Edward B

Bob,

Can you tell us what basic things you do that require you to hand over your passport? Just curious.  ???

PS: Haven't heard of a farang jumping to his death from a condo in Pattaya recently. It was running at about one a month.

They're all in jail.

Intersting that you mention this. I know this was discussed ad nauseum a month or so ago but I saw on telly a few nights ago that a top ?Swiss coroner was asked to help with the investigation of a 'death' of a Thai minister that happened 5 years ago. Apparently the police said at the time that it was suicide (gun shot to the head). I bet the murder weapon was never found.

Anyway, now both the outside coroner and the Thai one (cool looking female with spiky red streaked hair) agree that it may have been murder. The life insurance pay-out I think would then come into play.

btw maichai, did you change your avatar?

I have been reading this forum for years and the BG topic has never affected me until last night....

Troll. Seeing George was the first member to join and that was only 10 months ago !!!

Of course ignorance of the law is no excuse in any case. However, as I wrote elsewhere, the Thai government had given the impression that visa agencies would be tolerated. To suddenly begin arresting people with no prior warning is a little much.

Again, you'd be gunned down...

"Giving an impression" is no green light to go ahead and break the law.

...this whole mess stinks more than the inside of the  koh phangan mini bus out of khao san road.

ignorance of the law is no excuse ??? get off your high horses gentlemen,in this case i believe it is.

Tax (you old softie),

Sorry mate but you'd be gunned down quicker than an American spy plane flying over Iraq by any lawyer (Bud excluded) in any court. Ignorance of the law has NO exceptions. To quote Dr PP; "GIMME A BREAK"!

I don't think it is up to the Embassies to provide this information to each and every visa applicant, however it should be available upon request. It is up to the visa applicant to make enquiries as to the laws of the country they are going to visit, including whether using an agent is within the law. It's just ignorant to not find out the laws of a country before you plan visiting.

I agree with SoCal's comment: "Ignorance of the law is no excuse".

Bud,

I've been here longer than you and have had no gripes with anyone until you came along. The little I have said far outweighs the drivel that has come out of your posts.

btw, Read my signature. It is you to a T.

maybe the culture needs an update

That's gonna go down in history as the dumbest thing ever written.

Bud,

My grandma had a saying and it applies to you.

"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt".

Sadly, you have removed any doubts we had about you.

I also agree that the idea has merit - those who have made legal visa runs (by themselves) posting their stamp codes, but...

Who's going to know whether the posts are genuine or not? There are dishonest people reading this forum too I suspect.

Ohhhhhhhhh I didn't realize Mai Chai...my mistake AGAIN. The nonconforming and illegal classes MIGHT be very numerous so the Thai Government needs to amend the laws to accommodate the lawless. GIMMEE a BREAK.... the response MUST be MAI CHAI

Nice touch of sarcasm from the doctor!

The problem is, I'd say, is that most tourists here don't keep up to date with the current affairs, least of all check in with their embassy for the latest visa requirements etc.

" 'ello 'ello, UK embassy then is it? Rightio, just calling to see if everything is spot on regarding my tourist visa and all. Had to make do with one of those nice agents so I could extend my visa while I'm here getting blasted on Goh Pangnan. Pip pip."

Sounds serious! Now the farangs will have to marry ladies who are not prostitutes, looks like no more farang to Thai marriages.

Bud

Bud,

You really say some stupid things, don't you? Your post implies all Thai women who are married to farangs were prostitutes. Or by farang do you mean American?

ken nee dur ???

Do you mean Khair nee rheu ?  (แค่นี้หรือ) = If that's all (...then goodbye, ok).

Tar mai kao jai, mai preu !

Taht's asutelloby azinmag !

Tihs is fun. I wednor how fsat a poersn can raed a paargaprh tihs way, coramped wtih the nromal way? I tihnk the lgnoer the wrod is teh lngoer it wulod take to raed. But tehn that is ptetry ovobuis! I maen, try radenig a wrod like shempytitac. Aslo, waht aobut agaramns?  Scuh as:

Parties slote scared sliver cinos wroth $1,000.

And

Framing reci rcih in pointers untied teh Tahi fimaly.

Actually, it's not that much different from some of the posts I've read in this forum.   

B40,000 a month is not much

It is still approx 10 time the average wage of a policeman in Thailand. So relatively it "is much".

Foreigners can't be policemen in Thailand so you can't compare. I don't think 40K baht is much for a foreigner. Neither is 400K baht in the bank.

They obviously will not be affected by the new ruling, and have the attitude of  "F... the rest of you, I'm all right"

I don't think that was the initial attitude of those expats you are talking about. I think they simply offered their own opinions/advice and some expats took it the wrong way and then it just excalated into a bitch fight.

Ideally it would be good if these NEW rules only applied to NEW foreigners coming to Thailand, and not those already here who have made life-long committments based on the laws in place at the time. But hey, interest rates go up all the time and we just sit back and cop it sweet don't we? If we don't like the new interest rate we can change banks. If we don't like the new laws...

Most of the answers you're looking for are on this web site. Use the search facility, or go to the home page.

I can answer the farang/falang question. It's should definitely be written as farang (thai script spells it with an R), but the r should be rolled like italians (or thais) do it. When you roll the r it becomes more like the L sound, and so many foreigners who can't read thai script erroneously think it is spelt with an L. I won't go into the high brow / low brow debate.

This was also submitted 'somewhere' in this forum but sometimes I find it's hard to find what you're looking for so I'm being the good samaritan here and saving you the trouble. I'm hoping what goes around comes around.

plachon,

So how long have you been married to Rinrada?

Amazing how one little comma can change the meaning of a whole sentence!

As for this thread, our views are all a bit in vain as we are but a minority group in a foreign country. Running a country is all about making decision for the good of the people - a balancing act, trying to make life better for the majority (cynics can insert the word rich in here), while at the same time knowing that the minority (again insert 'poor' here) will be inconvenienced. Non-nationals (like those in this thread) will always be the minority in this country and therefore will think most, if not all decisions made by Taksin are bad/ill-conceived. The topic was always going to go this way - biased views from the minority.

You know you've been in T'land to long, when...

You know the thai national anthem better than your own.

You stop trying to convert prices at the supermaket into your own currency for comparison purposes.

You start talking to yourself in thai.

(Eg. "Where the heck did I put my beer?" = "Bpai nai wa?")

You realise that "Bpai nai wa?" can be used in many situations.

(Eg. Wifey coming home at 2am smelling of alcohol).

The results of these surveys go directly to the law makers at the very top of governments. The people who adminster them are usually university PhD students collecting data for their research projects or are volunteers doing it on their behalf. The people who commision them are heads of departments, with approval from local governments.

In some cases local governments turn to universities to help them with the methodology (design and analysis) of conducting such surverys. These surveys assist the local governments in assessing the needs of various people in their community, thus enabling them to make informed decisions.

There will be a project in Phuket coming up soon to determine foreign tourists assessment of medical and dental services. Surveys and interviews will be conducted by students from my university.

Beleive me, the text fields do NOT get discounted. If there are enough similar comments then this will be brought to attention. In most cases the forms are anonymous. If you have to identify yourself then the survey is probably market research.

So if you are asked by someone in the street to fill out a survey, yes, ask them where they are from. If they say a college or university then I urge you to assist them!

Why do women want to do it?

I have to agree with capital, re: taxi drivers not giving change. I suggest that next time we catch a cab we prepare ourselves by taking with us a bagful of satang coins. When we get to the destination we ask the driver if he has change for a hundred (or whatever). Wait for his resonse. If he fiddles around in his little purse for too long we then tell him: "Oh, hang on, it's ok. I've got the correct amount". Then give him the bag of coins.

Marks - very sorry about your story. I hope justice prevails.

This page may help...

http://www.immi.gov.au/faq/visitor/visitor01.htm

The sponsored visitors visa is not relevant.