ZigM

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.

Tint merely slows the interior of the car heating up. It will still heat up. Plastic has no magic air-con properties. Reducing glare is the only advantage. We are going back to BYD to have some of the plastic removed.

Entitled or not, its origin is based on race (the Francs). Therefore It's racist. Your argument is nonsense. Its application is often meant as an insult (but not always). The context is important. Or are you saying that '<deleted>' or 'Abbo', or 'Kaffa' are OK? Neither my wife nor her friends or family have ever uttered the word 'farang' in my presence because they realise it's an outdated and inappropriate word. I guess being university educated makes a difference if and in what context the word is used.

Farang is a simple Thai word in the Thai language referring to the Francs (or French) in the 1500's. As with all languages, words change a little or a lot over time. Nowadays, farang means any Caucasian-looking person because a 'white' person apparently can't be Thai. Therefore, the word is often used to describe a white 'foreigner'. A person from Africa would be referrred to as 'farang dam' = black foreigner. While I accept that the word 'farang' is inoffensive in a general conversation, it is never the less derogative more often than not. For example, my wife and I recently went on a trip. The driver kept on giving instructions to my wife such as: "...tell the farang this...". At the border: "...tell the farang that...". At the hotel: " "...tell the farang bla bla...". At the restaurant: "...tell the farang..."... I have a name. I am a person. The driver has my name on the passenger list. The same when my wife, my son and I went to visit the palace in BKK 11 years ago. My then 8-year old son had Thai citizenship, yet some douchebag in uniform bellowed at my son for the: "...farang child to get in the farang line with his farang father!". I'd never seen my wife so upset and angry as she walked up to the douchebag and yelled at the dude in uniform: "Don't call my son farang! My son is THAI!". The place went quiet. My wife then screamed at my son to get back into her line. My son quietly went back to his mother into the Thai line. I stayed in the farang line. I have a few things to say: 1. segregating people based on appearance is racism. Period. We don't need to discuss that. Go, Google it! 2. the lame excuse that foreigners don't pay taxes and therefore must pay more to get into national parks etc is BS because my then wife, son, nor her relatives ever paid taxes. There is no legitimate reason to charge non-Asian-looking people more. This is racism. Period. We don't need to discuss that. Go, Google it! 3. The mere fact that my then wife went berko over our son being referred to as a farang clearly demonstrates that it is, at the very least, in the majority of cases, and for a Thai, an offensive word. 4. Imagine if I referred to every Thai as an Asian in conversation? That wouldn't go down well. Imagine had I told my wife a few weeks ago to tell the bus driver: "Tell the Asian to stop at the next toilet...", or, "Tell the Asian to take my bags to my hotel room". Would that be appropriate? 5. Another often boring excuse cited for using the word 'farang' is because the Thai didn't speak English. I honestly don't know what that has to do with anything. In closing, at the very minimum, the word 'farang' is insulting. As it refers to race, it is logically racist, especially if the Thai is referring to me. I worked for a farang government for 18 years. Had I ever referred to my non-white looking colleagues, visitors or anyone else as a foreigner, Asian or whatever, I would have been dismissed. I challenge Thailand to swiftly move into the 21st century and accept that not everyone is a Thai. I have dual-citizenship, my children have 3, my grandson has 4 citizenships. Stop defending what is a racist term, or, create a neutral word for foreigner that doesn't imply skin-colour or other facial features or ethnicity. As farang refers to a white foreigner, it is extremely racial charged and implies that the receiver can't be Thai.

I briefly worked for Spectrum Tint-A-Car in Australia in the early 90's - but not for long. The sales pitch included that NASA puts the same film on their Space Shuttles, that it filters out the harmful UV rays and prevents skin cancer, keeps the car cooler and a host of other things. I can easily debunk most of them. Glass naturally filters out 90+ per cent of UVA and UVB rays depending on thickness and other factors. Tint does not reduce the car heating up. It might marginally slow it down but it does not keep the car cooler. Yes it can help with glare but all you have to do is put on sunglasses. At night time, you can then remove the sunnies. Being an Australian, and loving to drive, I can tell you that the sun's rays are extremely hot in Australia. Thailand is equally as hot and humid. I never needed window tint in Australia. I bought a new car last week and the salesperson talked my wife into applying tint. She asked for the minimum tint that let's through 60% of light. Unfortunately, despite paying for this car, I can't drive it at night time. I demonstrated to my wife that already at dusk, the 100m visibility goes down to 70 m. At night, you will not see the stars or lights beyond 50 m. I can't see the side mirrors through the tint at night time. It's a hazard and should be banned. Finally, I'm sick of hearing the advantage of "privacy". On a public road, you have no privacy. The goal is for everyone to be safe. This means that you can see everything unhindered and people can see you that you can see them.

Lorry is at it again. Instead of reading and understanding my post which is open for discussion, he insults. He is a typical troll, a cyber bully, if you wish. Someone who picks a single sentence out of a post without context and then throws insults at the author to upset them. Lorry must be really bored, Google explains: "An Internet troll is an individual who deliberately provokes or upsets others within online communities, particularly on social media platforms". Sounds like Lorry, right? Lorry has made some 3,400 posts since 2021. Wow, that's a lot! Lorry wrote in a post in 2023: "There was one Thai female there who was the single-most rude Thai person I've dealt with in over 30 years. She never once allowed me to finish a single sentence". Lorry also wrote in that same post: "The remainder of the time she only would speak Thai and bullied my wife until my wife was shaking". Perhaps Lorry should follow his own advice instead of insulting someone that he knows is correct. Looks like Lorry has had similar experiences. He should contribute instead of insult. Alas, a troll can only do what a troll does - troll.

Someone wrote: "I feel awkward in towns where no one talks English." - Nigel Farage. Works both ways. Please learn to read, write and speak Thai. This isn't about me or anyone else being required to learn Thai because someone possibly feels "awkward". It is simply rudeness when anyone, from any country, interrupts someone else and blabs over them. Whether it be an Italian talking over me or I interrupting an Eskimo, it's purely about courtesy here. 25 years ago I worked in South Korea. What grossed me out was that 90% of Korean males would suck-up their snot and spit it out all over the footpath and in front of you. Smoking and spitting. Korea is Number 1. One fine morning, I went for a walk with my then wife when I heard a loud "Ksruuup." followed by a "Prfrupp!". I then saw a yellow gooey chunk of spit land on my wife's shoe after it came out of a Korean's mouth. Are you suggesting I should have learnt to speak, read and write Korean? Would this have stopped the spit attack? Hardly! It's plain rude and requires no language skills. The same with some cultures raping women? If I learnt Indian, would that make a difference? Hardly! Bye the way, my then wife actually spoke Korean and it made no difference. I know some really nice Thais. They are respectful, intelligent and funny. I don't have an issue with them. I'm not talking about them. I'm merely pointing out that many Thais just don't have manners. It is for them to learn - not me. Of course, if it is acceptable in Thai society for people to babble over others, then so be it. But me learning Thai has nothing to do with it and is not the solution.

My wife recently showed me the monthly electricity bill from the month before I arrived. It was 300 baht. However, for the current billing period (1 month), since I arrived, it was 3,000 baht. So, yes, my presence has obviously increased the bill - by 10x. 57,000 baht for 4.5 months appears to be a scam to milk the farang (you). This happens a lot. I'd call the tourist police on 1155 to sort it out.

I started to learn Thai but since I'm 'old' I don't figure on becoming a fluent Thai speaker before I pass-on, and even if so, all I can do is say something in Thai after the insult has occurred because I won't be getting plastic surgery to look like a Thai. I can't change this nation. It's not for me to change them. It's their ignorance, not mine. I've started to show my annoyance, for example, I told my wife to no longer accompany me to the doctor. She can wait in the car. If I need her, I'll call her. We went to the bank the other day and the door-man did the 'wai' to my wife but he ignored me. As I waited for him to 'wai' me, he turned away and printed out a ticket. As he proceeded to hand it to my wife, I ripped it out of his hands and told him that next time, I expect him to 'wai' me. A few days earlier, a taxi driver interrupted me mid-sentence as I was speaking to my wife. According to my wife, he had nothing important to say. I subsequently spoke louder to finish my sentence and to indicate that I was talking. In response, he raised his voice to compete with me. Seriously, am I supposed to compete with him? I put up my hand and told him not to interrupt me when I'm talking. He actually shut up for the whole trip and did the 'wai' to me only as we exited the vehicle, probably as an apology. I actually feel like back in the 70's in Australia when the majority of Australians thought it was inappropriate for a Caucasian to have relations with an Aboriginal. Some whites didn't care while others made sly remarks and dished out blatant insults. Times have changed, luckily. I don't have a racist bone in my body and I detest it regardless of the country. Unfortunately, Thailand is decades behind other countries regarding equality, anti-discrimination laws and basic courtesy. My main concern is my wife who doesn't want to discuss these issues that I've been discussing on this forum. Thais are very sensitive to racism when they are overseas and it impacts them. They expect equal treatment. I always made an effort to involve my previous Thai wife in everything, when we lived in Germany and Australia. When going to the doctor, I only tagged along in case there was a translation issue. I let her speak and Caucasian doctors did the same. No one ever interrupted her mid-sentence and started talking to me. The same with all other interactions with anyone and all authorities. Imagine if they had ignored her and only greeted me and only spoke to me? The <deleted> would have hit the fan. At the very least, the behaviour of many Thais (but not all) is disrespectful and ignorant. My cat got better treatment at the vet than me. Anyone, regardless of appearance, should get a 'wai' if it is customary to do so. To assume I am not Thai based on my looks, and to treat me differently, is racism. To assume that my Thai son, who is half-Caucasian, is not Thai (although he has a Thai birth certificate and a Thai passport) is racism. By the way, he also has a German passport and no one ever treated him poorly in Germany because he has black curly hair and olive skin; and now he serves in the Australian Defence Force. This equality just doesn't exist in Thailand. Although the Land Titles Act does not allow me to own land, the Marriage Act gives me equal rights over common assets, including house and land, except that if my wife dies before me, I can't transfer the land into my name. I can legally inherit it but then I have to sell it. The common excuse for this is that Chinese scammers have made the Thai bureaucracy weary. This excuse is also used for the onerous marriage process and registration process in the family book. Do I look Chinese? No. Do I have a Chinese passport? Errr, no! Excuse after excuse to justify racism. Just blame it on the Chinese, Laotians, Malays and other countries surrounding Thailand.

I'm a decade or so late but roofers, regardless of the country you're in, are pretty useless. Thailand just happens to be worse. After heavy rain in 2012 in Goulburn, Australia, I woke up with water dripping on my head. The next day, my son called me to inform me that the TV was literally under a waterfall of water coming down from the ceiling. Two qualified Australian roofers told me that there were no leaks and that the roof was watertight. Really? I suppose a rat pissed down on me? The second qualified roofer offered to charge me $600 to do something where he himself said that he didn't know if it would work. By pure chance, I found a note in my letter box from a travelling roofer. He did not have any qualifications but worked with his dad for 20 years since he was a kid (so he claimed). He also claimed that his dad was a very good roofer blah, blah. He wanted work so desperately that he offered I not pay him until it rains and I am satisfied that the leaks were gone. He immediately pointed out a few areas that I had suspected myself, for example: the tile cement at the apex was cracked and needed replacing, the valley where water swooshes down during rain was too narrow and a few other issues. He fixed them all... and it only cost me $700. The leaks were gone. I now have the same issue here in Ban Chang, Thailand. I looked up at the tiling - and it is woeful with the same issues I had had in Australia. My wife wants me to accept the leaks and put a bucket under the drip once it breaks through the ceiling. The plumbing, as in every Thai house, is leaking. However, If I mention the mould, the cement turning to sand and paint peeling off, I'm told that this is "normal". Don't Thais take pride in their homes, workmanship and appearance? Parts of the eaves are mouldy and rotting away. When it rained yesterday, I could see the water drip through the eaves. The water marks on the ceilings and walls are obvious. I'm now looking for a qualified roofer in Ban Chang, Rayong. Does anyone know a qualifies/experienced roofer and builder?

I was married to a Thai for 15 years until it went sour. We have two adult children. I just married my second Thai wife. We are both in our sixties. I have decades of experience with Thais. Thai people are regular human beings like other Asians or other westerners. There are good and bad ones, lovely ones and dick heads. We all live on planet Earth. Generally speaking, though the hotel manager has zero customer service skills. I bet his hotel is empty because of his attitude. Having possibly been ripped-off before is irrelevant. Every new customer should be treated like a new customer. If not, he'll be broke soon, like many Thais. Having said this, I had a disagreement with my wife because Thais like to interrupt me and talk over me. That's OK, I'm not interested in other Thais. But when I was sitting in a taxi the other day and I was having a conversation with my wife, the driver just interrupted me and spoke over me as I was mid-sentence. As I continued to talk and raised my voice, he also raised his voice to compete with me. Really? How rude! I put up my hand and instructed him to stop. He then shut up for the whole trip. My issue isn't the ignorant Thai that just interrupts private discourse with my wife but the fact that she then usually turns away from me, her husband, and blabs in Thai to someone else while ignoring me. My expectation is for her to ignore the intruder and instruct them to butt-out until I have finished and to respect me. This morning, we entered a Thai bank. A dude at the door did his welcome pose to my wife but ignored me. As he proceeded to hand her a ticket, although I was the customer, I ripped it out of his hand and told him that I was the customer and that next time, I expect him to kow-tow to me. Don has made some valid points. Thailand discriminates and it is racist. That's a fact. If my wife were here, she'd justify the hotel manager's bad behaviour because "...many Chinese come and rip off Thais". Maybe it's true - maybe not. I also hear Burmese, Laotians and other surrounding Asian countries being blamed for horrible things. Suffice to say, I'm a lily-white Caucasian with a western passport. Every time my wife blames bad Thai behaviour on Chinese, I say again, you cannot mistake me for a Chinese. Therefore, justifying rude behaviour by Thais by blaming Chinese is not acceptable. Finally, despite hearing horror stories about Thai bureaucracy, I have to say that if you act a certain way that they will bend over backwards for you - without having to pay bribes. Thais live in a feudal society, decades, even Centuries behind more progressive countries. I've decided to ignore Thais and Thailand unless an issue directly affects me. I am here for my wife - no one else.

Just to add to some of my and other comments, my Thai fiancé is lovely and so are her family and her friends. They are lovely people and we communicate as best we can, joke and interact regardless of language barriers. Not all Thais ignore non-Thai-looking people but I've given plenty of examples where they do. Here are a few more: the other day, my partner took her dog to get vaccinated. My cats arrived the week before from overseas. One of them had severe breathing problems. My fiancé asked me to show the vet a video of his irregular breathing. After showing the vet only 5 seconds of a 45 second video, the man turned to my fiancé and started bellowing at her for almost 2 minutes. After wanting to interrupt the inappropriate shouting, my fiancé told me to wait and that she'd explain everything later. After leaving the vet, I obviously wanted to know what was said about my cat. Remember, it's my cat that I brought to Thailand at great expense. I love my cats. She silenced me again and wanted to tell me in the car what was said. What's the big secret? She finally said that the vet wanted me to bring the cat in immediately. What? That's it?! The man inappropriately bellows at my fiancé for almost 2 minutes and all he said was: "Bring the cat in immediately". About 8 hours later in bed, my fiancé added that I was to accompany the cat. Wow. Still...2 minutes of shouting for something that farangs convey in 5 to 10 seconds without shouting. The next day we took my cat to the vet. Instead of me accompanying my cat, he was taken away for x-rays. Ten minutes later, the vet re-emerged, stuck an x-ray negative on the wall and pointed here and there, bellowing at my soon-to-be wife like the day before. After 3 minutes of bellowing, I raised my hand at the vet and asked him to stop talking for a minute so that my fiancé could catch up and explain to me what was said about my cat. How can a person retain all that information? He should give it in small chunks, it gets translated, and then he can continue. After 10 minutes of bellowing, my fiancé asked whether they could shave my cat's stomach for an ultrasound. I said 'yes'. When the vet walked off, I asked my fiancé what had been said. She said that he didn't know what was the matter. He would explain everything in English after the ultrasound. At this stage, I have to declare that this vet operates highly inefficiently. Why bellow at my fiancé while pointing at an x-ray for 10 minutes when he knows nothing? Is he trying to impress her? 15 minutes later, we were asked to sit at a table and a very polite and professional female vet explained in Thai for ten minutes what the x-ray and ultrasound had revealed. As instructed by my fiancé, I shut up the whole time. I said nothing but I looked at the clock to time the interaction. When the female vet had finished, she started talking to me with the cat's cage between us. I said: "Wait a moment. Let's switch chairs". I swapped chairs with my fiancé so that she was now obscured by the cat cage and I had a clear view of the PC monitor and the vet. I asked the female vet whether she spoke English. After saying "yes", I asked her to please give me the exact, same detailed presentation by referring to the scans and other materials used previously. She was surprisingly excellent and complied. She explained everything in good English. She was very professional. I was impressed. While she was speaking, the male vet occasionally bellowed over her in Thai although he does not understand English. This guy has some of the worst bedside manners ever experienced. I often feel like back in 1976 in Germany when my parents decided to relocate there. I noticed similar behaviour. It is as if foreigners are considered stupid. People spoke to me as if I just crawled out of the bush and never experienced civilisation despite understanding and speaking the language and having lived in a house previously. They were shocked after they said derogative things and I then revealed that I understood everything. I recall an African-German colleague of mine, who was born in Germany, telling me that every time he walks into a shop, the store attendant would speak to him in baby language, such as "You speak Deutsch?" They would address him in the lesser form, as if he were a child rather than an adult. They'd say 'du' which is considered rude to an adult instead of the respectful 'sie'. Decades ago, even today, 'professionals' in Germany like to talk-down to ordinary folk while poor Germans blame immigrants for their poverty. So, yes, comparisons can be made here. Yes, my fiancé generally wants to help me and take the stress and burden off of my shoulders by speaking on my behalf. However, as I pointed out to her many times, where I come from, I am in control until I take my last breath. If my fiancé were in Australia or Germany, I'd respectfully and accurately translate everything in real time without telling her to be quiet, telling her to wait and/or ignore her. It all comes down to basic politeness and how you/they would want to be treated - period. In contrast, yesterday, the Thai postman referred to me as 'kun' when delivering a parcel while my fiancé was at work. He didn't speak English and I don't speak Thai yet the interaction was respectful without anyone's interference and the transaction of handing me the parcel with a smile was without issues. The less interference there is and the more I can interact with the locals, the faster I will learn Thai. Finally, and therefore, before a particular member ridicules me and my post again, I am posting true experiences that are recent and consistent with other complaints by foreigners. As Thailand is obviously grossly dependent on foreigners, they should adopt what many western countries have done. For example, when dealing with government in Australia, you can request a translator and government forms/applications are available in a variety of languages. There are many reasons why foreigners don't speak Thai (or English), and members of this forum shouldn't ridicule those that don't.