MayBeLater

If you felt that you wanted to give more than you did the right thing. Don't worry about Cheap Charlie!

The ultimate Silver Bullet on Thaivisa. Calling someone a Cheap Charlie.

MBL

Gaccha,

It is not only deaths like you describe but accidents in general. Show me a regular Thai family without someone who died prematurely, has some deformity, has had a serious accident, has been bitten by Soi dogs, has cuts and scars from something, has motorbike burns etc. The list is never ending yet in the UK 25 years ago I knew no family which had any of those things.

My experience over many years in Thailand is that they have scant regard for safety. Just look at the clowns who ride bikes carrying their helmets ! This goes down to their care of babies as well. It is all mae pen rai and not too far off "just breed another one" if something goes wrong.

So very true. But their reaction is: 'I myself can die tomorrow, no need to take precautions, look at all those accidents in my family'.

They don't care too much, all is already written in their book of life as they say. Personally I don't care anymore about them. I always hope to hear a big bang after I see 12 year old speeding on a motorbike, serves them right and it gives me another example to show the gf and to force her to change her stupid thinking regarding risks. The only thing I care about is that I am save as are the people surrounding me for whom I feel responsible(). The rest, let them be stupid and have accidents, they are content with it.

MBL

I am aware that there have been much said regarding the negative experiences of Farangs in Pattaya on the receiving end of local people.

I have to report my experience of yesterday. Driving down Pattaya Kland I was aware that the steering in the car was not quite right. Turned into the Siam Commercial Bank on Sai Song and parked to be greated by one of the security pointing out I had a flat tyre. To my shame I couldn't remember how to change the wheels over. So by this time the two security guards set about it and within a few minutes the job was done. Not only did they not want any financial reward but gave me directions to a repair shop near the top of the Klang.

When I got there it was pouring rain,cats/dogs didn't have a look in,however the three young lads set about it repairing the puncture, taking off the spare,putting on the proper wheel,fixing the spare tyre to its proper location under the bed of the truck. I said to the boss how much ( I have to admit i was expecting megga cost) but he said 80 baht!

I couldn't believe my ears.

I should say that I did persuade the security guards to accept a financial reward for their help. And also gave more than 80 Baht for the lads fixing my tyre.

What could have been a nightmare was a joy

Great you were helped out. But shame on you big time for paying more. You should understand that everything has it own price. The security guards were payed already by your gratitude and smile because they saw they helped you so much, they never ever considered receiving a financial bonus for that, nor wanting as you said. Its a pity you think that money is the all important social lubricant as it might be in the States and some other Western countries. Please refrain from making Thailand and the rest of the world the money driven idiotic place some parts of this globe have become. About paying more than the amount a service costs, 80Baht in this case. Do you also pay more in the West if a service is cheap in your eyes? ofcourse not. They ask 80 Baht because 80 Baht is the correct price. Please don't over-enforce the believe that Farang are nutcases, the Thai already believe the farang are total weirdos due to behaviour like yours (how many percent you overpaid?)

Gratitude is shown by heart not by your wallet. Its a sad society if every sign of gratitude should be accompanied by cash.

MBL

I have been 5 times in Pattaya since 1999. Just came back after travelling again for 5 weeks in Thailand and Laos. And each and every time I am impressed with the improvement that has been made (in Pattaya and in Thailand/Asia in general).

Everywhere in Pattaya you can see huge new hotels and condominiums being build and already build (thats done with money, not with air). Everywhere around Pattaya you see villa-parks. Everywhere you see lots and lots of new cars, not the old cars like here in North-West Europe. Everywhere in Pattaya you see loads of families and couples contrary to before when the only tourists you saw was the tattood male farang, and they are not the ones Thailand likes to see. Now everywhere you see Russians, Arabs, Chinese, Indians ,Western couples etc.. And while I or you might not like them its childish naieve to actually believe they have nothing to spent, they only don't frequent the bars as often as the tattood male farang does, they spent differently.

Neh Pattaya is doing great (as Thailand does in general, travel around and you will see the improvement everywhere), tourist numbers are up for years, the city is just changing from mainly a sex destination to a more 'normal' holiday destination. And while there might be a slowdown in tourist numbers for a year or so this does not affect the course that Pattaya has taken at all. Over the next ten years the bars will dissapear from the beach road (like most did already in the last 10 years) and second road and the sois in between (with perhaps the exception being soi 7/8). The bar scene will be more 'hidden' in Soi Buakaow etc..

MBL

How about some facts and expert opinions?

Economic News (September 15-19, 2008)

Central bank expects no liquidity shortage.

You really don't get it do you ? Its the EXPERTS who got us into this in the first place. I've seen god knows how many "expert" reports telling me the Thai condo boom is sustainable but if Joe Bloggs looks around and see's how many lights are off and does a little bit of math he might reach a different conclusion.

The "experts" have failed to take into account that for the last decade or so that the inmates have been running the asylum.

No it aint the experts. Its the ordinary person in the street that is to blame for the current problems, its you and me. As long as we spent before we have earned (loans to buy cars, credit on creditcards etc..), as long as we spent all what we earn (and more) we will continue having these problems. The only non cosmetic solution is to change our spending habbits. Lets blame ourself, not others. We, governments ánd citizens need to start saving instead of spending, thats the only way out.

MBL

P.S. We aint seen nothing yet!

Disagree. the ordinary person on the street wants a piece of the pie. What they are then sold is the dream, house prices will keep going up, you just have to sit in it to make money. Can't afford to buy ? Yes you can, you can have a 120% mortgage, furnish the place as well. (or in LOS we'll put a lien on your land) Hard to blame people going for it;

"They sell us the president the same way

They sell us our clothes and our cars

They sell us every thing from youth to religion

The same time they sell us our wars"

Jackson Brown, lives in the balance 1986.

Ain't nothing changed.

On another point, I can understand why others need to believe everything is fine and rosy in the Kingdom, I just don't see it, Thailand is not decoupled from the rest of the world, it doesn't exist in a micro economy. It will survive but every economic and political factor is in place for it to take a hit. Time will tell.

I don't like this attitude. Don't you think each and every person is responsible for him or herself. 'They' can sell you nothing if you don't want it. If someone is foolish enough to think taking a 120% mortgage is a sound thing to do, up to them. I don't like the "fuc_k the system" attitude nor the "they did it to me, they caused my problems" mentality. The "hard to blame people for it" makes no sense at all. We did it ourself, its us buying and not the other way round.

But guess your right afterall, most people are too dumb to understand that spending what you earn aint that smart. Five more days till next holiday, first in three years, ah well, will retire 20 years earlier, thanks to relying on myself.

MBL

Desertrat ignorance is bliss aint it.

How about some facts and expert opinions?

Economic News (September 15-19, 2008)

Central bank expects no liquidity shortage.

You really don't get it do you ? Its the EXPERTS who got us into this in the first place. I've seen god knows how many "expert" reports telling me the Thai condo boom is sustainable but if Joe Bloggs looks around and see's how many lights are off and does a little bit of math he might reach a different conclusion.

The "experts" have failed to take into account that for the last decade or so that the inmates have been running the asylum.

No it aint the experts. Its the ordinary person in the street that is to blame for the current problems, its you and me. As long as we spent before we have earned (loans to buy cars, credit on creditcards etc..), as long as we spent all what we earn (and more) we will continue having these problems. The only non cosmetic solution is to change our spending habbits. Lets blame ourself, not others. We, governments ánd citizens need to start saving instead of spending, thats the only way out.

MBL

P.S. We aint seen nothing yet!

Obviously neither him nor you know that you CANNOT own land here in Thailand. Why would you think he could have his name on the deed?

Whilst a foreigner cannot own land in Thailand it is possible to have your name of the land title (chanote). I did, and it gave me much security.

If you lend money for the purchase (or bailing out ) of the land, you can be the mortgagor, and have your name shown as such on the chanote. Also since you have advanced money on the land, you are entitled to hang on to the chanote in the same way a bank would do.

It cannot be sold until you sign that you have received your loan back. You are then in the driving seat!

As far as I am aware that is correct.... you can never own the land, but you can hold the Chanote for an outstanding loan, if the loan is repaid you surrender the Chanote to the borrower, if it isn't repaid, you can transfer the debt via the Chanothe to another person (preferably Thai, and the borrower really doesn't want that to happen)

You can control who owns the land, but you can't own it yourself, just the paperwork.

Next year my girlfriend wants me to pay an outstanding loan of her mothers, I did not want to do this, and have not agreed to do it so far. I would however consider it if I could transfure the loan from her current creditor and get her to sign a loan contract with me instead. Can anyone reccommend a Thai lawyer who speaks fluent english and deals with farangs on a regular basis in matters such as this. Thankyou.

Doomed.

MBL

In the past 2 years, I've heard many stories about Issan weddings. I've been warned by many who've left broken hearted and broke.

But I will tie the knot with a fine lady of 30, a graduate of Ubon Ratchisima University, who worked as a quality control specialist at cpk, earning 18K bhat per month, a decent salary. She's a virgin. Is that really possible? Are women like this real?

Knowing that many a farang has settled in Issan with their love, I'd appreciate your stories and advise. Especially about dowry, gold Bhat, and wedding costs. If Dad gets a dowry, is that it? Or am I expected to help the family with each "emergency"?

Maybe this issue has been discussed many times before, but I'm new to the Forum, and hope to hear some good stories. Mike

Do you believe in ghosts because most Thai people do? I don't.

I will never pay a cent for a girl. In some (many) respects I think my culture is superior than Thai culture (yes I know that political correctness states that all cultures are equal, not) and that dowry stuff is one of the issues I will never ever accept.

BTW, why get married? Its old-fashioned in your culture (well in mine it is, BeNeLux), why go back in time and marry a Thai girl. In that way you don't even have to think of a 1st century concept called dowry.

MBL

Thanks a lot all for the ideas, helped me out lots as now I know where I will be heading after I arrive.

Thx again,

MBL

Thanks bangyai. I live in a 1 bed flat near the seafront in the Southend area so can't downsize anymore. I was planning on operating my finances from an offshore account where transfers of large sums of cash are easier and cheaper. My flat is very rentable though and is very close to the mainline into The City, about 50 mins.

My main concern was the Visa issue. Many ex-pats seem to live in Thailand on 1 yr visas and then rely on extending them. They get married, build homes and have businesses in Thailand on the strength of 1 yr visas. Seems easy to get a visa for Thailand from what I can see but there does not seem to be a clearcut way of staying there unless granted residency after 3 or so 1 yr stays. A bit of a risk if you intend to plunge into all of the above commitments?

Cheers

Hi Lusso,

Only advice I can give is to work work work, save save save, invest invest invest. Work to save money to invest in your house in the UK. Leave when you paid as much as you can for it. Postpone your dream for some years in order to be better off financially. When you paid all or most of your UK home, rent it out (your can rent part of your house already, students... when you want something badly, a bit of discomfort is ok aint it) and live your dream. Come back once every first or second year for some months, do the big maintenance on your home (when your away you will need someone to do the 'emergancy' repairs), work somewhere for some months, remember why you left and leave again for a period of time. Maybe you will not have to richest of life financially, but still could be very rewarding.

Best of luck,

MBL

P.S. I have 15 years to go Lusso, guess I am the über planner hehhe.

And when you fall in love, use your brains, never ever, no matter what should you get married, its out-dated and hardly anyone does it back home, why would you do it in Thailand or an other 3rd world country where you have no rights? And secondly, tell her your poor, so no house buying, motorbikes or other nonsense. Thirdly, you worked hard for your cash, make her work also. She can pay for herself, thats not your responsibility. She should not think she hit the jackpot when she met you, she met a nice and friendly normal person, not an ATM machine :-)

In short, use your brains.

Hi all,

I quite like morlam music, especially the older traditional style, but also the modern morlam is very enjoyable. Does anyone know if there is something like a morlam festival being held in the Issan annually (think monthly would be over the top :-)

Thanks for reading,

MBL

P.S. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76Vo0fxkNPE

I know its Laos..

Thanks for taking the time to read my article and replying to it, [flames deleted]

I did not post this topic seeking any advice, as one person did suggest. If you read my original post, I did not ask for advice. I simply posted it to do my bit (small as it may be) to alert people across the world to know how corrupt a country Thailand is, through the good old world wide web. Maybe if more and more people made that small bit of effort, then a change for the better may be inevitable, instead of everybody just living with the system and complaining to themselves.

I have investigated this matter fully through a lawyer friend (for free) and found that everything is what it has been reported to have been. I have no doubts whatsoever as to the sincerity of my wife, thank you very much.

To all of those people who stereotype ALL Thai girls as being schemers and connivers to their foreign boyfriends and husbands, then MY advice to YOU is to get back to where you came from pronto, marry an English/American/Australian woman, or whatever, and live out the rest of your sad, paranoid lives in comfort.

Dear James,

Have you got a clue how much money 200,000 Baht is for an avarage Thai person?

Do you want to be married to a wife that does something stupid like your wife?

Do you really believe your wife?

How is SHE going to pay for it?

Or are you going to be the good Samaritan? (The typical stupid foreigner Thai people despise).

Why you ever got married?

My advice:

-Run

Atleast I assume you didn't do the most stupid thing you could do, you don't own a house there, right?

Sorry for sounding harsh and arrogant, but I really can not understand you, why you treat a Thai different then you would do a foreign lover? I would ditch the woman that was foolish enough to trow that amount in foreign money away (would be how much? 30,000/ 50,000 euro, compared).

*no marriage

*no buying property

Two golden rules :-)

MBL

I think reading books, especially serious books, indicates you are a serious (boring, not sanuk) person and this is not highly valued in mass Thai culture. Flame me if you want, but this is obvious to me.

Its all about with whom you socialize Jingthing.

Actually, I think a nation's interest in reading could be quantified to some degree. How many new titles published each year per capita. Book sales per capita. What percentage of titles and book sales based on quality of the books, in other words pulp novel/comic books versus serious non-fiction and literary fiction, etc. There is no way I could find the link now but I do recall reading a Bangkok Post article a few years ago that did indeed cite some these statistics, and as most can imagine, Thailand rates very low in this department compared to western countries. The fact that some people know many Thais who are big readers proves absolutely nothing at all about the overall bigger picture of the reading and book culture in Thailand. We don't have to place a value on this reality, unless that pleases you.

Could be very true, same as with the arab countries. Each year they translate about the same amount of titles into arab as the greeks do into greek (couple of hundred million people compared to 10 million). But I think it has more to do with the level of education (again) then with being sanuk or not sanuk. In the countries most of us come from the level of education is high, hence people read more books, lower educated people in our countries really don't read that much either. The population in Thailand is not well educated.

MBL

OP Here...

Thank you ALL for your comments, advice and insights. There are a lot of factors and history that affect the current situation. There's no simple answer.

So we had a sort of 'intervention' with him last weekend: His mom, me, an uncle, 2 grandmothers, 2 aunts, and one step-grandfather. We gave him options. He chose to stay in school, so he says. The school has agreed to give him another chance. It is up to us to make sure he succeeds. We're all spending more time with him, following up closly and helping him on homework, and trying to support as well as police him. He knows we are all behind him and we are all very concerned.

We'll see whether our efforts help or not.... so far, so good.

Thank you all for your input... I appreciate it.

--T.

Tweezer, wish you best of luck with the kid, hope will work out fine.

MBL

I think reading books, especially serious books, indicates you are a serious (boring, not sanuk) person and this is not highly valued in mass Thai culture. Flame me if you want, but this is obvious to me.

Its all about with whom you socialize Jingthing.

Hi everybody,

I trust the wife. Don't know her family very well. Mum and stepfather need to build a house cause they are currently living with stepfather's parents and they don't get on.

Mum likes her drink so has fallen out with everybdy that they have tried to live wth.

So..it up to me to fund the house. How much does it cost to build a small place for two in Isarn?

Wife already has the land.

Any thoughts?

What happened to the old house?

Would you buy your in-laws in farangland a house?

Your a fool for not leaving your wife after she asked you this question, time will make it clearer for you, after you lost all, what you deserve.

MBL

I am 35 and 2 years away from retirement, i would not call myself an old geezer

You're going to retire at 37? I hope you have millions salted away. Otherwise, what are you going to live on in the distant future? You are unlikely to make any major money in Thailand. If you know her well enough & long enough, I would consider bringing her to your country & see how it goes.

I think we have to assume that Jimmy is minted. At least that's what he'd like us to believe, like so many other posters here.

Yes hahah, since I started reading posts here I seriously began thinking I was extremely poor compared to 90% of the posters here. But then I began to notice how often posters bring the topic money up, and start saying 'well its not the money but the principle that matters', 'you need atleast XXXX of cash otherwise you can never survive in Thailand'. And I remembered how 90% of the long stay farang in Thailand look like, and they sure don't look like they are loaded nor that they come from backgrounds that could indicate they have some money coming. Neh, Thailand is for the 'poorer' westerners that do want to live abroad but can't afford an other country. Pity many people on the net try so hard to be someone different then they actually are.

And to the OP: don't get married, don't invest, don't buy homes, and find someone not half your age, and then it might, with lots and lots of luck, work out.

MBL

Hello All,

My long time girlfriend has a 13 year old son who lives with her mother and aunt in Bangkok. Now, he has effectively quit school and he is starting to drift away from home and family, not coming home for long periods and refusing to go to school, etc.

My question is if anyone knows of any program, special school, counselling, military-type school, etc that can help with this kid? He is on a bad path now, and his family has no idea how to motivate the kid to stay in school and put some effort into his own future. The family itself is weak, and doesn't have the structure or ability to turn the kid around.

Any advice at all on how to handle this sad situation is greatly appreciated... this boy is only 13 years old and he is blindly throwing his own life away by completely withdrawing from school and family so he can spend time with his equally young and misguided 'friends.' It's a sad and scary situation that no one around this kid has any idea how to fix.

Thanks in advance for any advice!!!

T.

Hi Tweezer,

You are the solution. You are with his mum, for a long time you said (long time means years a assume, months aint a long time), a child needs his mum, period. You and your girlfriend have made a huge error of judgement to think you could leave a young kid with his grandmother. I once liked a girl (loved her lots), she had a young son. I don't like kids, so I had no choice and broke the relation off for the sake of her son, because a child needs his mother. Tweezer, you thought you could leave the kid out, you are wrong, you have a big responsibility when your with a woman that has kids already, take your responsibility and let the kid live with his mum. Ideas like you mentioned are the easy escapes (pay money for a school/institution and problem solved, thats what your hoping aint you), not a solution, be a responsible man Tweezer.

MBL

I've been here 7 years and I have to say that all my experiences with the majority of Thai men, especially in the South, lead me to want to avoid more than a superficial sawatdi krup now and then.

On the surface, they are all polite and smiling and apparently friendly. But in my experience anyway, they are set off very easily and quickly turn into jealous and violent maniacs- especially when alcohol is entered into the equation. Further, while the average tourist may feel that they are welcome here, I see a lot of Xenophobia demonstrated by the Thais, especially the men. They want your dollars and pounds and Euros. They can do without you.

Of course every culture has crazy men, but what makes this place scary is that famous Thai smile, which puts you at ease. Smiling as they plan your demise.

To believe that Thai man and Thai woman are that different (apart from being different sexes) is quite hilarious. They share exactly the same culture and values.

I recently bought a krups espresso maker at siam paragon. i figured a mall of that stature would be on the up and up.

The scam occurred when after the sale was made, the employee then asks if I want to buy the water filter which is not included. He explained the benefits and it seemed a worthwhile device. I offered my credit card for the 875 thai baht purchase. He says no, that it can only be paid in cash. I found this strange, but was in a hurry so offered him a 1000 thai baht cash note.

Feeling strange I followed him silently over to where the cash register is. But he produces my change 125 baht from his own personal wallet. I ask for a reciept. He makes some excuse about can't do it now. I am in a hurry so I leave. At home, it all becomes obvious: the label on the filter says FREE SAMPLE.

So basically they got a free promotional sample that I believe is normally given to consumers but decided to make some pocket money. I guess they couldn't read the english FREE SAMPLE on the pack or hoped I wouldn't notice it.

and of course, i try to use siam paragon website to look for a contact email or complaints address and it's down.

i'm not gonna lose sleep over 875 baht, and i can't be bothered to go thru traffic to go there and make a fuss, so thought i'd pass on the reminder to you all, keep yer eyes open!

It’s a nice little illusion to think that because you are in a high-end department store you will not be subject to staff rip offs. The most common one I have encountered is not giving customers their sales discount. Several times at Emporium, Central and Paragon, I have had to physically pick up the sign and insist on the discount. Some staff are very amusing once they get caught going so far as to say “I did not think you wanted the discount”. One even told me the discount was for Thai people only. Give me a break. I am not sure what their motivation is – do they get more commission not giving you the discount? I have also had similar experiences to the OP, but more in terms of not being given the promotional items that accompany the sale. Sadly for these thieves I can read Thai and know what I am entitled to.

Many people complain on websites like these about the ways how they get treated sometimes by Thai people, be it when you buy something or when you enter a national park and get charged 10 times as much. But when they have a chance to do something about it they chicken out with lousy excuses ('its to far away', 'I learned from it', 'I take my loss') but still they continue complaining (see this thread). How can you expect something to change if your too afraid to stand up for yourself. Many times farang complain they get no respect from Thai people, well I fully understand it, why give respect to a loud person that actually is afraid of you? Because always in the back of your head you know that the situation could turn very very quickly nasty against you.. In that case, stop whining!

Aiai, no friends made with this one :-(

Cheers,

MBL

Edonista, no i am not a troll whatever that is and please dont presume i am that dumb to put all my money itno a project that wouldnt be generating a good cash flow with someone i can trust. were not all married to poor isaan bar girls here.

Trust is an easy thing to lose. In this case, if you lose that then you lose all your money. Remember where you are. The Thai's are very good at survival. I have been married to a Thai girl now for 2.5 years and I'm not sure if I can trust her. My company is entirely in my name (Amity Treaty), and I never would have invested in Thailand had in not been the case. How long have you known this girl and her family?

Sorry are you joking mrt273nva? You have been married for 2,5 years and still haven't figuered out if you can trust your own wife, sorry, that truly is sad! How many more years you will need?

Jonny, the money you have invested is gone (well its invested), you most likely never will see anything of it in case you get divorced. Tricks like some mentioned to make your investment cash will backfire. Just make the best of your marriage, thats the best guarantee you got. To now make a bussines proposal to your wife wouldn't be smart (actually quite insulting), I for one would start to mistrust you from that moment onwards (is he planning to get out?) Just arrange something legal in case your wife dies, so you won't be kicked off your land. And a sound advice was to start building up a secret amount of cash, makes you independent in case something nasty happens, and something nasty can happen to all of us.

Good luck Jonny,

MBL

Atleast now we know for sure Thailand is a Banana Republic. Making the prime-minister resign because of a cooking show, laughable. A nice sum has changed hands for sure to get to this ruling. Laughable country and it won't change anything. New elections, same outcome, TRT/PPP will win, thats called democracy PAD/Sondhi.

MBL

This isn't about a backroom sum, but a front room sum.

He took money from a MEDIA COMPANY for work.

makes no difference if it was cooking or making Oregami birds from paper,

or a show on civics and social responsabillity.

Media companies should not being paying Prime Ministers of any country period.

Lets see if CBS paid GWB to do a brush clearing show

It is reasonable to assume CBS wants more than BRUSH CLEANED,

more like FCC censorship fine rollbacks etc.

You want the BBC paying Gordon Brown a stipend for anything?

Its not about this cooking show, no one cares about it. Samak had to go and they found an excuse. Same as what happened with Thaksin. Thaksin didn't do anything new, only on a much bigger scale. If the Democrats can only offer 200 Baht a vote and Thaksin can pay 500 Baht its clear who will win, the Democrats shouldn't whine. Anyways there are two possible outcomes, prolonged military rule (after the TRT/PPP/... wins the next elections and the military steps in again after new protests), or TRT/PPP/... can finally find a way to silence the PAD/Sondhi mob. The first will happen because the powers that matter ( ) will never voluntarily let loose of power. Its an interesting power struggle with few global precedents.

The thing i find hard to grasp is if this court ruling is all legit,& theres no other reason for him walking,did he not think to ask someone involved in the laws of thailand (however loosely they maybe enforced) whether or not he would be running into any problems,due to a "conflict of interest" with doing a tv cooking show,whilst having a sideline job as the PM of Thailand.

Surely any Joe Blogs would think to cover their a$$ by making sure its ok in a political cutthroat enviroment such as Thailand.How hard is it to pick up a phone & ask somebody if it is ok or within the laws.

Or maybe there is more to this,& it was actually the best face saving option.

He thought his butt was covered, until the PAD started rallying against the vote buying scandals, etc. If there was no strong opposition, they would have just moved the goal posts a bit. Looks like the judges weren't for sale either, so Thaksin's money was no good to get him out of this one.

Actually, to me it's starting to look more and more like democracy every day. I like it, when people are held accountable for their actions, when they are in government. If they don't like the heat, they should stay out of the kitchen ;-)

Do I understand you correctly Kurt? Are you actually that naieve to believe the cooking show was the reason for Samaks forced resignation? Give yourself a break man, this has nothing to do with democracy.

MBL

I am handling things in a similar way as posters above.

The wife is bad with money, largely due to an inability to perform simple math sums. She gets a daily allowance, or sometimes an allowance to last a few days. She handles the bills at the end of the month.

Just maybe her math would improve if you would stop giving handouts for free and would make her find a job as most people do and earn her own 'allowance'. I am sure her math would improve considerably mate. Working and taking care of herself would be quite benificial, for her.

MBL

why doesnt anyone ask what to do with their uni educated, with good job vestibule virgin who comes from a good thai family?

Well we all know the answer. Most of the Westerners seeking 'love' in Thailand are from certain backgrounds. Because they enjoy partying and drinking they meet their companions in life in certain establishments. And it happens to be that uni educated from Thailand and from the West normally don't really frequent those establishments. So in short, bargirls get the suckers, and they also get the problems they actively seek. People seem ignorant for the deep cultural differences that do exist, especially when you get involved with bargirls: Westerner loves, Easterner to escape poverty.

MBL