trader1

Finally I want to say something to all you guys out there that brag about not paying anything.

I don't pay anything but I certainly don't brag about it. I just consider it a normal relationship between two adults - there is no reason I would expect to support her parents. What I find abnormal is a western man in his fifties marrying a 21 year old Thai girl from a rice farming village. I wonder what the attraction was.

Is it abnormal that my beauty contest winning Japanese GF is half my age is in love with me? Have been together almost 6 years and she works at a high paying job here in bangkok. I also see nothing wrong with having a mia noi who is Thai- and even younger.

I admit I look good and am fit and successful, but so are a few other older men.

Why don't I find a partner same age as me? I find late 40s or 50s women unattractive. Each to his own, if you like them old that is great.

Lets give Thailand a little credit here, they run an excellent BTS and MRT system as good as any I've seen if not better, the rail extension to the airport is due after two and a half years, my home town got theirs six years after the MRT system opened, and as for Suvharnabhumi lets not forget the fiasco at Heathrow this week with only one airline operating out of the new terminal

I don't think Thailands doing too bad.

They had an accident with the MRT system the week it opened.

As hard as it is to crash the almost idiot-proof system they managed it.

Both the BTS and MRT are still in billions of Baht debt BTW, and only recently the BTS started to turn a profit.

As to comparing Heathrow with Suvarnabhumi we can start to do that when the new Terminal 5 is tainted by as much corruption and greed as the "Pride of Thai People" has been.

At T5 a few bags went missing. At Suvarnabhumi the problems are too numerous to mention. Cracked runways, leaking roofs, the fire truck scandal, the CTX scanner scandal, King Power Duty Free breaking regulations, etc, etc, etc.

Suvarnabhumi is unfit for purpose, even after 30 years in planning and development.

Doing well you say?

Do you do anything but whine?

The airport is great, I go out there very month and love it, picked up some friends yesterday - from a developed country and they were wide-eyed with delight at its size and efficiency. We drove to their hotel in my car in around 35 minutes along excellent roads.

I wonder what the police conspiracy crowd is gonna say about this one.

I'm waiting for that too.

off topic: the (alleged) killer looks like he is in his seventies -not 61. His time in Thailand has not been easy for him by the looks of those photos.

Chamlong Srimuang, an ex-soldier/politician turned ascetic, puritanical co-leader of the Santi Asoke movement.

Santi asoke is an out and out cult.

People against Democracy(PAD)- sounds like they are getting nuttier than before.

This topic is about Dhammanando, i.e. comments are being solicited.

I just went to esangha and had a look at the threads you are probably talking about. One was titled Ajarn sumedho and was asking for comments about the practice of listening to a sound in the ears that the said ajarn promotes, and the other was called Ajarn Mun and eternalism and was asking about comments in a book that Boowa wrote. Neither thread was started by Dhammanando but his comments were IMO the most learned in the threads, with references to the Tipitika. I think you can see that comments were being solicited.

As for your statement about Boowa being an arahat, I take it you undersatnd that it is considered equally reprehensble, as per buddhist theory, to praise those who don't deserve it as it is to wrongly criticize someone who is pure. Dhammanando seems to have given good reasons as to why some monks are holding wrong views, perhaps you can give us some reasons why anyone should believe Boowa to be an arahat.

Unsolicited criticism of monks (or anyone else) doesn't help anyone along the path to enlightenment. From my own practice, I've found it usually leads in the opposite direction. i.e. the criticizing makes us feel superior. I think the Buddha would have included criticism in Right Speech except that teachers need to criticize their students and parents need to criticize their children. It's very difficult to criticize with no aversion at all.

And yet here we are with you giving unsolicited criticism of a monk.

What makes it right or wrong is the underlying mind state- is it rooted in wisdom, or in ignorance, or in wrong view. If the Bhikkhu Dhammanando is correct in his criticism and Boowa is talking about a lasting citta, then it would seem Dhammanando would be doing a great service by pointing out the wrong views of this famous monk.

Look at the Tipitaka to read the several hundred examples where the Buddha says

It is not fit, foolish man, it is not becoming, it is not proper, it is unworthy of a recluse, it is not lawful, it ought not to be done. How could you, foolish man, having gone forth under this Dhamma and Discipline which are well-taught, [commit such and such offense]?... It is not, foolish man, for the benefit of un-believers, nor for the increase in the number of believers, but, foolish man, it is to the detriment of both unbelievers and believers, and it causes wavering in some.

— The Book of the Discipline, Part I, by I.B. Horner (London: Pali Text Society, 1982), pp. 36-37.

or when he mentions other religions who hold wrong views:

"The Jains are unbelievers, immoral, shameless and reckless. They are not companions of good men and they exalt themselves and disparage others. The Jains cling to material things and refuse to let go of them. They are rogues, of evil desires and perverse views."

Well, the point is once we start criticizing it's usually the ego that's responsible. If I'd been a monk for many years I'd hope to have my ego under control. Then again, Internet web forums seem to stimulate almost everyone's ego.

Wow and here you are criticising the monk.

Have tyou ever read the Katthavatthu (part of the Tipitaka) where wrong views of numerous monks are exposed and strongly condemned. There is a great deal of nonsense expounded by certain famous thai monks, and if one young monk is brave enough to expose it he should be applauded for his courage and thanked for his help.

It seems the answer is not in whitewashing meat eating as innocent (it happens quite often), it's in doing the best you can in your situation.

The answer is to understand what the Buddha taught. He did not teach anyone to stop eating meat or fish. The only Buddhists in the Tipitaka who were vegetarian were Devadata and his followers.

And now only nutty Buddhist cults like Bodhilak and his followers are vegetarian. Perhaps we coudl say unless one has some strong medical reason - like a rare disease- being vege is almost a sign of mental disorder.

What is the cost for advertising like this on ThaiVisa?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6_October_197...acre#Background

Samak was certainly not alone, but he was at least partly responsible for whipping up the killing frenzy.

Massacre itself took only a few hours, maybe he wasn't on the air exactly at that time, and even if he was I doubt the lynch mob was listening anyway, they've heard all they needed to hear before hand, and some of it came from Samak.

It was also not the first violent incindent at that time. Some students were killed and hanged a couple of weeks earlier by the same right wing mobs encouraged by Samak, among others.

And you were where at the time this was happening? How well did you understand Samak's Thai when he was instigating this? Could you tell us teh exact words he used- I assume on the TV or radio.

Mr Bojangles. How can you justify putting up something from a rag organistaion like the BBC as if it compares with illustrious Daily Mail.

I am convinced this is often not because the people are basically stupid, but because of the linguistic limitation. There just isn't the vocabulary and linguistic structure to explain things properly.

Now here's the scary bit: without an advanced language, there is no possibility of advanced thought.

You need to learn more about the Thai language - It is extremely expressive, in many senses more so than English. That you personally cannot discuss a philosophical subject in Thai, art and the arts and any other subject for which an understanding of the language you are trying to use (and here denigrating) does not mean that many Thais do not discuss these subjects, in Thai, in depth and eloquently.

---

But why the rush to blame Thai for the dulling of brain cells - I wonder how many expats in Thailand actively sought out any form of intellectual stimulation before they arrived in Thailand (Beyond reading the Satellite Base Station to work out how to tune into Sky Sports that is)?

There's a fabulous language to learn, history, culture, and growing arts scene, and if you care to seek it out plenty of intellectual debate on a wide range of subjects.

Yes, Chris moore's Heart talk has 900 phrases related just to emotion. A few more than you would find in English I suspect.

Within a matter of days we have two announcements that will not only effect and enable the deterioration of Thai society even further than it already has started to go, courtesy of the greedy unprincipalled and self rewarding PPP / TRT cronies, but provide horrendous consequences for the ordinary citizens ( and their families ) should they go ahead.

This Legalised Gambling is one, the other is the proposed restart of the infamous, evil licence to kill / murder, the under priviledged " The War On Drugs "

Not surprisingly the same unethical individuals are sanctioning both !!!!!!!!

Add to this the purge on moving officials from their positions to facilitate the removal of future obstructions and enable the biggest manipulation of evidence and the reinstatement of a certain ex CEO,s reputation as an honest, ethical, uncorrupt, P.M. of the past and present. ????????

The international community are unlikely to go along with the intended scenario, as his soiled reputation is etched in stone, along with many of those within this present government.

I,ll name Samak and Chalerm and his alledgedly reformed son / sons will do for starters.

Look around you everyone and if you haven,t already, and witness the consequences of gambling among the local Thai community, where ever your chosen place of abode may be.

Indeed many of those reading this thread will have been effected in some way or another.

This is a social cancer, with horrendous consequences and needs to be stopped, not encouraged.

Never mind the bullshit the likes of Chalerm is spouting out to justify the proposed building of casinos and " LEGALISED GAMBLING " ect. ect.

WTFDTC about the social consequences ??????

mega baht / profit for them and their greedy PUYAI sponsors is their only objective.

marshbags

please a warning to your posts: RANT ABOUT TO BEGIN

The poll found that people who played the lottery with an income of less than B50,000 annually spent an average of B240 per month on lottery tickets. Thus it is nearly double the amount spent in any other income bracket.

Oh my god! 250baht a month!!!!!!!!

I have only been to suvarn.. 7 times. But have had no problems except for a long wait at check in once for a china airlines flight.

Restaurants are plentiful enough and the prices not bad (unless you think starbucks is an expensive restaraunt?)

The water bottle complaint is hilarious - tell me an airport internationally that doesn't have rules about this.

300,000 unlet apartments (mostly at the low rent end) in bangkok and your parents want to build more, ..and live in them?

so what do you think'll happen next???

it happened already. Baht stronger vs. any currency you can think of.

Compared to what time frame? Even in the last 12 months teh NZD and AUd have both strenghted against the baht

This should be a huge new income and create 10,000s of new jobs. A good move, hope it gets implemented quickly.

Na Lak is the term used for chubby kids.. It also shows some wealth, if your kid is fat etc..

I might be wrong but I think ป้อมปุ้ย ( bpôm bpûi ) is the usual word for chubby children. It does have an element of cuteness (น่ารัก nâa rák ) , which I think is the word you mean above, and the two are often used together (as in English we might say 'what a cute chubby baby'.

Yeah, buying football clubs and land he forbade foreigners to do in his own country. Son of a b1tch.

care to clarify that, Baboon?

I think it is pretty clear. We, as British citizens cannot legally own land or the majority of a business in Thailand, while this odious little man can own whatever he wants in Britain.

Laws many of us exiled Britons would be more than happy to see reciprocated towards Thais.

The quote from Baboon says that Taksin forbade foreigners buying land. From my memory, of 20+ years visting Thailand, those laws preceeded Taksin. Am I wrong?

Do you ever get the feeling that the Nation newspaper longs for the (good ol) days when communist activists were gaining a foothold in Thailand?

I don't mean the property section which is essentially advertising cloaked in the newspapers format.

Yeah, buying football clubs and land he forbade foreigners to do in his own country. Son of a b1tch.

care to clarify that, Baboon?

this helps to remember the low class consonants with pairs.

พอ ค้า ฟัน ทอง ซื้อ ช้าง ฮอ

ภ ธ ณ ฌ

ภ ธ ณ ฌ

por káa fan tong séu cháang hor

the male salesperson with gold teeth buys a strong elephant.

Having read through this thread, I have lost count of how many times I have seen the words "farang" and "stupidity" strung together. We only regard this guy as being stupid from a Thailand perspective.

In the West it's perfectly normal for people to fall in love, have joint bank accounts, property in both names, share everything and trust each other. I don't think this is stupid. This is what civilised people do in civilised countries.

In the story it said they had been together for two years. Was he really being stupid or was he just behaving in a civilised way? So if we want to be non-stupid in Thailand, do we have to keep our credit cards, cash, bank books and valuables locked away from our Thai wives and GFs? Maybe it's being sensible. It's also very sad.

Abolutely right.

Surely one of the reasons you have a long term relationship with someone, apart from love, is trust. If there is no trust then there can be no relationship.

What sort of relationship is it when a man can say " Honey, I love you, but I don't trust you with any of my money".

OK, I can understand the man being hesitant if the couple have only been together only a few months, but after a year or two, trust should be 100%.

Obviously Thai girls have been singled out in this thread because this is a Thai forum, but this topic could be discussed in almost any country in the world.

Well anyone with any sense has a pre-nuptial agreement. These are a matter of neccessity to protect the person who contributes the largest share of financial resources. If the couple are both earning the same and have the same amount of savings intially then a prenup is superfluous. The idea that trust should be 100% after a year is bizarre- do you think no one has affairs, changes their opinion, gets greedy etc after one year?