isanbirder

Two books about a foreigner's adventures living among Thais:-

Mai Pen Rai Means Never Mind  (very dated, but great fun)

Touch the Dragon, about a student's life with a Thai family in Denchai.

Any news about getting elephants off the streets (in any town) is good news.  Training elephants is a brutal business, and the fewer we see, the better.

Just now, Kwasaki said:

Sounds like the common tree snake which are harmless,  and it ran away which it would do. 

How nice to see some sensible post about snakes so early in the thread.

Trainman's post as well.

You might start by reading this.

It's a matter of supply and demand in your particular area.  Get your wife to ask around.

For the hotel business, Janejira is right.  The girl should go and ask.

10 hours ago, ardokano said:

so you back your pasport? and got Thai?

You can't.

I  first came to live in Asia in 1961 (Singapore), and have not been back to the UK since 1984.  Even then I found it like Chiangmai describes, not the place I grew up in.

This is my home, and has been since 1991, when I moved here from Hong Kong.

I had a visit from the police at my Buriram home about two years ago.  He told me they were checking up on all farangs in their area.

Coincidentally, I did NOT get a visit from Immigration when I last renewed my retirement status.  Rumour had it that they did not check those over 70.

I have no objection at all to these checks.  We all know that numerous foreigners are overstaying their visas, and committing other breaches of immigration law..... and quite frankly, I'm glad to see the back of them.  These are the people who make things worse for the rest of us, and who are the reason for police visits, immigration office checks and so on.

Thailand the hub of rumour-mongering as usual.

A few surnames go back a lot further.... Bunnag is an example.

Many hilltribe people still have no surnames.  This especially applies to Karen.

I first came here (by train from Singapore) in 1957.

I came back to live here in 1991.... and reach the 25 year mark next month.

Mostly, the Thai postal system is pretty good. It's when things get outside the country that they go wrong.

How much do you pay for a first-class letter anywhere inside your own country? In Thailand it's still 3 baht (I think). Letters rarely go astray.

EMS gives an excellent one or two day guaranteed service from 32 baht, anywhere in Thailand. I've used this many times, with 100% delivery success.

B. 75 kg in Makro Buriram today.

Frankly, how would we know what effect it has on Thai society?

And, please, it's effect, not affect.

Sexpats.

People who run down everything Thai.

I am not sure why the OP decided to start this topic but it really is a no brainer.

Thailand is a dangerous unstable country run by a tin pot military dictatorship.

It has poor infrastructure and high levels of corruption coupled with a very high murder rate and shockingly high road toll.

I don't think you have to be a rocket scientist to work out that any tourist coming form a western country is going to be a much higher risk of death by injury, murder, misadventure etc in Thailand than they would if they travelled to other western countries.

As for the true murder rate who really knows? Fact is per capita for both Aussies and Brits Thailand is the most dangerous country to visit. If you want to dig around thai visa you will find threads on this topic with the relevant stats.

"I am not sure why the OP decided to start this topic but it really is a no brainer."

because the op, is a little bit cuckoo and he is certainly working in the tourism industry

The OP is retired and has never worked in tourism or any field related to it. But he does live in Thailand and gets tired of people spouting nonsense about the country, he also quite proud to be more than just a little cuckoo on occasion.

He started this thread because he got especially tired of all the Sun and Daily Express readers spouting the same bar stool rhetoric about how Thailand is the murder capital blah blah blah. So rather than simply repeating in parrot fashion that same old tired line, he thought he would try and find out the truth - conveniently, a newspaper article came along with some related statistics hence he started this thread. Now at least those same bar hounds will have some facts with which to enthrall tourists at their local watering holes as they recant their deep knowledge and understanding of the country, its culture and all things Thai, perhaps they wont appear so stupid in future although I don't hold out too much hope on this point.

Nice one, Chiangmai. I'm with you on that!

There is a problem, though. If you get figures from the FOI, as you suggest, they will just get their figures from the Thai authorities. And even Thais, in my experience, don't trust Thai statistics.

Posters have provided two sets of figures with some degree of acceptability. These figures are not, however, linked to the number of people who visit these countries (tourists) or go to live there (mainly retirees).

You will all have noticed (but I don't think have commented on) the large number of murdered Brits in Tunisia, which refers to one incident, well known to us all. This shows how a single incident can skew the figures.

The rest of this thread is pure guesswork..... on everybody's part.

Well, TAT and other sources provide us with the 900,000 British visitors to Thailand each year.

UK Government gives us 50,000 British expats living in Thailand.

UK government also provides us with 362 British deaths in Thailand last year, from all causes.

British Embassy deputy head of mission gives us what the British expat murder rate is in Thailand.

A UK FOI from UK Government gives us the number of British murders in Thailand.

Which of these is giving you difficulty.

BTW Tunisia and any other country apart from Thailand is off topic and outside of scope, as is any cause of death other than murder.

Most of it, actually, Chiangmai!

The 362 British deaths are not split between tourists and retirees...... which would be significant because the two groups would generally face different risks.

I simply don't believe the two figures for murder rates, because they have to be based on local figures, and I doubt whether Thai authorities , especially in the more rural areas, bother all that much.

I mentioned Tunisia because it gave a clear example of how figures, especially small ones like the first list posted, can be skewed.

Posters have provided two sets of figures with some degree of acceptability. These figures are not, however, linked to the number of people who visit these countries (tourists) or go to live there (mainly retirees).

You will all have noticed (but I don't think have commented on) the large number of murdered Brits in Tunisia, which refers to one incident, well known to us all. This shows how a single incident can skew the figures.

The rest of this thread is pure guesswork..... on everybody's part.

British deaths overseas in 2013-2014, as compiled by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Thailand is the second most dangerous place, after Spain. (Source cited below.)

Spain - 856

USA - 125

Thailand - 362

France - 346

Greece - 160

United Arab Emirates - 75

Cyprus - 157

Australia - 72

India - 89

Germany - 146

Turkey - 75

China - 66

Philippines - 82

Pakistan - 21

Portugal - 131

Egypt - 49

Canada - 32

Switzerland - 173

Italy - 45

Jamaica - 23

Source: FCO

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3086453/The-country-highest-proportion-British-deaths-Philippines-cost-17-000-repatriate-body.html#ixzz42pRl0Vqc

Most dangerous? What nonsense! The high figures for Spain, Thailand and France simply reflect the fact that these are favourite retirement destinations.

Flat (i.e. non-fitted) sheets are a rarity in Thailand, though there are places you can get them. I got mine, single size, at Worarot Market in Chiangmai.

I tried HomePro in Buriram; no success.

Lazada is your best bet.

Yes, people do care. I had a sick friend who was unable to travel outside the country for medical reasons, and I used to get extensions, a fortnight at a time, for him on production of a doctor's certificate.

But it depends which Immigration Office you have to go to! (mine was Chiangmai)

I generally avoid those forums which are full of facile generalisations about Thais. I use the Newsletter to get some local news, and follow up those issues which look interesting.... not usually through forum threads, which are often full of bigots, facile comments and wrong information.

What do I read/look at?

General sometimes has interesting threads.

Chiangmai and Isaan, I used to live in CM, and now live in Isaan'

Gay (I'm gay)

Pets (I have dogs)

Outside the box (though sometimes troubled with islamophobes, and nutheads, it does deal with some interesting topics not covered by other threads)

If insulted, I report the post (I treasure the moment, though, when someone called me a septic homophobe!). If an argument becomes repetitive, I just drop out, probably placing the poster on my Ignore list.

What I'm really saying is that you can tailor TV to your own requirements, and simply disregard the morons which seem to infest parts of it. After all, they have as much right to space as I have.

It would probably work.... but a lawyer-written will costs only about B.4000, and includes all the clauses which Thai law prefers.

It's worth it for the peace of mind.