dunroaming

6 hours ago, Henk Langeweg said:

Women are born with their own ATM, most of them not even realize it. Clever Girlies.

Enterprising girls who are far more savvy then the salivating menfolk who are queuing up to sample their overpriced Som Tam.  Good for them!

6 hours ago, Stargeezr said:

How about charged with murder? They did not just injure the poor fellow, they killed him.

I agree with the sentiment but it is all to do with intent.  Did they actually intend to kill him?  I would have thought that manslaughter would be a more accurate charge in this case.  Much more likely to get a conviction unless it can be proved that the thugs went out to murder him.  If not they would have to be found not guilty of murder and could walk free.

On 3/11/2022 at 8:15 PM, webfact said:

After months of absence, Chiang Mai’s waterfalls, night markets and hostels are once again filling up with a familiar sight: backpackers.

Thank the Lord!  Just what Thailand needs to kick start it's economy.  Don't get me wrong, every dollar helps but I doubt the plethora  of five star hotels will be jumping in joy just yet.

8 hours ago, smutcakes said:

When i got together with my missus 15 years ago or so, i think i paid 100K, which the mother in law then gave back 90K without us even asking for it. Not to bad and not much to complain about.

Yes that is often the case when the money (or most of it) is returned to help the couple in the start of their married life together.  I didn't pay a dowry as my wife said I shouldn't.  She said that It was an outdated Thai traditional and not one for farangs.  That was over twenty years ago now.

Actually this story could relate to something happening in my wife's family right now.  My wife's niece is getting married in May to a boy from a wealthy Thai family.  Some of the older members of her family are "demanding" a substantial dowry be paid whereas the actual parents don't want, or need, it.  They are comfortably off although not as rich as the boys parents who are keen to pay and are in fact, quite insistent about it.  They see it as an insult to have the dowry rejected and see it as a loss of face.  It is causing a lot of angst and the bride and groom are very upset that this could ruin the whole day.  As usual in Thailand, ego and face seem more important than anything else.

11 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

Wife at 36...true story.....was asked to move from the wing exit seat on a Ryan Air flight to Rome. She was told she had to be over 16.........not sure if the flight attendant was having a dig at me????

Not long after we moved to the UK, my wife was stopped in the street where we live by a concerned neighbour.  They said to her "Do your parents know you are here?"  My wife was 38 at the time and still loves to remind me of it at any opportunity!

Surely this all depends on personal experiences.  Thailand is full of ex-pats who have been taken to the cleaners by their western wives and "escaped" to the land of smiles, often guided by their "small head" rather than any real logic.  Thailand certainly ticks a lot of boxes for a divorcee looking to lick their wounds.

But Thailand should come with a buyer beware sticker as well.  In many cases you are not just marrying the girl, you are also marrying the whole family, which can be very extensive and consequently expensive too.  I was lucky, as my wife's family were economically sound with no sick buffaloes in sight.  However there were a few sticky moments, especially when it came to us getting married and my refusal to pay a dowry or have a traditional Thai wedding.  Fortunately my wife and I were on the same page over this.  We got married at the local government office in Hang Dong on a Monday lunchtime and then went to Tesco and got the food shopping for the week.  That was over twenty years ago.

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Nearly all women see men as a career opportunity.

The trick is to not let them take over the company.

I think many do but the men never see it coming ????

6 hours ago, BritManToo said:

How long does it take to tell a Thai lady "get me another beer from the fridge"?

Failing that, how long did it take me to learn "Ow eek, kap" ........ about 2 minutes.

About the same amount of time it takes a Thai girl to learn "you hansum man".

I remember many years ago my accountant in Thailand (a very canny man) told me that most Thai girls see landing a farang husband as a career opportunity.  It's a job with (usually) quite a few added benefits.  But a job, never the less.

9 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

The MB is thinking the Honda will continue the turn and the MB will pass the ass of the Honda. 

Could be that and maybe the Honda stopped (you can see he does that) because he thought that the Benz would then swing in front of him.  If the black car was running a red light then he is totally to blame here. IMO

6 hours ago, clivebaxter said:

Looks like one of our relatives homes, a lot with hording syndrome here.

Looks quite a lot like my 18 year old son's bedroom actually.

On 1/22/2022 at 11:11 AM, mtls2005 said:

Like arranged marriage?

 

Every once in a while stories pop. 13 year old in Chiang Mai, and in the south, certain allowances are made for religious purposes, so maybe as young as 11. 

 

 

 

 

In some countries girls (and their husbands) can be as young as seven or eight years old.  In most of those cases the children continue to live at home with their parents until they are old enough to enjoy the "whole" marriage experience.  That of course is very different to grown men being married to children, unless a similar arrangement is in place. Sadly I doubt that is the reality.

3 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Not just Thailand, one of the wonders of the legal systems in every other country also. 

 

Regardless of how foul his alleged crimes are, until he's been to trial and proven guilty, he's innocent and is entitled to bail if he meets the conditions.  Same as in any other legal system.

you are usually allowed bail if you are not considered a flight risk or that you are unlikely to contact or threaten any of the witnesses or victims.  In this case I would think that he doesn't fit that criteria and shouldn't have been granted bail.

But in Thailand logic is rarely used.

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

What is the actual legal age of consent in Thailand?

[Not including family members agreements]

for commercial sex it is 18 I believe.  There is always a difference between that and romantic private encounters.

8 hours ago, ezzra said:

Words fail me.. drank until unconscious..

I suspect that the drinks were spiked as is the fashion these days.  Very popular with the date rapists.

On 1/11/2022 at 1:12 AM, Geoffggi said:

All of the above is true but lets also not forget that 5 on a bike is also a little OTT .................

I suspect that that the motorbike was the only form of transport for the family, which was transporting the young kids from one house to another  It is not unusual to see in any third world country.  Easy to criticize from a western point of view and I am afraid we all tend to do it. 

31 minutes ago, Oxx said:

In Afghanistan and Pakistan buggering young boys is normal.  (I presume this passes as "child abuse" in your eyes.)  They call it "bacha bazi" which translates as "boy play".

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacha_bazi

 

 

Easier to look closer to home, just about anywhere with Catholic priests for instance.  Pedophilia is alive in just about every country in the world.  Always has been and unfortunately, probably always will be.  This really is a (deleted) up world we live in.

7 hours ago, ivor bigun said:

surprised that he can still have sex at 82 . perv.

Not really about sex, more to do with power and control. They confiscated whips according to the report.

I read a report in Newsweek some years ago about the sex tourists in Thailand, where foreigners openly sat at bars with preteen children.  Complete with pictures of the children with their "clients". That dated back to the eighties if I remember correctly.  Obviously that isn't the case now and it is much more covert these days.  . there is nothing new here.

But it does beg the question...

Where are the NGO's and charities that are there to protect the children and root out the offenders.?  Very high profile in countries like Cambodia, the Philippines and Africa but rarely spoken of in Thailand.

21 hours ago, Petey11 said:

I believe the problem in UK now is staff shortage due to number of people isolating. Think I heard that last week the NHS had 19000 staff off either sick or isolating. The isolation has just been cut to 7 days if you test negative on day 6 and 7 with an ATK.

These staff shortages will begin to affect all services at some point, public and private.

You are quite right. I don't want to beat the old Brexit drum again but our local main hospitals lost almost 40% of their nurses through that and numerous doctors and specialists too.  Add to that the current number of staff off with Covid and exhaustion and it is no wonder we are in this terrible situation.

3 hours ago, timendres said:

So, if Dr. Fauci was on Fox News, that would discredit him? I am definitely in the camp that the MSM in the US is the worst in history, but dismissing credible new reports based on who airs it seems counterproductive.

I take your point but it's like (in the UK) reading something in The Sun or Star newspapers and giving it any credibility whatsoever. Am I over critical?  Yes probably.

8 hours ago, Andreas2 said:

Not all Omicron news are bad news.

 

This is a Fox news report so has zero credibility.  Death count in the UK on Christmas day was 29 with 366 hospital admissions.  It is true that the severity level for Omicrom is lower but that (in the UK) is not the point.  The NHS are beyond full stretch and have been since before the Omicron variant arrived.  They cannot cope with any increase in hospitalisations and are struggling to cope as it is.

Good news my a*se!

35 minutes ago, khunjeff said:

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me six times, well...

Perhaps they look at the amount of the fine compared with the takings and figure that they are still making money and able to pay their staff too.

6 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

These two Goons have to be the most dangerous people in Thailand.

Making such wild, and unsupported claims on numbers of Tourists that will visit the Kingdom soon.

All they do is to make Tourist Operators mad as hell now, whereas before the BS worked, and many reopened to the expectation of Tourist feet inside their Business, and spending huge wads of cash, the reality is starting to shine through, and the Tourist Operators are far from happy

Cry Wolf is not working any more.

 

It was only last week when British Airways announced that they were suspending all flights to Thailand until October 2022.