keestha

Wondering if a work permit is needed for this type of activity.

Maybe they apply different rules in different offices, but 2 weeks ago I extended my 5 years drivers licence 3 months before it expired. They had told me beforehand that was the maximum period allowed.

I was given my first 5 year licence after 2 years of holding 1 year licences.

in the very unlikely event of getting caught, a handful of Baht at the time will make it all disappear, TIT

Unwise to count on this.

Seen from the perspective of a hotel owner:

Hotels always have high season and low season rates. Charging low season rates during the high season because pickings are slim would hardly bring any more customers, the demand simply isn't there. Besides that, maintaining low season rates all year round would mean sure bankrupcy.

Traditionally, high season rates are charged from November 1 on. Sure there are not many people around yet, but to my experience the stream doesn't really start flowing till about November 12.

Again, stunting with prices just doesn't bring anything when demand is lacking. A 4 star hotel just around the corner from me is asking 1300 Baht now, including breakfast. Of their 120 rooms, 10 are occupied now. So for the time being I will resist the temptation to put up a big banner at the airport advertising a crazy offer.

If you really like the apartment (apart from this problem) and you want to stay there, you could install a small waterpump where the pipe comes into your apartment, if the landlady agrees to this. Such a pump costs about 5000 Baht, it will switch on every time you use water, and it generates very little noise.

This post is only relevant for those living in the countryside using septic tanks.

Once I had a problem with cockroaches in my resort, so I called Rentokill. I expected them to spray everywhere, but they said the cockroaches resided in the septic tanks, and it would be enough to put a poison in there.

I didn't really believe it, but after they poured some kind of liquid in all the septic tanks, the buggers magically disappeared right away.

I remember a very similar case about 12 years ago.

The flight from Bangkok touched down at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam/Netherlands. After all the other passengers were picked up or had found their way to the taxi rank, the busstation or the railway station, five men were still waiting for somebody who would never show up. Somehow they made contact, and found out they were waiting for the same Thai lady.

Dutch police forwarded reports to their Thai colleagues, and the operation was tracked down to a Dutch guy running a guesthouse in Bangkapi/Bangkok. Needless to say he was arrested, don't know what happened to him after that.

At the Surin islands as usual for national park accomodation, the bungalows are overpriced at 2000 baht per night. The bungalows are old and a bit run down, but still OK if you are flexible. The restaurant was no great shakes last high season, but oh well you are not going for the culinary experience. They close up at 21.30 and won't open the fridge if you want a beer after that.

Trips by longtailboat to the snorkeling places cost 80/100 Baht. Sure it is to my knowledge the best snorkeling still to be had in Thailand.

There are many people staying at Surin for longer periods, also with children.

Transfer roundtrip by speedboat should cost about 1900 for adults and about 1300 for children up to 11 years, shop around at tourcounters in Kuraburi. There might also be a fast boat which is cheaper, more pleasant but slower, but when I talked to the company organizing the transfers (1 week ago) they were not sure about this yet for this high season.

Arrange accomodation at the island itself. To my experience there are always bungalows free, except maybe occasionally for the weekends when there are many Thai tourists, weekdays there are not many people there. In Kuraburi book just the transfer, don't let them talk you into booking a package including accomodation, it is more expensive and you have less flexibility. But when booking the transfer, ask them to call to make sure there are bungalows available.

Have fun,

Kees.

Sure, same with Katsikorn Bank,when you go into a branch office with your Katsikorn bankbook.

But what I mean is withdrawal limits using a Thai ATM with cards issued by foreign banks.

A few months ago there were quite a few reports on low limits like 10,000 Baht if using a foreign card with an ATM in Thailand. But this was at the height of the financial crisis, I could imagine that now the panic about banks collapsing has subsided a bit, these limits also have been lifted. Would like to know if it is generally possible right now to withdraw 20,000 using a foreign card. Any recent experiences?

A few years ago I read an article in the German press that German customs use money sniffer dogs at the land border. Somebody carrying an unusually high amount of cash can keep it, but once back home he will be requested to do some explaining.

The sniffer dog would also detect the wad of cash if it would be hidden in a barrel filled with pla ra.....sometimes nature still beats technique.

As a rule the lease contract will be a standard contract you can get in any shop selling office materials such as stationary, pencils, rulers and so on. What has to be filled in are names, duration of the lease, and how much has to be paid at what intervals. Especially in case this standard form is not used, be sure to check/have somebody check the Thai text which is legally binding, don't rely on a translation.

You definitely need a lease in your own name, and meeting the landlord make sure he doesn't want key money.

Hate to rehash what other people have already said, but one big question remains: If this is a profitable business, why doesn't the old owner try to sell it?

The office where sole proprietorships are registered is called OrBorTor Changwat. The cost is very little.

Not sure if this helps, but in the somewhat better bookstores they sell standard forms to authorize somebody to do something on your behalf. The Thai expression is "bai mawp am naat".

Second that, also never been asked for one for WP renewal or extension of stay. Did anything change recently?

My friend informed me today that his wife has experienced many problems because of marrying a farang because her friends are green with jealousy. They hate the idea that she comes from the same background as they do but now she is a Hi-So Farang Mia. Have you and your wife experienced this in your village/personal life?

This type of jealousy exists: things like the girl telling her "friend" who has a farang boyfriend that she will also have one within a year.

Among Thai women who are married with westerners, both here and in the western countries, there is also a lot of jealousy concerning wealth and status of the husbands.

In between Hua Hin and Chumporn there is a string of small beach resorts which might fit the bill.

Going from North to South: Ao Manao (directly south of Prachuabkhirikhan), Sam Roi Yot, Thap Sakae, Ban Krut, Bang Saphan Yai, Bang Saphan Noi.

North of Songhkla there is an endless stretch of perfect beach without tourists. Not many places to stay though, probably the resort in Satingh Phra about 30 KM north of Songhkla is still there. It is also close to a birds reserve in the huge lake in between Songkhla and Phattalung provinces.

Another place that comes to mind is Laem Son National Park in Kaper, Ranong province. Beautiful area with few tourists, but the beach is somewhat less good for swimming.

Might be an old tradition at Ekkamai. In the period 1992-2000 I used the Thai public transport very extensively, and the only place where I was ever stopped and searched (up to the present date) was Ekkamai, in 1993. It never happened at the Southern Bus Terminal, where I passed through far more often.

Next time in a bookstore take a look at books for learning English. Oh well, maybe loss of face to ask a native speaker to proofread and edit.

I'll never forget this jewel: "on the suspicious occasion of the opening of our new factory' - meant to be auspicious of course.

On the other hand, often enough I saw westerners insist on speaking Thai, though they would be better understood speaking English.

A pity that things took root permanently like man/woman instead of ladies/gentlemen on toilet doors, and what about taxi meter?

Once my work permit was stamped with a text saying I was permitted to work for the time being by the alien occupational control division

I could only associate it with science fiction.

PMK,

As said, the problem also occurred if there were no devices connected to any USB port.

Meanwhile I googled up a solution, or rather managed to stop the irritating message from appearing. Still think it is not a good sign, but it works like this:

1) right click my computer

2) click properties

3) click hardware

4) click device manager

5) right click USB universal host controller

6) click properties

7) click advanced

8) tick box saying don't tell me about USB errors.

The subject is certainly interesting enough to have a sensible conversation.

Maybe I should be ashamed to admit I always completely ignore Thai people unknown to me calling out "hello" when they see me.

Once I was with a group of Thai people at a big market in the middle of nowhere, somebody hello'ed me, and I gave him the usual non-treatment. Later he approached one of the Thai man in our group, and asked him if I was a farang at all (although I am tall and blond haired), because I didn't reply his hello. The guy said yes, he is a farang, but he is just not interested if people call out hello to him, it happens everywhere continuously.

Obviously the man thought farangs like it if people hello them, and no doubt many Thai people think like him.

I certainly was a bit ashamed when after ignoring a hello, the person walked up to me, and explained me in Thai that I knew him. Don't wanna be perceived as arrogant, but oh well, in the area where I live people who know me almost invariably greet me in Thai, and then I certainly respond, also when I don't remember who the person is.

thais actuallt consider it rude if you dont reply,, like u are ignoring them / they are not good enough for u to speak to..

generally in village life, towns, local communities, the Thais all say hello to each other in one way or another..its part of their community spirit,, so no harm in joining in,, just a wavw will d or an acknowledgement with a smile is fine..

Sure, but you are talking about community settings.......what about the total stranger who hello'es me at the highway gas station? He certainly won't sawat dee kap Thai people there that he doesn't know. It is just that I am not interested in a "where you from" type of conversation. I concede you did make a valid point though.

A few years ago there were lots of job ads in the Bangkok Post offering jobs for foreigners to be done at odd hours (5AM till 2PM). Later I found out through job seeking acquaintances that these places were selling investments to Australians, that explained the strange working hours.

Not long afterwards many of these places were raided and closed down. Boiler rooms is the proper expression for such places, but likely many of the newbies working there (openers) were not even aware they were assisting in a scam.

On one of my PC's, which is running on Win XP, since a few days continuously a balloon appears at the bottom of the screen which says " a USB device has exceeded the power limits of its HUB port. For assistance in solving this problem, click this message". When I do so, I get a list of the USB ports, and a message that says: "location of the device is shown in bold type". Indeed two of the USB ports have a question mark in front of them, and a text saying "unknown USB device", one of them in bold letter type. The other USB ports symply have a text saying "unused port".

Only the printer, which functions normally, is connected via a USB port, and the message also appears when the printer has been unplugged.

I went into device manager, which says all the USB ports are functioning properly, and also the Add Hardware option in the Control Panel cannot find any unknown hardware.

When I right click on the message, it disappears, but it keeps coming back.

Using the restore option to go back one week, before the problem occurred, also didn't help.