Boo

Hey Nat & Dr PP, no problem, anyway, this part of the forum doesn't get a lot of action so carry on, btw, Nat, maybe some members are not aware that you are a women too, so quite within your rights to post anything you want!!! :cool: As for the good Dr, after some of his kind & sensible words in past topics, I for one would like to offer him honorary farang girl posting rights. What do you think? (as long as you don't mind Dr PP, what with your current forum stud status?)

Hi sbk, no that guy with the white hair is a bastard, read my post in visa trip to penang on the visa section, he was the one with the magnifting glass. urgh.

No this guy is about early 40's, quite tall for thai, slim with glasses, he floats around the front of the office, not behind the counter, asking people what they want. Really nice, friendly & polite. Worth asking him, when i was there a few weeks ago there was a farang couple who had boated into samui & they hadn't got the right permissions or something, he was ages sorting out the problem for them & even though they were getting arsy with him he just stayed clam & polite the whole time (I think in the end they had to go back to where they had come from & get the relevant exit stamps first, they got the strop on but at least he didn't get them arrested for breaking the law!)

To those of you who wanted to know.....

After getting married a few weeks ago I decided to get a new passport issued at the British Embassy in my married name (this was something I was going to do anyway but with the confusion & worry over fake stamps I decided to do it sooner rather than later) 1 week later I received my new passport & when my current (legit) visa ran out I took myself, the old & new passports & my wedding certificate to Immigration. I filled out the form requesting a 10 day extension & went to the counter. The guy there, big immigration man brought from Bangkok, took my passports & form & asked me why I wanted an extension, I explained that I was waiting for a freind to be able to come to Malayasia with me the following week as my husbands business was very busy at the moment & we had deceide that I would go with a freind instead. He then took out a magnifying glass & proceeded to spend more that 20 minutes looking at every stamp in passport (nearly 6 years of legal & not so legal stamps). By this point I was crapping myself & decided to just sit there loking sweet & keeping my mouth shut, after 20 minutes another imm guy came in, the same one my husband & I had seen before getting married for advice on my visa, he came over all freindly & asked me if I had got married yet, I replied that I had & he was confused as to why I was appplying for a non O at the immigration office, I explained that I just wanted an extension & that I didn't want to go to Penang alone & he then spoke in Thai to the guy with the magnifying glass that I just wanted an extension & why was he looking at my passport so much as I was married to Kon Thai & just give her the extension (all this time I was sitting there pretending not to listen) 5 minutes later my most recent stamp was transferred to to the new passport as well as the extension.  PHEW

When I went to the border, the security was very strict, we had to go to the office first, where a stony faced officer looked at & verfified the most recent stamp (I flashed the one page of my old passport at him saying that I had got married & changed my passport), we then had to go to the counter to be stamped out of thailand, where they scritinised the stamps again before stamping me out, I then entered malaysia on the new passport with out further trouble. Got the non imm O visa in penang in 2 days so now, at last I am clean.

What I would say is that, with the security being so strict during apec, anyone with what they think may be dodgy stamps, would probably be better off "washing" their passport & paying any overstay fine (only valid if the last stamp is fake), as even though my most recent stamp was legit, sitting there while the guy scrutinised all the past stamps, made me relalise what a serious problem this is.

This is of course my personal opinion and others may feel confident enough to go through with potentially dodgy stamps, but another thing to think about, at the immigration at both exit & entry points, there was a peice of paper in plain view with a bunch of stamp numbers written on it, B008 was definatly there as well as some others but I was so worried getting through myself that I didn't look at it for very long & wanted to get back on the bus as quickly as possible. Sorry

Hope this helps some others decide their best course of action & I am in no way exaggerating  any of the situations described above.

sbk, maybe when you come to Samui for the hairdressers you could try asking at the Samui District office in Nathon, they could be marginally better than your local! Also the immigration here also has a very helpful guy who I think is the lawyer there (?) he may be able to point you in the right direction.

Ignore the old cynics DP PP & Nat, keep up the bantering, I for one enjoy logging on & seeing where you to are at. I think it's sweet. auhhhhh :laugh:

I'll ask around about the leg waxing for you sbk as there are a few places on Samui that offer the service so I'll see if anyone knows a reliable one. But if not there is a beauty supply shop in Chaweng as well, it's down the road that leads to leamdin market, on the way to reggae pub, they sell everything there & are the main supplies for most of the salons on the island. Heading from the main ring road from lamai, go past the first entrance to chaweng & past the PTT petrol station, take the next right, go straight down & it's on the left about 2-300 yards before the chinese temple on the right and the entrance to leamdim on the left. It's opposite the wood shop, not very clear to see but lots of good stuff & cheap too.

I just came back from Malaysia with a freind who mentioned she had been to a ob/gyn earlier this year, she saw a farang doctor & I think it was at the hospital you mentioned. She went for some advice & said the doctor was a bit dismissive (can't go into her details too much) but that the general service was good & that the pap smear she was given was painless & couln't fault the place. I will double check & let you know. (n.b. if you make an appointment be careful as the gynie & eye doctor have the same name, lots of mix up when she went)

I find it interesting that so many people on the forum can't actually beleive that we girls can have a stable, loving relationship with a Thai guy with out there being some hidden agenda. Either we have to be paying them or providing some kind of benefit to them for them to want to stay with us! Personaly I find it a little offensive to assume that we are all these silly desparate women who have to bribe our guys to stay with us & that we cannot have met in a normal boy meets girl sernario & that, yes, problems have arisen, but we have worked them out like any normal couple. As for the people who come on & slam thai women, I also find it offensive, I have met a large number of thai women, who, whether they work in the local bank or in a lady bar, have proven to be decent people with the same wants & aspirations as the rest of us & just because they (or us) are of a different nationality, look a different way, cannot be worthy (in the minds of some members) to be genuine people worthy of respect. Rant over.

Hi, For the hairdresser, I just last week went to the International Hair Studio in Chaweng, where there is an Austrian lady who does all the good stuff for us with difficult farang hair. She does foil, dye, good cut etc, not sure about perms but then, why would you! Was reasonable price, 1000 baht to dye my dark blonde locks to dark brown with 3 different shades of foil hylight colour & a cut too. Not bad in my book considering I usually get this done in UK & it costs me more than 7k baht! Location is on the first entrance to Chaweng, coming from lamai, after springer motobike shop & opposite a dive shop.

Fot the ob/gyn, not sure, I always get that stuff done when I am back in UK, as haven't had any good advice for anything in this area

Hi Elfe, was nice seeing you tonight, just got home, thankfully didn't get too wet in the rain, looks like we missed the most of it!!!!

Just asked hubby what he did to get his passport at the mfa at Chaeng wattana near the airport & he said they just wanted to see & have a copy of his id card (this was about 4 weeks ago). I think if fella has an id card they will automatically assume that he is legit for the national service thing, so therefore, he can get a passport. Hubby said they didn't even want to see the family papers, just his id card, which incidentally had run out the previous month, so he applied for a new one while he was there. He applied for the passport on the wednesday & was told to come & collect it on the following Monday but the new id card will not be ready until Novemeber!

Hope this helps & see you when I'm back from malayasia.

Hubby was the same Nat, but many a pleasant hour spent teaching him the way. His technique is perfect now but I'll never tell him as the practice is sooo much fun ::

when my first thai boyfreind asked permission to kiss me I pukkered up waiting for a serious smooch, he then proceeded to sniff me all around my face & neck....freaky at first but surprisingly pleasant after a while  mmmm

Hi Dave, It's not that I haven't got good Thai female friends but it's just that I prefer to discuss my personal matters with my farang female freinds here rather than them. One of the reason being that I can trust my farang friends to keep my confidences private & with the thai girls have found that they tend to tell their husbands everything after I have spilled my heart & feelings to them, & I really don't like knowing that my personal things have been discussed around the thai population, also, as my husband is thai, it is not fair for him that I confess problems about our relationship to other thais knowing that some of these women are married to freinds of his & that they (the men) know details of our problems as I feel that it is up to him whether or not to talk to his freinds about us.

With the farang girls, we usually have similar problems with regards to our husbands/b/f's, so talking to each other helps us understand a bit more & also we can be assured that our confidences will stay private.(an unwritten rule)

I have found that when thai have a problem, they keep it all inside & then just explode whereas farang express their anger instantly & this was something my husband could never understand until a thai friend, after witnessing a fight one night, explained to him that this was the farang way & that he should'nt just clam up & walk away but stay & shout too. This was a liberating experience for him & made me feel like we were getting somewhere with our problems as there is nothing more frustrating than wanting to shout things out & having those things unresolved becase he has walked out of the house. Now when we do (very rarely) have a fight, we shout & scream & occasionally throw things but the air is cleared & we can move on  

I understand what you mean about a close relationship with thai women & I think this is mainly due to different educational levels, cultural upbringing & generally not having a common background with regards to silly things like tv shows you used to watch, laughing with girlfreinds about pop stars you used to have a crush on & all the other little things from your life elsewhere that make up the basis of getting to know people (this is especially important for women, as all the guys know, we can talk for hours about nothing, so trivia & such makes up an important part of our coversation!!!)

After 5 years here I still don't have a female thai freind that I would go to with my problems & without the small group of farang girls I have met who live here too, I would definatly go mad, so all power to you SBK for lasting so long & being seemingly normal

Like Elfe, I also came here alone & stayed as I loved the lifestyle, but in that time I travelled alot to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa as well as most of SE Asia too & used Thailand as my main base from where to travel, taking just a few months off every year to go somewhere else & like SBK, it was only after meeting my husband that I decided to stay permantly (apart from 2 months per year in UK) & I can say in all honesty, that if I hadn't met him when I did, I probably wouldn't have stayed as my travelling days were coming to an end & Samui was becoming stale for me (still is really). So now we are deciding where to go to start over & thats the hard part because having such a solid base of very good friends, starting over is a daunting prospect!

Any farang girls living near Khon Kaen???

Some very good advice from sbk here & I agree wholehartedly, especially about the new people that you meet. Just because someone is from the same country as you doesn't mean that they are going to be a decent person. There have been many stories of farang here in samui ripping off other farang for land, houses, business etc & the victims cannot beleive that their own country men could do this to them.

try to do some things the thai way; i have learned infinite patience and have learned to hold my temper in check because of living here. conversely, my husband has learned that mai pen rai may mean never mind but isn't always the best solution.

This is also something I learnt the hard way & after a few bad rows my fella & I realised that we had different ways of dealing with & expressing our problems, me shouting & him walking out! Remeber, if you have a thai partner, you have to understand that their way of dealing with things is sometimes frustratingly different to your own but as long as the comprimise is not all by you then things are easily worked out in the end. It is also difficult for them to be with a farang & to understand our ways too.How you look, dress, act, and speak are all things you will be judged on, especially as a girl. Conservative clothing, polite speech and polite behavior. heavy partying/multiple boyfriends will get you branded as easy.

This is also so true for us girls, it doesn't mean that you have to go out in a twin set & pearls & sit around like a boring betty but a longer skirt, top that covers your stomach & not too revealing up top can go a long way to people treating you with respect & keeping those bad boys away. If you are in a bar & are getting overzealous unwated attention from some guy, the way I always used to deal with it was to have a word with the staff & ask them to explain that you are not interested & that your freind/boyfriends etc is coming soon. That way the Thai guy doesn't loose face & can walk away with out giving you any extra hassle.

It's not an easy country to live in & even in a place as touristy as Samui you can commit so amazing faux pas, but most thais will forgive basic ignorance of most of their customs & with the right level of patience & tolerance of the mai pben rai attitude (which I find annnoying sometime) it can be a great life & pleace to live.

ooohhhh......

Nat & Dr PP sittin in a tree, K.I.S.....ah #### it, just trying some harmless stirring  

Have to say though, maybe we should put something on here to say it isn't an introduction gency or something.

Dr PP, What would be the rules if Thai ladies were posting this stuff on "farang nightlife"?

As most of you are aware after reading some of the post from the ladies on this section, we too tend to prefer the darker skinned members of the oposite sex & all the "spices" that go with them. I for one don't mind about guys looking for dates with farang women but fear that they are looking in the wrong place & may end up feeling abused by all you flamers out there

My girlfriend has massive chimps and has problems finding bra's that fit out here.

Understand completly

5 years & still looking for an underwear shop that stocks anything bigger than fried egg size!

Hi Strawberry Girl, You don't say where you will be moving to in LOS, this can make a big difference to how to meet new people & also how easily it will be to fit in. If for example you will be in Bangkok, I beleive, from reading other posts that this can be a hard city, for both men & women, with regards to meeting people, as well as trying to find your ways around at first & feeling isolated & lonely is something that most expats will go through in the beginning.

If it is on one of the islands, such as pattaya, samui, chang etc, it will be easier to meet farang as they are more receptive to new people & usually with a more laid back attitude (something to do with the ocean & palm trees & also usually being on extended holidays or owning their own business, more free time etc). If you have time, try joining a local language school to improve your Thai, there will be other farang there from all over the world & having a common bond of learning will usually be more friendly than say, meeting someone on the street, also you have a chance over the course to establish whether someone is your type of person or not.

With regard to laws & customs, go to your embassy home site for Bangkok & look up the do's & don't section also read a lot of different giude books & surf the web, lots of info on LOS to find if you don't mind trawling through the crap to find it.

Finally, be brave, go out there & meet the people, local & expat alike, go to sports clubs, expat groups, take the advice of others but don't trust it to be gospel & persevere, eventually you will be an old hand & have a group of reliable, trustworthy friends who become you new family whilst you are here.  

JonCron, Thanks for the compliment & it's nice to know that there are some guys out there who still like & want to meet farang women in LOS but please remember that this is a site for all women & many nice thai women use it on a regular basis. Your personal feelings towrds them are your own but posting as above is a sure fire way to be flamed in a million different ways!

Agreed, it is a very thought provoking article & one where I can relate to on some points...but...I think that as a western woman coming to Asia alone, you have to put yourself out there & make friends the hard way, by trying over & over again. Locking yourself in your apartment & being afraid of a few people staring at you is the worse thing you can do in a place like thailand, being stared at is a way of life for most farang women in most asia countries, being taller, having bigger boobs, having blond/red/curly or wavy hair makes us different from the bulk standard amount of asian women & when someone stares it is usually just blatent curisoity.

I for one just carry on regardless & after a while they usually look away, or if pushed & they stare for too long, just stare back until they feel suitably uncomfortable & look away first.

As a women coming to Thailand alone & staying, takes guts & if these women are still in the same predicament in 6 months after coming here then I don't think they should stay, their own happiness & mental health & having a satisfactory home life & good friends is more important than any job in my book anyway.

Hi sbk, Glad you found us at last! 14 years, wow, thats a long while, it would be good if you could at a future date post some experiences, thoughts & general feelings about being a foreign woman in Thailand for some of the newer girls on the forum. Just an idea, I for one, after 5 years, are always on the look out for new thoughts from long term residents.

With regard to the residency issue for farang wives, this is a bit of a gray area, a friend of mine told me the other day that her girlfriend, married to a thai & living here for over 20 years who has 4 thai children, still is refused residency every year! Others have told me that they have obtained residency after 3-4 years & proving that they can speak the language & understood about thai history etc. I think that they have now brought the law in line for both farang wives & husbands in that you must both meet the requirements after 3 years of continual non imm visas & that the process should now be the same for men & women. Any others got more info on this pls?

Boo

I think this topic is an interesting one & it would be good if some girls who have participated in this kind of thing before could post but after getting to know some of the regular farang girls on this forum through PM's or in elfe's case, knowing her for a couple of years already, we are just normal girls with normal expectations in meeting a guy here.i.e same as a guy at home

I think the difference between most of the farang girls in LOS (& at least the ones on this forum) & some of the farang guys coming to LOS is that we are not automatically looking for a boyfriend, shag, whatever, but that we just meet men through the normal channels same as being at home.

Lots of times I have been walking down the street & a farang or thai guy has stopped me for a chat or to invite me out or to a party, others, & again both farang & thai, I have met in a bar whilst out with friends, they have asked to buy me a drink or have dinner (same as at home). I was single for a long time in LOS after having enough of the b/s from guys both here & at home & meeting my future hubby was the last thing on my mind, it just happened. For most of us coming here, it is for the beaches, relaxed atmosphere & stressfree lifestyle as well as the freindships that you form that keep us coming back but I'd love to hear from other girls who DO just come here to buy a guy & have some fun, cause I say, all power to them!

Hi Kan Win, Thanks for the advice but on a personal note... I am the bride!  But I will most certainly be taking Thai Hubby & marriage papers with me to the border & hope for the best, I may even apply for a new passport in my married name & take the voided old one & valid new one to the border where they will stamp me out on the old one & stamp into malaysia on the new one, after which, I am clean. Thus reducing the risk of over scrutiny twice (This was confirmed to be the correct proceedure by am officer of Samui immigration, whether it is true is yet to be seen!  TiT)

Thanks Dave, Think it will be more like chuffing sang som in the sea beeze but along the same lines anyway.

Your right, I have used agents in the past, not everytime but at least once a year so the risk is still there, but after looking through my passport at all the stamps and re-entering without a problem, I cannot see any of the fake ones mentioned, so if anyone can post some more fakes it would be greatly appriciated. btw. I have used only 2 agents in the last 5 years, the 1st one mentioned in my previous post & then a travel agent near my home since (who others have used & also re-entered recently with no problem) I also WILL NOT be using any service of this kind from now on. As I said before, you take the advice of long termers, read in guide books & see the adverts on the street & think it's legit, so I for one never knew until recently but hey, TiT!  I'll let you know how I got on in Penang.

Thanks again for the congrats.

To return, now you need a new entry stamp.  So you enter the country again, you are under the new sequence of stamping, so any prior stamps they are useless and are dead and moot.

So why does Immigrations want to B/S with prior dead stamps?

Good point, I just re-entered 2 weeks ago on a one month tourist visa which was given to me with no hassle or fuss at BKK Airport mmigration, if I go to Penang after my wedding to get my non O is it still possible for them to throw me in the slammer even though the BKK imm people let me in the country?

I have looked through my passport since coming back & cannot see any of the mentioned fake numbers but maybe it would be a nice gesture if someone in the know could post a list of all the dodgy numbers for me & other members who don't know what they all are? I am quite happy to "have my passport stolen" but do not want to add to the stampeed that is probably already at the UK Embassy.

When I first came to thailand I entered on a 1 month tourist visa because I had no idea how long I would stay, when my month was up I asked the owner (American) of the resort I was staying at how to get a new visa etc, he told me that I could send it via his agent (thai) who would bring my passport back in a week with a 6 month double entry visa for a fee of about 3k baht, when I expressed concern about sending my passport with a stranger he assured me that it was perfectly legal & that everyone did it (including him) & even asked the guy to come meet me, who brought a whole bunch of other passports to show me that it was the norm.

Visa services & agents up until a month ago were openly advertising this service & the police & immigration were turning a blind eye & to slam anyone who has used these services is just ignorant & petty.

Yes, we come here as guests & I for one read alot about thailands pratices, culture & beliefs before coming here & in none of the guide books I read did it warn tourists that this service was illigal & knowing that everyone else was doing it too made me think that this was a legal service.

The police, immigration & government in general have for years turned a blind eye to this practice & the thais operating the services have made a lot of money in the process, ok farang, slap on the wrist, don't do it again & if your caught with an illigal stamp from this day on you will go to jail, but, sorry we knew this was going on, we even took throw backs from the agents & led everyone to believe that it was ok but now you must pay large bail fine & maybe even do some jail time. Purleese.... this is just another Toxin scam to scare the foreigner, if anyone is not sure about their stamps, "loose" your passport & get a new one asap & in the future be a little wiser. I for one wish you good luck & hope you escape the witchhunt.