Rumpole

You ought to go out more and get a life or a few friends

ScouseTommy, on 2012-04-06 09:28:40, said:

Wrong on almost every count.With over 600,000 British visitors every year to Thailand it's simply impossible for the embassy to minister to every tourist's minor problems.The rather good current Ambassador - I'm sorry he's going - has made it very clear and humanely what the Embassy can do and what it can't do.More critically the culture of looking to the state to remedy every need is a peculiarly British one, especially among the benefits oriented underclass which is increasingly dominant in the Thailand tourist market and for that matter in the "expatriate community", whatever that absurd concept is meant to mean.Any doubters should take a look at Lower Sukhumvit or Pattaya.I suspect the first reaction of most Australians or Americans is to try to sort their problems out for themselves, rather than running to their Embassy.

Wasn't this all done to death yesterday? The hounds are still baying for blood today? Give it a rest, FGS. The family has been threatened, and yes the threat should be taken seriously. Are you happy now? Is it enough, or do you want them all to live in fear, or be run out of the country? Is that justice? Is that reasonable punishment for an altercation about freakin balloons? Take a good look at yourselves in the mirror before disparaging others. If you have never made a mistake or done something illegal, then cast your stone.

I don't think the guy and his family wouldn't be begging for the footage to be released if it showed him asking for it.  Unless a verbal argument is now considered asking for it.  Which many here believe is the case.

However, he should have known not to get in a verbal argument to begin with, especially with a lower class untrained rent a cop.  Thailand is generally a pleasant and non confrontational society, but the flipside to this is that some Thais are carrying around years of suppressed anger and frustration and when it finally explodes it isn't pretty.

AsianAdvisor, on 2012-03-22 13:33:32, said:

I've lived in Southeast Asia for close to ten years in several different countries and I've never seen the level of acceptable violence shown towards foreigners in other countries as I have here. The biggest problem is that Thais seem to believe that they are allowed -- even have the right -- to commit violence against others because they will not be prosecuted for any crime. And when police do show up it will be the foreigner in trouble.

This sense of immunity is certainly a big factor -- maybe the biggest factor. I'm willing to bet that if anything does happen to the security guard it will be a transfer to another station for a little bit -- if that.

Sooner or later there's going to be some Thais that get beaten badly for something which they started and it will be on camera. Unfortunately many locals will probably blame the 'bad foreigners' for defending themselves, but many people watch the way Thailand is turning and it already is negatively affecting the country. Let's face it, can a country really have on and off-again coups and political riots and still call itself a peaceful and safe place?

endure, on 2012-03-19 23:55:44, said:

Not really. There are many rights allocated to immigrants in the USA that are not had here by farang. Overall, I would consider Thailand's government fairly unaccommodating to immigrants.

What happens is that many farang have not gotten laid in their home countries since the 1970's so when they come to Thailand the fact that they can get a gf on their first day makes Thailand just the World's most wonderful, flawless country.

For those less desperate, Thailand is another place on the map and a very flawed one at that.

Why not skip social networking altogether?

Don't befriend or have anything to do with Thais.

The solution is simple.

One of the best teachers I have seen anywhere was a Filipino guy who was teaching at our local high school.  He held a masters degree in chemical engineering, but chose to teach English because he found it emotionally fulfilling.  Not my cup of tea.  Unfortunately, even though he was the ONLY teacher at the school that could effectively teach English, and everybody seemed to love him, they simply refused to pay him a decent salary.  After 2 years of 15K/month, he moved on to teach in Pelau.  What a loss!  It is impossible for me to even carry on a conversation with Thai English teachers getting paid twice as much!  Most English teaching by Thais in this country is a sorry charade; a case of the blind leading the blind.  Many of these Thai teachers are taking down 40K/month.  The Filipino guy spoke perfect English.

As for other bad treatment as foreingers, I can say I have seen many cases of a farang throwing a big fit yelling and screaming in public.  Since it is easy to remember one shocking incident and apply it to the whole group (stereotyping), I am surprised Thais are as riendly to farangs as they are.  That said, I have rarely been shown any disrespect and have mostly been made to feel quite welcome.  I don't know what they say behind my back, but my wife says she has never heard anything negative (of course, she probably wouldn't tell me!)

All the immigration stuff and work permits for those that work her is a pain, but, wow, how many of us wish our own countrties had protected the labor force and quality of citizenship.  I am American and I look at what happened there.  The greedy capitalists in power exported every job they could to China, etc., and threw open the country's doors to admit cheap labor from the south to fill the jobs they couldn't export.  They absolutely trashed the US wage structure and job security.  So, when I look at how Thailand does it, sure it annoys me, but I am just a little bit jealous too.  I can't help but rhetorically ask, "Why didn't my country protect its citizens in the same way."

Makes me think of a joke.  Davey Crockett, William Travis and Jim Bowie, all at the Alamo back on the fateful Texas day, had gotten up around sunrise.  With steaming cups of coffee in hand, they climbed up onto the parapet and were amazed to see a million Mexicans marching toward them across the plain.  Davey Crocket turned toward William Travis with a puzzled look and asked, "Bill, are we pourin' concrete today?"

Atoosa07, on 2012-03-14 13:28:40, said:

If you've lived in Thailand for any length of time, you would understand that:
1. When a farang commits a crime (allegedly) his name and other information is usually plastered on all the tabloids.
2. When a Thai commits a crime (confession) his name and other information is usually withheld from the tabloids.
3. When a farang is accused of a crime, he is almost always 'guilty' prior to any investigation or court decision.
4. When a Thai commits a crime (confession) he/she is given a much lighter sentence if  any at all, especially if 'connected'.
5. When a farang has a traffic accident he is usually wrong and ends up paying. (I was in a small fender bender and the teacher who caused the accident was 100% responsible but he lied to the police and to the insurance company and I had to pay (via insurance) and the following year I had to pay more for insurance.(no witness)

Many years ago on Koh Samui & Koh Phangan, most farang deaths were not reported in the newspapers and nobody heard about them, MANY !   A Thai friend of mine used to 'take care' of the dead farang by taking him/her to Bangkok in the back of his truck.....and he was going quite regularly...

There was (maybe still is) a scam by the police that allowed the locals to sell weed to farang. Periodically the mainland police (Surat) would come to the Islands and would wait just near whoever was selling it and bust the farang, put them in jail and make the farang post bond of 50k and the clincher was they always made the court date 'after' the departure date on the air ticket so the farang would forfeit the bond payment....
The day after the full moon party (if it was a weekday) you would see police lined up at the bank teller making deposits....
I hope things are better now although back then, there were only a handful of farang living on Koh Phangan...(circa 1988 ->)

Lots of advice given on this forum (and others). some good, some not.....although no matter how long you've been in Thailand, you can never give advice to someone who just stepped off the boat.....(at least in my experience here)........walk lightly (forget the stick), keep a low profile, forget big business, rent unless you have tons of money that you won't miss if it all goes sour, don't sweat the small things (20 baht overcharged for fried rice, etc.) and USE YOUR HEAD, stay alert and don't assume anything....except: 'we are not Thai and we have very few rights here'. If you do think you have rights and hire a lawyer you'll wish you saved your money and sorted things out yourself.......NOTE: all the above is based on my experience and may not reflect the opinions of others, so, NO arguments......chokdee
UPDATE:  I see above that the culprits names have been published, things are looking up!!  Are they still considered 'suspects' after they confess?

dmcguire70, on 2012-03-14 13:20:05, said:

If they could have blamed it on the Burmese they would have done so already.

As others have said, it really is about time the foreign media picked up on the number of ferang murders here.
Thailand needs a new slogan - akin to the "Cost Del Crime" one for Spain.

maprao, on 2012-03-14 11:24:43, said:

I believe it's a trend of the Thais opinion of foreigners and it's getting more and more volatile. We should all be looking over our shoulder for potential danger. So much for the Land of Smiles.

12DrinkMore, on 2012-02-26 21:13:20, said:

Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu are muslim-malay majority states with a small number of non-muslims living there, malaysian muslims or non-muslims from other states dont even go there, so why bother, being farang tourist to whinge about the social practice of these states.

12DrinkMore, on 2012-02-26 21:52:12, said:

That must be a bloody cheap hotel you checked into, it must be a bloody religion thing that you need some percentage of alcohol in every drink you order wherever you go.

. . . continued - so many points to address:





Perhaps you should stay at better hotels, especially as pork seems to play a massive role in your life and diet - nothing wrong with that, and I'm not being facetious.

Quote

Again the pork thing . . . wow, are you Danish?  If not then I would suggest you live in Denmark - largest pork exporters in the world.
Right - what proportion?  No idea, but we had lunch at a German place the other day - yes, pork knuckle and veal sausages . . .

I am sure the sausages weren't halal but I can't be sure as there is no difference in taste between halal and non-halal meat.
I would suggest you stay away from the Muslim places if you want pork, which you seemingly do for every meal - as for the others . . . give it a try, most are non-halal.
Oh, to throw a spanner into the works, quite a few restaurants are pork-free but not halal . . . and Muslims have no problem eating there.
Actually, my favourite char kwei teow is made by a Malay and he uses non-halal meat, but doesn't use pork.

Confusion, confusion

I can really see that pork and the halal issue is very important here . . . and if it really is a matter of needing pork everywhere at any time then Malaysia isn't for you - I guess no country is, really.  This, along with cheap beer and even cheaper Thai whores and I guess Thailand is the place to stay.

Suits me, really . . . and the tens of thousands of westerners living here already  

all the holier than thou types on here with what they would have done make me laugh but feel sick at the same time...the OP and his wife did nothing wrong and are the victims here, all they wanted was the report so they could make an insurance claim and get ID cards...as for the 'why don't you wear your wedding ring' loaded questions...poor attempts to get a bite and fill their empty days....

to the OP thanks for sharing your experience with everyone and letting us know what to expect should it ever happen...I feel for you as now you don't feel comfortable in your own home, something I have experienced and I never want to go through with ever again!