11 hours ago, Pompeygeezer said:

"I always advise guys before coming here to read a few of the books on Thai romance scams." I don't think that is neccesary really, it's just common sense and to be streetwise. It's easy to sus out if someone is scamming you, whether it's Thai woman or a foreigner.

Well it is for you and it was for me, but a lot of guys just don't have enough common sense to be able to figure this stuff out, without a significant amount of advice and tutoring.

I have a friend of a friend from Australia who's being led around by the nose by an older, and fairly unattractive woman who he's only known for 6 months, and the amount of money that she's been able to extract from him thus far is alarming. And he's planning on marrying her. Good luck with that. I give him 2 years and chances are he's going to lose many, many millions of baht over the course of that time.

11 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Well it is for you and it was for me, but a lot of guys just don't have enough common sense to be able to figure this stuff out, without a significant amount of advice and tutoring.

I have a friend of a friend from Australia who's being led around by the nose by an older, and fairly unattractive woman who he's only known for 6 months, and the amount of money that she's been able to extract from him thus far is alarming. And he's planning on marrying her. Good luck with that. I give him 2 years and chances are he's going to lose many, many millions of baht over the course of that time.

True. Common sense isn't that common.

On 7/11/2026 at 9:11 AM, Thingamabob said:

The first lesson to learn before arriving in Thailand is that most Thai people worship money more than they worship anything else.

"The nicest people that money can buy"

-

On 7/11/2026 at 9:11 AM, Thingamabob said:

The first lesson to learn before arriving in Thailand is that most Thai people worship money more than they worship anything else.

"The nicest people that money can buy."

- Spalding Gray

On 7/12/2026 at 6:33 AM, vangrop said:

99% have of the homeless have mental issues. I know what I am talking about becausze I had a lot of acquaintance of that type in my country. Most have no contact anymore with their family be it on purpose or becausze rejected

That's a completely made up stat. 99%?!!

13 minutes ago, alex8912 said:

That's a completely made up stat. 99%?!!

It's actually around 70%, and those are stats from polls, meaning there are thousands of homeless who haven't been tested, let alone even spoken to. Many are single parents who weren't helped with housing or didn't try to obtain it.

The main problem is those losing their homes for any number of reasons besides not caring to pay the mortgages.

How much money is spent on the military, of course which is needed but having American citizens losing their homes is abominable.

A ton of money should go towards Section 8 housing, so that anyone who qualifies is in a home, especially with dependents. There are empty homes in all states which should be filled.

On 7/11/2026 at 11:21 PM, alex8912 said:

You can NOT call collect from Thailand to USA, Canada and I bet many other countries. No matter what your back side of credit card says.

I don't think it's been possible to call collect from Thailand for at least 20 years. I end up calling the number using one of the cheaper outgoing Thai mobile exchanges. Then I hear a recorded male voice "Operator, we accept all collect calls." - quaint like from the 1980s. Even if I had a TOT landline, I'd have no idea how to reach a Thai operator..

On 7/12/2026 at 1:22 AM, rickudon said:

Those who come to work in Thailand, particularly self employed are in a much more difficult position.

In the context of banking - even though I worked for years in Thailand and have accounts with two different Thai banks - i worry what would happen if I were overseas and lost my mobile phone and my Thai ATM card stopped working. The end of web banking in Thailand has some serious short comings. If overseas and you lose your phone or it craps out, how do you pay your rent or your bills without the app? There is no branch to walk into. Maybe phone banking? I don't accept the excuses of Thai banks that Web banking is not secure. I have web banking access to four different accounts in big-name banks of three Western countries. What's special about Thailand??

On 7/11/2026 at 9:13 AM, BritManToo said:

All my family and friends are dead, at age 70 I'm the last man standing.

I'm 59, 21 years in Thailand, all my friends except one has died here.

Four died younger than me around 50 by lungcancer and liver problems.

Three of old age, among them Swedish man that moved to Samui 1974.

Two that just disappeared

Some years ago I was watching a documentary about Sydney Airport, Australia...One man had arrived on a direct flight from either Houston or Dallas, USA, immigration officers found that he had no money on him whatsoever, and no means of getting any.

Don't they accept prisoners anymore

On 7/17/2026 at 10:07 PM, fredwiggy said:

It's actually around 70%, and those are stats from polls, meaning there are thousands of homeless who haven't been tested, let alone even spoken to. Many are single parents who weren't helped with housing or didn't try to obtain it.

SensitiveSubjects

The main problem is those losing their homes for any number of reasons besides not caring to pay the mortgages.

How much money is spent on the military, of course which is needed but having American citizens losing their homes is abominable.

A ton of money should go towards Section 8 housing, so that anyone who qualifies is in a home, especially with dependents. There are empty homes in all states which should be filled.

Obviously you're not a landlord in the USA. More section 8!!?? Oh yah.

People who go to a foreign country ill prepared get no sympathy from me if they have problems and cannot get their own

way back to their hime country. Thi woman gets no sympathy if she had troubles after only 4 weeks. Boo Hoo honey,

hope you got at least one relative that can pay your way back to the USA.

8 hours ago, alex8912 said:

Obviously you're not a landlord in the USA. More section 8!!?? Oh yah.

No one wants the Section 8 creature moving in next door.

9 hours ago, alex8912 said:

Obviously you're not a landlord in the USA. More section 8!!?? Oh yah.

Yes, helping Americans stay in their homes, and get into homes, should be a priority, instead of putting money towards foreign affairs and military first. They say America first, which means it's people who are struggling.There are also rental assistance programs that could be more funded. A lot of people out there with children in America that don't have the basic necessities.

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by fredwiggy

32 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

A lot of people out there with children in America that don't have the basic necessities.

A gun and a bong?

5 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

A gun and a bong?

A home, daily food, schooling, affordable health care.