Merryman88

Are you American? If so, that would explain it. New rules for Americans.

I draw my pension through the SCB each week and they photocopy my passport each week but last week they photocopied my visa pages which they have never done previously,\

But as to closing your accounts or letting them see your passport , if you have nothing to hide why worry about it .

It sometimes useful to have a long term relationship with a bank if you've been a customer for many years comply with their requests. Many weird things have happened lately its probably the army takeover i went into a branch of my bank the SCB in Pattaya and was told that SCB did not take Visa Debit cards, which was strange as I had been drawing my pension each week through the SCB for some two years.

Any answers to this ????

I agree with the OP, I have found my dream Thai woman after spending many years of misery and Frustration I am not a rich Farang and I am not Keeniow but being on a fixed retirement income I do have to budget and stick to it my New Thai wife is a wonder when I ask her if she is happy she smiles and say's yes, very

Previously when I have returned to the UK I couldn't wait to get away from the lies about where the money has gone and the continuous feeling that I am a walking ATM . But now I have to go back to England in September and Frankly I find myself very reluctant to go and Leave my Thai family , I am more contented and Happy than I have ever been in Thailand or in England and I dont want to interupt the flow, my wife takes such good care of me and seems to anticipate my every need, my adopted daughter ( 8 year old ) is the brightest little girl you could ever wish for and I know I am going to miss them both terribly. I hope that the reason for my return to England does not keep me there too long and that I am soon on my way back to my Lovely wife and daughter in Thailand who I know will be waiting for me on my return

I've won my lottery in Thailand her name is Chiraporn..............?

Recently I wrote a review about restaurant in Ubon Ratchathani called Peppers, I spent nearly 35 minutes on the review giving readers a detailed and comprehensive review on this excellent establishment certainly useful information for anyone looking for good food, good choice, good service at sensible prices, for some reason this review was never published .

I was very disappointed what is the point in asking members to write reviews and then not publishing them , there was nothing offensive in the review perhaps the moderator was having a bad day, if thats the case you can tell him that he won't have to read any more reviews from me because I will not be writing any more.

a very annoyed and pissed off

Ray Bowley (Merryman88)

"'The interim charter also sought to prevent an individual or a group of people from dominating the entire MPs of a party to the extent that they cannot think by themselves but have to be submissive to their boss,' said Bovornsak."

 

 

I've lived in Thailand four years now and was told of this "block voting" mentality in year one. Haven't heard much about it since. A knowledgeable Thai explained to me that "Thai democracy not like western democracy, MP's and other elected officials are all under some kind of boss, puyai, and will be told how to vote, or at a local level, what decisions to make." There is a "trickle down" of power of Puyai's from BKK, and an elite that have run this country for years. My own thoughts: Thaksin was OUTSIDE this system and this is the reason he and others are so vilified; it's not really the "business corruption."  Well, even though it may just be rhetoric, it's nice to see the above quote on here as they (supposedly) deal with "corruption" of all sorts. Did I say "all sorts"? Surely it shall be so?!  (I will leave the quote about "cannot think for themselves" alone for the present.)

Does Thailands political system do things differently from The West

You say that Thailands way of doing things is different from the west , I disagree, America for instance their political system is run by the 1% of the population that have all of the wealth and the big corporations who can afford pay to lobby the so called elected candidates, sometimes more than they pay in taxes, if that situation does not exercise outside control then what does.

The six largest corporation in the USA

When the six largest corporations in the USA receive handouts from the government amounting to over just under $ 1 trillion each year, you can see where the power lies in the united states, as you can see where the power lay's in Thailand - in Bangkok with the Bangkok Elite.

The reason that Thaksin was so vilified was because he was not part of that Elite he realised that handled properly the Power should lay with the Majority of the electorate The PEOPLE of Thailand.

I am not saying that he didn't do corruption that is not the issue all politicians are corrupt , but he did attempt to help the people and in doing so he became very popular and the puyai could see he was gaining vast popularity among the people and because he was outside their group he was out of the groups control.

They could see themselves losing their stranglehold  

they could see themselves losing all of the power they had exercised before Thaksin became the political leader of Thailand and well we've all seen the results of that power struggle. The Bangkok Elite are not interested in their country or the People of Thailand, they dont care how much unrest they have created or how much damage they do to the Economy, tourism, or the GDP as long as they still retain their Power Base and control the Government they didn't care how much disruption they created as long as they still maintained their Power Base.

So Mr Bovornsak don't talk to me about the political scene not being controlled by one group of Elite or a Boss, It will always be so until you find someone with the determination and will of the like of Taxin who is not already part of a Group,  to put a stop to it

Long Live Thailand and Power to The people 

In recent years, particularity here in Phuket, there has been an increase in crimes committed by foreigners, often in dire financial straits. That kind of visitor with no visible means of support will now find Thailand less “the Land of Smiles” and more the land of “Sort your life out, instead of exporting your problems and yourself here.

And there have also been crimes committed against foreign expats that the police were not interested in resolving.

Works both ways I'm afraid...

Perhaps if justice in Thailand was guided by Equality and not one law for the Thais and one law for the Foreigners, Thailand will become a safe haven and the quality of their Ex Pats would improve but until that time if it ever arrives they must continue to put up with continuing to have the Worlds Dross arriving here, to Live, Thailand gets what they deserve, I've been here on and off for nearly six years when I first came it was a land of smiles. But I am afraid that is not so any longer - I don't feel welcome anymore

I see we are a cynical bunch here, but let's pull our fangs back for a moment. Rewarding students to "be good" in context of civil society is a great idea. Call it what you want, (badges, stamps, passport, report card) whatever the mechanism, it may be necessary. Educators try to provide incentives (at least they did in my day) for children to learn, even if it is (was) propaganda. The point being that as a society, we learn to be trained. As a retired teacher myself, in today's brave new world I see a complete lack of training to the light side of the force. But there is an overwhelming incentive to move to the dark side, as mentioned in this thread many times. Kids are bombarded with crap 24x7, and educators are at a loss, with no "Iron Dome" to deploy. So a good deed report card, why not? Why not note in a student's record the good that they have accomplished to date, just as vigorously as we note the transgressions? Any parent alive (that is mentally functional) knows this technique. "If you behave this way, good things will happen...if you behave that way, watch out." If a parent forgets a child's good behavior and focuses on the bad, all the child get's from that is a degeneration into the underworld. What mechanism that you use is irrelevant, as long as reverence is achieved. By this screed so far you can see I am a bit passionate on the topic... and that's because I grew up inside probably the greatest public school system ever devised by man to date (I am a 60's child) - but one that has now fallen to one of the worst, in just a few short decades. Sure we were brainwashed to think the Commies were set to blow the bejesus out of our country and lifestyle at any moment, and that your classroom desk was your protection during a duck and cover drill... but we were also taught there is a difference between right and wrong, regardless of the doublespeak used... we were trained to follow the "right" path... to follow the light. And as we learned that light comes in many shades of gray, we grew better goggles that filtered out the crap. God help the children of today, who are born and then left in the dark.

"Brave new World" what a load of tosh manners should be a common decency of the young not for what you receive but what you achieve , I've already had enough of this silly idea !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[qoute]

Just recently spent around 1 year in Thailand.

Arrived on double entry visa then when it expired started doing 30 day border runs for remainder of the time.

Left last month with a couple of days overstay and came home to the UK see family.

Mid October I plan to leave the UK again.

For me it seems like you don't have any problem. If you want to study and follow the class you will have no problem at all. So What school are going on, and what are you going to study

But I must admit it sound a bit strange, been in Thailand for 1 year on TV and extension and border runs, a little bit overstay and now coming back for study. Good for you, but for me I sounds like you are trying to stay here to abuse the law. Using loophole to stay.

Just my 10 cent. But welcome back

Are you over 50 ?, if you are then apply for a one year retirement visa the visa agent will manage all your financial requirements, costs about 20.000 baht and they guarantee you a successful application or your money back - once you have the Visa you just have to report locally every 90 days and don't have to go out of the kingdom ever again during the 12 months. You can do this by mail very easily

Where to live in Issan,

Have lived in Bangkok I had enough of that in just three month, then I moved to Pattaya for a year hated that, too many old men parading around with young girls hanging on their arms, quite frankly this embarrassed me. Then I went to Chiang Mai, visited Udon Thani for three months ,went back to the UK and returned to Thailand and moved to Ubon Ratchathani -

Off all the places I have been the two that I preferred where Udon Thani and Ubon Ratchathani both in Issan , I liked Chiang Mai but I lived about 10 Kl out of Chiang Mai city, the social scene was OK in Chiang mai very friendly natives plenty of things and places to visit lots of backpackers and tourists.

Ubon Ratchathani

Ubon Ratchathani is nice and laid back its not on the tourist route most visitors are a little more sophisticated, farang population is not filled with Bar types in fact there not that many bars. I went through Khon Kaen on the way to Vientiane stayed one night not over impressed.

Ubon

very good Gym and outdoor swimming pool at the Sunee Hotel part of the city mall shopping centre they do a day pass in the summer for 150 Baht and 100 Baht in the winter where you can use all the facilities all day there is also a sports college with an olympic size swimming pool plus exercise Gyn and Weights for 50 Baht but you can't go during college times. 5.30am to 8.30am then 4.30pm to 8pm afternoons. College times are 8.30am to 4 PM . There is on Thai Visa an Isaan Forum section where you can read much more about this region . Or Email me ray.bowley(at)Gmail.com

Merryman88

As previously posted how long is a piece of string also as advised in other replies to this post its not just the building of the site that you need to consider.

When you build a website you have to consider how to attract visitors to your site commonly known as Traffic , are you going to achieve this by developing good content on your site that will make it interesting for your visitors to re-visit your site again and again each visit you develop more trust from your traffic, content that engages their interest. This is the best and cheapest way of getting your site ranked on the search engines or are you going to Run adverts on sites like Facebook, twitter twitter and the like to attract customers there is a myriad of ways to attract traffic to your site that will promote your products or services, if you think that by just building a website everyone will know where you are and what you are doing will be become apparent to potential customers, then think again 99% of the skill in having a successful online site is making people aware of you your products and services, are you going to set up an Email list so that you can build up a trust with your customers or are you going to achieve that by engaging your visitors with good and interesting content on your site, the last method is probably the best and most proven it is also the cheapest and easiest to optimize, and monetize.

When someone does a search on one of the search engines they type in what they are looking for we call what they type in a "keyword or keywords" these keywords are instrumental in pointing the searcher in the right direction so your site needs to be ranked on the first pages of the search engines these rankings are achieved by experienced SEO ( site engine optimization) practitioners who are aware of the many ways of doing this for you , their charges alone can be as much as the initial cost of building the web site and has to be done on a continuous basis the usual minimum monthly cost for this service is anything from 50 to as high as 500 $ and more depending on the degree of service required -

What you need to remember is that your website is your business window to the World and will succeed or fail by how professionaly it appears to be managed think of it as your shopfront to over 5 billion plus potentially customers and remember their are as many sharks in this industry as there are honest practitioners - So be very careful who you choose to do your work for you. I have spent over three years in Thailand working up to 8 hours a day 6 days a week learning to skills of this young but very sophisticated industry which by the way is continuously changing.

As far as google one of the largest Search Engines is concerned they are continuously moving the goalposts regarding how they rank all the Blogs and websites they keep changing the algorithms in their search software and changing the ranking search parameters so you can go to bed one night with the third ranking position on page one of the SERPS and wake up the next day with a ranking position on the 20 or 30 or even the 50th Page , so your SEO person has to do his SEO all over again This procedure is an ongoing thing and can only be done by someone with the necessary knowledge and skills.

If you need anymore advice contact me at ray.bowley(at)Gmail.com

I could sit here all day writing about this subject

Merryman88

Sounds like a Sin Sod problem, been there done that got the tee shirt .

Merryman88

Why not make overstays a thing of the past

There is a good case for increasing the overstay maximum fine to what you could potentially save by not continuously putting up with the continuous Visa runs costing each expat upwards of 12,000 baht plus for each 90 day extension which on a Multi Edu or O visa Means the government gets about 1900 baht and if you go to Laos that Government gets $35 or !500 baht for the border visa any way if you do this 5 times every year that means you will potentially pay out 60,000 baht + your initial set up fee of in the UK 140 pounds sterling (7742 baht) This means that each year will cost you 67,742 baht so if the overstay fine was say 67,000 for each year of overstay it would no longer make it a viable alternative to making the visa run each time.

Thai Authorities Keep Changing Visa conditions

I also would make the point that if the Thai authorities did not keep changing the visa requirements every few months and give their consulate and immigration offices clear and defined rules and regulations together with instructions for how to apply them to each of the visa groups in other words make them less complicated and more comprehensive to everyone.

There would be less likelihood of the rules being breached.

Each Consulate and Immigration Office interpret the rules differently

At the moment each Thai Consulate and Immigration office seem to interpret the conditions laid down by the ministry in Bangkok to suit themselves leading to much confusion leading to frustration and the potential for corruption and this situation needs to be avoided at all costs. So perhaps this administration should look further than the end of their noses and think about the future of their country start thinking OUT OF THE BOX use just a little common sense for a change. Perhaps if you made Expats, retiree,s and visitors more welcome you could prevent a lot of the dross coming here giving Thailand a bad reputation The good people that live here want to feel welcome again they spend a lot of Money in your country and contribute a lot to your GDP you should be welcoming them with Open arms.

Its about time that the sale of alcoholic beverage laws should have a very thorough review in this country , at the moment all that happens is that everyone goes out the previous days and buys up far more than they need then drink it all and get out of their heads Just do what they do in the west and Ban drinking on the streets ? I believe that the existing sale of alcohol the ban between 11am and 4.30pm is to prevent children buying it when they come out of school , Surely the check out people have the sense not to sell to underage kids after all everyone in Thailand should have an ID card to check their ages, I am a retired pensioner and for me not to be able to buy a bottle of Beer ( Once a month) between 11 am and 4.30pm is frankly quite ridiculous.

Perhaps while we have the Military in charge they can bring some common sense to these archaic regulations.

Ubonjoe is absolutely correct. Go to Savannakhet, it is the soft option - much more relaxed with far fewer people making applications. I was there a couple of weeks ago and obtained a Non O for looking after my young son and they were issuing multi entry visas no problem. You can get direct flights from BKK to Savannakhet, but they are costly and infrequent and may involve an extra day in Savannakhet. Maybe better to fly to Khon Kaen or Roi et and take a bus to Mukdahan.

Merryman88

The best route from Bangkok is a flight to Ubon Ratchathani Taxi to Ubon Bus station 100 Baht, Mini Bus to Mukdahan 100 Baht Each way Bus over to Savannakhet (50 baht) take your documents to Consulate by 11am, then collect passport with Visa next day at 1pm staff are very helpful at the consulate - contact the consulate in Savannakhet for the requirements for whichever Visa you are applying for.

DON'T DO IT, if she's worth it DON'T DO IT

If she is Beautiful. DONT DO IT

The only way to can respect and trust a Thai woman, is if you can save money when your with her

"At 1.28am, Thai military radar "was able to detect a signal, which was not a normal signal, of a plane flying in the direction opposite from the MH370 plane,"

" So, they let a hundred or so planes and boats search in the wrong places because nobody asked specifically, "Did you see an aircraft alter course around this area at this particular time?"

Not the same thing at all.

This is an example of the all pervading attitude of Thai's to everything if you say why didnt you *******, all you get is a smile and sometimes they say you never asked me No Initiative what so ever - I love the Thai people but they have no initiative

Ray

Merryman88

And That's not all of them I am married to a lovely Thai Lady who seems to be able to do anything, and has exceptional initiative so there are exceptions

Steve,....your money is gone !!! if you have already paid....from my experiences here. Cool off period is the time between opening your wallet and taking out the money....sadly.

In Thailand !!!!!!!. NO CHANCE

You must be daft to let her have access to your money or cards she obviously

cant be trusted and if you cant trust her dump her !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ray

Merryman88

Just put a search into Google " cheapest airfares to the UK" one of the cheapest at the moment is MH Malaysian Airlines some direct flights at abot 40,000 Baht - but its probably cheaper to get a one way to England then purchase a return in the UK, Emirates are doing a 299 return via DBX Dubai about a 90 minute change over in Dubai or Doha from the UK .

KLM are quite cheep at the moment Via Amsterdam the beauty of their flights is that you can then go on from Schipol Amsterdam to any UK airport at no extra cost i.e BHX , MAN, NCL, LVP,almost any UK airport even some of the smaller ones Like Southampton, Any UK airport that has a KLM feeder .

I Must admit its occurred to me that overstaying is the perfect solution to the Visa problems in this Country because if you add up all the visa run costs for me about 7,500 baht a time, 5 times a year that's 37,500 Bhat + at least 10 full days wasted and in my case 13 hours on a bus each way from Ubon Ratcathani

A trip back to the UK every 15 Months fare return to UK for Option (A) My Non immigrant Multiple stay (O) visa from The Consulate at Birmingham That costs around 7,000 Baht (130 Pounds) air fare return to UK 31800 Baht ( 600 Pounds ) then 5 Trips to Chong Mek for 90 Day Extension 5 times at 1400 Baht = 7,000 so This option costs me a total of 38800 baht ( 732 Pounds ) for 15 Months thats 2586 baht a month but if I do it by overstaying Paying the maximum fine 20,000 that works out to 1383 baht per month for 15 months so I will save about 20,700 baht .

Option ( EDU visa one trip to Lao including 2000 baht visa 3 days eating and Hotels 2 nights hotels 6,000 baht 20,000 baht (This year was 16,000 baht) for college fees and preparation of Visa documents and Min ED letter for immigration dept then 4 x 90 day extensions cost each time 4000 baht 2000 Visa fee and 2,000 for college to do all the documents and get visa stamp 16,000 total cost for 12 months 40,000 that's for twelve months so I will pay 3333 Bhat a month .

I don't drink or go out at nights so I will never be asked for my passport I have never been asked to show my passport except when I went to Lao and Chong Mek I have only ever been asked for my Thai Motor cycle and car Licence I only show my passport to the bank when drawing Cash . So if used the overstay method as you did and pay the Maximum fine of 20,000 baht I would be well in pocket

Not a bad Idea because whatever they say there is no national Data base in Thailand and if they stamp your passport with an overstay Stamp you can get a new passport when you come back and Just come in on a 30 day tourist Visa which is free and you can get on arrival at Bangkok then stay as long as you want and just pay a 20,000 fine when you leave.

Bears thinking about

While I wouldn't dream of encouraging people to stay in any country illegally the figures speak for themselves Over 2.5 years it would cost you 666 baht a month assuming the fine stays the same 20,000 Baht - Don't show this blog to any Immigration officers it might get around and they will double it to 40,000 even then you'd be in pocket .

Merryman88

I think the farmers shot themselves in the foot they their rice sold to the government instead of the rice millers because they got a better price and instead of Cash they got a voucher, Now they are bitching that they've got no money so who's the winner here - Certainly not The Thai people if all the farmers vote for him or his party in the next election Then Thailand will have a " Democratic Government " run by the Bangkok Elitists Who will have gained Power by Non democratic principals almost bordering on Anarchism.

They wont do anything for the people of Thailand Then we'll have an uprising of all the ex Red shirts who will be bitching now about how the democrats gained power after two decades of Trying and the country will be back to where we are now Suthep isn't going to change anything in the Government despite all his Posturing About setting up an appointed committee that will do all the housekeeping and get rid of corruption Good Idea Ha Ha - Will Never Happen

I don't know what the solution is. But We certainly Need one

Merryma88

I noticed a pop up Advert for the Jomthien Hostel that I was going to book a while ago, as I have to make a visa trip next week as I was about to confirm the booking I checked the price and found it was double the stated room rate , and discovered that The rate was per person and not like every other hotel in Thailand A Room rate so they lost a booking for being Greedy Most Hotels in the World are now charged at room rate an not per person So I suggest if the Jomthien Hostel read this they change their policy to conform with the rest of The World or they may loose a lot of single travelers like me - I know this has nothing to do with the subject about the monk being killed in revenge for the three children being killed, which I personally am appalled at not the Monk being killed we can afford to loose some of them but small children being shot I want non of that

LIFE IS SO CHEAP IN THIS COUNTRY

Merryman88

I've never experienced corruption in Thailand, I've Heard about it but never experienced it !!!!!! unless the 200 Baht I paid for not wearing my motor cycle helmet was ? I thought that was my Beer money contribution

I also carry my passport but in 6 years have never been asked for it been swimming with it even,

Lovely place Thailand they will always think of something new to extract money from your bank account to theirs or Banking as one member calls it

I love getting stopped for a motor bike check Current tax O.K - Helmet O.K you can see their faces dropping as they go through the checklist - Motor cycle licence O.K that's about it - Look at the man in Brown and smile you can see his thinking, its O.K we'll get you next time, they always look surprised when you flash your MC licence perhaps because most Thais don't even know they exist. Never mind come the revolution

Aeon is A Japanese finance company and like any other finance company charge the Thais Exorbitant rates to Borrow money they are legalised Loan sharks I believe they are a registered Bank in Thailand but they dont offer normal banking services, They advance money on a Card their terms and credit checks are pretty lax and its very simple for Thai nationals to borrow money and they generaly do if the banks wont make them a loan they are the second level after the banks and before the Gold Shops, Payday loan co's, registered Pawn shops and Private loan sharks of which there many in Thailand, totaly ilegal and Unlicenced and as in most Western countries part of he criminal underworld .

Going back to the 150 Baht charge that Aeon have started, I am sure its a Government Tax and knowing how hard up the present Government is one can only assume it has something to do with there exchequer and not Aeons.

If anyone knows any different I will be interseted in comments.

Merryman88

I would be happy to pay 50 Baht........ but 159 Bhat - I think is an imposition - legalised robbery long live BITCOIN

Merryman88

Yes I agree Only the 150 Baht charged by most ATM's is a Thai government Tax and up untill recently Aeon has not been charging it, I noticed Today when drawing some cash for the first time for some weeks that the 150 Baht Fee was to be charged by Thai standards thats half a day's pay but whatever Ferangs get ripped off all over Thailand so why should the Banks or the Government not do so. There is a backlash to this, I know of at least two families that will not come on holiday to Thailand because of this charge - So how many other families will not come just because of this Exorbatant Tax.

My Old withdrawal system

Anyway I will now resume my old system of getting my money out of my UK bank , I go into my Thai Bank SCB quew up with my passport and go through he usual procedure ( Photocopy passport and Visa card etc, sign all the relevent copies sign my reciept ) take my cash generaly takes about 10 minutes including the queueing. I dont mind that the Banks a;ready rip me of in the UK with the visa international currency charges then the visa cash withdrawal charge then th NTFS charge I already pay nearlyy 7% on all the cash I withdraw by my Visa card If I paid the 150 Baht that would bring it up to 10% Thats nearly £ 900 pounds a year out of my pension.

About 30% cheaper to live here than England

I admit its a little cheaper to live over here and we dont get ripped of here by local tax charges waters cheap electricity is cheaper we dont have cold weather and high heating bills, its a nice place to live, the beers cheaper but the cost of living generaly has increased by about 20% over the last three years, a Box of weetabix in tesco lotus cost 173 baht for 24 Biscuits in England the same cost will get you twice as many buiscuits (48) So we save about 30% off the cost of living in England - But with all the political trouble and general unrest I would still rather Live here in Lovely Thailand .

Ray Bowley

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