Kruzon

Pull your head out of the sand.

Thailand's corruption, which exists all the way down to the school system, and in Thailand's political electoral system.

Education or rather lack of education is Thailand's biggest problem. Thailand schools teach subservience and obedience and not much else! Every school uses different books! No student fails! Students are allowed to copy fellow students exam answers and cheat all they want. I could go on and on but why?

Thai pride is so strong they even refused foreigner help to solve the flooding of a couple of years ago by refusing the offered help of two American aircraft carriers that were offshore. Why? Thai's can't have foreigners solving their problems for them.

Sending foreigners home will not remove any of the above basic problems.

Perhaps you should be more concerned as to how you will get a taxi cab by meter from Bangkok's moffia taxis which repeatedly ignore Bangkok taxi laws than the political climate. You can easily stay out of the mix and still enjoy your planned activities just research alternative transport to the taxis such as sky train, and river or commuter canal boat.

It is illegal for a taxi to refuse a fare, to refuse to use the meter and to run undersized tires to increase the fare by as much as 20% over standard tires.

Thailand is Thailand but by Dec 5th the king's birthday this should all be over.

It was near ago now that I obtained my marriage, same immigration office, Non o, just as you explain, but I did not have the original documents and if my wife had not come with me I believe my visa application would have been declined. My wifes passport and iD had been changed to show her new married surname, same as mine, removing all argument from immigration.

I have renewed the Non O now with a retirement visa arranged with the help of link deleted and now only have to report in every 90 days instead of stepping out and back in every 90 days.

Thank you Thai Visa Service.

Edit: Commercial links are not allowed Ubonjoe

Nice bunch of numbers! Too bad businesses are currently experiencing up to 50% reduction in sales Oct and Nov 2013 compared to the same months last year (Oct and Nov 2012). So when you see numbers issued by a Thai Gov't. department you should know they are not accountable numbers.

If as a tourist you step out of Thailand into say Cambodia and reenter Thailand are you now two tourists and if you also step out to Laos and reenter are you now 3 tourists?

It's a very low revenue business and you compete against purchased 60 to 80 baht copies. I have seen only one rental video store in Bangkok. it was near Victory Monument.

If you are a foreigner you are forbidden from from farming and turkeys are farming!

I'll bet these are numbers generated by Thai national employee making their boss look good. Simply stated it means there is enough feces in these numbers to choke a horse! Local businesses, hotels, restaurants, hostels, cooking schools are all experiencing decreases in tourists not increases!

Pattaya is the worlds largest red light zone which pretty much encompasses the whole town includes every bar and most restaurants, the sidewalks and underpasses. There nearby islands, expensive though. There are restaurants, rooms, an I T building but buy your IT at home and get what you buy. There are beaches but none have clean water. There are cooking schools but if you want a truly great Thai cooking school class you will want to take in Trip Advisors Thailand #1 school Chef LeeZ, in Bangkok. #1 since 2011! Recommend you change venue from Pattaya to perhaps Hau Hin (opposite sdie of the sea from Pattaya). Hau Hin is a mini Bangkok with clean air and better garbage disposal, beaches, malls and a multitude of foreigner restaurants. Check out cool relax restaurant and Jing's guest house if go to Hau Hin.

What a waste of money. You ever tried to find camera footage of a crime in Thailand? Well let me tell, THE CAMERA DOESN"T work during a crime! I still say put a mobile camera crew together that visits different problem areas unannounced and photo taxi's that dirve by no light no passenger, light on not stop, stop and drive away without passenger. (Keep it simple ... like a red light cameras),

Since most all of Thailand nationals are religiously forbidden from putting down their pets Thailand nationals have adopted the discard unwanted animal at wats and parks as the alternative "using the I didn't kill them" religious theory which frees them religiously. This results in thousands of unwanted animals being released into the wats. DON,T walk in the soi's of Pattaya without a dog stick or you may well be taking rabies shots! If you ask me, eating these unwanted and discarded animals sounds like a fair way for these animals to proceed onto the next life as opposed to the alternative being a death by starvation and or injury and or disease killing them. I have a collection of Pattaya wild dogs pictures and videos somewhere on line, just ask to see them and I will locate them. Hundreds of discarded animals!

What you say is true. The street vendors food requires a cast iron stomach. Cleanliness is something foreigners understand not Thai street vendors. Dark brown oil is days old, food fried in it will be dark brown instead of light brown, food is served that been out several days in the heat or a watery waste of melted ice and and it may not have be been reheated. Top it all off instead of real ingredients you will receive a large dose of MSG E621 for flavor instead of quality ingredients.

If you see shark fin soup please educate them on how soup will extinct sharks.

Always carry your Immodium!

I am still confused .. Is singkhorn .. open both sides to tourists ... for in and out border crossing? Is there a special Myanmar pre entry visa required?

Was this a RIP Tide ... as I never heard of a wave taking a person out to sea. but rip tides they are like a river in the ocean and if you swim across them eventually you will come out of the ripe tide .. but if you swim against it, like a river, you may well become exhausted and drown!

http://www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov/overview.shtml

EXPECTATIONS COST YOU!

Life In Thailand can be anything you want it to be generally for less than half of what the same would cost in most foreigners home countries. Thailand expects you, as a foreigner, will need near $2,400 U.S. a month to be happy in Thailand. But think about this because it’s relevant to your expectations and Thailand's expectations of your spending.

It’s all about expectations!

If your expectations include a backyard swimming pool then your lifestyle will cost more than mine as I don't have a pool.

If you eat all your meals out then your expectations will cost you more than my expectations of 20% of my meals are not home cooked. I can't eat the Thai pizza chain pizzas here as they substitute tomato sauce with mayonnaise and over 50% of the cheese is replaced with a generous helping of .. yep ... you guessed it .. mayonnaise .. so these are not part of my 20%. I'd tell you where I eat but then someone might call it spamming because it's my kitchen.

Back to expectations and living costs. If you need a 3 bedroom house and maids and have someone wash and press your laundry for you then your expenses will be higher than mine.

If you are into fashion or your wife is a beauty queen or just a queen ... your expectations will cost you.

If you or your spouse require spa treatments then your expectations will cost you. If your alcohol budget is over 6000 baht a month your expectations will cost you more than mine.

If you drive a vehicle or if you each drive a vehicle with or without a driver that is an expense I don't have as the public system is totally adequate for my expectations.

I could go on and on about expectations: golfing, deep sea fishing, beach days off, overseas vacations, life ins. car ins. house ins. university educations, international school here .. but It all boils down to .. If you have been living here since you known each other without a budget or perhaps as long as you have known each other .. that will cost you!

and one other simple fact you should consider before saying " Honey, We're now going to live on __% less than last year .. This is how we are going to do it ... if you have a Thai spouse or any spouse that has expectations that are above your proposal ... all I can say is ... good luck with that one! LOL

It's About Expectations!

http://travelholidaygallery.com/die-ostseite-von-boracay-ohne-massentourismus.html

I blew up your picture some and teh type of bees you have (long: black front, yellow mid, black rear, I've seen attending a nest live in a market while it is being sold for the young and the honey. This would indicate that type of honey bee is not the same bee as the small (3/4 cm) aggressive more aggressive bee.

I vote leave it alone or have a bee keeper handle it for you.

Trip Advisor has an excellent user review rating system. Have you thought about a culinary arts Thai cooking school class experience? It is said that: "the best place to learn about a culture is around the dinner table"!

Do some research on proper procedures but usually you will smoke them to make the bees less inactive and then burn the nest. If want the honey then you would need to find a locale bee harvester. It is said that when the bees waive on the nest they are agitated and its the first sign of a potential defensive attack.

There is a similar nest in the fort park on Chao Phraya river near pier 13. I have been photographing it daily for months waiting to see when Thais finally remove it. This nest is anchored to a 25 cm wide branch.

That is a little ambiguous. What I mean is once they have you as a customer .. they don't advise you of these available promotions.

As a Canadian AB expat I totally relate to your home words as mountain biking river trails and backcountry walking trails and park trails are scattered all around AB and can include mountain trails - badlands, glaciers - dinosaur museums or parks spread all around AB, yes there's even an all across Canada trail. Note to experience Downhill Mountain Biking very specialized equipment and training is required as you ride up a ski lift to the top of the mountain and ride your bicycle down the mountain "same same as downhill skiing but different" as you are on a bicycle. Yup my 12 year old and I took the "bunny trail" being the road the muntain maintenance vehicles and ambulances would take to go up and down the mountain (skiers call this with a green triangle) and regular mountain bikes were more than sufficient for this trail without any special equipment.

Mountain bike picture links

http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4935992236705893&pid=15.1

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4537372050850408&pid=15.1

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4854529605043472&pid=15.1

special Body Gear is not an option for the serious and note the cost is one bike per year plus one suit of armour per year per person plus lifts and hotels so it's same same as downhill but different.

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4844535237117824&pid=15.1

Yes ... I was an adrenaline junkie .. Still am I guess .. but due to osteoporosis, a form of arthritis, my bones break 10 times easier than someone without my stage of osteo ... so Thailand has allowed me to slow down .. no more biking (as can't exercise in the air here in Bangkok due to asthma). However having said this, wind surfing is becoming a real possible source of the adrenaline rush I so miss. and Hau Hin is becoming the source for physically preparing for the learning leading to possibly actually trying my next adrenaline fix wind surfing.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/mgo-t2-c196425

There are a hundred other things missed from home ... yes including the beers and all that goes with adrenalin junkies in general, camping trips, fishing trips, privacy in gods country as AB Canada provides.

One thing's for sure and that is I truly do not miss shoveling snow!

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4646489960810848&pid=15.1

http://www.easkiandsnowboard.com/massive-snow-fall-in-new-zealand/shoveling-snow-august-2012_web/

http://blog.laylamorganwilde.com/2013/02/11/is-snow-a-four-letter-word.aspx

Thailand is what you allow it to be for you. In most cases you can live 3 times longer on the same foreigner dollar here in Thailand as you could in your home country for the same lifestyle or some have said they can live 3 times higher for the same length of time by residing in Thailand. I believe that is now reduced to twice as well!

Nice to know .. Typical Thai, No service to existing customers! Thai business operates like business did 40 years ago in Canada ... Anyway the reason I'm commenting isn't this but rather to share a range limit fact when you are with true 3g vrs AIS. I know you can receive AIS 3g in Cambodia visa run border towns and I know you can't find true 20 minutes outside of a major city or connecting routes between the cities. There is also the band width issue with True (in the Khao San road, Bangkok area) some days , peak usage times, you can't open emails due to no band width while AIS 3g apparently is less popular in this area of Bangkok meaning there is more Bandwidth available. We are now in the process of switching to AIS everything for a less used service (more band width) and a broader availability range.

LOL .. mosquitoes breed in the air, anywhere after a full blood sucking readies up the eggs for fertilization by any fly male mosquito (no blood sucker mouth part), the fertile eggs now require an aqueous solution to develop into a mosquito. The Dengue mosquito still needs an aqueous solution for their eggs to develop into another mosquito, right?

Corruption and graft is a huge problem and in Thailand Thais are witness to it from the day they enter their first school. Thai children school grades are not according to their abilities as no Thai child fails but his or her grades are influenced by the amount the parents paid extra to the school for higher marks.

Most foreigner teachers work without work permits but the schools and their agents still receive their near 60,000 baht for the foreigner teacher of which the foreigner teacher generally receives less than 30,000 with the balance going to the agents 20,000 and the school 10,000 or the school retains 100% of the amount not paid to the foreigner English teachers. We know this can only exist by paying graft to the school investigators.

Graft and corruption exists in most every government. U.S.A. president after president has proven how they fix elections, lie to their citizens and how they take care of their big business buddies and their war machine.

Thailand's graft and corruption is rampant, extremely visible and out of control at the schools, the post office, immigration and all levels of gov't!

It's soo sad! But how is it possible that Khao Samui island beaches get covered in plastic from the ocean following every storm but the fishing nets aren't full of plastic?

It's not to be joked about or taken lightly! ... Q: What are the symptoms of MERS?

culinary arts Thai cooking school students complain everyday of their Bangkok Taxi experiences! The Bangkok solution is simple. Post mobile camera crews randomly shooting plates of taxis that leave without a passenger after stopping and after the potential passenger has asked for a ride that by his leaving empty means he declined the passenger a few million such tickets and taxi licence loss will fix the situation.