piersbeckett

Haven't you ever been in Love?

In Thai culture it's not appropriate to show affection in public, at least for older people. In Bangkok there are youngster who will act like a westerners, but that doesn't meant that outside of Bangkok its ok to act like that. What I've been understood at least older thai couples will show affection between each other only on private. I haven't seen thais hug their children much, at least in public.

Times change.

I heard in Thailand that even prostitution is illegal and yet it happens. Just imagine. The scandal.

You may try to keep it simple but it may, nevertheless become complicated; also, simple can be rather boring - my advice: check out a song by Steve Forbert entitled 'It isn't gonna be that way' from his album, Alive on Arrival.

I must have lost my mind, I think the one on the right is quite attractive!

This is great because Chinese people think so highly of Africans.

Tourism is an important part of Senegal's economy, with mild climate, attractive beaches and fishing.

Sarr said Senegal hopes to attract investment from Chinese tourism companies and tourists will be welcomed by the country's beautiful scenery, blending culture and hospitable people.

It's a match made in heaven. Apart from their love of Africans, Chinese tourists are known for their love of beaches and fishing, plus Senegal is just a stone's throw from China's own coastline almost 13,000 km as the crow flies (Peking ducks too?).

Could there possibly be an ulterior motive?

Chinese - ulterior motive - surely not - you'll be saying that money is their god next

Isnt the hole point f coming to Thailand is to avoid hassles with women?

Hassles with women may not be the same hassles as back home but avoiding them, 'no'; learning how to deal with the new type of hassles and subsequently about yourself, 'yes'.

The holiday experience is so different from living here - two worlds within a totally different world!

Mister Jimmy,

I'm going with louse1953 (#26); you'll both have a good idea as to whether your altered feelings constitute a fact to be faced or a problem to be solved; nothing, in my view, to do with 'being a man', anyway I thought all that was old hat and that us men were supposed to be getting in touch with our feminine sides but perhaps its gone back to the macho thing.

You might be in for a hard time so think carefully as Gentleman Jim indicated, yourself and the family coming out of this well is likely to depend on you walking the extra mile.

Good luck - Piers

Amerigo Vespucci -- from whom derives the term 'America' -- was Italian.

In the UK they have no authority to make criminal record checks except in very specific circumstances. You can't just do a criminal record check on anybody you please.

That's right and what about 'spent' convictions; possibly more likely than unspent ones in retirees' records - might be a 'human rights' issue if such revelations resulted in convictions.

IMHO the Thai attitude towards corruption is of tolerance; what's needed to change that is, in my view, education. My feeling is that generally the Thais, perhaps the majority, that are not directly benefiting from corruption don't understand that corruption is a major cause of their inability to improve their lot.

Tackling corruption, I believe, has to start from the top with zero tolerance in the state controlled sector accompanied by the existence of a truly independent judiciary dishing out harsh penalties for convicted offenders. The government is tasked with protecting the populous which surely should include protecting them via the rule of law from what is theft.

Definition is also required; what constitutes 'corruption' and what might be 'unfair trading', right down to what is to be considered mutual 'back-scratching'.

The earliest evidence Quote Investigations found for this type of remark appeared in a syndicated newspaper column by Leonard Lyons in 1962. The popular Oscar-winning actress Celeste Holm attributed the words to an anonymous theatre actor (LLCH): Westinghouse Broadcasting Co. invited a panel of performers including Celeste Holm and Shelly Berman - to discuss the trends in show business. Miss Holm spoke of the vogues in acting and said she heard one actor say: "Honesty. That's the thing in the theatre today. Honesty.... and just as soon as I can learn to fake that, I'll have it made"

At 55 if you could get a GF of 30 in your own country, then there might be hope, you already know the answer.

Wine maybe or hamburger or eggs are best judged at least partially by age. Judging a woman by age means you aren't old enough to have one.

Or so old that your own judgement in this regard is impaired.

She is the " Right Lady " when she never asks for money,she never accepts any money and you never have to give her any money. " 2 people should be together because they love each other "

Farang Jaidee ( " the romantic farang " )

You must be young

Try this on for size: IMHO an ex-pat who's lived here for twenty years will know that farangs are farther away(as a people)from Thais than an expat who's lived here for ten years but the twenty year person will still be fooling himself to some extent but might know that that is necessary in order to survive happily here. In this regard, in this particular land, I think us farangs have a lot in common.

I think Thai women are just as 'Thai' as Thai men only if you're heterosexual they can use their sexual allure to entice you - tit

The first lease is written on the chanote and is enforceable. Any subsequent lease is not written on the chanote until the previous one has ended, and as such is not really enforceable until that time (and good luck trying a civil action for breach of contract 30 years on, or if the other party is dead).

This subject has been extensively covered here and the only people who ever say anything contrary to the above seem to be people who are trying to sell leasehold property. I wonder why?

All that said, it's a mystery to me why Thailand doesn't just introduce proper 99 year leases as this would solve just about all the company ownership and nominee structure issues at a stroke, and give a correct amount of security to those farangs who are currently tempted to buy in a wife or girlfriend's name, or who wish to pass property on to their offspring or other family.

This is certainly the situation as I found it to be eighteen months ago as well as when I purchased a 30 year lease ten years ago.

Independent judiciary an absolute must in this regard, I feel but not much mention of it!

How do you know they're Arabs?

Yes, a huge assumption as they look exactly the same as people from other parts of the world who all look the same but I suppose they could be just dressing as Arabs used to dress before everyone looked the same.

What you do is you travel around the world and make a mental note of the differences in appearance of people located in the various regions; you may consider that a lot of it has to do with climate and tradition.

I have to say, I would even though it means travelling to KL because my last flight from UK with them was one of the best I've had if not the best; comfortable, good service, good food all at a most reasonable price

Is the DPRK democratic in any way at all and couldn't it help itself on the economic and energy fronts by 'stopping it' on the nuclear front? Everybody wants to win, that won't change with your 'shoulds and shouldn'ts' any more than my suggestion of respect for the people through democracy.

I wonder; would the people of N. Korea vote for real democracy if it meant freedom and prosperity for them and included a strong defense policy (if it's needed) at the expense of no nuclear armament? The DPRK's strong relationship with China would surely only improve or am I missing something, associate professor? Admittedly, I usually am!

On it goes, twisting and turning and repeating itself, the chess game of the international power struggle at the expense of 'the people'.

I think most people, even sceptics would agree that there is a spiritual element to human existence. Just two examples; in the book Godless Pilgrim, the author has no truck with religion as the title suggests but while in a desolate area of (I think it was) Iran, visits an ancient mosque and admits to actually feeling the holiness there.

Myself whilst running along a bridle path, through a forest, many years ago, had to stop; the wonder of existence overwhelmed me; I felt 'as one' with the universe and everything around me; caused, I'm sure, by an endorphin 'rush' but a spiritual experience both in it's intensity and it's connectivity - lasted about 45 seconds as I recall.

I'm sure, also, that anyone who could survive a long period in a wilderness, without food would quite possibly come up with a revelation, the hard bit being the ability to go without food for long enough and survive.

Well I suppose settling the seemingly insuperable insurgence problems in the muslim dominated, deep south, successfully instilling throughout the kingdom respect for the rule of law, eliminating corruption starting from the top to show an example and legitimise the necessarily resultant hard-hitting reforms in respect of tax collection, training, buying-in and remunerating teachers commensurate with their significance as well as broadening the education syllabus, and eliminating organised crime, might, eventually lead to the majority of the population having their happiness returned to them or it might not.

What if it lead to the majority of people ceasing to enjoy life as much as they previously had, stress levels increasing, frustration and dis-satisfaction abounding, personal freedoms diminishing and cynicism setting in?

Personally, I agree (with the junta) that something has to be done but to avoid the baby going out with the bath water, I believe they must attack the real bad boys and the real threats to the prosperity/happiness of the kingdom.

IMHO - we are in their country, a country that doesn't, like some of the countries we come from, allow anyone in - we have to qualify to live here. I think one has to see that to start with, then by trying to perceive how they see us, move on to trying to understand them.

Personally (and I've lived in town and country) I love 'em and think that there is a huge amount to be learned from them, I mean about being a human being, stuff we've lost in our gaining of 'sophistication' and our individualistic approach to life and our obsession with achievement.

I have, as we speak, six of 'em staying here (in a town) working on my bungalow (building renovation) - I have had renovated, many properties over the years in the UK, almost always a nightmare experience whereas this two month job by comparison has been a dream.

It's true to say that I know the people: they traveled down to do this job from an Issan village where my partner and I had a house built; they are able to work and live together with very little conflict or 'issues' but they know they have my respect and I know I have theirs - we're very different but we know and accept a lot about each other and, like I said, we might have lost our countries but this is their country.

Firstly, pray tell, what was his job?

I've been based here, on and off for about ten year also and I couldn't agree with you more. The trouble with a yes or no answer from a person with a different first language from oneself is that one's never quite sure if one, they understood the question and moreover that the answer is true; after all, a lot of conversation is clarification to assure the contributors that they're all on the same page.

I've known I think only two Thai's I could talk to; both spoke English, one was a muay thai fighter turned headmaster of a school I taught at and the other was a neighbour who'd been a tour guide here and had lived and worked in Australia for two years. Both were blokes and both were interested in politics and the history of Thailand. My experience has been very similar to yours; other things I've noticed about Thais in conversation is their repeating the question prior to answering it, as if they were in a examination situation, seldom making comparisons and inability or unwillingness to discuss a particular text i.e. book, film, painting etc..

I think the general direction will include , in the reforms, the military will not be able to interfere in politics and stage a coup, however the reforms will also include measures that will prevent what happened leading up to the coup ,from taking place again also.

Surely the Board's job is to make the airline pay - to ensure a profit is made for the people of Thailand (I'm presuming the airline is nationalised) in a highly competitive market - I say, 'perks' should be performance related or maybe as other posts suggest to me, the airline is just one big 'perk' for government staff.