blam

Tears of sadness again today. So sad for these girls, so very sad for their families.

Tears of anger. Because nothing ever seems to change here.

1000 Baht for kitchen smoke alarms? F#ck me, no of course not.

Nothing ever changes. God, those poor girls.

Is someone detonating some dynamite. Tunnel perhaps?

No USGS reports still.

Could be Sonic Booms, or I've had ground strike lightning shake the ground, even a mile or so away.

USGS only reports quakes of 4.5 magnitude and higher. Thailand seismologists say that the one in Phuket was 4.3.

I'm from California, have also lived on the Big Island of Hawaii for several years. Lots and lots of quakes. The one here in Phuket yesterday was a roller, with a snappy down settlement at the end. The settling causes a sinister little shake, scary if you aren't used to it, Not a lot of damage. Best look for small new cracks around your house/apt.

Hi, I am doing this post from my HTC Desire, so please bear with any typos or syntax errors!

I've had this HTC Desire for two months now. It was 12,000 Baht less than the iPhone 3gs. It's 'rooted' with the free Android 2.2 OS + HTC Sense features. I use it as a computer for Internet access on the road and it works very very well. The GPS is outstandingly accurate worldwide. The battery life is about two days and I can easily live with that. It has a fantastic private hotspot feature where I can access my 650 Baht/month AIS EDGE account(Nationwide) with the Desire, then connect my laptop wirelessly to it. (Phone in pocket and laptop on Internet, book hotels, air tix, movies, check email, anything, everything, etc. It's interesting to see the look on people's faces when I'm out in the middle of nowhere, like right now!)

The new Android 2.2 OS does support Thai, and essentially every other language, natively.

For 'Market' upgrade purchases in Thailand, simply buy the product online and download it to your computer, then load the APK to the Desire SD card and use the Desire App "Astro Mgr" to browse to, and install, the app.

I have no problem whatsoever using WPA2 with a strong password encryption. My Desire does 3G @ 900Mhz, so 'True' is not available for 3G (in Thailand,) ergo it's AIS 3G all the way. I do have free WiFi access with my True 16mb contract user/pass in all country-wide True hotspots (if I really need it.) However, CAT is calling, and True will be backing away from 3G and begin ramping their new 50mb "Ultra Hi Speed Internet" (wired & wireless) services within the next month or so. The Desire also supports ultra highspeed wireless 'N' wireless connections as well.

IMHO, the iPhone 3gs 32 didn't stand a chance. Android is completely open source, I can even create my own customized apps with incredibly efficient and FREE Google support. The Apple iPhone OS is prioritized to maximize profits, (are you listening Bill Gates and Steve Jobs? We're tired of it!!!)

Apps, apps FREE apps. On my Desire: 3 flashlights, 1 laser .001 cm tolerance measuring tool, 1 live realtime skymap, 2 pinpoint GPS (3 meters), a 720 HD camcorder, a 5 mpx camera with a ton of features including an Android based Adobe Photoshop, 1 metal detector, 1 live & instantly adjustable currency converter, 1 directional Tom Tom style drive mapping system (tons of Asia maps), 3 Internet browsers, full Kindle app access for free or cheap books (terrific), 3 mail managers, 2 music players, 2 media (movie) players, 2 backup systems (1 to an online server) 3D games, 2D games, etc, etc etc. (There are tens of thousands of great apps available.)

Forbes Magazine claims that 16% of the Western World is considering buying a new smartphone within the next 4 months. In Asian countries, or ANY country where you can use a SIM, the HTC Desire should be at the top of everyone's list. It's the best smart phone on the market today.

April fools, right?

I asked (in Thai) the 2 girls behind the counter at the 7-11 near my house here in Patong Beach. They both laughed, looked at me like I was koo-koo-ratcha.

Gotta be April Fools joke here.

Thanks for making me look like a retard.

heh

PAD Ceases all protests Yes that's a link you can click on.

I personally have lost nearly 160,000 Baht & four Thai Airways flights with no idea when and if they will go, and, most likely, will end up having to go to Kuala Lumpur to initiate my flight to the US for Christmas.

Not whining, just <deleted> glad that this part of the protest is coming to a close. Everyone in our family has been more than a little concerned, and not sleeping well at all.

Glad it's almost over.

With the Red Shirts at Nakhon Sawan yesterday (Saturday) blocking one of the main roads and the red shirts in Chiang Mai and now this new 'demonstration' yes, it does seem that the pro government supporters are now showing themselves in support.

Problem is, will it do any good or simply make matters worse?

I do not think it will make a lot of difference to Swampy Airport though unless the army and police see enough pro government supporters and decide the pro goverment ones outnumber the PAD in sufficient numbers for them ( the police and army) to realise they maybe do need to act in favour of the government.

does it appear that police are afraid of PAD, or just my perception?

I read on the BBC Asia Pacific website a report that the police are unwilling to us force to oust the PAD from the airports for fear the army will not like that and step in and give the police some of the same. (or words to that effect )

So what would you do, as a policeman if that is the case? I don't recall the police having tanks

Therefore, no, not afraid of PAD directly. But I believe it goes a lot deeper than that with poilice and army being involved and in cahoots with the PAD.

If the red shirts come out in enough force, surely the army, police and others will have to take notice? On the other hand.....

Whaddya mean, the police afraid of the army. Once glimpse of these guys and the soldiers would run a mile

Is that a tank in that policemans pocket or is he just pleased to see a beautiful lady in Yellow?

Hilarious!

And, that G19 on the lefty is about as scary as a straw loaded spit ball in shop class.

Mia noi waiting for sum tum guys. Not making any dosh here, time to get a move on.

If anyone can't see by now what's really happening, you haven't lived here long enough.

Stop doing what you are doing, think carefully for a second. Now go... "OH! Yeah, that's right".

Now move on.

This will be over soon.

Well, first hand observation: Sitting here in my house overlooking the sea in Phuket, I have a view of the main arterial roads in and out of Patong Beach, and for some strange reason they are deathly quiet today. No big trucks going to Carrefour, no ambulances screaming all day and night, no screeching karaoke girls at 4am last night. Kind of nice really.

My problem is that I have to be in Bangkok tomorrow, it's important, but I don't want to drive there and the buses are overbooked full. Both airports in BKK are closed. Now what? Grin and bear it?

PAD people, with their yellow 'hand-puppet' tambourines and their spilling of sum-tum juice all over the computers in the Suvarnabhumi control tower, have not had to face an International reality. Airports are the heart and lungs of any country, airport takeovers change the game from 'protest' to "terrorist". It doesn't matter if you are in Alberta, Canada or Zuara, Libya: in the eyes of the entire universe, any attempt to take over an airport is considered a terrorist act. Therefore, applying 'if/then' stratagems learned in the 6th grade, terrorists are required to be dealt with as 'terrorists' doing terrorist activities, i.e. government brings in big new shiny large bore crowd control anti personnel weapons, Kevlar flak jackets, riot shields, rubber bullets and lots of other tactical force including live ammo. However, seeing as how most of these PAD people have never stepped into a 6th grade classroom, how are they supposed to know this basic fact of International problem-solving group think?

I personally have had to deal with Thaksin's imperialistic corruptive money management methodology, have watched helplessly while suspected but unproven minor drug dealers were gunned down in the market of Chiang Rai, and have sat back and watched the Thaksin manipulated land grabs & under the table cement contract deals in Phuket, Khao Lak, Chiang Saen and Chiang Mai: Therefore, I have, in fact, been a silent supporter of the PAD. At this time, however, my support for them is wavering. As with most undereducated Banana Republican over manipulated nonthinking drones with no job and nothing else to do, the PAD members have aimlessly followed their leaders into the abyss pf finality.

Counting the days here. Wondering who is going to step up. Life is going to get worse here in this sweet little third world country of ours. Who do we thank for this, Thaksin or the PAD? Both?

I will go to the airport in Phuket tomorrow and simply hope for the best. Tens of thousands of people, farang and Thai, are in the same boat today. Who are the PAD? Simple minded protesters, or airport take-over terrorists? You decide.

Old and in the way in Phuket.

Article may have hit some bad cylinders.

Let's call a spade a spade. Thai guys in their early 20s are predatory bottom dwellers. They easily manage to get 14-15+ year old girls to do the horizontal bop, then bail at the first opportunity. Pregnancy, STDs, HIV, and all other social diseases are passed around like candy. Lots of those guys doing the nasty are bi as well. This really is the new Thai norm, and it is growing by leaps and bounds.

What someone needs to do is teach the girls how to say NO. (Right) Then, if no doesn't work, teach them how to administer the latex.

bye bye W, bye bye Cheney and Rove and the rest of the big cabal of secretive self-enriching schemers. They can still try and manipulate behind the scenes - and do their worst to trip Obama up, but their power-abusing, secretive, days are waning.

Best of the best to Obama, and his new administration!

With you 100% on that one brahmbugers.

Unfortunately, President George W. Bush is NOT finished yet. He's working harder today than he has in his entire eight years in office, New York Times expose: "So Little Time, So Much Damage"

George Bush, right now today, is clearing the restricted civil liberties package, allowing the FBI free reign to infiltrate and coerce lawfully formed 'groups' of any kind (This means anybody that makes any phone call to anybody else, anytime, anywhere). Also, he is forcing EPA standards to allow dumping of toxic mine wastes in American valleys and streams. And, not only that, right now, right this minute, he is (completely illegally) trying to force doctors to deny abortions based on one staff person not wanting to be involved (objecting), then, opening this idea up to ALL hospital care in general. This is so unbelievably scary, and he is getting away with it. The beat goes on, and how to repair all of it? Why is Bush doing this stuff? The guy doesn't even have to balls to say he screwed up bigtime and now it's time to just go away with your tail between your legs. He just HAS to continue making it far worse. Help! Somebody help!

President Elect Barack Obama, you can't get here soon enough!

Had I not voted against this communist I could never look in a mirror again.

I too voted with the 46%..... From here on out, those that voted with the majority will be complicit in what befalls the US in the future. The Democrats have controlled the House and Senate for the past two years, so they are responsible for much of the problems befalling the US now. The good news is that approx. 46-million people, in the US, already understand this.

#1. Obama is going to have to dig out of the darkest days in recent US history, and, in the future, you can blame him all you want, but he is the one with the shovel in his hands getting dirty, not you. Economic Group Policy of 2003 meant non-interaction and non-objection in International sales of flimsy American loan packages ("never mind those turds in the candy box") generated purely by President George W Bush as a "Less Government" measure, not congress. Get out of Iraq, Bush lies got the US in there in the first place, it's time to get out. Period.

#2. Bush family legacy, from Prescott Bush (GWB grandfather): Figure out a way to create loans to be paid off to weapons hardware manufacturers and support corporations, make them non-principle payoffs (interest only.) Grandchildren> etc. collect millions in interest payments forever (Browning 1919 BAR episode WW2) (General Dynamics payout deal Iraq Gulf War 1)

#3. The forced bailout of Wall Street and the banking system has created the most socialist society America has ever experienced in its entire history. George W. Bush at the helm.

Now what was that again about not voting communist? McCain would have been a disaster "My way or the highway" from the Vietnam era, all over again. Look where it got Nixon (=Loser). Same same McCain.

Obama represents a true light of hope for the entire world. Let the losers cry foul and drool in their beer.

Thanks to everyone that voted for Obama, now, let's ROCK!

@Blam

Well said and informative. Compelling idea. If this is the case, then your president George W. Bush should be impeached, arrested, and imprisoned for knowingly telling globally mortal sized lies about WMDs thereby leading the USA to war and to the innocent deaths of 137,287 Iraqis and 4,268 US Citizens. It certainly does look like 'malice aforethought leading to wrongful death'. Is the American public not privy to this information? Why do conservative right wing US citizens continue follow such a known liar? Are they in fact war mongers too? Is this where rich Americans make their money, by making war? Is this why Barack Obama is going to pull out of Iraq really? Because the Iraqi war was started under false pretenses? It seems as though then, that the Iraqi war plan was originated long before your 9-11 attacks. Please enlighten.

Not so fast Riverine, read, weep, then report back:

http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm

This, and these consignees, are exactly what President George W. Bush used as his primary source of information. And, this sent on January 26, 1998, was a letter to President at the time, Bill Cliinton!

The first week he took office, President George W. Bush fired SAIC as the elite independent world information gathering source, and turned the job solely over to the Pentagon. SAIC was a major part of the "large war defensive" 'chess master defense' developed by Clinton think tanks. President George W. Bush threw this strategy in the trashcan immediately, then went to war with Iraq utilizing a body of lies unparalleled in US history.

You yourself may not be a warmonger, the US people may not be war mongers, but George Bush, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Pearle, Donald Rumsfeld, William Bennet, and Zalmay Khalilzad, et al (along with the entire Bush heritage ranging back 70 years) certainly were/are, and they went about it very badly. Bad intelligence from restricted sources(?), or bad leadership(?), or both? History now suggests "both".

Feet on ground, or foot in mouth? Please do some coherent fact finding before saying anything about the posters here. I don't think that anyone posting in thaivisa.com hates America at all, in fact 99.999% love it more than you will ever know. That's the reason people say anything at all. History is going to enslave George W. Bush to the ranks of the never to be forgotten war mongers, and what NOT to do as president.

The plan to invade Iraq was formulated long before the 9/11 attack on New York City.

GW Bush used the 9/11 attacks as the impetus to declare war on Iraq, just as he used the 9/11 attacks to create a monstrously devised, Constitutional Amendment eroding, "Homeland Security" plan. This also, was penned and planned far in advance of Bush ascending to power, by the congressmen, senators, and people that financed the Bush campaign (i.e. Halliburton, CACI, Titan, Bechtel, Aegis Defense Services, Custer Battles, General Dynamics, Nour USA Ltd. etc EACH AND EVERY ONE LATER FOUND GUILTY OF FRAUD DURING THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ).

The information has been on public record for 4 years, but the American media, completely and totally cowed by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, and the roaring right, could do nothing about it. Yes, you are correct, and hopefully, Barack Obama will make a complete showing of the real documentation leading up to the Iraqi war, the bogus ones generated and helped along by Ahmed Abdel Hadi Chalabi, and the real SAIC-CIA documents secreted by the Pentagon then released in 2006 under court order. These all led to the declarations made under oath regarding the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame, leading to the telling by Bush press secretary Scott McClellen (http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_...llans-grav.html)

President Obama should make a model of Bush/Cheney just as judges do in US criminal courts. "Do the crime, do your time" should apply to everyone, not just normal everyday US citizens.

I sincerely hope that the United States does not have to endure the contrived acts of rich elitist war creators such as these, ever again.

I have observed for many months now, the bashing that my country, the United States of America, has taken on this forum. I have chosen not to reply because although I am angered by the hate filled rhetoric, I also know that is a right of everyone to have and express their opinion. That being said, I have to join in this thread stating my own views on this discussion.

Obama ran a great campaign and is a charismatic personality, so he is to be commended for that, but that’s as far as I’m going with the praise for him. How an American majority (and a majority of the rest of the world) can be fooled by the lies and false promises is beyond me. So many facts about him have been overlooked and excused (past associations, radical views and voting record, when he did vote) by the American mainstream media that the advantage just couldn’t be overcome by the McCain campaign. He and the democratic party are no doubt moving this country into socialism, admitted by Obama himself, when he said he intended to take from those earning more to those not earning at all, by spreading the wealth. I do not relish the thought of giving those who are capable of earning their own living some of my hard earned money so they don‘t have to be bothered with working, but if you do, by all means go right ahead and give up yours. Also, this idea of universal health care, who do you think will pay for that? The working class of America, of course. The truth is that even now, no one in America is turned away from hospital care when it is needed, whether they can pay or not. It wasn’t that long ago that the Democratic leaders of Congress were testifying that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were doing well and certainly didn’t need any more regulatory oversight, just go back and look at the congressional records if you don’t believe me.

For all the Bush haters and Anti-Americans, I say to you , <deleted> off, especially you anti-American Americans! I hope all of you are in Thailand now and stay there for the rest of your lives and better yet give up your citizenship, particularly the ones whom have stated that you are for the first time proud of your country (but I feel for Thailand because you are probably the Thai bashers too, you know who you are, the self-righteous, self-professed intellectuals). It seems most of the world loves to blame the USA for all the problems of the world, but I guess that’s easier than seeing the truth and accepting responsibility for your own actions.

We in America are not “war mongers” as some of you portray us, Bush is not a “war monger” as so many like to call him, but if you believe that protecting your citizens is the wrong thing to do, then that is probably why most of your countries are no longer able to defend yourselves. I know some will say that going into Iraq was wrong and goes beyond protecting your borders and citizens at home, to you I say, you have no idea of National Security and what it takes in today’s world to insure such. Those who claim that it was an oil issue all along, maybe that was a part of it, but if you think that the oil and energy of a country is not a national security issue, then you are ill informed as well as naive. It doesn’t take an intellectual to realize how the recent increases in oil prices has negatively affected the entire world.

I was in Iraq and I know how the majority of the people reacted to our being there, it was with open arms and gratitude. What you see on the news cast of protest where instigated by radicals and insurgents, and don’t bother arguing with me unless you were there and have your own experience to claim different. What you don’t see on the mainstream newscast is all of the positive work that we and the other members of the coalition forces have done in Iraq. I fought alongside British and Polish forces and I didn’t hear any of them b**ching and crying about why we were there. Most of them are great guys and gals and I was proud to be associated with them.

It is my sincere hope that the United States of America will continue to be the greatest country on earth and the Leader of the Free World in spite of how this election turned out.

Not so fast Riverine, read, weep, then report back:

http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm

This, and these consignees, are exactly what President George W. Bush used as his primary source of information. And, this sent on January 26, 1998, was a letter to President at the time, Bill Cliinton!

The first week he took office, President George W. Bush fired SAIC as the elite independent world information gathering source, and turned the job solely over to the Pentagon. SAIC was a major part of the "large war defensive" 'chess master defense' developed by Clinton think tanks. President George W. Bush threw this strategy in the trashcan immediately, then went to war with Iraq utilizing a body of lies unparalleled in US history.

You yourself may not be a warmonger, the US people may not be war mongers, but George Bush, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Pearle, Donald Rumsfeld, William Bennet, and Zalmay Khalilzad, et al (along with the entire Bush heritage ranging back 70 years) certainly were/are, and they went about it very badly. Bad intelligence from restricted sources(?), or bad leadership(?), or both? History now suggests "both".

Feet on ground, or foot in mouth? Please do some coherent fact finding before saying anything about the posters here. I don't think that anyone posting in thaivisa.com hates America at all, in fact 99.999% love it more than you will ever know. That's the reason people say anything at all. History is going to enslave George W. Bush to the ranks of the never to be forgotten war mongers, and what NOT to do as president.

..........

Congratulations President Elect Barack Hussein Obama!

......

UP, UP, UP and away go our taxes!

Umm, no. Singaporean banking system indicators for next year show lower taxes on US Citizens making less than $200,000 per year. Small business owners will be paying far less in tax. Anyone making over $2,000,000 a year (USD) will pay 1-2% more tax.

Please distrust American ultra rich conservatives, they will in fact pay more tax and are the ones making the false claims. Taxes are going to be more stable, no more free lunches in the way of $380 rebates however (in wartime no-less?)

..........

President Elect Barack Hussein Obama is a welcome addition to world history. Americans should all be very very happy. Congratulations!

..........

dave_boo, we obviously come from 2 different Americas.

The visit to the US Consulate in Bangkok reminds me of the America I left. Self grandiose pomposity by pseudo ex-military wannabes? No I haven't renounced my citizenship, but I did leave for good shortly after the day GWB took office. Why is it that no one in the US seems to know the history of the Bush family? Their "mini-mistakes" have been lining the pockets of the ultra rich for almost 70 years; and Americans still aren't paying on the principle, only on the interest. Watch what happens in this latest Bush scenario. 50 years from now, my grandaughter will be paying taxes to a country that has to pay interest to the grandkids of the heads of Halliburton. Oh, VP Dick Cheney is an active VP of Halliburton too, right? Hello.

Then again, I also left my father's house the day I turned 18, worked days in construction and went to school at night, that for 10 years. I did not get any assistance from anywhere, just formed a lot of opinions about pompous imperialistic post modern ultra conservative 'reality TV watching' blurt monkeys. Ever watch "Mad Men", see how it is done and how easy it is? FOX channel loves those kind of people.

Microsoft: Try inventing something from air, everybody that has never done it then looks at the long term production afterward, finds flaws, then sneers and smacks about how lacking it is. Just try it. (Bruce Schneier help me here)

My lawyer buddy does Thai family law, I never said he was my tax consultant.

I am an old guy. My family means everything to me. I do not trust the American world of the last 8 years, it is a muddle of lies, deceit, make believe, and 'no-bid contracts'. No bid contracts? (Wow, let's screw everything us so we have to come back and fix it) I came from a world of having to do the best you could to win a contract for anything, the only "no-contract" deals I ever heard of came from the wells of the mafia. The Bush Doctrine is skewed, not my view of it.

Oh, you just try all the stuff you recommend here, it does not work that way. Any red flag is a red flag. You obviously don't make enough money to have had to grasp the gravity of the situation of being red flagged, nor do your kids have to deal with it either.

America is NOT heaven people. If you make over a certain amount of money, but less than the super rich, you are constantly in fear of your own livelihood. Tax consultants screw this up all the time. Red flag from the IRS with your bacon and eggs this morning? Again, it's called fear. I just don't want my daughter and her kids to be a part of that. Selfish? Just as I don't want her touching a hot wood burning stove either. Hmm. Educated parenting perhaps, not selfish.

That's it for me, I gotta get back to my 4th day of nausea at the US Consulate. Thanks to everyone for helping form realistic opinions... and reminding me.

Odd - never heard anyone whinge about having dual citizenship. It's an advantage as far as I can see. OP is plain mental.

Oh, let's take a nice example: The US allows $70,000 a year to be made outside of the USA at a 'no tax' rate as long as you can prove that you have paid the taxes in the country that you reside. (Most other countries it is $200,000, but never mind this) Now, let's say you have a PhD and are a 20 year Microsoft encryption base developer with 20% stock backstack optioned in per anum as your salary, and a golden parachute at age 60. You also have investments in profitable coffee plantations in Thailand & Indonesia, and develop agricultural palm oil real estate in Malaysia, etc etc. Your last will and testament includes your wife and your dual citizenship US citizen daughter. Now, even though you may not have been back to the US (or visited rarely) in 15 to 20 years, you still have to file, and pay at a 42% tax rate on anything over $70,000. Your daughter, after you are gone, even though she has MAYBE been to the US 5 times, will be stuck with the same damm thing, and so will her kids, and their kids = 42% of everything over $70,000/yr. Mental? Time for you to think in more realistic terms, yes? Heh.

No doubt US tax laws on overseas Americans are oppressive and that the "death tax" in the US is excessive. I think that it's come to be that because overseas Americans are not an organized voting block and because domestic voters back home have little sympathy for "rich" people who they assume are just moving offshore to evade their fair share of taxes. But the above things that you wrote are a description of your situtation, I think what you need is a finacial advisor that specializes in estate planning - your daughter's citizenship might not need to be the biggest factor in how much of a cut the IRS gets upon your death and there might be actions that you could take (other than renouncing her citizenship) that could reduce the tax bill.

Thx, it's not me I am concerned with. What I am alluding to is the fact that all US citizens are going to pay taxes to pay the interest on the PRINCIPLE borrowed by the US to fund the insanity that is going on today. As I mentioned in the "Browning" paragraph above, it's not what's occurring now, it's what will have to paid, and who to,... LATER. Bush has masterminded a 5 star platinum-mine in this regard. My daughter will end up paying taxes on interest from MY money to pay interest to guys like Browning (but it will be Halliburton, Bechtel, Raytheon, and Motorola, not to mention thousands of Chinese rich kids)... 50 years from now. (Again, Browning, just one of the family, and each gets $40,000,000 a year, and then he complains that he can't find a decent house that he can hang glide from out the back yard. He is a really really nice guy, but who wouldn't be, free money for his dad, his brothers & sisters, his kids, and his grandkids, all because Prescott Bush knew how to screw the taxpayers way way down the road. GWB learned the lesson well)

I just don't want my daughter being stuck with this just because I made a hasty decision today. Thx for your good insight tho.

Odd - never heard anyone whinge about having dual citizenship. It's an advantage as far as I can see. OP is plain mental.

Oh, let's take a nice example: The US allows $70,000 a year to be made outside of the USA at a 'no tax' rate as long as you can prove that you have paid the taxes in the country that you reside. (Most other countries it is $200,000, but never mind this) Now, let's say you have a PhD and are a 20 year Microsoft encryption base developer with 20% stock backstack optioned in per anum as your salary, and a golden parachute at age 60. You also have investments in profitable coffee plantations in Thailand & Indonesia, and develop agricultural palm oil real estate in Malaysia, etc etc. Your last will and testament includes your wife and your dual citizenship US citizen daughter. Now, even though you may not have been back to the US (or visited rarely) in 15 to 20 years, you still have to file, and pay at a 42% tax rate on anything over $70,000. Your daughter, after you are gone, even though she has MAYBE been to the US 5 times, will be stuck with the same damm thing, and so will her kids, and their kids = 42% of everything over $70,000/yr. Mental? Time for you to think in more realistic terms, yes? Heh.

Excellent points all. Noted.

The girls had 10 year multiple entry visas, they were fine for when we wanted to go for Christmas every year. This new spin is delicate, it is taking some time to adjust to where we are now after the devastating ripoff in Malaysia (it wasn't just paperwork, hello.)

I don't hate America at all, I love it. But, I live here in Thailand and see that the organizational unity that Americans really believe that America is heaven on earth, and it is hilarious. My family home in Phuket overlooking the sea is heaven on earth, it's more lovely and loving than anything I could possibly have in California, Boston, or Hawaii. I don't care how many people are lined up to beg to go to America. Many then suffer buyers remorse, of course.

Again, this is something that was sprung on me yesterday at the US Consulate, and no one else that I know here in Thailand has had to deal with it. So go figure. I suppose that I will jump through the consulate hoops just so my daughter can hug her old grandpa on Christmas Day. This is what real Americans do after all, we figure out a way to make it happen.

I do not want my daughter paying for the obtuse recklessness and destruction of the USA by the Bush administration. Trillions in interest to be passed from generation to generation. "The International taxation database for US citizens living abroad is being developed to aggressively deal with expatriates." Standard Chartered Bank Singapore. Therefore, I do not want my daughter to be included in this database.

Americans have this self glorification complex that presumes that every person in the world wants to be American. Why? The place is essentially unlivable as far as I am concerned. My Thai wife just simply thinks it's joke that is seriously not funny, it's not safe, it's not nice, the people are not nice, and they all pretend like they are supposed to be a movie star or something. She could care less if she ever goes there again.

Years ago I had a good friend in California. He was a "Browning", yes THAT Browning, and for all of his life and still today receives $40,000,000 a year ($10 mill per quarter) in interest on unpaid principle from World War II. You will never guess who set up this nice deal: President of the World Bank, and GW Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush. Americans are still paying taxes to settle the interest on WW2 debt principle. Sound familiar?

No, I do not want my daughter to be forced into paying for a corrupted tax database. Yes, forced. If I want to take my daughter to the USA for Christmas to see her 90 year old grandfather, I am forced to create a dual citizenship for her, therefore forced to have her entered into the Roman (oh sorry I mean American) tax rolls.

If that is a political statement, so be it.

But, something does not smell right to me. Why did they issue the girls 10 year visas, and now reneg on the deal?

I am an expat US citizen married to a Thai citizen, we are taking our Thai born daughter to the US again this year for Christmas .

In the past we had 10 year US visas, the passports (w/visas) were stolen at Kuala Lumpur airport 3 weeks ago (yep, bump, snatch and grab right in front of me in the departure terminal.) We replaced birth certificate, passports, and then... went to BKK for the new US visas (you can't replace the old ones) Wow, what a nasty revelation this craziness was!

I am being forced to have my daughter claim dual citizenship, Thai and US, otherwise, the consulate will not allow her to travel to the US again, ever. This is the first time I have heard this one, and my local American attorney/buddy said that I will just have to jump through whatever hoops they throw in front of me, no matter how obscure they are. (I do NOT want dual citizenship for her, nor do I want to my daughter to be an American citizen AT ALL)

I am simply blown away by being forced to have to file a "Consular Report of Birth Abroad" (CRBA) and go through a citizenship tribunal simply to have her go with me to the US for 3 weeks at Christmas AS USUAL.

Anyone have any experience with this? Is there really a LAW on the consular books that relates to this? Everything I have read says that we "MAY" do this and we "MAY" do that, not anywhere do I see anything that says, you "MUST" do this, and you "MUST" do that.

I feel that something is seriously wrong here.

:D

Greg, the owner of Sunrise tries hard, he really does. The idea was taken from a place called Rubios in San Diego, and yep, the fish tacos aren't bad. Unfortunately, it's just plain old white bread style Mexican food for plain old white bread gringos. There is a habenero chile sauce in an innocuous bottle that Greg brought with him from the US... has to be the hottest thing outside of the real thing from Caracas, Venezuela. (I used to grow them, and be careful this stuff will ruin your evening!)

OK. If you guys are up for the game (If you clowns weren't adventurous you wouldn't be here right?): I don't know the name of this place, but it isn't bad (talk about picky? I am picky), not cheap, and the chili colorado is the best in Thailand certainly. Go to the Saladaeng BTS, go straight down Silom like you are headed for Patpong, keep going, turn right on Soi 6, go past BenTen massage, then turn left at the first corner. Look down at the end of the little dead end soi, and on the right you will see it. They have mariachis sometimes at night too. Best Mex I have found in Thailand, not just BKK. Try it, you will like it. Careful leaving the place, make sure to retrace your steps, heh!

I need to get my friends Juan, Guillermo, and Hermalinda over here, they know how to do a Mexican restaurant: used to own Cafe Merida in Tijuana, then the Pajaro Azul in Playa Del Carmen, they're much too rich to bother with it any more though dangit!

¡Para el ausente, el presente y para los que no podrían hacerlo! (Mexican drinking toast: "For the absent, the present and those who couldn't make it!") ¡Salud!

I severely dislike dealing with Thai immigration here in Phuket. They are far too interested in what I do, and further, what I can do for them. (None of your business, heh) Been dealing with this in Chiang Mai for 20 years previous as well. Therefore: I have found lately that yearly trips on down to Penang with Firefly, then up to Langkawi for a couple of days, then back again, are actually quite nice really and the visa agents on Cheula St. could not be more helpful and genuinely friendly. Very much nicer than dealing with Thai toothy grins accompanied by brain spinning smoke out of ears burning gears that I always get in Phuket Town.

To each his own.

Thanks for the update here markwhite.

:D

News flash people: There are NO decent Mexican food restaurants in Phuket. Not even close to anything worthwhile. Stop whining.

Yo, SA: Make your own. Avocados are $$$ here but go a long way. Burn 'prik chee fah' pepper skins and make fake jalapenos, mix those with burn-skin-removed red bell peppers and render down to make a fairly good chipotle taste. And hey, "El Charro" home made tortillas aren't bad at all!

There is NO decent salsa here either, again, make your own, lots of lime, cilantro and garlic. Use feta cheese to create a fake chile queso de chihuahua.

At home in Patong, we make fantastic 'Loreto' (Baja Califonia, Mexico) style white-seabass fish tacos, and "Half Way House" Ensenada shrimp burritos, all from stuff we got right here in Phuket. Jose Cuervo Gold is 699 Baht at Foodland, keep it in the freezer: Cointreau (or Controy if anyone here knows what that is, heh) and limes... salt anyone? We take all the stuff down to the beach in the late afternoons sometimes and have a blast. Wow, perfect day for it today too, great idea!

OK sorry, OT, but I just can't figure out why nobody seems to be able to do real Mex (or even white boy gringo Mex) commercially here. (Same for pretty much all of Thailand from my experience.) Oh yeah, forgot, there is ONE place in BKK, down a back alley. Saladaeng BTS, off Silom. Past Patpong, turn right, past BenTen, then left. Then it's on the right in the back= good chile colorado, not cheap. Forget Phuket. ed.

Dealing with computer warranty/repair in Thailand is like trying to ride a bike underwater, you basically aren't going anywhere without help. Do you speak Thai? Synnex is full of people that don't speak English well at all. When you do go up there, go as early as possible, they open at 10. SMILE and act like you are not pissed at all, be as patient and quiet as you can manage, and don't leave without getting the paperwork. Again, smile, tell them that you are returning it for the 3rd time, that your daughter can't do her homework without the computer and you don't want her going to a game shop to do it, and that you desperately need help. (They respond to this lamebrained tactic much much faster... watch.)

1. If you can't get Jedi to fix it, keep in mind that the MB does have a 3 year warranty from ASUS. Synnex will honor that. You may indeed be stuck with fixing it yourself, and guess what? There are no more P5KR motherboards left out there to replace yours. (And, guess what #2, the other P5K options available don't support RAID.) They may have to send it back to Taiwan, get ready to wait a month.

2. If your computer has ever overvolted, yes it happens all the time here if you don't have a UPS or some kind of shield (not one of those phony powerstrips they sell at Carrefour), the onboard northbridge chipset is toast and is not covered by warranty. (But Thais don't know sh#t about this so don't worry)

3. Can you get access to a different VGA card? If the RAM on the VGA has overheated, it is a goner, should also have a 3 yr warranty. This also is a common undiagnosed ailment here.

4. If all is lost, and you get sick and tired of messing with it, you can always just break down buy an ASUS P5Q and get back to work, your installed OS on the P5KR is 100% compatible with the P5Q with very minor driver updates.

5. Don't get pissed off at me for trying to help. Never buy complete set computers from a shop in Thailand. When they built it they could have scratched traces on the board, or they could have overtightened a screw somewhere causing a nasty long term grounding issue. Also, I personally would not have gone with that RAM config... 512s?

6. CS: You may understand here that I feel your frustration from a first hand standpoint. You WILL be able to work through this.

Not a very timely reply here, sorry, I just discovered this forum.

P5KR are finicky. Very picky. If you are just getting a black screen, turn it off, unplug it, get into the RAM modules, pop them loose, then reseat them. Then, remove and reseat your VGA card. Then plug it back in and boot. You may have to do this several times.

After you get it started:

Go into your BIOS (hit delete when you see the prompt at boot) go to the 'Power' menu tab, use arrow buttons to scroll down to highlight 'Hardware Monitor', hit 'Enter', wait a moment, you will then see your voltage output at the bottom of the screen. 12V must be over 11.8, the 3.3 can be 3.2, and 5 can be 4.8. The 12V rail will tell the tale. If it is lower than 11.8, keep watching it to see if it creeps up a bit, if not, you need a new higher powered PSU (Power Supply Unit) I use the new "DeLuxe" 500W available at Pantip, 3rd floor, north end.

My guess is that the PSU is not the problem. The usual problem with the PK5R is RAM, check your manual to see if the RAM you have is in the allowed configuration and specs. Also, make sure that if you have 2 RAM modules that they are the same, and they are in the #1 and #3 slots. Read the manual for more on that.

I like these motherboards very much, but have now moved on to the P5Q and P5Q Deluxe for extreme overclocking. (Both running Q6600 2.4 overclocked to 4.0GHz each with 8 GB RAM running Vista 64bit.

Best of luck to you. Don't give up, the P5KR really is a terrific motherboard, especially for the money.