The Logic Behind The Visa Crackdown

[h90]

The logic behind the visa crackdown

Some men over 50 will probably switch to the so-called one year retiremernt visa provided they have the necessary cash and pension income. The farangs in real trouble with the new regulations are those who are trapped here on small or inadequate budgets. Many are nice guys, but frankly they contribute little to the local economy. Their option as things now stand is to mix visas on arrival (for three months) with a single entry 90 day tourist visa from Penang.

-- Pattaya Today 2006-10-01

The 800k or 65k/month is a rather high amount to qualify.

20 to 30k is often sufficient to live a decent life in a village.

Many retirees have a retirement income between 30k and 60k, These are not welcome here. I suppose they don't help the thai economy at a sufficient level...

Backpackers who "only spend" 30k or less are not welcome to stay over 90 days neither: they do not contribute to the economy of Thailand??? They forget young student backpackers are the future of our societies.

But Thailand dreams of getting 15 million "good" tourists next year, all attracted by this brand new world class airport....

Me thinks the thai authorities could use some lessons in economy.

when a thai can live with 4000 Bht/month why can't a farang with 10.000?

Why can't marry a poor farang a rich thai woman and get a visa on that?

[soap]

The logic behind the visa crackdown

the logic is simple,

for the past couple of years many farang have gone over the borders of laos,burma,cambodia,

and paid for a 30 day stamp to the border countries without giving the thai goverment a penny.,

now the penny as dropped with the thais,hence the new visa rules,instead of paying the border

countries 500baht (whatever)every month now the thais want their slice of the cake, so every 90 days they want you to pay for a visa with the visa fee going to the thai goverment.

i can see in time the thais making it easier for people to get visas inside of thailand because then they can recoup all the visa fees themselves.

when the thai goverment trust their immigration officers to issue a one year retirement visa the same day but dont trust them to give a tourist visa out at the borders so the farang have to walk the couple of hundred metres round trip (mae sai) hand their 500 baht over to burma then come back into thailand without paying another penny.

the logic for me is for the thai immigration officers to issue tourists visas etc at their border office compile all the passport info on their computers (for the blacklisted) and keep all the cake for themselves

[h90]

the logic is simple,

for the past couple of years many farang have gone over the borders of laos,burma,cambodia,

and paid for a 30 day stamp to the border countries without giving the thai goverment a penny.,

now the penny as dropped with the thais,hence the new visa rules,instead of paying the border

countries 500baht (whatever)every month now the thais want their slice of the cake, so every 90 days they want you to pay for a visa with the visa fee going to the thai goverment.

i can see in time the thais making it easier for people to get visas inside of thailand because then they can recoup all the visa fees themselves.

when the thai goverment trust their immigration officers to issue a one year retirement visa the same day but dont trust them to give a tourist visa out at the borders so the farang have to walk the couple of hundred metres round trip (mae sai) hand their 500 baht over to burma then come back into thailand without paying another penny.

the logic for me is for the thai immigration officers to issue tourists visas etc at their border office compile all the passport info on their computers (for the blacklisted) and keep all the cake for themselves

I can't follow your explanation. If they just want the money, why not make a counter at the immigration in Bangkok/Phuket/Pattaya, you go there every 3 month, show your documents, pay 6000 Baht (for example as 1 Visa run is approx. 2000 Baht). They can check you in the computer.

They get money, get you checked, you pay the same, don't have to sit in the bus for 10 hours and everyone would be happy. Or make it the double price accounting that some of the guys may work and don't pay the tax, so Thailand also gets it share on that.

One officer can process say 100 farangs per day incl. checks=60.000 Baht/officer/day

That would be the logic solution of the problems you describe.

Edit: maybe I should write that to the immigration.

Edited October 3, 2006 by george

[soap]

[

I can't follow your explanation. If they just want the money, why not make a counter at the immigration in Bangkok/Phuket/Pattaya, you go there every 3 month, show your documents, pay

i dont know why you cant understand my explanation because by your post you agree with what

i have said.

it would not matter what immigration office you applied to for a visa, the only reason i said

a border immigration office is because i live close to the border, but any immigration office in thailand could process a tourist visa and check all applicants on a computer

[pap]

The logic behind the visa crackdown

Some men over 50 will probably switch to the so-called one year retiremernt visa provided they have the necessary cash and pension income. The farangs in real trouble with the new regulations are those who are trapped here on small or inadequate budgets. Many are nice guys, but frankly they contribute little to the local economy. Their option as things now stand is to mix visas on arrival (for three months) with a single entry 90 day tourist visa from Penang.

The 800k or 65k/month is a rather high amount to qualify.

20 to 30k is often sufficient to live a decent life in a village.

Many retirees have a retirement income between 30k and 60k, These are not welcome here. I suppose they don't help the thai economy at a sufficient level...

Backpackers who "only spend" 30k or less are not welcome to stay over 90 days neither: they do not contribute to the economy of Thailand??? They forget young student backpackers are the future of our societies.

But Thailand dreams of getting 15 million "good" tourists next year, all attracted by this brand new world class airport....

Me thinks the thai authorities could use some lessons in economy.

Well said, Backpackers grow up. Well...most.... They will remember the places they loved and the places they hated and many of them will take that knowledge into their future. And at the very least they will tell others of their experiences. Good and bad. Short term thought is not the most productive. They are future consumers. Many of them will be much more knowledgeable in the future because of their adventures. Restricting them too much hurts everyone.

But the second post of this thread should tell us we shouldn't get to caught up in it being directed at Farangs althought the effects will be felt by farangs as well and therefore is not without consequence.

[drummer]

Britmaveric ..... please elaborate. Nam Khao ... Go to a street vendor and be as condescending as you possibly can ... then try to buy something!

I can't follow your explanation. If they just want the money, why not make a counter at the immigration in Bangkok/Phuket/Pattaya, you go there every 3 month, show your documents, pay 6000 Baht (for example as 1 Visa run is approx. 2000 Baht). They can check you in the computer.

They get money, get you checked, you pay the same, don't have to sit in the bus for 10 hours and everyone would be happy. Or make it the double price accounting that some of the guys may work and don't pay the tax, so Thailand also gets it share on that.

One officer can process say 100 farangs per day incl. checks=60.000 Baht/officer/day

That would be the logic solution of the problems you describe.

Edit: maybe I should write that to the immigration.

THIS would be the best and easiest was to perform a census.... not a long rewrite of Immigration law making people go to Malaysia...

[Pakboong]

why do they want high quality tourists who stay in the sheraton , royal cliff? in the long term it's the low quality types who fall in love and marry prostitutes and come back year after year , buying houses in nong khai etc that they should be trying to attract . people with real money dont need to come back to thailand year after year ,they can go anywhere they like and have a good time .

Well, thats kind of missing the forest for the trees... they DO NOT WANT the people who fall in love with prostitutes at all. Those are dirty, dirty people that Thailand is better off without, regardless of how much money they have.

How many Asians do you see partaking in the sex industry? I don't mean how many do - how many do you actually see? It is a loss of face for Thailand for people to see it.

A good reply if judgemental. What has to be kept in mind is the fact that "whore-marriers" (for want of a better term) don't marry the first whore they meet, as a rule. Part of the Thai desire to control or expel a certain type of foreigner is rooted in the wish to eliminate a certain set of social ills that those foreigners create or exacerbate. We could take Pattaya as the prime example, but it's probably too early to risk pulling this thread so far off topic by opening that can of worms (again).

Thai-spy, I think you are on the right track. The whole matter is one of socio-economics. The loss of of face is huge and must send chills up the spines of every educated Thai professional who has to endure the sight of someone like myself setting up a home in their neighborhood with my girlfriend who is half my age. Since they can't solve the problem with regard to the rural poor Thai stepping out of their place in the pecking order, they can only deal with us Farangs who have aided and abetted those individuals.

[britmaveric]

Britmaveric ..... please elaborate.

Most thai(s) do not care one way or another if a farang is in a bar with a thai lady. Nor do they care if they are walking down the street with a lady. So your whole premise completely is off base. Prostitution is in the open even for thai(s) -farangs don't see it because they don't frequent the same spots.

[Unknown]

Why should there be any logic?

I mean as far as foreigners logic is concerned...

[mopenyang]

If the idea behind all this is to keep people from living in Thailand indefinitely as a tourist, how does permitting 3 x 30 day voa's followed by tourist visas followed by 3 x 30 day voa's followed by tourist visas with the cycle continuing ad infinitum satisfy such a goal?

[cclub75]

If the idea behind all this is to keep people from living in Thailand indefinitely as a tourist, how does permitting 3 x 30 day voa's followed by tourist visas followed by 3 x 30 day voa's followed by tourist visas with the cycle continuing ad infinitum satisfy such a goal?

You only... assume that this "scheme" will be valid.

Personally, I assume that this is a trap. A dead-end.

It might work, for sometimes, but at one point, embassies and consulates around the world will naturally start to refuse new tourist visas to people with a "heavy" visas history...

Eventually, the process will then be achieved.

Eventually, there is nothing special about this move (despite the fact that it has been a very slow one) : in no modern country, people can live on tourist visas all year long (whatever you call it, exemption of visa or regular tourist visa).

More than a money, tax, fight against crime, keeping record of people, face or whatever issue, I see the so called "visa shakeup" as only a symptom of Thailand seing itself as a modern country.

The party is over.

[Thaiquila]

More than a money, tax, fight against crime, keeping record of people, face or whatever issue, I see the so called "visa shakeup" as only a symptom of Thailand seing itself as a modern country.

The party is over.

Don't get your point. Every country on earth in 2006 is a "modern" country. Are you talking about first world countries or something economic? If so, do you really think Thailand is a first world country? And, actually, there are certainly other "modern" countries where people can reside for years on tourist visas ...

[PREM-R]

If the idea behind all this is to keep people from living in Thailand indefinitely as a tourist, how does permitting 3 x 30 day voa's followed by tourist visas followed by 3 x 30 day voa's followed by tourist visas with the cycle continuing ad infinitum satisfy such a goal?

You only... assume that this "scheme" will be valid.

Personally, I assume that this is a trap. A dead-end.

It might work, for sometimes, but at one point, embassies and consulates around the world will naturally start to refuse new tourist visas to people with a "heavy" visas history...

Eventually, the process will then be achieved.

Eventually, there is nothing special about this move (despite the fact that it has been a very slow one) : in no modern country, people can live on tourist visas all year long (whatever you call it, exemption of visa or regular tourist visa).

More than a money, tax, fight against crime, keeping record of people, face or whatever issue, I see the so called "visa shakeup" as only a symptom of Thailand seing itself as a modern country.

The party is over.

I think this is the point, no one knows if it will be possible to get 'back-to-back' tourist visas, certainly a number of TV contributors have already posted that their passport has been stamped with "too many trips to Thailand....... No more visa here!" But I do agree that the Thais have been very slow in making money from the 'visa runners'. To enter Laos you have to get a visa for 30 US or 1500 THB, wouldn't it have made sense for the Thais just to do something similar and charge 1500 THB for a 30 day entry stamp?

[drummer]

Britmaveric ..... please elaborate.

Most thai(s) do not care one way or another if a farang is in a bar with a thai lady. Nor do they care if they are walking down the street with a lady. So your whole premise completely is off base. Prostitution is in the open even for thai(s) -farangs don't see it because they don't frequent the same spots.

No .. you are right ... most Thais don't particularly care... even if the assumption is that she is an uneducated country bumpkin from the stix and a prostitute.

But then "most Thais" aren't setting the policy. I'm curious... one of the main lines of thinking I follow to arrive at that conculsion is the bit about not wanting "sexpats" around ... afterall, no one is omplaining baout the Chinese sex tourists, just the farang. And no one is certainly complaining about the massive Thai sex industry, either. So what sets the farang apart from the Asians?

[abdulrahman]

If the idea behind all this is to keep people from living in Thailand indefinitely as a tourist, how does permitting 3 x 30 day voa's followed by tourist visas followed by 3 x 30 day voa's followed by tourist visas with the cycle continuing ad infinitum satisfy such a goal?

You only... assume that this "scheme" will be valid.

Personally, I assume that this is a trap. A dead-end.

It might work, for sometimes, but at one point, embassies and consulates around the world will naturally start to refuse new tourist visas to people with a "heavy" visas history...

Eventually, the process will then be achieved.

Eventually, there is nothing special about this move (despite the fact that it has been a very slow one) : in no modern country, people can live on tourist visas all year long (whatever you call it, exemption of visa or regular tourist visa).

More than a money, tax, fight against crime, keeping record of people, face or whatever issue, I see the so called "visa shakeup" as only a symptom of Thailand seing itself as a modern country.

The party is over.

I think this is the point, no one knows if it will be possible to get 'back-to-back' tourist visas, certainly a number of TV contributors have already posted that their passport has been stamped with "too many trips to Thailand....... No more visa here!" But I do agree that the Thais have been very slow in making money from the 'visa runners'. To enter Laos you have to get a visa for 30 US or 1500 THB, wouldn't it have made sense for the Thais just to do something similar and charge 1500 THB for a 30 day entry stamp?

How many tourists yearly to Lao P.D.R. and how many to Thailand?

[ben01]

Just about everybody i know in Pattaya is a "whore-marrier"

Just one question dummer...

These people you know, ( the whore marriers) are they friends of yours.....??

Edited October 4, 2006 by ben01

[PREM-R]

If the idea behind all this is to keep people from living in Thailand indefinitely as a tourist, how does permitting 3 x 30 day voa's followed by tourist visas followed by 3 x 30 day voa's followed by tourist visas with the cycle continuing ad infinitum satisfy such a goal?

You only... assume that this "scheme" will be valid.

Personally, I assume that this is a trap. A dead-end.

It might work, for sometimes, but at one point, embassies and consulates around the world will naturally start to refuse new tourist visas to people with a "heavy" visas history...

Eventually, the process will then be achieved.

Eventually, there is nothing special about this move (despite the fact that it has been a very slow one) : in no modern country, people can live on tourist visas all year long (whatever you call it, exemption of visa or regular tourist visa).

More than a money, tax, fight against crime, keeping record of people, face or whatever issue, I see the so called "visa shakeup" as only a symptom of Thailand seing itself as a modern country.

The party is over.

I think this is the point, no one knows if it will be possible to get 'back-to-back' tourist visas, certainly a number of TV contributors have already posted that their passport has been stamped with "too many trips to Thailand....... No more visa here!" But I do agree that the Thais have been very slow in making money from the 'visa runners'. To enter Laos you have to get a visa for 30 US or 1500 THB, wouldn't it have made sense for the Thais just to do something similar and charge 1500 THB for a 30 day entry stamp?

How many tourists yearly to Lao P.D.R. and how many to Thailand?

I think you may not see my point, a TR tourist visa for Thailand from a consulate costs 1,000 baht,

where as a stamp on arrival without a visa is "free" would it not make sense for the Thais to charge for the stamp on arrival so that the people who just want to 'border-hop' can do so and the Thais make a profit. I suppose they could charge for the stamp on arrival just at overland entry points to Thailand, not at airports, where they will charge you 700 baht to leave the country.

[Chiang Rai,s Crazy Chris]

why do they want high quality tourists who stay in the sheraton , royal cliff? in the long term it's the low quality types who fall in love and marry prostitutes and come back year after year , buying houses in nong khai etc that they should be trying to attract . people with real money dont need to come back to thailand year after year ,they can go anywhere they like and have a good time .

Well, thats kind of missing the forest for the trees... they DO NOT WANT the people who fall in love with prostitutes at all. Those are dirty, dirty people that Thailand is better off without, regardless of how much money they have.

How many Asians do you see partaking in the sex industry? I don't mean how many do - how many do you actually see? It is a loss of face for Thailand for people to see it.

A good reply if judgemental. What has to be kept in mind is the fact that "whore-marriers" (for want of a better term) don't marry the first whore they meet, as a rule. Part of the Thai desire to control or expel a certain type of foreigner is rooted in the wish to eliminate a certain set of social ills that those foreigners create or exacerbate. We could take Pattaya as the prime example, but it's probably too early to risk pulling this thread so far off topic by opening that can of worms (again).

If the falangs did not marry or take edok thong or bar girls, and drugs thai people would starve to death and thaskin would be pennieless

[geoffphuket]

The logic behind the visa crackdown

Some men over 50 will probably switch to the so-called one year retiremernt visa provided they have the necessary cash and pension income. The farangs in real trouble with the new regulations are those who are trapped here on small or inadequate budgets. Many are nice guys, but frankly they contribute little to the local economy. Their option as things now stand is to mix visas on arrival (for three months) with a single entry 90 day tourist visa from Penang.

-- Pattaya Today 2006-10-01

Wasn't this already posted as being an incorrect statement by the journalist at the Pattaya post ?

There is no 90 day tourist visa.... 60+30 day extention at a immigration office in Thailand, yes.

[drummer]

Just about everybody i know in Pattaya is a "whore-marrier"

Just one question dummer...

These people you know, ( the whore marriers) are they friends of yours.....??

May I suggest you read the quote boxes more carefully in the future? I am not the one who you are directing your question. The 'dummer' part is really clever, though. I might also suggest your reading comprehension could be further improved by re-reading the entire post / thread for content.

[drummer]

If the falangs did not marry or take edok thong or bar girls, and drugs thai people would starve to death and thaskin would be pennieless

Ummm... I do hope this is in jest ....

[drummer]

I think you may not see my point, a TR tourist visa for Thailand from a consulate costs 1,000 baht,

where as a stamp on arrival without a visa is "free" would it not make sense for the Thais to charge for the stamp on arrival so that the people who just want to 'border-hop' can do so and the Thais make a profit. I suppose they could charge for the stamp on arrival just at overland entry points to Thailand, not at airports, where they will charge you 700 baht to leave the country.

Indeed a fine idea, but the point is that Thailand would be better off without foreigners - with or without their money. Thats where the part about xenophobia comes in.

To break down the rationale as I currently understand it:

There are certain issues that are causing a major loss of face for Thailand and other problematic issues (like drugs, etc) The Farang sex industry is getting negative press in other countries. the problem isn't the sex industry, nor even that farang are involved in it - it is merely the bad press that is really the problem. Associated the pee-pee touchers, the organized crime, drug use and such. These are real problems and are associated with foreign involvement in Thailand. Again, aprtly to save face for Thailand and partly from xenophobia, foreigners get blamed nearly 100% for many of these problems.

In addition, there are other misconceptions: for example... The backpackers are poor - they live cheap, are stingy(do not take care of those with less money). Their economic standing means taht they were bad people in their last life - they have very little merit. It also means that they have very little merit in this life as well. (this translates into probable pee-pee touchers!)

They also obviously contribute very little to the economy ... they are poor, right? And the only reason most longstayers live here is because it is cheap. If those longstayers had money then... well, the same thing applies as too the backpackers.

So Thailand would be better off by keeping evryone but the rich tourist out. This will eliminate the unsightly foreign presence and the unwelcome press it generates. Getting the poorer people out automatically gets the criminal element out of the country because... well, poor people *are* the bad people due to merit accrual.

While the above post would make a mint for Thailand, it would no address the lose of face that many Thai's feel when the 'country bumpkins' become their de facto ambassadors.

[PREM-R]

I think you may not see my point, a TR tourist visa for Thailand from a consulate costs 1,000 baht,

where as a stamp on arrival without a visa is "free" would it not make sense for the Thais to charge for the stamp on arrival so that the people who just want to 'border-hop' can do so and the Thais make a profit. I suppose they could charge for the stamp on arrival just at overland entry points to Thailand, not at airports, where they will charge you 700 baht to leave the country.

Indeed a fine idea, but the point is that Thailand would be better off without foreigners - with or without their money. Thats where the part about xenophobia comes in.

To break down the rationale as I currently understand it:

There are certain issues that are causing a major loss of face for Thailand and other problematic issues (like drugs, etc) The Farang sex industry is getting negative press in other countries. the problem isn't the sex industry, nor even that farang are involved in it - it is merely the bad press that is really the problem. Associated the pee-pee touchers, the organized crime, drug use and such. These are real problems and are associated with foreign involvement in Thailand. Again, aprtly to save face for Thailand and partly from xenophobia, foreigners get blamed nearly 100% for many of these problems.

In addition, there are other misconceptions: for example... The backpackers are poor - they live cheap, are stingy(do not take care of those with less money). Their economic standing means taht they were bad people in their last life - they have very little merit. It also means that they have very little merit in this life as well. (this translates into probable pee-pee touchers!)

They also obviously contribute very little to the economy ... they are poor, right? And the only reason most longstayers live here is because it is cheap. If those longstayers had money then... well, the same thing applies as too the backpackers.

So Thailand would be better off by keeping evryone but the rich tourist out. This will eliminate the unsightly foreign presence and the unwelcome press it generates. Getting the poorer people out automatically gets the criminal element out of the country because... well, poor people *are* the bad people due to merit accrual.

While the above post would make a mint for Thailand, it would no address the lose of face that many Thai's feel when the 'country bumpkins' become their de facto ambassadors.

Would it not be fair to say that the majority of the 'border hoppers' are not at the root of the "sex tourism' business in Thailand, surely far more of the single males who visit for two or three weeks

per year and spend their time in Pattaya, Phuket, Samui etc are the ones who may be accused of giving Thailand "bad press". I suspect that the majority of the longstay 'tourists' are infact in a steady relationship with a home and possibly children, they 'border hop' because they do not qualify either by age or by status ie: married to a Thai, for a long term visa.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

The logic behind the visa crackdown

Some men over 50 will probably switch to the so-called one year retiremernt visa provided they have the necessary cash and pension income. The farangs in real trouble with the new regulations are those who are trapped here on small or inadequate budgets. Many are nice guys, but frankly they contribute little to the local economy. Their option as things now stand is to mix visas on arrival (for three months) with a single entry 90 day tourist visa from Penang.

-- Pattaya Today 2006-10-01

Wasn't this already posted as being an incorrect statement by the journalist at the Pattaya post ?

There is no 90 day tourist visa.... 60+30 day extention at a immigration office in Thailand, yes.

CORRECT

[dr_Pat_Pong]

The logic behind the visa crackdown

Some men over 50 will probably switch to the so-called one year retiremernt visa provided they have the necessary cash and pension income. The farangs in real trouble with the new regulations are those who are trapped here on small or inadequate budgets. Many are nice guys, but frankly they contribute little to the local economy. Their option as things now stand is to mix visas on arrival (for three months) with a single entry 90 day tourist visa from Penang.

-- Pattaya Today 2006-10-01

Wasn't this already posted as being an incorrect statement by the journalist at the Pattaya post ?

There is no 90 day tourist visa.... 60+30 day extention at a immigration office in Thailand, yes.

CORRECT

[drummer]

Would it not be fair to say that the majority of the 'border hoppers' are not at the root of the "sex tourism' business in Thailand, surely far more of the single males who visit for two or three weeks

per year and spend their time in Pattaya, Phuket, Samui etc are the ones who may be accused of giving Thailand "bad press". I suspect that the majority of the longstay 'tourists' are infact in a steady relationship with a home and possibly children, they 'border hop' because they do not qualify either by age or by status ie: married to a Thai, for a long term visa.

I think you are refferring to a chicken/egg problem that is pretty easy to answer....

The sex tourists are not here because they can stay long time or short time. They are here because of short time or long time. The fact that prostitution is readily available draws people who want to use prostitutes. The bar owners in Pattaya are there because of Pattaya, Pattaya is not there because of the bar owners.

In my experience, sexpats are as or more likely to have a work permit than not, but I feel that the WP is a rather non-contributing factor as to their late night proclivities. Rather, I would tack this down to the Thai cultural assumption that if you don't have money then you are a ne'er-do-well ... based largely on how much merit you have apparantly accumulated.

There are a lot of guys with wives/kids who stay away from the bar, but, these are OBVIOUSLY the legal ones, right? Nice guys would have had the merit from past lives to have the good fortune to have a work permit already.

And yes, there are a large number of legitimate tourists who come for the prostitution. Oddly enough, this is the exact group that the new laws aim to keep here!

[Pakboong]

The vast majority of visits to prostitutes in Thailand are accomplished by Thai men. One source suggests upward of 450,000 visits per year. I don't think prositution itself is considered a major factor in all this. It is discretion or indiscrtion to the tune of parading these prostitutes around the towns and buying them gold, cars, large houses, etc... that causes the major loss of face. I am not casting stones here, I have done this myself many times. If we could keep it closed to public view it would probably be tolerated but we simply can't. I can't either. We insist upon walking about holding hands with hookers who are half our age. We rub the educated professional Thai's nose in it each and every day.

Imagine if any group of foreign toursist moved into Beverly Hills or Brentwood in Los Angeles and set up homes in the several million dollar range with the Crack Whores from West Hollywood. How long would the locals tolerated that? Not long.

Keeping the classes separated is also a related factor. Who buys all those 5 million baht houses in Pattaya? It is not the Thai Urban Professional. Many of these people have vast amounts of schooling and work experience and should they choose to buy one of these houses, they are likely to have to live next door to these rural Issan girls. Not what they dreamed of while chasing the right education and the right jobs to raise a proper family.

[tropo]

We insist upon walking about holding hands with hookers who are half our age.

I walk around holding hands with my steady girlfriend...and she's 30 years younger than me.

I insist upon it, and she's not a hooker but I really don't give a shit what some professional Thais think about it, and in fact I get more looks of disapproval from foreign tourists than Thais. The Thais are checking her out for other reasons because she's one hot looking girl...actually she's Filipino, but they all think she's Thai.

If we can't do that, then to hel_l with Thailand and we'll find a more friendly country to visit.

[Pakboong]

We insist upon walking about holding hands with hookers who are half our age.

I walk around holding hands with my steady girlfriend...and she's 30 years younger than me.

I insist upon it, and she's not a hooker but I really don't give a shit what some professional Thais think about it, and in fact I get more looks of disapproval from foreign tourists than Thais. The Thais are checking her out for other reasons because she's one hot looking girl...actually she's Filipino, but they all think she's Thai.

If we can't do that, then to hel_l with Thailand and we'll find a more friendly country to visit.

tropo, thanks. It is usually much more difficult to gets ones theories validated.

[tropo]

tropo, thanks. It is usually much more difficult to gets ones theories validated.

You're welcome. Glad to be of service.