Swiss1960

get them to stop saying yes when they mean no.

That would be a cultural shock for us too... suddenly getting to know what they REALLY mean...

put the indicator (turn signal) on Before they turn.

drive on their own side of the road

stay in the left lane when not overtaking.

Why do you want to take all the fun out of driving in LOS??

Imagine not being able to stay out of a bar for 1 night out of religious respect of the country you are visiting. wow.

maybe you need some fixing... i.e. your reading capability... nobody said anything or complained about bar closurs on 7 march... there is only the question whether or not the bars will be closed...

Another issue of course is taking pictures in public places and then post them on whatever social media might violate the privacy rights of people who happen to appear on your pictures...

You have no rights in Thailand.

One thing is your - in my opinion - stupid, negative, ranting view of everything going on in Thailand... but that seems to be your personal lifestyle and it seems to keep you happy... no need for me to question your reasons for living in a country where you feel to be without any rights...

The other thing is that privacy invasion by posting pics on facebook et al has nothing to do with Thailand but with the laws of the country where either the poster or the photographed person live...

Well..no idea what happened, but went out for a few hours and when i rebooted, it was working again.

I think possibly that windows 7 may have issues with drivers...? Just that i occasionally have problems with very slow loading drivers..and sometimes my usb mouse and keyboard are not recognised (although recognised in safe mode). After a while, it automatically fixes itself. I can only guess thats what has happened here..although im not savvy in this area.

So thank you kind, and sorry for your wasting time, just something weird that happened!

Sounds like you have too many stuff / programs loading on your computer at the same time / during startup, could not imagine any other option why your HW sometimes loads and sometimes not... might be worth reviewing your installatoin, de-install all you don't need or upgrade memory / board to more capacity or getting yourself a new machine if neither of the two options is possible.

Another issue of course is taking pictures in public places and then post them on whatever social media might violate the privacy rights of people who happen to appear on your pictures...

Well... let's start with the fact the EVERYBODY living on the Jersey's would know that their own banknotes are accepted ONLY on their own island and on some of the neighbouring islands...

So reading your post leaves me with three options:

1) your post is a troll post...

2) the guy from Jersey is genuine but a real idiot

3) if all you write is genuine, you just bought yourself some expensive paper coming out of a cheap laser printer... specially taking the fact that you write that you were not aware that this money even exists... then get yourself ready to face some not so nice descriptions for your buying that paper...

Would bet some decent money on option 3)

Anybody holding that bet?

Add another point to 6

Maybe he was expecting some tea money to let you continue taking pictures...

you do u like to be called a farang or falang?

i hate it! it bothers me nearly as much as a bag of rice toppling over in a Northern Manchuria warehouse or the low average temperatures at the South Pole.

Am just joking about it... calling myself Sa-wit Falang... then usually they ask for my name (if they care) and from there ist Khun xxx. Personally, I find "Mister" equally bad...

Swift from my Swiss bank to both SCB and Kasikorn branches in Pattaya take 2 working days, never had any issue with that. Providing Swift code, account number and name of account holder (just in case you mistype) is all it needs. Address used is automatically the one of the main office in BKK. I define the day of arrival of the money and my bank automatically initiates the transfer two working days ahead, even taking into account the Swiss AND Thai banking holidays. I let my own bank do the money conversion, the take the standard interchange rates which don't differ much from the Thai bank rates which would be used alternatively, have tested this many times.

If you want to compare the situation of retirees within Europe to Thailand, there are two things that you need to keep in your mind:

First, at least under Swiss law, when you move to your retirement home within Europe, you are not allowed to cash out all your retirement funds, so you will always keep a steady monthly income from your pension. This way Swiss law ensures that you can't get completely broke and if you need to move back, you at least can survive in Switzerland. When you move to Thailand, you can take out every single cent of your private / company pension funds.

Second, most Farang going to Thailand are very ill iformed (I see it when I talk with people here), have now ideas about investment, buying property etc. and then are highly surprised, if their condo is suddently in possession of their newly found Thai wife and then they find out that under Thai law they have absolutely no protection for their assets...

So stupid Farangs in Thailand can end up with absolutely nothing, no more assets and no more pension... can't happen to them in Spain, Portugal or other places where Europeans like to retire within Europe... so the safety net is still available, even if it has some holes in it.

IMHO, this is one of the reasons, why suicides probably happen much more often in Thailand and then you also need to realize that in Europe, suicides are not published too often (and well hidden within official statistics) while in Thailand, they are often published including names and pictures... this also gives the feeling of much higher suicide rates, whether it's true or not.

Hmm... so let's see... half of Europe does have a Zip code system with only few zip codes per city... my city with 9'000 people and hundreds of streets has only one zip code... and half of the streets do NOT show the name on a sign...

another thought... all mail in Thailand seems to arrive at the correct letter box... taxi drivers (the ones I use to need at least...) seem to find the correct address... so it seems to me that there IS a working system, at least for the Thai postmen...

BUT OF COURSE... it's different from the rest of the world... so it MUST be completely stupid and inefficient and MUST be changed immediately, because the FARANG SAYS SO!!!!

Am actually feeling sorry for your wife for having a cowardly husband who (quoting you) "I feel uncomfortable in being out and about with her in busy public places."

Instead of being proud of your wife, ignoring the looks and the whispers of all those around, you embarass her massively and show her that your love is worth nothing at all...

Just my 5 cents

From what you write about yourself - student, recently arrived, no job, no steady and provable income, no credit history since you never had a bank account - nobody will issue a credit card for you, as you are about the worst possible risk for credit default I can imagine...

If you need a credit card (if your online gaming sites would not accept debit cards), your best option is to convince your folks back home to get their bank to issue a supplementary card in your name and then they guarantee for the payment of your expenses...

Otherwise go to any bank, ask them whether they issue Debit Cards / Pre-paid Cards that can be used for e-commerce and go from there. With these cards, you can't spend more that you either have on your bank account or that you previously loaded on your pre-paid card.

And... don't worry about VISA or MasterCard... just a brand on the card which at the end of the day is irrelevant to you.

Problem with America in those states, where Sheriff's get elected... so in any high profile case, specially when an election is coming up, they "must" present the killers to the public as fast as possible... no matter who he is, as long as he is - in the public eyes - credible to be the killer...

Good thing in American law is that any evidence seized illegally (no miranda rights, illegal search, no lawyers present, no parents present with underage kids etc.) is deemed unusable in court procedures - no matter whether this evidenc could actually proove the guilt of the arrested person...

Sheriffs that must get elected don't give a s*** about human rights, miranda rights etc. if their re-election depends on getting a conviction... the leave the problem for the follow-up court procedures, no matter whether an innocent person might spend years in prison...

I don't think your main problem is to make delicious pizza, there are hundreds of recipies out there...

You should be thinking about location, equipment, marketing, staff etc. in order to make your business successful... and in any case, hiring a good Pizzaiolo is the best option to get delicious pizza that will make your customers come back...

No Schweppes Tonic in Tesco Lotus (Sukumvit) this morning either.

Does gin go of if not consumed within a certain time?

Maybe not the Gin, but maybe your liver....

This music copyright could be taken to riduculous extremes where every taxi driver who has music playing in his cab has to show a licence.

As strange as it sounds... but that is the situation in Switzerland... you might have no Radio, TV, Internet access at home and therefore not pay the Copyright taxes to the Swiss Billag collection agency... but as soon as you have a (private) car with radio, you are obliged to pay this tax And taxi companies pay it for their whole fleet...

WOW I knew you guys had harsh tax laws there but I didn't know it was that crazy. lol.

Sony Walkman's, iPods?

Walkmans, iPod, iPAD etc. come with the copyright fee included in the HW price when you purchase it. 2 years ago, their was even a discussion to raise a copyright tax on storage systems (i.e. external harddrives, USB sticks) based on volume of data they can hold, so then you could store whatever music / film etc you want. Fortunately, this was not approved by the parliament.

This music copyright could be taken to riduculous extremes where every taxi driver who has music playing in his cab has to show a licence.

As strange as it sounds... but that is the situation in Switzerland... you might have no Radio, TV, Internet access at home and therefore not pay the Copyright taxes to the Swiss Billag collection agency... but as soon as you have a (private) car with radio, you are obliged to pay this tax And taxi companies pay it for their whole fleet...

I just opened a thread in the Pattaya forum about this, because it seems to happening there now also...

see

Turn the radio on...is there a charge for that ??

The same music is available on the radio for free.....say it is copied from there.

I don't know in Thailand, but I assume it would be the same as in Europe: If you have a shop and you play radio => you pay a tax for that. You download music from any place (radio, CD, Internet) and use it not for private but for commercial use => you pay a tax for that.

Give you one example: I am playing in a marching band and for every peace of work that we play publicly (no matter whether we get paid for the concert or ask for donations or ask for nothing), we must report theses works on a form to the Swiss Music Copyright Agency and we get invoiced for this.

Well, good idea... but you should know why it works:

she: "what is he law? why I have to pay now?"

police:"it is law. you must pay."

she: "why I must pay? who receive money?"

police: "you must pay. we collect money, send to headquarter"

she: "who I must ask about law?"

police: "not know... call headquarter... I only follow instructions"

she: "I not want to pay, if you not show me why"

police: "no problem... will confiscate all music systems... then you go to court"

she: "how much I must pay?"

as shop owner, you just have no choice... except you want 5 policemen to come to your shops and tear out all the cabling and take all speakers and players with them... and of course find other things that they will fine you for... court procedure will take months, specially if they collect this "tax" widely in all shops at the same time...

Don't misunderstand me. I don't say that such a tax is not valid, the same applies here in Europe for every shop, collect by GZS in Germany or Billag in Switzerland... every shop that plays music, every shop that has TV or - since few years - even only Internet access that would allow to play music on a computer must pay this tax...

it's more about why they now start to collect it and how they collect it...

Hi All

I just received a call from my friend who is owner of some massage shops in Pattaya. Last night, police showed up in her shop and told her, that the music she plays in her shops is deemed illegal and infringing copyright of the authors... she copied the music from various CD to a USB stick and of course plays it all day for customers to relax.

Options: either go to court... or pay 20'000 Baht per year to cover copyrights for the music in all of her shops together... police told her that they started this new source of income just right now and over the next days, they will fine every shop where they hear music playing...

Anyone heard from other places where this happens now?

Good Morning,

We are very concerned to hear that some members have been disappointed with our service. If you have a complaint please reply to your order receipt that you received immediately after purchase (ensuring order number is included). Our customer service staff will then immediately investigate your complaint and report back to you as quickly as possible with a full explanation, resolution and compensation. Please rest assured we take every complaint very seriously and all issues will be resolved as quickly as possible.

Thank you.

Forever Florist Thailand Management

Well, dear Forever Florist Thai Management... NOTHING can be resolved, if Valentine Flowers are not delivered on Valentine's day...

Myself, I placed my orders with another company, one for Laem Chabang, Si Racha and the other for inside Pattaya... and guess what, the delivery to north into Laem Chabang worked on time, the one for Pattaya arrived on 15th at 19:30.... Both deliveries were ordered on 8th, so well in advance of any cut-off date...

That is why I agree with all those people who say: You, Florist Managers, you KNOW how busy you will be on 14th, so why the heck do you not have enough staff available to uphold the promises for which we pay a lot of money????

Fly Swiss business to ZRH, arrives 06:10 morning on 16th and you connect to D. Business class seat turns full 180 degrees into bed.