TheGhostWithin

After a few years out of office. Mr. Obama will be kindly remember as well.

Lincoln, perhaps our greatest president was widely despised during his time in office. Now he is revered (and rightly so)

70+ years ago Germany and Japan were not so highly regarded; now they are highly respected nations with strong economies.

Time heals a lot of, em, ah stuff

Better still I'm going to enjoy a nice cold San Mig Light

Japan is highly respected by the west, for being a shining star in a sea of nationalist countries looking only to further their own agendas at the expense of everyone else.. some of which now undertake invasion by immigration on its' enemies who are asleep at the wheel. Japan has earnt its' place for the risk it has taken on its' position whilst remaining the neighbors of two of the most nationalist countries in the world to their north west and west.

Germany is a more debatable claim, some in the periphery of Europe who have seen Germany and her true agenda on the European union as a tool to lower its' exchange rate to increase exports whilst "lending" money to countries which lose industry (generally services and lower grade exports) due to an exchange rate higher than what they enjoyed pre-Euro. Germany wins twice and other countries (including the US and China, and even Thailand when we consider that Germany can export cars cheaper under the EU than they could under the Deutschmark) while others pay the price twice for Germany. Germany, although they do assist in international assistance programs abroad, do seem as prevalent or as consistent as the French (particularly in Africa or the Brits (who have given a hell of a lot to Afghanistan), who make a lot of effort to try to shape the world into being a safer, better place for everyone.

But we earn the right to become care givers over our possessions either by hard work as previously mentioned, by strong arming those that have earnt through hard work, or stealing and/or begging for those possessions that have earnt them through hard work. All three are prevalent in the modern world, but only one of them is the honest approach. This is the core of the Sin Sot argument and what the payment is actually used for.

As the law currently stands in Thailand the groom could not legally claim to "own" any of the land for which he purchased, though he could own the townhouses (but not the land they stand on), he may very well have been gifted the gold and cash back, or it may have been given to "the family" to provide for them.. a la funding members of the family who do not wish to work and see your white Farang face much like a Charles Schwaub bank card to fund their "Leo lifestyle".

When looking to marry it is important to realise you are marrying the family too, and that if the family is not willing to meet you halfway you will need to walk away from your loved one if she will not walk way from her family. That is, unless you want to become a slave to someone too broken to shape their own prosperity, or a farmer being herded by the sheep.

Thanks so much for all your expert pontification. Now we can all sleep better

since you have so clearly revealed to us all the secrets of Thai culture and

farang-Thai relationships.

Excuse me while I go barf.

Thank you for demonstrating your expert arrogance in responding to a post you feel too superior to contribute to. Please close the door whilst you barf. When you come out, and a lass takes you by the hand, sticks a blindfold on you and tells you "everything will be OK honey my family are good people", then you get duped.. you may want to come back and read posts such as mine and others to understand the mistakes you made alone your path to oblivion. Then again, with a name like "BradInAsia", I assume you already see yourself as not part of Asia, but something to add to Asia which they have never had before, and already above the locals. So I guess you are upset at me writing something you assume everyone already knows..

Do you walk with a white cane by any chance? Other than the central man-made lake in the middle of town, there is nothing to distinguish this isolated dump from any other Thai small town anywhere in Thailand. IMHO of course.

I am 28 years old, I assure you I do not walk with a cane

I love Roi Et, it has one of the most beautiful lakes that I have seen in Thailand, the locals actually get out and run around the lakefront in the evening. They have a basketball court for people to play basketball,which a lot of the students go and play ball at (I go and play with them when I am in Roi Et), which seems to keep many occupied and out of trouble.

It has one of the best night markets I have seen in Thailand, with a huge variety of both mains and Kanom that I have been able to find in one place. Accommodation is a bargain for money and they only issue I could find with Roi Et is that there is not much to do in the evenings, no party places, no Cinema, no Bowling or anything like that. But this is how rural Thailand has been for a long time.

I also love Roi Et, because I am learning to play the Khaen and some of the best Khaens made come from the province.

They have the large red ants, the smaller red ants and also black ants (big ones). The ones that get me are the larger red ants which live in the trees, pulling the large tree leaves together to make a nest. They are attracted to the Longon on the farm. I wore long pants and long sleeved shirts but they manage to get under and begin biting. It can be painful and leave red bite marks for up to a week. I am the only one that gets bitten as all the other members of the family have skin as tough as the earth and the ants do not bother them.. the grandfather stands on the scorpions with his bare feet.

I am cautious to have myself smothered in their food incase they get a little trigger happy and think my leg is part of their fruit (my skin and blood will taste different from the rest of the family I would imagine) and do me more harm than good perhaps?

Is there anything which can be bought in shops to put on the body to keep these guys away? I literally do not care about the cost, getting out on the farm with the grandfather is what makes these trips back to the province so special.

I quite enjoy seeing the wealth spread around. I see the import of educating the spouse and hope it extends to the children. People seem to think we actually own things, but we are just care givers whilst we are alive. Letting go is a good thing in many ways. Want nothing and you will have everything.

Really, a wealthy man is not really a man with wealth.

But we earn the right to become care givers over our possessions either by hard work as previously mentioned, by strong arming those that have earnt through hard work, or stealing and/or begging for those possessions that have earnt them through hard work. All three are prevalent in the modern world, but only one of them is the honest approach. This is the core of the Sin Sot argument and what the payment is actually used for.

As the law currently stands in Thailand the groom could not legally claim to "own" any of the land for which he purchased, though he could own the townhouses (but not the land they stand on), he may very well have been gifted the gold and cash back, or it may have been given to "the family" to provide for them.. a la funding members of the family who do not wish to work and see your white Farang face much like a Charles Schwaub bank card to fund their "Leo lifestyle".

When looking to marry it is important to realise you are marrying the family too, and that if the family is not willing to meet you halfway you will need to walk away from your loved one if she will not walk way from her family. That is, unless you want to become a slave to someone too broken to shape their own prosperity, or a farmer being herded by the sheep.

100 million baht; wow, that is crazy. Especially for a 37 year old farmers daughter. Oh well up to him

What is wrong with a 37 years old farmer's daughter....SEXIST...???

In Thai culture, the older the woman is, the less favor she would have in terms of a higher sin sot payment. I think this was what CharlieBoz was getting at (in a sarcastic farang way)

The family are a farming family, of which most lease land and do not own it - only a small group of people own the agricultural land in Thailand.

Actually, I have lived in the Northeast for many years, and almost everybody in this area owns their own land - not much land, perhaps 5-20 rai - but it's theirs.

Thanks for the response - out of curiosity where do you live?

I should have been clearer, in the fact that the most arable land in Thailand is owned by the privileged. The less arable land as I understood it was leased (but you may be right in being owned) in small amounts by those less fortunate. The same people which own the large swathes of land also own the mills, so still take their cut off the smaller farmers. I know this is the case in Surin, I know a young lady whose family owns one of the mills there. She is fortunate enough to have a degree in accounting from the Thai University of Commerce, the fruits of being related to the poo yais.

Personally, I do feel sorry for these smaller farmers - they get cheated by the mills, and they get forced out of being able to purchase more arable land by these cartels, and then when things go wrong and they turned to the government the government normally always turns their backs on them.

It is worth noting, if you or anyone else ever gets to go to Roi Et, it is really one of the most beautiful places in Thailand, I love it there.

Hi all,

Interested in tapping you all on your wisdom and seeing if any other people have been in my situation and can help me out.

So, I am headed to the family farm shortly and it is such a lovely place, very quiet, relaxing, and filled with all the lovely fruit you could ever want to eat. I have recently discovered I do not need a work permit nor permission of my Thai father to fill my stomach (wahoo!).

I enjoy going on treks with the 87 year old grandfather, who goes on missions with his machete and heads literally up the trees by hand to cut down coconuts. The spoilt girlfriends brother will not get off his backside so I take it on myself to be his sidekick whenever I am around.

Problem being, the farm has huge numbers of ants, scorpions and cobras. I understand the scorpions and cobras are something I will have to just except and look out for (and maybe set up a stall in Isaan!) but I was hoping there was some sort of remedy to repel the red ants from me.. they even bite me while I sleep inside the house.

I love the farm, but the red ants tarnish my visits every time.. can anyone help?

Well, that has certainly raised the expectations of brides to be in Roi Et

Yes. and most certainly the financial expectations of families with single daughters finding foreigners to enrich their financial situations in Roi Et.

Perhaps they will begin competing with places like Buriram and Udon Thani for to be the top "I don't work but we have a rich sponsor" family of the region. It really is a business, and the offer of 100 million is an agreement between two, a completely unnecessary act was for this to be published - I promise you it will make its' way through Thai editorials as well, and as such others expectations of what you and I will front up with when it comes to marriage time.

My ones' partners are already trying to keep up with the only other person married to a foreigner in the village and want a 7 figure sin sot, which is the only reason I have not married her. If only the family knew the sadness they were bringing on their own daughter in their chase of the bigger, better deal.

Yeah let's get rid of all the non-paying people everywhere, especially the kids.

Let's make Thailand a place where you have to pay for everything.

Breathing is still free but bad quality, Chinese are selling oxygen fresh air in cans, lets all breath through those, and nevermind the poor who can't afford it!

Let's poison the food and just leave a fraction of it non poisoned for the rich who can afford it! Oh wait ! It's already happening !

In places like MBK, where you cannot get seats in places like Burger King and McDonalds because kids are studying ages after they have finished, it is a huge irritation.

An irritation or a sign that you should know better at your age than clogging your arteries with fast sugar and transfat ?

Yes also a great reminder of that! I actually only ever visit McDonalds when friends decide to go (Thais love McDonalds for some reason) or when I simply cannot find anything that I can eat, which is very rare in Thailand. Sukhumvit at 4am is the only example I can think of, when I do not want to pay company to the hordes of incomprehensible foreigners and dodgey ladyboy street walkers.

I also make use of the McDonalds toilets as they are the cleanest in Sukhumvit, so sometimes will buy a meal for a few friends I have made over the years whom either work on the street at some capacity as beggars or "night workers" or have late finishing work in the area. It is quite amusing the things you will see in the lines of the Sukhumvit McDonalds at that time, believe me.. even seen guys try to order a burger without cash in their pockets they were so drunk! But you are completely right, I should not be eating Maccy D's and do make a conscious effort to enjoy the real food which can be found on many street corners.

Thank Government of Thailand you for legitimising a group of people bent on enforcing their will over the people of the land through violence and oppression.

When the talks end and a stronger, more organised enemy renews attacks, you will be able to give yourselves a big pat on the back for your prolonged talks.

Yep, funny. He didn't do anyone any harm and went off to Patpong to see the sights! I'd like to know where he got the money from?

from the Australian taxpayer. Deportees get resettlement money, because he had been a guest of Her Majesty he had no income so when released and deported the warm hearted aussie taxpayer donates.

I believe that payment is about $250 AUD. Not really enough to survive more than a single night at Patpong.

I reckon he's an Aussie,his accent is aussie,no hint of a German accent here.he was probably born in Germany or have German parents and lived most of his life in Australia.and it took 50 policemen to see how he unlocked the security door hahaha

Australia has been exporting Australian-made criminals a lot lately. Some Kiwis who have lived their lives in Australia since Childhood (but born here in New Zealand) have recently been "deported" because they have been deemed inappropriate for Australian society to interact with. The issue is that if this guy has an Aussie accent, he may very well be the same and have spent most of his life outside of Germany.. but as Australian Citizenship is so hard to obtain (even for a New Zealander now) Australia does not need to take responsibility for the criminal minds some of its' working class develop over time within the borders of Australia.

hiding behind a mask...Pffttttt

I think in a situation in which the government has shown an demand to revoke the rights of its' citizens and silence opposition parties in a supposedly democratic system, a fight through anonymity is a very smart way to ensure the safety of the movements members and protect them from being silenced in any way.

The government has used surveillance on both sides in the past to persecute members of rival political movements. Fear of persecution at a personal level is currently very real. Related activities in other countries (such as Cuba, Russia, Poland) indicate that potentially the next move if personal persecution of resistance supporters failed would be to persecute their families, and perhaps in Thailand also their villages.

Considering recent threats of the "white mask movement" (which is making a statement that they no longer want their country run by people committing criminal acts and certainly do not want someone that is convicted of serious crimes returning to take the reins of power again) by the present administration members looking to do the right thing for the longevity of fair and and eventual handed democratic rule within the Kingdom have every right to fear persecution for exercising their human right to restrictions of speech, movement and expectations of fair and even treatment without persecution and prejudice.

Would love to see the IP and DNS host addresses of some of the TROLLS on this forum right now. I suspect not everyone is here in their recreational time, but some are actually posting from offices during paid working hours with full knowledge of their superiors..

So this news will close all the treads with 90 days non-im visas and edu-visas etc. – just become an elite member

maybe that's the plan. Lets face it 70 000 dollars isn't a huge amount of money to be able to buy into a country legally.

But you are not buying into a country - you are still a visitor, you still cannot own land any more than any other foreigner, you cannot vote, and you are still just as open to manipulation by a corrupt system than anyone else. There really is little differentiation of an Elite card holder from anyone else from what I can see that is being offered for the sum total of 66,666USD entry fee and 666.66USD annual fee.

The devil is in the numbers.

Yeah let's get rid of all the non-paying people everywhere, especially the kids.

Let's make Thailand a place where you have to pay for everything.

Breathing is still free but bad quality, Chinese are selling oxygen fresh air in cans, lets all breath through those, and nevermind the poor who can't afford it!

Let's poison the food and just leave a fraction of it non poisoned for the rich who can afford it! Oh wait ! It's already happening !

In places like MBK, where you cannot get seats in places like Burger King and McDonalds because kids are studying ages after they have finished, it is a huge irritation. The sheer volume of traffic there dictates that seats should be used by paying customers for the duration of the activity they paid to undertake (eating their food inside the restaurant premises).

There are places people should not be kicked out of but when a restaurant gets full and there are people that have been well overstaying their welcome by continuing to linger long after eating their meal they should be asked to vacate IMO.

What a deal!

Where do I sign up? Maybe I've been out in the sun too long without drinking any water.

But then again, there's plenty of well-off Chinese and Russians that never heard of the Elite Card the first time around. Phuket and Pattaya could see an influx of Chinese and Russians waving there Elite Cards around as if it's something worth being jealous of.

I imagine the long term expats would use a term that rhymes with "Merchant banker".

Yes, riding the "elite bus" wearing sparkling gold shirts with sparkling red wigs and waving Chinese flags whilst walking down walking street as a side tour towards the Hilton in anticipation of their "elite" high quality sun bathe on the world famous Pattaya beach eating world famous Pattaya beach Pad Thai with their "elite Ya Ba rocks".

Would you pay an extra $5 for your Big Mac if McDonalds promised you a free Big Mac when you returned tomorrow, with a small print saying "benefits of this voucher may be cancelled without notice at any time without financial compensation or forewarning"?

The press release to this shows just how little the Thai administration understands what foreigners want from Thailand and how to attract quality people to generate recurring income for the country.

I do not care about golf courses, I can go to those in France, Italy, and the US. I can even go to them in China and Korea.

I do not care about spas, they have those at Khao San Road for the low end, and the sky is the limit for prices and quality of service globally. This is not a unique product to Thailand.

I hate airports, the less time I spend in them the better for me, the better for my health (the food is not the best and it does little for my happiness).

]Visas in Thailand are relatively easy to obtain, you are asking someone with money to spend 66,666 USD (at 30 per USD) for the above and rights to a visa of which I get a 5 year initial visa, plus a 1 year stay visa on all subsequent arrivals? But I still have to go in and out, even though I am spending the devils sum above?

I realise that I may not be the target of the Elite Card (I still have some insurance to sell in the US, some stores to extort in Russia, or some bribes to take from my province in my role as governor in China), but for people with this kind of money they are not interested in this kind of rubbish, on a long stay they are interested in access rights to land, business and being able to tap into local markets. They also do not want to be having to going in and "reporting" to a grumpy immigration official looking for a bribe in order to make things less difficult than they will make it for you if you do not bribe them..

On a short stay, these people want a chauffeured escort to a prepaid hotel and to be separated from the corruption, filth and risks they perceive to be associated from everyday Thai life. They want a trouble free trip and expect to be treated like an invited guest to the country with assistance at the highest level on any signs of a problem.

Thanks for the responses so far, yes new years is expected to be more expensive than the rest of the year but things seemed on average about 30% more expensive, so I figured there would be places either that I could celebrate new year a little more low-key and less farang orientated, or somewhere that does not celebrate at all if I cannot find the latter.

The CHiang Mai suggestion does sound nice, I have one of my favourite hotels near to Thapae Gate and really love staying there. I wonder if they will allow me to play my Khaen in the hotel.. or if I shall be asked to leave for disturbing other guests with my country music. ha ha.

Does Chiang Mai usually get an influx of foreigners during this time such as Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket or is it mostly the same as the rest of the year?

I've felt like spraying KFC with an Uzi myself, when I see the size of those plastic dishes they give for the sauce.

Thank the lord (or Buddha) for KFC Thailand, my GF came here and asked to go to KFC for her Birthday, I begged her to let me take her somewhere else but she wanted to go because she loved KFC in Thailand. After asking for water and being told to get it from the taps in the womens toilets (which had not been cleaned for more than 12 hours according to the notice on the wall) she realised why I had begged to take her elsewhere. KFC NZ has all the sauce one would need, because normal people know not to go there!

I can save you all a lot of time and curiosity about bars here in (South) Korea.

Sure - Juicey bars are still around - but you won't get to leave with any working girls here - unless you know people AND are a regular customer. To buy a bar girl a drink will set you back anywhere from $20 (US) to $75 (US) - for 1 drink!

Oh and YOUR drinks start at $4 (US) and up!

Bar scene in Korea is not like it used to be.

I would not pay that for the company of a Korean (nor would I even let them pay me for my time). I have seen them in Tilak in Cowboy and they had overrun Angeles the last time I passed through there. If you ever go to the Philippines you will see their "karaoke bars" in Manila as you walk around, with "tough guy" bouncers.. not really interested in going inside to pay someone to sit beside me anyways, sorry, I am off to the club down the road to meet real women that are not being paid to be where they are..

The nicest ladies are in Thailand, the most fun customers of beer bars have to be in the Philippines, I have met so many random guys and gone on huge drinking competitions with them, last time I actually got so drunk with a guy from Boston that I actually forgot where I was staying, I had to pay a security guard 100 peso to take me on his motorbike back to my hotel, as I had talked with him earlier in the night and let slip where I was staying? That was AFTER I lost my drinking buddy from Boston at a junction, talked to a meet and greet girl from a bar and when I turned around he was gone.. never quite figured that one out!

Women in the Phils are always nice, but one stole my phone last time because I told her I did not take girls home, she did not believe me.. so she started calling everyone in my stolen phones address book and abusing them, accusing them of being my GF.. interesting lady that one.

I have not been to Cambodia or Laos, I was considering a trip to both this year but have been put off both as the drinking scene seems very isolated, in the sense that it is just bars filled with backpackers drinking with each other.. I really drink to meet the locals and intentionally go to places no other white faces would go.