faranginkorat commented : ng he ever tried, I didn't. I pay for his food, medicine, electricity for air-conditioning, bought his vehicle for him, paid off long term family debts, and he expects me to kreng jai him????? I just retired early at 55 and the money to the family stopped. Curious, nobody has started sending me money!!! I have land I will sell when I am older if I need money. He has land he can sell, but I hear that is not consistent with Thai culture. Why should I give him my savings so that he doesn't need to sell his land and then sell my land when my money is gone????? He sold family land 15 years ago for huge money, enough to have retired on, and that money was gone in a year. (He has a designer watch he paid 30,000 THB for when he had money but now he wants me to feed him??? I have no designer watch, no watch at all in fact.) Has Thai culture changed so much in 15 years that it was OK to sell land off the family homestead then but he can't now sell distant rice paddy that hasn't been used in 35 years?? The wife's older sister hasn't given the parents a single baht yet, but has money to buy a brand new Isuzu Adventure, and went on a tour of India last year, looking for some place that Buddha might have visited.......... (I will resume support after they sell unused assets to support themselves, after they stop travelling the world (two extended vacation trips to the USA in recent years), and after the sister-in-law agrees to provide an equal amount.) I could go on and on. What is consistently true in Thai culture is that people want easy money with total disregard for where it comes from. My savings come from having started working and saving when I was 11. I have always driven old cars, drank cheap beer, not had coffee with breakfast at McDonalds, and always saved for the future. Her family, who have saved nothing, are perfectly happy to piss away what I have and leave me with nothing for my retirement. And I have told my family that I would take the long swim (or put a gun to my head) before asking my daughter for support. Asking your children for support is the ultimate admission of your total failure in life. Now do you understand a little more about my culture???????????????????

overhaul38 commented : ng he ever tried, I didn't. I pay for his food, medicine, electricity for air-conditioning, bought his vehicle for him, paid off long term family debts, and he expects me to kreng jai him????? I just retired early at 55 and the money to the family stopped. Curious, nobody has started sending me money!!! I have land I will sell when I am older if I need money. He has land he can sell, but I hear that is not consistent with Thai culture. Why should I give him my savings so that he doesn't need to sell his land and then sell my land when my money is gone????? He sold family land 15 years ago for huge money, enough to have retired on, and that money was gone in a year. (He has a designer watch he paid 30,000 THB for when he had money but now he wants me to feed him??? I have no designer watch, no watch at all in fact.) Has Thai culture changed so much in 15 years that it was OK to sell land off the family homestead then but he can't now sell distant rice paddy that hasn't been used in 35 years?? The wife's older sister hasn't given the parents a single baht yet, but has money to buy a brand new Isuzu Adventure, and went on a tour of India last year, looking for some place that Buddha might have visited.......... (I will resume support after they sell unused assets to support themselves, after they stop travelling the world (two extended vacation trips to the USA in recent years), and after the sister-in-law agrees to provide an equal amount.) I could go on and on. What is consistently true in Thai culture is that people want easy money with total disregard for where it comes from. My savings come from having started working and saving when I was 11. I have always driven old cars, drank cheap beer, not had coffee with breakfast at McDonalds, and always saved for the future. Her family, who have saved nothing, are perfectly happy to piss away what I have and leave me with nothing for my retirement. And I have told my family that I would take the long swim (or put a gun to my head) before asking my daughter for support. Asking your children for support is the ultimate admission of your total failure in life. Now do you understand a little more about my culture???????????????????[/quote:202bdcoz] Well said.... I don't think most Western husbands object to helping (the operative word is helping) those less fortunate but I think the resentment comes when they feel taken advantage of and not respected.

EODGhost commented : ng he ever tried, I didn't. I pay for his food, medicine, electricity for air-conditioning, bought his vehicle for him, paid off long term family debts, and he expects me to kreng jai him????? I just retired early at 55 and the money to the family stopped. I have land I will sell when I am older if I need money. He has land he can sell, but I hear that is not consistent with Thai culture. Why should I give him my savings so that he doesn't need to sell his land and then sell my land when my money is gone????? He sold family land 15 years ago for huge money, enough to have retired on, and that money was gone in a year. (He has a designer watch he paid 30,000 THB for when he had money but now he wants me to feed him??? I have no designer watch, no watch at all in fact.) Has Thai culture changed so much in 15 years that it was OK to sell land off the family homestead then but he can't now sell distant rice paddy that hasn't been used in 35 years?? The wife's older sister hasn't given the parents a single baht yet, but has money to buy a brand new Isuzu Adventure, and went on a tour of India last year, looking for some place that Buddha might have visited.......... (I will resume support after they sell unused assets to support themselves, after they stop travelling the world (two extended vacation trips to the USA in recent years), and after the sister-in-law agrees to provide an equal amount.) I could go on and on. What is consistently true in Thai culture is that people want easy money with total disregard for where it comes from. My savings come from having started working and saving when I was 11. I have always driven old cars, drank cheap beer, not had coffee with breakfast at McDonalds, and always saved for the future. Her family, who have saved nothing, are perfectly happy to piss away what I have and leave me with nothing for my retirement. And I have told my family that I would take the long swim (or put a gun to my head) before asking my daughter for support. Asking your children for support is the ultimate admission of your total failure in life. Now do you understand a little more about my culture???????????????????[/quote:2y5zo91i] Brother, you hit the nail on the head. I have no problem helping those less fortunate when honest mistakes or bad luck has befallen someone. But, no way will I be an ATM machine to someone who chose not to take responsibility for their own fate and pass their financial irresponsibility on to me. Sure we've had different opportunities but when you show complete disregard for your own family by TOTALLY neglecting your finances, it's hard to give sympathy and harder still to give money when you know it is to a never ending open mouth/hand. Help yes, but handouts, no thanks.

Anonymous commented : fair to foreigners to have to pay more than locals but there is a good reason behind it. Suppose you have to pay 60 bath for admission to some place whereas Thais pay only 40 bath. With Australian currency in mind, this two dollars means nothing to most Aussies. (Practically when you travel to another country and spend money on something, you will work out how much it will cost in your own money.) You can’t even buy McDonalds for that money. On the other hand, if Thais have to pay the same amount as foreigners, many of them will think more than twice to buy tickets. Because that twenty bath more may mean that they would have to sacrifice something in order to buy a ticket. Now let me picture this for non-Australians. You can only buy medium size drink for two dollars from McDonalds in Australia. In Thailand, however, twenty bath can buy lunch plus drink for one person. And isn’t this relatively cheaper cost of living that drive most visitors to Thailand?