wade72

Democracy is so overrated....nothing better than a (mostly) benevolent dictatorship to clean up the mess....so far, it seems good

Benevolent Dictatorship is a Urban Legend. Not in history has one turned into anything good. Tito came close, but no cigar.

"Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." Winston Churchill

Jigme Wangchuk did a pretty damn good job prior to abdicating the throne in Bhutan!

a map of Kata Beach clearly showing how the entire beach had been divided up, and naming the operators for each of the 31 slices, which run from the top of the beach to about halfway to the high tide line.

The map notes that the total length of the beach is 1,497.2 metres and the space for sunbeds takes up 1,087 metres of that length

That shows some sophisticated organization. So, Take that! All you Thai-bashers who are always going on about how Thais are disorganized goofballs!

T

I like that comment!!! I hear it all the time about the "disorganized, stupid thais who apparently don't know how to do anything right"..... I hear that almost as much as I hear about the "highly intelligent foreigner being scammed" by the "disorganized, stupid thais who apparently don't know how to do anything right"... interesting!

today in pattaya the police and military were measuring beach vendors spaces,the vendors were noticably ''pissed'' i was told the rows of chairs and umberellas which sometimes are 5 deep,will be reduced to (2) rows per section..as we know on high tide it is impossible to walk the beach as the vendors take up all the space....this is terrific news.....sawadee (love the crap)

Yep agreed, one or two rows of umbrellas with plenty of space between the sets and you will make the beach look 1000 times better. Then get rid of the hawkers trying to sell me everything from giant bic lighters to candy floss every 3 f*cking seconds while I was trying to relax and I might actually go back...... which has only happened once in the 10 years I have lived here, due to the congestion and hawkers I head well away from Pattaya and Jomtien if I want to take the kids to the beach. More then happy to walk across a road and put in an order for what I want at a shop....

Does anybody commenting here actually know if this "Full Custody" was granted by a Thai Court in Thailand, or by the UK court in the UK?

Could make the applicable laws quite different.

The police have apparently issued an arrest warrant... So if custody was appointed her or there apparently they recognize it.

There is no issue with Thai law here that people keep trying to bring up, arrest warrant issued, it wouldn't be issued unless the police believed she broke the law.

I don't know if the BiB could do this legally, and I am just spouting off after looking at my 2 kids and thinking about this.

What I would want to see if I was the father though is an appeal to the boyfriend, in all the newspapers, saying.

"We don't know if you have anything to do with it and if you don't and are on a beach somewhere fine, drop into the police station and let us know.

If on the other hand you do know something, you are an accessory to a very serious crime, if you help us recover the kids we will take you to the airport and put you on an airplane, best not to come back.

If you don't come forward, when we find you, when not if. We are going to inspect every millimeter of your large intestine everyday for the next 15 years!"

I bet that would get buddy thinking!

There is every chance that the boyfriend has absolutely no idea that the kids are being looked for. The newspapers and TV should start publishing his name and picture asap, and call him in.

Absolutely you are correct, there is every chance he knows absolutely nothing about it. However I would think he is a person of interest who should be located and questioned. No stone unturned in a case like this.

If it is believed that the new husband has anything to do with this he could find himself barred from Thailand.

Being barred from Thailand could be the least of his worries. If they prove he has helped he can do serious jail time courtesy of the thai government

Yep.. and as he should....

if the boyfriend is reading this, I would suggest making contact with the father or the police for the safe return of the kids to their rightful place. Might keep you out of jail, and a Thai jail to boot, for a LONG time.

But still not a whisper about every student passing every year. It was not always like that -- the policy was put in place for private schools, who were losing students when students were accountable for their own progress.

This corruption is insanely expensive, and why Thailand simultaneously has the largest education budget in SEA and the lowest result.

They use public taxes to subsidize private schools, and such schools get paid per student. Very little goes to classrooms and books and upkeep -- it is lining pockets.

No words from the junta on this issue -- never was before and never will be. Ten years of this educational "subsidy" has siphoned off more money than the rice scheme lost, by a large margin....

I would like to see how much the private or international school is receiving per student from the government. I would be extremely surprised to find out it was anymore then any public school receives per student. It's like a two tiered health system, if you take a student out of the public system and move them to the private system it also benefits the public system by not having to deal with another student.

Seeing the bill I get for my kids going to international school, I am pretty sure I'm paying the lot myself.

It's not a Ninja, it's a Versys 650, I am pretty sure thats the only bike that Kawasaki put the exhaust under the engine.

Anyways, I had one, great torque, if you wound the throttle all the way to the stops you'll get going in a hurry.

I see lots of people riding bikes here both foreign and local that probably shouldn't be.

I hand out a friends business card on a regular basis when asked for my number....I have a stack of them.....

Your definition of and goals for "marriage" are different from many here.

If you were elderly and not too attractive, but were yourself only attracted to barely-legal age stunners, and had plenty of money, you'd probably (have to) approach things differently.

It only lasts as long as it lasts, and then you can both move on to the next greener grass, no problem.

Of course that means we have to take care of business because the inlaws probably can't help out much beyond dropping off the occasional bag of unprocessed rice.

If thats what makes someone happy and they can achieve their goals then good for them. I'm not here to judge that my way is better. I personally don't see the satisfaction in it, but thats my belief system and back ground effecting my outlook on life.

What I do have a problem with though is the people I regularly hear just trashing the local women about how terrible they are. I generally am not that popular when I confront them about it with some of the following.

Your 40 years older and 150 pounds heavier then her, you met her in a bar, you can't communicate with each other. Do you honestly believe she is with you because you are handsome and have a big heart? You don't think she is more attracted to the well built Thai gentleman serving drinks who she has a similar back ground with and can relate to? Oh btw, you just told me about all your bargirl "conquests", so you frequent prostitutes, how good of a catch does that make you?

Basically if it is a financial transaction then accept that it is business and as such your service provider will attempt to get the best deal for themselves.

As I said, not a very popular attitude locally... but when the piss needs to be taken, the piss needs to be taken.

I'm with you here, I don't understand it at all.

I am always happy to help someone out, but taking on responsibility for someone else's family is a little to much for me.

I don't understand why people put themselves in the situation in the first place, but hey maybe they are better men then me willing to take care of a family in a way I would only do for my own.

Those better people, must include your wife's family, as according to your earlier post , they took care of you when you had business problems.

You may be right and yes they did help out considerably which I will always be grateful for, they were also paid back in full as soon as the cash flow situation was sorted out. That however wasn't my point.

Helping out in times of difficulty is what families do and the favor mentioned above has been reciprocated with other members of the family when it was needed and will be unconditionally if needed int eh future.

What I don't understand is why someone would marry a person,

20+ years their junior,

with a family of their own,

no common language,

no common back ground,

basically nothing in common at all.

Then wonder why they have the problems that I hear people regularly complaining about it?

Marriage is hard enough with someone you can relate to and communicate with, without adding all the extra complications listed above.

If something happened to my marriage and in the future I was considering a new wife, I can pretty much guarantee there would be no more then about a 5 year age gap between us, we would speak a common language fluently, we would have many things in common, we would come from similar educational and economical backgrounds.

It seriously improves the odds of things working out and reduces the potential problems that can arise. Also the big difference being with someone from a similar educational and economic background is neither party is in a position of power over the other. I want a partner that is my equal whom can challenge me and call BS when required.

They aren't considered to be superior to Thais.

However, they are a far better option for women who aren't educated and have children from past relationships, as they offer some kind of recognition to people who without them would spend a lifetime at the very bottom of the Thai social ladder.

off the topic and not to be ridiculed, why are farangs attracted to these type of girls? I have not been able to figure it out.

I'm with you here, I don't understand it at all.

I am always happy to help someone out, but taking on responsibility for someone else's family is a little to much for me.

I don't understand why people put themselves in the situation in the first place, but hey maybe they are better men then me willing to take care of a family in a way I would only do for my own.

"The parents seemed to look the other way when their daughter is having children with foreigner/farang without marriage, however, if the father were to be Thai, the parents would pressure the couple in to making some sort of commitment i.e. getting married. Why is that?"

In my experience, having their daughter date a farang is considered to be lucky for all the reasons mentioned in this thread already (prospect of having good looking luk krueng "superstars" in the village, financial security...).

As often in Thailand everything is about face: for lower classes, the daughter dating a farang is de facto a major face enhancing thing and so there is less urgency.

And unlike Thai men, farangs don't have a reputation for running off as soon as the word "responsibility" is on the cards - people know foreigners (especially older ones) often don't mind if a woman has children already, often taking care of them and even adopting them/sending them to study abroad in some cases.

All these reasons combined lead to a more flexible approach.

So to sum it all up, when choosing a mate, farangs are more superior than Thais?

They aren't considered to be superior to Thais.

However, they are a far better option for women who aren't educated and have children from past relationships, as they offer some kind of recognition to people who without them would spend a lifetime at the very bottom of the Thai social ladder.

Fair point well made, I am not that familiar with the village side of Thai society but I can definitely see your point.

Most everyone in my wife's family are well educated and do fairly well. When I was having a difficult time in business, financially, it was them who bailed me out.

If you were to be Thai, I don't think you would have that easy pass! So there you go a double standard because you are farang and you are a westerner.

Your only guessing, and not taking into consideration that they trusted their daughters judgement, wanted her to be happy and believed it was her decision.

"The parents seemed to look the other way when their daughter is having children with foreigner/farang without marriage, however, if the father were to be Thai, the parents would pressure the couple in to making some sort of commitment i.e. getting married. Why is that?"

In my experience, having their daughter date a farang is considered to be lucky for all the reasons mentioned in this thread already (prospect of having good looking luk krueng "superstars" in the village, financial security...).

As often in Thailand everything is about face: for lower classes, the daughter dating a farang is de facto a major face enhancing thing and so there is less urgency.

And unlike Thai men, farangs don't have a reputation for running off as soon as the word "responsibility" is on the cards - people know foreigners (especially older ones) often don't mind if a woman has children already, often taking care of them and even adopting them/sending them to study abroad in some cases.

All these reasons combined lead to a more flexible approach.

So to sum it all up, when choosing a mate, farangs are more superior than Thais?

No... pick someone you care about and have a connection with regardless of what his/her skin color is.... As I always say "No culture has a monopoly on Assh*les, we all get issued our fair share"

My wife, who is from a middle class Thai family and have no hookers in the family is always friendly to any thai woman who is respectful to her. There just aren't that many that are. Mostly educated Thai woman. She couldn't make but few Thai women friends when living 20 years in the states and can't do it here. The funny thing is that we have met many falang with prostitute wives and my wife tried to be friends with them but they all thought they were better than my wife because we lived a fairly simple life style. They always were showing off whatever crappy gift there man would give them. My wife could care less and ultimately could never have any kind of normal relationship with these girls . The katoys are much better to befriend than the woman.

Reptile,

Ya same situation, when we lived in Canada for 6 years the wife mainly only had farang friends, a couple exceptions. Pretty much the same scenario though, them trying to show off, her not giving a crap about their newest gucci handbag. Here the wife tried to be friends with a couple of the mothers (possibly bar girls) of some of the kids in the international school that our kids go to.

They kept trying to drag her into their family drama, which didn't go over well with her, or me for that matter.

Your asking us farang about thai parents. Sorry, I never had thai parents however I do know this, I was not allowed to bang my wife until we were married, not with her parents knowledge anyway so it was sneaking around for us as we were getting married anyway Not all parents allow the daughters to bed farang, I guess it would depend on the parents and their lack of morals that probably rub off on the children, don't you know any girls whose parents don't allow it,lol. Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

Same Me and I agree

Even Though me and my wife were 29 at the time we had to get married before she could stay with me or bang me... We were banging anyway...

Another thing is I have never given her family one baht or have they asked..

I think there is all kinds of different family's with different morals throughout Thailand.. To say all Thais are one way is wrong.

Same here, I was 29 my wife was 26, so not much of an age gap. In our case however they basically didn't care about the ceremony and wanted the legal requirements dealt with. ie: we got married at the government office. All the family went out to dinner later at The Intercontinental, which her oldest brother insisted on paying for.

I was never ask for 1 baht in Sin Sot and the topic has never come up. I think though since all of her family is educated in western countries and most have worked overseas they understand the western culture allot better then most.

PS.... Wife's family was not impressed about her marrying a farang. 13 years on and they have decided that I am house broken and won't wee on the carpet.

Thailand is a third world country, most Thai ladies behave accordingly. If you think anything different you are fooling yourself, for them farangs are there for topping up their family income, you are an ATM, how dare you speak

Yep someone who has only associated with bar girls. My wife took a few steps down the social latter to marry me. Her family has a hell of allot more money then mine.

Rarely happens to me. Wife went to high school in Australia and University in Canada, she is Thai but maybe more farang then I am. When I am talking and someone interrupts me she tells them they are being rude and to wait a minute. I think allot of it has to do with the education level of your partners as well.

Why are so many people so skeptical? When I moved here I arrived with $15,000 in U.S. cash to open a savings account. Maybe he has moved here? It sounds like he just arrived. Makes sense to me, or do you all just hate Italians? Or Israeli's, or the French, or the Spanish. Maybe all Americans. Please keep this to yourself. You live in a land of many nationalities. Learn to live with it.

Not that, some people here hate anyone with a few bucks.... really 15k is not that much money and could easily be blown on a couple week holiday if one was so inclined.

I live here and regularly come back with that much cash on me, it's cheaper then paying $10 every time I take out 25k baht from the ATM.