delgarcon

So, I went to the Brit Embassy on the 18th Feb with a copy of my passport, a scanned copy of HM pension's letter confirming my pension from 5 April 2015, the Embassy's application form duly filled in and the money order for 2440 baht. I was in and out in 10 minutes.

I have just received my proof of income letter by post, today is the 21st Feb.

There is NO NEED for any other documentation, as Ubonjoe and others have said, NO NEED for 12 months bank statements for example and if I hadn't been in Bangkok I'm sure it would have been just as easy by mail.

Presumably, then, you will be using the "combo" method of proving finances for your upcoming retirement extension as the UK State Pension (which is what I assume your reference to "HM pension's letter" relates to) won't by itself meet the 65,000 THB minimum monthly income requirement!

You have obviously never heard of SERPS!

So, I went to the Brit Embassy on the 18th Feb with a copy of my passport, a scanned copy of HM pension's letter confirming my pension from 5 April 2015, the Embassy's application form duly filled in and the money order for 2440 baht. I was in and out in 10 minutes.

I have just received my proof of income letter by post, today is the 21st Feb.

There is NO NEED for any other documentation, as Ubonjoe and others have said, NO NEED for 12 months bank statements for example and if I hadn't been in Bangkok I'm sure it would have been just as easy by mail.

There are beach vendors all over the world and a nice cold drink on a hot day is always welcome. At least most impoverished Thais try to earn some sort of a living without resorting to begging! My message to the General and his cronies is "think about creating a welfare state instead of laying down the law to people who have little or no chance of ever dragging themselves out of the gutter!"

Sometimes I hate this <deleted> country!

"At least most impoverished Thais try to earn some sort of a living without resorting to begging!" - I see a lot of "impoverished Thai's" driving European sports cars on Phuket.

I think you are talking about Issan.

If they're driving sports cars they're not impoverished are they!

There are beach vendors all over the world and a nice cold drink on a hot day is always welcome. At least most impoverished Thais try to earn some sort of a living without resorting to begging! My message to the General and his cronies is "think about creating a welfare state instead of laying down the law to people who have little or no chance of ever dragging themselves out of the gutter!"

Sometimes I hate this &lt;deleted&gt; country!

The killed people were muslims, right?

And he shot them in the head from a distance

Hmm must have been a good shot then.

Well Nuddy, you worked that out well didn't you. I can't wait for the next little gem to come out of your Nuddy brain!

"He believed the investigation team would summon the fumigation services staff for questioning again as well as would test on their fogging machine to ascertain if it could start fire.

The investigation could be concluded before the end of next week, he added."

How long do you reckon it's going to take to question the fumigators and check the machine? 1 hour? 2 hours? Oh sorry I forgot they haven't found the black box voice recorder yet!

Thanks Joe

My retirement extension needs to be renewed next month in Samui probably and I need a proof of income letter. As I'm in Bangkok next week I thought I would apply at the British Embassy. My questions are; does the Embassy still provide this service and if so at which address?

Thanks

Are you stupid.If there was anything available to invest in.It would not be available.I have seen idiots for many years,loose all there money,Because they think that they are cleverer than the person before. Listened to there bragging,about what they are going to do .And how others made mistakes.6 months later,someone else in same place talking the same.People established for many years.Will tell you.They only get along to stay in thailand.But its not a big earner,just tick over.And it gives them something to do.Do your research,Thailand is a timebomb.

What an ignorant post! I reckon you're the stupid one, you can't even spell lose! I bought a house here 2 years ago and its value has increased nicely, although I will probably never realize the profit as I intend to stay. As someone else on here mentioned, the important thing is not to put all of your eggs in one basket and imo not to invest in areas that you're not familiar with (both financial and geographical) and never to listen to the likes of Thomas Hannah!

I recently transfered 14,000 sterling to Bangkok Bank Pattaya the rate was exchanged to 760,000 baht but Bangkok bank stopped 9,000 baht commission that was on top of 30 sterling (about 1,500 baht) to my English HSBC Bank to do the transfer a total of 10,500 baht i thought that was very excessive for the amount transfered?

This is very strange, I've an account with the Bangkok Bank in Koh Phangan and have never been charged for a sterling transfer. I'd definitely take it up with their H.O

"The entrance fee to the Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park in Phitsanulok province will increase the cost of entrance for foreigners from THB200 to THB400, according to a spokesman."

10 fold?

Is this the beginning of the CLOSURE of the many SEX bars? Remember a few months back the big man in Bangkok did a "tour" of the girly bars? And he did not like them?

Instead of CLOSING them, Restrict them to the point of being un - viable.

This is what i see.

Bye bye tourism for Thailand. And BTW this type of tourism for Thailand goes back many hundreds of years.

Thais always had a reputation for Certain HOSPITALITIES.

Closing the sex bars would not be a bad idea in one way, Thailand might benefit from a better class of tourist. How are all the bar girls going to feed their families though? Most of them have kids being brought up by their mothers, having been dumped by their cheating spouses and having no recourse to claim alimony or benefit to help them.

It's not going to happen is it!

heavy metal poisoning is a terrible thing to suffer from and a horrific way to die.

Yep, you know you've got it when you turn Deep Purple!

Pointless exercise, there are only two genders male and female. A man who dresses as a chicken doesn't magically become a chicken does he, he's still just a man dressed as a chicken.

An eloquent argument that demonstrates the need for such a law. You can't legislate intelligence so the only thing left is to attempt to legislate the behavior of those lacking it.

So if we're going to legislate their behaviour, the 3 genders should be men, women and pickpockets!

Funny how the work stopped same tome as the coup.

You sound like the policeman in Allo Allo!

Was in Koh Phangan over Christmas , i was surprised to see how many farangs were working there , i did not like the place it was dirty in Haad Rin where i stayed.

Had Rin is always dirty, ..... you should have tried west or north west beach areas, they are usually much nicer!

As for getting back to the topic, I have asked several Thai's lately to say the word .... it nearly always comes out sounding like Koh Phan-Yang! .... so not just some of us "farangs" or is that "farlangs"?

I have been trying to catch myself lately and say "Pan-gang" rather than Pan-yang !... Even before this topic came up!... it is not easy!

A training exercise:

Keep saying gangbanggangbang ( ) repeatedly - you'll catch the ng-sound naturally as a starting syllable while rotating the words. Next step is to try and phase the first syllable out of gang (resulting in ngbanggbangnggbang), then the dominating B out of the Bang (ngangangang), and last suppress out the remaining G to end up with ngan -> Koh Gangbangan -> Koh Phangan -> Koh Pha Ngan

Hope this helps

Couldn't get my head round that,I think I'll move to Koh Samui!

Beautiful photos, loved Fractured Rabbit's fisherman!

Thanks Tywais and a Happy New Year to all

I'm sorry it might already have been said and I'm certainly repeating myself, but I think that what may be happening here is an exercise in saving face. I would think that the Burmese government is pretty grateful to the Thai police for letting its people earn a living here in return for a monthly backhander. The time that it's taken to manufacture collect the evidence against the 2 Burmese suggests that all is not well in the prosecution camp and I believe that they may have found a solution and that is the bail money that the Burmese are now willing to put up, having declined previously.

Maybe I've watched too much tv, Yes Minister and House of Cards for example, but it appears to me that the Burmese Government have been got at! What price the 2 accused get their bail, go back to Burma and are never seen in Thailand again? Result; Thai police off the hook, Burmese workers back in favour and the British, being British keep their diplomatic mouths shut, which is the bit that disgusts me the most.

Hannah and David's parents have been convinced that the police have done a good job over here, I wonder if they are beginning to see the light!

I just watched a great movie on http://www.movie4k.to/ , "Pride" IMDB give it an 8 and it's fully justified

British film making at its very best. "Pride", with the 80's miners strike as a backdrop, loosly based on Gay Pride's support and solidarity with the miners, a real feel good movie for all denominations. You can find it here. <snip>

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When shallow diving or near the surface the instructor should first deploy an orange float to show boats that divers are below.

If the float was deployed you then have to rely on passing craft to have a lookout to spot it.

It would appear 1 or both of these safety precautions failed.

Done this many times..... never have I seen a 'spotter' either at the bow or stern or any crew taking due care and attention for those in the water. All they look at is what or who is on the surface.

If you people dont know boating or operations quit speculating and assuming anything. No an instructor does not deploy an orange bouy. If the boat is at anchorage and there is a diving operation going on, then the boat will display an international diving flag. This lets other boats know what is taking place and they have a requirement to stay xx meters away from said vessel. This distance is determined by the country or involved in waters.

Come on guys instead of thinking up things on your own, take it from somebody who knows this operation all too well.

So you happen to know that the dive boat was displaying an international diving flag? I don't think that people care about you"knowing this operation all too well", I think like me they are saddened by this tragic loss of life and are very anxious that water sports operators should be better educated in their craft. The idiot boat driver was 23 and almost certainly untrained. The Dive centre promised safety and supervision to this poor girl, did they give it? I know a couple of guys who work for dive shops for free as "instructors" so that they too can dive free in return. Neither of them were asked for their résumé. So pipe down Mr Knowitall, We'll speculate as much as we like as we will probably never know the truth. This is Thailand, not the USA.

"Regulators and law enforcement officials should also ensure that all anti-money laundering regulations already on the books are strongly enforced,"

I think that most of us on here would be surprised if it wasn't the regulators and law enforcement officials that are lining their pockets at the expense of impoverished nations like Thailand. I had to go to a land office yesterday where I was asked if I was interested in buying some land for 30million baht. The owner? A law enforcement official at the land office.