ZigM

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.

Well, Lorry obviously didn't read my post and just went-in with insults. How about this, Lorry, I went to my embassy in Bangkok the other day. When I approached the bullet-proof screen with my Thai partner behind me, the Thai receptionist in my embassy looked right past me and smiled at my Thai partner behind me instead and spoke to her. After 30 seconds of waiting so that I could speak, I just interrupted, introduced myself, and explained that I had an appointment at my embassy. The Thai receptionist behind my embassy's bullet-proof screen stopped smiling and then asked to see my passport. She then opened a bomb-proof steel door. My partner and I entered a security screening area. But instead of being greeted by people from my country and in English, an elderly Thai man and woman spoke to my Thai partner in Thai. So, Lorry, you made in inappropriate comment that i was a baby who doesn't even speak Thai. What's your comeback now? After entering the embassy, my partner was greeted by another Thai national who gave instructions to my partner in Thai. After my partner walked off, I stood there looking at the Thai person in my embassy for her to address me in my language. She then merely pointed down the hallway without further comment. Lorry, I'm sure that you will come back with insults but in my embassy, where I have an appointment to conduct business, I want to be spoken to in my language and not ignored in favour of another Thai. What is this? This perfectly fits the complaints that foreigners are second class people in Thailand. And no, it is not polite or helpful to ignore me!

Err, sorry, but the double pricing-standard is pure and simple discrimination and racism. I have two Thai children. One of them looks very Asian and the other more like an Italian. When we went to the palace some years ago, there was the "farang" line and the "Thai" line. My wife and children entered via the Thai line while I lined up at the foreigner line. A dude in uniform instructed my son, purely based on his looks, to get into the farang line. When my son (who was 9 years old at the time) walked toward me, my wife yelled at him to get back into the Thai line. When the uniformed dude instructed my son not to go back into the Thai line, my wife gave the uniformed dude a well-deserved verbal beating. The uniformed dude obviously made the decision to direct my son into the wrong line purely based on his looks. If those that comment don't know the difference between discrimination and racism, inform yourselves. Whether its a national park or a retail shop, market or service, wanting to charge me more based on my nationality is discrimination. Treating people differently because of their race is racism. Once Thais move into the 21st century and understand basic concepts of human rights, decency etc, then they may be able to deal with this dual pricing system. But for now, it's all about money. Farangs are a source of money and we are treated as such. None of the Thai people that I know in west world want to return to Thailand. I wonder why?

I've read a few interesting responses here but they don't answer the question. I was married to a Thai for 15 years and, oddly enough, my fiancé is now also Thai. It is telling that despite a huge age gap between my ex and my new wife, both act the same. This goes for all 10 or so Thai females that I know relatively well. I believe I have a general answer to this question. I recently retired from work and reside permanently in Thailand. I still experience the same issues - and always have. For background, Thais are generally absorbed with their appearances, saving face, looking good, wealthy and powerful. What happens behind closed doors is very different to the public personas that are acted out. Added to that, Thais have poor communication skills in their own language and they do not understand how westerners communicate or conduct business. Having said that, here's an example: I went to a restaurant with my fiancé's family. I was asked numerous times during the day whether I'd like to go to a particular restaurant. But instead of taking me to my preferred restaurant as agreed, they took me to a seafood restaurant although they knew I didn't eat seafood. They assumed to order for me as my Thai is limited. Despite them making sure that seafood was not part of my dish, I was served pad Thai with shrimp. Instead of my wife speaking to the waitress, or even better, letting me communicate directly because I am an adult in my sixties, the whole family got involved. Everyone was talking, debating and then arguing with the waitress and then with one another. Everyone wanted to be the hero. At the time, I did not know what was said as my Thai is very limited. Thais don't like admitting to a mistake and it is not polite to lay blame. However, they all blamed it on the junior waitress from Laos because her Thai skills were not good. When everyone had finished debating, I then asked the head waitress whether she spoke English, and she said "yes". When I started explaining the matter calmly, my wife interrupted me and so did her family. They spoke over me because they had allegedly already explained to the waitress the situation. But I had no idea why my food was served with shrimp, what anyone said, whether I was getting a new dish or whether they wanted me to leave the restaurant? I am supposed to blindly rely on a bunch of squabbling people and just sit passively and follow their lead, or what?. After waiting for more than half an hour for my new dish, everyone had finished eating theirs, including deserts. Just as the dish arrived, I said "let's go" because my appetite had vanished. Now everyone got involved again asking why I wasn't hungry, whether I wanted another dish or whatever... The whole evening was a joke. I'm an adult in my sixties for crying out loud. The same when a different restaurant served green curry with pork blood. Sorry, not my thing. Instead of accepting that I'm not going to fish the pork globules out of the sauce for obvious reasons, everyone got involved again until I raised my voice and said: "There's only one person you need to ask what he wants - me. I've told my wife what I wanted - period. Live with it!". The same when I went to buy a tablet for my wife. My daughter in law came with us. This purchase was meant to be personal. However, the daughter took over, she rushed us to her preferred shops and interrogated the sales people on our behalf - all in Thai. I was just a distraction. When it was all over, my wife finally asked "which one do you want to buy me?". I told her to ask her daughter. After some discussions and paying for the tablet, my wife asked what was the matter? I told her that all I did was pay for the bloody thing. This was a gift from me to her and that I should have been involved in all aspects of the purchase and not just present my credit card. Whether it's a car or a house, everyone wants to help. Why don't you move here? Why don't you move there? Why do you want to buy an EV? Why a BYD? Why, why, why..? The same with all other purchases or decisions. Buying a car, a property etc. they don't understand that although I have no rights under Thai law, the fact that I am here and forking out big money means that I should at least get courtesy, respect, you know, the stuff our grandparents tried to teach us? In fact, if I were an old Thai man, there would be no interruptions. Thai society is obviously so focused on themselves, their plight and how appearances will affect THEM that they ignore you until there's a bill to pay. A farang is only as good as long as he spits out money... I wish I was wrong about this but that's over twenty years of experience and analysing Thais.

Man, I have read some very disturbing misinformation on the testosterone (T) topic here. Firstly, there is zero evidence linking high T to prostate cancer. Despite being debunkt decades ago, it is still being pedaled as truth when the overwhelming evidence, yes evidence, clearly suggests that low T is a contributing factor to metabolic syndrome (in men) as well as prostate cancer (at least one factor of many factors). Over the past decade, HRT has shown to reduce the risk of heart related issues, prostate cancer and type II diabetes. As one forum member rightfully questioned, if high T was the cause of prostate cancer, then wouldn't all young men be at high risk? Instead, the risk group is men in their 60's when T is low. In fact, T-treatment is now being used successfully in the UK to fight prostate cancer. And no, eating fat, praying or believing in magic and lifestyle changes won't get your T up. Once your body reduces T-production, it is progresses with age until it's almost zero.