AndreOMorris

Here on the island of Phuket in Thailand there are many mixed Thai-western marriages. We hear many stories about the strange and unreasonable behaviour of Thai wives. What about the other side of the coin? Are western husbands always a fountain of reason and fairness to their Thai wives?

There is one thing I often notice from western husbands that I always think is unfair and will cause relationship problems. It is the belief that their Thai wife should be grateful.

It is far from all the western husbands that are guilty of this attitude. However, it is common enough that it is worth discussing. These men believe their wives should be grateful for the improved lifestyle they have given her. They believe this means they call the shots and if the wife doesn’t like it, she is being ungrateful.

Is this really a healthy basis for a relationship?

When these men are discussing their latest spat with their wife, you will often hear similar comments. “She forgets where she came from. When I found her she was living in a shack and sleeping on the floor.” Does this means she must be meek and subservient? Cannot have any control in the relationship? If you do not respect your wife’s opinions, how can you expect her to be happy just because she has a nicer bed?

Of course, gratitude is a factor in relationships. Many of the western husbands in Thailand have made great sacrifices for the benefit of their Thai wives. Their wives should be grateful for these sacrifices but not to the extent that it diminishes their role in the relationship. The Thai wife also contributes much to the relationship for which the husband should be grateful. In a healthy relationship, gratitude is a two-way thing.

Many men come to Thailand with the intention of finding a wife. I think a lot of them arrive with little knowledge of the local culture and naive ideas about what they will find. They think they are going to ’save’ a Thai girl from her life of poverty and give her a better life. In return, the girl will be eternally grateful and will be a doting and attentive wife.

Well the bad news is most Thai women do not feel like they need ’saving’. They love their country and their family. They usually have plenty of friends. They like their lives in Thailand. Yes, a lot of Thai women are poor but that does not mean they are unhappy. They don’t want to change their lives. They just want more money so they can make their current life better.

Many Thai women are amenable to approaches from Western men. Thailand has one of the most open and tolerant societies in Asia and they do not fear mixed-race relationships. One of the things Thai women like about western men is that they can provide greater financial security than most Thai men can. However, they are still looking for the other things women expect from a good relationship such as love and respect.

They don’t want a one-sided relationship where their husband constantly expects them to be grateful. Who would like such a relationship? To be endlessly treated as a second-class partner with no say in the decision making process because they do not provide the money. To be constantly reminded where they come from.

Marriage is about give and take. Both sides need to be able to compromise and respond to their partners needs. It is true that some Thai women are not the best at controlling the purse strings and if the western man is providing the money then it may be best for him to control the money. That does not mean the Thai wife should have no input on where the money goes. It does not mean she has to be subservient to her husband on all issues.

Here is the reason why Thai women are not as grateful as their western husbands sometimes think they should be. They are not afraid of their previous life. They are not afraid of sleeping on the floor in a shared room. They are not afraid of taking cold showers from a tub of well-water. If this is the life they knew, they are not scared to go back to it. They are not massively grateful for their new comforts because it is not the most important thing to them.

There are two things most Thai women will put before their own comfort. Firstly, most Thai women want to help support their family to some extent. Some are happy to make a small contribution while others can never give enough.

The second thing is obvious. It is what everybody wants from their relationship; to be loved and respected; to feel important. All the possessions in the world cannot make up for being treated like a doormat. It’s the same for them as it is for us. They want to feel like they matter.

A while ago, I found myself in the slightly embarrassing role of translator for a Swedish man who was proposing to a Thai girl. This Thai girl was a neighbour and friend of my wife. The Swedish guy did not speak any English so he had a Swedish friend translating for him. The Thai girl did not speak any English so I was translating to Thai for her.

This Swedish guy was on holiday for two weeks and looking for a Thai wife. He was very pleased with himself that he had not chosen a bar girl. He kept on repeating that he was too clever to marry a bar girl and that was why he had approached our friend - a nice Thai girl. He had seen her eating at a Thai restaurant and asked her out. They had gone out together several times but could barely communicate. She is a very beautiful young lady. Of course, he had no way of knowing she is also a lesbian.

So we all went to a restaurant. Finally, he had a translator and could get his message across to this young Thai woman.

“I will marry her.”

Our lesbian friend was a little surprised by this proposal. Apart from being a lesbian, she had only been out with him a few times. However, like most Thais, she kept her cards close to her chest and let the Swede continue.

“She will move to Sweden with me.”

This is one of the classic mistakes western men make. Many men are convinced they can offer the girl such a better life in their own country that the girl could not possibly turn down this generous offer. Well here is a general truism - Thais like living in Thailand. The reason many Thais do move abroad is to make money. They do not go for a better lifestyle. The lifestyle they like is in Thailand. They go abroad because they have the chance to make better money than they can at home, and often they plan to move back to Thailand as soon as they have enough money.

“She will learn to speak Swedish.”

Learn a new language - only a small request. Our friend humbly agreed this was a fair demand.

“She will live in my house.”

Very generous. Let the wife live in his house.

“She will cook, clean the house and do the laundry.”

Yep, this guy really knows what he wants. A beautiful Thai lover and maid. I wonder that he couldn’t find a Swedish woman to fill his requirements.

“If she wants to send money to her family she must get a job and earn it herself.”

He has obviously done some reading up on Thai wives. He knows they like to send money home to the family. Well only reasonable that he should lay down the law and make it plain he is not going to pay for this inconvenient tendency. After all, she will have plenty of free time between her household chores and nuptial responsibilities.

Notice the total lack of question marks in this dialogue. It really never occurred to this Swedish guy that a Thai woman might say ‘no’ to his proposal. Surely, she would be grateful!

Our lesbian friend gave due consideration to the proposal. What she was actually considering was whether she could get any more money or free meals from this guy before she let him off the hook. She decided against it. The Swedish guy’s chin hit the floor as she told him she did not want to move to Sweden. He could not believe this girl did not want to be ’saved’. How could she be so stupid as to turn down such an opportunity? He gruffly said so and left.

I tell this story just to highlight the strange assumptions that western men can make about Thai women. They really are not going to automatically be grateful as if the western man is their saviour. And neither should they be. This is no basis for a good relationship. A relationship based on one person controlling the other is never going to be a good one. For any relationship to work there has to be give and take from both sides.

The author has lived in Phuket, Thailand for seven years. If you want to read more about the colourful island of Phuket then visit http://www.knowphuket.com where you will find more articles and visitor information.

Colors are important aspect of aura reading. However, when non-physical energy combines with our body, it is confined to the limitations of density, light and form. Note areas where colors are dull, do you see holes within the colors? Trust your intuition.

Black

This is a confusing color. There is nothing wrong with black in one’s aura. Black generally means one is shielding oneself from outside energies. This can also mean being unbalanced; one is hiding something or keeping secrets.

A black ring around a child usually indicates some form of abuse, adults who have not dealt with early abuse will carry this black ring till they are healed.

Blue

This comes in different shades. Gifted people have shades of blue in their aura. Intuitive people will show pale blue coloration within the purple bursting out like rays of sunshine, emanating from the heart outwards.

A deeper blue can indicate loneliness. A very deep blue shows devotion, honesty and good judgment.

Not all blues are positive- a muddier shade of blue indicates a domineering person, a tendency towards depression, or oversensitivity.

Brown

This color can indicate growth in a person. Seen around the head and wit h other colors emanating in combination, it indicates a person who is developing mentally, intuitively and organizing within.

Brown by itself can indicate lack of energy, or one who has become “stagnant”.

Gold

Indicates lots of spiritual energy, in tune with oneself. Muddy gold means one has not come to terms with one’s higher levels.

Yellow

Usually seen around a thinker, an analytical person. Could indicate a “balanced” person. Intelligent people show this color around their heads.

Green

Sympathetic to others, dependable and has healing abilities.Muddier shade could indicate jealousy- like “green with envy”.

Gray

Can indicate intuition and creativity. Silvery gray shows femininity while darker gray can mean secretiveness or physical imbalance. Gay men can show shades of gray in their aura.

Orange

Bright orange means one is growing emotionally and paranormally. A dull shade means a person is unsure how to accept this growth. Muddy orange shows in a person with too much pride.

Pink

The color of love, and honesty. It also depicts the quieter side of an artistic and creative person. Dark pink may indicate immaturity or changes with one’s love life. Dull pink, however, watch out; Someone is lying.

Purple

The color of intuition, a deeper purple hue shows a strong- willed and passionate person. It can also reflect intense erotic imagination and being over-bearing.

Red

A color of love or hate, strong emotions and a lot of energy. An intense red color, however, may indicate a person ready to fly off the handle.

There are three flirting tips for guys you can use immediately to have more success with women. Specifically they deal with how to use confidence appropriately, how to balance it with humor, and finally how to communicate yourself as romantically interesting to women. Believe it or not, every kind of flirting fits into these three categories. We will examine each of these categories in-depth, and after reading this article you will have many specific flirting tips.

For guys who have trouble attracting women, confidence is usually the problem. Let’s examine flirting tips for guys in the area of confidence. If you make a study of the guys who attract many beautiful women, you will find one thing in common. Their confidence is as close to down right cocky and arrogant as can be without crossing that fine line.

Here’s how they get away with it. They mix it with humor. So for example, let’s say there’s a certain physical attribute you are insecure about. Think about it, and write it down. Next, I want you to figure out how you can turn it into a strong point. Stay with me here because this is one of the most powerful flirting tips for guys you will ever read.

Here’s an example. One of my students had a gap in his front teeth. We came up with an idea, which he used to approach a woman at an art show. This is what he did. He went up to a beautiful woman and struck up a conversation about the sculpture she was looking at. Then he said to her, “I love your hair but I don’t date smokers.”

The women looked confused. She asked him why he would say that because she doesn’t smoke.

He replied, “Oh, I thought you did because of how your teeth looked.” He said this with a big smile, intentionally exposing his gap tooth. This got her to come back on him and mention to him that his teeth weren’t exactly perfect. This is what he was waiting for. He said, “Yeah, but that’s part of my charm, it makes me more attractive. I know you agree.”

Almost all the flirting tips for guys we discussed are contained in this dialog. Confidence to approach a woman is one of the best flirting tips. Humor to show her you comfortable with yourself, but also aren’t too serious to seem arrogant deals with the second area of flirting tips for guys.

However, there is one key area of flirting tips for guys you must know for a scenario like the above to be more effective. It deals with how you communicate yourself through body language.

Know this: roughly 90% of our communication is non-verbal. So what does this mean as far as flirting tips for guys goes? It means if you say something funny and/or confident, but your body language shows you are nervous with it, or that you aren’t sincere about it…

It won’t work.

So how should you carry yourself when flirting? Tips for guys to use are to breathe deeply and slowly from the stomach. Keep the shoulders upright and smile naturally. This is for starters. Now here is some flirting tips for guys dealing with body language that are worth their weight in gold.

Simply find someone to study who is a master at seduction. If you don’t know someone in real life, rent James Bond movies. Now observe their mannerisms when talking to women. Next, simply copy their body language. Now use this tip along with the tips for confidence and humor, and you are on your way to getting more dates.

We have only scratched the surface of flirting tips for guys. I urge you to practice what we have covered here, but also to seek out more information. The more you know about how to approach a woman and what to say, the better your chances for success. So get out there and learn more flirting tips for guys!

Kurt Dight has created a free 5 day mini course in “how to seduce any women”. It is available for instant access for a limited time at http://www.dating-secrets2.com

A squeeze page is simply a web page with an opt in form linked to an autoresponder. The sole function of the squeeze page is to collect the email and preferably the name of the user, and add them to your List.

However, you need to offer something valuable to get people to give up their personal email. The easiest and cheapest way of achieving this is to write a review of the product you are promoting. Create a PDF report with your affiliate link embedded, so you receive commission from any sales via your affiliate link.

You should take a step by step approach, try the following steps as a guide:

1. First, research and identify a niche or product you can promote with an affiliate program.
2. Write a review on the product — ideally you should try or buy the product, so your review is high quality.
3. Purchase a domain name with relevant keywords. For example, if you are promoting an ebook on improving golf swings, then it would be advantageous to have the word "golf" in the domain name.
4. Set up an autoresponder to send out a series of emails at schedule intervals. It has been said that you need on average seven emails before any sale can be achieved. Therefore, prepare at least ten messages to be sent out at least one a week.
5. Set up the confirmation page as the download page to deliver your free PDF report.

As you may have realised the system is totally automated and once set up you need not touch it ever again, but it will build up your mailing list. This is a very powerful web technique. If you are not using your squeeze pages then you are losing a stack of money everyday.

Do you want develop your own webmaster skills in minutes not years?

Find out more here: http://www.amazingwebskills.com

Grab your free SqueezePage guide from here:

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How to choose the right breed of dog for you and your family

The importance of choosing the most suitable type of dog breed for your personal circumstances, preferences and limitations simply cannot be stressed enough. While dogs are like people, in the sense that no two dogs have the same personality, it is also true that different breeds exhibit different behaviors and, in fact, are often bred in such a way as to heighten these particular traits. Therefore, it is possible to have a fair idea of how a potential pet will react to different situations on the basis of the breed chosen. A true dog lover will make a special effort to take into consideration all factors to ensure that the breed selected as their pet adapts well to their needs.

Anyone for a Dalmatian?

The first thing to bear in mind is that the type of dog chosen must fit in with your current - or projected - lifestyle. The Dalmatian can serve as a good example. This breed is well known for producing cute little puppies, but what many dog owners don’t realize is that they’re going to need a great deal of exercise and playing even well into their mature years. So, if you choose this breed, you have to be aware that your dog is going to need the attention and love of a master, or mistress, that has the time for it. It’s going to need plenty of physical exercise and mental stimulation to be a truly healthy and happy pet. As you can imagine, this is no easy task.

Considerations

Before you decide on a breed of dog, consider the following questions, as a minimum:

· How much time can I, or my family, spend with the dog or puppy?

· How often will the dog be left alone, and for how long?

· How big is the yard or exercise space?

· Is it fenced?

· Do I want the dog to be inside the house or outside? For how long?

· How much time do I have to walk or exercise the dog?

· Do I want a dog that is playful and friendly with everyone or one that is a good watchdog?

· How often am I prepared to groom and maintain the dog’s coat?

· How much time can I spare to work with the dog for training and obedience?

· Will there be any small children around the dog?

· Are their other pets in the family?

· How much money am I prepared to spend on getting - and maintaining - the dog or puppy?

Once you’ve answered these questions, and any more that may be relevant to your particular situation, you can then start looking at the different dog breeds and their characteristics, in the knowledge that your choice will be based on sound reasoning.

Make sure you get it right

If you’re planning to get a new dog or puppy, the breed chosen definitely does matter, both for you and for your future pet. If you spend the time and effort to ensure a good match, you can be much more confident that both you and your pet will be happy - make sure your dog can fit easily into your lifestyle, so that you can give it, in return, the lifestyle it deserves and needs.

Terry Roberts has always been interested in dogs and the way people and their pets get on.

Whenever you are planning to order promotional business gifts, the massive choices available can at times be rather overwhelming. Especially if you are promoting services or products that don’t have a proper corresponding promotional item, your choice increase and become all the more difficult. For example if you are promoting stationeries, then you have the option of choosing from a variety of promotional pens, pencils and notepads. But what if you are selling mortgages and credit cards? Such businesses can’t be easily defined through promotional items. Should you order the promotional conference bags or advertising mugs? Which item will best define your business and interest your target audience at the same time? These are a few predicaments that you would face, in your quest to getting that perfect promotional item.

Choosing, designing, and distributing promotional business gifts aren’t as easy as it may first appear. There are not only hundreds of possible product options, that you would need to sieve through, but you will also be expected to customize these items as per your promotional requirements. On top of this, you would also need to decide on the number of gifts that need to be ordered. Promotional products and business gifts can be a very effective part of marketing strategy, when used correctly. Just follow the following instructions and all your goals will be taken care of.

• Always keep your customers’ needs in mind. There are a number of generic items like promotional pens, key rings, and magnets that complement a variety of businesses. So be sure to pick the finest gifts. If most of your clients are office going people, then gifting them useful office supplies will surely be appreciated.
• If your target customers are kids, you can gift them a variety of products like inflatable toys and writing instruments with added features like torches and whistles.
• If your audience comprises of housewives, students and office goers, consider gifting them promotional mugs. Promotional mugs imprinted with your company name, logo and perhaps a humorous or inspirational quotation will make the perfect gift to greet your customers when they drink their first cup of coffee in the morning.

Now by logging onto some of the leading suppliers you can browse through their massive online collection of promotional items. On their site, you can feast your eyes on some of most profitable and pocket friendly promotional items currently available in the market. To know more about our business gifts, just check out the top companies online today.

Gareth Parkin is the co-founder of Ideasbynet, the UK’s leading online business gifts and promotional items company based in the north of England. Established in 2001, he has taken the UK gift market by storm by the application of modern business thinking and the latest search engine marketing techniques. For more details visit www.ideasbynet.com

Alaska, an amazing place which has always been a source of mystery and awe, has some of the finest skiing in the world. And if you are wondering where to start - look to the Alyeska Resort, located only forty miles from Anchorage, it is simply one of the best resorts in the state. The area boasts a high elevation of 2751 feet and a 2501 vertical drop, and it gets an average of 631 inches of snow each year.

While this is some of the best skiing in the world, surprisingly you won’t find the slopes to be overly crowded, and in our experience, there are no long lift lines. There are nine lifts, including six chair lifts and two surface lifts, and one cable car line. There are also a total of 68 trails for beginners, intermediates, and experts, with the majority of the trails designed for intermediate skiers.

Night time skiing is permitted, which makes your ski experience all the more adventurous and thrilling. You will see not only majestic snow capped mountains, but also hanging glaciers, and of course, the famous Northern Lights. We think it is absolutely amazing, but you don’t have to take our word for it, this resort is ranked number nine of the “top 25 killer ski trips” by Skiing Magazine.

The ski season begins at the Alyeska Resort in mid November, and runs through mid April. This area of Alaska has areas with the longest daytime in the United States, with approximately sixteen hours of daylight each day during April. During December, however, there are only about seven hours of daylight — which makes night time skiing necessary if you are going to get in some quality time on the slopes.

First you’ll want to find a good hotel - we would recommend The Alyeska Prince Hotel - it is simply the place to stay! Here you can enjoy elegant rooms and fine dining. Nightly entertainment is available as well. There are other nightlife spots not associated with the Hotel that are in the area as well.

There are a number of other engaging activities in the area as well. If tubing interests you, then a visit to the Glacier Tubing Park is an absolute must! Featuring two lanes of terrain and a surface lift, everyone in the family will enjoy spending time at the tubing park. The Alyeska Terrain Park is a must for snowboarding enthusiasts. Other winter activities in and around the Alyeska Resort include ocean cruising tours, heli skiing, ice climbing, light seeing, dog sledding, mountaineering, back country skiing, and polar bear viewing.

The ultimate winter vacation can be experienced at the Alyeska Resort. You can brave the elements, and then return to the Hotel for plenty of pampering. You’ll get a taste of what Alaska is really like, and what skiing is meant to be! There are activities for the entire family to enjoy, and there are many area sights and attractions to be enjoyed as well. This really is an awesome winter family ski vacation!

Katya Coen provides information on ski vacations and travel for Savvy Cafe. Visit us for more on living life to the fullest!

Contextual advertisement is a novel and unique concept which works well with the content displayed in a website. These advertisements give advertisers a never before opportunity to generate maximum exposure to their business through Internet. Moreover the advertiser will have a better control on the money spent on advertising. It helps advertisers to leverage the full potential of the Internet to boost their business and revenue.

Contextual advertisement programs are designed to read the content of the website and appropriate advertisements are thrown in to be displayed alongside the content. These advertisements are highly efficient as it generates maximum-targeted view to the advertisements being displayed. A visitor who reaches a particular site where the contextual advertisements are being displayed can find something exactly he or she searching through these advertisements.

The main benefit of contextual advertisements is that the advertiser can actually have a better control on his advertising budget. Contextual advertising ensures that the right advertisements are shown in the right location and are target geographically also. Whenever an advertiser wishes to change the content of his advertisement, he can do it easily by logging into his account and the changes made will be immediately applied to the advertisement.

With this unique technology, many advertisers have benefited immensely. Various reports generated by the system can show how effectively your advertisement has reached the intended audience. It shows you the statistical details about your advertisements such as number of impression, click generated on these impressions etc. He also can choose the geographical area to target his advertisement to a specific region.

Visit Contextual Advertisement

Gijo George
Visit for Unique Gifts

1. Avoid lawn if there is no space for it, or if the area is too shady. Paving, gravel or some other hard surface will look infinitely neater than a trodden lawn - a narrow strip of lawn will inevitably get worn out.

2. Bright, hot colours, such as yellows, oranges and reds, used at the bottom of a narrow garden will appear to shorten the space, and can help balance the length of the property. Cool pale colours, such as blues, pale pinks and lilacs, at the bottom of the garden will appear to recede.

3. You do not have to plant on each boundary. An attractive boundary wall or screen may serve as a backdrop to a feature and allow you to make the opposite border that much broader. Hide an ugly wall with decorative trellis or climbing plants.

4. If you pave, use a paving pattern that runs perpendicular to the length of the property. Running paving parallel to the long boundaries will exaggerate the length of the property.

5. Avoid skinny beds running in strips down the boundary walls. Draw the beds out at some point. If the area is very narrow and does not allow room for beds, treat it more like a patio. Pave it or lay gravel, introduce some planted pots, and add a bench or a sculpture as a focal point.

6. Built-in seating can work very well in a restricted area. You might consider creating a raised bed along one boundary and making the top of the retaining wall wide enough to use as a seat. Take note that normal walls (including boundary walls) are not strong enough to act as retaining walls. Ask a qualified builder for advice.

7. An appropriate focal point at the end of your narrow garden is essential. It is the destination of the visual journey you have created and enticed people along. If you do not provide a destination, the journey is pointless.

Andrew Smit

Have you recently decided that you would like to have your antique car restored? If so, have you decided how you would like to go about doing so? While many individuals turn to a professional antique car restoration business, there are others who choose to do their own restoration. If you are interested in doing so, you can, but there are a number of important factors that you may first want to take into consideration. One of those factors is the antique car restoration parts that you will need.

Antique cars are defined as being antique because of their production dates. Unfortunately, almost all antique cars are out of production now. If an antique car is still being produced, it isn’t an original, rather it is a replica. What does this you mean for you? It means that it may be difficult for you to find your own antique car restoration parts. Despite being difficult and time consuming, there are a number of ways that you can go about getting the parts that you need.

Depending on where you live, you may have access to a car parts store. Chances are you will not find what you are looking for at a national car parts chain; they tend to only focus on newer vehicles. You will want to look for an individual or a company in your area that specializes in selling old, antique car parts. Even if the individual or company in question does not have the antique car restoration parts you were looking for, they may be able try and find them for you. As previously mentioned, whether or not one of these establishments can be found in or around your place of residence will all depend on where you live.

If you are unable to find someone locally, you may want to turn to the internet. In fact, the internet is your best chance of finding what you want. It might be best to perform a standard internet search with the name of the antique car restoration parts you are looking for. Your results may include classified ads where these items are being offered for sale or you may be directed to the online website of an individual or company that specializes in selling antique car restoration parts. Unfortunately, it can sometimes be difficult to shop for antique car restoration parts. If you are unfamiliar with antique car parts, you may not know whether you are getting a quality part. That is why you are advised to shop with caution, especially when using online auction websites.

As stated above, do it yourself antique car restoration is not your only option. You can also choose to have your antique car professionally restored. While this will cost a decent amount of money, it is important to remember the results; you will almost always end up with better results. In addition to results, you will not have to search for your own antique car restoration parts. If you choose to work with an antique car restoration business, they will find and purchase the parts for you. Due to connections made through previous purchases, it is often easier for an antique car restoration business to find the needed parts. Something that can take you a week or two, may only take a professional few hours or a couple of days.

When deciding whether you would like to do your own antique car restoration or have a professional do it for you, you are urged to keep the above mentioned points in mind. They may help make it easier for you to make a decision.

Lamar Burns is a writer for Finished Dreams where you can find accurate information about Antique Car Restoration and other related information.