Aussietraveller

for an employer to state that you have to surrender your passport to them, and cannot get it back unless you resign, is wrong.

I would never be comfortable surrendering my passport to anyone while in another country.

I would be suspicious of the motives of an employer who insisted on this.

Stephen,

You are being proactive about finding a solution, and i commend you for that.

I saw your ad in the jobs wanted section. It seems well worded, and i hope that this produces some good results for you.

You have a tough decision to make, that will involve a sacrifice of some sort.

Your last post, listing option A and B is close to the mark.

Option A, taking control again will involve some conflict, but may be in the best interests of your child.

It will require you changing your career plans in the short term.

IMHO, i would have the child out of there so fast and into a better environment.

My child, my rules, no exceptions. (you cannot enforce this however if you give full time care to the grandparents)

Option B:

Can you live with it?

Unbelievable Thailand

You have a product that you cannot sell.

What to do?

Reduce the appeal of the product and raise the price by 50%.

Not only that, organise to triple the price over the next 10 years.

What idiot thought that one up?

Northern girls being lured into porn: report

The Anti-Trafficking Coordination Unit Northern Thailand, or Trafcord, revealed other young women had been lured to karaoke bars and restaurants in Malaysia and Taiwan.

Trafcord manager Suriya Kasemsirisawasdi said women from North villages are tricked into pornography and prostitution after marrying Japanese men and moving to their country.

"We found, too, that many girls aged just 12 or 13 are sent to work in Malaysia by their parents," said Suriya.

So the manager of the Anti Trafficking Unit in Thailand, says that they found many girls of 12 or 13 are sent by their parents.

Why have they not stated in here how many of the parents have been arrested?

Once again unfortunately, the victims are those who are too poor to do anything about it and the kids sent to work in prostitution and porn.

The journalists here seem happy to write the story, but have very little backbone when it comes to getting and printing the facts.

Who are the people running the racket, and who are they paying off so that it does not get properly shut down or investigated?

The only direct information on this comes from the Nation.

Does anyone have anymore information, as opposed to rumor and speculation?

DAS, can you get any more information on what is actually happening to this poor sod?

The views of my wifes family, about her, since we have been married, are more based on the person that she is now, rather than the possessions or money we have.

She is from Northern Thailand, and from a fairly typical farming family.

Since we have been together, we have traveled extensively, and she has seen a few different cultures and countries.

She is more confident in expressing her opinion, and telling people what she thinks.

She can appreciate the shortcomings of Thailand, and also see the good points.

She has a desire to travel and experience new things.

How does society perceive her?

I do not care, and i do not think she does either.

In Thailand unfortunately, a lot of Thai peoples perception of her will be clouded as she is married to a "farang".

They will make assumptions about her past, and about her rank in society.

The only people whose opinions matter to us are our family and friends.

Hi there,

you posted several days ago to say that you had just got a drivers licence and were looking to buy a scooter?

Same request as Soundman, except the truck can be any size.

I need to get some boxes from home(Phuket), up to the Mother in Laws house in Udon Thani.

Probably 20kg total.

What would be the best way.

Easy solution for a Visa for me, getting a Non Imm O based on Marriage.

For our daughter, she has the advantage of dual nationality.

She will have the advantage of a western education, and be able to choose where she lives.

My wife loves Australia, so we are able to spend time in either country as we please.

Congratulations.

I Hope that she enjoys her time in OZ.

Hi ALl,

Still having problems with my email.

downloads at about 1 kb a minute (yes minute!)

Anyone other Australian users out there in LOS with a bigpond email account having the same problem?

Soundman,

I do not want to make light of your situation, but i am sure i am not the only one who would like to know if you got fed tonight?

Hope things work out..

Cheers

Womble,

Just out of interest, what was the quoted price, and what did they try to charge?

Did you get any action out of head office?

In the end you may need to pay the bill, to get your vehicle back.

Document everything, and lodge a written complaint with head office.

Go right to the top of Toyota in Thailand, and beyond if you have to.

Toyota Corporate take customer service very seriously.

Point out that this one incident may influence your future vehicle servicing location, and the brand of car you buy next.

Hi all,

Can anyone shed any light on this topic.

Where to get Prague Powder #1 in Phuket?

If not, what are the ingredients.

Can you make it yourself?

I am looking to have a crack at making Ham.

Any advice appreciated.

I'm on TT&T in Phuket.

Thai sites and Thai Visa are fine.

Australian Sites and my POP3 email are terrible.

email coming in at less than 1kb a second.

Cant log on to my bigpond account in OZ, as it will not connect.

Bat 69,

from what you say, the house probably has a squat toilet.

more info on squat toilet here

I think that you are going to Sam Phran, so you are not too far out in the boonies.

Day trips in to Bangkok are not too much of a problem.

Hua Hin is a few hours down the road (south), and IMHO a lot nicer than Pattaya.

Food may be a bit of a challenge, when you are at her parents house.

You should find a 7-11 nearby, so you can always find something.

If you are out and see a Tesco or Big C, drop in and do a little food shopping for yourself.

My Thai in Laws live a very different life to me, but they are lovely people.

Relax and enjoy getting to know them.

Thailand is addictive, and i am sure that you will love it.

Great to have this as a subforum.

It will make things a lot easier to find.

When they suspected a biological terror attack, they may not have been far wrong.

Some Issan food has the same effect on me soon after consumption...

Do you know where your Girlfriends parents live?

In a city or a village?

Are they poor or well off?

What are you plans after the first two weeks?

The more detail you can give us, the more we can help you.

There are many Australians in Thailand, and we all survive.

I love the place, sometimes better than OZ.

David96,

I hope that you friend is able to sort this out.

I am sure that he will find a way.

Although jumping up and down and making waves does sometimes produce results, and we all feel like it at times with OZ Immigration,

perhaps he could try to find someone at immigration sympathetic to his case.

Often those that work in the system, know the best avenues to get around it in different circumstances.

Good Luck to him.

If that fails he has two options,either live in Thailand or as a last resort terminate the marriage. It is now just a matter of waiting for the decision by the Migration Review Tribunal.

David96,

On the basis of this statement that you have have made, i would have to ask how serious is he about the relationship?

If he cannot get a Visa for his wife, he would "terminate the marriage"

If that is the attitude of the applicant, he does not deserve to get the visa.

Does he view the marriage as something that is good as long as it is convenient for him?

The following are links to Philippines Government web sites containing visa information.

visa guidelines

http://www.gov.ph/se...sa-application/

http://www.dfa.gov.p...es-requirements

Ministry of Tourism

Phillipines immigration

All sites are fairly detailed, with information on all Visa types.

Good luck to you.

in 3.5 hrs, you went from setting up an internet based export business in Thailand, to throwing that all in and moving to South Korea.

I hope the losses that you incurred in R&D for your Thai business did not set you back too much.

There must be some amazing opportunities available in South Korea then?

C'mon...give us a clue as to what you plan to do in Sth Korea?

Residency - ......you buy the document for 10,000kip from the Police Head office in Vientiane (just down the road for the Oz embassy).

There aint much choice - when it comes to visas in the Lao PDR!

Looking at the cost of the PR docs.

10,000 Kip = 33 Baht = AUS$1.20 = USD 1.05

pretty steep