ELCata

I obtained my extension without too much hassle.

Man this place is almost outside Bangkok. No sign of these grey shuttle buses at Mo Chit, which were mentioned on another thread. I took a taxi costing ~100B & got dropped off right in front of the GB, but the return cost 130B + 15B toll.

I'd printed & filled out the form at home (single sided), went to the reception desk (where you collect the forms) & was told to go through to the back. Showed the officer my form & docs then obtained a ticket. I then sat down & looked at it for 5 minutes before realising I had to go round the back to cubicles 123-125.

I was seen after 30 minutes, but was knocked back & told to go & copy my departure card; she told me not to get a new ticket & come straight back though. After running around the ground floor for an eternity, I found the copy shop & said goodbye to a 1B coin. A nifty queue jump & 15 minutes later I retrieved my passport from cubicle 123 & was away.

BTW there were some hi-so market stalls on the 2nd floor, along with a show & a famous actress from a Lakorn. The GF had her (my) sunglasses lifted from her shirt pocket in the crowds, so be careful of pick-pockets.

ELCata, it's the office in Chaeng Wattana for you. The Suan Phlu office gives visa extensions on Saturday mornings only (http://bangkok.immig....th/en/base.php) but appears to be crowded and not a pleasant experience.

Thanks matey. I thought I had all my ducks in a row before I came over, but now it comes to actually doing it...

Chaeng Wattana doesn't seem too much of a trek, especially as there's a direct minibus at Mo Chit.

My visa runs out 2nd May, so if I go tomorrow I assume that they'll give me 30 days from 3rd (?)

Cheers.

I'm going there next week to extend my tourist visa. I was originally going to go to Suan Plu in Sathorn, as it seems easier to get to, but it says on the immigration website that it's only for Laos, Cambodian & Myanmar nationals.

Service for Visa Issuing (NON.L-A) , extension of stay permit and notification of address every 90 days , provided only for legalized special Labor of three Nationalities Loas , Cambodia and Mynmar residing in Bangkok.

Contact at Immigration Division1 (Soi SuaPlu , Satorn Rd.)

1st Floor , Canteen Building (behind Building1)

Tel. : 0-2287-1982 or 0-2287-1983

There's also another office here, but I'm not sure if I can use that one either.

Particular Services for extension of temporary stay, Notification of address every 90 days, Re-entry Permit, Visa Issuing and Changing type of Visa , could be provided only for foreigners carrying out duties relating to the specific law : Immigration Act , Proleum Act / Board of Investment Act / Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand Act.

Contact at One-Stop Service Center for Visas and Work Permits At Chamchuri Square Building

Tel. 0-2209 1100

Here's a link to info about the various offices, with maps & directions for each.

http://bangkok.immig...p?page=location

I received an A4 package (degree transcripts & CRB check) within 7 days last month, using Royal Mail UK registered international post. Only one anecdote I'm afraid. I'm having a similar package delivered this month, so hope to keep everyone updated.

I have taken a closer look at my IDP & it includes a section named 'exclusions' (French / Italian). There is a similar section, with a circle surrounding the text, in every language section. I can only assume that any driving convictions are listed within that part of the IDP, making the counterpart surplus to requirements.

I will update the topic when I have applied for my Thai license FYI.

Just a little update.

I landed in LOS last friday at 18.00. The queues were pretty bad at the first station, but the second was almost empty. I sailed through in 5 minutes but had to wait 30 minutes for my case.

Unfortunately PT Taxi let me down, so I haggled a tout down to 1200B. FYI I flew with Kingfisher & they are very good. I pretty much sailed through security at Mumbai too (relatively), which gave me about 30 minutes for a quick bottle of Kingfisher & a few smokes.

Thanks for the advice & good wishes guys.

I'll take it with me just to be on the safe side.

GERONIMO.

"If you have 24 credits in education you are alright too. No need to test."

What makes one credit? A course taken for a semester, 1 hour per week?

In the UK modules are worth 10 or 20 credits. The full PGCE gives you 120 credits, 3 year BSc / BA 360 credits.

I'd like to know how this equates to the Thai education degree. How many credits is that worth?

OK it's the big move tomorrow. Got my new(ish) photo-card license. Got my brand spanking IDP. My question is do I need the counterpart in order to obtain a Thai driving license?

I'd rather leave it home if I don't need it. It's just another bit of paper to lose.

For non-UKers, it's a separate bit of paper that accompanies your license, which details any endorsements / convictions etc.

OK point taken about the technicality & thanks for the link. What I was worried about is the 0.12 Ze needed for a TN-C-S system. In the UK this is the distributors responsibility so I assume the same applies in LOS? TT as I'm sure you know is a whole different ball game. Without peeking at GN3 I believe 6666 ohms is allowed for a 30mA RCD, but in practice much less.

I have a friend who is building a house in the village ATM & has been picking my brains. He was having trouble differentiating the incomers. I suggested sticking a megger on them to show + / - 240 polarity. Do you have a better suggestion?

Nice to have a chat with someone who knows their onions for a change.:jap:

What a sad story.

I wonder what the circumstances leading up to his wife's suicide were?

I'm using my old 16th Edition installation tester, but I suspect 99.999999% of everyone else is winging it and relying on the RCD to open on a L-E fault.

Agree with the 100mA RCBO as a belt-and-braces approach.

Theoretically Thailand is TN-C-S with MEN / PME via local earth stakes at the DB. That said, TT is widespread on older installations, IT has been seen quite commonly too (relying on the domestic stakes to keep neutral near deck), to broaden the confusion some villages are 3-phase 3-wire with 220V between phases.

In the UK exporting a TN-C-S ground to an outbuilding is prohibited, the issue is that there is a possibility of significant voltage between the local ground (water pipe, building metalwork) and the TN-C-S exported ground, potential for a dangerous cross-body shock.

Your 16th Ed tester will serve you well. Which model do you have? Have you seen the price of the 'Part P' 17th Ed testers now.

I'm confused about your '3-phase 3-wire with 220V between phases' comment. Do you mean TP&N (standard in the UK) or 2P&N? Obviously the voltage between phases is zero.

Also in the UK, it is acceptable for outbuildings to use the earth from a 2nd DB as the return path. I'm not talking about heavy commercial bordering on industrial, but a simple domestic outbuilding (not for agricultural purposes for instance). The voltage differential problem can be solved in the usual way by equipotential bonding AFAIK.

Edit: BTW, if you're in the Bangkok / Pattaya area next month. I can bring over the 17th Ed regs, along with 16th Ed GN3, if you're interested in taking them off my hands?

How is everyone testing the fault loop impedance or electrode resistance? Or is everyone just winging it?

I'd suggest a 100mA RCBO at the main DB as a fail-safe, along with the usual 30mA ones for power circuits. I'd be interested to know how the Thai distribution system works. Is the TN-C-S system common, with the N connected to the earthed star point of the local transformer? Obviously the TT system would be the weapon of choice in the 'moobahn', which would be about 99% of LOS.

Wouldn't it be better to earth any small external buildings via the secondary DB, if TN-C-S is used at the primary DB, rather than rely on TT?

Some well taken points about 'qualified' teachers, although I don't understand the need for parentheses.

BTW a teacher, unqualified or not, should never 'drone on' in front of any class. A short introduction less than 10 minutes duration is more than enough & should be used to establish the current level of understanding of the students, in the absence of initial testing (or not actually). We NQTs know that students switch off after 10 minutes of teacher led presentations. What should follow, in EFL particularly, is fast paced, varied paired or group activities (preferably games), with the teacher observing & acting a facilitator when needed.

So you're looking at making a quick getaway?

Seriously, is the resale value of laptops greater than desktops?

If you're targeting the ex-pat on-line gaming community, who are more likely to be playing CoD than WoW, then I suggest investing in some 24" Dell monitors, along with GCs able to handle the high resolution & fancy effects such as HDR. You'll also need a reliable dedicated line to handle that fat bandwidth.

And forgive me my poor math skills here but can you also explain to me how 38% = all or even most?? Somehow, it seems to me to represent a bit more than 1/3. Which, as far as I am aware, is not a majority by any stretch of the imagination.

And all that proves is that 38% of those surveyed marry men who make more money than they do. The survey does not seem to include data about whether the wife is also working (just concludes from this number that they don't want to) or anything other than the fact that 38% marry men who make more money than they do.

The results of the survey simply show that 38% of women surveyed in the 1990s express a preference for a partner with 'significantly better' education than their own, compared to 20% of women surveyed in 1949; nothing more, nothing less.

Leaving my disdain for survey data aside...this information was then filtered through the 'think tank' followed by the tiny brain of the Daily Mail (likely humanities educated) science correspondent, to be regurgitated as a big pile of speculative shit.

I could go off on one about the Daily Mail's horrendous record on science reporting, but I'm moving to Thailand next week & I don't want to get there in a bad mood.

I'm not sure that I understand the set-up here. Do you want to have your own laptops, connected to external monitors with an external keyboard? If so then a tower would seem to be the better option. Components, even low power / high efficiency ones are cheaper & easier to maintain / swap out, with additional cooling an easy option. I fail to see any advantage in using laptops in this manner, or am I missing something?

I too don't see any reason why anyone should get married. Marriage is a legal contract unless you're religious & promises such as 'till death us do part' can just as easily be made in a non-legal ceremony; marriage has little to do with 'romance'.

Legal contracts, such as joint ownership of a house, can easily be drawn up outside of marriage & I believe that now, at least in the UK, it is possible to nominate a 'significant other' for the purposes of life insurance, pensions, wills etc.

How about "Love Joy" bar? Located directly opposite Simon's Fish and Chips, and about 200 metres from the Hanuman "bomb site" heading towards Beach Road. You can't miss it as the words "Love Joy" are written in huge letters on the outside wall. There is a small "beer garden" attached to the main part of the bar.

Last time that I was there, all drinks were 40 baht but that might have changed by now. There are girls but no hassle and there is always an international crowd there.

Seconded. I'm partial to a big Archa myself.

Sounds like you're with the wrong bank(s). Halifax charges me a £9.50 flat fee for international transfers done on-line. Kasikorn then charges 300-500B on a sliding scale to process the SWIFT transfer.

An innocent man walking home from work, who was possibly the only person not involved in the G20 protests in London, is knocked down & killed by police. The CPS, in collusion with the police, delay the investigation just long enough so that the family of the victim cannot take recourse in the civil courts.

Bernie@parsplace, Kessaya & Mai Paeng are all reputable guys who rent for a fair price. Just don't rent from Beach Road.

We were quoted 2000B per day from a place near Mike's on Beach Road during our first trip. Don't be a tourist.

£30 000 per year is a very generous salary in the UK. Apparently £25 000 is the average, but I don't know where they get that from either. A starting wage for a teacher, social worker, nurse or policeman is less than the average wage. How much is an immigrant Polish / Filipino 'au pair' paid per year? I know first hand that nursery nurses / cleaners are paid the minimum wage.

Also, what about the unpaid jobs that men do? How much would an 'on call' Gardiner, Electrician, Plumber, Painter & Decorator, Taxi driver etc be paid a year? About £100 000 I suspect.

On a more serious note, men in the UK, especially working class men, have lost their 'raison d'etre' as the main provider. The state has now become the provider for women (with children) who would otherwise be 'forced' to form a relationship with a man in order to provide for them; note the high suicide rate of men aged 18-24 in the UK.

The irony is that most taxpayers are men, who are de-facto paying for the upbringing of societies children, without the sexual / emotional benefits of a relationship.

Women have been allowed to enter the larger 'workforce', resulting in a large inflow of workers into the economy, thus depressing wages; fact not sexism. I sometimes wonder if feminism, driven by a militant minority, has somehow backfired; resulting in both men & women having a lower standard of living & 'happiness'.

OK I have saved the PM in a word document. I have tried to paste it into a new PM & sending the 1st half in case it is too long. A little help would be appreciated.:jap:

Still can't open! Maybe it's my phone. Don't normally have a problem with YouTube though.

Maybe you should phone the police? Good grief.