Manyquestions

What's the take on the meaning of life?

Why are we here?

What is the purpose?

I have no clue why I am here since I am constantly having the feeling of being utterly useless. (My GF tells me that too (that I am useless)

Meaning in life is different for everyone,...

Why we are here,... thats up to us,...

What is the purpose,.. you make your own purpose according to your meaning of life and idea of being here,...

My GF aka wife to be always tells me that i am evil and everyone close to me will burn and suffer,... hahahaha,.. but that only occurs after i say that she cannot spend to much money if she wants to have bigger things in the future,.. hahahaha.

Even then the meaning of useless is very big and different for all people depending on their views in life and opinions.

We live to enjoy everything we experience, we make our own purpose and plans, your way of seeing things does not have to be useless to you, and some things in life are the same,.. we need food and water to live, in order to get that we perform tasks, the rest is up to us.

1) Can you save money from your salary??

2) Do you have a lump sum that is safety money if anything goes pear-shaped??

3) Do you need to borrow money from others near the end of the month??

4) Can you budget??

In my opinon most people struggle to do this, and i can't understand why!! Any idea's from you wasters out there.....

To awnser your questions.

1) we can save around 800K baht a year. It is al about planning and OT.

2) We have about 300K baht safety money a year.

3) We do not like to loan.

4) Yes we can budget the most according to a preset system,... Make a balance,.. and then try to point out the minimum that can be saved, you always choose a slightly lower amounth for saving then it is in reality, the difference between those two i like to call spare money, so there is always a minimum of savings, and a maximum is not really known, It always helps to set a goal to save for, again with this you plan for example,... i want to buy a house at 2 million Baht,.. so i must save/budget 3 million before buying it,.. now i have 150% and can live up to all expectations and have a backup plan if changes occur.

Now the key is to eat of some expenses like phone bills, elec bills, spending money, try to budget that in on a higher amount then needed and then try to use much less then that, make it like a game,... how much can you get for less and always compare prices this takes more effort but can save you up to 100K a year.

Be realistic,.. do i really need a plasma tv,.. or is it just greed or show off.

Do i need to party on all weekend,... or should we settle for some biking and a romantic picnic.

Do i invest in more education so i might earn more salary? or do i stay stable and save the money.

Economics change, country policies change,.. so the more knowledge obtained will most likely get you a job all the time and therefore income all the time.

Save money and setup some business that people always need, a lot of competition,.. but almost always have some little profit out of it,.. thinking long terms helps me alot.

Well,.. for me personally i still live and work in europe,..

The field that i work in now is full of people that complain all the time,.. they kick at every change and never come up with solutions, management levels are occupied with friends of friends who really do not know what they are doing and only come to work to earn money.

I am a person who is direct and wants to contribute,.. that is not always apreciated.

Anyway,.. the rule that aplies for me is: if i don't like it i can change it.

EG, i will continue to study, and find a new/better job along the way that i can put myself in at least 80%.

in about 12 years from now i wil be working in thailand and doing something to help people, i am happy when i can make life better for other people.

My next set goal is to study criminology and hope to work in this field to help people/victims.

Anyway,. getting along with collegues depends on many factors such as, are you happy where you work, and does your work envirement suits your needs and qualities, how is your view in life.

Many other things mostly depends on ourselves.

When collegues really hate each other,... one must go.

Hello,

Some questions about chumphon

1: Anyone got experience with Novotel Chumphon at Paradonpap beach?

2: Is Paradonpap beach close to Lang suan beach?

3: How is the wetter and temperature in Chumphon mid/end of november.

4: Are there any good hospitals in Chumphon? (got a sick mum coming along)

5: Is lang suan a nice place to hold a wedding? or is Paradonpap nicer?

6: How to reach chumphon by plane?

7: Are there shopping area's?

8: I am NOT a fan of pattaya or phuket,.. will i find the same garbage there? (pardon the language)

And now a little bit off topic,...

We want to buy a car in thailand and let the (almost) inlaws drive in it,...

1: Does the insurance cover full damage?

1.5: Is there such a thing as a "all risk" insurance that will give a new car after totalling it?

2: When the inlaws drive it, and the car is on my name,... they cause an accident,.. will the insurance cover it?

3: We are still in doubt,.. wich to buy: a small car,... Toyota vios or the Honda city

wich to buy: A pickup,... Mitsubishi Triton Plus dc,.. Toyota hilux prerunner dc

Nissan Nevara DC,.. Isuzu something dc,,

The cars are all (in their group) about the same price range,... i do like pickups,.. but not very fuel efficient,... the small cars are however not very safe,.... Triton plus looks awsome on the inside and got more space,.... Toyota got better service,... Nissan is strong but out dated design,.. Isuzu,.. is well Isuzu good quality and there it ends.

Should i buy cash one time,... or pay 50% down and the rest monthly and so getting free options? but might be a problem if the baht goes up to the euro,... now baht is 49 to one euro,.. last year it was 42 to one euro,... big difference,.... since the baht is linked to the dollar,... what to expect? Will china and middle east pump money into the US causing the US economy to stable,... then baht will be stronger,... if not,.. Lucky me,.. i get a better rate and more room to budget.

More about chumphon,... can anyone recommend places to go,.. and how safe is it for a farang,...

How are crime rates?,... should i take malaria pills with me?.

Well hoping on alot of responses and info,..

If you have more pictures then on the webboard already, please mail them to me.

"Sister and Brother and Father will come up with alot of the sinsot to show, and we do the rest,.. and are to know that the sinsot will be returned after the wedding since we have to loan for this."

Exactly how much of the amount is being covered by sis, bro and even daddio? How much are you going to have to pay? And isn't it going to be returned after the wedding any way?? As for the 200K price tag for 300 people, I think that's fairly reasonable. It'll no doubt be a rather lavish wedding with all the whistles and bells.

As for calculating sin sot, I think the others have done a good job covering the variables with only one exception: beauty. How beautiful is this girl by Thai standards? White skin? Tall? Fit? Chinky-looking?

Edit: I sure hope this isn't a windup... because it sure looks like one!

Hi thank you all for the swift responses,

Ok, i do not really know what a wind-up is,.. but i think you mean a "prank" right?

By thai standards she is good looking, she won several beauty contests. ( i did some modelling myself as well in 5 years ago,...and cancelled a invitation for a magazine 2 month ago because i am really out of shape since last years sickness (still recovering) )

She's almost 1.60m skin colour is typical for southern thai people,.. not fat, very fit, never married, never lived together besides me, not a virgin neither was i,.. but hey 2004/2005 up to now,.. at least she is honest in telling me she made love to her ex and i can't blame her for that...

The remainder of the sinsot will be between 200K and 300K baht.

Her father and mother both have status jobs. (see my first post)

They wanted the ceremonia to be in the south,.. i insisted on BKK since my mom is not to healthy and can't survive outside the airco i think, after some twisting and turning this is ok,.. but the come up of guests will be lower then.

Why do you think it might be a "wind-up".... could you state facts for me,.. keep in consideration the factor of thai emotions,... ( i am not an emotion person and neither a emotion understander)

Ofcourse i do see some things that i would recognise ass odd,.. but then again cultural behaviour and believes are different from my own, so my judgement could be based on my culture and behaviour,.. that's why i posted on this site, different people with different views and perhaps a lot more experience of culture or being thai themselves or with thai,....

Please keep in consideration that her parents are headteachers,.. PHD's and she herself is a bachelor holder herself, sister is a PHD, and brother a bachelor as well,.. Nobody in the familly has worked in the bars and they disaprove of bars and farang that come to the bars (they silence the subject to death and avoid tourist places like that, and tell me it is people's free choise to do so but it makes thailand look bad),.. only thing is that father is a former pro thai boxing person who paid his univesity by boxing when he was young,....

All family is from southern thailand.

Father earns about 80K baht a month,.. mum earns about 40K baht a month, they have 3 houses a condo and a some big fields of fruitytrees and palmtrees, with employees,...

Sister is marketing manager, husband of sister has own company,.. Brother and wife are marketing managers as well and doing very well,....

they do have some depts,.. but who doesn't,....

It really helps for me to state facts and traditions rather then speculation,..

So the 200K for weddings are reasonable,..

Sin-sot is rather high or not,... ????

My girl was really happy this morning,... doing all the housework before going to work,.. normally we share these tasks since i cannot expect her to do all if she works as well,.. hey this is 2008 now and not 1950,.. but this is a first she does it like that,... maybe she found some piece of mind that we could "settle down" and not have to lie all the time to family,.. being more sure now as well that i wont run off with another,.. ( i know,.. still can happen, but for some, tradition means a world)

Ok,.. hoping for more responses and if anyone need more insight to get a conlusion please ask me,... ( and yes ofcourse i like to see the good thing only,.. but since i am a man of science,... all possibillities are open and should be considered, but what i need are facts or pointers)

Again thank you all for your time and thoughts, and send me all info you might have.

Hello,

I am new on this forum, but will right away launch a personal question, i hope to receive serieus awnsers.

Situation: In 2001 i worked together with an exchange student from Chumpon province thailand, we became good friends, after long contact even when she returned to thailand i decided to visit her and her family.

So in 2004 i went to thailand, Chumpon, and met her sister,... 2 years older then me, bachelor in marketing, and section manager in a low class hotel, we got along very well, but at the time she had someone, i stayed a few months in thailand and we got to know each other even more, eventually she broke up with her thai guy, and in 2005 we decided to give it a try to live together in my country.

So we did, now we are living together for 3 years NOT married yet.

Now did we have a turbulant 3 years, i lost a job and gotten a new one with is far below my capability, she couldn't find work and so we had some financial problems, i got sick with an serious infection in my stomach wich i am still recovering from... she stayed,... now she works and i work,... only we do work low jobs now so we have not alot of money. We do have plans to study more,... but no money yet.

Now in 2008 we want to go back to thailand for holidays, her parents, Father; a University headmaster and PHD, and Mother; a headmaster of a primaryschool, are really insisting we get married because they loose face the last 3 years having to lie to the rest of the family (Chumpon & Ranong) where the daugther is and whom she might be with.....

The thing is,... Mom asked for a (for us) gigantic amount of Sin sot,.. namely 750000 Baht (750k) excluding wedding etc,..... I was shocked, scared and angry since i did not understand why,... big cultural difference here,...

Now my friend (her sister) has talked with mom and they agreed on the following,... Sister and Brother and Father will come up with alot of the sinsot to show, and we do the rest,.. and are to know that the sinsot will be returned after the wedding since we have to loan for this.

Now the wedding according to my girl would cost about 200K baht for aprox 300 guests,...

Everytime i ask about lowering the sinsot my girl freaks out, shouts,.. saying she not want to married if like that,.. then i ask why can we not mix traditions, why should i go 100% thai style why can we not go half way,.. and again she freaks out saying that mom and dad would understand but the rest of the family cannot accept this,.. so they loose face,... and also because i am farang they charge more,..... for protect loose face.

One thing i should know,... if it was all for the money,.. she would have been gone already, since enough oportunity presented itself.

For the record i am 26 and she is 28,.....

My questions are,...... Mainly what to do?

1: Can anyone explain me about southern traditions, are they stronger?

2: Is sin sot related to position of mom and dad?

3: Should i be considered lucky or unlucky with all this?

4: I don't want to end up with a dept, should i let the sinsot be garded?

5: Any advice is welcome.

I am just looking for knowledge about these ways because even i have an iq of 147, it makes no sense to me,.. and really my people skills are not evolved like the rest and i don't want to get on the wrong foot with nice people,........

The most i find on the net are story's about bangkok people, isaan people or bar people,.... neither relate to us,.... there is only one thing i know for sure,.. and that is there is much more spice in the southern thai people so i have to be more carefull what i say (thats a litlle joke).

Anyways, again if any of you can advice me on this and help me ease my worrying,... i would be thankfull.