55Jay

Agree, if your aim is to hang out here with the family, same as me (I'm also a few years shy of 50), do the single entry and get on the annual extension program. When you want to travel, just get a re-entry permit to keep the extension alive, and off you go. Good luck.

Getting the genuine good stuff from the USA (made in China or El Salvador ) would likely involve import tax, driving up the end cost - but sure, I bet there would be takers.

If knock offs sourced regionally, and you're seen to be successful, wouldn't be long before 3 other copy cat stalls appeared. A bit too cynical.... I know.

I've often thought of doing something, anything, just as a hobby with the wife to kill time but, meh, don't need the money or the aggravation for relatively thin margins.

Not much of an opening for Carlsberg I suspect. The concessions already been given and paid for.

Two's company but three...

Winnie

Therein lies the problem. These companies have a stranglehold on beer production and certain people in their pockets to ensure the barrier to entrance into the market is too high for anyone else to have a fair shot.

Anything foreign gets the **** taxed out of it, yet the rock gut lao daeng and lao kao are allowed to prosper to get the general public in a state of intoxication so as to not want to buck the system.

It's rigged I tell ya, rigged.

I would ask if you would like some cheese with your whine but, that's taxed to hell and back too!

Government sanctioned theft, thats what it will equate too ethics not exist in Thailand when money is concerned.

These types of things are on offer in the west. Thailand just jumping on the bandwagon.

I tried it here one or twice. It's alright.

It obviously seems like which office you go to.

I and many of my friends are now experiencing a lot of problems at our local office.It seems the female officer is on a mission to make it as difficult as she can,making up new rules and regs as she goes along.

And of course you can not question her about anything because if you do you are just told to go.

What kind of new rules and regulations is she making up?

Edit: Which Immi office?

Realize you don't have the stick at hand, but would be interested to know if the files in the MUSIC folder are MP3, MP4 or a mix of both.

The thing about your voices being recorded and playing at the same time as the music, is very odd.

I pulled the USB music stick out of my car stereo system a while back and transferred some songs onto my mate's laptop running Win8 or 8.1. Plugged it back into the car afterward- wouldn't work. Didn't recognize the file format, but the stick would play on my computer at home (Win7). Reformatted the stick and reloaded the same music onto it, still wouldn't work in the car. Finally bought a new USB stick, loaded the same music from same back up copy on my Win7 computer, and it worked in the car.

I did 2 or 3 Over-the-Counter w/d each month for about 2 years at my Bangkok Bank branch. I don't know if this influenced their willingness or not, but each transaction was for 30~34,000 Baht, which exceeds their ATM per transaction limit of 25,000.

Had I asked for less than 25k, I suspect they would of pointed me to the ATM.

Additionally, I never took cash out the door, just a paper shuffle to deposit the Baht from the card transactions, straight into my BB account.

Reminds me of the TV commercial on Faux News channel in the USA where Fonzie from Happy Days (Henry Winkler) is pimping "government insured" reverse mortgages to senior citizens.

^^Yup. First time we had the village electrician/builder/car mechanic/pork stick BBQ chef, install a hot water heater years ago, I told him I wanted a grounding wire. He nodded understanding and said, "Sa-tafe-tee", OK, Krup!"

He ran the ground wire, attached it to grounding post and pounded it into a crack in the concrete out back.

Job done!

Attend the next office party. Tape a cucumber to your thigh under your trousers and have your wife casually introduce you to the offending boss.

Then you can laugh at home later knowing Boss man will be having cold sweat nightmares about finally bedding your wife but, in the moment of truth, she looks up into his eyes and, in a bored tone of voice, asks, "Is it in yet?"

Sorted!

What type of area? City, suburbs or rural/agricultural?

I live near a small but busy Amphur town which seems to be the hub for the many small, farming villages scattered around the countryside.

I've never seen lots of people looking or buying much of the non-food items, clothes in particular. The non-food stalls must sell something though, else they wouldn't go through the hassle and expense of setting up the stall week after week? I imagine those who are more likely to buy non-food items at more rural markets are the people/families that come in from the outlying villages. City and suburbs folk have more options available, and while I might be generalizing, perhaps a bit more discretionary income.

My wife recounted similar experiences when working in one company in BKK. Horn Dog Boss Man was openly suggestive about her becoming a member of his mia noi harem. I don't blame him, she's attractive and has a nice bum! But, she rebuffed the advances and moved on to another job, and became a regional supervisor in the process.

Story like this is why I always wear rubber sandals at home. Assume everything here is trying to kill you, and may not be far off. I'd rather be somewhat safe than be fodder for arguments on TV regarding wiring.

Mee too. Inside the house "clean" sandals also became a habit for us after finding a small scorpion on the kitchen floor.

Signs? Here's one:

"set to trip at 20 amps" ?

Obviously meant to be 20ma or you are toast.

Ok, thanks. Ma or mA now that I look at it.

Electrics here scare the hell out of me more than driving and cobras.

We were getting shocks from the shower on/off faucet since last week, wife got one off the metal drum inside the electric clothes dryer and then some lights on one switch panel in particular, quit working. Progressive failure day by day it seemed.

Found a new electrician who said the heating element inside the water heater tank had corroded. It's only about 2 years old, but we have been saltier well water during the continuing drought so that made sense.

Upon inspecting my Safe-T-Cut, he was shocked to see the GFCI dial was set to DIRECT. He turned it to 25 amps and it tripped the mains off every time. I didn't know what that dial was for, but about 2 years ago, we were having breaker trip problems. Some Thai dude came out, fiddled around with it for a few minutes and announced it was "fixed". I'm sure now that's how and when it ended up on DIRECT, and it's been like that ever since.

So 2 days of work, we've got a new water heater in. A new Safe-T-Cut installed, set to trip at 20 amps. And I bought a 6' long grounding rod to replace the 2' rods I had the heater and water pump on. Worth every Baht and I feel quite a bit better about the electrical system now..... but there's still room for improvement. Watch yourself out there.

Old SafeTCut.

DONALD TRUMP’S GHOSTWRITER TELLS ALL “The Art of the Deal” made America see Trump as a charmer with an unfailing knack for business. Tony Schwartz helped create that myth—and regrets it.

"Trump, facing a crowd that had gathered in the lobby of Trump Tower, on Fifth Avenue, laid out his qualifications, saying, “We need a leader that wrote ‘The Art of the Deal.’

”If that was so, Schwartz thought, then he, not Trump, should be running. Schwartz dashed off a tweet:

“Many thanks Donald Trump for suggesting I run for President, based on the fact that I wrote ‘The Art of the Deal.’

”http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all

The Bloviator. The Huckster.

ThaiVisa member # 256,709,367. Lives in Chiang Mai on tourist visa. Ex-hippie backpacking liberal vegan. Retired minimum wage employee. Voting for Bernie Hillary.

Thought some here might find this an interesting, quick read.

Confessions of an Airline Revenue Manager:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/confessions-airline-revenue-manager-094500117.html?ref=gs

I dont wish to tempt providence but never had any problems in the 16 years of staying here.Neither in Bangkok or Jomtien.I have since moved to Khon kaen and the people there very helpful.There is a sweetheart of an officer there.She always smiles and her English is good.My wife speaks good English and they like to chat to each other.But i always stick to the rules.

I give a nice big wai,i dress in long trousers and a collared shirt.I always smile and let them think that they are far superior and more knowledgeable than i am.I shut up and let my wife do the talking.i get asked 'why you stay' and i always reply 'because your country is so beautiful and my wife is wonderful and i love the food here.Then when i get home i strip off all the smart shit and am violently sick in the toilet because of my slimy,grinning,cow towing actions.

I could of written nearly the same thing!

I usually just crack a grin at the superficial theater though. For the most part, appreciate the fact they accommodate my desire to live here for as long as I care to, with relative ease, and as long as I don't screw up too badly. Fair enough.

At times, I've thought my own country would do well to inhibit immigration and paths to citizenship in similar ways.

Thailand ought to transform into a full and proper Nanny state with a rigidly enforced tax code to support a robust social safety net.

Once achieved, have the police and army round up all the filthy, dark skinned bar girls, put them on The Dole and ship them to Issan on trains and busses, back to the village where they rightly belong and secretly want to be anyway. Dress them up in traditional Issan/Lao costumes, sat in a group of tangled brown toes on a dirt floor making wicker baskets for OTOP. Ah yes, a beautiful, natural way of life for the child-like little brown people.... just as the nail biting colonial puritans envisage how things ought to be.

After reading this report, does anyone understand what happened? If so, could you explain it to me.

Skip over most of it and go right to the final paragraph.

"Police said that the dispute was over a cherished number plate. Both Anek and Nattaphoom liked big bikes. Anek had paid more than 100,000 baht for a fancy number plate organized by his friend that turned out to be fake and wanted his money back. This, they said, was why he was shot."

kobkarn.jpg

This the Minister of Sports and tourism, Kobkarn Wattanavrankul. I believe she is correctly referred to as a woman.

Could you post another couple of shots please. I want to make sure.

My mate Mick Dundee already confirmed. She's a sheila.

- 'good riddance, thailand should get rid of all the filthy low life sex tourists exploiting impoverished women, most decent expats like me did not come here for that degenerate behavior, they wouldnt sleep with prostitutes back home could you imagine them telling their friends back home how they purchase women, im married to a thai, speak thai, im accepted and respected by thai people'

how old are you?

- '65'

how old is your wife?

-'30'

at this point i usually just tune out, this is a fairly typical convo you have when you meet someone who considers himself a 'quality' expat when in reality he is just deluded

30? That's way too old.

The author of this article must of been drunk.

The final, summary paragraph sounds like it was written by someone else, to clarify all the previous mumbo jumbo.