turbotojo

I bought a plot from the inlaws for around $600AUD in Mae Kowtom city....... Pretty small but enough to build a comfortable holiday house later on down the track when I retire in 30 years.

quick, before they pass this law.

you can easily divorce anytime in the future.

on the second thought, over 50 you can get a retirement visa, no need to marry

Believe me, it is much better to get a retirement visa, than to marry a Thai woman. lol. I am speaking from experience. I am married to a younger, Thai woman and I love her dearly and she loves me, but in retrospect, neither of us would get married again. ;-) We have been together for about 8 or 9 years now and things are great, but my advise, to anyone single....RENT, DON'T BUY! ;-)

In all seriousness though, I think it is a good law and I support it.

Same here. Although, I am married to an older thai woman 5 years my senior. Married now for 13 years since I was 21...LOL. But she is a naturalised Aussie now and has no intention of ever living in LOS. Infact she thinks it's a bit of a <deleted> hole. I wish there could be more like her. And no, she was not innocent at the time. I think non of them are. They are rather cool and calculating to get the most back on their investment. Probably the ones pressuring to get married in the first place.

Sounds like a re-enactment of a scene in the movie "Boogie Nights" with everybody standing around watchin'....

Not a bad flick that one. I think I have it on my hard drive. Hard something anyway.

I don't know why sex is so taboo? I wouldn't stand for being fined for doing something that I am genetically engineered for.

Oh well, Thailand............................................

One piece of advice that you should follow. Don't hand it over! No amount of holiday fun is worth anything going wrong in the 3rd world without your passport. The cons way out weigh the pros of a sailing holiday. Rent or buy a boat at home and sail there, you'd be better off. I don't spend that much time in Thailand and don't rent anything there for a reason but I have had my fair share of dramas and I fore go anything that will cause unpleasantness. Behind the smiles there always lurks a cunning plan to strip the farang of everything they got. These people don't have much of a concept of what's right and wrong. They just car about the satang that will end up in their pocket to buy something to drink with.

It's irrelevant whether or not the people in question are guilty or not. Imagine you had little kids there touching everything and running around! It comes down to how people are treated! Thailand is a third world country in my books with the likes of Uganda, Afghanistan and North Korea. The stories coming out of that place are just ghastly. Sure where the in laws live is fine and some of their relatives are even in the police and are OK, to me anyway. Fair treatment seems to be nonexistent or very rare. And if something like this happened here in Aussie land then all the current affairs shows on all channels would be plastering this all over your TV. I have no idea where I am going with this now.

Maybe Thai officials should log on here and go through the forums to get an idea of how many 'farang' feel about things in Thailand. It pretty much reflects what the western European world thinks.

KING POWER is off my shopping list next time I go there, plus i'll bring some sandwiches so I don't have to pay $15 for a whopper at BK.

I watched the 'Irish case' video, and did it all happen in front of the cashier? I know Thai people aren't very 'on the ball' but something as obvious as that would surely be noticed.

More and more Thai people that I know don't like it there anymore. That includes people in Thailand and they want out. If that doesn't tell you that something is wrong over there then I ..................................

Just watch out for the Chevrolet dealer on the 'Super Highway' North bound. Very high prices and high interest rates for their loans. I bought a 99 Ford Ranger from them. A dual cab with canopy, Blue with tinted windows. You might have seen me raging down the 'Super highway'. Anyway, the price was 370,000B. very pricey compared to back home but it was in pretty much mint condition with only 80 something K on the clock.

I looked at the Isuzu range and knowing something about cars they were not the pick [second hand ones that is]. They were totally thrashed. Also Ford in CR are very good even though I had to tell then what was wrong with it when the glow system failed. Prices were very reasonable as well.

As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Just watch those older Isuzu's like the TFR. A lot of the ones I saw had the rocker cover and top of the head pushed up against the fire wall causing a lot of damage. I would pick Ford, Mazda, Isuzu, Toyota in that order. Mitsubishi is out of the question as they are too expensive for repair work and don't seem as reliable. Just watch the Toyota Diesel's with w 2L motor as these would never have had their timing belts changed and when they go it's time for a new motor. If I was there I could have gone with you to look for a good car.

Lastly, I think the used car prices stay inflated in Thailand because most people can't afford to buy new and there is a big market with sellers trying to recoup their money or make a big profit. Car dealerships that is mostly. Check out some of the private classifieds online. I can't remember where but I did see some bargains with 1 or 2 year old cars. Even cheaper than mine.

Can one hire a house boat there? For fishing.

I have spent some time in the Chiang Muan area not too far from Phayao and there isn't that much to do. Although if you have a local as a guide or a good map then there are some things to discover. We found a dinosaur park of some kind which was partially run down and went on a trip to the big river in the area and so on but ran out of time. I did want to go to Phayao itself but the hotel reviews were dismal and stuck it out in ban Tung Nong where the old lady comes from. It's a relatively boring area.

Are all your power points earthed? That is do they have 3 wires instead of 2 like they all usually have? I think a safety switch or earth leakage protection only works if your plugged in device is earthed. Some of the bigger homewares shops in Chiangrai sell a lot of trade consumables for plumbers and electricians. maybe they can steer you in the right direction. I do all my electrical work myself as my father was an electrician and I ask him. I even spotted some front loading washing machines in one of them.

This is happening around the world. Small subtle increases in population control [in Thailand's case nothing is subtle]. Soon all western and 'free' countries will change into 'People's Republic's'. This is very noticeable right here in Australia and obvious in countries like Thailand, China and North Korea.

Awesome, another nail in the coffin

Quite! I thought the coffin lid would be fully nailed shut by now. Maybe there's more to come?

Just another reason to bypass that country. It's funny how the coppers, who are the worst thieves in Thailand after their politicians can pretend to be such a righteous bunch of do gooders. they make up the laws as they go. Personally this is another black mark especially over something trivial and worthless. This just goes down as someone said about the Thai way of saving face. God I'm getting sick of the Thai way of life and thinking both over there and from Thais here at home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Come on Thai Baht, hit rock bottom!!!!!!!!!!!!

moral to the story(?) if you see Thai people arguing, stay clear.

If it appears they're drunk and there are weapons involved, duck for cover.

However, on the other side of the coin, there are some among us who might be inclined to step in to try and rescue someone being browbeat. pedestrianus emptor.

Hope they caught the a**hole with the gun - and get him to suffer the full weight of the law.

This happened in Pattaya a few years ago, 2 brits pulled a thai off a restarant owner that was getting slapped,, he returned later with a gun and killed 2 of them, as advised elsewhere, keep out of thai arguments, they dont value life as we do and dont consider the consequences of their actions, .

That hit the nail on the head. They don't consider anything from what they are thinking to what they are doing or about to do.. You notice it in every facet of Thai culture and their every day lives.

I just hope that the Thai Baht finally collapses like it was supposed to when the the airport was taken over. That will help me pay off my car sooner.

Yes it's easy to understand that Chiangrai has the highest number of fatalities. Being a car owner and occasional user of the roads up there, especially the 'Super Highway' North bound I have had my near misses, luckily I am an educated professional driver as opposed to most Thais who just don't have a clue.

I wouldn't say it's the vehicles although some are pretty piss poor, or the roads. It's the drivers attitude and capacity for thinking ahead or in case of Thailand, thinking at all. Maybe they have too much karaoke on their minds?????

THAILAND, land of the free! or should that be a question mark at the end?

Air Asia takes the cake. I hate flying with them but I usually hide my carry on luggage from the check in chick as they might want to weigh it as happened at Chiangrai airport to the people in front of me. I usually cram up to 15kgs per bag in to the overhead locker. That times 4 bags plus extras and checked bags is quite a lot.

Free seating sucks as the mad people rush to get all the window seats then sleep or shut the blind for the entire flight. Not good when traveling with kids who like to look out the window.

I liked 12GO better.................

I love Thailand the way it is. So very difference from the rat race in the West I managed to escape from.

Would hate to see too many Western influences here that could destroy Thai culture and unique way of life.

Too many undesirable Farangs here already, pray be that they never put any in charge.

Life in a rubbish tip suffering from blissful and obnoxious ignorance and stupidity. That is the unique Thai culture.

Don't get me wrong, I do like Thailand but it sh%ts me sometimes. My wife discarded her Thai passport and ID card never to be reapplied for. She is just not interested in living there. Maybe she wizened up to the true facts about Thailand. (although we have a house there and take long holidays)

Isn't the king of Thailand supposed to be the worlds richest royal? Like someone else said, all that counts there is money and social standing. To me it means sh%t, merit is worth more. You basically have to earn the right to do whatever not pay for it! I think I'm loosing the plot now so I had better stop

Howdy all I'm new here and I am shocked at anyone considering taking kids into Burma. It is a risk I would not even dream of taking especially were they my kids. I can say this as I once had a terrible near pants wetting experience as I was pulled into the Burmese immigration office and had my passport confiscated and placed into a desk drawer. Then I heard, "what are we going to do next" from the Burmese official. I managed to get my passport back and ran across that bridge back to Thailand like greased lightning. That was some years ago. I went with a group of friends from Chiangmai to Mae Sai in December and some of the wives went to Burma but I didn't let my wife go no matter how cheap a bottle of Black Label is over there.

Burma is just a bad place, on my black list with other countries like the USA and Afghanistan. You'd be better off just paying for a visa extension or fly to Singapore.