reason1

Thank you asiawatcher you are one so far out of 10 I hope for.

I agree with you I have had dozens of different visas over last 30 years in 7 countries SE Asia where I have lived or worked and I have yet to see value of PR

Will the 10 long term working expats who are not language teachers or working on a rig/oil please identify themselves?

Just divorced two weeks ago x-wife who I married @1/3 my age - joke/comments touched nerves so I posted but early picked up on ever increasing page additions -astonished at the jerks (and ATMs) out there and opinions posted - I got 6 out 8 years - some of happiest of my life bit like1st time around 40 years ago - think 7 year itch gets scratched no matter age difference

As a man who has been making love to women aged 17 to 35 forover 47 years and is still at it it's all a bit difficult for me to understand at my age - I need a clearer explanation of who can do what to whom

Rule number 1 Relationships:- There are no rules which suit all or even most cases

Last 12 months strangest weather I can ever remember - more flooding in more counties - bit like planet is peed off -very sorry for folks in trouble

Probably being smuggled to Pattaya for some new kinky bar for European foreigners

My opinion is that the world has gone nuts! - I started my screwing around in the 60s and then did 20 years of it all around Asia inc L.O.S. stopping due to marriage about 10 years ago. When I first went to Changmai its almost only "Massage" Parlour (before Soi Nana had a Plaza) was full of young chicks and no one bothered what age they were. In my experience all over Thailand the Gals wanted to be in the bars doing their stuff and it was lots of fun roaring around with them on big bikes. It seems that the fun bit has gone and it is more a predatory business from all sides including the do gooders and to me it is very sad. Its not only Boys who want to get laid Gals do too - has that been forgotten? I posted the youngest Grandma just as point that some as young as 10 are getting pregnant in Europe -Nuts!.

Pattaya, Chon Buri - A 66-year-old Norwegian man was arrested here Monday afternoon for having allegedly bought sex service from a 17-year-old girl.Acting on tip-off, police raided the K2M Apartment in Pattaya and found Karstein Abrahamsen naked inside a room with the girl The Nation

Report: World's Youngest Grandmother Is 23

from The Daily Beast - Cheat Sheet

Here's something you don't see every day. At just 23 years of age, Rifca Stanescu of Investi, Romania, is the world's youngest grandmother, according to The Sun. Rifca married jewelry salesman Ionel Stanescu when she was 11 and he was 13

I am back to the point I made first here about defining the offender - the current definitions as I understand them are wide open to abuse of enforcement - would not a good start be for an international agreement on what constitutes child abuse for all and a definition of what is enough to mark a pedophile, almost like a brand so there is nowhere to hide (I mean digitally of course). Still leaves me concerned about the kids forced into The Trade and how that is dealt with, especially if poverty is the cause.

"his government had more than 30,000 paedophiles and child-sex offenders on its watchlist, and had enlisted some 50,000 volunteers to disseminate useful information and preventive advice, which has reached up to 7 million people so far"

This is just the UK how about all the other countries too, numbers are staggering but are they real? -very complicated -definitions leave a lot to be desired and if a tourist is in a massage parlour and unknowingly has sex with an underage girl who is to blame? Beats me how a European can always judge correctly a 15 year old from a 17 years old and I have been around SE Asia for 30 years.

Maybe the Pope and the Catholic Church is behind this.

Don't think so Pope approves condoms for Priests with kids and Male Prostitutes

Reality is complainers are too lazy or not smart enough to find the Thai ways of doing things and just because it is not their way back home it must be wrong. I would prefer they shut up or ask instead of moan n beach.

Blah blah blah. People seem to have a lot to say about the government of Thailand. I often find myself wondering why they are here. Based on what I read here here anywhere would be a better place to live. Why the constant complaining?

I am for action to recover the beach and preserve it, never mind the other problems there dealing with something is progress

Whats with the peeing contest about numbers? This should be about what is best for the reefs

anyone know how much these boys get paid for sitting in their high tower?

looks like a good little earner to me.....

I am sure it is too much money for too little work. However, perhaps in this crazy world they are needed

I am not trying to join the Who can Pee Furthest into the Sea Contest going on here. These are some serious issues which no one has the full answer e.g. no one is sure why reproduction all occurs at the same time on the reef signaled by the moon.

I just think that in the case of an island if half was off limits to all for a few years studies could be made to see if natural and human damage to reefs would recover and tests could be made to see if techniques can help recovery.

I am sure temperature pollution fishing divers tourists don't help reefs recover.

I have only over 20 years of serious diving experience over all the best sites in the whole region to contribute here.

The main point about some hard corals taking up to 10 years to reach reproduction state and "Bloom" seems to be missed by all here.

All human activity, diving too, damages reefs.

Pollution, natural events and warming causing algae and other harmful effects.

Best is leave well alone for a long time and sacrifice some areas but police the reserves to keep all from doing more damage.

As most reefs are considered to be one living organism - how do you propose to cut them up into bits that will or won't be sacrificed.What interest will touoists have in viewing a sacrificed, dead reef?

The main point about some hard corals taking up to 10 years to reach reproduction state and "Bloom" seems to be missed by all here.

All human activity, diving too, damages reefs.

Pollution, natural events and warming causing algae and other harmful effects.

Best is leave well alone for a long time and sacrifice some areas but police the reserves to keep all from doing more damage.

Only way for corals to recover is to stop all people from damaging them, so have use areas and recovery areas in each location and rotate them plus have marshals monitoring usage and limiting damage, hard corals will take years to recover. They are a national treasure and should be treated as such.

Divers do cause damage, anchors from dive boats rip coral, but I believe others do more damage. The pressure on the marine environment is too much all around. After 20+ years of regular diving all around SE Asia inc Thailand I gave up about 10 years ago due to the damage and scarcity of sharks and fish in general plus pollution. Night diving showed the shocking over fishing with factory ships taking everything they could. With the climate damage too there doesn't seem to be any solution, things tragically will just get worse but any sensible attempt to reduce pressures selectively should be supported and apply to all users in an area and be policed. The best of my diving was fantastic in the region including a jaunt with Killer Whales.

If the existing laws can't be enforced, and they are not, seems pointless making new ones.

"people under 18 are already banned from bars, while Internet cafes face age-control and closing time regulations, and you have to be 18 to get a driver's licence."

UK Pollution in the 50's from coal burning was so bad that the colour of all the buildings in industrial cities was changed to black and the air was a yellow haze everything got dirty when it rained rivers were choked with rubbish. There is a price to pay for a clean up as well as education, can Thailand afford it yet? The Saviour for the UK was North Sea gas

Quote from Straits Times seems relevant; why was some medical evidence not taken and used to prosecute this further? Booze Semen DNA?

"Senior consultant forensic pathologist Wee Keng Poh testified on Friday at Ong Mingwee's rape trial that the level found on the then-22-year-old woman would physically or mentally incapacitate her.

She would also not be capable of giving consent. Dr Wee said the alcohol she had taken would reduce her ability to protect herself, impair her judgment, her perception of others, as well as her ability to resist both physically and verbally.

The maximum penalty for rape is 20 years' jail and fine or caning."

Like most I am very bothered by this event. A Google brings up a lot of rape incidents in Thailand over last couple of years. Bad for all; is this a fashion? a trend? Weird! Why would anyone have to use violence for sex in Thailand? Course not so money. The Gal seems so dumb as not to be safe out without a grown up attached. Did her poor Mum truly get bothered for money with threats? Anyone check? Beats me why Swedes would be involved, out of character and surely traceable as suggested. Drugs by the lady?