Ulysses G.

21 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Wouldn't want to live in the USA if they paid me, like Thailand 100 x better.

Well, maybe if they paid me a LOT.

1 hour ago, colinneil said:

 

If you allow Transam to win he will make our lives a misery, he will not stop gloating/ singing about it..

 

Don't you think h deserves it after all this time? He is not a quitter. That is for sure.

17 hours ago, GarryP said:

 

When I see a beautiful "provocatively" dressed woman, I do not instantly go, "Oh she must be evil and thick". 

 

 

Neither do I. I just hope she is.. and easy.

1 hour ago, impulse said:

 

Oh man.  You may have just jinxed it...  Go knock on some wood.

Done.

Transam is really kicking butt. Looks like this is his year.

On 12/13/2017 at 5:27 PM, rickb said:

I think this entire issue boils down to one thing, respect for Thai people.  Where I come from (USA) you can park in front of any store without causing any problems.  But, this is Thailand and Thai customs need to be understood and respected by visiting foreigners.  Many times I've wanted to park in front of a Thai shop because there was space to park.  But my wife has informed me that that is not respectful of the shop owner.  As much as I didn't want to have to find a different place to park, I agreed to respect Thai customs.  As many have already said, I think the OP would have had a better result if he smiled and asked politely if he could park a little in front of the lady's shop.  I think he would have been surprised at the favorable response.  If she denied his request, so what ... move on and forget about it.  He should remember that we farangs are all guests in this country and what is normal back home isn't always normal here.

 

In USA there would probably be a sidewalk for pedestrians and it would be easy see and to enter the shop. Often, in Thailand, if someone parks in front of a shop, it makes it very difficult to get in and simple to not notice at all. There is a legitimate reason why some shop owners do not want non-customers blocking their shops, but one can understand how frustrating it is for car owners too.

11 hours ago, doggie1955 said:

Best beer in American would be; Sam Adams

Tried it and was not impressed. To each his own.

When I first came to Thailand in the late 80s most of the bargirls smoked, but I don't think it is stylish anymore. Part of the reason is probably the laws have changed and they can't do it in the bars to look "cool".

5 hours ago, sipi said:

Feel free to take it from here Jingthing. I was glad to kick it off but really don't have the time to make 20 posts a day, or to change the rules every few hours.

 

Jingthing's legacy.

10 hours ago, Gruff said:

 

It brings back memories of the Bangkok / CM night train that cluttered along for ever and always arrived a few hours late. I used to love the buffet car environment with windows wide open, warm night air and cool beer. Admittedly mainly other foreigners  in the buffet car as i guess food and drink too expensive for most Thais. 

They bought food from the vendors who wandered through the train at different stops. Pretty good quality and dirt cheap.

9 hours ago, balo said:

I would like to ask you , since you lived in Hanoi, what is the weather like at this time of the year ? From what I understand it can get very cold and maybe I should bring a jacket ? Also some rain fall even during dry season ? 

I lived there a while ago. It does get chilly, but not every day.  I remember going swimming on Christmas and again at New Years, but it was cold in between.  You should definitely bring a jacket. I don't remember rain at this time of year, but it was a long time ago.

I think Restaurant Bobby Chin is near there. He does a lot of fusion food and it is excellent. However, he is really famous now, so not sure about the prices. His first restaurant was in the condo next to the Hanoi Hilton restaurant and it was about $5. for an amazing meal, but that was 20 years ago and he was not known internationally yet.

3 hours ago, sipi said:

Transam, wake up buddy.

Transam is good. Tutsi Warrior is another deserving party.

There are plenty of stupid Thai people, but there are intelligent ones too. I have had some working for me that were amazing.

On 11/24/2017 at 11:12 PM, thaibeachlovers said:

A woman once told me that for a man to be worth getting to know he had to act like he wasn't interested while actually being interested.

 

More like slightly interested, but does not give a f***. In general, women want what they can't have.

4 minutes ago, mogandave said:

 

I don’t know, it seems most everyone posting on TV speaks Thai fluently...

I don't, but I can make myself understood most of the time and vice versa. I also know very few Westerners that speak Thai much better than I do. I know two or three people who are really fluent after decades in LOS and - in an intense  conversation with a Thai - I can't follow what they are saying at all.

7 hours ago, MrPatrickThai said:

Thai is not easy to learn and took me years -  persevere and you'll be OK.

 

 

I use to think I was pronouncing Thai words correctly and that people purposely did not understand me. After many years, my pronunciation got better and they actually did. There is a world of difference.

20 hours ago, Gecko123 said:

I said it before, and I'll say it again. Even highly proficient non-native speakers as the two you cited above encounter the brain freeze/does not compute/huh?what?/ 'I wasn't expectiing you to speak Thai so I wasn't even trying to understand what was coming out of your mouth' phenomena. Send Andrew Biggs an email and ask him yourself if you don't believe me.

You do it if you like. I have seen Joe Cummings and a friend who is almost as proficient interacting with Thais and there is no "brain freeze." They speak Thai as fluently as a native speaker and are understood just as well.

When  someone like Joe Cummings or Andrew Biggs speak, Thais understand them.You are fooling yourself if you think otherwise.

15 hours ago, MaeJoMTB said:

All it changed was the nationality of your wife. 

And living in a much safer country with much better infrastructure.

I made all kinds of mistakes, but don't regret much. They usually seemed to work out. However, it is not over till the fat lady sings, so might feel differently as I age (even more).

5 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

I'm not sure where those stats came from, but if you compare the Philippines to the USA on that same site, it suggest that America is much, much more dangerous than the PI.  The BS alarm is on high....

 

http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Philippines/United-States/Crime

If you are living in Detroit or Compton, maybe so.

On 11/14/2017 at 2:23 PM, tingtongtourist said:

Its a good reason they cant understand you is because they are from Vietnam!

 

When an Asian person does not understand my (lousy) Thai and I understand theirs easily  I usually find that they are hilltribe. Other foreigners speaking Thai usually stand out as non-native speakers.

46 minutes ago, MaeJoMTB said:

Just search for numbers of foreign deaths, forget the reported reasons for the deaths, and the answer becomes clear.

Thailand 20x more dangerous than Europe.

If you mean the Philippines, Thailand probably has MANY more tourists. Statistics can be deceiving.

19 hours ago, balo said:

PI is not safe for  a foreigner to walk alone on the streets.  You can try it but you will not feel safe.  I am sure some of the PI expats will disagree with me but I choose Thailand because of safety .  Also Vietnam and Cambodia would be higher up on the list than PI .

 

I agree with you, but I have not been there for a while. Maybe the PI has gotten safer?