spidermike007

Good that he feels so safe walking around the street late at night. That is, until it happens to him.. Then his tune will change. Personally, my experience has shown that in most cases a foreigner can smile his way out of most tense situations. I say most because there are times when Thai men simply want to exert some violence. Case in point: I was with my Thai family talking about the water supply using my wife to translate to her father. Out of the blue, the father picked up a large knife used for cutting bananas of the tree and he came at me with blood in his eyes. It was intervened only by my wife and her mother who jumped in front of him. As it turned out, he got angry simply because he didn't like that a foreigner was telling him a more sufficient and modern way to supply water to the house and thought that I should be doing it his way regardless. It didn't matter if I was in the right about it. He was losing face because I would not back down and because he was looking like he was ignorant about this to his family.

If a Thai is losing face by you or anyone. Run! Violence is the only thing they seem to understand.. Their is no compromise with them and as a foreigner, you are always going to be wrong. Even when you are right.

Get a new father in law.

Exactly my take on the situation. More than likely his daughter is not going to take your side, or express any disloyalty to her boss (father). And her father has demonstrated that he has little in the way of redeeming qualities, by coming after a family member with a knife. Talk about crossing the line! I would have taken him out to the woodshed for a beating.

He wins the Darwin award of the month. Wow. What can one say? Is it possible his brain is only powerful enough to drive a car, and navigate the roads, but not powerful enough to process any other sort of thought or to consider any of the ramifications of his behavior?

What a dumbo. What a goon. What a freak. What a simpleton. What a poor example of a man. He pretty much did everything wrong he could, except assault the woman.

Will the spineless RTP do anything? Will the spineless courts do anything?

Lotus is very near my home so I shop there. I do however don't really care for the place and the way they operate. One example that really gets to me sometime is the timing for stocking their shelves. They stock during their busy hours. You can hardly get by due to all the boxes and people doing their work. Why don't they wait and stock in the evening or early morning ? Other issues but that one really gets to me.

Another pet peeve I have is that if a product sells really, really well, it remains out of stock for ages. I think the staff feel it is just way too much trouble to continue re-stocking the item. It sells well, so it is a problem item! Reminds me of the movie theaters that play one movie on 8 screens. Why? Because the demand is there? No. Because it is far less work for the person who books the films. Just order 8 copies of the film. I am going to the beach now.

Give me a break. While her father would certainly appreciate your excuses for his behavior, who on earth comes after their son in law with a knife? This creep is a hooligan, a fool, a freak, a homicidal maniac, and a worm. I hope his wife now knows the full extent of how inferior a man her father is. She should be demanding a sincere apology from her father. If I were in her husband's shoes I would write this guy off immediately, and forever, unless he came clean and admitted what a transgression he had committed, with humility and sincerity. Only once would I allow someone to behave like that, regardless of the circumstances, miscommunication, misunderstanding, etc. That is not the way to resolve things, among civil families. This guy is a cockroach of a man. Write him off.

And if the wife is not fully in agreement with this, divorce her immediately, and find another family of kind, decent, dependable people, with honor and respect. Life is too short to surround ones self with fools of this sort. And regardless of the whole Thai solidarity thing, if your wife is not fully in your camp, when it comes to disputes with her family, she does not know anything about loyalty to her man. So dump her, if she is not on the same page.

You have pretty much nailed the issues with common sense and good that you remain positive.

But to be honest, from my experience, the saying:

" The apple doesnt fall far fromm the tree"

Sadly a lot of guys have come to see the Jeckly/Hyde syndrome in their 'butter wouldnt melt in the mouth' TRak, iin the worst of ways.

It becomes clear that a Thai female slighted can be just as ugly as a Thai male.

Knowing this is the key to knowing the advantage of doing ones best to never allow confrontations ( involving loss of face) to occur in the first place.

Never criticising family is on that list. Even if she winges about them, you cannot. Just try to point out positives.

Going against the father in the slightest way, no matter how stupid or trivial the matter is not on.

I dont know how many westerners would try and take an arrogant superior stance to their FIL in their own country.

Thinking or expecting your Thai wife to side with you against their family is unrealistic and would only happen in rare instances where other obvious factors are present. Trying to test her on it is stupidity.

Thinking yours is different and could never be violent when/if provoked is naive.

If she has never shown that side, great, keep it that way at all costs.

If and when she does go off, careful there are no knives around

The fact is that I stood my ground on dong the plumbing my way and not the Thai way.. Insisting on sanding and glueing all the pipes as well as other things Thais seem to bypass if it takes longer to is more difficult. House is in wife's name. Father just expected me to bend and do things the way he was shown 30 years ago here...I have experience with this so I knew how it should be done. But again, the house didn't even have running water when I started. Throughout the whole ordeal I remained calm and relaxed. As it is her father I seriously doubt she insulted him or didn't show proper respect. Just something clicked inside of him and he went off the handle. Just an FYI, but the father did this also when a different thai son in law wanted to do something different than the way the father wanted to do it.

Anyway, the point was simply that this mentality seems to be dominant in the Thai society. If you don't get things your way, you result to violence as your option and it also seems that this is happening very quickly. A simple argument or misunderstanding can make a Thai snap and take bloody actions quickly.. Perhaps it is from a lack of responsibility for ones own actions that is trained into each Thai from birth!

Perhaps you are right, to some extent. But, I know many Thais that are not like that. He sounds like a particularly unreasonable, immature, petulant, silly, stubborn, willful, closed minded, unintelligent, childish "father". Oh, and did I include the word ignorant? That is the description I use for small men, who resort to violence to "solve" their problems, and address their shortcomings, rather than look within for the source of the problem.

She was unfortunate to be born as his daughter. Many in this country have done far better. He demonstrates regularly what a substandard man he really is. No reason to tolerate that, unless of course you feel you have found an outstanding woman, and her primary issue is having a dreadful father, and that is something you are willing to tolerate. I would not. I could not. He would be hearing from me on a daily basis how ignorant I thought he was.

I realize how obedient Thai kids are taught to be. I told my girlfriend (now my wife) many years ago, that part of growing up is the ability to say "mother, father you are wrong". And to be able to make your case. To be able to say I don't live under your roof anymore. You do not support me. To the contrary in many cases! So, you cannot dictate to me anymore. I will not tolerate that. I am an adult, an individual, and I am living my life to my standards. If you do not approve my husband and I do not care much, quite frankly.

I doubt she ever used much of that dialogue with her folks, like I did with mine, after I left home at a tender young age. It worked for me. I assume many Thai parents would be offended. So what? Offend them. Offending one's parents can be a very healthy thing to do, if they are completely wrong about something.

Good that he feels so safe walking around the street late at night. That is, until it happens to him.. Then his tune will change. Personally, my experience has shown that in most cases a foreigner can smile his way out of most tense situations. I say most because there are times when Thai men simply want to exert some violence. Case in point: I was with my Thai family talking about the water supply using my wife to translate to her father. Out of the blue, the father picked up a large knife used for cutting bananas of the tree and he came at me with blood in his eyes. It was intervened only by my wife and her mother who jumped in front of him. As it turned out, he got angry simply because he didn't like that a foreigner was telling him a more sufficient and modern way to supply water to the house and thought that I should be doing it his way regardless. It didn't matter if I was in the right about it. He was losing face because I would not back down and because he was looking like he was ignorant about this to his family.

If a Thai is losing face by you or anyone. Run! Violence is the only thing they seem to understand.. Their is no compromise with them and as a foreigner, you are always going to be wrong. Even when you are right.

Gee, I'll bet you and your father-in-law have never gotten along--have you ever shown the father of your wife any respect?

What a stupid question.. Of course I have and have known him for years before I ever married his daughter..

I could never trust him after an incident like this one. I would steer clear of him, offer him no favors, and consider him a persona non grata. He really stepped over the line, and demonstrated a dangerous lack of self control. If he was willing to offer a very sincere apology, and admit how wrong he was (difficult for most Thai men to do) then I might give him another chance. And if my Thai wife was not comfortable with this, I would work hard to make her understand the severity of the situation, and the degree to which her dad was wrong. If she still did not get it, I would probably divorce her in a nanosecond.

It was not about the accusation, so much as the attitude of the guard and the store. That was probably most offensive. There was no reason why the guard could not have been kind and courteous, while trying to determine if his accusation was correct. And once they realized their error, a gift certificate of 10,000 baht would have meant nothing to Tesco. It is this callous attitude of big companies that is so offensive, these days. They could give damn. It means nothing to them, until it goes viral, then they are all concerned.

Nobody's worried by a male guard following a schoolgirl into the ladies toilets then?

I find that more concerning than the accusations.

True that. All of it stinks. The whole incident. Tesco has alot of egg on it's face over this one. Talk about dropping the ball. This guard probably had one days training. Who's fault is that?

Again, it was the refusal to take responsibility for this, that is the most offensive part. A pencil case and a wai is not taking responsibility for a big error in judgment. Tesco deserves all the bad publicity it gets over this.

Good that he feels so safe walking around the street late at night. That is, until it happens to him.. Then his tune will change. Personally, my experience has shown that in most cases a foreigner can smile his way out of most tense situations. I say most because there are times when Thai men simply want to exert some violence. Case in point: I was with my Thai family talking about the water supply using my wife to translate to her father. Out of the blue, the father picked up a large knife used for cutting bananas of the tree and he came at me with blood in his eyes. It was intervened only by my wife and her mother who jumped in front of him. As it turned out, he got angry simply because he didn't like that a foreigner was telling him a more sufficient and modern way to supply water to the house and thought that I should be doing it his way regardless. It didn't matter if I was in the right about it. He was losing face because I would not back down and because he was looking like he was ignorant about this to his family.

If a Thai is losing face by you or anyone. Run! Violence is the only thing they seem to understand.. Their is no compromise with them and as a foreigner, you are always going to be wrong. Even when you are right.

While I can see that this sort of thing can happen I wonder how he exactly heard "talking about the water supply using my wife to translate to her father" We have heard your version and it sounds very civilized and innocuous. But he might have heard something different and your version does not perhaps tell the whole story. Perhaps your wife had translated on this subject several times in previous conversations and her possible exasperation on the subject came through this time. Perhaps she added some offending phrase out of her own feelings and it might have been acceptable if he thought it came from her but perhaps he thought it was your exact words and felt outraged. She might not have liked to admit that to you. My apologies to her if I have misinterpreted or wrongly accused her of possibly unintentional escalation involvement. There are also the considerations raised by another poster about whose responsibilities were involved, financial, property ownership etc.

Give me a break. While her father would certainly appreciate your excuses for his behavior, who on earth comes after their son in law with a knife? This creep is a hooligan, a fool, a freak, a homicidal maniac, and a worm. I hope his wife now knows the full extent of how inferior a man her father is. She should be demanding a sincere apology from her father. If I were in her husband's shoes I would write this guy off immediately, and forever, unless he came clean and admitted what a transgression he had committed, with humility and sincerity. Only once would I allow someone to behave like that, regardless of the circumstances, miscommunication, misunderstanding, etc. That is not the way to resolve things, among civil families. This guy is a cockroach of a man. Write him off.

And if the wife is not fully in agreement with this, divorce her immediately, and find another family of kind, decent, dependable people, with honor and respect. Life is too short to surround ones self with fools of this sort. And regardless of the whole Thai solidarity thing, if your wife is not fully in your camp, when it comes to disputes with her family, she does not know anything about loyalty to her man. So dump her, if she is not on the same page.

It was not about the accusation, so much as the attitude of the guard and the store. That was probably most offensive. There was no reason why the guard could not have been kind and courteous, while trying to determine if his accusation was correct. And once they realized their error, a gift certificate of 10,000 baht would have meant nothing to Tesco. It is this callous attitude of big companies that is so offensive, these days. They could give damn. It means nothing to them, until it goes viral, then they are all concerned.

the other day, loud guy, shouting at motortaxi driver (ripoff!) while being quoted same price as locals. i told him he was charged standard/fixed price and he wouldn't believe me... locals watch the scene. don't interfere but the driver gets very nervous cuz 1. he did nothing wrong and doesn't understand what is happening to him 2. people are watching him being insulted by a loud farlanger (who then decided to walk at 40°C cuz he was quoted a lousy 50TH lol!!!)

There are a percentage of foreigners who come here, and refuse to acknowledge that they are in a complete different country and culture. I always tell my friends Thailand is not a foreign country. It is a distant planet. This guy was an absolute fool. There is never any reason to shout at the locals. Always show respect and deference. I have been guilty of this on a few occasions, and I have always regretted losing my temper. Some have not taken it well. I have learned my lesson, and now keep cool, and stay respectful.

In addition to being a loud and obnoxious foreigner, this guy sounds like he is cursed with poverty consciousness. Nothing worse than a foreigner, who has some cash (presumably), and either thinks he is poor, or behaves like he is nearly penniless. That is an ugly thing to witness.

Good that he feels so safe walking around the street late at night. That is, until it happens to him.. Then his tune will change. Personally, my experience has shown that in most cases a foreigner can smile his way out of most tense situations. I say most because there are times when Thai men simply want to exert some violence. Case in point: I was with my Thai family talking about the water supply using my wife to translate to her father. Out of the blue, the father picked up a large knife used for cutting bananas of the tree and he came at me with blood in his eyes. It was intervened only by my wife and her mother who jumped in front of him. As it turned out, he got angry simply because he didn't like that a foreigner was telling him a more sufficient and modern way to supply water to the house and thought that I should be doing it his way regardless. It didn't matter if I was in the right about it. He was losing face because I would not back down and because he was looking like he was ignorant about this to his family.

If a Thai is losing face by you or anyone. Run! Violence is the only thing they seem to understand.. Their is no compromise with them and as a foreigner, you are always going to be wrong. Even when you are right.

Wow. What can one say in response to a story like that. Your father in law coming after you with a knife, due to an incredibly minor perceived slight? Well, at least now you know who he is. And your father in law has turned out to be a deeply disturbed man child, with the emotional development of Mylie Cyrus or Justin Bieber. Steer clear of this fool. He is nothing but trouble, and apparently has nothing but disdain for you, unfortunately. If it were me, I would probably have grabbed the knife out of his hands, and slapped the living hell out of him. In front of his family. Make the loss of face total. LOL. What a goon. What a tiny super freak. I hope your wife realizes how absolutely insane her dad is. If it were me, I would write him off forever, after a stunt like that. No help. Nothing. Ever.

I am fortunate, in that I married a woman with wonderful parents, who are quite mature, and very classy. They would simply engage me, rather than try to kill me.

I tend to agree with most of what was said here. I still find most Thai people to be non-violent. There are always going to be exceptions. But, I still think the vast majority of violent incidents here are Thai on Thai. Very little Thai on farang incidents. Thankfully.

And most of the time it does happen, it is due to a misunderstanding of Thai culture. I think most of the time it is due to some perceived loss of face. I despise face, and consider it to be the ultimate act of cowardice. But, that changes nothing. If a Thai guy considers himself to be somehow slighted or wronged by you, often a polite and respectful apology, and a sincere wai, goes a long way toward encouraging him to back off. Often. A lot of foreigners (like the family in HH) do not seem to understand that. You just do not get aggressive with a Thai man. It always ends ugly. You cannot win that fight, regardless of the outcome. Just back down, defer to him, and walk away.

From what I have heard, the prisons in the US are as bad, or worse. So, not sure the Thai prisons deserve special mention. I know one guy who spent some time in prison here, and he was kept separate from most of the other inmates, and did not have anything like this happen to him.

And as far as him being treated worse than other Thai drivers, it is all about the cash. He did not have the money to buy his way out. It is that simple. That is Thai justice. Got cash? You can walk. Don't have cash? You will serve time.

We would have to stretch our imaginations to their furthest reaches, to even consider Thailand engaging in anything sustainable, on any level, much less leading the region in sustainability. There are few nations in the world that are presently doing less, to create a sustainable economy or environment. Few are doing less to implement alternative energy programs, green construction and industry, waste water recycling, rooftop gardens, viable, and affordable insulation programs for new construction, etc. etc. For this hooligan and fool to even mention this at the conference is disingenuous at best, and criminal at worst. Talk about projecting a false image to the world. Wow. What can one even say?

Thailand is decades behind the rest of the world when it comes to environmentally sustainable policy, at the national level. These kinds of programs require vision, intelligence, concern for the future of the country, and the willingness to set aside a budget for that which you cannot see, touch, or feel, at the present moment.

I could site dozens of examples of this, but rather than just bore you to death, I will leave it at that.

That's how it is in Saudi Arabia, as well. There, sermons have to be cleared by the government before they can be delivered to ensure that they follow the government line.

No reason why the same cannot apply elsewhere, in my opinion.

Yeah well I suppose sensible and true.

I just think then Muslims may want to have a bit of free international discussion as to what is the core of the religion and see whether the current Salafist and Wahabbi leadership, or internationally represented face of Islam, actually fits the people's core beliefs. White people watch that debate you'd change your perceptions in five minutes..

It is an interesting point you bring up, and one that makes us ponder if this debate is going on within Muslim society. And if so, why are we hearing so little about that debate? Why are so few Muslims speaking out against the super freak rapists, gang banging ISIS men children, and the murderous thugs pretending to be religious. There was a massive rally in Belgium recently. How many muslims showed up, denouncing the extremists? How many Muslim leaders, politicians and clerics are speaking out in a vociferous manner?

The issue is, that many moderate minded people are starting to lump all Muslims together, due to the lack of outcry from within the Muslim community. It is making them appear to be either complicit, or at least tolerant of the nonsense. If they do not start speaking out, the potential backlash toward all muslims worldwide could become horrific.

Below is an example of an anti terror protest on April 17 in Belgium. Even though the report is from The Guardian it failed to report the demonstration was contributed to & coordinated by members of the local Muslim community - reported by another media outlet. An earlier demonstration was stopped by violent far right thugs.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/17/thousands-participate-in-brussels-march-against-terror-and-hate

As previously mentioned in other topics in some detail many Islamic / Muslim organisations have very clearly spoken out against Daesh and other terror groups with little coverage by mainstream media outlets. Here in Australia there was a terror murder of a police civilian worker; the local Muslim community held a fund raiser for the family of the deceased - exactly one media outlet reported the matter. Thousands of Muslim security forces have lost their lives fighting Islamic terror groups, minimal coverage of the effort & losses.

Overall there is little balanced reporting, one has to ask the question - "Why?".

Thanks so much for that post. People really need to start seeing these kinds of things. I am very alarmed at my moderate minded friends, who are starting to lump all Muslims together. I have spent years arguing that the majority of Muslims do not support the butthead extremists. But, that argument is getting harder and harder to make. We need to see more of this, and there is an urgency to this.

And yes, I agree the media does not seem to have an interest in reporting much of this. It seems fear mongering, and spreading hatred, Trump style, is what the media is more interested in.

Whistleblowers are not appreciated here in Thailand. They are capable of blowing the cover off of many lies, and fabrications. The person who leaked this video footage deserves praise, and an award, for being an excellent citizen, not criticism by small minded men, who cannot see the bigger picture, and are motivated strictly by politics and greed. Shame on this creton for even mentioning this. Makes him look even smaller than he is, which is quite small.

The main reason that I will not return to Thailand next season is that personal safety is now almost impossible to predict and is at an all time low since coming here many years ago.

Life is not improving for the average Thai and it only stands to reason that life will not improve for farangs.

Maltreatment and crimes against farangs has been shown to be following an exponential growth curve.

Comments made by farangs in numerous TV forums bear witness and testament to this phenomena.

I wish all TV participants best of luck in escaping unscathed from what is quickly becoming a boiling pot of discontent, jealousy, and acts of violence (which for the most part seldom are found to significantly punish the perpetrators)

I'll return to Cambodia.

That is such utter, and completely ridiculous hogwash. To say Cambodia is safer for a foreigner than Thailand, is a bit like saying Wyoming is more liberal than Oregon, or Libya has better salmon fishing than Alaska. Thailand remains incredibly safe for foreigners. The number of attacks remains incredibly low. A few incidents do not imply the nation has become dangerous for foreigners. Not even close. Exponential growth of violence against foreigners? Would you care to back that up with statistical analysis, or some sort of evidence?

When you said a boiling pot of discontent, jealousy, jealousy and acts of violence, I thought you were talking about the US, or Europe.

Have you lived in Cambodia Spidermike?

i have. Had a business there.

I really hope that you can negotiate a safe path while wearing your rose coloured glasses in Thailand. I'm happy to hear that you feel so safe and have such a firm grasp of the macro-dynamics of the country.

Please don't whine and complain when it goes left on you and that you have been given a head's up.

ps. for years I've been touting the upsides of living in Thailand to my friends ******* I've recently stopped - thankfully I haven't been living an insular life with expats at the local bars and brand name coffee bars because I think one can become quite delusional when considering that "all is well"

It ain't well and it ain't going to be well for a long time to come.

I have visited Cambodia many times, and have two good friends that lived there for years. Got a pretty good inside view of the place. I like Cambodia. But, consider it infinitely more dangerous than Thailand, on many, many levels.

I do not wear rose colored glasses, though I have been accused of being a positive person, at times. I do believe it depends on one's perspective. I do consider Thailand to be very safe. Granted, I rarely hang out at the bars, around drunk people. Thailand remains a lovely place to live for many of us, despite the occasional incident, like the ones we have seen lately.

One thing that has to be taken into consideration, is that the entire world is changing, not just Thailand. There is an increasing amount of intolerance all over the world now.

That's how it is in Saudi Arabia, as well. There, sermons have to be cleared by the government before they can be delivered to ensure that they follow the government line.

No reason why the same cannot apply elsewhere, in my opinion.

Yeah well I suppose sensible and true.

I just think then Muslims may want to have a bit of free international discussion as to what is the core of the religion and see whether the current Salafist and Wahabbi leadership, or internationally represented face of Islam, actually fits the people's core beliefs. White people watch that debate you'd change your perceptions in five minutes..

It is an interesting point you bring up, and one that makes us ponder if this debate is going on within Muslim society. And if so, why are we hearing so little about that debate? Why are so few Muslims speaking out against the super freak rapists, gang banging ISIS men children, and the murderous thugs pretending to be religious. There was a massive rally in Belgium recently. How many muslims showed up, denouncing the extremists? How many Muslim leaders, politicians and clerics are speaking out in a vociferous manner?

The issue is, that many moderate minded people are starting to lump all Muslims together, due to the lack of outcry from within the Muslim community. It is making them appear to be either complicit, or at least tolerant of the nonsense. If they do not start speaking out, the potential backlash toward all muslims worldwide could become horrific.

The main reason that I will not return to Thailand next season is that personal safety is now almost impossible to predict and is at an all time low since coming here many years ago.

Life is not improving for the average Thai and it only stands to reason that life will not improve for farangs.

Maltreatment and crimes against farangs has been shown to be following an exponential growth curve.

Comments made by farangs in numerous TV forums bear witness and testament to this phenomena.

I wish all TV participants best of luck in escaping unscathed from what is quickly becoming a boiling pot of discontent, jealousy, and acts of violence (which for the most part seldom are found to significantly punish the perpetrators)

I'll return to Cambodia.

That is such utter, and completely ridiculous hogwash. To say Cambodia is safer for a foreigner than Thailand, is a bit like saying Wyoming is more liberal than Oregon, or Libya has better salmon fishing than Alaska. Thailand remains incredibly safe for foreigners. The number of attacks remains incredibly low. A few incidents do not imply the nation has become dangerous for foreigners. Not even close. Exponential growth of violence against foreigners? Would you care to back that up with statistical analysis, or some sort of evidence?

When you said a boiling pot of discontent, jealousy, jealousy and acts of violence, I thought you were talking about the US, or Europe.

It is simply time to move on. Be good to yourself, and get out as quickly as is humanly possible. Tomorrow if you can. And offer her as little financial support as you have to. She does not deserve it. Just move on. Man up. No tears. No regret. Just move on.

I do feel bad for you. But, the best thing you can do is to treat yourself with love and respect.

I am thrilled to hear that this tiny man child is going to spend some time in the big house. It will be really fun for her (him). The inmates might like his figure. Regardless, he is going to learn stuff he never dreamed of. Great. Love it.

What the prince is really saying, and possibly thinking is:

We are man children. We are some of the least secure men on earth. We have absolutely zero faith and trust in our women. We have little self esteem in ourselves. We are really small men, with no regard for women, and frankly, little regard for ourselves. If our women show their beautiful faces to the world, then every man will want them. And if a man wants them, who knows what these women are capable of. We have determined that left to their own devices, our women are not capable of fidelity. Most of that nation is absolutely locked in the 12th century, and refuse to budge. Keep the women in the house, in the kitchen, or the bedroom. Let them out only with another man, who will make sure she is not getting busy with friends or strangers.

They are a shameful nation. If it were not for their oil, they would mean nothing to the world. No significance whatsoever, beyond their continued financial support for terror, worldwide. Personally, I do not like fracking, and the costs to the communities where it is taking place. But, if that is what it takes to wean ourselves off of these worms, than it is a good thing.

There is a saying in SA- their grandfathers rode camels, they drive cars and their grandchildren will ride camels.

Given that many expats came away hating SA and all the people in it, there are a lot of people waiting for the day Saudi oil runs out.

Most of us cannot wait for that day, when those worms have considerably less influence than they do now, due to their black gold. They have done extremely little, to endear themselves to the world. And the paltry amount of charity they have dispensed with that enormous wealth is testament to that. Nearly all of the "charity" is given to building Madrasas around the world, many of which preach a daily diatribe of hatred and intolerance, that leads to the creation of terrorists. It is a reflection of the extreme nature of the Wahhabi "faith", that they practice. They continue to be the world's leading sponsors of terrorism, to this day.

Says a lot about the Thai view of manhood. Perish the thought that the Vietnamese might come one day: the prospect of seeing these types running for the hills would be of some amusement

The average Vietnamese guy would be able to beat the average Thai guy in a street fight within 20 seconds flat. Same goes for a multitude of nations, that produce real men. In Liverpool, or the Philippines, that time frame would probably be reduced to 7 seconds. Two good punches to the head, and the midsection, and the punk would be crying, whimpering, and begging for forgiveness, like a little worm. My guess is, that the average Thai guy, in a street fight without weapons, would not even be able to beat a high percentage of his female counterparts.

About the right odds for a Thai man fight 8 men against 1 woman I bet the parents of the men must be so proud see how our boys won another fight easily

Send these guys to try the same thing to Liverpool (UK) and see how tough they really are. They will if they are lucky just be in hospital for a long time

I am certain you are correct about that. Same goes for Vietnam, the Philippines, South Africa, and many other places. These little insects would not last a full minute against any capable street fighter. There is a reason why they fight in packs. When is the last time you have witnessed a Thai man fighting solo, without weapons, outside of a Muay Thai ring? It so rarely happens. These punks would probably lose to a 15 year old girl, one on one.

Ah wonderful Thailand. My son just told me one of the attackers of the British family has got off without any charges, seemingly because he said he was sorry and wouldn't do it again. <deleted>.

This is why I tell all my friends and family to avoid the country like the plague.

if that is the case, it is about alot more than saying he was sorry. It is no doubt, about money, power, influence, family, and connection.

But, we all hope it is not true. They announced on Thai language news yesterday, that the prosecutors are going to seek ten year prison sentence for the disease infected worms involved.

I thought a "Gik" was a kept male whereas a Mia Noi was a mistress, so is the headline wrong or does "Gik" apply to a female?

On a different subject, what is it that makes Thai males so full of anger and malevolence? It seems to be there just under the surface.

They are poor

They are uneducated

They are stupid

They have no way to get ahead in life except by socially unacceptable means, in the caste hierarchical and racist/bigoted society in which they live..

They are buddhist, and are taught to suppress their anger

So... the foreigners come...

They are richer

They are more educated and smarter, doing well in life

They are more handsome, endowed, and treat their women with respect

They haven't needed to suppress their anger

They take their girlfriends, their sisters, their mothers and so on and so forth

The women get the money, they get nothing

I'm surely not condoning it, but really... it ain't rocket science why they're angry... it's just human animalistic nature, sort of like Lord of the Flies with some twists.

Welcome to the Land of Crocodile Smiles

The point you are missing, is that there is very little Thai on farang crime here. Very little. The few attacks that do occur, are usually reported, and we hear about them, and they become big news. But, there are so few. In my ten plus years here, I have never felt threatened by Thai men, even in Bangkok or Pattaya, late at night. I find if you treat them with respect, kindness, and deference, they are so rarely aggressive. No so in the Philippines, the US, or many other places. So, get your facts straight please, before engaging in fear mongering.

Some of the facts that you stated are probably correct. Some. But, does that mean most Thai guys take their frustrations out on foreigners? Thankfully, the answer is an emphatic no. That does not mean that some do not dislike us. But, there is a huge gap between disliking someone, and attacking someone. And the attacks rarely happen. That is a fact, and we are all thankful for that. Instances like the murders on Dark Tao (committed by a serial killing son, of a very rich and influential man, most likely), and the attack in Hua Hin, are quite rare here. Most Thai people are not violent.

And my guess is that even in Hua Hin, had the son just turned around and offered a wai, and a sorry, did not mean to bump into you, I am fairly certain none of that would have escalated. That family was completely out of their element, and slapping a drunk Thai man is about as ignorant an act, as a tourist can commit, regardless of the justification. It just escalated from there.