Scandals sell newspapers. The media loves to show the bricks rather than the bouquets so we don't always hear/read of the random acts of kindness of strangers. Occasionally a board member writes a snippet like a Thai returning a lost wallet or a pharmacist making them chicken soup, and so on which I find inspiring.

Do you have any heartwarming stories?

Too many to enumerate! But I will say that it takes time for Thais to get to know you and for you to demonstrate that you are a good guy. Going back to the same places year after year helps alot.

Many friends for like. However, totally agree takes time ( long ) to cement relationships, but when you do...........................magic

With the number of 'heart of gold' news stories that get published or featured on local TV you would think that the average Baht Bus driver spends abut 40% of his day returning wallets stuffed full of Baht, Euro and Dinar.

I wonder if 'we' allowed them to keep what they find they might charge one price per passenger regardless of race.

Too many heart-warming stories to count - just simple acts of human kindness. That's a major part of what makes this such a great place to live.

On the wallets being returned thing, we also had a good experience. We had such a lot of luggage we hired a minibus to take us from Bangkok to Patters. Of all the bags I could forget and leave on the minibus, it had to be the one containing my digital SLR, the compact camera, my wallet with money and credit cards, as well as my phone and goodness knows what all else. Talk about being stupid!

The driver found the bag and handed it in intact to the travel agent we'd booked the minibus through, and we got it back the next day or so. It took us a while to track down the driver so we could reward him but we got there in the end. It would've cost a small fortune to replace all that stuff, not to mention the inconvenience of losing it.

I've mentioned various incidents in the past. They usually get glossed over and disappear quickly while everyone concentrates on the bad stories.

As for "paying it forward".

Not involving a Thai, but a couple nights ago I was standing outside a certain "establishment" downtown. A fellow farang stopped outside and was pulling something out from his pocket. Turns out he had a hole in the pocket and a number of items fell out. He picked them up and went inside.

A minute later I noticed he'd missed a credit card. I picked it up, went in and handed it back to him. No big deal. He tried to buy me a drink shortly after, but I had already paid my bin and left.

Couple nights later we ran into each other at a different "establishment". He bought me a drink. I figured we were square anyways, but it was appreciated. Later on he insisted on paying my bin (despite me noting that my bin was mine and my dads and was about 4k).

I recall some old saying from some where, along the lines of "Doing the right thing is reward enough itself". Some times though, doing the right thing may even get you a free nights drinking !