ThaiFelix

And BTW in the USA a locksmith, postman, baker and a few others are middle classed as far as income goes ...says nothing for their mannerisms of course.

Most of the world isn't American .... where money is all that counts.

In the rest of the world, class is based on,

Breeding, education and occupation.

Anyone who labours is automatically low class.

Those who use their minds for their work are middle class.

High class can only be gained from parentage.

Bakers in the US aren't low class ...... that's minimum wage work the world over, same as all factory/serving/shop/restaurant staff.

(unless it's your own business, and you have many employees)

I didn't realize we were still working on the feudal system...you Brits are a hoot.

You USA basher said constantly amaze me with your ignorance, you have no idea of American society, if you ever managed to scrape up enough money to afford a cheap package holiday in Florida this does not make you an expert, the US is bigger than Europe though of course we are more united. You Brits are only alive today because we bailed your ass out in WW 11, with American blood, try getting educated before you post your trite on a public forum.

Yeah and the US was triumphant in Korea and Vietnam too eh?? Try an education a bit broader than John Wayne movies

Oh yeah, ants!

Try dusting with cinnamon powder, amazing stuff. You can use it on plant stems or around the house and the ants will be gone. I am told it also helps with damping off of seedlings and as a rooting powder for cuttings.

Give it a crack.

Cinnamon powder eh. I have to make a trip to Udon next week or so and will look at for it....maybe Makro stock it as I dont think its a normal Thai thing to find in Tesco or Big C etc?

Bloody ants decided to take up residence this morning in a pedistal fan we use on the verandah against mosquito invasion. Fan wont work now so imagine they have gummed up the contacts in the speed selector....same thing happened 6 months ago when they got into the kettle switch....they must get some kind of buzz out of being near electricity

I knew an old guy back home who always sprinkled lime along the edges of his garden paths to stop the ants undermining it and swore by it. Dont fancy sprinkling lime on my nice verandah tiles though!

Incidently I have been using EM instead of salt last two water changes in my catfish tanks and so far no problems...they are thriving and no signs of the bacterial infections making a comeback. I have also been adding EM in my bullfrog (gop) tanks each water change but doesnt seem to be lessening the smell.

Hi Felix,

No arguments about the 'natural' thing. Just highlighting that it is sometimes our actions/fears which cause the out of balance situation and with a little different planning can save more work.

From the post you said earlier I thought you were putting borax in the garden which wouldn't really help your beneficial bacteria/fungi or EM formula. It might work slowly still though. Is your water from the tap? The heavily chlorinated kind or just well water that's been UVed? Soil/plants will survive on that water but might not thrive on it.

Your house is a different space (unless you grow your veggies in there...lol) and even though I am quite happy to sit and watch swarms of ants migrate from one side of the house to inside/under the house just before a big rainstorm and then take all their eggs back out again a few days/weeks later I do not expect anyone else to do that. Anyway, ants in the house is a little off-topic. I do feel they fill the gap of the lack of earthworms where I live, so I let them be. For me this is part of my ecosystem that involves the EM mixture I apply.

I don't feed my fish, but that's not because I try to be 'natural', it's part of the system that has grown around me and it doesn't interfere with me so I leave it alone, apart from taking a few biguns out(for the sake of the little ones of course ). I still don't get the living in caves thing? So sorry I can't comment on that. I have heard of a few people who do, but I don't think that has anything to do with an ecosystem for growing/supporting soil/plants, I think some people just like to do that.

Generally I don't think that fresh water watering, manuring and growing the right kind of plants in abundance would create an ant problem that lasted too long, but I may be wrong.

I'm not saying you have to do any of the things I do, just giving you some different perspective so you can make better decisions. Don't worry if you don't agree with what I do, I am used to a lot of people not understanding where I am coming from. Hope that helps

No, definitely no arguments here....maybe debate would be a better choice of words. While we all may not agree with each other...we all learn something from each other and yes you are correct about "it is sometimes our actions/fears which cause the out of balance situation"...I am too often guilty of this and often need to remind myself to stop being so pedantic and just leave things be.

Water. We have a choice of two different water supplies here. The water in our moo ban comes from a dam fed by a stream but is chlorinated, dusty and unreliable. However, as we live on the border with the adjoining moo ban we were lucky enough to also hook into their supply which comes from a 90 meter well/bore. This water is heavy in minerals of some kind, as shown by the build up of salts on the bathroom tiles, taps, etc but is not treated in any way I have been

assured. We only use the chlorinated water in emergencies such as pump failure etc but never in the fish pond or frog/catfish tanks. For making up my EM I only use rainwater from a small tank off the workshop roof.

Earthworms. We too lack earthworms in our soil and was hoping the addittion of EM and lots of compost to the soil may rectify this. We have a few rai with rubber trees a few kilometers out of town with what appears to be the same clayish soil but is riddled with earthworms. I cant actually say I have seen the worms but the rubber tree groves are littered with pinnacles of worm castings, some over 20 cm high. This I can only put down to years of leaf buildup in the soil. We collect and use these in the garden as well. I am contemplating starting a worm farm and slowly introducing the earthworms into the better composted areas.

Living in a cave hahaha What I was getting at here was an exaggeration of going totally natural. In other words giving up everything in order to have no impact on the environment in which we live. Maybe this time its me where no-one understands where I am coming from

I'll write a full response t tomorrow. But in short, UV filters are to kill bacteria. Why would you want to do that and use also bacteria to treat the water? One or the other. Swimming pool for people or pond for fish and a natural ecosystem. The waterfall is great for aeration.

Yes my bad! I didnt even think about bacteria when I installed the UV filters, I was just hoping to keep the green algae down a bit until I put tup tim in the pond....especially considering it gets so much sun. My intention was to turn them off a few days before adding the fish because algae is part of their diet. However I have been slowly adding EM over the last week at a rate of 400ml per day via the bio filter with the UV filters still on. The pond volume is a total of 9,000 litres. An inspection of the bio filter today indicated a greater build up of microbes on the bio balls. The water lillies have taken off as have the few plants in the bog filter. I have also noticed an increase in the number of water insects in the pond such as dragon fly nymphs etc. I think these are all good indicators but I will think seriously about your advice thanks IsaanAussie.

ThaiFelix,

I have often seen posts advocating mixing borax with sugar to eliminate ants. In my experience, very few ants in Thailand are attracted to sugar. A soup made with catfish heads(10 Baht/bag in the local market), sticky rice or bone marrow is much more effective.

Yes Loong, that is what I have found. Some go for it and some dont. And if they do go for it they bury it after a couple of days as though they have sussed out it is poisonous. That is why I am going to try out the high protein fish food in place of sugar. I have already got the pellets soaking so will try that first but if that doesnt give the desired results I will take up your suggested alternatives, thanks.

ThaiFelix

Over the last couple of days I have tried all sorts of things, fish pood, molasses, fish soup, chicken bone soup, and sticky rice to no avail......they just sniiffed at it, back-tracked a few steps and then the trail took a wide berth around the baits. It was then that I noticed hordes of ants coming over the wall from my father in laws house (I'll blame him haha) seeking out the blossoms from one of our flowering shrubs next to the boundary wall. This prompted me to go back to the sugar mix and it worked this time.....my bait traps were swarming with ants. So far after two days they are still going for it and not trying to bury it. Fingers crossed.

After a bit of reading up last couple of days some people have the opinion that ants seek out different things at different times depending on their needs....some days water, sometimes protein and others they may seek sugar.

Sorry for short sentences but trying not to ramble on too much.

I love all the ants on my farm. They help me to look after the plants. I wouldn't want to kill them. I rarely get bitten by them now.

Now back to my main worry.

Why are you using borax? It is a fungicide and a herbicide and you're trying to improve your soil/compost?

Your EM bacteria will be trying to get it on with all the good fungi and find there's nothing there to party with.

Loongs advice about the catfish heads sounds better, without the borax I see it like being a peace offering to any angry ants. Without going into microbiology too deeply, your plants need these fungi to grow stronger. If you're sticking it around your garden/farm to kill ants you're killing your bacteria/fungi relationship.

One of my ponds is a big hole in ground (20m x 40m), no treatment, tons of fish, every rains season we get a whole load of new ones. It doesn't smell and the fish are there all year round, not crystal clear, but if it was I think all the kingfishers and others I get hanging around would have cleaned it out by now. I keep meaning to get some aeration but never had the time, I just keep a 'good' bacteria balance and no chemicals on the farm. Try to 'read' your garden/farm a bit any extra insect activity or unwanted results is normally down to something you could manage better. Sometimes swells of a kind of insect are quickly dealt with by another and then if they swell, there will be natural predators all the way up. It kind of starts with your EM helping the organisms you want and then upwards to other more useful ones as they start to take over 'the yard' so to speak.

Oh yeah now I'm sure none of you care about this, but, those big mot daeng (Fire ants?) that dig their mandibles into you and squirm up and down as they try to bite/squirt you (or whatever they do to cause pain). If you pinch them gently on the gastor they let go and you can drop them somewhere else to go about their life. A little bit hard when there's tens of them doing it when you're near a nest, but the rest of the time it's easy...lol

Thank you very much for the reply Chenposeb.

Borax/ants: I could argue that Borax (sodium borate) is a naturally occurring element present in the four corners of the earth. You could argue that its a fungicide and a herbicide. However either argument really has no legs if we have not discussed or revealed the quantities per whatever used. Likewise you could argue that ants are beneficial to the garden. Sure, you are 100% correct if we lived in a natural environment....but we dont....there is too much water under the bridge for us to return to living in caves. I try to keep things here as natural as possible....I try to only use animal manures and compost rather than man-made fertilizer. I refuse to use any pesticides or herbicides. But I water my garden instead of waiting for the rain.....so that is unnatural. I grow lettuce and tomatoes etc....thats unnatural because without me giving water and manure they wouldnt survive right now. Its a matter of compromising.

Back to the ants. We have a lot of ants here that annoy our daily life. Because we grow a lot of plants and vegetables, and thus do a lot of watering, we have an unnatural balance. Because I refused to have the ground under the house treated/sprayed with chemicals we have a lot of ants that enter our house. I draw the line when I cant sleep because I have ants crawling all over me or like the other day after taking a shower I started to burn all over because hundreds of ants had covered my towel seeking out who knows what....water, dead skin cells??? Three days later I was still scratching from the bites (or formic acid squirts for the pedantic who seemed to miss the actual post topics/questions) all over my body. I cant even put a cup of coffee down without it being swarming with tiny ants. So I try to use as natural a product as I can to put these little creatures back to a natural balance,,,ie Borax. Now I am not talking about truck loads, I am not talking about kilos......I am talking about half a teaspoon of borax mixed with 6 teaspoons of sugar and a little water to make a syrup. This syrup is then distributed amongst 6 small bottle tops placed around the house (not in the garden) where the ants enter the house.....usually gaps in the flyscreens.

In the garden they sometimes cause problems because they are in unnatural numbers due to us creating an unnatural environment through watering,manuring, and growing plants in unnatural numbers. While they are beneficial because they aerate the soil, I have lost lots plants because they aerate the soil too much or carry in too many aphids because they are in unnatural numbers. In the garden I will merely put a slow running hose on their most concentrated area for a while to make life uncomfortable for them and they move on to somewhere they are tolerated. I cant do that in my bed or in the house hahaha!

Please dont take this post as any kind of criticism,,,,it is certainly not! I guess I am trying to point out that if humans are present it is not a natural environment and we cannot now live in a totally natural environment unless we all go back to living in caves. Take your ponds for example, if you are providing any food for the fish then its unnatural. But as my mother used to say "everything in moderation" and "dont post anything if you have had a few drinks" lol!

Thank you again

ThaiFelix

Ants don't bite, they squirt formic acid!

Yeah my wife says they "pee pee on you and it hurts" haha!

Issan Aussie is the wizard for this and he could write an encyclopedia in regards to the many different types of EM he has used and nurtured. His soils and farm operations were tops in Thailand due to primarily the use of EM in his entire process.

I believe I might have been the one to turn him onto this almost a decade ago as I was knowledgeable that it stopped the smell of hogs when you used it in their water. IA took it to a level that may never be approached again as he bathed his hogs and pens and manure and compost and soils in the solution in many and different varying forms. I purchased some of his composts and they were amazing.

Okay I don't care who says what I would never mix anything off the shelf unless it came from the creator himself in Japan at any other ratio than the previous mentioned 1:1:18. My wife brewed her own EM in a 55 gallon (200 liter) drum but it was a long and ridiculous process as far as I was concerned as we would buy ten liters of EM and of molasses and in a few days could have 200 liters of perfect product. I was shocked once when I went to disc in a bunch of heavy rice straw and the assorted cut stubble and weeds and after the first couple of passes with the old Ford i was looking at what I was doing and there wasn't a trace of straw or stubble to be seen on the extremely sanitary soil. I then remembered we had dumped about 100 liters into our klong that surrounds the farm and had pumped it down with our three inch pump to a couple water canons to get the soil wet to turn and prepare for a planting of pah tueng (sunn hemp). the microbes had done their trick as that nasty straw became luscious soil. This year the wife went out and sprayed with a backpack sprayer a 30% solution over the entire rice field after harvest and before tractor work and again great results. the stuff is better than magic and our ponds always are getting assorted non scientific doses of EM and the catfish just get bigger and water stays scum free.

Use a 2% solution in a sprayer and topically spray any and all plants as much as once weekly. I have used it where dogs are confined to small areas and there feces and urine is a 365 a day problem of neglect and the smells are foul ofrom much too crowded dogs. I used 10% solution and in a day all odor is gone. IA's pig sties smelled as if you were in a medical clinic as one day i was in the middle of them and I said to him you I can not smell one bit of hog odor at all. Everyone knows going down the road when you are a few kilometers downwind of hog farm you know you are a few kilometers downwind of a hog farm as you don't need to ever see them as the smell will tell.

I could go on and on in regards to the benefits of using it but again if someone tells you to mix EM any different than we have said go buy it somewhere else or don't listen to them. EM-1 and use 1:1:18 and use as much as you can all the time for any and everything; ground sprays can have much higher %'s than topical though be careful if you have new young plants that you don't have too high %. if my ford was so inclined I'd like to give it some to drink in the radiator but it seems to fine on the diet I have been feeding it so will let well enough alone on that and as the sun sets i say happy trails to you with Fords Foreverrrrr

Hey sorry Foreverford, I missed the Quicksilver clip the first read, I thought it was one of those Thaivisa adverts they keep jamming the site up with.

One question I forgot previously was with regard to EM and salt. When we first got this batch of pla duk I not long discovered they were infected with some bacterial infection that reminded me of Ebola...just seemed to eat away at the flesh. Now when a do a 20 - 50% water change twice a week I add a couple of handfulls of salt with the new water. We have not lost a single fish since. Now and again you get a couple that must spike each other when in a feeding frenzy but they heal quite quickly. Not sure about adding both salt and EM so I am contemplating doing away with the salt once I start dosing with EM and just watching them closely.

ThaiFelix,

I have often seen posts advocating mixing borax with sugar to eliminate ants. In my experience, very few ants in Thailand are attracted to sugar. A soup made with catfish heads(10 Baht/bag in the local market), sticky rice or bone marrow is much more effective.

Yes Loong, that is what I have found. Some go for it and some dont. And if they do go for it they bury it after a couple of days as though they have sussed out it is poisonous. That is why I am going to try out the high protein fish food in place of sugar. I have already got the pellets soaking so will try that first but if that doesnt give the desired results I will take up your suggested alternatives, thanks.

ThaiFelix

Thanks for the very informative post foreverford (oh I shudder saying that as I am a Holden [GMC] man, Ford = found on rubbish dumps haha)

Yeah yo have given me some good insights there. The original EM from Japan I would love to buy but we have little choice up here in the sticks....do you know where to source in the Udon Thani/Khon Kaen area?

I have my first batch ready now. A 20 litre container with an air lock I made and a 5 litre I have to burp every day. Both I have been testing every day and both have been doing what most say and that is the PH dropping a point or so each day to the 3.5 level which is where it has been sitting now for about 7 days. Very little in the way of white flakes initially, more like a slight, brown froth on the top now but smells sweet and sour with a slight alcohol odour. I have had to do very little burping with the 5 lt batch (the 20 lt is automatic with the air lock so I cant notice) until the last 3 days but that also corresponds with the fact that it has been quite cool here up until 3 days ago and then the heat has come on with a vengence. I imagine this means the fermentation process slows down considerably with lower temperatures.

I have a recently built a cement fish pond (about 9,000 liters) which I soon want to add tup tim after conditioning the pond. The pond has 2 x 6,000 lt per hr pumps, one feeding a bio-filter with waterfall at one end and the other running to a bog filter at the other end. I have minimal plants in the bog filter at present because of the lack of nutrients due to the fact I only have a couple of goldfish in there at the moment which are my "mine canaries". Starting two days ago I have been adding 400 mls of EM-A each day which I have been diluting in a 9 liter bucket and slowly adding via the bio-filter over about an hour. I believe the formula there is 1:1000 and to add slowly. One thing that concerns me here, and I am hoping you or IsaanAussie my have some knowledge, is that I currently have a UV filter in each pump line. This is due to the fact that the pond gets a lot of direct sun and it appears they are working very efficiently (along with the bio/mechanical filters) as the water is always crystal clear apart from a bit of green algae on the sides and bottom of the pond and a bit of brown on the waterfall rocks. Because you and others have warned me re EM-A in direct sunlight, I am concerned about the affects of the UV filters on EM-A treated water?? I do intend to turn off at least one of the UV filters once I have introduced the tup tim because algae is a desired food source for them (I will supplement with pellets as well) and possibly the two if needed. I am interested to hear your comments on this.

Your comments about IsaanAussie's odour-free piggery due to the addition of EM-A has got me thinking about my 'gop'. We have about 350 gop in a 2 1/2 x 3 mt tank and need to change the water every second day due to the large amount of smelly faeces and polluted water now they are nearly full size. Starting tommorrow I am planning to trial the addition of EM-A to their water (ratio 1:1000) to ascertain its affects. We also have about 500 pla duk big oi in a same sized tank. Your comments about your catfish growth/health has prompted me to trial EM with them as well.

If after all this I have any left for the garden and compost bins hahaha I will start treating the gardens regularly. I can see now why you have a production line of EM-A.

Another concern I have is ants. We have a lot of ant problems here, particularly the two small varieties of biting red ants. With all that molasses laced EM-A being spread around I am wondering what this will do to the ant populations. I have been using Borax mixed with sugar to try to contain them but they seem to get switched on with it after a day or two and bury or fill my bait containers with dirt?? It is "commercial grade" borax and thus I have been trying lesser and lesser ratios of borax to sugar (8:1, 10:1, 12:1) to no avail. Next couple of days I am going to trial a mixture of the borax with ground gop/pla duk food to see if that works better.

Any suggestions to the above would be greatly appreciated. (and dont take my criticism of Fords too seriously, you have it already so I guess you just have to live with it haha!!)

Thaifelix

Just because I have failed at everything I've ever done, been sacked or forced to leave every job I've ever had, and had to beg, borrow or steal from my aquaintances to get by, doesnt mean I'm a total loser.....I've just had a bad run for the last 30 years

I have this great business idea....... 555555555

Yeah with my ideas and your money we could make a killing ....errr you got any more beer?

Coming from the US I have always figured that many people's experience in Thailand is similar to what would happen if they meet a girl from the projects in south Los Angeles working Compton Ave, married her then moved into Jordan Downs with her. The cultural shock along with the hostility of the neighbors would have profound impact on their psyche. I imagine them spending all their time posting bitter, racist, xenophobic post on an Internet forum called Watts Visa.?

TH

Why is it that people from the states think everybody in the universe knows exactly what they are talking about when they mention things like suburbs in LA, measurements like pounds, gallons or miles that no-one else uses, or words that look like English but are spelt differently from the rest of the known world??

Yesterday I met a girl from Subiaco who I was sure sounded like someone who came from Wangaratta but actually came from Geelong, what do you think Thaivisa members??? duh!! <deleted> are you talking about??

I have a bird that likes my physical condition...........

Woh!! Now its starting to get all sicko!!

13 years here and only problem I have had has been from farang (by the way what is the equivalent term for "trailer trash" if describing same from UK?....anyhow thats the kind I mean)

I make it a golden rule never to post while under the influence of anything.

Oh fair go, if they made that a rule some here would never get a chance to post

No I dont make things up about people for reaction on forums for material in my next book.

Excessive eating, no, I have to for research in the book I am writing.

No I am abnoxious because I am doing research.

Is this another imaginary author writing another imaginary book Aesop doesnt even come close to the "author" I know

The GF's dad was bitten by a stray dog at a funeral a few months ago.

A course of three anti rabies jabs over a few weeks were the result.

It was owned by another villager and she apologised after a couple of days. It made me smile when the GF told me that her cousin had threatened to kill the dog unless the dog owner did apologise.

My experience of Thai dogs has been of strays lying in the middle of the road when I have been driving. They are usually too sleepy with the heat to be doing much.

I wouldn’t pet, touch or encourage any of them.

If you have access to the dog that bit your GF's dad, why did he have to get the shots?

The villager's dog has rabies?

Oh I get it, I thought the dog had to have the shots

Tell you what I have noticed on TV is that men especially as they age become fearful of all sorts of imaginary demons. They get soft mentally. 99‰of crime in this country is thai on thai but I've yet to meet a fearful thai woman, in fact again it's farang that even become fearful of thai women, getting bossed and harassed by 4ft pip squeaks ! I guess you could hide behind the wife's or gf"s skirt when walking those dangerous sois

Hardern up guys or go home.. It's embarrassing

Sent from my SC-01D using Tapatalk

I got a little secret for you mcfish.......................TV is not always real

More than a million......who did the counting?

I remember years go there was a guy back in Oz who won the big lottery and they had him up on the TV. When asked what he was going to do with all that money he replied "I am so happy.... I'm a farmer and I am going to keep on farming till its all gone!!"

Buy a good quality dry dog food and add hot water, wait until cold and give to the dog (this will make the food soft and easier to eat). If he/she doesn't eat it at first don't stress out, when hunger the dog will eat. Then once every week or two give the dog a proper hard bone to chew, this will strengthen his/her jaws and provide calcium and keep him/her busy. Anything else is over the top and will make your dog fat and lazy. Remember your dog is not human (although we sometimes think the opposite).

Yes agree with the dry food......Pedigree is the brand name. Dogs are like kids, they will turn their nose up if its not chocolate if they can get away with it. Just have patience. The chicken necks are a good idea too, they have lots of fat.......dogs need lots of fat. The bones in chicken necks wont be a problem either....but not the other chicken bones. You could also boil some necks and pour on the dry food (let cool first). Dont give your dog raw eggs. The white of an egg destroys biotin, too many causes a form of malnutrition giving the dog a big belly. You can separate and give the yolk only or cook them but not too many. Can food is a waste of money.....even the best of it is just the dry kibble as above but is soaked in water and has gelatin (jelly) added which is laced with caramel.....thats why the dogs like it. A dog liking something is no indication that its good for them. You are paying for a high degree of water in canned dog food....I forget the percentage but think its near 90%. And provide lots of exercise......more exercise = less mischief! Good luck.

mcfish said, "Are you hung over or just not very bright? If someone sees me drop my wallet and scoops it up and then does a runner, it's as good as a crime. maybe your ok with that.."

Duh, me hung over or not very bright? Does your mirror have a teleprompter?

You have invented a crime where none existed; a crime that could happen anywhere, and you are assigning that imaginary crime as an example of Thailand being dangerous or risqué. It seems rather obvious which one of us is not very bright.

No one stole your wallet or your passport and if you drop your wallet again, you are negligent or stupid, or both. And, that has absolutely nothing to with Thailand.

If I may help here. I understand mcfish clearly. Maybe you took the sarcasm for gospil. Such as "its sooooo dangerous". ...he was joking.

We are talking about whether Thailand is risky or risque (or both) place to travel. He related two incidents where crimes could have been committed but werent because of the honesty of the Thai individuals concerned. A reflection of his positive experiences with locals. Both happened in Thailand, irregardless of the time period. Hope that helps.....or am I missing something?

Thank you ThaiFelix, what you say may have merit, IF he was joking. However, his retort, "mcfish said, "Are you hung over or just not very bright? If someone sees me drop my wallet and scoops it up and then does a runner, it's as good as a crime. maybe your ok with that.."" discounts that theory.

If I cut off my left hand I have my right hand left, right?

mcfish said, "Are you hung over or just not very bright? If someone sees me drop my wallet and scoops it up and then does a runner, it's as good as a crime. maybe your ok with that.."

Duh, me hung over or not very bright? Does your mirror have a teleprompter?

You have invented a crime where none existed; a crime that could happen anywhere, and you are assigning that imaginary crime as an example of Thailand being dangerous or risqué. It seems rather obvious which one of us is not very bright.

No one stole your wallet or your passport and if you drop your wallet again, you are negligent or stupid, or both. And, that has absolutely nothing to with Thailand.

If I may help here. I understand mcfish clearly. Maybe you took the sarcasm for gospil. Such as "its sooooo dangerous". ...he was joking.

We are talking about whether Thailand is risky or risque (or both) place to travel. He related two incidents where crimes could have been committed but werent because of the honesty of the Thai individuals concerned. A reflection of his positive experiences with locals. Both happened in Thailand, irregardless of the time period. Hope that helps.....or am I missing something?

Any country can be dangerous.. If you act like a fool, take risks like a fool.. Well to bad. Australia has had its fair share of dangers to backpackers only recently 2 females where attacked rapped and the lives taken.. Luckily enough they survived

How can lives be taken and yet they survived?