prism

Looks like Chiang Mai dodged the flood bullet. River is dropping slowly and most of the heavy rain is currently south and west of us.

Not up in the San Sai area. Lots of flooding in moo baans Saun Nong Si, Tanawan, Land and home and others. Just drive up Maejo Rd. Locals say it's worse then the big one in 2006.

Thanks for the rapid response Asiaexpat. It's people like you who make this a great forum. I will check out the non O visa to see what's involved.

I am married to a Thai that live in the USA for 40 years (retired and returned to Thailand) and we purchased a home home in Bangkok several years ago. I prefer a Non-O type visa over the Non O-A (retirement) visa since I want to be able to work in Thailand at some point. A Non O-A visa makes it difficult to do any type of work. When we purchased our property the title was filed in my wife's name and I signed a document that stated the property was purcased with my wife's money and I have no interest in the property. We then got a usafruct leasehold registered to give me 30 years rights to live on the property. We also register a will at the District Office that leaves the property to our Thai hiers. Since your situation seems to be like our's, this may be your best option.

You can make the Usufruct agreement longer then 30 years, up to the life of the Usufructuary.

Montri hotel is I guess also in that group. Maybe 800 baht or so these days?

WTK

Tried booking the Montri last week and was told 1,500 Baht (yes you read that right) not the usual 800 Baht I had paid a few months ago. Walked past a couple of days ago and empty. Must be Thai logic

It is now called the M Hotel and the cheapest room was over 4,000 baht the last time that I checked their website. No gym. No swimming pool. What a great deal.

It's 1,100 baht if you book it on sawadee(dot)com. Looks like they have re-fitted their rooms but I wonder if the bathrooms are still smelly.

There's a wine connection in MeeChok Plaza by Rimping. You can find descriptions of the wines sold in their store on their website.

Butter is Better...

BTW. My problems started when tried to uninstall Adobe dreamweaver, I was using Revo uninstaller.

After the uninstallalation all my other Adobe products did not work. Are they somehow conected?

Why did you use Revo uninstaller instead of Add/Remove Programs?

Fair question. I just thought that the Revo thing would remove more of the "left ower files" But I will try the Windows thing now.

Revo is very good at removing problem programs but if you use it in the "advanced mode", you have to be careful that it doesn't remove any files and registry entries used by other programs. Looks like you have to re-install your other Adobe products.

Beautiful hardware but the MeeGo OS is a NoGo for me.

You might find some useful info here:

http://www.coolthaihouse.com

Try PowerISO. Works great for me.

I've been on many cruises and we've anchored at many destinations. For most of our destinations, we book an excursion or tour from the cruise ship company. The tour always includes all transportation. Does this mean that we will have to pay these taxi guys on top of what you already paid for the tour if we went there? Forget about it, I'll stay on the ship. They'll be another friendlier destination tomorrow.

With this MoU, Phuket looses.

We have not seen the MOU wording. Nowhere in the article does it state that passengers will have to fork out themselves to pay for transport. It could be that a fee is agreed with the drivers upfront and paid directly by the cruise operators. OK, passengers may get taken on a tour of gem stores and tailor shops but they may actually like the novelty of a ride in a tuktuk rather than an aircon bus.

I do belive that the authorities should not have given into the demands but they have and now let's see how it works. We'll know it is fine if the subject is not brought up again.

Let's hope the MoU only applies to transfer services into town and not to tours booked from the cruise ship. That's the case in most ports anyway.

I've been on many cruises and we've anchored at many destinations. For most of our destinations, we book an excursion or tour from the cruise ship company. The tour always includes all transportation. Does this mean that we will have to pay these taxi guys on top of what you already paid for the tour if we went there? Forget about it, I'll stay on the ship. They'll be another friendlier destination tomorrow.

With this MoU, Phuket looses.

Use a VPN

Won't work. You need to go to the new website address.

AIS has the best 3G service in CM proper IMO. True Move's 3G is a little cheaper for their unlimited service. Tethering your phone to your laptop saves you from buying a dongle.

It is actually a very impressive presentation. The problem I think will be that it will take considerably resources to provide all the eyecandy in Windows 8, which usually translates to reduced battery life, but time will show

They are claiming that the specs required to run Windows 8 are the same as Windows 7.

Now your 24" wide screen desktop will handle just as shitty as your phone, with 10 HUGE buttons to choose from, but without the touch screen.

Touch screens will probably be the norm a few years down the track (IMHO).

Oh yeah! finger prints all over my desktop screen.

AIS offers 3G through out most of Chiang Mai, I've used them in the past and I got some good speeds. DTAC doesn't offer 3G in CM yet.

Apple has already unveiled whats going to be on the agenda for next weeks WWDC where they usually announce the next iPhone and there's no mention of the iPhone 5. On the agenda will be the introduction of iCloud, iOS 5 and a new Mac OS. As nikster says, rumors are that the next iPhone won't be released until September.

I'm fine with my iPhone 4 for the time being.

If your iPhone is unlocked, you can buy a pay as you go sim card at T-Mobile and now I believe from AT&T. Go to one of their stores, not the kiosks you see in the malls. Check their plans carefully.

In Airport Plaza on the 3rd floor. Enter the IT section with all the phone shops, across from the Apple store. Go to the shop in the back left hand side. They specialize in iPhones and iPads.

I always go with T-Mobile. The cards are usually $10 with a few minutes included. Look at the plans carefully, they're confusing with some gotchas. The one I like has a daily charge but the minutes are cheaper. It's easy to charge up via online or calling an 800 number using your credit card.

Go to a T-Mobile store, not one of those T-Mobile kiosks you see in the shopping mall.

Another Moo Baan in a suburb location is the Emperor 2, about 100 meters from the Ruamchoke intersection where Meechoke Plaza is. Full facilities and modern homes with good size rooms. It's expensive though.

You might consider Moo Baan Thanawan. It's an older Moo Baan with a variety of new and older homes. Security is okay and has a pool. Unbeatable location next to Ruamchoke and Meechoke markets.

Is there car parking?

There's a pay lot next door. Pay the attendant 20 baht and the restaurant will reimburse you, with purchase of course.

Check your local IT mall. Look for an Acer brand with 1900x 1050 resolution. 22" usually goes for 4,500 baht.

Price per gigabyte is the downside.

Other than that there is no reason to not get one.

There is since there's such a difference is performance with an SSD. Only makes sense with a high end laptop though.

The OP must live in the same Moo Baan that we do. It's annoying that everyone around has power but our Moo Baan. TIT