rwdrwdrwd

Subletting a house constitutes fraud.

Phew. I am glad they are getting the big boys...

From reading the article, he's not subletting, he's ripping off the prospective tenants and running off with their money.. It's a pretty nasty activity and if true I hope they throw the book at him.

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Khanom beach.... Not that crowded

Gorgeous - all being well will be within walking distance this time next year

I mean, slog away for 40 odd years so one can attempt to cram a lifetime of real living into the 10-20 years between stopping work and kicking the bucket ??!! Assuming one isn't already seriously ill by the time retirement comes around?

<deleted> to that. Wage slavery's a freakin' crock.

Lots of people operate on the "fringes of the workforce" - it's fabulous.

I work from home here in BKK pretty much when I like and have the freedom to go out and party if I like, take the time to travel if I like and still put some by for a rainy day.

It seems that quite often it's the people who have slogged for years saving up in order to one day stop slogging that get p'd off and patronising when it's suggested that doing a 40 year constant slog before moving to a place where you can live happily isn't a requirement. It's true though, it's not. On top of this, if you acquire and hone skills that can be performed from anywhere, in this age there is nothing to stop you earning just as much as you would working onsite back home in xyz in a traditional manner.

OP it sounds like you work for yourself from home, and make enough doing so to live in your home country - take the plunge, your min budget of 44k is fine if you are careful. Just keep enough stashed away for your ticket home (and be insured)

EDIT - remembers that interacting with the pitchforks-on-standby posse on the interweb when i'd blank them in real life makes little sense. Mods feel free to remove.

I had forgotten I started this thread! I got a multiple non immigrant O visa from Hull on the 17th July. I recon you just follow the advice on the website.

Regarding consulates not issuing visas: it probably does not make economic sense having so many consulates, and there is more scope for bending of rules outside the jurisdiction of the Embassies, so I recon It's just a matter of time before you will need to get them from Embassies.

Regarding tightening up the criteria for getting visas: Thailand isn't cheap any more and the financial criteria for long term staying will get tougher. For those planning to retire in Thailand, betime you retire you may be outpriced, especially If health care is required !

Did you have to (or choose to) provide any financial proof MaiChai?

I remember as a nine year old, the teacher giving us an arithmetic lesson, at the end she wrote the correct answer on the blackboard, then she said "all those with the wrong answer out on the Floor", she then belted all those with the wrong answer. I even remember about the same age getting belted by the headmaster for making a mistake.

How did that impact you? Did it lead to you:

1 - Suddenly getting good at maths

2 - Making sure you found out the correct answer from other pupils

3 - Shrinking to the back and keeping your head down

4 - Something else

Will be keeping my eye on this.. looks like I may have to bite the bullet and organise yearly extensions in country instead - Hull was awesome in terms of speed and reliability and a couple of weeks back in blighty every 15 months wasn't so bad so it's a shame! Good luck those applying to London, please do update with turnaround times.

Have you ever noticed how respectful and well behaved Thai students are?

i AM SURE THE SAME PRACTICE WORKS WELL AT HOME TOO!

Beating any non-confirmist attitude out of them early in life (and teaching by rote), might lead to an army of well behaved clones, however well behaved clones don't tend to get very far in life in my experience.

Have you ever noticed how respectful and well behaved Thai students are?

i AM SURE THE SAME PRACTICE WORKS WELL AT HOME TOO!

Beating any non-confirmist attitude out of them early in life (and teaching by rote), might lead to an army of well behaved clones, however well behaved clones don't tend to get very far in life in my experience.

Have you ever noticed how respectful and well behaved Thai students are?

i AM SURE THE SAME PRACTICE WORKS WELL AT HOME TOO!

Beating any non-confirmist attitude out of them early in life (and teaching by rote), might lead to an army of well behaved clones, however well behaved clones don't tend to get very far in life in my experience.

Quite the same graffiti. What's the meaning of this meme?

This was on the Central Festival overpass where they are digging the hole.

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the street artist responsible for this meme is named bon. he's from bangkok, and an actual artist who has been commissioned all over SE ASIA. you can find his work all over phuket - in nai harn, he painted the old concrete building near the lagoon with a fish, on thalang road in town, just near soi rommanee, he painted a bird, he's got a bunch of stuff scattered around kathu as well. if you are familiar with the bodega guest house in patong, he painted the entire second floor. i'm proud to say he's painted my kitchen chairs and my shoes; i've known him for nearly 3 years.

if you would be interested in seeing his work, not complaining about it, you can search him on facebook under mue bon.

I doubt this "street artist" resorts to poorly stenciled images...I'd say someone is imitating his work, because it sucks.

But a "street artist" painting shoes and kitchen chairs? I wonder if Banksy ever did that?

All of Banksy's work is stencil based, not sure about shoes and chairs, but he's definitely stencilled a cow.

Is it fair to impose controversial "art" on everyone, whether they want to see it, or not?

I don't think so, unless you are the calibre of Banksy, which this bloke obviously isn't..

Who has the right to define the calibre? Being from the city where Banksy attended uni I can tell you he's done (imo) some guff work over the years. For example lots of floor stencils that simply say 'BANKSY' - not particularly full of social commentary. He's also done some awesome work, hence his now venerated state even amongst the organisations that previously wanted to track him down and prosecute him.

On the same token, regarding the comment above about 'would you like it on your wall' the two people I know who ended up with original Banksy artwork on or inside their buildings certainly aren't complaining about it now.

In terms of this graffiti, and the rest from unknown artists - unless the complainers are the owner of the building, in which case the decision to remove it is theirs, I don't see any more right for them to complain than in regard to commercial advertising.

All looks clear there & will be for a few days. Samui is not that wet, only some afternoon storm activities.

Thanks for taking the time to answer Rooo, Khanom it is!

Yes, I know I can look at weather reports, but would prefer info from someone on the ground

I've got a long weekend, so my wife and I and the little one would like a weekend away near a beach - what's the weather doing now in Khanom?

Reports say it's wet and Samui looks wet but I'd like to know if it seems like a long spell of bad weather and if it's likely to be cloud cover all day long all weekend or patchy rain with sunny spells?

If it's bad, we're looking for somewhere a max 4 hour drive from Trang with a nice beach and reasonable selection of Western and Thai foods so suggestions welcome.

Cheers!

Hi Guys,

I m looking to order my first ecig kit from overseas, i am not sure if costoms will stop them, or might not allow them in thailand.

Has anyone ordered a kit from oversees? if so were there any issues?

Yes, at least 4 large (120 - 150ml) liquid orders and one kit (Riva) order from ukecigstore.com - never had any problems

Thai e vape dot com is a full english site sorry to say ,i get my juice for 60 baht 10 ml which is much cheaper than the 150 baht your suggesting ,they ems within 1 working day as well.also eco cig thai dot com is another well run english site with full kits juice and parts .

You're absolutely right, I was thinking about thaiecigclub for some reason. 60 baht is a very good deal!

I read through this topic 4 weeks ago when researching and we applied and just received a first UK passport for my son this morning (British father, Thai mother, 2 month old baby)

This is what we needed (Passport only, we did not opt to register the birth with the UK):

//ignore - repeating the suggestion that the $60k refers to the 2 million baht paid up capital

There's a shop in MBK, 3rd or 4th floor - ask around a few stalls and you'll find it, it's how we found it. Reasonable prices for e-liquid, 150baht for 10ml IIRC

Online, Thai E Vape as suggested are good, genuine products but more expensive than in the west and the site is all Thai

I miss the sausages from H G Walter in West Kensington - best in the UK! Try em out if you get a chance while you are there - on the Heathrow line..

After trying many, going through everything we could find in Makro / Tops we now order roasted beans from Bluekoff - you'll find them on Google, there are independent reviews of numerous blends here - http://www.coffeereview.com/allreviews.cfm?find=bluekoff.

I'm still working my way through their offerings but all so far have been excellent. They aren't cheap, but are very good - recommend the Special Espresso Blend 1 for an all round good coffee for both espresso and milky drinks.

Doi Chaang is a very nice coffee too

As mentioned by a previous poster the silver 500g ones are 'Suzuki' brand and are, frankly, hideous - I have a 480g bag here going free to masochists not been impressed with Bon Café and to be honest whilst Illy and Lavazza are reliable, there are nicer more local coffees out there.

Not sure if they do pre-ground but investing in even a cheap blade grinder is a great move (there's a well known black Krups one you can probably get easily for 750 - 1000baht). Average freshly ground beans are generally nicer than expensive pre-ground.

I tried a bread making machine bought from Hong Kong. It just did not seem to work here. Something to do with the electricity????

All of the breads/cakes etc came out looking like bricks. We tried different yeasts (from here and HK) nothing worked.

A commercial bread maker might work?

You were unlucky - we brought one over from the UK when we moved out, works perfectly.. Kenwood BM450

To the OP, there is one on invadeit, not sure it is any good - Hong Kong might be your best bet

I download torrents at near full speed, stream Netflix without buffering on the 13 meg (non Premier package) - far outweighed my expectations.

Just go and see him and say 'I heard you are looking after my phone, thanks for that you're a star' face saved all around.