Most guys DO hook up with normal Thai girls. I met mine in graduate school in Hawaii. One friend married his secretary upcountry, and they’ve been married something like 16 years, have two beautiful daughters and a couple of years ago built a huge house. Another guy I know is living with the lady who was his Thai-language teacher. Etc, etc. I have no idea why so many guys try to “make things work” with the bargirl they took home last week.
Siam Sam, I’m sorry. I think I was getting the impression from your stories that most foreigners were getting caught in scams and coming to a bad end. I’m glad to hear of foreigners having a ‘normal’ (whatever that means) experience dealing with people in Thailand.
Examples of this information?
Yes, tuk-tuks are to be avoided. Even for short hops, always always take a metered taxi. I used to love tuk-tuk rides, though, but then I was young, and it was all part of the Bangkok experience when I came into town (I was living in the North at the time.) Also, Ale, metered taxis date only from the early 1990s. Before that, no taxis were metered, and you actually had to bargain with the taxi the same as you did with a tuk-tuk! Back then, tuk-tuks really were much cheaper than taxis, every time. Nowadays, though, metered taxis are always without exception cheaper. I mean, you just TRY getting a tuk-tuk to take you even 100 yards for anything less than 50 or 100 baht, while the meter on the taxi is 35 baht for the first kilometer.
In many tourist areas, the taxis that are parked waiting for a ride will often refuse to use the meter. They’re looking for tourists who will pay them an inflated flat fee. The bar areas, too. I am often in the bars until closing time (or later), and there’s always a mass of taxis parked outside “helpfully” waiting to whisk me away. NEVER EVER even talk to a parked taxi. Simply walk a block away and hail one from the street. Even then, if it’s near a bar or tourist area, they may simply be returning there to park. Recently at 1am or 2am, I was leaving Patpong, hailed a taxi on Suriwong Road, told him where I was going, and he said: “400 baht”. !!! I simply closed the door without a word and hailed the taxi behind him, who was happy to use the meter, which came to about 60 baht as usual.
Oh, and to explain: A tuk-tuk is a motorized three-wheeled taxi. They can be a lot of fun to zip around in, but tuk-tuk drivers are notoriously dishonest. They’re name comes from the sound their little motors make: “tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk.” See here.
Indeed. 
And I can vouch for everything else that Ale has said in this thread, too.
Yes, the ones scammed and coming to a bad end are a small minority, but their numbers are large enough to be noticeable, and they make the news because they crash so spectacularly. Just use some common sense, and you’ll be fine here.
Thanks!
:: adds Thailand to list of places to visit ::
We appreciate the warning, Siam Sam, but please do not directly link to NSFW sites even if you label the links as such. Please take a look at the [post=9505196]forum rules[/post] to give you ideas about how to provide links without making them clickable.
Ah, I see. Sorry about that Skip. I’m still such a newbie at this at times.
Sunspace asked about pubs. Over here, pubs are more what you would call nightclubs in the West. The wife’s sister studied English for six months in Eastbourne, England, some years ago and was at first horrified when her teacher suggested the class hang out at the local pub to help with their English and then pleasantly surprised to see it was a family place.
“Beer gardens” are popular here (although minus any garden). They usually have live music cranked up LOUD and batghrooms far away, so I don’t really care for them. An exception is Tawandang German Brewery. Indoors, a good show and not TOO loud. The Rama III Road location near us is more of a cabaret beer-hall setup, and children have to leave at 10pm, but the other location is more of a family place, and children are allowed until closing. There are lots of other venues for Thais to socialize at, too, and they’re generally focused on food.
Okay, below is that one link again, although this time hopefully conforming to Board rules, as I’ve unchecked the “parse links” box. And also, once again a WARNING: NOT SAFE FOR WORK. (Contains nude photos of a professional nude model.)
LOL
Declan
There’s an interesting take by local farang women on Bangkok and Thailand here. Wasn’t sure if it deserved a thread of its own, but putting it here seems to balance out some of the relationship questions.
While I agree that it should be pointed out that life over here is not, in fact, an unholly mix of The Godfather and Caligula…
Yup, I´m sure she has her thumb on the real pulse of the city.
I ain´t no expert, but I feel safe in saying that Bangkok is not about opera and museums; if that´s the thing that rocks your boat, go to Vienna. 
The Last of the Great White Lovers :dubious: WTF?
Yes, I agree she does seem a bit more “upper crust” than your average farang lady here. And with a toyboy no less! Still, an interesting take.
“Unholy mix of The Godfather and Caligula.” Well, that does describe Pattaya. 
Although in fairness, being a National Museum volunteer is rather common for farang wives here. They generally provide English-language tours to tourists. It’s a nice museum. Haven’t been there in years, though.
Yes, well, he WOULD look like a likely candidate to a taxi driver.
Another good small account of Bangkok’s naughty nightlife is in Spalding Gray’s book Swimming to Cambodia. I believe he included it in the film version, too. No taxis mentioned, though. Only slightly exaggerated (I’ve not actually seen a vaginally propelled banana shoot across a room and stick to the wall, particularly in the bar he mentioned, but I have seen all sorts of other objects shot out of there with amazing accuracy).
And this just in: The new book Love Entrepreneurs: Cross-Culture Relationship Deals in Thailand, by Phil Nicks, has been highly recommended to me.
And what the heck, I’ll throw in the Bargirl’s Ten Commandments, too, which have been much revised since they first appeared more than 20 years ago (for instance, there was no e-mail back in the 1980s).
Well, continuing on with the theme of the anatomy of a suicide, the beginning essay at the top of the page here, entitled “Sponsorship Doesn’t Work,” is an excellent one and not an untypical experience. The website is maintained by Stickman, a New Zealander of my acquaintance, a very nice guy. He’s been here about 10 or 12 years.
Each Sunday, Stickman posts a regular column on happenings in Thailand, mainly Bangkok and Pattaya. Last week’s essay was the decline of tourism in Pattaya. Another week was a weekend trip to the Northeast. He teaches English full-time but also operates a small detective service on the side, so this week’s essay is of a recent case. The love-smitten farang in it had hired Stickman to investigate whether his true love was still working as a hooker while he was back in farangland despite his paying her a large salary not to hook. Yes, she was still hooking. The client gave Stickman permission to post his story as an object lesson. Toward the end, the guy admitted to feeling rather suicidal, but much to Stick’s (and my) amazement, he was STILL chasing after the girl.
Stickman gives this particular essay a little bit of a cheesy Philip Marlowe style, I guess because it’s a case he was working on. He usually doesn’t do that. I can vouch for him that the story is true, though.
After reading this stuff over and over again the conclusion I arrive to is that I should start pimping and make a bloody fortune. 