A while back, I crossed the border into Malaysia. It took me an hour or two, I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Then I realized what it was.

No walls, no bars on the windows (and not wood "windows," but glass), and green lawns.

Right across the border.

Sounds like a society of decent people.

Yes, Muslim society has its positive points. Perhaps you should convert.

You don't have to be Muslim to live in a decent society.

Wait a minute, so you agree that Malaysian society is somehow more decent than Thailand? Perhaps you guys should all head over there. I was just jerking the guy's chain. HG is a racist and what I've noticed about racists in Thailand is that they may not like the Thais, but they hate Muslims even more.

Actually, comparing the two (houses in the West and in Thailand).

After years of living here, I think the biggest shock when going home on holidays is seeing suburban streets of houses with no walls, no fences, no bars on the windows... just open lawns running down to the road, windows unbarred.

Which country is Buddhist again.

.

A while back, I crossed the border into Malaysia. It took me an hour or two, I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Then I realized what it was.

No walls, no bars on the windows (and not wood "windows," but glass), and green lawns.

Right across the border.

In Mexico, a largely Roman Catholic country, you can scarcely find a house anywhere which does not have bars on the windows and broken glass/barbed wire topped perimeter fencing.

Either of you esteemed social anthropologists care to take a stab at explaining this?

By the way, I can't think of a single house in my village which has bars on the windows.

Heijoshin - - If your comments are an example of the 'superior' insights the ex-expat brings to the table, feel free to spare us your wisdom and let us wallow in our ignorance.

Actually, comparing the two (houses in the West and in Thailand).

After years of living here, I think the biggest shock when going home on holidays is seeing suburban streets of houses with no walls, no fences, no bars on the windows... just open lawns running down to the road, windows unbarred.

Which country is Buddhist again.

.

A while back, I crossed the border into Malaysia. It took me an hour or two, I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Then I realized what it was.

No walls, no bars on the windows (and not wood "windows," but glass), and green lawns.

Right across the border.

In Mexico, a largely Roman Catholic country, you can scarcely find a house anywhere which does not have bars on the windows and broken glass/barbed wire topped perimeter fencing.

Either of you esteemed social anthropologists care to take a stab at explaining this?

By the way, I can't think of a single house in my village which has bars on the windows.

Heijoshin - - If your comments are an example of the 'superior' insights the ex-expat brings to the table, feel free to spare us your wisdom and let us wallow in our ignorance.

.

Your dogging me all over TV, like a puppy nipping at my heels, barking false accusations and snide, unimaginative comments, where once entertaining, has become tedious.

But feel free to have the last word, I certainly don't need to have it:

In the post you quote, I made a simple observation, nothing more. So please tell us all where I, or HappyGrumpy, claimed an explanation for what we observed, or any insight into it.

Either tell us, or go pick on someone of your own intellect.

Actually, comparing the two (houses in the West and in Thailand).

After years of living here, I think the biggest shock when going home on holidays is seeing suburban streets of houses with no walls, no fences, no bars on the windows... just open lawns running down to the road, windows unbarred.

Which country is Buddhist again.

.

A while back, I crossed the border into Malaysia. It took me an hour or two, I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Then I realized what it was.

No walls, no bars on the windows (and not wood "windows," but glass), and green lawns.

Right across the border.

In Mexico, a largely Roman Catholic country, you can scarcely find a house anywhere which does not have bars on the windows and broken glass/barbed wire topped perimeter fencing.

Either of you esteemed social anthropologists care to take a stab at explaining this?

By the way, I can't think of a single house in my village which has bars on the windows.

Heijoshin - - If your comments are an example of the 'superior' insights the ex-expat brings to the table, feel free to spare us your wisdom and let us wallow in our ignorance.

.

Your dogging me all over TV, like a puppy nipping at my heels, barking false accusations and snide, unimaginative comments, where once entertaining, has become tedious.

But feel free to have the last word, I certainly don't need to have it:

In the post you quote, I made a simple observation, nothing more. So please tell us all where I, or HappyGrumpy, claimed an explanation for what we observed, or any insight into it.

Either tell us, or go pick on someone of your own intellect.

HappyGrumpy attempted to erroneously depict Thailand as a walled-in society bristling with perimeter fencing, and security bars on every window, contrasting this with America's supposed lack of need for security presumably because everyone there knows how to act right. (Never mind America's penchant for house alarms, private security guards, gated communities, its incarceration rates, high gun ownership rates, etc., etc.)

You blundered into the conversation, agreeing with Happy Grumpy that Thailand did indeed have a lot of security fencing and bars on windows, even when you compared it to Malaysia (whoops! an Islamic country). Happy Grumpy suggested that because Thailand was largely Buddhist but had more window bars and perimeter security fencing than "back home in the West", this raised questions about the true moral fibre of Thais (a post you "liked"). In your post you expressed admiration for predominantly Islamic Malaysia's absence of walls and bars as well as their "green lawns" and "real" windows, contrasting it favorably to predominantly Buddhist Thailand.

Do you really think it is intellectually honest to now try and characterize these comments as just innocent observations? I don't.

Trust me, I'm not stalking you. In fact, I'm doing my best to ignore you. But when someone claims they bring superior insights to the table, and they make what I consider to be negative, superficial and oftentimes erroneous comments such as yours, I'm going to call you on it.

I promise to stop double spacing, now realizing how easy it makes it for you to read between the lines and comment on what's not there.

I promise to stop double spacing, now realizing how easy it makes it for you to read between the lines and comment on what's not there.

Hmmm....you noticed it too.....reading between the lines ....and drawing conclusions based on eye of the wannabe beholder.....he is not the only one though....it is rife on here...

HappyGrumpy attempted to erroneously depict Thailand as a walled-in society bristling with perimeter fencing, and security bars on every window, contrasting this with America's supposed lack of need for security presumably because everyone there knows how to act right. (Never mind America's penchant for house alarms, private security guards, gated communities, its incarceration rates, high gun ownership rates, etc., etc.)

Eh?

My only ever time visiting America was for a quick 2 week bike ride down along So-Cal.

You don't half make up a lot of rubbish.

I was just jerking the guy's chain. HG is a racist and what I've noticed about racists in Thailand is that they may not like the Thais, but they hate Muslims even more.

Now that is an odd fantasy of yours - given that half my family come from Italian Tunisian Muslims, but hey, don't let your fantasies get in the way of your stalking trolling. Perhaps you'll even be able to use this in a racist, stalking, trolling attack in the future. It's obviously your level.

Sad.

I promise to stop double spacing, now realizing how easy it makes it for you to read between the lines and comment on what's not there.

Hmmm....you noticed it too.....reading between the lines ....and drawing conclusions based on eye of the wannabe beholder.....he is not the only one though....it is rife on here...

.

With such ironic witticisms as, "Trust me, Im not here to stalk you …" the post delivered a full day's allotment of comic relief.

I am saddened, however, to learn I am an intellectually dishonest racist. A blundering one, at that.

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

This happened to me just two weeks ago !!

They decided after many years to re-surface the farm track that runs outside my home, covering the hard red mud/gravel with a grey shale type surface. They started at the top of the track, stopped where my property starts, and commenced again where my property finished. Wife asked why they stopped, "ferang have money", so the wife speaks with her Father, Father disappears on his motorcycle, returns 20 minutes later, and trucks re-appear and complete the missing section outside our home.

Leave it to the Thais to sort out ! problem sorted in short time. alt=thumbsup.gif>

I never cease to be amazed!

Can't blame them though. When the government charges us 10 times more for things, we can't blame the locals.

I live on a on road connecting to villages, each housing a couple of hundred people. I wonder if they would do that at our house.

Let's see,

Chonburi(ram) property: asphalt deck redone 5 years ago with concrete, cost 1.400.000฿, have a few generals in my "backyard" still use a dirtroad to enter theirs.

We like to wind them up in rainy season that they soil up again "our" nice, white, shiny concrete tarmac.

(chon)Buriram, Mil's abode: dirtroad in the village covered with concrete, leveled and connected smoothly with the washed concrete from her driveway, cost 350 000฿.

Except from the conection to mothers driveway (a bottle of lao kao, 40%) we had to pay nil, nothing, nada, zilch.

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

Actually, comparing the two (houses in the West and in Thailand).

After years of living here, I think the biggest shock when going home on holidays is seeing suburban streets of houses with no walls, no fences, no bars on the windows... just open lawns running down to the road, windows unbarred.

Which country is Buddhist again.

Which country is rich and which country is not....again? Don't mistake religious values and economic conditions.....

Some pictures: