HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Old excuse is wearing a thin

Land of milk and honey

His wife is not a bargirl

Old excuse is wearing a thin

Dear Editor;
In reply to Graeme Moore’s letter Snail Mail, I would like to assure him he is not alone in receiving mail up to three weeks after receipt in Banglamung. Like him I have lived in Thailand for some considerable time and have never felt the need to complain about anything, as after all I am a guest here.
Until the last few months the postal system seemed ok and we saw the postman every working day and received post on time. On occasion some mail would disappear into a black hole somewhere never to be seen, but on the whole the service has been adequate.
However, now the postman is rarely seen and when he does arrive it is usually with a bundle of long overdue mail. How are we expected to pay bills when they arrive after the due by date? And what use is a UBC magazine when it is over a week into the month?
I live in a village at the other end of Jomtien at Dongtan and like him have never been flooded so please Banglamung don’t bring out the old excuse of the weather. We get that every time UBC, TOT and ADSL go down so the excuse is wearing a bit thin now.
Alan Bishop

Land of milk and honey

Editor;
I’m married to a Thai lady and yes she knows it’s not the land of milk and honey, or not as much as she believed. But I got her English lessons for free at the local college, and she can get a lot of Thai food at the local Chinese supermarket or the Filipino shop. But she can’t believe that people are paid not to work (social).
I am on a company pension so money is tight but I offer to take her out or to save up so she can go to Thailand on holiday. We have a house in Thailand and I have offered to try to live there again but she says she is happy with the UK and she prefers the TV in the UK. So if you’re not scared of losing them once they’ve learnt how to speak English get them down to the local college.
Many Thai women will go to work to help the family and this could pay for your holidays, so get them speaking English. Not all bar girls are there to earn money - some are there to meet a falang to marry. It may be a small percentage but there are some.
I don’t know where you live but if in the UK look into your shops (Chinese) and colleges.
Wayne

His wife is not a bargirl

Editor;
In reply to ‘Thai women branded all the same’ (issue 42), the writer is eager to tell that his wife was not a bargirl. For someone who makes out that he is happy away from Pattaya, he spends an awful lot of time thinking about the people who live here. His letters over the years have revealed only that he would like Songkran to be an all-year event and, unintentionally, that he envies expats.
Does he think a woman not frequenting bars guarantees her integrity and ‘love’ for him? If he thinks all women who work in bars are the same, he is merely displaying Western sexual hang-ups and limited experience.
I recently came across this ‘honest’ comment: “Thai lady wants farang man for the same reason farang man wants Thai lady: the only option.”
Is a woman who marries an foreign man with whom she has little or nothing in common, and in order to be secure (read dependant), compromising her integrity any less than a woman who works the bar scene or any aspect of the sex trade?
Isn’t a woman who rejects social engineering and decides for herself what to do showing a good deal more enterprise (and backbone) than a ‘Simon says’ follower who does only what she has been told is ‘the culture’?
A simple truth is that women everywhere have, at different times, needed to be as pragmatic as the Thai women who marry farang men now are. If otherwise, a lot of men would be alone, especially those who have nothing an independent woman wants.
I personally am grateful that I can buy what I can’t at home, but I don’t blame the women at home for wanting romance and passion, both of which are sadly lacking here. The man who likes to tell that ‘his’ Thai woman is with him for reasons other than pragmatism should realize that his need to tell reveals his self-doubt.
J. Tighe

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