inmysights

Thankyou for your update (despite the condescending and rude tone).

I assume that you followed the advice to 'try a different browser' that was given immediately after the 'clear your cache' etc advice (yes I dug out your old post).

I'm using FF 4.0 with no issues, so there's certainly something different about your installation, there have been reports that certain add-ins cause odd behaviour.

If I'm addressed with a condescending and 'rude tone' (NOT unheard of on this forum, try reading some of it) I will respond in kind.

And no, I did not bother following any more 'advice' given on this forum (LOL), I found out it out for myself and thought I'd pass it on.

And of course, here's the ubiquitous poster with 'no issues'. You may not have, some of The rest of us, have.

Name one thing 'the Prime Minister' has voiced his 'concern' about and done anything to remedy. Yap yap yap.

As to the ongoing jetski rubbish - enforce the law. They are illegal.

For the love of whatever God you delude yourselves with, IMPLEMENT a decent public transport service for this ha ha, no wait, International Tourist Destination.

As to the touts, here's an idea, just keep walking and ignore them. Pussies.

Not to disagree with you coma, but these people do have a history of national and international refrain which trends more to offensive than defense.

Who? Israel, Iran or the US?

Please provide details of that 'history'.

So many questions plus a request for detailed history. You want to be burped after you ingest all this info? All three countries have proven offensive to each other at times as do some individual people.

I agree to some extent. However my view is, when has Iran overtly attacked another nation ? I know they fought a long hard defensive war againts Iraq in the 80's. But they didn't initiate it. Without going into weather Iran is supporting terrorism or not, as this is about strategic weapons, where/ when have they been the natural aggreessor ? I think people have been misconcieved or even fool that Iran is an agressive country by Mr Ahmadijed and his empty threat rhetoric.He wants the West scared and it is working.

Quite so. Anyone wanting information on this might do worse than to avoid the World propaganda machine that is mainstream media and visit 'the peoples voice dot org'

Gregb wrote

The only people who complain are the ones who didn't get a piece of the corruption under analysis. That is usually because somebody got greedy and didn't want to share with all the branches on the way down to the bottom, or that it was simply easier to step on those people rather than cut them in. When Thais complain about corruption, they aren't really complaining about generic corruption, they are complaining about the specific corruption that they don't benefit from. When they do get their opportunity for a share of the spoils, they turn a blind eye towards how anyone else suffers from it.

Well in this case it is the people at the bottom, the rightful recipiants of the money who are complaining.

No way they could have been involved in any corruption.

It is people like them who are the ones being ripped off who need to have the attitude that it is not acceptable to screw them.

They also need to a non corrupt body to complain to, possibly a body that consists of people who have been screwed and dont like it.

Corruption can never be stopped from the top only from the bottom when the people who are the victims stand up for their rights.

Little bit naive. I was told by a Thai owner of a small restaurant on one of the beaches here that there were a lot of 'people at the bottom' with their hands out claiming for non-existent losses after the Tsunami. But of course that could apply anywhere.

A while back I posted in this section that avatars/type styles/fonts/sizes/emoticons and 'start new topic' buttons were missing from your spanking new upgrade.

After a lot of erroneous advice to 'clear cache/cookies etc' (much along the lines given by TOT's call centre 'switch your modem off for ten minutes/re-jig interface/burn sage over it etc, together with remark from some cretin suggesting I was, and I quote: 'Giving everyone the shits ... and had been delegated 'read only', despite the fact the moron was reading what I'd written ... Here's a little advice for anyone having the same problem. It's the Firefox Browser stupid. And before anyone jumps in with 'oh but I use Firefox with no problems' No. And neither did I with Firefox and the TV 'upgrade'. But Firefox 3.6.16 and 4 do not work.

I'm Starting This New Topic With Google Chrome. And yes, I can see all your well chosen avatars.

Now where's the one for Cretin ...

Almost every time I visit this forum I see the name Thaksin.

Is it he, or the administrators, trying to bore us all into submission? 'Oh okay then, enough already, you can come back yawn'

someone in taiwan gave me about 600baht and a 300baht calling card when i was totally lost and ATM's were not working..

She was a dental assistant, so definitely not rich.. i lost her business card but anwyays she didnt want it back.. that's what gives you good karma.. sweating over 100baht is just crazy and bad for the karma.

<deleted> ill give you 100baht when you live in a gutter, i gave 10x more than that anytime i see a box for soi dog.. Charity in this world is important even if its for helping bad people, as long as you meant well you should stay happy.

The first time I came here many years ago, I'd applied for and was given a 3 month visa. No one told me I'd have to trip up to Immigration after 2 months to extend the 30 days. So when it came time for me to return home, Bangkok Imm pulled me over for a 3k overstay, which I didn't have. A ground staff member put her hand in her pocket and paid it for me (she was of course Thai by the way). I overheard one of the male imm staff saying 'jai dee'. I took her address and sent the money back to her.

I've had similar (but fortunately infrequent) experiences across the world. Kindness of strangers and all that.

There ARE farang swindlers too.

Sad but true.

Indeed, just talk to the German mafia in Pattaya and they'll be happy to tell you all about it. Just be prepared to drink heavily as it gets it little hard to swallow sometimes. Plenty of people get knocked off here. Thailand can be a very dangerous place.

very true thailand can be a very dangerous place but id say that you are safer here than most thai visa users are in the own country

if you get involved in something you should not be involved in with people that are upto to no good and come on there not hard to spot

i dont know one person that has been mugged

or had there car stolen

or had there property broken into

after 6 years of being here i think thats good as i could not say the same of my so called civilized country

'Farang', per se, are bit further ahead in the 'crim' stakes than 'breaking and entering' and 'nicking cars'. Where you from? Salford?

Isn't this this same schlemiel who "doesn't respect farangs?"

And his criticism of the cruise line is ludicrous. The tuk-tuk drivers have about as much right to scam cruise ship passengers as I do. *Libelous statement edited out*

When the passengers do get scammed, they blame the cruise line (and could easily sue them - and win) and then guess what? The cruise line avoids Phuket next time.

His comments about foreigners scamming foreigners and Thais and foreigners scamming foreigners is pandering to the Thais listening who might bristle on the notion that they are anything but a nation of honest, hard-working, racist licentious hypocrites.

At least the leadership is maintaining the standards of ineptitude.

There ARE farang swindlers too.

Sad but true.

'Sad but true'.

I KNOW many farang are cheating/thieves here in LOS. BUT. They are not the of the same stamp as those that 'want to stay here and do anything to that end' (At least two friends have had to throw in the towel and to return to their home countries to earn enough to come back. Fair enough.

BUT. That the sociopathic bastards here are ALLOWED to carry on regardless with their wicked ways, by way of Thailand's lax/retarded Thai 'Laws'

That's where your 'mafia' come in. 'Less you want to roll over ...

C'MON C'MON ...

Start with the jet ski mafia

Start with enforcing the pre-existing Law banning the bloody things.

I use hostgator, and I am satisfied by their service

And hopefully their CEO doesn't go around shooting elephants (Huff Post) just for fun same Gobaddy's.

Surely one could get online (10 baht an hour at local internet cafe) and email family members or friends; even if you don't have their email addresses it's not hard to find them.

Ok let's assume that you are Oliver Twist and have absolutely zero family. Why not get on facebook and start looking up your old school friends (or Orphanage friends) and asking them if they can buy you a one way ticket back to UK which you will pay back when you return.

If a person cannot even find one old friend or family member in this world that is willing to lend you a few hundred quid to save your life...I can only imagine the kind of person you'd have to be. Pretty much scrum of the earth and no one wants anything to do with you; in which case why would this person be worthy of charity from complete strangers?

Ahh what an ingenue you are. One of the many reasons I loathe FAKEBOOK is that people are always popping up from your past you wouldn't have bothered tracking down in less technologically advanced times. The notices advising you it's some one's birthday 'this week' are particularly irksome, you know the poor buggers have received exactly the same about your's, so sincerity not exactly at the forefront there either. And I loathe birthdays.

But the ones I find particularly pathetic are those who live in the same country, if not area. If you cared that much about them and they you, we have 'phones and email.

Just as an experiment, you go on to Fakebook and post on your 'wall' your being in desperate straits and can anyone of your 3000 odd 'friends' help out ... and wait for the deafening silence.

I don't understand why these people would not have some family or friends. Did they have such awful relationships in their home countries that they had none?

These types of replies, of which there seem to be many, are far too simplistic.

Your family/friends, whom you may or may not have had contact for any length of time, have enough problems of their own. They do not see a relative/friend in a nice sunny tropical country as top of their list of priorities over and above keeping their spouses/partners/children, fed, clothed and a roof over their heads. It shouldn't be that way, we see them as perhaps being better off in that many have access to welfare/bank loans and many more opportunities for gainful employment. But weigh that perception up against the expense of simply surviving in the West on a daily basis. Unless you're on mama/papa's largess or a 'gap year'.

I'm guessing most of the 'let them rot' brigade on here quoting 'lazy/scamming scum' are either oil rig workers or on nice fat private pensions thank you very much.

swung by http://www.salamexicali.com good food and you got your food quickly even though it was full.

disadvantage small portions and slow customer service when you pay

bill ended at 600tbh two dishes plus two water

The owner's a very interesting guy. But even he admits his staff are 'untrainable', and from what I sampled, it was bland and way overpriced. Ambience nice though.

I rarely eat out these days. The Thai menu's all the same. I don't ever eat at farang owned restaurants with 'Thai options', usually bland and overpriced. Although I remember some years ago a farang chef complaining that the usual Thai fare dished up at each and every restaurant largely consisted of the same tired old pla neung manao, pla tot gradtiem, boo prik Thai, khao pat goong etc. His opinion was that the Thai restaurants didn't believe farang capable of eating 'real' Thai food.

I believe he was right. On the odd occasion I do eat out, it's at the local Isaan caffs.They too seem to have gone the way of the 'what works' and rarely deviate from the norm.

Not so long ago, there was an old lady seated at one of my local talad nats selling bags of something interesting. Turned out to be one of the best authentic Thai dishes I'd ever tasted. Banana blossom with shrimp paste, dried shrimp, nam blpaa, coconut milk. Can't remember the rest, but never saw her again. So back to the pad pet, nam prik et al ...

If these people are in such a state, begging for food and money, if they really are genuine, why don't they walk through the front gates of their embassy and ask for repatriation?

Easier to beg...nice warm weather....no need to sign on once a fortnight.

"Look I'm poor! I'm hungry! I've been scammed!"

Little bit of foresight needed when travelling abroad.

Give these people a one way ticket home and have their passports revoked. Permanently.

From your posts,I believe the world a better more compassionate place if people like you would have their Birth Certificates revoked.

If you're skint how do you take care of yourself while all of this hopscotch is being played?

They allow people to stay at the embassy, and feed them.

No they don't.

Well my experience with something very similar though an elderly Aussie I new for some years who was being basically held hostage and starved to death (again long story) was that the Aussie embassy had no desire to help him out at all. I know this because I took him there and the consular at the time was a real scum bag I'll never forget his name (Hampton silver spoon) as he wouldn't let me sit in on the interview and I knew this old man was not going to be able to tell them the complete story which also included his poor health, sadly he was also a WWII vet and his benefits had been suspended too since he was unable to return to keep them current as per regulation..

We took out the last bit of savings we had in order to pay his maximum over-stay fine and buy him a ticket back to Aus where he has been staying with a long time friend of his now.

Just so you know his wasn't a romance gone wrong but a business scam on the part of his Thai partner who had bilked him out of his life savings and beyond..

Now we've exchanged places with him but it's all good as we're younger with more prospects but it's not been easy for our family with a lot of sacrifices.. Bottom line is we weren't scammed and did this of our own good will and are better people for it..

There area a lot of nice naive people in the world that doesn't make them scammers or losers just people trying to make a life for themselves and stumbling in the process.. A loser is not one who tries and fails but one who fails to try..

[/quote

Very good quote which I no doubt believe will be overlooked/ignored by the majority of the smug drivel posters on here.

Walk a mile in another man's shoes ... and all that.

This is simply awful.

Something needs to be done.

The number of people I know about (both Thai and foreign) who have been killed by shoddy wiring and dangerous practices with electricity is just way too high.

It isn't rocket science ... and yet it seems nobody is learning anything at all from these tragedies.

When at the local wat attending to my husband's funeral rites, I became engaged in conversation with an extremely distraught couple farang/thai, whose 17 year old son was in the next 'room' and had passed through 'electrical failure', Flowers and his bike decked outside, many people attending. The lovely Thai mother'd told me she simply couldn't accept that her son's death was due to electrical fault as friends who'd dragged him from the shower room hadn't been 'shocked' also. They had had 3 phase electricity installed, as is the wont of many expats here, together with the trip switch. I tried to explain that was the reason the helpers hadn't received an electric charge too. She didn't appear convinced.

We had had many electric shocks at both an old rental and our new house. But just two phase which does indeed shock (my husband had received a shock whilst showering), we both received simultaneous shocks from a water heater and electric oven.

An American neighbour had recently been 'canvassing' our soi at that time, trying to enlist support for 3 phase. I pointed out that our house, designed on ecological principles, easy to spot, louvred windows as the brief to my architect was 'no aircon', and so why would I need 3 phase, used for factories, NOT domestic dwellings and sent him off with a flea in his ear. Stupid!

If we HAD HAD 3 phase we'd both have fried by now.

Most Thai 'electricians' are used to 1 or 2 phase, and even then it's advisable to plug anything in wearing rubber soled flip flops and gloves With stupid and completely unnecessarily installed 3 phase, you are literally taking your life in your hands.

Someone please explain to me just WHY they need 3 phase, unless it's simply showing off. 'Oh, you have two phase? We have 3!' Bye bye.

It took me more than one time to quite grasp what this news report actually said. It's a particularly poor translation.

If anyone else is confused, this is my take:

- A Red Shirt* claimed that the current textbooks "could lead students to believe that they** were the cause of all the places being burnt down across the country***".

- The Office of Basic Education rubbished this claim and basically clarified the curriculum.

- The Office of Basic Education nonetheless opened an investigation based on the Red Shirt claims and will reprimand any school found to be pushing a political agenda at schoolkids.

* not sure if the group issued a statement or one of the leaders has piped up on his own or what...

** the Red Shirts or the schoolkids?

*** presumably in May last year.

Ummm I would say that there is some room for nuance in the statement "if the school is found to have taught against" ..... It doesn't seem tp say that the school cannot teach the facts at all. It seems to say that subjective information would be looked at and punished. Fact: Arisaman amongst others called for the burning of BKK. Fact: Bangkok had many buildings burned. Fact: The reds rallied at provincial offices upcountry and some red leaders were identified and charged with the burning of provincial offices in places like Nong Khai. No anti-red bias in stating facts.

Fact: The red shirt cannon fodder were not privy to all the facts insofar as their glorious leader Taksin needed them to support his self agrandising notion of returning victorious to Thailand (never going to happen during this reign), to further his aims of giving with the left hand, whilst taking much more with his right hand. No way.

Fact: The red shirts DO have a ligitimate cause for complaint insofar as the way they have been overlooked and sidelined by the 'ruling elite'. This is not the Yellow Shirts' sole preserve. I know of many former adherents to the now diminished PAD, who have turned their backs on them because of their stance over Prah Vhea temple grounds and have now woken up to the fact 'a temple too far' (sic), and that they are are trying to scratch a living also.

To wit: There is no Social security/welfare in this country and those that hold the majority of the wealth, the minority, do not give a jot about their native 'undumenchen' - therefore, as has been said before, jettison Taksin et al and present a viable platform.

They won't because the majority of them can't. Much the same as the indoctrinated nationalistic Thais of the 'predominantly' South have had the 'easy life if you just flow with the status quo' drummed into them. The very poor in the NE have felt the temporary benefits of populist policies. But in the more verdant South, have been ignored by Taksin because they 'did not vote for him' and the populace are not reduced to grubbing for insects.

Again. Education enabling free thinking and access to a world view outside their own country, is key. And will not be allowed here.

I speak vely good english. I spend long time in University to gain my bachelors degree. I no understand why Farang no speak good English. Maybe poor education and no go good university same same we have Thailand.

Classic, and believe me, there are plenty who have this mindset. This reminds me of a story my wife told me a few years ago. She was studying in a masters program at one of the supposed 'elite' universities in Thailand. Her particular program was partially conducted in English, and required a TOEIC (or TOEFL, I can't remember) score for admission. During a class discussion about the economy, she was saying 'dollars' with typical western-style pronunciation. Her classmates couldn't understand why she pronounced it 'dollars' rather than 'daw-LUR' (thai style, with the heavy stress on the last part). Some even went as far to 'correct' her pronunciation to 'daw-LUR' and insisted her pronunciation was wrong!

This reminds me of an incident some years ogo where, whilst in a branch of a very well known chain of bookstores here, I was trying to get the 'English' speaking staff to understand that I wanted to order a book. Eventually I was surrounded by four or five saleswomen, one of which I presumed to be the manager who asked me what I wanted. Again I repeated the word 'order', to which she replied 'Oh you wan' or-DUR. In English we say or-DUR. Where you flom?' 'England' I replied At which point they all curtsied and waiied LOL'.

My Thai is much better now. But I still say compu-TUR and furni-CHUR, there being no equivalent in Thai.

Been experiencing a hill of pain for the past month with these incompetent idiots. 3 weeks of off/on for upwards of an hour for first 3 weeks, then after numerous calls to both Bangkok call centre and fools at local office - experienced a full five days of uninterrupted connection, only to be back to square one Thursday last, and last night/today NOTHING.

Various theories/outright lies (from mind bogglingly incompetent Phuket Office including 'problem in your area' lie - all working up on main road, to 'machine part':? needs fixing.

'Technician' called at house month ago and said 'nothing wrong with your line?!

Anyone else? Rawaii area.

It sounds like the SNS Bank are the ones being "awkward" and who have no idea what they should be doing. As Mario said, there is no reason for the Thai Embassy to be involved with the marriage certificate at all: it is a Dutch marriage, registered in Holland - there is no legal requirement for any involvement by the Thai embassy whatsoever.

The Dutch law on inheritance is very clear for married couples: since 2003 the widow/widower has sole right of inheritance unless there are any children aged under 18 (in which case they can claim for care and upbringing) or 21 (for maintenance); in those cases it is up to the child to make a claim on the estate.

There is no "probate" as such in the Netherlands and property transfer on the death of a Dutch citizen is very simple. On receipt of the appropriate documentation (in this case the death certificate and the marriage certificate, plus the Thai's identity documents such as a certified copy of his passport ) a Dutch civil law notary issues a "certificate of succession" showing who the entitled beneficiaries are. This is then used to claim any and all property belonging to the deceased; without it a bank should not (and legally cannot) release any funds to anyone.

Although its a simple process I'm afraid that its not just a question of popping into the Thai Embassy to have his marriage certificate stamped and then the bank (and anywhere else) being "happy to deal" with him and hand over his deceased husband's property. He has to go through the proper channels and to get the certificate of succession; that in itself is a simple process and one which the Dutch Embassy should be able to help him with - they may even have a civil notary at the Embassy. Any problem with the Dutch Embassy probably stems not from his being Thai but from his asking for the wrong thing; I would suggest that he goes to the Embassy with a Dutch person, preferably one who understands and knows about the certificate of succession, taking with him their marriage certificate, his deceased husband's death certficate, and a certified copy of his passport and Thai ID card. If they have a civil law notary on the Embassy staff, as most European embassies do, then he can get the certificate on the spot (for a fee, but a lot less than a trip to Holland!) or if not they should at the very least be able to tell him how to get in touch with one.

Off topic, I am afraid, but TO ANY FARANGS WHO ARE MARRIED OR WHO HAVE A CIVIL PARTNERSHIP WITH A THAI: PLAN FOR THE WORST, LET YOUR HUSBAND / WIFE / PARTNER KNOW WHAT TO DO IN THE EVENT OF YOUR DEATH, AND MAKE A WILL!

Thank you very much for this comprehensive and very helpful post. The Thai National in question may very well have been ill advised by the bank. His English is excellent and he can also speak Dutch.

I will pass this information on to him re the Dutch Notary and certificate of succession. Thanks again.

And I agree with the rest of the posters, make a Wil! So much easier, and none of gets out of here alive

I agree with the content of SweatiePie's message.

I think SNS Bank is way off track with their demand for a legalised Thai Embassy document since Thailand or Embassy has NOTHING to do with it and the widower should ask for assistance from a reliable Dutch individual in BKK to go with him to the Dutch Embassy and ask for help with legalising the Marriage Certificate (if he fails, please contact me per PM and I can see if I can do something via an acquaintance in BKK who knows the Dutch Ambassador).

The Thai Embassy/Consulate General cannot even legalise a DUTCH document, the same as a Dutch Embassy cannot legalise a THAI document. Therefore SNS Bank is way out of line.

A Dutch Notary should be able to help the Thai widower and I also agree that the widower MUST have full access to the inheritance; after full filling to the Dutch Inheritance Tax laws!!;

but he shouldn't worry too much since the amount -free of tax- is pretty high for the legal spouse/widower; now € 600.000 (almost Baht 25.7 Million) which was € 520.000 before; it depends WHEN the husband died).

But he must act quickly since Dutch Tax Authorities will "address" their correspondence to the deceased's living address and/or family/husband...IF they can/know..... since they might not be able to track the widower since he is in Thailand.

He should therefore also send a letter to the Dutch Tax Authorities (see link below) to inform them about his situation, being the widower.

Of course they will also ask for proof and therefore his official Marriage Certificate from Holland is of the UTMOST importance.

Therefore he should also write a letter/email/fax or even phone the City/Town Hall of the city/town/village where they married since the administration of the Town Hall is also important if they cannot find or know about the Thai widower!

In most cases the Doctor who declared the husband as "deceased" has the duty to inform Town Hall of the residence of the deceased.

All-in-all not so easy for the widower but his best option is to ask for assistance from an Official Dutch Notary office in the town where the deceased lived.

If the OP needs further assistance, let me know.

* http://www.belasting...ticulier/erven/

Good luck to the widower!

LaoPo

Thanks to everyone for their replies. The Thai in question was supposed to have come to my house yesterday morning to pick up info from Sweetiepie but apparently became involved in a prang with a bike. I will simply refer him to this site and thread and he can pick the bones out of the info kindly given. He can speak, read and write good English. My remit was simply to send an email to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague, to which still no response, which is why I thought I'd try here. Enough already.

Thanks again, and expect a new member soon

Another disgusting money move by public servants. i come from a small northern mining town of 6000 people in northern Canada and starting today they are now getting 4 G service. Thailand's politicians and public company executives should be ashamed of themselves for their total disregard for the people of Thailand. Corruption raises its ugly head again. The rest of the world is going 4G and we don't even have 3G. Just GPRS. 1000 times slower than the 21 Mb of 4G.

The words 'Thailand's' 'politicians' and 'public company executives' most certainly do not belong in the same sentence as 'should be ashamed of themselves'. These people HAVE no shame.

Good man, I hope people take notice of it.

It always surprises me when I see girls travel aloneanywhere, in Europe or Asia. It is common sense to travel with friends anywherethey go. I think the parents have responsibility to stop their children especiallygirls to travel alone or they can become target anywhere in the world

What ABSOLUTE crap! I've traveled all my life alone, loathe whinging travel companions and find traveling alone offers more opportunities to meet the 'locals', unlike the 'goldfish bowl' effect of a traveling companion. be it either sex.

And no, it's not because I'm a er, let me see, Thaivisa speak, 'sexist ugly old farang female, blah blah'.

I'm GORGEOUS!