GinBoy2

Maybe a further cautionary note. Even though I was stupidly self diagnosing, I had right at the start gone to a Doc in Khon Kaen who 'confirmed' my self diagnosis which led me down the road of stronger and stronger meds. The reason I went to Bumrungrad in the first place was I thought they could/would prescribe stronger cortisone that I was buying. I remember very well the dermatologist looking at me and telling me, "I don't think so, this needs a biopsy as soon as possible" Within two weeks I'd had the biopsy, confirmed what it was, and a plastic surgeon was taking care of it

One of the downsides of living in Thailand I was, after tons of google searches convinced that this eruption on my face was some kind of eczema since my family had a history of it So off i trotted to the local pharmacy and self treated myself with stronger and stronger cortisone creams until the dumb <deleted> that I am figured out this ain't working. Now if I had living in the West I wouldn't have had access to the meds which I was treating my self diagnosis, and a real doc would have sent me off for a biopsy long before I actually did it

Thats easy. I never could stomach lasagne because I hate ricotta cheese. Then I discovered Italian lasagne where the ricotta layer is a béchamel sauce. Thats the key difference

As for the scar, the plastic surgeon did a good job, especially when you look at the location. It's still visible but not bad. One of the girls at work a few weeks ago when we were talking saw it asked what it was. To enhance my bad boy image I told her it was from 'cage fighting' ......she didn't believe me lol But on a serious note, what the surgeon was concerned about was making sure that my lower eyelid wasn't stretched out of position, which he did a great job at

Plastic surgeon

I don't think MOHS is a regular procedure in Thailand. At Brumungrad, which I still think is the best facility in Thailand, we can argue about cost, but the surgeon did a traditional deep removal of the legion and afterwards took samples of the margins for analysis. My Doc here in the US says MOHS would have been the preferred method had I had it done here

If you get facial skin cancer, what you see is the reality of what you're facing. Maybe tough to see but thats what it is! I'm just happy that it got caught in time, they tested the margins and I was clear. A scar on my face is a small price to pay IMHO

I had bowens disease, which is skin cancer under my left eye, had it removed at Brumringrad back in 2018. Scar today, you can see it, but it's not much. Biggest thing you need to be careful about is that the surgeon doesn't stretch the skin, certainly if it's by the eye as mine was that it doesn't impair eye movement

For a real scam. One of my idiot boys got a text message, You have a delivery with incorrect address you need to pay $0.30 to update delivery address, please enter your CC details Idiot young boy fell for the classic scam. Between the time me and and his co-workers telling him this was frikkin scam the scammers had emptied his bank account

Well if you've ever read my posts you'd know my wife is a bit of an odd Thai duck. After her parents died she and her siblings were farmed out to relatives, and she ended up in Chicago with her aunt and uncle. Went to High School and university in Chicago before going to Singapore to work, where we met. So our life experiences are pretty similar, we laugh at the same movies, comedians, argue constantly about politics, the list goes on and on

I'm not sure sure what I would choose if I had to do it all again. I've always liked my women a little dark and dusky First wife was half Jamaican, and my current wife from Isaan, so my tastes I think are pretty obvious. I'm hispanic my family from Guadalajara, and every time we go visit my wife cant stop saying how sexy my female relatives are, so maybe next time it would be return to my roots!

Well this a forum favorite. 15 pages pretty sure lots of bickering and stab wounds along the way! But on the original question. Me and MrsG are 5 years apart, and should anything happen and I was 'back in the game' so to speak I'd be looking for something similar, if indeed I could even be bothered frankly. I would have no desire to be an ATM to some woman old enough to be my daughter, and who probably couldn't hold a conversation with me, since we would be worlds apart. So, I'd be looking for a woman of my own generation who I could feel comfortable with, share similar life experiences, had our kids and grandkids, and not have some pressure to 'perform' so to speak. Those days are over thank God, and I just want to be myself

@andych don't get any of us wrong. I've been happily married together with my wife for over 20+ years, kids the works. But I met my wife at work, a very typical workplace relationship which ultimately developed, well it was a workplace affair since I was still married at the time! So anything is possible. But the situation you describe is for all us that have lived in Thailand, it's a classic minefield Don't underestimate a Thai woman, who has, or is in the trade to concoct a very plausible story, I think they trade scenarios. You wouldn't be the first to fall for it, God knows the streets are paved with guys have fell for it. So you do what you gotta do but for God's sake go into it with your eyes open cos you're gonna need it with everything you've described

I did have to admire the embassy's humorous response, maybe the Government does have a sense of humor.... The embassy added that it “will continue to make tea in the proper way — by microwaving it.”

To kinda wrap up this thread. The OP is looking for some kind of validation for his situation. For most of the seasoned guys, it just wreaks of disaster Maybe not now a bar girl, and maybe works in a restaurant now, but Dear Lord, how many 'cashiers' are out there! So he's gonna do what he's gonna do, maybe it'll work out but I hope he understands the odds are stacked against it. Trouble is as a newbie, he has no clue how many times we have all heard this tale, and it feels like lambs to the slaughter. Good Luck, but you aren't got to get the response you want from this group, you're on your own!

Actually right now we're in Sweden for vacation then on to Thailand through March. As for my wife's overstay friends, not a one of them came with a bf in tow Regular tourist visas, overstayed then met a guy got married, then they apply for a change of status. One of our friends she was here close to 10 years overstay, before she married a guy from the local AFB. For her sins he got posted to Minot ND!

The CO's tread a difficult path. I won't deny I was totally pissed off when my then gf was denied a tourist visa after years of living together. But, my now wife is a legal resident, I look around her group of friends here in little 'ol Rapid City City South Dakota, with the exception of my wife and one other lady who like my wife came in as a resident, all of them came on tourist visas, overstayed, married a local guy the list goes on. The CO's have to navigate this minefield and I'm pretty sure it's not easy

Tourist visas are a real crap shoot. I understand the horrendous rate of single Thai women who come in and overstay, for various reasons and the obvious one is probably the one that occupies the CO most. But then there are the ones like my wife, who before we were married applied for a tourist visa and was denied. Brought up in Chicago as a teenager, US college educated, good job in Thailand, we owned our home, I thought it was a slam dunk, silly me. My only thought was that the CO 'thought' we would travel to the US get married and then apply for an adjustment of status, in order to bypass the normal immigration process. I also think by the time she gets to the interview the decision has already been made, and no matter what pile of documentation she has in her hand won't make a scrap of difference Ironically after we got legally married we applied for an immigrant visa, nothing in our life had changed except for that piece of paper, and it sailed though, and she's now a green card holder

The one thing I would add. For most of us reading this it sets off alarm bells. Imagine what it would do in a CO's mind processing a tourist visa. Tread very carefully, visas nowadays don't come cheap and just make sure you're not throwing money away at a hopeless cause

Language is tough. As I've said before my wife grew up in her teenage years in Chicago, then lived in Singapore where we met. When our son was young we did like almost all multilingual parents only spoke in one language at a time until he'd mastered them all. After that we generally always spoke English at home, except when my wife is really angry at me and it devolves into a Lao/Thai tirade, which since I speak both I understand. On the flip side, if I'm really pissed off with her I revert to Spanish, which she doesn't understand, but knows it's bad! But not sure I could live with someone where our mutual communication was severely limited. Not saying I need in depth conversation on particle physics, but just everyday chit chat on the weather, work, dinner, and my personal favorite politics which we argue about constantly. She loves Trump! Maybe it's the arguing thing I'd miss, rather than the default Thai female screaming

I must admit if she tells the OP she's a 'cashier' OMG the classic trap

Got to admit you're right, this sets off all the alarm bells. Two week holiday romance and we're talking about marriage!! It smacks of a middle man and middle aged angst, or madness you choose. The debt, being still married, elevate it to a four alarm fire. All that being said, maybe it is all real and doable, but for God's sake a long way from talking about bringing this woman to the UK. Tourist visas for Thai women to Western countries are notoriously hard, for very obvious reasons. My wife, who grew up as a teenager in the US when back in Thailand before we were married, good job still got denied a tourist visa and I'm pretty sure the same random stuff is true for UK tourist visas. But try that first, a lot of Thai women have a fantastical image of mythical magical farang land where the streets are paved with gold

The joys of journalism in Thailand is that you simply go back through your reports for 10+ years, copy and paste the same story and change the date! Jeez how many times to I have to read this fantasy

To reiterate what others have said. When my wife went back to Thailand last year, she realized upon entry her passport would expire in two months, right after she returned to the US. She went to the passport office in Khon Kaen, did the application, picked up the passport the next day. This isn't a problem you need to sweat about

Hmmm, I have a co-worker, she's early 50's married to a Jamaican 35 year old guy. He's already under a deportation order, I'd bet dollars to donuts I'd guarantee no matter how it turns out, either he gets a green card or he's deported it's over between them Cynical as I am sure he's sticking it out to get through immigration court