Tight minge
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Posts posted by Tight minge
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1 hour ago, Ad Lib said:
Yes, I absolutely want to impose on absolutely every single corner of the planet a political structure which gives women and girls meaningful legal and social protections against forced marriage, rape, stoning and beheading. I couldn't give two shits how "artificial" that is or isn't. If a society is writing off more than half of its population based on its sex that is no more defensible than slavery. There are moral absolutes.
Playing devils advocate here.
Would you accept it at the point of dowry payments for marriage, the legal consent of a marriage to be between the prospective husband and the females male guardian and the acceptability of the husband to have multiple wifes as well as separation based on gender for some day to day activities/public activities?
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6 hours ago, Granny Danger said:
‘The West’ and ‘Western Values’ leave a lot to be desired at times, but anyone who thinks that these ‘values’ are inferior to what the Taliban will impose is a fucking crackpot.
And yes, if I had the power I’d impose these values on people until such times as a majority were able to run their own affairs in a way that wouldn’t mean them reverting to the brutality of the religious crackpots. I could live with my conscience quite easily ‘imposing’ educational rights for girls and tolerance of LGBT people amongst other things.
This though is a big part of the problem. At least ‘imposing’ the values you expect/know.
This is more or less what was tried and failed and would always be doomed to failure.
Before going on, Sharia Law is abhorrent and should not be practiced in my opinion.
Values, expectations and needs vary from place to place. The centre of the world isn’t America or western civilisation, in fact for your average Afghan outside of Kabul, the centre of the world isn’t even Kabul. It is more likely his family, his plot of land, his village elder or Imam and anything above that means nothing. Whether beyond that it is a white faced western soldier or Taliban matters little. They will just want to keep out the way and survive.
The smaller picture is more important than the bigger picture when you have little or nothing.
This is why the Taliban can melt away and return quickly, how free elections have little to no value. Who is your average Afghan going to vote for? Whomever his Imam tells him, whomever hands a little money or just whomever is in line of site.
All in all its helpless.
For those that will be in ‘line of site’ of the Taliban will be terrified and desperate, but for those that aren’t, they will just be thankful they are not in line of site and do there best to stay out the road. That itself is probably human nature.
Western governments really fucked this.
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32 minutes ago, Left Back said:
You didn’t suggest anything of the kind. Ad Lib stated I was because I’m not in favour of endless occupation of Afghanistan
Well I would disagree. I think I was quite clear that I do not necessarily agree with Ad Lib but the comment on Muslim society had validity. You had made a suggestion that Muslims wanted some kind of differing society.
If it helps you, I am also not in favour of an endless occupation of Afghanistan and I think Ad Lib is way off the mark in this logic. Maybe I should have also questioned some of his points to be balanced, but I didn’t as a) I do not have a solution and b) it is far more complex than most are making out hence referencing the human point. So in that, I may agree more with you than Ad Lib.
The west shouldn’t be involved long term for sure and right now the Taliban is the government and the west cannot do much right now but push them to allow those who want to leave to leave and then, until clear international laws are broken and proven their is little can be done (legally).
The west have to be very careful here, even if Sharia Law is instigated. As an example, their is a small, semi autonomous region on Sumatra called Banda Aceh. It is the only part of Indonesia that practices Sharia Law. People chose to live there and do not leave and most Indonesians wouldn’t set foot in the place as they think its mental. Otherwise some people are happy for this type of society and we cannot demand they shouldn’t as much as they demand everyone should.
The issue isn’t so much whether the Taliban bring in Sharia Law or not it is if they will not let people chose and leave and if any international laws are broken.
Anyway, there are absolutely many if, buts, questions and counter questions in this going right back to whether Afghanistan really was a legitimate target. As Saudi was not a realistic option, someone had to be beaten up.
Even my thoughts above will be flawed.
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3 minutes ago, Left Back said:
I don’t disagree with you. Education and poverty are issues all around the world and we won’t solve them by invasions either. We aren’t invading countries that have what we would deem more progressive interpretations of Islam but we also aren’t invading countries that have stricter interpretations of Sharia law. Why not? They aren’t a significant threat to us. Regime change in Iraq and Afghanistan should never have been part of any objective. It was mission creep of the worst kind.
I’ve served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Bosnia before that. I’m well aware of the issues from an individual human perspective and the atrocities that occurred. I don’t limit those issues to the people we were supposed to be helping either. I’m obviously just a mealy mouthed coward with no clue though.
I am only referencing the comments regarding what Muslims expect from their society. It is very easy to draw an ‘us and them’ distinction.
I have no idea if your a mealy mouthed coward or not, I don’t believe I suggested you were or the relevance of that statement.
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36 minutes ago, Left Back said:
Whatever mate. Calm down to a frenzy. Might make you seem slightly rational.
Although I wouldn’t necessarily agree with all Ad Lib is saying, his point regarding how Muslims wish to create their societies is quite valid. There are only something like 15 countries worldwide that incorporate some part of Sharia law and somethimg like only 4 that apply it ‘in full’. Most Muslims don’t care for Sharia law.
It’s trying to simplify a huge complex problem and religion/faith is just a small part of it. Education and poverty are arguably bigger issues (which Sharia Law does not help) and Jinky (I think) put it best, like everywhere in the world, people are just trying to get on with their lives, which in some places means survival.
I doubt most of us could comprehend the survival needs your average Afghan has to go through right now for himself and their family.
I think there have been only two posts on this thread @Jinky67and @TheJTS98 that has touched on the issue from an individual, human perspective.
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11 hours ago, Granny Danger said:
Contacted a supplier to say a bit was missing from a job only to be told “you got it in January, why are you just reporting it now”.
Some folk must be oblivious to Covid and the significant delays in carrying out work.
Would be wholly dependent on the terms of the contract/sale and COVID, although a valid point, would have no bearing in that term. If the supplier has within their terms that all anomalies of the delivery should be checked by X and you have not countered that at the time of the order they are with their right not only to question but to refuse. If they don’t, they have no right and if you countered at the time of order it is a legal minefield, which, as its not worth the hassle probably falls in your favour.
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1 hour ago, GordonS said:
Obviously it's a simplification FFS. I really don't understand how you're not getting the context.
Ethiopia's been getting richer by 10% a year, eh? Woop-de-doo, because 10% of f**k all is such a huge amount of cash.
What's shallow is believing that we're rich and they're poor for any other reason than that we exploit them. Corruption is caused by economic hardship. It's a rational response by those in power when there's not enough to go round. You think we'd be any different in the same circumstances? Aye, we're a superior race...
BTW, one of the causes of food insecurity in Ethiopia is that China has bought up vast swathes of farmland in East Africa to feed itself. When the next harvest failure comes the Chinese are going to do to Ethiopia what Britain did to Ireland and Bengal. Everyone exploits those weaker then themselves.
As for rewilding, Povlsen has shown that money can give you what you want there too. Unfortunately he's just another colonialist, no better than the other lairds. The people on the rewilding thread may want wolves and lynx but it would be nice if anyone would bother talking to the people who live there, because they're getting exploited too. If you want to restore the Highlands and Islands, give money to the local communities and watch them go.
Sorry, agree with your sentiments but….
Your line about Ethiopias economic growth is a bit ‘shallow’. Any growth that creates jobs and revenue at this time shouldn’t be flippantly dismissed. Many people in poverty would do anything for a chance to work. I do get that your passionate here, I don’t think anyone is arguing that poverty is not an issue. More disagreeing on details.
Chinas belt and road policy is abhorrent (is it that much different in end game to the Marshall plan though (very simplistic I know))? However, was it not proven that this grab of farmland was nothing like first reported? (I genuinely don’t know but read it was incorrect).
The west 100% exploits the poorer nations, but not unaided. There are many rich politicians and businessmen in these countries getting rich by fucking over their own people.
There just isn’t a simple solution here.
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7 hours ago, GordonS said:
The main cause of poverty in resource-rich countries is exploitation by western companies. Nobody is taking bribes if no-one is offering bribes, and the local pay they offer is pathetic.
I agree, aid isn't remotely the solution to extreme poverty. Aid is the solution to extreme events like wars and natural disasters. That aphorism "Give a man a fish he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he feeds himself for a lifetime" is horseshit. Because the man can't feed himself when the massive trawler turns up and hoovers all the fish. Or when the oil company pollutes the waters. Or when the government helps itself to his fish.
This is where I get all capitalist. Because he needs more than fish. He needs money for that, so he needs to sell fish. He needs a means of processing and preserving the fish and of getting it to market. He needs stuff, and he needs loans or grants to get it. He needs staff, and roads, and suppliers, and financial services, and all the rest of it. He needs protection for his fishing waters, from outside exploitation, from pollution and from rapacious domestic competitors. Ultimately he needs customers.
The developing world needs access to our markets, and it needs investment in trade infrastructure. It needs laws and regulation. It needs fair work conditions on everything that's exported, with verifiable provenance. Rich countries can provide that. But they don't.
The difference between Luxembourg and The Philippines is primarily money - especially the historic injustices of colonialism. You think we would be any less corrupt in their economic circumstances? It just can't be fixed with money alone.
Anyway, back to the point of the thread. Climate change is primarily something that the developed world and rich people are doing to the poorest. Only 7% of emissions are produced by the least wealthy half of the population; 14% is produced by the richest 1% - just 75 million people. Africa produces 2-3% of global emissions and is responsible for 1% of historic emissions. That's less than Japan, with a tenth of the population. It is entirely about inequality. We are sowing the wind and The Philippines shall reap the whirlwind.
On poverty, I would generally disagree. We can point the finger to colonialism as well, but it is also only part of the cause which did create some of the financial impact. However, it is systems like Barangy, Kampomg elders, Religious leaders and caste systems that drive the corruption, education and keep people in poverty. All of these systems in one shape or another predate any colonialism.
These all need fixed first, before the money or its just trying to grab water with your hands.
Having lived right next door to Tondo, which is arguablly one of the worst slums in the world where Pagpag is not only the stable diet, is an industry in itself, I am confident in saying a lot more than money is needed.
I also experience extreme poverty from where my other half is from and no matter the amount of money I hand over, nothing gets better.
Having been in rural schools where teachers just don’t turn up (but still get their salary) as no fucker cares about the kids or the area is heartbreaking.
At this point they need support, help and education (teach the man to fish as you say). Back to correcting governments, educating people an stamping put corruption.
It really is fucked up.
Anyway, on climate change. Agree fully.
Either poverty or climate change cannot really be looking after yourself. Things will only improve when everyone improves.
The western world have to get their house in order regarding climate change, but they also have to bring the undeveloped world along for the ride or there will just be a transfer of the problem in part. For example, moving over to electric vehicles itself won’t wholly solve the problem in developed countries as all the polluting cars will end up, in worse condition in developing countries.
Thumbs up though to being at least conscious and passionate about both topics!
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14 minutes ago, German Jag said:
First moved to Germany at the end of 1990, job I had in Scotland was OK, but couldn’t see any major career progression taking place in the upcoming 5-10 years.
Spotted a job advert from a German company in a trade magazine. Applied, invited over for an interview and duly offered a contract. My German language skills at that time were non-existent, so a bit of a jump in the dark. Company paid for an Inlingua intensive 1 on 1 language course for the 1st 3 months; thereafter they insisted that all communication was in German. The next 7 or so months were hard going, with quite often all you would understand was “Guten Morgen” on arrival and “Tschuß, bis Morgen” when going home. On the TV, sports programmes were the only option for watching. After ca. 7 months or so things started to click, and the ability to hold conversations, follow what the news on the radio & tv was saying, read a comic newspaper like “the Bild” resulted in a quick improvement in the quality of life.
Left that company after 2 years and moved to the company I’m with (2 stints) just now, SE of Hanover. Was with them for 5 years then got headhunted and offered a job in Melbourne. Getting the employment visa was the only time in all my travels that lack of a degree etc. was a hindrance.
Loved the lifestyle in Melbourne, apartment in St. Kilda, so 3-5 minute walk to Acland Street / waterfront or a 15 minute tram ride to the city-centre. The company I was working for was a fucking joke (Swiss headquartered company that had grown rapidly in Australia due to numerous takeovers, so lots of duplicate departments in various locations with everybody fighting their own wee corner to avoid being punted). The company SE of Hannover got wind of my dissatisfaction at work, and made me an offer to come back, with the future job being highly focused on Asia.
Spent half of the next 5 years sitting on a plane, and then was posted to India for 2½ years. Based in Gujarat, lived in Ankleshwar during the week and Baroda at the weekends. Ankleshwar was / is one of the most polluted places in the world (is basically a chemical industrial estate with over a 1.000 companies on it). Company owned a large guesthouse that was “home” for the whole time. Power-cuts left, right and centre, a cocktail of chemical smells in the air depending on what way the wind was blowing. Add in the fact that there is prohibition in Gujarat, so “normal” night-life didn’t exist. The complete reversal of the time in Melbourne, enjoyable job but a dead as a dodo lonely life outside of work.
Finished in India, and then did the sitting on a plane half the time thing for another couple of years before being posted to China for 2 years. Was based on the outskirts of NE Hangzhou. Hangzhou itself is a beautiful place to live but the town where I was based was basically a couple of hotels, restauarants, shops, residential complexes attached to the local industrial companies. Made a couple of half-arsed attempts at trying to pick up some Chinese, but just couldn’t get my head round it a thing which made life very frustrating at times due to the inability to communicate with staff in restaurants, shops etc.
Been based back in Germany since end 2014. Due to Brexit made the decision to apply for German citizenship. Got my application in before the “original” Brexit date, which meant that I was applying as an EU citizen, meaning I would be able to hold dual citizenship. Citizenship application was approved end of 2019. ID Card & passport duly received.
As regards Scotland, prior to Corona would fly back maybe 4 times a year. Christmas & New Year as a given plus trips for Scotland games. Haven’t been back since beginning of January 2020, thing I miss the most (apart from T) is not having ever seen my niece who was born last February (and the rest of my direct family as well).
Would I do it all again? Definitely.
Advice to anybody thinking about it! Go for it, if it goes wrong it goes wrong. Back home and restart.
Spend a lot of time in Gujarat (Badora and Ahmedabad) and travel frequently between there and Pune as well as other parts of India. How you put up with it for 2 1/2 years! Been offered a few times to go to India, Pune x 2 and Gurugram and knocked them back. I do like my time in India but wouldn’t put my family into that environment. Push come to shove maybe Bangalore or Chennai.
Hangzhou is decent, but as you say, if you live outside a major city there isn’t too much on offer in China.
Got to be honest, living in Germany with citizenship.
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10 hours ago, GordonS said:
If you think extreme poverty, homelessness and food insecurity aren't overwhelmingly caused by a shortage of resources you're kidding yourself on. And not doing it well.
Obviously there are other factors, especially when you get those things down to small numbers. That really should go without saying. But you're telling the difference between the countries with high levels of extreme poverty, homelessness and malnutrition and, say, Luxembourg isn't money? Come the f**k on.
Don't mistake the peripherals for the real cause.
Did I say I thought it would happen? I thought it was obvious that my point is these things are now a choice. We choose to allow hundreds of millions of people to live in abject misery. We choose to allow climate change. We have the resources to fix them but we choose to allow the obscenely wealthy to gather more and more wealth. We choose not to radically improve the lives of the most impoverished people in the world because humans suck.
Money would of course solve the issue. Only after education, government policies and corruption have been solved. You can also throw religion into that mix.
Its a vicious circle that is not a simple or quick fix.
@DiegoDiego mentioning Ethiopia is a good example. Much of the famine aid was a feel good factor for the west. A lot of the money didn’t get to where it should and now, with great economic growth in the country most peoples lives haven’t changed.
When I lived in The Philippines, we had a Typhoon that decimated the city of Tacloban. The amount of aid that was sent to Tacloban, was phenomenal in monetary, food and shelter terms and there was much back slapping in the western media about the support.
The reality was somewhat different. The US sent warships that were originally blocked from delivering food and aid. The warships themselves could have solved much of the food shortages immediately.
The food aid that poured in was seized by the local government and was ultimately sold on for profit to other businesses. Stockpiled, out of date food aid was then rationed out, but only to people who voted for the local government. The financial aid just ‘evaporated’.
Most charities are like sieves and at times do little to help.
Money will only solve things once governments/policies change, education is widespread and corruption curtailed.
There is a huge difference between third world countries and say Luxembourg but it is not predominantly money.
Many poor countries are resource rich. Every poor country has affluent citizens.
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4 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said:
Course I could, but it was very badly worded.
Not confused in the slightest.
Well if you could understand it…. ah, never mind
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5 hours ago, Torpar said:
The thing about racism in Canada is while they have the same "took our jobs" type thickos that you could find in the pub in Scotland, the institutional racism here is like nothing I could compare to Scotland. The legacy of residential schools, a system implemented by the Scottish first Prime Minister, is and will be felt for a long time to come. The Chinese head tax is a shameful piece of history. There are 100s of reserve that are under boil water to drink advisories, Trudeau made a lot of big promises to the indigenous people that we failed to deliver on, The Starlight Tours in Saskatoon are hard to believe, The Colten Boushie case and numerous other cases where the killing of indigenous people are "punished" with light sentences.
I think I naively shared an impression that a lot of people in Scotland had of Canada, that's it's this wonderfully peaceful utopia where everyone is overly friendly and there is no hate, especially compared to the evil neighbour to the south.
Racism/bigotry and intolerance is unfortunately a fact of life and the question posed on the feeling of racism and intolerance in other countries is a dangerous one. As said before, it is a perception of an individual based on a time, place and interaction.
I unfortunately experienced eye opening racism (as I had lived as a child in Canada and had a romantic view of the place), others would live their life in Canada (or anywhere) and never experience any. Yourself being from Toronto and longer term probably have a more balanced view.
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5 hours ago, Jacksgranda said:
So millions of Indians have a special contempt for themselves?
Despite being the third largest muslim population, it is still 10% of a huge population.
I am sure you could grasp what I was getting at in the sentence.
I’ll rephrase, The vast majority of the non muslim Indian population have huge contempt for their minority muslim countrymen who are generally looked down on and marginalised, but not as much as the Dalit.
Sorry for any confusion.
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21 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said:
Are millions of Indians not muslims?
Yes, Third largest country by muslim population behind Indonesia and Pakistan.
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1 hour ago, Michael W said:
It's quite striking the amount of times racism had been mentioned in this thread as a negative feature of countries, especially in developed ones.
Is it noticeably worse than it is in the UK/Scotland in isolation, or is it more open/overt racism? Genuinely curious.
As I had mentioned before, in my opinion, the worst overall was Canada. It was an eye opener. More elitism and arrogance than much else I guess though.
Hungary was particularly bad, mostly against Romanians/Gypsies and latterly muslims. Been away from Hungary for over 10 years and I believe it has got worse.
HK Blues nails it for Asia. There is a lot of racism here, but mostly not out of malice or its pure ignorance (especially in the case of China).
Philippines is very jovial mostly. It did boil my piss being called Joe all the time and being called ‘Americano’ but can understand where it comes from. The everyone is rich, for me, comes from the Sex tourists who save up all year to spend two weeks, quick literally fucking about and throwing money around to buy there way.
China is like 1970’s UK. Utterly racist, but not much intent, mostly ignorance. Except in the case of Japan. For some there is a special kind of hatred.
Indonesia there is underlying, utter contempt for the Chinese.
Covid and the South China seas has certainly aided more racism though.
There is a lot more anti Chinese feeling and surprisingly in Singapore spats of racism against foreigners, including westerners but mostly South Asians.
Indians have a special contempt for muslims.
There is racism and intolerance everywhere and exaggerated in times of recession or general downturns and depends who you encounter and when. In the case of Canada, which I consider the worst, I am sure others would have differing opinions by their own experience.
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On 02/03/2021 at 05:58, Lofarl said:
Read this in three nights. Utterly captivating. The only Victoria cross awarded to someone from Northern Ireland was on this mission in WW2.
He was pretty much shunned because he was catholic.
Finally got round to reading this.
A very good book indeed. With the the strait and port being about 10 minutes from my house and other places familiar having lived/worked nearby it was very interesting.
If anything, the previous raid (alluded to at the start of the book) would have been more captivating. Then again as all were killed in that there wouldn’t be much source material.
Lead me on to ‘Trojan Horse’ which is about the BA flight that landed in Kuwait at the start of the first gulf war. A little ‘flowery’ but certainly an interesting read.
Both not overly long and interesting enough to keep turning pages.
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21 minutes ago, hk blues said:
I first moved abroad when I was 40. I would say that the older you are the more difficult it becomes in terms of finding suitable work if you aren't being transferred with your job. I was an HR Manager in the UK (Manchester) and thought (wrongly) I'd be able to pick it up again in Hong Kong. Teaching English was just about the only option so that's what I did. Luckily, the then-wife had a good job and package (easy) so we were able to get by comfortably enough until I got into the swing of things. I ended up earning a bit more than I was as an HR Manager in the UK and have been able to continue teaching here in the Philippines.
So, it's never too late but age does become a limiting factor at some point I'd say.
Would agree on age for sure. Age, location and whether you are on an expat deal or independant.
I moved away at first at 34 on an expat deal. An absolute breeze.
After the first year, I have been independant (finding/creating my own jobs, visa applications and moves, etc).
It has resulted in a very mixed, but rewarding experience.
The lack of a safety net if independant is important to consider. Unless you pack up and go home, there is no signing on if you lose your job/visa status and foreigners are always the first to go during lean times and it is not as easy to find jobs as it would be back home.
When my career has not been able to sustain me, I have taught and written for papers and publications to get by.
I must admit the risk in it all is part of the experience, but as you get older it clearly gets more difficult.
Long and short, you will, as 99% of the people who ‘dream’ of living abroad, will find an excuse not to.
If it is truly your dream/desire, just go for it.
If you become a serial ‘expat’ who knows where you will end up.
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2 hours ago, Barry Ferguson's Hat said:
In China, even some of the trains have squat toilets, meaning any bump in the line can result in shite down the wall. Must be an absolute nightmare to clean if you don't have a hose handy.
Theres always a hose or a bucket available as its the preferred ‘cleaning’ method. Whether there is water or not is another thing.
Always best to avoid toilets around public transport in China. Train stations are bad, but service stations used by the long distance buses in rural areas are a biohazard.
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2 hours ago, DiegoDiego said:
Nonsense. My top qualification is an HNC, I've never earnt more than 50p over minimum wage and I've visited 80 countries and lived in nine.I haven’t even got as high as an HNC!
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22 minutes ago, hk blues said:
For ex-American military guys the 20K is waived and it's something like a few thousand dollars only, very manageable for most. The tourist visa here has always been very loose - enter, renew every 3-6 months, after 3 years take the night flight to Hong Kong, return the next day and start the process again for another 3 years. A bill is moving through govt. to put a stop to this - a fair few guys have been using the tourist system for years so they will need to look at other options such as the retirement visa, or marriage! The BIR (tax) authority are also clamping down on the foreigners based here who are working but not paying tax, including social media influencers.
We'll see how serious they are about it in due course...
Yes the influencers and tax avoiders are the ones under scrutiny in Indonesia, partly brought on by their own stupidity.
One ‘influencer’ in Bali wrote an ebook for sale on how to beat the system in Bali and live a comfortable life there and promoted it online.
Was shocked and complained when she got arrested, fined and deported.
Indonesia is cheap but hefty on tax.
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1 hour ago, hk blues said:
Yes, the SRRV in the Philippines is popular as it's inexpensive BUT you do need to squirrel away 20K USD in a local bank OR buy an apartment as houses cannot be foreign-owned. It will be getting even more popular now as the Tourist Visa loophole is probably getting closed soon.
20k USD I would guess would be reasonable for many retirees to get access to a pretty open visa.
I think most countries out here are starting to review their visa offerings and processes and tightening up on things so they can get rid of non desirables and attract more desirable foreigners, like retirees.
I know there has been a fair bit going on in Bali as it became a bit of an ‘influencers’ paradise who were taking advantage of the lax immigration laws. Due to some high profile idiocity, the government are clamping down and deporting people.
In Batam and Johor, not quite the same, but they have been developing a great deal to attract people away from Singapore.
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4 minutes ago, Ross. said:
Always assumed that but it seems quite a popular retirement spot for the Swiss. Has the climate they want at that age, their pensions afford them a very comfortable standard of living, and the healthcare costs are minuscule compared to here.
Yup assumption is a key word here. Countries like Philippines actually offer very attractive retirement visas that could give an average income retiree a decent life in relation to weather and lifestyle.
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49 minutes ago, hk blues said:
I used to think so too, but after 16+ years here I'd say the vast majority of expats are here for the weather, the cheaper living costs and the prettier and younger women (but not so much younger)- there have been a few dodgy guys I've seen around but same goes for the UK.
A big chunk of this is narrow minded perceptions in my opinion. Considering South East Asia makes a considerable contribution to global manufacturing, has several major banking hubs as well as other ‘global’ industries. The majority of the westerners/expats are here through work (or have been for work and decided to stay on for, as you say; weather, cost, lifestyle, or commitments picked up).
There are of course a few ‘dodgy characters’ kicking about but they are in the minority.The ones for the watching are the sex tourists. The guys that who save up all year to have a couple of weeks holiday here as weekend millionaires, usually spotted around certain parts of Manila and Bangkok.
A close runner up are the ‘influencers’ and backpackers* who pitch up as if it is the 1970’s.
*That is a small number of backpackers. Most are sound, but there is a special type amongst them.
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20 hours ago, coprolite said:
What's Grandmaster Flash's favourite curry?
Rendang (diggiggidangadang)
The king of curries. If it counts as a curry.
It takes ages to do justice though so it's a special occasion dish.
Not a curry, but a fantastic dish all the same and one of Sumatras finest exports.
Many quality and very spicy dishes from Indonesia.
For myself, can cook to survive, but have little interest so don’t go beyond very simple things.
Fortunately the wife is a great cook.
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Afghanistan Crisis
in The General Nonsense Forum
Posted
So that kind of puts the husband/male guardian in the ‘vague’ zone, what about the other points?