Goinghomesoon

Yes you are right, classism. When staff at a restaurant thought my dark-skinned man was from Oman we got great treatment. The moment they had him pinned as a lower-class Thai (Isaan) the service dropped dramatically. The colour of his skin didn't change but their categorisation of him did and their behaviour changed accordingly.

a lot of thai men definitely say these things too. there is still a bit of that "get in the kitchen and make me some food" attitude amongst rural thai men.

Haha, Girlx I love that you are so tongue-in-cheek and hopefully not too jaded! Thank goodness my Thai man is the opposite of this stereotype Being raised with 5 sisters in northern Isaan he is far more aware of how to treat women than any other man I've met. And lthough he has a limited repetoire in the kitchen, he's learning.

A friend working for an NGO says there are many unresolved child kidnappings in Thailand but that police tend not to take the reports seriously. I believe UNICEF or one of the other big organisations monitors the reports and whether the children are recovered.

There is a Thai model-maker inside the temple grounds at Charoen Krung Rd, Soi 72 near Shrewsbury International School by the river. He custom-makes tiny model teak houses, mostly for rich Thais. I'm sure he would know where to source landscape items and perspex display boxes. He speaks some English and works 7 days.

Yeah, go Boo! My man has worked for 20 years solid at every shi**y job imaginable to support his parents and younger siblings. Parking attendant, pigfarmer, farmhand, hotel room attendant, waiter, massage spa, movie extra: you name it, he's done it. There are virtually no young men left in his village, they are all in Bangkok working and sending money home. I see more unemployed young men lounging around shopping centres in Australia than I ever see in the village in Isaan.

My partner is not my economic equal but has many qualities that make him right for me.

(Steve23 good to hear there are other farang women up Udon way, sometimes I feel like the only one when I visit our farm up there.)

Although she hasn't updated here yet, I understand congratulations are in order for Rue & her hubby.

Me too, and I have a maid that reads English and loves to try new recipes. Yummy! Probably why I have recently had to shop at a store called "Fat" (yes, that really was the store name).

Marks and Spencer outlets in the major stores (esp. Central Chidlom) not only stock western sizes but have staff trained to fit them.

Believe me the adoption WAY is the wrong way.

Coventry as an adoptive parent I'm interested why you think this is the case? There are many challenges in parenting internationally adopted children, particularly if you want to maintain their links to and pride in their original country, language and culture. But it seems fairly prescriptive to claim the adoption way is the wrong way.

Colleagues here in Bangkok adopted recently, they waited 15 months from the time their file was complete until they picked up their bub. It was several months of collecting paperwork and undergoing the Thai social worker visits before that. As Boo says, it depends on what country you come from what hoops you might have to jump through before you can approach the Thais. I have the Thai Govt's Child Adoption Centre brochure somewhere around here. PM me if you'd like a copy as a starting point.

RueFang visited one of the bigger babies homes recently, she might be able to give you an idea on whether any babies were mixed race.

Interesting topic, I'm always fascinated to hear how families that 'look different' to the standard Mum/Dad/2kids are treated. I'm a white single parent with Asian children. In 12 years of extensive travel around Asia and Australia I have never once been stopped or asked for anything extra.

We live in a gated soi in the Sathorn area. The soi has about 6 apartment buildings on it and lots of space for walking with no through traffic, only residents vehicles. Many people in our condos have dogs, including some really big ones. One family in our building has a golden retriever. If you are interested, PM me & I'll let you know where it is.

We are planning to visit the dinosaur museum in Kalasin in a few weeks and wondering if any families on this forum have been there recently? There are some older posts in the Isaan forum but not much that is recent.

If you have been there, did your kids enjoy it? What age-group is it best suited to?

Older thread in Isaan section:

www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=117671

Sorry mssabai I wasn't being critical of Thai culture, just saying as a farang that I didn't understand it. I felt a lot of Gisele's pain and debt might have been avoided if she was told earlier. Truth be known I was pondering my own little circle of friends and wondering what effect events like this would have on my trust in people.

Gisele sounds like you are doing a great job staying afloat under the circumstances. Hopefully things will all get better with time.

The Nation says the board are meeting today to decide the airline's fate. Hope they stay around.

I've been reading this thread in conjunction with the "To Tell Or Not To Tell" thread in the Isaan section (in which the OP asked if he should tell someone that their spouse was cheating).

Okay, I'm not Thai but I'm human and I just can't understand how people could know but choose not to tell Gisele. In fact I feel sick when I even think about it. How can people claim to be friends or good neighbours if they were keeping such a big secret?

We plan to visit here in a couple of weeks, any more recent visitors to the place? What age would it best be suited to? TIT so am I right in assuming there's food available there and I don't need to bother packing snacks and drinks?

Indeed, the DFAT has gone through major cost-cutting (there is now Visa Application Center, outsourced to a Thai company), sounded the guy wanted me to complain and if there were enough complaints somebody may decide to reinstate some of the staff.

DIAC runs immigration not DFAT. DIAC copped large budget cuts and in the next financial year need to cut between 200 - 300 staff including overseas. Hopefully Rue's hubby will be through the visa process by then. Pity the rest of us who aren't quite at lodgement stage yet.

Have you been to the adoption section at Dept of Social Development and asked about the process? If the child is not a blood relative you may need to go through the full assessment including having the social worker visit at home. As part of that process the adoption dept does a search for the birthparents.

Horseshoe Point outside Pattaya is apparently good, my daughter has been twice with friends. There is the opportunity to ride horses at the stables there which many older kids find good fun.

Thannon Narathiwat near the junction with soi 24, there are a couple of good Isaan restaurants, the outdoor kind, they don't look nice but the food is very good.

Has anyone been to the Sarah-Janes on Narathiwat?

I live close to the Narathiwat restaurant but have never eaten there. It doesn't seem to do much business on weekends but maybe it's busier during weekday lunch-hours when I'm not around.

Oh Gisele I am so sorry to read about your situation. Your husband's poor choices are sooo not about you and you did nothing to deserve this treatment. Do you have friends nearby who can support you through this? Please take care of yourself.

Coincidentally we happened across FurrPurr on the weekend and I picked up a rate sheet. It is in the same soi as the Robin Hood (one sub-soi down from Villa Suk 33) and up the back opposite the Japanese supermarket. I came here to post about it but see that TiggerClare had beaten me to it. Great minds think alike and all that!

Their rates for caged cats are baht 550 for the first night, 350 for subsequent nights including food. They also have actual rooms 2.5 x 1 x 2.2m these are 700 baht per night (first night) and 500 for subsequent night, including food. Cats and dogs are housed in different parts of the building.

They also do 'cat day care' at a rate of 50 baht/hr.

We are building a basic rural Thai house like the one you describe. Our budget was 300,000 THB but with the price of everything going up we are now thinking we will have to revise upwards. This price does not include the land or timber as we had our own. If you have to buy wood that is a large portion of the cost. You might want to try and buy an old house or two and use that timber.