fire and ice

To be honest, I find the level of corruption in Thailand a little easier to live with than the level of corruption in Australia! At least here everybody knows it goes on and makes adjustments to allow for it. In Australia we have a rotten to the core Prime Minister who has been implicated in nefarious dealings throughout her adult life surrounded by a team of ex union leaders who are in it for everything they can get out of it.

The difference is that the people involved in daily corruption here are poorly paid police officers and the ones running the corruption in Australia are (very) overpaid politicians. Julia Gillard is better paid than Barack Obama for gods sake and still she taints everything she touches.

Give me the "honest" corruption here over the type found in Australia and a lot of other supposedly clean countries.

I don’t like Gillard either (or the entire Labor party for that matter) but you’re making mountains out of mole hills comparing this to Thailand. Even the Eddie Obeid saga in $ terms pales into insignificance compared to Thai corruption.

If you like Thailand system more then I take it you’d be happy to let Gillard muzzle the media and also sue them also for writing any story against her? In Thailand this kind of corruption would never even make gossip circles let alone the media. Note that Craig Thompson has been charged – in Thailand they wouldn’t even transfer him to an “inactive seat ”.

However much I disliek Gillard I do believe she is really there to try to improve the country (despite doing a lousy job of it), I don't think her real ambitions are to feed at the trough.

Great news, let’s hope he carks it.

Whilst I'm a conservative voter, I don't trash left wing principles - they certainly achieve a lot of good in the world - but balance is of course needed & personally I veer to the right, but I am not biased enough to suggest that the left never does any good, of course it does.

But the trouble with Chavez is that he comes from the "corrupted" side of the left (here I'm referring to corrupted principles, not stealing money). His is the vengeful side where they see the path forward as not to focus on raising living standards of the less fortunate, but instead to hurt those who are more fortunate. Attacking the well-off only lowers the bar for everyone, successful left wing governments instead raise the bar for by uplifting the poor & less fortunate etc a good example is what’s happening in Brazil

right now. Any Government is supposed to try to govern for all not just the side that voted for them (ie: a bit of bias towards them; okay, but not trample all over the ~40%+ who didn’t vote for you).

Chavez is basically a tyrant.

Most people only want to travel for pleasure to somewhere that has already caught their interest and therefore they have the desire to go see it etc. For example my wife loves watching law & order and a few other set in NYC programs (we live in Sydney BTW) and she really really wants to go see NYC as a result of seeing it on TV a lot. She also likes Royal Pains and wants to see the Hamptons while we are in NYC (we're planning a trip to the US at end of 2013).

If your TGF has not preconception about a place and has not had any hyping up she likely has not deisre to go there or realise what she is looking at.

Of course many are very lazy and just cant be bothered, but the above really plays a major part. I'll bet there is some temple or beach in THialand she has heard a lot baotu and seen on saboo TV that she wants to go to.

Thais want the "prestigious” English schools to teach their kids and have paperwork to prove their child is good at English – never mind the fact that they come out with limited abilities and probably less than many bars girls who really can speak English. They value the hype/prestige more than the actual ability and will live in denial of the reality.

If someone learns a chunk of English from You Tube then in other Thai's eyes they still haven’t got a "presigious" piece of paper that says they can speak any English, even though many who have the paper can’t speak it at all.

Apple could release the iStink which emits a foul smell and pong-out the purchaser's house/apartment . It will sell for "only" $699 , and yet the sheep who so blindly follow the Apple-cult will still flock to buy it; queuing on release day to get it first. ..actually they will camp outside the Apple stores all night prior.

Those same fools will later queue to buy the iStink 2 upon its release also (not having learnt their lesson the first time).

Two years later they will release the miniature personal version, the iStinkMini which is wearable and makes the wearer emit (new & stronger) foul smelling odours. By this time the price will have dropped to $299. But only shortly after they will incorporate the iStinkMini into the iPhone (the iPong add-on) and for Macs off it as a USB insert; the iSmell. Eventually it will be a regular feature included with all Apple products.

"Adult" being 21 years old, so they're in for a bit of a wait before the s/he can file the Immigrant Visa Petition, unless the rules change.

Mac

In the USA you are an adult at 18 - period.

21 is PURELY the age to drink alcohol and has ZERO to do with being an adult. There is no other restriction on 18-20 year olds in the USA. Anyone who thinks otherwsie is making fasle assumptions.

As a side note: Once when I was in Las Vegas (aged 25) I asked casino staff out of curiousity why there were signs in the casino that you had to be 21 when you are an adult at 18 and can therefore gamble. They said its only 21 because there is alcohol in the casino. They also showed me a sizeable seciton nearby (at a street entrance) that was alcohol free and you could gamble in that section at 18, 19 or 20 years old. THere was a second internal set of doors to the 21+ area with signs all over those doors about being 21. The external door said 18.

Before anyone gets on and tells me that it is no good if you are married as it can be cancelled on divorce I already know this and if it ever does happen that we divorce that is fair enough as I would be entitled to 50% of everything anyhow as I believe is written in Thai law, for us the main reason is if, God forbid, anything happens to the wife and she dies before me I will not have to rely on luck to keep me and my daughter in our home

Although it sounds like you have it sorted out, I'm curious if your daughter is a Thai citizen and could inherit the land anyway (assuming you were happy with that).

Yuck...pizza with a 3 inch thick spongy crust.

And mushrooms, the most disgusting vile substance on the planet. I'd rather die eating arsenic, it would taste better and I would not have to suffer as long.

They also have hardly any tomoato base on the pizza, my rule of thumb - the less tomaoto base the worse the pizza tastes.

Your post is very subjective. I like mushrooms...and found the tomato sauce to be perfectly adequate. Also the base is nowhere near three inches thick.

In addition they offer a thin crust base which I have not tried as yet.

Look you are just plain wrong, just like my mother & father, you are wrong!! - mushrooms are disgusting!

But thin crust is so fundamental that I dont consider a thick crsut ot be anmyre than "food"- its not pizza.

Next time you order a pizza (no fungus I hope) as for extra tomato base and see if you like it better - try it (no I wont try mushrooms I will vomit before they get that close to my mouth).

For the record: My paretns never made me eat them . They relaised that the vomit + me running out of the house (at the foul smell of them cooking) that it was not worth contemplating asking me to eat them.

There's a joke people used to say around my parts. How are fat girls and mopeds the same? They are both fun to ride until someone sees you! I think is really the same case in Thailand regarding this issue. Nobody has a problem until people on the outside start taking a closer look at Thai society, and there are many facets that the good government representative don't want to face, let alone address.

Namely, the reason why the prostitution game is tolerated in the kingdom is because Thai society is inherently, at its very core, an unequal society. Exploitation in whatever form of the lowly minions by societal members on the top of the sakdina chain is and always has been totally acceptable in Thai society. It only becomes embarrassing when outside viewers see it and actually mock you for it.

Changing the underlying problem would require a sea change which isn't happening anytime soon.

But that's the definition of embarrassment in the first place. No one is "embarrassed" by anything until someone else sees it. Any by extension an country being embarrassed by what people from other countries see or perceive.

If Thais (or some/most Thais etc) are embarrassed by the sex industry being "seen", then okay, yes they are embarrassed, but the point most are trying to make here is that there are far greater things for Thailand to be embarrassed about that they fail to point out in the local media (corruption, scams, their criminal justice system. joke Governments etc).

And more importantly the fact remains that image and embarrassment are minor issues compared to real problems people face.

Thais that complain abotu their "image" in the forgign media also need ot grasp that western nations don’t give a rats about saving face, and western media won't even contemplate it in their stories (and why should they - the media is largely about exposing things anyway). It may be wise for a visitor in Thialand to save face but what possible reason woudl a foreign paper/TV show have for doing so?

She is an idiot ...I am sorry she died but 10litres was a cry of help that should have been addressed

I like Pepsi and KFC but I'm not eating it every day

Psycologically those "crying for help" the most are the ones who cry for help subconsicously and are in deep denial that they need help. They will fight any "help" tooth & nail whilst taking offence at the suggestion they cant do everything on their own and implying that they are not strong enough etc.

Apart from big chains like Boots and the in-hospital pharmacies, all pharmacies on Phuket sell most prescription drugs without a prescription.

This happens all over Thailand.

A pharmacist living in Bangkok and working for a big pharmaceutical company told me that all pharmacists there sell their licenses to be used in pharmacies all over the country. In most places they earn 5,000 Baht a month for that, but here 10,000 Baht.

So in most pharmacies country wide there is hardly ever a pharmacist present.

How many licences can one pharmacist hold at any one time? They can only be in one pharmacy at one given time.

I presume a pharmacy business licence merely reuqres having a quailiied pharmacit (whcih could be an empoyee of the licensee) on site to dispense the drugs.

But I am quite shocked here, I thought there was no such thing as a prescription in Thailand and that any 'serious' meidcation had to be dispeansed by a hospital ? (well perhaps by an in-house prescription but still at the hospital?).

Firslty no country anywhere ever needs anyone to have a return ticket. For visas & countires that require anything like this then they want to see an onward or return ticket (air. land, sea). This is not the same thing as implying you must go back where you came from or even (more absurdly) have a "return ticket" which implies its one ticket both ways on the same airline - what would be the point of this as it woudl rule out having a ticket home or eslewhere on a different airline, or even on a train?

My Thai mother in law vists us frequently (she is on her 3rd 12month m/e visa now) and she has usually flown in with no onward or return ticket of any kind (I usually book one for her to go home after she gets here).

OK crocken ... your title asks ... "Visa For Wife To Australia Do I Need Return Ticket"

The Australian government don't care if you have a return ticket or not. ... (howls of protest I hear ... but that is what you actually asked).

If, however you are asking does your wife need a return ticket or not ... well ... no. Though the Immigration Officer might request to view it (knowing that the maximum length of stay is 3 months, unless you have a single entry 6 month Visa)

Essentially there are 3 types (length of stay) tourist visas.

• Single entry valid for up to 3 months
  

• Single entry valid for up to 6 months ... requires a medical clearance
  

• Multiple entry valid for up to 12 months. Each length of stay is to be no longer then 3 months. The entry is valid up till 12 months ... but if you push it and the tourist arrives up to the the day before (or the day ... but can't confirm that) the Visa expires can stay 15 months. 12 + 3 months
  

Remember though ... a valid Visa does not automatically equate to entry into Australia.

The Visa is (electronically) in the Passport ... the Immigration Officer assesses the Visa and allows entry into Australia.

Does New Zealand count as leaving Australia? ... last time I looked, it's another country, unless you live at Manly Sydney ... then it might appear as home ...

So yes ... a Visa Run does qualify ... but you run the risk of the Immigration Officer contest your wife's validity as a genuine tourist.

Let me know if that helps you.

.

Since you do NOT need an onward/return ticket to enter Australai and there is therefore no reason why any immigraiton officer would want ot see it unless they are turnign you away upon entry.

Because its not required, the airline checking you in to fly into Australia does not need to check if you have an onward/retun ticket.

Having lived in Manly for 10 years (2000-2010) I rarely encountered any Kiwis, and dont recall any I met who actually lived there (although I'm sure there are some). There are however a lot of Brazillians and Englsih backpackers on extended stays (ie: working holiday visas), plus a fair number of English who have migrated, but the vast majority are regualr Aussies. There are not many Brzillians in Austrlaia but when most of them congregate in Bondi & Manly so they account for a lot in those places.

Perhaps 35 years ago there were a lot of Kiwis in Manly but it is an expensive suburb now & Kiwis dont tend ot move to anywehre in particular within Sydney these days.

You are correct about the visa run comment.

The main paradox is that while citizens demand that politicians granted a mandate to rule must get all these initiatives in order, it's precisely these people in power who constitute the main obstacles to the fulfilment of these crucial aims.

In OECD countries its the civil servie that is the usual obstancle that has to be tackled, but in Thailand its the actual politicians.

Partly because they try to either keep the status quo (to retain exisitng levels of kickbacks), or modify them only to increase or at least preserve those kickbacks.

And Partly because (in most cases) only specific cretins (currupt/nepotisitc) become politicians. So they rarely have any skill, vision or intellegence, let alone any desire to change & improve things.

Yuck...pizza with a 3 inch thick spongy crust.

And mushrooms, the most disgusting vile substance on the planet. I'd rather die eating arsenic, it would taste better and I would not have to suffer as long.

They also have hardly any tomoato base on the pizza, my rule of thumb - the less tomaoto base the worse the pizza tastes.

The same announcement every year.

And they still haven't figured out that it also happens on the other 364 days too.

I think you will find if you went to check was that the article is merely meant to scare young people in abstaining in the fear that the police will "jap" them. As opposed to police actually taking any special notice etc. Most young people doing something they think they are not supposed to be doing have an unrealistic view that police are around every corner etc and this is likley merley meant to stimulate that fear.

Notice how he is a van driver not a tuk-tuk driver.

okay banning selling is one thing but banning alcohol consumption in public??

That's a law as draconian as what they have in the USA - ridiculous!

We just got my wifes son into a course he wanted to do but didnt think it was possible, hes not the sharpest tool in the shed, until "tea money" became involved. "Welcome aboard, your in son! Krap."

That easy it was....Woohoo!

Although both are dodgy, there is a enormous difference between if the employee took this money and pocketed it, versus the owner/organisation putting this money into their actual revenue. The latter would merely be the school bending their own rules and probably not illegal (unless its a Government facility).

If its the former, and staff take bribes like this for enrolment then I'd find it hard to believe they don't also take bribes to "pass" people who are not good enough. So why would you want to bother with a course that is essentially worthless once the "qualification" is issued? If you can pay to pass what's the point?

IMHO eating in Bangkok's Chinatown is terrible compared to the rest of Bangkok - few street vendors have seats, there is traffic next you everywhere and its extra stinking hot as the smoke & heat from cooking oil gets in your face etc.

Places to eat indoors are few & far between as most actual shops sell gold & Chinese medicine etc.

Note that I have a positive opinion about about eating street food virtually everywhere else in Bangkok including in non-tourist suburbs etc - its great almost everywhere else, Chinatown is hot stinky and full of exhaust fumes and cooking smoke & fumes (in other places this is insignificant to me).

Thailand is slowly progressing, with this they have moved their society from the equivalent of going from 1959 to 1960.

"We have also taken steps to resolve the problem of illegal taxis"

Of course as we all know, its the legal taxis that are the problem.

So the Thais demonstrate again that they are incapable to operate any business

efficiently and are to dumb to to compete. To fix this they force the efficient, smart

foreign operators to close ...

Sounds like business as usual in Thailand .....

I agree that they are terrible but don't they have a right to strike and/or blockade?

What? Striking is about employees placing demands upon employers. This is not a strike; its micro business operators demanding less competition and continuance of a (criminal) cartel.

You cannot be depressed and anxious at the same time - they are opposites. Something is amiss here, either in translation or professional competence.

That's what you get when you have a socialist president. Higher taxes and more hand outs to the lazy people who don't want to work.

And more leftist <deleted> who imply all the time that if you have money you are somehow a bad person.

Schoolies!

Haven't heard that term before.

And probably by pure co-incidence, when I read that post, the Google ad that was below the post talked of "Travel Girls" ... which seems to be a group you register and join that "connects" you with young women who want to "meet' young men to travel with as their "travel companions".

I'm old enough to remember the "ticket home" girls in Bangkok and Singapore in the swinging 1970's who would become your traveling companion for your rambles in S.E. Asia.

Cost was usually (to be direct about it), their Room and Board for a week or two and , most importantly, a airplane ticket home to Australia or somewhere in Europe.

They were mostly young females who were doing the overland tour of Asia and had run short of money to return home and often they were schoolgirls at university that had to get back to school.

I guess, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Schoolies is the term given to those students who have just graduated high school in Australia. These kids are mostly 18yo and travel in groups to get drunk, have sex and celebrate (the celebration itself is also called 'schoolies', and events/concerts etc are set up for them in places like the Gold Coast). It happens in December and many of the schoolies do head to places like Bali and Phuket - for many it is most likely their first trip overseas.

Easiest thing to equate it to would be 'Spring Break'.

Correct, except no one "graduates" form high school, except in the USA (and possibly Canada) where the term is oddly applied (perhaps to give some exaggerated sense of accomplishment to people who don't get into to university-??). In most countries when you "graduate" it means you have completed a bachelors degree.