Lancelot

TommoPhysicist, on 2012-04-16 20:32:08, said:

There's a problem with this Tommo.

Not all of use washed up in Thailand in our old age flush with money.

Some of use have been here for decades, making good money and stashing the fat final salary pension while we're at it. Add working in a professional environment surrounded by all those professional single women we keep hearing about and their view might be instructive.

Well looking back twenty years, young, earning the full expat deal, all the access to those smart well educated middle class women - Yes I think when I was a young man in Thailand young I had no problem finding dates and relationships with beautiful, well educated and affluent Thai women.

20 Years later, I'd like to be able to say the same, the expats I work with would like to say the same - but no we can't we've lived and know the difference.

But your right, money is a lure - It is almost without exception the only lure.

Just keep paying the bills, splashing the cash and you'll get women in Thailand - but it has sod all to do with you and everything to do with your cash.


Thailand does not really love old western guys, but certain part of Thai society loves your money - Enjoy.

T_Dog, on 2012-03-21 07:02:18, said:

Agree. I just sold my 150 and the new owner drove it to Koh Chang and he said that while it was fine cruising at 120 on the flats, when it hit the steep slopes of the mountains in Koh Chang it struggled. This bike has the 45T sprocket, so one with the 43T sprocket would really really struggle. The 150 is a great bike for around town and shortish blasts down the highway. I would still love to know if changing the ECU will give it a bit more punch!

I think what some posters are missing is that they seem to be going to a flat single fee structure regardless of the amount involved, as opposed to the prior XX baht per 10,000 of funds  handled...

So for someone moving larger amounts, a 15 baht single fee would be better than 50 baht (10 baht X 5) for a 50,000 baht transaction.

However, for the lower income folks, it looks like a lot of things are going to become more expensive...in the case where their amounts transacted are below 10,000 or 20,000 baht per item.

And, BTW, of course, absolutely no mention on action on the farang friendly 150 baht ATM withdrawal fee.

Talk is cheap unless there are some methods provided to facilitate the process.  I suggest the following;
-Hire some university kids to drive by tossing water balloons.
- Install CCTV streaming live from the area. Folks can tune in to see who is trying to score some nookie from the fuglies.
- Have a website where photos are posted. Prizes can be awarded for  identifying the johns.
- Have farangs  that are arrested for soliciting forced to call the wife/bf/gf and inform the person that they have a thing for cheap hookers. Then oblige the person to offer and pay for the partner's  testing for an STI.
- Purchase a heavy duty street cleaner that has one of those pressure hoses that comes along and sprays the  johns and their honies to be.
- Drive by pie tossing, where people throw custard or cream pies at the johns. They can be featured on youtube as creampied johns of the day.
- Organize laugh at the loser tours. Basically, you  get tourists and locals to join a guide on a walking tour of  hooker alley and every so often the group can stop point, laugh and yell Loooooooooozer when they see the icky johns.
- Arrest the repeat offenders and have them where a placard that says I am a pathetic loser and tried to solicit sex from a really, really  ugly  prostitute with an infectious disease. My wife and kids are very proud of me. The person can stand in  the arrivals section of BKK or sit on a chair outside a major shopping mall.
- Collect all the  johns, issue them coupons for 1 feee sexual act and tell them to enjoy amongst themselves.



It's sarcasm. mmkay.

IMHO I don't think that its a question of being unhappy here for the majority of Ex Pats,but some of the bad things that happen to them, and annoy them,and thus create a need to discuss it on this Forum.

They also discuss the bad things concerning their own countries,so why cant they discuss Thailand on a Ex Pat forum,without the same old boring cliche......... "why don't you leave"go home?

Or would you prefer them to give a completely false account of life in Thailand?

This is a taboo subject in Thailand. One of the reasons Germany has evolved as a nation and has been able to become a modern advanced state is because it undertook the painful self examination. It is why Germany is able to claim some moral ground today.  Many western nations have also taken a hard look at their behaviour and accepted an open discussion, with the USA being one of those nations where some very tough questions have been asked and past actions reviewed. The UK has dealt with some of the issues as well. Italy dealt with the issue and the  people that were implicated often met unpleasant deaths outside the judicial system. Not the best way to deal with it, but the Italians get things done in one way or another. Thailand isn't the only country that has failed to look at its past because Sweden which supplied the steel and ball bearings  to the NAzis has long  avoided the issue. The Swiss were dragged kicking and screaming to the responsibility table some years ago.  A country that fails to confront its past is doomed to repeat the errors. Spain serves as an example. Until Spain dealt with the  Franco era, it was unable to transform itself back into an advanced modern nation. Even little Portugal came to grips with its military dictatorship and is a much better nation for it. Thailand as a matter of national policy avoids the subject and is in a state of denial. Ask a Thai about this period of  history and  you will get a blank stare.

I always conduct myself as such but this statement always bothers me and today it was said to me from a policeman who was trying to give me a ticket for having my bike about 6 inches on the white cross walk on the street (this was a new one for me).  Among his other rambling in a sorry attempt to extort money from me, and even though I was speaking to him in Thai, he said to me in English, "you are a guests in my country..." and then continued with the extorting.

For those of us who do live here, can speak the language, read and write, have families and even pay taxes to the Thai government, shouldn't there come a point where we are not just "guests" here?

I live here. I work here. Have a Thai license. I contribute to the local economy. I give to the schools, the blind and several other organizations, as have many of you. But we are too often looked upon as no different than the backpacker passing through.

So the question is, at what point do we stop being "guests" in Thailand? Of course we will never be "Thai" and I don't want to be, but I find it a little rude to always be called a guest. In my home country Thais who come there and do the same thing as I do here, are no longer considered guests and are treated with a little respect.

Is it going for the citizenship that changes that? Somehow I don't think so. I know we're always "falang" and they are always Thai, but when many of you contribute more to Thailand than the majority of the Thais do, at some point you should be given a pass.

Lets me honest, borders are man made. We are all people, most of us on earth, and none of us are really any more or less important than the other in the grand scheme of things. Then if you take into consideration the word "guest" and what it means, then why don't they really treat us as such? You don't cheat guests, you don't rip them off, target them, double charge them, extort them or any other of the things they do to "guests."

This is not a complaint, this is a question. So please spare me with your, "there is a plane leaving every day" comments, which is another statement that really gets under my skin. If I owned this board I would ban people for making such a comment.