Swiss1960

Why do I think this smells fishy....

First, who will pay double taxing through importing from China to Thailand and then exporting to Europe and the US of A....

Second, the one stop service including clearing from customs, ship by courier, etc sounds like looking for a mule who will be responsible for every broken law about faked goods, unlawful goods in the country of the receiver....

Hands off would be my recommendation...

Silverlake is a lovely area and a lot of money has been invested in the winery. My first Beatles thought when I checked out the prices --- HELP!!

Agree with you, very nice place and VERY expensive food and wine, been there twice to "impress"....

so guys, make sure you have eaten when you arrive there and only pay 800 Baht for the 6 glasses and the music....

and I assume that they offer 6 glasses of wine so that when later they show you the price list of the wines you just tasted, you don't drop dead immediately...

Depends on when you are going to die.

lol. Nice one kerry, always enjoy your posts - from what I have read, you look to have led a very interesting and full life.

Both parents still alive and very well/active in their mid 70s. As for me, no health problems I am aware of, but the job has its stresses from time to time.

But no guarantees right...

Few thoughts: You did'nt mention family ties / kids that might be important for you back home and how often you need to see them? That is what stopped me from coming too early. What thoughts do you have to live in a beautiful country but with nothing to do (no job) for the next 30-40 years of life? What thoughts do you have about returning to Oz later in your life, is this an option you want to keep open?

All this does influence your decision and we can't really give you much of advice about those points...

Switzerland officially warns tourists with the following warning (which probably nobody ever reads....):

From several seaside resorts such as Pattaya, Phuket and Koh Samui it has become known that tourists renting jet ski are made responsible for damages that they have not caused. To enforce their claims some jet ski owners do not refrain from violence. Use caution when renting jet skis, the same caution should be applied for rental cars.

You can get somebody to go to any Western Union office in the UK, US or anywhere and pay the money in. By the time the person sends you an SMS with the reference number it will be available at any W.U. office in Thailand. Costs more than a bank transfer but no waiting if you are in a real bind.

i had to send western union today, and for low amounts ( i only needed to send 100 pounds ) it was cheaper then sending express via the bank ....

That's interesting. Plus they operate weekends and weekdays outside bank hours.

No, it is normal... Wester Union charges fees depending on amount (i.e. here in Switzerland starts from CHF 20 to Thailand (for up to 2'500 Baht) and then goes up (i.e. CHF 40 for 10'000 Baht)... Banks charge per SWIFT transaction independent from amounts sent.

You can get an amerikan lawyer to file an UDRP with ICANN to take down the domain name

provided you have all the correct documentation and proof that the brand is yours

it will cost about $3k USD and they can go ahead and register another which you will have

to repeat the same process

ICANN is normally not the first point of complain, most local domain name registration providers have their own resolution processes and you should visit their website first. As far as i remmeber, it is THNIC who is the main provider in Thailand, but not completely sure... In Switzerland, it would cost CHF 600 for simple cases and CHF 2'000 for more complex cases... after that... court with all the hassle and cost and IP disputes etc etc.

Yes, after that, you can go to ICANN and follow their uniform domain name dispute resolution policy, you can find the rules on http://www.icann.org/en/udrp/udrp-policy-24oct99.htm

mmm... Thanks so much !!!

Now i got to know it's IMPOSSIBLE!!!

Thanks anyway... I will re-think.. hahaha , i thought the top 500 fortune companies will be okay such as P&G , Unilever , IBM etc.

It's not impossible, but one important question is what you want to achieve... do you want to make money and maybe later return back home? Yes, then you need a company from your home turf having offices in Thailand that will agree to send you to Thailand on an expat agreement (covering your home retirement funds, insurances etc. etc.) so that you can save for the time you go back home... and besides having to persuade them (the company) sending exactly YOU to Thailand, it will be up to the company to persuade the Thai authorities to give a working Visa to you, since you have such incredible and special know-how that the company can never ever find in a Thai employee...

Or do you want to retire (don't see your age...) and just are looking for a job not to get bored? Or you are financially secure back home and just want to spend some time in Thailand as kind of a "working holiday"? Then you will not need a top500 fortune company... but should go to Thailand and start your search locally once you are set up...

Am not so sure... from personal experience, I think Thai women are more jealous than European women... whether you call it life experience or culture (bad treatment / "cultural" behaviour of Thai men) or otherwise, it does not matter.

But I think when a Thai woman sees / finds a man who is so different from Thai men, then she will of course tend to try all to get this man into her life - at the end, it is about security for her life, about the way Farang tend to treat their wifes, about love and one-to-one relationships...

Maybe in the special case of fritter1970, this woman (single mother... where is the Thai father????) sees a Farang, not too old (assuming 1970 is his birthyear), doing well (definitely more than 8'000 Baht a month), is treated with respect by this man... and has developped feelings / hopes for future... and now tries her best to convince him into a relationship... and already develops jealousy without any reason (at least that is how we see it...)

To the topic: Thailand is NOT the only country who does prosecute people for (serious) crimes conducted abroad and I give you few examples from Switzerland:

a ) a Swiss committing child rape in any country in the world will be prosecuted under Swiss law as soon as the Swiss authorities get note about the crime

b ) a Turkish citizen denying the genocide of the Armenians (which Turkey says is no genocide but the Swiss government says it is) will be prosecuted under Swiss law for denying this genocide.

And that is true for most countries worldwide: If the country gets noted about serious crimes conducted abroad and if they can not make sure this crime is prosecuted fairly in the country of origin, then they will prosecute this crime themselves, with no regards to the citizenship of the fellow who allegedly committed the crime.

Of course, the decision about which crime is seen as serious enough to prosecute even if committed abroad, is in the sole juristiction of the single countries...

My expectations are a little less political. I expect to see a coordinated effort by all government agencies toward minimizing the effects of the floods. I expect to see massive mobilization of civilian and gov't personnel to build barriers where homes, property and lives can be spared. I expect evacuations, maybe mandatory for areas that must be sacrificed.

I expect information to be given (preferably in English as well as Thai). All I know is that I live in an area that is likely to experience problems; according to the newspaper.

I expect to be told where to go before the floods hit, how to get there and what to bring. I would prefer to be told if I can drive there, will there be buses or should I wait until a helicopter comes and airlifts me from the roof.

I expect to know the forecast for rain, instead of having to look at the sky and to know if the flooding on the nearby road is just from a heavy rain, or is this the beginning of something bigger. I expect to not be standing up to my tits in water taking a poll about flood relief.

.....but then that's just me.

I agree with ALL your points and I would expect the exact same if I would be in your position! And I specially agree that it should not be seen politically! As I said above: The current government might not act fast enough and appropriate to the current crisis, but readiness of the various responsible government agencies was mainly in the responsibility of the previous government... it is not the first time, such a flood catastrophe happens...

Big problem being that they do not know how to take honest non objective polls in Thailand.

I agree. Specially, whatever you think of the current government, it is not fair to make them responsible for all the failures happening right now. It was not them setting up emergency organisations, relief agencies etc. It was not them not implementing policies and procedures for effectively dealing with such a crisis during the last years... it was not them not building additional dams, canals etc. during the last years...

Come on guys, the people suffering most of the flood damages and devistation are mainly Red Shirts.. sweet revenge for burning down Bangkok... They voted in this government, the government installed the ministers, and the ministers are proving useless... anyone surprised..? I donated 3 of my wifes old bikinis and 2 pairs of the kids water-wings... hope it helps...

I think your comment is outrageous! The people affected are kids, women, men, both Thai and Farang, independent of who they did vote for! You seem to lack any decency and manners! That's my personal comment

With regards to the ministers installed, they can not be blamed for all that happened! Not even the best new ministers can't deal with such a catastrophe, if their departments - for many years led by the Democrats - are not ready / prepared / willing to deal with such an event!

Or vice versa: Not even the worst minister installed by the new government could have stopped a well organized and ready department to deal with such a flood... and if their department is not ready, then the majority of the blame must go to the previous government. A minister can NOT undo and correct all the mistakes of a 3-y government in only 3 months.

Big problem being that they do not know how to take honest non objective polls in Thailand.

I agree. Specially, whatever you think of the current government, it is not fair to make them responsible for all the failures happening right now. It was not them setting up emergency organisations, relief agencies etc. It was not them not implementing policies and procedures for effectively dealing with such a crisis during the last years... it was not them not building additional dams, canals etc. during the last years...

May be he was unhappy with the current GB£ - THB exchange rate and wanted to recover his losses... but the story reminds me of the 75y-old granny who robbed a bank in the US few years back...

Eastern Europeans have had a lot of practice in queues.

I would always bet on them.

Agree! Worst fights I have ever seen was in Kiev... not enough public transport.... if you want to get on, it's "survival of the most shoving and pushing"...

STARBUCKS UUUGGGGGHHH

Doesn't matter what you think. They are very popular and nobody is making anyone spend money there.

So you never have a coffee outside?

Not locally as these days I only drink coffee in the morning and leaving the house without caffeine is not an option. Oddly when traveling I drink more coffee.

It's the popularity of Starbucks that amazes me, who is it popular with? No-one I know would ever admit to having been in one more than once!

Well, then here's the first one: I DO love Starbucks! I specially love all their iced stuff which is perfect for the Thai weather. And I'd like to have one open in Jomtien, now mostly I frequent the one in Central Festival

maybe you wanna have a look here... and find some links to official sites where you might find the laws...

http://bangkok.angloinfo.com/countries/thailand/driving.asp

Otherwise... agree with all above about general Thai driver's knowledge about rules...

No surprises within the "negative" comments... only the "don't like the food" seems odd for people coming to Thailand and seems to indicate that they did not really inform themselves about where they go...

Otherwise I could not really disapprove with the littering in some areas, the dogs and especially the bad drivers...

Added the quote from the link to make it clearer. Also, look up 'disabling Geo Tagging' for instructions on disabling this feature.

Video explains how predators can use your children's smart phones in order to track them down.

Easy solution is to turn off the location tracking services on the phone. In iPhone simply go to settings, select "Location Services" and turn OFF the location services for the "Camera" device.

Send this page to your loved ones to warn them of this danger.

"Track down kids"??? They don't need to be tracked... they post their location themselves... over facebook... in messangers... everywhere... they WANT everybody to know where they are and where the others are in order to meed / drink / party... and most of them turn on the GPS location service on purpose...

On the subject of tickets . What happened to the new and wonderful high tech hand held ticketing system that the police traffic department issued to most metropolitan police stations several months back. I have not seen one used, I still see police stopping traffic with the old books in their hands

Could be two reasons for not using them

a ) Police has not been instructed how to use them and / or they are too hightech to understand

b ) Police realized that once ticket is in the system, taking tea money is not any more possible...

Question is: Was there a menue showing the prices? If not... you WILL be charged at least 50% more than the Thai will be charged... and many times add things to your bill that you did'nt have... like one more beer... it's a constant battle that I experienced many times (maybe 1 out of 5 Thai mom&pop restaurants try to cheat the farang...)

I never eat in any place that does not have the prices clearly shown and then they can't overcharge you... if they try, just correct the bill yourself and give them what the menue says...

And most of all... don't go back...

And you can bet most if not all of the girls he infected here, are still working in the bars, passing it on, without a care in the world.

And that is the problem... before I had my fix GF (not a bar girl), I was also having loads of fun with bar girls or beach road girls... and none ever thought about protection / had condoms with them... I always had as I heard enough about HIV statistics in Thailand... and some of the girls even got mad and asked "you not trust? you think I sick?"...

Nicaragua recommended Thailand abolish the death penalty

But THIS is the country everybody should listen to

The baht being like 30% overvalued isn't helping, and who gives a flying one what the little swiss think... plenty of gold in them there hills.

If you would watch the american movies more closely, you would know that the gold in under Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich and not in the hills the hills are were the army stores weapons in case we need to fight against the German cavalry trying to invade on order of the German ex-finance minister Steinbrueck

But the real question: Do you really think the Baht is overvalued... or is it not that the European finance sector just <deleted>**ed up the economy and the current Baht exchange rate just shows all the risks associated with possible bust-up's of European countries? personally, I think it is the latter

Well, given that every Western currency has fallen against the Thai Baht I would suggest that CHF has fallen less than any other so he's not exactly in a truly terrible position - BTW, I'm not suffering because I'm holding mostly SGD and THB.

NOTE: Too lazy at this time of the evening to sort out he quotes et al hence this separate post on the CHF issue.

Before the Swiss National Bank did bind the Swiss Franc to the Euro (telling everybody they want and exchange rate of at least 1.20), CHF went up to the Baht ilke mad... I came to BKK 20 July with 36 Baht, left in August with 42 Baht... when SNB did tell about the exchange rate of 1.20 that they will defend, CHF went down to currently 32 Baht... all in line with the Euro!

And... I never talked about this being terrible, just telling that CHF is now falling or going up in line with the Euro

I have to say guys, as much as I would like to take something to put me out when doing long haul, (and yes, I do my fair share flying) I just can't do it, nor can I, as seen every time I fly people kicking their shoes off before the plane leave the ground or pop that seat belt the second they hear that 'Bing' after takeoff.

Does anyone read the safety instructions any more, or take note to the safety brief? Or take the time to track their escape route to nearest escape hatch? If you do…..I think you're a rare breed.

I don't berate anyone for doing the above, Pop a pill at the airport, rock of to sleep on take-off, and snooze and cruse till you land…..Sweet! But I just can't do it, just like I won't wear shorts or sandals, (even with fire retardant socks) when I fly.

Not all air accidents are fatal you know and when things go bad, they go bad fast. OK, falling from 50,000ft……..being sober as a judge in a bomb disposal suite is not going to save you. However, so many people turn into Hindus or fatalists when they fly and hand their lives over to the airline.

As said I wish I could let go, pop a pill……or go 1st class! But I can't. Don't misunderstand me, I am not a nervous flyer, I used to jump out planes for a living, and having walked away from one air crash, (helicopter) I can positively say from my experience, sleeping tabs or too much alcohol will play a major factor if you get out alive, (if your crash is survivable)………..Another reason for not drinking too much or crashing out….is drooling…….It's not cool!

This post is about 12h flights, not short haul between two European cities where the plane hardly leaves ground before going down... it is about 35'000 feet in the air, 8 hours nothing to do BUT sleep or read or watch films... and as you said... I rather sleep dead when the plane decides to drop in the middle of nowhere over a sea or over mountains, uncontrolled with no airport around... death comes easier if you're drunk or drousy or asleep....