Acharn

You've never visited a farm in the Northeast, have you? Say Buriram or Surin. Although I'll grant that after Thaksin a lot of them are able to make a decent living.

By no means all of them. Every small town has at least a couple of hookers, and often it's girls of 16 or 17 years old. Because most of the American troops were stationed at air bases in the NorthEast, the myth grew that they preferred darker-skinned women, opening up new career opportunities for the women who previously only worked locally (the lighter-skinned women from the Northern provinces were/are recruited for the rest of the country. Most of them did not work for the Americans).

Well, no, there was no tourist industry here until the 1960s, and then it was stifled by the Vietnam War for a while. However, merchant sailors and various navies loved visiting Thailand. The Erawan Hotel was opened in 1956, but did not start prospering until the 1960s, and for several years it was the only hotel for foreigners.

Absolutely right. The World Bank recommended to Field Marshal Sarit Thanawat that he adopt tourism and the thriving sex trade as his development strategies. That was even before the CIA's first anti-communist loan to FM Sarit, just a month before the first attack by the Communist Party of Thailand.

Do you have a reference to that legal age for marriage? Please see this article from Thaiguider. It's really quite complex, but I think from this that the age to give consent to marriage is 18. As far as the granting of consent, the Thai police have complained that it is almost impossible to prove whether or not sex took place. Two people going to a privacy hotel is not proof that they had sex there. Sexual assault charges are underreported in Thailand.

I'm referring to the contract with the caterer, and possibly with the local wat who provide the monks for the chanting (I don't know if that falls under Thai commercial law, but I think not). I presume your wife depends on your support, so she has a right to comment on how you spend your money, unless ฿500,000 is a trivial amount to you. If you're married in Thailand, by the way, the money is half hers, not yours alone.

Errr... He says his wife is paying for the wedding. If she has her own money, what right does he have to interfere? Thai law does not require a man's approval for a woman to sign a contract any more.

I think you can trust your Thai wife to not get ripped off. She knows the culture, after all. I'm sure she knows the appropriate cost of her son's wedding.

Exactly. I think he's assuming family relations will be good forever. It might work. It does for millions of people.

Not if the girl is 16 and the farang married her in the amphoe. Probably not at all since the parents seem to have consented to a marriage. The law on prostitution passed in December, 1996, even allows marriage at 14 with the parents consent, IIRC. Not sure if parents' consent is needed at age 16.

Thank you for sharing.

Bangkok is not Thailand. Thais don't tip, Thai employers pay livable wages (a lot less than farangs could live on).

I've lived in Thailand for 42 years, and was stationed here in the Army for three years before that. I have never tipped once in that time. There were three times I was charged a "service charge" by a New Orleans restaurant in Bangkok, which had lousy service by the way, and have always regretted going there.

Eyes like stones, and throwing a gang sign. I'll be glad if he's finally expelled from the Kingdom.

I have two accounts with Bangkok Bank, but in different cities; one in Bangkok and one in Nakhorn Sawan.

And, depending on the context, "eat already" might mean "after eating," but the meaning is clear from the context.

I don't think the tones are all that important. I mostly get the meaning from context -- what's being talked about. I agree that for words like "horse" and "dog" (or "near" and "far") it can be important, but if you just keep on talking your meaning will probably become clear. I mostly don't hear the tones consciously, although I sure do when watching the news on TV. The most important thing is to speak. As much as you can. People are hardwired to correct what they hear. A native speaker will probably understand you, and will be able to question you if you're too garbled.

Thai nouns don't have a plural form, and Thai verbs don't have tenses. Thai grammar is actually pretty simple.

The hospital is not going to mind if you're an hour or two late for your appointment. If you arrive on time you'll probably have to wait anyway. Try to get there before 5:00 PM, so the doctor can go home on time.

You need to go to a pawn shop (raan rab jamnaam) instead of a gold shop. Pawn shops handle numismatics here.

I never met Trink, and I suspect his best work was for the Bangkok World, which was out of business before I retired from the Army. I enjoyed reading his column in the Bangkok Post, but it didn't give me any information. Alas, Silom became sleazy and they raised the price of beer at Nana Plaza. I spent most of my time at the Thermae or the Beer Garden on Soi 7, which had great pork chops. In his later years he had quite a bad reputation as a grifter and freeloader.

Yeah, that's actually pretty likely. I tend to be a cheapskate. About 47 years ago I quit drinking alcohol (I am self-diagnosed as an alcoholic). I started eating a healthier diet (I was in the Army at the time, so I ate what was served in the mess hall) and exercising regularly. After a year, I was in great shape, without any vitamins or supplements. I also started following a couple of Usenet newsgroups devoted to health and body-building. Most of the people there (mostly power lifters, rather than body builders) were skeptical of vitamins and supplements; they were very concerned to avoid steroids. Alas, with the growth of the commercial world wide web Usenet is practically extinct and I haven't had the comfort of those newsgroups since the late '90s. By the way, I think the body builders had a somewhat different attitude toward vitamins and supplements (and steroids), but I never got into that side of it. I'm 86 now, and think my good health comes from that period of several years of physical fitness.

I'm pretty sure one third of what they're taking is worthless, one third you or I would need a prescription for, and the rest are illegal. I dunno. I confess I take vitamins and/or supplements from time to time, but usually they don't make any difference in how I feel. I'm sorry I posted on the topic.

The internet tells me the preferred method is liquid nitrogen, which is quite a lot colder than dry ice. I'm currently trying salicylic acid. I may try superglue, since this doesn't seem to be doing anything.

Vitamin and mineral supplements are mostly scams. It probably won't hurt you to eat them, but you usually don't need any, either. I'm currently taking B12 and zinc citrate, but expect to stop when I've finished these bottles. I admit I'm not consistent.