edwardandtubs

The only thing I find surprising is that other people are surprised. Child porn is sold by all those creepy porn peddlers in Pantip and no one seems to care. Thailand is a society where men can do what they like sexually as long as they pay for it and women either support the right of men to do this or turn a blind eye to it. There are underage prostitutes in every neighbourhood all over Thailand. It's sickening, but is it really something you didn't know about?

It has been reported online in the newspaper that is not a sponsor of this forum. It was a grenade explosion.

OP is entirely correct. In the west we are brought up to treat everyone equally and speak to a poor man with the same manners as you would to a rich man but you just can't bring that cultural baggage along with you to Thailand. Here, everyone knows and accepts their status. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. It may seem rude at first to just hand the money to a taxi driver or food seller without saying thank you, but that's the way it's done in Thailand. They get very confused if you act any differently and won't treat you with the same respect.

I think you wasted your money. For 60 GBP you could have got some higher quality chocolate at any Thai department store or even supermarket.

cibus italian market, near chitlom bts...best aborio and other risotto rices available in thailand.. not cheap,but life is to short to eat cheap food

Great tip, I'll definitely check that place out. It seems their Arborio rice isn't too expensive. I agree with what you say about cheap food - you can't cook a decent risotto with sushi rice. I'm doing fine with the Waitrose Arborio rice from Tops though, so I'm not sure whether a more expensive Arborio would make a big difference but I'll definitely check it out.

Ekkamai

Nah, Mo Chit would be closer

Ekkamai ---- walk out in front of the bus station and to the left 300 feet and catch a 511 aircon bus from Ekkamai to KSR.

If he did that, wouldn't he get on a bus going in the wrong direction? I think he should cross Sukhumvit Road (using the BTS station) then get a bus going in the opposite direction.

<br />if you go to the entrance of thammasat university on the sanam luang side you will see a bronze monument set up memorializing the students who died in the 1992 protests.<br />

The horrific 1973 massacre of students in the university I think you'll find.

I saw some Thai guy standing at a bus stop outside Hua Lamphong railway station with his flies open and his tackle handing out. Everyone pretended not to notice.

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<br /> A large proportion of young, lower class Thai women work as prostitutes and a large proportion end up as mia nois for some older rich guy. <br />

<br /><br />I would not say it is a large proportion. There are millions of 'lower class Thai women' in the country.<br />How many work in the sex industry?<br /><br />Similar to the 'all ladyboys end up as sex workers' myth.<br />

Estimates for the number of Thai prostitutes are all over the place, with some sources claiming 2 million. Bearing in mind that most prostitutes are in the 18-29 age range, it's fair to say that a very large proportion of lower class Thai women end up doing that work at some stage in their lives.

Here's a great joke to play on a Thai person. Ask them what the capital city of a made-up country is (Dulgrovia, for example). They'll never say 'I don't know'. After they've squirmed for a while, let them in on the joke and watch their reaction.

<br />A number of Thai universities, government agencies, NGOs and UN-affiliated agencies (including Unescap and Unifem) have carried out studies on the sex trade in Thailand. <br /><br />One of the most comprehensive ones I have read, from the Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women, reported that according to its surveys around 75% of single Thai males under the age of 35 hired the services of Thai sex workers an average of twice a month. Geographically, Bangkok men had the lowest rate of using sex services, while the north and northeast had the highest rates.<br /><br />The data were, as I recall, fairly similar across all socioeconomic classes, although higher-income men reported that they were less likely to tell to their friends.<br />

That sounds about right. Posters saying the average Thai man doesn't use prostitutes are so way off you wonder what little ivory tower they live in. Thailand is not like the west where it's socially acceptable for young women to sleep with their boyfriends. In 'polite society' in Thailand women are expected to remain virgins until marriage. Of course most Thais don't belong to 'polite society'. A large proportion of young, lower class Thai women work as prostitutes and a large proportion end up as mia nois for some older rich guy. Where does that leave a young Thai gentleman? He can't get sex from his girlfriend so he pays for it instead. For young, lower class Thai men the position is different. If he's from a poor village where most of the young women work in the sex trade, he might have a girlfriend (or two) who works in the sex trade. While she's away he probably visits the local brothel.

In the west it's considered unmanly to use prostitutes but in Thailand there is no social stigma at all about it. Young men go around in groups looking for prostitutes in the same way that young men in the west would go out 'on the pull' to nightclubs.

<br />I had a very small situation yesterday with one of my staff in regards to him forgetting to do part of his job.  I didn't even mention it to him but I think one of the other staff might of phoned him to make him aware of the issue. It was something I was not upset about in the least, I was only going to remind him to take care of the simple task as part of his job requirement.<br /><br />His wife called in sick for him, I think to avoid the most minuscule  loss of face.<br />

One problem is westerners thinking that every little action on the part of a Thai is down to 'face'. I've worked with many Thais and have never experienced anyone calling in sick to avoid loss of face. A more likely explanation would be that he forget to do the job because he was beginning to feel sick but soldiered on for the rest of the day regardless, but by the following day he was too sick for work. Why do you read 'face' into every little action by your staff?

Look, I've been around Thais for many years...probably so have you, come to think of it. I've seen the "face" thing cause problems with even educated Thais who speak excellant English, and have grown up with and went to school with westerners (Farangs for want of a better word) from youth. The "face" thing is embedded in Asian (not just Thai) culture, and they are taught that from birth. You just have to learn to accept it...because if you really want to function in Thailand (or anywhere in Asia) you have to follow the local rules.

"Face" is not only cfor the person who makes the mistake, it also has a role in not embarresing other people. For example, I once heard a Thai who knew perfectly well the bus schedule, tell a westerner that, "Yes he could take a bus to XXXX and come back to Bangkok the evening on the last bus." I knew this was wrong, and I told the westerner so...he would have to spend a night in XXXX before being able to get a bus back to Bangkok. After he left I asked my Thai friend why he hadn't said this to the westerner. My Thai friend, who had grown up since childhood with Farangs and went to a school with Farangs said,"Yes, I knew that. But if I had told him that he was wrong about getting the bus back that same day, HE (meaning the Farang) would lose "face"; and I didn't want to cause him any embaressment". I guess all I'm trying to say is that the "face" thing is deeply embedded in Asian culture, so you have to learn to accept it. In western (farang) societies here are things you just don't speak about...(i.e. you may think your wife's sister is looking really sexy tonight, and she may know you do, but you don't let her know and she usually doesn't let you know she knows).... because it's not polite...but both you know and the other party knows the real truth. You learned those rules when young, they were drilled into you. They are just apart of the accepted "social contract" that guides your actions in society. You barely think about them now, they have been trained into you. There are certain things in Thailand, and Asia, that are the same. You have to learn to accept them even if you don't understand them.

And, by the way, not to be intentionally rude, but your comment about Buddhisim is so far off the mark, it would take me another whole post to even to begin to explain what is wrong with it. So let's just agree to not talk about that. (We'll all save "face" that way).

What you describe here is perhaps the typical Asian 'face' thing but the Thai 'face' thing is totally different. Probably your friend has been more influenced by Chinese culture than Thai culture. A typical Thai person worried about 'face' would be quick to flaunt his superior knowledge and wouldn't be at all worried about embarrassing the farang.

My suggestion for a leisurely route of independent travel by bus would be Bangkok to Angkor Wat, then Angkor Wat to Phnom Penh, then Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville, then Sihanoukville to Koh Chang, then Koh Chang to Bangkok.

It used to really annoy me being asked the same questions over and over - ''Where you come flom?', 'How long you stay Thailand?', 'You like Typhoo?' - not just from students but other random people. Now I just have fun by giving them the most ridiculous answers I can think of. I come from Transylvania, I've been in Thailand for 98 years and I prefer Tetley. It's amazing how many people have no idea what the joke is.

A lot of westerners here use the word 'face' to describe these sorts of actions by Thais but I don't think it's the appropriate word. In Japan the concept of 'face' is used to promote harmony, make everyone feel good about themselves and prevent anyone feeling any embarrassment. What we commonly see from Thais I would call selfishness and an obsession with their own status.

To use the example given by the OP, a Japanese waitress would be quick to apologise for their bad use of English in using the word 'tomato'. To show good manners and prevent her loss of face it would be good to compliment her on her good English and maybe say something about your bad Japanese skills. That would never work in Thailand. The Thai concept of 'face' is completely the opposite. They seem to love seeing other people lose face, laughing at any small mistake anyone else makes but will go to ridiculous lengths to avoid their own loss of face.

Just from a common sense perspective, you would expect a bank like HSBC to keep a record of defaulters and to seek to enforce the debt as soon as the debtor has come to their attention. Why not just tell this friend of yours to go ahead and accept the job but then tell his new employer that he has received very poor customer service from HSBC in the past and doesn't want to open another account with them? I'm sure his employer can find an alternative way of paying him.

How much was the loan? If it was for a large sum they probably would have got a County Court judgement against him that stays with him until he pays, dies or is discharged from bankruptcy. Ask your "friend" about that.

Thai students are shockingly shallow, caring only for things like K-Pop and comic books. In 1976 they stood up for democracy and were slaughtered at Thammasat University. Now they're just encouraged to be mindless consumers, devoid of opinions or ideas about their own society.

You can get quality silk ties in department stores for over 1000 baht each or you can get the Patpong polyester ones for 20 baht but I'm looking for something in the middle - good quality for a fair price. Any recommendations?

Can someone tell us if the place in the OP has taramasalata, or not?

Now that would really annoy me about a place that represents itself as Greek, to offer a dip that is generally not found in modern Greece (hummous), while not offering a dip that is a classic Greek dish widely found in Greece. It would be like going to Russian restaurant that serves minestrone and gazpacho soups, but no borscht! Its of course no problem if they offer non-Greek stuff, whatever. French fries are more or less universal these days, like pasta.

Borscht is Ukrainian.

Will they be "promoting public understanding" of the red shirts in the same way they "promoted public understanding" of the £22,000 GT200 dowsing rod?

I buy Tesco's own brand extra virgin olive oil which is cheaper and as far as I can see there's no allegations that it isn't the real thing.

Nothing really happens for Chinese New Year. It's supposed to be a family event.

You'd have to be out of your mind to eat that garbage on a regular basis. The cheap ingredients further deteriorate due to the pollution, dogs, general city filth and poor hygiene standards. Even Thai government inspectors regularly declare most of the street food to be unfit for human consumption. What do you think a western food standards inspector would make of it? As for people who say they've been eating it for 20 years with no problems, if you eat like a poor person in a third world country, you'll die like a poor person in a third world country.