BradinAsia

For security reasons, you cannot access your social security account online from outside the US. You have to deal with either the Embassy or Social Security in Manila. Good luck with Manila as I haven't ever gotten any response.

This is true in the Philippines.

During my 6 years there I could not sign into the SSA website and I found that it was

due to the security protocols of my ISP not meeting the standards required by SSA.

However, is this also true in Thailand? It seems that numerous TV posters are able to

access the site.

I speak decent Thai (read, write OK as well). Once you have the language patterns/grammar down, much is simply knowing vocabulary...

Anyway, I put in time to become OK (not fluent, perhaps) in Thai, but it was largely not worth it in my opinion.

Of a certain age (beyond my teens and early 20s), I am sufficiently comfortable in my being and sufficiently different and lack much in common with the average Thai. Most of the people who would have anything interesting to say to me speak --- English well enough to converse. So, Thai, for me, is largely a dead language. Of almost no value whatsoever. Biggest benefit is simply the cool factor and impressing women (who are easily impressed).

The news papers in Thai - waste.

The news in Thai - waste.

Literature in Thai - largely non-existent.

Save your time, folks. It's not worth it.

Learning Thai does not make much available to us.

Congratulations... This may be one of the most biased and negative posts ever.

facts are never biased.

Hmmm... who will decide what part is fact and what part is carabao excrement?

Preah Vihear temple is to the east of Thailand in Cambodia, there done it for them.

According to an incorrect ruling in 1962 yes it is. Its clearly within the natural border lines of Thailand though and just one quick glance at the map would confirm this. I dont blame them in the slightest for wanting what obviously belongs to them.

"... just one quick glance at the map would confirm this."

Who's map? Maps are made by people. People have biased agendas. Maps do not grow

out of the ground like trees.

There are dozens of maps and various opinions and arguments. How did you happen to

decide all this by yourself?

So many lives ruined or changed forever over something so small.

Sounds a lot like the U.S.

I lived in Chicago for one year. These kinds of new stories came out almost daily.

Of course the USA needs the money to pay for the free services and babies of the illegal aliens from Mexico, central and south america.

The northern neighbors who actually contribute to the states is the only good thing about the region. So lets punish them!!! IDIOTS

You are missing another point. This is not a one way street where only the Canadians are forced by U.S. gov't officials to pay fees to visit the USA. Americans will now be forced to pay Canadian officials to visit Canada. It's called recipacality. (Pardon my spelling). It all about getting the most out of tourist. Every other country has to pay these fees. Why not Canada?

It's called reciprocity. And it's not about getting anything out of tourists.

It's about tit for tat, mutuality, or the golden rule.

Poor guy, RIP.

2 years is a long time, he will have to pay a serios overstay fine.

How can anyone serious say, "Poor guy, rest in peace."

For all you know, he may have been the lowest scumbag on the planet.

I'll agree with K. Naam on this one: Whether you order the food in Thai language yourself, point at a picture on the wall or at someone else's plate, or have your Thai companion order for you, the food is still the same.

Yes, the food is the same, but your ability to relate to the world around you is severely diminished.

I speak decent Thai (read, write OK as well). Once you have the language patterns/grammar down, much is simply knowing vocabulary...

Anyway, I put in time to become OK (not fluent, perhaps) in Thai, but it was largely not worth it in my opinion.

Of a certain age (beyond my teens and early 20s), I am sufficiently comfortable in my being and sufficiently different and lack much in common with the average Thai. Most of the people who would have anything interesting to say to me speak --- English well enough to converse. So, Thai, for me, is largely a dead language. Of almost no value whatsoever. Biggest benefit is simply the cool factor and impressing women (who are easily impressed).

The news papers in Thai - waste.

The news in Thai - waste.

Literature in Thai - largely non-existent.

Save your time, folks. It's not worth it.

Learning Thai does not make much available to us.

Congratulations... This may be one of the most biased and negative posts ever.

Fluency is difficult, the tonal aspect of Thai ( and other Asian languages ) is effectively a cunning barrier against learning for we of a Western extract.

This issue has been the topic of conversation a few times in the last few days in my residence/hotel. My attitude is that it's retarded not to be able to count to 10 in Thai, not to know the words for left and right, not to be able to return a greeting in Thai.

Seriously, think about it........" I've lived here for three years and I can't count to 10 ".

Shocking and ignorant.......shame can be a good motivator to learn.

The tonal aspect of Thai is often invoked by those who don't know it as being a major obstacle to learning the language.It isn't.

Thai is not among the easiest languages (French, Italian, Indonesian) for Westerners but it is very far from being the most difficult (Chinese, Japanese, Arabic)

The language test you set (counting up to 10 etc) for foreigners after 3 years is absurd.After a fortnight - if that - seems about right.

What does it really mean when we say that a language is difficult or easy?

Japanese is usually very easy for Koreans to learn. And vice versa.

Indonesian is very easy for filipinos, because the languages are related.

Whether acquiring a new language is "difficult" or not largely depends on

how different the person's mother tongue is from the new language. Also,

whether they've previously learned a similar language.

For me, Chinese was very easy. Russian was quite complex, but not really

that difficult once I got serious about it.

Japanese is surely the most difficult language I've ever learned, but it's the

one I'm most fluent in now (other than English).

When a person says they speak Thai fairly well, but that it has not benefited

them much -- based on my experience, they are not being entirely honest,

and in fact, probably have learned very little Thai.

The posters who say that learning Thai has been a life-changing experience

-- these are obviously the guys who have actually learned Thai.

BTW, Japanese and Korean are Asian languages, but are not tonal languages.

@Funfon -- "These people are on automatic pilot, learn everything by rote and that's the way they'll do their job until they day they drop."

Can we nominate this for the dorkiest statement ever made on TV?

When his wife returned home at 5 am !

Am I the only one smelling a rat here ??

She was out working?? maybe she is a nurse? smile,,, the rat may be in your mind. Hope he left her some good memories.

A thai woman married to a farang and working? And @ night? Don't take that stuff again, it's illegal in Thailand!!

Thai women are different from other women? Maybe you're the one who is hooked on something?

Two recommendations, leave Thailand or cook your own food. Asking them not to put MSG in your food would never work and they will just smile and say OK and do absolutely nothing but serve the food with MSG.

What a totally ridiculous statement.

Like the supreme judge of the universe stereotyping all Thai people as deceitful.

Some day you may learn that all humans are human. Thai people are no more

deceitful that Brits or Americans or Peruvians.

Get a life!

I track my expences monthly so it was fairly easy to come up with my yearly exp for 2012 and then my monthly costs. This figure includes everything, insurance (auto/health) for wife and myself, home in Bkk and condo in Pattaya, doctor bills, several trips per year around Thailand, food etc. House, condo and cars all paid for. Total expenses for 2012, B854,000 or B71,000 per month. We're not big spenders but I would find it difficult to live here on B40,000 per month. Wife and I are both non-drinkers.

Do you suggest that we consider the cost of living in Pattaya as typical?

House condo and cars paid for and 854,000 expenses for the year???

Please pardon my candid observation, but It looks to me like an extreme

case of a farang with very poor money management skills.

If my house and condo and car were paid for, I could live like a Arab

sheik on 450,000 per year in Chiang Mai.

This cancer is largely due to eating contaminated fish. "All cases found the same parasite."

That's a familiar refrain.

Having lived 16 years in Japan and enjoying tons of sushi, I often read in the Western press

about the dangers of eating raw fish.

Only thing wrong with that picture is -- I've never known or ever heard of anyone getting

anything from eating sushi, except immense pleasure.

I don't eat beef and pork -- the diseases you can get from those are much more scary to me.

But waving red flags about the hypothetical dangers of local folks eating their local foods seems

to be more of a xenophobic or political idea than anything else.

As far as cancer -- the dangers in fake, man-made, processed Western food is much higher than

the simple natural foods of the local people.

But if it makes you feel better to campaign against the simple, natural local food... have fun.

I don't agree. Anyone that can't be content at 40K will not be content at 400K

Happiness isn't getting what you want, it's wanting what you have.

Well, I am.

Seriously, when I walk up to a Krungsi ATM and push the buttons for 30,000 baht I am relieved when the machine spits out the 1000 baht notes. I can do that several times in a month. On the other hand, when there was a disruption and I was forced to use a SCB for 20K, I was stressing for 2 days until my bank sorted the account issues out. I can't live my life the way I want on 40K.

I'd be miserable relegated to living in a small room with no fan and forced to subsist on cheap Thai food. Sometimes I will take a cheap FD or NOK airfare at 2,000 baht or so, but mostly, I will pay the 3200 baht to fly in business so as to avoid the hassles of some airports. That's what the difference in income means. It also means being able to take care of those I love , and being able to support some charities that I hold dear. If I couldn't do that I would be unhappy.

Of course, everyone is different, but I don't understand how someone has to live a miserly life (with no fan) on 40k/month.

For me, with a monthly expenses budget of 40k, I live in a 14k-per-month condo, even though I could get a nice clean condo

with aircon for about half that, if I wanted. So I choose to live in a bit more luxury.

My monthly expenses budget --

- 14,000 -- condo rental

- 12,000 -- misc/unexpected expenses

- 10,000 -- food & eating out

- 2,500 -- electric

- 600 -- broadband internet

- 500 -- gas for motorbike

- 150 -- water

Besides my 40k monthly expenses, I still have 60k per month left for savings or travel.

Where else in the world could I have a quality of live even close to this at such a low cost?

The "cheap Thai food" is one aspect of living here that gives the greatest pleasure. Much

better than that expensive farang food with its built-in shortcut to triple bypass surgery that

so many of my unfortunate farang friends have experienced.

Life may be a gift from heaven, but happiness is a matter of personal choice (and outlook).

So you have managed to avoid dysentery, diabetes and liver fluke

Ha ha ha...

Have you ever known anyone to get diabetes from eating fresh raw fruit and vegetables?

I've never had dysentery in 26 years in Asia? Have you?

Never heard of anyone getting liver fluke. Is that something you get from black pudding?

The car issue is key here.

IMO just on principle you should design your life so you don't need a car.

The financial savings are a by-product.

For some folks, it would be good to design their life so they don't have to pay rent.

It's hard to imagine how someone who has been a complete failure financially can

still have the gall to give advise on finances... or anything else.

I don't agree. Anyone that can't be content at 40K will not be content at 400K

Happiness isn't getting what you want, it's wanting what you have.

Well, I am.

Seriously, when I walk up to a Krungsi ATM and push the buttons for 30,000 baht I am relieved when the machine spits out the 1000 baht notes. I can do that several times in a month. On the other hand, when there was a disruption and I was forced to use a SCB for 20K, I was stressing for 2 days until my bank sorted the account issues out. I can't live my life the way I want on 40K.

I'd be miserable relegated to living in a small room with no fan and forced to subsist on cheap Thai food. Sometimes I will take a cheap FD or NOK airfare at 2,000 baht or so, but mostly, I will pay the 3200 baht to fly in business so as to avoid the hassles of some airports. That's what the difference in income means. It also means being able to take care of those I love , and being able to support some charities that I hold dear. If I couldn't do that I would be unhappy.

Of course, everyone is different, but I don't understand how someone has to live a miserly life (with no fan) on 40k/month.

For me, with a monthly expenses budget of 40k, I live in a 14k-per-month condo, even though I could get a nice clean condo

with aircon for about half that, if I wanted. So I choose to live in a bit more luxury.

My monthly expenses budget --

- 14,000 -- condo rental

- 12,000 -- misc/unexpected expenses

- 10,000 -- food & eating out

- 2,500 -- electric

- 600 -- broadband internet

- 500 -- gas for motorbike

- 150 -- water

Besides my 40k monthly expenses, I still have 60k per month left for savings or travel.

Where else in the world could I have a quality of live even close to this at such a low cost?

The "cheap Thai food" is one aspect of living here that gives the greatest pleasure. Much

better than that expensive farang food with its built-in shortcut to triple bypass surgery that

so many of my unfortunate farang friends have experienced.

Life may be a gift from heaven, but happiness is a matter of personal choice (and outlook).

Yes, you can. Get a lease or usufruct on the land, then build the house in your name Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Be careful a Usufruct expires after 30 years or upon your death!

And just why will I need to be careful after I'm dead?

After I'm dead what will any of this matter to me?

Ridiculous. A national incident over a woman's bum. Absolutely ridiculous!

Probably seen as very ridiculous by a Neanderthal who thinks men are superior

and that women are sex objects.

That's the worst English I've seen in a newspaper in some time. If this is the best the English schools can come up with, they need to re-think their program.

What an unreasonable comment.

Obviously, the level of English writing skills shown in the article is atrocious,

but is as least on a par with the English used by many on this forum.

I've been driving around all weekend on my motorbike in Chiang Mai. Sure, I get about 30 buckets dumped on me, and even some good hits when traveling 60-80km/hr on my way down to Hang Dong, but nothing much worse than a slight push. Bike actually seems more stable from hits when I'm going faster, though my side might not agree

Best one was when a Thai walked out into the middle of the Super Highway here to make sure I can came to a stop. I was having fun, so I didn't bother to go around him. He shook my hand, dumped a lot of water on me, and offered me and my girlfriend a sip of beer. Not sure I've ever been offered a beer while driving anywhere, but I enjoyed the experience and politely declined.

Only other comment is that I really don't mind the Thai's who dump water on me. It's the foreigners who seem to be the most drunk and stupid of all the people I've seen. Maybe ban the foreigners.

Best idea yet. Ban the foreigners. They make more trouble than anyone. At the

very least, give them a personality test and a grooming test.

Foreigners often have very poor manners. Become very obnoxious when drunk,

not to mention they are often fat, ugly and smell like a goat.

"Imagine going through life modifying your behaviour due to how you think others will judge you. How sad. . ."

A statement riddled with naivety... contradicts the obvious reality of human behavior. Also, overly ludicrous for

someone who has failed so miserably in their own personal life to be giving any kind of advice to others.

There were years that I spent walking around the moat talking pictures, armed with both camera and squirt gun, and enjoyed it (except for the ice water.) There were years that I stayed home and enjoyed that. For the times when I needed to go somewhere in town and be dressed nicely, I carried my good clothes in a plastic bag and changed when I got there. Not much different from trundling though a New England blizzard wearing overclothes, snowmobile boots, etc., on my way to work in the classroom. Only took me a couple of minutes to put on 'indoor' clothing and spend the rest of the day comfortable.

I couldn't do anything to stop the blizzard. I guess I always figured I had a choice; stay in New England or move to a different climate. Complaining about it didn't help anyone.

For all of those who live in the land of sunshine and roses, and stare down your noses at us grumpy, grumpy, panderers of pessimism -- try taking a bucket full of water thrown forcefully as possible right into your face while riding a motorcycle (like above). I'm sure you will maintain that idealistic smile, good-humor, and light-hearted playfulness -- especially as you pick yourself, your motorcycle, and your injured friends up off the road. Ha ha ha -- mai bpen rai -- ha ha ha.

There is a time and place for all things -- but its when idiots pass over the line and things get overly aggressive, spiteful, and dangerous -- yes! That does make me grumpy. I was approached a number of times today as I attempted to stay off the main water throwing routes because I was carrying electronics from Pantip Plaza (yes its a holiday but some people have business and work to attend to). I had more then one person attempt to pour water on me while I'm politely asking them not to, and then they ended up wet. Simple aikido (thank you sensei Klickstein). Their bucket's empty, they're wet, and I kept moving. But I should just <deleted>. Mr. Grumpy that I am in the eye's of the rather self-righteous ("we can accept all the quirks in Thailand, why can't you?") crowd. Perhaps ya'll never learned boundaries either. There is a sh*tload of difference between playful and vicious. If you can't ascertain the difference, you've got a problem.

Yes, there is a time and place for everything.

For Songkran -- mid-April is the time and Thailand is the place. If you think

throwing water is vicious, obviously Thailand is not the place for you.

Every country on earth has it's quirks. The logical solution is DON'T retire

in a place that has a set of quirks you CAN'T live with.

If you ignore this logic, don't be surprised if you get little sympathy.

You're missing the point completely.

I think giving 100 baht tip is generous. 2000 is being ignorant of the value of money here adding to the Thais thinking that we are all stupid.

May as well give a masseuse a weeks wages as that I'd how much it would

cost in your home country.

Or 7 11 staff an extra 200 baht when buying cigarettes as that's what they cost back home.

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No I completely understand your point and completely disagree with it.

A relatively wealthy person handing out whatever amounts of money to whomever they please for whatever reason is IMO an inherently positive act that overwhelms whatever negative side effects may accrue.

Your concern that raising their expectations will result in we foreigners being overcharged is to me abhorrently selfish.

Plus I don't see that result being at all likely in practice.

In most Asian countries, any farang giving a 2,000 baht (or equivalent) tip would usually be seen as a fool.

Such foolishness would usually be seen as completely overboard. There are sensible ways to show one's

appreciation, but a huge tip would likely be seen as a stupid farang trying to show how rich he is.