Gary A

My farang friends got their yellow books from a much larger amphur than I live in. Immigration wanted me to get a yellow book. I took my wife and we went to the amphur. Since the boss lady didn't want to admit that she didn't know how to do it, she started telling me all the requirements I needed to get one. That included a visit to Bangkok to two different places. I made the mistake of telling her that my friends were in and out of their amphur office and had their books the same day. Obviously that made her angry so we left. During my next trip to immigration, I explained the problem and they told me that I really didn't need one. The issue came up again when I renewed my driver's license. I had to go to immigration and get a certificate of residence. That was a hassle and I still don't have a yellow book.

I moved back to the USA when the Thai economy crashed. I had a company build a one cubic meter crate and fitted into it everything that would fit. It made it to the US without any damage. When I unpacked the crate, it finally occurred to me that the contents were worth no where near the thousand dollars total that the shipping had finally cost me. The most expensive items were my complete dive gear kit. I never used the dive gear again and ended up giving it to my son.

9 hours ago, cheeryble said:

I told the missus about this thread.

She said she has a cleaner because she is allergic to dust......which is true.

She's always right, you see.

 Nothing different there. Women are like that. My wife Knows EVERYTHING.  That's not all bad, I blame her for driving me to drink. I have gotten used to her helping me when I am doing repair jobs around the house. When she supervises, I throw down my tools, tell her to do it herself and go to town to have a beer.

If you are planning on training, I'm afraid that you are on mission impossible. Women are not trainable. They either have a sense of what they consider their duty or they don't. I'd really like my wife to slow down and start taking time to relax but she tells me that she cannot because it is her duty to farm herself and to take care of her husband. She does tell me that she MAY quit the electric company next year. Unfortunately she told me that same thing last year.

My wife works full time farming and working part time for the electric company. She still finds time to take care of me.

32 minutes ago, cheeryble said:

 

Oh, in Britain char = char lady = cleaner/laundress

We lost her my clothes need ironing :-)

 

 

 

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I'd say that you have to have a long talk with your wife and explain to her what her duties are.

52 minutes ago, cheeryble said:

 

Can she iron my clothes we lost our char?



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You lost me

11 minutes ago, steven100 said:

I have some shirts in the cupboard I no longer wear that I can send over to you ....

also ...  I could get a couple of dressers for your wife if you like .....

Thanks but no thanks. I would accept some T shirts if they are not too ragged. My wife has the nasty habit of making mop rags from some of my favorite T shirts. A couple small holes are no reason to throw my T shirts away. She also has this need to iron my clothes. If my clothes are wrinkled, she says her friends will think that she doesn't take good care of her husband. My wife would likely make mop rags from dresses that she will never wear. Maybe I should add that at age 50, she still looks good in a pair of jeans.

On 8/12/2017 at 7:06 AM, catman20 said:

you and your family can live on 40,000 baht a month ?

How much do you spend a month has been beaten to death. I have a condo in the farang ghetto and live in my wife's house upcountry. I can and do live on 40,000 baht a month easily and comfortably. If you are paying rent, making car and motorbike payments it may be cutting it close.

I always liked Stickman until  he decided to go HiSo. Nothing he ever wrote or did entitled him to be HiSo. Bye Bye Stickman. No loss for me. He was no better or worse than the normal whore mongers. He eventually thought himself to be better than his regular readers.

My wife spends the majority of her time working. She has to check on Facebook and talking to her friends on her speakerphone while cooking. After I eat, she is back on Facebook. I spend much more time on the Internet than she does. As long as she feeds me, I'm happy.

They like US dollars. A couple friends of mine and myself went and the line through customs was VERY long. A friendly uniformed guy said he could take care of everything for $40. One friend spent a couple of hours waiting in line and saved $15. I guess we all should have waited in line because we had to wait on our friend. I seriously doubt they would accept a credit card.

My wife has an 11 KG Toshiba inverter. It replaced a 10 year old LG that finally gave up. The LG washed clothes to suit her The only problem with it was that it walked all over the floor during the spin cycle. The Toshiba is very quiet and the spin cycle vibrates very little. She says the LG cleaned clothes better and she is not happy with the Toshiba. We also have a condo and have a smaller Samsung Wobble model there. She says it too cleans the clothes better.

It's the old saying. When you're stupid, you have to be tough. It's a wonder there are not more injuries and deaths. It does seem very common for tourists to leave their brain at the airport.

There are VERY few of the mechanical harvesters in this area. The few that there are won't even consider the small fields that the farmers in this area have. Even farmers with huge fields don't like to use mechanical machines. The machine itself and especially the heavy truck the runs beside it cause too much damage. 

These days, farm labor is difficult to find. My wife is a farm girl. Her main crop is sugarcane. My wife is nearly 50 years old. I talked into selling her sugarcane standing. That way she doesn't have to cut it herself. The guy who bought her crop could not find enough cutters. My wife tried to find some help for him but few Thais want to work that hard. She ended up helping him herself. She was making about 500 to 600 baht a day. She was up at daylight and came limping home about dark. Cutting sugar cane is a tough way to make a living. Cutting cane is piece work, the more you are able to cut, the more money you make. I should add that most of the workers are women.

I have a Thai friend. He is about 30 years old and looks quite fit. He is always broke. I thought he may be willing to help cut but he looked at me like I was crazy. He said that was too hard.  It was easier for him to just live off his wife's small restaurant. His main profession was playing bass Guitar for a Thai band. They got booked maybe once a month.

My wife has a decent house out in the boonies and I also have a nice condo in the farang ghetto called Jomtien. I give her 30,000 baht a month. She pays all the utilities, my Internet, buys all the household needs, food and our clothes. However, we have two motorbikes, a car and a pickup truck. I buy them and any other big ticket items, road taxes, insurance,  my condo expenses and of course my bar bills (small). It is possible to live on a thousand dollar a month if you eliminate things you really don't need and don't live in a major city.

I'm a solar fan and my computer, printer, lights and fans are totally off the grid. This doesn't mean that you have to have solar set up for your computer. A small automatic battery charger, a fairly large deep cycle battery attached to a small inverter will keep your computer off grid and will give you very stable voltage. All that will be cheaper than a huge UPS, it is easily repairable, if needed, and will serve the purpose very well. I started out that way after my first small UPS died and then a larger one died. Adding a couple solar panels eliminated the automatic battery charger. You will need a solar charge controller if you use solar panels. I could find no one who wanted to or could repair a UPS. A UPS unit with a 150 AH battery will be VERY expensive. The battery and automatic charger with a small pure sine wave inverter would be a perfect power supply for an apartment or condo.

3 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

That is your rogue office (Loei I  think) saying that.

Yes, it is indeed Loei immigration.

During my last 90 day report, I specifically asked if I could do the next report online. The answer was no, you have to come here. I should mention that it is a one hundred kilometer one way drive. What a waste!

Since there are not many farangs in my area I think the boss lady at the amphur I have to use simply didn't know how to make one. She made up all sorts of reasons why she couldn't do it. The next amphur up the road is where some of my friends were able to go. They got their yellow books with no hassle and had them the same day. That amphur told my wife that I had to use the amphur where I live.

My wife was an ardent supporter of the general. He could do no wrong. Now she has somewhat changed her opinion. She says he is interfering with how the Thai people have lived all their lives. Some change is inevitable but not all changes are practical. 

Not all of the street food vendors will go. I'm not sure how the law works but some store owners charge rent for a space in front of their stores, Some even provide an awning that is attached to their building. One food vendor that I knew was paying 500 baht per month for her space. The lady didn't mind paying the rent because she still had business when it was raining.

I ate street food nearly every day for several years while working in a prosperous Thai factory. We didn't leave the premises.  The company driver would take our orders and bring the food back to us. You could find no food better than what we ate. Unfortunately the factory workers had to eat at the company cafeteria.