leftover cement down the toilet which destroyed the septic system. They also convinced my then wife to replace the wooden windows with PVC ones. OK, that was her wish but they inserted the windows crooked and at an angle. When they placed cement around the window frames, they cemented over the window frames. They had never heard of a water level before. Instead, they used a transparent hose filled with water to pretend that the windows were level when they were clearly not. Then they replaced the electricals but with the wrong gauge wire and fuses, and finally, the paint that I bought to paint the interior and exterior went missing. When my wife inquired, they told her that they had borrowed the paint for another job. All my expat friends have similar stories. For example Stan, who gave $100,000 to his then wife to build a house in Thailand. Naturally, she engaged her all-knowing, lay person brother. When the brother started laying the foundations in the middle of a former rice field, Stan suggested he move the house's foundation up the hill for obvious reasons (flooding). The brother apparently stormed to his sister threatening that if the farang told him again what to do, that he'd walk off of the job. Six months later, Stan showed me photos of his wife standing in front of their new house up to her hips in water. I have since remarried. I also bought a house which needs some work. Although I have verbally agreed on the process before work can commence, which is at least a week or two away, I was copied into photos of work that commenced today although there is no final agreed scope of work to be done, no contract and no sign-off by me. Seriously, I've had it with illogical Thais who say one thing but do another. There's always an excuse - always.

When talking to a qualified Thai architect about building a car port, I asked why Thais like to tile their driveways. She said that the tiles hide the concrete cracks. When I suggested constructing my driveway with rebar, expansion foam and crack joints, she just shook her head and walked off.

You should see and feel the inside!

Never heard of any Thai person doing that. May I perhaps suggest buying a functioning air conditioner?

The BYD Sealion 7 dropped by 150,000 baht a few days before we picked ours up. It was 1.4 million baht. We got the discount. Now it might be 1.2 million baht - not sure. As with all things, prices will drop. So did Tesla. TVs, guitars, white goods, they are all getting cheaper.

I'm an owner of a BYD Sealion 7 AWD (SL7). I've done around 3,000km in it, that is, my wife actually does most of the driving. I started looking at EVs almost 5 years ago, and the brand that keeps on coming up as the winner is BYD. For a while, some misinformed friends strongly recommended a hybrid vehicle (petrol and electric), but they practically all suck, mainly because the electric range in hybrids is between 90 and 180 km depending on the brand. Why buy a stinker ICE if you want to go 100% green? It makes no sense going 50-50. I'll be installing a 15kW solar system on my roof shortly which will give me free travel forever. I did look at (and sat in) a Haval H6 PHEV and a BYD S6 and a few others, but in terms of quality, features, luxury and comfort, the SL7 s**ts all over the competition. Thailand has over 3,000 charging stations. Yes, you need an app to charge, but many apps are in English, and depending on where you live, you might need to book a station. My wife and her son, who's a mechanic, wanted me to buy a crappy and overpriced Toyota hybrid until I put my foot down and said I'm going all electric. The LFP battery likes being charged to 100%. I get around 500km + out of it. In a few years when batteries have a 2,000km or 3,000 km range, I'll swap it out. So far, I've had zero problems with the car except for the BYD dealer who was racist until I jumped up and down and made them look at me. They are still having problems issuing a passcode to access BYD Auto app remotely. Also, BYD's after sales service and warranty is pathetic. During an unauthorised installation of window film to the sky roof, they damaged the retractable soft cloth. The dealer and BYD can't get their act together and decide who will repair it. While this sounds distressing, and it is, similar issues happen with any Thai car dealership or car brand. I blame the dealer for not properly disclosing the damage to BYD because they don't want to lose face. Other than that, the car is a dream to drive. It is very comfortable, very safe, it handles well and despite the 2.4 tonnes weight, my average consumption is only around 18 kW/100 km. If you want better consumption, go for a go-go mobile sized mini car. They might only consume 14kW/100 km. With solar panels, I'll rarely be using public charging stations.

Most of the responses here are spot-on. I don't think there's any point in trying to identify the many root causes of ignorance, arrogance or the blasé approach to wisdom, knowledge, logic and the poor communication skills that Thais accept. They are raised to be like that. Nothing that you nor I might do will change that.

That's what I came to realise too around 2006. I am NOBODY here. No one gives a stuff what I think or how 'farangs' drive. I have a Korean, German and Australian drivers license, and most states have issued me a DL too when moving interstate. But Thais get offended if a 'farang' gives well meant advice. Thais don't want to know how others might do things better. My wife freaked out recently when I drove our brand new car. She said: "Drive safely!". After slapping me for no reason, I pointed out that she drives in the middle of the road (the two lanes), very rarely uses her indicator, overtakes on the left in the emergency stopping lane, does a right turn whereby oncoming cars have to brake hard to avoid a collision, exceeds the speed limit and harasses cars in the right land by driving really close behind them for them to move to the left so that she can overtake. Yep, I've heard and seen it all, including a video how my niece's father's brain was scooped up by ambulance workers onto what looked liked fish-n-chip paper because his head cracked wide open when his head hit the asphalt after being hit by a truck. It was on the news. I still have the video somewhere. The news crew did not blur the video. The gruesome details are there to see: brain lying next to head. At least he had a quick death. So, I'm kind-of jaded by being the funny, nice 'farang' who knows better than 71,801,279 Thais. I know nothing. It's their life, their risk, they own it all. But since Thailand doesn't even have a physical copy of road rules, what exactly do you want to educate them on?

Correct, the so-called Schuko plugs can be reversed. This is crucial because some older equipment hums (Brummschleife) which can sometimes be cancelled-out by unplugging and turning the plug 180 degrees thereby switching L with N. .

Some 20 years ago, a friend of mine's 20 year-old daughter was killed by a wealthy but drunk motorist. When the mother went to the police with witnesses, she was told that her 'farang' boyfriend had to cough up 6,000 baht for them to investigate. After paying the money, they let a week go by and eventually told her that no charges would be laid, unless of course, the 'farang' boyfriend is prepared to pay another 10,000 baht. Yep, that's the reality here. My wife is concerned when I'm alone at home. She doesn't want me to walk outside on my own. That says it all.

When I first visited Thailand in 2006, I hired a Toyota with a tray. My wife overloaded and squeezed her family, and much more, into and onto the vehicle. As a proper and fit person, I objected to this dangerous practice. Naturally, they all thought I was an id*ot. "What's wrong with him?", I was told. To keep the peace, I eventually allowed it. I drove in Bangkok and down to Hua Hin with people loaded in the back of the truck. D*mb scooters would swerve in front of me without looking or indicating. People did not seem to follow any road rules. When I drove at the sign-posted speed, I got angry looks from every one as cars raced past me. My wife yelled at me: "Drive faster!". When I stopped at a pedestrian crossing, everyone, even the pedestrians who were waiting to cross, looked at me as if I was a fool. When we drove along the beach, my wife shouted: "Slow down!". First I thought there was an emergency, but when I slowed down, she wound down the window and threw out rubbish. It is very sad that pedestrians die because of ignorance and the way Thai society accepts chaos. When I pointed out the chaos, I appeared to offend everyone which was not my intention. It was merely making an observation but Thai society will never learn if they don't learn to listen first. The way traffic works in Thailand is that unless there is a traffic light, the pedestrian gives way to everything else, scooters give way to cars, cars give way to vans and buses and trucks always have right of way, unless of course, there's a traffic light. At the end of the day, authorities here are just as dysfunctional and chaotic as the traffic that they are supposed to regulate. I have since remarried and am now retired in Thailand. I fully accept the driving style in this country and the deaths that come with it. It is not my problem if inept authorities are unable to catch up with the runaway train that they created.

My wife did not want to retire in Australia. She asked me to retire with her in Thailand. Let's be blunt, I am only here because I love my wife, and because of the still cheaper cost of living. I already lived in paradise in northern Queensland in Australia. Thailand had nothing to offer except for my wife, her nice family and friends and very cheap real-estate. As I'm not into partying, night-life and the usual BS that foreigners get up to, I'm not really interested in the various issues raised. Yes, the visas are a pain but still easier to obtain than if my wife were to try and enter Australia. Yes, I'm losing 20% of the value of my money during conversion because of the weak dollar vs strong baht, however, I still bought a mansion for a pittance and a new car. Also, the land ownership kafuffle is slightly misrepresented. Although I am not allowed to be registered as an owner of land under the land titles act, I have equal rights to land, money etc under the Thai Marriage Act. Since I have a prenuptial agreement, if my wife dies before me, I inherit the whole house and everything else, including land. Although I'd be the legal owner under the marriage/inheritance act, I am unable to transfer the house into my name. The same situation existed in Germany after my father died. I inherited the house under German inheritance law. No contest there. However, for me to be able to sell my house, I had to transfer it into my name first by rocking up personally to the inheritance court in Germany and identifying myself. There is a distinct mismatch in the land titles act and what I am entitled to under the marriage and inheritance acts in Germany and Thailand. Although I finally had my father's house transferred into my name without setting foot in Germany, the land titles act in Thailand forbids me to transfer the land into my name, and if did inherit it, I'd have to sell it. However, I'd be entitled to all profits. Couples who are free from suspicion of fraud should be granted full and equal land title rights in Thailand instead of this blanket paranoia against all and any foreigner. My previous Thai wife in Australia owned properties together with me and had bank loans in Australia before she even became an Australian citizen. Why must Thailand be so backward? That's my main issue.

Wow, some of the armchair commentators here are such experts on the topic so that I'd better not comment for fear of being ridiculed.

I don't know anyone who does that, neither the German, Norwegian, Swiss, American, Australian, British, Swedish nor Italian dudes that I know do that. It might sometimes get used to make a point when it is necessary to establish someone's nationality (at the immigration office perhaps) but not in personal introductions. Westerners generally don't care where the wife is from, where the kids were born and who the father is - except for Thais, of course.