[QUOTE=NattyBumpo;1639972]Right, but why would you want to get "entrenched" in the first place. I have very little to do with local men wherever I travel in SE Asia. I won't get into an argument with taxi drivers, bouncers or anybody else. I remain above the fray. I accept the fact that I am going to pay a farang tax wherever I go and I don't give a shit. I never forget the fact that I am a visitor no matter how long my stay is and I am not Thai. I am here for just one thing, the girls, with great food and a few beautiful island beaches thrown in as a bonus. I am not looking to make friends with the local Thai "Goodfellas" or anybody else. If you are actually worried about your safety, then I think it is a good time to move and give LOS a break for a while. Take a year off in Phnom Penh, Subic, or just travel around SE Asia, then come back to Thailand with a clean slate.[/QUOTE]Wish I could do as you suggested but I'm here other than the girls but the girls is what keeps me going now I'm came here because I have a Thai family and I had no problems living with Thais. But what I've found in Pattaya the men think they have a right to step all over you like they are entitled to it. As for the motorbike taxi guy, I had left W. S. One night on my bike just going slowly when this motorbike taxi came out of no where and clipped my mirror it was only me seeing him avoided a much bigger accident. I kind of yell out while I was avoiding him and I guess he got offended for some reason. It was 2 am in the morning next thing I know he pulls up to me and starts to Muay Thai my leg, first twice three times saying "what" I was not looking for a fight he kept it up in the middle of 2nd road, finally I got pissed I chased him down while he took off like a coward. Basically pop a wheelie on top of him and bike he was shocked and started to look for the other motorbike guys to help him. I got off my bike and walk up to him with my helmet and head butted him and broke his nose. I believe because I look like Thai no one came to jump on me? I just got on my bike and left around the corner I came to my senses and took off like a bat out of hell as they say?
I stay because I am raising my son and I no longer fear for my life it is just the way it is as I noted I'm resided to it. I have the greatest respect for their Mafia but it is small time compare to where I'm from and what I've seen. In general average Thai men are cowards but I do not look for fights and I only dread one day I get kicked by a Muay Thai boxer. I've fool around in a Muay Thai gym with a friend who owns one and I ask this young guy to kick me for the fun of it and it was not funny when they know what they are doing.
As for a clean slate I tried but trouble comes my way? The only place I've been that I've felt comfortable and home is in Hong Kong where I spent every summer while I was growing up. I still have family there and they are the ones watching over me while I stay in Thailand.
