champken

Oh i do wish the UK had laws like Thailand that prevented every Mohammed, Leroy and Patel becoming British citizens........Thailand may be or is laughable in some respects but just think how much better the UK would be doing immigration things the Thai way

Sorry to hear about your bad experience with N&P. I have been delighted with them thus far, i opened my account with them over the telephone, set up internet use and just make sure that i comply with the 5 transactions a month rule which is quite easy to do in 10 minutes on the net if need be.

There is no interest payable with the account but i feed it from an account that does pay a reasonable rate.

From what others have said Metro bank seems to be as good if not better (no transaction quotas) so as long as you can get to an Aeon atm while in Thailand, you should enjoy free cash withdrawals

Can somebody explain to me how a married father can be charged with kidnapping his own child?...until custody is determined by a court of law then a charge of kidnapping cannot happen.

Like some of the others have said, i do my utmost to get her back to Thailand, you will have to do a hell of a lot of acting to achieve that, maybe tell her what a good idea it would be if you bought her a nice big house and land in Thailand and why doesn't she go there for a holiday and look for one bla bla bla

Its a fact though, our western laws treat fathers like <deleted>, everything is geared towards screwing the dads and the women know it. Your wife was probably primed up on the laws before she even got to Australia which incidentally has the most anti men laws in the world, i just hope for your sake she doesn't pull the violence card out of the bag, because then you really will have problems

You can still eat well, drink beer most nights and indulge in the odd wrestle with one of the natives very cheaply, if you know your way around.

I've gone through periods of time in Thailand where I have had oodles of money and others where I've been very close to broke. I find it fairly easy to live fairly comfortably on small amounts of money by changing my habits. Some people do not seem willing to do that and they have big problems when times are lean.

Thats right, you "cut your coat according to your cloth" and as i said in my previous comment, you really dont need that much money to live well here, i am sometimes amazed at how much some others say they need to live on here

I first came in 2004. Yeah, falang food has crept up. Rents have crept up. Beer at bars has crept up. Baht bus no problem. Bus fares no problem. Plan tickets have crept up. But biggest increase has really been the exchange rate. In 2004, 44 baht for 1 USD. Today, 31 baht for 1 USD.

Agreed, the real killer for most of us that are on modest incomes has been the 30% drop in the value of our home currencies against the baht.

You can still eat well, drink beer most nights and indulge in the odd wrestle with one of the natives very cheaply, if you know your way around.

I somehow cant quite understand why you would want to become a Thai citizen?... after all assuming you are a "farang" thus you will always be treated as such, then why give up your possible rights to decent health care, a pension and all the other benefits that we farang get from our home countries to become a not second but laughed at citizen of Thailand?...you maybe young, fit and in the money now, but that wont last forever, ide give it a bit more thought

I cook for myself now. Saves loads.

Beer? I sit on Beach Road and have a cold one from the 7-11.

Thats what i do more often than not, and no shortage of female company there either

I withdrew 7000b from an Aeon ATM yesterday using my Norwich and Peterborough debit card and as far as i can see there were no extra charges, i paid £143.99 in total for the withdrawal which made the exchange rate 48.614 per pound sterling which seems about right

I bought my condo with the sole purpose of living in it, however before doing so i calculated the cost of renting something similar and found that amount to be approximately 9% of my proposed outlay. a figure that made buying worthwhile,

In my opinion, you should be looking for at least a 7-8% yield on your property investment

I do not agree with this assessment.

It is ok to buy for purpose of living, but from my experience there is misleading push to sell allthese new condos for investment and obviously very easy to buy but when come atime to sell it becomes impossible unless you are willing to take big loss. Inthe western countries the value of real state goes up more than inflation, atleast it used to over here condos depreciate just like a car. Thai people don't like to buy used condos and of course you are also in the mercy of thecondo management and the entire owner to pay their fees. Thai generally don't like to pay common fees so the condo management cannot spend money for upkeeping

My advice is to buy a condo to live and live a long time otherwise rent

I think the OP was trying to make the point about purchase or perceived values against potential yields from rental returns on those properties.

You do make some valid points and that's why it is necessary to do your research on any proposed condo purchase.

I bought in an already established complex, with a history of good management and maintenance in a beach front location, so in my case, buying was definitely preferable to renting

I bought my condo with the sole purpose of living in it, however before doing so i calculated the cost of renting something similar and found that amount to be approximately 9% of my proposed outlay. a figure that made buying worthwhile,

In my opinion, you should be looking for at least a 7-8% yield on your property investment

I went to Makro today and couldn't see any beer anywhere, the same at Tesco, so i go down to my local wholesaler for a couple of boxes of archa (its not that bad) and he has increased his price per box by 15 baht, so not that bad.

It will be interesting to see whether those bars that have increased their prices due to the current problems, then reduce their prices once everything is back to normal

I stand corrected then, and it is in fact only a land crossing where you wont get 30 days, in which case it might be worth you checking out cebuairpacific as they more often than not have some really cheap fights to somewhere in asia

Not sure you would get 30 days if you flew out and in, as far as i am aware it has to be to your home country

Just as a matter of interest guys, does being a member of Makro entitle you to any benefits?...i shop at the one in Pattaya, usually once a week and i am sure i have on certain items seen two prices, although not much, perhaps a baht or two difference and have wondered if those prices are for members and non members

You have to decide whether or not you want to have a meaningful relationship with your child, if as i suspect you do, then you will have to find a way of accommodating the child's mother into the picture even if it means living a bit of a pretend life as far as she is concerned, because believe me if you split with her then your relationship with your child will become almost non existent and that scenario would hurt you more than what your wife just has.

Thanks for getting back to me, Yes you are right i am a idiot and there is no excuse for overstaying this long.

Now thats out of the way, I will be flying from Koh Samui to KL and will not be going to Bangkok, So will there be any problems paying at the Samui airport?

OK, I apologise for my earlier rant at you as the comment was definitely over the top, Ive just got this thing about farangs that run up such long overstays because apart from a few exceptional circumstances there really is no excuse for it., to your credit, you have acknowledged that and i would hope that you wont let it happen again.

Good luck exiting Thailand

Crikey, that snake list, is a list of an incoming batch of snakes which are up for order/sale.

Hope they have the black mamba(s) locked up safely!

That really would be a terrifying thought, BLACK Mambas on the loose

It sounds to me as if you had a "Stye" which i also recently had, they recommend that you compress a nearly hot flannel against the infected eye three or four times a day and bathe the area with a baby soap or similar, you can also develop conjunctivitis from a Stye which might explain your blurred vision in which case you will also need treatment for that

The girls are just unlucky that the Phuket police chief finally wanted to make it look like he is actually earning his meagre salary, and as there were no kickbacks of any note to be had he decided to promote his worth with their arrest....but the jet skis and the like can continue as they are a definite perk of the job

I have no doubt that there probably are abused Thai women in Sweden, but on a percentage basis i would bet a lot less than there are abused Thai women in Thailand married to Thai men.

The problem i see with these kind of initiatives is that they invite "abuse" by the so called abused, and don't all the feminist, anti men groups love to jump on the bandwagon

Even if the land prices in Korat are much cheaper, it really doesn't help us farang - we're not allowed to buy land in "our own names"... unless there are other laws and regulations in Korat... are there?

Well, as in Bangkok an expant CAN buy a condo in his/her own name. But to buy land and build a home on that property, having a Thai partner is the ONLY way of doing so. So if you're married to a Thai, then you'll be amazed at what you can buy for like Bht. 10Million in the main A. Muang area!

Isn't that something. You can buy an expensive condo, rehab it to taste, but doesn't do anything to qualify you each year to live in it. If your retired, you still need the 800,000 Baht. Happened to a friend of mine and I am sure many others.

Good point, i own a condo, not a particular expensive one but still almost certainly worth more than 800k baht, but that fact means nothing when i apply for a visa, so i suppose in theory i could be limited to staying there for no more than a month at a time

Grow some balls <deleted>, you say he has been bullying you on another forum, well how the hell does he know who you are on this and the other forum/s? or do you use the same username?..either way you can be assured that he cant hurt you from behind his computer screen

If any of us are going to benefit by a more favourable exchange rate then i fear that increased prices across the board will more than wipe out any gain that we may get, i understand as of now that some shelves in supermarkets are starting to look bare

Ultimately i don't think you have a chance in hell of preventing her eventually returning to Thailand and even if you did she could and probably would make things extremely difficult for you to have any meaningful contact with your child, whether it be in the UK or Thailand, and you can be sure if things get nasty you could be accused of all sorts and she will be aided and abetted by feminist groups and legal aid funded lawyers.

I am guessing here, but i would think that she probably receives benefits while in the UK including child benefit, all of which she would not be entitled to receive while living outside the EU, that could be the stick you threaten to hit her with if need be,