Scully

I have seen a Thai use a small blue water pipe about a meter long with rope going through so there is like a noose at the end. Slowly place the rope around it's neck and pull the rope tight without killing it, he then took it away (probably sold it for chinese medicine ).

As someone says don't get bitten as they don't let go, if you do put it under water and it has to breathe so releases itself.

I don't mind the smaller ones but a foot long one would have to go.

Buy a decent sized bike and tour for 6 months...

Stop when you find somewhere you like, then move on when you have photographed everything you like

How many people would kill for a chance to do that ???

Well I'm jealous anyway...

Have fun and stay safe

I live 6 months in Thailand and 6 months working in the uk, this time I have sold everything. Sick of the same boring lifestyle with very few expats which I would consider friends and a handful of Thai friends.

I sold everything but my clothes and big bike, I leave for the UK in a month and will just have my backpack and backbox for touring next time I visit. This is the first 6 months stint I have done, as before I was living and working but doing nothing is driving me mad. I am stuck to the rental agreement which is very cheap and I even pay it when I am in the UK as I have all my furniture etc etc in it.

So next time I arrive I can go anywhere and probably take cheapish monthly contracts in places I like, good luck.

Vietnam?.

Keep cards at home when I have enough money, so just cash, keys, licence and phone. I take a picture of passport stamp and picture on my smart phone. I write down all my passwords and credit card numbers for anything in a code form and telephone numbers in a book. Also have spares for all keys.

Yes I have lost my wallet and phone before, a right pain in the backside.

Can't be pleasant for the couple when disagreements start to appear, who's side do you take which country do you reside?.

If it is a true love story, emigrate and get out of the political scene.

Spray then with water they hate it, good fun for you too. Sprinkler system when you are out.

Joining the Asian there will be an influx of cheap labour from Laos, Cambodia etc.

Still plenty of money being invested in Thailand but this can change overnight, by political unrest (coup), maybe we are witnessing a bubble or something, also the thing which we can't discuss may happen which will trigger the first two.

7 years is a long time and if Thailand gets it right politically, Thailand will prosper, oh and pigs might fly.

Is there something metal under the leather the same shape ?. If it gets hot through the charger it may heat up and discolour.

Just a guess?

Sorry, Scully,

It is true I don't know the English name for this bird. I do know I just love them though. They are so much fun to watch, these parasites, picking insects from the water buffalo. I used to sit for hours near my home and watch them. I know they are not egrets. Or maybe they are? Who cares what you call them in English. The Chinese have some great songs written about these birds.

Wait a minute.

Scully, please don't tell me that is also not a water buffalo?

Looking into it it was possibly a little Egret, there not so little very similar to the Cattle Egret, anyway they ate the fish, cattle Egret don't eat fish. Every day is a school day.

Yes that's a bubalus bubalis.

As I said Emergency Medical Technicians are available in Thailand, not just fling them into the back of a Pickup. I don't know which regions have them but they are trained and I would be interested which regions they cover, could save your life?.

http://phraethailand.com/what-you-should-know-about-emt-training/

I wish I had read this thread when a bloody great big cattle egret use to help itself to our fish, must have taken half the stock over time. It may sound cruel but these fish put money in Thai pockets and food on their plate. Your case though sounds entirely different though.

I read topics about how we will always just be farrang to Thai's or we are just here for sex etc etc.

Why try to alienate yourself even more by being the only one in the theatre not standing, it will be noticed and be seen as lack of respect. Your choice though, but you are being watched and judged, the people around you have now judged you as disrespectful. I stand and keep quiet but I have grown to respect traditions of the country I reside.

Quite a good interview, sounds like a man who has had to deal with a lot of stress with his Thai wife and family, he's just trying to keep his head down.

Unfortunitly he chose Pattaya to do this, if it were me and I had the media on my back i would choose a different resort, but it's his life so sod what anyone else thinks. Sounds like your average expat story to me, it will be forgotten soon enough.

Wise words but we are talking about a 750cc motorbike. There is no need for more than a twist and go for getting around.

Not everyone like to sit on a ladybike. I myself prefere Enduro Style bikes, because the bad roads and potholes. But no ladybike, thanks. Then it's better to sit in a song tew taxi.

I have a big bike, not in Pattaya, I travel thousand's of kilo's on open roads and that is why I have it. When I am in the city and all the little bikes squeeze through the gaps I would easily swap to get me somewhere quicker.

If you want a bike as an extention of your manhood well that's up to you, Kawasaki750cc for the sreets in and around Pattaya is nonesence. You may have knowledge of riding a big bike so you should know which is best for city use, unfortunitly many unskilled riders are renting these penisextentions witout proper checks and sadly the bigman attitude ends up killing them.

horrific accident , I guess this guy was not "used" to drive such powerful motorcycle ..Maybe the rental could ask the people some proper driving license ... shoking one more time .

having a drivers license doesnt automatically mean you have a brain, we rent bikes and always advise the renters thailand roads are extremely dangerous and to drive slowly, i am sorry for the guys family but we always see this kind of reckless driving usually from thais that we all complain about that put our lives at risk

Wise words but we are talking about a 750cc motorbike. There is no need for more than a twist and go for getting around.

I know they piloted a scheme of Emergency Medical Technicians in Khon Kaen some time ago. It is still up and running, a girl I know who is a EMT works in A&E and is on ambulance call and goes out in an equipped ambulance. She has had a few years at college to get this job but works many hours for buttons.

I don't know if any other areas do it though, it's highly likely they do as it was, and still is a big sucess. All down to money I suppose

My mate moaned like hell about everything from the women to the cost of living. He left last week and there are probably more like him to follow.

First of all this should be a positive thread, you didn't throw money at her, you used your skills and the outcome looks rather good compaired to some work I have seen. They will respect you more for that, than the usual Western man that thinks buying a house gains him respect.

As for getting to know the family, it will take a lot longer, I lived on a farm in Issan for 5 years with MIL, FIL, GF sisters kids and other sister next door. I help build up the farm by inputting some money but once up and running we all saw a return and we all worked our backsides off to make money.

I worked the farm out in the sticks, the police knew I was working but their attitude was I was not your average lazy 10am Chang swilling Westerner and they really do leave you alone up in Issan.

I gave the family an oportunity to make money for themselves and they took it, the relationship fizzled but I made money, they made money and we still keep in touch with no hard feelings.

Your new GF sounds like she wants to make her own money, not just borrow your credit card, if she starts asking for big money then worry but now just enjoy it and go with the flow.

Invest in the Thai money, bonds, stock markets and Thailand's happy. Try to create a business which again is good for the economy and it's a case of money being taken out of Thailand. Thailand wants it all with no leeway whatsoever.

Quite the opposite for me. 10 years in LOS and bored out of my tits. Although I can live here comfortably, imo its now expensive and overrated so am returning to the UK next year. Get my kids a decent education and not have them rolling around in the dirt like toothless simpletons struggling with their 2 times table at the age of 12. Get a decent 2nd hand car for 10k , and not some beat up old gypo truck. Get a decent house in my name that will still be standing in 50yrs because the walls are thicker than 3".

Dont do the whores, bored of that a long time ago. Dont sit in bars all day, talking to SAS flip flop wearing veterans. After that there really isnt much left, unless you play golf, (but lets face it, eventually you'll fall out with your new playing partners, who'll wind up being bullsh1tters or katoey bangers ). Suppose you could spend your time looking at the same boring temples, perhaps even getting down on your knees with your Singha vest, 'Waiing at Buddha', get a grip son. Or you could trounce around the same markets selling the same old <deleted>, bartering with your calculator buying Silk Scarves and chickens feet on a stick.

There are, Nice people (but lets face it, in general, a bit stupid) , nice food ( But after 10yrs the same old p1ss), nice weather ( Sometimes too hot to go out and do anything. I suppose I could go out for a drive and watch a p1ssed up bus driver flip over his double decker doing 100mph up the hard shoulder ) . So thats it for me. Romance over.

Looking forward to going home. Friends and family missed. Everything I need on my doorstep in London. A thousand things but cant be @rsed listing them.

Maybe I'll get bored of UK after a while and come back. But only for a holiday. I would try another country after that. Nothing left to offer me in Lieland.

I agree with 99% of what you are saying but soon as you see London the way it is "now" you may change your mind.

If her friends can talk English and won't talk to you, then you need to tell your partner. I would find it rude and ignorant if you don't speak Thai. Every time I have had a girlfriend they usually bend over backwards (no pun) to make you feel at home, you are on the other side of the world for goodneess sake.

Thailand's a big country the novelty wheres off soon enough but it's still a beautiful country with beautiful people. It sound like you have gone out been ignored and are now having second thoughts. Thai's that speak English love to talk it, even for practice, unless they don't want you to hear something which I doubt.

If you are having second thought's don't wait until it's too late.

I got off the plane in the UK and went to the train station with my internet printed ticket, it clearly stated go to the counter before boarding. Off I went qued up and produced my ticket, the reply "what do you want me to do with that", no hello sir how can I help etc etc. I had sat on a plane for hours and was greated by UK customer services finest, I went mad told him his customer sevice attitude was crap, it clearly states on the ticket and said no wonder I moved away from this kee hole.

Soon settled in to the crap food, work all week to get legless at the weekend, looking at 20 year old single mothers with waistlines sumo wrestlers would be proud of, people making a living off government handouts, I could go on but three pages of ranting may get boring.

Neversure is 100% correct, the usa is wayyy cheaper on EVERYTHING. I pay DOUBLE for a fleabag BKK hotel more than similar in USA. 1500 baht to be exact for a 50 year old bkk special vs $29 for similar in western USA. I can rent an SS Camaro convertible with a 6.2 liter engine for $1200/month in USA. Food and ALL goods and services are CHEAPER with wide selections of anything and everything you need. I love Thailand for so many things but cost and goods and services in general are NOT what the Dude loves about his adopted country. Yes to Brits and Euros sure wow dirt cheap and so much variety of cheap goods available, lol.

How much is rent, mortgage, taxes, utility bills in the US, just wondered?.