MeGoDanceNow

Yes. If you love a woman enough to buy her a house, you should trust her that much too. Or if you're not sure you can trust her, you need to decide that you're going to trust her anyway. Otherwise why bother?

True this. The house I was renting a couple of years ago was one the owner desperately wanted to shift, so I kept hearing that it was about to be sold. Of course being a Thai man he wasn't "desperate" enough to ask a realistic market price, so the threat never materialized. (It now sits empty.)

If you bought a house in Sydney now I wouldn't fancy your chances of capital gains mate.

I think Greg is referring to Gary's story here. Selling Brooklyn Bridges to foreign rubes is a major industry in Thailand.

And this is the heart of the matter. Put assets in Thailand in your wife's name -- they are hers. (Because you trust her.) Keep other assets overseas. (Trust, but verify.)

My unregistered AIS phone still works fine. I think I'll wait till the issue is forced.

Reminds me of the old joke: I read in the newspaper that excessive drinking can kill you. So I decided to stop reading the newspaper.

I miss the good old days, when I was a crazy foilhat conspiracy theorist for saying that the government is reading our email and intercepting our phone calls. Now everybody knows that the government is reading our email and intercepting our phone calls but now I'm a crazy foilhat conspiracy theorist for giving a shit about my privacy. I guess I should be grateful that Tony Soprano is protecting me from visits from Paulie and Christopher.

Good one! Did Europol give you my mobile number?

Yes, they tell the same story in my country too. And mostly they catch people who are critical of the government. Sure it's mostly for Thai people but just try sending a text message that says "soldiers back to their barracks now" and see what happens.

Yes, or just use the Tor browser to view them. The problem is that the same government that wants to know who you are if you want to use a mobile phone, is likely to get its panties in a bunch if you say things that would be considered quite innocent anywhere else. Censorship is bad, surveillance is bad. Censors doing surveillance? Bad squared! Fuck all I can do about it but pretending it isn't dangerous doesn't solve the problem,

Points 1, 3 and 4: You're not making me feel any better. Point 2: You see an ad for the Hunger Games. You take a picture and send it to your friends. Turns out it's considered a symbol of resistance to totalitarianism. The police detain you for questioning, though they release you after a couple of hours. This has happened. Compris? On the last point, I hope I don't find that my Japanese phone doesn't work in Thailand unless I register it.

Idefix, does this registration apply to ALL phones? Like, do I have to register my Japanese phone, which I use to receive calls from Japan?

1. This registration is mandatory. 2. Thailand has become one of the most heavily censored countries in the world. 3. The military government hires people to monitor communications, including text messages I believe, and some of the things they find objectionable might surprise you. 4. All communications are stored. A comment you make today might get you in trouble years from now. Some of these things are true in Western countries, and I object to those too. But our countries are not nearly as heavily censored and our civic institutions are much stronger. I don't like this one bit.

Or buy a cheap phone, get some random Thai guy to register it for a fee and have him sign an undated form saying he sold it to you. Edit: This is a really worrying development when combined with the extreme censorship of this current government. And don't forget all our text messages are not only intercepted but stored permanently.

And it's Davy Jones' locker. Maybe this Upton guy could team up with the Walking Street dancing fool?

That's the real problem. It's an affront on our privacy and our liberty. Anyone who says "I have nothing to fear because I'm doing nothing wrong" is hiding his head in the sand -- or in something worse.

I believe the flag followers and the lady-drink sprayers are mutually exclusive populations.

Glad to hear it. I do my shopping at Big C Extra (the old "Gafoo") and they have a staff of six in the liquor section, who dust the whisky bottles and scribble things on clipboards for three hours while they wait to be allowed to sell.

This is actually one of the things I like about Thailand. There's still room for the little guy. The government passes stupid laws that high-profile chains and international companies have to abide by to the letter, but small operators can ignore them, thereby gaining a competitive advantage over the mighty corporate giants.

Let's just say I'm psychic.

Also you can't buy alcohol between the hours of 2 and 5 PM at a convenience store or supermarket. This is a brilliant strategy to curb excessive drinking, since alcoholics never buy a drink after 5PM or before 2.

And ladies, he's single!

They're very restrictive in Japan but foreigners can have a mobile phone. I've got one in my pocket now. If you are a visitor to Japan you can rent one at the airport with a credit card. But they try to prevent anyone from using a mobile phone or the internet without being identifiable. If you go to an internet cafe in Japan (nasty places) you have to show ID, which they write down. Free wifi usually is not available or requires providing an email address at least. Ostensibly this all started 20 years ago or so when a crazy dude kidnapped a bus full of children using a burn phone (purchased without ID). ID is now required to get a mobile, and pay-as-you-go is not available. Fortunately Japan does not restrict access to websites, yet. Thailand seems to be going from worse to worser. I long for the old days when Thailand was a democracy and Burma was run by tinpot generals. Like GP says, get a VPN, preferably based in Switzerland.

Indeed. It's a good idea to be seen to be checking, even if you don't suspect anything bad is going on. An ounce of prevention and all that.