GarryP

The Land Office is notoriously corrupt. Not that many years ago, it was ranked as the most corrupt Thai government agency. Probably still is. On a related note, I am quite a few years older than my wife so am considering having my name removed from our title deeds. May make things easier for her when I kick the bucket (hopefully not anytime soon).

Usufruct does seem strange in this instance. I think perhaps there has been some misunderstanding at the Land Office. When my wife and I bought our house in Bangkok, registration was very straightforward, probably because there were many more foreign born Thai citizens buying property in Bangkok. However, when we bought some land in Kalasin, it was a bit different. The official handling the queue in the local Land Office initially could not get her head around the fact that I, a farang, could also be a Thai citizen and own land. She was quite confused and initially was not prepared to give the the requisite queue number, so I pointed out that I had already shown her my Thai ID card and that I could actually own land (I did not get uppity about it though). She then got up and went to consult with her boss who thought it was all quite amusing. He gave me a nice smile and told her that she was holding evidence that I could own land and to get my queue number sorted. From then on, it was all good. However, I do not know about the fees for being added as a joint owner post purchase of the land, as when my wife and I did it we were both registered as joint owners at the same time, i.e. upon purchase.

The Land Department is not totally correct. For the Tabian Baan there can only be one person registered as the owner (Chao Baan). However, for Title Deeds (Chanote), it is possible to have more than one owner. For my house in Bangkok, the title deed lists both my wife and me as owners in the title deeds, but in the house registration (Tabien Baan), I am listed as the owner. For our house in Kalasin, we are listed as joint owners on the title deed but my wife is listed as the owner in the house registration. In your case, I do not see any reason why you should be prevented from being listed as joint owners in the Title Deeds (Chanote) for both properties. For the tabian baan, you could each hold one. When taking out loans, it is the title deeds (chanote) which are used, not tabian baan.

The median earnings in the UK is 34,963 quid/year. More down south and less up north east. These figures just show me how out of touch I am with the UK reality. I always thought I was the pauper living and working in Thailand, but it appears that is not the case.

An attempt by Pheu Thai to remain valid. However, this pseudo vote buying scheme will not help them. It is about as much use as a fart in a jam jar, but at least the jam jar wouldn't negatively impact the economy. This party seems to be really good with the money wasting schemes that have more negatives than positives, including the land bridge farce.

Total immersion was the way I learned Thai, but when I came here 41 years ago, I didn't have much choice. Worked out well for me though.

Good to hear it worked for you. I never had a digital exam pre or post op. But then maybe that was because my protstate was only 38 cc. It is 2 years and 5 months or thereabouts since I had the treatment and I'm still happy with the results.

I agree. The language used in just about all Thai schools is central Thai. So where I live, even though most locals normally speak the local Isarn dialect (a few speak Phu Thai), they understand everything I say in central Thai and also most speak to me in central Thai. Luckily, for those that don't, there is no problem because I understand Isarn too.

I'd only been here a few weeks at the time, and learned my lesson. You should try ordering crysanthemum tea in Thai. I really like it but for quite a while refused to order it for fear of mispronouncing it. No problem now.

When I first arrived in Thailand and was learning a few words on Samui, I screamed at the Baht bus (pick-up truck bus thing) to get it to stop, as the locals did because there was no bell (41 years ago). The bus screeched to a halt only for me to learn that my pronunciation was so bad that I had been screaming f@#k, f@#k, f@#k, instead of stop, stop, stop. I also mispronounced banana and ended up ordering a semen milkshake. They looked really shocked until I pointed at a banana at the shake stall in Nathon.

I like to keep abreast of the position of the sun.

What about those who live upcountry and have no western social group in their village/area? If they can't speak Thai, and the only one who can speak English is their wife, it must get very lonely unless they are introverts. I understand that living in Bangkok or tourist destinations may be a bit different, but the advantages of learning the language are numerous. I do not rely on my wife for any help with communication, whether that be with officialdom, family, the local market, builders, etc. I would actually find it a bit demeaning if I had to rely on my wife for all communication. On a side note, I bet many of the posters who moved here from the UK would bang on all day long that immigrants to the UK must learn the local language, i.e. English, yet when they moved here they never intended to learn the local language. Hypocrites perhaps?

That mentally triggers a gag reflex.

Duplicate post.

In my neck of the woods, it seems that the deeper ponds are built in areas with poor water retention so that they can hold some water longer. This is not really a problem in areas where water retention is good, such as those with high water tables. In a village not more than 5 kms from where I live, the ponds tend to be very deep. I was standing in a new one the other week and it was bone dry, even after heavy rain a few days earlier. On the other hand, less than 500 meters from my home, a guy had two ponds dug a few months ago and they filled up before receiving any rain (these are only about 3 meters deep.