Acharn

You've never visited a farm in the Northeast, have you? Say Buriram or Surin. Although I'll grant that after Thaksin a lot of them are able to make a decent living.

By no means all of them. Every small town has at least a couple of hookers, and often it's girls of 16 or 17 years old. Because most of the American troops were stationed at air bases in the NorthEast, the myth grew that they preferred darker-skinned women, opening up new career opportunities for the women who previously only worked locally (the lighter-skinned women from the Northern provinces were/are recruited for the rest of the country. Most of them did not work for the Americans).

Well, no, there was no tourist industry here until the 1960s, and then it was stifled by the Vietnam War for a while. However, merchant sailors and various navies loved visiting Thailand. The Erawan Hotel was opened in 1956, but did not start prospering until the 1960s, and for several years it was the only hotel for foreigners.

Absolutely right. The World Bank recommended to Field Marshal Sarit Thanawat that he adopt tourism and the thriving sex trade as his development strategies. That was even before the CIA's first anti-communist loan to FM Sarit, just a month before the first attack by the Communist Party of Thailand.

Do you have a reference to that legal age for marriage? Please see this article from Thaiguider. It's really quite complex, but I think from this that the age to give consent to marriage is 18. As far as the granting of consent, the Thai police have complained that it is almost impossible to prove whether or not sex took place. Two people going to a privacy hotel is not proof that they had sex there. Sexual assault charges are underreported in Thailand.

I'm referring to the contract with the caterer, and possibly with the local wat who provide the monks for the chanting (I don't know if that falls under Thai commercial law, but I think not). I presume your wife depends on your support, so she has a right to comment on how you spend your money, unless ฿500,000 is a trivial amount to you. If you're married in Thailand, by the way, the money is half hers, not yours alone.

Errr... He says his wife is paying for the wedding. If she has her own money, what right does he have to interfere? Thai law does not require a man's approval for a woman to sign a contract any more.

I think you can trust your Thai wife to not get ripped off. She knows the culture, after all. I'm sure she knows the appropriate cost of her son's wedding.

Exactly. I think he's assuming family relations will be good forever. It might work. It does for millions of people.

Not if the girl is 16 and the farang married her in the amphoe. Probably not at all since the parents seem to have consented to a marriage. The law on prostitution passed in December, 1996, even allows marriage at 14 with the parents consent, IIRC. Not sure if parents' consent is needed at age 16.

Thank you for sharing.

Bangkok is not Thailand. Thais don't tip, Thai employers pay livable wages (a lot less than farangs could live on).

I've lived in Thailand for 42 years, and was stationed here in the Army for three years before that. I have never tipped once in that time. There were three times I was charged a "service charge" by a New Orleans restaurant in Bangkok, which had lousy service by the way, and have always regretted going there.

Eyes like stones, and throwing a gang sign. I'll be glad if he's finally expelled from the Kingdom.

I have two accounts with Bangkok Bank, but in different cities; one in Bangkok and one in Nakhorn Sawan.