Flummoxed

I think Johpa and Walker must be Bankers (read between the lines;-)) and I bet they don't even curse.

.....and the only criminals in situations like this are the credit card companies and banks. In fact they are more likely to give a credit card to someone who is unlikely to make full balance payments because they know the can financially rape them on the interest.

Years ago, it all went wrong for me in Hong Kong and I had nothing. With my credit card in default, I wound up back in the UK with nothing. A friend of mine was good enough to help me back on my feet and that involved a loan of some money. I paid every penny of it back. How dare you people suggest that Bob would rip off his friends. You've never met him. Defaulting on a credit card is no reflection of a man's character.

This man came to this forum for friendly advice, so take your 'I'm squeaky clean' attitude elsewhere.

Many businessmen or individuals who owe millions of dollars through poor sharedealing or malpractice can simply file for bankrupcy. Their debt is effectively written off and after a few short years, they can start all over again.....If that's not cheating the system, I don't know what is.

Every day my bank swindles me out of money... but that's OK, apparently.

Personnaly I would like to see everyone who goes to another country credit checked BEFORE a Visa is issued.

Problem Solved 

Hmm, well if this happened I think the tourism industry would collapse.

I can only speakfrom personal experience here but I know many many MANY people in my home country who work very hard and always endeavour to pay their bills , yet the realities of life in the UK are such that these people still slip into debt... and I include myself in that description. there is a very high percentage of UK folk with black marks on their credit score. A redundancy or a run of misfortune is all it takes and it's hard to get on top again.

I would never encourage people to run away from debt. There are many stories of unfortunate souls in Thailand who have tried that, only to find they must eventually return home to face the music. However, in your case Bob, I wouldn't worry too much, as long as there is no Audit trail to your account in Thailand I don't see that there's much they can do, besides which, do they even know you're in Thailand? To my knowledge, there are no mechanisms in place for your government to trace your cross border movements, unless of course your known to Interpol for some reason.....

....and I understand where you're coming from about making your creditors a payment. Their loss is insured and any payment you struggled to make would just be lost in a sea of their money......screw 'em

.....and if you want to see people with mounting personal debt, just look at the Thai's

hhhhhh

The cost of installing the TV's is surprisingly low... and at the cost of a ticket to fly on Thai air I expected to see the TV's, especially when you consider the fact that joke airlines like China air have them on their decrepid aircraft.

It's true that getting from point A to point B in one piece the important consideration but on a 12 hr flight, it gets a bit boring just staring at a blank headrest.....

If someone wants to see a movie there are plenty of movie theatres around.

....If you can find one at 40,000 feet, do let me know, won't you.

I'd be interested to know if anyone knows of a website that can fill us in on the maintainance aspect of each airline.

I seem to recall hearing somewhere that Thai are rolling out the headrest TV's in their fleet over the next 12 months or so.

The lack of them has certainly been a real handicap for Thai Air.

Incidentally, I think they've finally got rid of all their old 747-200 series aircraft.

If it aint got dancin' girls and spitoons' ...I ain't interested.

I flew China Airlines once. That was before I knew about their appauling safety record. Incidentally, the flight I took from Taipei to Hong Kong, a 747, I think it was the very same aircraft that crashed a couple of weeks later in the Taiwan straights. Makes you think eh?

....not to mention the hoards of Chinese men clearing their throats and spitting loadly on the floor between the seats. Lovely.

China Airlines suck.

...oh, and who voted for Aeroflot!!!!!!!!!!

Relationships = communication

I'll second that motion

....or perhaps he's emulating his Thai peers

There's been a bit of talk about airline quality the last few days so I started this poll.

What is your current sweetheart airline? Why is this so?

Which airline do you hate? What terrible crime did they commit to earn your wrath?

I've done my best to include all of the carriers but there's a choice limit in the poll. Also, as I fly regularly to and from Europe, that is the route I'm interested in.

Personally, I've only recently started using Thai air after years of long haul flights with other airlines. My first impression was favourable. Economy class has plenty of legroom although I'll fly business class next time. Bit dissapointed there were no TV's in the back of the seats though. Sexy little air hostesses however but a bit dizzy. Landing was as 'Smooth as silk'.

I loved Cathay Pacific when I lived in Hong Kong.

Sri Lankan used to be great when I bobbed between HK and BKK but now I think they've gone downhill.

Air New Zealand....F**kin' crap, Cabin crew had appauling attitude. Will never fly with them again.

Do you fly direct with the businessmen or penny pinch on the stopover routes with all the lager louts from England. As far as I can tell, there are only 3 or 4 airlines that fly direct to/from LHR (crap airport)....

....comments about Thai Air are particularly welcome.

Perhaps this very usefull program will help......

http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/tools/msklc.mspx

Problem solved.......

http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/tools/msklc.mspx

I've a Dell laptop purchased in the UK. I got those key stickers from the top floor of Pantip Plaza. I've activated the Thai kedmanee layout in XP but some of the keys are still all messud up and reversed such as \ |\ .....oh I can't even find them now!!!! Ant help would be appreciated.

May I join this thread. I think my lifestlye has changed in the following ways:-

I don't walk everywhere at warp factor 7. I have the time to stroll alang at a leisurly pace. This pleases me enormously.

The warmth of the village folk never wears thin. I can talk to anyone at a bus stop without them thinking I'm about to attack them.

I have yet to see a vandalised phone box.

My Thai bank doesn't rape me for money at every opportunity like my UK bank does.

I get food poisoning at leat once a year in England. I've only had it once in Thialand and that was because I ate the food on the train.

In an English grocery store, I one asked for my Pepsi to be served in a plastic bag. They thought I was taking the piss.

The overwhelming lifestyle change has been the fact that I have the time to do the things I want to do. I have time to relax. I have time to watch a movie if I want. I have time to sit outside in the warm evening air and just talk to people about something or nothing. I love the fact that I'm not late for something all the time. Sure, I don't have as much money as when I'm in the UK but hey, who needs it, we've enough for our relaxed life here. The Thai's seem to understand that we weren't placed on this Earth to work ourselves into an early grave. Time for family. Time for children. Time for wife. Time for life. Time, I have time. Time to go into the fields with the kids armed with our slingshots. Time time time.............

I'd prefer payment in Krugerands thank you.

Despite my devastating good looks, I've never had an offer like that... I know it's hard to believe but I haven't.

I really do think I'd say 'No'....... but if it was Kylie Minogue, hmmm, thinks.

What I really want to know is how much a Thai girl would want before she strayed from her fella. Any experiences anyone? I know every girl has her price but I truly want to believe that some do not.

Baht, Pounds, Dollars?

N.B. Indecent proposal was crap.

I'm curious. We all know of infidelity of bar girls and even non-bar girls, it's been discussed to death... but at what price I wonder?

Has anyone had their girl investigated or caught them out. What price were they offered and at what point did they say 'Yes' to their prospective customer, behind your/your friend's back.

If you were offered the equivalent of 6/12 months salary for one night with a stunner, would you say no if you were married/involved?

Please read this.....

http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/reader/reader431.html

I wrote this article last year and it is still a fair representation of my opinion......hope it helps.

I'm getting into Burt Bacharach in a big way now. I'm 33.

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head.........

I beg to differ. My girl in Surin showers 3 times a day but they never touch her.

Incidentally, of all the places in all the world I've been, only in her Surin village do they bite me. I can see them forming attack squadrons over me every night.......Pisser.

I have a bottle of Tip-ex that works a treat.

Makes me feel a bit sick though

One day, my wife's number 2 son wouldn't stop crying for hours. I asked her what the problem was. She said this with a completely straight face....

'Him shit too much, now him ass hurt'.

I didn't stop laughing all night.

I'm connecting through my AIS pre-paid sim card right now. I've been online for about three hours. I'm getting a connection that I think is roughly equivalent to a 28k dial up. It's only cost me about 15 baht so far!!!!! What's going on there?!?!

With the old system, 300 baht would have gone in just a few minutes.

Now, it seems like a pretty good deal to me. Perhaps the minutes only clock up as the data is transferring. I don't know

Call her on a landline in her hometown......simple

My girl is an ex hooker.

I never wanted a prostitute as my girlfriend/wife, what a preposterous idea (is it... really?!). From the moment I met her I was amazed at her candid and honest nature. She immediately told me she'd been in the scene for years and made no secret of that fact or what she'd got up to during that period. Maybe she could see that I was no fool, or maybe she's just honest... who knows.

I have no intention of taking her to live in the UK but when I take her to see my home for a holiday, I will approach the immigration counter, fill in the forms and write 'This is <name omitted>, she has many tatoos. She used to be a bar girl. Now she's my wife and I love her. I'd like a visa for her to see my home. I have been completely honest with you and we're not ashamed of her past. Do you have a problem with that?'

Frankly, I couldn't give a rats ass if they refuse her the visa. She's quite happy to stay with me in the village and take care of the family. I will be honest with them and if they don't respect that, I'll turn in my British passport but not until I've taken the pencil necks to the European court of human rights to force them to give her a visa. It's my basic right as a human being to marry who I like and take her to my home. We don't feel we have to lie about anything for a visa.

Please don't bother telling me I'm too idealistic. The world needs idealists.

As for all you biggots who mock the man with a bar girl wife......do you think we give a shit? We are very much in love, have great fun with the kids and understand eachother perfectly. I'm 33 and handsome (Jing Jing), she's 27 and most pleasing to the eye. Our sex life is great. She's a better woman to me than anything I could find back home.

I don't have a problem with men in the UK who can't admit to their girls past, there's just too much misunderstanding in the West. It's their decision who to tell or not to tell. In my girls home village, everybody knows what she did before, even though they've never been told, yet we are treated with respect and dignity.

Just to remain on topic, have I ever cheated on her? Yes I did. It was folly to do so and at a time when neither of us could find trust. Did she ever cheat on me? Maybe... but we understand eachother now.

If you want to take the piss out of my ex bar girl wife... come kiss my a.s.s.

Does anyone have knowledge or experience with safety deposit boxes in BKK. Where can I find one? How much would it cost for say, 3 months. Are they totally secure? I would like to leave largeish amounts of various foreign currencies.

Also, do you know where I might leave a high value item, such as a laptop, for safe and secure keeping?

Thanks in advance