NBD

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Indeed, there are suckers of all ages. Though a backpacker of a similar age who thought he had a holiday romance might have a little more justification in thinking that there is some sort of genuine relationship. Why they carried on sending her significant amounts of money when they had (presumably?) moved on is beyond me.

There's an old saying that you can't cheat an honest man (woman in this case) and it's true. The fact that she's more worried about the money than her poor broken heart tells us all we need to know about her take on the relationship. She may not have been dishonest as such but was obviously driven by greed and the hope of a much bigger pay off and it back fired spectacularly.

Of course it's the same with sex tourists, and sleazy old guys who try to fool themselves that a 25 year old prostitute really loves them and them alone, and that once she has had the big wedding, the gold, the car and the house they will live happily ever after and he will have a woman he couldn't dream of impressing and couldn't afford to buy back home.

Both are deluding themselves because they desperately want to believe it. I wouldn't wish it on anyone, Thai, farang or other to lose their life savings but if you're going to play such a foolish game you have to live with the consequences.

You perhaps thought 45bt was a good price.....undervalued maybe so really it could be construed you were trying an opportunity to rip thrm off.

What goes around etc.

Falang tries to rip off bike cleaner but didnt make a clean getaway!

What an absolutely ridiculous thing to say. In what sense is buying something at the advertised price ripping of the seller?

It's offensive to you. Peppa Pig is offensive to Muslims, the flag of the confederacy offends many black people, the symbols of the Soviet Union and the visage of Che Guevara offend some people, though far less than they really should.

And it is their right to be offended.. If I do something that offends others.. I fully expect them to react..

If they do something I find offense or distasteful I react..

If a school does something offensive and culturally insensitive.. They can similarly suffer the same bad press, loss of face and business and outrage that it generates.. If the person responsible gets dismissed from his position, because enough people find it offensive enough to be vocal.. Thats the result.

This isnt a free speech issue.. I fully support their right to free speech.. But we also have the right to call them out on it.. And say that we / I find it ignorant.. Thats what free speech is !!

I wasn't making it a free speech issue. Completely agree that people have the right to be offended and express that as well.

It's more about the apparent expectation that Thais should find the same things as offensive as we do.

How many people in the England or Germany or the US would find the flags and symbols of the Khmer Rouge offensive? Or even recognise them.

Yet they committed an insane genocide in Cambodia much more recently than the Nazis.

It looks like a school project. The idea that window dressing and "rebranding" destinations in Thailand will fix anything is utterly ridiculous. Fix the actual problems of rampant corruption and criminality and you might be getting somewhere.

And to take it a step further actually make sure Thai people know about and are proud of Thailand's own, quite interesting, history rather than just a load of platitudes and empty dances to tick off the "Thai Culture" box and move along to selling cheap tat and prostitution.

Until then it's likely to remain a favourite destination of drunks and idiots with a relatively small number of quality tourists spending decent money.

It's offensive to you. Peppa Pig is offensive to Muslims, the flag of the confederacy offends many black people, the symbols of the Soviet Union and the visage of Che Guevara offend some people, though far less than they really should.

I don't really know what it is that Thais find attractive about Nazi imagary, but I don't think that we have any right to expect them to find it as offensive as we as westerners, who pretty much all have or had relatives directly affected by it, do. And I'm not sure what the original poster was hoping to achieve by attempting an impromptu history lesson (in Thai or English?) in his condo car park.

My name question came from Ford Essex County factory the base name that they developed X Flow Heads from.And You lot are Brits, Baahh,, ting tongs. So were they using a Wop name imo.

I had a 1600 cross flow maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaany moons ago in a Cortina. Am sure you know why it was called cross flow ?

That's an easy one. Inlet ports one side exhaust ports the other so the gasses flowed across the cylinders.

Regarding cars named after horses, there was a lovely Spanish sports car in the 60s named a Pegaso after Pegasus the winged horse, if that counts. I think they mainly made trucks and are possibly even still going?

A minor scuffle at a rally site. I don't see why that fact that he was wearing an orange cloth has anything to do with it.

As far as I can tell not even very many Thais have the level of absurd reverence for monks that people seem to be showing on this thread.

I'm sure it covers property damage as well, up to a limit most likely. Perhaps I paid more for it. I'll have to double check.

Sounds like you got scammed to me. If you have insurance on your bike (which doesn't even cost 8000 a year) then tell him to claim on that.

Some people think having such a thing is stupid in Thailand.

Quite a lot of people. I don't really understand the mentality but people say things like "it's not worth insuring" or "it's old anyway" or "I only drive it around the village."

I think it cost me about 350 THB. I don't give a rats about getting my ancient 2 stroke Honda stolen or totaled, could be replaced for 10K, but if I knock someone else over or put a big gouge in the side of a Mercedes then it's covered by the insurance and I won't end up owing serious money. I also won't get into the kind of situation the OP was in where he is basically being extorted at the road side by a tuk tuk and a policeman who I assume to have been in cahoots to rip him off.

Sounds like you got scammed to me. If you have insurance on your bike (which doesn't even cost 8000 a year) then tell him to claim on that.

It's a fallacy that most UK benefits are paid to non citizens or in unemployment benefits. The largest part goes to OAPS in form of pensions.

Which, as we all know are not a benefit, but a paid for annuity.

No such thing as 'unemployment benefit', It is now called 'Job seekers allowance' and is also not a benefit, but something you pay for in your previous year of employment.

This is a misconception. You may have paid in believing that it was like a pension fund or insurance scheme that would be there when you needed it, but it really isn't. You have no legal claim over it at all. It goes into the treasury along with general taxation and is given out by the government of the day to whatever they deem most worthy (or politically expedient, if you're a cynic like me).

Aside from the dubious morality of going back to claim benefit, are you really going to look after a 1 and 2 year old on your own for a year?

I've been looking into this and as far as I can tell in order to bring your wife over you will need to be earning (yes earning) a reasonable income (I think the guideline is £20k + £2,400 for every child) and have a place to live suitable for the size of your family. So you'd be on your own with two infants who wouldn't see their mother for a year. Sounds like a crack pot plan to start with to be honest.

As I'm discovering the only practical way to do it is for me to go over and stay in my brother's spare room, get a job, get a house and get up and running then bring them over later on. Best case is about 3 months and I can envisage 6 coming up quite quickly.

I'm in a relatively fortunate position of being in an industry where meeting the earning threshold isn't too difficult and my wife is working and housed here so being alone for 3-6 months isn't a show stopper, though not seeing them for that time will be hard it's a necessary step if we are going to do this.

If you return to the UK as a single parent family with two children, you will find it much easier to get a VISA for your wife to follow.

And the housing you need will have already been provided for you, almost free of charge, by your local council or housing association.

Returning on your own and living with a relative, just makes your life unnecessarily difficult.

I wouldn't be a single parent though, I'm looking to take my wife as well and getting a visa for her will be subject to the requirements I have outlined.

Aside from the dubious morality of going back to claim benefit, are you really going to look after a 1 and 2 year old on your own for a year?

I've been looking into this and as far as I can tell in order to bring your wife over you will need to be earning (yes earning) a reasonable income (I think the guideline is £20k + £2,400 for every child) and have a place to live suitable for the size of your family. So you'd be on your own with two infants who wouldn't see their mother for a year. Sounds like a crack pot plan to start with to be honest.

As I'm discovering the only practical way to do it is for me to go over and stay in my brother's spare room, get a job, get a house and get up and running then bring them over later on. Best case is about 3 months and I can envisage 6 coming up quite quickly.

I'm in a relatively fortunate position of being in an industry where meeting the earning threshold isn't too difficult and my wife is working and housed here so being alone for 3-6 months isn't a show stopper, though not seeing them for that time will be hard it's a necessary step if we are going to do this.

Did exactly this last year when visiting my parents, who are British and live in France. It was straight forward but quite strict. Needed a letter of invitation from a French resident (not citizen, as far as I can tell that makes no difference) a place to stay, and confirmation of your ID/residence from the Mairie, proof of funds and health insurance (tip - you can buy from Axa global online with a credit card, you can't buy from Axa Thaialnd with a CC...)

As per the UK they're mainly looking for proof/assurance that she will come back.

Don't use an agency as it's a waste of money.

Well it wasn't perfect by any means, but how did it compare to other big V12s of the time? As far as I know BMW and Mercedes weren't offering V12s at that time, so only Ferrari and Lambo had them in their top end cars, and they weren't really known for their reliability either! No "contact" with it as such but I did drive a Daimler Double 6 once and thought it was absolutely lovely - big lazy purr, effortless power. I never looked at an XJ6 the same again.

I know it's not exactly clear that a 5.3 litre V12 was really needed in the early 70s, but as engines go there's a lot worse

By what measure was the Jag V12 a disaster? In production for about 30 years, and raced successfully in touring cars and sports cars beyond that.

Unless you mean any given Jaguar V12 was a disaster for the person who bought it!

A really disastrous engine was the 3.0 V8 developed (on the cheap) for the Triumph Stag that was worse by almost any measure than the Rover V8 - heavier, less powerful and less reliable. Another great BL decision...

Not quite sure why the pickup keeps trying to get past to be honest. The truck has made it pretty clear that he doesn't want that, and is prepared to use all ~40 tons of his truck to stop it. Pull over and let him get away.

What if somebody damages the side of your car as a result of their reckless driving you just keep going as if nothing happened?

I'd take down is registration (if I had the presence of mind) and report it to the police. If feasible then follow him at a safe distance and try resolve your differences when he stops. No way in hell I'd get into a ding dong like that with a 40 ton truck in heavy traffic. And anyway I'd rather have a maniac driving a truck in front of me than behind me.

Cars can be fixed or replaced and I have good insurance anyway. The truck driver had clearly lost it and that could have ended in multiple fatalities very easily.

I suspect there was some incident before the video started, and as Larry says a bit of machismo on both sides. I'm not immune to that myself, but the fact is a 2 ton pick up is not nearly as "macho" as a 40 ton truck if they collide.

Way before red flags. I think it was in about 1870 when some guy ran himself over with his experimental steam car. Possibly in Ireland but I can't be sure.

Oh just make sure you take good care of your immune system and in return will do what it is supposed to do.

Yes including putting it under stress - over-sterilized lifestyle in the west - especially the US is responsible IMO for the epidemics in immune-related syndromes other countries don't have.

Lactose, gluten intolerance

Peanut allergies

Asthma

ADD/ADHD

susceptibilities to addictions

and probably many more

Agree with this, but I wouldn't go as far as having the chefs fecal matter or zit produce on my sushi.

Whoever said "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" had obviously never had cholera.

Not to mention flies around the place, chicken, pork, fish and everything else stuffed in a box next to each other and a myriad of other sins that would have your average western food safety inspector weeping into his hair net.

The funny thing is I have never really had a problem from eating out here in 5 years of relatively adventurous eating. I guess if it's cooked enough then it's not a problem, even if it does turn your stomach to think of it. Though I wouldn't probably rush to order from that shop.

I understand Apple offers a world wide guarantee.

they dont ,me and my friend were asked to leave the istore for asking them to fix an iphone that wasnt "a thai version '

Thought it sounded too good to be true.

Hydraulic, air, cable, lever operated; inboard or outboard; disc or drum or that weird system with two discs rubbing together or something that was abandoned in 1903.

It's actually quite fun not using Wikipedia!

It sounds like you're coming to Thailand to make an honest living and meet a decent girl who is not materialistic? God help you.