Bangkok Barry

Why? Laos or Cambodia would not give your kids the education they'd receive in Dubai/Carib? Or any number of other tax-free locations. If you have money, why would you be looking at bottom of the barrel Third World countries? I don't get it.

I thought I might as well get one, but the local office said I had to get my UK passport translated and I had to go from Kalasin province to Bangkok to a particular place to get every page in it photocopied. I refused to play along with their game of wanting an incentive to do their job and walked out, followed by my wife who wai-ed the crooks and then said I was rude to walk out on them. I forgot that in Thailand you have to show respect to those trying to cheat you.

You miss the point. They are not needed for what the OP wanted, and the need was eradicated by a bribe - at an office where several officers were recently removed for corruption. I guess more still needs to be done there.

No it is not. A member of the House Of Lords was jailed in the UK, and spent his time in a prison cell. Quite a number of other highly-placed people in the UK have also served jail rather than hospital time.

What has any of what you wrote got to do with wanting Thaksin to serve his prison sentence in prison instead of a VIP suite? As for him saying, “We and many Thai people do not believe that Thaksin was or is genuinely sick," I think he might be right.

Interesting to see that Thais are still happy to sell their daughters. Interesting culture.

Her middle class parents own a shipping company? Really? They are either not middle class or they don't own a shipping company. They cannot be both.

Where in the article does it say she's much younger than him? Also, are you in Thailand? Are you married? And if so, how much did you pay as a bribe to marry someone's daughter? And if not married, how much would you pay to marry someone's daughter. It must surely be over a million so that you can't also be accused of being a cheap Charlie.

She wasn't old enough yet to learn that some drivers treat a red light as a suggestion and not a command. Which is why she should not have been driving in the first place. But, typically Thai, the father blames someone else for his disregard of the law and lack of discipline.

You could have added frog and rat to the list, both of which have made family members sick at some stage. And take a look at what they sell in the frozen meats area of Makro. It's a different world to what we know.

That pretty much sums up the Thai attitude about anything. Take a chance, doesn't apply to me. Especially the way they drive. And especially at railway crossings where a red light is considered a suggestion and not an order to stop.

Indeed. That's why whenever we got deliveries such as furniture we have had to draw a map. Even for immigration to visit. In the past month, though, we had PET come to check the electric to the house and they used Google Street View for my wife to point out the house, and Global House did the same to deliver a new air-conditioner. Many years ago there was talk of Thailand 'westernising' the address system but, of course, nothing came of it. But it isn't just Thailand, as Japan appears to have a similar brainless system.

Exactly so.

Related to this I suppose, I like the way in Scandinavia they put the street name first and then the number. And not only in Scandinavia but other European countries too, if memory serves. Totally logical, as first you need to know what the street is called before moving on to find the property.

Could use the same map for those who use Fahrenheit instead of Celsius

Fleeing the scene, just part of Thai culture where no-one takes responsibility for anything.

Is that what they're called there?

What, exactly, are Thai values? From what I've learned in nearly 30 years of reading the media and forums here it is to accept corruption as the norm, to display a Me First attitude, for parents not to parent, for many Thais to show zero self control and no-one taking responsibility for anything.

This reflects what I've said before, and it applies to all social media. The companies are not to blame, it is the people who mis-use it. Whatever humans invent, it is certain to be corrupted because we are a flawed species.

How was it planned that cost 'a lot of money' to do? You've made a statement of fact, now back it up with evidence please. As far as I know, an outgoing minster made a statement about an action that he was never going to carry through, but you apparently have more insight into what that cost than the rest of us do. Or did you just make it up, the same as the ex-minister did?

This isn't news as it was never going to happen. The outgoing minister just wanted his name in the media, although why he wanted to go out looking like an idiot is difficult to understand.

They might be calls routed through the internet and are free, which is why scammers as well as genuine callers use VOIP. Costs them nothing. No way of telling if the calls are from people you know or not without answering. Easy to just hang up if it's a scam/advertising call. Years ago, when I used Skype, I learned that they have numbers in each country that the calls are routed through. You wouldn't recognise the number but it could well be a call from someone you know.

In tourist areas they're smiling because they are ripping you off and think you're stupid for falling for it.

Simple solution - don't pay. Then they're stuck with the goods and can sort out their self-made problem for themselves. Would you buy something in a store sight unseen?

The police did nothing? Really? Well, knock me down with a feather.