ozzieovaseas

I've never seen any large stand alone 20 baht stores here, only those who use floorspace in Big C complexes and the like.

There is a good one inside Big C Lat Phrao at the moment, and also very cheap clothes/market stalls on the basement floor. For people on the moove it is very convenient to buy cheap stuff that will be shown the bin after a few weeks/months...so not sure why all the cheap charlie cracks?

The same posters doing the criticising will often sing the loudest when they are ripped of 10 or 20baht for noodles, or get to much ice in their drink or whatever

And as for the usual cracks at teachers..I suppose the better option would be to do nothing with ones time here?...except sitting around drinking beer and chasing skirt?

If i was to stay here on a long term i would appreciate being given the opportunity to contribute in that way. Can't see what is so shamefull about it??

It's sweet that the OP doesn't trust his wife or her friends.

Nice one.

I wouldn't trust my own shadow in Thailand

Aye, I was wondering who was that sneaky basterd following me around

If its true that the only woman you should trust is your own mother, then good thing she does'nt reside in Krungthep

One could consider a 'meat pie' to be one of Australia's national dishes - footy (& god forbid cricket) wouldn't be footy without meat pies & hot dogs.

Being from downunder I've eaten hundreds, if not thousands, of meat pies in my lifetime & I must say I have never known of an Aussie meat pie with an egg inside, sorry, but I stand corrected. After all Australia is a BIG place.

For those doubting my words then may I suggest you check out the link provided by ChiangMai2 above. "Harrys Cafe de Wheels" would have to be the biggest (& most famous) outlet for pies in (Sydney) Australia.

My thoughts exactly as far as the egg in the pie thing..i have never seen it anywhere in Aus.

But good luck with business anyway, the only way you could have done a better job at self promotion was if you ran a language school

One suggestion would be to reduce the support payments now to something more reasonable.

I’ll defer to others for what that amount should be for Child support. The Thai courts set a standard figure and I’m sure it’s way less then 10,000 Baht a month.

As Mario2008 points out above, some (entire) Thai families have a household budget of 10,000 Baht!

In a phone call (don’t put it in writing) indicate to Tabby’s mother that the support will be raised to a higher figure (and I suggest not actually mentioning one at this stage because no amount of money will be deemed to be enough) once you are legally recognised as Tabby’s father.

Now I know that this strategy is maybe a little controversial and I’m sure others will comment on the pros and cons with it.

Just don’t give into demands or crying on the phone … be strong and gain respect and when the timing is right … be supportive, generously (for Thailand) supportive.

But until that time is right, ‘keep your powder dry’ … timing is everything.

You're spot in with your assessment here, especially when you say..

and I suggest not actually mentioning one at this stage because no amount of money will be deemed to be enough)

The words "these people live in a different world" is the understatement of the world as far as the OP should be concerned.

You mention various figures, 10k per month ect, but as others (and them being mods) have stated, this is big money in Surin and your setting the bar this high now is really bad news and opens you up for exploitation, pure and simple.

Maybe your going to Surin could have been the best thing possible, at least then you would see how these people live in the small villages. Its an eye opener for sure as if you had of gone you would have realized how far money stretches.

For anyone bringing up a child in Surin, and for those mothers in Bangkok that send home money for the upkeep of children, it's usually around the figure of 3,000 baht a month per child, although of course those prices do rise as the child gets older and progresses in schooling.

Don't be duped to start off with, or it will never end, you will end up being nothing more than a walking mug paycheck.

Also realise that many Thai fathers who actually lived with and married these women do a runner and have no qualms about ditching their responsibilities...then farangs come along on their white horses, look after those kids, buy houses in good faith thinking it will all be appreciated....

and then guess what comes next...

you are warned!

I found this comment before when meeting Thai women..they prefer a silly old farang who can't speak Thai..apparently it is easier to lie to a guy who doesnt speak Thai.

Don't ask me why this is, i would have thought such experts could lie under any conditions

Should have employed your old theory of following and old soi dog accross the road, no-one injured, no loss of face or pickles.

Seriously though, if pegged flat-footed in the path of one of these guys i find it best to stay still and do nothing, they will then know what direction to take to go around you,

if darting to and fro and fumbling around for bottles of pickles you will be a goner for sure

Any mention of Thai workers taking Australian jobs?

Gina's army: Overseas workers take mining jobs

http://www.news.com....r-1226367200766

As Australians lose jobs, Gina Rinehart imports 1700 foreign workers

http://www.news.com....z-1226367540365

There is no suggestion that Thais or anyone else will 'take' Australian jobs.

The fact is that there are more jobs going than there are workers.

Anyone employed on these jobs has to be paid the full award rates, time off, paid annual leave, and if they work on-site as most would do, accommodation and high quality meals are provided.

Not a fact actually, as you can see by the unemployment rate in some areas.

I also know people who have travelled to the areas where these jobs are supposedly in abundance, only to find they are not paper qualified or have the right "ticket".. even though they have previous years experience in these industries.

What i would like to know is.... how the !#$% can foriegn workers have the right qualifications when Australians have to waste time and money on BS certificates for this that and the other.

But the easy answer is this..foriegn workers are well qualified because Australian business can exploit them and make them work for peanuts

JT, thank goodness rhere was no further trouble.

After all, if the motorcy guy or BiB had of read any of your food threads on TV they could have used the defense that you were to slow to cross the road..due to your eating one to many tacos!!

Every time i frequent B2K stores here there's always many Thais sitting down reading. At some places ive seen a coffee stall within the shop area where people sit down "borrowing" books while having a coffee.

It seems the businesses don't really care about the practice anyway, and since they provide chairs right beside the aisles, it would seem to be encouraged. If it was any majour concern to them you would think they'd remoove the chairs.

I find this sort of thing is a refreshing change from life in west. There seems to be some sort of empathy for the "have nots" or at least some tolerance towards them.

In Australia i once saw a supermarket checkout girl ask a lady "Are you gunna buy that magazine or wot?, its not a library"..and this while the shopper was waiting in line at the chckout.

Its a bit like the vendors who walk around selling snacks to people sitting in restauants. Any restaurant owner in any other country would go ballistic at the pracrice.

Business Leaders Tell Mayor Foreign Tourists Have Lost Co...

Interesting heading...could think of many ways to end that sentance in regards to Pattaya

hahaha

Thanks for the warning, I'm arriving at swampy on the morning of the third. I guess this means I should buy a bottle of whiskey (or two) at the duty free shop in-case I feel the need to have a drink!

Yes,

Considering the various reports of airport scams: delays at customs, drug setups, theft set up at giftshops, thieving customs officers, limosine touts, taxi meter scam..ect ect

you might need several stiff ones!!

AHH just joking!! never had the slightest hint of any of the above after many trips (but i had to say it since TIT(visadotcom)

Might want to save the whiskey to buy at 7/11 or Big C while here though, havent noticed any better prices at the airports.

Have a good trip and welcome to LOS

(that would be land of smiles...NOT land of scams!!)

Thanks for the heads up OP, but this day of doom is but another 11 days away, and as such, any self respecting boozer will have forgotten all about your warning by then

Better post again on the 3rd!..preferably at 11pm!

Sorry Nam, i needed a big smiley at the end of that one, but the TV toolbar will not work on my system!

It would be time for a annual 'deep clean', the 2500b job

that must be the annual Farang special service when they sprinkle gold dust on the evaporator, rinse the drain pipe with 27 year old single malt and leave as a bonus medication for the sick family buffalo of the Thai in-laws

Yes, but given the 2500 baht service charge cost, how much gold dust would have been used? when would it have been bought, at what price did they procure it, and what should they have leveraged it against?

more importantly, what price do you see their service charge at 1 year from now??

Steroids?

I'd be more inclined to enquire of the effects of "ink" on the braincells.

Why is it that most nudists are people you don't want to see naked?

Aye, you got that right.

And more to the point, would'nt you think that people north of 40 (age, not stone) who are seriously into this activity as a lifestyle would be a tad more inclined to take a little extra care of themselves and their bodies?

Having seen the size of farangs here, and strangely enough, the mention of two prime dietry choices on this thread so far...the frying of chicken wings and bacon...i would think our esteemed TV memebers would have the good sense to keep their clothes on when venturing in public!!

Scoot, the 'no frills' offshoot of Singapore Airlines have some very cheap deals at the moment.

Unfortunately, if you intend to fly their Bangkok-Gold Coast route, the flights just don't match up and you have to overnight in Singapore. So I booked AirAsia to arive in time to catch the ongoing let to Australia.

But, from memory, their Bangkok Sydney flight does not require a layover.

Scoot Airlines ... http://www.flyscoot.com/index.php/en/

Hey David,

Thanks very much for the scoop on scoot.

Will come in very handy for me and i probably would never have seen it.

My question is If these guys really do live in the REAL world, then how in holy h#ll did they ever have the brains to succeed there? given they are silly enough to give these bar-rodents huge sums of cash for nothing??

Thick as two short planks i say.

Maybe my ex was right after all..girls from a certain provinces up north use black magic and some special potion to make a guy fall for them and do whatever silly sh!t the girl tells em.

sheez

well, as they say in the states..Shirley you can't be serious??

Anyway i got 2 likes for the post i made (thanks guys!) and as i don't know which post they referred to, i thought i might as well re-post i deleted earlier. (but still got a sneaking suspicion the OP might be taking the wee-wee here)

so..if you are serious OP...

Just a few thoughts to throw in.

I don't know about the immigration system in the states, but i do know other countries screen certain nationalities VERY heavily to ensure they dont admit sex workers into their countries.

I've heard some in some countries you have to provide lots documented evidence..previous employment ect.

Having said that, i don't buy the visa part at all. I think its more probable that some other guy may have assisted her in getting into the states, and she has split from him. She could even be married for all you know.

I know we all tell the occasional porky pie, but some Thai girls i've met have mastered it to a fine art. Many a girl like this will be able to look you straight in the eye and lie without batting an eyelid. nothing for them!

It sounds there are a few things you are concerned with here, but id be asking serious questions about this $50k sinsod business...you are talking dollars and not baht here?

Also how does it sit with you about these 40 other guys shes stringing along? how does she explain that?

One thing i did notice..your post kinda read like you had no sooner became exclusive and then she is coming back home and having a shower..so she has mooved in with you after such a short time? where was she living before?

I guess on the other hand you could also look at it this way..she is already accustomed to life in the states, obviously no language barriers, has her money. You could do a LOT worse over here in Thailand i'll give you drum!

And if you are seriously contemplating hanging around someone whos got the nads to ask for 50k sinsod then money is obviously no object to you so she probably can't do much damage.

But yeah, i get your point, maybe it would have made more sense if i'd said i've no inclination to date a any Thai woman under 30

Pretty much all of us are dating/marrying/searching for girls 30-35, no matter how old we are.

Seems like the ideal age to me, and almost everyone I know.

How old are you and almost everyone you know?

Seems rather old to me. Why would you look for a girl of 35 when you could find one that is 25?

If you have to ask that then you are probably in your 20's as well.

No point in trying to explain, in another 20 years you will know

The biggest age gap between me and any GF i've had here is 8 years. I just cant seem to even talk to or relate to anyone much younger than that.

Pointless boast if you don't state your own age.

For example, if you are 20 it's easily understandable that you can't relate to someone 12 ....... and really dodgy if your gf was 12. Even 30 and 22 we could understand.

But when you reach 65 then a 57 year old girlfriend may leave a little something to be desired.

I don't see how what i said was boasting?

But yeah, i get your point, maybe it would have made more sense if i'd said i've no inclination to date a any Thai woman under 30

I rarely bend over for anything under 20baht these days. With my aging back and body its just not worth the hassle.

Even 20 baht can be a bother..always the potential of it blowing away and having to chase it

"Never paid for it" is an interesting statement.

I once dated a Thai/Chinese "good" girl with a good job in Bangkok, met on the dating websites. I never paid for it then either, but i did spent well in access of 10k in a manner of weeks, going out to all the expensive places she liked.

To say i never paid for it was exactly the case anyways, as one night after a month or i so, when i got down to the nitty-gritty with her she told me that she thinks of our friendship same same as her brother. no sex, so nothing to "pay" for

Never had the same problems with girls from other origins though. As a rule they dont like going out in the city as everything is so expensive and they dont really like it anyway. But life in the burbs can be much better due the lack of a long line of punters solely searching for farang $s.

Anyway, I can with all honesty say i've never paid a lump sum in agreement for sex with these GFs, but i would'nt be as naive as to state they never cost me anything.

I have spent quite a bit in their company, as Thai girls do not expect to "go Dutch" for expenses as a rule, and will not usually suffer being seen opening their purse to help the farang pay for the bill.

10k in a matter of weeks! my you really do know how to chuck it about.

Yeah, i guess thats why my GFs occasionally call me kee niow yet they seem to come back for more.

Im sure they'd have even better names for the guys on here who are so young and verile and handsum who claim they never spend anything on their girls. They all go dutchies and if you listen to them..the girls probably even pay them.

Oviously a case of...true love

Anyway, i mentioned weeks...in total.

There was'nt that many dates, but the few were expensive ones,by Bangkok standards, and by other GFs standards too.

They would have a heart attack at the thought of spending 3k on entertainment for one night.

And with regards to these so called hi-so,Thai/chins that go out wiith all the studs on here..in reality you are often lucky to see them twice a week as these "good" girls seem to be busy with work and supposedly work related functions...

But NOoooo...theres no way they'd be out socialising with all the other farangs on the net that "don't pay 'em"

what a larf!

Most the girls I know through my wife know their parents got wealthy or rich by saving and reinvesting their money do go out for expensive meals occasionally, but mostly save and would rather eat somewhere cheaper.

Most their familes made the money one or two generations before them and have been taught to save as there's nothing to fall back on here. They always pay their share and want to pay others when eating with friends what they are like when eating with just their husbands/boyfriends I don't know.

It's some of the friends whose parents aren't so well off even though many on here would call them middle class, upper middle class , hi-so, Thai - Chinese, they aren't, who are the ones who want to go to the exenpensive restaurants all the time yet struugle to get their purse out. Wear designer labels, the latest expensive fashions, drive new cars , expensive condos. They are the ones who have had farang boyfriends their own age or a little older who when you see the guy again after they broke up moan about the same thing as you saying she was bleeding me dry wanting expensive meals every night and my wife agrees with them. You also hear the girl moaning bitching that she's been called a gold digger. All these girls really have is a half decent job, fed up parents and a trail of credit behind them.

Anyway in short in my experience the ones whose families have money (and many without ) save and mostly eat food 30-100B.

It's girls without who try to look like and live a lifestyle like the previously mentioned ones could if they wanted.

Although looking at how spoilt my wifes cousins eldest kid is ...................... I'm sure there's plenty more, but it's the same with social climbers the world over.

You mention young verile handsome guys, does this mean there was an age gap between you and the girls?

And as for only seeing them a couple of times a week - Isn't that a good thing ?

Some pretty good observations there i'd say.

Just to add, one thing i constantly find hilarious, in regards to what you correctly noted about the wealthier Thais..

It seems to be only them (the truelly rich) who realise the key to getting rich is NOT spending money, hence their shrewd but clever preferance towards spending OTHER peoples and saving their own.

The wannabes however seem to have no idea of what it means to save. They want everything without working for it,have nothing and are doomed to stay that way, simply because they believe being rich (or giving off the illusion of such) means being able to spend in neverending succession as if money never runs out...well, so long as there is someone to show off in front of.

Their own habits prevent them from saving anything but that hardly matter as appearing to be rich is the more important thing. Sad really that peoples whole self worth is wrapped around what useless possessions they have.

just one case i know of: Family wedding in a village up north..GFs sister and husband sold their pickup (with the excuse it was getting old anyway) went to a gold shop the day before the wedding and bought 2 thick gold necklaces to wear to the wedding.

When wedding was over 5 days later it was straight back to another gold shop, resold the gold and bought another pickup even older than the one they'd had!!

Anyway, your questions:

The biggest age gap between me and any GF i've had here is 8 years. I just cant seem to even talk to or relate to anyone much younger than that.

Dead right about only seeing them a few times a week being a good thing. I always thought it was BS about paying girls to go away, but I once donated to the cause of a GF going back up north to spend some time with family...thinking she'd be gone a good month or so and i'd actually save money..she was back after 5 days!!

DOH

Again apologies for using the wrong term "extorting"!

The funniest thing is people are actually defending these girls. We all know it's a game for them etc etc. but to put poverty in to the question is absurd!

Farlangs are the problem with Thailand, we gift, sympathy etc for what!

Let's be serious the average wage in Thailand is 12,000 baht a month. The average price of food is 30bht. A room 2000 bht.

Without us they'd be fine.

Go look in Cambodia or the Philippines the women are completely different. No games played. They are a lot poorer there.

You are joking? The Philippines is notorious for "sympathy" scams and many websites carry warnings to that affect. Western Union posts warnings due to the number of complaints from American's sending money to Pinay's and then finding they don't exist or suddenly disappear. Normally starts with - no money for food, can't pay rent, parents / sibblings / offspring ill and no money for hospitals, accident / illness and no money for medicine etc etc. All caerfully planted into conversations whilst trying to build a relationship. A friend in the Philppines nearly fell for all this crap, but luckily got someone to check. The young lady was actually living in a very nice house with boyfriend and children, and apparently had several "friends" in Europe and the States sending regular donations to aleviate her poverty! I saw similar things in India, China and yes, the UK too. Not unique to Thailand at all.

I believe what the poster is trying to say is that the Thai women are more cunning, and clever than those in the Phillippines. I believe that. A friend of mine who lived in Cambodia, Thailand and the Phillippines for many years tells me the same thing. He tells me he thinks the Thai women are far too manipulative, cunning, and clever for him, and he does not find the girls to be like that in the Phillippines. So, there may be some truth to this theory.

"Some truth?" It sounds like this is something you want to personally believe. For every guy that's negative on Thai women, there's just as many who are negative on Filipino women. So it's just a matter of opinion. I will say that there are many more Filipino women desperate to leave the PI than Thai women. Not sure how that factors....

There are some guys i know who are capable of being negative on women of all races...I certainly could'nt deny of having felt that way..once or twice.

But yes, i would share the opinion that Fillipino are defintely more keen on seeking a better life away from their own countries, hence they are more genuine in their approach, and do not try on the same BS.

Thais on the other hand, well what can you say. Not many want to leave and try out life in the west, for whatever reason, be they rich or poor. Most believe there is very little of significance outside their own borders, except (of course) for the potential of making big money overseas and then returning home.

Anyway why would they want to leave? Thai law often protects their apprehensible behaviour and allows them to get away with treating forieners with contempt.

In fact,i'd go as far as to say scams against farangs are widely condoned here and even encouraged by at least one former PM.

Having said that, all potential trouble side, they are still delectable little dishes from which i can't seem to abstain myself from!!

How has this tread gone from Thai women extorting money from farlangs through facebook …

into …

Posters on TVF publicly divulging how they meet their current or past squeeze and whether they paid for it … or not, as the case may be.

Ooops, yes i guess the topic has strayed a little of late, but you get that in the wee wee hours.

the beauty of TV hey