thaigene2

No, not funny, but yes very R-a-c-i-s-t!! Even the not so high-class Thai people have no rights!! Unfortunately the Kingdom is part owned by a few rich Thai-Chinese families. They are the corruptors of opportunity and human dignity!

Oh, Welcome to Amazing Thailand.

Thaimee. 

Right on Thai Mee. Agree 100%. However on the bigger question of "our rights here"..Indo-Thai is right. If we don't like it too bad. I don't think Thailand is out of line to want to keep out the Farang Kee Nok (their term for farang losers - means 'bird sh*t'). There are already enough Thai 'losers' (e.g. no connections, no crony family influence - you know 90 % of Thais, right Thaimee?) .."they" don't need pennyless foreigners too. The other thing that is racist, is that the foreigners from neighbouring countries appear to 'know their place' where we foreigners are perceived as a bit of a pain in the arse.

There is, however, a way to get our issues onto the govt agenda. But it takes careful planning and a professional approach like those used by more successful pressure groups.

The way it is done is by making them see that our agenda is their agenda, in other words think of a way to make the gov't see it is in the THAI INTEREST to change something.

The other way is to be confrontational which doesn't really work in this society. It's the seeming consensus which fools so many foreign companies into thinking they have an amicable partnership..while we all see the corporate corpses of those who have misjudged and been taken to the cleaners by the Thai-Chinese families Thaimee mentioned! (Carlsberg, Pizza Hut, several banks, a certain American partner of a very rich Thai telecoms company!). This isn't Thailand for Thais. It's Thailand for one or two dozen extremely rich and powerful families.

However, in Thaksin's 'Nationalist' Thailand (nationalist when it comes to getting votes), a farang stomping his feet and making lots of noise would be used to furtherThaksin's nationalist agenda in traditional scapegoat fashion..'the foreigners are a problem. we will deal with them.' I don't think we are too far away from that card being played here. But maybe I'm just getting paranoid.

My personal view is never to use an agent for anything, because I am the only person with my best interests at heart..(okay with the exception of my mum).

In the UK the Financial Services Industry is a tragically hillarious government-protected shell game, where they even have the poker-faced gall to recommend you to an Independent Financial Adviser - as though using the word independent somehow makes them whiter than white. Until recently, you could not buy any sort of commission-free private pension plan..you HAD to use either one of the ccompany's front-end loaded guys or an IFA who would also rip you off.

My advice: Never deal with anyone who makes a commission whether front-end, back-end or back-hand..you don't need them.

There is an excellent two-page news report-cum-editorial from one of the regional farang newspapers on this site about why it is better to rent than buy. Makes a lot of economic sense. Sorry couldn't find it this time - maybe one of the moderators can post the link though.

Buying property is usually done for emotional rather than rational reasons (Man's home is his castle, etc) but in this country (as others have pointed out) owning land/houses here is an extremely dodgy game for foreigners. There's nothing to stop Mr Thaksin or any future Thai government making it even worse - and there have been rumblings about clamping down on those who set up small companies to buy land/houses. Look what they did to those who want to apply for permanent residence, or O class family visas? Think they couldn't make your life more miserable still in the housing market? What if you set up a company, buy the house, then they start imposing new rules on your company..like minimum trading rules, etc? They could demand that if you have assets worth 3M Baht, you need to show annual revenues of 1 or 2 M Baht. Frankly, they could do whatever they want..

The argument to rent instead of buy makes sense. It won't end the harrassment from the Thai wife who is insistent on owning rather than renting..but then again she has everything to gain and you have lots to lose.

My advice is, if you are able to, save your money until you have enough cash to buy a condo in your name (although you have to through a stupid process of transfering the cash to a foreign bank account and then back again). There are some signs the Condo Market is overheated, and you can see the beginning of desperation on the part of the developers..lots of full page adds aimed at male farang for buildings only partially completed. My guess is that the Thais who were waiting for the right time to buy a condo have now done so and we could be in for another situation of oversupply in condos and hopefully lower prices in a couple of years. Now for buying or leasing a car I need advice..(But I'll post that separately)

Good luck whatever you do.

Well quality workmanship notwithstanding..

I'd like to point out that the only reason this "Detroit of the East" can exist is because Toyota, Honda, etc, have set up shop here because of the protectionist pricing offered to them by the Thai Govt.

Ever wonder why a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla built here sells for 50% more money than it would in the West - even when that car in the West was made in Japan and shipped all the bloody way over? One word (two actually) Protectionist Duties.

Keep Thai duties on auto imports high, and Toyota and Honda will be happy to lay out the capital required for the factories. The govt guarantees to keep duties high for a few more years (until the WTO starts breathing down its back) and that means prices of cars produced here can be artificially inflated, because you have NO OTHER CHOICE. Pay it or take taxis to get around (which is what I do). Even an 8 or 10 year old car here can be more expensive than a new one in Canada or the US.

Meanwhile, some rich Thai partner with these foreign automakers (who probably brings little more than 'connections' into the deal) will get even richer, while the rest of us wonder how we can ever afford $22,000 USD for a car in a country where the majority of people (locals anyway) can't earn that amount in ten years.

Thaksinomics? Is this Rayong's "One Tambon One Product"?

Maybe the reason so many people don't trust Thai women-wives is because they know that they are in a miss-match relationship from the start. Let's be honest.

Still, so what. I have a beautiful loving wife and we have our own kids, but think I'm gonna spend all my money to buy a house in her name alone? Fat chance.

What's needed to protect ones' self is a bit of common sense..the same type of common sense you should have if you were a rich old guy marrying a young trophy wife in America or Europe. DON'T put the house in her name. DON'T put her name on the business, DON'T register the cars in her name.

Regarding the whodunit - since they were married with kids for ten years, I think on balance here the suspicion should lie (as someone else said) with the American man..in Chiang Rai, computer stolen, working for a big US company. Spells S-P-Y to me, or something shady..but maybe not..maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Whatever..sorry for him and his family.

Regarding the cynics..The Farang-Husband-What-Bought-It story I remember most is one a year or two ago. It was an 80+ year old German guy out on a boat in lake in his Thai wife's home province with her and about three or four of her brothers. Boat capsizes..he's the only one who drowns. Police say it's an accident. Hmm.

Cutethaigirl

Regarding the meeting between the Thai beer giant "..with the long name" and the Liverpool/Thaksin junta..

You can bet your last baht that Carlseberg beer logos will soon disappear..to be replaced with Beer Chang..you may recall that Mr Long-name stands accused of doing the dirty on his Danish brewing partner, by promoting Chang Beer and not Carlsberg, which was the original deal with the latter (who helped him launch Chang) and which is why Carlsberg is now drying up in Thailand..

OOHHH, Mai Rue! Mai pen rai..TIT

Yup, Khun T can just do whatever he wants. Not even the slightest attempt to distance himself anymore. Shame, because the flimsey attempts to distance his biz empire from government were usually worth a good laugh. But I notice a lot of expats - including me - aren't smiling so much anymore. It is starting to become, as one friend said, 'scary' here.

Come on..the military and their families along with a chinese merchant class have run this country for their own benefit for years..and arguably still do. The 'educated' class of women to which you refer above as 'not so rare' are primarily the daughters of the above. The girl in a village from Mae Ai or Changwat Khon Kaen will get nine years of schooling now on average if she's lucky.

No matter how hard TRT party spins this in the opposite direction, it's the landed privileged class that calls the shots here. (for those unaware, there was and maybe still is a class system of level one to level six in Thai society, lower number being the higher class and those with bigger land allocations via military connections, among others). Anyone interested in buying a leaked university entrance exam? Well you didn't really think they were all naturally smart just cause they were rich and connected did ya??

You are right about one thing, Up2U, the REAL stories don't get covered here, and the class system paints all girls from poor backgrounds as loose and do-anything-for money.

Best value-for-money steak restaurant is Steak One on Suk Soi 4 (near Nana Ent Ctr)

My favorite bar is Barbican and the restaurant upstairs is pretty good too.

yes depends what you like to drink. As I've moaned about in a previous post, Carlseberg Beer is rapidly disappearing due to a 'misunderstanding' between the multi-national and its local brewing partner (funny how these always happen after the foreign co tools up and trains the latter).

For beer, right now, 7-11 has a deal on with Kloster (my 2nd pick to Carlesberg). Buy two get one free. 7-11 is a baht or two more than supermarkets, but with buy-2-get-1 free I reckon you should fill your boots with this deal which ends on 25th. Otherwise, Food Lion has good prices on beer, and Tesco is usually pretty competitive (wonder how long til there's a 'misunderstanding' between Tesco and Lotus (Thai partner)...

Villa has good wine selections with some buy 2 get 1 free deals, but like everything at Villa its other booze is overpriced. Expect to add about 20-30 % for the privilege of shopping in Villa's 24 HR air-conditioned English.

Example, I like Grants whiskey. I pay 430 baht per bottle at local booze shop down the soi. At Villa, Big-C, etc..it's about 530. So, shop around and don't ignore your local offey. (By the way, the only 'real' blended whiskeys are, despite all the others that have Scottish names and are vaguely recognizable are: Grants, Johnny Walker, Teachers, Famous Grouse (and a couple of others). In my opinion the 200-300 baht types like 100 Pipers, Spey Royal, and Blue-something-or-other are an insult to the great people of Scotland. Song-gao (cheers).

Hi D80, yes I sympathise too. But I think the problem lies within not without. You are the rarity, educated, etc. There's lots of blame to go 'round, of course. But let's start with the people who created the huge divisions in society where only a few come from families with dosh and influence to see their daughters through university while others don't get beyond Pratum 6 through poverty..

For those of you following the developing news story in the south of Thailand..Khun Thaksin has threatened to change the laws requiring Thais with dual Thai-Malaysian citizenship to revoke their Malaysian nationality.

While this may be a pressure tactic on Muslim Thais in the south, it has pretty serious implications for the rest of us 'farang' and other foreigners here, Japanese, Chinese, etc, who are married to Thais and have Luuk-Krung kids. Any change to laws allowing dual-citizenship could mean our own kids might be required to give up their British, American, Canadian, Japanese passports too.

Anyone know any more about this?

You guys are putting me off me pudding!..yuuuaaaauuuk.

Thankfully that stereotypical image of Western women is slowly being erased from my memory banks, or at least it was..

Now back to the original string.

I guess the authorities feel they need to protect the virtue of Thai female innocence...another double-standard, and probably class-based at that (e.g. it's okay for those dark Isaan girls to shoot ping pong balls, but the lovely and saintly middle-class Bangkok girls must keep their shoulders covered at all times - who knows who her father might be!).

I'd like to open a bar and call it University Girls, with of course the super-sexy black skirts and white tops, but it would probably be shut down for the above-stated reason. I reckon punters would pay a double bar fine for the pleasure!

And Thailand wants to promote itself as a place where foreigners should flock to for health care.

Can you believe they wrote a prescription and sent her home? Sadly, I can. It doesn't take very long living here to see through the veneer of modern institutions like Bumrungrad et al, to realize they're marketing hotels with nurses while overlooking doctors of dubious skill.

The closest we ever get to a proper autopsy here turns into a circus, with the Thai media making a big deal out of the medical examiner's sanuk spikey hair cut. Next thing ya know she's on chat shows and morning cooking programmes, and we've all forgotten why we first got to know her. Where are the consumer reporters, where are the independent inquiries? Probably same place as that muslim lawyer.. Despite what they'd have you believe this is no place to become ill, mentally or otherwise.

Hey Tutsiwarrior

You must make some trips into the bigger cities occassionally. Why don't you buy a whole bunch of bloody steaks on the day you're heading home, stick them in a cooler or eskie or whatever you call it..pack it with ice and freeze the lot when you get home? Fresh is better than frozen but if you're living in noodle-ville then this must be the best option isn't it. Maybe you don't have a fridge with a freezer in the golden triangle or wherever..I met a guy the other day here with his preggers Thai wife. Said he was shopping for an 8,000 baht baby stroller, one of the fancy three wheeler jobs..but said he lived in a jungle..I reckon he'd be better off with a few ropes and take the kid for a swing..takes all sorts with diffedrent priortities I guess.

Yeah, good story FarangYaawYaaw.

Look you guys, what matters is the individual, not the fact she's a 'bar girl'. The case has been made many times here already about poverty in Isaan and the North. There's plenty of incentive for these girls.

Grinding poverty, boring village life, violent uneducated lazy husbands (just watch a Thai soap to see how ingrained domestic violence is here). So with the average grade six education the girls can continue to put up with that, or jump the queue to the fast track of post-college-level income (a secretary in DT Bangkok earns eight to twelve thousand baht per month) but made through having sex. Would it be any better if she was wearing number 29 in a Thai massage parlour and shagging a rich Thai doctor?

My wife was working in a bar when I met her. Now we have two kids and I'm very happy..and think she is too (little doubt, but I don 't presume to speak for her).

Sorry to spoil the stereo-types, but we're not all fat old men. I wouldn't trade my life in the City of Angels for anything. I hope to retire here one day (maybe Hua Hin, etc). For you moral-high-ground types, continue to live your sad little lives in cold wherever-ville. The rest of us here will just give a quite smile. I'm going to play with my thai-farang kids now.

Regarding Bank Accounts..

Further to WASH and the good Doctor Pat Pong (gynocologist I presume?), I too can vouch for Kasikorn Bank (formerly Thai Farmer Bank). I showed them my Non Immigrant B Visa and told them I was an international businessman who was conducting business in Thailand and not 'employed', thus no work permit. That seemed to do the trick. But that was a few years ago, and things are changing fast here as we all know. I agree it may be the cut of your jib and a bit of luck on the day, definitely don't kick up a fuss if the answer is no..just nod and then try to amend the request accordingly. Dress the part too..don't walk into the branch looking like a Kao San 'farang kee nok.' Doesn't work in one branch try another. Central Bangkok best bet, I reckon. Good luck.

I thought one of the parents had to be Thai. Given that foreigners who are legally married to Thais, yet are still prohibited from jointly owning property, it would seem rather strange (to me anyway) that two foreigners could come here on a temporary visa and have kids who were deemed Thai. Presumably the parents could then apply for a yearly renewable O visa, to 'support their Thai family.' TIT!

Some of my tips.

1. Yes, the others are right, you grill it. Do not fry 'the shit out of it'. If you don't have an oven in your condo/house you can buy a toaster/grill oven for just a couple of thousand well-spent baht at Tesco, etc. Great for croissants, salmon, etc, too

2. You grill it about 5-7 min each side at 250C for med-rare

3. You can buy very good fillet steak from Villa but it's pang mak, about 750 B per kilo. Sometimes Big C has fillet but you have to ask the guy behind the counter, since they have to fetch it from the big fridge. The fillet steak from Big C is about ONE-THIRD the price, and you would not know the difference. But it's hit and miss cause most Thais only know one word for beef - neua, and haven't the foggiest idea about cuts of meat. The local stuff is just as good as Aussie steak (which ain't that great anyhow). The trick is to look for beef that has marbley fat in the middle as this is generally the best. The bright red stuff with no fat in the middle is shoe leather.

4. Finally, if you live in BKK, forget cooking and go to Steak One on Soi Nana (Soi 4) across from the Bus Stop Pub. Fillet or Pepper Steak is 230 Baht with fries or mash and veg (price just went up from an unbelievable 190B). Bring your own wine, corkage 200B. Bon apetit.

Kloster okay. You're right Heinneken is fizzy crap.

Oh what a surprise, another thai company seems to have misunderstood the contract with its foreign partner, and now Carlsburg Beer is rapidly disappearing from the shelves. What is it about Thai companies and the slimey little tricks they play?

Now one might think that Carlsburg could simply take Thai-Chinese Brewing company or whatever it's called to the high court in Bangkok right? Especially since Carlsburg helped the Thai company develop Chang the best selling Thai beer. Yes, I'm laughing too. I hear an American company tried that once with a certain telecoms tycoon and ended up getting kicked out of the country for his trouble.

Nope this is still the wild west when it comes to doing business, and with no rule of law, the foreign company doesn't stand a chance. I'm amazed any foreign companies even take the risk any more.

It's another assault on the farangs. Can't buy a house, can;t get a loan for a condo - even though I'm married to a Thai, our kids were born here, and I probably earn more than the bank manager.

I say BOYCOTT CHANG and refuse to pay for rounds where friends want to drink Chang. It's a small protest. But it's the best I can come up with.