asdecas

Oh, and only carry $200 in your wallet, if you get robbed they target your wallet not your jocks.

Being Australian, he'll keep it in his budgie smugglers. Any self-respecting thief knows that.

In a word - "Thainess".

It's difficult to understand how the west has managed not to collapse when I think about the high quality individuals who have left the 'nanny state' to enjoy life in Thailand. Every where I go in Thailand I meet these guys, highly educated, highly qualified, high achievers, high contributors; the movers and shakers the west so desperately needs and must be hurting on account of their absence.

Even though not in the west, and perhaps not been in the west for a number of years, they have their finger on the pulse, they understand the problems, they have all the answers - they know precisely who to blame. They are a sad loss to their home countries.

But then they do at least quietly sneak home to 'nanny' when they need her.

You're absolutely right, and another mystery is why so many of these high net worth entrepreneurial individuals from the best universities wear wife beaters; are they, like the business socks worn with open-toed sandals, some sort of sign of recognition in the higher echelons of freemasonry?

Hardly novel opinion from HE The Japanese Ambassador; with the current reactionaries in power touting the supposed virtues of 'Thainess', one primary tenet of which is for people to know and keep in their place, it is hardly surprising that education, apprenticeship and learning in general are, if anything, slipping backwards, while the country's peers move ahead.

Thailand had a window of opportunity from the late seventies to the mid-nineties. During that period, the demography, economic and social conditions were ripe for the country to make progress on many fronts. Instead, the forces of entrenched privilege and political opportunism made sure that the status quo was maintained.

Disgusting - young ageophile Thai women snapping up the cream of middle-aged farang manhood. It should be illegal.

The idiots got carried away at auction. Not the first to have second thoughts and won't be the last, but they should suffer the consequences of their idiocy.

Start at the top and work down. Big C is the place to begin.

Are spittoons and drying areas for Chinese underwear provided?

Who's the auntie with the amulet?

Joe - is there any absolute definition as to what is and what is not an acceptable place to deposit the necessary funds for retirement and/or marriage extensions? Clearly savings accounts and term deposits at banks recognised by the BoT, I suppose. How about investment in funds on the SET, are these acceptable? I ask because certain funds will pay a dividend of 6-7% (though the capital value fluctuates day-to-day), far better than the risible 1-2% paid on term deposits at local banks.

Make a complete nuisance of yourself by complaining to everyone who will listen about this licentious and mercenary harridan. Make sure you include all her boyfriends and male family members. Dig a six-foot trench and prepare to lie in it.

Wait till you meet her 'cousin'!

I doubt 'apathy' is correct here - the riders will surely have some strong opinions.

First of if it was a hoax they should get hold of the caller and give a string examplorary punishment which can be even a capital punishment for playing with so many people's lives.

Secondly Air India and Indian based airlines has been always a subject like this even in the past including stories of hijack. That's bad for their business and reputation in deed.

What is a "string examplorary punishment"? It sounds frightwineing, or is it a case of one sisal fits all?

In a long list of items I would least like to receive as a prize, a massage chair comes top, slightly above The Compleat Barry Manilow Recordings in crush velvet presentation box.

There are a great many stray Brits on the streets of Pattaya. With their mange, their shifty demeanour and nervous tics, their bloated, elephantine bellies and bloodshot eyes, it is hard to categorise them as happy.

This story about government officials taking the law into their own hands is not new. I've had this problem with my son, born in Thailand, of Thai mother, when Thai nationality was denied on them. Until he reached 15 years, each time we travelled they would ask for a visa when we re-entered the country and I had to go the the higher echelon immigration official to let my son in. Same at departure when they tried to fine him for overstaying. The officials all know the rule, but it's a way to shake the foreigners who don't know it. Expect a huge chaos now that the law has been enacted.

Quite so, but someone has to pay for the patronage it cost to get Immigration Officer Terdsak his sinecure, and Johnnie Foreigner is traditionally the one to front up.

What about my tikals?

"with a polite boss, and make 100 baht/hour, paid in cash each day"

Perhaps you need adopt a more indigenous, IR approach

Work em' 6 days a week dawn to dusk, buy them lunch, pay em' Tb500 cash at the end of each day and then tell them if you want them to work tomorrow.

Tends to work well with lower skilled workers here and keeps them interested in turning up to work each day - from what I have been told.

You forgot the sleeping on the kitchen floor.

Buy him some Hello Kitty slippers. When you come round, start packing.

Good to see some opinions other than those the holier-than-thou crowd offer regularly.

Too, too silly. Nobody is going to apprehend you for carrying 12 Viagra for personal use without a prescription - unless you happen to be smuggling heroin or your name is Charles Sobhraj or some such as well.

And in any case, Kamagra, the locally-manufactured generic is, as written above, perfectly effective and genuine if bought in a reputable pharmacy, and should cost 180-200 Baht for a 4-tab sheet. I would avoid buying from street vendors in tourist areas, and pharmacies in those areas may sell at an inflated price.

Why can't I see stuff like that when I'm stuck in traffic?!

Because farang pay money. Always.

I am not a financial expert but even I can see the world economy is in serious trouble. From my prospective as an Aussie it's been a bit hard to take when your exchange rate goes from 32.5 baht to the $ down to 24.5 baht!

What that means is the new Mitsubishi Sports I wanted, ain't gunna happen! The big screen TV, ain't gunna happen. Extraneous spending on anything ain't gunna happen.

But I guess some will be worse off than I, so I won't complain too much!

What, a wingeing Aussie? Leave it to the Poms, Sport.

Clearly the OP meant what he said: risqué, otherwise his initial post would not have the tone it does.