dunroaming

True, but hormones tend to override everything else at that age. I can still remember it well, even all these years later! I have an 18 year old (just) and he orders his condoms from ebay that come in wholesale sized boxes! Been like that for the last two years with a steady stream girlfriends helping him get through them! His mother tuts but he is just the same as all of his friends here in the UK.

The Dhara Dhevi was always a money pit. They spent far too much money there in the first place. They should sell off all the buildings and fixtures and fittings and then split the land into salable lumps. They tried to recreate the 4 Seasons down the road but just threw too much money at it. I used to go to the DD for Sunday lunch and it certainly had a great atmosphere for that. Before it closed you could get some good deals on the accommodation with up to 70% discounts. That was when you knew their days were numbered

Would if he was built like a brick s*ithouse and the 17 year old a Thai lightweight. The vast majority of young kids can <deleted> away to their hearts content but only a limited amount can punch their way out of a paper bag.

Nice to be in that position but I doubt the 17 year old schoolboy had the wherewith all to do that.

I think we all probably spend too much time wondering about greener grass. As the world changes and it is now changing at one hell of a rate, I suspect the grass will take on a different hue and our wish list may change with it.

I believe that is probably true now but for us you had to choose whether to surrender your Thai passport as they didn't allow dual nationality over the age of 18. Britain on the other hand did. Needless to say most of the British/Thai children we know in Thailand still kept both once they became 18.

Maybe for you it was behind the bike sheds then? It is the most natural thing in the world for youngsters to take any opportunity to "bonk" their brains out! The toilets in the local park was a regular courting venue when I was a boy.

Good post and I totally understand your position. Our son was born in Chiang Mai but with an English father he was immediately eligible for a British passport. My wife has chosen not to go for British Citizenship as she wants to retain her Thai passport. I get that, even though a British passport helps a lot with visas and stuff. In the UK I had a good network of friends, some from way back and some through business. We live in Surrey (a stones throw from London) and it is very cosmopolitan around here. Consequently my wife was warmly welcomed by the whole neighbourhood. However she still found it very difficult in the early days The temptation was to seek out other people from Thailand or Asian countries. I was very against this as it was the opposite to intergrating into society here. You see it a lot and I find it a negative (though understandable) scenario. What helped us was having a son going to the local school. I dragged my wife along to parents events and everyone made her very welcome. The group of friends she ended up with were a mixture including Japanese, Singaporean, British, Welsh, Swedish and black American. All of them parents from the school. I too have a very good relationship with my in-laws in Thailand. They have always been very supportive and when my business was on the ropes they were the first to give me the financial help I needed. I will always be grateful for that. But I know that this isn't always the case in Thailand with an expectation that the foreigner will always pay! I guess I was just lucky.

I think a lot of it depends on what you want out of your life and the dice you roll on the way. I had a business that meant me spending about nine months of the year in South East Asia so I moved base camp (formerly I was in London) to Hong Kong. I lived in two rooms in Mid Levels initially and then moved to Stanley on the other side of the island. More property for the price but still £3,000 a month. On my travels I frequently went to Chiang Mai and liked the more laid back lifestyle. It was only an hours flight from mainland China and when I found I could rent a five bedroom, three bathroom house, on a private estate for £300 a month it was an obvious no brainer. I did (stupidly) live for the first year in Bangkok as I was worried about access to my other ports of call in Cambodia, Vietnam and Bangladesh. But one year in the capital was more than enough and I ended up in Chiang Mai. Much better for my sanity and the pollution levels were much lower. I loved it from day one and managed to avoid the "Thai girlfriend" experience for about a year or so. I made a lot of ex-pat friends in the first year, most of them European or American couples who had moved to Thailand for early retirement or as snowbirds, living there for the winter months. Then I fell for a Thai girl and things got more complicated. She ended up moving in with me, much to the annoyance of her father, but with the encouragement of her mother and sisters. They had spent a lot of time watching programs like Dallas and were certain that I had a ranch, horses and an Olympic sized swimming pool back in farang land. I think they had visions of us all living there sipping cocktails and shopping in Rodeo Drive. Once the truth was known there was a certain amount of cooling off from the female side of the family. One day a police car pulled up outside the house and out got two officers who marched up to the front door. I opened it and in they swept in without a word. Luckily I was wearing my brown trousers. Also luckily, my girlfriend appeared at that point and smiled widely towards the two men. I was then introduced to her cousin and uncle and instantly my blood pressure dropped to a sustainable level. Yes I had fallen for girl from a police family. Over the next few years is proved to be a valuable asset for obvious reasons. And so as these things tend to happen, we got married, she had a baby and you can fast forward eight years. My business was doing OK but not great and our son was now six years old. We had looked at international schools in Chiang Mai and there was only one that was sort of OK. But even Prem (CM residents will know it) was far from ideal with most of the pupils spoilt brats and arrogant dickheads. Not for me, especially not for extortionate fees they charged. I have always been against private education as I went to my local state grammar school. So after much discussion and many arguments we made a move to the UK, primarily for his education and because my business was suffering and needed a firmer grip than I could give it in Asia. But also because we had both become disenchanted by Thailand in general. It is funny how parenthood changes your perspective of things around you. My wife had grown more westernised in her outlook, which I am afraid was mostly my fault and resulted in us feeling that Thailand was not a place we wanted for our son. Settling back in the UK was difficult for my wife and she spent a lot of her time on planes going backwards and forwards trying to adjust. I now know that that was grossly unfair to her and made the whole transition a nightmare to deal with. It took at least a couple of years for her to settle into English life. Even then she had days of regret. Fast forward again another 11 years and our son is now at college doing his A levels. My wife has a good job and her indefinite leave to remain visa is in place. After A levels, the boy will probably go to university and we will be free to go anywhere we want to. We still have a house in Thailand and my wife still has family there so I suspect we will go there from time to time, but neither of us want to live there again full time. The weather in Britain is dire and the government continue to destroy almost all that was great in Great Britain, so we are thinking about Spain as a place to retire to. I really enjoyed my time in Thailand but that was a different time and it, and we, have changed, so time to roll the dice again.

Yes of course it is a cause for concern. But the concern is as much about ongoing restrictions as it is about the virus itself. I think it is fair to say that most people are more worried about not being able to travel or even just getting out for a beer or two than actually catching the dreaded virus.

Should have asked the monks in the local temples. Most have impressive collections

Yes I can see that. But then will people have to start again with modified vaccinations (by which I mean, have two jabs followed by a booster), or will there be just another booster needed to up the level of the original jabs? I don't expect a reply to that, just thinking out loud!

The WHO were very quick to flag up the Omicron variant as being of considerable concern, meaning it must be taken seriously. Countries are responding accordingly . It is said that the current vaccinations will not give the same protection as before even if double jabbed with a booster. In the UK Johnson is still promising that Christmas will be as normal this year but nobody is buying his bull anymore.

It's a car, not a house with land. The cars I had in Thailand were always in my name.

Polled who exactly? 1,320 people in one day is not representative of anything. We all know that polls mean nothing but this is hardly worthy of being called a poll at all.

I lived in China (albeit for relatively short periods of time) for over twenty five years and it can certainly be cheaper than Thailand in recent years. Depending of course, just where in China you live. If you were talking to a couple of "birds" in Chiang Mai and they spoke English then I suspect they were from a large city like Hong Kong or Shanghai. Those cities are definitely more expensive than Thailand if comparing restaurant prices. I am quite surprised that you were able to find English speaking Chinese girls if they were on a budget Chinese package tour. The level of English they would have needed to have a conversation like you describe would mean they were very well educated. Maybe they were actually tour guides?

This website is really for ex-pats rather than tourists and ex-pats have a different view as to what is good for them. Much of the time, tourists are more of an irritant than an asset from the viewpoint of the ex-pat. Obviously the TAT are only interested in tourists and the deepness of their pockets and couldn't give a monkeys about the whims and wishes of the ex-pat community.

Learning to drive properly in Thailand isn't that hard at all, depending on whether you have access to a driving school. My wife had eight lessons in Chiang Mai and passed first time. The test itself is a joke compared to most countries but at least she learnt the basics. Initially I stupidly tried to teach her myself but that lesson lasted less than twenty minutes and ended with her getting out of the car, slamming the door and not speaking to me for a week!

A good start would be to get Thais to have driving lessons and pass the test, instead of just paying a few hundred baht for an "under the counter" licence.

The world has changed from my gap year days. Next year my son becomes eligible for his gap year adventure and is looking (with a couple of friends) at places to go. I assumed Thailand would be high on the list given his heritage but no, apparently all of his friends are of the same view. I mentioned the usual Full Moon Parties and Khao San Road but just got laughed at. I was told that those were for middle aged losers trying to re-live their youth and that they would be too likely to bump into their friends parents. Certainly put me in my place! He favours South America or possibly Africa, well away from the usual gap year travelers. There is no Kudos in going to the old haunts like Thailand and India.

Nobody expects logic do they? The UK have done away with their red lists altogether as far as I know

I think the Catch 22 for Thailand is partly to do with colours. If they open up completely and go back to everything open as normal and then the COVID numbers go up again, they will end up on other countries red lists. By keeping most things closed they are more likely to keep the cases falling, meaning they will be on the green lists. The Catch 22 bit is that tourists won't want come to a country on the red list with all the quarantine issues, nor will they want to come to a country on the green list that is still virtually in lockdown. So in essence, ex-pats would be better off with everything open and Thailand being on the red list as long they live there, but not if they want to go back to their home countries any time soon. For that, Thailand needs to be on the green lists.

Probably worth posting that on trip advisor. always good to get an insight into the real Thailand nightlife ????

Been to a couple of Indian weddings and they were amazing. The first in the UK and held at The Four Seasons on Park Lane in London. Many of the guests flew in from Delhi four the occasion. Second one was in Delhi and just as impressive. Apparently some weddings are over three years in the planning.

It's actually worse than you fear. Most of the Indians coming are young professionals with their wives and children coming for a family holiday. Not interested in the bar girls at all. But fear not, there will still be the beer bellied baldies from the west, falling for the girls and making fools of themselves. That should keep the Viagra sales buoyant once they return ????