Erawan

Thanks a lot folks for all your input .

I have had some definite passes. I was walking through Lumphini Park once and a guy approached me and offered me 500 baht. I thought about it, but I thought I would be letting myself go on the cheap, hence, 5,000, lol. I'm still a 'virgin' after all.

But one more pressing and 'irritating' guy keeps pestering me. I know now what it must be like to be a woman. He's a teacher at my uncle's school. This guy is married and has a daughter, although he seems to be very attracted to me - this is not imagined. Every chance he gets, he wants me to go over and talk to him. And every time I'm close to him, he will take the opportunity to 'hug' and grope me. He once took the opportunity to 'half' cop-a-feel of my ass. That meaning, he didn't fully touch my ass, or fully touch my lower back, it was in between and I am positive he did this, so should I of said anything, he can simply put it down to 'a misinterpretation'.

I'm aware that in Thailand, that males can be more touchy feely over here, since they may have been childhood friends, but I don't really know the guy! And this happened the very first time I met him! I KNOW there is more to it than just being 'friendly', I can feel it and I can see it in his eyes. It makes me sick . What gets me, is that none of the other teachers, who are usually very close when this happens seem to notice or think anything of it! I pointed it once to a teacher/friend of mine, and the next time it happened, she noted it and saw it too - she said to be careful of him.

I would very much like to tell him where to go, but I'm aware that I have to handle the matter over differently here, I have to consider 'saving face' and such. So has anyone got a definite response for this matter? Again, your help is appreciated.

Hmpf... sometimes the interest is flattering, but at other times, it's not wanted. I'm a heterosexual male and have no current plans to bat for the other team. Could you gents please tell me how I can make it clear that I'm not interested without coming across as rude?

Being friends is ok, I've given my number out to a few guys, but I think some of them have got the wrong idea or are holding out for something that's not going to happen. Perhaps I'm giving them false hope by giving them my number in the first place. I don't know so many people at the moment, so I'm open to offers. And if we're talking about other kinds of offers, starting price is at Bt 5,000

I've been here for about 5 months now and still they come for me! I've tried mosquito repellant - hah! Fat lot of good that did. So I've resorted to largely covering myself up to help avoid being bitten.

For those who say/think it's about 'smelling Thai', I've been eating a Thai diet, day-in, day-out, since I got here, but it's made no difference.

Ideally, I would be happy if mosquitos were wiped from the face of the planet, although I can't see it happening. It's not just the itching/pain of bites but the unsightly marks they leave, both when just bitten and afterwards. Is this something you just get used to and/or your body adapts to? 'Cos I'm still waiting!

Do you expats still suffer from mosquito bites? I'm just wondering how everyone else is faring...

I think too many people are disguising opinions and otherwise bullshit in the form of facts and statements without being able to back them up at all. It's not useful, constructive or helpful and just causes more damage than it does good. If people would just take a second to reflect on what they're about to post, I think it would be in the best interests of everybody.

Why does she have to be Thai? Jeez, it really grates on me when people have these narrow-minded opinions. I've heard this before, but from my friend, she _has_ to be Japanese. He's so narrow-minded most of the time. What's wrong with the rest of the women of the world? For the LOVE OF GOD! Don't generalise! If you just select Thai or Japanese, you're narrowing down your choices and chances. I should maybe be happier as it means more for me, but it doesn't provide me with any solace. PLEASE PEOPLE! Don't put up barriers! This is not restricted to love.

OK! OK! Had my rant, I'm going... carry on.

Can someone please tell me why the TV channels are odd numbers? I don't watch much TV, but I don't think there was a channel 1. Why do they go 3, 5, 7, 9 & 11?

I was just wondering, how many of you actually use sunscreen and regularly? We're told we should, and that we should reapply it every two hours or so, but how many people actually do this religiously?

I myself try to put some on everyday, but only the once... and only on areas of my skin that will be exposed. Gotta get a stronger factor... at least 60 (the paranoia).

Thanks RDN for the links, not seen the Nation Mulitmedia before.

Lol lukamar! I'm no celebrity of any sort, unfortunately, or maybe not. I was just wondering if I could pick up a National Enquirer of sorts... not that I'm into gossip - strictly research of course, getting culturally acquainted and such. Yeah... that sounded passably believable .

Interesting, I'm looking at the BBC News website right now and it says that 'at least 14 people were injured', not killed.

I'd like to know what the Thai press is like. I'm just wondering if I can expect the same there as you can find here. In the in UK, we've got many tabloids, and one of their many facets is reporting on the behaviour and goings-on of the rich and famous.

I don't honestly know if the practise is the same in other countries, probably, but I'm not sure if it's to the same extent. I think the British press is perceived as one of the worst offenders actually.

I hear that the Thai press is a free one, but they do tend to exercise self-censorship on what they report. So, when it comes to celebrities and the rich and famous, what can I expect? Do they dog celebrities and report on all their indiscretions? Things like, illicit sex, extramarital affairs, drugs (would they get incarcerated on the findings of a newspaper?), parying too hard - so basically the daily life of a celebrity .

Maybe they distinguish between celebrities and politicians, I don't know, you tell me.

Now folks, I'm not asking for you to single out and name any celebrities or recount incidents in details, since TV may get cited for slander. Keep that in mind.

I'll also be interested to see what the differences are when it comes to 'real' news. I'm guessing that they'll probably focus more on news from the region (east/south-east asia) and news that concerns Thai interests. International affairs will be an interesting one, but I already know the sport will cover the Premiership!

I heard someone mention McFarland and Haas, and my god, those books are not cheap at around $70 a pop!

I think I'm a mix of new and old man. I still agree and try to adhere to some old traits, one of which is no crying. I believe in trying to live up to my image of what a real man is like, a man's man.

Perhaps some think it's tragic, but I'm not alone by any means in this belief in how a man should conduct himself.

Are you sure that's true? When he's asked about (admittedly on camera), he claims to be cablasian (or something), which is an amalgamation of his diverse roots. To be honest though, to me, he's just American - you can see it in him and I'm sure that's how he really just sees himself.

Oh and that's rubbish siamruby, no offence intended. You don't HAVE to ignore your roots at all, you only choose to. But perhaps you meant it was sad for his mother rather than him.

Right folks, I'm after a good, solid, Thai-English, English-Thai dictionary. If it could also have a rough, comprehensible romanised word next to the Thai to help me pronounce it, that would be good.

Doesn't seem to be many knocking around to be honest, and the ones I have looked at didn't impress me much. So, what'll it be?

Ah, so there is a common thread between those languages, apart from Russian. But yeah, fair play to him, I'm impressed. Any idea over what period of time he accumulated all those languages? He must be getting on now, ######... could take me forever!

Neeranam, with regards to your friend who can speak 7 languages, what languages are they? Are they by any chance all romanised script or what? My interest always gets piqued when it comes to languages .

Yet ANOTHER thought has crossed my mind, does the Thai government actually pay the special forces a decent wage? Or do do work on the side like the regular army as a means of supplementing their income?

Oh I forgot two more things, what length of service do they do? And do they really see much action? I haven't heard of them in action before.

Ok, going to back to Thai special forces for IamMaiC (what does that name stand for anyway?), does anyone know how people are selected for it? Drafted or people go and apply? How long is the training? What does it entail? Is it similar to British Royal Marine Commandos or what? I hear that they have the longest training in the world, it was... erm... 100... something, days? God, I can't remember the advert for the RM Commandos...

How good are the Thai special forces? Any idea anyone?

Ah yes, where men are men and women are women. Times are changing and women are changing with them too and this change in attitude frightens a lot of men. They're no longer content with being stuck at home and being the housewife and homemaker. And why should they? They're squaring up to be our equals and outdo us wherever and whenever they can.

Now, I've got to be careful to not fan the flames of the war of the sexes and turning myself into a misogynist, but I think too many men are turning tail and running. You've got balls man! They've only got them figuratively! Stand up for yourself and match them. You'll have more respect for yourself and they will too.

I believe this loss of femininity and female empowerment is just another facet of the ever-changing modern world. It happens to all developing countries and I believe it's only a matter of time before it begins to take off in Thailand. Japan is a perfect example of where it has begun to take off recently, it's funny and tragic to see our male counterparts to be so completely clueless. The women are moving with the times and the men are struggling to keep up.

I'm all for women going out there and getting the world, but the only thing I worry about, is that if I marry a high-flyer who's all about her career, what about the kids? More and more women are putting it off until later. She's probably not going to want to pop many out, probably just the one . Me personally, I'd like at least two, with the option to expand to four. Then after that, who's going to look after them? Well I guess that'll probably be my job since I wanted so many in the first place . She'll probably want to go back to work leaving me at home... but I might be able to work from home. I guess I'll have to cross that bridge if and when I come to it.

No offence intended rod (I think you know that), I call my cat a monkey, a bat and a bear - never a cat though...

When someone mentioned they were short, I just can't help envisaging a Gurkha as a midget/dwarf.

Anyway, how'd you amass all this info rod? It's all very interesting stuff though.

What is it exactly that seemingly, so many men find attractive about back-door action? No thanks for me, the old-fashioned way is good enough for me.

Absolutely bad ass-ness! I wanna fall outta planes!

Hey, what about the Gurkhas? Aren't they supposed to be tough little monkeys too huh? Born into it.

Dude, she's going to pay for your ticket, take it - just don't meet her. Free holiday? ###### yeah!

I think some of you are being unfairly judgemental of farang women. You haven't even met them/know them, yet instantly have given them a personality and motive. It probably ties in with some bitterness in your past relationships and experiences. That's a great shame, you should judge everyone on a case-by-case basis, not instantly categorise them and stereotype them.

Don't forget, this thread was purely about artificial beauty, on the surface. Some of you clearly can't let it go and judge on appearance alone. It's like looking at cars people, we're not concerned with what's under the hood here.