rct99q

Although younger than OP i left two years ago with wife and children and have not looked back. Wife loves it. Kids cringe when we talk about moving back. 

Schools top notch, excellent restaurants, friendly neighbors who want to talk about all things. My wife still misses family but whenever we talk about going back she just shakes her head, no. She has met some good friends, enjoys driving here, still has Thai restaurants around to enjoy some food but now enjoys going out for a good steak now and then.

But each to their own. You may hate moving back. Bad weather, grumpy old farts sitting around the bar talking crap etc. 

Lets see. He gets home wife starts to unpack his bags...lo and behold she finds diamonds! Are these for me she says. Him..no idea what they are, that is not my bag.

Wife...okay, lets throw it away and pretend we never saw it. Here let me take it and lets go eat.

Next thing you know shes making a call and he gets pinched for theft.

There is no way in hell if I picked up the wrong bag and it looked like mine we would not make a quick look to make sure.

But me thinks there has been a long term scam going on here and he was taken advantage of due to his condition.

Living in North America now and have quite a few foreigners in my little town. In the middle of nowhere really. Oil town. The Filipinos, Jamaicans, Mexicans all have been routinely checked out by immigration and believe me what they put them thru is a lot worse than what I experienced in Thailand.

So to say it does not happen in Western countries is a lie.

In fact before my coworker received her PR status she lived in fear for 4 years because any little incident could set of another round of inspections. Some locals would get upset about something claim there was some illegal workers etc and the next thing you know immigration was around asking for papers, ID, status, taking photos and videos.

I have seen in both Canada and the US. To tell the truth I would much rather deal with Thai Immigration officers than an American or Canadian border agents.

Interesting, i use a service out of Canada called Visa Direct and the transfer happens immediately. Person on Thai side just needs to have a visa card or a visa debit card with active bank account.

Oh boy....sigh.

First things first the immigration officers at the Cad consolute in BKK are very good at spotting bogus applications. They see 1,000's every year so they get good at spotting patterns.

Your gf must be able to put together a TRV application that provides solid proof she will not overstay her trip and WILL return to Thailand.

Do not put this in her application but you must be honest in your intent. What is the reason for her travel? If you are looking to have her hang out with you for a couple of months for some fun etc., your application better be rock solid in proving her intent to return to Thailand.

Student visa needs a n application that includes full details from an accredited school stating her acceptance, the program, length of course, what is the intended outcome from the course, her relevant background in relationship to the course, pre-requistes she has completed and more. Plus the means to pay for the course.

My wife and I have successfully completed two applications and allowed entry into Canada on Trv's.

Both applications took about 10 days to put together after plenty of reading of individual websites and immigration forums.

If believing you will fill in the application form and get a visa it will be denied

she will need to get information from family members, work, bank, friends and from you or another sponsor.

You or alternate sponsor should put together an invitation letter, itinerary, travel plans including hotel bookings if required, car rentals, airline tickets, people she will visit intent or purpose of travel.

Is it easy, no. Impossible, no. It is also not all about money either. Not enough money to cover travel expenses, application will be denied. Too much money, possibility applicant will not need to return to Thailand because they have money, application denied.what is the perfect amount to show? Our first application we showed

100,000 baht, second 50,000.

I always suggest to take out any emotional reasons. You should show your previous travels, facebook communications, phone records detailing calls, messenger or skype log details. How often do you talk, how long did you live with her. More importantly how long did you know her before living with her. Your dates need to very narrow. Day, month, year. We first met September 14,2010, our first date was December1,2010 etc.

If you moved in with her within a week of meeting....you may want to exagerate that timeline. This is a red flag for immigration.

If you are really keen on spending more time with her, best suggestion is you go back to Thailand.

Good luck it is not easy, but cettainky not impossible.

Ps - getting a visa is just the first hurdle. Getting past canada border services is the more difficult of the two!

Good luck. We just received our second TRV in as many years. We also did a paper application as the online format is not user friendly. We received a reply in exactly 12 working days.

Edited - duplicate post

Family has ten rai about 20km outside of Nong Khai. Not on river but good road access, electricity and water year round.

In December neighbor sold 1 rai for 500,000 baht. People from Bangkok bought and building rental homes. Wifes Uncle was offered 800,000 baht for his 1 rai but is a nice piece if land with a small river (year round water) and a fresh water pond on it.

Wife has 4 rai in her name on 2 seperate plots of land all in the same village of the above and has been offered 500,000 to 800,000 baht for each plot. People from Bangkok and Laos are looking to buy land near us for our proximity to Laos as well as having year round access to fresh water (located in wetlands area).

Our land for whatever reason is priced the same as or even higher than some land closer to Nong Khai.

Wife will never sell as she wants to keep land in the family (for our two kids) but other family members have sold theirs.

As with all real estate it is only as expensive as what someone will pay for it. The actual "value" of the land is probably around 100,000 to 150,000 just due mainly to our access to fresh water year round.

My now 3 year old has flown overseas from Thailand to North America 5 times and sorry to say I have not had any reputable Doctor or Pharmacist who would recommend medication for an infant under the age of two.

If you decide to try it be sure to give some to yoyr toddler 2 weeks before your flight to see if there are any allergy reactions. Believe me the last place you want to experience your child having an an undesirable reaction to a medicine is on a long haul flight. We did one short haul flight from Udon to Bangkok and the little one lived it. We have experienced one really bad flight from China to Seattle and even though she was cranky bt keeping her distracted with toys and videos she did okay.

If you are "worried" about other travellers I always say tough luck! I have been disrupted more times by ignorant travellers more than crying babies and I travel a lot.

I personaly would not try to sedate my children. It takes a lot of effort over the long flight to keep them distracted if they dont sleep but in my opinion much safer than medicine.

Not sure if mother breast feeds but is a sure fire way in relaxing the infant as well. And again neither my wife nor I give a rats ass what other passengers think.

Good luck is always an anxious time as one never knows how infants will take to air travel.

Anybody know if you can cross the bridge on a bike (pedal) ?

It is not allowed.

Has this changed, recently? i crossed in September with my mountain bike and have had several guests (mostly those crazy Dutch People) since Christmas come across on their bikes. It is not advertised but it was certainly possible.

Motorbikes....NO.

Op - I realize you have taken an informal poll in the places you have visited and come up with a particular view point on tourism. Living outside of Thailand now for two years after being a long term Thailand resident I am going to provide you with my opinion on what is going on with Thai Tourism.

My findings come from people travelling from the US and/or Canada

In a nutshell it is as popular if not slightly more than it was say 5 years ago. Why? The US and CAD $$ still goes a long way in Asia. Flights are more $$ but you get a bigger bang for your buck in Asia (no pun intended). Young travelers those under 25 have no idea about the "political climate" and nor do they really care. They read & hear about Thailand and all the good stories from their friends, facebook, family. I have no official stats but airlines such as Air Canada and Westjet are seeing international flights outpacing domestic flights by at least 13%. New routes to Europe, Asia, South America....what it boils down too is that there are just as many travelers wanting to visit far away places as there ever has been.

Even with the economic downturn in North America one of the prime travel groups, 18-35 year olds, are seeing the world in larger numbers then ever before. Do they hang out in the same places as you visit? maybe not. mexico is still big on their list but they are still traveling in large numbers to all destinations.

Regardless of what you feel is happening in Thailand or Cambodia, Vietnam etc...kids are packing their bags and traveling. The 40 plus crowd who visited Thailand 20 years ago as teenagers are keen to return....just in perhaps a higher quality of luxury then as teenagers.

I spent nearly 15 years in the Travel business between 1992-2007 saw the twin towers come down...wars....random killings in Mexico....Norovirus on cruise ships....Rainforest destruction....Hurricane Katrina....jet ski ripoffs in the Caribbean.....drug problems in Jamaica.....too many tourists flooding the great pyramids of Egypt...corruption in South America....Shining Path kidnapping tourists...overcrowding in Venice....price gouging everywhere....all these instances may have slowed things down a bit...but the tourist keep going.

With very few exceptions (North Korea and a few others) and even there people are still lining up to visit if they can in......true Tourist Destinations will survive and some will even grow.....why???

Last stat I read (2014 I think) nearly 26% of the worlds population is under the age of 15....in Canada it is 16%...that means from Canada close to 6,000,000 kids over the next 5 years will be starting their "adult" lives. How many of them will travel? Who knows but I assume quite a few. How many will pick Thailand? roughly %17 percent of those people surveyed who are considering taking a trip overseas would consider South East Asia as a destination.

Most of South East Asia will never run out of tourists as the world keeps producing children....and most don't give a rats ass about whose in charge of the Government....they want beaches..booze...fun...sun and surf...perhaps a little culture thrown in along the way.....good food. They wont be in one spot long enough to see all the problems....hell you still see tourists going to Haiti and they are still trying to recover form the earthquake, political unrest and what not...

The land border between Nong Khai and Vientiane is a busy as ever judging from the occupancy rates in Nong Khai and from reports I hear from family in the tourism business. Company called free and easy traveler out of Canada has over 100 combination trips covering SEA nearly all with stops in Thailand taking bookings into 2018...caters to kids 18-25 and they sell out most of their tours every year.

I recall a year ago or so them stopping the tubing in Vang Vieng....oh the outcry....nobody will come....Vang Vieng will die...no tourists will come now.......and yes it did appear that tourist numbers did drop off....but funny thing is happening.....they are coming back.....in what i hear are larger numbers then ever....people who did not like the party atmosphere are returning in droves.

so goes to show that whatever we may think or see or try to predict what may happen.....people have a funny of surprising us.

OP - just curious about your four children back in the UK. Do they work? Or are they all living on SS waiting for you to die and get your money? serious question. I never, ever wanted any of my parents money and now that I have children of my own will certainlt provide for them but do not believe there is any such rule of law that I need to leave them a bunch of money. They are being raised to be self supporting, independant thinking little units. Have you set aside money for the mother/wife if your uk children. She deserves to be financially secure in her older days as well (apologies if she has passed away) or her immediate family or yours as they may have contributed to helping raise your children. My point is your grown children can certainly want your money but there is nothing saying they have an expectation to it. The money is for enjoynent you earned you should spend it. Leaving money behind for others to enjoy seems more wasteful to me then buying your wife a new house. Yes certainly help your children in times of need but cut the cord tell them tgey had better not be eyeing up a new car or house upon yoyr death....

OP - were you at Dee Dee.

The frog skin thing is actually very tasty. But i like the deep fried chicken skin they make here.

Crickets from the sunday market taste like sunflower seeds with legs.

I can eat most anything except when wife makes family version of laab made from raw beef, blood and bitter bile like juice. Turns my stomach.

You answered your own question or your legal team did anyway. It can be appealed but is not the most probable route to go. One can re-apply if denied. As the OP is confident of getting a trv there really will be no need for them to worry.

For those whose applications are not as sure it should be known there are options one can follow up with and that was the point I was making.

From Mut Mee it is about 45 minutes to the consular section that deals with visa applications.

Unless you are flat broke I would recommend taking a shared shuttle van or private taxi from the Laos side of the bridge (After immigration) and take it to the thai consular offices. I drive my own car now but I used to get a private taxi between 200-500baht depending on time of day and how busy it is.

Traffic is getting worse year after year so times keep increasing but I always found taking the private taxi more relaxing. If you are staying in Nong Khai you will nearly always find other travellers doing the same thing so always people to hook up with.

Mut mee always has travellers heading over to Laos, Pantawee, Nong Khai Resort by the rail station is popular with tourists, several of the guedt houses along the river always have travellers such as Pan guest house, Mekong River side Guest House and others.

Tuktuk from hospital is around 50 baht and they are always there.

Wat Meechai just north? Of Thai-Laos Hotel.

Just about anywhere along the river from Mut Mee Guest House to the end of Tasadet Market.

Far end of the promenade near the sunken chedhi.

Wat Po Chai has a celebration 3very year.

Wat Nong Khai near Ban Nong Doert is having a large festival and Mor Lam concert this year. About 15km ne of city centre.

But most of the action happens al9ng the river.

^^ You can get a copy of a flight itinerary from most major travel agents in Thailand. It is never recommended to buy an actual ticket till you receive your trv. It should not cost much and in our case the agent even issued an insurance policy for the duration of the intended visit. All just on paper.

My wifes visa took exactly 12 working days as per their website. We applied last August. I can not state with all certainty when you should apply but do know they will provide an enter before date on the visa and if not used before that date it becomes void. All applications are considered under the multiple entry category as well.

I know you state it will not be a problem but be aware the Canadian Consulate refuses more visas than it grants.

Your girlfriend must prove without any doubt she will return back to Thailand at the end of her anticipated stay. Having a current US visa helps.

I would look at applying about 3 months prior to leaving. It does not take 6 months etc. For a TRV you will receive an answer back one wsy or another in less then 3 weeks. Still giving you time to appeal if not succesfull.

But if you hear back from VFS global I would proceed under their directions.

As a last piece of advice make sure you put forth a strong application highlighting the reasons your girlfriend will indeed be returning. We showed having children in school, her ownership of land and vehicles, ties to her parents etc. Just having lots of money in the bank is a bit of a negative. Having a good job with 2 plus years employment is good as well. If the employer provides in writing the time off and the return to work after holiday.

Good luck.

very broad statement, "thais dont celebrate birthdays".

no bigger celebrations then those for the king & Queens birthdays.

My family celebrated birthdays long before i showed up 12 years ago. I always get 100 to 300 baht from various family members. My wife keeps track and the "gift" is returned to the family member on their birthday. Must go to one nearly every week. If we know them well wife will arrive early and help prepare. If we dont we show up for dinner, eat, drink, and leave. Always a good time.

Took you longer to write this then for her to drop her panties! Give her a penis and you have everything covered.

If you are just looking for a change try SINE. No need to know a thing about english or teaching as long as you can read and speak english. Regardless of any accents. just point to a picture of a potato chip and say crisp, crisp, crisp. Voila, you are now an english teacher!

There really is no limit to the number of languages we as people can learn. Most are just too lazy to teach their children. When you have children start before birth. Then i would suggest each parent use their native language in speaking with your child. Local dialects such as isaan will come along when your child begins playing with others. Then fill in other languages with songs, cartoons and in every speech. Some experts believe the magic age is 3. to get yheir brains hardwired to learning languages. My little one now understands english, thai, issan, french, and just yesterday she was singing a song in japanese although neither my wife nor i speak it. She can repeat the sounds and can find objects in all the languages. It does not confuse them as we do separate who speaks which language so that she will speak french or english with me but hardly ever uses thai (even if i ask in thai where are your shoes her reply comes in english, same if moma asks her in english my daughter will reply in thai).

So in a nutshell speak as many languages as you can they are like little sponges and will sort it out in time.

I currently have three on the go. One has a masters, two have BA's, from decent international programs. To be honest, it's strange to see Western men shack up with partners educated to the level of a Western 10 yr old and communicate using toddler-talk.

But then, the World is strange.

Your contract ends on July 29th? There are threads on here about some of the issues of leaving without providing notice etc. If you are considering coming back to work there have been few discussions in regards to having issues getting another work permit if your previous oneo was not cancelled correctly. If flying out usually not a problem. Leaving by a land border could present an issue depending on your current immigration status. Is your permission to remain in Thailand based on you having an extension because of being employed.

I am already getting this as part of the ss system via wife. Plus free health care and vaccinations (up to age 6). So i assume this is for those outside of the system which would be the lowest household earners in the country. In which case it could very well provide enough, if used correctly, of some vof the very basic necessities. Not sure of all regions but our GP always asked us if we wanted baby food (enfamil, etc) on each visit, no charge. We would take a couple of boxes and hand out around the village.