briley

Rikker - I see your point, and have dug out a picture book I use for Thai children to learn English, and there I see the dot you refer to under the Sor Saalaa.

As Meadish said the problem is that many Thais appear to think the way the loan word is pronounced in Thai is the same as the way it is prounounced in English, hence use Hou when speaking English.

I think this will help me understand Thais speaking English! Thanks to you both.

Probably did not make it clear that I was not talking about a loan word, it was a food stall called Red House that then put in Thai รีก เฮาส์.

To edit - split, combine or what a video after it is on the hard drive I do like VideoReDo. It is faster, neater and easier to use than most - mainly as it doesn't have all the bells and whistles and does not re- encode every time.

It is not free but has a 30 day trial if you only want to do a few jobs.

Those having problems with their condo management might be interested in the following bits of information gained from a meeting I attended today. The information is confirmed as correct by the two lawyers present, but of course it might not be correct.

By law condo management must call a general meeting each year. If they don't then the owners can call a meeting. Provided there is 33% of the owners present then the meeting is legal. If you can get 50% of the owners to vote for a new management team then that is legal. The owners can be represented by proxy, but no one person can have more than 3 proxy votes.

If a new legal manager is voted in they can present the papers (votes, minutes etc) to land registry to install a new legal manager and oust the old one.

Note that when I say % of owners that is a percentage of the area of the condo the owners and proxies represent.

There are, of course, plenty of pitfalls so this is just to give some unhappy owners some hope.

I have been reading a few signs that are in Thai but obviously written to just sound out the English word, for example House written as เฮาส์. The first 3 letters obviously give you 'hou' but in Thai it is impossible to end the word in 's'. Using ส at the end of a syllable it sounds 'p', if not at the end then you have to add a vowel. I thought it rather clever to use the mai thanthakhat (don't sound) over the last letter to imply "sound it as if it is just an 's'". That gives you 'hou' and 's' or hous(e) - the correct sound.

But talking to a few Thais I am told that they don't sound the final ส and so read the sign as 'Hou'. Listening to Thais speaking English I now hear them say 'Hou'

Have I got this wrong or are all Thais being taught to wrongly pronounce all English words that have a sound at the end that can't be reproduced in Thai script?

On Saturday's moneybox it was said that those who overpayed voluntary contributions after the anouncement of the proposed change will get their payments back - how and when was not made clear at all.

If you made overpayments (due to the change) before the announcement - hard luck and thanks for the free money.

Sorry - and I hope I am wrong - but I recall reading a note in Chiang Mai immigration saying only 7 days before for 90 day reporting.

Hope everyone can prove me wrong as it makes for a tight window.

Chiang Mai consulate will certify your marriage certificate, drop it in today (morning only) and collect tomorrow.

You don't need a translation if for immigration as they speak English!

Chiang Mai consulate can issue the letter, you get it next day. Don't know if they have a postal service.

I use a COPY of the letter I got a few years back each year with immigration and keep the original. That is what CM immigration told me to do so I don't need a new letter each year. Point about a pension is it should be guaranteed for life and go up - not down - each year.

Just done mine - 29 days before expiry and a piece of cake.

But a correction of above, 90 day reporting is now only 7 days before the time, not +/- 7 days.

Nationwide Credit card refunded a 'late payment' fee to me a few months ago, and I still have the account.

And the mess up was due to the fault of the other bank, not Natinwide.

Unless you are ancient and been married for a long time (think you have to be born before 1922 and married in the 1980's) there is no marriage allowance in the UK Tax system.

I had no trouble doing this at Mai Sai but did have to make it clear that was what I wanted and had to sign to say the immigration officer hadn't made a mistake - so I couldn't complain later.

I would double check the information in this thread before trying to fly - I can't find the Thai to Chittagong flight.

Not sure if the Taiwan flight is running these days either.

But quiet willing to be corrected!

Whilst it is easier if one has just one name on everything the world is full of people with more than one set of names. I use a different set of names on a daily basis to the one on my passport and that differs from my birth certificate. I've never had any problems.

Immigration officers meet people with two names/two or more passports on a daily basis and know the score.

Now check-in staff at the airport are a different thing and I would make sure the ticket and one passport agree and only show the one passport. Except when you have to show you can enter a country and you then need to show your second passport - then you might have to see the supervisor.

Has anyone ever been refused travel because of having 2 passports in different names?

As an aside, in many African countries you can get an official certificate to say 'xyz' is the same person as 'abc' as 'def' and so on as everyone has numerous identities.

Where's the problem?

Show everyone both passport.

Probably you need to show the check in person the one with the ticket names on.

Show immigration any passport they want.

Interbrit - a transfer of data from one computer to another failed and the original data deleated.

If you tell them you paid and have some sort of proof they accept that and credit you with the contributions. Think the minister did apologize in parliment at some time.

You can normally only pay back 6 years. 2 years 'overdue' and you pay the rate for the year you're paying, if over 2 years ago then you pay the current, normally higher, rate.

Over 6 years and payments are not accepted.

Except there was a computer 'mistake' in the mid 1990's so these payments can be made later, up to around 2009

Retirement age for women goes up to 65 over the period 2010-2020.

You do get the extra 2/3rds of your pension for being married even if your wife/husband is under retirement age, it is only the widows who get nothing if under retirement age.

to add to lopburi3 make sure you choose a date that suits you. Your extension of stay will expire the date you LAST entered Thailand. You have to renew your extension to stay in the period of 30 days before it expires.

ie if you entered Thailand on 25th December and get your extension of stay in March you have to renew in the period 27th November to 25th December and you have to be in Thailand

A widow only gets the full pension from when they reach pension age. They used to get a widows pension from the time their partner died but that was stoped, was it in 1996?

The Gov propose to change the law to 30 years contributions during the course of this parliment for those reaching retirement age in or after 2010.

Don't forget you get free stamps from age 60 to retirement age - but only if you are a UK resident and not working.

I can't find the reference but didn't someone authoritatively say that for your FIRST extension of stay if you don't have 3 months of bank account they'll give you a month then you go back to get the extension?

This is fair since it is hard to open an account from outside Thailand and you can apply for your extension after 60 days of arrival and must apply within 90 days - so it is almost impossible to have the money in an account for 3 months before application!

JohnC - blimey you spend a lot, but yes you can get the money over the counter or have it put into your bank account and there is no apparent limit.

If nationwide send the money you have to go throught their hoops of forms and phone calls but if Bangkok Bank request the money then your signature on the little slip of paper the Bank gives you is enough.

I think it is magic, but it works.

Incidentally if you go to the ATM at 6.50 am Thai time you can withdraw todays £300 and wait a minute or two and withdraw tomorrows £300. Never tried this in Thailand but it does work over midnight in the UK.

I have used nationwide to transfer 70K baht at a time to my bangkok bank account but getting the 'ftt' stamp has proved problematic at times.

I am aware of someone transferring many 100K (about 650,000 baht I think) in one, over the counter transfer and this is not apocryphal.

PS The exchange rate at the ATM was 71.551 and over the counter was 71.671 - but that was not the exchange rate quoted by the counter staff when they swiped the card. The ATM was made about 5 minutes after the over the counter transaction.

I don't consider a few setang on the exchange rate a problem.

Non-residents of over 5 years standing do not pay CGT - period (as our cousins say).

I checked the Inland revenue CGT1 book for that.