KillingTime

Great news. Thanks, i'll get one at the airport. My non Im o is single entry i think.

I'm off to Vietnam for a week tomorrow morning, and my non-imm O visa is good till Decemeber. I was under the impression i could pick up a re-entry permit at the airport, but am now reading the rules have changed. Presumably Immigration is closed on a Sunday. Any thoughts?

What about the display? A decent one could add up to 35K to that price I guess.

For the total money you'd be looking at, I wonder why you're not sticking to a Mac?

I already have a monitor, and i didn't spend anything like that on it.

BTW

Just read a thread about bringing PC to Thailand discussing potential problems with customs e.g.

What do you expect when you arrive with the "Thai PC" in the UK?

We moved to Thailand five years ago with a computer, and are leaving with one in our shipping quota. Don't see how that can be a problem.

My wife (native English speaker) is looking for a driving instructor in Sathorn area of Bangkok. She started with a local guy who didn't speak English, and it didn't work out, so she wants to try someone new. The person should have reasonable English and be able to help her through the Thai test quickly.

Thanks.

I think the price is ok. No big markup as far as i can see and it's next to my work so convenient. I will pop down to Fortune and see what they have to say. Invadeit is in Huahin i think. I'll give them a call and see. Thanks for the feedback folks!

I’m looking to get a Video editing PC built and have been talking to JIB computers here in Bangkok. I come from a Mac Final Cut Pro background and don’t know much about PCs. I would like to run Davinci Resolve if possible but don’t want to spend a fortune, and don’t currently need 4k capability. Nevertheless, I’d like my PC to be easily upgradeable at a later date should I need to give it some more power. I’ll probably run a couple of games – like Far Cry – on it too.

Here’s what JIB at Central Rama 3 are offering me for 55K baht:

Intel 17 6700k

MSI H170a motherboard

16 gbs RAM

2x2tb 7200 WD storage drives

GTX 970 4gb Graphics

Samsung 256 Pro SSD boot drive

Corsair Power supply

Case. TT, Cougar or Corsair

Does this look like a good deal and how upgradeable are these components?

Which case is best? I don’t want anything ludicrously big as I’m shipping the machine back to the UK in a couple of months. The guy said I didn’t need a cooler as the components already had them.

Also, does anyone know how I go about raiding the two hard drives for extra power?

Any advice/suggestions much appreciated.

Cheers

KT.

Many thanks. That's good news.

I'm getting a PC built but am returning to the UK in a few months time. The guy doing it suggested the power supply would not work in the UK, but didn't seem to know that as a fact. Laptop power supplies seem to be able to travel the world without any problems, so i'm not sure why a desktop would have one?

Any thoughts?

Mineral oil is available in just about any pharmacy. It's called Johnson's baby oil. Look at the label, it's 99% mineral oil with a little fragrance added. The fragrance is food safe since it's baby oil, doesn't add flavor to the product you are cutting and goes away quick. Look at post 29. I oil it occasionally and set it outside to dry. Been using it for years.

Nice work.

And thanks for the info. Yes, Baby oil is mineral oil and Johnson's actually do a fragrance free version for newborns called Sensitive Touch and would appear to be pure mineral oil with no additives.

I paid 199 baht for half a litre of Ikea's Wood Treatment food grade mineral oil. Presumably the Baby Oil is similarly priced and is identical.

I have enough to be going on with but will probably go with the Baby Oil next time. Walnut oil is also good i've read. I'm actually a coconut oil junkie and drink it every day, but i'm unsure about the sweetness factor of coconut for this particular job. Either way, i'm sorted for sometime now.

So i too have been trying - without success - to find mineral oil in Thailand having bought one of the circular Tamarind end grain boards found all over the country.

Until today.

It seems Ikea Bang Na have been carrying this stuff for sometime but it never occurred to me to look for it there.

Here's the link.

http://www.ikea.com/th/en/catalog/products/00170993/

I shall go and get some tomorrow hopefully. Alas my board now has cracks all over it as it's been laying around for months. Might have to trek down to Klong Toei market and pick up another.

Send in Sterling to get a much higher rate.

Thank you.

Thanks for the info Joe. Just in the process of transferring now. Do you know if it's ok to keep the money in Sterling, or whether i have to change to Baht?

BTW, what is the best way to transfer that sort of cash to my account here? What are the fees like?

Close to the exact number at today's exchange rate is 9,722 pounds to get 500k baht in the bank that needs to be there for 30 days to apply for the extension.

Thanks for the swift reply Joe.

2.11 In the case of being a family member of an alien who has been permitted a temporary stay in the Kingdom for study in an educational institution according to Clauses 2.8 or 2.9 hereof (applicable only to parents, spouse, children, adopted children, or spouse’s children):

Each permission shall be granted for no more than one year.

1) The alien must have been granted a non-immigrant visa (NON-IM).

(2) The alien must have proof of relationship.

(3) In the case of spouse, the relationship must be de jure and de facto: or

(4) In the case of children, adopted children, or spouse's children, said children, adopted children, and spouse's children must not be married, must live with the alien as part of the family, and must not be over 20 years of age: or

(5) In the case of parents, funds must be deposited in a bank in Thailand, under the father's or the mother's name, of no less than Baht 500,000 for the past three months. For the first year only, the applicant must have proof of a deposit account in which said amount of funds has been maintained for no less than 30 days prior to the filing date

So i need to put 10k Sterling in my bank for a month prior to going to immigration?

My partner has a work permit and while we're not married, i'm the primary carer for our child so with a combination of paperwork from her employer, and our daughters birth certificate etc, i've always got the visa i needed, though i've had to do 90 day border runs. This time i've only got a 90 day single entry for some reason, though i was told i could upgrade it to a year.

Last month i went to get a non Im o multi entry i year visa in Vientiane Lao but ended up with a single entry 90 day one instead. The woman at the desk assured me i could upgrade this to a year visa by going to immigration. What are the requirements for this visa and will i be able to get it at Chaeng Wattana without leaving the country?

I have previously got one year multiple entry o visas from Yangon and London, but Lao would not give me the visa even though i had the correct paperwork.

It must be admitted that these words and accusing petition are insulting to Thais.

But as Confucius said better there is more than 2500 years: "The invective dishonored its author, only him."

Asians generally approve this wise maxim. So if the evidence is proven and confirmed by observers shame will be on British revilers and more generally on all Western, not the Thais.

And that's how it gradually loses the prominent place that was ours there not long ago.

For your information, Mr Hisseho (Santiano) :

1/ Confucius never wrote or said this. The phrase was made up by René Goscinny (a true genius, by the way) in one of his 'Lucky Luke' albums (called 'Rantanplan's inheritance'). A Chinese character in this album, after being insulted by Joe Dalton, replies "Like Confucius used to say, invective (etc)" but it's entirely made up by Goscinny. You will find it nowhere else, especially not in the works of Kong Foo Tse.

2/ Most Asians do approve of all wise maxims, but then so do most human beings in general, right ? It doesn't imply that they manage to live by those maxims, no matter how wise and true they are. As a matter of fact, you may have observed that most Asians, when insulted, react very strongly, perhaps more so than non-Asians, due to the 'face-losing' factor, a phenomenon not easily understood by Westerners in general and the source of many trans-cultural misunderstandings (or worse).

I don't know if you live here or if you're just visiting, but it seems pretty obvious that you are in a phase of adoration towards Thailand (and a Thai person too probably), but I think in the case on the Koh Tao murders and especially where the investigation is concerned, you need to take these rosy glasses off your nose for a few minutes and accept the fact that a country can be full of wonderful people, great traditions, and nevertheless harbour some serious flaws.

One of these flaws is the way rich and powerful people in this country can get away with just about anything, sometimes at the cost of other peoples' lives, reputation and/or freedom. Sadly the authorities, most of the time (not always, admittedly), are on their side, and framing innocent people has a history on this continent that would give you the creeps if you cared to look into the matter seriously . I'm not saying it doesn't happen in other countries because it does, but I am saying that it's worse in this part of the world.

I got to know a Korean Yakuza many years ago in Japan. He did 20 years for a murder his boss committed. Everyone knew his boss committed the murder in a bar full of witnesses, but the young gang member took the rap and did the time. At least he was well paid for the job. By the time i met him he had a huge Merc and a cushy money collecting job in a nice suburb of Osaka. The cops needed a fall guy, and he'd pissed off his gang (he had stubs for all his smaller fingers and was missing many digits) so was perfect for the "job".

This is Japan in the eighties, a highly developed first world country where the rich like to avoid jail, and the police are happy to oblige.

Since the Uk have (or at least had) the bodies of the murder victims, do we know whether an independent autopsy was carried out with reliable DNA samples? And if not, why not?

If the answer is yes, i don't see how it can be difficult to obtain DNA from the Burmese to match it. Presumably there will be plenty of DNA to be obtained from their family homes without even having to go to Thailand.

Why do the Thai's need to be involved in that side of the investigation at all?

Yeah the thai mafia on the island told them already how to solve this case

That's ridiculous. Complete knee-jerk reaction.

You're absolutely correct of course. It is indeed a "knee-jerk reaction".

You may also want to look at the legal system and ponder why so many well connected wealthy people manage to avoid prison.

Is that also a knee-jerk reaction, or is there more to the story?

Seamen does not mean rape. It could be casual Sex. Some girls might just want to have fun (said Cindy)

Let's just hope the families of the deceased do not read the smutty drivel turning up on this site.

They are trying to shift it to migrant workers now and the explanation because they were buying something from a store.

Watch this space we are going to hear all the BS in the world.

Well, what if the murderers were migrant workers? Should they not investigate migrant workers because some foreigners have knee-jerk reactions claiming that the police want to frame them?

They've already investigated some Thais and foreigners too.

Thais have been convicted many times in the past of killing foreigners, so it is illogical to think they will not convict a Thai person if he (or they) are guilty.

They should check everywhere the leads take them.

Fair enough. But with DNA evidence taken from the insides of the victim they should be fairly definite about those they are charging.

Only yesterday they said they were going to arrest someone in three days time. What kind of "investigation" is this?

I just looked up the percentages of unsolved murders around the world, quite surprising how many go unsolved, even in countries like the USA & the UK.

Some of you chronic Thai bashers should have a look yourselves, you may then realize it does happen in your own countries as well.

Point taken about unsolved murders. However it's highly unlikely that the UK police would fluff an investigation that involved CCTV and Semen on a tiny island.

Of course we don't know what the truth of this case is. It's not beyond the realms of possibility the killer(s) are Burmese. Burma has rapists and murderers too, but the way the case is being handled does not inspire confidence.