Vegemite

Some New Zealand banks are now offering fixed term rates of 7.5% p.a. for a 9 month term.

May be usefull to some expats.

All the best.

and this is after the NZD has already tanked, so it probably shouldn't slide too much further. That's not bad actually.

Might see what my mum is up to, she should be locking in at those rates.

Reserve bank kept rates the same but threatened to raise if inflation keeps rising.

NZDollar shot up.

Saw today one bank ( Kiwi Bank ) offering 7.55% but not sure of the term. Will check.

Some New Zealand banks are now offering fixed term rates of 7.5% p.a. for a 9 month term.

May be usefull to some expats.

All the best.

I look forward to the day, when some has the balls, to take the immigration department to the International Court in the Hague, for seperating a man from his legally wedded wife!

Good luck with that.. But be sure to bring a case against virtually every country in the world when you do it..

You don't get an automatic right to live in any country just because you are married to someone..

This has been the case since the middle ages almost.

For those that are genuine there will be no problem. For those that are scamming expect to get caught out.

It's the same the world over.

Get a lawyer. Do the paperwork. Pay the fees, and everything will be fine.

Sit and whinge and moan and criticize and you can always expect your worst nightmares to come true.

I am genuinely married and have been for five and half years. The point here is that the Thai system, has no form of redress for mistakes, moreover after being married for a certain period of time, one should not have to be reliant on annual renewals, but be given some form of permanent residency, providing all the paper work and the circumstances are kosher! But that is not the case, I know someone who has been married here for 27 years and still has to go through the ridiculous process of annual renewal. If his wife had gone to the UK with him, should could have been a prominient local politician or even an MP by now! But here your just a foreigner!

In New Zealand it took my wife two and a half years to get permanent residence.

It can take less time than this.

As a permanent resident she can own or start a business, own a house and do what ever she wants.

She is also entitled to the social welfare system, like it or not.

New Zealand also supports many of the Pacific Islands financially.

Many of these Island people have come here over the decades and many of those that have come abuse the social welfare system.

And you know the funny thing is, that a Kiwi cant buy land in the Pacifis Islands. Or Thailand.

I just dont think it is fair somehow!

Anybody got any experience growing mushrooms on a small scale, nobody I know here grows them they all seem to go pick them from the wild.

Any help appreciated

Hopefully there is a pic of a little thatched roof house thing with black walls with this post.

The family grows mushrooms for the village upcountry.

Wife says that they use rice straw and cover with plastic.

Anything with your address on is good. Snail mail envelopes or courier packs, stamped.

Photos are good to.

I went through it in N.Z. so maybe similar.

At the interview we were asked ( seperately ) to draw a picture of our bedroom.

The interviewer was from India and I was waiting for the question about underwear colours but it never came.

I found it to be a humiliating experience and basically threatened the Indian with marriage ( my wife and I ).

The interview was terminated and it took 2 1/2 years to get permanent residence.

Keep on thier back if they muck you around and phone the immigration as often as you want, every time that you phone it is recorded on the computer. Dont forget that it is a government department and as such they have to follow certain guide lines wether the person you are dealing with likes you or not.

I talked with some real sh#ts of the highest order but also some very helpfull people at THE DEPARTMENT.

A friend of mine told me " you can either kiss arse or kick it ". He kissed it all the way through and got permanent residence 6 months before us.

I could never do it that way.

In the end it has been worth it for sure for me. My wife is a great lady.

Make sure you tick ALL the boxes.

Sorry to ramble. Hope it helps and best of luck.

-->

Good one Baz!

I have 2 friends that visit Thailand up to a dozen times a year, one of them is there now at a food conference.

One of them has a Thai wife and goes to Thailand with his wife as a " real tourist " as well as the business trips.

These guys are well educated and experts in thier fields. They travel throughout Asia but use Bangkok as a base.

They come from New Zealand wich is visa exempt!!!!

They dont spend "months on end in the kingdom" but they WILL be effected by these changes.

[

Thanks for the info.

Do you have a phone number for the Tosang?

Will visit for sure.

Jay

Not sure about SK bowling. I don't go there much as it is too crowded with teens.

Marco will possible know, as he had his shop there, before he moved to Chayangkul rd.

The Polar Bear has moved to new location on Sukha Uppatam rd, (east side of Sk) but Tim is offshore for another couple of months.

Wrongway Cafe is the best place to meet other farangs, play some pool, have a few cold ones , and some delicious food!

Hope to see you in both Wrongway and Suan Loong Daeng, - next you come to Ubon!

Trond

We will be upcountry March/April next year and I really want to swing through Ubon for a visit as my son in law is going to univeristy there.

Probably been asked before, but, where is the Wrongway and the other one?

Are there any decent serviced apartments in Ubon?

\We will be coming from Mahasarakham via Roi-et ( great place ) does anyone know the most farang friendly way to get to Ubon?

All the best.

Is this rush hour??

Yep!

Every morning at around 6am take the buffalo to the rice field for food and shade.

Every evening take the buffalo back to home.

Not much in between, just the occasional motorbike and the odd utility truck selling something.

Here is a pic looking across the road from THE shop where I drank as many bia Hienekan as I was allowed to. Very relaxing.

[

This is our "upcountry " to be or not to be!

Buffalo shot and all.

Hope this works.

Hello,

If anybody has any info about fishing in Thailand I am building a web portal dedicated to fishing here.

Any content is welcome especially pictures of catches, info about venues or tackle used.

If youcheck this link you will see the sort of thing I mean...http://tfp.mangofishing.com its not finished yet.

I would really appreciate any help from fellow anglers out there, who want to contribute, any conent published will have a credit to you on the page and a link to your website if you have one.

I know there must be loads of expat anglers in Thailand. It doesnt matter what country you are from as long as you have some info about fishing in Thailand.

The more the merrier.

Also there maybe some bonuses of free goodies from tackle sponsors for really good stuff.

Please Anything to do with fishing, even what you got up to after the fishing.

please send PM to make contact.

Tight lines

Great idea,

Check out Issan forum, page 2, subject- hooked, by Loz........

Some great pics

I love fishing and will keep my eye on this topic for sure.

All the best.

Where can he sell the earth worm , any needs in thailand ? what is the market price ?

You're joshing us ... right

Naka.

Earth worm farms are a lucrative industry in some countries.

Anyone that is into organic farming will know the benifits of worms to aireate and fertilize the soil.

There are different types of worms believe it or not and the ones that you will find in a compost heap are the ones that will eat anything " that has lived and died ".

Food scraps, cardboard ( dead trees with glue ), tea bags, coffee grinds, carpet and probably ex-people...

They need lime to digest all this stuff so if they get up and run away the soil is probably not much good for anything and the ph is wrong.

They say that, if you give these things the right conditions, you can basically throw them at clay plot and they will turn it into fertile ground.

To take lots of drugs and learn about Buddhism in 1992.

Fell in love with the culture and my wife so stayed.

At least you are honest.

[

Also have to ask that if the topic was so old, why did it come up as a " new topic " without any replies.

Why does it take so long to reach TV.

The wife has been getting info for months c/o sanook.com

Bloody awsome!

How do I hook up on some of these fish?

I dont understand your rig. Do you mean a dropper rig with the sinker ( wieght ) at the bottom and the bait on a trace futher up the line?

Or a sliding sinker against a swivel and then the trace or leader.

Do you know if these fish are bottom feeders and or what they eat naturally?

Thanks for the pics.

You have given me a reason to retire in Thailand.

//

Tried to buy a bottle of imported vodka at Makro in Roi Et yesterday.

It was not possible before after 5 in the afternoon. Had to leave without.

New law?

Olaus

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey lampard10.... here's another one!

Seriously olaus, you should do a bit of a search on the forum before you post ones like this. It's been done to death (several times) already.

Maybe Olaus doesn`t drink a lot or at all.

Maybe he just wanted some for a special time.

Maybe he cannot or doesn`t want to look at the internet very often, he may have better things to do.

But Olaus is still a TV member.

Anyone interested in having a TV pool cometition in Khon Kaen?

Hi Neeranam,

very sad that you have had no replies to this topic.

I, as you, were a pool fanatic at one stage in my life and would be there if I had the chance.

Maybe the TV members around KK are worried that they cant get their stick up over the cushion anymore.

All the best.

[

Thanks for the great replies.

But

What about the ants and the chickens/roosters.

Does the heat get you sometimes

The noisy mobile shop trucks at 6AM

Thanks Andy, where are you?

Do you expats living in Isaan ever have any regrets.

I mean the people that have uprooted from thier native country and decided to live there permanently.

Do you ever feel homesick in a big way?

What about the food? How much do you miss the food from back home?

The language?

The Thai way?

If you have a Thai wife, has she forgotten any of the english ( or other ) that she used to be good at? Do you crave a chance to talk in your native tongue?

If you live in the sticks and miles away from other people or even a small village, what do you do?

I am only asking because I may be one of you in the future and probably a lot of others will have the same option.

P.S. Steveromagnino

Do you think that Kiwis addiction to property may have something to do with good capital gains over the long term and no capital gains tax?

Yep, too true; also immigration in the last few years has been propping things up... however you have to look at the market now and ask whether on average the rent yields justify the valuations...in the case of the inner city you'd say no for a lot of the little dungeons built lately, and that's why the apartment/slum market has slumped. For the newly constructed stuff, there is all the concern of leaky building.

Then again on the flip side, you have this mandatory guardian bit in play now, which virtually encourages/forces the family to also have at least a parent out here to take care of their kiddies; I suppose that might prop things up a little longer; but you'd be hard pressed to bank that the last few years of double digit growth in parts of AUckland can be expected to continue.

Almost all my mother's non-Thai friends plus most of the Thai friends we have in Auckland all have most of their money tied up in rental properties for the tax benefits you mention. But the portfolios are unbalanced; only my mother has money in any thing else; the rest are pretty much only in property. Fine in the last 10 years, but they've suffered with the drop of the NZD and a few are going to be stuck with dog leaky properties or cruddy doghouse apartments. Property is ALWAYS a great bet in almost any market if you have the right property in terms of price location and so on. Less so in a tough market (like now).

I am not sure if you are down there or not...is this how you see it or is there something I am missing here (located 10 hours flight from AKL)?

When you say you made 12%; you were also buying futures, or you invested abroad and brought back to NZD or what? I am well happy; bought a boat at 23.5b just last week; had been looking at the same boat last year; back then when economy was stronger is was $20k NZD, I got it for quite a bit cheaper than that, plus made on the currency gain too :-)

As usual the RBNZ will hold interst rates up for to long and everything will come crashing down again. Have seen it to many times before. A lot of people will be burnt on property for sure.

But what I am trying to say, is that because of this stop start mentality by the reserve bank, the interest rates will stay high for longer than they should. It takes them at least 6 months to figure out what is going on.

At the moment Kiwi bank are offering 7.3% for 6 months and most others 7.2%.

I made close to 12% in 3 months with a foriegn exchange account in USD. I am not normally a trader but couldnt resist a sure thing.

I am sure that I told you in this forum that this was going to happen some time ago.

I am based in Auckland so the low dollar has a down side when we travel to Thailand now but maybe the baht will drop futher.

Why dont more people invest into a Kiwi $ time deposit account? Seems in these turbulant economic times 6-7% interest would be a safe and stable investment?

I have been getting 7.3% P.A. for the last year, and still can, for 5 or 6 month terms on any amount over NZ$5000.

Made close to 12% in 3 months on the Kiwi dropping against the USD.

Reserve banks statement last week said interest rates will stay the same for some time and economists are picking the middle of next year before any drop. Inflation is around 4% mainly because of oil. The RBs target band is 1 - 3%.

NZD is now quite stable.

P.S. Steveromagnino

Do you think that Kiwis addiction to property may have something to do with good capital gains over the long term and no capital gains tax?