mrjohn

Thanks for all the replies.

The general consensus appears to be that there is little or no advantage in getting married.

Particular thanks to beetlejuice for providing the sort of info I was looking for.

Quote:

"if intending to remain in Thailand with a partner, there are no good reasons to get married. In fact in many cases the guy is actually placing himself at a disadvantage by burdening himself in a marriage."

Anybody got anything to add to this?

Perhaps I should clarify a few points as to our circumstances.

I am British and the long-term girlfriend is (of course) Thai.

If we were living in the UK, then I suspect it would be advantageous, or even necessary, for us to be married for residency and citizenship purposes. However, I have no intention of going back to the UK to live.

No, we don't have any children between us, nor are we going to have any.

Having to show less money to support my visa extension may become an issue for me at some time in the future, so this is one of the reasons why I was trying to get some ideas of any positive advantage in having a relationship legally ratified.

So, bearing this in mind, is there anything to gain from getting married?

This is a serious topic

Is there really any advantage in getting married?

I have been very happy with my girlfriend for eight years. Apart from the obvious fact that I would only need to show an income of 400,000 Bht instead of 800,000 Bht (a curious bit of Thai logic in my opinion)I am wondering what sort of advantages there are for either, or both of us.

Any helpful advice would be very much appreciated.

Woks are made of iron,not aluminium.

They become naturally non stick from proper seasoning and daily use. They last for years.

Buy them in any branch of Makro or any market,anywhere in Thailand.

See link "How to season a wok"

I have only had excellent service from Nikon in Bangkok.

So unless you can do the repair yourself (as suggested above) I recommend you send it to them.

I sent mine by EMS (well packaged) it came back after about 3 working days also by EMS.

On the 1st occasion it was a lens problem which was prepared for about 1200 Bht

On the 2nd occasion the camera needed a shutter repair which they did for a little more than 2000. They also cleaned the camera inside thoroughly because over the years there had been a build-up gunge from the humid conditions.

On both occasions the head technician called me (speaking excellent English) to tell me what was wrong and how much it would cost before he started.

I wouldn't waste time with any shops.

http://www.niksthailand.co.th/contact.php

Incidentally, the lens problem occurred whilst I was in the UK.

From memory, Nikon UK wanted a minimum of £50 ( six years ago) just to look at the camera and told me it would take at least 6 weeks!

Since I was only in the UK for a short time I concluded Nikon Bangkok was a much better option.

The 2nd time my camera broke down I was in Nan.

I took it into an old-fashioned camera shop in the town (just in case it something really simple) but the aged owner concluded I would need to send it to a Nikon agent.

I looked online for Nikon repair agents in the north of Thailand and found one in Chiang Mai . I called them and explained the problem.

"Do you think you can fix it?" I said.

"Yes, I think so", was the reply.

We were 4 days into a month long trip around the North and I only have a small Canon compact as backup, so I wanted the Nikon repaired as quickly as possible.

So we drove the 350 km from Nan to Chiang Mai.

Now, I have nothing against Chiang Mai, in fact I quite like the place but, having visited on many occasions I had no plans to go there again.

Needless to say, it was a waste of time. As soon as the technician looked at the camera he concluded that they would have to send it to Bangkok and it would take about a month.

So I waited until I got back home and sent it myself.

It was eventually repaired satisfactorily but I include the following just as a word of warning for digital camera owners.

When the camera came back after 4 or 5 days the shutter appeared to be working but I was getting all sorts of lines and strange patterns on the screen.

Naturally, I was a little bit pissed off so I called Nikon and explained the problem. but they assured me that it had been working perfectly well when it left their workshop.

So I tested it in every way I could think of and still had screen display problems. I could find no information online or in the manual so I called Nikon again and they said, "Send it back to us and we will double check everything at no extra charge."

The technician called me a couple of days later and said it had been through their workshop and everything was fine.

I had the camera back 24 hours later and still the same problem with the display.

Now the only thing that you keep when you send the camera away for repair is your memory card.

It suddenly dawned on me that this was the only part that had not been checked.

Somehow, when the shutter broke down the memory card had become corrupted

So I formatted the card and everything has been fine since.

Oh, I have it working now for playback only -not record.

How to:

1. Download a WMA file from the beebotron site.

2. Open the file with notepad.

3. Copy one of the http addresses. Omit the preceding "Ref1="

4. Install Media Player Classic, "Open File" in this application & paste your link in. Takes a few seconds to buffer but works for me in the UK. Might have to use a proxy in TH ?

You're making life unnecessarily complicated.

The link on the Beebotron site will open in foobar 2000 which IMH0 is by far the best audio player out there.

Foobar 2000 will also convert files to a more manageable MP3 format as well as adding any tags that you might require for an MP3 player. And best of all it's free!

Unlike other self-styled media players it will not wipe your arse or make your toast in the morning, in short, it will not take over your computer!

It just does as it is told. Like good software should.

Anyway the original subject matter of this discussion was how to download BBC Radio programmes to listen wherever or whenever you please, which is why I mentioned beebotron.org in the first place.

Also, to clear something up, whatever the BBC Radio makes available on its "listen again" facility is available worldwide, you do not need a proxy to listen to BBC Radio programmes.

The only occasion when the BBC's radio broadcasts are unavailable outside the UK is when they cover live sports events, assuming the BBC does not have the international rights.

Test Match Special, for example is available for all England's home matches but not for games played abroad and, recently, not for the ICC champions Trophy.......... this can easily be circumvented by a free VPN.

During last year's Olympics, the BBC, in their infinite stupidity, stopped all live news programmes from being available online because they seemed to think that the mere mention of the Olympics would contravene their agreement with the IOC!

Fortunately there was a storm of protest and normal services were (eventually) resumed.

Well it's good to know there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Thanks for the reminder about "get iPlayer." I came across this some years ago but failed to install it on a Windows-based system, now thankfully it is much easier.

Fortunately, about 80% of what I want to listen to is podcasted, and radio downloader can still be scheduled to download podcasts.

I still find Net Transport suits my own needs better for the few programmes I need to download manually.

I use Expat Shield (which is a free VPN) for streaming radio when there is a "rights restriction" and 99% of the time it works fine.

Without wishing to extend the topic too far, I would welcome any up-to-date info or recommendations regarding UK VPNs which are fast enough to record or play streaming video.

Having said that, I find that nearly everything I want to watch is available online as a torrent within 24 hours of the broadcast date.

Incidentally, a useful website for radio addicts is http://radioarchive.cc/index.php which has a vast bank of torrents for BBC radio programmes old and new.

It is very handy for catching up on stuff that you may otherwise have missed.

Yes Radio Downloader was a wonderful piece of software that did just what it said on the tin.

It's unwelcome demise has been causing me a headache as well for the last two days or so.

However, bear in mind that you can still use Radio Downloader for BBC Podcasts, just subscribe to them using the RSS feed.

For other programmes (that are not available as podcasts) you can either record them live on the iPlayer (which of course means recording them in real time) and then save them as an MP3.

But much better is to use some software called Net transport (which, if you search around can be had for free)

You will need to find the link to the stream as an WMA file which will look something like this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/4/asx/b0366knf/iplayer_intl_stream_wma_lo_concrete

Copy and paste this into Net transport and it will download a 1 hour programme in about 15-20 minutes

The WMA links can be obtained from this website:

http://beebotron.org/public3/radio4fm.html

Which has been around for a very long time for people who hate the "new improved" iPlayer

Anyway, feel free to PM me if this does not make sense.

Apparently the BBC is going to make downloads of all radio programmes available in 2014… It's fairly typical of them to pull the plugs on radio downloader a year before.

I have used coconut husks for smoking for years and very

effective it is too.

It burns too quickly if very dry so you just need to damp it

down first.

We buy a huge sack here for 80 Bht, lasts 4-5 smoking sessions.

If you live in the south you can get it for free!

Elsewhere in Thailand it's usually available in roadside
gardening shops where it is sold as mulch.

I smoke food over a cheap (oil drum) barbecue and it works fine.

Looks rather similar to this one spotted crawling around our yard two months ago.

I am no expert, but my research at the time suggested it was a Malayan Pit Viper. Poisonous by all accounts!!

My UK passport expires in April of next year. My non-immigrant O (retirement) visa is up for renewal/extension at the end of January next year.

I tried asking my local immigration office if they could extend a visa on an old passport with only three months validity but was unable to get a straight answer.

I am thinking therefore, that the best way forward is to apply for my new passport now, well in advance, and then use it for the visa extension in January.

Does this sound sensible?

As I understand it, a new UK passport includes up to 6 months validity of the old one anyway.

Any advice or ideas gratefully received.

“We have helped customers lower their cost of living through low price products and promotional campaigns"

How refreshing to see the caring, sharing face of an aggressive multi-national company

My liqor store warned me a week ago that prices will go up. My regular 1 liter Benmore wil go up about 20 Baht a bottle...maybe 30.

No need to hamster.

Well my liquor store put the price up a week ago anyway....they said the tax had just gone up.

So how did they know? Is somebody (who can see the future) profiteering, or is it that the "English language" press is just behind all the time?

Many thanks for the advice here. Zeer Rangsit sounds like just the sort of place I was thinking of.

I did a search on Google maps and came up with this:

Map Ref 13.977132,100.605483

Can anyone confirm that this is the location?

Does anyone know of a computer market in Chaeng wattana area? I have to go shopping there next week for the first time.

I am thinking of something like Panthip Plaza or Tuk Com.

Thanks

Not sure if this helps, but there are no fees for cash withdrawals using a foreign card inside a bank, over the counter.

You will, however, need your passport and 5-10 or 20 minutes or so to do the transaction.

You can also do this at exchange booths (which tend to be quicker) as well as the bank branches in all the big shopping malls which are open longer hours.

Apart from paying no fee, the other advantage is that you can also withdraw larger amounts, whereas ATM’s are usually limited to 10,000 bht a time.

I was bitten by one of these last year....very nasty. For about four hours, it was like having a knife in my foot with the added pleasure of someone twisting it every five minutes.

And mine was apparently a minor reaction!!

incidentally they are called Tak Khap in Thai

Curry leaves are widely available in the markets of the south, where they are very much part of the local diet.

Look for them in the rainy season when the trees have lots of new leaf.

They tend to sell small bunches of the youngest shoots because the Thais tend to eat them raw as a nibble on the side with nam prik.

One restaurant in Pang Nga made a fantastic dish called Yam Samon Prai which was an assembly of finely chopped local herbs,shallots, chillies and toasted coconut dressed with lime juice and fish sauce. The leaves used for this would vary according to the season, but cha puu (the leaves used to make miang kham) and lime leaves were always used and curry leaves were usually present.

When we lived in the south, the locals called the curry leaf plants “don samui.”

If you can get hold of a plant they are easy enough to grow, but they do like humidity.

We imported some small trees from Phuket and they now grow well enough in our garden here in the north. They produce lots of side shoots, which can be potted on to produce adult trees which we pass on to Thai friends.

Northern and Central Thais don’t usually seem to know the plants but they do like to eat them, especially with laab moo.

"Do what I do make it yourself it very easy and also very good"

Exactly, so do I, simple, easy and cheap.

I also make my own bread, yogurt, ham, cheese, pickles and sauerkraut.................... easy.

PM me if you are interested but otherwise it's all on the internet via Google.

Other search engines are available.

Quote from Ian Forbes:

"Go to Nan. I was there in March and the city seemed totally dead. Hotels that could hold 500 guests had no more than a dozen. There are some fabulous rides or drives in the mountains to the north east."

Actually this is very good advice. I was forgetting the first Songkran I spent in Thailand some years ago I was living in Chiang Mai and I hired a car. Drove round most of the surrounding provinces on my own. Nan, Phrae and Lampang. Songkran was good fun, mostly just the kids playing with water. The “grown ups” were at home on the booze!

And the main festivities seemed to be in the temples. Having said that I did come back to Chiang Mai for the last day and it was astonishing....total anarchy. And tremendous fun!

If you are in Chiang Mai already, then Songkran is not to be missed, but one day is probably enough.

Funny, but it seems to me that most of the madness is often in the tourist ghettos. I wonder why that is?

Driving around was no problem too. Most of the well publicised mayhem on the roads is on the main arteries up to Chiang Mai and Isaan.

Go south, they still do Songkran but it's all over in one day. Phang nga Ranong and Phuket are good bets.

Can anyone recommend a dentist in Pak Chong?

I need some difficult fillings attending to, and possibly root canal treatment. My wife had less than satisfactory treatment from one place in town a few months ago.

So I would be grateful if any residents of the area could recommend a good one.

Thanks.

Thanks for the replies

I will only be using a Samsung netbook, no smartphones or anything like that.

Up until now I have used a CDMA EV-DO dongle. Presumably I now have to buy something new for either CAT or True or AIS?

If CAT and or TRUE are now sharing the same network then that looks like the best bet. But do they still have no coverage in the Bangkok area?

Bearing in mind that I will have to buy new equipment, whichwill be the cheapest to set up and run ?

I have a (usually) very good 3BB connection at home but I need some mobile facility when travelling around the country.

I used to use CAT CDMA which was good (allowing for restrictions) even in remote rural areas.

Is the new CAT 3G coverage area the same as the old CDMA, i.e. no signal in and around Bangkok?

I tried to find out from my local CAT office but they haven’t got a clue.

AIS 3G is an alternative around here but the coverage seems limited to select urban areas.

There may well be other options of which I am, as yet, unaware.

In short, which is better in terms of nationwide coverage, setup and running cost and general reliability?

Any advice gratefully received.

Perhaps I should have mentioned, I am also on 3BB in Khorat.

Looks like a 3BB problem which is usually a good service.

I don't think it's down but I am having problems with all European based websites including BBC. Happens frequently on weekends.

Of course, if you complain to your ISP they will say everything is fine and "prove" it by showing you an ultra fast connection speed for some juvenile Thai website.

When will they realise that the internet connects the whole world, and that world is much bigger than Thailand?